• Google Play has lost nearly half of its apps in the past year.  Here's why that's a good thing.  (Tech Crunch)
  
  Developers aren't leaving Android.  Much.  Rather, Google is belatedly taking steps to weed out the tsunami of crap that has been infesting the plague store for years.
  
  Not sure how you weed a tsunami.  Which might be why it has taken them so long.
  
  In addition to removing 1.6 million garbage apps, Google rejected 2.3 million new apps before they could ever reach the app store, and banned 158,000 developer accounts that were attempting various kinds of nefariousness.

• Reddit is issuing firmly-worded letters against researchers who exposed their users as gullible morons.  (404 Media)
  
  The researchers at the University of Zurich used an AI chatbot to argue with Reddit users, and succeeded at winning the arguments more often than nominal humans.
  
  
  
• It costs more than one Bitcoin to mine one Bitcoin.  (PC Gamer)
  
  That'll slow the fish down.
  
  
  
• If you are still using an LG phone, update it now.  (9to5Google)
  
  Not because it's been hacked, but because the update servers will shut down at the end of June.
  
  LG shut down its phone division four years ago, but has kept the software updated since then.
  
  
  
• If you are running Kali Linux, you'll need to add a new update key.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Because they lost the old one.  They weren't hacked; it wasn't compromised.  It just fell down the back of the sofa.
  
  
  
• One word: Trees.  (WSJ)  (archive site)
  
  Carbon sequestration is potentially a $250 billion market - says the article - but what do you do when the forest you are paying for you carbon credits...  Burns down?
  
  Better call the Lorax.
  
  
  

Musical Interlude

• We didn't get hacked or hit by ransomware.  We didn't need to.  We run Oracle.  (CNBC)
  
  45 hospitals belonging to Tennessee-based Community Health Systems lost access to all their electronic records for five days because...  Oracle accidentally deleted them.

• The Radeon 9070 GRE is up for pre-order in China with cards shipping May 8.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  At a price that will excite no-one since this 12GB card costs more than the MSRP of the 16GB 9070.
  
  
  
• PyXL is a chip that runs Python.  (RunPyXL)
  
  In hardware.  Albeit at 100MHz on an FPGA.
  
  How fast it is really is unclear but it achieves a 30x reduction in latency for simple I/O tasks common on embedded systems.
  
  Though it's not clear how directly it runs the Python bytecode, since the notes mention that it compiled into PyXL assembly before running.
  
  
  
• Moving away from Rust.  (Dead Money)
  
  Not because the language is bad, necessarily.  If I were writing a new operating system kernel it would be a strong contender.
  
  But most people are not writing new operating system kernels.
  
  
  
• Writing a computer game without a game engine.  (Karl Zylinski)
  
  Caught between Unreal Engine and its problems, Unity and its license, and Godot and its absolute barking insanity?  Why not try none of them!
  
  
  
• How to soft-brick an iPhone in a perpetual boot loop and collect a $17,500 bug bounty from Apple.  (rambo.codes)
  
  Though this specific instance has been fixed - probably - and you'll need to find your own.
  
  
  
• The Boox Mira Pro Color is a 3200x1800 25-inch e-ink colour display.  (Notebook Check)
  
  And it costs just $1899.
  
  No, I didn't add a digit at the end there.  Or at the beginning.  Or in the middle.

• Google's DeepMind team in the UK is reportedly seeking to unionise, upset by Google dropping the "don't be evil" motto about seventeen years ago.  (Tech Crunch)
  
  We regret to inform you that Google's DeepMind team in the UK has been replaced by DeepMind.
  
  
  
• Meanwhile Microsoft's massive AI efforts have come to a screeching halt.  (XDA Developers)
  
  People are willing to dabble with AI, but far fewer are willing to have it infect their own devices.  Copilot has one twentieth the userbase of ChatGPT and is only falling further behind.

• The Lenovo Legion Tab 3 is pretty good if you're looking for a small, fast Android tablet with a high resolution screen.  (Notebook Check)
  
  Which is a good thing since it is the only small Android tablet with a high resolution screen, apart from Aliexpress deals.
  
  Also good because I just bought one.
  
  However, the Lenovo Legion Tab 4 has already been leaked, so you might not want to buy this one unless you see it on sale.  Which I did.
  
  It's comparable to Apple's latest iPad Mini - in fact, the review scores of the two devices were only 0.1% apart.
  
  
  
• Minisforum has a new mini-PC that is not quite so mini.  (Liliputing)
  
  It has a 16 core Ryzen 9 9955HX laptop CPU, up to 96GB of RAM (or 128GB if you can find the modules), three M.2 slots, a PCIe slot (for very small PCIe cards), two 2.5Gb Ethernet ports, and two 10Gb Ethernet ports, which is a bit unusual in this class of device.  They're SFP rather than RJ45, though, so you'll need transceivers or fancy cables.
  
  Prices start at $839.
  
  
  

Musical Interlude

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, April 29 2025 05:11 AM (LBTSR)

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, April 29 2025 05:13 AM (LBTSR)

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, April 29 2025 05:15 AM (LBTSR)

Posted by: PatBuckman at Tuesday, April 29 2025 12:17 PM (rcPLc)

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• 4chan is back.  (Slashdot)
  
  This will annoy the terminally-online haters and delight the...  Also terminally-online haters.
  
  I don't think I've ever visited 4chan, but as a natural-born archivist I'm glad that it's not lost.

• Hyte - maker of the Hololive limited edition computer cases and apparently other stuff as well - has suspended shipments of certain products to the US due to tariff uncertainties.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Maybe they could try shipping them to Australia instead, because it cost me as much in shipping as the case itself to get the Calliope Mori model.
  
  
  
• Blue Shield California shared personal information of 4.7 million members with Google Ads.  (CSO Online)
  
  The outsourced site analytics to Google and then shared the Google Analytics data with Google Ads, because...  Because they're dumbfucks, basically.
  
  
  
• Do not buy GMKtec's mini-NAS.  (Jeff Geerling)
  
  This device offers four M.2 SSD slots and an Intel N150 CPU in a compact device, just a little larger than a regular mini-PC.
  
  It also overheats.
  
  Badly.  The low-power CPU hits 85C under load and the SSDs hit 70C at idle.
  
  If you throttle the CPU to just 800MHz, and throttle the M.2 bays to PCIE 1.0 speeds  - still fast enough to flood 2.5Gb Ethernet - and also attach heatsinks to two of the I/O chips, and attach high-end heatsinks to the SSDs, then you can get those temperatures under control.
  
  And somewhere along the way it stopped crashing.
  
  But at that point it was twice the size it originally shipped at and ran slower than a Raspberry Pi.

• What this country needs is a really good $20,000 electric truck.  Apparently.  (The Verge)  (archive site)
  
  I mean, given what vehicles cost these days, it's worth a shot.
  
  There are a few corners cut, to be sure.  The Slate Truck is available in one colour - slate grey, has no sound system, and only does 150 miles on a charge.  And the body panels are plastic, not metal, though that's not a first even on much more expensive models.
  
  And it's designed to be repairable by the owner, though how far that goes is something that we'll have to see when it comes out next year.

• Netflix now has dialogue-only subtitles because of the current trend for actors to mumble incoherently through their lines.  (Ars Technica)
  
  No, it's not your hearing going.  I mean, that might also be true, but the younger generations also watch TV with subtitles on because they can't tell what the hell the actors are saying.
  
  
  
• Microsoft's Recall spyware is here.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Also Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC is cheap (if a little fiddly to install) and receives security updates through January 2027 - and no new features at all.
  
  Just saying.
  
  If you can find the IoT edition that's supported through 2032 but I don't know where to get that.
  
  
  
• If you mention the /etc/hosts file - found on all modern operating systems - Substack sends etheric ninjas down the wire to terminate you.  (Substack)
  
  Or more specifically it raises a 403 error when the editor attempts to automatically save your post.
  
  Potato, potahto.
  
  
  
• This mini-ITX NAS motherboard has 10Gb Ethernet.  (Liliputing)
  
  And costs $139 if you can find someone who will ship it to you, given current tariff uncertainties.
  
  There are many such boards on sites like Aliexpress, but most of the cheap ones don't have 10GbE.
  
  
  
• Why are companies lining up to buy Chrome?  (The Verge)
  
  Perplexity, OpenAI, and Yahoo are all among the bidders should the government force Google to divest its browser.
  
  But you can already get Chrome-based browsers like Brave and Vivaldi for free.
  
  These companies aren't looking to buy Chrome.  They're looking to buy you.
  
  
  

Musical Interlude

Posted by: PatBuckman at Sunday, April 27 2025 02:51 PM (rcPLc)

Posted by: Sailorcurt at Wednesday, April 30 2025 01:41 AM (iIviZ)

Posted by: PatBuckman at Wednesday, April 30 2025 06:55 AM (rcPLc)

Posted by: normal at Wednesday, April 30 2025 07:45 AM (bg2DR)

Posted by: Rick C at Wednesday, April 30 2025 12:41 PM (1zWbY)

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• Intel has officially announced its plans to fire all the useless freeloaders and force employees to actually show up at the office and do their jobs.  (Tom's Hardware)|
  
  Employees will be required to be in the office four days a week starting in September, a goal likely easier to achieve when the company is also expected to be firing 20% of its workforce.
  
  

• Meanwhile Intel's current-generation and AI-focused chips just aren't selling.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  But cheaper, previous generation chips are selling, particularly the 14th-generation parts.
  
  
  
• AMD reportedly has a 12GB cut-down model of the Radeon 9070 ready to go.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  This will deliver three quarters of everything on the 9070, and neatly plug the gap between the regular 9070 and the upcoming 9060, which will only have half the performance of the 9070.
  
  
  
• Employee monitoring app WorkComposer leaked 21 million screenshots of monitored employees.  (CyberNews)
  
  How could this happen?
  
  
  
• Why US men think college isn't worth it anymore.  (Bloomberg)  (archive site)
  
  Mostly because it's not.

Posted by: Rick C at Friday, April 25 2025 11:10 PM (1zWbY)

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• TSMC's N3P process is now in full production and N3X is set to follow later this year.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  N3P is a slight shrink of N3E which in turn is a small update to N3.  We're only talking about 5% improvements each time, but if you design a chip for N3E you can produced in on N3P and get free performance and power improvements.
  
  
  
• A little further out, TSMC plans to introduce 14A - 1.4nm - production in 2028 and add backside power delivery in 2029.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Many people would benefit from a little backside power delivery.
  
  
  
• Russia is on track to introduce 28nm chips by 2030.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  28nm is actually a very reliable node and a good choice if you're not trying to win Apple as a customer.  Embedded chips are commonly still produced at 40nm.

• Motorola tried to make Perplexity its default AI assistant and Google said no.  (Bloomberg)  (archive site)
  
  Google was just enforcing the terms of its contract with Android phone makers.  But with the recent antitrust decisions on Google's search and advertising divisions, they may no longer be allowed to enforce those terms.
  
  
  
• The EU is fining Apple and Facebook a combined $800 million for not respecting European values.  (Hot Hardware)
  
  Which either means they didn't disappear for an entire month in August, or didn't invade Belgium without leaving a tip.
  
  One of those.
  
  
  
• Cluely is an AI app designed to let you cheat on anything.  It's so bad it's actually easier to just tell the truth.  (The Verge)  (archive site)
  
  Its terms of service also forbid you from using it for its advertised purpose, which is...  Suspect.  They might be high on their own supply over there.
  
  

Posted by: PatBuckman at Thursday, April 24 2025 11:27 PM (rcPLc)

Posted by: normal at Friday, April 25 2025 08:16 AM (bg2DR)

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• Open source database for people who are allergic to even the idea of running their own servers Supabase has raised $200 million at a valuation of $2 billion on the back of the "vibe coding" craze.  (Tech Crunch)
  
  Vibe coding is the idea that you don't need to know how to program to build an app.  You don't in fact need to know anything at all to build an app.  You get an AI to do the work based on your cool ideas, and you throw it out there and see what sticks.
  
  Which is great if you value your own time at infinity and your customers' time at zero.  Or if you are just playing around to see if an idea is feasible before implementing it properly - except of course that nothing ever gets implemented properly and you'll soon be stuck with a nightmarish mess that routes your authentication requests via Eswatini in plaintext and is written largely in a programming language that is not only no longer supported but never actually existed in the first place.
  
  Supabase isn't directly pushing this, only enabling the trend, so I won't express a desire for them to be hit by a comet and expire.  For them to quietly go bankrupt and disappear would be sufficient.

• Intel is booking capacity on TSMC's new 2nm process for production of its upcoming Nova Lake CPUs next year.  (WCCFTech)
  
  AMD and Apple are also planning to build their next CPUs on TSMC's 2nm process.  Intel has its own 1.8nm - 18A - process in the works that should enter production within months, and plans to use both.
  
  
  
• Intel is reportedly also planning to lay off 20% of its staff.  (Bloomberg)  (archive site)
  
  That's...  Less good.
  
  
  
• Bethesda's flower-picking simulator, Oblivion, is back, and it's bigger than ever.  (The Verge)
  
  Much bigger.  The new version takes up 125GB of drive space.
  
  Also none of the existing mods are supported.  Oh, and you can't make new mods either.
  
  Owners of the original version (which used less than 5GB) at least get...  You'll get nothing, and you'll like it.
  
  
  

Posted by: PatBuckman at Thursday, April 24 2025 12:17 AM (rcPLc)

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• AMD's 16 core Zen 5c dies have a single shared L3 cache.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  These are used in the largest Epyc server CPUs, with up to 192 cores in total.
  
  This is not a huge deal for Epyc CPUs because you still have twelve CPU dies each with its own cache.  But it is potentially a big deal for desktop CPUs, because the moment you go off-die - even over AMD's high-speed Infinity Fabric that links these chiplets together - you slow down a lot.
  
  And the fact that AMD is already shipping unified 16 core dies makes rumours that Zen 6 will be a unified 12 core die a lot more believable.

• Lenovo's Legion Tab Gen 4 has a TF slot - functionally the same as microSD.  (Notebook Check)
  
  Of course it does, because I got the shipping notification for my Legion Tab Gen 3 only two hours ago, and the Gen 3 does not have a microSD slot.
  
  But it took close to a year for the Gen 3 to become available in Australia, and it was on sale, and it includes 256GB of storage so I'm not likely to run out quickly.
  
  
  
• Python's new t-strings, arriving in 3.14 late this year, provide a safe (or rather, safer) replacement to f-strings, which provided a brain-damaged replacement to existing string interpolation that everyone knew was a bad idea at the time.  (Dave Peck)
  
  We put Perl in your Python because we hate you.
  
  
  
• It kind of looks like a USB dock but it ain't.  (Liliputing)
  
  It's a NAS with two M.2 drive slots, an Intel N150, 12GB of RAM, two HDMI ports, and sadly only gigabit Ethernet.
  
  
  
• Speaking of only gigabit Ethernet, those super-cheap Wavlink USB docks with HDMI and 2.5Gb Ethernet seem to have gone.  They got down to less than $10 before disappearing entirely.
  
  I did buy five of them, so I'm okay on that front.
  
  
  
• Bluesky is outsourcing account verification to reliable third-parties like...  The New York Times.  (The Verge)
  
  Oh, that's going to work out great.
  
  
  

Musical Interlude

Posted by: cxt217 at Wednesday, April 23 2025 12:05 PM (ZLF73)

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