Thursday, November 14
Daily News Stuff 14 November 2019
Distelfinks R Us Edition
Haven't watched the movie, but I've seen the trailer eleven times.
Distelfinks R Us Edition
Tech News
- The Google Pixel 4 XL with 64GB storage costs A$1279.
It has 6GB of RAM, a 16MP main camera, no fingerprint sensor, no headphone jack, and no microSD slot.
The Oppo Realme 5 Pro with 128GB storage costs A$399.
It has 8GB of RAM, a 48MP main camera, a fingerprint sensor, a headphone jack, and a microSD slot.
This is not a difficult decision. (TechRadar)
It would be even easier if Oppo would just ship stock Android and stop screwing things up, but this one is unusual in that it's readily available in Australian retail outlets, so I'll take it.
In addition to the Realme 5 Pro there's also a Realme C2 at A$199, a Realme 5 at A$299, and a Realme XT at A$499 with an OLED display. They're all good value for money, but the 5 Pro is probably the pick of the litter.
It even looks pretty.
- Turns out that rumoured 16" MacBook Pro is real. (AnandTech)
Fully configured it comes in just short of A$10,000.
Admittedly, fully configured includes 64GB of RAM and 8TB of SSD.
The MacBook 16 also comes with Radeon Pro 5300M or 5500M graphics - AMD's new low-end Navi parts with up to 8GB GDDR6 RAM.
Perhaps most significantly, they've ditched the terrible Magic Keyboard, replacing it with a new and slightly less terrible Magic Keyboard with old-style switches and an entire millimetre of key travel. The escape key has also escaped from wherever they had it penned up, because that's back too.
- The Buffalo LXW-10G2/2G4 switch has two 10G ports and 4 2.5G ports. (AnandTech)
That's okay, I guess. If the price is right. And they decide to sell it outside Japan.
- Twitter and Instagram begin a new round of experiments to find faster ways to burn shareholders' money. (TechDirt)
Just soak it in liquid oxygen like a pro.
- Ring is Amazon's attempt to be Google. (TechDirt)
Amazon isn't run by idiots to nearly the same extent as Google (the ocean of fake microSD cards listed on their store notwithstanding) but the Ring program is creepsville.
- Motorola's new Razr will cost $1499 unless it doesn't. (WCCFTech)
It's a flip phone with a 6.2" 2142x867 folding display and an additional 2.7" 800x600 display on the... Front? Back? Outside? Wherever. It has a 16MP outside camera and a 5MP inside camera, 6GB RAM, and 128GB storage.
Sorry, this is the Verge, but it's genuinely cool to see this thing in action.
It's expensive, but it looks like it's a solid device.
- Another day, another Intel security bug. (Kernel.org)
This one is slightly different. There's a feature called TSX in Intel CPUs that lets you handle transactional code without conventional (and slow) locking mechanisms. Turns out it also lets you run side-channel attacks on a server running untrusted code.
The Linux kernel patch disables TSX on all Intel CPUs.
- Faster and cheaper than a B Ark. (Tech Crunch)
1. Announce a contract with ICE or some other widely despised institution like the Mayo Clinic or the American Red Cross.
2. Outraged idiots resign.
3. Costs drop while productivity soars.
4. Competitors hire your cast-off idiots and go broke.
5. Profit.
- Let them eat MacBooks. (Thurrott.com)
You can't succeed, apparently, unless you buy overpriced Apple toys.
- Facebook deleted 3.2 billion fake accounts over the last two years. (One Angry Gamer - oh, whatever, you're a grown-up)
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, These are the people who can't tell revenue from profit. I bet it's 3.2 million.
I thought that too. I was wrong. (Facebook)
Ugh.
- Game developers are worried that Google might not cancel Stadia. (Ars Technica)
"The biggest complaint most developers have with Stadia is the fear that Google isn't going to cancel it," Fwen Grey, developer of Stadia launch puzzle game Mine, told GamesIndustry.biz in recently published comments. "Nobody ever says, 'It might actually work this time,' or 'Streaming isn't a complete dumpster fire.' Everyone accepts that streaming is pretty much dead. The biggest concern with Stadia is that it might actually survive."
Or at least, it would have made more sense if she had said that.
Video of the Day
So, remember that terrible piece of crap that Paramount coughed up earlier this year in the shape of a Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer and everyone hated it?
They fixed it.
I mean, it's still a Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer but now it looks something that you could actually take the kids to see without requiring a pre-cinematic lobotomy. Not quite up with the first Detective Pikachu trailer, but miles ahead of, say, Star Wars.
They fixed it.
I mean, it's still a Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer but now it looks something that you could actually take the kids to see without requiring a pre-cinematic lobotomy. Not quite up with the first Detective Pikachu trailer, but miles ahead of, say, Star Wars.
I still love that first Detective Pikachu trailer.
Haven't watched the movie, but I've seen the trailer eleven times.
Disclaimer: I give it six months.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
07:40 PM
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1
This obviously can't cover the entire price difference, but the 712 is a 2x A75, 6x A55 with Adreno 616 GPU, whereas the 855 is 4x A76, 4x A55 with Adreno 640. I would think the CPU performance should appear fairly close in daily use, but the GPU probably makes a big difference in 3D games.
Sure would love to see a "mid-range" SOC that was something like the 712 but with a GPU that would be closer to the Adreno 630.
Sure would love to see a "mid-range" SOC that was something like the 712 but with a GPU that would be closer to the Adreno 630.
Posted by: Rick C at Friday, November 15 2019 07:01 AM (Iwkd4)
2
Also--looks like the Realme has poor LTE coverage of US bands--looks like the only one it supports in common usage here is band 5.
Posted by: Rick C at Friday, November 15 2019 07:14 AM (Iwkd4)
3
The new razr has a notch. Barf.
Posted by: Rick C at Friday, November 15 2019 07:21 AM (Iwkd4)
4
Detective Pikachu was actually a fun movie if you don't go into it with high expectations.
Posted by: Rick C at Friday, November 15 2019 07:33 AM (Iwkd4)
5
I didn't look up the GPU performance of the 712, just checked that it had some A7x cores. 3D game performance is apparently adequate, though certainly not great. But I don't play any 3D games on my phone, so not a deal breaker. Not having a headphone jack or microSD slot are deal breakers for me.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, November 15 2019 08:19 AM (PiXy!)
6
Of course, costing more than my laptop (which has 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD) is also a deal breaker.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, November 15 2019 08:19 AM (PiXy!)
7
To be fair, the 616, assuming performance is roughly linear with model number, is probably at least decent in 3D and perfectly fine in 2D.
As I've said before I'm still waiting for a decent-enough CPU with a GPU that is neither trash nor top-tier.
As I've said before I'm still waiting for a decent-enough CPU with a GPU that is neither trash nor top-tier.
Posted by: Rick C at Friday, November 15 2019 09:43 AM (Iwkd4)
8
And yeah, of course, those super-expensive phones are insane. So far "buying Xiaomi from Gearbest" and "buying last year's Galaxy S on sale at half original price" has worked out pretty well.
I'm looking forward to whenever Verizon finally shuts down their CDMA network.
I'm looking forward to whenever Verizon finally shuts down their CDMA network.
Posted by: Rick C at Friday, November 15 2019 09:45 AM (Iwkd4)
9
Yep. This is an official Australian release, so I don't have to worry about network nonsense. Probably.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, November 15 2019 04:22 PM (PiXy!)
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