Tech News

• New washing machine works great.  Yeah, it can take five hours to wash and dry a full load, so I wouldn't recommend it for a household of more than two people.  But they do have a bigger model - mine is 9kg, and they have a 15kg model that costs around 40% more - if you need to wash a lot of clothes at once.
  
  
  
• SSDs arrive Monday, yay!
  
  
  
• Rally - the second of my two Dell Inspiron 27 all-in-ones - dropped dead today with an invalid firmware error.  A very very small invalid firmware error since it was designed to display in VGA and instead it was being shown in 4K without any scaling.
  
  But a reboot fixed everything, so while I don't know what happened it's all fine now.
  
  
  
• 8TB consumer SSDs in NVMe and SATA.  (AnandTech)
  
  These are both QLC models.
  
  The sequential transfer rates for the SATA drive - Samsung's 870 QVO - are mid-range for a hard drive and just plain bad for an SSD.  The NVMe model, though - a Sabrent Rocket Q - does extremely well, around 2.7GB per second, until it fills up its pseudo-SLC cache.
  
  Since it has up to 2TB of pseudo-SLC cache, it can take quite a while to see the performance drop off.  If you want 8TB of data in an M.2 slot - like my entire Steam and GOG libraries combined - this would do a good job.
  
  
  
• My washing machine also plays music.
  
  The one thing I miss from the old model is a button to remember your favourite wash cycle.  Maybe the mobile app does that.
  
  
  
• AMD has some interesting mobile stuff coming up, including the overclockable Ryen 5900HX APU and a range of Radeon RX 6000M mobile graphics solutions unless they don't.  (WCCFTech)
  
  The graphics parts range from 25W to 90W, so they're not just for high-end gaming laptops.
  
  
  
• Apple has released the second beta of the 11.1 update of MacOS Big Sur to developers probably because they really hate developers.  (Mr Macintosh)
  
  It's still not available for 2013-2014 MacBook Pros if any of them survived the first release.
  
  
  

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Posted by: normal at Sunday, December 06 2020 08:15 AM (obo9H)

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Tech News

• New washing machine arrived safely and has been installed.  It's running the recommended quick-wash-before-use cycle right now.
  
  It's quieter than my computer.
  
  
  
• Speaking of which, my SSDs are in Hawaii.  Oops, no they're not, that was this morning.  Now they're in Sydney.
  
  
  
• One of Micron's fabs in Taiwan experienced a power outage.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  The power outage lasted an hour.  The factory should be back online in a couple of days.  But because it takes weeks for a chip to pass through all stages of production, some of them will have been in the middle of a critical stage and will have to be discarded.
  
  
  
• Intel's upcoming Core i9-11900K is nearly as fast as AMD's sixth-fastest mainstream desktop CPU.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  It's behind only the 5800X, 3900X and XT, 5900X, 3950X, and 5950X.
  
  
  
• A Google security researcher created a worm that can steal the contents of any iOS device within WiFi range even if the device's WiFi was turned off.  (ZDNet)
  
  And then hop from there to any other iOS device in range of the first.  And so on.
  
  This illustrates the problem with Apple's corporate motto of We know better than you.  You can't actually turn the WiFi off on an iOS device.  You can only humbly suggest to iOS that maybe it would be nice if it didn't use WiFi quite so much.
  
  
  
• Google has accepted the resignation of one of their AI ethicists.  (VentureBeat)
  
  Since ethicists generally have as much functional value as a football made of yogurt, they would be well advised not to issue ultimatums (ultimata?) to their employers.
  
  And if you guessed she was a painfully annoying elitist holier-than-thou CRT-spouting nutcase, you win a Kewpie doll.
  
  That they seized the opportunity to cut her loose is the first healthy sign I've seen from Google in at least two years.
  
  
  
• 95 books on retro computer games for $30.  (StoryBundle)
  
  These aren't books on how to write games, though many of them are books on how games were written, so still of value to a developer.
  
  

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Posted by: Rick C at Saturday, December 05 2020 02:28 AM (eqaFC)

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Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, December 05 2020 09:09 PM (PiXy!)

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• Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 888, with the new high-end Arm X1 core.  (AnandTech)
  
  But it only has one of those cores, supported by three A78 cores and four rather decrepit A55 low-power cores.  It does have an integrated 5G modem, so it looks like that's where they spent the engineering effort.
  
  Manufactured on Samsung's 5nm process, which is good to see because TSMC's 5nm capacity is sold out.
  
  
  
• When 10GbE doesn't cut it anymore: The Supermicro AOC-S100GC-i2C.  (Serve the Home)
  
  This is a basic dual-port 100GbE card.  No on-board FPGA or CPU, no 64GB of embedded RAM, though it does have packet processing to offload some of the work from the CPU.
  
  Networking is at an odd place in computer hardware.  You can simply plunk down a thousand bucks and get a network card ten (or a hundred) times faster than what you already have.  A card like this maxes out a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, though, so you can't get that much faster with standard server motherboards.
  
  
  
• α = 1/137.03599920611  (Quanta)
  
  But we have no idea why.  It just does.
  
  
  
• Nvidia cards are in short supply because everything that goes into them is in short supply.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  And even if they ordered an increase in wafer production three months ago, and Samsung started work immediately, and the other components are available, it will be another two months before the increased volume reaches store shelves.
  
  
  
• A teardown of five PS5s found five different fans.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Some people have complained about the noise of the PS5, while others are happy.  Turns out to be something of a lottery.
  
  There are reports of noisy Xbox Series Xs as well, but those seem to be specifically due to a cable escaping slightly from a clip and hitting the fan blade.  Poking it back into the clip with a screwdriver - which you can do without opening the case - fixes that.  (Microsoft)
  
  Also in that thread: "My Xbox runs hot when running Call of Duty at 4K 120Hz."
  
  
  

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Tech News

• Getting a new combination washer/dryer on Friday.  The old one was starting to get rather fussy, sometimes complaining that it couldn't drain the water when it didn't have any water, and the dryer function stopped working at all. 
  
  And then one day recently I loaded it up and set it to work and it made an unpleasant noise followed by the rattle of bits coming off some mechanism inside and now it won't talk to me at all.
  
  It's over ten years old and way out of warranty, so time for a new one.
  
  
  
• The recommended way to install LXC on a system not running ZFS is to create a nice big file on whatever filesystem you are using - ext4 probably - and turn that into a ZFS volume.
  
  That's not a good idea when you're running directly on hardware, because it prevents ZFS detecting and managing hardware problems, and adds extra CPU load to every I/O.
  
  But on a VPS you're not supposed to be seeing I/O errors in the first place, and if you are you're kind of hosed.  And since I'm getting acceptable performance with two cores and 4GB of RAM - until I run low on memory - a 12 core server with 48GB of RAM should be quite able to absorb that extra load.
  
  
  
• New Aoi is now called Mikan, at least as far as it is concerned.  The management portal at SSDNodes doesn't let you change the name of your servers, so there it will remain Aoi forever.
  
  
  
• The RTX 3060 Ti competes pretty evenly with the old 2080 Super.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  So far it's not even listed anywhere as out of stock, so good luck getting one.
  
  
  
• When the SSD you get is not quite the SSD you bought.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  This article focuses on the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro, which has been sold in three different versions (different controllers and flash chips) without any notification or change to the model number, but Adata isn't the only company to have done this.
  
  And to be clear, the newer models of the Adata drive don't suck; they didn't drop from TLC to QLC flash or anything egregious like that.  But at least change the model number, guys.  Make it the SX8200 Pro S if you change from Micron to Samsung flash, or something.
  
  
  
• Salesforce is buying Slack for some ridiculous amount of money.  (Tech Crunch)
  
  Just install GitLab.  Contains everything you need, including developer chat.  Does need at least 4GB of RAM these days, though.
  
  
  
• A new experimental drug reverses age-related cognitive decline.  (Neuroscience News)
  
  In mice.
  
  Good news for Algernon, I suppose.
  
  
  
• Deploying your own dedicated hardware for serverless apps.  (Cortex.dev)
  
  I mean, I guess.
  
  
  
• AWS has announced Habana Gaudi instances.  (Serve the Home)
  
  These are apparently AI training engines - high-end hardware used to construct AI models that you can then deploy to cheaper systems, because learning is harder than doing.
  
  
  
• HPE - Hewlett Packard's enterprise division since the Gallification - is moving from San Jose to Houston.  (CNBC)
  
  That's one way to solve the Bay Area housing crisis.

Not At All Tech News

• Burn it to the ground and sow the ground with salt.
  

Posted by: Rick C at Thursday, December 03 2020 01:35 AM (eqaFC)

Posted by: normal at Thursday, December 03 2020 03:25 AM (LADmw)

Posted by: Rick C at Thursday, December 03 2020 03:57 AM (eqaFC)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, December 03 2020 09:10 AM (PiXy!)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thursday, December 03 2020 10:02 AM (5iiQK)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, December 03 2020 12:13 PM (PiXy!)

Posted by: Mauser at Thursday, December 03 2020 12:54 PM (Ix1l6)

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• I have two servers named Aoi again.  Oops.
  
  
  
• AMD expects AMD graphics cards to be selling at MSRP at some point.  Probably.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Probably next year though.
  
  
  
• Amazon AWS has virtual Macs.  (Amazon)
  
  Or rather, they offer physical Macs that you can rent by the hour.
  
  Could be very useful for developers trying to ship both x86 and Arm versions of their apps.  Because you wouldn't want to buy one.
  
  
  
• I don't want an iPhone but on the other hand would it kill Android device makers to produce a mid-range phone with a sub-6" screen?  (AnandTech)
  
  
  
• Just recently officials cancelled planned renovations to the Arecibo radio telescope after a second cable snapped, leading engineers to conclude it was in danger of collapse and could not be safely repaired.
  
  Sadly, they were right.
  
  
  Thankfully because they were right, no-one was hurt.
  
  
  
• Nvidia just launched the RTX 3060 Ti, which is 80% of a 3070 for 80% of the price.  But it includes the full 8GB of RAM, so that's a pretty good deal.
  
  If you can get one, which seems unlikely since it's the same chip as the 3070.
  
  
  
  
  

Posted by: Rick C at Wednesday, December 02 2020 12:25 AM (eqaFC)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, December 02 2020 12:40 AM (PiXy!)

Posted by: normal at Wednesday, December 02 2020 03:53 AM (LADmw)

Posted by: J Greely at Wednesday, December 02 2020 04:32 AM (ZlYZd)

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Posted by: Jay at Wednesday, December 02 2020 02:28 AM (0jVI9)

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• The 1TB Western Digital Black SN750 is currently $115 at Amazon and Newegg and direct from the WD online store.  (AnandTech)
  
  But what about Amazon AU?
  
  ...
  
  Yes, there too.
  
  I just bought two of them.  They worked out to A$181* when they're normally A$269, and the slower Blue model regularly retails for A$165.
  
  Now I just need to decide on the memory.  The only real bargain I can find currently in stock is the 32GB module, and I'm not certain that will work.
  
  * US$115 = A$155, plus 10% GST brings it to A$170.  So the "free international shipping" apparently costs A$11.
  
  
  
• Meanwhile, the best choice for noise-cancelling headphones appears to be the Sony WH-1000XM4.  (Trusted Reviews)
  
  Those don't seem to be discounted anywhere since they're a brand new release, but that means I don't need to pounce on a sale.  In fact, they're in stock at the local hi-fi store, so I can just wander over there and buy them the next time I get fed up with fan noise.  Or neighbour noise.  Or whatever.
  
  
  
• The Radeon 6900 XT is still on its way.  (WCCFTech)
  
  Though you won't be able to get one.
  
  Meanwhile the third party Radeon 6800 XT cards are turning out very good indeed and you can't get those either.
  
  
  
  
  
• Don't make your users mad.  (The New Stack)
  
  Seems like good advice, but this is coming from someone who considers Systemd a success story and not metastasis.
  
  
  
• 35 years with the Amiga.  (Byte Cellar)
  
  I got mine a bit later than that, but it has indeed been a while.
  
  
  
• Nvidia allegedly sold $175 million worth of RTX 3000 cards directly to crypto miners.  (WCCFTech)
  
  Now, this is via WCCFTech and it's using the word "allegedly", so take it with a pound of salt.  But the source is an analyst going over the company's financial reports, so...  Maybe.
  
  
  

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, December 01 2020 09:36 AM (eqaFC)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, December 01 2020 02:26 PM (PiXy!)

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• The Radeon 6800 XT was originally listed here in Australia for $1049, which made it cheaper than the Nvidia RTX 3070.  This has now been corrected.
  
  The reference cards are out of stock and it's not clear there will be more, and the third-party versions - which are also out of stock - start at $1269 and go up to $1599.  $1799 if you count the hybrid water-cooled model.
  
  Yeah, no.
  
  
  
• Brickmuppet is looking for hardware suggestions for a new PC.
  
  
  
• Ruffle is a Flash player written in Rust.  (Ruffle.rs)
  
  It runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, and as a Firefox or Chrome plugin, and also directly in the browser using WebAssembly.
  
  The WebAssembly version can't have any vulnerabilities that don't already existing in your browser, because it doesn't require a plugin of any kind.  Comments say that it doesn't support the full Flash API, so it's likely fine for movies and many games but will break for complicated apps.
  
  
  
• Journalists For Censorship is outraged that Facebook isn't censoring the news.  (New York Times)
  
  If you want a vision of the future, imagine the New York Times complaining about Facebook - forever.
  
  
  
• Rhotacism is a speech impediment involving difficulty pronouncing the letter R.  (Wikipedia)
  
  Which seems kind of cruel, to be honest.
  
  "I have whotacism."
  "What's that?"
  "I can't pronounce the letter W."
  
  
  
• Chinese police have cracked down on a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme and seized $4.2 billion in assets.  (The Block)
  
  Which they will be keeping.
  
  Yes, it's all stolen.
  
  No, people won't be getting their money back.
  
  
  
• Ugh.  OpenVPN.

We're An Idol Group Like AKB48 Part One Video of the Day

We're An Idol Group Like AKB48 Part Two Video of the Day

Scientific Interest Video of the Day

Posted by: normal at Monday, November 30 2020 12:37 AM (obo9H)

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• Summer has finally arrived.  It wasn't so long ago that I needed to turn the heat back on, and today I've had the air conditioning running full blast.
  
  I took the Synology servers out of the spare bedroom this morning and now they're going to occupy my coffee table for a while.  The spare room is upstairs, and only downstairs is air conditioned, and I'm not leaving them to melt up there.
  
  
  
• Was planning to get myself a couple of 1TB Western Digital Blue SN550 SSDs from Amazon during the sales.  The price went down from A$165 to $155 to $145 to $135.
  
  Then of course they ran out.
  
  Oh well.  They still have other 1TB NVMe drives in the A$140-150 range, which is fine.
  
  
  
• ASRock has another range of mini-PCs based on the Ryzen 4000 APU family.  (WCCFTech)
  
  These are a different shape to NUCs, which are typically around 4"x4"x2".  Instead, the Mars system is 8"x6"x1".
  
  Ports include HDMI, VGA (why?), five USB 3.2, two USB 2.0,  gigabit Ethernet, audio in and out, and a full-size SD card reader.  It takes two SODIMMs, an M.2 drive, and a 2.5" 9.5mm high SATA hard drive or SSD.
  
  One of the USB ports is Type C but it doesn't appear to support video, so realistically you're limited to a single monitor.  I think this is designed to mount on the back of a monitor - hence the wide but thin form factor - so that would make sense.
  
  
  
• A look at the Western Digital Black SN750.  (Serve the Home)
  
  This is about 40% faster than the SN550 and between 20% and 100% more expensive depending on which prices you look at.  A$400 for the 2TB model is quite attractive so naturally that one is out of stock until January.  
  
  
  
• Scientists have discovered a huge body of water where you might least expect it: Under the sea.  (New Scientist)
  
  Specifically, several cubic kilometres of fresh water located about 500 metres below the seabed just off the coast of Hawaii.

Posted by: normal at Sunday, November 29 2020 02:16 AM (obo9H)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, November 29 2020 02:47 AM (PiXy!)

Posted by: Karl at Sunday, November 29 2020 05:22 AM (0uRkn)

Posted by: normal at Sunday, November 29 2020 06:11 AM (obo9H)

Posted by: Wonderduck at Sunday, November 29 2020 06:50 AM (Bkp4m)

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• Anyone got a recommendation for noise-cancelling headphones?  It occurs to me that if my main reason for replacing my computers is the fan noise, there may be more than one way to skin that turducken.
  
  The Jabra Elite 85h seem well-regarded.  
  
  
  
• The Motorola G9 Plus is A$557 on Amazon.
  
  Or A$319 from the local electronics store.
  
  That might suit me better than the Oppo A52, since Moto phones come with close to stock Android.  It is rather on the large side though.
  
  
  
• Why does Terraria even spin up the GPU fan on my system?  That game should run fine on an Atom.
  
  (Actually tries running Terraria on an Atom.)
  
  Okay, yeah, not so much.
  
  
  
• Sam is coming to X470 and X450 motherboards officially and X370 and A320 unofficially.  (WCCFTech)
  
  Seems to still only support 5000-series Ryzen, but in theory it should be possible to back-port to all Ryzen CPUs.
  
  
  
• The midpoint between 0 and infinity is 1.5.  (Peter Zhu)
  
  According to Ruby.  And it's the correct answer, for a pretty useless definition of correct.
  
  
  
• PHP 8.0 has been released.  (PHP.net)
  
  SMOD has failed us.
  
  
  
• Russia plans to ban Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for correctly labeling Russian state-controlled media as Russian state-controlled media.  (ZDNet)
  
  Sounds like a win/win.
  
  
  
• AWS had a problem of some kind affecting some people.  (The Verge)
  
  This did not actually shut down the New York Subway.
  
  
  What this says is they couldn't update their website due to the AWS outage, so they tweeted out the notification that buses were replacing trains due to planned maintenance, and not, as you might think from a quick glance, that Amazon somehow shut down train services.
  
  The AWS outage that takes out the New York Subway is next week.
  

I Was There, Gandalf Video of the Day

Posted by: normal at Saturday, November 28 2020 05:34 AM (obo9H)

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