• Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Salesforce, Cisco, SAP, and Atlassian have joined forces to establish Trusted Cloud Principles.  (ZDNet)
  
  The principles are:

  1. A government may not harm a cloud provider's profits, or through inaction, allow a cloud provider's profits to come to harm.
  2. A cloud provider must obey the laws enacted by its government except where such laws would conflict with the First Law.
  3. Users get screwed.

  The silver lining is that this is self-serving corporate bullshit, which is infinitely less harmful than the self-destructive woke bullshit that is so prevalent these days.
  
  
  

Tech News

• Speaking of woke bullshit Ruby has embroiled itself in a code of conduct war.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  "To promote inclusion" they have removed the First Law of their existing code of conduct, which previously read:

  Participants will be tolerant of opposing views.

  The rule of the day is now intolerance in the name of inclusion.
  
  Also, Square's "Global Neurodiversity Chair" is - unexpectedly - a fuckhead.
  
  
  
• HP's Chromebook x2 looks nice.  (Thurrott.com)
  
  It's not, of course.  It runs Chrome, leaving all your data hostage to the lunatics at Google.  But the industrial design is close to that of my deceased Spectre x2, which is very nice indeed.
  
  At $680 including the detachable keyboard and pen it's reasonably priced compared to an iPad or Surface Go, both of which charge a bundle if you want to type or draw anything.  
  
  It uses a Snapdragon 7c, which is not a fast chip, but would be fine for ChromeOS or Linux, if you can get it to run your preferred distribution.
  
  
  
• Do not buy an Xbox Series S.  (Tom's Guide)
  
  Given that you can't buy an Xbox Series X or a PlayStation 5, that means just don't play games.
  
  Except Minecraft, which will run on a potato with a little overvolting.
  
  
  
• The PlayStation 4 was doomed to die because of a bug that would trigger when the CMOS battery failed.  (Ars Technica)
  
  If the battery fails, the console connects to the PlayStation Network to set the clock.  If it can't do so, it refuses to play any games.  Doesn't matter that the game disk is in the drive, it won't work.
  
  So they fixed it.
  
  
  
• Apple did not fix the phone number field in their AirTag interface, despite being alerted to a security issue.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Scanning the tag with your iPhone reads the phone number, but that could contain anything at all, including JavaScript, which your phone will then run.
  
  
  
• Everything you never knew you didn't know about JIT compilers and didn't ask because you didn't know you didn't know it.  (Carol Chen)
  
  A pretty good look at PyPy and Graal (a Java JIT compiler), with some information on LuaJIT as well.

Posted by: PatBuckman at Sunday, October 03 2021 10:48 PM (r9O5h)

Posted by: normal at Sunday, October 03 2021 11:43 PM (obo9H)

Posted by: PatBuckman at Monday, October 04 2021 02:13 AM (r9O5h)

Posted by: normal at Monday, October 04 2021 04:39 AM (obo9H)

Posted by: PatBuckman at Monday, October 04 2021 09:50 AM (r9O5h)

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• Gladys Berjerkelian...  Bejekele...  Brelekj...  Gladys, premier of NSW and probably the least horrible state government leader in Australia right now though that's not saying much, has abruptly resigned due to an ongoing corruption investigation.
  
  Expecting things to somehow get worse.
  
  Meanwhile Dictator Dan down south remains firmly entrenched.
  
  
  
• USPS!  Can we ship it?  No we can't.  (USPS)
  
  Not to Australia or New Zealand, anyway.
  
  
  
• Do not use SMS-based two-factor authentication to protect anything of real value.  (The Record)
  
  It's not secure and people will steal your stuff.  In this case, Coinbase wallets.  It sounds like the people affected here might have reused a password leaked by a different site, and the attackers then bypassed  2FA to break into the accounts.
  
  
  

Tech News

• The Acer FA100 looks like a pretty decent lowish-end NVMe SSD.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  It's a DRAMless TLC model; the alternative at this price point is QLC flash with DRAM.  The tradeoffs are complex but for the average user TLC is still a better bet.
  
  The drive is rated up to 3.3GBps for reads and 2.7GBps for writes, which used to be a very high-end product and is now available at under $100 in a 1TB drive.
  
  It's also very power-efficient, so a good choice for upgrading a laptop.
  
  
  
• The Kingston Datatraveler Max UFD is a USB thumb drive that can hit 1GBps.  (AnandTech)
  
  And can sustain that rate for writes for 95 seconds before it runs out of cache and slows down a bit.  Though it gets pretty toasty if you do that, with the chip temperature - not the case - spiking as high as 92C.
  
  
  
• Backblaze data shows SSDs failing nearly as often as hard drives.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Showing an annual failure rate for newer devices of 1.05% for SSDs and 1.38% for hard drives.  That's quite high and I'd like to dig into the details, but I can certainly report having seen expensive enterprise SSDs simply dropping dead without warning.
  
  
  
• ARM server CPUs are cheaper than AMD (and a lot cheaper than Intel).  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Ampere's 80 core Arm server chips can rival AMD's 64 core parts on many benchmarks (though not as I recall for PostgreSQL) at around half the price, and they now offer 128 core models.  They're not as easy to get as AMD or Intel parts, but I've been trying without success to acquire some AMD Epyc Milan servers for work, so "easy to get" is all relative.
  
  
  
• Crypto trading platform Compound gave $90 million to its users by mistake.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Not hacked, just dumb.
  
  
  
• Dude, where's my privacy?  (ZDNet)
  
  Amazon's new devices siphon up your persona data and make you pay for the privilege.
  
  
  
• Jeffy B has praised Amazon Games for its first successful release.  (WCCFTech)
  
  See below.
  
  

Posted by: normal at Sunday, October 03 2021 01:33 AM (obo9H)

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Posted by: cxt217 at Saturday, October 02 2021 11:36 AM (MuaLM)

Posted by: Rick C at Saturday, October 02 2021 12:12 PM (Z0GF0)

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• Appeal #7 sent off to Twitter.  I wonder if anyone ever reads these.
  
  
  
• A list of the top new features coming in Windows 11...  But not yet.  (Thurrott.com)
  
  (It's a premium article, but you can read it with a free registration if you want.)
  
  Android apps?  Not yet.
  Adobe apps?  Not yet.
  Streaming services?  You guessed it.
  Full-screen widgets?  Actually, those are ready to - wait.  Nope.

  Windows 11 is quite good overall, but it can’t be compared in any way to the consistent and modern interface that Apple offers, say, with macOS.

  The words of someone who hasn't tried to use MacOS for any serious work recently.
  
  
  

Tech News

• Let's Encrypt's root certificate has expired and stuff is breaking all over the place.  (ZDNet)
  
  Let's Encrypt replaced their root certificate a long time ago, but if software isn't configured properly - or is simply out of date - it won't be able to access sites using Let's Encrypt anymore.  This affects very old Android devices - unless you install Firefox - and also, it turns out, Palo Alto, Bluecoat, Cisco Umbrella, Catchpoint, Guardian Firewall, Monday.com, PFsense, Google Cloud Monitoring, Azure Application Gateway, OVH, Auth0, Shopify, Xero, QuickBooks, Fortinet, Heroku, Rocket League, InstaPage, Ledger, Netlify, and Cloudflare Pages.  Among others.  Oh, and API testing tool Postman, which just stopped working for me.
  
  
  
• Intel's new Loihi 2 neural network chip has the capacity of 10 millihamsters, sys the company.  (AnandTech)
  
  The chip one million neural circuits, and Wikipedia pegs the Golden hamster at 90 million, so that seems about right.  I mean, such comparisons are 90% fluff, but so are hamsters.
  
  
  
• Corsair's Xeneon 32QHD165 covers 84% of Rec.2020.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  A recent and confusing theme is the outbreak of new colour gamuts.  I know that 100% of sRGB means you get pretty decent colour - not amazing but decent - and 48% of NTSC is crap, but keeping track of all the different gamuts (gami?) and what percentage of each is acceptable is a chore.
  
  It seems at least in this case that 84% of Rec.2020 is equivalent to 116% of DCI-P3.
  
  Or maybe not.  While looking for a price ($800) I found a second review that notes that apart from the wide colour gamut it also has better colour accuracy than Apple's $5000 Pro Display XDR.  (PC Magazine)  But they measure it at 94% of DCI-P3, which is pretty normal for a wide-gamut monitor.
  
  Oh, right.  2560x1440, 165Hz.  DisplayPort, USB-C, and 2x HDMI.
  
  
  
• How to upgrade to Windows 11 and bypass the TPM requirement.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  It's not quite as insane as it looks; they cover both upgrades and clean installs; if you're upgrading you only need the first five steps.
  
  
  
• QNAP has fixed another remote execution vulnerability.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Do not connect anything to the internet.  Ever.

Posted by: normal at Friday, October 01 2021 11:07 PM (LADmw)

Posted by: PatBuckman at Saturday, October 02 2021 02:29 AM (r9O5h)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, October 02 2021 08:12 AM (PiXy!)

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• 96% of third-party containers deployed to the cloud contain known vulnerabilities.  (ZDNet)
  
  And 63% of code used to deploy cloud solutions is also insecure.
  
  Basically if you follow the latest standards and best practices in deploying a containerised cloud solution, you're fucked.
  
  I use containers - both the old and new servers are containerised - but for isolation, not for deployment.  And I certainly don't use third-party containers for production (and rarely even for development).
  
  Docker...  Basically sucks.

• U.S. needs to work with Europe to slow China’s innovation rate, says Commerce Secretary Raimondo.  (CNBC)
  
  That headline struck me as still more paid propaganda for China from the mainstream press, but that's unusual for CNBC.  It's actually a direct quote:

  If we really want to slow down China’s rate of innovation, we need to work with Europe.  ...  We have to work with our European allies to deny China the most advanced technology so that they can’t catch up in critical areas like semiconductors.  ...  We want to work with Europe, to write the rules of the road for technology, whether it’s TikTok or artificial intelligence or cyber.

  That doesn't mean it's not paid propaganda; it's just not CNBC getting paid off.
  
  
  
• Phison has shown a new PCIe 5 SSD controller for both server and client devices.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Toshiba already showed off controllers for server SSDs, but the client models are new.
  
  These will support transfer rates up to 14GB per second.  Which is a lot.
  
  
  
• The users are always wrong.  (UTK)
  
  But so are the programmers, and so are the managers.  The secret to success is to never try to do anything.
  
  
  
• Russia has arrested the head of a cybersecurity company on charges of high treason.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Because he wouldn't roll over for the intelligence agencies running the ransomware gangs.
  
  
  
• Digital pickpocketing the Apple Pay way.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Hackers can spend unlimited amounts on your Visa card from a locked iPhone without the phone ever leaving your pocket.  Apparently does not work with Mastercard or with Android devices.
  
  Researchers notified Apple of this a year ago.
  
  
  
• An entirely different attack has been making the rounds on Android.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Malware embedded in at least 200 apps on the Play Store has been signing people up to unwanted paid subscriptions.  The apps have been removed but that doesn't mean the subscriptions have been cancelled, and it certainly doesn't mean anyone is getting their money back.
  
  

Posted by: normal at Friday, October 01 2021 12:27 AM (LADmw)

Posted by: PatBuckman at Friday, October 01 2021 01:49 AM (r9O5h)

Posted by: cxt217 at Friday, October 01 2021 10:37 AM (MuaLM)

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• Dude, where's my stuff?  (JP Morgan)
  
  Why absolutely everything is out of stock absolutely everywhere.
  
  Which goes double for Australia.
  
  
  

• So that's where the 3000x2000 displays have gone.  (AnandTech)
  
  The Huawei MateBook X Pro has a 3000x2000 display.  On the other hand it doesn't even make an attempt at the Four Essential Keys - there aren't even labels overlaid on the cursor keys, has no storage options, and while it does have a touch screen it doesn't have the stylus that would make that display truly useful.
  
  Kind of meh.  Also made by slave labour for the PLA.
  
  
  
• The WD Red SN700 is an M.2 NVMe SSD intended for caching duty in NAS boxes.  (Anandtech)
  
  That means it's designed for consistent performance and durability rather than the absolute peak throughput or the lowest possible price.  And it's available in capacities up to 4TB, which is currently an under-served category.  (I'm about to buy one, and the available models are not cheap.)
  
  
  
• Twitter fell over.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  And less than nothing of value was lost.
  
  My sixth appeal of my most recent ban is pending now.
  
  
  
• Microsoft's two-factor authentication for Office 365 fell over.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  And it failed safe, so that...  Wait, what?

  This issue could potentially affect any user if they leverage MFA and either Network Policy Server (NPS) or Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) to access Microsoft 365 services. This issue only affect on-premises users, and cloud hosted users are not affected.

  Their cloud service failed in such a way as to only affect those not using their cloud service.
  
  
  
• Apple updated iWorks.  (Thurrott.com)
  
  And it's not a subscription.  But you have to buy a Mac, which is worse.
  
  
  
• Six reasons to replace your Surface Pro 7 with a Surface Pro 8.  (ZDNet)
  
  It's one louder.
  
  
  
• Install Windows 11 on a potato.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  The Universal MediaCreationTool can now create install files for Windows 11.  You still need an activation key, but otherwise it will install regardless of whether your computer meets all of Microsoft's strict compatibility rules, or indeed any of them.
  
  
  
• Microsoft is rushing to fix a bug that leaks Exchange Server login credentials.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  A bug they've known about since 2017.
  
  
  
  
• Jelly much?  (9to5Mac)
  
  The new iPad Mini 6 suffers from visible jelly scrolling.  Apple says this is entirely normal and totally not an issue because, and I quote, fuck you that's why.
  
  The actual cause is that the iPad Mini, a small tablet that will mostly be used to read content in portrait mode, has a screen that is natively in landscape mode.  Jelly scrolling - there's video at the link - appears mostly when you rotate a display so that it's refreshing on one axis and scrolling in the other.  It is to some degree unavoidable if you turn your device sideways.
  
  Apple saves you the trouble by delivering the device sideways out of the box.
  
  
  
• RemObjects Elements for personal use is available for $199 per year.  (Elements)
  
  It supports Object Pascal, C#, Basic, Swift, Java, and Go, and compiles to .NET, iOS, Android, WebAssembly, JVM, and native binaries for Windows, Mac, and Linux - including the Raspberry Pi.
  

Posted by: normal at Thursday, September 30 2021 10:43 AM (obo9H)

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• Facebook has abandoned the idea of Instagram for Kids after everyone in the Universe, and many people from nearby universes, told them what a terrible idea it was.  (Hot Hardware)
  
  The planned app was to target children under 13.  You do have to wonder where these people come from and how small their bubbles are that they even contemplated this.
  
  They say that YouTube and TikTok have versions for children, but YouTube has  - always has had - content for children, and TikTok is an internationally designated relativistic black hole targeting zone.
  
  
  

Tech News

• For just $3 you can strangle AMP at its source.  (Apple)
  
  This is a Safari extension for iOS that finds Google AMP links and converts them to take you to the original content instead.
  
  
  
• The problem with the blockchain is the blockchain.  (The Block Crypto)
  
  Oops.  Accidentally spent $22 million in transaction fees to transfer $100k.
  
  
  
• Spider.
  
  
  
• The problem with North Korea is North Korea.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  If you try to travel secretly to North Korea, people will notice and assume you are up to no good - particularly when you are up to no good.
  
  
  
• This is impossible.  What mistake are you making?  (Quanta)
  
  The discovery of a double charm tetraquark was met with appropriate levels of skepticism, but seems to check out.  Unlike those faster-than-light neutrinos that were all down to a faulty cable.
  
  
  
• Sydney is fully exiting lockdown December 1.
  
  No vaccine mandates, no vaccine passports, no intrastate travel restrictions.
  
  The past couple of months have still been appallingly authoritarian and a huge overreaction, but they at least had the sense to back off before it blew up in their faces.  Assuming they actually follow through.  We'll see.
  
  Melbourne continues to spiral into the abyss.
  
  
  
• The FCC is setting up a $1.9 billion fund to rip Chinese spy equipment out of US communications networks.  (ZDNet)
  
  Larger telcos can't access the funds, but smaller carriers, schools, libraries, and other organisations providing internet access are eligible.
  
  This is not the worst way to spend public funds.

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, September 28 2021 11:48 PM (Z0GF0)

Posted by: MadRocketSci at Wednesday, September 29 2021 05:02 AM (hRoyQ)

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• Chipmakers to carmakers: Get out of the Stone Age.  (Fortune)
  
  Carmakers to chipmakers: Your old chips actually fucking worked.  Well, not worked as such, but failed in documented ways.  It takes years to validate a new design, and not taking the time to do that validation could get people killed.
  
  
  
• Why is Elizabeth Holmes facing criminal charges when other tech CEOs aren't?  It's because she's a wxmxn, isn't it?  (NPR)
  
  Because she's a wxmxn who engaged in fraud that could have killed people, yes.
  
  
  

Tech News

• A review of AMD's "new" 4700S CPU.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  This is actually a a broken PlayStation 5 chip with the graphics cores disabled.  It has up to 16GB of soldered-in GDDR6 memory - much faster than DDR4 - but the PlayStation was never designed to support a separate GPU so it only has 4 lanes of PCIe 2.0, which is kind of crap.
  
  It's an adequate desktop CPU but useless for gaming.  But if the price is right and you're not planning to play games it might work fine.
  
  
  
• AMD hit 16% market share on server CPU sales in the last quarter.  (WCCFTech)
  
  Up from basically 0% five years ago.
  
  
  
• Forget machine learning, return to inverse FFT.  (Revue)
  
  A simpler approach to eliminating Moiré patterns, and one that actually works.
  
  
  
• A raytraced Minecraft clone running on a budget FPGA.  (GitHub)
  
  Pretty basic but kind of neat.  It's a 16-bit CPU running at 32MHz, but has hardware designed to run the game's graphics and physics.
  
  
  

Posted by: PatBuckman at Monday, September 27 2021 11:10 PM (r9O5h)

Posted by: normal at Tuesday, September 28 2021 12:56 AM (LADmw)

Posted by: MadRocketSci at Tuesday, September 28 2021 04:35 AM (hRoyQ)

Posted by: MadRocketSci at Tuesday, September 28 2021 05:13 AM (hRoyQ)

Posted by: normal at Tuesday, September 28 2021 06:35 AM (obo9H)

Posted by: PatBuckman at Tuesday, September 28 2021 09:35 AM (r9O5h)

Posted by: PatBuckman at Tuesday, September 28 2021 11:46 AM (r9O5h)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, September 28 2021 02:54 PM (PiXy!)

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