• How are things going with our friends at The Verge oh God.  (The Verge)
  
  Did you know chlorpromazine comes in tanker cars now?
  
  I think two or three should do the job.
  
  For today.
  
  
  
  

Tech News

• Google Fiber is now rolling out its 20 gigabit internet service, for $250 per month.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  For $250 per month I can get 250 megabits.  While that's A$250 - about US$150 - 250 megabits is a lot less than 20 gigabits.
  
  
  
• TSMC is ramping up to ship 2nm chips in volume in 2025.  (WCCFTech)
  
  Apple will be the first major customer, as has become the norm.  But the iPhone has paid for TSMC's massive technical advances over the past decade, so I don't begrudge Apple its typical 12-month exclusivity period.
  
  
  
• Huawei meanwhile is working on 5nm chips.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  China is currently stuck at 14nm because they can't buy the EUV optical tools needed for finer process nodes due to sanctions, and can't make their own because they're decades behind in that particular part of the tech sector.
  
  So what they're doing is something called multi-patterning: By running a chip through the process multiple times, very very carefully, you can end up with finer details than you can by just doing it once.
  
  Problem is each pass through the machine increases the cost and increases the failure rate, so cost goes up exponentially.  It's very much a stopgap approach, and unlikely to see adoption in any mainstream devices.
  
  
  
• After acquiring VMWare, Broadcom is on a newfound mission to fuck both its customers and its staff.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Perpetual licenses are out; all products will now be subscription-only.
  
  Also out are nearly 3000 employees.

Posted by: normal at Wednesday, December 13 2023 08:10 PM (bg2DR)

Posted by: madrocketsci at Wednesday, December 13 2023 10:56 PM (hRoyQ)

Posted by: madrocketsci at Wednesday, December 13 2023 11:01 PM (hRoyQ)

Posted by: Rick C at Thursday, December 14 2023 12:44 AM (BMUHC)

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• In the lawsuit brought by Epic Games, a San Francisco jury has unanimously found that Google's Play Store violated antitrust law in control both access to content and payment options.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Which is great news for Epic Games - and other mobile content creators - except that two years after Epic won a similar but narrower victory against Apple, that decision is still going through the appeals process.

• Speaking of mobile content and antitrust violations Beeper Mini, the iMessage app for Android, is back again, just days after Apple killed it.  (Beeper)
  
  You need to use it with an Apple ID for now (a registered email address) rather than directly with your phone number, but they're working on restoring that functionality.
  
  Since Apple is likely to try to break it again, they've made the app free as well.
  
  
  
• Looking to spend over $4000 for a four-port 100Mb Ethernet switch this Christmas?  Yes?  Stop that right now.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  You can get a five-port gigabit switch for under $10 these days, and this thing is worse in every possible way.
  
  
  
• The Aurga Viewer is a remote control device for anything with an HDMI port and USB.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  That could be a PC, a games console, an AV transceiver, or even a toaster.
  
  It doesn't require any software to be installed on the device you are controlling, just plug it in and wreak havoc.
  
  
  

• CAMM2 is now an official JEDEC standard.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Originally invented by Dell, this is a replacement for the SODIMM laptop memory modules that have been around for 25 years.
  
  While not smaller in area - it still needs to accommodate the same memory chips - it is a lot thinner, and one module can fit 128GB of memory on a 128-bit bus.
  
  It also supports faster LPDDR5 memory - the stuff that is normally soldered directly onto the motherboard - and optionally even GDDR6 graphics memory.
  
  I really hope this sees market acceptance.

• World of Warcraft is powered by invisible bunnies.  (Kotaku)
  
  This article from six years ago is almost interesting; it's a peek into an era when game journalism was just lazy, corrupt, and incompetent, before the writers actively hated their own readers.
  
  
  
• Want a 27" 8k monitor?  TCL will be shipping one next year.  (WCCFTech)
  
  I'm waiting for 8k prices to crash the way 4k prices did.  I want one - several, really - but they're not justifiable right now.
  
  There will be a 16k standard after this, but you won't ever need that.  Unless you're particularly fussy about display details - and either have very good eyesight or prescription computer glasses - you don't need 8k either.
  
  
  
• The first tomato ever grown in space has been found.  (CBS)
  
  It was at the back of the fridge, on the bottom shelf, behind that jar of plum jam that nobody liked.

Posted by: normal at Monday, December 11 2023 10:26 PM (bg2DR)

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, December 12 2023 12:25 AM (BMUHC)

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• EU member states - led by Bookburner General Thierry Breton - have agreed to landmark AI regulations that fine foreign companies 7% of annual revenues.  (Ars Technica)
  
  So nothing has changed in the EU.
  
  

• The story of how Qantas flight 32 from London to Sydney did not end in a fiery crash and the deaths of all 469 passengers and crew.  (Medium)
  
  Though it came uncomfortable close to that.  What started with an oil leak escalated in the course of a single minute to an engine exploding with such violence that a piece of the turbine demolished a brick wall on the ground 7000 feet below.
  
  I deal with failure cascades like this at my day job, but the worst I have to worry about is angry customers, not dead ones.
  
  
  
• A Harvard "disinformation researcher", and one of the lead "journalists" covering the "Facebook Papers" "leaked" by "whistleblower" Frances Haugen has accused the university of buckling to Facebook's half a billion dollar donation and canning her ugly, worthless, XXXXL arse.  (Columbia Journalism Review)
  
  To unpack that a little:
  
  Disinformation researchers are book burners.
  Journalists are increasingly also book burners.
  The Facebook Papers were a political hit job.
  Frances Haugen was a paid assassin who wasn't very good at her work.
  
  So all in all it's a feel good story except for the bit where Harvard got to keep the money.
  
  
  
• The number of "significant" air traffic control incidents in the US fiscal 2023 increased by 65% over the same period on 2022.  (New York Times)  (archive site)
  
  That's probably not good.

• The duck has been cooked.
  
  Came out great.  Could have used a little more seasoning perhaps, but the skin crisped up just right and the meat wasn't dry at all.
  
  I have acquired a chicken to try out the new slow cooker, but not today, because today I am full of duck.
  
  
  
• Beeper Mini is an Android iMessage client from the team behind Beeper, an Android everything-but-iMessage client.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Through a clever bit of reverse engineering it is able to talk directly to Apple's messaging servers and interoperate with MacOS and iOS devices.
  
  
  
• Beeper Mini is dead, killed by Apple.  (Tech Crunch)
  
  It was three days old.

• Phison is set to unveil new consumer SSD controllers that can hit 14.7GBps.  (AnandTech)
  
  That's pretty much the speed limit of a PCIe 5.0 x4 connection, so don't expect any advances on that until PCIe 6.0 comes out.
  
  Which won't be until...  Next year.
  
  Right now, SSDs are the only consumer devices using PCIe 5.0; even Nvidia's RTX 4090 is still built on 4.0.
  
  
  
• If you want as much PCIe 5.0 as you can get you can't go far wrong with the Asus Pro WS WRX90E-SAGE SE.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  It has seven PCIe slots, six of then PCIe 5.0 x16, and the seventh PCIe 5.0 x8, plus four M.2 slots, all PCIe 5.0 x4.
  
  Cheap at $1299.  Then you'll need to spend the same again for an entry-level Threadripper Pro 7000 CPU.  Oh, and eight sticks of DDR5 ECC registered memory.
  
  
  
• New benchmarks have leaked for Intel's Meteor Lake laptop chips, and once again they are slower than current AMD chips while consuming more power.  (WCCFTech)
  
  Not a great combination.
  
  
  
• The Biden Administration is threatening to revoke patents of high-priced drugs developed using taxpayer money.  (Associated Press)
  
  That's...  Actually not entirely without merit.
  
  Just mostly.
  
  

Posted by: normal at Saturday, December 09 2023 10:21 PM (bg2DR)

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• The FTC has filed a lawsuit to prevent Microsoft from buying Activision.  (Reuters)
  
  The only problem is Microsoft has already bought Activision.
  
  The only other problem is that the FTC is making the same argument that was already thrown out by a district court back in July.
  
  So good luck with that.

• How many people lived in Middle Earth?  (Medium)
  
  7.6 million.
  
  There.  Now you know.
  
  That's a lot less than lived in Medieval Europe, but as we see in the movies, large parts of Middle Earth were depopulated by the time of the War of the Ring.
  
  
  
• The latest update to Systemd brings the Blue Screen of Death to Linux.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Great.  Thanks guys.  Possibly your crowning achievement.
  
  
  
• The first benchmark results for Intel's new 144 core Sierra Forest server CPUs are here.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  They suck.  The single-threaded score is only a little more than half that of AMD's 128 core Bergamo chip, and the multi-threaded score is less than half.
  
  Ignoring the fact that they used two 144 core chips to get that result, because the benchmark result barely shifted when the second chip was added.
  
  Sierra Forest uses only the low-power Efficiency cores.  So does Bergamo, but AMD's equivalent to Intel's E cores - Zen 4C - is superior in every way.
  
  
  

• Short one tonight, rebuilding a failed 8TB MongoDB cluster.  Fortunately this is a new system, so customers are waiting for it to be deployed rather than panicking because their sites are down.
  
  
  
• AMD's Ryzen 8000 mobile CPUs are here.  (AnandTech)
  
  They are AMD's Ryzen 7000 mobile CPUs.
  
  Literally.
  
  The new AI core introduced last year has had a clock speed bump, but CPU cores, graphics, memory, and everything else are identical to last year's models.
  
  

• Acer has announced the Nitro V 16, a laptop with the "new" Ryzen 8845HS.  (Notebook Check)
  
  It looks like a decent laptop despite note being new in any way.
  
  
  
• Meta has announced a new standalone AI image generator.  (Tech Crunch)
  
  So you can download and run it locally?
  
  No.
  
  You just don't need to log in to Facebook.
  
  Maybe.
  
  
  
• How AI assistants are changing the way code is written.  (MIT Technology Review)
  
  By making everything worse.

• Intel has called out AMD for its dubious practice of shipping older Zen 2 cores in some of the current Ryzen 7000 family of chips.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  The only problem here is that Intel sells 13th generation cores as 14th generation, and 12th generation cores as 13th generation, so while they're not wrong, they are certainly hypocrites.

• A man has died after drinking three glasses of lemonade from Panera.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Three glasses of caffeinated lemonade.
  
  Three large glasses of caffeinated lemonade.
  
  Depending on the size he ordered, which isn't mentioned, that was the equivalent of eight to twelve cups of strong black coffee, all at once.
  
  And yes, he already had a blood pressure problem.
  
  So maybe don't do that.
  
  Also maybe don't sell 30 ounce glasses of caffeinated lemonade with free refills.
  
  
  
• Green card applicants have recently won the right to be secretly surveilled by the FBI under Section 702, just like American citizens.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Liberte, egalite, espionnage.
  
  
  

Posted by: Any Mouse at Thursday, December 07 2023 11:14 AM (FMxtE)

Posted by: J Greely at Friday, December 08 2023 11:39 AM (oJgNG)

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• US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has called out Nvidia for selling advanced AI chips to China in compliance with her own regulations.  (Fortune)
  
  The Department of Commerce blocked sales of Nvidia's most powerful graphics cards to China, so Nvidia sent less powerful cards that complied with the regulations.
  
  The department blocked those sales, so Nvidia sold even less powerful cards...  That were assembled in China in the first place.

  "It matters not if you obey the rules I have set forth.  If you endeavour to design a chip around a particular line that enables the forces of evil to explore AI, I shall move to control it the very next day," Raimondo said.  "And now at last it comes.  You will give me the chips freely!  In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen.  And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night!  Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain!  Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning!  Stronger than the foundations of the earth.  All shall love me and despair!"

• Hacked so hard your ancestors will need identity insurance: Hackers were able to access 14,000 23 and Me accounts, probably by finding individual reused passwords from a prior data breach elsewhere.  (Tech Crunch)
  
  From there they were able to access ancestry information of 6.9 million additional accounts.
  
  The breach of 14,000 accounts was announced back in October, along with indications that it affected far, far more people than that.  Now we know how many more.
  
  
  
• You get a free LaserJet!  And you get a free LaserJet!  Everyone gets free LaserJets!  (XDA Developers)
  
  Have a printer attached to a Windows 10 or 11 system?  Don't look now, but it may have metamorphosed into an HP LaserJet M101-106 overnight.
  
  
  
• After seven years of legal wrangling, almost 100,000 Google employees are now getting an extra $20.  (SF Gate)
  
  Not $20 an hour, which would be fairly generous.  Not $20 per week, or per month.
  
  $20.
  
  From the settlement, the lawyers take one third; the state of California takes three quarters of what's left.  That doesn't leave a lot, and it's being divided 100,000 ways.
  
  
  
• Kioxia's (Toshiba's SSD division) new PCIe 5 server SSD hits 14GB per second.  (Serve the Home)
  
  And you can fit dozens of them in a single server.
  
  
  
• Exposed developer tokens in Hugging Face allowed write access to Llama 2 and other LLMs.  (The Register)
  
  Access tokens want to be free.
  
  
  

Posted by: normal at Tuesday, December 05 2023 06:09 PM (bg2DR)

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• Plants may be absorbing 20% more CO2 than scientists thought.  (New Atlas)
  
  And will continue to do so through to the end of the century.
  
  After that they'll get smashed at the 2099 New Years celebrations and we'll all suffocate the next day, but until then we should be fine.

• Let's learn how modern JavaScript frameworks work by building one.  (Nolan Lawson)
  
  Next week: Let's learn how diphtheria spreads by starting an epidemic.
  
  
  
• The Fediverse is the perfect tool to take stuffy old "learned societies" mired in the Victorian era and extinguish them entirely.  (LSE)
  
  Okay.
  
  
  
• Physicists have found a hard limit on the performance of quantum computers.  (Science Alert)
  
  But when they were measuring how fast it was going they lost track of where it was.
  
  
  

Posted by: bob in houston at Tuesday, December 05 2023 12:38 AM (YBLgY)

Posted by: PatBuckman at Tuesday, December 05 2023 01:36 AM (r9O5h)

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