Sunday, August 02
Daily News Stuff 2 August 2026
Omniglot Edition
Omniglot Edition
Top Story
- Microsoft has vowed to make Windows 11 actually work in 8GB of RAM, which is timely given that the company is shipping Windows PCs with 8GB of RAM. (Tom's Hardware)
Before the DRAM Apocalypse advice was simple: Do not buy a system with 8GB of RAM unless it is user-upgradable and you plan to immediately upgrade it.
Now the advice is more along the lines of: Buy a Mac, or run Linux.
Since both of those options hit Microsoft below the water line, the company is finally bothering to start to unshit its bed. Long overdue and the outcome remains to be seen, but at least they're trying. Or claiming to try.
Tech News
- Scanning 7.6 petabytes of AI data for secrets. (Truffle Security)
This is the entire public repository of AI models at Hugging Face.
The scan found 221,303 live credentials, $3.67 in change, and a Werther's Original that is presumed to still be edible.
- Is this Billboard Hot 100 hit AI slop? (The Verge)
(shake shake)
Signs point to yeah, baby.
- Major record labels are proposing to join forces to force AI slop out of the charts. (The Verge)
Replacing it with regular slop.
- Apple's stock price has slid by 10% as the company notices that hey, they also need to pay more for memory. (Yahoo)
Apple does have long-term agreements in place, but those agreements aren't all that long term, and as they sign new agreements during the ongoing drought they find that they no longer have a decisive upper hand.
- Google plans to exempt Android developers in sanctioned nations from otherwise required verification. (Ars Technica)
So if you're a hacker based in North Korea, Cuba, or the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine, it's business as normal.
That makes sense.
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: Chicago?
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
06:21 PM
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1
If Microsoft really wants to reduce RAM usage, they could start by removing their dumb AI integration everywhere: that background code costs both CPU time and RAM while it's running, and it's not useful for most people most of the time.
... Huh. https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2026/05/01/windows-quality-update-progress-weve-made-since-march/ ay they're "reduc[ing] where Copilot shows up across Windows, focusing on bringing AI where it’s most valuable."
The next thing they could do is remove those stupid ads from the Start menu, and turn it back into an actual list of programs. Integrated search can stay, it wasn't horrible to click "Start", type "fi" and get Firefox auto-selected so that pressing Enter launched it. But all those Xbox Live (and so on) squares in the menu? They do nothing for 99% of users except consume small amounts of RAM, and CPU/GPU to display their silly animations. Really small amounts, but it does add up to non-trivial amounts when there's a couple dozen of them.
... Welp. https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2026/07/13/improving-windows-search-box-with-less-clutter-and-more-control/ says "Promotional content has been removed from web results" and the search results are also looking cleaner.
Linux is still the best choice for RAM-constrained systems, though: most Linux distros give you so much more control over your own computer than Windows does. But it seems that at least some of Microsoft's recent changes aren't totally boneheaded. Some.
... Huh. https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2026/05/01/windows-quality-update-progress-weve-made-since-march/ ay they're "reduc[ing] where Copilot shows up across Windows, focusing on bringing AI where it’s most valuable."
The next thing they could do is remove those stupid ads from the Start menu, and turn it back into an actual list of programs. Integrated search can stay, it wasn't horrible to click "Start", type "fi" and get Firefox auto-selected so that pressing Enter launched it. But all those Xbox Live (and so on) squares in the menu? They do nothing for 99% of users except consume small amounts of RAM, and CPU/GPU to display their silly animations. Really small amounts, but it does add up to non-trivial amounts when there's a couple dozen of them.
... Welp. https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2026/07/13/improving-windows-search-box-with-less-clutter-and-more-control/ says "Promotional content has been removed from web results" and the search results are also looking cleaner.
Linux is still the best choice for RAM-constrained systems, though: most Linux distros give you so much more control over your own computer than Windows does. But it seems that at least some of Microsoft's recent changes aren't totally boneheaded. Some.
Posted by: Robin Munn at Sunday, August 02 2026 09:54 PM (PkD3w)
2
Stuck at a laundromat and Katy Perry on the muzak. If only it was merely dreadful ai slop.
Posted by: normal at Monday, August 03 2026 03:54 AM (7jZjl)
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