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Posted by: Rick C at Saturday, March 09 2019 02:30 AM (Iwkd4)

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• Surprising exactly no-one, AMD will be releasing a third-generation Threadripper CPU this year. (AnandTech)
  
  No specs yet, but it will be using the new chiplet and I/O die design shown off at CES, which means it could go as high as 64 cores.
  
  Intel are stuck at 28 cores for now, so it will be an interesting year for the high-end desktop.
  
  
• A leak by Fujitsu confirmed earlier leaks of Intel's 9th generation family. (Fanless Tech)
  
  This includes a 35W 8 core i9-9900T and 8 core Xeon E2200 parts, which will arrive just in time to get stomped by AMD.
  
  
• GPU prices are down and likely to stay down and cards are actually in stock for a change. (PC Perspective)
  
  Yay, I guess. I'm good for at least a couple of years though.
  
  
• But someone forgot to tell Colorful. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  
• Windows 7 goes into extended support on April 1. Support plans will start at $25 per system per year which sounds fine. (WCCFTech)
  
  But the price doubles every year, meaning that after just 100 years we'll all probably be dead and won't care anyway.
  
  
• Supermicro's M11SDV-4CT-LN4F is another embedded mini-ITX server board. (Serve the Home)
  
  Only four SATA ports on this one though so meh.
  
  
• Consciousness is one of the few scientific fields of studies where people can earn PhDs and spend decades working on theories and gathering data and end up knowing less about the subject than a dead turtle does about magnetic containment fusion reactors. (Quanta)
  
  Panpsychism? Yeah, sure, and phlogiston and luminiferous aether and the inheritance of acquired characteristics you goddamn frauds.
  
  Update: Why can a random layperson on Twitter not only grasp but eloquently convey what these boneheads cannot?
  
  

  It's the brain contemplating itself, the ultimate Escher sketch.

  — dicentra ن (@dicentra33) March 7, 2019

  
  

• The American mainstream news media has an aggregate IQ of 3. (TechDirt)
  
  In this case taking "America" fairly broadly.

Posted by: Rick C at Friday, March 08 2019 08:38 AM (Iwkd4)

Posted by: Rick C at Friday, March 08 2019 08:42 AM (Iwkd4)

Posted by: Rick C at Friday, March 08 2019 12:25 PM (Iwkd4)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Friday, March 08 2019 12:47 PM (xOgT9)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Friday, March 08 2019 12:54 PM (xOgT9)

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• A team of Chinese and American scientsts has invented infravision pills.  (Cell)
  
  Well, not pills.  It needs to be injected.  Directly into the eyeball.  But!
  
  
• The EU's terrible horrible no good very bad copyright legislation might violate the GDPR.  (TechDirt)
  
  
• VPNs are no privacy panacaea.  (TechDirt)
  
  Free VPNs are selling your data.  Paid VPNs are quite possibly also selling your data.
  
  
• Drupal had a nasty vulnerability patched recently; the patch of course meant the vulnerability was publicly announced, so attackers swarmed on it to try to hack sites before they could be updated.
  
  Cloudflare deployed a custom firewall rule to block attacks the same day.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Having half the websites in the world behind one CDN is worrisome, but it has advantages sometimes.
  
  
• Intel's Stratix FPGAs now support 58Gbps signals and 400Gb Ethernet.  (Intel)
  
  Intel also recently showed off a working 112 Gbps transceiver for their next generation FPGAs.
  
  Which doesn't seem immediately useful for the average computer owner - except that this is the technology that will become PCIe 6.0 and PCIe 7.0 in a few years time.
  
  
• PEP 584 is one of those do-this-ten-years-ago PEPs.  (python.org)
  
  If there are obvious semantics for + and - for a datatype, implement them.

• The USB Promoter Group announced the announcement of the release of the USB4 spec.  (AnandTech)
  
  The spec itself is expected to be announced by the middle of the year.  It's "based on" Thunderbolt 3, but the announcement of what that means hasn't been announced yet.  Expensive cables is a good bet, though.
  
  With this, USB 3.2 Gen 1 will be renamed USB4 Gen 1, USB 3.2 Gen 2 will become USB4 Gen 2, and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 will become USB4 Gen 2x2.  The new speed will be named USB4 Gen 4x4.
  
  Or maybe not.  Who knows?  These guys have all the branding sense of Supermicro.
  
  
• The University of California told Elsevier to take a hike.  (TechDirt)
  
  Elsevier is the Engulf and Devour of the academic publishing world, so this is significant.
  
  
• SPOILER is yet another speculative execution flaw in Intel CPUs.  (The Register)
  
  Though it's not clear how significant it is.  Reportedly it doesn't affect Arm or AMD CPUs.
  
  

Elsewhere

Picture of the Day

Posted by: Rick C at Wednesday, March 06 2019 01:40 AM (Iwkd4)

Posted by: Rick C at Wednesday, March 06 2019 02:30 AM (Iwkd4)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, March 06 2019 08:53 AM (PiXy!)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wednesday, March 06 2019 11:34 AM (xOgT9)

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• Linux 5.0 is out!  (Phoronix)
  
  The bug that led to a week's delay turned out not the be a significant problem, but the extra week allowed things to settle down a bit so all is well.
  
  
• Did a Singapore retailer just leak all the Ryzen 3000 configurations and pricing?  (Reddit)
  
  Probably not.  Looks like they copied and pasted the previous unconfirmed leaks right into their price list.
  
  
• XKCDify your Matplotlib charts.
  
  This is actually kind of cool.  You can see how it makes information more accessible by being less perfect.
  
  
• An 8-port 10GbE router/switch for $270?  (Serve the Home)
  
  Well, maybe.  It's MicroTik, which has a less than stellar security record.  And it's underpowered for L3 / routing functions.  But switching works fine, and it's passively cooled.  (And it's A$350 locally, which is pretty good.)
  
  But it's SFP+ rather than 10Gbase-T.  They don't seem to have any 10Gbase-T models at all.
  
  
• In a timely reminder that everyone's a goddamn idiot, it looks like Chinese surveillance teams left their collected data in a publicly-exposed MongoDB database with no password.  (Bleeping Computer)

  "There is no security. It looks like they have NO CLUE what they are doing,” the researcher told us.

• The QuadrigaCX mystery deepens.  (NewsBTC)
  
  The CEO of Quadriga died in a hospital in India last December.  (There were suggestions he faked his own death, but there seems to be a death certificate and a body, which would be tricky to arrange.)
  
  Most of the funds held on behalf of clients were stored offline on cold wallets, which is standard practice - if it's not plugged in, you can't hack it.  But only the CEO had the necessary password, so C$190 million disappeared overnight, leaving staff scrambling to recover access.
  
  Only...  No deposits were made to the known cold wallets since April of last year.  All the information is public, but no-one has been able to trace through the maze just yet.
  
  
• A roundup of Ryzen V1000 and Epyc 3000 boards.  (Serve the Home)
  
  Ryzen V1000 is an embedded version of the Ryzen 2000-series APUs - up to 4 cores and Vega 11.  Epyc 3000 is something that so far doesn't exist on the desktop, a one or two die CPU package, with between 4 and 16 cores.
  
  There are ITX and STX and all sorts of other formats to choose from.
  
  
• This waifu does not exist.  (thiswaifudoesnotexist.net)
  
  This waifu does not exist.
  
  
  
  This waifu does not exist?
  

• Lenovo's Tab V7 is a reasonably-priced 7" phoneblet.  (Android Central)
  
  6.95" 2160x1080 screen, Snapdragon 450 (eight core A53, 1.8GHz), 3/32GB or 4/64GB, USB-C, headphone jack, LTE, and just one camera each on the front and back.  5180mAh battery, total weight 195g.
  
  €249 for the base model, price not yet given for the 4/64GB model.
  
  It's not anything special design-wise, but with the lack of compelling small tablets lately it might be worth taking a look.  I'd prefer 1920x1200 (as on the 2013 Nexus 7, which I still have and still works), but a wider screen makes it hard to thumb-type.
  
  
• The semiconductor industry will need new resist chemistries if it is to reach the 1nm process node.  (EETimes)
  
  Well, that's a bit of a down - wait, 1nm?
  
  "But", you say, "1nm is only five silicon atoms wide.  How can they do that?"
  
  The answer is surprisingly simple, and uses a technique known to the semiconductor industry since the beginning.  It's a lie.  Nothing about the 1nm node is actually 1nm.  But since nothing about the current 7nm process is actually 7nm, this doesn't matter as much as you might expect.
  
  
• Update your ColdFusion deployments now!  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  People still use ColdFusion?  Well, Supermicro does.  I was pasting in the links yesterday and I was all "Dot c-f-m?  Seriously?"
  
  
• Japan's SDF tells SJWs to get bent, says Strike Witches is awesome.  (One Angry Gamer)
  
  "Also, they are wearing pants."
  
  
• Space X launches a dragon into orbit.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Nothing about launching dragons into space could possibly turn out badly.
  
  
• Facebook is finally shutting down its Onavo bullshit spyware free VPN.  (TechDirt)
  
  This comes after Apple yanked a similar Facebook bullshit spyware free VPN from the App Store and revoked Facebook's enterprise certificate.

• Lenovo's Yoga C930 has a quad-core CPU, up to 16GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD, Thunderbolt, a pen, Dolby Atmos sound - and a terrible, terrible display.  (AnandTech)
  
  Remember that Acer laptop where greens were really green and whites were green and blues were also green?  Same deal here.  Might even be the same panel.
  
  AnandTech tested the 1080p model; there's also a 4K option which would necessarily be using a different panel and might be better.
  
  Also, it doesn't have dedicated PgUp/PgDn/Home/End keys despite being a 14" laptop, so no-one should buy it anyway.
  
  
• Chuwi's Aerobook is a 13.3" 1080p laptop that does have dedicated PgUp/PgDn/Home/End keys.  (AnandTech)
  
  8GB RAM and 128GB SSD, which isn't much, but the storage is user-upgradable and the price is expected to be $499.  Only real problem then is the CPU - a sluggish ultra low power Core M.
  
  Chuwi also announced the Ubook, an 11.6" model with a pen and detachable keyboard, expected to cost from $469 for the base model to $699 with 1TB of SSD.
  
  
• Supermicro's A2SDi-8C+-HLN4F is more than just a forgotten Hugo Gernsback novel.  (Serve the Home)
  
  It's a mini-ITX board with an 8 core Atom (the good Atom, so it's merely kind of slow rather than abominable), four DIMM slots supporting up to 256GB ECC RAM, 12 SATA ports, 4 GbE ports plus an extra for the BMC, one M.2 slot (PCIe 3.0 x 2) and one PCIe slot (x4).
  
  
  
  And it uses just 33W at full load.
  
  If you need faster networking, the A2SDi-H-TF has dual 10GbE ports rather than the quad 1GbE.  And if you need a bit more CPU oomph, the A2SDi-H-TP4F has a 16 core Atom CPU, dual 10GBaseT, and dual 10Gb SPF+ ports.
  
  
  
• Astrophysicists finesse the FRB.  (Quanta)
  
  
• Is a 32" 4K display with 95% DCI-P3 gamut a good deal at $349?  (Tech Report)
  
  Maybe.  Some reviews on Amazon say that the contrast ratio is, well, crap.  Others seem to be happy with it though.
  
  

• Never one to under-react to a fake crisis, YouTube is reportedly disabling comments on all videos featuring young children.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  
• The EU just fell foul of its own planned fake news regulations.  (TechDirt)
  
  In a fit of irony that only people with at least two functioning brain cells could have predicted.

• Xiaomi is teaming up with Light - makers of that weird 16-camera camera - to make multiple multiple camera phones.  (AnandTech)
  
  Where "multiple" can mean as many as 18.
  
  
  
  
• Lenovo has a 595 gram 14" portable monitor.  (AnandTech)
  
  Only 1080p though, so meh.
  
  
• The FTC fined dietary supplement company Cure Encapsulations $12.8 million for posting fake reviews on Amazon.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Pretty Cure Review Stars was not the most popular season of the franchise.
  
  
• Hyperloop says it can get people from Sydney to Canberra in 22 minutes.  (ZDNet)
  
  Which is great because it means you can be back in Sydney in 44 minutes.

• Oppo also showed off a foldable phoneblet - just a prototype in this case.  (Ars Technica)
  
  It looks a lot like the Huawei Mate X, with a wraparound screen on the outside and a hand grip thingy.
  
  
• Samsung's Exynos 9820 vs Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855.  (Ars Technica)
  
  The Galaxy S10 range uses Samsung's own CPU in many parts of the world.  How does it compare?  It's...  Okay.
  
  
• USB 3.2 should show up this year.  (Ars Technica)
  
  To make things simpler, 5Gbps USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 Gen 1 will be renamed USB 3.2 Gen 1, 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 will be renamed USB 3.2 Gen 2, and the new 20Gbps standard will be named USB 3.2 Gen 2x2.
  
  Guys?  USB 5, USB 10, USB 20.
  
  You're welcome.
  
  
• Supermicro motherboards can host persistent rats in their BMC.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  This is one of the reasons everyone doubted that Bloomberg story - if you want to hack servers, it's much simpler to do it in software.
  
  At the moment the cure is to simply update the BMC firmware before deploying or re-deploying a server.
  
  
• Zero Server.

  It allows you to build your application without worrying about package management or routing. Write your code in a mix of Node.js, React, HTML, MDX, and static files and put them all in a folder.

  Take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.
  
  Twice.
  
  
• Amazon Personalize is a new AWS API that provides the same recommendation engine used by the Amazon online store.
  
  Lol.
  
  Lol.
  
  Lol.
  
  Lol.
  
  The marketing team at my day job asked me to whip up a quick recommendation system.  I gave them a search engine instead, since I wasn't in the market for busywork for a dozen generations of grad students.
  
  
• ASRock Rack's X470D4U is a Ryzen (AM4) server motherboard.
  
  Yes.  Finally.
  
  MicroATX form factor, which is fine.  Supports either up to 64GB of RAM, or 64GB RAM modules.  Since it uses unbuffered memory and 64GB unbuffered modules don't exist yet, it's not entirely clear which.
  
  
  
  6 8 SATA ports, 2 NVMe slots (x4 and x2), 2 + 1 GbE ports (the extra for the BMC module), 2 USB 3.1 ports, and VGA.  Three PCI slots, the first slot with bifurcation support for a riser card.
  
  A couple of extra SATA ports would have been nice, but still a pretty nice board.  With the upcoming Ryzen 3000 chips this year it will allow a new wave of cheap and very fast servers with ECC memory, and blow Intel out of the water.
  
  Update: It does have a couple of extra SATA ports.  The spec sheet is a bit confusing.  6 ports off the chipset and two extra ports off an Asmedia controller.  On the board picture (now included) it's much clearer.
  
  
• And then everyone got the clap.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Thunderclap attacks devices with Thunderbolt ports because Thunderbolt directly exposes the internal PCIe bus.  IOMMU is supposed to prevent this, but only MacOS universally supports it and even there it has flaws.
  
  
• SK Hynix detailed its upcoming 16Gb DDR5-6400 memory chips.  (AnandTech)
  
  Okay, so...  Unless JEDEC have changed things, 6400MT/s is the top speed specified for DDR5, and manufacturers are planning to launch at that speed.  I think something needs to give, guys.

• China is exporting censorship.  (TechDirt)
  
  It's cheap, if not quick, to get books printed in China.  Now they're fucking over their printing industry by censoring every page, even for books printed in foreign languages and destined for foreign countries.
  
  
• British regulators call for more regulations.  (TechDirt)
  
  In this case, they want to regulate social media to prohibit fake news.
  
  Not, you will note, the actual purveyors of fake news, i.e. politicians.
  
  
• Cloudflare is running a canary farm.  (Tech Crunch)
  
  Quis canariat ipsos canares?

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