• So...  Micron has a new QLC NVMe drive, eh?  Is it any good?  Actually, yes.  (PC Perspective)
  
  They give it a gold star, which is their second highest rating.  It's not the fastest drive they've tested, but it is fast and performance is consistent, thanks to a large virtual SLC cache.
  
  A few years ago NAND flash was approaching its limits.  Then we got 3D NAND and SLC caches, and we haven't looked back.  These changes simultaneously improved capacity, performance, and reliability, while steadily reducing prices.
  
  
• More details of the Ryzen 3000 mobile performance leaks.  (PC Perspective)
  
  Again, the big AMD news next year will be the 7nm desktop and server parts, but these are by no means bad.  The Ryzen 5 3500U looks set to deliver 90% of the single and multi-threaded CPU performance of a mobile Core i5, and 200% of the graphics performance.
  
  If you want all-day battery life, you're still likely better off with an Intel or Arm chip.  If you want to play PC games without dedicated graphics, though, AMD wins by a mile.
  
  
• The return of the....  Trying to make a Maltese Falcon pun.... Nope.  (Bloomberg)
  
  Is Malta bad news for SaltX?
  
  
• MiSTer is an FPGA-boosted extensible universal emulator widgy.
  
  It can emulate the Acorn Archimedes, Altair 8800, Amiga, Amstrad CPC 6128, Apple II+, Mac Plus, Mattel Aquarius, Atari 800XL, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, 16, Plus/4, PET, and VIC-20, Jupiter Ace, MSX platform, Sharp MZ, Sinclair QL, TI 99/4A, X68000, ZX81, and ZX Spectrum.  And also the Atari 2600 and 5200, ColecoVision, Gameboy, NES and SNES, Sega Genesis and Master System, TurboGrafx 16 and PC Engine.
  
  And 60 dedicated arcade consoles.
  
  You can do that in pure software, but this solution allows for more precise timing.
  
  
• What's inside those fancy new Intel Optane memory modules anyway?  (Serve the Home)
  
  STH finds out by the simple expedient of tearing one apart.
  
  
• In a major win for VPN providers, Australia's courts have ordered the blocking of dozens of subtitle sites I've never heard of.  (ZDNet)
  
  Update: Shit.  Nyaa is on the list.

  Domain names to be blocked are: 2ddl, 8maple.ru, 9anime.is, Addic7ed, Anilinkz, Animefreak, Animeshow, Avxhm, azmaple.com, Bilutv, Bt-scene, Cartooncrazy, Cmovieshd, DailyTVFix, Ddlvalley, Dnvod, dramacity.io, dramahk.me, Fmovies.io, Glodls, Gogoanime, Hdpopcorns, hindilinks4u.to, hkfree.co, icdrama.se, icdramase, ilovehks.com, IPTorrents, Kantv, Kimcartoon, Kissanime, kisscartoon.ac, m4ufree.com, Masterani.me, Myanimeseries, Nyaa, Nzbplanet, Ondarewatch, Openloadmovies, Opensubtitles.org, Otakustream, Phimbathu, Putlocker.ac, Putlockerhd.co, qooxi.net, Rmz, Rutracker.org, Scnsrc, Seasonvar, Seriesfree, Solarmoviez, Soul-anime, streamtvb.com, Subscene, Subsmovies, Torrentday, Torrentfunk, Torrentmovies, Tvbox, Tw116, Two-movies, Ultra-vid, Usabit, VexMovies, viewasian.tv, Vkool, Vmovee, Watchanimeonline.me, Watchcartoononline.com, Watchcartoononline.io, Watchonlinemovies, Watchseries-online, woaikanxi.cc, Yify-movies, Yifysubtitles, Ymovies.tv, Zimuzu, and Zooqle.

  
  
• Namecheap offers a VPN for $5.88 per month.  $2.88 if you pay 24 months in advance.  
  
  An untrustworthy VPN provider could be worse than no VPN.  Namecheap is legit; I've used them for domains and SSL certificates for some time.

• Did Facebook share all your private data with its tech industry buddies?  (TechDirt)
  
  Maybe not.  (Ars Technica)
  
  That is, it appears Facebook allowed expanded access to certain third parties if the user agreed to it.  Of course, everyone just clicks the OKAY YES DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU LIKE JUST GIVE ME MY CAT VIDEOS button.  But is that Facebook's fault?  Yes.
  
  The reporting referenced by TechDirt comes via the New York Times, which is to accurate computer industry news and analysis what a herd of diarrheic water buffaloes is to ice cream.
  
  
• A Russian game developer says yes they issued dozens of false DMCA notices, what are you going to do about it?  (Tech Dirt)
  
  I've been on the receiving end of something similar.  Not fun.
  
  
• I'll quote this one unchanged as it's Peak 2018.
  
  TikTok parent ByteDance sues Chinese news site that exposed fake news problem
  
  The Chinese news site Huxiu translated an opinion article from Indian news site Technode that discussed TikTok's Indian language app, Helo, and the problem with false rumours circulating on the network.  (Which is hardly unique to, um, whichever app or network we were talking about.  I've lost track.)
  
  India, you think you've got problems?  You should see the American mainstream press.
  
  

Posted by: muon at Thursday, December 20 2018 09:01 PM (vMYTH)

Posted by: Rick C at Friday, December 21 2018 01:35 AM (Q/JG2)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, December 21 2018 10:05 AM (PiXy!)

Posted by: Mauser at Friday, December 21 2018 12:56 PM (Ix1l6)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, December 21 2018 04:09 PM (PiXy!)

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