• Valve's Steam Machine - the GabeCube - appears to be on its way.  (Notebook Check)
  
  It's not going to be cheap thanks to the RAMpocalypse, but shipping manifests show that Valve has collected 50 tons of something in a warehouse, and the latest update to Steam includes four new product codes and a reservation queue that again appear to correspond to the new device.
  
  I'm not sure I'll get one - it's a low-end console replacement and I have multiple systems more powerful - but it's good to see signs of life.

• Open source repositories are getting slammed with 10 trillion downloads a year.  (ZDNet)
  
  It's a combination of AI slop and Node.JS slop.  And AI Node.JS slop and Node.JS AI slop.
  
  
  
• Speaking of slop, Anthropic says Claude went evil because of fictional depictions of evil AI.  (Tech Crunch)
  
  Same.
  
  
  
• Support for AMD's K5 - the company's first independently-designed x86 processor - will be removed from the Linux kernel with version 7.2.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  The CPU launched in 1996, so I'd consider that fair enough.  And older Linux kernels aren't about to disappear.
  
  
  
• Speaking of old CPUs, here are eight from the 1970s, some of which I've never heard of.  (The Chip Letter)
  
  The TMX 1795 and the Mostek 5065 are new to me, as is the Electronic Arrays 9002.  Interesting point there: It had 64 bytes of on-chip memory, which is a single register today but this processor shipped fifty years ago.
  
  
  
• HP's Eliteboard has all of the disadvantages of a notebook with none of the advantages.  (The Register)
  
  It's a computer built into a keyboard.  Which might be okay if the keyboard layout was perfect and the system was cheap but it's neither of those.
  
  
  
• Fake DDR5 memory is "flooding" the PC market.  (WCCFTech)
  
  I put "flooding" in quotes because the example provided explicitly lists the memory as "completely junk".

• NASA is planning a rescue mission for its Neils Gehrels Swift Observatory - a.k.a the Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer - which is sinking fast and will re-enter the atmosphere later this year without a boost.  (Spaceflight Now)
  
  Which is precisely what they plan to give it.
  
  
  
• Also sinking fast and being closely tracked by NASA is Mexico City.  (The Guardian)
  
  Large parts of the city are subsiding by more than two centimeters a month.  This causes problems.
  
  

• CPanel's terrible, horrible, no good very bad week.  (Copahost)
  
  CPanel issued patches for three new vulnerabilities over the weekend, after 44,000 CPanel servers were hacked in the past week.  (My own server was affected, but I managed to get it locked down before the wave of ransomware hit.  And I have off-site backups.)
  
  Since each server can host hundreds of websites, 44,000 hacked servers could affect a lot of people.
  
  
  
• With mid-range smartphone sales dropping as memory prices bite, Mediatek and Qualcomm have cut their production orders with TSMC for 5nm and 4nm chips.  AMD immediately took up the slack.  (WCCFTech)
  
  All current AMD CPUs (and GPUs) are built on TSMC's 5nm and 4nm processes - they don't use 3nm at all, and 2nm is set to arrive at the end of the year with Zen 6 - and AMD is selling every CPU they can churn out.
  
  
  
• I mentioned that Intel's stock recently hit a 20-year high.  You know who bought the dip?  The federal government.  (WCCFTech)
  
  The Trump Administration converted a Biden-era grant - which came with conditions attached that Intel couldn't meet - to a straightforward share purchase.
  
  At the bottom of the market.
  
  Oh, and Intel is currently in talks to manufacture chips for Apple 25% cheaper than TSMC.
  
  
  
• Fiber optic cables can listen in on your conversation.  (Science)
  
  If someone shines a laser down the cable and monitors the results very, very carefully.
  
  
  
• Micron is shipping a 245TB SSD.  (Nerds.xyz)
  
  Not one of the tiny M.2 drives, but a still compact U.2 2.5" model.

• Maybe we should just not install software for a bit.  (Xe Iaso)
  
  There's another new - or newish - Linux privilege escalation bug.  It's literally called Copy Fail 2: Electric Boogaloo.
  
  But under the hood it's abusing the same module as yesterday's Dirty Frag, so if you already applied the mitigation for that, you're protected from CF2EB.
  
  
  
• Also, my recommendation is don't install Ubuntu 26.04 just yet.  Unlike 24.04 which worked smoothly from release day, Ubuntu 26.04 still has some odd quirks.  Particularly if you want to use it under WSL and integrate with JetBrains IDEs (CLion in this case, but they'll all be the same here) where it just doesn't work.
  
  I went back to 24.04 and had no more issues.
  
  
  

Tech News

• Thousands of vibe-coded apps expose personal and corporate data to everyone on the internet.  (Wired)  (archive site)
  
  AI coding tools are like hiring an autistic teenager to program for you.  Great if your requirements are clearly defined and you check their work carefully.
  
  But if you just blindly deploy whatever they produce, that's on you.
  
  
  
• AI slop is killing online communities.  (rmoff)
  
  It's not that AI is intrinsically bad, anymore than email is bad.
  
  It's just that it makes being annoying far too easy:

  Material created with the assistance of AI is not bad in itself. It’s the purpose to which it's put.

  A good use of AI is when it enables people to do something they couldn't do before, to contribute to a community when they couldn’t before.  Done with the care and good intent of a human behind it, this is a nett positive.

  Bad AI slop, on the other hand, is monkeys throwing crap over the fence for a purpose other than furthering the community.  This includes spam, engagement farming, and simply thoughtless noise in a space which is not for that purpose.

  We need more spam filters.
  
  
  
• Mojo has gone beta.  (Mojolang)
  
  Mojo is a Python-like language (more so than, for example, Nim) that compiles directly to binary and has similar safety features to Rust.  It's designed to work with Python in both directions: Importing Mojo modules into Python code, and importing Python code into Mojo programs, though apparently the latter is more robust than the former.
  
  Not sure how well it works otherwise; the first release some years ago actually had a waiting list.  At least now you can just click a link and download it.  Well, you can't, but apparently you can install it with uv or pixi.
  
  

• There's a local privilege escalation bug that affects all recent versions of Linux.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  No, not that one, another one.  It abuses bugs in three optional kernel modules to give any local user root access.
  
  Good news: It's relatively easy to prevent.
  
  Bad news: It's already out in the wild even though none of the Linux distributions has had a chance to patch it yet.  There's a script available that prevents the affected kernel modules from loading that blocks the exploit.  Run it once and you're good - unless you depend on one of those modules and you have untrusted local users, in which case you're...  Not good.
  
  
  
• Also, there's a CPanel exploit making lives miserable, with a patch planned for 12pm EST.
  
  Again, not that one, another one.
  
  At least this one hasn't leaked yet.

• Motherboard sales are down by 28% because nobody an afford the memory to build a new PC.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Because they listened to people telling everyone not to panic-buy memory.
  
  I didn't listen.
  
  Now I need to buy a couple or three motherboards for the RAM I already have, and they're cheap and readily available.
  
  
  
• A judge has rule that Nvidia's book piracy software was designed to pirate books.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Like other AI companies, Nvidia downloaded huge numbers of books to feed its ever-hungry models, and now is on the hook for industrial-scale copyright infringement.
  
  
  
• Never click on anything.  (The Register)
  
  Is the response from Anthropic to the discovery of a one-click exploit if you download untrusted software into Claude Code.
  
  The same bug affects programming tools from Google, Microsoft, and Cursor, so they're not the only idiots in the room.
  
  
  
• You stack DRAM when it's DRAM stacking time.  (WCCFTech)
  
  Today's contestants are Samsung and SK Hynix, two of the Big Three.
  
  
  
• The StarFighter Linux laptop has finally launched.  (Liliputing)
  
  I think I reported on this previously.  It has a choice of 2560x1600 165Hz or 3840x2400 240Hz 16" displays, Intel or AMD CPUs, up to 64GB of (apparently soldered) RAM, two M.2 slots, two Thunderbolt ports, three regular USB ports, HDMI, microSD, and an audio jack.
  
  Plus a removable webcam module - if you're concerned about privacy, you can unplug it and stick in a drawer, or in a little slot within the laptop where it can't do anything.  
  
  And the Four Essential Keys.
  
  Price has unfortunately been hit hard by the memory shortage and ranges from $1900 to $3600 depending on configuration.
  
  
  
• In maybe good news, Anthropic has signed a deal with SpaceX (which owns xAI, which owns X) to use the spare capacity in the latter company's datacenter in Memphis, which is, apparently, somehow, all of it.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Why good news?
  
  Usage limits on Claude Code (which I use daily for code reviews) have been doubled at no extra cost.

Posted by: gopher at Saturday, May 09 2026 12:39 AM (h2BK4)

Posted by: normal at Saturday, May 09 2026 07:51 AM (LDKo5)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, May 09 2026 12:31 PM (PiXy!)

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• New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma came from the company's AI division, leading to unease among gamers.  She just cancelled Copilot on Xbox and mobile.  (The Verge)
  
  The only way to win is not to play, but you can minimise your losses by taking them out behind the barn and shooting them.
  
  
  
• Apple has dragged Apple Intelligence behind the barn as well.  (The Verge)
  
  It will settle a class action lawsuit for $250 million.  Yes, with an M, which is very small potatoes compared to pushing ahead with AI development.

• Speaking of which, SpaceX plans to spend up to $55 billion initially and $119 billion over time to build its new chip fab in Texas.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Elon, build a memory factory alongside the logic fab and the world will beat a path to your door.
  
  
  
• And on the Apple end of the scale, companies including Palantir have invested a total of $200 million to build datacenters in the ocean.  (Ars Technica)
  
  This solves the cooling problem but rather opens up the shark problem.
  
  
  
• The first draft of the spec for PCIe 8.0 has been announced, with ratification expected in 2028.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  A single lane of PCIe 8.0 is twice as fast as a full x16 slot of PCIe 3.0, and it should be backwards compatible.
  
  PCIe 6.0 support is very limited even in the enterprise space, so we'll be waiting a while for 8.0 to land on our desktops.
  
  
  
• If you want a Mac Studio you'll be waiting six weeks to forever depending on the configuration.  (Toms' Hardware)
  
  The 256GB and 128GB models have followed the largest 512GB model into the overpriced dustbin of history - remember, we're talking RAM sizes here, not storage - and even the basic 64GB model will take six weeks to deliver.
  
  
  

• The latest version of Google Chrome has a neat new feature: It installs a 4GB local AI model on your computer without asking or even telling you.  (That Privacy Guy)
  
  Now that you know about it, can you delete it?
  
  Yes, if you jump through seven flaming hoops.
  
  Does it stay deleted?
  
  No.
  
  Not only is this a generally bad move, it is probably illegal in the UK and Europe.
  
  
  
• Notepad++ is not out for the Mac.  (Ars Technica)
  
  The notepad is a lie.

• Lenovo's 5th generation Legion Tab is out now for $849.  (Liliputing)
  
  That's with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which is not expandable.
  
  I have the 3rd generation model with the same memory and storage capacity and a slightly lower display resolution.  It cost me around $450, making the new model not a bargain I am in a hurry to pick up.
  
  
  
• Microsoft is automatically adding Copilot as an author to Git commits if it occupied the same continental plate as your code at any point.  (Heise)
  
  Thanks, Microsoft!
  
  
  
• Moving your systems to a mainframe is now cheaper than using VMWare.  (The Register)
  
  And it's not even IBM saying this.
  
  
  
• Google Deep Mind staff in Britain are about to suddenly be laid off due to economic conditions.  (Wired)  (archive site)
  
  I can see the future.  And sometimes even the past.  Present is cloudy though.

Posted by: Robin Munn at Wednesday, May 06 2026 06:39 PM (1oDVe)

Posted by: Rick C at Wednesday, May 06 2026 11:49 PM (IEZnl)

Posted by: normal at Thursday, May 07 2026 12:31 AM (LADmw)

Posted by: Rick C at Thursday, May 07 2026 02:00 AM (IEZnl)

Posted by: wheels at Thursday, May 07 2026 02:03 AM (7JARh)

Posted by: J Greely at Thursday, May 07 2026 02:45 AM (oJgNG)

Posted by: Rick C at Thursday, May 07 2026 06:10 AM (IEZnl)

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• Can investors trust AI sales figures.  (WSJ)  (archive site)
  
  Good question.
  
  No.
  
  
  
• OpenAI has added pet companions to its Codex programming assistant.  (Mashable)
  
  It's not a bubble.

• The "audio industry" is grappling with the rise of podslop.  (Bloomberg)  (archive site)
  
  Where by audio industry they mean, basically, Spotify.
  
  The problem is a company called Inception Point, that is spewing out 3000 podcasts a week using AI-generated voices.
  
  Does anyone listen to them?
  
  Well, the number is probably not zero.  I listened to an AI-generated science fiction story that was tolerable if not particularly original.  But when I was automatically forwarded to the next story on the channel it was exactly the same with a few names and details changed.
  
  Slop is right.
  
  
  
• You could turn your classic 1966 Mustang into a Tesla.  (Electrek)
  
  Or, alternately, you could not do that.
  
  
  
• Ask.com, which was in the natural language search query business before it was cool - or indeed, worked - has closed its doors.  (The Register)
  
  The site racked up 245 million visits over 25 years...  Which is not remotely enough for a business to survive on.
  
  
  
• Intel's TPU bet hinges on increasing yield from 90% to 98%.  (WCCFTech)
  
  Counterpoint: No it fucking doesn't.  Are you stupid or what?

  The analyst adds that not only is jumping from a 90% yield to a 98% yield significantly more difficult than achieving 90% from 0%, but also that the 90% yield is a validation figure instead of a production figure.  As a result, he believes cautious optimism is the better approach when following the packaging technology.

  Getting from 0% to 90% yield is taking a process that simply doesn't work and making it into a reliable production line.  Getting it to 98% is nice, but irrelevant on the broader scale.

Posted by: Joe Redfield at Wednesday, May 06 2026 03:02 AM (KOtXO)

Posted by: normal at Wednesday, May 06 2026 06:45 AM (LDKo5)

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• Utah has decided to make it a crime to use VPNs to bypass age verification checks.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Since anyone can set up a VPN of their own in minutes using open source software and any of a thousand cloud service providers, and tear it down right after leaving no trace of its existence, this is stereotypical malicious idiocy.
  
  So of course the UK and France are pushing similar legislations as fast as they can.

• Microsoft now recommends 32GB of RAM as a practical minimum for running games.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  That's 2GB for the game and 30GB for Windows.
  
  
  
• Anthropic is looking to buy new inference chips from British startup Fractile that don't use DRAM.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  These are specialised devices that store their data in on-chip static RAM rather than in a large pool of DRAM.  But they can't perform tasks that require a large memory pool.
  
  
  
• Why TUIs are back.  (Alcides Fonseca)
  
  TUI here stands for terminal user interface - what everyone had before GUIs.
  
  Also what NetHack used (and still uses).
  
  
  
• The text mode lie: Why modern TUIs are a nightmare for accessibility.  (Xogium)
  
  The keyword here is modern.  The same developers who crapped up the web have turned their attention to the text console with predictable results.
  
  
  
• Micron's CEO says that the memory situation is going to improve.  (WCCFTech)
  
  For him, not for you.  You're still screwed.
  
  
  
• Leaked documents reveal that the EU wants to force a merger of Bluesky and Twitter.  (Gript)
  
  That would be hilarious.

Posted by: PatBuckman at Monday, May 04 2026 11:25 PM (s6adZ)

Posted by: Robin Munn at Tuesday, May 05 2026 01:29 AM (NqF0D)

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• The CPanel exploit is being exploited as a ransomware attack that encrypts your entire website.  (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Well, I dodged that one, at least.

  Numerous sources told BleepingComputer that hackers have been exploiting the cPanel flaw since Thursday to breach servers and deploy a Go-based Linux encryptor for the "Sorry" ransomware [VirusTotal].

  Thanks, CPanel.
  
  
  
• The problem with my server yesterday was hardware, not software - an SSD failure.  It's not dead but ZFS automatically disabled it due to errors, which broke all the sites hosted there.
  
  So I had backups from the previous day, and I now have backups from the moment it failed.  If anyone lost anything important I can get it back.
  
  

• This dock turns your Mac Mini into a mini Mac.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  It drops over and plugs into the Mac Mini, but looks like a miniature version of the original Macintosh from 1984, or at least the subsequent "platinum"-coloured model from 1986.  It has a 5" 1280x720 colour screen, where the original had a 9" 512x342 monochrome screen.
  
  It also has four USB-A ports, three USB-C ports (though that includes the one that connects to the Mac), HDMI, SD and microSD slots, and an M.2 2280 slot.
  
  $170 for a USB-C model (presumably 10Gbit) and $340 for a Thunderbolt 5 model which is theoretically 80Gbit.
  
  
  
• Are big tech companies laying off waves of workers and replacing them with AI?  (Yahoo)
  
  Because if so, why are staffing levels still at the highwater mark set in 2022 during the pandemic?
  
  
  
• How to make an RTX 5090 76% faster with an RTX 5060.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Step One: Play Batman: Arkham Asylum, a game from 2009 using a 32-bit implementation of PhysX.
  
  That's it, really.
  
  
  
• NetHack 5.0 is out.  (Nethack)
  
  Haven't played that game in years.
  
  
  
• QNAP's latest NAS pairs a Zen 2 Epyc from six years ago with Nvidia's latest 96GB RTX Pro 6000.  (WCCFTech)
  
  But why?
  
  
  

Musical Interlude

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, May 02 2026 06:05 PM (PiXy!)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, May 02 2026 06:05 PM (PiXy!)

Posted by: normal at Sunday, May 03 2026 01:01 AM (lzyeE)

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