Monday, February 02
Daily News Stuff 2 February 2026
Strange Days Edition
Strange Days Edition
Top News
- Notepad++, a text editor used by every programmer in the world, got hijacked and used to install malware. (Notepad++)
You're probably safe to click on that link. I think.
The server providing software updates for Notepad++ got hacked to selectively deliver malware, apparently by West Taiwan targeting specific users in Taiwan.
This went undetected for months because of the focused nature of the attack; if it had affected everyone who uses the software it would have been uncovered the next day. And would also have been a global catastrophe, because that would have given the attackers an indirect back door into basically everything.
So it could have been worse, but is more than a little worrying.
Tech News
- The price of Bitcoin has crashed back below $80,000. (Yahoo)
That's okay, I put all my money in silver.
Fuck.
- The future will not be in 8k. (Ars Technica)
If you were thinking of getting an 8k TV, your options have narrowed to one, with LG dropping production of 8k panels.
That leaves Samsung.
I was thinking of getting one as a large-format monitor once they got cheap enough, but that now looks like it may take a while.
- ChatGPT is retiring several of its older models. (Thurrott)
Not everyone has the lasting appeal of a Cindy Crawford, I guess.
Oh, different kind of model.Starting on February 13, 2026, the GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, OpenAI o4-mini, and GPT-5 (Instant and Thinking) will be retired from ChatGPT.
GPT-4o was introduced in a hurry after everyone hated GPT-5, and is now being disintroduced in an equal hurry.
- A Japanese researcher has built a 128 byte USB drive - yes, 128 bytes - out of ferrite core memory. (Tom's Hardware)
Using a Raspberry Pi Pico as the controller, a chip which has rather more than 128 bytes of memory.
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: Be the penguin.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
06:19 PM
| Comments (4)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 320 words, total size 3 kb.
1
I saw the core memory story over the weekend. Hilarious--it's a USB flash drive the size of a dinner plate.
Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, February 03 2026 12:35 AM (F7kdT)
2
Not used by every programmer; that would be VS Code. Notepad++ is used by people who 1) don't want to fire up something as big and resource-hogging as VS Code to do a simple text edit, and 2) haven't learned how to use Vim or Neovim. (The LazyVim setup for Neovim is seriously good, if you love Vim but haven't used LazyVim before then give it a good try sometime). Personally, I used to use Notepad++ WAY back in the day, but now I reach for Neovim every time.
Posted by: Robin Munn at Tuesday, February 03 2026 12:49 PM (lTGcd)
3
I bounced off vim last time I looked at it, maybe Lazyvim will scare me less.
Posted by: PatBuckman at Tuesday, February 03 2026 01:43 PM (rcPLc)
4
PatBuckman: Start with https://lazyvim-ambitious-devs.phillips.codes/, it's the best guide to getting going with LazyVim that I've ever seen. It's got everything, from "how to get used to Vim" if you've never used it before, to full-fledged IDE setups like "goto definition" (command: gd) or "goto references" (command: gr).
Basically, LazyVim takes Vim's concept of "everything can be keyboard-driven" and amps it up to 12 (not even eleven) by adding a whole bunch more keyboard shortcuts. ALL of which are discoverable on-screen, too: press a key and pause 250 milliseconds and you'll see a popup that tells you what keys are available next.
Basically, LazyVim takes Vim's concept of "everything can be keyboard-driven" and amps it up to 12 (not even eleven) by adding a whole bunch more keyboard shortcuts. ALL of which are discoverable on-screen, too: press a key and pause 250 milliseconds and you'll see a popup that tells you what keys are available next.
Posted by: Robin Munn at Tuesday, February 03 2026 06:34 PM (s827l)
53kb generated in CPU 0.0562, elapsed 0.1458 seconds.
58 queries taking 0.1344 seconds, 365 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
58 queries taking 0.1344 seconds, 365 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
