Sunday, September 12

Geek

Daily News Stuff 12 September 2021

Four Cans Of Fish Paste And No Can Opener Edition

Top Story

  • Quick question not relating to computers: What's a reasonable minimum rating of pressure washer for cleaning a modest-sized back deck and front steps?  Is 125 Bar going to do a reasonable job or just be a waste of  money?


  • How to install Windows 11 without an internet connection.  (Hot Hardware)

    Microsoft really wants to lock your Windows login to an online account.  Because fuck you, that's why.

    I just got a brand new Windows 10 laptop and didn't have to bother with that, but they seem to be ramping up their efforts with Win 11.


Tech News

  • Epic is appealing the Apple ruling.  (Thurrott.com)

    There's a lot of argument over what the ruling actually ruled.  Many of the claims are patently false - e.g. those claiming that the judge made a positive ruling that Apple was not guilty of anticompetitive behaviour, rather than there just being insufficient evidence presented.  The ruling said
    these factors alone do not show antitrust conduct
    Epic is appealing that, but I'm not sure of the details yet since there aren't any details yet.


  • If accusing people of copyright infringement doesn't get a site taken down just accuse them of hosting CSAM.  (TorrentFreak)

    Boom, they're deindexed.  And most important, it doesn't matter that it's not true.


  • A pro-China misinformation campaign is attempting to exploit political division in the US.  (CNN)

    Yes, we call that CNN.


  • China has banned new video games.  (Reuters)
    This story was corrected to say China "slows down" approvals, not "suspended", in headline and paragraph 1 and 2 after SCMP clarifies. Also, corrects paragraph 2 to say China's strategy emerged after a meeting and not at the meeting.
    I repeat, China has banned new video games.


  • China tells Tencent and Netease to focus less on profit.  (CNN)

    Reminder: However bad things are where you live, you don't have a monopoly on power-crazed idiot assholes.  They're everywhere, ruining everything for everyone.


  • The average quality of the information in a social network is inversely proportional to the square of the size of the network.  (Meta.Ath0)

    And that's being optimistic, excluding deliberate fraud and bias on the part of the network.

    Details from Scientific American.  They're not what they once were, if they ever was, but at least the authors of this article are aware of the dangers of trying to combat this.
    But who decides what is fake or manipulative and what is not?  Information can come with warning labels such as the ones Facebook and Twitter have started providing, but can the people who apply those labels be trusted?  The risk that such measures could deliberately or inadvertently suppress free speech, which is vital for robust democracies, is real.  The dominance of social media platforms with global reach and close ties with governments further complicates the possibilities.


  • AMD expects to grow next year.  (Tom's Hardware)

    They're likely correct.  They'll still be supply-constrained through the end of 2022, but less so than right now as new factories and new processes continue to come on line.  They're switching to 6nm for Rembrandt - which has just started production and will ship in a few months - and 5nm for, um, I think it's Raphael, late next year.

    In the meantime they're focusing on profits.  Since they sell out of everything they can make, they want to focus on the most expensive parts.  The chiplets in a Ryzen 5600X and a Threadripper Pro 5995WX are identical, but the profit margin on the Threadripper is far higher.


  • The best budget 4K resin-based 3D printer money can't buy, maybe.  (Tom's Hardware)

    The Elegoo Mars 3 has a resolution of 4098x2560 and can't be yours for just $300.  I know Elegoo mostly from their electronics hobby kits which are also perpetually out of stock.


Disclaimer: Not that there isn't anything wrong with that.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:38 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 646 words, total size 6 kb.

1 "125 bar"
That is about 1800psi, which is going to be frustrating for any kind of real work.  200+ bar with a 15° fan tip.  Just don't hold it too close to the wood.

Posted by: normal at Sunday, September 12 2021 10:57 PM (obo9H)

2 I bought a new Windows 10 laptop, and did have to have a Microsoft account.  Best cheap laptop at the store came with Home in S mode, and I needed to be able to install software without using the MS store.   To my knowledge, I actually needed that MS account to use the MS store to switch the OS to a version that allows me to install things without using the MS store. 

Possibly I should have picked a worse cheap laptop, or a more expensive laptop instead.  I have a strictly limited purpose for the machine, so hopefully it will not screw me over too badly.

And a new email tied to an MS account is better than the email provided by my employer. 

Posted by: PatBuckman at Monday, September 13 2021 12:47 AM (r9O5h)

3 Windows 10 Pro and up won't force you to have a Microsoft account.  Adding the requirement to Home was fairly recent, but it's still possible to avoid it by not going online--the laptop I got this year has asked me once or twice but hasn't forced me, including most recently when it upgraded to 21H1 a month or so ago.  I wonder if 11 forcing the account is still Home-only or not; the article didn't say.

Posted by: Rick C at Monday, September 13 2021 02:17 AM (eqaFC)

4 I've probably posted this before, but I bought my first Windows 10 laptop last year, and fired it up to assure myself it wasn't DOA.  It popped up a screen and started talking to me.  I couldn't mash the power button fast enough.  Put linux on it and haven't looked back.

Posted by: normal at Monday, September 13 2021 02:33 AM (obo9H)

5 I have an Elegoo arduino mega 2560 and it seems to work fine.  Probably moderately hard to mess that  up, though, unless you were trying to do it on purpose.

Posted by: Rick C at Monday, September 13 2021 02:46 AM (eqaFC)

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Apple pies are delicious. But never mind apple pies. What colour is a green orange?




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