Daily Tech News 21 April 2021

Top Story

Nothing is currently on fire, off-site backups are complete and up to date, main server is back in production, and we have a powerful new server to take over if anything goes wrong anywhere.

So I'm probably going to get hit by a meteorite.

Just in passing, my three largest servers are named Akane, Akai, and Akko. This wasn't planned, it just happened.

Not an anime music video in the usual sense - this is a clip straight from the movie, Project Eden.

Tech News

Cerebras unveiled its new AI processor: 850,000 cores in 2.6 trillion transistors on a 46,225mm2 die using TSMC's 7nm process. (AnandTech)

These are by far the largest and most powerful chips ever produced by anyone, and as you might imagine, they are rather on the expensive side. The previous model - not quite half as fast - sold for around $2 million. Yes, each.
USB 4 is on its way. (Tom's Hardware)

Wait, isn't it already here? No, that's Thunderbolt 4? Okay.

USB 4 is a faster version of USB 3.2 gen 2x2 that can transfer up to 40Gbps bidirectionally or 80Gbps in one direction - i.e. for video output. It is also optionally compatible with Thunderbolt 3 - not 4 - and it's only optional because the USB Type C connector didn't have enough signal variants already.

One standard plug for all purposes, but you have no idea what it can actually do. Could be anything from 480Mbps to 40Gbps. But at least it doesn't have 540-degree rotational symmetry like USB Type A.
Apple's new Magic Mouse may arrive in different shades of gray. (WCCFTech)

Charging port is still on the bottom, because fuck you, that's why.
Details of Intel's Alder Lake-S Xeon W-1400 series have leaked. (WCCCFTech)

This is two generations beyond the server that I just set up this morning. However, the first of those two generations is already out and it is - to quote reviewers - "shit" and "a waste of sand" so the next generation has its work cut out.

The W-1400 range will have up to 16 cores - the W-1290P I just got has ten - but only eight of those cores are any good. The other eight are low-power cores for light laptop use, and are basically worthless on a server. In particularly, spreading load across all cores would give horribly inconsistent application performance, and a task stuck on a slow core could block one on a fast core.

I'm sure kernel developers are working hard to mitigate that nonsense - Apple already ships this kind of architecture in their M1 MacBook and Mac Mini - but far better to just not put it in servers in the first place.
Mongita is to MongoDB as Mongita is to MongoDB. (GitHub)

The project uses the example of SQLite and MySQL but that's not really accurate. SQLite is a robust library that is used everywhere. You probably have a hundred copies of it already; I think their latest stats were that there were about a trillion SQLite databases in existence.

Mongita is MongoDB compatible but designed for development and testing - you can code against MongoDB without having to set up a server.

And remember, MongoDB is web scale.
The M1 iMac is here, apparently. (Six Colors)

I totally missed this because I totally don't give a shit. It has an eight core CPU - actually four fast cores and four slow cores, as I mentioned above, a 24" 4.5K screen, okay, comes in seven colours, and has eight fucking gigs of fucking RAM.

My 2015 iMac has 32GB and can be upgraded to 64GB. Every standard PC sold today can be upgraded to 128GB, if it either has four memory slots or enough headroom for taller, double capacity modules. 8GB is for mid-range phones, not desktop computers.
The new iPad Pro has the same CPU as the new iMac and up to 16GB of RAM. (The Verge)

The iMac is probably available in a 16GB model too, but (a) it should start there and (b) nothing I could see on Apple's store indicated that such was the case.

Yeah, it does come in a 16GB model. (Mr Macintosh)

The 2019 27" iMac is user-upgradeable to 128GB. The new iMac is not.
Discord says no, launches IPO. (Thurrott.com)

Microsoft reportedly offered them $12 billion, but in a market where a shuttered New York deli can be valued at $100 million, Discord thought they could probably get more.
Hackers are exploiting a Pulse Secure 0-day to breach orgs around the world. (Ars Technica)

Who is doing what? Oh, Pulse Secure is a VPN service, apparently one in trouble right now because there are a dozen different families of malware exploiting it.

I wonder if that is in any way connected with the bizarre wave of malformed HTTP requests that bombarded this site last night. The notable factor was that similar requests were coming from datacenters all over the world, with no obvious common factor. The hidden common factor could be an insecure VPN.
Geico sprung a leak. (Tech Crunch)

Their web site was coughing up other customers' license numbers from January 21 through to March 1.

Essential Minecraft Mods Video of the Day

Kiara Reacts to Haachama Cooking Video of the Day

Our new server in Dallas is named Akai after crazy Aussie sheila Akai Haato, also known as Haachama. Late last year she left Australia and returned to Japan, but on her very next video stream she cooked and ate... Well, for the gentle of stomach I'm presenting it one step removed.

Disclaimer: You can take the sheila out of Australia, but you can't take Australia out of the sheila, particularly if she has Amazon Prime.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:43 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Hi everyone. It's me, whatsisname.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at April 21, 2021 03:58 AM (MqQvv)

2 Morning.

Posted by: Rosasharn at April 21, 2021 03:59 AM (PzBTm)

3 Starring in my unconventional TV action hero series, MqQvv.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at April 21, 2021 03:59 AM (MqQvv)

4 Are we on central time. Or am I up earlier than I thought?

Posted by: Rosasharn at April 21, 2021 04:01 AM (PzBTm)

5 Just you and me Pixy?

Posted by: Rosasharn at April 21, 2021 04:02 AM (PzBTm)

6 Seems like. 7PM Sydney time.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at April 21, 2021 04:04 AM (MqQvv)

7 I'll have to leave the thread to the Horde since I was up rather late last night with those server issues. And by "up rather late" I mean "haven't gone to bed yet".

Posted by: Pixy Misa at April 21, 2021 04:08 AM (MqQvv)

8 Pixy Misa,

First our server went down, then there was a fire when they hooked up the backup generator, and now you were receiving digital attacks before the site was even fully restored?

Doesn't sound like coincidence.

Sounds like a determined effort to make AoS go away.

Am I wrong?

Posted by: Sam Adams at April 21, 2021 04:16 AM (VDbGO)

9 Thirst!

Posted by: redc1c4 at April 21, 2021 04:29 AM (56iwG)

10 Sweet dreams, Pixy Misa.

I read the tech updates with the same interest as watching the Olympics. As in: cool; not something that I do. My mouse has a cord on it. I listen to music on an iPod Nano that my baby brother was going to recycle about six years ago. My iPad has a jack for headphones.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at April 21, 2021 04:35 AM (/+bwe)

11 Apple seems to be going through another round of "fuck the pro user."

Which is why my 2015 MacBook Pro will be the last Mac Laptop unless this madness that has gripped them breaks.

But it probably won't, Apple is a phone and tablet company that also happens to make desktops and laptops.

They also have the best OS, so if they would just license it to other platforms that would be great.
But they probably won't do that either.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 21, 2021 04:40 AM (1HmqW)

12 Fortified!

Posted by: Winston Smith at April 21, 2021 04:43 AM (vlcMS)

13 I thought Pulse Secure was a two-factor authentication thing, not a VPN.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at April 21, 2021 04:46 AM (17UTy)

14 Haven't touched a computer game since the early- mid-nineties in college. Wish I could recall the name of the particular title. You started by putting out harvesters which generated money/points which you then used to create a fortress with oil rigs which you then used to create armies and you battled others on the network. Remember it as very addicting. Guys used to play 24-48 hours nonstop, miss class. Probably describes countless games but does anyone recall the name of a popular one back then?

Posted by: Cringe Biscuit at April 21, 2021 04:47 AM (YJK93)

15
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at April 21, 2021 04:50 AM (DUIap)

16 Pixy, thank you very much for all you do.

Posted by: A at April 21, 2021 04:55 AM (iRVUe)

17 Glad things are up to speed. Thank you Pixy.

Posted by: sidney at April 21, 2021 04:58 AM (7/kmB)

18 @14. Sounds like Command & Conquer

Posted by: Eisenhorn at April 21, 2021 05:01 AM (vaVoJ)

19 Or maybe Starcraft

Posted by: Eisenhorn at April 21, 2021 05:02 AM (vaVoJ)

20 Pixy. Are you a boy in Utah or a girl in Oz ... question came up in ONT.

Posted by: You Really Don't Want to Know at April 21, 2021 05:06 AM (AHq56)

21 Hot Coffee...Dirty Pair!!!

Posted by: qmark at April 21, 2021 05:06 AM (SrZz0)

22 The only good bug is a dead bug.

I am also wondering at the computer generated avatar thing. It seems kind of strange. Of course, anime. I guess it makes a certain amount of sense. People are insane, and it allows a voice actor to maintain an secret identity. Still.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at April 21, 2021 05:09 AM (lmikk)

23 Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Thrice is enemy action, Mr. Bond.

Posted by: Auric Goldfinger at April 21, 2021 05:10 AM (xopIz)

24 14 Haven't touched a computer game since the early- mid-nineties in college. Wish I could recall the name of the particular title. You started by putting out harvesters which generated money/points which you then used to create a fortress with oil rigs which you then used to create armies and you battled others on the network. Remember it as very addicting. Guys used to play 24-48 hours nonstop, miss class. Probably describes countless games but does anyone recall the name of a popular one back then?
Posted by: Cringe Biscuit at April 21, 2021 04:47 AM (YJK93)

Probably Command and Conquer. Could be even more old school and be Dune. Could also be Warcraft. Or Total Annihilation.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at April 21, 2021 05:10 AM (lmikk)

25 The game my boss and the other devs would play the crap out of, both online and on the company LAN, was "Tribes"

Those were the days...

Posted by: Eisenhorn at April 21, 2021 05:17 AM (vaVoJ)

26 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 21, 2021 05:18 AM (u82oZ)

27 Ahhh.

Thank you, Pixy Misa.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 21, 2021 05:19 AM (u82oZ)

28 Pleased to see that the ONT did a brisk trade.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at April 21, 2021 05:21 AM (lmikk)

29 579 Problem:
The front page has a handful of threads from April 20, as expected; and then starts displaying threads from April 4, like this one:

First-World Problems . . . Part Infinity Plus One
(If I wanted To Be A Snake Handler I would Have Joined A Circus)
--CBD

So, April 20; then jump to April 4. No in between.
Posted by: m at April 21, 2021 01:19 AM (rk2/G)

Posted by: m at April 21, 2021 05:21 AM (SJbY/)

30 Different site. So, the 'new' stuff we just changed over from, everything done there is not on this 'old' site. The last thing we have on this new 'old' site is what happened prior to the fire. Or at least the last back up of the site.

Just my guess.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at April 21, 2021 05:24 AM (lmikk)

31 TL;dr

Posted by: San Franpsycho at April 21, 2021 05:26 AM (EZebt)

32 Aetius451AD

Good morning.

My collection of AoS HQ bookmarks goes back to 2012. Lots of wisdom in those links. Off to look in the archives.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 21, 2021 05:31 AM (u82oZ)

33 30 Different site. So, the 'new' stuff we just changed over from, everything done there is not on this 'old' site. The last thing we have on this new 'old' site is what happened prior to the fire. Or at least the last back up of the site.

Just my guess.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at April 21, 2021 05:24 AM (lmikk)

Sounds reasonable. I have no computer-fu; I'm describing the problem in case it helps Pixy track down a glitch.

Posted by: m at April 21, 2021 05:33 AM (SJbY/)

34 Morning NaCLy.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at April 21, 2021 05:34 AM (lmikk)

35 Got a failed to open page result on a 2012 link. Because the server is not responding.

Hmmm.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 21, 2021 05:34 AM (u82oZ)

36 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Green?

Posted by: olddog in mo, uckfay ancercay at April 21, 2021 05:34 AM (ju2Fy)

37 Green, olddog.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at April 21, 2021 05:35 AM (lmikk)

38 I'm a little confused. Are we supposed to post OT-I mean unrelated to tech news- here or on the ONT?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 21, 2021 05:36 AM (7hF2c)

39 Pixy, another one, in case this helps:

577 Loving the familiar Ace format, plus speedy loadtime.
Problem:
If you go to the archives list in the lower right sidebar, and then pick a month, then an article, and then Access Comments, the URL starts with minx.cc and takes forever to load--maybe nevers loads; I stopped trying (for example: minx.cc/?post=393397)
Posted by: m at April 21, 2021 01:15 AM (rk2/G)

Posted by: m at April 21, 2021 05:36 AM (SJbY/)

40 G'morning, all.

Thanks, Pixy, I imagine it has been a bumpy road, the last week or two.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 21, 2021 05:37 AM (3D/fK)

41 Got a book thread from 2016 to load up very fast.

I hope the Wayback machine works for the older threads.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 21, 2021 05:37 AM (u82oZ)

42 Have a great day, everyone.

Be that swan gliding serenely though choppy water. Never let them see the feet moving fast.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 21, 2021 05:38 AM (u82oZ)

43 mornin yall. No spiders on the menu in the Great Dismal Swamp. Not even a green one. Mind you we do have a few types around here that might make a meal. These mostly eat sceeters so we leave them be.

Posted by: Big V Caffeinated at April 21, 2021 05:38 AM (6Pqz7)

44 G'morning, Salty.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 21, 2021 05:38 AM (3D/fK)

45 Be safe, Salty.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 21, 2021 05:39 AM (3D/fK)

46 Green, olddog.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at April 21, 2021 05:35
-----------------

Took me couple of minutes to post. Couldn't find the box to type green into. Thought I'd include it in my "good morning" comment to be on the safe side.

Posted by: olddog in mo, uckfay ancercay at April 21, 2021 05:39 AM (ju2Fy)

47 The media is being used to disinform Americans.

It's being done openly and my lib friends let it roll out like sh*t through a goose.
Trump colluded with Russia against Hillary
Trump colluded with Ukraine against Biden
Hunter is a legit honest international business man
Trump incited armed insurrection
Insurrectionists killed a cop

Posted by: San Franpsycho at April 21, 2021 05:40 AM (EZebt)

48 Fen is reading the content

Posted by: San Franpsycho at April 21, 2021 05:42 AM (EZebt)

49 My home IP doesn't work here anymore. Can you help me Pixy?

Posted by: f'd at April 21, 2021 05:42 AM (vB8dV)

50 I'm good with Russian, Spanish, and familiar with a bunch of other languages and can't understand 90% of what Pixy posts.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at April 21, 2021 05:44 AM (EZebt)

51 This will end badly.

https://tinyurl.com/2eb58zz8

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 21, 2021 05:45 AM (3D/fK)

52 That video from Columbus shows just how quickly these things happen.

Posted by: Auric Goldfinger at April 21, 2021 05:49 AM (xopIz)

53 A good Biblical book to read during times of national crisis is the Book of the prophet Habakkuk which deals with questioning why the wicked prosper and justice is slack or non existent, It is only 3 chapters. Here Church Swindoll, a Christian pastor, discusses it, but no doubt there are reflections from Jewish people of faith one can find on the net as well:

https://tinyurl.com/svy3b95d

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 21, 2021 05:51 AM (7hF2c)

54 Chuck-not Church.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 21, 2021 05:52 AM (7hF2c)

55 Sunshine, lollipops, rainbows, happiness.....

All it took for mattering was the destruction of presumption of innocence through brigandage....

No deleterious 2d, 3d, or 4th tier order effects there no siree.

Posted by: sven at April 21, 2021 05:52 AM (Lzpvj)

56 Just watched the video of that cop shooting the 15-year old girl.

Cop arrives at a residence, bunch of people standing or moving around, one large fat woman has a knife and tries to stab another woman, who runs toward the approaching cop. Cop draws his gun, and the woman with the knife goes after a second woman, dressed in a hot pink jog suit. As the woman lifts the knife and starts to bring it down in a stabbing motion at the woman in pink (who is backed against a car), the cop shoots the stabber.

One of the other people in the group starts yelling at the cops, saying "she's just a kid." But she's already on the ground dead (or close to it) at that point. I didn't hear anybody say that before she was shot, and the attacks happened so fact I couldn't tell how old she was. She was certainly adult-sized, and she tried to stab two different people in front of the cop, so it appears he was totally justified in shooting her. But I'm sure the Twatter experts have a different take on it.

Posted by: TrivialPursuer at April 21, 2021 05:53 AM (k4dH2)

57 Perhaps Kiara will add fried tarantula to her KFP menu in the future...

Posted by: cheshirecat at April 21, 2021 05:54 AM (TwA+r)

58 11 Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 21, 2021 04:40 AM (1HmqW)

The fruit farm wants you to overpay for hardware you don't really own, for apps that do not really meet your needs, that they purposefully throttle into artificial obsolescence.....

That used to be a crime.

Posted by: sven at April 21, 2021 05:54 AM (Lzpvj)

59 Where is the green orange?

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 21, 2021 05:55 AM (Vxu+H)

60 56 Posted by: TrivialPursuer at April 21, 2021 05:53 AM (k4dH2)

They want license to mayhem and immunity from sanction.

This has been pointed out here multiple times by multiple people.

These riots have always been about perverting the notions of justice in this nation and undermining civic virtue.

Posted by: sven at April 21, 2021 05:56 AM (Lzpvj)

61 59 Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 21, 2021 05:55 AM (Vxu+H)

Sadly gone, no biggie the back up site tweaked is far better than this one.

Like most things in life my point of view lost, so back to no captcha and no features.

YAY the people on two tin cans can access the place again!

Posted by: sven at April 21, 2021 05:57 AM (Lzpvj)

62 Nood news.

Posted by: lizabth at April 21, 2021 05:58 AM (L3Rsz)

63 Don't get me wrong.. I am very happy to have the site back to normal. But the orange was funny. I like funny.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 21, 2021 05:59 AM (Vxu+H)

64 @56
Paula Bryant, the mother of the girl who tried to murder two people with a knife, wants you to know, "Ma'Khia had a motherly nature about her. She promoted peace. That is something that I want to always be remembered."

So, there's that.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 21, 2021 05:59 AM (1HmqW)

65 63 Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 21, 2021 05:59 AM (Vxu+H)

Anytime you get to fearing the AI robots must rule revolution understand the AIs were defeated by that question.

Posted by: sven at April 21, 2021 06:01 AM (Lzpvj)

66 Oh, and the 15-year old's mother, who apparently was one of the people in the group, now claims that the girl dropped the knife before she was shot. That claim is bullshit. If you watch the video in slow-motion, you can see that the girl is in the act of trying to stab the woman in pink, then she gets shot, and then the knife falls out of her hand.

But no doubt that inconvenient detail will be erased from her hagiography as she joins St. George Floyd in the Hall of Wrongfully Killed Innocents.

Posted by: TrivialPursuer at April 21, 2021 06:01 AM (k4dH2)

67 Pixy, thank you for getting everything up and working. I hope it's smooth sailing for here on out. Get some sleep.

I am sorry you lost your PiXy! hash, though. Did the hamsters eat it?

Posted by: bluebell at April 21, 2021 06:38 AM (wyw4S)

68 Hey Pixy-
Any particular reason why the redirects in my aggrigator are coming up dead? With the fail-over in place I was able once again to click the headline and be directed to the site, but with the "new-old" server back online, once again I'm getting no love (example: minx.cc/?post=393501)- using Feedly to gather the RSS, but ever since about 8/9 months ago with the previous time the gremlins got you these banner links have been dead.
Asked in a few other threads, but got no love.
Thanks for keeping things moving!

Posted by: Hogg Pillow Founder David Hogg at April 21, 2021 06:44 AM (5qGQJ)

69 Posted by: Hogg Pillow Founder David Hogg at April 21, 2021 06:44 AM (5qGQJ)

He may not see this since he's gone to bed. Said the server change meant he hadn't slept the night before at all.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at April 21, 2021 07:44 AM (1lKRm)

70 Posted by: You Really Don't Want to Know at April 21, 2021 05:06 AM (AHq56)

Neither option is correct. Pixy is a guy in Australia. I thought he was in New Zealand until a couple of his Twitter posts set me straight.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at April 21, 2021 07:46 AM (1lKRm)

71 Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at April 21, 2021 07:44 AM (1lKRm)

Yeah, figured, but maybe for later. Thanks though-

Posted by: Hogg Pillow Founder David Hogg at April 21, 2021 07:54 AM (5qGQJ)

72
I doubt Pixy will see this, but...

Hacker News Item:

"They introduce kernel bugs on purpose" (kernel.org)

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but apparently the University of Minnesota has now been banned from contributing to the Linux Kernel for all time, and the kernel team is going to be reverting all of their submitted patches going back a decade and a half.

I hope noone needs some recent hardware, it's going to look like the linux kernel is going to need to spend a couple years being audited rather than adding new features.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain, Cryptid Anarchist at April 21, 2021 08:47 AM (Clxcy)

73 SMOD is over due. Once that hits, then servers don't matter anymore.

Posted by: Quartermaster at April 21, 2021 09:02 AM (Ty/s0)

74 72 I doubt Pixy will see this, but...

Hacker News Item:

"They introduce kernel bugs on purpose" (kernel.org)

First, Pixy sees all. Just too chill to do much about it.

Second, [Jessica Walter voice] Do you want lawsuits? Because this is how you get lawsuits.

Posted by: Pixy MqQvv at April 21, 2021 09:25 AM (MqQvv)

75 Now that I'm not trying to do this on my phone at 3AM when I'm half awake, I see I was confused between PingID (which I am familiar with) and Pulse Security, which I am not.

Boy, that was a clean miss.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at April 21, 2021 10:02 AM (66DXw)

76 The game womeone was asking about before? mid-90's, oil rigs? Could it have been Warcraft II Battlenet edition? Or, Krush Kill n Destroy?

I don't think Apple is against their pro users.... they still sell the old 27 inch imac right now. Their new chip is 1) much better than Intel and 2) their first, consumer level chip. all of their products have been the "consumer" level machines they have put it into. Where the old Intel machines were "professional grade" they still exist, e.g. a massive Mac Mini, the big 27 inch iMac,, the Mac Pro.

Later this year they will put out the version of their chip suitable for "pro machines" and, I'm sure, solve the RAM issues. Their new architecture is apparently much stingier on RAM usage to begin with, and I guess people are surprised at how much they can do that they thought they needed gobs of RAM for.

Posted by: Vance at April 21, 2021 11:31 AM (DN0pc)

77 Their new architecture is apparently much stingier on RAM usage to begin with, and I guess people are surprised at how much they can do that they thought they needed gobs of RAM for.

Apple says that. It's a lie, and the entire tech industry knows it. Watch how fast they reverse course on that claim once they have a chip out that supports more than 16GB of RAM.

Posted by: Pixy MqQvv at April 21, 2021 12:10 PM (MqQvv)

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