Daily Tech News 26 June 2021

Top Story

• You know what also can't run Windows 11? Macs. (9to5Mac)
  
  Intel Macs run Windows 10 pretty well under Bootcamp. But no Mac supports TPM, the security module now required by Windows 11.
  
  Of course all the new Arm-based Macs are restricted to only running MacOS 11. Windows and (thus far) Linux need not apply.
  
  
  
• Speaking of MacOS 11, if you want to use a corporate VPN from your shiny new Mac, you're going to have a really bad day.
  
  We ran into it with Array Networks (which is what our hosting provider provides, since I didn't feel like maintaining OpenVPN anymore), but also affects Cisco and OpenVPN and others.
  
  Windows, no problem. Linux, no problem. MacOS 10.x, no problem. MacOS 11, unmitigated disaster.
  
  I stopped updating MacOS a couple of years ago because every single update broke critical functionality.
  
  
  
  

Tech News

• There are four new flaws in Dell's SupportAssist software, similar to bugs found in 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, and last month. (Bleeping Computer)
  
  The bugs don't directly expose your computer to the internet, but if you visit a website hosting an attack it can potentially call the insecure code on your PC.
  
  That's actually a known class of vulnerability: Services running on and only accessible from localhost (your own computer) still need to be secured from attacks by JavaScript.
  
  
  
• Guess what's not on Microsoft's list of supported CPUs for Windows 11? Any of my systems for a start. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  I have two Ryzen 1700 systems - Dells, so yeah, I'm patching those now - and an iMac with an i7 6700K. I was planning on getting a new PC anyway, but still.
  
  The first release of Windows 11 will require TPM 2.0, but later this will be relaxed to the older TPM 1.2.
  
  You will also be required to have a graphics card supporting DirectX 12. I think all my systems actually have that though.
  
  
  
• There's now a shortage of TPMs. (Tom's Hadware)
  
  It went from something nobody really cared about to the hot item overnight. Prices jumped instantly from around $15 to $100.
  
  
  
• Kids these days.
  
  There's a new Dungeons and Dragons computer game out. (WCCFTech)
  
  It sounds like the release was rushed; it has mixed reviews on Steam where "mixed" means "bad". But this struck me in WCCFTech's own review:

  It is near impossible to bridge the gap between Dungeons and Dragons (or any other tabletop RPG, for that matter) and video games.

  Bioware and Obsidian bridged that gap a couple of decades ago. And SSI did pretty well a decade earlier though those games really haven't aged well.
  
  The fact that current developers are flailing around trying to solve problems that have already been solved doesn't mean those problems can't be solved. It means those developers are idiots.
  
  
  
• WCCFTech also had this to say on the Windows 11 TPM report question:

  There are also going to be several users who could be running TPM 2.0 / TPM 1.2 / fTPM 1.2 CPUs but failing to pass the Windows 11 requirement check.

  Several, yes. A couple of hundred million probably qualifies as several.
  
  
  
• A look at Intel's 16 core, 256 EU Alder Lake parts that don't really have 16 cores or 256 EUs. (WCCTech)
  
  They have 8 large cores and 8 smaller Atom cores, like phones do. They definitely do not have 16 cores the way AMD's Ryzen 5950X does.
  
  As for the graphics, they seem to have two levels of integrated graphics: The existing on-chip graphics found in the current chips, and what sounds like two separate Xe graphics dies packaged onto the same module.
  
  Since this is leaked data it's not entirely clear what's what, but this multi-chip design is what Intel has been working on in recent years so it's entirely plausible.
  
  
  
• Mozilla has announced Rally, a "novel privacy-first data sharing system". (Mozilla)
  
  The announcement is vapid garbage, partly because they haven't actually released anything you can use, and partly because Mozilla is itself vapid garbage.
  
  
  
• Testing the Radeon 6700 XT on stuff other than games. (Serve the Home)
  
  This is the most readily available and most reasonably priced of the current generation of video cards, so it's worth taking a look at stuff you might normally want a different card for, like OpenCL or CAD software.
  
  If you're doing CAD professionally you're going to want a professional-level card - Quadro or Radeon Pro - which is a shame because the 6700 XT scores extremely well on CATIA.
  
  
  
• Some good news on the Windows 11 front: There will only be one feature update per year. (ZDNet)
  
  That is almost enough reason to upgrade. Except that soon enough Windows 10 will get only zero feature updates per year.
  
  
  
• Windows 11's Android support isn't via an emulator but via an integrated instance of Android. (ZDNet)
  
  This works similarly to the existing Windows Subsystem for Linux, which gives you a complete working Linux install on Windows, with shared file access.
  
  You can sideload Android APKs too. (Android Authority)
  
  
  
• A Microsoft customer service agent got hacked in the SolarWinds debacle and was used to further attempt to hack some Microsoft customers. (Reuters)
  
  Microsoft says this was a state actor, not an ordinary hacking group, but didn't say which state.
  
  
  
• When the government and the media are both blabbering about UFOs you know there's something they don't want you paying attention to. (ABC News)
  
  Or many things.
  
  
  
• SpaceX plans a Starship orbital flight next month. (CNBC)
  
  I haven't seen the currently lineup but SpaceX isn't just sitting around. At any time they have on prototype being prepped for launch and several more under construction.
  
  
  
• TikTok employees say the company is controlled by a shadowy organisation called ByteDance. (CNBC)
  
  Oh, wait, that's the corporate parent.
  
  They also say that ByteDance has access to all TikTok data.
  
  Yeah, no shit.
  
  And that the Chinese government might even be using the platform for propaganda.
  
  Which seems redundant.
  
  
  
• You can hack certain ATMs by waving a phone at them. (Ars Technica)
  
  Well done, guys. That's a truly impressive level of screwup.
  
  
  
• Microsoft shareholders are pushing the company to adopt right-to-repair. (Motherboard)
  
  Good luck guys. Microsoft hasn't commented, unsurprising since their hardware products these says are 90% glue.