Daily Tech News 15 January 2022

Top Story

• Russia says it has "neutralised" the REvil hacker gang. (Ars Technica)
  
  This is being reported straight by multiple sites, and the commenters aren't having it. Even at Ars Technica where the commenters are mostly insane, they are pointing out that at most Russia switched from condoning the group's activities to controlling them, and most likely just switched them temporarily from attacking Western targets to attacking Ukraine.
  
  Ars Technica has a feature that lets the author of the story promote a comment - and naturally the comment they promoted is one of two not openly contemptuous of this bullshit.
  
  An unnamed White House official said an unnamed individual behind the Colonial Pipeline hack was among those arrested. (ZDNet)
  
  That doesn't make me more willing to believe it.
  
  It appears that Krebs on Security swallowed this crap too.
  
  
  
• Weekends are question and answer time. Drop your questions in the comments today and I'll attempt to answer them tomorrow. And yes, Etsy.

Tech News

• Lenovo Tab M8 FHD 4/5
  
  I basically chose the M8 FHD for its 1920x1200 screen, with everything else being secondary. Fortunately it turns out the the screen is genuinely good - bright, sharp, and colourful without being oversaturated - with everything else being adequate.
  
  The CPU (a Mediatek P22T with eight A53 cores) is fast enough for most things - I opened up Final Fantasy III and there was no noticeable delay and the opening video was glitch-free even when I rotated the tablet by 180 degrees to make it rotate the video as well. The Kindle and Audible apps bog down when installing lots of content, but I think that's just because those apps are garbage. The tablet is otherwise responsive when those apps are glitching.
  
  Almost everything is installing neatly to the microSD card, with the exceptions being Google stuff and browsers, which are probably tied to internal storage for security reasons.
  
  Sound is, well, it's there. There's only one speaker and it's adequate, but no more than that. There's a headphone jack though if you want something better - no awkward USB dongles needed.
  
  Software is Android 10 with the November 2021 updates. Given the limited improvements in Android in recent years that's fine. I installed Nova Launcher as always so I'm not sure what Lenovo might have done with the default UI. Nova Launcher erases such nonsense.
  
  Note sure of battery life under normal use yet, since I've been busy installing about 200GB of content. That drains the battery pretty fast, but I have fibre internet now (well, FTTC), so it's installing the content pretty fast too. If it's draining the battery 3x faster than my old tablet but installing content 6x faster - which is my guess - that's not really a problem.
  
  Overall it gets a 4/5. It was on sale as low as $89 over the holidays, so keep that in mind if you're looking to buy one - the regular price is $159.
  
  
  
• If you want something a little upmarket and don't mind waiting Lenovo is also bringing their Legion Y700 gaming tablet to market. (Liliputing)
  
  This is a little larger - 8.8" rather than 8" - with a 120Hz 2560x1600 screen and 100% of DCI-P3 colour. The CPU is a Snapdragon 870 (A77 core) which is much faster than the P22T - on GeekBench single-threaded test it's between four and five times faster.
  
  If this is made available in Australia and the price isn't insane I'll consider it, but it's certainly going to cost a lot more than the M8 FHD.
  
  
  
• Lenovo's P12 Pro also has a 120Hz 2560x1600 display and a Snapdragon 870 CPU, and costs $630. (Liliputing)
  
  Well, it did but it's out of stock right now.
  
  That's a 12.6" model and includes a pen, so I'm hoping the Y700 comes in a bit cheaper.
  
  
  
• If you want a mid-size Android tablet Samsung's new Tab A8 is one. (Liliputing)
  
  Priced starting at $230 (3/32GB) up to $330 (4/128GB). The CPU on this one has A75 cores so it's more than twice as fast as cheaper A53-based tablets, and the 1920x1200 display should be fine.
  
  
  
• Blockchains suck. (Molly White)
  
  True, but the alternative also sucks.
  
  
  
• A former official in the DHS OIG has pleaded guilty to stealing personal information on government employees. (Bleeping Computer)
  
  It sounds like this was for commercial gain and not sold to Russia or China, so that's fine I guess.
  
  
  
• FedEx wants to deploy laser missile-defense systems on its planes. (Gizmodo)
  
  Everything is going swimmingly.
  
  
  
• John Deere has been hit with a class action lawsuit over right-to-repair. (Motherboard)
  
  John Deere absolutely sucks in this area. Everything on their modern equipment is locked down and impossible to repair independently. They're the Apple of tractors. The only upside is a booming market for second-hand farm equipment.
  
  
  
• Newly released documents from the Google antitrust lawsuit allege that the company engaged in outright fraud in setting ad prices. (Wired)
  
  Google denies the allegations. And Google wouldn't lie, would they? Their corporate motto after all is "...".
  
  
  
• Asus has some new portable display / drawing tablets that look interesting. (Liliputing)
  
  At the high end this includes a 15.6" 4K screen that includes a pressure-sensitive pen. At $799 it's not exactly cheap, but there are also three 1080p models, including one with WiFi and an internal battery that are likely more budget-friendly.