Daily Tech News 13 January 2026

Top Story

With support for Windows 10 ending last October, user numbers for Windows 11 climbed to an all time high. Which was only to be expected.

Less expected was that the numbers for Windows 11 have been dropping ever since. (MSN)

Over the last two months Windows 11 has fallen from 53.7% of the PC market to a very slim majority at 50.7%, with Windows 10 growing from 42.7% to 44.7%, and most of the remainder going to Windows 7, which came out all the way back in 2009.

This is not particularly good news for Microsoft.

Tech News

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is deeply hurt by all the negative opinions of AI. (Tom's Hardware)

He has no mouth and he must whine.
A quantitative analysis of the cost of overreliance on AI advice. (Science Direct)

A very dry paper, but in short decision makers tend to over-rely on AI advice even when it directly contradicts available empirical data. And this was in the context of an iterated prisoner's dilemma scenario, where optimal strategies are simple and well-known.
With contract prices for DRAM rising 70% and NAND flash by 100%, memory now accounts for 20% of the cost of a mobile phone. (WCCFTech)

Which is not all that much.
Amazon bought a Bee. (Tech Crunch)

Bee makes a wearable AI thing, which is to say, useless overpriced junk.
VMWare ESXi has a -365 day vulnerability. (Bleeping Computer)

If a zero-day vulnerability is one that must be fixed immediately because it is open to instant exploitation, what do you call one that has been actively exploited for a year before the developers notice?

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Chocobo soup for the soul.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 BOING!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 13, 2026 04:01 AM (42Pyp)

2 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at January 13, 2026 04:02 AM (Ia/+0)

3 w00t

Posted by: m at January 13, 2026 04:04 AM (SSiCQ)

4 Morning all.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 13, 2026 04:06 AM (BLOW1)

5 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 13, 2026 04:06 AM (sAmhv)

6 "...it directly contracts available empirical data."

Swap contracts for contradicts please. I blame autocorrect.

Not being picky, just trying to help. LOVE your comments and insights, have forever. (For certain values of forever.)

Posted by: Whiskey Mike at January 13, 2026 04:09 AM (l5vxg)

7 Thanks!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 13, 2026 04:15 AM (BLOW1)

8 Meanwhile, more people are giving the various flavors of Linux a shot. Its usage has increased quite a bit over the last year.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 13, 2026 04:21 AM (sAmhv)

9 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes. 30 cloudy degrees here at Stately Poppins Manor. Not a lot of work on the plate to start with, so I should be able to enjoy some tea at leisure once I get the overnight files out of the way.

Still recovering from a cold that knocked me out last week. Just down to mucus and deafness in the right ear, so probably a few more days before I feel completely better. I do have to create a few Sunday Book Threads, since I've been asked to do it once per month, and I'm so lazy I need to bank a pile of them now.

29 days until I finally retire, unless there's a bolt out of the blue to screw my plans.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 13, 2026 04:29 AM (ufSfZ)

10
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang went on the No Priors podcast to discuss the current advances in AI technology and to refute claims he believes are wrong about AI.

I read that as "...the No Poors podcast" and it did not raise the slightest sense of being incongruent.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 13, 2026 04:31 AM (xG4kz)

11 from last week but still funny:

Max Bay
@choice_fielder
Jan 5
I've spent years struggling to prove that the sunk-cost fallacy isn't actually a fallacy. No sense in giving up now, though.

Posted by: m at January 13, 2026 04:34 AM (SSiCQ)

12
A very dry paper, but in short decision makers tend to over-rely on AI advice even when it directly contradicts available empirical data.

Then it's not unlike suspending one's own common sense in favor of taking advice from "experts", is it?

The Well-Worn Path

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 13, 2026 04:34 AM (xG4kz)

13
Was serving as Lance Armstrong's squeeze Peak Sheryl Crow?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 13, 2026 04:37 AM (xG4kz)

14 Then it's not unlike suspending one's own common sense in favor of taking advice from "experts", is it?

The Well-Worn Path
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 13, 2026 04:34 AM (xG4kz)

Heck, it's probably exactly the same.

"Please don't make me waste time having to think or learn a thing when you already know and could just tell me. I've got other things to do."

Trusting Experts is basically a shortcut. Whether you call it "efficiency" or "laziness" is more or less a question of how charitable you feel like being.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at January 13, 2026 04:46 AM (06Hmj)

15 Bee makes a wearable AI thing,

I would think the legality of AI voice recording and transcription problematic when viewed through US Federal and state privacy laws. Of course the user, not the device, would be the potential violator but how to enforce is unimaginable (to me).

Related, a few days ago I didn't consent to voice capturing (by a bank iirc) and the phone call was disconnected on the business side. (One thing leads to another: Must use the APP or visit the bank.)

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at January 13, 2026 04:48 AM (NFX2v)

16
About a decade back, when I was taking a multi-day training course in scouts, one of the exercises was a game meant to teach that a course of cooperative behavior led to the highest score across all parties in the game.

It backfired spectacularly to the point where some folks were brought to the edge of coming to blows over how the teams were playing the game. It made for an uncomfortably tense and accusatory reflections' period when the exercise ended.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 13, 2026 04:49 AM (xG4kz)

17 9 Sunday Book Threads ... I've been asked to do it once per month
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 13, 2026 04:29 AM (ufSfZ)

yay!

Posted by: m at January 13, 2026 04:52 AM (SSiCQ)

18 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 13, 2026 04:56 AM (Cjt/F)

19
Trusting Experts is basically a shortcut. Whether you call it "efficiency" or "laziness" is more or less a question of how charitable you feel like being.
Posted by: Warai-otoko

As I have for a long time been dismissive of experts touting their academic credentials as the only necessary and sufficient cause to not consider any other options (e.g., the climate cultists), I dismiss any societal course of action blessed by experts as likely being a perfect predictor of the worthlessness of said course of action.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 13, 2026 04:57 AM (xG4kz)

20 Spotlight PA org -
Judges are identifying suspected AI hallucinations in Pa. court cases — including one at the highest levels
by Sarah Boden for Spotlight PA | Jan. 7, 2026

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at January 13, 2026 04:57 AM (NFX2v)

21 Sheryl Crow?

Pass me a single-ply tissue.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 13, 2026 05:01 AM (G/BeD)

22 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing

That's great! I didn't get to tell you that I really enjoyed your last one.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:01 AM (7RYym)

23 "If a zero-day vulnerability is one that must be fixed immediately because it is open to instant exploitation, what do you call one that has been actively exploited for a year before the developers notice?"

Broadcom Quality Assurance!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 13, 2026 05:02 AM (O7YUW)

24
Pass me a single-ply tissue.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey

One square, Vassily

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 13, 2026 05:03 AM (xG4kz)

25 Morning all

Posted by: rickb223 at January 13, 2026 05:05 AM (u/kd+)

26 So, what's a good word for today? One of mine is that I got my hair cut yesterday. I don't how it is with men, but as a woman , having one's hair cut can make you feel much better. In addition, I hadn't been to that hair stylist before and we had a nice conversation.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:05 AM (7RYym)

27 You b man sings mashup of "In Christ alone" and "Living Hope":

https://tinyurl.com/y9j6ef96

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:08 AM (7RYym)

28 So, what's a good word for today?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:05 AM (7RYym)
-

Tuesday.

Same as in town.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 13, 2026 05:08 AM (G/BeD)

29 Moving on, Jensen fired shots at influencers who paint AI in a negative way: "..extremely hurtful frankly, and I think we've done a lot of damage lately with very well respected people who have painted a doomer narrative, end of the world narrative, science fiction narrative. And I appreciate that most of us grew up enjoying science fiction, but it's not helpful. It's not helpful to people, it's not helpful to the industry, it's not helpful to society, it's not helpful to the governments."

And most importantly, it's not helpful to Nvidia's stock price.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at January 13, 2026 05:10 AM (6ydKt)

30 Nice X bug I am now experiencing. X has removed all of my follows, as if I'm starting from scratch.

I tried logging out and in again. Same thing.

Hope this is a temporary glitch.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 13, 2026 05:10 AM (G/BeD)

31
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 13, 2026 05:11 AM (tljrc)

32 Hold onto God. Devotional on persistence in faith. This followed by a prayer and additional insights:

https://tinyurl.com/3w8y9pzj

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:16 AM (rZCVI)

33 Re: Windows 11

Hey, maybe when you make a "new" OS, don't just build a clunky new clown suit to layer over the last clown suit, that was layered over the last clown suit, that was layered over Windows NT.

Posted by: DaveL at January 13, 2026 05:19 AM (9w232)

34 Chilly and clear out
Have a great day horde

Posted by: Skip at January 13, 2026 05:19 AM (Ia/+0)

35 Pet owners pay vets just to find out their pets are weird . Sunny Sky site:

https://tinyurl.com/4h56zb82

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:22 AM (PFs9e)

36 A psalm of praise. Actor David Suchet reads psalm 130:

https://tinyurl.com/4xfykujc

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:26 AM (PFs9e)

37 Post 32- Forgot to put the scripture reference for the devotional. It's Genesis 32:22-28.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:29 AM (PFs9e)

38 One thing leads to another: Must use the APP or visit the bank.

A lot of sites nowadays act as if you are trying to commit a war crime when you try calling them. Tired of that business model.

but as a woman , having one's hair cut can make you feel much better.

I have a great barber (NOT stylist. She will educate you on the difference) out in my area. Given that periodically, I look way too ragged, I appreciate the work she does. And the straight razor shave on the back of the neck is pretty nice.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 05:29 AM (99eI0)

39 Hey, maybe when you make a "new" OS, don't just build a clunky new clown suit to layer over the last clown suit

As long as we're getting crazy: Release a version of your OS that is bare bones and allow people to customize it to their standards.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 05:30 AM (99eI0)

40
As long as we're getting crazy: Release a version of your OS that is bare bones and allow people to customize it to their standards.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 05:30 AM

Linus Torvalds has entered the chat

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 13, 2026 05:34 AM (tljrc)

41 @8

>>Meanwhile, more people are giving the various flavors of Linux a shot. Its usage has increased quite a bit over the last year.

I would say, more tech people are giving Linux a looksee.

Linux on the desktop has roughly 5 percent market penetration.

Most people frustrated with Windows will probably end up switching to Mac instead.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 13, 2026 05:39 AM (XV/Pl)

42 Linus Torvalds has entered the chat
Posted by: AltonJackson

At least the folks that make the various shades of Linux have finally learned that normal people want to use their OS and that they should encourage this.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 05:39 AM (99eI0)

43 Today's musical interlude sounds ... very familiar.

Ah... 2 years later, something like it pops up in the science fiction movie "Screamers" starring Peter Weller:

"Hard Luck Solution":
https://youtu.be/6ZogOJNv_sc

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 13, 2026 05:42 AM (O7YUW)

44 41: hopefully more people will give it a spin. I know Linux Mint is pretty easy going.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 13, 2026 05:51 AM (sAmhv)

45 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at January 13, 2026 05:52 AM (AN2gy)

46 Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 05:29

I went to the female version of a barber yesterday because it cost $30.00 less than my regular stylist would have.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:53 AM (rZCVI)

47 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at January 13, 2026 05:53 AM (bQ4nt)

48
At least the folks that make the various shades of Linux have finally learned that normal people want to use their OS and that they should encourage this.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 05:39 AM

yeah, there's a whole bunch of linux phobia what needs to be overcome...people shy away 'cause they think that they'll have to do a lot of "programming" & configuring to make it work

my experience is that the "consumer" grade linux distributions are ready to go right out of the box & are more user-friendly than whatever windows flavor they're used to

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 13, 2026 05:53 AM (tljrc)

49 Evening and morning on a Tiu's Day in mid-January!

Who else besides me utterly hated January as a kid? Aside from cold weather, rain, and snow, I mean? We'd just had the long Christmas-New Year break, and had no school holidays to look forward to until probably Easter - and even then another two months until summer vacation. A long slog of classes, homework, wait for the bus in snow and rain, and repeat until the blessed weekend. Here, at least, we had the two days Monday and Tuesday for Mardi Gras as a short break; but it wasn't enough.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 05:54 AM (wzUl9)

50 olddog, Good morning. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Posted by: Ben Had at January 13, 2026 05:54 AM (0KSrI)

51 I am still using Windows 7 Home Premium.

Yeah. I am over 29.

Posted by: no one at January 13, 2026 05:54 AM (qFwJc)

52 Isn’t Sheryl Crow the one who tells me how much toilet paper I’m allowed to use? My G.I. Tract countermands her orders.

Posted by: Fenderbender at January 13, 2026 05:55 AM (1FEc1)

53 >>> This is not particularly good news for Microsoft.

Only if you are butthurt that the market doesn't love the latest iteration.

IT department of XYZ Corp would gladly (sort of) continue to pay for support for Win 10. MS can't make a working business model from that?

Posted by: fluffy at January 13, 2026 05:56 AM (AN2gy)

54
I am still using Windows 7 Home Premium.

Yeah. I am over 29.

Posted by: no one at January 13, 2026 05:54 AM

fistbump

we should start a club or something

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 13, 2026 05:56 AM (tljrc)

55 Adorable newborn seal pups:

https://tinyurl.com/5njnwpuy

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 05:58 AM (rZCVI)

56 Yeah, Great Clips don't shave the back of the neck.

Oh how far we have fallen as a society.

Posted by: no one at January 13, 2026 06:00 AM (qFwJc)

57 I dreamed that for some ungodly reason, I decided to drive to a neighborhood in town I did not know (there aren't many in reality) and, get this, ride the streetcar from a particular intersection. It was warm, which isn't unusual and could be any time of year, and sunny. There was a business block with a Walgreens and a Woolworth's (!?), but the intersection and streetcar line was a block away along a residential street. The street had an uber-pothole -- more like a foxhole sized for Shrek. I waited in the shade. Several people gathered. Then, as I saw the bus (not a streetcar) in the distance, I asked somebody about the fare. Turned out it was a dollar more than I'd thought, and exact change, so I'd need to break a five -- and there was no place to do it.

I woke up with Stirling sitting against my stomach. I'm surprised he wasn't in the dream piloting the bus.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 06:01 AM (wzUl9)

58 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 13, 2026

Sorry about your cold. We had that two weeks ago and had to cancel church we were so miserable.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 06:01 AM (rZCVI)

59 "Over the last two months Windows 11 has fallen from 53.7% of the PC market to a very slim majority at 50.7%...This is not particularly good news for Microsoft."

That's a lot of hungover tech journalists who made a New Year's resolution to dump Windows for Linux and then write endless stories stories about it, and if you, their reader, wasn't such a schlub, you'd drop that gas station burrito and do what they did.

That or Redmond Washington is destined to become a chernobyl-like ghost town of abandoned McMansions and Indian restaurants.

Windows 10 was released in 2015 and in 2019, four years later, it's market share was 54.62%. Windows 11 was released in 2021 and 4 years later it's market share was 50.7%. If Windows 11 is still in decline, a year or two after the extended Windows 10 support is ended, well, now that's a story. But for now it seems premature to write stories about the imminent demise of Windows.

Until then, one journalist's experience making the leap to Linux.
https://youtu.be/3d7SzX0SK24

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at January 13, 2026 06:03 AM (HTCU3)

60 Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at January 13, 2026 04:57 AM (NFX2v)

This is probably a dumb question, but what is an AI hallucination?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 06:03 AM (rZCVI)

61 Morning, Ben Had. All is well here. I hope same for you.

Posted by: olddog in mo at January 13, 2026 06:03 AM (bQ4nt)

62 Thanks again to G & R and others who steered me to a solution of the annoying little flags that had been popping up on my Mac laptop. It turned out, as they said, to be a notifications issue, both in the OS and in the Safari browser. Miss Linda uses that, complaining about the ads, while I am ad-free with Brave.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 06:05 AM (wzUl9)

63 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 06:01 AM (rZCVI)

We is spouse and me. I was not using the royal version of we as would Queen Victoria.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 06:06 AM (rZCVI)

64 @48/AltonJackson: The big deterrent is: "Will {Name of Program} run on Windows?"

Users look up their application to check compatibility, and see that it's only supported on Windows 11. They conclude that they can't get it running on Linux properly (or don't want to figure out how.) This is probably the largest hurdle to Linux being adopted wide-scale.

If someone creates a distribution that:

a) Installs over top of an existing Windows installation
b) Preserves the user's applications/programs AND DATA
c) Preserves the user environment as closely as possible
d) Offers an operational GUI comfortably close to Windows (Kind of like Cinnamon on Linux Mint has done)
e) Runs the user's applications flawlessly
f) Runs installers for applications intended to be installed on Windows with no hiccups or issues

Microsoft, knowing it would shortly be doomed to obsolescence, would counter with attempts to:

1) Make all applications they made (or were partners in making) impossible to function on Linux (something similar was done in past with preventing Windows 3.1 from running on DR DOS)
2) Sue everyone for everything (lawfare.)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 13, 2026 06:06 AM (O7YUW)

65 @62/Wolfus: You're very welcome. Glad I could use my searching skills to point you in the right direction.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 13, 2026 06:07 AM (O7YUW)

66 I am still using Windows 7 Home Premium.

Yeah. I am over 29.

Posted by: no one at January 13, 2026 05:54 AM

fistbump

we should start a club or something

Posted by: AltonJackson

I raise you with Windows 7 Ultimate which I still own.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at January 13, 2026 06:08 AM (HTCU3)

67 Seeing wild reports of 12,000+ killed in Iran.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 13, 2026 06:09 AM (0hg/T)

68 Related, a few days ago I didn't consent to voice capturing (by a bank iirc) and the phone call was disconnected on the business side
——-

Consent!

Just casually mention “I’m recording too” and that’s pretty fun. There’ll be this long pause. “Ou we don’t allow that”

Posted by: Common Tater at January 13, 2026 06:11 AM (itAZI)

69 68 Related, a few days ago I didn't consent to voice capturing (by a bank iirc) and the phone call was disconnected on the business side
——-

Consent!

Just casually mention “I’m recording too” and that’s pretty fun. There’ll be this long pause. “Ou we don’t allow that”
Posted by: Common Tater at January 13, 2026 06:11 AM (itAZI)

They have ways of making you talk.

Posted by: m at January 13, 2026 06:13 AM (SSiCQ)

70 my experience is that the "consumer" grade linux distributions are ready to go right out of the box & are more user-friendly than whatever windows flavor they're used to.

Posted by: AltonJackson

Which is a HUGE improvement over how it used to be. The neckbearded bastards who treated Linux as magic that only they could command and would chant RTFM at the lowlifes that dared ask them questions turned a lot of people off.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 06:14 AM (jjoN6)

71 I don't go to the barber anymore, since I don't have enough hair to make it worth paying. I just use a handheld clipper once or twice a week to keep what hair I have trimmed close to the scalp (my Erich von Stroheim look) and the beard closely cropped as well.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 13, 2026 06:16 AM (ufSfZ)

72 I don't go to the barber anymore, since I don't have enough hair to make it worth paying. I just use a handheld clipper once or twice a week to keep what hair I have trimmed close to the scalp (my Erich von Stroheim look) and the beard closely cropped as well.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 13, 2026 06:16 AM (ufSfZ)
---
Same here. I stopped going to the barber during COVID. Wearing a face mask there was just stupid.

So now I shave my head a couple of times a year and trim my beard every couple of weeks.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 13, 2026 06:17 AM (ESVrU)

73 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 13, 2026 06:16 AM (ufSfZ)

FenSpouse does the same.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 06:17 AM (rZCVI)

74 The neckbearded bastards who treated Linux as magic that only they could command and would chant RTFM at the lowlifes that dared ask them questions turned a lot of people off.

There's an old Dilbert cartoon where Wally runs up against a smug, bearded, suspendered Linux user who tells him, "Here's a nickel, kid. Buy yourself a better computer."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 13, 2026 06:17 AM (ufSfZ)

75 Except for my time in Denver, I patronized the same barber from 1979 until his health-related retirement in '23. Now I go to his business partner, who at the same age (they graduated from barber college on 11/22/63!) is still going strong.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 06:18 AM (wzUl9)

76
Which is a HUGE improvement over how it used to be. The neckbearded bastards who treated Linux as magic that only they could command and would chant RTFM at the lowlifes that dared ask them questions turned a lot of people off.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 06:14 AM

true that

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 13, 2026 06:20 AM (tljrc)

77 It's 43 or 44 F. outside, almost no wind and so no wind chill. The forecast is for freezing temps in the city tomorrow. It would behoove me to work out this morning, even though I usually do not do that three days running.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 06:20 AM (wzUl9)

78 Interestingly enough if you read about the early days of the O.S.S. and the you know who, “we have vays off making you tokk” garnered a lot of attention. Booze is classic of course, and feminine wiles, though Supposedly a cannabis extract, highly concentrated, and inserted into ordinary cigarettes was among the most successful.

Posted by: Common Tater at January 13, 2026 06:21 AM (itAZI)

79 I don't know what's reliable info about Iran, but if 12, 000 have really died I would guess the desire for a free Persia has been crushed by the Islamic regime.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 06:21 AM (rZCVI)

80 LLM's have taken over general public tech support, you no longer need some gate keeping Linux neckbeard to help you with your Linux issues berating you every step of the way.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 13, 2026 06:21 AM (iqlej)

81 My local Fox outlet says 10,000 arrested and (I think) 500 dead. I have no idea how close to reality those numbers are. And I suspect the Fox outlet does not know either.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 06:23 AM (wzUl9)

82 I don't know what's reliable info about Iran, but if 12, 000 have really died I would guess the desire for a free Persia has been crushed by the Islamic regime.

Not that I want a war, but since Trump already signaled that he would help the revolutionaries, it would behoove him to do something and not let America be seen as knifing the Persians in the back.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 13, 2026 06:24 AM (ufSfZ)

83 LLM's have taken over general public tech support, you no longer need some gate keeping Linux neckbeard to help you with your Linux issues berating you every step of the way.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 13, 2026

***
I'm thinking that I'll print out a bunch of instructions before I try Linux, and keep another computer close by so I can research if any problems come up.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 06:26 AM (wzUl9)

84 My read on Linux user adoption is it will stay capped until large computer manufacturers adopt and promote Linux as a first tier option. Realistically that's not happening anytime soon.

On the other hand, Linux is perfectly viable as long as you're willing to accept that many of the key applications are not available without workarounds, at best, and all the baggage that comes with that. If Adobe was to port their products to run on Linux, that would be a major milestone. Don't hold your breath. Same for Office or what other goofy name Microsoft is calling it these days. Then there's apps like Autodesk. With Google about to replace Chrome OS with a desktop version of Android makes Linux getting traction even more difficult.

And with all that said, Linux works for many millions of users in multitudes of ways. And if that user is somebody that spends most of their time in a browser, which is many of us anymore, the platform is somewhat irrelevant. That is until you go to an Apple store and yell Linux at the top of your lungs and promptly get tackled by the security guards.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at January 13, 2026 06:27 AM (HTCU3)

85
LLM's have taken over general public tech support, you no longer need some gate keeping Linux neckbeard to help you with your Linux issues berating you every step of the way.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 13, 2026 06:21 AM

on the few occasions that I've needed to tweak something in linux, I've found that reddit is actually helpful

somebody somewhere has had the exact same issue I'm trying to fix; and someone has posted the solution

copy the (usually) single line of code, open the terminal, paste & hit enter

in a way, reddit is kinda the "distilled neckbeard" way to get an answer without the sanctimonious lecturing

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 13, 2026 06:30 AM (tljrc)

86 You just have to laugh at this: Ilhan Omar calls Elon Musk one of the dumbest people on earth.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 06:30 AM (rZCVI)

87 mornin yall. You know what's crap? Dexcom apps. And the company. We rely on it to keep track of my MIL's blood sugar and it crashes all the time, the servers go down, and now they are forcing people to upgrade their phones to continue running it. Not any new phone though, only phones on their list, and the list is even more narrow for the server portion of the app.

Dexcom is no help at all and says if the phone app won't work you can use their remote reader, which only works within range of the sensor, not a mile away like we are.

The main reason we got Dexcom is for that feature. Checking on the internet I see lots of people have the same problem. Many can't afford to buy two new phones (server and client) just to accommodate the Dexcom app. It sucks. It should work on a phone as common as the S14 and has in the past, but not anymore.

Posted by: fd at January 13, 2026 06:33 AM (vFG9F)

88 Rant off

Posted by: fd at January 13, 2026 06:33 AM (vFG9F)

89 @85

>>on the few occasions that I've needed to tweak something in linux, I've found that reddit is actually helpful

I simply don't waste my time on Reddit or any other tech site, I'll ask my LLM, it will spit out what I need and then I ask it to write a markdown of the session for later reference.

In fact, CLI AI agents are now the sh*t and have become indispensable.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 13, 2026 06:38 AM (iqlej)

90 Somali Fraud is like an ogre. It has layers:

https://tinyurl.com/yc7c6kd4

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 13, 2026 06:38 AM (0hg/T)

91 "They graduated from barber college on 11/22/63"

I have a friend who was born that day. Growing up, he always hated the "Where were you on that day?" news stories that would come up on his birthday. He just wanted a normal birthday. Now he says he misses those stories. Snot-nosed journalists today either don't know about the date or don't know anyone old enough to remember it.

Posted by: Wally at January 13, 2026 06:45 AM (65cLN)

92 in a way, reddit is kinda the "distilled neckbeard" way to get an answer without the sanctimonious lecturing
Posted by: AltonJackson

That attitude annoys me a lot. Someone is having a problem, I know the solution. I have no issues with sharing the knowledge.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 06:45 AM (jjoN6)

93 "a cannabis extract" aka hashish.

Posted by: no one at January 13, 2026 06:46 AM (qFwJc)

94 @92

>>That attitude annoys me a lot. Someone is having a problem, I know the solution. I have no issues with sharing the knowledge

Most times they will share the knowledge and help but they will make the process as painful as possible.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 13, 2026 06:48 AM (iqlej)

95
And with all that said, Linux works for many millions of users in multitudes of ways. And if that user is somebody that spends most of their time in a browser, which is many of us anymore, the platform is somewhat irrelevant.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at January 13, 2026 06:27 AM

this

the vast majority of (non-gaming) personal computer use is web browsing, e-mail, watching you tube, streaming music / video, & twitter / whatever...all of which can be handled via the browser

I think it's the gaming that's the big hurdle. For every AutoDesk user, there are (probably) thousands of gamers

making the games work in linux (or making linux accommodate the games) is the big challenge. Solve that, and linux becomes a viable first-tier option

they're working on it: one of the gaming platforms, "Steam" I think*, is doing a hand-held game thingy what is linux based

*I know very little about gaming, I get my information by osmosis from my daughter & son

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 13, 2026 06:48 AM (tljrc)

96 I do have to create a few Sunday Book Threads, since I've been asked to do it once per month

Looking forward to that.

Posted by: Halfhand at January 13, 2026 06:48 AM (F061L)

97 There is or was an Internet service that provides special birthday page of news that happened on the day you were born, what movies were at theatres and what music is being played on the radio.

My wife loved getting that for me. I think she was more interested in it than I was.

Oh. Just love her.

Posted by: no one at January 13, 2026 06:50 AM (qFwJc)

98 Most times they will share the knowledge and help but they will make the process as painful as possible.
Posted by: Thomas Bender

I used to work at XM and got a ticket for the manager of the Accounting Department. His problem was solved quickly and when it was done, he asked "You ever get a ticket that has you asking what kind of moron is this guy?"

I said "This is what I do. It's simple to me because I see it a lot. If you were to sit me down and ask me to look over the first Quarter earnings, you'd wonder what kind of an idiot I am."

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 06:51 AM (jjoN6)

99 "Steam" I think*, is doing a hand-held game thingy what is linux based

Valve is making small cube shaped console gaming device called the Steam Machine which everyone has nicknamed the "Gabe Cube"

Posted by: Halfhand at January 13, 2026 06:51 AM (F061L)

100 No, it wasn’t hash. Some kind of chemical concentrate. Injected carefully into cigarettes with a sawed off hypodermic, carefully in that otherwise it would leave a stain on the paper.

Posted by: Common Tater at January 13, 2026 06:52 AM (itAZI)

101 Steam" I think*, is doing a hand-held game thingy what is linux based

Yep. The Steam Deck is what you are thinking about. And the OS is also available for computers and it has Steam pre-installed.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 06:53 AM (jjoN6)

102 Bazzite is the name of the OS that has Steam on it.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 06:53 AM (jjoN6)

103 @87/fd: What does this Dexcom app give you for monitoring blood sugar that a measurement device and a spreadsheet doesn't?

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 13, 2026 06:55 AM (O7YUW)

104 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: First, you get a rock...

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 13, 2026 06:58 AM (X4XpB)

105 "They graduated from barber college on 11/22/63"

I have a friend who was born that day. Growing up, he always hated the "Where were you on that day?" news stories that would come up on his birthday.
Posted by: Wally

Sucking tit and shitting myself.

Tends to get people to stop asking.

Posted by: rickb223 at January 13, 2026 07:01 AM (pkq24)

106 "What does this Dexcom app give you for monitoring blood sugar that a measurement device and a spreadsheet doesn't?
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant"

The ability to monitor my MIL's blood sugar from anywhere, like our house. She lives about a mile from here. Her level can fluctuate from over 400 to below 100 in a few hours and Mrs fd monitors it constantly. The app allows you to set levels for alarms if it gets too high or low.

Posted by: fd at January 13, 2026 07:01 AM (vFG9F)

107 Well, the sun is coming up. We have a song in our hymnal, "When morning gilds the skies my heart awaking cries, May Jesus Christ be praised."
May those who are working have a blessed day and may retired people have that as well. You are all a blessing to others. Well , maybe not the trolls, but perhaps someone appreciates them.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 13, 2026 07:06 AM (Nx5jP)

108 Oh, just in case anyone missed it, the MFM / Hollywood propaganda complex is at it again - I just saw ads for a new TV series, CIA.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 13, 2026 07:06 AM (ufSfZ)

109 CIA.

LOL. Yeah, they are all hardworking, intelligent, patriotic, and want the best for our country.

Just like the FBI, but sneakier.

Posted by: no one at January 13, 2026 07:09 AM (qFwJc)

110 Oh, just in case anyone missed it, the MFM / Hollywood propaganda complex is at it again - I just saw ads for a new TV series, CIA.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing

And that's why Hollywood is dying. Another police procedure fictional tv show?

Posted by: rickb223 at January 13, 2026 07:10 AM (pkq24)

111 The real issue with Linux is that they are discouraged by reports from people that haven't used it in years. The majority of people do email, browse and maybe use a word processor. Since Libre office can be used on Windows, some have already tried it. Same with Thunderbird for email.

Mint gets recommended because it's polished. It labels every program installed, so you know what they do. It automatically installs your network printer, which Windows or Mac do not do. Yes, you can still get rough distros that have bits that don't work and programs with funny names. Focusing on those discourages people from using Linux.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 13, 2026 07:12 AM (+mUZM)

112 "They graduated from barber college on 11/22/63"

I have a friend who was born that day. Growing up, he always hated the "Where were you on that day?" news stories that would come up on his birthday. He just wanted a normal birthday. Now he says he misses those stories. Snot-nosed journalists today either don't know about the date or don't know anyone old enough to remember it.
Posted by: Wally at January 13, 2026 06

***
Mrs. Wolfus No. 2 was ten months old then, and swore that she remembered people being upset about the news on the TV or radio.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 07:15 AM (wzUl9)

113 One of the most absurd things about Win 11 is you can force it to install on older systems with a simple registry change. If that works, why doesn't MS let people install Win 11 on older systems by default?

Posted by: fd at January 13, 2026 07:16 AM (vFG9F)

114 Greetings from the Carolinas. Warm weather continues.

Local school board admits that the amount of missing money is really 45 million, not 42 million as previously reported. What’s 3 million among friends. State auditors can’t find where the 45 million went. School board says no one has been fired because all the money went for da chilren.

Who is John Galt?

Posted by: Going deep. Out. at January 13, 2026 07:16 AM (jt/rW)

115 Trying to switch to Linux. My biggest hurdle is Quicken (testing HomeBank, which may work) and TurboTax. I don't want to do my taxes online. I may keep one of those mini pcs with Windows 11 just for TurboTax and use Linux as a daily driver. Libre Office, Gimp and Inkscape along with any webbrowser does everything I need except for the financial stuff. And it's free and I'm not on anyone's digital plantation

Posted by: MaureenTheTemp at January 13, 2026 07:19 AM (Swr8B)

116 "Local school board admits that the amount of missing money is really 45 million, not 42 million as previously reported."

The same kind of thing is going on here. One county is missing 5 million, another 11 million. Both have similar administrators, brought in from elsewhere, overpaid and incompetent, and oh yeah, not white.

Posted by: fd at January 13, 2026 07:20 AM (vFG9F)

117 Oh, just in case anyone missed it, the MFM / Hollywood propaganda complex is at it again - I just saw ads for a new TV series, CIA.

And if not the pilot, will be in some episode this season about some trigger-happy, rogue agent shooting a holy person for bumping their car into them - and the narrative will play out exactly how the Left is framing the tiring ICE confrontation.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at January 13, 2026 07:20 AM (a4flb)

118 I made the leap to Linux Mint and don't regret it.

Does everything I needed my old Windows machine to do.

Set up a Plex media server on it as well. It's been great.

I have to use Win11 for my work computer but after that, its using Mint on my home machine

Posted by: Blanco at January 13, 2026 07:20 AM (MHpW9)

119 School board says no one has been fired because all the money went for da chilren.
——-

Fired?? They should be run through a wood-chipper. Seriously, this is going to get worse and worse, not better and better, until the crooks feel the pain. It isn’t a great way but it’s the only way

Posted by: Common Tater at January 13, 2026 07:23 AM (itAZI)

120 And don't mess around with dual booting, because most will never use it. Pick up a cheap older laptop, install Linux and use it for awhile. See what you think of it. This is a lot like folks moving from cable/satellite tv to streaming. You really just had to see what was out there and make the leap

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 13, 2026 07:23 AM (+mUZM)

121 As for me on 11/22/63, I was in fifth grade and had just come back from lunch recess. The news was buzzing all around -- wild rumors. Not like today, where somebody would post "The Russians shot Kennedy and are invading!", just things like "The president's been shot, but we don't know how bad."

I have no idea how grownup Nawlins people felt about JFK. But certainly there was no cheering in my classroom, as in that exploded "news" story about Dallas kids celebrating when they heard. As I understand the reality, they'd just been told they would be sent home early that day -- a good reason to celebrate when you hate school, as I did.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 07:24 AM (wzUl9)

122 I have already decided that the next machine is going to be Linux when the current one goes the way of all flesh.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 13, 2026 07:24 AM (jjoN6)

123
My biggest hurdle is Quicken (testing HomeBank, which may work) and TurboTax. I don't want to do my taxes online. I may keep one of those mini pcs with Windows 11 just for TurboTax and use Linux as a daily driver.

Posted by: MaureenTheTemp at January 13, 2026 07:19 AM

can you still get TurboTax as free-standing software? I though they went to the "software as a service" model years ago

if TurboTax is "software as a service" you are effectively doing your taxes online anyway

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 13, 2026 07:26 AM (tljrc)

124 you hate school, as I did.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Funny. Guy who hates school, goes to work in one. Just like I did.

Posted by: Special Ed at January 13, 2026 07:27 AM (oftw2)

125 Why doesn’t IRS have all the software to do taxes online at the government website?

Posted by: Common Tater at January 13, 2026 07:28 AM (itAZI)

126 The same kind of thing is going on here. One county is missing 5 million, another 11 million. Both have similar administrators, brought in from elsewhere, overpaid and incompetent, and oh yeah, not white.
Posted by: fd at January 13, 2026 07:20 AM (vFG9F)

That administrator is a product of a poor environment. There's nothing wrong with him or her, I can prove it.

Posted by: Randolph Duke at January 13, 2026 07:28 AM (n+1Zi)

127 When you put Linux on an older laptop, you learn how much the tech companies have forced you into upgrades you didn't need. It wasn't the computer that was slow, it was their operating system.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 13, 2026 07:29 AM (+mUZM)

128 All I wanted to do was have some fun with Sheryl Crow, the Sheryl Crow who sang that number back then. Now? Meh.

Posted by: Eromero at January 13, 2026 07:29 AM (LHPAg)

129
Good morning from Brazoria County, TX. Chilly this morning and temperatures aren't expected to get much above 60 F (or who cares Celsius). Getting the RV loaded and giving The Big Dummy a bath for this weekend's shows in Jackson, MS.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 13, 2026 07:30 AM (t2vGZ)

130 And Dan Rather got on CBS News and told the country that it was "right-wing hatred."

Posted by: no one at January 13, 2026 07:30 AM (qFwJc)

131
JJS

Posted by: r hennigantx at January 13, 2026 07:32 AM (gbOdA)

132 School board says no one has been fired because all the money went for da chilren.

They don't know where it went but 100% sure it was for the children.

Crackhead breaks into your home and steals your medications and jewelry - it was for the children.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at January 13, 2026 07:32 AM (a4flb)

133 can you still get TurboTax as free-standing software? I though they went to the "software as a service" model years ago
Posted by: AltonJackson

They really push you to their online web browser based services but you can download the software to your computer and do it offline. But TurboTax has said for the 25 tax year the program will only work on Windows 11. I probably need to switch tax software but don't want to mess with that for 25.

Posted by: MaureenTheTemp at January 13, 2026 07:32 AM (Swr8B)

134
And Dan Rather got on CBS News and told the country that it was "right-wing hatred."
Posted by: no one at January 13, 2026 07:30 AM (qFwJc)

You can watch the CBS coverage on YouTube. It's only a few minutes before Uncle Walter says Dallas is a hotbed of right-wing hate.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 13, 2026 07:33 AM (t2vGZ)

135
And don't mess around with dual booting, because most will never use it. Pick up a cheap older laptop, install Linux and use it for awhile. See what you think of it. This is a lot like folks moving from cable/satellite tv to streaming. You really just had to see what was out there and make the leap

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 13, 2026 07:23 AM

it used to be that you could get a Raspberry Pi as a test driver, but they've gotten stupid expensive; you can probably find a used laptop cheaper

the RaspPi works well as a streaming dealio...I had an old flat screen "dumb" TV that I stuck a RaspPi on...voila! "smart" TV

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 13, 2026 07:33 AM (tljrc)

136 I'll have to try Docker at some point, which allows you to run an instance of Windows on a Linux machine. Supposed to be easier than virtual machines. There might be a solution for Turbo Tax. And there are programs that run using Wine.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 13, 2026 07:34 AM (+mUZM)

137 Wolfus,
You know who put out that false story? Dan Rather. The school explained the circumstances. Rather didnt care. It was his big break.
Rather didnt suddenly become a POS late in his career. He was one from an early age.

Posted by: Wally at January 13, 2026 07:34 AM (65cLN)

138 you hate school, as I did.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
*
Funny. Guy who hates school, goes to work in one. Just like I did.
Posted by: Special Ed at January 13, 2026

***
Working for a college was once fun. You could take books out of the college library, for one thing, and you generally had co-workers with an IQ above room temp. The quality of conversation was usually well above "Workin' hard, or hardly workin'?"

DIe and the Sniffle Scare changed all that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 13, 2026 07:36 AM (wzUl9)

139 $50-70 for a laptop to run Linux. I like Think Pads, when I'm not getting old Macbook Pros. You may need to replace the hard drive as those typically get removed for security reasons. You can check the difficulty of that on Ifixit. I like to max out the RAM which can still be done on older computers. You don't have to. Balena Etcher is a free program to create a bootable USB stick for install.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 13, 2026 07:40 AM (+mUZM)

140 You can watch the CBS coverage on YouTube. It's only a few minutes before Uncle Walter says Dallas is a hotbed of right-wing hate.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh

Texas was a majority Democrat state in those days.
I was in third grade, about 8 years old.
The thing I most remember was we were off school, and all the grups were watching TV all weekend. My Dad hated Kennedy, but it was a real national tragedy, made most people pretty sad.
Later in 1964, our class all wrote letters of condolence to Jackie, because it was a class assignment. I think I still have the standard reply letter somewhere, along with pictures of my Mom riding a dinosaur to school.

Posted by: A face in the crowd.... at January 13, 2026 07:41 AM (2DpeO)

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