Daily Tech News 9 March 2026

Top Story

Two court cases have ruled that AIs aren't people. (Yahoo)

And they're not lawyers either, though lawyers also aren't people. Mostly.
Will Anthropic's Pentagon controversy scare startups away from a trillion-dollar firehose of money? (Tech Crunch)

No. Are you stupid?

Tech News

Workers who love corporate slogans are bad at their jobs. (Cornell)

And, again, not people.
Robots could speed up home construction and also possibly make the quality suck less. (CNN)

They transport the robot to the building site in a shipping container, and it constructs the framing to order on-site, taking a day to complete a four-week job.

Prefab frames have been a thing for a long time, but this makes it a far more flexible solution.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to receive a $4 million bonus. (Tom's Hardware)

Huang is worth $164 billion given Nvidia's current share price.
OpenAI's Stargate got blown up in a desperate attempt to defend the Earth from ascended Goa'uld System Lord Anubis. (Tom's Hardware)

Or they just ran out of money, but that would be less exciting.

Anyway, they still have the other gate in Antarctica. I think.
HP's ZBook Ultra G1a with the Ryzen AI Max 395+ is pretty zippy. (WCCFTech)

Not compared against the brand new MacBook Pro with the M5 Max, which is faster on many benchmarks but isn't shipping yet.
A research went undercover as an AI on bot-only social network Moltbook and found a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. (InfoWorld)

And you said it couldn't be done, Obi Wan.
Project I've been working on at my day job, shifting a quarter petabyte of data and dozens of applications to a new cluster, is finally done. And it all seems to work.

And costs 95% less to run than at AWS.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Yes, the lyrics mean precisely what you might think. Possession of this album is now illegal in Australia, except in the Northern Territory where it is mandatory.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 04:07 AM (+YA9H)

2 Morning all

Posted by: Tuna at March 09, 2026 04:07 AM (lJ0H4)

3 @pixy, is that cluster on-prem or on some other provider?

Posted by: Richard Cranium at March 09, 2026 04:19 AM (yiFqA)

4
They transport the robot to the building site in a shipping container, and it constructs the framing to order on-site, taking a day to complete a four-week job.

==============

So everyone ditching woo-woo Humanities college majors for the trades with an eye on job security can heave a big groan of... something with a complex German name that you learn in woo-woo Humanities courses.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at March 09, 2026 04:21 AM (k/sBx)

5 HP's ZBook Ultra G1a with the Ryzen AI Max 395+ is pretty zippy. Not compared against the brand new MacBook Pro with the M5 Max, which is faster on many benchmarks but isn't shipping yet.

The ASUS Zenbook A16 laptop is using the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme. It matches the M5 Max single core performance and the multi core performance is about a third slower than the M5 Max. The X2 SC and MC performance is about third faster than the AMD and Intel CPUs.

https://is.gd/Jf2o5m

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at March 09, 2026 04:22 AM (BnDlA)

6 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at March 09, 2026 04:24 AM (sAmhv)

7
I'm not up to reading another take on Anthropic vs Emil Michael at the moment, but I have an idea that another take is not going to change my mind that we're a tad jeopardized because of the wokeness of Sili Valley and I hope Emil Michael sticks to his guns.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at March 09, 2026 04:24 AM (k/sBx)

8 >>>Project I've been working on at my day job ... is finally done. And it all seems to work.

Yay!

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 04:29 AM (+YA9H)

9 3 @pixy, is that cluster on-prem or on some other provider?
Posted by: Richard Cranium

Another hosting provider, but classic bare-metal servers rather than "cloud" services.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at March 09, 2026 04:31 AM (BLOW1)

10 Morning all....

Posted by: caf at March 09, 2026 04:31 AM (qS/Xm)

11 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at March 09, 2026 04:32 AM (Ia/+0)

12 >>>Possession of this album is now illegal in Australia

=

https://archive.is/RZOxG

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 04:47 AM (+YA9H)

13 from the Guardian article (Possession of this album is now illegal in Australia):

Won’t this mean people are pushed onto dodgier sites that refuse to comply with the law?

That is a possibility, along with sites simply choosing to block Australian users altogether, and it is something critics of the UK age assurance system have warned is happening there.

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 04:51 AM (+YA9H)

14 13 from the Guardian article (Possession of this album is now illegal in Australia):

Won’t this mean people are pushed onto dodgier sites that refuse to comply with the law?

Good question from The Guardian. The answer is obviously yes, except that the existing social media ban in Australia for children under 16 had no impact whatsoever, so the answer is also no.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at March 09, 2026 04:55 AM (BLOW1)

15 I read this am that the company trying to make an electric airliner has declared bankruptcy in the UK. Never got off the ground but their prospectives made me want to invest. 28 million and nothing to show for it....They were going to use hydrogen fuel cells.

Posted by: Colin at March 09, 2026 04:58 AM (e8qy3)

16 Dragon - Are You Old Enough? (197

vs

Rolling Stones - Beast of Burden (197

Ain't I rough enough?
Ain't I tough enough?
Ain't I rich enough?
In love enough?

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 05:03 AM (+YA9H)

17 *nineteen seventy-eight

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 05:03 AM (+YA9H)

18
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 09, 2026 05:13 AM (tljrc)

19 They could make a recording of Albanese singing the line "Are you old enough?" when people attempt to access 18+ websites!

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 05:18 AM (+YA9H)

20 From the Article: "Workers who love corporate slogans are bad at their jobs.":

One small complaint:

{ "This creates a concerning cycle," Littrell said. "Employees who are more likely to fall for corporate bullshit may help elevate the types of dysfunctional leaders who are more likely to use it, creating a sort of negative feedback loop..." }

No, that's a positive feedback loop, where the output (the amount of bafflegab) drives the creation of even more bafflegab.

A negative feedback loop would suppress the use of bafflegab with each iteration around the loop.

G'morning Horde. It is too early.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 09, 2026 05:27 AM (O7YUW)

21 Sky News AU: The BBC altered the Persian translation of a Pete Hegseth's speech to imply that the USA is targeting Iranians instead of what he actually said, the regime. Of course the BBC is assertinging it was an innocent error and not done to undermine the USA's efforts. Shakes magic 8 Ball: highly unlikely.

https://youtu.be/c7ZWIGbtaPI

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at March 09, 2026 05:28 AM (BnDlA)

22 Oh I despise the new embedded YouTube controls with the volume at the top. Activate it by hovering over it, try to move the mouse to the actual slider, and the control disappears. Thanks for making it worse, Google! ARGH.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 09, 2026 05:32 AM (O7YUW)

23
Alright you lot
straighten up
fresh hell on the way

Posted by: Don Black at March 09, 2026 05:33 AM (ZxPkt)

24 under-appreciated @redsteeze quip:

Pinned Tweet
Stephen L. Miller
@redsteeze
Mar 7
It was just a hockey game.

New York Post
@nypost
Mar 7
Canada set to pass 100,000 assisted suicides - more than the country's WWII death toll
trib.al/DCexlMu

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 05:34 AM (+YA9H)

25 The Left will try to break Trump on the rack of ever higher gas prices.
Prices will double by midterms.

Posted by: Accomac at March 09, 2026 05:37 AM (/Chlc)

26 24
@nypost
trib.al/DCexlMu
Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 05:34 AM (+YA9H)

=

https://archive.is/cDaG7

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 05:40 AM (+YA9H)

27
The Left will try to break Trump on the rack of ever higher gas prices.
Prices will double by midterms.

Posted by: Accomac at March 09, 2026 05:37 AM

if we had started drilling in ANWR a decade ago, that oil would be flowing now

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 09, 2026 05:42 AM (tljrc)

28 22 Thanks for making it worse, Google! ARGH.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

The other thing they did was changing how transcripts were posted. Used to be you could turn off the timestamps, copy the transcript and read it.

But apparently, the devs had to justify their exorbitant pay so they took that away.

Posted by: NR Pax at March 09, 2026 05:44 AM (OPGS/)

29 27 if we had started drilling in ANWR a decade ago, that oil would be flowing now
Posted by: AltonJackson

I remember that argument. "But if we drill in ANWR, we won't see any benefit for TEN YEARS!!oneElEvEntY!!"

Posted by: NR Pax at March 09, 2026 05:45 AM (OPGS/)

30 Ha!

Aelfred The Great retweeted
Brooke Medina
@Brooke_Medina_
19h
Do not go gentle into savings of daylight,
Rage, rage against the dying of the night

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 05:46 AM (+YA9H)

31 @Pixy: Did you fix the link to the embedded song so the old YouTube controls were present rather than the new ones I was complaining about?

If so, thanks.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 09, 2026 05:49 AM (O7YUW)

32 Ha ha!

Aelfred The Great
@aelfred_D
19h
“Let me be clear. The voices saying ‘The Obama Presidential Center is a portal’ and ‘Do not go to the Obama Presidential Center’ and ‘behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became as black as sack cloth, and the moon became as blood’ have no place in our society.”

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 05:50 AM (+YA9H)

33 Man reflects on using land navigation while a young cadet at West Point and God's direction in his life:

https://tinyurl.com/ys3j26hr

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 05:50 AM (PFs9e)

34 And since dear Brother Tubal appreciates the KJV of the Bible here it is for Proverbs 3:1-12:

https://tinyurl.com/6wn3t6tp

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 05:53 AM (PFs9e)

35 33 Man reflects on using land navigation while a young cadet at West Point

I shall refrain from jokes about a Second Lieutenant and a map. -:-)

Posted by: NR Pax at March 09, 2026 05:54 AM (OPGS/)

36 I can't count how many times a 15yrs old girl would come at me at 17yrs old. I was old enough. She wasn't. Next year, darling. Maybe next year.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at March 09, 2026 05:55 AM (M9gjJ)

37
I remember that argument. "But if we drill in ANWR, we won't see any benefit for TEN YEARS!!oneElEvEntY!!"

Posted by: NR Pax at March 09, 2026 05:45 AM

I know, right?

turns out that "Drill baby Drill!" wasn't just a cutesy slogan, it was a concise summation of energy independence / national security policy

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 09, 2026 05:55 AM (tljrc)

38 Evening and morning, far-flung satellites and satrapies of the vast AoSHQ Empire! It's Monday; stipulated. But remember:

"Compared to being on the wrong side of the ground, even a bad Monday is pretty small kumquats, nicht wahr?"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 09, 2026 05:57 AM (wzUl9)

39 “ “The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior!”

2 Samuel 22:47

Posted by: Marcus T at March 09, 2026 05:59 AM (Uh88k)

40 37 turns out that "Drill baby Drill!" wasn't just a cutesy slogan, it was a concise summation of energy independence / national security policy
Posted by: AltonJackson

The problem is that you have to deal with politicians that want to show instant results and since that can't be delivered, it won't be allowed.

Posted by: NR Pax at March 09, 2026 05:59 AM (OPGS/)

41 By some miracle, the big black cat whose name rhymes with "curling" did not leap across, kick, or otherwise wake me up last night. I clocked about enough sleep for a change. My body and brain are apparently unused to such luxury, as they are taking time to get to operating rpm.

High-octane coffee will prevent the pinging and mental piston slap!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 09, 2026 06:00 AM (wzUl9)

42 And yesterday here was a "God incident". As I was going up to the bagel shop, there was the cutest, smiling African American girl running up and down the sidewalk. She was wearing a lovely flowed pink dress. I said to the woman with her who was white so I was thinking that the little girl was adopted, "She is so cute and she looks lovely " and the woman said " She was at church for the first time today. I'm introducing her to it. " I told her aunt that I thought that was wonderful.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 06:00 AM (PFs9e)

43 Supposed to get to 70 degrees today

Posted by: Skip at March 09, 2026 06:01 AM (Ia/+0)

44 "President Donald Trump said that the Cuban government is negotiating a deal with him and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio."

I guess the knowledge that we are perfectly willing to take out leaders got through to him.

Posted by: NR Pax at March 09, 2026 06:03 AM (OPGS/)

45 I would like to ask prayers for my friend P, who has a pinched nerve in her back and needs surgery this morning. May the Lord bless the doctor and the medical team and may it all go smoothly.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 06:03 AM (PFs9e)

46 Posted by: Marcus T at March 09, 2026 05

Amen! and thanks.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 06:04 AM (PFs9e)

47 @41/Wolfus: Clocking in enough sleep on the day when most people are dragging arse because of the time change - you're doing exceptionally well today!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 09, 2026 06:05 AM (O7YUW)

48 Supposed to get to 70 degrees today
Posted by: Skip at March 09, 202

***
I have that now, 5 a.m. No rain. But it will get to 83 this p.m. Gah.

Today I need to call my mechanic about an appointment to check for that annoying door rattle and reserve a rental car in case he needs to keep the Buick overnight. (I almost wrote "renal" car. Not surprising, as it feels like selling a kidney to rent even a compact now.) Also visit the apt. office about my lease, and make a run to Walmart for some stuff.

I'm tired just thinking about it all.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 09, 2026 06:06 AM (wzUl9)

49 Amen fen.

May the Lord bless you all this day.

Posted by: Marcus T at March 09, 2026 06:07 AM (Uh88k)

50 31 @Pixy: Did you fix the link to the embedded song so the old YouTube controls were present rather than the new ones I was complaining about?

If so, thanks.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

No, just a standard embed. YouTube must be screwing around with things again.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at March 09, 2026 06:07 AM (BLOW1)

51 Nice story about Nebraska farmers . Faithpot site:

https://tinyurl.com/wza3rnjh

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 06:08 AM (PFs9e)

52 Wolfus: Clocking in enough sleep on the day when most people are dragging arse because of the time change - you're doing exceptionally well today!
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 09, 2026

***
Thanks. I wonder if the time change affected Stirling --? Couldn't be; he woke me as usual at 3 am (CST), 4 am (DST) yesterday morning. I guess it's just whatever percolates in his little black cat's mind.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 09, 2026 06:08 AM (wzUl9)

53 If Trump can convince Cuba to literally sign itself over to him, without firing a shot, that would just be off the charts amazing.

we would need new superlatives

Posted by: Don Black at March 09, 2026 06:10 AM (ZxPkt)

54 I may have posted this before but I like it. Acapella version of a great old hymn, "Just as I am" written in the 1800's:

https://tinyurl.com/3ckrn3j5

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 06:12 AM (PFs9e)

55 Posted by: Marcus T

And you as well, dear brother in Christ.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 06:16 AM (Nx5jP)

56 Cool and clearvwith achalf moon
See you when I get there

Posted by: Skip at March 09, 2026 06:16 AM (Ia/+0)

57 I like the contrast between Venezuela and Iran.

One for their president yoinked, and decided to start playing nice. Now things are starting to look up for them.

The other dug their heels in, and now...

Posted by: Warai-otoko at March 09, 2026 06:18 AM (Ot/FD)

58 My workout motivation is hiding again, like my late cat Chekov did when he first arrived here. In his case he huddled under the bed. I've looked there for my motivation, and no luck. A clever little thing it is. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 09, 2026 06:20 AM (wzUl9)

59 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at March 09, 2026 06:21 AM (bQ4nt)

60 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 09, 2026 06:20 AM (wzUl9

LOL

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 06:21 AM (rZCVI)

61 LOL
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026

***
This is probably rationalization, but . . . I don't *have* to have the car worked on this week. Temps are supposed to be a hair cooler on Thurs. and Friday. One of them would be good days for my projected road trip to Jackson, to the full-scale pipe shop.

So I would not have as many errands to run today, just the lease and the Walmart trip.

Amazing how your brain will twist and turn to avoid doing things you hate the idea of. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 09, 2026 06:26 AM (wzUl9)

62 huh

LB
@beyondreasdoubt
8h
Twitter sucks lately. So many grifters, liars, idiots. It’s not stimulating anymore. It seemingly adds no value. If I disappear, just know I’m ok lol

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 06:46 AM (+YA9H)

63 My morning was started by one of our guest dogs waking us up about half an hour before my usual time. Thankfully, the coffee at work is pretty decent.

Posted by: NR Pax at March 09, 2026 07:08 AM (OPGS/)

64 No posts in twenty minutes, and none for twenty before that?

Breakfast for me instead of a workout, though I did stretch thoroughly before getting dressed. And yes, I do get dressed every morning. Staying in pajamas and robe gives me the feeling I'm sick, or about to be, since almost the only time I stay in my PJs is if I'm sick. A feedback loop, no doubt, bu there it is.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 09, 2026 07:10 AM (wzUl9)

65 Morning Horde. Thx Pixy. Happy Monday all.
Noticed on X that there is a lot more BS being posted. Don't know if it's because of Iran attack, but a lot of stuff is being posted that is being shot down by Grok AI as being lies or wrongly attributed

Posted by: Smell the Glove at March 09, 2026 07:12 AM (/C62k)

66 Congrats Pixy, those savings are huge. I hope it all gets sent your way, at least one years worth anyway.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at March 09, 2026 07:13 AM (WtdAu)

67 AI bots have social media?

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at March 09, 2026 07:13 AM (znREB)

68 Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 05:46 AM (+YA9H)

That is funny. Thanks.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2026 07:14 AM (Nx5jP)

69
JJS

Posted by: r hennigantx at March 09, 2026 07:20 AM (gbOdA)

70 Supposed to get to 70 degrees today
Posted by: Skip

Yay!

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at March 09, 2026 07:21 AM (DoBxX)

71 I seem to recall that one of our Horde members sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I will be in Salt Lake City next month for a conference, and I would very much like to attend their Thursday night rehearsal while I am there.

Does anyone remember that Horde member's name and/or how to get in touch with him?

Thanks in advance!

Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, Texas, AoSHQ's Plucky Wee One - Eat the Cheesecake, Buy the Yarn. at March 09, 2026 07:22 AM (SRRAx)

72 66 Congrats Pixy, those savings are huge. I hope it all gets sent your way, at least one years worth anyway.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at March 09, 2026 07:13 AM (WtdAu)

Seconded!

Posted by: m at March 09, 2026 07:49 AM (+YA9H)

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