Daily Tech News 31 March 2026

Top Story

Bluesky announced a new AI tool named Attie to help inmates create their own social feeds. It did not go well. (Tech Crunch)

In three days Attie has accumulated 1500 followers - and been blocked by 125,000 users, which is to say all of them.

That's more blocks than even the ICE account, suggesting that while the inmates are clinically insane they are not entirely stupid.

Tech News

Life with AI is frying human brains. (France24)

It's like managing a hundred toddlers that never sleep.
Restoring old photos with AI is a fundamentally broken concept. (Petapixel)

It works for movies, because movies have massive amounts of redundant information - most of each frame is identical to the previous, with just some elements shifted.

With photos all you have is the photo.
Or not even that: Sony has shut down almost its entire memory card business. (Petapixel)

Only a few models survived the mass cancellations which hit capacities from a lowly 64GB to a hefty 2TB. AI taketh away, and AI taketh away some more.
The latest Windows 11 update isn't. (Tom's Hardware)

Microsoft has pulled the update entirely because it didn't work. At all.
AMD's Zen 6 server CPUs have shown up in test results. (Tom's Hardware)

These are engineering samples and probably not running even close to full speed, but they are already competitive with Zen 5.

Interesting point: The high-end models have 24 or 32 cores per chip (and up to 8 chips on the CPU). That's expected for server Zen 6c models (AMD's efficiency cores), but if they're not efficiency cores that's a big surprise.
You can get a 2TB Crucial P310 for $215 on Amazon. (WCCFTech)

Yay.

I ordered two of these on sale for around $150 each on New Year's Eve.

Amazon lost them.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: No beans.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Poit!

G'morning Pixy, and Horde. Thunder, lightning, and a lot of rain to start my day.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 31, 2026 04:01 AM (O7YUW)

2 Morning Techsters. Hello Pixy.

Posted by: Pete Bog at March 31, 2026 04:02 AM (xAJnx)

3 "Amazon lost them."

More likely, Amazon oversold them and lied to you about them being lost. I assume they refunded you.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 31, 2026 04:04 AM (O7YUW)

4 Amazon lost them.
-----
You left out the scare quotes around "lost".

Posted by: buddhaha at March 31, 2026 04:14 AM (rJ+qD)

5 Mornin'

Got my MacBook Sky yesterday. It will take a bit to get used to it. I like it but MacOS isn't Linux Mint or Windows. It's different. The laptop itself is very nice. Lightweight, pretty fast, fairly easy to set up though I'm still doing that, and runs quiet. Safari is different. I'll figure it out. I went to The Masters website and tried to save one of the pictures there. One of the holes. It saved the whole page and I just want the image. Should be a way in Safari to just save the image. I've done it in other browsers (Edge, Google, Brave, etc).

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at March 31, 2026 04:17 AM (sAmhv)

6 w00t

Posted by: m at March 31, 2026 04:17 AM (fNISR)

7 The speakers on this laptop are not bad. Listening to Tom Petty that Pixy kindly embedded above.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at March 31, 2026 04:19 AM (sAmhv)

8 "You can get a 2TB Crucial P310 for $215 on Amazon. "

Apparently not that good. I'm seeing $231.95 USD on amazon.com, after I entered a U.S. zip code, but I'm still browsing from Canada, so who knows what their price algorithm is doing to that.

Checking amazon.ca: Supposedly 5 featured offers starting at $467.22, but it's also saying "no featured offers available" meaning they don't really have any.

The 4 TB option is $695.00 CAD.

Oh HELL no.

Also: Bite me, Micron.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 31, 2026 04:20 AM (O7YUW)

9 G'morning, all!

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 31, 2026 04:25 AM (iMotb)

10 3 "Amazon lost them."

More likely, Amazon oversold them and lied to you about them being lost. I assume they refunded you.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

I did get a refund, no questions asked.

And I actually managed to pick up a couple of Team-brand drives to replace them, at a lower cost per gigabyte and TLC rather than the QLC used in this model, so I'm not too put out by it.

Those drives have doubled in price in the last month, so not a minute too soon either.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at March 31, 2026 04:27 AM (BLOW1)

11 @10/Pixy Misa:

I suspect we'll find out the AI demand for memory isn't nearly what is claimed, and that the big three were colluding on price increases. Again.

Something, something, cartel, RICO...

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 31, 2026 04:31 AM (O7YUW)

12 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at March 31, 2026 04:31 AM (Ia/+0)

13 Mornin' Skip.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 31, 2026 04:32 AM (O7YUW)

14 I always liked that video

Posted by: Skip at March 31, 2026 04:37 AM (Ia/+0)

15 at the France24 site:

(because I rejected cookies and stuff)

Because of your choice:
• Articles will no longer be able to display external content such as YouTube videos, posts from X (Twitter) and Instagram pictures.
• Cookies not linked to your personal data will be created to allow the website to run.
• Lower quality ads may be displayed.

ok ...

Posted by: m at March 31, 2026 04:42 AM (fNISR)

16 Restoring old photos with AI is a fundamentally broken concept. (Petapixel)

Thanks. Good read.

Posted by: m at March 31, 2026 04:59 AM (fNISR)

17 So yesterday morning I had mentioned my dissatisfaction with our new Kwikset smart door lock.

Yesterday afternoon Kwikset reached out to me, and we spent about 20 minutes on the phone discussing the ongoing issues with the lock.
Very nice young lady, intelligent and knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the lock, both mechanically and smart feature sides.

After going over all the what-nots and stuff, she unasked told me that first they were sending me a complete new unit.

Upon receipt and install, if the issues persist, the whole thing jumps to the next level of tech support to see if there are additional factors causing the problem.

So.....things are happening.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 31, 2026 05:04 AM (iMotb)

18 17 So yesterday morning I had mentioned my dissatisfaction with our new Kwikset smart door lock.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 31, 2026 05:04 AM (iMotb)

And in the meantime, you've been ... lockless?

Posted by: m at March 31, 2026 05:11 AM (fNISR)

19
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 31, 2026 05:12 AM (tljrc)

20 Bluesky announced a new AI tool named Attie to help inmates create their own social feeds. It did not go well. (Tech Crunch)

from the article:

Bluesky ... userbase — now sitting at 43 million accounts

Q: How many bots?

Posted by: m at March 31, 2026 05:14 AM (fNISR)

21 "Should be a way in Safari to just save the image."

Or just install a different browser; almost all of them can be installed on a Mac.

Safari, IMO, isn't worth the effort to work around. I run Chrome on my work Mac.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at March 31, 2026 05:16 AM (HJSO3)

22 "And in the meantime, you've been ... lockless?"

No, no.

Basic issue is unusually short battery life.
But the unit has full physical key operability as well.
And all our key fobs have a physical key on them as well.

So we are never without an operable lock.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 31, 2026 05:18 AM (iMotb)

23 the TechCrunch article:

"Bluesky’s new AI tool Attie is already the most blocked account other than J. D. Vance"

The author of the article appears to be hyperventilating throughout.

Posted by: m at March 31, 2026 05:19 AM (fNISR)

24 22 "And in the meantime, you've been ... lockless?"

No, no.

Basic issue is unusually short battery life.
But the unit has full physical key operability as well.
And all our key fobs have a physical key on them as well.

So we are never without an operable lock.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 31, 2026 05:18 AM (iMotb)

yay

Posted by: m at March 31, 2026 05:19 AM (fNISR)

25 "I like it but MacOS isn't Linux Mint or Windows."

The MacOS weasels haven't quite figured out how to display windows across multiple monitors in a sane fashion. If you don't have multiple monitors, you won't care about this.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at March 31, 2026 05:22 AM (HJSO3)

26 21: Firefox is what I use with Linux. Might try that on the Mac. Good to know Chrome is an option

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at March 31, 2026 05:24 AM (sAmhv)

27 @5

>>Got my MacBook Sky yesterday.

Command + space bar is your friend and should become the main way you open apps or try to find things.

Command + tab will bring up all open apps and let you cycle through them. Command + q closes them.

Install home brew, it's a Mac terminal package manager that will allow you to install software via the terminal.

Install kitty or ghosty, these are terminals and are superior to the built in Mac terminal.

Install Chrome or Brave web browsers, install vim extension in either of them. This will allow you to navigate the web browser with keyboard commands.

I would recommend installing aerospace.

At the end of the day, you should be able to drive your Mac via the keyboard and using the mouse as little as possible.

This will make using your computer so much more productively .

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 31, 2026 05:28 AM (XV/Pl)

28 25 "I like it but MacOS isn't Linux Mint or Windows."

The MacOS weasels haven't quite figured out how to display windows across multiple monitors in a sane fashion. If you don't have multiple monitors, you won't care about this.
Posted by: Richard Cranium at March 31, 2026 05:22 AM (HJSO3)

weasels?

Posted by: m at March 31, 2026 05:29 AM (fNISR)

29 In other tech annoyances, GoComics has (apparently sometime between yesterday and today) implemented a new security layer to protect themselves from attacks. They've outsourced this to some outfit called 'bunny.net' that requires the running of WebAssembly in my browser.

Thing is, I'd long ago turned off WebAssembly in my browser (FireFox) in order to protect myself from buffer overflow attacks that could break out of WebAssembly's sandbox.

End result: I'm not reading three comics at GoComics anymore as of this morning. Oh well.

I did dash off a note to them explaining things, and that I didn't expect them to revert their changes just due to me, but I at least wanted to let them know that not everyone out there is willing to let WebAssembly run, and why.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 31, 2026 05:33 AM (O7YUW)

30 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at March 31, 2026 05:35 AM (2Ez/1)

31 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at March 31, 2026 05:36 AM (bQ4nt)

32 Time for the morning walk.

BBIAB

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 31, 2026 05:36 AM (iMotb)

33 27: Thanks! I saved it and will mess with it later. I'll add either Brave or Firefox later also. Maybe Chrome.

Going to bed soon. Even on my days off, I stay up all night.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at March 31, 2026 05:36 AM (sAmhv)

34 Ohhh, touch button lock

Posted by: Skip at March 31, 2026 05:36 AM (Ia/+0)

35 Good morning, everyone! I have survived Monday and feel able to face the week.

Went to the gym yesterday. I attempted half an hour on the exercise bike only to have my body get to the ten minute mark and say "We're done."

Posted by: NR Pax at March 31, 2026 05:39 AM (OPGS/)

36 End result: I'm not reading three comics at GoComics anymore as of this morning. Oh well.

G&R, I saw that myself this morning and it was only for one comic. Once I hit refresh, the problem went away but I'll keep an eye on things.

Posted by: NR Pax at March 31, 2026 05:41 AM (OPGS/)

37 @28/m: weasels?

Beware the Stoat Army and its Weas-4 mafia.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 31, 2026 05:42 AM (O7YUW)

38 34: it is useful.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at March 31, 2026 05:43 AM (sAmhv)

39 @36/NR Pax: "G&R, I saw that myself this morning and it was only for one comic. Once I hit refresh, the problem went away but I'll keep an eye on things."

It's not going away for me on refresh, but I completely neutered WebAssembly in FireFox's about:config screen.

Now if Firefox had a per-site whitelist where I would allow web-assembly to run, then maybe I'd change my stance. Maybe.

I still don't like the idea of running binary blob's of executable code handed to me by a website. Seems like a good way to get Ransomware attacked at some point by the forces of darkness.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 31, 2026 05:44 AM (O7YUW)

40 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at March 31, 2026 05:45 AM (AN2gy)

41 I still don't like the idea of running binary blob's of executable code handed to me by a website. Seems like a good way to get Ransomware attacked at some point by the forces of darkness.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

Good point. I'll have to see if I can find that in Brave's settings.

Posted by: NR Pax at March 31, 2026 05:46 AM (OPGS/)

42 Evening and morning to all the AoSHQ reporting stations across the system and beyond! It's Tiu's Day on Earth once again. Ho-hum.

Got all my chores done yesterday, including a virtual meeting with a home loan lender in Kansas. I am pre-approved for more money than I would ever borrow. Tires for the Buick are slated for Wed. And in a second hard look at my state tax forms, I realized I was not deducting my SS and some other things. I'll sit down with the project today. Maybe I owe a lot less than I thought.

Rain is forecast off and on this week, so I need to go work out this morning. How about you?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 31, 2026 05:48 AM (wzUl9)

43 Rain is forecast off and on this week, so I need to go work out this morning. How about you?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Well, I finally heard from my tax dude and I'm waiting for the parts that need my signature. Not very happy with waiting this long for things to be finished since I submitted my paperwork late February.

Posted by: NR Pax at March 31, 2026 05:53 AM (OPGS/)

44 @42/Wolfus:

G'morning! Here's hoping you don't take a massive hit on the taxes when the calculations are revisited.

We're getting tons of rain today, it'll be a wet wet drive in the school bus. Thankfully I remembered to put up ALL the windows at the end of the drive yesterday when it was so sunny and beautiful outside. (Doesn't mean I won't find leaks happening into the driver's section, they don't build these things well in terms of waterproofing, apparently.)

Now, what news of the furry thugs?

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 31, 2026 05:53 AM (O7YUW)

Processing 0.01, elapsed 0.0124 seconds.
14 queries taking 0.0051 seconds, 52 records returned.
Page size 43 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.