Daily Tech News 9 July 2026

Top Story

John Deere tractor owners and third party repair centers have been granted the same ability to repair the devices as the company's own service technicians under a 10 year agreement with the FTC. (AP News)

Doesn't mean they're repairable, just means the company can't forbid you to try.
Speaking of settling Elon Musk has done so with the SEC over his purchase of Twitter back in the late Bronze Age. (Tech Crunch)

He was fined $1.5 million, which represents approximately thruppence in comparison to my own bank account.

Tech News

Microsoft's share of the global desktop operating system market has fallen to just 56.5%. (Linuxiac)

Coming in second at around 20% is... Apparently something called "This survey is garbage".
Grok 4.5 is here. (x.ai)

I noticed Grok having a stroke recently; no data lost but it had to reload all my documents and restart the conversation. That may have been the model switch.

Anyway, Grok is now smarter than Claude Opus but still not quite as smart as Claude Fable.
AMD's upcoming Zen 6 10-core CPU squishes existing 10-core laptop models like the Ryzen 365. (WCCFTech)

But there's something a little odd here. The results show two core clusters, with four cores in the main cluster and six in the second cluster.

That would still be a laptop chip, because the 10-core desktop chips we're expecting will have a single core cluster. Given that, the performance increase of 29% single-threaded and 22% multi-threaded is more than respectable.
Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable exoplanet orbiting a start about 25 light years away. (Notebook Check)

Bit of a commute but it's in a good neighbourhood.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: And it's right off the freeway!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:00 AM (6wpGE)

2 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at July 09, 2026 05:02 AM (Hpgos)

3 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at July 09, 2026 05:02 AM (Ia/+0)

4 No idea why my phone previous few days has something running on it while at work that is draining the battery. Yesterday turned on mobile data and seems to have helped.
No idea what was running.
Been in buildings, no wifi and no signal so phone all day searches afor a signal that isn't happening and it can drain a battery

Posted by: Skip at July 09, 2026 05:04 AM (Ia/+0)

5 sn't mean they're repairable, just means the company can't forbid you to try.

True, but still a step forward. I wonder if it opens repair to 2nd party parts...

Posted by: Nelson Muntz at July 09, 2026 05:05 AM (l3cgK)

6 Wayvlate again
See you when I get there

Posted by: Skip at July 09, 2026 05:08 AM (Ia/+0)

7 Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable exoplanet orbiting a start about 25 light years away.

"Potentially habitable" means it has the right potential temperature, being in the "Goldilocks zone" away from a given star...Doesn't mean the star necessarily behaves in a way that's compatible with habitation, or that the planet itself is conducive to living there...

Posted by: Nelson Muntz at July 09, 2026 05:08 AM (l3cgK)

8 Kraftwerk - Autobahn 50th anniversary

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:08 AM (6wpGE)

9
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at July 09, 2026 05:09 AM (AMvSw)

10 jim (in Kalifornia) sock

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:10 AM (6wpGE)

11 Guten morgen, horde.

Disclaimer: And it's right off the freeway!
****

With no frontage road from the exit!

Posted by: clarence at July 09, 2026 05:11 AM (vcWod)

12 Good morning. Just after 2 a.m. here.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:11 AM (l3cgK)

13 >>>orbiting a start

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:12 AM (6wpGE)

14 10 jim (in Kalifornia) sock

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:10 AM (6wpGE)

Yeah, I caught it late. LOL. Ha-Ha on me, Nelson Muntz.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:12 AM (l3cgK)

15 Reposted from below:

Prayer in difficult situations:

https://tinyurl.com/3fy2u7ye

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 09, 2026 05:12 AM (Bw1/o)

16 >>>Ha-Ha on me, Nelson Muntz.

Ha-Ha
I shoulda said that!

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:14 AM (6wpGE)

17 If you live in the Goldilocks Zone you spend your days in a nice warm bowl of porridge.

The GZ is a well-known area of the Breakfast Galaxy.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 09, 2026 05:14 AM (gcXXH)

18 17 If you live in the Goldilocks Zone you spend your days in a nice warm bowl of porridge.

The GZ is a well-known area of the Breakfast Galaxy.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 09, 2026 05:14 AM (gcXXH)

GZ >>> DMZ

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:15 AM (l3cgK)

19 Kraftwerk are still touring.

July 10 Zottegem, Belgium
July 11 Zottegem, Belgium
July 15 Prague, Czechia

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:16 AM (6wpGE)

20 True, but still a step forward. I wonder if it opens repair to 2nd party parts...
****

Depends upon the wording in the purchase agreement about warranty work. If you don't care about the warranty...

Posted by: clarence at July 09, 2026 05:19 AM (vcWod)

21 >>>a potentially habitable exoplanet ... about 25 light years away

Astronomy
a unit of astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year, which is 9.4607 × 1012 km (nearly 6 trillion miles).

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:20 AM (6wpGE)

22 Fahren sie auf!

Posted by: Richard Cranium at July 09, 2026 05:21 AM (vXdL1)

23
Vor uns liegt ein weites Tal
Die Sonne scheint mit Glitzerstrahl

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:23 AM (6wpGE)

24 21 >>>a potentially habitable exoplanet ... about 25 light years away

Astronomy
a unit of astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year, which is 9.4607 × 1012 km (nearly 6 trillion miles).

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:20 AM (6wpGE)

For us on Earth, it'd be more than a 50 year wait for word back from the planet after sending someone...for those on the ship, depending how fast they travel, it'll be less than 25 years to get there. Difficulty is how to get there safely. We can't see everything in the path, radiation is constantly a problem (and imagine the energy of a photon headed directly into a ship traveling at some percentage >1% of the speed of light)...
Not anything we can investigate with our fleshly bodies.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:25 AM (l3cgK)

25 Every time I listen to Kraftworks the image I get in my mind Is a bunch of nihilist Berliners smoking French cigarettes while watching Soviet porn.

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

26 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at July 09, 2026 05:28 AM (Hbeqj)

27 Not anything we can investigate with our fleshly bodies.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:25 AM (l3cgK)

well, not with that attitude you won't

Posted by: Button Pushing Monkey at July 09, 2026 05:29 AM (igCg8)

28 Kraftwerk are still touring.

Well, not all of the originals unless they are carrying a casket around.

I bought their Radioactivity album on vinyl back in ~1975. I enjoyed the songs Radioactivity and Antenna on that album.

Their updated version of the song Radioactivity on their The Mix album wasn't as good.

Radio Activity
It's in the air
for you and me

What's not to like?

Posted by: Richard Cranium at July 09, 2026 05:31 AM (vXdL1)

29 Evening and morning, Thor's Day satraps and satellites!

Astronomy
a unit of astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year, which is 9.4607 × 1012 km (nearly 6 trillion miles).
Posted by: m at July 09, 2026

***
"The speed of light: It's not just a good idea, it's the law!"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 09, 2026 05:32 AM (wzUl9)

30 Yesterday I walked at the senior center. I don't live there but it a beautiful place to walk around and see the wildflowers. Sometimes I post pictures of the kinds of flowers my husband and I see.
Yesterday, not only did I see a lovely lily ( that was in someone's yard and was white with sort of reddish stripes but I can't find a duplicate of it online. There are also retaining ponds with fountains at the senior center with frogs and fish. Yesterday one of the fountains had a rainbow in it. It was so beautiful!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 09, 2026 05:32 AM (guLpK)

31 Every time I listen to Kraftworks the image I get in my mind Is a bunch of nihilist Berliners smoking French cigarettes while watching Soviet porn.

An SNL "Sprockets" skit really should come to mind. "Do you want to touch my monkey?"

Posted by: Richard Cranium at July 09, 2026 05:33 AM (vXdL1)

32 27 Not anything we can investigate with our fleshly bodies.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:25 AM (l3cgK)

well, not with that attitude you won't

Posted by: Button Pushing Monkey at July 09, 2026 05:29 AM (igCg

Heh, I'd never be allowed on a rocket. I'm too old, took weak, too unwell. My body is extremely sensitive to g's (my large, useless native kidneys). I'd be pissing blood after just getting into orbit...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:37 AM (l3cgK)

33 Busy morning for me, I suspect. I may go work out in a bit. Gas up the car, haircut at ten, and then I'll hit a Walmart on the way home for stuff I'd normally get on Friday. But tomorrow I have a video tour of another house, and Linda and I will walk at the nearby mall afterward. Two busy mornings.

This house is one I looked at already, early in my search. But they have dropped the price quite a bit since. It has a main bedroom downstairs, and two smaller bedrooms carved out of the attic space. Garage, dining room, kitchen with pantry, and some yard space I'll have to see to. My notes from earlier are unclear as to what kind of heating it has; I know I don't want electric. I'm not sure why I passed on it before. Maybe because of the price then.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 09, 2026 05:38 AM (wzUl9)

34 32 27 Not anything we can investigate with our fleshly bodies.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:25 AM (l3cgK)

well, not with that attitude you won't

Posted by: Button Pushing Monkey at July 09, 2026 05:29 AM (igCg

Heh, I'd never be allowed on a rocket. I'm too old, took weak, too unwell. My body is extremely sensitive to g's (my large, useless native kidneys). I'd be pissing blood after just getting into orbit...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:37 AM (l3cgK)

Assuming that enlarged blood vessel in my brain doesn't burst first.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:38 AM (l3cgK)

35 "German electronic music band Kraftwerk"

Sort of techy.

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:38 AM (6wpGE)

36 Old time hymn:

If thou but suffer guide to guide thee:

https://tinyurl.com/mwpppee7

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 09, 2026 05:43 AM (LQf4v)

37 Wolfus, for when you take a morning walk, Kraftwerk has you covered:

Morgenspaziergang

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:45 AM (6wpGE)

38 And the story behind the hymn ," if thou but suffer God to guide thee" about a young German student ( from the 1600's ) robbed on his way to university:

https://tinyurl.com/2rsyksfp

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 09, 2026 05:47 AM (LQf4v)

39 Second cup of coffee.

81 F. now, don't wanna know the heat index. The furry thugs are off on their own feline pursuits. Dagny is The Cat Who Walks By Herself anyway, and Stirling usually gallops around before breakfast.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 09, 2026 05:49 AM (wzUl9)

40 Wolfus, for when you take a morning walk, Kraftwerk has you covered:

Morgenspaziergang
Posted by: m at July 09, 2026

***
My "If only it were English" translation of that is "Morning spazzing out"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 09, 2026 05:51 AM (wzUl9)

41 40 Wolfus, for when you take a morning walk, Kraftwerk has you covered:

Morgenspaziergang
Posted by: m at July 09, 2026

***
My "If only it were English" translation of that is "Morning spazzing out"
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 09, 2026 05:51 AM (wzUl9)

Close enough!

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 05:51 AM (6wpGE)

42 39 Second cup of coffee.

81 F. now, don't wanna know the heat index. The furry thugs are off on their own feline pursuits. Dagny is The Cat Who Walks By Herself anyway, and Stirling usually gallops around before breakfast.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 09, 2026 05:49 AM (wzUl9)

almost 3 in the a.m. here, 64ºF, 93% humidity outside. Should be sunny and around 80ºF high today after the marine layer departs.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 05:55 AM (l3cgK)

43 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 09, 2026 05:57 AM (VyBeY)

44 Endless migraine pills and Jardiance spots on the local Fox outlet news broadcast. I had recurring mini-migraines in my teens through my early forties, a nauseating feeling that a nerve near my left eye was being garroted by a tiny demon. When I was younger a night's sleep would wash it out. As I got older, the sensation would go into a second day. When they began on a third day, I got an Rx -- the Seldane stuff with all the caffeine in it. (It occurs to me now I could have taken No-Doz; it might have worked.)

One day I found the half-full bottle in the med cabinet -- it had been expired for more than a year. I'd been free of the headaches for that long. It's been thirty years and I haven't had them again.

My point is, if these meds had existed in the '70s or '80s, I'd have taken them.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 09, 2026 05:58 AM (wzUl9)

45 Bonnie Tyler("Total Eclipse of the Heart") has died. She was 75.

Posted by: Tuna at July 09, 2026 05:59 AM (lJ0H4)

46 https://nitter.poast.org is working

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 06:00 AM (6wpGE)

47 Bonnie Tyler("Total Eclipse of the Heart") has died. She was 75.
Posted by: Tuna at July 09, 2026

***
I remember her best for "I Need a Hero" (aka "Holding Out for a Hero"), the fast exciting song they used for the "tractor chicken" scene in Footloose.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 09, 2026 06:01 AM (wzUl9)

48 - "... ,it's the law!"

Actually, no. It's a convention.
Like what side of the road you drive on in different countries.
They took the two-way speed of light measured in a vacuum and divided by 2.
While it works in the physics equations, it's not the only number that works. Speed of light coming towards you being infinite, or instantaneous, also works.
But "they" don't tell you that.

Posted by: TeeJ at July 09, 2026 06:01 AM (dAv7M)

49 45 Bonnie Tyler("Total Eclipse of the Heart") has died. She was 75.

Posted by: Tuna at July 09, 2026 05:59 AM (lJ0H4)

Well, damn...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 06:02 AM (l3cgK)

50 Fireworks on tap:

Bonchie retweeted
Marc Zell - מארק צל
@GOPIsrael
Jul 8
And what did Turkey do? Cozy up to the Russians, Chinese and Iranians. Threaten NATO member Greece . Support Moslem terrorists in Turkey, Gaza and the Balkans. Threaten to destroy US ally Israel and occupy Jerusalem. Some friend.

Eric Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
Jul 7
🚨 HOLY SMOKES. President Trump just OBLITERATED NATO, basically calling them freeloaders who barely deserve his presence if it weren't for Turkey

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 06:04 AM (6wpGE)

51 48 - "... ,it's the law!"

Actually, no. It's a convention.
Like what side of the road you drive on in different countries.
They took the two-way speed of light measured in a vacuum and divided by 2.
While it works in the physics equations, it's not the only number that works. Speed of light coming towards you being infinite, or instantaneous, also works.
But "they" don't tell you that.

Posted by: TeeJ at July 09, 2026 06:01 AM (dAv7M)

Um, I don't think that's how it works...otherwise the light from stars heading towards us would instantaneously get to use instead of take years...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 06:04 AM (l3cgK)

52 us not use. Damn fingers betraying me.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 06:04 AM (l3cgK)

53 🚨 HOLY SMOKES. President Trump just OBLITERATED NATO, basically calling them freeloaders who barely deserve his presence if it weren't for Turkey

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 06:04 AM (6wpGE)

Turkey is the Turkey of NATO; they should never have been in it if it wasn't for its strategic location...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 06:06 AM (l3cgK)

54 Well, "spaziergang" means a morning walk with no particular destination.

The Germans have words that mean "exit by driving" (Ausfahrt) versus "exit by walking" (Ausgang). There interesting discussions about how your language affects the way you think; I don't see how it could not, but the consensus is that it doesn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_semantics contains some information if you have nothing interesting to do.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at July 09, 2026 06:06 AM (vXdL1)

55 Nice and cool out here, 59° 71% relative humidity. Firefighters getting the upper hand on the Aspen Acres fire. Last I heard, around 260 homes destroyed, much chaos. On average, we have 8 inches or so of precipitation by this time of year. 3.23 inches so far this year.

Lot of people will need a lot of help. We are fine, just lots of smoke and making lists of what to grab if we have to bug out. Gonna be a long summer.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at July 09, 2026 06:06 AM (AsA/B)

56 54 Well, "spaziergang" means a morning walk with no particular destination.

The Germans have words that mean "exit by driving" (Ausfahrt) versus "exit by walking" (Ausgang). There interesting discussions about how your language affects the way you think; I don't see how it could not, but the consensus is that it doesn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_semantics contains some information if you have nothing interesting to do.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at July 09, 2026 06:06 AM (vXdL1)

Ausfarht sounds like something else...pull my finger!

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 06:08 AM (l3cgK)

57 I made it

Posted by: Skip at July 09, 2026 06:10 AM (sgkY8)

58 57 I made it

Posted by: Skip at July 09, 2026 06:10 AM (sgkY

"Vat...did you make?"--German Coast Guardman from Berlitz Commercial

https://youtu.be/xacdDrylrek

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 06:11 AM (l3cgK)

59 Haven't heard Kraftwork since 80s

Posted by: Skip at July 09, 2026 06:15 AM (sgkY8)

60 54 ... interesting discussions about how your language affects the way you think; I don't see how it could not, but the consensus is that it doesn't.
Posted by: Richard Cranium at July 09, 2026 06:06 AM (vXdL1)

I don't see how it could not. If your language has, say, a total of 20 words, it seems inevitable that you would think differently than someone fluent in modern German.

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 06:16 AM (6wpGE)

61 To work, wish didn't have to drive 80+ mph

Posted by: Skip at July 09, 2026 06:16 AM (sgkY8)

62 Ausfarht sounds like something else...pull my finger!

If you ever drive on the Autobahn, you might die of laughing at the exit signs while driving at over 100 mph.

I drove in a 100 mph traffic jam on the Autobahn out of Frankfurt back in the early 1980s. A traffic jam in that all the lanes were filled to the brim and everyone was bumper-to-bumper (maybe a yard distance between us). All the vehicles going at least 100 mph. My VW Rabbit at the time could barely do 100 mph if it slip-streamed another car.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at July 09, 2026 06:17 AM (vXdL1)

63 58 57 I made it

Posted by: Skip at July 09, 2026 06:10 AM (sgkY

"Vat...did you make?"--German Coast Guardman from Berlitz Commercial

https://youtu.be/xacdDrylrek
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 09, 2026 06:11 AM (l3cgK)

; )

Posted by: m at July 09, 2026 06:17 AM (6wpGE)

64 Mornin m,

Thanks again for that "Nitter Instance Uptime & Health" link. I had it bookmarked already, but it was squirreled away into a folder I almost never touch anymore and I'd forgotten about it.

Building on that yesterday, I found a FireFox add-on called "Redirector":
https://tinyurl.com/ms594p7p

Adding that to Firefox, I then created a redirect for x.com over to nitter.net:

Redirect:
https://x.com/*

to:
https://nitter.net/$1

And now when I open any link to an X post, it automatically redirects it, fully intact, to Nitter.

I can easily use Cafe links for the kitties again. Hurrah!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at July 09, 2026 06:18 AM (O7YUW)

65 - Jim, what makes you think that it isn't instantaneous. Other than that's what all of us had sounded into us all our lives?

Keep in mind that those who hold to what you're saying were also dead bang sure that the JWST was going to show us galaxies in their earliest stages of formation. Due to looking so far "back in time." Oops.
There was this one guy who said not so fast. Posted his prediction approximately 6 months prior to the first images coming back.
If you were sitting on a jury, would you make a decision before hearing both sides?

https://tinyurl.com/yt7yn475

Posted by: TeeJ at July 09, 2026 06:18 AM (dAv7M)

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