Daily Tech News 4 August 2026

Top Story

Who is legally liable for Anthropic and OpenAI accidentally murdering eleven trillion people? It's complicated. (Tech Crunch)

Oops, sorry, that was next week's question. Though the answer is the same as this week.

Because corpses can't sue.
Meanwhile Apple finally fixed Siri, only to find nobody cares. (Tech Crunch)

Sudo make me a sandwich.

Tech News

After a record quarter, Palantir CEO correctly labelled the AI industry Marxist. (Tech Crunch)

For the next quarterly results he will recite pi to a hundred decimal places.
Only about 10% of memory sold at retain is DDR4. (WCCFTech)

This despite it being significantly cheaper than DDR5.

The advantage of DDR4 comes from the fact that you already have it, and don't need to buy it.
Prices on Nvidia graphics cards continue to climb. (Tom's Hardware)

The RTX 5090 now costs around $5090.
Can you still play computer games on 4GB graphics cards in 2026? (Tom's Hardware)

Fortunately, yes.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Never trust a wombat.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 04:31 AM (odBC9)

2 from the ONT:

466 Coffee seem weak , made it as always
Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 04:20 AM (Ia/+0)

Good times create weak coffee.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 04:33 AM (odBC9)

3 Dump truck driver saves tiny dog from back of truck and gives him a new home:

https://tinyurl.com/4tjevcs3

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 04, 2026 04:40 AM (W90Ou)

4 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 04:42 AM (Ia/+0)

5 >>>Who is legally liable for Anthropic and OpenAI accidentally murdering eleven trillion people?

The Earth's population is approximately 8.3 billion people

(I had to look it up.)

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 04:44 AM (odBC9)

6 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at August 04, 2026 04:44 AM (V0/Sp)

7 "had to"

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 04:45 AM (odBC9)

8 Sudo make me a sandwich.

ISWYDT

Posted by: fluffy at August 04, 2026 04:45 AM (V0/Sp)

9 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 04, 2026 04:46 AM (sAmhv)

10 Sudo make me a sandwich.

Well? Did it work?

(finger hovering over 'enter')

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 04, 2026 04:48 AM (sAmhv)

11 Devotional on "Resembling God"" based on Ephesians 5:8-13. I don't know that I would be able to smile whenever I feel irritated, but I like the idea:

https://tinyurl.com/2jema6m3

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 04, 2026 04:49 AM (W90Ou)

12 Sudo make me a sandwich.

"Poof! You're a sandwich."

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 04:50 AM (odBC9)

13 Nice story about a boy with autism with incredible talent and a wonderful gift he received:

https://tinyurl.com/jfzhnfwb

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 04, 2026 04:53 AM (W90Ou)

14 5 >>>Who is legally liable for Anthropic and OpenAI accidentally murdering eleven trillion people?

The Earth's population is approximately 8.3 billion people

(I had to look it up.)
Posted by: m

The only thing worse than the death of a thousand cuts is the cut of a thousand deaths.

Posted by: mikeski at August 04, 2026 04:56 AM (VHUov)

15 JJ will have up VDH column and a like article at The Federalist on the West's invasion problem

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 04:57 AM (Ia/+0)

16 Prices on Nvidia graphics cards continue to climb. (Tom's Hardware)
The RTX 5090 now costs around $5090.

Googling

rtx 5090

the prices are all over the place.

€7537.60, for example.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 04:58 AM (odBC9)

17 Ballroom Blitz before I look it up, my guess 1975

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 04:58 AM (Ia/+0)

18 1973, off by 2 yesrs

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 04:59 AM (Ia/+0)

19 Still not sure why my phone on the school WiFi will not go here, yet could look up say American Thinker. Get a warning this is unsafe yet don't get that on mobile or home WiFi.

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 05:01 AM (Ia/+0)

20 Sudo make me a sandwich.

418 I'm a teapot.

Posted by: mikeski at August 04, 2026 05:01 AM (VHUov)

21 Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz

The hairstyles are kinda Alice Cooper-y.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:04 AM (odBC9)

22 Happy 125th birthday to Louis Armstrong- a fine musician and sounds like a fine man:

https://tinyurl.com/yv45ru2y

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 04, 2026 05:04 AM (xSAlF)

23 mikeski are you 'short and stout'?

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

24 Pixy

You seem to be here every evening ( for you). I hope at some point you get a break or vacation. Thanks for all your tech news, the music clips and your dry sense of humor.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 04, 2026 05:06 AM (xSAlF)

25 I'm of average height, but I can't argue stout.

References:

https://xkcd.com/149/

https://http.dev/418

Posted by: mikeski at August 04, 2026 05:09 AM (VHUov)

26 Yesterday, on the thread

Tuq'r Qarlson, Marjorie Trailer-Queen, Thomas Massie, and Joe Kent Meet and Announce New Party for Nazis and Lunatic Conspiracy Theorists

there was this comment:

80 What I need to know is, what animal mascot (e.g. donkey and elephant) will they adopt?

I'm hoping it's the loon.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 03, 2026 03:37 PM (b7msB)

haha

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:10 AM (odBC9)

27 Fen that is a horrible thought, we would starve like we were in the Mohave Desert for a week or two.

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 05:10 AM (Ia/+0)

28 21 Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz

The hairstyles are kinda Alice Cooper-y.
Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:04 AM (odBC9)

... and the eye makeup, too.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:14 AM (odBC9)

29
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 04, 2026 05:14 AM (AMvSw)

30 Actually thinking about it, I have lots of fun playing with the blog when its broke.
( ponders two weeks of laugh riots)

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 05:14 AM (Ia/+0)

31 Well found out yesterday my days at the closest job in a long time is very short, suspect a long road commute is coming for much longer.

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 05:16 AM (Ia/+0)

32 26 Yesterday, on the thread

Tuq'r Qarlson, Marjorie Trailer-Queen, Thomas Massie, and Joe Kent Meet and Announce New Party for Nazis and Lunatic Conspiracy Theorists

there was this comment:

80 What I need to know is, what animal mascot (e.g. donkey and elephant) will they adopt?

I'm hoping it's the loon.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 03, 2026 03:37 PM (b7msB)

haha
Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:10 AM (odBC9)

"Spineless jellyfish" was another Horde-supplied suggestion.
There're some good ones.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:17 AM (odBC9)

33 Sudo make me a sandwich.

Tomorrow's Tech News will be posted by: A sandwich

Disclaimer: Never trust a wombat.

Unless it's Cecil the Combat Wombat. He'll get it done.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 04, 2026 05:19 AM (O7YUW)

34 Sad, seems like

Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene

@FmrRepMTG

doesn't have friends and family to tell her she's looking and sounding loony-toon'ish.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:22 AM (odBC9)

35 I guess I never realized Sweet did that. I thought it was another band that had a weird looking keyboardist with an Adolph Hitler mustache. Can't remember their name.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at August 04, 2026 05:27 AM (l26NL)

36 Welp.

Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸
@mtgreenee
Jul 29
Last night, surrounded by our families, @brianglenntv and I said “I do”

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:28 AM (odBC9)

37 Hey Tech threaders. Hope you are enjoying the dog days of summer. Sunday was mid 90’s, yesterday’s high was very low 70’s and windy. Felt like fall.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 04, 2026 05:32 AM (i57Jt)

38 Skip, willowed on the ONT:

468 Did you rinse out the carafe ?
Posted by: Lord Percy at August 04, 2026 04:49 AM (T8RPZ)

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:33 AM (odBC9)

39 Should be back shortly

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 05:33 AM (Ia/+0)

40 Sparks! Sparks is the band I was thinking of.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at August 04, 2026 05:34 AM (l26NL)

41
Polymarket
@Polymarket
18h
JUST IN: Anthropic CEO reportedly increasingly concerned that new hires are working there for a paycheck, as opposed to the company’s mission.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:38 AM (odBC9)

42 Good morning, one and all. Just finished reading an article at the Epoch Times about Houston opening up a detransitioning clinic for the young people that regret being on the trans bandwagon.

I hope that they have a lot of armed security in place because Al Gayeda will do their damnedest to destroy the hospital.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 04, 2026 05:41 AM (BpO1e)

43 Anthropic CEO reportedly increasingly concerned that new hires are working there for a paycheck, as opposed to the company’s mission.

Wait until he learns that not only is water wet but the sun will rise in the East today.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 04, 2026 05:42 AM (BpO1e)

44
Stephen L. Miller
@redsteeze
7h
Didn't answer the question.

Acyn
@Acyn
7h
Collins: Do you still believe that Thanksgiving should be canceled?

Hong: I'm a chef, and one of the first meals that I made was for the community when I was 16 was a Thanksgiving meal. But Thanksgiving is also a time that's incredibly painful for many people in our communities. And so I think there, I wanted to make sure that people understood that there are multiple views, but views can evolve. And the position that I'm running for right now, and I think my background as a chef will actually help me become a better governor that's able to bring more people to the table.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 05:43 AM (odBC9)

45 Evening and morning, Tiu's Day toilers, early risers, and super-commenters! The 1953 Titanic w/ Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, and Robert Wagner is finishing up on the Movies! channel. Webb's most heroic role. He was a top-notch character actor and an unlikely movie star, wasn't he? The film is a great companion to the more famous A Night to Remember with Kenneth More.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 04, 2026 05:47 AM (wzUl9)

46 Didn't answer the question.

And never will. The ability to remain evasive about simple yes/no questions is what makes someone a politician.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 04, 2026 05:49 AM (BpO1e)

47 @42/NR Pax: You can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again - that's the sad truth.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 04, 2026 05:52 AM (O7YUW)

48 You say Sweet!
I say Dude!
I’m not even going to click on that video.

Posted by: Fenderbender at August 04, 2026 05:54 AM (1FEc1)

49 See if this works

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 05:59 AM (L8DX7)

50 I use a small stove coffee pot. Think too much water maybe

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 06:00 AM (L8DX7)

51 @46/NR Pax: "And never will. The ability to remain evasive about simple yes/no questions is what makes someone a politician."

Can you imagine if one actually did? "No, I don't believe in cancelling Thanksgiving. I never did. I just said that to generate rage in order to get my name stuck in people's minds so that come election day, they might tick the box for me because my name is the most recognizable to them in their moment of addle-brained apathy."

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 04, 2026 06:00 AM (O7YUW)

52 47 You can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again - that's the sad truth.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

I know but I'd rather that we have a clinic that helps them recover and try to live a normal life. It looks like it will be giving them the therapy they should have had before going through with the surgery.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 04, 2026 06:01 AM (BpO1e)

53 The Sweet video: I always found the song exciting, and loved that Mitsubishi used it for one of their ads some years ago -- the one where they compare a Galant to a Toyota Camry in an "accident avoidance test" on a city expressway. Mitsubishi for a time used music in their TV spots to very good effect.

Anyway! Ah is up, sippin' mah coffee . . .

. . . I gotta cut out using "suthern" dialect. There's nothing Southern about me in the least.

Coffee and a pipe while I wake up. I think I accidentally locked big Stirling in the kitchen closet last night. No wonder he didn't sleep with me.

What's up with you?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 04, 2026 06:03 AM (wzUl9)

54 Can you imagine if one actually did?

That's a Bulworth worthy answer right there. I like it.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 04, 2026 06:05 AM (BpO1e)

55
Look at this place. It's a mess. What were you doing all night?

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 04, 2026 06:06 AM (O0L8i)

56 The Grapes of Wrath w/ Henry Fonda is on Movies! now. Say what you want about the socialist tendencies in Steinbeck's work -- and I don't think that was his best novel (East of Eden gets my vote) -- but the Ford film is superbly done.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 04, 2026 06:06 AM (wzUl9)

57 @52/NR Pax: Laudable goals, and you're a good soul for wanting the best possible outcome for these individuals.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 04, 2026 06:07 AM (O7YUW)

58 52 47 It looks like it will be giving them the therapy they should have had before going through with the surgery.
Posted by: NR Pax at August 04, 2026 06:01 AM (BpO1e)

Hear, hear.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 06:09 AM (odBC9)

59 Good morning! I like Ballroom Blitz as it was used in the movie trailer for Suicide Squad: https://tinyurl.com/yc6z8ks2

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 04, 2026 06:12 AM (3Ope8)

60 G&R: Thanks. I've read too many horror stories about the surgery going wrong or the people realizing too late the depths of the mistake they have made. And then when they try to get healing, they face death threats because the Lavender Lobby cannot stand an apostate to live.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 04, 2026 06:13 AM (BpO1e)

61 And in better news: My wife's car is officially paid off as of yesterday. I helped her along in that goal and we managed to get this taken care of in two years.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 04, 2026 06:13 AM (BpO1e)

62 And in better news: My wife's car is officially paid off as of yesterday. I helped her along in that goal and we managed to get this taken care of in two years.
Posted by: NR Pax at August 04, 2026

***
That's the way to go. Pay it off early, then drive sans car payment for a good while. My Buick LaCrosse, purchased in August 2019, was paid off by late '21, so I've been driving it happily for almost five years since then. August 8 will make seven years -- the longest I've ever kept a car.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 04, 2026 06:20 AM (wzUl9)

63 JJ is up early today.

Posted by: Tuna at August 04, 2026 06:21 AM (lJ0H4)

64 Doesn't look like much has been happening on this front:

Max Miller
@MaxMillerOH
Congressman representing Cuyahoga, Holmes, Medina & Wayne Counties in Ohio.

Congressman Max Miller
@RepMaxMiller
Official account. Honored to represent the great people of Ohio's 7th Congressional District.

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 06:21 AM (odBC9)

65 ood morning! I like Ballroom Blitz as it was used in the movie trailer for Suicide Squad: https://tinyurl.com/yc6z8ks2
Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 04, 2026

***
Nice job. I'd have tried to have some fast-moving action scene during the fast-moving chorus, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 04, 2026 06:21 AM (wzUl9)

66 @61/NR Pax: "61 And in better news: My wife's car is officially paid off as of yesterday. I helped her along in that goal and we managed to get this taken care of in two years."

Bravo!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 04, 2026 06:22 AM (O7YUW)

67 I guess we're not getting to 100 today. Righto, off to J.J.'s thread.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 04, 2026 06:22 AM (O7YUW)

68 67 I guess we're not getting to 100 today.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 04, 2026 06:22 AM (O7YUW)

Lame!

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 06:32 AM (odBC9)

69 Have always tried to payoff debt asap

Posted by: Skip at August 04, 2026 06:43 AM (L8DX7)

70 There's nothing Southern about me in the least.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Where y'at? You got some berlin' water fo' yo' Cafe au Lait, before you go for makin' groceries?

Posted by: Miklos, a one man Confederacy of Dunces at August 04, 2026 06:56 AM (XOG/m)

71 My Buick LaCrosse, purchased in August 2019, was paid off by late '21, so I've been driving it happily for almost five years since then. August 8 will make seven years -- the longest I've ever kept a car.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

I have an inherited LaCrosse, 2010 and 53k.

Posted by: Miklos, don't get around much at August 04, 2026 06:58 AM (XOG/m)

72 Read the Techcrunch Palantir article. Shallow but not too bad. The writer couldn't hold back her feminists urges by quickly reminding you that Palantir upper management was all male and spoke in bro tech talk.

Posted by: madmike46 at August 04, 2026 07:04 AM (wYJus)

73 72 Read the Techcrunch Palantir article. Shallow but not too bad. The writer couldn't hold back her feminists urges by quickly reminding you that Palantir upper management was all male and spoke in bro tech talk.
Posted by: madmike46 at August 04, 2026 07:04 AM (wYJus)

On that recommendation, and having that summary, I'll go read it!

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 07:07 AM (odBC9)

74 TechCrunch Palantir article

The headline is inflated:

After killer quarter, Palantir CEO Alex Karp calls AI industry ‘Marxist’

vs

Palantir CEO Alex Karp on Monday ... implied in Palantir’s quarterly shareholder letter that these [= AI frontier labs] were the kinds of capitalists who gave rise to Marxist socialism.

“There are Marxist overtones and undertones to our business,” he wrote.... “Others, including many of those building large language models, intend, knowingly or otherwise, to capture the means of production of their purported partners.”

"intend, knowingly or otherwise"?

Posted by: m at August 04, 2026 07:24 AM (odBC9)

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