Daily Tech News 20 August 2026

Top Story

Microsoft GitHub says the 8-hour outage of its systems was caused by a combination of Microsoft Azure and Microsoft VS Code. (The Register)

Have you tried turning it off and just leaving it like that?

Tech News

AI was supposed to win people over by now. It hasn't. (Tech Crunch)

I'm finding it much improved over even a year ago. If it weren't for that small detail of collapsing the entire tech economy into concentric black holes I'd feel a lot more generously inclined.
China landed a rocket. (WCCFTech)

Yes, SpaceX has been doing that a couple of times a week for years, and the Space Shuttle kinda sorta did it back in the 80s, but still, good job, China.
Anthropic and Suno have been hit by yet another billion-dollar copyright lawsuit, this time by music company Round Hill. (Hollywood Reporter)

Git 'em.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Burn this border to the ground!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:55 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 04:55 AM (odBC9)

2 !!

Posted by: clarence at August 20, 2026 04:58 AM (833ut)

3 Vogue makes some decent tires. Bit pricey, though.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 20, 2026 04:59 AM (Ot/FD)

4 Have you tried turning it off and just leaving it like that?
****

But that would be the rational response. So, no.

Posted by: clarence at August 20, 2026 05:02 AM (833ut)

5 I use AI for recipes and movie trivia. Can't say want much more from it. I could throw a wrench in the system but is it worth my time?

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at August 20, 2026 05:04 AM (tvdD1)

6 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 20, 2026 05:04 AM (ntk8v)

7 Madonna - Vogue

That's where I feel so

beautiful,
magical.

Life's a ball.

(couldn't make out that last line so I googled the lyrics)

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 05:06 AM (odBC9)

8
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 20, 2026 05:12 AM (AMvSw)

9 from The Register.

The Microsoft tentacle says it will correct the autoscaling policies, review retry limits, audit Istio concurrency settings, and address the VS Code behavior "that amplified Copilot token traffic."

The Microsoft ... tentacle?

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 05:15 AM (odBC9)

10 Time marches on....Madonna's videos are still a work of video art, and when I was a young man I loved everyone of them. Now in 2026 she is an old lady and out of the news pretty much. Damn, I wish I could go back to when music videos where so good and were really video productions I loved to watch. Now most all is gone from my life, getting old like Madonna has to be hard on her and her fans alike.

Posted by: Colin at August 20, 2026 05:17 AM (CiQE7)

11 The Register:

"Complicating factors that impeded recovery included a number of scraping attacks on codeload endpoints," GitHub added.

AI:

Scraping attacks involve automated bots extracting large amounts of data, content, or pricing information from websites without permission. Attackers use these methods to steal intellectual property, undercut competitor pricing, harvest user contact details, or feed data into AI models.

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 05:18 AM (odBC9)

12 Hello tech threaders. What’s shakin?

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 20, 2026 05:22 AM (ENCZp)

13 >>>The Microsoft ... tentacle?

Posted by: m

>No bugs there. Just massive quantities of memory, high speed, and people with no direction.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at August 20, 2026 05:22 AM (tvdD1)

14 The Microsoft ... tentacle?
****

I read the article and could not come up with a word to explain a typo for tentacle.

Posted by: clarence at August 20, 2026 05:25 AM (833ut)

15 I think "tentacle" is meant as read. It's just another offshoot, wildly flailing and grasping, attached to the main body of the company but still looking like it's just out there doing its own thing.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 20, 2026 05:27 AM (Ot/FD)

16 Geeze, if I have to wait for the pop-up ads to load before reading the blog, I have a suggestion.
Just load the daily Harry and Meghan news as a pop-up, too. I suspect I can save time that way, since I won’t be able to avoid that crap on a daily basis for the foreseeable future.

Posted by: Fenderbender at August 20, 2026 05:27 AM (1FEc1)

17 Basically just a biologically disparaging synonym for "subsidiary".

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 20, 2026 05:28 AM (Ot/FD)

18 Can't recall if I posted this before. If so, I apologize. It's a story about a worker at a Chik- Fil- A helping to change a WWIi veteran's tire:

https://tinyurl.com/axbbpbtk

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 20, 2026 05:28 AM (wmzkx)

19 14 The Microsoft ... tentacle?
****

I read the article and could not come up with a word to explain a typo for tentacle.
Posted by: clarence at August 20, 2026 05:25 AM (833ut)

Maybe tentacle = company that has overreached and owns everything? One of the commenters says this:

Github was just fine until microshaft purchased the company, offering an amount of money I doubt anyone could refuse...
It was also fine for a few years after.
Now it's shafted - like everything microshaft buys and enshitifies.
They try to wring every last cent out of whatever they purchase because they often don't know what they've got.
The list of things they've bought and totally shafted is a long one.

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 05:30 AM (odBC9)

20 Harry and Meghan news takes up a lot of space in news no one cares about. Maybe a website of just Harry and Meghan news would help?

Posted by: Colin at August 20, 2026 05:31 AM (CiQE7)

21 Shining Christ's light . Our Daily Bread Christian devotional on Matthew 5:13-16 followed by a prayer, some insights and additional reflections:

https://tinyurl.com/56phjycm

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 20, 2026 05:32 AM (wmzkx)

22 I don't know if anyone had an interest in this but I posted this yesterday just as someone called NOOD and everybody rushed off to a new thread Fisherman from Mexico is rescued after 15 days in an underwater cave with no light. Sunny Skyz site:

https://tinyurl.com/yuzs9ad9

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 20, 2026 05:42 AM (wmzkx)

23 >>>Harry and Meghan

They belong across the pond and Chuckles needs to reel them in before he becomes the laughingstock of the century.

Sow your wild oats, be stupid and flamboyant, and now get back to work. We don't want you here. That should be clear.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at August 20, 2026 05:43 AM (tvdD1)

24 I'm finding it much improved over even a year ago. If it weren't for that small detail of collapsing the entire tech economy into concentric black holes I'd feel a lot more generously inclined.

The AI corps are making their models much better every few months or so, that's for certain. What isn't clear is whether AI is actually improving productivity for workers and businesses, as was promised, or is actually causing more problems than it solves?

I guess AI may be helping in some specific industries.
We hear great things about how much it's doing in medical research, but I'm still waiting on an AI to find that cure for cancer.

Maybe they should get AI to figure out a way to lessen the amount of RAM and storage that it's sucking out of the global supply chain? We're going to have to wait a few years for all of these proposed AI-specific CPUs & GPUs to go into production to help the situation.

Data centers everywhere, and the electric bill increases it brings, is right up there with the memory & storage supply crunch as the main reasons people are going against AI the more they learn about it.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 20, 2026 05:43 AM (6ydKt)

25 "Singing contractors" do nice version of Christian faith song, "You raise me up.":

https://tinyurl.com/52rd39yn

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 20, 2026 05:46 AM (wmzkx)

26 For the praying people:

Please keep in prayer the husband of poster, "Tecumseh Tea", a sweet woman whose husband has 4th stage cancer. Thanks.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 20, 2026 05:48 AM (wmzkx)

27 I have used AI for language learning. I also think it’s good at finding or consolidating information - the smarter version of google.

Posted by: H at August 20, 2026 05:52 AM (w8ire)

28 Time marches on....Madonna's videos are still a work of video art, and when I was a young man I loved everyone of them. Now in 2026 she is an old lady and out of the news pretty much. Damn, I wish I could go back to when music videos where so good and were really video productions I loved to watch. Now most all is gone from my life, getting old like Madonna has to be hard on her and her fans alike.
Posted by: Colin at August 20, 2026 05:17 AM (CiQE7)

You feel sad? Wait until she dies. That's when you start missing the good ol' days.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at August 20, 2026 05:53 AM (g8Ew8)

29 Hi, everyone! It's a decent morning so far. Got started off at the gym where my knee politely asked me to go a bit lighter than usual. Since I have an appointment tomorrow with a PA, I decided to grant its request.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 20, 2026 05:56 AM (jjoN6)

30 Good morning! Sprinkler is running, dogs are fed, coffee is perc'in, and the 10 day forecast shows the heat in the triple digits till next weekend. So, summer in Cowtown.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 20, 2026 05:56 AM (3Ope8)

31 17 Basically just a biologically disparaging synonym for "subsidiary".
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 20, 2026 05:28 AM (Ot/FD)

Thanks! It seemed a bit abrupt.

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 05:57 AM (odBC9)

32 Disclaimer: Burn this border to the ground!

*points to Ceuta Spain* Nope.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 20, 2026 05:58 AM (O7YUW)

33 30 Good morning! Sprinkler is running, dogs are fed, coffee is perc'in, and the 10 day forecast shows the heat in the triple digits till next weekend. So, summer in Cowtown.
Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 20, 2026 05:56 AM (3Ope

"Crotchety"? You're soundin' kinda perky.

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 05:59 AM (odBC9)

34 >>>Time marches on....Madonna's videos are still a work of video art, and when I was a young man I loved everyone of them. Now in 2026 she is an old lady and out of the news pretty much.

>My affinity extended to Madonna's 29 year old titties. Can't say I was a fan of her music.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at August 20, 2026 06:00 AM (tvdD1)

35 Evening and morning, late Thor's Day toilers and early risers alike! Somehow I forgot to set the alarm last night, and slept about twenty minutes later than I planned. No real harm done, I guess.

Madonna' "Vogue" was always a favorite tune on the radio for me, about 1990 I think it was?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 20, 2026 06:03 AM (wzUl9)

36 "Crotchety"? You're soundin' kinda perky.

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 05:59 AM (odBC9)

Only because I haven't started going through emails yet. ;-)

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 20, 2026 06:05 AM (3Ope8)

37 from the Hollywood Reported article:

Round Hill is a prominent music publisher whose copyrights include the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris,” Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” the Kinks’ “Lola” and Dio’s “Holy Diver.”

"The company provided a list of 500 songs that the defendants had infringed upon.

"Round Hill said in the suits that the company plans to “amend to list potentially ten thousand or more of their musical compositions,” with those damages potentially exceeding $1 billion."

Are those their ... top four?

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:08 AM (odBC9)

38 *Reporter

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:08 AM (odBC9)

39 I dreamed I was on the staff at a small college (my subconscious imitating life), and somehow got embroiled in a plot between a boy and a girl student in different departments. I can't recall the plot, but Romeo came up to me and was going to shoot me with a pistol . . . but I'd anticipated him, and the chief of security grabbed the gun before he could fire. It turned out to be a cheap Chinese knockoff in chrome that might as well have blown up in the guy's hand as fire a bullet. Somehow their plot turned on the idea that nobody knew they were lovers, when everybody on campus with two brain cells knew it.

I wanted to get back up the stairs to my office, but Chief O'Brien from DS9 was heading everybody off from the second floor because they were repairing something. I was trying to find another way up when I woke up.

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

40 I guess they could be opted out?

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:10 AM (odBC9)

41 @9/m: "The Microsoft ... tentacle?"

It's a limb of the Leviathan that is Microsoft.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 20, 2026 06:11 AM (O7YUW)

42 Also at The Hollywood Reporter:

Here's Madonna back in the news:

Madonna, Taylor Swift Lead 2026 VMA Nominations
Madonna earned 11 nominations, while Swift got nine, and Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande are tied for third with seven each.

...

The VMAs are set to air live from Los Angeles on Sept. 27....

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:12 AM (odBC9)

43 That Madonna video is truly an amazing production. Sharply dressed good-looking people as well as the star herself, a catchy tune, a black-and-white video style like 1930s movies . . . grand.

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

44 Madonna, Taylor Swift Lead 2026 VMA Nominations
Madonna earned 11 nominations, while Swift got nine, and Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande are tied for third with seven each.

...

The VMAs are set to air live from Los Angeles on Sept. 27....

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:12 AM (odBC9)

The what?

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 20, 2026 06:16 AM (jPziU)

45 Hot today again of course, and tomorrow but with a 60% chance of rain. Then 96 each day with only a 30% risk of a temp-changing rainfall.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 20, 2026 06:16 AM (wzUl9)

46 The greatest music video of all time is Meshuggah’s video for New Millennium Cyanide Christ. It cost billions of dollars to make. Critispcs everywhere hail it as a major breakthrough.

All the members of Meshuggah wanted to make absolutely sure that at every moment of that video, they were all hard. Even though you cannot tell, that was very important to them.

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 20, 2026 06:18 AM (jPziU)

47 @22/FenelonSpoke: Amazing that they rescued him. Good on the divers who didn't give up!

Another side-linked article from SunnySkyz that made me laugh:

Cat Joins Street Performers And Sings The Song's Lyrics Perfectly
https://tinyurl.com/3h2cjz3w

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 20, 2026 06:18 AM (O7YUW)

48 Madonna is the top nominee heading into the 2026 MTV VMAs, the network announced on Tuesday

MTV Video Music Awards

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:19 AM (odBC9)

49 Harry and Meghan news takes up a lot of space in news no one cares about. Maybe a website of just Harry and Meghan news would help?
Posted by: Colin at August 20, 2026 05:31 AM (CiQE7)

Famous Prostitutes and the Idiots Who Married Them?

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 20, 2026 06:19 AM (ExV1e)

50 Wolfus was mentioning "Weird Al Yankovic" yesterday. Here is a parody song of "Happy" called "Tacky":

https://tinyurl.com/4nnfd768

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 20, 2026 06:20 AM (wmzkx)

51 The Megyn Kelly–free threads should maybe include Meghan-free.

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:21 AM (odBC9)

52 Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 20, 2026 06:18 AM (O7YUW)

That was cute. Thanks.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 20, 2026 06:23 AM (wmzkx)

53 @39/Wolfus: "I wanted to get back up the stairs to my office, but Chief O'Brien from DS9 was heading everybody off from the second floor because they were repairing something. I was trying to find another way up when I woke up."

I get similar odd-diversion moments like that in my dreams just before I wake up.

It's like your brain is accelerating you up the on-ramp of consciousness, and when you reach critical speed/weirdness in your dream, your conscious mind takes over to try to sort this mess out, and *snap* you're awake - fuzzy brained as you shake off the sleep, but ... awake.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 20, 2026 06:26 AM (O7YUW)

54 an ad in the top banner at Hollywood Reporter:

https://tinyurl.com/3wz8m7vf

cottonwardrobe.com

Hippie Art buttoned shirts

like:

Men's Peace Sign And Guitar Hippie Patchwork Print Casual Shirt

and drawstring pants and hoodies and

LOL

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:27 AM (odBC9)

55 It's 5:30 am. Do you know where your workout motivation is? Because I sure don't.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 20, 2026 06:27 AM (wzUl9)

56 mornin yall. My current Weird Al song is "Handy".

Posted by: fd at August 20, 2026 06:27 AM (MWfyi)

57 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at August 20, 2026 06:29 AM (Hbeqj)

58 in twitter news:

@redsteeze

and

@damintoell

are having a tiff.

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:29 AM (odBC9)

59 If the Round Hill lawsuit hinges on ai copied some chord progression, then it’s bullsh*t.

Or if it was like the blurred lines lawsuit where the complaint was the song copied “the vibe” of Got To Give it up, the it will be double bullsh*t.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 20, 2026 06:35 AM (XV/Pl)

60 @58/m: nitter.net is also apparently having a tiff with X.

https://status.d420.de/

Switching back to xcancel.com for now...

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 20, 2026 06:35 AM (O7YUW)

61 Huh.

"The captain of an illegal charter boat that flipped in New York Harbor, killing a mom and her baby, is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who is now in federal immigration custody"

Posted by: fd at August 20, 2026 06:36 AM (MWfyi)

62 60 @58/m: nitter.net is also apparently having a tiff with X.

https://status.d420.de/

Switching back to xcancel.com for now...
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 20, 2026 06:35 AM (O7YUW)

nitter.poast.org

Posted by: m at August 20, 2026 06:36 AM (odBC9)

63 m, the Hippie clothes must not be selling to good. 50% off. However, they also sell clothes with cats on them. The black cat samurai shirts were cool looking. Even had a samurai otter shirt.

Posted by: olddog in mo at August 20, 2026 06:37 AM (Hbeqj)

64 Madonna can’t be all bad, she payed tribute to Dimebag Darryl by performing A New Level during a live performance of Hung Up during a concert.

She even played the riff herself and was bad.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 20, 2026 06:38 AM (XV/Pl)

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