Daily Tech News 23 August 2026

Top Story

Never send a Link to do a Zelda's work: The LINK mission intended to boost the Swift Observatory into a higher orbit has itself spun out of control, leaving Swift to burn down, fall over, and sink into the swamp, by which we mean disintegrate upon re-entry and any surviving fragments fall harmlessly into the ocean and Canberra. (CNN)

The loss is lessened slightly, perhaps, by the fact that Swift was launched with a planned operational lifetime of two years... In 2004.

Tech News

Inherent's AI teammate is claimed to outperform Anthropic and OpenAI at replicating research. (Tech Crunch)

Inherent, which just raised $50 million in funding, didn't build its own LLM. It runs on Qwen 3.6-27B, which anyone can download and run on a Mac or a 32GB graphics card like an RTX 5090 or the much cheaper Radeon R9700.
A decent laptop with 16GB of RAM is better than a good laptop with 8GB. (The Verge)

At least if you're running Windows 11 where, despite everything Microsoft says, you really need 32GB of RAM for anything serious.
Microsoft also says your games are crashing because of you kids and your RGB lighting. (Bleeping Computer)

Despite the fact that it all worked perfectly before the latest Windows Update.
AMD has published Linux drivers for RDNA 4m (mobile) graphics devices. (WCCFTech)

Which is slightly interesting because there are no RDNA 4m graphics devices. Not yet, anyway.

Tech News

Disclaimer: A blink to the past.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Morning all

Posted by: Tuna at August 23, 2026 04:30 AM (lJ0H4)

2 w00t

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 04:30 AM (odBC9)

3 Pixy..video not available in the U.S.

Posted by: Tuna at August 23, 2026 04:32 AM (lJ0H4)

4 BOING!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 23, 2026 04:32 AM (i2Ycu)

5 Video not available in some Levant countries, either!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 23, 2026 04:33 AM (i2Ycu)

6 Well, darn. Hang on...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 23, 2026 04:37 AM (BLOW1)

7 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 23, 2026 04:41 AM (ErLti)

8 Linked to a bootleg version that is not blocked.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 23, 2026 04:44 AM (BLOW1)

9 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at August 23, 2026 04:46 AM (Ia/+0)

10 I remember Mike Oldfield from 70s, not this one. Tubular Bells

Posted by: Skip at August 23, 2026 04:50 AM (Ia/+0)

11 Disclaimer: A blink to the past.

Sounds like quite the dance move.

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 04:51 AM (odBC9)

12 Portsmouth. A classic.

Geraldomouth. A classic:

https://tinyurl.com/bdzauekc

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 23, 2026 05:02 AM (i2Ycu)

13 Linked to a bootleg version that is not blocked.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 23, 2026 04:44 AM (BLOW1)
-

Ay! Dancing pirate shanty with a bootleg. Arg!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 23, 2026 05:03 AM (i2Ycu)

14 Imagine how hostile of an encounter it would be to get 4 trannies to dance like in the video. I would suspect they'd be spilling blood in both forward and reverse.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at August 23, 2026 05:03 AM (FR9Sb)

15 12 Geraldomouth. A classic:

https://tinyurl.com/bdzauekc
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 23, 2026 05:02 AM (i2Ycu)

ewww

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:05 AM (odBC9)

16 I should get up, but just too comfortable

Posted by: Skip at August 23, 2026 05:07 AM (Ia/+0)

17 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 23, 2026 05:09 AM (VyBeY)

18 from the CNN article:

Now, NASA and Katalyst have announced that LINK’s mission will not capture and boost Swift to a higher orbit “due to ongoing attitude control issues,” according to statements Wednesday.

Like, anger management.

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:10 AM (odBC9)

19 thinking I might go make a cup of coffee ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 23, 2026 05:11 AM (VyBeY)

20 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at August 23, 2026 05:13 AM (V0/Sp)

21 CNN:

Swift wasn’t designed to be serviced in space, which means that insights from the demonstration could be used for future missions.

Well, wut?

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:16 AM (odBC9)

22 >> Well, wut?

The Swift satellite's original planned mission was just years. Like a lot of these things, they last far longer than planned (I think this is basically a lowered expectations thing, sometimes).

They thus didn't put any thrusters on it and maneuvering fuel. It was also put in relatively low inclination orbit (this makes "rescue" missions a bit more costly) to keep it out of the South Atlantic anomaly where the Van Allen belt dips low.

It has been up there for 21 years. But, increased solar activity over the past few years puffed up the atmosphere a bit, increasing drag, so it spiraled in faster than they originally thought.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 23, 2026 05:26 AM (w6EFb)

23 publius, it's the "which means" part of that quotation that seems ooky.

1) Swift wasn’t designed to be serviced in space

ok

2) insights from the demonstration could be used for future missions

But 1) does not "mean" 2).

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:28 AM (odBC9)

24 I think the insight here is "Well, don't do that then."

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 23, 2026 05:31 AM (BLOW1)

25 Swift wasn’t designed to be serviced in space

Dammit

Where is my set of Van Allen wrenches?

Posted by: Miklos' dog woke him up at August 23, 2026 05:33 AM (4RYRd)

26
I think, assuming they're quoting some NASA or whatever outfit made the LINK spacecraft, something like this. Okay, we're going to try to rendezvous and make a hard link with something in orbit that was designed for that. So we've to figure out how to do that. How to grab onto the thing without damaging it and then thrust it to boost the orbit.

So, even though it failed, we learned shit about how to better do it in the future if we try again.

The LINK lost attitude control -- the reaction wheels screwed up and it began tumbling. They tried all sorts of tricks to work around it, but to no avail. The problem was likely due to overheating of some of the electronics, I think I saw.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 23, 2026 05:35 AM (w6EFb)

27 Swift wasn’t designed to be serviced in space

Dammit

Where is my set of Van Allen wrenches?

Posted by: Miklos' dog woke him up at August 23, 2026 05:33 AM (4RYRd)
-

On your belt?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 23, 2026 05:36 AM (i2Ycu)

28 24 I think the insight here is "Well, don't do that then."
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 23, 2026 05:31 AM (BLOW1)

I'll bet you're right. And then NASA responds, CYAingling, "But, but, insights form the demonstration could be used for future missions!!!" Which, well, yes.

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:37 AM (odBC9)

29 *CYAingly

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:38 AM (odBC9)

30 *from

jeez

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:38 AM (odBC9)

31 Evening and morning, those who toil upon a Sunday and those who rise early -- or at least, earlier than planned. Like me. Can't blame Stirling this time.

A new week looms. I need to work out today to get a start on it. Tomorrow I take big Stirling in to the shop for his rabies shot. Unless he's changed, getting him into his carrier is very easy, so it should not be a big battle like those I had with so many previous cats.

Coffee now, though. How're all of you?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 23, 2026 05:40 AM (wzUl9)

32 Just before I woke up, I dreamed I was already up and reading the comments for this morning's tech thread, and someone had posted something like "Grumpy and Salty* are usually here by now".

Of course that wasn't posted in this here, the real thread. If it had been, I might be a wee bit freaked out at the prescience.

Minds are strange things. And now... coffee.

{*}NaCly Dog

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 23, 2026 05:41 AM (O7YUW)

33 a fascinating discussion of "argle-bargle":

https://tinyurl.com/yrj8z5jx

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:41 AM (odBC9)

34
This LINK mission was a high-risk, high reward thing. Isaacman approved it as part of his "attitude change" for NASA. The design to launch time was just 8 months. That's very fast. The old NASA would've never tried it because of the high risk.

The old Apollo glory days NASA did take risks. Getting to the Moon before the end of the decade was a risky thing. They did it.

Isaacman is trying to get NASA back in that mode, like Elon, who isn't afraid to blow shit up and fail.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 23, 2026 05:42 AM (w6EFb)

35 Grumpy and Salty are usually here by now.

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:42 AM (odBC9)

36 34 This LINK mission was a high-risk, high reward thing. Isaacman approved it as part of his "attitude change" for NASA. The design to launch time was just 8 months. That's very fast. The old NASA would've never tried it because of the high risk.

The old Apollo glory days NASA did take risks. Getting to the Moon before the end of the decade was a risky thing. They did it.

Isaacman is trying to get NASA back in that mode, like Elon, who isn't afraid to blow shit up and fail.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 23, 2026 05:42 AM (w6EFb)

Ah. Thanks.

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:43 AM (odBC9)

37 G & R, I dreamed something about the wedge I use to keep my bedroom door open fragmenting into wooden shards scattered all over my carpet -- a big mess to clean up -- and finding I not only had dirty dishes in the sink, I'd absentmindedly put a Cheez-It into the coffeemaker. On top of that, I appeared to be in a rush because I was working again, though only part-time.

That last item, I think, lifts this dream to the edge of "nightmare."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 23, 2026 05:45 AM (wzUl9)

38 (still) thinking I might go make a cup of coffee ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 23, 2026 05:46 AM (VyBeY)

39
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 23, 2026 05:46 AM (AMvSw)

40 "If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." -- Gus Grissom, Mar. 1965

That was the attitude. And he paid that price.

This "caution and safety" stuff above all else. Not that you want to be reckless, not at all, the opposite, but when your fear of risk overrides everything, you don't get to the Moon.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 23, 2026 05:48 AM (w6EFb)

41 Joanne Linville, later to be known as the nameless Romulan Commander on Trek, is guesting on an Invaders. I've left that channel on because Movies! seems to be having tech troubles: irritating image and sound breakup and now signal loss. Here's hoping they can get things fixed by this evening. The Bogart flick In a Lonely Place is scheduled for prime time tonight.

If not, Linda has a (probably dark and depressing) historical revenge drama called Black 47, about the Irish potato famine, for us on DVD.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 23, 2026 05:51 AM (wzUl9)

42 40 "If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." -- Gus Grissom, Mar. 1965

That was the attitude. And he paid that price.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 23, 2026 05:48 AM (w6EFb)

wow RIP

Posted by: m at August 23, 2026 05:53 AM (odBC9)

43 a fascinating discussion of "argle-bargle":

https://tinyurl.com/yrj8z5jx
Posted by: m at August 23, 2026

***
" . . . the high King at Ribroast, either Arglebargle IV or someone else."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 23, 2026 05:55 AM (wzUl9)

44
After the fire, Gene Kranz called all his controllers and engineers in and said the following:

"From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: 'Tough' and 'Competent'. Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect.

When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write ‘Tough and Competent’ on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control."

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 23, 2026 05:56 AM (w6EFb)

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