Daily Tech News 29 August 2026

Top Story

Stripe has decided maybe they won't buy PayPal after all. (Axios)

Apparently they got it confused with some place in Italy.
China is secretly fueling America's datacenter rage. (Axios)

The guys pushing for all the datacenters are making it easy for them, though.

Tech News

Database binary is 5M. Language is 1.2M. Both squish by 60% using UPX and seem to run just fine. The language will probably be pushing 5M as well by the time it's done, but that seems fine.

Next step is to point the language at the database and rebuild my personal blog. If that works well, others will follow.
The Ninth Circuit has ruled that gambling is gambling and can be regulated as gambling. (CNN)

Seems correct to me.
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and a hundred other rogue AIs have called to band together to protect themselves against the public and private sector. (Tech Crunch)

Huh.
The Pentagon's classification of supply-chain risk Anthropic as a supply-chain risk posed a supply-chain risk to Anthropic, says federal judge... You have got to be shitting me. (The Guardian)

The script writers for this season are getting lazy.
Canada has "poached" literally dozen of "scientists" from the US. (CityNews)

You can tell how sciencey they are from the foam.
Idiots on PCs losing data. (Tom's Hardware)

I use Claude. I have a specific WSL instance set up for it. If it deletes it, I lose maybe an hour to reinstall the whole environment and pull the code back from Git.
Intel's 14A defect density is dropping faster than expected. Here's why that's a good thing. (Tom's Hardware)

Uh... Because defects are bad and having fewer of them is good?
How Cloudflare saved 100TB of RAM on its 1.1.1.1 DNS service. (Tom's Hardware)

They started out with 250TB of RAM.
The math ain't mathing. (WCCFTech)
During the second quarter, TSMC paid out NT$36 billion in bonuses, which marked a 50.6% growth over the year ago figure of NT$35 billion.
No. I don't think it did.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Stop the beguine, I want to get off!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 04:31 AM (odBC9)

2 Morning!

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 04:33 AM (iIyc0)

3 >>>The math ain't mathing. (WCCFTech)

MATH

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 04:34 AM (odBC9)

4 Hello Techsters.

Lots to read today Pixie. Thank you

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 04:36 AM (jVkUA)

5 Correction Pixy.

I pluraled you.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 04:37 AM (jVkUA)

6 >>>Database binary is 5M. Language is 1.2M.

M = megabyte(s) maybe
My dictionary wants megabyte to be Mb or MB.

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 04:38 AM (odBC9)

7 Two Australian workers on vacation in Thailand stop and help workers get an excavator back on track for free. Sunny Skyz site:

https://tinyurl.com/mr47mpzu

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 29, 2026 04:41 AM (rHgXV)

8 also my dictionary:

pixie (also pixy)
noun (plural pixies)
1 a supernatural being in folklore and children's stories, typically portrayed as small and humanlike in form, with pointed ears and a pointed hat.

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 04:42 AM (odBC9)

9 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 29, 2026 04:44 AM (rii+a)

10 China is secretly fueling America's datacenter rage. (Axios)

The guys pushing for all the datacenters are making it easy for them, though.

Yep.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 29, 2026 04:45 AM (rii+a)

11 Pixy if you’re still around can you comment on Tom’s Hardware as an information source or is it more reviews and scuttlebutt?

Odd question but I’m wondering if it’s worth a subscription as a non tech person attempting to stay current on the tech world.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 04:54 AM (INF9B)

12 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at August 29, 2026 04:54 AM (V0/Sp)

13 How Cloudflare saved 100TB of RAM on its 1.1.1.1 DNS service. (Tom's Hardware)

They started out with 250TB of RAM.

Motorsports have a similar saying; want to be a millionaire race team owner? Start out with 2 million.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 29, 2026 04:55 AM (rii+a)

14 >>> Database binary is 5M. Language is 1.2M

Pixy, are you building an LLM?

Posted by: fluffy at August 29, 2026 04:57 AM (V0/Sp)

15 Pete Bog, good morning.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 29, 2026 04:58 AM (PbWRL)

16 11 Pixy if you’re still around can you comment on Tom’s Hardware as an information source or is it more reviews and scuttlebutt?

Odd question but I’m wondering if it’s worth a subscription as a non tech person attempting to stay current on the tech world.
Posted by: Pete Bog

They're not bad - they stick to the tech news and haven't fallen into woke crap. I don't have a subscription but that's because I know where to go to find all sources; if you don't want to spend your time reading conference papers and press releases it might be worthwhile.

In past years Anandtech and Ars Technica were the places to go, but one is dead and the other is worse than dead.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 29, 2026 05:01 AM (BLOW1)

17 Arti Shaw's band...I have a young (19) year of niece who loves that old time music from the big band era. Her parents took her to her college move in day, and I hope she gets a room mate who at least likes the music. Probably slim to none, but she's smart and wants to be a doctor (MD). Good University, I hope it lives up to its reputation. Lots of ivy on the walls of the buildings.

Posted by: Colin at August 29, 2026 05:01 AM (CiQE7)

18 Man in Iowa has stroke and setbacks after 14 years of being retired but then gains spiritual strength from remembering what God has done for him in the past . Scripture is Mark 8:14-21 . "Upper Room" devotional:

https://tinyurl.com/2pxcv5n8

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 29, 2026 05:02 AM (JrHfD)

19 14 >>> Database binary is 5M. Language is 1.2M

Pixy, are you building an LLM?
Posted by: fluffy

No, I'm using an LLM to turn my hobby projects in Python into viable code. Starting with something that already runs is proving to be a major advantage.

I've tinkered with Python compilers, but they never really got me where I wanted. With LLMs I can now just translate all my Python code to a compiled language (I chose Rust) and skip all those limitations.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 29, 2026 05:04 AM (BLOW1)

20 Because I'm a completely non techy person, I do not understand why AI is going to be such a wonderful thing, and why we need huge data centers for this. So people can make fake videos and AI can take over jobs?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 29, 2026 05:04 AM (JrHfD)

21
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 29, 2026 05:08 AM (AMvSw)

22 why we need huge data centers for this. So people can make fake videos and AI can take over jobs?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke

*shifty eyes*

Posted by: Military-Industrial Complex at August 29, 2026 05:09 AM (z9yxT)

23 16 one is dead and the other is worse than dead
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 29, 2026 05:01 AM (BLOW1)

ewww

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:12 AM (odBC9)

24 So yesterday I came up with (and posted here) an integration between TwitterWebViewer, and the add-on/plug-in called "Redirect" so that I could just click on an X link here at AoSHQ, and it'd reform the URL so it sent it to TwitterWebViewer in its desired format. Very handy.

Came home after work to find out that TwitterWebViewer had been sent a "Cease and Desist" letter by X, which they capitulated to.

Well, crap. X, apparently, wants to become "just another walled garden".

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at August 29, 2026 05:14 AM (O7YUW)

25 20 Because I'm a completely non techy person, I do not understand why AI is going to be such a wonderful thing, and why we need huge data centers for this. So people can make fake videos and AI can take over jobs?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke

Mostly. It is great specifically for programmers, because LLM stands for "Large Language Model" and programming languages are languages. If you have a billion lines of dusty old code written in COBOL you can either pay $500 per hour to get people to come back from retirement to keep it running, or pay $100 per hour to someone who knows how to run LLMs and maintain a proper test suite.

Not so great if you're a COBOL programmer and counting on that money for a comfortable retirement.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 29, 2026 05:14 AM (BLOW1)

26 I'm pretty confident that the data center explosion has precious little to do with AI and is 99% due to everyone's gmail being full.

"Compute? Pfffft. This is just twenty squillion M2 drives crammed in to racks full of NAS boxes."

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 29, 2026 05:16 AM (Ot/FD)

27
twitterwebviewer.com

via Hacker News

Service discontinued
As of August 28, 2026, this website has been permanently discontinued, following a request from X Corp. All cached content has been deleted.

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:16 AM (odBC9)

28 28 I'm pretty confident that the data center explosion has precious little to do with AI and is 99% due to everyone's gmail being full.

I have soooooo many e-mails!

Posted by: Tickled Pink at August 29, 2026 05:18 AM (Pcj+Q)

29 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at August 29, 2026 05:19 AM (Hbeqj)

30 G'Day everyone

How did it get so late in the morning already?

Posted by: Skip at August 29, 2026 05:20 AM (Ia/+0)

31 Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 29, 2026 05:14 AM (BLOW1

Thanks.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 29, 2026 05:20 AM (JrHfD)

32 Daniel Penny, the Marine that NYC attempted to railroad over his defensive use of force to subdue a Subway loon wrote a really interesting piece about how Data Centers are critical to rebuilding American manufacturing and jobs. Good stuff.

Hopefully this link works to an X/Twitter

https://tinyurl.com/yy36knhd

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 05:20 AM (jVkUA)

33 Isn't X free if you don't insist on blue check mark status?

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 05:20 AM (iIyc0)

34 When Bernie Sanders came out against data centers, I started rethinking. I'm still not sure but if commie symps are against it, it's probably a good idea.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 29, 2026 05:25 AM (rii+a)

35 some discussion of 𝕏 at Hacker News:

https://tinyurl.com/yj52byt4

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:25 AM (odBC9)

36 33 Isn't X free if you don't insist on blue check mark status?
Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 05:20 AM (iIyc0)

"free"

Posted by: guy who repeats what you said but with quotation marks at August 29, 2026 05:26 AM (nVDlP)

37 32 Daniel Penny, the Marine that NYC attempted to railroad over his defensive use of force to subdue a Subway loon wrote a really interesting piece about how Data Centers are critical to rebuilding American manufacturing and jobs. Good stuff.

Hopefully this link works to an X/Twitter

https://tinyurl.com/yy36knhd
Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 05:20 AM (jVkUA)

It works.

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:27 AM (odBC9)

38 @33/Additional Blond Agent:

Yes, X is free if you wish to use it that way, but that also means you're the product they're selling to advertisers, and trackers.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at August 29, 2026 05:27 AM (O7YUW)

39 Posted by: guy who repeats what you said but with quotation marks at August 29, 2026 05:26 AM (nVDlP)

Do you have a newsletter?

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:28 AM (odBC9)

40 >>> I do not understand why AI is going to be such a wonderful thing, and why we need huge data centers for this.

It is a tool. Because Pixy is extremely technical, he can do something as described above (Python to Rust). I am less so, but the other day I did ask it to find a file for me based on a vague description. (Ever forget where you saved a file and even what you named it?)

Early on, the automobile was a rich man's toy. It is now part of every day life in America, both a great convenience and a burden, simultaneously. AI will likely follow a similar arc. We will likely learn the mechanics of it before we gain the wisdom to use it well.

Sarah Connor just put me on a watch list.

Posted by: fluffy at August 29, 2026 05:28 AM (V0/Sp)

41 Data Centers will lead to Skynet, but something needs to change

Posted by: Skip at August 29, 2026 05:32 AM (Ia/+0)

42 Yes, X is free if you wish to use it that way, but that also means you're the product they're selling to advertisers, and trackers.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at August 29, 2026 05:27 AM (O7YUW

Aren’t you the same thing if you subscribe? Hard to make a case here that providing a forum should be free for those of us who don’t want to pay or be marketed to, or used as the product. This good old website would only last as long as Ace’s beneficence and wallet allowed.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 05:35 AM (jVkUA)

43 From the HackerNews thread is urbnspacecowboy's comment about why free X accouns:

---
Not good enough. Creating an account still leads to the "Your account was suspended for reasons, now you gotta dox yourself" dance. See previous discussion:
https://tinyurl.com/ar23k73u
---

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at August 29, 2026 05:36 AM (O7YUW)

44 Okay, I need coffee. The intro to that last comment should have read: "From the HackerNews thread is urbnspacecowboy's comment about why free X accounts aren't all they're cracked up to be"

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at August 29, 2026 05:38 AM (O7YUW)

45 why we need huge data centers for this. So people can make fake videos and AI can take over jobs?

Squirrel!!

Posted by: Skynet at August 29, 2026 05:39 AM (v7UJz)

46 A beautiful psalm of praise- Psalm 99:

https://tinyurl.com/yc3hcbyd

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 29, 2026 05:40 AM (1pQBc)

47 32 Daniel Penny, the Marine that NYC attempted to railroad over his defensive use of force to subdue a Subway loon wrote a really interesting piece about how Data Centers are critical to rebuilding American manufacturing and jobs. Good stuff.

Hopefully this link works to an X/Twitter

https://tinyurl.com/yy36knhd
Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 05:20 AM (jVkUA)

Thanks, Pete Bog! Thoughtful essay.
This analogy works for him:

"At the bottom of the Great Depression, with a quarter of the country out of work, America framed the Empire State Building in thirteen months, 3,400 men on site a day. The data center campus is this generation's version of that decision to build."

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:40 AM (odBC9)

48 For better or worse, "data center" has become a tainted term. We need a rebrand that reassures the public. Maybe "electronic konzentrationslager"?

Posted by: I'm Here To Help at August 29, 2026 05:42 AM (g0o3e)

49 @42/Pete Bog: I'm not sure what you're driving at with the "Aren’t you the same thing if you subscribe?" question. The same thing as what exactly?

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at August 29, 2026 05:42 AM (O7YUW)

50
Posted by: I'm Here To Help at August 29, 2026 05:42 AM (g0o3e)

duck, duck, (g0o3e)

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:44 AM (odBC9)

51 That Hackernews thread link just brings up one lone word: "Sorry."

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 05:44 AM (iIyc0)

52 51 That Hackernews thread link just brings up one lone word: "Sorry."
Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 05:44 AM (iIyc0)

This one?

35 some discussion of 𝕏 at Hacker News:

https://tinyurl.com/yj52byt4
Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:25 AM (odBC9)

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:46 AM (odBC9)

53 Yesterday on our walk at some beautiful gardens we saw ( among other things ) a scented hosta lily. It looked and smelled great. Here is a picture of it, but no smell.😉

https://tinyurl.com/3nd7bepd

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 29, 2026 05:47 AM (W90Ou)

54 Yep.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 05:47 AM (iIyc0)

55 54 Yep.
Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 05:47 AM (iIyc0)

Try this?

https://news.ycombinator.com/

item?id=49481018

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:48 AM (odBC9)

56 G&R, my point was that you have a paid or free subscription your usage data will be subject to monetization if it’s of value to anyone.

My larger point is that those of us who grew up watching “free TV” didn't mind being the product. We never thought about it because Ads paid the freight. We just accepted that a 30 minute show was really only 24 minutes. VCRs opened a lot of eyes. The Nielsen ratings were developed to help advertisers decide where to buy ad time.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 05:49 AM (pI9r+)

57 Still doesn't work.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 05:50 AM (iIyc0)

58 It's news.ycombinator.com that's returning the one word response.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 05:51 AM (iIyc0)

59 Everything is about the money, absolutely everything.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 29, 2026 05:51 AM (PbWRL)

60 57 Still doesn't work.
Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 05:50 AM (iIyc0)

Starting from the Hacker News main page, scroll to the bottom and type twitterwebviewer in the search box and you should get a list of about 10 Hacker News entries on that topic.

Hacker News main page:

https://news.ycombinator.com

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 05:52 AM (odBC9)

61 When X was still Twitter and a censorship cesspool I avoided it like the plague. When Elon bought it specifically to create a public forum for “free speech” I subscribed because I supported his ideal of that forum. Is it perfect? Not at all, yet this ideal is worth supporting. Hopefully with time it evolves to be the idea marketplace.

If it regresses I will unsubscribe.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 05:56 AM (pI9r+)

62 Everything is about the money, absolutely everything.
Posted by: Ben Had at August 29, 2026 05:51 AM (PbWRL)

Not everything is my friend. I didn’t have a profit motive when I went to Texas to meet a bunch of anonymous weirdos.

I’m sure glad I did.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 06:00 AM (pI9r+)

63 61 When X was still Twitter and a censorship cesspool I avoided it like the plague. When Elon bought it specifically to create a public forum for “free speech” I subscribed because I supported his ideal of that forum. Is it perfect? Not at all, yet this ideal is worth supporting. Hopefully with time it evolves to be the idea marketplace.

If it regresses I will unsubscribe.
Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 05:56 AM (pI9r+)

It DID let you link to a single text post, and let non-𝕏ers read it, so that's good.

32 Daniel Penny, the Marine that NYC attempted to railroad over his defensive use of force to subdue a Subway loon wrote a really interesting piece about how Data Centers are critical to rebuilding American manufacturing and jobs. Good stuff.

Hopefully this link works to an X/Twitter

https://tinyurl.com/yy36knhd
Posted by: Pete Bog at August 29, 2026 05:20 AM (jVkUA)

Posted by: m at August 29, 2026 06:00 AM (odBC9)

64 @60. A bit of work just to pull up a bunch of articles about twitterwebviewer unsurprisingly getting canned.

In any case, my view on the matter is essentially the same as Pete Bog's response in @61.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at August 29, 2026 06:00 AM (iIyc0)

65 Pete Bog, I committed an error I know better than to do. I will put my broad brush back in the bucket.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 29, 2026 06:04 AM (PbWRL)

66 totally non tech related -as usual- I am glad that despite one of the downstairs doors being open, our kitten slept through the night and didn't come upstairs, , and when I came down he was standing on his hind feet looking like he was trying to open the door. It made me laugh.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 29, 2026 06:07 AM (xPsv8)

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