Daily Tech News 30 August 2026

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Positive reception of the Grand Theft Auto VI preview suggests positive reception of Grand Theft Auto VI, say analysts. (CNBC)

Where would we be without analysts? I mean, at the beach sipping Mai Tais, yes, but which beach?
GTA VI will only run at 30fps on consoles. (Tom's Hardware)
Following that track record, we likely won't see 60 FPS support on consoles till the PS7, while PC will enjoy unlocked frame rates once its port drops down the line.
GTA VI will not be available on PC at launch, and there's no indication as to when that might happen.

Not really an issue for me, personally. I don't even own GTA V and I picked up GTA IV in a bundle somewhere but have never played it. So I can keep running Hytale at 60Hz on my 9070 XT... Needing about 10% of its available performance.

Tech News

Continuing work on my programming language, which last I checked weighed in at 3.4MB uncompressed and 1.2MB compressed - compiler and standard library included. Working on extending the standard library now.

It's implemented in Rust, is stricter than Rust, inherits Rust's semantics otherwise, and compiles a couple of orders of magnitude faster than Rust precisely because of that strictness - but borrows syntax from Ruby so it doesn't feel like Rust.
I used AI to ask 100 companies for my personal data that I had idiotically handed over to them so that McDonald's had a novel-length dossier on me and now I'm mad that I'm getting AI replies. (Ars Technica)

AI slop posted to Wired and cross-posted to Ars Technica, but at least journalists are losing their jobs.
They wrote their criminal intent on the wall of the local police station. You won't believe what happened next. (Yahoo)

Oh. You do believe.
Anthropic pounces. (WCCFTech)

And for once not in a bad way. OpenAI (which owns ChatGPT) cancelled its partnership with coding tool Cursor, now owned by SpaceX. Anthropic took the opportunity to put the boot in, not against Cursor or SpaceX but against OpenAI.

I do not like OpenAI. I have Grok because it's useful for search and image generation, Claude because it's useful for coding, and Gemini because... It comes with my Google account, really. ChatGPT I tried and canceled.
Sony and Warner Music are suing Anthropic over a demarcation dispute. (Axios)

You are trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen, and I think it quite ungentlemanly.
Cutting cholesterol - with genetic scissors. (CNN)

A health problem I don't have. At the last checkup my doctor asked if I was on medication for cholesterol because my numbers were on the low side of normal. Nope, just luck of the genetic lottery.

And now the unlucky can snip the bad genes out rather than having to take a daily pill for the rest of their lives.

Which I do, but for other reasons.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: 1.0 < 2.00? I'd mark that as an oops.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:40 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 04:40 AM (odBC9)

2 I totally did not forget to push the button.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 30, 2026 04:41 AM (BLOW1)

3
I have ChatGPT and its images are much better than Grok's. I'm about to ask Grok if its images are better in the paid version. I wonder what it will say.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at August 30, 2026 04:47 AM (mmrXZ)

4 >>>AI slop posted to Wired and cross-posted to Ars Technica

It's gonna get boring, really fast, reading the kind of disclosure that's included in the article (7th paragraph)

"In accordance with WIRED’s policies, I am disclosing that I used generative AI to draft bureaucratic emails and update my tracking spreadsheet as part of this report. I wrote the body of this article mainly by hand in my scratch notebook."

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 04:50 AM (odBC9)

5 >>>but at least journalists are losing their jobs.

I think the technical term is "urinalists."

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 04:51 AM (odBC9)

6 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at August 30, 2026 04:57 AM (V0/Sp)

7 from the ChatGPT article:

"OpenAI has said the company uses software to scan conversations for signs of dangerous behavior and flag them to human reviewers."

That's disturbing.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 04:59 AM (odBC9)

8 from the ChatGPT article:
remember, kids:

When police ask someone to open their phone during questioning or after an arrest, they often do so, allowing officers to scroll through the apps they use, he said.

In general, the Fourth Amendment, which protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures of their property, provides the right to refuse a search of the contents of their phone unless police have a warrant.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 05:07 AM (odBC9)

9 Pixy,

Last November I bought a Minisform X1AI. And a 2tb memory stick because I was informed by this prestigious blog that it was a great deal and wouldn’t last. I had a vague notion of trying to make it into a music server.

Now I have a vague notion of trying to make it a home brew AI server with a couple of open source models. My goal would be to have a “private” or segregated server that would not be sharing my stuff with Sam or Dario. Is this machine capable of serving as such and how unrealistic is this notion?

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 30, 2026 05:08 AM (hsmPe)

10
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 30, 2026 05:10 AM (AMvSw)

11
*ChatGPT article = (Yahoo) article, which is a WaPo article

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 05:10 AM (odBC9)

12 Pete Bog - It should work - not as fast as a Mac but a lot cheaper. Did you get the 32GB or 64GB model?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 30, 2026 05:11 AM (BLOW1)

13 (It's the Borg.)

A spokesperson for OpenAI declined to disclose how many times the company had reported users to police. (The Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.)

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 05:13 AM (odBC9)

14 64 GB.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 30, 2026 05:13 AM (hsmPe)

15 Same as me. You should be good to run a wide variety of models then, as long as you don't expect top performance. The advantage Macs have is the memory bandwidth - twice as fast as this PC so twice the performance for AI, which is very demanding there (and the Pro, Max, and Ultra models are even faster but also more expensive).

I'll look up some recommendations - a lot of things will fit but some of them will be slow.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 30, 2026 05:17 AM (BLOW1)

16 My far more technically competent Kid would be a coconspirator in this attempt. We were discussing the concept and he brought up the Mac Studio. I remembered that I had this machine.

I suspect this endeavor would rapidly consume more resources than just biting the bullet on a more appropriate host box. But that’s not really the point is it?

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 30, 2026 05:18 AM (3jdt5)

17 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 30, 2026 05:18 AM (AdHga)

18 Pete - Gemma 4 26B-A4B or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B at Q4 should run pretty well. They're both "MoE" models ("mixture of experts") so they're not as demanding of bandwidth as "dense" models.

They'll fit comfortably on that system and leave plenty of room for real work.

Use llama.cpp and Vulkan for efficiency.

A Mac Studio will be a a lot faster but cost a lot more. A 64GB Mac Mini already costs 4-5x the price of that Minisforum late last year, and the Mac Studio moves up to the next tier from there.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 30, 2026 05:24 AM (BLOW1)

19 Good morning morons

I would be asleep but for the chaos snd civilizational breakdown in my part of the city tonight.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 05:24 AM (RIvkX)

20 SanFranpsycho, I hope that doesn't include gunfire.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 30, 2026 05:31 AM (PbWRL)

21 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 05:33 AM (Ia/+0)

22 Thank you Pixy.

If and when we try this I’ll keep you updated on the results. You’ll be the first to hear we’ve cured cancer, successfully turned lead to gold and figured out time travel.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 30, 2026 05:33 AM (3jdt5)

23 SanFranpsycho, I hope that doesn't include gunfire.
Posted by: Ben Had at August 30, 2026 05:31 AM (PbWRL)
=====

No gunfire but nonstop street racing and squealing wheels.

Not enough sirens.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 05:39 AM (RIvkX)

24 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: 2 + 2 = 5 for sufficiently large values of 2.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at August 30, 2026 05:58 AM (amcLV)

25
The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is set for launch at 7:20ish AM this morning. NASA's Youtube channel live page will be covering it, starting around 6:30AM.

It's going to launch on a Falcon 9 Heavy. The two side boosters will be recovered, but the main center one is going to be expendable (has to for the payload). L2 is technically still in Erf's gravity well, but not by much.

Anyway I like the idea of launching Nancy Grace nearly to Earth escape.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 30, 2026 06:04 AM (w6EFb)

26
I did not know this until recently, but the $250M main mirror for Nancy Grace was "donated" by the NRO. This mirror was part of some super secret black budget spy satellite tech they weren't going to need. So they gave it to NASA for Nancy Grace. So, $$$ classified stuff we likely wouldn't even know about is going to be used for public domain use.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 30, 2026 06:07 AM (w6EFb)

27 I am so sorry you are having loud street racing. SFP

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 30, 2026 06:08 AM (rHgXV)

28 Thanks Fen glad everyone else is still sleeping

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 06:10 AM (RIvkX)

29 Good morning, Skip and all!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 30, 2026 06:10 AM (rHgXV)

30 Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 06:10 AM (RIvkX)

I am glad they are too. Not being able to sleep makes one miserable. Maybe you could take a nap later today when- hopefully- people won't be racing.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 30, 2026 06:12 AM (rHgXV)

31 NRO = National Review Online?

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 06:12 AM (odBC9)

32
They actually donated two of these mirrors, turns out. NASA hasn't decided on what to do with the second mirror.

They are prohibited from using the mirrors for any sort of earth observing application. Why? Well, any public release of that data would instantly disclose too much about our secret mirror tech.

The Nancy Grace use, however will not. Don't ask me why.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 30, 2026 06:12 AM (w6EFb)

33 Evening and morning to all the Sunday toilers and early risers across the System! (Titan, dammit, we've told you and *told* you to scrommage that frannistan!)

Stirling was leaping over and kicking me, but somehow I went back to sleep for another hour. Now, over coffee, I am trying to find the motivation to work out. Oy.

Whatchoo doin'?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 30, 2026 06:13 AM (wzUl9)

34 Good morning! Moose was out by the pond yesterday chillaxin' amongst the day lilies and the verbena and snapping at the dragon flies and other insects as they flew by. Fortunately, he hasn't caught any of the spicey flies. Yet.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 30, 2026 06:14 AM (3Ope8)

35 Sadly, it's that last Falcon Heavy manifested. He is betting on StarShip replacing ALL of the payloads for Heavy with the Falcon 9 to follow.

I think Elon is way premature in announcing this. I can't believe Gwen didn't push back on this.

He says he wants the company to focus on StarShip development.

I hope he's just blowing hot air and not turning down customers and sending them to Blue .

Posted by: pawn at August 30, 2026 06:16 AM (c/R9o)

36 2 I totally did not forget to push the button.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 30, 2026 04:41 AM (BLOW1)

Pffft. A basic job requirement.

Posted by: TV's Frank at August 30, 2026 06:17 AM (967/Q)

37 Two boys pay their respects to a deceased veteran at a funeral procession. Faithpot site:

https://tinyurl.com/5bjy9n4s

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 30, 2026 06:18 AM (rHgXV)

38 Last night we watched the 1970 Billy Wilder flick, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. It starts off as almost a mild parody, and develops into an actual Holmesian adventure and mystery involving SH's brother Mycroft, carboys of sulfuric acid, six missing midgets, and a cage of canaries.

Odd to say, *I* solved it before Holmes revealed the answer!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 30, 2026 06:18 AM (wzUl9)

39 Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 30, 2026 06:14 AM (3Ope

I'm guessing that Moose is your dog and not your pet moose?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 30, 2026 06:19 AM (rHgXV)

40 >> NRO = National Review Online?

National Reconnaissance Office. The US govt didn't officially acknowledge it existed until 1992. The NY Slimes revealed it's existence in 1971, and a Senate committee report accidentally revealed it it was a thing in 1973.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 30, 2026 06:19 AM (w6EFb)

41 I wouldn't judge, a pet moose might be fun

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 06:20 AM (Ia/+0)

42 >>NRO = National Review Online?

National Reconnaissance Office. Fun story: the existence of this agency was secret until some time in the '90s. Read an article by someone who had sufficient clearance that he could refer to information from it but used really mind-bending language not to directly name it.

Posted by: Not in bed but should be at August 30, 2026 06:20 AM (NcvvS)

43 And publius answered while I was typing.

Also, off sock.

Posted by: Nazdar at August 30, 2026 06:22 AM (NcvvS)

44 NASA is hosting "live event" information at:

https://plus.nasa.gov

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 06:22 AM (odBC9)

45 NRO

Thanks!

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 06:22 AM (odBC9)

46 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at August 30, 2026 06:23 AM (2Ez/1)

47
NASA's basic Youtube channel is usually just as good as NASA+, which has some hiccups from time to time, at least with me and my systems.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 30, 2026 06:24 AM (w6EFb)

48 The weather here at the Cape is looking a bit odd this AM. We're looking at morning storms forming up very early today near the coast including the Cape area.

The launch will probably be OK but if there's a delay things get dicey.

Posted by: pawn at August 30, 2026 06:25 AM (c/R9o)

49 Stirling, on his sixth day of dieting, is sitting next to me doing his impression of a starving Somali who has just stumbled into an oasis in the Sahara.

Not fooling anybody, big cat. Breakfast is at six as usual.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 30, 2026 06:26 AM (wzUl9)

50
SpaceX feed is live here:
https://t.ly/FjP1U

And NASA's Youtube is the same feed, here:
https://t.ly/DAgWa

I thought the gal there was a NASA spokesgal I remember, and she was.

Anway, they'll be going on over just who Nancy Grace Roman was, and what her namesake telescope will be doing.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 30, 2026 06:26 AM (w6EFb)

51 T- 01:00:00

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 06:26 AM (odBC9)

52 Sisters sing old time Christian hymn from 1896- " I surrender all.":

https://tinyurl.com/ydrmwjzh

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 30, 2026 06:28 AM (rHgXV)

53 47
NASA's basic Youtube channel is usually just as good as NASA+, which has some hiccups from time to time, at least with me and my systems.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 30, 2026 06:24 AM (w6EFb)

Ah. Moving to

NASA's Youtube is the same feed, here:
https://t.ly/DAgWa

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 06:30 AM (odBC9)

54 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 30, 2026 06:19 AM (rHgXV)

Moose is some kind of mini bull terrier/border collie mashup. He's a very affectionate stray that my son and his family took in and then gifted us (along with his room mate Pancho) when they moved.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 30, 2026 06:30 AM (3Ope8)

55 Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 30, 2026 06:30 AM (3Ope

Sounds cute.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 30, 2026 06:32 AM (rHgXV)

56 SpaceX - Falcon Heavy - Roman Space Telescope "Nancy Grace Roman"
LC-39A - Kennedy Space Center - SPACE AFFAIRS
Launch Date: August 30, 2026
7:25 a.m. EDT (August 30, 1125 UTC, 13:25 CEST)

https://youtu.be/5q6XP71_LYI

(In memory of Ciampino.)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at August 30, 2026 06:32 AM (O7YUW)

57 50 I thought the gal there was a NASA spokesgal I remember, and she was.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 30, 2026 06:26 AM (w6EFb)

Megan Cruz

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 06:33 AM (odBC9)

58 The NRO built a huge mini-VAB Capeside. It's a seriously hush-hush facility.

It's where they put together all the spy satellites and prep them for launch.

Posted by: pawn at August 30, 2026 06:33 AM (c/R9o)

59 Instead of paying $100 for a game you do not own that may release on 19 November, coming on 15 Jan 2027 is Ananta.

https://youtu.be/Wf6JmVT3qBY

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 30, 2026 06:34 AM (2GVsD)

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