Daily Tech News 25 October 2026

Top Story

How did a couple of bugs in one minor programming language that nobody bothers with anymore almost destroy civilisation? (Tech Crunch)

The language Tech Crunch is referring to is PHP, which is literally as old as the web - it first appeared in 1993, the same year as HTML itself, the language that every single web page is written.

Tech Crunch runs on WordPress.

WordPress is written in PHP.

Around 70% of all websites run on software written in PHP, 40% of them on WordPress alone.

Inertia is a hell of a drug.

Tech News

If you're struggling with modern hardware costs why not take a trip back to the early days of the web yourself with some 1996 PC hardware? (Tom's Hardware)

The example system has 32MB of memory, which even in today's market costs around 40 cents.
Or if that's a little too retro, Raspberry Pi's flavour of Linux, PiOS, has received an update for PC hardware. (The Register)

Tested on a laptop PC from 2007 with just 2GB of RAM it ran slowly but it did run. Compared with Intel's current entry-level CPU that laptop is between six and twenty times slower. PiOS is potato-certified.
Having watched Android manufacturers struggle with and slowly improve folding displays in recent years, how do Apple's new (and extremely expensive) folding iPhone models hold up to the same tests? They don't. (Notebook Check)

Do not fold folding iPhone.
Well, that's a stress test with someone deliberately trying to break the device. Surely they hold up better under normal everyday use? (Notebook Check)

Oh.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Two two two for the price of none!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Frist!

G'mornin' Pixy, and everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at October 25, 2026 04:06 AM (VyBeY)

2 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at October 25, 2026 04:06 AM (Ia/+0)

3 nooded the ONT

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at October 25, 2026 04:07 AM (VyBeY)

4 w00t

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:08 AM (odBC9)

5 tech crunch is the kind of "people" that give idiots a bad reputation. lumps of pond scum on stilts wearing a trenchcoat and writing on a laptop which almost certainly lacks the Essential Keys.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at October 25, 2026 04:10 AM (VyBeY)

6 Weird Al - I Lost On Jeopardy

is better than the original!

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:16 AM (odBC9)

7 BOING!

Serious tech thread material. I asked Grok to explain to morons what exactly happened:

https://tinyurl.com/4ptrkh25

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 25, 2026 04:16 AM (8schn)

8 Grok, inserted after the explanation:

Please explain in layman's terms.

That's a cool function.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:21 AM (odBC9)

9 Grok, inserted after the explanation:

Please explain in layman's terms.

That's a cool function.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:21 AM (odBC9)
-

That was me.

I'm the cool one here. Get it straight!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 25, 2026 04:23 AM (8schn)

10 ack trying to be clearer:

Grok: *explanation*

Biden's Dog: Please explain in layman's terms.

Grok: Here's the whole thing in simple everyday language: *everyday language explanation*

That's a cool function.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:23 AM (odBC9)

11 mea culpa mea culpa mea maxima culpa, BD!

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:24 AM (odBC9)

12 6 Weird Al - I Lost On Jeopardy

is better than the original!
Posted by: m

Check who makes a cameo appearance right at the end.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 25, 2026 04:24 AM (BLOW1)

13 thx, BD!
they seem to be taking the threat to the revenue stream pretty seriously ... and I suppose the panopticon supporters are right behind it, too ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at October 25, 2026 04:24 AM (VyBeY)

14 12 6 Weird Al - I Lost On Jeopardy

is better than the original!
Posted by: m

Check who makes a cameo appearance right at the end.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 25, 2026 04:24 AM (BLOW1)

Disclaimer: Two two two for the price of none!

haha!

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:30 AM (odBC9)

15 Coffee is on, it will be awhile

Posted by: Skip at October 25, 2026 04:32 AM (Ia/+0)

16 Saw something yesterday was going to link here this morning and forgot what it was

Posted by: Skip at October 25, 2026 04:32 AM (Ia/+0)

17 Grok: Here's the whole thing in simple everyday language: *everyday language explanation*

That's a cool function.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:23 AM (odBC9)
-

Grok has been able to do this from day 1, if I recall correctly. It also often summarizes a long reply at the end.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 25, 2026 04:33 AM (8schn)

18 If that's Greg Kihn as the main music video character, I mistook him for a second as a young Chevy Chase.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 25, 2026 04:35 AM (8schn)

19 Saw something yesterday was going to link here this morning and forgot what it was

Posted by: Skip at October 25, 2026 04:32 AM (Ia/+0)
-

"Do better, Skip. Do better." - Ace

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 25, 2026 04:37 AM (8schn)

20 Remember the song, video doesn't ring a bell.

Posted by: Skip at October 25, 2026 04:37 AM (Ia/+0)

21 Weird Al - I Lost On Jeopardy

It's really perfect. I hope he's fabulously wealthy.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:38 AM (odBC9)

22 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at October 25, 2026 04:41 AM (BW+Gb)

23 Wikipedia

Dare to Be Stupid: The Weird Al Musical was announced in development in May 2026.

Alex Timbers is set to direct with Yankovic, Scott Brown and Anthony King writing the musical.

The musical will feature works from throughout Yankovic's musical catalog.

As of October 2026, Yankovic said that while they were practicing the musical, they were waiting for music rights to be cleared before pushing forward with it.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 04:41 AM (odBC9)

24 I'm on my third Samsung ZFold device. All of them have been great. My z fold 4 did have a hinge issue due to an internal piece of adhesive strip coming off and getting wedged in the hinge inside the phone body but that was easy to fix.

Apple has 8 generations of folding phone tech to catch up with.

Posted by: Defenestratus at October 25, 2026 04:52 AM (WYStd)

25 Around 70% of all websites run on software written in PHP, 40% of them on WordPress along.

Inertia is a hell of a drug.

I think WordPress caught on because it’s relatively easy to build sites with, and it has an extensive library of plugins that make completing sites with all the extras somewhat easier.

The other biggest reason, is that it allows for responsive web design in the block editor. So if you want to build a website in 2026 that looks good and fits the viewport/screen sizes of desktop, mobile, and tablets then using something like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal is often the most straight-forward and simplest way to do it.

It’s inertia, too, nearly everybody is doing it that way, but also it’s much less friction to pump out a website for most people.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 25, 2026 04:55 AM (6ydKt)

26 Tech Crunch is one of those things that, whenever it comes up in conversation, I'm always surprised that it still exists.

See also: Wired magazine.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at October 25, 2026 05:05 AM (qlLNh)

27 Apple's first foldable iPhone has begun reaching customers, but reports of damaged inner displays are already emerging. Several photographs shared online appear to show cracks in the iPhone Duo's inner display along the fold, sometimes accompanied by bright lines across the screen. One owner claims the $1,999 smartphone broke after fewer than 20 openings.

I’m betting this is the odd assembly screwup.

These phones are the most complicated to manufacture devices that Apple has ever tried to produce at scale.
I bet there are going to be quite a few screwups where the hinge or screen was installed incorrectly, it makes it through QA and then shows up when the customer opens there’s after about 20 times.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 25, 2026 05:06 AM (6ydKt)

28
(Tech Crunch)

They eat figs.
Stepping on the figs.
That the apes eat.
Eat, they crunch.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 05:06 AM (odBC9)

29 exactly, m!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at October 25, 2026 05:08 AM (VyBeY)

30 Oops, typo. Ahem:

(Tech Crunch)

That eat figs.
Stepping on the figs.
That the apes eat.
Eat, they crunch.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 05:17 AM (odBC9)

31 Pixy fixed a typo.

Around 70% of all websites run on software written in PHP, 40% of them on WordPress along.

-->

Around 70% of all websites run on software written in PHP, 40% of them on WordPress alone.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 05:18 AM (odBC9)

32 now, hang on ...

The New Yorker has it like this:

That eat figs.
Stepping on the figs.
That the apes.
Eat, they crunch.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 05:22 AM (odBC9)

33 And in 2024, a faulty CrowdStrike update sparked a massive global outage causing most of the world’s Windows computers to crash at once.

Ummm, no, TechCruch.
It caused computers around the world that used CrowdStrike security software to crash, not most of the world’s Windows computers.

I happened to be around way, way, back in 2024, and I can assure you children, from personal experience, that my Windows PC did not crash back then in the dark ages because I wasn’t using CrowdStrike for security.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 25, 2026 05:22 AM (6ydKt)

34 Aw, man.

Gregory Stanley Kihn was an American rock musician, radio personality, and novelist. He founded and led the Greg Kihn Band and he wrote several popular horror novels. He is best known for the hits "The Breakup Song" in 1981 and "Jeopardy" in 1983.

Born
July 10, 1949
Died
August 13, 2024 (age 75 years)

Wikipedia

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 05:24 AM (odBC9)

35 The example system has 32MB of memory, which even in today's market costs around 40 cents.

Sure, but developers have given so little thought to memory efficiency over the years that it takes that and more to run Notepad, something that used to take just one or two megabytes.

It's not just Microsoft, either. Why does aoshq eat up more than a a GB of RAM?

Posted by: Ace's liver at October 25, 2026 05:26 AM (8Y4BB)

36 Mostly YouTube embeds, I think.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 25, 2026 05:30 AM (BLOW1)

37 It's not just Microsoft, either. Why does aoshq eat up more than a a GB of RAM?
Posted by: Ace's liver at October 25, 2026 05:26 AM (8Y4BB)

We are NOT fat!
We are simply a very ROBUST group of people who are very VERBOSE which requires a lot of RAM to hold us all in.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 25, 2026 05:30 AM (6ydKt)

38
Greg Kihn - "The Breakup Song"

It's got a great beat.

https://tinyurl.com/3ndv3mx2

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 05:31 AM (odBC9)

39 37 It's not just Microsoft, either. Why does aoshq eat up more than a a GB of RAM?
Posted by: Ace's liver at October 25, 2026 05:26 AM (8Y4BB)

We are NOT fat!
We are simply a very ROBUST group of people who are very VERBOSE which requires a lot of RAM to hold us all in.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 25, 2026 05:30 AM (6ydKt)

Rubenesque

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 05:32 AM (odBC9)

40 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at October 25, 2026 05:40 AM (PwmH2)

41 39 Rubenesque
Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 05:32 AM (odBC9)

The 'ettes.
Peter Paul Rubens.
Not Jen Rubin.

Posted by: m at October 25, 2026 05:49 AM (odBC9)

Processing 0.01, elapsed 0.0124 seconds.
14 queries taking 0.0056 seconds, 49 records returned.
Page size 40 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.