Daily Tech News 4 November 2026

Top Story

Microsoft has made Windows 11 suck 20% less if you are running with just 8GB of RAM. (Tom's Hardware)

It is at least a step in the right direction. Albeit after a double marathon in the wrong direction.

I have two old laptops with 8GB of soldered RAM that I might give this a try on.
Some crazy person not working for Microsoft got Windows 11 running in 128MB of RAM. (Tom's Hardware)

It can even load Notepad. And the Start Menu. Well, about half the Start Menu, judging from the video. The icons never load.

Tech News

Bethesda had confirmed the new Elder Scrolls game, Sentinel, is on its way. (Video Games Chronicle)

Release expecting in Q1 2374.
Fujifulm is increasing its production of backup tapes fivefold to satisfy the growing demands of AI datacenters. (Ars Technica)

This involves an investment of 10 billion yen... Which is only about $60 million, or about half an Nvidia RTX 5090.
Lenovo's fingerprint-controlled AES-256 encrypted USB stick was, it turns out, none of those things. (Tom's Hardware)

Inside it was a plain micro SD card that you could just pop out and read anyway.
Intel's Moon Lake and Wildcat Lake Refresh are on their way. (Notebook Check)

Wildcat Lake is used in entry-level Windows laptops competing with Apple's popular MacBook Neo. It only has one or two "performance" cores, plus four low-power cores, making it fine for basic tasks but less pleasant for anything demanding. Wildcat Lake Refresh is expected to expand the performance core count to four, making it a perfectly acceptable solution for normal people.

Moon Lake meanwhile goes in the opposite direction, with the performance cores reduced to zero.
Intel's Raptor Lake is also getting a refresh, or more accurately, a re-re-refresh. (Notebook Check)

Raptor Lake is at the heart of Intel's 13th and 14th generation processors, and also certain subsequent 100-series and 200-series mobile parts. It's the most capable Intel architecture that still supports cheaper DDR4 memory, which is why Intel is keeping it alive, and also why I have two 13900HX systems sitting in my study right now waiting for a DIMM/SSD transplant from a dead laptop.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Bah.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Mucho bah.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at November 04, 2026 04:02 AM (HFrEr)

2 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at November 04, 2026 04:02 AM (sAmhv)

3 Morning all. We made it.

Posted by: NR Pax at November 04, 2026 04:03 AM (/k3in)

4 I remember the times when the good guys used to win.

Now, there aren't that many good guys, it seems.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 04, 2026 04:04 AM (1Ff7Z)

5 Wow, I'm never up this early. I usually lurk this when I get up at a decent time. So good morning all.

Posted by: Mephitis at November 04, 2026 04:07 AM (NJ8mQ)

6 G'day everyone

Posted by: Skip at November 04, 2026 04:07 AM (Ia/+0)

7 Hi Pixy. Saying hello just to say good night. But hope everyone does ok today. Lots of hugs.

Posted by: LizLem at November 04, 2026 04:07 AM (Toos7)

8 4: On the bright side, everybody loses!! Yay!!

youtu.be/wlVWprYozR8

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at November 04, 2026 04:08 AM (sAmhv)

9 Good morning, I really got it wrong on the election. A lot to take in about what the repercussions are going to be.

Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 04:09 AM (8Uo7a)

10 Good morning, I really got it wrong on the election. A lot to take in about what the repercussions are going to be.
Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 04:09 AM (8Uo7a)

Fraud? Or just anger? Or the electorate has changed?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 04, 2026 04:10 AM (1Ff7Z)

11 The electorate is dumber than we ever imagined.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 04, 2026 04:12 AM (BLOW1)

12 Orange Ent, I have to say electorate change.

Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 04:12 AM (8Uo7a)

13 Orange Ent, I have to say electorate change.
Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 04:12 AM (8Uo7a)

Wouldn't surprise me. When I first moved to my area, the offices were all red. Now, tonight, they're all blue except for treasurer and controller. Lost apparently even the rural R seat in the House. This isn't the country I was born in.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 04, 2026 04:15 AM (1Ff7Z)

14 Oh, and there were some good wins last night. And Florida is safe. Might have to move there if the rest burns in the next 8 years. And Florida voted down property taxes. Example to the rest of the states of how to do it!

Several states did pass their own version of the SAVE act, since the senate won't do anything.

Income tax defeated in WA of all places.

And no matter how the left gloats today, you can always remind them Trump is still yo president. That will ruin their day.

Posted by: LizLem at November 04, 2026 04:18 AM (Toos7)

15 Release expecting in Q1 2374.

Bethesda better get it together well before 2374 or they'll be bankrupted and closed like Bioware.

Starfield did not do all that well for them so they better have a better team working on the new Elder Scroll or it's all over.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at November 04, 2026 04:19 AM (6ydKt)

16 Ben Had,

How in the hell did Texas flip so bigly? I am most surprised by that. I couldn’t figure out if the squish republicans in the legislature were excised or not. Somebody was

Posted by: Pete Bog at November 04, 2026 04:19 AM (9YTWZ)

17 My son kept telling me this was happening and kept saying there is no way. Crow seems to be on the menu.

Posted by: Pete Bog at November 04, 2026 04:22 AM (9YTWZ)

18 These times produce tested faith. Press on in Christ. God rules in the world of men.

Posted by: kingsman at November 04, 2026 04:22 AM (KVjz6)

19 Pete Bog, I am at a complete loss for an answer. I am astounded that a business friendly, no income state would shoot itself in the foot so badly.

Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 04:24 AM (8Uo7a)

20 I kept saying, there is no way. Not how I would have chosen it to go, but it did.

Posted by: Pete Bog at November 04, 2026 04:24 AM (9YTWZ)

21
Lenovo's fingerprint-controlled AES-256 encrypted USB stick was, it turns out, none of those things. (Tom's Hardware)

Inside it was a plain micro SD card that you could just pop out and read anyway.

I like that Lenovo's excuse is that those USB sticks are only sold in China (which means the CCP had a backdoor in it anyhow), and that researcher's told them about the problem months ago and they released a firmware patch for it.

How bad are things where you need an outside team to inform you that your biometric protected and encrypted USB stick is actually just a fancy USB stick that requires extra steps that are actually useless?

Even the Chinese are getting conned by the Chinese.

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

22 12 Orange Ent, I have to say electorate change.
Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 04:12 AM (8Uo7a)

I don't think so. I'll repost what I said in the ONT:

"In 2022, Abbot was +11. Tonight he was somewhere between -8 to -10 or so (depending on the final count). That's a swing of around 20 points in 4 years' time. . . . I don't think anyone will be able to show such a demographic [change] in 4 years. I don't know what explains tonight, but demographic changes is not it, not in TX."

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at November 04, 2026 04:29 AM (HFrEr)

23 I was wrong. Since I left my career, I really don't get a variety of perspectives anymore.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at November 04, 2026 04:30 AM (LOvBA)

24 Nice outside, hasn't rained since 2 Saturdays ago
Have a great day horde

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

25 Good morning Horde. Thx Pixy.
Stayed off the Internet last night. Ugly results. I doubt the middle class left realizes what is about to hit them. But they beat the Republicans.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at November 04, 2026 04:33 AM (cfGMy)

26 Belated BOING!

Back from outdoor exercise. Now for indoor exercise!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at November 04, 2026 04:33 AM (buQX9)

27 I will say that one silver lining from the AI RAMpocalypse is that it's finally forcing developers to once again optimize for memory usage.

That is a good thing, and I hope it continues.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at November 04, 2026 04:35 AM (6ydKt)

28 I don't think anyone will be able to show such a demographic [change] in 4 years. I don't know what explains tonight, but demographic changes is not it, not in TX."
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at November 04, 2026 04:29 AM (HFrEr)

Not so much of a demographic change, but the people have changed from wanting one thing to another. Constant drumbeats of "we want socialism" from the press and Ds with higher prices may have convinced enough people to abandon what they had for something new. Don't know.

Anyway, gonna try to lay down. Next day starts in a couple hours.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 04, 2026 04:35 AM (1Ff7Z)

29 Everything from the governor to the dog catcher went dem. The firewall is gone. How this is going to shake out with the energy and business sectors is going to be a nightmare.

Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 04:36 AM (8Uo7a)

30 25 Good morning Horde. Thx Pixy.
Stayed off the Internet last night. Ugly results. I doubt the middle class left realizes what is about to hit them. But they beat the Republicans.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at November 04, 2026 04:33 AM (cfGMy)

I woke up around 12:30 to find out Darline lost.
That's all I needed to know to see it was going to be a bad night.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at November 04, 2026 04:37 AM (6ydKt)

31

*hic*

Posted by: Hillary Clinton at November 04, 2026 04:39 AM (3GD/r)

32 31

*hic*

Posted by: Hillary Clinton at November 04, 2026 04:39 AM (3GD/r)

Well, one bright spot is that ol' side o' beef is still never gonna be president.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at November 04, 2026 04:42 AM (HFrEr)

33 Democrat voters will just have to learn the hard way.
I say learn which is a mistake for most of them.

Democrat voters will just have to be indoctrinated the hard way.

Because the left, worldwide, is running out of other people's money to spend it only goes downhill from here.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at November 04, 2026 04:42 AM (6ydKt)

34 Fiscal sanity has left the scene.

Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 04:46 AM (8Uo7a)

35 Good morning! WTAF happened to Texas last night? We have a democrat governor and more importantly, a democrat Lt. governor now? And Talarico won!?

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at November 04, 2026 04:46 AM (3Ope8)

36 CrotchetyOldJarhead, along with a dem Railroad commissioner comptroller, sec of agriculture and attorney general.

Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 04:49 AM (8Uo7a)

37 36> FFS, Texas has lost it's fucking mind or there was some buffoonery involved.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at November 04, 2026 04:53 AM (3Ope8)

38 G'morning' all.

It would seem that the constant influx of locusts from the northeast has changed SC far faster than I would have suspected.

Not a good night.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 04, 2026 04:55 AM (iMotb)

39 What happened is the country has changed. And what the Democrats are about to bring is fucking scary and unfixale.

Posted by: Tom Thumb at November 04, 2026 04:56 AM (0OHKH)

40 Last night reminds me most of 2006, when even Republican Governors were being voted out as protest over the Iraq war. What befuddles me is that the Iran war isn't even in the same universe as being accurately described as "quagmire" as Iraq was in '06. Is the lesson that not even limited military conflicts can be conducted without voters severely punishing the party in power?

Posted by: Serious Cat at November 04, 2026 04:58 AM (ytvBf)

41 Not a good night.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 04, 2026 04:55 AM (iMotb)

Trump's brilliant idea to anoint Lindsey's sister backfired, especially on the cost.

She was not an exciting candidate and the only thing she had to run on was Trump picked me and I'm a Graham.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at November 04, 2026 05:05 AM (6ydKt)

42 ** on the coast^^

Posted by: SpeakingOf at November 04, 2026 05:06 AM (6ydKt)

43
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at November 04, 2026 05:09 AM (AMvSw)

44 "Trump's brilliant idea to anoint Lindsey's sister backfired, especially on the cost."

You're not wrong on that.

I had heard of an upstate write-in effort for her former opponent in the primary, which would have siphoned off some support.
But write-in's accounted for only .2% of all votes cast, which did not materially effect the outcome.

And sadly, I think I need to acknowledge that the trip-county electorate has shifted permanently to a progressive type of thinking

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 04, 2026 05:10 AM (iMotb)

45 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at November 04, 2026 05:11 AM (Hbeqj)

46 trip =tri county

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 04, 2026 05:11 AM (iMotb)

47 The Michelin Man picture on the right look like side quest characters from a Fallout game.

Posted by: Cray Cray at November 04, 2026 05:13 AM (nCTkv)

48 Good morning. Evil made a comeback. Brazil and Poland were the trend. Looks like I will have to buy guns for protection after all.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at November 04, 2026 05:15 AM (Dv3i1)

49 The true results from last night
Higher taxes-check
More government spending on social welfare-check
Increased regulation on the energy sector-check
Increased censorship-check

Posted by: Ben Had at November 04, 2026 05:20 AM (8Uo7a)

50 Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism!

Posted by: Is this still a thing, Hillary? at November 04, 2026 05:21 AM (967/Q)

51 I'm disappointed with the results but will simply accept things and carry on. I think Fen or Marcus can give us an appropriate verse when they get here.

Posted by: NR Pax at November 04, 2026 05:21 AM (svLOV)

52 49: Open borders-check
Multiple attempts at impeachment-check
Boys in girls sports-check

Posted by: NR Pax at November 04, 2026 05:22 AM (svLOV)

53 Our guns will become millstones.
They turned the machines on for Biden.
They refused to do so for Harris.
They were running last night.
I still believe she took the L then to be the nominee in 28.

Posted by: Accomack at November 04, 2026 05:24 AM (TnuFK)

54 And sadly, I think I need to acknowledge that the trip-county electorate has shifted permanently to a progressive type of thinking

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 04, 2026 05:10 AM (iMotb)

I wouldn't go that far for Dorchester and Berkeley.
Charleston county has always had that leans D just because of the demographics.

This is reminding me of 2018 when Joe Cunningham won the 1st District.

I think the population is changing with all the Northeasterners and Ohionans and Michiganers who have moved here but I also think the 1st District will go back to the GOP in 2028 like it did in 2020 when Mace won. If Mace had stayed in that race, instead of running for governor, she probably would have held it.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at November 04, 2026 05:24 AM (6ydKt)

55 Every person deported by Trump will get back in with a check and citizenship.

Posted by: Accomack at November 04, 2026 05:25 AM (TnuFK)

56 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 04, 2026 05:26 AM (JrHfD)

57 Thank you, Fen. I try not to pray for an election result since His will overrides all of that nonsense. And I knew you'd have a good verse ready.

Posted by: NR Pax at November 04, 2026 05:30 AM (svLOV)

58 Isaiah 41:10

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.” – Isaiah 41:10

( seems like another day to mostly avoid politics)

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 04, 2026 05:30 AM (JrHfD)

59 "I wouldn't go that far for Dorchester and Berkeley."

I was looking at the down-ballot races in both of them this morning, and there is a noticeable shift to the Dem side.

In Dorchester, three of the four county council races went Dem.

And I believe the influx of young northerners into the Nexton area and up that way is altering the Berkely County make-up as well.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 04, 2026 05:30 AM (iMotb)

60 The one good thing I have is that my district here in the GPROMD kept the Republican reps. So I'll take it.

Posted by: NR Pax at November 04, 2026 05:37 AM (svLOV)

61 This hits hard. I am just astonished that the American people chose to vote in the people they did.

We will remember these as the Slotkin years.

I think Hegseth is out by the end of the week. Trump needs to start issuing the blanket pardons.

Posted by: blaster - Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat at November 04, 2026 05:38 AM (NlEaG)

62 Is the lesson that not even limited military conflicts can be conducted without voters severely punishing the party in power?

Starting a war during an election year was a gamble. Should’ve concentrated on domestic issues like affordability.

It’s going to be endless hearings and impeachment-palooza for two years. IOW, nothing will get done for the American people.

Posted by: Unkaren at November 04, 2026 05:38 AM (m6fGY)

63 Old time hymn ( well, written in 1907) by Charles Tindley "Stand by me" It is in the "Strength in tribulation" section of our hymnal. The Oman who sings it has a lovely voice:

https://tinyurl.com/bdz52xud

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 04, 2026 05:40 AM (JrHfD)

64 It's entirely possible that enough Repubs in the Senate would join the Dems to get to 2/3rd majority to impeach. Stated reason - who cares, it doesn't matter, real reason - MAGA must be crushed and Thune, Collins, Murk and some surprise R's (Cotton?, Hawley?, Cruz?) are ready, willing and able.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at November 04, 2026 05:41 AM (Dv3i1)

65 NOT Oman. "Woman" who sings it.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 04, 2026 05:41 AM (JrHfD)

66 blaster acres in NW Florida is in a Congressional district Trump carried with 77% of the vote in 2024.

The incumbent Republican won his race by 5 points.

Posted by: blaster - Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat at November 04, 2026 05:41 AM (NlEaG)

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