Daily Tech News 4 September 2024

Top Story

Concord is a flop. (Mashable, 28 August)
Concord is dead. (Mashable, 3 September)

Yes, Concord, Sony's $200 million (ish) tentpole hero shooter Overwatch clone (depending on your generation, digital laser tag/cops and robbers/cowboys and indians/Mycenaeans and Sea People) has officially been unalived less than two weeks after release.

Despite desperate attempts by the entire tech and gaming press - apart from Mashable, as it turns out - to drag its flyblown corpse across the finish line, Sony read the hemlock leaves and decided that there was no way to fix this mess without setting even more money on fire.

Everyone who bought a copy - estimated at less than 25,000 - will receive a refund. The Steam page is already gone, and the servers will go offline this Friday, probably for good.

At time of writing, the game has 43 players. In the entire world. So even among the unfortunates that bought the game, fewer than one in 500 are playing it.
Dustborn currently has 9 players.
Soulash 2 has 110. Which is still not a lot, but it's a paid early access game written by one guy living in Poland.
Core Keeper, another indie game very broadly in the same genre as Soulash, has 20,680 players right now.
If your doctor has advised you to increase dietary schadenfreude I present The Verge and Kotaku. Kotaku is in the seventh stage of grief, which like the first six stages consists of blaming gamers.

Tech News

Intel has launched its Lunar Lake mobile CPUs. (Tom's Hardware)

Intel promises much better battery life than its recent offerings. That may well be true, because these chips max out at 8 cores (4 Performance and 4 Efficiency), lack hyperthreading, and are built on TSMC's 3nm process rather than by Intel itself.

They also come with memory soldered onto the chip itself. 16GB or 32GB. No other options, no possibility of upgrade, ever.

These are targeted at the thin-and-light market exclusively, and may actually be good for that market. We don't know yet, because this is paper launch. There are no laptops available yet, much less reviews.

Those should come before the end of the month.
Meanwhile AMD Ryzen AI 300 laptops will receive a free Microsoft Copilot update in November. (WCCFTech)

Whether you want it or not.
Remembering the days when disk drives were lethal. (GitHub)

We're talking an original IBM RAMAC here, which contained fifty 24-inch platters and weighed over a ton.
The thing that kept us from getting killed was a shield that Don Johnson invented to put around the whole RAMAC disk assembly. It slowed down the shrapnel. Leonard and I were the only ones in the room. We started it up. It didn't even get up to full speed before it started to fly apart.
Yes, those were the days.
Canva has increased the price of its Teams product - in some cases by more than 300%. (Tech Crunch)

I wouldn't care except that Canva recently bought Affinity and the Affinity suite is good software at a very reasonable price, with free updates and no subscriptions.

I hope they don't mess that up.

Disclaimer: But they probably will.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 04:02 AM (64Zez)

2 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes. Evening, Pixy.

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 04, 2024 04:08 AM (hoCmQ)

3 Finished my late midnight snack. Gonna try to catch a few more zzz's.

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 04, 2024 04:12 AM (hoCmQ)

4 Good morning, good people. May your efforts this day result in great benefits to you. And may the leftwits suffer great anguish.

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at September 04, 2024 04:14 AM (hKoQL)

5 Sony wants another EverQuest, but that fame is now 26 years ago.

Posted by: 13times at September 04, 2024 04:17 AM (nx/bW)

6 Evening and morning to all the early risers and late toilers.

I could have been involved in computers in the 1970s. It would have meant dealing with those punch cards, and spending countless hours in the computing labs at school, but -- I could have come out with a really good-paying job for those days. And in those days, working with "the computer" was a mysterious job that not many people knew understood or wanted to. I could have made some very good money, bought a good used car, had a nice apartment, eventually bought a house. . . .

Ah, the things that *could* have been.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 04, 2024 04:24 AM (omVj0)

7 And if I'd gone into computers and had more options and wider life experience thanks to more money, perhaps I'd have made a better wife choice (or choices, who knows).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 04, 2024 04:31 AM (omVj0)

8 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 04, 2024 04:32 AM (sAmhv)

9 I was born analog and had some difficulty getting used to digital. I persevered learning to a limited degree, only enough to allow me to pursue my career of being the friendly person who repaired your car right the FIRST time.

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at September 04, 2024 04:32 AM (hKoQL)

10 G'morning, all.

A brisk 70.0 degrees out, with only 80% relative humidity.

This mornings walk will be 'refreshing'.

But, gotta get it done, as the kittens are going to their second vet visit this morning.

Demure little Margo is still around 3.4 pounds at 12 weeks old. But her brother Max (Barn Name of Frog) is about 4.6 pounds of muscle and attitude.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 04, 2024 04:41 AM (a1415)

11 Got a work reception to attend this evening at five, half an hour after my usual quitting time. And it may be raining a good part of the day. Yes, I'll get a free feed, but I have to pretend to be social and cheery at the end of the work day. Won't get home until late. Grrrr.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 04, 2024 04:43 AM (omVj0)

12
I wish I were a gamer so I could partake in the trainwreck awe of this Sony "Concord."

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at September 04, 2024 04:44 AM (sIJ1S)

13 But, gotta get it done, as the kittens are going to their second vet visit this morning.

Demure little Margo is still around 3.4 pounds at 12 weeks old. But her brother Max (Barn Name of Frog) is about 4.6 pounds of muscle and attitude.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 04, 2024

***
Sounds like they are progressing well. Stirling and Dagny, boy and girl, were about the same at that age. Well, Dagny was a bit older, five months when I adopted her, and weighed more. But there was the same kind of difference in weights and mass.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 04, 2024 04:46 AM (omVj0)

14 I liked electronics - but it was the end of the local TV/Radio repair shop era. Microwave was the newest thing. I enjoyed the math and the lab equipment, the problem, unbeknownst to me at the time, was there was only one employer group - defense contractors. And most of the tech labor were green card holders - which meant suppressed wages. We were paid less than grocery clerks. Many of the techs couldn’t even qualify for security clearances beyond “confidential.”

I left the biz and doubled my wages working for an electrician.

Posted by: 13times at September 04, 2024 04:46 AM (Hzvwc)

15 Appears Zelinsky is re-arranging the deck chairs on USS Ukraine...cabinet shakeup

Posted by: a dude in MI at September 04, 2024 04:53 AM (+I6Y/)

16 "Appears Zelinsky is re-arranging the deck chairs on USS Ukraine...cabinet shakeup"

Perhaps they could take some Russian hostages.

Then the world will demand that Russia surrender.

Seems to work for Hamas.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 04, 2024 04:56 AM (a1415)

17 Appears Zelinsky is re-arranging the deck chairs on USS Ukraine...cabinet shakeup
Posted by: a dude in MI at September 04, 2024 04:53 AM (+I6Y/

Ukraine released video of a drone dropping thermite on Russian forces. Trench warfare is an ugly thing.

Posted by: 13times at September 04, 2024 04:57 AM (B59gt)

18 Well, here is a pleasant surprise.

The upper motor mount for the Volvo wagon that was due to arrive Friday will be getting here sometime today.

So I should be able to put that in this evening, and get rid of the drivetrain vibration that has been present for a while.

Volvo P2 platforms are well known for those mounts failing frequently, even with a re-design about ten years ago.

Fortunately they are reasonably priced, and very easy to replace.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 04, 2024 04:59 AM (a1415)

19 Intel has STDB to such an extent, it's in risk of being delisted from the DOW.

Talk about a fall from grace.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at September 04, 2024 05:08 AM (XV/Pl)

20 Good morning. I was beginning to worry that we hadn't sent any aid to Ukraine for a week or so. Problem solved---more aid is on the way!

Posted by: Ben Had at September 04, 2024 05:10 AM (WbH4L)

21 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at September 04, 2024 05:11 AM (dg+HA)

22 21: it's getting sent to Ukraine.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 04, 2024 05:20 AM (sAmhv)

23 22 21: it's getting sent to Ukraine.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 04, 2024 05:20 AM (sAmhv)

Hopefully its used at one of the Zelinsky palaces

Posted by: a dude in MI at September 04, 2024 05:21 AM (+I6Y/)

24
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at September 04, 2024 05:23 AM (tljrc)

25 I'm trying to figure out why George Clooney has any level of gravitas concerning foreign affairs, or Presidential history.

And so far....I got nothing.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 04, 2024 05:24 AM (a1415)

26 Mornin' Horde.

I hadn't even heard of this game "Concord" till Pixy's post today. That's a pretty big failure for SONY.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 04, 2024 05:25 AM (O7YUW)

27 Time to get ready for the morning walk.

BBIAB.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 04, 2024 05:28 AM (a1415)

28 And so far....I got nothing.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 04, 2024 05:24 AM (a1415)

He married a snooty brown chick of indeterminate nationality.

What the hell else could you possibly need for credibility on the nuances of top level geopolitics?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 04, 2024 05:30 AM (mDTxx)

29 There's a whole world of nationless nepots that have been clogging up American academia since i had anything to do with academia... "Well my Mom is Lebanese and my Dad is Cape Verdean and my other Mom is Laotian and i grew up in Antarctica so i speak fluent Penguin"....

Fuck me, just pick one and stick with it you damn weirdo.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 04, 2024 05:37 AM (mDTxx)

30 Clooney's decades worth of experience at pretending to be somebody else has prepared him for this moment!

Whatever that is.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 04, 2024 05:39 AM (sAmhv)

31 "Citizen of the world" is just a fancy way of saying hobo.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 04, 2024 05:40 AM (mDTxx)

32 So up from the ashes of disaster
grow the roses of success!

Posted by: Sony at September 04, 2024 05:40 AM (Aqu9a)

33 Yes, Concord, Sony's $200 million (ish) tentpole hero shooter Overwatch clone (depending on your generation, digital laser tag/cops and robbers/cowboys and indians/Mycenaeans and Sea People) has officially been unalived less than two weeks after release.

"But we put the character's pronouns in their bio!"
"And that is why no one will remember your name."

And yes; gamers will be blamed for not eagerly signing up for digital struggle sessions.

Posted by: NR Pax at September 04, 2024 05:45 AM (svLOV)

34 Video of the capture an orphan elephant. The elephant trust typically doesn’t show how they wrestle down the larger neonates. I think the trust offer bounties to locals for reporting genuine orphans - something they don’t readily admit.

https://tinyurl.com/4yaup65u

Posted by: 13times at September 04, 2024 05:49 AM (CsWCU)

35 Gears of Bore.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 04, 2024 05:50 AM (mDTxx)

36 >>>its flyblown corpse

ewwwwwww

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 05:56 AM (64Zez)

37 Morning all

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at September 04, 2024 05:57 AM (pzE/I)

38
flyblown | ˈflīˌblōn |
adjective
dirty or contaminated, especially through contact with flies and their eggs and larvae: the room was filthy and flyblown.

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 05:58 AM (64Zez)

39 It is too dayum early.

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 04, 2024 06:00 AM (gbOdA)

40 06:00 AM

39 It is too dayum early.
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 04, 2024 06:00 AM (gbOdA)

Right on the money!

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:01 AM (64Zez)

41 m, what are those pronunciation marks around the f & b? Not familiar with those.

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 04, 2024 06:02 AM (hoCmQ)

42 Are Verge and Kotaku mostly worried that this might signal the beginning of the end for Verge and Kotaku?

Posted by: Wally at September 04, 2024 06:02 AM (vCrqe)

43 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at September 04, 2024 06:03 AM (VdhcA)

44
ˈflīˌblōn

They're showing up weird in the cut-and-paste.

Before the f is an upper accent mark which in this system means "accent the next syllable"; before the b is a lower accent mark which means "put a secondary accent on this syllable."

So: FLY blown

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:05 AM (64Zez)

45
ˈ flī ˌ blōn

ˈ = modifier letter vertical line
ˌ = modifier letter low vertical line

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:10 AM (64Zez)

46 Excelsior! A reflection oh the Christian faith, "pressing on " Phillipians 3:12-21 and- believe it or not, Stan Lee and comic books:

https://odb.org/2024/09/04/excelsior

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 04, 2024 06:12 AM (jo8Zc)

47 Sad sidebar news about Paul Harrell's death. Liked his videos. He had the courage to produce a final, sign-off video that he titled, "I'm dead."

RIP

Posted by: JM in Ill -- Behold the Manchurian Candidate at September 04, 2024 06:14 AM (Lq0Bl)

48 Trio sings.beautiful version of a song' In Christ alone"

https://tinyurl.com/3ehuczts

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 04, 2024 06:19 AM (jo8Zc)

49 80 year old Nashville guitarist does great solo in a music store:

https://tinyurl.com/ynw46ez5

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 04, 2024 06:22 AM (jo8Zc)

50 wikipedia Stress (linguistics)

primary stress
secondary stress

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(linguistics)

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:23 AM (64Zez)

51 Gaelic and English have exact opposite approaches to orthography.

"Hey, let's use eight letters for a single phoneme that sounds like 'uh', but always pronounce it exactly the same way."

"No, that's dumb, just mash whatever letters you want together however and make it mean the sound you want it to mean for that particular word, no one's going to do it right anyway, so who cares."

And of course China peeks in to say "your words for house don't look anything like a house, you non-gross-meat-eating idiots."

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 04, 2024 06:27 AM (mDTxx)

52 35 Gears of Bore.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 04, 2024 05:50 AM (mDTxx)

Is this a play on the name of a video game?

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:32 AM (64Zez)

53 52 Is this a play on the name of a video game?
Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:32 AM (64Zez)

Yes. Gears of War.

Posted by: NR Pax at September 04, 2024 06:32 AM (svLOV)

54 53 52 Is this a play on the name of a video game?
Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:32 AM (64Zez)

Yes. Gears of War.
Posted by: NR Pax at September 04, 2024 06:32 AM (svLOV)

Thanks!

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:33 AM (64Zez)

55 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - they have been lying to us for decades at September 04, 2024 06:36 AM (UWgy2)

56 Good morning morons

Local news is still all about the shot sportsball player. As if I couldn't hate the local media more. They are saying it will cost Mayor Breed the race.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 04, 2024 06:37 AM (RIvkX)

57 Morning Horde. For those that missed it, Ben Had spoke to JT. He's still in rehab and will be there for awhile longer. Posted yesterday, I'm old and don't remember which thread.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at September 04, 2024 06:38 AM (2NHgQ)

58 I did not even know Concord was an Overwatch clone. Huh. I heard the name mentioned and that it was a dumpster fire, but not much more than that.

200 million huh? Good thing they spent the money here instead of that sequel to Days Gone. /s

Posted by: Aetius451AD at September 04, 2024 06:38 AM (y31cs)

59 57 Morning Horde. For those that missed it, Ben Had spoke to JT. He's still in rehab and will be there for awhile longer. Posted yesterday, I'm old and don't remember which thread.
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at September 04, 2024 06:38 AM (2NHgQ)

That's good news. I'll keep the action item in the nightly meeting with the Boss.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at September 04, 2024 06:39 AM (y31cs)

60 Ex son-in-law works for Sony. Hope they take part of their from Concord loss out of his next salary increase.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at September 04, 2024 06:39 AM (2NHgQ)

61 57 Morning Horde. For those that missed it, Ben Had spoke to JT. He's still in rehab and will be there for awhile longer. Posted yesterday, I'm old and don't remember which thread.
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at September 04, 2024 06:38 AM (2NHgQ)

Art thread.

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:39 AM (64Zez)

62 47 Sad sidebar news about Paul Harrell's death. Liked his videos. He had the courage to produce a final, sign-off video that he titled, "I'm dead."

RIP
Posted by: JM in Ill -- Behold the Manchurian Candidate at September 04, 2024 06:14 AM (Lq0Bl)

When you've gotta go out, go out in style.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at September 04, 2024 06:40 AM (y31cs)

63 54 You're welcome.

Posted by: NR Pax at September 04, 2024 06:40 AM (svLOV)

64 .
NOOD

J.J. Sefton is here with The Morning Report

NOOD

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 04, 2024 06:41 AM (O7YUW)

65 61 57 Morning Horde. For those that missed it, Ben Had spoke to JT. He's still in rehab and will be there for awhile longer. Posted yesterday, I'm old and don't remember which thread.
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at September 04, 2024 06:38 AM (2NHgQ)

Art thread.
Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:39 AM (64Zez)

No, Morning Rant thread.

5 I apologize for the OT but I just got to speak to JT and he sounds really good. He appreciates all of thinking of him
Posted by: Ben Had at September 03, 2024 11:02 AM (WbH4L)

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:41 AM (64Zez)

66 Ah, the things that *could* have been.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 04, 2024 04:24 AM (omVj0)

As I always say, the most horrible words in the world are "I wish."

Morning, all. Should have started work an hour ago. When will I ever learn?

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 04, 2024 06:42 AM (Q0kLU)

67 66 Morning, all. Should have started work an hour ago. When will I ever learn?
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 04, 2024 06:42 AM (Q0kLU)

Me, too.

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 06:44 AM (64Zez)

68
25 I'm trying to figure out why George Clooney has any level of gravitas concerning foreign affairs, or Presidential history.

And so far....I got nothing.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 04, 2024 05:24 AM (a1415)

-----------

He has a foundation. A social justice foundation that scolds miscreant governments and composes strongly-worded letters. The same interns who write the letters, write George's speeches. There is foundation letterhead, and a bronze plaque on the front door that says "Foundation," and everything. Talk about gravitas.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at September 04, 2024 07:07 AM (biznJ)

69 *There is foundation letterhead, and a bronze plaque on the front door that says "Foundation," and everything. Talk about gravitas.*

Or as Limbaugh used to say "a logo and a fax machine" back in the day.

Posted by: I miss Rush at September 04, 2024 07:09 AM (DobEs)

70 68 The same interns who write the letters, write George's speeches.
Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at September 04, 2024 07:07 AM (biznJ)

LOL

Posted by: m at September 04, 2024 07:26 AM (64Zez)

71 Played Core Keeper with a friend for a while and it was fun.

If you like sandbox/adventure/exploration type games like Terraria you'll probably enjoy it.

Posted by: Smash'em at September 04, 2024 09:23 AM (pCkom)

72 What is it with this site, using Brave (at least) on ipad/iphone such that it hangs or is VERY slow to respond to scrolling or opening links for a few minutes?

Posted by: John at September 04, 2024 06:16 PM (537bT)

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