Daily Tech News 15 March 2026

Top Story

Montana's Governor Greg Gianforte has signed into law the state's Right to Compute Act, the first legislation of its kind. (Western MT News)

Before you celebrate, the bill is the worst kind of waffly bullshit, forbidding the government from infringing on fundamental rights unless it really wants to.

I think they've spent too much time next door to Canada and the government needs to institute a hundred-mile decommunised zone.

Still doing better than Australia where our government threatened at one point to legislate against inconvenient arithmetic.

Whether you have a right or not you can't do much computed on a MacBook Pro 14 with an M5 Max CPU. (Notebook Check)

It looks great on paper but it throttles down to less than half power within two seconds. If you want the high-end processor the only viable option is the 16 inch model.

Tech News

Studies show that productivity gains from AI for typical office workers amount to as little as 16 minutes per week. (Nerds.XYZ)

I'm not a typical office worker, but I get more out of it just from using it as a better search engine. Watching Grok and ChatGPT discard dozens of useless results from Google before finding the right answer is... I don't know. Satisfying, in a strange way.
Latency numbers every programmer should know but most don't. (GitHub)

Interesting that from the original version in 2012 to this 2020 update, the quoted SSD latency improved by a factor of 10 - from 150 microseconds to 16. And disk seeks from 10 milliseconds to 2, which has got to be measuring cache effects, because that would mean the disk would be spinning at 30,000 rpm.
Just how much responsibility do AI chatbots and the companies that create them hold for psychotic people acting psychotically? (Tech Crunch)

I'm torn between bankrupting the companies and bankrupting the lawyers bringing these suits.

Both is good.
Elon Musk plans to launch the Terafab project - his own chip manufacturing facility - next week. (WCCFTech)

Of course it's going to take years before anything can come online even if he can secure the required tools from ASML, which is a single source for top-end chip manufacturing equipment.

He has said that he plans to reach production in excess of 100 billion chips per year, though exactly what chips and in what time frame he has not yet specified.
ASRock's new H610M Combo II motherboard is just like the earlier H610M combo only worse. A lot worse. (WCCFTech)

The H610M Combo featured two slots for DDR4 memory and four slots for DDR5, though you could only have one or the other.

The Combo II cuts that down to one slot for DDR5 and two slots for DDR5, which is kind of broken. If you have DDR5 you don't need the DDR4 slot, and if you don't you're stuck with a quarter of the bandwidth.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: There's a pill for that now.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 BOING!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:01 AM (5UTWB)

2 !!

Posted by: clarence at March 15, 2026 04:01 AM (A4VRU)

3 Nooded. Mornin' or evenin', as appropriate.

Posted by: Nazdar at March 15, 2026 04:02 AM (NcvvS)

4 w00t

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:02 AM (+YA9H)

5 Kinks. Finally, real music!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:03 AM (5UTWB)

6 I'm torn between bankrupting the companies and bankrupting the lawyers bringing these suits.

Both is good.
****

First, we kill all the lawyers. (some writer)

Posted by: clarence at March 15, 2026 04:05 AM (A4VRU)

7 Happy-ish Sunday Morning, all ...

Posted by: Adriane the Pithy Saying Critic . . . at March 15, 2026 04:09 AM (3ZUWJ)

8 Speaking of fuggheaded legislation, Washington State is trying to outlaw using 3D printers to make gun parts, with Commifornia not far behind.

G Code is just a text file, asswipes. Remember the First Amendment?

Oh, right: the First Amendment covers showing dildos to kindergartners, but not actual... textual speech.

You betcha.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 15, 2026 04:09 AM (IG3/x)

9 >>>Montana's Governor Greg Gianforte has signed into law the state's Right to Compute Act ... the worst kind of waffly bullshit

"It Does Not Compute"?

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:15 AM (+YA9H)

10 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at March 15, 2026 04:16 AM (Ia/+0)

11 Am I the only moron who until now didn't know that Jasmine Croquette's security guard was killed by Dallas SWAT officers last Wednesday in a standoff with police?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:18 AM (5UTWB)

12 It's even weirder once you read what the standoff was about.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at March 15, 2026 04:22 AM (BLOW1)

13 >>>using it as a better search engine. Watching Grok and ChatGPT discard dozens of useless results from Google

I make google tidier by typing

-ai

at the end of my search terms. Like:

first thing we do we kill all the lawyers -ai

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:22 AM (+YA9H)

14 11 Am I the only moron who until now didn't know that Jasmine Croquette's security guard was killed by Dallas SWAT officers last Wednesday in a standoff with police?
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:18 AM (5UTWB)

NYPost says:

"He was full of Crock."

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:27 AM (+YA9H)

15 Watching Grok and ChatGPT discard dozens of useless results from Google before finding the right answer

Google: Is this it?
Grok and ChatGPT: No!

Google: Is this it?
Grok and ChatGPT: No!

Google: Is this it?
Grok and ChatGPT: No!

…

Posted by: Buzz Adrenaline at March 15, 2026 04:27 AM (JRP2U)

16 14 NYPost says:

"He was full of Crock."
Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:27 AM (+YA9H)

https://archive.is/GZsM0

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:32 AM (+YA9H)

17 "He was full of Crock."

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:27 AM (+YA9H)
-

Not about all that Jas?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:34 AM (5UTWB)

18 11 Am I the only moron who until now didn't know that Jasmine Croquette's security guard was killed by Dallas SWAT officers last Wednesday in a standoff with police?
****

Well, if you have to ask....

Posted by: clarence at March 15, 2026 04:35 AM (A4VRU)

19 17 "He was full of Crock."

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:27 AM (+YA9H)
-

Not about all that Jas?
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:34 AM (5UTWB)

*jazz hands*

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:41 AM (+YA9H)

20 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at March 15, 2026 04:43 AM (ntk8v)

21 Tech thread stuff. War-O-Matic:

https://tinyurl.com/mtwsjfde

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:44 AM (5UTWB)

22 Finally, I'm not the only one who needs to get a heads-up:

https://tinyurl.com/2kmp3pk9

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:48 AM (5UTWB)

23 Politicians laundering bribery and campaign funds through dodges like personal security details seems pretty widespread; Earl Harper aka "Turah-Ak" is the husband and bodyguard of City Council member Carroll Fife. He's not even licensed.

The Jasmine Crocket story is very strange.

Posted by: 13times at March 15, 2026 04:50 AM (iSfnH)

24 >>>Daily Tech News 15 March 2026

It's the Ides of March!

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:55 AM (+YA9H)

25 It's the Ides of March!

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:55 AM (+YA9H)
-

Ide don't care.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:56 AM (5UTWB)

26 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at March 15, 2026 04:56 AM (AN2gy)

27 Mamdani outdoes himself:

Bloomberg @business

Zohran Mamdani is proposing to raise NY's estate tax to 50% and have it kick in at $750,000 instead of more than $7 million

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:58 AM (5UTWB)

28 >>>Just how much responsibility do AI chatbots and the companies that create them hold for psychotic people acting psychotically? (Tech Crunch)

https://archive.is/0XVI3

It's a good question.

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:58 AM (+YA9H)

29 25 It's the Ides of March!

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:55 AM (+YA9H)
-

Ide don't care.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 04:56 AM (5UTWB)

Ide watch it if I were you!

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:59 AM (+YA9H)

30 from the Tech Crunch AI crazy-people article:

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) ... told TechCrunch ... “The same sycophancy that the platforms use to keep people engaged leads to that kind of odd, enabling language at all times and drives their willingness to help you plan, for example, which type of shrapnel to use [in an attack].”

Ah-yup.

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 05:02 AM (+YA9H)

31 Ide watch it if I were you!

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:59 AM (+YA9H)
-

The seas are angry that day, my friends?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 05:05 AM (5UTWB)

32 31 Ide watch it if I were you!

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 04:59 AM (+YA9H)
-

The seas are angry that day, my friends?
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 05:05 AM (5UTWB)

; )

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 05:06 AM (+YA9H)

33 Borga borga! (A dialect variation on "booga booga")

Evening and morning, Sunday toilers and insomaniacals. Here I thought big black Stirling was over his "leaping across and kicking me at 3:30 am" phase. Ha. Well, temps are mild and there's little wind, so a workout session should go fine in a bit. In the meantime there is coffee.

Howz about choo?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 15, 2026 05:10 AM (wzUl9)

34 >>>Whether you have a right or not you can't do much computed on a MacBook Pro 14

computed --> computing

maybe

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 05:14 AM (+YA9H)

35 Howz about choo?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 15, 2026 05:10 AM (wzUl9)
-

I'm fine. And you?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 05:15 AM (5UTWB)

36 I'm waiting for some feminist group to wail that "If only Julius Caesar had listened to Calpurnia and stayed away from the Senate that day instead of flaunting his toxic masculinity!"

Oh, I dreamed that Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore was my teacher, that I was a classmate of her daughter Rory, and that Lorelai and I were on a field trip at night (?) to research how the old resurrection men dug up bodies. Nothing gory, but we were examining a marble vault when it levitated a foot in front of us and settled back down, and Lorelai gave out with a "Whoa!!!" (Note to self: No more watching Gilmore Girls and Svengoolie on the same night.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 15, 2026 05:17 AM (wzUl9)

37 35 Howz about choo?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 15, 2026
-
I'm fine. And you?
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026

***
Not really enough sleep, BD, but I'll catch up this pm.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 15, 2026 05:18 AM (wzUl9)

38
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 15, 2026 05:18 AM (tljrc)

39 Not really enough sleep, BD, but I'll catch up this pm.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 15, 2026 05:18 AM (wzUl9)
-

11:22AM here are ditto. Lethargic feeling Since Friday.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at March 15, 2026 05:22 AM (5UTWB)

40 Coffee finally on, it will be awhile

Posted by: Skip at March 15, 2026 05:32 AM (Ia/+0)

41 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at March 15, 2026 05:36 AM (R29Mt)

42 Turns out I may have locked little Dagny accidentally in the closet all night! She loves to zip into closets, esp. the one where I have an old rubber floor mat she can sharpen her claws on. I don't notice where the cats are when I go to bed -- though I need to start!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 15, 2026 05:40 AM (wzUl9)

43 Posted on the ONT, can put it up here:

https://tinyurl.com/4bv3deeh

Posted by: Nazdar at March 15, 2026 05:41 AM (NcvvS)

44 summary of current Tucker Carlson news:

@sethdillon

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 05:46 AM (+YA9H)

45 Turns out I may have locked little Dagny accidentally in the closet all night! She loves to zip into closets, esp. the one where I have an old rubber floor mat she can sharpen her claws on. I don't notice where the cats are when I go to bed -- though I need to start!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 15, 2026 05:40 AM (wzUl9)
----
I've done that to Penny once or twice.

Ever since, I make the rounds at night to do a headcount of my kitties to ensure I know where they are.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 15, 2026 05:46 AM (ESVrU)

46 43 Posted on the ONT, can put it up here:

https://tinyurl.com/4bv3deeh
Posted by: Nazdar at March 15, 2026 05:41 AM (NcvvS)

= The Ides of March - "Vehicle"

Nice!

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 05:49 AM (+YA9H)

47 I mean, possibly NSFW:

Hey well, I'm the friendly stranger in the black sedan
Won't you hop inside my car
I got pictures, got candy, I'm a lovable man
And I can take you to the nearest star

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 05:51 AM (+YA9H)

48 Yes, no way that song would be released today. It was sketchy even then.

Posted by: Nazdar at March 15, 2026 05:53 AM (NcvvS)

49 48 Yes, no way that song would be released today. It was sketchy even then.
Posted by: Nazdar at March 15, 2026 05:53 AM (NcvvS)

He does say:

I'm your vehicle, *woman*

And, yet, however!

Posted by: m at March 15, 2026 05:58 AM (+YA9H)

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