Daily Tech News 23 June 2026

Top Story

Valve's Steam machine is here, starting at $499 $599 $699 $1049. (Notebook Check)

Or almost almost here. You can enter a lottery right now, which will offer winners the chance to buy the Cube from June 29. Delivery will take place sometime after that.
You can get more powerful PCs for similar amounts of money. (Notebook Check)

But the Cube is compact and almost silent.
And overall, it doesn't suck. (Notebook Check)

Valve got steamrolled by the DRAM Apocalypse just like the rest of us, but it does deliver what they promised. Mostly. 4k was always a stretch.

Tech News

Lenovo's Legion Tab Gen 5 is here - and you can actually buy one. (Notebook Check)

It launched in China a little while ago, but is now available internationally. MSRP is a hefty $850 but it's discounted to a still pretty hefty $650 for now.

Also, the older Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 is now on clearance, discounted as much as 50%.

At that price it is - adjusted for inflation - actually cheaper than the iconic 2013 Nexus 7, while offering a higher resolution screen, larger battery, six times the memory, eight times the storage, ten times the CPU performance, and literally a hundred times the graphics performance. To be fair, the Nexus 7 was kind of bad at 3d gaming.

No wireless charging, but it has dual USB-C ports rather than one failure-prone micro-USB socket.
Fuck you Microsoft GameInput.

But at least I know that it wasn't a hardware problem.
Canada is planning a nuclear renaissance with ten new reactors to be built by 2040 at a cost of $100 billion. (CBC)

They achieved this using one simple trick: They targeted an operational date of 2010 on a budget of $5 billion.
DDR3 and DDR2 are the next victims of the Apocalypse. (The Register)

I have 96GB of DDR3. Much less DDR2 - maybe 32GB across four old systems.
The AI world is getting loopy. (Tech Crunch)

Do tell.

(Reads article.)

No. Don't tell.
Anthropic says Claude may want to see your license, registration, and insurance. (Tech Crunch)

Not just no, but fuck no.

Musical Interlude

Special Bonus Apocalyptic Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Ihre Papiere bitte, "Santa".

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 04:31 AM (6wpGE)

2 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at June 23, 2026 04:31 AM (Ia/+0)

3 Falco - Der Kommissar

cool

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 04:36 AM (6wpGE)

4 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at June 23, 2026 04:36 AM (sAmhv)

5 Fuck you Microsoft GameInput.
But at least I know that it wasn't a hardware problem.

link?

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 04:36 AM (6wpGE)

6 Morning all.

Gave in and turned the heat on today.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at June 23, 2026 04:39 AM (BLOW1)

7 m - No link. My laptop has been rebooting every night lately because of some piece of garbage installed with Windows.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at June 23, 2026 04:40 AM (BLOW1)

8 I didn't fail. Woot.
Love ya pixie. People like you are the reason I'm doing this cyber security degree.

Posted by: Nato at June 23, 2026 04:42 AM (XAyZ8)

9 This long commute job isn't going to end soon enough
East bound and down, at least wifi there so can play music and annoy you people all day.

Posted by: Skip at June 23, 2026 04:43 AM (Ia/+0)

10 7 m - No link. My laptop has been rebooting every night lately because of some piece of garbage installed with Windows.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at June 23, 2026 04:40 AM (BLOW1)

Oh. Awful.

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 04:44 AM (6wpGE)

11 Evening and morning, far-flung satellites and satraps of the vast AoSHQ Empire! I'm up early; no cat to blame this time. Such is life.

My casual study of German was a long time ago, but I can manage to read Pixy's disclaimer today.

Howz ever'one this Tiu's Day?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 04:44 AM (wzUl9)

12 9 This long commute job isn't going to end soon enough
East bound and down, at least wifi there so can play music and annoy you people all day.
Posted by: Skip at June 23, 2026 04:43 AM (Ia/+0)

Looking forward to it, Skip!

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 04:45 AM (6wpGE)

13 Morning all.

Gave in and turned the heat on today.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at June 23, 2026

***
First full day of winter!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 04:46 AM (wzUl9)

14 13 First full day of winter!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 04:46 AM (wzUl9)

Ooh! Maybe the Tech Thread™️ will go back to 4am instead of 4:30am!

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 04:49 AM (6wpGE)

15 Errands to run today include a visit to the library for some more reading material. This The Crime Book nonfiction volume is full of little squibs and sidebars about various crimes, but they are like eating Cheese Nips when you want a real meal: tasty, but there's no substance there.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 04:49 AM (wzUl9)

16 15 Errands to run today include a visit to the library for some more reading material.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 04:49 AM (wzUl9)

First, maybe, read on the ONT about 13times's big adventures in the Chico library yesterday.

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 04:51 AM (6wpGE)

17 The film version of Anna and the King of Siam w/ Irene Dunne and Rex Harrison (as the king, natch!) is on Movies! I'm more familiar with the Deborah Kerr/Yul Brynner version. Wasn't that the musical one?

There was an attempt to bring it to TV in the early '70s with British hottie Samantha Eggar as Anna, but I can't recall who played the King.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 04:52 AM (wzUl9)

18 Mental As Anything - Apocalypso

That one's a little weird.

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 04:54 AM (6wpGE)

19 Special Bonus Apocalyptic Musical Interlude

They had a song and needed a video. So they just filmed a bunch of random, crazy, crap, and released it. Works, probably, after some acid and whisky.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at June 23, 2026 04:55 AM (sAmhv)

20 First, maybe, read on the ONT about 13times's big adventures in the Chico library yesterday.
Posted by: m at June 23, 2026

***
Charming. I'm glad 13times is okay!

My local pesthole is announcing that they will make the city libraries available to all as "cooling centers" -- which will include the homeless and the mentally ill, I'm sure, as well as elderly people who can't afford A/C. Wonderful.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 04:56 AM (wzUl9)

21 Puddleglum's good news! (from the ONT):

235 Yay! One of my snap traps caught a mouse. The now dead disease vector is in a bag, outside, because garbage pickup is Wed morning. I still think I have another mouse lurking about, but I have lots of traps laying around. I'll get it. Still wish I had a bobkittuh!! Apparently illegal to own privately. Stupid country.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at June 23, 2026 12:41 AM (sAmhv)

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 04:56 AM (6wpGE)

22 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at June 23, 2026 04:59 AM (V0/Sp)

23 21: I'm pleased. I'm pretty sure there is still another lurking about. Haven't seen it. I'll keep the traps operational. Need to pull the fridge away from the wall and check. I put some steel wool along the baseboard a while back. They may have adjusted some and now there is space for a mouse. I don't want to do it. Fridges, even with wheels, are awkward to move.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at June 23, 2026 04:59 AM (sAmhv)

24 As a sign of being over 29, I picked up my new glasses yesterday. They are bifocals, and while the distance part is fine -- I can see distant signs and read the closed-captioning on TV much more sharply -- the central "bifocal" parts have to go. I have reading glasses for that. The bifocal portions disturb me far too much while driving.

The close-work portions are close to the center of the lenses. I thought bifocals were supposed to have those at the bottom?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 05:01 AM (wzUl9)

25 Trash to curb, I must

BIAB

Posted by: fluffy at June 23, 2026 05:01 AM (V0/Sp)

26 19 Special Bonus Apocalyptic Musical Interlude

They had a song and needed a video. So they just filmed a bunch of random, crazy, crap, and released it.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at June 23, 2026 04:55 AM (sAmhv)

Ha! tried it again, audio only, and it's not so bad.

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 05:02 AM (6wpGE)

27
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at June 23, 2026 05:13 AM (AMvSw)

28 Tomorrow, I'll have the spark plugs changed on the 99K-mile car; next month, probably, rear brakes. The Buick is a bit more than ten years old, almost seven of that under my watch. It's still doing great.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 05:14 AM (wzUl9)

29 Second cup of coffee downed. Time I changed, stretched, and dealt with my workout. If I put it off much longer I won't go.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 23, 2026 05:15 AM (wzUl9)

30 bwahahahaha

Oilfield Rando
@Oilfield_Rando
7h
“Elon Musk killed 4.5 million kids” (Ro Khanna)

“Uh that’s defamatory as hell, bud, see you in court.”

“Hey uh can we just talk I uh just want to talk about this stuff uh let’s not do the court thing please”

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 05:22 AM (6wpGE)

31 Good morning morons

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 23, 2026 05:23 AM (mWKAz)

32 I'm sitting outside in the dark listening to the quiet. The mountain air is entirely different than the ocean air. I know they are out there waiting because yesterday morning not sure exactly when it started, it was a cacaphony.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 23, 2026 05:28 AM (mWKAz)

33 Alles klar

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 23, 2026 05:29 AM (mWKAz)

34 I like how TechCrunch somehow manages to make Anthropic requiring ID Trump’s fault given the ID push is coming entirely from the global left.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 23, 2026 05:29 AM (QZThv)

35 $1049 for the 512GB or $1349 for the 2TB Steam Machine is *whew!*, and that's without the controller, which is $69 extra.

My guess for the 512 was $949, so I was close.

Valve picked the wrong time to make these.
If they'd done it in 2023 or '24 (when the CPU/GPU were new) instead of during the RAMpocolypse, they could've had a hit at say $749 for the 512GB.

If Valve keeps it going for a few more years and gets to a Steam Machine 2 they could maybe get the price down and compete with the PlayStation 6 which will probably start at $899 or so.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at June 23, 2026 05:30 AM (6ydKt)

36 Good morning morons
Posted by: San Franpsycho

And good night as well. I stayed up to get some work mostly done but need to catch the zzzzs.

Posted by: Dark Lixtiquatal at June 23, 2026 05:30 AM (DZ9Lv)

37 I think I've pulled an all-nighter maybe twice in my life. One of those times I fell asleep at my desk anyway working on some federal RFP.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 23, 2026 05:34 AM (mWKAz)

38 19 Special Bonus Apocalyptic Musical Interlude

They had a song and needed a video. So they just filmed a bunch of random, crazy, crap, and released it. Works, probably, after some acid and whisky.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at June 23, 2026 04:55 AM (sAmhv)

According the video description on YT, Warner suddenly blocked it after five years of not, so the version we just watched is a reupload with the video running backwards to evade the block.

Posted by: SciVo at June 23, 2026 05:35 AM (Sy6m/)

39 32 I'm sitting outside in the dark listening to the quiet. The mountain air is entirely different than the ocean air. I know they are out there
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 23, 2026 05:28 AM (mWKAz)

Reporting from Boulder, CO? Who is "they"?

Posted by: m at June 23, 2026 05:36 AM (6wpGE)

40 Christian man writes in "Shining Faces" on Exodus 35:29-35, and 2nd Corinthians 3:18:

https://tinyurl.com/3mbvrwn5

"Our Daily Bread" devotional

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at June 23, 2026 05:36 AM (IYIYn)

41 Good morning! Gonna be a hot day in Cowtown. It's only 0430 but its 80 on the back porch already. Gotta drag the sprinklers out, too.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at June 23, 2026 05:37 AM (3Ope8)

42 Good morning, one and all. I have made it in despite the freeway I use to get in being shut down on account of police activity.

And I hope that Valve keeps going with the Steam Deck. It looks good but I can't justify buying one.

Posted by: NR Pax at June 23, 2026 05:37 AM (99eI0)

43 Sarah Hoyt reposted that DataRepublican link I posted here yesterday over at Insty.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 23, 2026 05:38 AM (mWKAz)

44 As a sign of being over 29, I picked up my new glasses yesterday. They are bifocals, and while the distance part is fine -- I can see distant signs and read the closed-captioning on TV much more sharply -- the central "bifocal" parts have to go. I have reading glasses for that. The bifocal portions disturb me far too much while driving.

The close-work portions are close to the center of the lenses. I thought bifocals were supposed to have those at the bottom?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Progressive lenses take some getting used to.

Posted by: Tuna at June 23, 2026 05:41 AM (lJ0H4)

45 LA shuttle driver goes into rushing water to save people:

https://tinyurl.com/4nzjtc5u

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at June 23, 2026 05:42 AM (afKoR)

46 Zero coverage of library shooting in Chico in the California Post.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 23, 2026 05:44 AM (mWKAz)

47 Linus Tech Tips:

"My First 17 Minutes With the Steam Machine" -
https://youtu.be/5-x404P3g1M

Linus unboxes and the sets it up on a TV.

"Even Valve is Disappointed - Steam Machine Review"
https://youtu.be/6tI1SoMj5vg

Thorough review with game benchmarks.

Gamers Nexus:

"Valve Steam Machine Review: GPU & CPU Benchmarks, SteamOS Test, Thermals, Noise, and Price "
https://youtu.be/66QzlDewigE

Steve Burke takes almost an hour on his full review, where they even 3D printed faceplates for the Steam Machine to get better airflow.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at June 23, 2026 05:50 AM (6ydKt)

48 Rabbi's daughter from "The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews" writes on living in Israel and "God's hidden miracles."Numbers 21:14:

https://tinyurl.com/2s3swwsa

Pray for Israel!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at June 23, 2026 05:51 AM (ix8EF)

49
Good morning, Hordians. Up, dressed, morning prayers said, dogs let out, coffee prepared. Now sitting in the Command Center at Schloss Hadrian, working (or about to work) on retrieving literature references for my book.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 23, 2026 05:52 AM (O0L8i)

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