Daily Tech News 22 August 2026

Top Story

All the news is stupid.
AI use boosts the quality of students' homework - and then craters their exam scores. (Economist) (archive site)

Who knew?
Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 is a smut machine. (Tech Crunch)

The whole article is about users deliberately jail-breaking Claude Opus 4.6, an older version of that particular LLM, to use it to write porn. And blames Anthropic for it.

Tech News

Micron is building a $10 billion AI memory research center in Boise, Idaho. (Yahoo)

Not a factory, just a lab.

Good news if you're an AI memory researcher. Or a builder.
Florida is seeking a court order to classify ChatGPT as a public nuisance. (Tom's Hardware)

This is getting silly.
Canada plans counter-tariffs to fight tariffs being imposed by the US as trade talks implode. (BBC)

Cratering its economy while barely affecting the US.
Slovakia bought hundreds of new traffic cameras - only to find that all of the are Russian spy equipment. (Tom's Hardware)

Lowest bidder, huh?

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Stupid! You're so stupid!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Morning all

Posted by: Tuna at August 22, 2026 04:30 AM (lJ0H4)

2 w00t

Posted by: m at August 22, 2026 04:30 AM (odBC9)

3 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at August 22, 2026 04:31 AM (Ia/+0)

4 I remember this video on early MTV, more the video than tje music

Posted by: Skip at August 22, 2026 04:44 AM (Ia/+0)

5 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 22, 2026 04:45 AM (ErLti)

6 Canada plans counter-tariffs to fight tariffs being imposed by the US as trade talks implode. (BBC)

Cratering its economy while barely affecting the US.

I'm pretty sure that South Park did an episode that is eerily similar to this.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 22, 2026 04:49 AM (ErLti)

7 "Blame Canada!"

Posted by: m at August 22, 2026 04:49 AM (odBC9)

8 techlike:

Searching for "moon" and "publius" on the ONT, there's a buncha great stuff about China "about to launch a big lunar orbiter and lander mission to the Moon, probably this Sunday." And there's this (supercool):

368
"Lunarmodule5" is a Youtube channel that has the unedited full mission audio of every Apollo mission there was, and many others. Here's the playlist for Apollo 11:

https://t.ly/G-eSa

Now, these are "accelerated" in the sense that periods of silence are edited out, but this is the audio of the whole damned mission from the pre-launch press conference to splashdown and beyond. Note how long, how many hours this adds up to. And I've listened to these at length.

Now, just imagine what it would require to fake all that. Every little problem, every little hiccup, and all the little surprises of the whole mission.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 22, 2026 03:35 AM (w6EFb)

Thanks, publius!

Posted by: m at August 22, 2026 04:53 AM (odBC9)

9 All the news is stupid.
****

Well, yeah. Same as it ever was.

And, guten morgen, horde.

Posted by: clarence at August 22, 2026 04:54 AM (pHgC8)

10 Mostly mid-70s for the next week in the Willamette Valley, with just a couple days popping back up to mid-80s. A nice break. I'll take it.

Any big city has its year-round resident bums, and then there are the "road warriors" or hobos that have a kind of circuit, going wherever it's nicest at that time of year. Portland and Seattle, to their great detriment, have the mildest summers. Even before Democrat malfeasance drove vagrancy out of control, every spring would see new, unfamiliar street punks sprouting on the sidewalk like ugly, smelly flowers.

Now it's so bad, I just don't go into the City anymore. Living near enough to make a day of it used to be an attraction, and now its proximity is a drawback, shedding crime and disorder like it was vaxxed and boosted.

Posted by: SciVo at August 22, 2026 04:55 AM (L3Npt)

11 I guess that's not "techlike" but real actual "tech."

noun
1 the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially involving computing and related fields. See also high-tech, low-tech: I worked in tech | [as modifier] : tech companies | the tech industry.

• computers and other electronic devices and equipment: startups that introduce disruptive innovation through their tech | the underlying tech failed.

Posted by: m at August 22, 2026 04:56 AM (odBC9)

12 >> Thanks, publius!

Every Apollo mission is in there, as well as a lot of Gemini and Mercury. If you're into this stuff, it can be quite captivating. And there's some astronaut and mission control humor in there as well.

Example, on Apollo 8, once they made parking orbit, Frank Borman would call back in. When they were in low earth orbit, the voice coverage wasn't the best in the world (line of site in low orbit requires a lot of ground stations).

One time he called back, "Houston, Gemini 8, blah-blah". His last mission was Gemini 7, and he got a little mixed up. Mission control said, "Now, remember Frank, you're Gemini 7, not 8."

And then after TLI on the way to the Moon, they had separated from the S-IVB, and Frank was getting a little worried the thing was a little too close for comfort. He was asking mission control for some separation burn attitudes and guidance, but they needed some help determining that attitude somehow.

Frank finally said, "When I find the earth, I'll tell you..." or something like that. Mission control LOL'd at that.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 22, 2026 05:06 AM (w6EFb)

13
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 22, 2026 05:11 AM (AMvSw)

14 I guess to relate it to tech, Portland has long been nearly on the verge of becoming a tech hub. There were in fact quite a few tech jobs downtown, and with Portland State University also downtown, there was always this potential of reaching critical mass, just maybe right around the bend.

Well, now I think it's well out of reach, as for example the local landmark "Big Pink" was sold for $45M in 2025, a steep discount from its $372M sale in 2015. But it was on the verge of losing its U.S. Bank anchor tenant, which would push it up to 60% vacancy. No one wants to work downtown anymore.

OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) article:
https://tinyurl.com/2tau3665

Posted by: SciVo at August 22, 2026 05:15 AM (L3Npt)

15 I'm all for the Chinese trying to build a beachhead on the Moon.

I'd rather see a bunch of dead Chinese astronauts than American ones.

Posted by: pawn at August 22, 2026 05:16 AM (hQCfI)

16 Goooood Mooooorning morons!

It's time for me to go back to sleep before I faceplant on my laptop keyboard. Interesting chat logs from early space flight.

Posted by: Gmac-WTF did you think was going to happen at August 22, 2026 05:18 AM (Q/FnY)

17 12 One time he [Frank Borman] called back, "Houston, Gemini 8, blah-blah". His last mission was Gemini 7, and he got a little mixed up. Mission control said, "Now, remember Frank, you're Gemini 7, not 8."
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 22, 2026 05:06 AM (w6EFb)

haha!

Posted by: m at August 22, 2026 05:24 AM (odBC9)

18 Humans are crazy. Tribal and territorial redlines on the moon?

Wake me up when you can start your vehicle after taking a shit.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at August 22, 2026 05:25 AM (FR9Sb)

19
"Mars ain't the kind of place
To raise your kids."

Posted by: m at August 22, 2026 05:33 AM (odBC9)

20 >>>AI use boosts the quality of students' homework - and then craters their exam scores. (Economist)

"A survey last year ... found that 80% of rich-world undergraduates used it in their studies."

rich-world

New to me.

Posted by: m at August 22, 2026 05:37 AM (odBC9)

21 surprising no one:

"Should schools ban ai? Not necessarily. The drop in exam scores was concentrated among students who rushed their homework. Those who used ai but spent as long on assignments as non-users paid little penalty. What matters, then, is how pupils use the technology."

Like, don't be a slacker.

Posted by: m at August 22, 2026 05:40 AM (odBC9)

22 Old time hymn with lovely scripture and scenery, "Come thou fount of every blessing.":

https://tinyurl.com/5n6erkpx

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 22, 2026 05:42 AM (+kigi)

23 Things that made me smile yesterday and/or reminded me of God's love:

1. I saw an older couple in the supermarket ( maybe 70's) and he was giving her a little kiss. I don't know what it was about, but it was very sweet

2 Woman with a tee shirt which said "Saturated in His love."

3. I woke up at about 11:00 ( went to bed early because I was really tired) and spouse was gone from our room. I came downstairs and he was sleeping on the couch. I said "Are you o.k.?" He said " I didn't want the little guy ( the kitten) to be all alone. I thought that was very kind.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 22, 2026 05:49 AM (+kigi)

24 Man from Texas reflects on Jesus, the good shepherd and also Isaiah 43:1-7. Upper Room devotional:

https://tinyurl.com/mr4ywduw

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 22, 2026 05:54 AM (+kigi)

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