Daily Tech News 13 September 2026

Top Story

LG televisions are spyware, part one:

Unlikely it's limited to LG, but they boast of it even as they deny it.
LG televisions are definitely not spyware, says LG, as it reportedly force-pushes a firmware update to hide the spyware:

Tech News

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for the US government to force all his competitors to slow down development, preferably using drone strikes. (New York Times)

Can you spell "regulatory capture", boys and girls?

Timmy? Yes, it was already evident in the Code of Hammurabi. I see you're been keeping up with assigned reading.
Iran and Iran's Houthi proxies in Yemen use Anthropic's Claude to develop hypersonic missiles and target US warships. (Tom's Hardware)

Where for me Claude Opus dropped from version 5 down to 4.8 because it hallucinated the term "cyber" when working with a CBOR library - the Concise Binary Object Representation.
Sony's PlayStation division ditched its partnership with Hideo Kojima over fears that the game might not be a colossal failure. (Yahoo)

Microsoft's Xbox division briefly put its own string of colossal failures on hold to snap him up.
Added an embedded database to my programming language - it's called Nana - today, and a "kitchen sink" option that increases the bundled standard library from 15 packages to 120. Just now merging in nana book - an option that fires up a local website with up to date documentation of the language and libraries, reading directly from docstrings and definitions in the code.

Just waiting for a build to complete, but it looks like the binary with all the new features might be smaller than yesterday's binary because I previously missed a compression option. On Linux and Windows there's no install required - download it, run it, it works. It adds 0.1 to 0.2 seconds to the startup time depending on your CPU, but you can decompress it to get startup down to 1% of that if that's a factor.

Update: So... Stripped and compressed, it comes out to ~~3.3MB~~ 3.7MB, which is ~~smaller~~ only 100k larger than two days ago. Startup time has increased though to 150ms. Mostly not an issue.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: You diddled when you should have daddled.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

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1 w00t

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 04:33 AM (odBC9)

2 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at September 13, 2026 04:35 AM (C26rB)

3 The Gamers Nexus guy, Steve Burke, seems like a really nice guy.

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 04:36 AM (odBC9)

4 AI tells me that "Steve Burke, the founder and editor-in-chief of the PC hardware review and analysis channel Gamers Nexus, is based in Cary, North Carolina."

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 04:39 AM (odBC9)

5 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at September 13, 2026 04:43 AM (Ia/+0)

6 >>>Just waiting for a built to complete

built-->build

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 04:44 AM (odBC9)

7 The IRGC used Claude to find and build profiles on the protestors.

Posted by: Ben Had at September 13, 2026 04:45 AM (E0Et6)

8 In the top video, Steve's Microslop t-shirt is pretty funny.

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 04:47 AM (odBC9)

9 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at September 13, 2026 04:59 AM (VyBeY)

10 7 The IRGC used Claude to find and build profiles on the protestors.
Posted by: Ben Had at September 13, 2026 04:45 AM (E0Et6)

Scary.

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 05:01 AM (odBC9)

11 Good Morning all, time for me to crash but I'm to wired to sleep.

Posted by: Gmac-WTF did you think was going to happen at September 13, 2026 05:07 AM (Q/FnY)

12 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at September 13, 2026 05:07 AM (V0/Sp)

13 I have an LG fridge.

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 05:10 AM (odBC9)

14 Evening and morning, late or Sunday toilers and early risers! 'Tis Sunday, innit?

I woke on my own from tangled dreams about reading instructions from a red-paged book, instructions about something I already knew in the dream how to do but can't recall clearly now. Bleah.

What's up for you?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2026 05:17 AM (wzUl9)

15
I'm up, I'm up! OK?

Posted by: Leon Trotsky at September 13, 2026 05:19 AM (eRlcH)

16 The 1967 potboiler Valley of the Dolls is on Movies!, with Sharon Tate and Patty Duke. It wouldn't have interested me when it was new, and I've never watched all of it since. A classic example of glossy trash, I guess?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2026 05:20 AM (wzUl9)

17
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at September 13, 2026 05:21 AM (AMvSw)

18 >>> Added an embedded database to my programming language

Will there be a day when more ordinary folk will be able to download and code "Hello, World!\n" ?

Posted by: fluffy at September 13, 2026 05:26 AM (V0/Sp)

19 >>> I have an LG fridge.

Is it smart? Mrs fluffy and are dreading the day we have to replace appliances.

Posted by: fluffy at September 13, 2026 05:27 AM (V0/Sp)

20 We walked over to the Chik-Fil-A near where we live. $17.45 for two sandwiches alone and a large serving of fries (we drank water). Good stuff, but grrrr at the price. Still, going anywhere else as pleasant or better would have run close to $30 with the tip.

I'll buy some meat at Aldi this week, and we can get two dinners out of that with tortillas or with pasta.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2026 05:28 AM (wzUl9)

21 19 >>> I have an LG fridge.

Is it smart? Mrs fluffy and are dreading the day we have to replace appliances.
Posted by: fluffy at September 13, 2026 05:27 AM (V0/Sp)

I don't think so. It's pretty old.

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 05:29 AM (odBC9)

22 I've already watched both of those Gamers Nexus videos.

So... How to solve the problem?

Well, you could put OpenWRT on your wireless routers, and set your home network up to use VLANs, and shove the TV in its own isolated VLAN, with the router configured to not let it talk to any other devices through the router even if you do add something else to that VLAN in future.

Then set up firewall rules on the "If it's not expressly permitted, it's automatically forbidden" security model, only adding addresses the TV needs to talk to (for updates, for authentication, and for whatever services or streams you want to watch.)

And that's where this starts to break down, because:
a) LG could easily use the same IP address for updates as it does for spying. You might not be able to isolate those.
b) LG could lock you out for "violating the terms of service" if you try to shut down their spying, and that's probably inside those utter bricks of terms-of-service that were shown in the 2nd video.
c) Finding out exactly what IPs to approve to barely get a stream/service working is a giant pain in the arse.

G'morning horde. I should have my coffee now.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at September 13, 2026 05:32 AM (O7YUW)

23 I purchase all my appliances from the used sellers. They buy all the non spying, non 999 things that can go wrong goods.

Half price or less.

Posted by: Ben Had at September 13, 2026 05:33 AM (E0Et6)

24 22 I've already watched both of those Gamers Nexus videos.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at September 13, 2026 05:32 AM (O7YUW)

Yay! I was just going to ask Pixy if he has.

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 05:33 AM (odBC9)

25 My apartment fridge is probably twenty -- I think after the Katrina debacle, the management back then replaced many units. Frost-free, non-spying.

When I was looking over appliances at Lowe's earlier this year, in case I bought a house that would need a fridge or more, I saw most of the boxes were "smart" . . . but you could still get simpler models for a lot less money. Same thing with stoves. On that trip I didn't look at washers and dryers, but I'd hope the same is true for them.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2026 05:38 AM (wzUl9)

26 How many other television manufacturers are doing this? Where is the price cutoff? A $300 tv? A $400 tv? I would toss an LG product into the dumpster.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at September 13, 2026 05:39 AM (5C90x)

27 I've gotten about halfway through the first video. It's way above me, so I will be dependent on the kindness of strangers to interpret it.

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 05:41 AM (odBC9)

28 @19/fluffy: "Mrs fluffy and are dreading the day we have to replace appliances."

There are still "dumb" appliances out there. Large landlord corporations still buy them for apartment complexes they run. Start investigating now.

Buy one now as well as a really good appliance dolly (NOT the same as a "box dolly").

Stick the backup fridge in your garage. It can hold bottled drinks.

When the day comes that the main fridge has kicked the bucket, you're all set to promote the backup fridge to the primary, and won't you two feel awesome for having been well prepared.

Two is one, and one is none.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at September 13, 2026 05:41 AM (O7YUW)

29 I love my old TV from 2003.

Posted by: Cow Demon at September 13, 2026 05:41 AM (wtpml)

30 exactly, BH!
we have two spare dumb TVs (from craigslist) waiting in the closet.
one is a duplicate of the current one working, so when it fails I will keep it for parts.

coffee req'd, brb

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at September 13, 2026 05:42 AM (VyBeY)

31 Stirling is romping around, hoping I'll feed him early. No idea where Dagny is; probably in her bedroom window or something. I think his diet is working, but I'm going to find it hard to weigh him with the inaccurate scale I have. Maybe it's time I bought a modern one with a digital display. $$$, I have no doubt.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2026 05:44 AM (wzUl9)

32 sock_rat, How are you !?

Posted by: Ben Had at September 13, 2026 05:47 AM (E0Et6)

33 I love my old TV from 2003.
Posted by: Cow Demon at September 13, 2026

***
I was happy with my CRT TV from 1995 until 2020. Darn thing weighed 75 lbs. I ignored the digital TV world until the CRT died and there was hardly anybody who could fix it -- and I'd have had to get it to the shop anyway.

My current one, bought at Target, is a Vizio. Haven't had any trouble with it, and the over-the-air channels made it possible for me to cancel the cable. I still have the same company for Internet -- but I'm seriously thinking about going with Starlink. It would save me 50%.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2026 05:49 AM (wzUl9)

34 More thoughts on LG TV's and other "smart" (spyware) devices:

You have NO way of knowing if they're trying to connect to other networks that you can see on WiFi from your house. Sure most of them are secured, but any company that would go to these lengths to get data on their customers might be willing to try a large password file to attempt to gain access to another network.

Does that break the law? Yes. Will they care? Probably not. Corporations have figured out that the worst that can happen to them (normally) is a fine, otherwise known as a 'cost of doing business'. Also: China is Asshoe and it's not as if they're going to pay any attention to other countries' laws.

My neighbor had one of those programmable "smart bulbs" in their house. For some reason, it decided it was going to absolutely hammer my wifi routers, trying to gain access for itself every 5 seconds. I had a ridiculously long WPA2 password, but I still had to MAC-address ban that stupid thing, and then decided to switch to a MAC-address whitelist. (If you're not on the list already, you ain't getting an IP address. Ever.)

IoT = idIoTic.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at September 13, 2026 05:49 AM (O7YUW)

35 I imagine they're going to be saying that all of this information could not possibly be processed without AI. Which I imagine is true.

Posted by: m at September 13, 2026 05:50 AM (odBC9)

36 Well. The monsters are not due for chow for another hour. Time I changed, stretched, and got busy with my workout.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2026 05:52 AM (wzUl9)

37 Oh, and that smart bulb of the neighbor's wasn't "smart" and neither were its designers. It kept rotating through a list of 20 common passwords as it tried to connect, utterly littering my router's logs with garbage lines. Over and over and over again...

In a lot of cases they seemed like default passwords that various routers come set up with. Either that means they know there's a lot of people out there that just plug a router in and never give it a second thought as to setting it up properly, or they're counting on the day when you have to factory reset your password, and it'll try to worm its way onto the router then.

Now I'm wondering if the thing also had a malware payload it wanted to deliver... hmmm...

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant, a Moron behind enemy lines at September 13, 2026 05:55 AM (O7YUW)

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