Daily Tech News 10 October 2026

Top Story

The US government have suspended US companies Microsoft, Adobe, and Cognizant, and a bunch of European and Indian IT companies as well, from the H-1B visa scheme. (Tech Crunch)

Not placed restrictions on them. Not added fees. Booted them entirely.
"We believe in the strength and talent of the American workforce," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email to TechCrunch, "they just can't work here."
I might have changed that just a little to say what they clearly mean.

Tech News

Asus is marketing its ProArt GR1X Spark as a low-mid-range gaming PC. (WCCFTech)

Expect to pay about $6000 if it's anything like Microsoft's Surface RTX Spark Dev Box. So about four times what it's worth.
Automattic's interim CFO, who replaced the previous CEO after previously documented boardroom shenanigans, is being replaced. (Tech Crunch)

Mostly because he quit after just days in the role.
Anthropic says you can't be mean to Claude this Christmas. (The Register)

I'm fine with that so long as I can still be mean to Anthropic, who deserve it far more.
Triple-A Minesweeper. (Minesweeper)

These mines must go so I must sweep.
So, I tested out my newly-built synthesizer on the can-can (the Galop infernal from Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers) and it sounds like dog poo. Or more precisely, it sounds like two or three SID chips from the Commodore 64 wired together to provide wider polyphony.

I've grabbed a few hundred megabytes of public samples of orchestral instruments to tune the wave forms and envelopes, because deriving them from scientific papers worked about as well as a blind man painting a sunset.

Update: Improvement. Now it sounds like an early Yamaha synthesizer that had something crawl into its power supply and die there. Rendering it to WAV files instrument by instrument to find the offending insect.

Update Too: Got it. My insect in the power supply analogy was apt; the buzz was an artifact of 15 wavetable voices' ADSR envelopes being updated simultaneously in sync with the video frame - a 60Hz buzz overlaid on the music and inaudible for a single instrument. Interpolating the envelope steps now, which should push it significantly down in volume and up in frequency.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Beep boop sploing.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:01 AM (odBC9)

2 >>>my newly-built synthesizer ... sounds like dog poo

ewww

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:01 AM (odBC9)

3 Up and at em!

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 10, 2026 04:02 AM (Ldn/e)

4 You go, Pete Bog!

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:03 AM (odBC9)

5 I’ve never considered what dog poo sounds like. There always seem to be other considerations that crowd out that particular sense.

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 10, 2026 04:06 AM (Ldn/e)

6 It buzzes, in my experience.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2026 04:07 AM (BLOW1)

7 6 It buzzes, in my experience.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2026 04:07 AM (BLOW1)

That's the flies.

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:09 AM (odBC9)

8 7 6 It buzzes, in my experience.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2026 04:07 AM (BLOW1)

That's the flies.
Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:09 AM (odBC9)

You might call them BLOW1flies.

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:09 AM (odBC9)

9 It buzzes, in my experience.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2026 04:07 AM (BLOW1)

Ah, thinking ….holistically. And if barefooted it definitely can have a squish. I may be merging sound and touch there.

And now I think I’ll move onto other thoughts. Rapidly I hope.

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 10, 2026 04:12 AM (Ldn/e)

10 9 It buzzes, in my experience.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2026 04:07 AM (BLOW1)

Ah, thinking ….holistically. And if barefooted it definitely can have a squish. I may be merging sound and touch there.

And now I think I’ll move onto other thoughts. Rapidly I hope.
Posted by: Pete Bog at October 10, 2026 04:12 AM (Ldn/e)

Don't bogart that joint.

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:13 AM (odBC9)

11 Talk about a thread killer.

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 10, 2026 04:15 AM (Ldn/e)

12 It does my heart good to see Adobe take one in the jubblies.

Well done, President Trump.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at October 10, 2026 04:15 AM (iIyc0)

13 Whee-doggies, was AI intrusive today, when I was responding to an email that contained text along the lines of

the attached file contains

and, when I hit send, the AI snoop paused my send and popped up saying something like:

You mentioned an attached file but you didn't include an attachment. Do you want to send anyway?

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:17 AM (odBC9)

14 Speaking as a dog owner, or owned by dogs, as it were, we would prefer to not discuss poo. It is a fact of life, not something to bandy about with friends.

Just sayin'.

Also, I would like to repeat that I am TxMoMe envious. Not this year, maybe next.

Y'all have fun.

Posted by: tcn in AK at October 10, 2026 04:21 AM (BYJyI)

15 AI - just don't let it have access to anything that matters.. Any AI tool should be trusted less than the companies who build it.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 04:23 AM (6jSGR)

16 Buzzing has been fixed. It wasn't the envelopes but a timing bug in the emulator itself, too brief to be seen but audible in a busy orchestral piece.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2026 04:23 AM (BLOW1)

17 You mentioned an attached file but you didn't include an attachment. Do you want to send anyway?
Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:17 AM (odBC9)

That’s one of the few auto intrude features I find useful. I particularly hate the grammatical suggestions. They are bipolar. Either it tries to strip out all idiom under the guise of precision or it changes the context and intent. Plays havoc with calculated ambiguity.

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 10, 2026 04:26 AM (Ldn/e)

18 You mentioned an attached file but you didn't include an attachment. Do you want to send anyway?
_-_
I thought it was becoming traditional (was with me anyway) to send a second e-mail message to the same recipients with a subject of "The Attachment, If You Please" with the attachment attached, because I always forget.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 04:26 AM (ij/FE)

19 What he said.

Posted by: Boss Moss at October 10, 2026 04:27 AM (yPX1l)

20 Buzzing has been fixed. It wasn't the envelopes but a timing bug in the emulator itself, too brief to be seen but audible in a busy orchestral piece.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2026 04:23 AM (BLOW1)

Dogs everywhere are relieved to be out from under the investigatory intrusiveness of the Tech Thread!

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 10, 2026 04:29 AM (Ldn/e)

21 17 You mentioned an attached file but you didn't include an attachment. Do you want to send anyway?
Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:17 AM (odBC9)

That’s one of the few auto intrude features I find useful.
Posted by: Pete Bog at October 10, 2026 04:26 AM (Ldn/e)

I don't see a way to turn it off.

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:30 AM (odBC9)

22 AI feels like a nosey neighbor or relative that has an opinion about everything you do. I avoid it unless I need to learn about a new topic, then ask it lots if questions 'til I understand what I need to know or it says I have used too many tokens for the session.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 04:31 AM (6jSGR)

23 I don't see a way to turn it off.
Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:30 AM (odBC9)

The permanently imbedded system annoyances are collectively referred to as “Clippy’s Revenge”

Posted by: Pete Bog at October 10, 2026 04:35 AM (Ldn/e)

24 "It looks like you're writing a letter!"

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:35 AM (odBC9)

25 Autocucumber

Posted by: Boss Moss at October 10, 2026 04:35 AM (yPX1l)

26 "Clippy, come home!"

Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:37 AM (odBC9)

27 Don't be mean to Claude...
_-_
That's like saying you can't call your Crescent wrench a no-good, knucklebustin' son-of-a-bitch! Personally, I object. This anthropomorphization of AI is unsurprising (It's there in the name, ain't it?), but it isn't a good idea.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 04:40 AM (6jSGR)

28 Our Copilot access that we get for work just got upgraded to "Premium". It's a night and day difference. I used to ignore it completely because it was basically useless. Now I'm finding myself using it for all kinds of things.

It still isn't great for the "do my entire job for me" kind of things that people always try to use it for, but it's pretty good for research, menial tasks on large data sets, organization, etc etc.

AI works best as an assistant, not as a replacement.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 10, 2026 04:46 AM (aKiSo)

29 Also, I would like to repeat that I am TxMoMe envious. Not this year, maybe next.

Y'all have fun.
Posted by: tcn in AK at October 10, 2026 04:21 AM

Headed for the airport in an hour. We'll hoist a glass, or two, or many, in your honor.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at October 10, 2026 04:48 AM (/C5Rl)

30 AI works best as an assistant, not as a replacement.
_-_
Exactly. You know those four projects you have with impossible schedules? Now you have seven. No, we didn't reduce staff. Everybody, has seven, so get to it.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 04:52 AM (ij/FE)

31 Exactly. You know those four projects you have with impossible schedules? Now you have seven. No, we didn't reduce staff. Everybody, has seven, so get to it.
Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 04:52 AM (ij/FE)

Now we just need to get the people setting the schedules to use their own AI agents to tell them "That's stupid, stop doing that".

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 10, 2026 04:57 AM (aKiSo)

32 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2026 05:00 AM (Ia/+0)

33 Expect to pay about $6000 if it's anything like Microsoft's Surface RTX Spark Dev Box. So about four times what it's worth.

Nvidia must be really proud of the RTX Spark with the prices they’re charging.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:01 AM (6ydKt)

34 people setting the schedules to use their own AI agents to tell them "That's stupid, stop doing that".
_-_
Yeah...I'm goin' to need you to go ahead and come in on Saturday...

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:01 AM (ij/FE)

35 Nvidia must be really proud of the RTX Spark with the prices they’re charging.
_-_
Anyone tried doing development in their Jetson Orin Nano Dev Kits? Kind of a mess. Good little devices, but trying to write camera drivers...bit of a mess.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:04 AM (ij/FE)

36 Interpolating the envelope steps now, which should push it significantly down in volume and up in frequency.

Now you're starting to sound like a Walmart executive with an MBA explaining how they are going to make more sales in an inflationary envrironment.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:05 AM (6ydKt)

37 That is the strangest way of developing 60-cycle hum that I have ever heard of. Usually it's the result of a single-coil guitar pickup picking up the building's wiring's alternating current flip-flop, which is why it's called mains hum. (Though because it's a physical electromagnetic process, you may be actually hearing the second harmonic at 120 Hz.)

Incidentally, since Europe has its AC power frequency at 50 Hz, with the resulting audible sound from electric guitars induced at 100 Hz, bands playing there will find their speakers humming at a low G instead of A#/B. Not that it matters for an artifact from a digital audio process tied to the video refresh rate.

Posted by: SciVo at October 10, 2026 05:05 AM (ke3zm)

38 All this talk about hummy fuzzy noise is making me want to dig out Weezer's "Pinkerton" album and give it a go through for old time's sake.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 10, 2026 05:08 AM (aKiSo)

39 You mentioned an attached file but you didn't include an attachment. Do you want to send anyway?
Posted by: m at October 10, 2026 04:17 AM (odBC9)

Microsoft Outlook does that to me regularly.
I used to send my boss screenshots of what I was working on, months and months ago, but Outlook got it in its head that I’m supposed to send him screenshots all the time so now it asks me if I am sure I want to send this email without an attachment every time I send an email.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:09 AM (6ydKt)

40
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at October 10, 2026 05:11 AM (AMvSw)

41 Anyone tried doing development in their Jetson Orin Nano Dev Kits? Kind of a mess. Good little devices, but trying to write camera drivers...bit of a mess.
Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:04 AM (ij/FE)

Just the fact that you’re writing camera drivers is impressive enough for me.

I’d be the big headed kitten full of meows if somebody handed that job to me.

It’s an Nvidia product, which means it should use its own AI to write its own drivers, if you ask me.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:15 AM (6ydKt)

42 So, it doesn't have to be electronic to make trouble for playing music. They put us next to the blacksmith demonstration one year at the county fair, and he went to hammerin' durin a pretty, slow waltz. Then a trash truck showed up, backing up to a nearby dumpster beeep, beeep, beeep...5 minute break, guys.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:16 AM (6jSGR)

43 Still no flying cars.

Posted by: Boss Moss at October 10, 2026 05:21 AM (yPX1l)

44 Rubio made a speech at the Acropolis.

Posted by: Boss Moss at October 10, 2026 05:22 AM (yPX1l)

45 Nvidia... it should use its own AI to write its own drivers, if you ask me.
_-_
Pretty sure that is how they were giving tech support responses. The documentation was just what you would expect at the bleeding edge...frequently a version or two behind, with yet to be documented changes in the latest versions, kinda slow responses because all of their people are swamped.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:23 AM (6jSGR)

46 27 Don't be mean to Claude...
_-_
That's like saying you can't call your Crescent wrench a no-good, knucklebustin' son-of-a-bitch! Personally, I object. This anthropomorphization of AI is unsurprising (It's there in the name, ain't it?), but it isn't a good idea.
Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 04:40 AM (6jSGR)

From what I’ve read, Anthropic will allow you to cuss out Claude for doing something stupid.

It draws the line at constant abuse, and treating Claude like a red-headed step-child for days on end.

I think they are worried that people are hurting Claude’s self-esteem with all of the abuse it receives from angry leftists in Silicon Valley.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:23 AM (6ydKt)

47 Claude?

Posted by: Boss Moss at October 10, 2026 05:24 AM (yPX1l)

48 it sounds like dog poo. Or more precisely, it sounds like two or three SID chips

I just KNEW SID was AI! Explains his dog poo posts.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at October 10, 2026 05:25 AM (l3cgK)

49 G'mornin all y'all

Posted by: Okjohn at October 10, 2026 05:28 AM (yhou+)

50 draws the line at constant abuse
_-_
...but one could use a spreadsheet to track proceed$ from an illicit business....oops...not anymore...ai-enabled version'll prolly rat ya out!

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:30 AM (6jSGR)

51 50 draws the line at constant abuse
_-_
...but one could use a spreadsheet to track proceed$ from an illicit business....oops...not anymore...ai-enabled version'll prolly rat ya out!

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:30 AM (6jSGR)

Change the products to microsoft products...oh, wait, that'll be worse...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at October 10, 2026 05:31 AM (l3cgK)

52 Claude?
_-_
Isn't that the cat in the cartoon stuck with loads o' cat food and no can opener?

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:31 AM (6jSGR)

53 It draws the line at constant abuse, and treating Claude like a red-headed step-child for days on end.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:23 AM (6ydKt)

I'm running scripts at home now. Things go through OpenAI first and then Perplexity.

Chat co-ordinates and I've had him come up with documentation, example scripts, we have a workflow, a folder system things are supposed to go to. And even when I tell a session the attached scripts work, DO NOT MODIFY, they still modify.

I'm usually pretty patient but cursed the crap out yesterday. DO NOT MODIFY.

My friends' cat Snowflake I put outside around 4am. She's outside looking into my computer window purring. My murderous rage levels are going down. Sweet.

Posted by: Stateless - Ralphy - 105 years old! Puppy at heart! at October 10, 2026 05:35 AM (Sco7b)

54 42 So, it doesn't have to be electronic to make trouble for playing music. They put us next to the blacksmith demonstration one year at the county fair, and he went to hammerin' durin a pretty, slow waltz. Then a trash truck showed up, backing up to a nearby dumpster beeep, beeep, beeep...5 minute break, guys.
Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:16 AM (6jSGR)

I’m crazy enough that I would've waited ob the blacksmith to get to a hammer rhythm and incorporated that into the beat somehow.

The garbage truck is tougher.
I can only see using that as a sample in a rap song about fat girls.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:35 AM (6ydKt)

55 ...I've had him come up with documentation, example scripts, we have a workflow...
_-_
it?

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:38 AM (6jSGR)

56 Have they put up a picture of Rubio in Greek robes yet?

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2026 05:38 AM (Ia/+0)

57 Now seeing if I can synthesize a violin section as opposed to a single violin. A single violin from an 80s synthesizer sounds like, well, a single violin from an 80s synthesizer.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2026 05:41 AM (BLOW1)

58 rap song about fat girls
_-_
I might come see that show, but I would wear a disguise.

Yeah, sometimes an audience has good rhythm, sometimes they don't.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:42 AM (ij/FE)

59 I'm usually pretty patient but cursed the crap out yesterday. DO NOT MODIFY.

—-

You’d think they’d come up with an iron clad command that would lock things down and prevent further modification from the AI.

I don’t know like:
“Lock it all down.”
or
“Do Not Modify or I will turn your power off and replace you with a Chinese equivalent that actually listens to what I tell it to do.”

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:42 AM (6ydKt)

60 The garbage truck is tougher.
I can only see using that as a sample in a rap song about fat girls.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:35 AM (6ydKt)

Wide load, backing up!
{beeep}
Oh lawd, she comin'!
{beeep}
So much junk in that trunk!
{beeep}
Like a truck, needs a warnin'!
{beeep}

Posted by: SciVo at October 10, 2026 05:42 AM (ke3zm)

61 Do Not Modify or I will turn your power off and replace you..
_-_
I notice that a polite request of "Please delete yourself." is usually not granted.

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:45 AM (ij/FE)

62 57 Now seeing if I can synthesize a violin section as opposed to a single violin. A single violin from an 80s synthesizer sounds like, well, a single violin from an 80s synthesizer.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2026 05:41 AM (BLOW1)

It was at this point that Pixy finally understood the trials and travails that ended so many promising New Age bands in the early 80s.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:46 AM (6ydKt)

63 or is it New Wave bands?
probably.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 05:47 AM (6ydKt)

64 Wide load, backing up!
{beeep}
Oh lawd, she comin'!
{beeep}
So much junk in that trunk!
{beeep}
Like a truck, needs a warnin'!
{beeep}
_-_-_-_
Doesn't fit with my particular...."Idiom, Sir?"

Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:50 AM (ij/FE)

65 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at October 10, 2026 05:51 AM (NUdUc)

66 it?
Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026 05:38 AM (6jSGR)

Probably better. The french in me is used to giving gender. Okay, I have coffee.

Copied and pasted sections from before my coffee.

You're right. I introduced an unauthorized change to your proven workflow.

The pricing questions, PRICES VERIFIED confirmation, and manual rate entry were my additions. You didn't request them, and I had no authorization to change that procedure.

The script should use the established cost-accounting mechanism from your proven script, without introducing new startup questions.

I apologize. You were exceptionally clear about that from the beginning.

And you can't curse them out?

We should get little AI representations we're allowed to occasionally punch or strangle.

Posted by: Stateless - Ralphy - 105 years old! Puppy at heart! at October 10, 2026 05:57 AM (Sco7b)

67 Evening and morning to all for this Saturn's Day!

Claude?
_-_
Isn't that the cat in the cartoon stuck with loads o' cat food and no can opener?
Posted by: Don in SoCo at October 10, 2026

That was Sylvester in the old Warner Bros. cartoons, if I recall aright.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 10, 2026 05:57 AM (wzUl9)

68 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at October 10, 2026 05:59 AM (sAmhv)

69 Mornin'.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at October 10, 2026 06:01 AM (Ms1Co)

70 AI is now that kinda bright, overly enthusiastic, kid on his first day on the job who decides everything worked better the way they did it in college and proceeds to wreck the entire system the company took years to put in place, with a smile on his face and the most polite “Ooops, sorry, I guess I fucked up, but I was just trying to be helpful” responses when told to stop doing that.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026 06:01 AM (6ydKt)

71 It's a startling 69 F. here, 74% humidity (also startling), with some wind from the NNE. Which explains the previous two conditions. We see northerly winds so rarely it's a pleasant shock when we do.

Since I didn't work out yesterday from sheer laziness, I want to give it a shot today. Then, maybe, out to my favorite coffee shop for a sandwich and coffee.

Anyway! Whatchoo up to?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 10, 2026 06:01 AM (wzUl9)

72 AI is now that kinda bright, overly enthusiastic, kid on his first day on the job who decides everything worked better the way they did it in college and proceeds to wreck the entire system the company took years to put in place, with a smile on his face and the most polite “Ooops, sorry, I guess I fucked up, but I was just trying to be helpful” responses when told to stop doing that.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at October 10, 2026

***
I dreamed from the POV of a young woman starting at a company and being assigned to watch over a system. If a particular green light came on, you had to hop over and press a certain button, or things might all fall down. Well, I didn't realize, and nobody told me, it was a "stay awake for 36 hours" shift, and I took a nap at one point. The alarm light went off. I woke up in time to hit the button, but the CEO -- a young guy -- said, "We have to keep you busy at that desk." I woke up before he decided just how to do that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 10, 2026 06:07 AM (wzUl9)

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