You know what I wish was in the tech news today? Some kind of technology that
can make your hair not look ridiculous
and put your colleagues in stitches through that window that you can
definitely You know, your hair's not so great either, Pella. Last week, the USB-IF,
the organization that oversees USB standards, announced in a phenomenally
stupid renaming scheme for existing USB
specifications and designated the latest 20 gigabit per second capable version as
USB 3.2 Gen 2 by 2. Well, if you're on
the bleeding edge of data transferring connections, you might not have to worry
about that very much because Intel has just given the specification for
Thunderbolt 3, which is capable of 40
gigabits per second, to the USB-IF, who
will then use it to form the basis of USB 4. This means that essentially USB 4
will encompass the protocols for USB 3.2
Gen 2 by 2. So stupid. And Thunderbolt
3, meaning that device makers won't have to determine whether or not to include
Thunderbolt controllers in their products. This means that upcoming
devices will have USB Type-C ports that
are capable of everything that USB and
Thunderbolt ports are capable of. So, like charging, display output, data
transfer at up to 40 gigabit per second. But, the USB-IF couldn't just leave it
at that. All good news. They had TO SCREW IT UP. THEY SCREWED UP THE NAME.
USB 4 DOESN'T HAVE A space in it. It's
just USB 4. For what? For who? It's
mostly good. We'll never know. Someone's got to have a look at their heads. Speaking of
heads, you know, this past console generation has really been an
eye-opener, and your eyes are on your head. That's where I was going with that. For Microsoft, they learned a lot
of things, like how bad Sony could destroy them in PS4 versus Xbox sales.
So, during a press at their headquarters in Washington, the company laid out a
vision that involves giving gamers access to games on every platform. Now,
we already talked last week about their plans to reportedly bring Xbox Game Pass
to the Nintendo Switch. But at the event, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that
Xbox wants to bring Game Pass to any
device that somebody wants to play on. I
mean, even the PlayStation 4, PHIL? HAVE YOU GONE MAD? NOW, as unlikely as Sony
would be to agree to such an arrangement, it looks like Microsoft
would be open to the idea. So, we'll hopefully get more news about the
company's plan at GDC 2019, where they're expected to talk about their
multi-platform plans and Project xCloud
game streaming, and then maybe even some new Xboxes, if maybe you'd like to buy
one of those instead of a PS5. You'd like whatever. Yeah, it's I mean, it's
fine, though. It's all about choice. Yeah. And Anthem,
the looter shooter from EA and BioWare, launched to a decidedly more subdued
level of hype than its publishers anticipated. The developers have been
working hard to incorporate community feedback, but it's now become much
harder for players to appreciate any changes being made because their
consoles are being bricked by the game. PlayStation 4 players are reporting that
the game will sometimes crash back to the console's home screen and even turn
it off. Some players have even reported being unable to reboot their machines
after a crash. So, it's just the latest setback for the game, but maybe if they
didn't want such a rocky launch, they shouldn't have tried to jam a classic
BioWare-esque narrative-focused game and
a multiplayer grindy looter shooter into the same cartridge. It was never going
to fit in there, EA. It's just physics. Also, who uses cartridges anymore? Who
wrote this thing? Uh now, it's time for the Back Quacks,
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iFixit's Marlin screwdrivers are manufactured in Germany and backed by
iFixit's lifetime warranty. So, get yours for $24.99 at ifixit.com/Linus
or at the link below. On to the Back Quacks. What the what? Project Zero,
Google's initiative to hold developers accountable for fixing security issues
in their software, has publicly disclosed a high-severity flaw in the
macOS kernel. The vulnerability could allow hackers full control over a Mac
while avoiding detection. Now, as they usually do, Project Zero actually gave
Apple 90 days to fix the bug, but they
didn't. With that said, 90 days is not like a
lot of time. Apple, they had stuff to do, like um Yeah. Like they lattes,
making Takes a long time. You got to steam the milk. And then once you're
done, you you to drink it, it's hot, you know? You got to wait a while.
NVIDIA's GTX 1660 Ti is out, and we've
heard about a possible non-Ti 1660 and a
1650. But then,
Dell just ruined the whole rumor mill because they spilled the beans on the
existence of an RTX 2050 on the specs
page for their G5 15 gaming laptop. So,
that's exciting news for gamers who need
glorious rays at 480p, I suppose. Last
week, we saw some developers install Android on a Nintendo Switch, and now
others have managed to install the ARM-compatible version of Windows 10.
They apparently even managed to summon a blue screen of death. But uh that
shouldn't be any real surprise. This means Yeah, they're having the the full
Windows experience. Now, it's time for an update on MIT's
future robot-killing machines.
The institute's adorable mini cheetah robot can now do a backflip. It can also
stand up to gentle kicks and even land softly on its feet from a fall. T'war
one, and encouraging for the future of the robot race. Not so much for humans,
though. And SpaceX successfully docked their
Crew Dragon spacecraft with the International Space Station yesterday.
Despite the name, there were no actual crew members on board, and in fact, no
dragons. The flight was just a test undertaken before SpaceX's first manned
mission using the Dragon later on this year. I believe that's when Elon Musk is
planning to move to the ISS permanently
to avoid having his tweets regulated. Oh, yeah. That would make sense. And
now, WE'VE GOT TO NO, WAIT. THERE'S ONE MORE IMPORTANT piece of
news. Can I get Can I get some sad music? Can
Yeah, thank you. Okay. So,
a little over a year ago, we did a review of what I thought really was
going to be the first true robot companion for humans. I'm just kidding.
Everything about the idea was terrible, and the execution was just as bad. But,
Jibo, Jibo, I'm afraid is no longer with us as
of today. Jibos themselves have been informing their owners that the servers
that run the Jibo service are being shut
down, and so I just wanted to I want us all, actually, to take a moment and
remember Jibo. Ah, Jibo. Oh, Jibo.
You were terrible. Speaking of terrible, I have some terrible news. More terrible
news. It's the end of TechLinked. But just for today, come back Wednesday.
There'll be more. That was scary.
Cool.