Okay. Hey, sorry. Yeah, I got winded
from jogging over here cuz I stuffed myself fuller than a deep fried American
turkey and now I got sugar plums dancing in my tum tums. Anyway, here's the tech
news. Custom PC company Main Gear has
launched a bring your own RAM program, letting customers buy fully built gaming
PCs without memory as a practical solution to the ongoing RAM crisis. We
can call it a crisis. >> Yeah, I'm crisising. Hey, RAM's
expensive. Have you considered not buying it? The idea is simple. DDR5
prices are high, availability is inconsistent, and a lot of buyers
already have RAM on hand or want to shop around for a better deal. For people
upgrading from an existing system, or for those willing to hunt for deals,
it's a rare bit of flexibility in a PC market that usually insists you pay the
markup or wait in line. Or, I suppose
you could build your own RAM with a box
of scraps. Some Russian enthusiasts, they're crazy over there, reportedly
started building their own DDR5 sticks by soldering memory chips onto blank
PCBs. They may not be the fastest, and they definitely do not come with a
warranty, but I feel like we're on to something with this scrapyard wars with
DIY memory, anyone?
Samsung is dealing with a bunch of their ex employees leaking trade secrets to
China. One engineer is accused of smuggling handwritten notes to a
competitor in China. Though South Korea prosecutors could not confirm whether
the note contained details about the company's DRAM tech or simply a message
reading, "Do you like me?" Circle yes or no. This alleged leak is part of a
broader case where 10 ex Samsung employees have been indicted for
industrial espionage. Love that word. that prosecutors claim enabled CXMT to
mass-produce 10 nanometer class D RAM
which may have cost Samsung and South Korea tens of trillions of Juan in lost
revenue and national economic damage. That's a lot of one but not a lot of
winning. Ow. >> You just
>> ow. Samsung appears to be dealing with all kinds of corruption issues as the
company is reportedly internally investigating claims that some of its
staff may have taken kickbacks to steer memory chip orders and allocations with
a company interviewing employees in Taiwan and reshuffleling some sales and
marketing personnel as part of the review. The RAM shortage is nuts. But
hey, if enough information leaks, maybe China will help pull us out of these
troubles. Or maybe they'll just take a bunch of money for their own AI data
centers and set their robot army to auto invade. Who knows?
>> There's no way to predict. >> They got robots and people. We'll take
either of those. >> The best of both worlds. >> Speaking of AI, NVIDIA has dropped $20
billion to buy Grock without actually buying Grock. This is like that Tik Tok
deal all over again. They're not actually buying it. One, because it's
not the Twitter chatbot, but an AI hardware company called Grock with a Q.
And two, because the deal brings Grock's founder and president, Jonathan Ross,
along with other key engineers over to NVIDIA, while Grock stays an independent
company. They're kind of like a gelatinous cube rolling over Grock.
The move effectively gives NVIDIA access to cutting edge AI inference chips and
talent without formally buying the whole company. According to WCCF Tech, this
deal is a surgical masterclass on NVIDIA's part. But other analysts say
the deal is just structured to keep the fiction of competition alive while
sidest stepping attra scrutiny which seems to be easier and easier every day.
Now I'm imagining Jensen as some sort of cannibal war chief in a Mad Max scenario
cutting away the meat from other companies for NVIDIA to devour. Do you
think his leather jacket is useful or too warm in that situation? Let us know
in the comments. [laughter] probably not as useful as our sponsor would be MSI
and their MPG Core Liquid P13 all-in-one cooler, which is perfect for gaming in a
MadMax scenario where you're being hunted by cannibals as long as you have
a dust filter because your PC will run both cool and quiet thanks to its
cyoblade design, which focuses on air flow and having a cool MadMax
appropriate name. It's also got customizable lighting effects, so you
can sneak around quietly and stealthily without getting eaten by chemicals or
being forced into the Thunderdome. It's got durable tubing that helps prevent
coolant evaporation, so you know this thing is built for the mission at hand.
It's easy to install and support lots of different brackets so you can rig one of
these guys up with no hassle. Whether you're in the actual apocalypse or just
trying to upgrade your rig in today's RAM apocalypse, I love what we did here.
MSI's MPG Corvic with P13 AIO is for
you. Yes, you. So, check it out at the link in the description. The QuickBits
ate so much Christmas dinner, but I think they could have kept going. Personally, those freaks have got a
faster metabolism than Kobayashi or Joey Chestnut combined.
>> Famous for their >> hot dog swallowing. >> Yes, >> ASUS was rumored to be planning to build
its own DRAM memory chip FABS to help ease the global memory shortage, but
those rumors have officially been shot down. Sorry y'all. Asus told Taiwanese
media outlet CNA it has no plans to invest in memory wafer fabrication and
will instead work with existing suppliers and tweak its product mix. CNA
noted that building a fab takes at least two years and at least tons of money.
So, ASUS is sticking to its core strengths rather than trying to solve
today's supply crunch itself, which is too bad, ASUS, because we would really
like it if you could have solved today's supply crunch. >> That would have actually been helpful.
>> By the time it got solved, >> make it more Xbox. >> There'd be a new crunch. Google is
finally preparing to let users change their old atgmail.com email addresses.
something that's basically been impossible since Gmail first launched.
The option will allow users to adopt a new Gmail username while keeping the old
address as an alias. So, you won't lose emails or account access. The feature
was spotted early on a Google support page that appears only in Hindi
suggesting that this should be something on the way soon. Although, why it
appears in that language, God only knows. I'm just concerned that I'll
never again get an email from adults still using addresses like Mel Gibson
fan 999 or the thunderspants. Thunder
spans. >> It's what Mel Gibson wore [music] in the Mad Max movie in the Thunderdome.
>> The Spants. >> Yeah, >> they can change our names, but they'll
never take our memories. >> Different Mel Gibson movie. So it's yeah
AI data centers are getting so power hungry that US company HGP Intelligent
Energy wants to repurpose retired Navy nuclear reactors from submarines and
aircraft carriers to power them. The proposal could deliver roughly 450 to
520 megawatts of constant electricity enough for about 360,000 homes and would
rely on the Department of Energy support to get that off the ground. Finally, a
solution that makes sense. And if nuclear warship leftovers isn't enough
to Roger your jollies, data center demand is also reportedly bringing back
the use of fossil fueled peaker power plants to help alleviate the load.
There's also rumors of an expedition to the bottom of the sea to acquire the
mystical gems that powered Atlantis in the Disney movie, which sounds
promising, and James Cameron will probably be there.
>> And will the hot girl be there, too? Apple is allowing thirdparty earbuds to
use AirPods style proximity pairing with iOS 26.3, meaning you can just bring
them close to your iPhone and tap to connect. At least in the EU, where the
digital markets act has forced Apple to open up its ecosystem just a little bit.
Ah, the land of milk and honey. Watches from other companies will also be
gaining limited notification support. So, lets who insist upon circular
watches can receive notifications on either their iPhone or their watch. But
not both. You want to round the corners of a much more functional square shaped
watch. And for what? Nostalgia? Tradition. You'll be tied to the tracks
and trampled under the relentless engine of progress. You sad fool.
[laughter] And here's some bad news for Ubisoft.
Apparently, hackers massively abused Rainbow Six Siege, taking over parts of
Ubisoft systems to ban and unban players, unlock rare items, boost
players renown, and inject accounts with roughly 2 billion R six credits valued
at roughly 13.3 million. The hack forced Ubisoft to shut down the game and
marketplace and roll back recent transactions, but they clarified that
players won't be punished for using the bogus credits. They're like a bank.
Ubisoft has denied any large-scale leak of user data or source code, making it
seem like this hack comes from an in-game exploit, which is ridiculous
because isn't this the company that made Watchd Dogs? The ultimate hacker game.
They made Watchd Dogs. And you should come back on Wednesday to watch these
dogs hack your brain with more tech news. In the meantime,
I've got to finish this jog because I got more Christmas leftovers to work
through before they spoil. Potatoes, baby.