WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.840 Welcome to TechLink, where we deliver you a dose of tech news in 30 minutes or less, 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:08.560 or your money back. You don't actually directly pay for the news, but still. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:13.760 AMD has walked back some of its Ryzen 9000 performance claims after the new processors 00:00:13.760 --> 00:00:18.640 fell short in review benchmarks. In a blog post, the company explained some of the reasons why 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:25.360 their numbers were better than basically every reviewer ever. A massive factor was AMD running 00:00:25.360 --> 00:00:30.720 all their testing in admin mode, which turns out is a big security yikers. 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:34.960 According to Hardware Unbox, what AMD is referring to is enabling the hidden system 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:40.000 administrator account in Windows 11, something that requires command prompt to do. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.720 This isn't the same as a standard account with administrator permissions, mind you. 00:00:44.720 --> 00:00:50.160 This account runs with full administrative privileges by default and won't ask you if you're 00:00:50.160 --> 00:00:57.040 sure before you do something very stupid. Would you like to have kids? 00:00:58.080 --> 00:01:02.400 Even worse, if your system gets compromised, malware or bad actors, and we're not talking 00:01:02.400 --> 00:01:07.360 as remiller, can use those privileges too. If that wasn't enough, Wendell from Level 1 Tech 00:01:07.360 --> 00:01:11.680 suggests that running processes within that account means you're essentially running those 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:17.280 processes with Windows Virtualization based security disabled. While that would give you 00:01:17.360 --> 00:01:21.600 better performance, it turns out your computer is less secure when you don't use features that 00:01:21.600 --> 00:01:26.880 contain the word security in the name. AMD claims that some of the missing Ryzen 9000 00:01:26.880 --> 00:01:31.040 performance will be added to standard accounts in a future Windows 11 update, 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:35.760 but that means nothing to Windows 10 users, aka most Windows users. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:41.120 iFixit has declared the Samsung Galaxy Ring unrepairable after a product tear-down, 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:45.120 and it wasn't unrepairable just because they did a really good job at tearing it down. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:50.320 No, iFixit made the claim because you aren't able to replace the Ring's lithium-ion battery 00:01:50.320 --> 00:01:54.880 without destroying it. That means that each Galaxy Ring basically has to be thrown out and 00:01:54.880 --> 00:01:59.840 replaced every two years when the battery dies. So it's less one ring to rule them all, 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:06.480 and more one ring of many to end up in a landfill. Unfortunately, 100% disposable status is shared 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:12.400 with every other smart ring and Samsung's Galaxy Buds 3 for the same reason. To make matters worse, 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:17.360 this comes just days after Google confirmed that the Pixel Watch 3 also can't be repaired, 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:22.320 just like the previous two Pixel Watch models. And all of this falls within a larger trend of 00:02:22.320 --> 00:02:27.280 companies restricting the reuse of their products. Previously free features that came with the purchase 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:33.440 of a $1,700 SNU bassinet, we all have one, have now been locked behind a monthly subscription. 00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:38.320 I imagine this will make it harder to resell your SNU once your newborn outgrows it in 00:02:38.320 --> 00:02:43.520 four to five months. On top of that, Peloton announced they will start charging new subscribers 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:49.520 in the US and Canada a $95 activation fee if those users bought their hardware second hand. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:51.920 What do they do if you buy a third hand? Beat the sh** out of you? 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:58.480 The US Department of Justice has announced they are suing RealPage, the company whose software 00:02:58.480 --> 00:03:03.840 is used by landlords to set rent prices. In a press release, the Justice Department claims 00:03:03.920 --> 00:03:08.240 their software encourages competing landlords to share sensitive rental information 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:13.520 to help train RealPage's algorithm to suggest better and higher rent prices. 00:03:14.160 --> 00:03:17.920 Aw man, now AI is taking jobs away from hardworking price fixers. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:22.560 The government agency first opened an investigation into RealPage's alleged 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:27.360 anti-competitive practices back in 2022 after an investigative report was published by 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:32.480 non-profit newsroom ProPublica. Things don't necessarily look good for RealPage since at 00:03:32.480 --> 00:03:36.800 least two property management companies who used RealPage's software have agreed to settle 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:42.160 several lawsuits filed against them by renters. Frankly, I think all this legal trouble serves 00:03:42.160 --> 00:03:47.120 RealPage right. AI isn't meant for making the cost of living higher, it's meant for bigger 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:52.560 things like scamming your grandparents and taking all our jobs. Friendships may come and go, but 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:58.880 quick bits? Well, they end even faster. AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9000X3D chips may be coming out 00:03:58.880 --> 00:04:03.760 early next year, according to several sources. Reliable leaker HXL suggested that they may be 00:04:03.760 --> 00:04:09.440 coming at CES 2025, which is happening in January. This was then corroborated by both 00:04:09.440 --> 00:04:15.440 fellow leaker Wanusmus and Hasan from WCCF Tech. This may also explain reports that AMD's new 00:04:15.440 --> 00:04:19.440 budget B-series motherboards are supposedly launching around the same time. If there's 00:04:19.440 --> 00:04:25.040 one thing gamers love, it's 3D Vcash. But if there's two things, the other one is a budget-friendly 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:32.000 upgrade path for that 3D Vcash. Apple has decided to split its App Store team into two, King Solomon 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:36.960 style, with one half to handle the EU-specific version of the App Store, also known as the 00:04:36.960 --> 00:04:42.000 We're Not Run by Billionaires store. However, at least one notable person will not be present 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:46.560 to deal with this particular bisected baby. App Store Vice President Matt Fisher, who has led 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:51.360 the division since 2010, will be leaving the company, possibly due to concerns that he too 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:56.560 will be sliced in half if he remains. Of course, it would be much simpler for Apple to simply make 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:01.120 one App Store for the entire world that complied with EU regulations. But that would mean less 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:05.200 money for Apple, and they're not ready to throw either half of the baby out with the bathwater. 00:05:05.200 --> 00:05:09.680 Microsoft may finally be killing off the Windows Control Panel. Hey, don't get mad at me, 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.320 this Tuesday a support document was updated to announce that Control Panel is in the process 00:05:14.320 --> 00:05:18.400 of being deprecated in favor of the Settings app. Though on the other hand, Windows has been 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:24.000 promising to retire Control Panel for years. The company has slowly been moving more tools to the 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.960 Settings app for over a decade. Yet in that time, Control Panel has been kept around. It's like 00:05:28.960 --> 00:05:33.120 that one friend in the squad who you don't really talk to, but you keep him around because he makes 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:38.320 incredible snickerdoodles. You rock, Dave. And so do your snickerdoodles. A Kentucky hacker who faked 00:05:38.320 --> 00:05:44.080 his own death to avoid $116,000 in child support has been sentenced to nearly seven years in prison, 00:05:44.080 --> 00:05:50.800 as well as $80,000 in damages. Jesse Kipf was guilty of more than being a bad dad, of course, 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:55.520 in addition to hacking and altering state death registries in Arizona, Hawaii, and Vermont, 00:05:55.520 --> 00:05:59.840 he was found guilty of both fraud and identity theft. Why couldn't he just keep it hurting his kids? 00:06:00.880 --> 00:06:05.520 Kipf, likewise, used the dark web to sell stolen personal data analysts and access to private 00:06:05.520 --> 00:06:10.560 businesses and networks. And you think with that many side hustles, he could find some spare cash 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:16.480 to send his daughter. And Lindy AI was forced to patch their automatic responder after the bot 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:21.680 pranked its clients. According to CEO Flo Cravalho, he first noticed the issue when the AI 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:26.720 responded to a client's help request by sending them a link to a video tutorial that didn't exist. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:35.520 The bot, which was presumably trained on publicly available internet data, instead linked Rick Astley's seminal 1987 hit, Never Gonna Give You Up. As possible, these 00:06:35.520 --> 00:06:39.680 kinds of pranks are so deeply embedded in the training data that bots will be asking each other 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:44.800 if they smell up dog long after humanity's extinction. You know what I smell? More tech 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:49.760 news being cooked up, so come back for another episode on Monday. A second helping, if you will. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:52.400 A second coming?