WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.640 We all know the enemy of your enemy is your friend. But what if you have another enemy who's the enemy of the first enemy who's now your friend? 00:00:06.640 --> 00:00:09.680 Why do you have so many enemies you should try being nicer to people? 00:00:09.680 --> 00:00:15.520 Chip Rivals, Intel, and AMD have joined forces to defend themselves against the rising threat 00:00:15.520 --> 00:00:21.280 of ARM processors, who apparently think they're good enough to power MacBooks and Windows PCs now. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:26.800 Team Red and Blue announced at Lenovo's Tech World Conference that they've recruited giants 00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:31.840 like Microsoft, Google, and more to the x86 advisory group. 00:00:31.840 --> 00:00:38.320 Despite those companies recently building their own ARM server chips to get away from x86. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:43.840 But darling, you can't decline an invitation to an advisory group, it simply isn't done. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:50.000 Perhaps more confusing is the addition of famous computer boys Tim Sweeney and Linus Torvalds 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.920 as luminaries on the board, which means they get to wear cool robes and sit in the biggest 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:05.120 chairs in the boardroom. To prove that x86 isn't dead, Intel also took the opportunity to show off 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:11.840 the first Panther Lake sample chip built on Intel's 18a node, the one that the company said 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:17.920 it's completely focusing on instead of the 20a node used in its Aero Lake desktop chips, 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:24.480 launching late next week. Might seem a tad early to get the Panther Lake hype started now, but 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:30.000 it's probably in Intel's best interest as more leaked benchmarks in CPUZ and Blender 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:35.200 show disappointing performance from the Aero Lake flagship Core Ultra 9 285K. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:39.440 Thankfully, Intel is going to get some emotional support from its new PAL AMD, 00:01:39.440 --> 00:01:45.760 who's expected to launch the Ryzen 9 9800X3D the day after the Aero Lake launch. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:56.560 Both Google and Amazon are turning to SMRs, small modular nuclear reactors, 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:02.400 which are prefabricated and easily assembled with an output capacity of up to 300 megawatts. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:08.160 Google has announced an agreement to buy power from Kyros Power, a company with a yet untested 00:02:08.160 --> 00:02:14.320 SMR design that recently began construction of an unpowered demo reactor. Amazon, meanwhile, 00:02:14.320 --> 00:02:19.840 is giving money to two utility companies to study the possibility of adding SMRs to their 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:26.000 existing large non-modular reactors, as well as investing in startup X-Energy, 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:32.240 which has its own equally untested SMR design. This sounds like a good idea, that's for the 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:36.960 scientists, we gotta get these AIs going guys. SMRs have been a popular idea for getting around 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:42.240 the prohibitive upfront costs of old school reactors, which can take decades to build, 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:48.560 but due in parts to regulatory barriers and public uncertainty, they've been slow in coming. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:55.120 Currently, the only successful SMRs in the world are in Russia and China, built in 2020 and 2021, 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:00.960 respectively. However, the new hotness in the tech world, AI, is burning a hole through many 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:06.320 companies budgets with its exorbitant energy draw. While Microsoft has jumped onto a scheme to get 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:12.560 the old three-mile island reactor up and running, there aren't exactly a lot of old unused reactors 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:17.920 just sitting around in basically serviceable condition. Nuclear energy has become far more 00:03:17.920 --> 00:03:23.280 efficient over the last few decades, especially with techniques like fuel reprocessing, though that 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:29.520 itself has raised concerns over nuclear proliferation, because fun fact, it's also how you extract 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:33.600 plutonium for use in nuclear weapons. But if we don't build the reactors, how are we gonna make 00:03:33.600 --> 00:03:40.320 the AI that will one day nuke us all? Think about it. The only way to win is to not play! 00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:45.920 The recent rollout of Windows 11 version 24H2 is causing its fair share of chaos, 00:03:45.920 --> 00:03:51.520 as major Windows updates are wont to do. Users have reported widespread connectivity issues 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:56.320 after restarting their newly updated devices, while others have found that their mouse cursor 00:03:56.320 --> 00:04:01.600 disappears completely when they click on text fields in chromium-based apps, including Microsoft 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:06.960 Edge. Another bug causes the system file checker to misclassify files as corrupted, 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:13.200 attempt to fix them and re-scan them, only to find them corrupted yet again, like an IT 00:04:13.200 --> 00:04:20.240 sycophus. Microsoft did this on purpose to punish it. There's also a phantom 8.63 Gigabyte update 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:25.520 cache that can't be deleted, which Microsoft says is actually just a reporting error. All of these 00:04:25.520 --> 00:04:30.160 issues should be fixed at some point, but depending on how serious your device has been affected, 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:36.320 you might just want to roll back to version 23H2, or maybe just roll over and go back to bed. 00:04:36.320 --> 00:04:42.880 Probably the most serious bug is the one causing some western digital SSDs to repeatedly crash, 00:04:42.880 --> 00:04:49.120 like a narcoleptic bus driver. Makes sense to me. The affected SSD models are the SN580 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:56.080 and the SN770, which lack a DRAM module and instead use a host memory buffer, or HMB, 00:04:56.080 --> 00:05:01.200 in the computer's system memory to store a map of where data is located on the SSD. 00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:07.280 This recent Windows 11 update changed these SSDs' maximum HMB size from 64 megabytes to 00:05:07.280 --> 00:05:13.040 200 megabytes, causing them to freak out. Notably, there are other vendors that sell SSDs 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:18.960 with 64 megabyte HMBs, and it's not yet clear why only western digital SSDs are having this 00:05:18.960 --> 00:05:25.200 problem. It is possible to fix the issue with a rollback, that is, if you can manage to do so 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:29.520 before your PC poops its pants. Good luck. The quick bits are not your enemy. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:34.160 They're not your friend either. Kinda like Switzerland. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:40.400 Or Lichtenstein. The FTC has unveiled the final version of its new Click to Cancel rule, 00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:45.520 which will require subscription services to make cancellation as easy as signing up. 00:05:45.520 --> 00:05:50.560 Not a usual chicanery where you check a box at checkout to sign up, but you've gotta send a 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:55.200 12-page form written in blood to a P.O. box in Bermuda to get out. 00:05:55.200 --> 00:06:02.560 Stop sending me postmates! The rule applies to online companies like Amazon, yes, but it also applies to brick-and-mortar 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:07.840 businesses like gyms, which are typically harder to break up with than Bluebeard. 00:06:07.840 --> 00:06:12.960 He's a mythological figure who murders all his wives. And that's your Jessica Fun Fact for the day. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:19.120 Adobe has unveiled its Firefly Text-to-Video AI Generation tool, 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:24.320 which distinguishes itself from its competition with a training database that Adobe says is 00:06:24.320 --> 00:06:28.480 exclusively composed of above-board, licensed content. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:33.520 The tool is still in beta, but it will definitely be more appealing to large brands who'd 00:06:33.520 --> 00:06:40.720 rather not get their assets sued off. In response to the rise of Deepfakes enabled by these kinds of easy-to-use tools, 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:47.200 Startup Reality Defender has developed its own tool to detect live Deepfakes NVIDIA calls, 00:06:47.280 --> 00:06:50.400 one that will hopefully be ready in time for my Skype call next week 00:06:50.400 --> 00:06:55.200 with the Pope and the Dalai Lama. Big tech news fans, those guys. 00:06:55.200 --> 00:07:01.600 SpaceX literally caught a rocket in midair during its fifth test flight of the massive 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:08.240 Starship rocket. The rocket's first stage, Super Heavy Booster, launched the Starship, essentially the upper 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:14.400 stage that is meant to hold people, to 130 miles above the ground, then slowly descended to be 00:07:14.400 --> 00:07:17.120 caught by the mechanical arms of the launch tower. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:23.200 I missed you. Now, SpaceX wants to move on to catching the Starship itself, too. 00:07:23.200 --> 00:07:26.880 We're going to be shooting tubes of people into the sky, and then catching them in a 00:07:26.880 --> 00:07:31.440 giant clamp. It's like the most high-stakes game of catch you've ever seen. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:40.640 Don't drop it. But Elon Musk never got from his own father. The bell is now tolling for UBlock Origin, as the extension may or may not be supported 00:07:40.640 --> 00:07:46.480 by your Chrome browser. While the extensions page in the Chrome Web Store says the extension may soon no longer 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:51.840 be supported, some users have actually been told by Chrome that UBlock Origin and other 00:07:51.840 --> 00:07:57.040 extensions are definitely unsupported, with the browser explicitly turning said extensions 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:00.640 off. It's the end of an era. Anyway, I'll see you all on Firefox. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:07.600 And multiple U.S. owners of EcoVac's robot vacuums have reported that their once-faithful 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:13.040 dustbusters started following them around, screaming slurs and obscenities. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.320 It has begun. To be clear, these devices were just hacked. 00:08:16.320 --> 00:08:20.800 They did not suddenly gain sentience and speedrun their way to antisemitism. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:26.240 According to an investigation by ABC, a PIN code is required to access these EcoVac's 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:31.760 video feeds, but there's no server-side validation, meaning that it's easily bypassed. 00:08:31.760 --> 00:08:36.880 Worse, the company was warned about this issue back in 2023 and simply told users not to worry 00:08:36.880 --> 00:08:41.040 about it in a statement to TechCrunch. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? 00:08:41.040 --> 00:08:46.480 A tiny mobile camera could be used to constantly monitor you in your most intimate moments? 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:52.640 Yes. But hey, we don't mind if you monitor us on Friday for another episode of TechNews. 00:08:52.640 --> 00:08:58.880 You could even second monitor us if you have to. But I feel like you're missing out on at least 10% of the experience. 00:08:58.880 --> 00:09:01.760 2% is Riley's mustache. Whatever floats your boat.