Daily Tech News 7 June 2021

• We interrupt this program to annoy you and make things generally irritating for you. (ZDNet)
  
  Microsoft recommends different browser settings. Want to change them?
  
  ...
  
  I don't know how to get "fucked". Updating your browser settings now.
  
  Microsoft Edge and Outlook. Better together. Let's go ouch. (ZDNet)
  
  
  

• So, those PNY drives that received an abrupt durability downgrade? People have been speculating that this is because of Chia, but the company has now gone on the record to announce that yes, it's because of Chia. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Cryptocurrencies come in two basic forms: Proof-of-stake, which basically codifies rent-seeking, and everything else, which is even worse.
  
  Chia is in the even worse category.
  
  
  
• If it ain't broke, fix it until it is: Chip flaws that affect one core in a million show up on about 63% of computers with a million cores. (The Register)
  
  Well, computers still mostly don't have a million cores, but a datacenter can pack 50,000 cores into a single rack, so a million cores is not really that much.
  
  The article mentions a system where one core had a bug that affected encryption, so that only that core could decrypt files it had encrypted. And this is because we are pushing close to the fundamental quantum limits of silicon.
  
  
  
• The US Air Force wants to contract SpaceX to deliver cargo by rocket. (Ars Technica)
  
  SpaceX's Starship has a cargo capacity of 100 tons to orbit, maybe slightly more for a suborbital trajectory. Anywhere in the world in an hour.
  
  If you can keep it ready to launch 24/7, which you can't, making it useful for cargoes that need to be delivered in an hour but that you know about a week in advance.
  
  
  
• The EFF is unimpressed with the recent court decision against Cox Communications. (EFF)
  
  They argue that the District Court award of a billion dollars in damages gets the law wrong, violates due process, and will destroy the internet.
  
  And they're largely correct.
  
  
  

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:56 AM

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