Daily Tech News 26 January 2022

• The new mobile chips from AMD have started showing up in benchmarks.
  
  The Ryzen 6900HX is reportedly 11% faster on single-threaded tests and 28% faster multi-threaded than the 5900HX. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Which is interesting because it's basically the same Zen 3 core, just built using TSMC's 6nm process, which is really just a tweaked version of 7nm. The performance gains seem to be efficiency gains - the older chip was limited by the heat and power constraints of a laptop, and the newer chip less so.
  
  If this benchmark bears out, it puts Zen 3+ laptop chips on par with current Zen 3 desktop chips, at less than half the power consumption.
  
  
  
• Intel's Core i9 12900HK is even faster. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  But it takes the opposite approach. If you read past the shiny benchmark scores and get to the battery life test, when comparing the same Alienware laptop with 11th and 12th generation Intel CPUs, the battery life has dropped from 4h31m to 2h58m.
  
  A huge 17" laptop is going to spend most of its time parked on a desk anyway so that might not matter to you, though you should expect 12th gen laptops to run hotter and louder as well as faster.

• Google has dropped FLoC - its spyware proposal that would lock all targeted ads into a Google infrastructure that everyone in the world immediately opposed - and instead offered a Topics API which would simply have your browser spy on you. (9to5Google)
  
  This actually is better because browsers don't have to spy on you to comply with the API. Brave and Vivaldi can just give you some checkboxes to choose your topics and leave it at that. Then you just need to not use Chrome.
  
  
  
• There's a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Kubernetes. (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Yay. Get patching.
  
  
  
• There's a remote code execution vulnerability and a privilege escalation vulnerability in CWP. (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Yay. Get patching.
  
  
  
• There's a local privilege escalation vulnerability in pretty much every version of Linux from the last twelve years. (Ars Technica)
  
  Fucking yay. Get patching. Or chmod 0755 /usr/bin/pkexec to squash it instantly.
  
  
  
• Chip shortages are expected to last into the second half of 2022 says the US Department of Commerce. (ZDNet)
  
  No shit, Sherlock. What tipped you off?
  
  
  
• If you're worried that your government is not just authoritarian but also retarded, you're not alone: China has changed the ending to Fight Club. (Bangkok Post)
  
  In the Dictator's Cut, everyone gets arrested and Tyler Durden confined to an asylum, which makes total sense and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
  
  
  
• Logitech has some new mechanical keyboards. (Ars Technica)
  
  They don't have per-key programmable RGB backlighting or built-in colour LCD displays, but on the other hand they start at $70.
  
  
  
• Google has recently been making moves to shut down content on Google Drive that violates their terms of service.
  
  This being Google, which leads the world in practical application of AI, the whole thing is going swimmingly.
  
  

  Uh, @googledrive, are you doing okay? This file literally contains a single line with the number "1". pic.twitter.com/4tLhOzQY1T

  — Dr. Emily Dolson (@emilyldolson) January 24, 2022

  
  
  
  

My dad had a Parrot (Tutak in Armenian) named Jack and if you sprayed Jack with water he would start yelling and insulting you. So I made this animated short based on my dad showing off his bird's trick to guests. Only difference is Jack would yell in Armenian and Russian. pic.twitter.com/tX2GlwLhHS

— Hayk Manukyan (@Hayk_Animation) January 24, 2022

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

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