Daily Tech News 10 October 2022

• The PC market needs another reinvention. Is Microsoft's Surface up for it? No. (The Verge)
  
  Microsoft has a Surface event this week, and given the discounts on offer for the Surface Pro 8 and Surface Laptop 4 right now, we can be pretty sure new models of both will be arriving.
  
  New-ish, anyway. The current models offer 11th gen Intel CPUs or AMD's Ryzen 4000 range. It looks like the new models will focus on 12th gen Intel chips, in the same month that Intel launches 13th gen parts. Microsoft's launch cycle is badly out of sync with that of it's key suppliers.
  
  That said, it turns out that the Surface Laptop has the Four Essential Keys... Ish. They're the default mappings for F9 through F12, which is better than not having them at all but not a particularly convenient location. Understandable on the 13" model where there's not much room for extra keys; less so on the 15".
  
  
  
• Breaking: PayPal will still steal your money if you say something they disagree with. They only removed the "misinformation" clause. (The Volokh Conspiracy via Instapundit)
  
  If you engage in speech that PayPal believes - in their sole discretion - is "discriminatory" or promoting "intolerance", they will steal $2500 from your account or any connected accounts. Per offence, where they also have sole discretion in determining what counts as an offence.

• United Airlines plans to use electric planes for routes of less than 200 miles. (Futurism)
  
  Which makes sense. The problem with electric planes is not that they don't work, or that they're expensive, or unreliable; it's that they're not feasible for long distances. So just don't use them for long distances.
  
  Still means your plane will be running on coal, but whatever. Wonder if they're quieter than the conventional prop aircraft they'd be replacing.
  
  
  
• TSMC is expected to spend $40 billion on new factories next year, and the chip industry as a whole $185 billion. (WCCFTech)
  
  The chip shortage is now a mixed story. Lots of critical components that cost one dollar or one cent each are impossible to find, while $1000 CPUs and GPUs are lining store shelves. My brother works in short-run electronics design and manufacturing, and the rule right now is if you find a component in stock today, you buy it - because it could be gone tomorrow.
  
  
  
• I ordered a Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite - the 8" model in their range - to replace my Lenovo Tab M8 FHD, which has problems charging. The A7 Lite is cheap and basically adequate but has a 1340x800 screen, which is pretty meh - barely better than my 2012 Nexus 7. Except that the Nexus 7 doesn't work at all any more and is currently in the bottom of a box at the bottom of the garage. Would have bought another Lenovo except of course they don't make it any more, though they have about 17 10" and 11" models.
  
  I'll see if I can deal with that or if it's annoying enough to drive me to the Apple side of the Force.
  
  
  
• The BIOS source code for Intel's 12th generation Alder Lake chips has leaked onto the internet. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Which doesn't mean that Intel was hacked, because a lot of other companies need access to the BIOS source code, some of which we know have been hacked.
  
  This may or may not be a major problem.

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

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