Daily Tech News 19 March 2024

• Ars Technica violated Betteridge's Law (any headline phrased as a question can be answered with no) and the First Rule of the Internet (never read the comments) with a single article: Is TikTok's parent company an agent of the Chinese state? (Ars Technica)
  
  Yes, they say, but only because if Bytedance executives refuse to comply the communists will murder their families.
  
  Which is accurate but would read better if you elided the "but only".
  
  Oh, and the first comment simply reads, Yes.
  
  Now, whether the proposed legislation is a good idea is another thing entirely; the very worst legislation often comes with massive bipartisan support, because it benefits them, not you.
  
  But doing something about TikTok seems necessary.

• Here we go again - or not: The naturally occurring mineral miassite turns out to be a superconductor. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  At liquid helium temperatures. Most things are.
  
  
  
• MacOS 14.4 breaks all the things. (Ars Technica)
  
  When I was regularly using my Mac (I have a 2015 Retina iMac which probably still works) every time I updated the operating system the mouse acceleration utility I was using would break. So I just stopped updating, because the default mouse support was unusable on a 27" screen.
  
  14.4 breaks USB, printing, Java, many command line functions, and license key managers - which would be a big deal for professional audio users except they're probably still clinging to 10.6.
  
  
  
• In other news, Apple may be partnering with Google Gemini to provide AI functions. (Ars Technica)
  
  Laughs in Microsoft.
  
  
  
• Microsoft meanwhile is deprecating 1024-bit RSA keys. (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Which... Is actually sensible and necessary; 1024-bit keys have been deprecated in internet standards since 2013.
  
  
  
• Stripe and Substack want all your financial history. (Substack)
  
  Well, Stripe certainly does, and Substack doesn't seem to have clean hands here.
  
  Substack processes all payments via Stripe, and Stripe appears to be selectively enforcing new rules that require you to provide them with the full transaction history of your bank account.
  
  Robert Malone (author of the piece) got a lawyer instead. Substack has so far refused to speak to him.
  
  
  
• I bank with CBE. (BBC)
  
  As you can see, my last transaction was yesterday, when I withdrew $40 million from the nearest ATM.
  
  
  
• The TOXMAX rocket uses a molten, radioactive mix of lithium and cesium-137 as fuel, and a fluorine oxidiser. (Twitter)
  
  It has a higher specific impulse than hydrogen/oxygen while keeping itself warm on cold winter nights. Yes, it will kill you, and everyone else in the area, but who wants to live forever?

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

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