Daily Tech News 16 March 2025

• Amazon has announced Alexa+, which updates the existing voice assistant to... Something something generative AI something. (Liliputing)
  
  What's the catch?
  
  
  
• The option to have your smart devices not transmit everything you say straight to Amazon HQ will be removed on March 28. (Ars Technica)
  
  George Orwell did not dream of this.

• 64GB DDR5 DIMMs have hit retail.
  
  Still a little scarce but showing up already on Amazon UK and Germany. And there's no significant price bump for the new chips.
  
  This lets you install 128GB with a dual-channel kit and 256GB in a standard desktop motherboard. I'm considering a 128GB kit for my new desktop; that's more memory than I really need but that's preferable to less memory than I need.
  
  SODIMMs for laptops are expected to follow.
  
  
  
• Super Flower's 2800W Leadex power supply is here for $899. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Never mind why, I want to know what you're supposed to plug this thing into. That's not only more than a standard US wall socket can provide, it's more than a standard AU 230V wallet socket can provide.
  
  There are 15A AU sockets - and matching 16A IEC cables - that could drive this beast, but curiously there are no photos anywhere that show that side of the power supply so that I could tell if that's what they've done.
  
  Guess you can plug it into your stove or dryer outlet if nothing else works.
  
  
  
• CloudFlare is blocking smaller browsers. (Pale Moon)
  
  Yes, Pale Moon is one of those, and so are SeaMonkey, Waterfox, and LibreWolf. That last one is run by crazy people and shouldn't be used, but it's still a big problem that they can't access sites behind CloudFlare's overly-protective wing.
  
  
  
• The best alternatives to Skype, which will go away in early May. (Tech Crunch)
  
  Mind you, all of the alternatives are bad.

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

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