Daily Tech News 2 September 2022

• Tree planting schemes are just creating tree cemeteries. (Vice)
  
  Planting trees in a desert is hard. Planting trees in England is hard to screw up, and yet that's what they're doing.
  
  But by the time the trees have all died, the people planting them have been paid and moved on to the next scheme.

• You had one job: USB 4 Version 2.0 will hit 80Gbps. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  It still uses the same USB-C connector but will require an active cable (read: expensive) to hit that top speed. Otherwise it will fall back to the current 40Gbps.
  
  But why not just call it USB 5? Do they have some sort of PTSD related to version numbering?
  
  
  
• Flash memory prices are expected to drop sharply by the end of the year. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Predictions are for a drop of up to 35% in the current quarter and an additional 20% in Q4. Which is a lot. Component shortages have kept prices up the last couple of years but that is coming to an end for computers, though it still applies to industrial electronics.
  
  
  
• Micron is investing $15 billion in a new factory near Boise, Idaho. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Interesting that the article gives the expense rather than the price, since this factory will be subsidised by both the state and federal governments.
  
  
  
• The Framework laptop is now open for pre-order in Australia. (Frame.work)
  
  Including the new 12th generation model.
  
  It's not particularly cheap and it lacks the Four Essential Keys, but on the other hand it's not glued together - all repairs can be done with the single (included) screwdriver - and that counts for a lot.
  
  Actually, since I have spare DDR4 SODIMMs and SSDs - and nothing in this laptop is soldered in place - I could just get the entry level model and upgrade it, which would cut the price nearly in half.

posted by Pixy Misa at 06:22 AM

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