Jet_ski

I wish LTT had advised against people buying these laptops. The 32GB of storage is absolutely not enough to run Windows 10. I have a similarly speced HP Stream laptop and I cannot update the OS because Windows 10 alone takes about 22GB of the storage, 2GH is off limits for recovery partition, and another 3GB is just not available. So a barebones Windows 10 laptop with no apps or software, doesn’t have the 8GB free space to download and install a Windows update. I even tried deleting the virtual RAM/memory paging files and it couldn’t get there.
 
The average consumer is going to hate this when their apps stop running because they can’t update the OS. These 32GB storage laptops are not worth it. They shouldn’t even make these.

Summary
HP recently informed Instant Ink plan customers that after just three years, it was ending its "free ink for life" deal, according to Consumer Reports. It becomes not-so-free as of Friday.
 
What was this deal? The company remotely monitored printer buyers' ink usage, and sent a "free" cartridge when they were running low...with some caveats.
 
Printing (and ink) was not unlimited. Users were allowed to print 15 pages per month. Subscribers also had to have a credit card on file with HP. If you went over 15 pages, HP would charge you a dollar for 10 additional pages.
 
But now those halcyon days are gone. HP will charge participants in the program 99 cents per month for their 15 pages. Sure, nearly $12 a year doesn't sound like a lot, but, again, they signed up for FREE ink for life.
 
There are tiers that cost between 99 cents to $24.99/month for more pages, based on your printing needs. One positive change to the plan is that you can roll over your unused pages up to a cap.
 
The bait-and-switch "free ink for life" deal is just the latest trick scam pulled by HP (and other printer companies) to make as much money as possible from their machines.
 
Quotes
 
My thoughts
Long time ago I decided to never purchase HP products. And this just cements my views of the company.
 
Inkjets printers are a scam to begin with. Because they tempt you with a low upfront cost but over the lifetime they cost 5x more because getting new cartridges cost as much as the printer. And if you don’t use an inkjet printer frequently, the ink dries inside the device and you have to throw it away.
 
If you must just buy a laser printer. It costs more upfront but they actually have a lower cost of ownership over the life of the device.
 
When my second $500 HP printer scanner stopped working with less than 2 years of light use, I decided to get a Xerox laser printer. Now 7 years later, the laser printer still works like new. I only had to replace the black film once and I’ve printed thousands of pages.
 
Sources
https://mashable.com/article/hp-ends-free-ink-for-life/
 
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Sadly this onion article is more likely to happen. Facebook has probably one of the strongest lobbying initiatives than any company in the US.

Facebook Announces Plan To Break Up U.S. Government Before It Becomes Too Powerful
https://www.theonion.com/facebook-announces-plan-to-break-up-u-s-government-bef-1844121902

I heard some incorrect info about the new Tesla Model S yesterday on the WAN Show that I wanted to point out. I know it’s not a car channel and it probably won’t matter. But I’m sure the writers don’t want to go on incorrect info.
 
The new Tesla Model S is a refreshed version of the old one and there are two versions: Long Range starting at $73,990 and the Plaid starting at $123,990. Both versions come with the infotainment system that’s based on the new AMD chips which runs video games. It’s not just the Plaid (more expensive model) that comes with this feature.
 
Another thing to point out is that the AMD based infotainment system is a completely separate system from the self driving system. In all of their cars Tesla uses their in-house designed chips for the driving functions. They call it FSD Hardware and it’s based on ARM [I think], currently at version 3. The FSD chip is a specialized chip that’s built to only do neural network computations.

Also Tesla doesn’t make a gaming controller, at least not yet. The images circulating are of a prototype and you have to buy your own Xbox or PS controllers. At the event they were using Xbox controllers.
 
On a side note I want to say that comparing to the Porsche Tycan that’s was showed in a ShortCircuit video, the refreshed Model S is the absolute winner. The Tycan starts at $79,000 with a range of up to 227 miles, the more expensive ones can cost over $185,000 without any of the options!!!! The Model S long range costs $73,990 and gets 405 miles. And according to some rumors they are waiting for the EPA to update this range higher.
 
Linus is right that it’s an expensive car. Even the one that costs $73,990 is lol-years out of my budget.

I heard some incorrect info about the new Tesla Model S yesterday on the WAN Show that I wanted to point out. I know it’s not a car channel and it probably won’t matter. But I’m sure the writers don’t want to go on incorrect info.
 
The new Tesla Model S is a refreshed version of the old one and there are two versions: Long Range starting at $73,990 and the Plaid starting at $123,990. Both versions come with the infotainment system that’s based on the new AMD chips which runs video games. It’s not just the Plaid (more expensive model) that comes with this feature.
 
Another thing to point out is that the AMD based infotainment system is a completely separate system from the self driving system. In all of their cars Tesla uses their in-house designed chips for the driving functions. They call it FSD Hardware and it’s based on ARM [I think], currently at version 3. The FSD chip is a specialized chip that’s built to only do neural network computations.

Also Tesla doesn’t make a gaming controller, at least not yet. The images circulating are of a prototype and you have to buy your own Xbox or PS controllers. At the event they were using Xbox controllers.
 
On a side note I want to say that comparing to the Porsche Tycan that’s was showed in a ShortCircuit video, the refreshed Model S is the absolute winner. The Tycan starts at $79,000 with a range of up to 227 miles, the more expensive ones can cost over $185,000 without any of the options!!!! The Model S long range costs $73,990 and gets 405 miles. And according to some rumors they are waiting for the EPA to update this range higher.
 
Linus is right that it’s an expensive car. Even the one that costs $73,990 is lol-years out of my budget.

There's so much pr0n on the internet, at what point am I paid to look at it? 🙄 I have more important things to do in life than look at smut.

Atari Flashback 9, has HDMI, has River Raid
https://www.amazon.com/Atari-Flashback-9-Electronic-Games/dp/B07FK293JJ
Also they’re pretty cheap
 

Crypto really can't go belly up soon enough globally. I need a new gpu for work and if I can avoid paying 2-3x the price for a card I will do so :p.

RTX 3060 units which have been used for mining are now being sold for 270$ a piece on the chinese second hand market.
 
"The  Block is reporting that a "large batch" of GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards with prices ranging anywhere between $336-$450 or so... but the seller didn't get many buyers, so the prices were reduced to $270. Another seller is getting rid of every single gaming laptop they purchased for crypto mining, and selling them for around $1000"
 
Source: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/80492/crypto-crackdown-geforce-rtx-3060-now-costs-270-second-hand-in-china/index.html
 
My thoughts:
 
This is not surprising in any way at all, i have already said beforehand that this will be the expected result of cryptomining down the line, and people thought i was stupid because they were blinded by the promise of getting rich quickly.
However, cryptomining clearly uses large amounts of resources, and in fact energy equal to multiple nuclear power plants, which prompted the government to shut down the operations entirely.
 
Moreover, i have already expected these cards to not even sell at MSRP but well below it, because they were mined cards which can break at any time. People were vehemently against my pov, but reality is once again proven by no one buying these mined units forcing the miners to sell them at below 300$.

Can someone please ban ads, especially within paid services/products?

Riley should make a video about Cyberpunk 2077 like the one he made for Star Citizen. That was a great video. I recently started playing the game and it's playable but buggy af.

hahahahahahahaha
 
Let the lawsuits fly.
 
This yet again proving that 'as a Service' model is being used as a crutch for poor business practices, laziness and profiteering.

Summary
IOT, something you either love or hate. Though i think it would be a pretty unanimous acceptance, that this is wrong.
You have just spent $4000 on a fancy new treadmill. you're happy, you're running. One day you wake up and find that an option is missing. your phone vibrates in your pocket and you have an email from the manufacturer saying "fuck you pay me".
 
So a bit of backstory when it comes to this.
Peloton was in hot water when one of these treadmills caused the death of a 6 year old child because there is barely any safety features that would prevent a child or a pet from being dragged under the running belt.
more info can be found here: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56993894
 
So now to "fix" their mistake, they have decided to start charging their customer's a monthly fee you "unlock" "new" "features" "for safety", which comes with the fantastic idea of disabling the ability to run on the treadmill without paying.
 
Quotes
 
My thoughts
They do make mention that they are planning to bring back the just run feature and implement the tread lock without the membership....but given their excuses of "we have to charge a membership otherwise we can't implement these safety features due to technical reasons" i highly doubt it. At lease they are offering returns and free refunds.
 
But as always, be careful buying any IOT device, you're not in control of them and things like this could easily happen to you
 
Sources
https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/6/23/22545534/peloton-tread-membership-now-required-recall
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/23/peloton-reportedly-disabled-free-running-on-its-treadmills.html

No issues will arise because that's not what a defective chip means. It's not the wild west and they will turn off the defective portions. It's what all of Intels lineup is. An i5 is a defective i7 which is now a i9 and so on. But now since we are seeing chiplet designs yields are high enough that they don't need to do this anymore.

Every system is special in some way 🙂
 
Edit: hOw iS tHiS fUnNy?

I heard some incorrect info about the new Tesla Model S yesterday on the WAN Show that I wanted to point out. I know it’s not a car channel and it probably won’t matter. But I’m sure the writers don’t want to go on incorrect info.
 
The new Tesla Model S is a refreshed version of the old one and there are two versions: Long Range starting at $73,990 and the Plaid starting at $123,990. Both versions come with the infotainment system that’s based on the new AMD chips which runs video games. It’s not just the Plaid (more expensive model) that comes with this feature.
 
Another thing to point out is that the AMD based infotainment system is a completely separate system from the self driving system. In all of their cars Tesla uses their in-house designed chips for the driving functions. They call it FSD Hardware and it’s based on ARM [I think], currently at version 3. The FSD chip is a specialized chip that’s built to only do neural network computations.

Also Tesla doesn’t make a gaming controller, at least not yet. The images circulating are of a prototype and you have to buy your own Xbox or PS controllers. At the event they were using Xbox controllers.
 
On a side note I want to say that comparing to the Porsche Tycan that’s was showed in a ShortCircuit video, the refreshed Model S is the absolute winner. The Tycan starts at $79,000 with a range of up to 227 miles, the more expensive ones can cost over $185,000 without any of the options!!!! The Model S long range costs $73,990 and gets 405 miles. And according to some rumors they are waiting for the EPA to update this range higher.
 
Linus is right that it’s an expensive car. Even the one that costs $73,990 is lol-years out of my budget.

does this come as DLC for windows? thanks!
Gotta have them all.

Summary
Dell does it again, with yet another poorly done set of bloatware SupportAssist software bugs.  BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!  This time though, they also are known to have screwed up their UEFI BIOS firmware so it is remotely exploitable to install/change the firmware too!
 
This affects over 30 million PCs and 120+ model lines (see end of Dell support link below for the list), including Alienware, XPS, Latitude, Inspiron, etc.
 
Quotes
 
 
 
 
 
 
My thoughts
UPDATE YOUR BIOS/Firmware MANUALLY if you have an affected Dell with updates!  These vulnerabilities affect the auto-update chain as well with the various Dell automatic options.  Affected systems that are still semi-supported will have updated BIOS/UEFI downloads available on Dell.com.
 
While every company is going to make security mistakes, Dell seems to be really good at doing them often in serious ways.  While this doesn't affect a lot of those on LTT who likely are building their own systems, many folks around here also are in charge of fleets or maintaining systems for others, which very well may be Dell.
 
Sources
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dell-supportassist-bugs-put-over-30-million-pcs-at-risk/
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/000188682
http://www.eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/

Please let Linux emulation layers like Proton or wine, etc, or even vm solutions with hardware passthrough become better in about 4 years! Because the more i read about windows 11 (besides testing the leak) the worse it seems.

Not sure if this has been posted already, couldn't find anything about it using the search function, but please lock/delete if it already exists in a general thread or something 🙂
 
Summary
Windows 11's stellar start hasn't gone unnoticed. In its latest addition, it has been found that Microsoft will now also force laptops to have a front-facing webcam present from 2023 and on in order to run Windows 11. Not just any camera will suffice though, they also list their requirements in the online support document.
 
Quotes
 
 
My thoughts
Some of the hardware requirements I can sympathise with. Requiring TMP 2.0 and 8th gen Intel / 2nd gen Zen or above alas. It's inconvenient, but not the end of the world. You have to draw a line at some point to move forward (and I've seen compelling philosophies as to why on this forum). I'll happily keep running Windows 10 for the coming years by which time my rig will be due for an upgrade anyway.
 
A webcam seems like a strange requirement to me though. I guess they'll use it for Windows Hello face login or they're planning to really go all-in on the work from home/meetings everywhere aspect1. Now yes pretty much every carryable device you can think of has a camera nowadays, but why would an operating system of all things need to depend on a camera. There are probably information sensitive jobs that don't allow cameras to be present as well, and while I could foresee a special business model or license, that would be just a sad money grab. I generally like Windows, and probably mostly the techy minority cares about this, but man on some aspects Microsoft is really testing how far they can go huh.
 
I can't find any requirement regarding the IR stuff Windows Hello requires, which makes it the most strange in my opinion.
 
[update] as people have been pointing out below, this may just be to ensure a certain standard of webcam quality with Windows 11. I still don't see why you need to force the webcam itself to be present though. Are they that afraid that manufacturers will not include one or not switch to Windows 11 if it's optional? Or will manufacturers really be that dumb to not include a webcam these days?
 
[update2] this pertains to manufacturers that want to design products for Windows 11, so it's probably just so they can slap a "Windows 11 compatible" sticker on their product. I just wonder how they will handle the split in devices they're currently making by doing this from 2023 and on (but I guess deals for next year have already been made is the reason for that).
 
Sources
https://download.microsoft.com/download/7/8/8/788bf5ab-0751-4928-a22c-dffdc23c27f2/Minimum Hardware Requirements for Windows 11.pdf
https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-force-windows-11-laptops-have-webcams/
https://nl.hardware.info/nieuws/77337/microsoft-vereist-dat-alle-windows-11-laptops-vanaf-2023-een-webcam-hebben

You know what’s even better? This

You know what’s even better? This

It seems there was a CVE released in 2018 for those device. Class action lawyers ASSEMBLE.

Maybe Samsung won’t brick people’s smart tv functionalities anymore. F-in Samsung outright bricked the WiFi and USB ports on my TV just 3 years after I bought it.