SGpro

I noticed that as well. 
 
I still don't know what "tik tok" even is...

This for whatever reason reminded me of this: 
 
Oh how we love to make fun of the Germans on how serious they are. 

Summary
The new iPhone 12 series and iPhone 12 Pro series suffer camera issues when the camera is replaced by a non-authorized repairperson. When a camera module is replaced (even with a genuine one ripped from another Brand New phone), it will exhibit issues with the Camera app, notably instability, portrait mode failures, and panorama mode issues. It is important to note that these issues were fixed when the original camera was reinstalled. 
 
It's also important to note that this behavior is not confirmed by Apple. This could be an act against Right to Repair, or a bug. I would expect either a patch to fix this or a bulletin on Apple's website on "How to get your camera serviced for iPhone 12" within the next few weeks/months to confirm this.
 
Quotes
 
My thoughts
For years, Apple has been making it harder for end-users/independent repair stores to repair an iPhone. First it was the 5s with the Touch ID sensor, then it was the iPhone X with the TrueDepth Camera system (Face ID). Then it was the iPhone XS with battery DRM. Next up was the iPhone 11 with Screen DRM. Now the iPhone 12 has Camera DRM? What? The Touch ID sensor and Face ID makes sense because you could argue security. From a business standpoint, the battery and screen make sense to soft-lock because they account most of Apple's repairs. But the camera? I may be just extra careful with my phone, but I have never broken a camera. (remember, this isn't the glass around the camera, its the camera module itself.) But apparently Apple has had so many 3rd party camera replacements that they had to lock it out in software. I can't see this decision from Apple's perspective. None of these decisions are good for the consumer, but they do benefit Apple. This just makes no sense.
 
But the entire industry is moving against Right to Repair. I mean look at Microsoft. Nothing from them looks anywhere near repairable. Like the SSD is replaceable...? So we're back to just 2008 levels, but worse because the actual thing that diminishes as it ages, the battery, is still glued to the casing? Got it.... Samsung phones have similar DRM to them when certain parts are replaced, I'm sure other companies are doing it, but these were just the first two that came to my mind. It's sad to see that these companies don't get that when the consumer buys a product, it's there right to do whatever the hell they want to it. I could just imagine in 3-4 years, electronics as a whole becoming completely unrepairable, and when these companies either aren't around or don't care about the current technology we have anymore to fix it, we won't be able to preserve them like we can for old 8-bit computers like the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 (I've been watching too many "The 8-Bit Guy" videos), and they'll end up in landfills.
 
Sources
 

CVE-2020-117087 is a zero-day discovered by Google's Project Zero, which can use buffer flow for privilege escalation. Google Project Zero discloses vulnerabilities publicly after 90 days. However, this is known to be actively exploited, so it is on a 7-day disclosure. 
 
Microsoft gave a generic sounding response when it went public:
The vulnerability was expected to be patched on November 10th. It has also been confirmed that this is not suspected of being election-related.
 
The bug has apparently existed since Windows 7, and still exists in Windows 10 1903 (64-bit), so be sure to update!
 
Details further details on the exploit's workings:
IOCTL is an abbreviation of input/output control. 
 
The actively used part of the exploit relied on a previous Chrome flaw, CVE-2020-117087, an issue in FreeType, which was fixed It was also featured on Techlinked. 
 
My thoughts
 It is important to keep devices on a secure, up to date version for this reason. Especially since there is evidence of it being actively exploited. If you have not updated after the FreeType flaw, you should ASAP.
 
Sources
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/10/googles-project-zero-discloses-windows-0day-thats-been-under-active-exploit/
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=2104
 

they were late to get any TSMC supply so they had to go with Samsung . they made Samsung give them a good deal but it isn't a great node.
TSMC 7nm capacity is being owned by AMD

I came across this article today about Amazon's new "Amazon Shopper Panel" where they are paying users to send them their shopping reciepts from non Amazon stores.
 
 
Summary
Amazon paying users for for their non amazon shopping info.
 
Quotes
 
My thoughts
  Don't they already have the "Amazon Basics" line where they take the popular items bought on their store and make a cheaper version themselves to sell? is this not seeing what items are bought from other stores and then doing this to it as well? How is this not a monopoly ploy?
 
Sources
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-isnt-even-hiding-its-intentions-anymore-1845442072

@SGpro - unfortunately it appears the NVENC limits are defined by the encoder, not the hardware. Having a 3080 doesn't help in this regard.
 
I can either picture-by-picture my 5120x1440p into a 21:9 + 11:9 and stream the 21:9 section, or I can scale the 5120x1440 down to 1080p - otherwise I'm forced to use a software encoder.

While the rest of the company readies for their new graphics card, fans can now buy AMD branded bicycles on their fan store in the link below, comes with 3 color options.
Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/big-navi-big-wheels-amd-sells-mountain-bikes-now
https://amdfanstore.com/amd-custom-mountain-bike/
Thoughts: Since I already have a completely fine and working off-brand mountain bike I have no interest in getting this. However those color options for wheels are a nice touch. And from the specs I think most bike experts would rate this ride pretty poorly as well.

their games still use less ram than modded minecraft lmao

Summary
Intel is in talks to sell part of, or the entirety, of their NAND Storage Unit to SK Hynix. Intel is negotiating to sell it's NAND production unit for around $10 billion. The details over what exactly Intel would sell to SK Hynix are still unclear. 
UPDATE: The sale has officially been confirmed for $9 billion, and involves Intel’s entire NAND storage unit. The final closing of the sale is expected in 2025, with government approval expected in late 2021.
https://news.skhynix.com/sk-hynix-to-acquire-intel-nand-memory-business/
Quotes
 
My thoughts
As the article states, the storage industry doesn't really fit well for Intel due to its low margins. Hopefully now they can focus more on their CPUs if they sell their NAND division.
 
Sources
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-in-talks-to-sell-nand-storage-unit-to-sk-hynix-for-dollar10-billion-wsj
https://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-nears-deal-to-sell-nand-memory-unit-to-sk-hynix-11603129781?source=news_body_link

Summary
 Yesterday the website McBroken was launched, tracking every broken ice-cream machine in the US, and updating it's status every 30 minutes.
 
Quotes
 

 
My thoughts
I may have had a couple night caps or date nights dampened by those words myself. And although I do not find myself in a McDonalds drive in very often anymore, I think this is great.
 
Sources
https://basictech.tips/2020/10/23/meet-the-website-tracking-broken-mcdonalds-ice-cream-machines/
https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/22/21529477/mcdonalds-mcbroken-bot-ice-cream-machines-app-engineering

Ethereum Miners Eye NVIDIA’s RTX 30 Series GPU as RTX 3080 Offers 3-4x Better Performance in ETH.
 
 
Sorry Jensen, but as a Pascal owner this might delay the advertised upgrade by a long shot.
 
Sources
https://www.hardwaretimes.com/ethereum-miners-eye-nvidias-rtx-30-series-gpu-as-rtx-3080-offers-3-4x-better-performance-in-eth/

November 4th update:
 
 
Original post:
 
This is the latest development on a topic that's been reported about multiple times since 2018.
 
California (and many other US sates) has a fantastic democratic legal mechanism called Ballot Initiatives, which allows private citizens to propose and potentially implement new laws without needing to go through or have the approval of California's legislature and politicians. All a California citizen has to do is get enough public support in the form of signatures to support a proposition, and then that proposition will go to a state-wide referendum. And if the vote passes, the proposal becomes the law in California.
 
A group called Californians for Consumer Privacy sought to implement strict data-harvesting and data-sharing regulations back in 2018 with a ballot initiative called the CCPA, and they had overwhelming support from the people of California for their proposed legislation. But the legislature of California wanted to avoid the matter becoming a ballot initiative, and so they agreed to pass the proposed legislation themselves with just a slight bit of watering-down on its wording. CPA agreed to that, and that version of the legislation passed in late June, 2018, and the new data-rights rules came into force on January 2020 and some tech giants have voluntarily applied those rules everywhere and not just in California (which it's expected they did in order to avoid federal legislation forcing even stricter regulations on them).
 
But CPA were left unsatisfied with both the watered-down version of their legislation proposal, and also with how tech companies were finding ways to side-step and undermine the rules. So, in October 2019, they announced they would seek a new ballot initiative that would supersede the 2018-passed rules, strengthen them all-around while encompassing a broader scope, and protect them from being undermined by tech companies.
 
CPA were able to get the required number of signatures from Californians supports their new initiative. And now their new initiative, Proposition 24, will be voted-on by Californians in two weeks, on November 3. And, as with the 2018 CCPA, whatever the outcome of the vote is likely to affect data-harvesting and data-privacy across the US and even beyond its borders.
 
 
But not everyone is on-board with Proposition 24, with some rights groups and critics calling it a mixed bag of changes, with too many loopholes for big tech companies and hurdles for people to enact their right to control their data.
 
Why EFF Doesn’t Support California Proposition 24 - "EFF does not support it; nor does EFF oppose it."
 
Yes, Privacy Is Important, But California's New Privacy Bill Is An Unmitigated Disaster In The Making
 
ACLU Proposition Endorsements For 2020 Election - "NO on Prop 24 that is a fake privacy law. Instead of increasing protections, it requires people to jump through more hoops and adds anti-privacy loopholes for big business."
 
 
 
https://www.caprivacy.org/
 
 
Here's the detailed history of this ballot initiative, ordered from the most recent development to the oldest: