Comment so this is how it works... (Score 1) 83
This is essentially a high-stakes gamble. The payout is potentially millions, so they just try whatever. And I bet if it all turns against them and they're forced to pay legal costs etc. they'll just file for bancruptsy.
Comment Re:rrriiiight... (Score 1) 77
Huh? It's an unsecure and unmaintained open-source driver that's causing the issue. The OS is running perfectly fine.
Perfect illustration of the thinking problem here. You don't even get WHAT the problem is.
Why is a driver able to fuck up a system? The OS should be the watchdog that says "WTF are you doing there?", not the obedient slave executing whatever.
A great illustration is W^X - first found not in Windows, but in OpenBSD. Because Windows happily goes "whatever you say, master", while the guys at OpenBSD said "no actual use case of non-broken, non-malicious software should ever behave like that, so we'll block it".
since a non-MS open-source driver is actually the problem here.
If you are responsible for a sensitive location, and a five-year old kid from the neighbourhood one day just wanders in and take a look around out of curiosity, pressing a few buttons to see what happens - you would definitely not keep your job by claiming that the little kid is actually the problem here.
Comment Take critical infrastructure off the net. (Score 2) 35
Wanting total internet connectivity is a sign of utter ignorance, and that ignorance is a choice.
Make ignorance shameful again.
Comment Vapes are not a survival or economic need. (Score 1) 55
Ban them for safety reasons.
Nicotine addicts have plenty of delivery options including lozenges.
Selling products intended for volatile substance abuse is illegal in the UK. Products inherently designed in a way that their normal real world disposal is dangerous make sense to regulate.
Not everything everyone wants to do makes sense for society to permit, including producing flammable products whose nature makes them into incendiaries when broken.
I inert all my expended lithium cells by destruction either in my welding shop or outdoors on my land, then dispose of the metallic slag safely with other mixed scrap metals. Small cells make impressive incendiaries so I'm not surprised cell disruption during recycling of objects containing them causes fires.
I use welding PPE so it's no risk to me and have ample water to flood cool spatter (which I do anyway after welding outdoors). I suggest other Slashdotters (the original techy sort who know how to safely break lithium cells which is quite simple) self-educate so they have direct experience of how powerful small cells really are.
Comment rrriiiight... (Score 2, Insightful) 77
And you clowns don't think that your OS is a fragile pile of crap if it's that easy to fuck up?
Seriously? Do you even know what the job of an OS _is_ ?
Comment The metro area has little known options (Score 2) 47
If you're rocking tech money there are many good places to spend it. The metro area has some beautiful wealthy neighborhoods, especially in northern New Jersey, which have fine old housing stock with large plots and good schools. Many good boarding schools are in easy range of the metro area.
The news focuses on the usual urban hellholes but many metro areas were never heavily industrialized and remain surprisingly refined. Passenger rail is well developed and built the burbs long before automobiles were more than a curiosity.
Tech money can also buy into Pennsylvania which is in easy reach by rail. If you're a tech worker expecting to make bank I suggest not living IN NYC but in rail commuting range instead.
I quite enjoyed relaxing on the train vs. driving.
Comment Re:The alternative... (Score 1) 40
Many people want the US disarmed. Many others do not. Even wanting that data center there in the first place is bizarre.
Submission + - Brand Hype Has Existed Since the Bronze Age, Scientists Discover (404media.co)
alternative_right writes: Brands have completely taken over the modern world, from established corporate trademarks to the proliferation of online influencers. But the allure of brands is nothing new, according to a study about an ancient style of pottery called Qurayyah Painted Ware that was a progenitor of branding some 3,200 years ago.
This brand of pottery was popular in what is now Saudi Arabia during the Bronze Age. The tradition is distinguished by distinctive black-and-red geometric designs and stylized animal and human figures. These unique visual properties, along with a consistent production technique and quality, suggest that it was an early branded commodity that was made to be recognizable to the wider community.
âoeIt is now understood that brands and proto-brands existed well before modern economies,â said researchers led by Marta Luciani of the University of Vienna. âoeIn this contribution we analyze the process by which the commodity itselfâ"decorated pottery vesselsâ"was developed into a brand not by added symbols but on the virtue of its visual identity, material consistency, technological continuity, centralized production, export circulation, local imitation, intentional commercial scope, and cultural reputation.â
This brand of pottery was popular in what is now Saudi Arabia during the Bronze Age. The tradition is distinguished by distinctive black-and-red geometric designs and stylized animal and human figures. These unique visual properties, along with a consistent production technique and quality, suggest that it was an early branded commodity that was made to be recognizable to the wider community.
âoeIt is now understood that brands and proto-brands existed well before modern economies,â said researchers led by Marta Luciani of the University of Vienna. âoeIn this contribution we analyze the process by which the commodity itselfâ"decorated pottery vesselsâ"was developed into a brand not by added symbols but on the virtue of its visual identity, material consistency, technological continuity, centralized production, export circulation, local imitation, intentional commercial scope, and cultural reputation.â
Submission + - Battery fires at recycling centres are costing UK £1bn a year, figures sho (theguardian.com)
AmiMoJo writes: Fires at recycling centres caused by wrongly discarded lithium batteries such as those found in vapes are occurring at the rate of more than 10 a week, according to new figures.
Experts say the sheer volume of battery fires now occurring at waste facilities has reached a crisis that is putting lives at risk, costing £1bn a year and frustrating fire chiefs.
In figures shared with the Guardian, the Environment Services Association (ESA), the trade body for waste management companies, said its members had reported 1,518 fires in the year to March 2026. At least 541 of these fires were directly attributed to lithium ion batteries, the survey found. There were a further 216 battery fires in bin lorries.
Experts say the sheer volume of battery fires now occurring at waste facilities has reached a crisis that is putting lives at risk, costing £1bn a year and frustrating fire chiefs.
In figures shared with the Guardian, the Environment Services Association (ESA), the trade body for waste management companies, said its members had reported 1,518 fires in the year to March 2026. At least 541 of these fires were directly attributed to lithium ion batteries, the survey found. There were a further 216 battery fires in bin lorries.
Comment Re:anyone really want these ? (Score 1) 243
A touchscreen doesn't negate that, either. Lack of physical controls does. They are not mutually exclusive. Oh, and my new vehicle also has a real dashboard with display in front of the driver, like a vehicle should have (unlike a Tesla). AND it ALSO has an HUD display with speed, speed limit, nav info, etc, as well. AND it has voice controls. So all options are on the table.
You are right. A screen that does not replace physical controls is a nice thing.
And I agree. Any vehicle that doesn't have a proper dashboard in front of me, where I need to look to the side to see important information, is a no-buy for me.
Comment Re:anyone really want these ? (Score 1) 243
yes, it's a short list. But it's a start and a kind of "red line". I am hopeful they move that line to include other things that people use while driving all the time.
Are big screens nice? Sure, yes.
But if I have a choice between good physical controls and a big touch screen, I'll take the buttons and switches any day, thank you.
Comment Re:anyone really want these ? (Score 1) 243
My 10 year old BMW has voice commands and a map that's always been more than enough for me. Sure, it's not as large, but while driving I don't want a big map - I want an indicator that tells me "next turn left in 500m" - and I have that, not on the main display but right in front of me on the dashboard. Newer models have it on a HUD.
Nothing in what you wrote makes a LARGE screen necessary.
Comment Re: competition ! (Score 1) 50
They don't have to be better. They just have to be competing for the same ad money and users.
Submission + - Microsoft Blames Windows Gaming Issues on RGB Lighting Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
joshuark writes: Microsoft says ongoing issues causing games to crash or fail to launch after installing the August 2026 Windows updates may be caused by peripherals with RGB lighting. Microsoft explained when it confirmed it's investigating on Wednesday, this known issue affects games like ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tkon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals on systems running Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2.
"Following the release of Windows updates on August 11, 2026 (KB5121003) and later, Microsoft received reports of issues involving inability to run games as expected," Microsoft said on the Windows release health dashboard.
On impacted PCs, users are also experiencing gaming freezes, "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION" errors, and even unexpected system restarts.
Embark Studios, the Swedish video game developer behind ARC Raiders and The Finals, also said these issues are caused by inpoutx64.sys, but added that they stem from changes made to the Windows kernel driver.
"We're aware of a crash that has been impacting some players since the most recent Windows update (KB5121003). This is a crash related to the file inpoutx64.sys, which changed with the Windows update," Embark said on Monday.
Until Microsoft ships an official fix, Embark shared a multi-step temporary workaround that requires users to delete the service and remove the inpoutx64 file from the Windows drivers folder.
"Following the release of Windows updates on August 11, 2026 (KB5121003) and later, Microsoft received reports of issues involving inability to run games as expected," Microsoft said on the Windows release health dashboard.
On impacted PCs, users are also experiencing gaming freezes, "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION" errors, and even unexpected system restarts.
Embark Studios, the Swedish video game developer behind ARC Raiders and The Finals, also said these issues are caused by inpoutx64.sys, but added that they stem from changes made to the Windows kernel driver.
"We're aware of a crash that has been impacting some players since the most recent Windows update (KB5121003). This is a crash related to the file inpoutx64.sys, which changed with the Windows update," Embark said on Monday.
Until Microsoft ships an official fix, Embark shared a multi-step temporary workaround that requires users to delete the service and remove the inpoutx64 file from the Windows drivers folder.
