Will Trump’s Tariffs Survive Supreme Court’s ‘Major Questions’ Test?
The justices used the doctrine, a judicially created method of reading statutes, to thwart several major Biden programs.
The major questions doctrine requires Congress to use plain and direct language to authorize sweeping economic actions by the executive branch.Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
The Supreme Court used the “major questions doctrine” to reject much of the Biden administration’s agenda, including its efforts to address climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic and student debt. The court’s commitment to the doctrine will be tested next week when it hears arguments about President Trump’s tariffs program.
The doctrine requires Congress to use plain and direct language to authorize sweeping economic actions by the executive branch. The 1977 law that Mr. Trump is relying on, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, might seem to fail that test, as it does not feature the word “tariffs” or similar terms like “duties,” “customs,” “taxes” or “imposts.”
Nor is there any question that the tariffs will have vast economic consequences, measured in the trillions of dollars. The sums involved are far larger than the roughly $500 billion at issue in President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s student loan forgiveness program, which Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, called “staggering by any measure.”
t seems poised to rule in President Trump’s favor on whether he can fire government officials for no reason, a leading originalist scholar has issued a provocative dissent.
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
OpenAI says hundreds of thousands of ChatGPT users may show signs of manic or psychotic crisis every week.
Archived version: archive.is/20251027183454/wire…
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Cybercriminals Target Svenska kraftnät in Data Breach
It is likely that it is data that has been stolen from Svenska kraftnät during the hacker attack. But in the worst possible case, the attackers could get in and take over the levers that control the Swedish power grid.
Biden Admin Discarded Internal Finding That Israel Killed Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on Purpose
The State Department seemingly contradicted the findings to appease the Israeli government, he said.
$100K Mistake: Delta Flight Attendant Accidentally Deploys Airbus A220 Emergency Slide
The incident occurred yesterday.
Germany: 500,000 birds culled as flu spreads
Dozens of cases of bird flu have been reported across the country, especially in north-eastern regions. The virus isn't particularly dangerous for humans, but could result in higher prices for poultry and eggs.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/dw.com/en/ge…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Academic boycotts against Israel have tripled in one-year span: Report
The Association of University Heads in Israel has recorded over 1,000 incidents of academic boycotts over the last two years, three times the total as of a year ago.
Israel's Haaretz daily reported on Monday that the incidents included Israeli researchers who encountered refusals to cooperate with them or invite them to conferences, refusals by overseas researchers to come to the occupied territories, the cessation of student exchange programs, refusals to conduct peer reviews, and delays in the publication of articles.
The report came at a time when a growing number of universities, academic institutions, and scholarly bodies across the world are cutting links with Israeli academia due to the regime’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
It quoted senior Israeli academics as saying that their universities are looking into forging alternative ties with institutions in Eastern Europe and Asia if Israeli-led research is pushed out of Western Europe.
It also echoed fears that Israeli researchers may be forced to leave the occupied lands to avoid harm to their work.
"Research in Israel … is in danger of collapsing," one academic warned.
Professor Ariel Porat, president of Tel Aviv University, said, "We're in the worst situation, from the standpoint of the academic boycott, that we have been in at any time over the last two years.”
Meanwhile, Milette Shamir, Tel Aviv University's deputy president for international affairs, said there was a rise in the number of academic boycotts against Israel even during Gaza ceasefire negotiations, and even after the genocide ended.
"In the United States, there are a lot of faculty members who still refuse to maintain working relations with Israeli researchers,” she added.
"And in Europe, the situation is even worse. There, the boycott is expanding fast. The main victims are younger researchers. This is long-term damage."
The report said that the hidden boycott of Israel is much broader than overt statements or actions against Israeli academics.
It further said Israeli academics criticize the Tel Aviv regime for doing nothing about the academic boycott.
"We've heard from cabinet representatives that they deliberately won't help us, because we're leftists,” an academic said.
Israel unleashed its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out the historic Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Israel accepted a Gaza ceasefire deal after it failed to achieve its declared objectives of eliminating Hamas and freeing all captives, despite killing 68,527 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 170,395 others, according to the health ministry of Gaza.
Over the past two years, nearly 40 overseas universities have announced that they are ending cooperation with Israeli institutions either completely or partially.
Stephanie Adam of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel said Israeli academic institutions are complicit in the regime’s “decades-long regime of military occupation, settler colonial apartheid and now genocide,” adding there is “a moral and legal obligation for universities to end ties with complicit Israeli universities”.
Academic boycotts against Israel have tripled in one-year span: Report
The Association of University Heads in Israel has reportedly recorded over 1,000 incidents of academic boycotts over the last two years, three times the total as of a year ago.PressTV
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How “Neutrality” And “Free Speech” Become Excuses For Driving Out The People You Claim To Value
Mike Brock’s piece on Sequoia Capital last week laid out a pretty damning case study: a well-respected COO complains about a partner’s Islamophobic posts, senior leadership invokes “institutional neutrality” and declines to act, she resigns, he stays because he made them billions on SpaceX. Brock correctly calls this out as a choice, not neutrality—a calculation about whose value to the firm matters more.The thing that struck me about Brock’s piece is that it highlights how there’s a broader pattern here: institutional cowardice from organizations that spout high-minded ideals as a shield to explain their refusal to make a clear decision, while ignoring that doing so is a very real choice with very real consequences.
That’s worth highlighting, because we keep seeing it play out in nearly identical ways. Whether it’s a venture capital firm or a social media platform, the playbook is the same: invoke “neutrality” or “free speech” as a shield, refuse to take a clear stance on bigoted behavior, and then act shocked when the people being targeted decide they don’t want to stick around.
This is the Nazi bar problem, and it keeps happening because people in positions of power either don’t understand it or don’t want to.
We head off into an excursion about paid blogging platforms ...
Sequoia took the cowardly way out. It made a choice, but it wouldn’t own it, just like Substack refuses to own its pro-Nazi position. It pretends it doesn’t by saying “we’re staying neutral.” But their version of “staying neutral” and “supporting free speech” is really “bigotry and hatred are welcome” and then, what follows naturally is “the targets of bigotry and hatred must leave.”And it’s the exact same choice Substack made. When [CEO Chris] Best refused to answer Nilay’s questions, he was saying: we value the revenue from writers who publish bigoted content more than we value the writers and readers who don’t want to be associated with that content.
Just as Balbale felt the need to leave Sequoia, a ton of Substack’s top writers left that platform. Joe Posnanski, Casey Newton, Marisa Kabas, Ryan Broderick, Molly White, Ken White, Audrey Watters, Mark DeLong, and many others have left Substack, with many of them pointing out that Substack’s stance on Nazis makes them feel unwelcome (for what it’s worth, many are also noting they make more money on other platforms).
Hmm. More money, fewer Nazis seems a decent tradeoff.
How “Neutrality” And “Free Speech” Become Excuses For Driving Out The People You Claim To Value
Mike Brock’s piece on Sequoia Capital last week laid out a pretty damning case study: a well-respected COO complains about a partner’s Islamophobic posts, senior leadership invokes R…Techdirt
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RRF Cronache Africane 27 10 25 Africa_tra_Guerra,_Colpi_di_Stato_e_Generazione_Z
How climate change is fueling Hurricane Melissa's ferocity
How climate change is fueling Hurricane Melissa's ferocity
The warming of the world's oceans caused by climate change helped double Hurricane Melissa's wind speed in less than 24 hours over the weekend, climate scientists said Monday.PBS News
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Indiana Gov Announces Special Session to Act on Trump’s Gerrymandering Squeeze
Indiana Gov Announces Special Session to Act on Trump’s Gerrymandering Squeeze
Succumbing to mounting pressure from the Trump administration and the president’s allies, Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun announced on Monday that a special…Khaya Himmelman (TPM - Talking Points Memo)
Millions Turn Out for October 18 ‘No Kings’ Protests Across U.S.
[features eyewitness reports from various cities by participants]
from World-Outlook
Oct. 20, 2025
More than 7 million people turned out for the No Kings protests in about 2,700 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. states on October 18, 2025. These numbers are based on reports from the organizers and media across the country.The main sponsors included the liberal group Indivisible, the American Civil Liberties Union, and hundreds of other national and local organizations.
Some of the largest actions took place in Chicago (250,000), Washington, D.C. (200,000), New York City (where estimates ranged between 100,000 and more than 300,000), and Boston (125,000). Thousands marched in many cities in the South, including Dallas and Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; and Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina.
Millions Turn Out for October 18 ‘No Kings’ Protests Across U.S.
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/38146161
[features eyewitness reports from various cities by participants]from World-Outlook
Oct. 20, 2025
More than 7 million people turned out for the No Kings protests in about 2,700 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. states on October 18, 2025. These numbers are based on reports from the organizers and media across the country.The main sponsors included the liberal group Indivisible, the American Civil Liberties Union, and hundreds of other national and local organizations.
Some of the largest actions took place in Chicago (250,000), Washington, D.C. (200,000), New York City (where estimates ranged between 100,000 and more than 300,000), and Boston (125,000). Thousands marched in many cities in the South, including Dallas and Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; and Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina.
Millions Turn Out for October 18 ‘No Kings’ Protests Across U.S.
[features eyewitness reports from various cities by participants]from World-Outlook
Oct. 20, 2025More than 7 million people turned out for the No Kings protests in about 2,700 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. states on October 18, 2025. These numbers are based on reports from the organizers and media across the country.The main sponsors included the liberal group Indivisible, the American Civil Liberties Union, and hundreds of other national and local organizations.
Some of the largest actions took place in Chicago (250,000), Washington, D.C. (200,000), New York City (where estimates ranged between 100,000 and more than 300,000), and Boston (125,000). Thousands marched in many cities in the South, including Dallas and Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; and Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina.
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++ DOMENICA 16 NOVEMBRE BICICLETTATA! ++
🗓 Domenica 16 novembre
⏰ Ritrovo alle 15.30. Percorso in aggiornamento!
📌 Partenza da Piazza della Vittoria
🚲🛼🛹 Porta un mezzo di trasporto sostenibile
📣 Domenica 16 novembre ci troviamo alle 15.30 da Piazza della Vittoria per un corteo in bicicletta che attraverserà la città e le zone abbandonate per le quali, specie nelle ultime settimane, si parla di vari progetti. Il corteo sarà in bicicletta o simili mezzi: se non ne hai uno, scrivici per averne in prestito! Se non puoi spostarti in bici, nei prossimi giorni daremo informazioni su come raggiungerci nella parte finale del percorso. Zone e persone non possono essere abbandonate: mobilitiamoci e informiamoci sui progetti che interessano le principali aree dismesse di Pavia.
I numerosi progetti andranno a interessare infatti direttamente la vita della città, la sua mobilità e il costo della vita. Informarsi è il primo passo per capire come Pavia sta cambiando.
Nei prossimi giorni ci saranno più informazioni sulla mobilitazione. Tutte le informazioni sono sulle nostre pagine social e nel gruppo Comunicazioni. Trovi tutto nel link allegato. Aiutaci a diffondere l'evento!
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What Will the Trump-Era Crackdown on Drug Ads Accomplish?
Late last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is overseen by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., drew a line in the sand over direct-to-consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies: In a post on X, the agency declared that drug ads “can push people to take drugs they don’t actually need. Americans often end up harmed instead of helped.”That’s why, the post continued, President Donald Trump and Kennedy “are taking action.”
Globe Cross SectionThe most immediate evidence of those efforts came the previous week, in the form of a presidential memorandum on what the administration views as “misleading” direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug ads. The same day, HHS and the Food and Drug Administration released a joint press release outlining that drug makers would now be required to substitute the abbreviated disclosures they’ve used since 1997 with full safety warnings, including conditions or situations that make taking the drug unsafe.
Despite the change in stance, however, it’s unclear if or when Americans will see fewer ads — or even ones that reflect the memo’s objectives. Legal challenges will almost certainly stymie the Trump administration’s most aggressive actions, and the history of pharmaceutical advertising in the United States is one of uneasy tension between consumer interest and corporate free speech.
The U.S. is one of just two wealthy countries where DTC ads for prescription drugs are legal. Estimates vary on how much money major drug companies spend on advertising. An upper bound estimate by The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, a coalition that promotes lower drug prices in the U.S., put the figure at nearly $14 billion, which includes the cost of promoting drugs to physicians.
Free speech. Unless, like, you're against genocide or something.
Lawyers are going to make bank off the years of protracted challenges, and nothing will change for consumers subsidizing heavy advertising spends.
What Will the Trump-Era Crackdown on Drug Ads Accomplish?
The federal government announced a new approach to regulating pharmaceutical ads. Consumers may not see a difference.Joshua Cohen (Undark Magazine)
How Trump Pressures the World Into Burning More Oil and Gas
As COP30 nears, the US’s pressure to keep fossil fuels relevant may empower petrostates, potentially giving them more leverage at the UN talks.
The extraordinary rise of electric cars in developing countries | Zero: The Climate Race
Something remarkable is unfolding in developing countries. From Nepal to Costa Rica, more people are buying electric cars than fossil-fuel vehicles, as battery prices plummet and cheap home-grown EVs come to market. And in China, more electric cars will be sold in the last quarter of this year than the total number of all cars sold in the US. Colin McKerracher, head of transport at BNEF, joins Akshat Rathi on Zero to unpack these trends, and what they mean for global oil demand.
- YouTube
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US detains British commentator Hamdi in middle of national speaking tour- will deport
U.S. immigration authorities detained British commentator Sami Hamdi, revoked his visa and said he would be deported rather than allowed to complete his speaking tour in the United States, a Homeland Security official said on Sunday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has Hamdi in custody, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin posted on social media site X. "Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country," she wrote.
Hamdi spoke at a gala for the Council on American Islamic Relations in Sacramento, California on Saturday and was scheduled to speak on Sunday at one of the group's events in Florida, the organization said in a statement.
CAIR said he was detained at San Francisco International Airport.
Conservative figures had been urging the Trump administration to expel Hamdi from the United States.
Hamdi has appeared as an analyst and commentator on British TV networks.
CAIR on Sunday called for his release and accused the Trump administration of detaining him over his criticism of the Israeli government.
Air traffic controllers to miss paycheck as shortages trigger flight delays, cancellations
Air traffic controllers will miss their biweekly paycheck, which would have gone out on Oct. 28, as the government shutdown continues.
It marks the first time during the shutdown — now in its 27th day — that controllers will go without a full paycheck.
Air traffic controllers are classified as essential employees, meaning they are required to report to work during a shutdown. However, officials say sick calls have noticeably increased in recent days.
Study Claims 4K/8K TVs Aren't Much Better Than HD To Your Eyes
Study Boldly Claims 4K And 8K TVs Aren't Much Better Than HD To Your Eyes, But Is It True?
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I can pretty confidently say that 4k is noticeable if you're sitting close to a big tv. I don't know that 8k would ever really be noticeable, unless the screen is strapped to your face, a la VR. For most cases, 1080p is fine, and there are other factors that start to matter way more than resolution after HD. Bit-rate, compression type, dynamic range, etc.
So, a 55-inch TV, which is pretty much the smallest 4k TV you could get when they were new, has benefits over 1080p at a distance of 7.5 feet... how far away do people watch their TVs from? Am I weird?
And at the size of computer monitors, for the distance they are from your face, they would always have full benefit on this chart. And even working into 8k a decent amount.
And that's only for people with typical vision, for people with above-average acuity, the benefits would start further away.
But yeah, for VR for sure, since having an 8k screen there would directly determine how far away a 4k flat screen can be properly re-created. If your headset is only 4k, a 4k flat screen in VR is only worth it when it takes up most of your field of view. That's how I have mine set up, but I would imagine most people would prefer it to be half the size or twice the distance away, or a combination.
So 8k screens in VR will be very relevant for augmented reality, since performance costs there are pretty low anyway. And still convey benefits if you are running actual VR games at half the physical panel resolution due to performance demand being too high otherwise. You get some relatively free upscaling then. Won't look as good as native 8k, but benefits a bit anyway.
There is also fixed and dynamic foveated rendering to think about, with an 8k screen, even running only 10% of it at that resolution and 20% at 4k, 30% at 1080p, and the remaining 40% at 540p, even with the overhead of so many foveation steps, you'll get a notable reduction in performance cost. Fixed foveated would likely need to lean higher towards bigger percentages of higher res, but has the performance advantage of not having to move around at all from frame to frame. Can benefit from more pre-planning and optimization.
I've got a LCD 55" TV and a 14" laptop. Ok the couch, the TV screen looks to me about as big as the laptop screen on my belly/lap, and I've got perfect vision; on the laptop I can clearly see the difference between 4k and FULL HD, on the TV, not so much.
I think TV screens aren't as good as PC ones, but also the TVs' image processors turn the 1080p files into better images than what computers do.
Hmm, I suppose quality of TV might matter. Not to mention actually going through the settings and making sure it isn't doing anything to process the signal. And also not streaming compressed crap to it. I do visit other peoples houses sometimes and definitely wouldn't know they were using a 4k screen to watch what they are watching.
But I am assuming actually displaying 4k content to be part of the testing parameters.
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8K would probably be really good for large computer monitors, due to viewing distances. It would be really taxing on the hardware if you were using it for gaming, but reasonable for tasks that aren't graphically intense.
Computer monitors (for productivity tasks) are a little different though in that you are looking at section of the screen rather than the screen as a whole as one might with video. So having extra screen real estate can be rather valuable.
Seriously, articles like this are just clickbait.
They also ignore all sorts of usecases.
Like for a desktop monitor, 4k is extremely noticeable vs even 1440P or 1080P/2k
Unless you're sitting very far away, the sharpness of text and therefore amount of readable information you can fit on the screen changes dramatically.
Complete bullshit articles. The same thing happened when 720p became 1080p. So many echos of “oh you won’t see the difference unless the screen is huge”… like no, you can see the difference on a tiny screen.
We’ll have these same bullshit arguments when 8k becomes the standard, and for every large upgrade from there.
I agree to a certain extent but there are diminishing returns, same with refreshrates. The leap from 1080 to 4k is big. I don't know how noticeable upgrading from 4k to 8k would be for the average TV setup.
For vr it would be awesome though
If you read RTINGS before buying a TV and setting it up in your room, you already knew this. Screen size and distance to TV are important for determining what resolution you actually need.
Most people sit way too far away from their 4K TV.
People that have their tiny displays on the opposite side of a room is so funny to me. It's a similar reaction I have to giant-guy tiny-car.
I remember one time I saw a maybe 27 inch computer monitor on the wall above a fireplace and it was just like.... I need to leave before I say something.
4K streams crush all of the dark colors and leave you with these nasty banding effects that I don’t see as often on lower resolution streams.
Reason #123798 why I watch archived copies of blu-rays (that were legally purchased completely legally) via Jellyfin/Plex.
The study used a 44 inch TV at 2.5m. The most commonly used calculator for minimum TV to distance says that at 2.5m the TV should be a least 60 inches.
My own informal tests at home with a 65 inch TV looking at 1080 versus 4K Remux of the same movie seems to go along with the distance calculator. At the appropriate distance or nearer I can see a difference if I am viewing critically (as opposed to casually). Beyond a certain distance the difference is not apparent.
Exactly. This title is just clickbait.
The actual study's title is "Resolution limit of the eye — how many pixels can we see?".
Can't believe I had to scroll down this far to find this:
Here’s the gut-punch for the typical living room, however. If you’re sitting the average 2.5 meters away from a 44-inch set, a simple Quad HD (QHD) display already packs more detail than your eye can possibly distinguish. The scientists made it crystal clear: once your setup hits that threshold, any further increase in pixel count, like moving from 4K to an 8K model of the same size and distance, hits the law of diminishing returns because your eye simply can't detect the added detail.
On a computer monitor, it's easily apparent because you're not sitting 2+ m away, and in a living room, 44" is tiny, by recent standards.
so there's an optimization problem in there somewhere
The optimization problem is actually the point of the study, encoded as PPD, which represents the density of a display's pixel per degree of your eye's field of vision. It says that any more than 53-94 PPD is imperceptible to most. You can see if your display makes the cutoff if you have the viewing distance and screen size here:
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The closest thing to "Smart TVs" in our home are Blu-Ray players, and they've never been network connected.
I like the ViewSonics we have, and we've had a series of NUCs over the years, but lately I'm finding that the N100/N150 fanless PCs like this are perfectly capable of HTPC duty: amazon.com/dp/B0CWV439YW
Kind of a tangent, but properly encoded 1080p video with a decent bitrate actually looks pretty damn good.
A big problem is that we've gotten so used to streaming services delivering visual slop, like YouTube's 1080p option which is basically just upscaled 720p and can even look as bad as 480p.
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I will die on this hill. And Youtube's 1080p is garbage on purpose so they get you to buy premium to unlock good 1080p. Assholes
A big problem is that we’ve gotten so used to streaming services delivering visual slop, like YouTube’s 1080p option which is basically just upscaled 720p and can even look as bad as 480p.
YouTube is locking the good bitrates behind the premium paywall and even as a premium users you don't get to select a high bitrate when the source video was low res.
That's why videos should be upscaled before upload to force YouTube into offering high bitrate options at all. A good upscaler produces better results than simply stretching low-res videos.
I think the premium thing is a channel option. Some channels consistently have it, some don't.
Regular YouTube 1080p is bad and feels like 720p. The encoding on videos with "Premium 1080p" is catastrophic. It's significantly worse than decently encoded 480p. Creators will put a lot of time and effort in their lighting and camera gear, then the compression artifacting makes the video feel like watching a porn bootleg on a shady site. I guess there must be a strong financial incentive to nuke their video quality this way.
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I didn’t get why HD tv was relevant at all. I really did not understand that for a couple years.
Then I got glasses.
I suspect 4k matters for screens of a certain size or if you sit really close, but most of us don’t so it doesn’t matter.
I can immediately tell when a game is running at 1080p on my 2K monitor (yeah, I'm not interested in 4K over higher refresh rate, so I'm picking the middle ground.)
Its blatantly obvious when everything suddenly looks muddy and washed together.
simply incorrect.
in some circumstances sure 1080p is sufficient, but if the tv is big, close, or both. then 4k is a definite and noticeable improvement.
4k looks sharper as long as the actual content is real 4k, even from afar.
Yeah tell that to my sister, who wants 4k for her laptop simply because she's heard 4k is better 4 times 1080p, she's buying a 13 inch.
Small numbers are just not sufficient for some people. I know if I send this article to her, I'll be questioned "why do you not want me to see happy?". So instead I just watch my nephews collage fund contribution shrink.
Sorry it became a rant of family tech guy.
well yes a microscopic 4k display is no different than a 1080p one to our eyes.
but theyre claiming it doesnt matter on TVs in the usual setting which is just untrue.
if you think about it
I tried that, and I'm not totally sure about the correctness of my numbers, but your numbers intuitively seem off to me:
a 50" 1080p TV is almost 10x the size [of a 7" screen]
How did you arrive at this? I'd argue a 50" screen is much more than 10 times the size of a 7" screen.
The inches are measured diagonally, and I see how 50" is somewhat "almost 10x" of 7", as 49" would be 7 times longer diagonally than a 7", and 7.something is " almost" 10.
But if we assume both screens have a 16:9 ratio, the 50" screen has a width of ≈110.69 cm and height of ≈62.26 cm, while the 7" is only ≈15.50 by ≈8.72 cm.
The area of the 7" is 135.08 cm² while for the 50" it's ≈6891.92 cm². The ratio between these two numbers is ≈51.02, which I believe means the 50" screen is more than 51x the physical size.
At least, that number seems more realistic to me. I'm looking at my 6.7" phone screen right now and comparing it to my 55" TV screen, and it seems very possible that the phone screen could fit more than 50 times inside the TV screen, not just "almost 10x".
If I totally misunderstood you, please explain what you mean.
My numbers for width and height were calculated using this display calculator site that someone else mentioned somewhere under this post, and I rounded the decimals after doing the calculations with all decimals included.
Haha no, you have not misunderstood at all! I was just driving a point and I did no calculations whatsoever, by that «50" is almost 10x 7"» I did mean that 50 is "almost" 70 and nothing else x) As your calculations show, it's actually a much bigger difference in area, but that stat seemed enough to make my point and easier to understand 😀
Thank you for actually thinking about it and taking the time to do the math \^^
Oh, I see. But yeah, it's a pretty big difference.
You're welcome. I like to think that I like thinking about things and stuff.
Yes, but wouldn't we be using % of your vision vs pixels in display? Steam deck being right in front of my face and tv 5 or 6 metres away etc.
Absolutely higher res does look sharper though, which is great for movies etc. I'm more coming from a performance vs visual fidelity ratio. What I'm trying to express is that given 800p still looks surprisingly good, I'm starting to question the industry pushing higher resolution displays for gaming applications.
Me getting 480p videos for my video projector : "Oh... no really?" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
PS: FWIW I do have a Vision Pro (for work, I didn't pay for it personally) so I technically could enjoy high res content... but honestly I can't bother using this to watch videos. I'm fine with just my desktop screen or video projector. I just don't get the high res.
Heh, I'm getting back to physical media, and this big 4K TV is literally the first time ever where I've actually constantly noticed that DVDs might get a bit pixely.
(And even so, I usually blame not so great digitisation. Some transfers of old obscure titles were really sloppy, you really didn't need a great TV to see the problems. Original was a black and white movie, the DVD was a bunch of grey mush.)
4k with shit streaming bitrate is barely better than high bitrate 1080p
But full bitrate 4k from a Blu-ray IS better.
But full bitrate 4k from a Blu-ray IS better.
Full Blu-Ray quality 1080p sources will look significantly better than Netflix 4K.
Hence why "4K" doesn't actually matter unless your panel is gigantic or you're sitting very close to it. Resolution is a very small part of our perceived notion of quality.
You know what would sell like hot cakes? A dumb TV with Dolby Vision support.
I went down the rabbit hole of finding a large HDR monitor and adapters to trick end devices to output player-led Dolby Vision to a HDR monitors, because I don't need my TV to have a complete OS with streaming services and adverts integrated.
In the end I couldn't find anything that didn't have drawbacks. It's something that could easily exist but there are no manufacturers bold enough to implement it.
Streaming tech moves so fast, I want to add it to my TV through hardware like a fire stick, not to become dependent on the TV manufacturer putting out updates until it's 'Out-of-support'.
I went with a TV and disabled as much of the junk as I could with a service remote and just never connected it to the internet, but jumping through these hoops seems so silly.
And on top of that, I've had to switch to a universal remote, because the one that comes with the TV activates a cursor on screen when it senses movement which is a "feature" you can't switch off.
I just want a remote with on/off, input, and volume control 😭
I think high end smasnugs do that.
But yeah same, I have a Chromecast and I just sling stuff to the TV. Its tuner hasn't been used in a decade.
Speaking of decade.... I should probably upgrade that thing. But it's big enough, dark enough (LDC, but at least not a crappy LCD), and high enough resolution for it's size and distance from my couch (1080, 50 inches, 10 or 15 feet) that I just can't justify replacing it. I wish it would die already lol.
Maybe if I move and get a big enough bedroom, I'll put it in there, and upgrade to something with HDR. I really wanna get in on some good HDR. Seems like it's getting really good and really affordable if you buy the right thing.
The colours on OLED are impressive on Dolby Vision content from my Google Streamer, I'll admit, but yea, I'm basically using my TV to display content from external hardware, the tuner, WiFi, Bluetooth etc will all be dormant it's entire life.
I don't know if this will age like my previous belief that PS1 had photo-realistic graphics, but I feel like 4k is the peak for TVs. I recently bought a 65" 4k TV and not only is it the clearest image I've ever seen, but it takes up a good chunk of my livingroom. Any larger would just look ridiculous.
Unless the average person starts using abandoned cathedrals as their livingrooms, I don't see how larger TVs with even higher definition would even be practical. Especially if you consider we already have 8k for those who do use cathedral entertainment systems.
(Most) TVs still have a long way to go with color space and brightness. AKA HDR. Not to speak of more sane color/calibration standards to make the picture more consistent, and higher 'standard' framerates than 24FPS.
But yeah, 8K... I dunno about that. Seems like a massive waste. And I am a pixel peeper.
I respectfully disagree. Folk's eyes are 'used' to 24P, but native 48 or 60 looks infinitely better, especially when stuff is filmed/produced with that in mind.
But at a bare minimum, baseline TVs should at least eliminate jitter with 24P content by default, and offer better motion clarity by moving on from LCDs, using black frame insertion or whatever.
Are you sure about that? You likely use DPI scaling at 4K, and you’re likely limited by physical screen size unless you already use a 50” TV (which is equivalent to 4x standard 25” 1080p monitors).
8K would only help at like 65”+, which is kinda crazy for a monitor on a desk… Awesome if you can swing it, but most can’t.
I tangentially agree though. PCs can use “extra” resolution for various things like upscaling, better text rendering and such rather easily.
I’ve used 5K some.
IMO the only ostensible benefit is for computer type stuff. It gives them more headroom to upscale content well, to avoid anti aliasing or blurry, scaled UI rendering, stuff like that. 4:1 rendering (to save power) would be quite viable too.
Another example would be editing workflows, for 1:1 pixel mapping of content while leaving plenty of room for the UI.
But for native content? Like movies?
Pointless, unless you are ridiculously close to a huge display, even if your vision is 20/20. And it’s too expensive to be worth it: I’d rather that money go into other technical aspects, easily.
It's all about the baseline.
Cinematic, Blu Ray bitrate 1080p vs 4K is not too dramatic.
Compressed streams though? Or worse production quality? 4K raises the baseline dramatically. It's much harder to stream bad-looking 4K than it is 1080p, especially since '4K' usually implies certain codecs/standards.
Study Boldly Claims 4K And 8K TVs Aren't Much Better Than HD To Your Eyes, But Is It True?
The rare exception to Betteridge's Law.
But yeah, this matches my experience. I can tell the difference between 1080 and 4k from my couch if I work at it, but not enough to impact my enjoyment of what I'm watching, and definitely not as much as the difference HDR makes.
Even at computer monitor distance, running a 4k monitor at 1440 with high pixel density is probably going to be a better experience than wrenching every single pixel you can get out of it. Framerate is better than resolution for gaming, for the most part.
So I have a pet theory on studies like that. There are many things out there that many of us take for granted and as givens in our daily lives. But there are likely equally as many people out there to which this knowledge is either unknown or not actually apparent. Reasoning for that can be a myriad of things; like due to a lack of experience in the given area, skepticism that their anecdotal evidence is truly correct despite appearances, and on and on.
What these "obvious thing is obvious" studies accomplish is setting a factual precedent for the people in the back. The people who are uninformed, not experienced enough, skeptical, contrarian, etc.
The studies seem wasteful upfront, but sometimes a thing needs to be said aloud to galvanize the factual evidence and give basis to the overwhelming anecdotal evidence.
The other important detail to note is that screen size and distance to your TV also matters. The larger the TV, the more a higher resolution will offer a perceived benefit. Stretching a 1080p image across a 75-inch display, for example, won't look as sharp as a 4K image on that size TV. As the age old saying goes, "it depends."
literally in the article you are claiming to be correct, maybe should try reading sometime.
Yes, but you got yourself real pissy over it and have just now admitted that the one piece of criticism you had in your original comment was already addressed in the article. Obviously if we start talking about situations that are extreme outliers there will be edge cases but you’re not adding anything to the conversation by acting like you’ve found some failure that, in reality, the article already addressed.
I’m not sure you have the reading the comprehension and/or the intention to have any kind of real conversation to continue this discussion further.
I like how you’re calling bullshit on a study because you ~feel~ like you know better.
Read the report, and go check the study. They note that the biggest gains in human visibility for displays comes from contrast (largest reason), brightness, and color accuracy. All of which has drastically increased over the last 15 years. Look at a really good high end 1080p monitor and a low end 4k monitor and you will actively choose the 1080p monitor. It’s more pleasing to the eye, and you don’t notice the difference in pixel size at that scale.
Sure distance plays some level of scale, but they also noted that by performing the test at the same distance with the same size. They’re controlling for a variable you aren’t even controlling for in your own comment.
This is highly dependent on screen size and viewing distance.
On a computer screen or a phone screen? No, it's not really noticeable. Hell, on some phone screen sizes/distances, you might not even be able to tell 720p vs 1080p.
On a 120"+ projector screen? Yes, it is definitely noticeable.
I have a small home theater and picked up a refurbished 4K LED projector (Epson 3200) coming from an old 1080DLP (Viewsonic 8200) - massive difference!
This is literally the only truly important part after a certain threshold. I have a 34”, 1440p monitor and the text is noticeably better than any 1080p screen. It’s entirely legible and 4K would not provide a new benefit except maybe a lighter wallet. It’s also 100Mhz which is again beyond the important threshold.
The only time I can see 4K being essentially necessary is for projectors because those screens end up being massive. My friend has a huge 7’ something screen in the basement so we noticed a difference but that’s such an outlier it should really be a footnote, not a reason to choose 4K for anything under 5’(arbitrary-ish number).
If my quick calculations are correct, the 70 inches screen at 1080p has a pixel size of about 0.7 mm give or take, where 4k would be about 0.1-0.2.
0.1mm is a smallest size of a thing a human could potentially see under very strict conditions. A pixel smaller than a millimeter will be invisible from a meter away. I really, really doubt its humanly possible to see the difference from the distances a person would be watching tv.
The thing is, the newer 4k tvs are just built better, nicer colour contrast, more uniformed lighting, clearer glass, and that might be the effect you're seeing
Uh... Hol up. So if we can maybe see down to 0.2 mm and the 1080p screen has 0.7 mm pixels... That's pretty much what I'm saying. 1080p is noticeably grainy.
The text in 4k looks crisper. I concur I can't count individual pixels, but reading game menus in 1080p feels rougher and makes me squint. Reading in 4k feels more like reading on print paper or a good e-eeader.
This and yes, the build quality of newer screens also contributes.
Basically you are in a study which calculated for you what people ought to be able to see and you insisted on redoing the calculation yourself incorrectly. The study says people factually can distinguish up to 94 pixels per degree. a 70" screen at a meter away is 24 PPD. You yourself could have easily eye balled 2 screens and come to the correct conclusion but are instead asserting nonsense.
Did you notice that FHD tvs larger than 40" literally don't exist in stores? If people literally couldn't see more than 24 PPD than at the more typical 10 feet viewing distance a 70" screen at 640x480 would be just as good as a 70" 1080p was at a meter away! For a 50" you could go down to 320x480! Still 24PPD
Old people with bad eyesight watching their 50" 12 feet away in their big ass living room vs young people with good eyesight 5 feet away from their 65-70" playing a game might have inherently differing opinions.
12' 50" FHD = 112 PPD
5' 70" FHD = 36 PPD
The study basically says that FHD is about as good as you can get 10 feet away on a 50" screen all other things being equal. That doesn't seem that unreasonable
They don't need to this study does it for them. 94 pixels per degree is the top end of perceptible. On a 50" screen 10 feet away 1080p = 93. Closer than 10 feet or larger than 50 or some combination of both and its better to have a higher resolution.
For millennials home ownership has crashed but TVs are cheaper and cheaper. For the half of motherfuckers rocking their 70" tv that cost $600 in their shitty apartment where they sit 8 feet from the TV its pretty obvious 4K is better at 109 v 54
Also although the article points out that there are other features that matter as much as resolution these aren't uncorrelated factors. 1080p TVs of any size in 2025 are normally bargain basement garbage that suck on all fronts.
"4k" is supposed to be a term for cinema widescreen resolution, but got taken over because it's short and marketable because "4k is 4x as many pixels as 1080p"
What makes it worse is that then 1440p becomes 2k because "it's 2x as many pixels"
The flip flop irks me
They shouldn't use numbers at all tbh. QQVGA, QVGA, VGA, q(uarter)HD, HD, Full HD, QHD, UHD and so on works for all aspect ratios, and you can even specify by adding prefixes like FW (full wide) VGA would be 480p at 16:9. It gets a little confusing cause sometimes the acronyms are inconsistent (and PAL throws a wrench on everything), but the system works.
PS: I also don't like that 540p is called qHD cause it's a quarter of Full HD.
Really depends on the size of the screen, the viewing distance, and your age/eye condition. For more people 720 or 1080 is just fine. With 4k, you will get some better detail on the fabric on clothes and environments, but not a huge difference.
8k is gonna be a huge waste and will fail.
If you’re sitting the average 2.5 meters away from a 44-inch set, a simple Quad HD (QHD) display already packs more detail than your eye can possibly distinguish. The scientists made it crystal clear: once your setup hits that threshold, any further increase in pixel count, like moving from 4K to an 8K model of the same size and distance, hits the law of diminishing returns because your eye simply can't detect the added detail.
I commend them on their study of human eye "pixels-per-degree" perception resolution limit, but there are some caveats to the article title and their findings.
First of all, nobody recommends a 44-inch TV for 2.5 metres, I watch from the same distance and I think the minimum recommended 4k TV size for that distance was 55 inches.
Second, I'm not sure many QHD TVs are being offered, market mostly offers 4k or 1080p TVs, QHDs would be a small percentage.
And QHDs are already pretty noticable quality jump over 1080p, I've noticed on my gaming rig. So basically if you do the jump from 1080p to 4K, and watch 4k quality content, from the right distance - most people are absolutely gonna notice that quality difference.
For 8Ks I don't know, you probably do get into diminishing returns there unless you have a wall-sized TV or watch it from very close.
But yeah, clickbaity titled article, mostly.
Credentials like "made my living in hardware" are both non-specific and non-verifiable they mean nothing. I have 2 27" 4K 60hz monitors because last gen hardware just isn't that expensive.
When not gaming this looks nicer than 2x FHD and I run it in either 1080 or 4K depending on the game depending on what settings need to be set to get a consistent 60 FPS. My hardware isn't poverty level nor is it expensive. An entry level Mac would be more expensive.
Leaving aside gaming isn't it obvious to you that 4K looks nicer in desktop use or are your eyes literally failing?
I have 2 collage diplomas and worked 10 years in the industry at IBM alone. Your not going to cow me or tell me I have no credentials, those accusations mean nothing. I don't really get why you are so very aggressively pushing this nonsense, do you just love tech slop so much? Are you getting a kickback with every 4k monitor sold? Why of all the hills to die on it is this?
And no, 4k desktops do not "look nicer", it is stupid and tiny for no reason. Unless you have like 250 shortcuts on your desktop what is the point?
On the internet where you go by "Moonpoo" you in fact have no credentials because nobody can verify anything.
It is in a way hilarious to imagine that IBM is so broken that its employees can't figure out how to make fonts not tiny on 4K. You must have been a manager.
Oh IBM is way more broken then that. But by making the fonts bigger so you can read them on a 4k monitor is not the augment you think it is for 4k...
But hey as long as everyone buys monitors for roughly 3x the price then its all good then, right? I think you are even losing the plot here on WHY people should buy 4K or higher monitors. There are fringe cases, of course, but the vast majority of time its just a fool and their money soon to be parted.
Basically every modern OS in existence including Linux supports proper scaling for higher resolution displays. You don't just have to make the text bigger. Proper scaling is implemented. Integer scaling is best supported.
linux-hardware.org/?view=mon_r…
Let's look at desktop users
4k = 13.7% of Linux users
QHD = 12.4%
3440x1440 = 3.9%
30% of desktop users are using > FHD
The study says that users can appreciate resolutions up to 94 pixels per degree. A FHD 27" monitor at 18" distance is 29 PPD. At 4K its 58. Users can appreciate the fact that a 4K display is much better.
And no, 4k desktops do not “look nicer”, it is stupid and tiny for no reason. Unless you have like 250 shortcuts on your desktop what is the point?And no, 4k desktops do not “look nicer”, it is stupid and tiny for no reason. Unless you have like 250 shortcuts on your desktop what is the point?
Couldn't find the setting called scale on your windows desktop? Ok mr manager. Do you also call IT when your monitor is turned off to tell them your CPU is broken?
Ok mr manager. Do you also call IT when your monitor is turned off to tell them your CPU is broken?
What are you on about, just tell me why anyone who likes money should buy a 4k or more monitor? So I can fiddle with my desktop settings? Is this a arch thing?
And no, 4k desktops do not “look nicer”, it is stupid and tiny for no reason. Unless you have like 250 shortcuts on your desktop what is the point?
if you have an ultra-high desktop resolution, you're probably using a scaling factor to make everything look about the same size it would otherwise be at ~ 1080p.. windows will even default to something around that.. just no 'jaggies'.
so yea, it does 'look nicer' and no, everything is not 'stupid and tiny'.
What about the vast majority of people who stare at screens for work?
Frame rates aren't really important, it's making things more readable in less space.
The cost / benefit is a completely different dynamic.
Oh I said it before there are use cases. Most working monitors are 1080p since excel is not really benefited from 4k+. However I have seen some graphic designers want the higher resolutions for example.
The vast majority of people working will get pissed at you if you changed their monitor to an ultra high resolution (I have been the one getting yelled at) without scaling it to look like 1080p. No one wants to squint to use their workstation.
There's this thing called scaling that allows you to see things in an appropriate size but higher definition.
Anyone who uses spreadsheets regularly wants the extra real estate. Anyone who works with complex documents wants the extra real estate.
It's not about more dots on your 24 inch, it's about larger monitors that can display more stuff simultaneously. Instead of 4x 1080p monitors you can have 2x larger 4k monitors. Offer this to anyone who makes money by staring at a screen all day and they'll tell you it's worth it.
Anyone who uses spreadsheets regularly wants the extra real estate. Anyone who works with complex documents wants the extra real estate.
And yet as I have stated this is not the case for most users. I remember when a national here bank decided to do an "upgrade" to 4k monitors there was so much push back from users (in this case mortgage lending) that after installing the monitors I was back two weeks later to change them back.
People who use spreadsheets regularly (myself included) would rather have a second monitor or a bigger one then one 4k one. I have a 32 inch 1080p monitor as my secondary and it works great at a cheap price. I went with one that is brighter and a slower refresh rate since I don't need or want that on a secondary. And if you are going big why spend the money on a 4k one if you are just going to use scaling anyway?
I have a 32 inch 1080p monitor as my secondary
I honestly find this hard to believe. I have 2x 32 inch monitors on my desk and in 1920x1080 they're ugly to the point of distraction.
if you are going big why spend the money on a 4k one if you are just going to use scaling anyway?
4k isn't that expensive. you can get 32 inch 4k monitors for a few hundred dollars.
Scaling is not the same as reducing the resolution.
Here’s the gut-punch for the typical living room, however. If you’re sitting the average 2.5 meters away from a 44-inch set, a simple Quad HD (QHD) display already packs more detail than your eye can possibly distinguish.
That seems in line with common knowledge? Say you want to keep your viewing angle at ~40º for a home cinema, at 2.5m of distance, that means your TV needs to have an horizontal length of ~180cm, which corresponds to ~75" diagonal, give or take a few inches depending on the aspect ratio.
For a more conservative 30° viewing angle, at the same distance, you'd need a 55" TV. So, 4K is perceivable at that distance regardless, and 8K is a waste of everyone's time and money.
1080 > 2160 is for sure not the leap 720 > 1080, or 480 > 720 was in the average environment that's for sure.
The study doesn't actually claim that. The actual title is "Study Boldly Claims 4K And 8K TVs Aren't Much Better Than HD To Your Eyes, But Is It True?" As with all articles that ask a question the answer is either NO or its complicated.
It says that we can distinguish up to 94 pixels per degree or about 1080p on a 50" screen at 10 feet away.
This means that on a 27" monitor 18" away
1080p: 29
4K: 58
8K: 116
A 40" TV 8 feet away/50" TV 10 feet away
1080p: 93
A 70" TV 8 feet away
1080p: 54
4K: 109
8K: 218
A 90" TV 10 feet away
1080p: 53
4K: 106
8K: 212
Conclusion: 1080p is good for small TVs relatively far away. 4K makes sense for reasonably large or close TV Up to 8K makes sense for monitors.
You appeared to be complaining that OP's title didn't match the article title, and I was only pointing out the article's title has changed since OP posted.
My apologies if I misread.
The resolution (4k in this case) defines the number of pixels to be shown to the user. The bitrate defines how much data is provided in the file or stream. A codec is the method for converting data to pixels.
Suppose you've recorded something in 1080p (low resolution). You could convert it to 4k, but the codec has to make up the pixels that can't be computed from the data.
In summary, the TV in my living room might be more capable, but my streaming provider probably isn't sending enough data to really use it.
For an ELI5 explanation, this is what happens when you lower the bit rate: youtu.be/QEzhxP-pdos
No matter the resolution you have of the video, if the amount of information per frame is so low that it has to lump different coloured pixels together, it will look like crap.
Do I look like I know what a JPEG is?
I REUPLOADED THIS VIDEO AS NON AGE RESTRICTED HERE:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmaUIyvy8E8Windows Paint is not always the best choice when editing images...YouTube
I'll add another explanation for bitrate that I find understandable: You can think of resolution as basically the max quality of a display, no matter the bitrate, you can't display more information/pixwls than the screen possess. Bitrate, on the other hand, represents how much information you are receiving from e.g. Netflix. If you didn't use any compression, in HDR each pixel would require 30 bits, or 3.75 bytes of data. A 4k screen has 8 million pixels. An HDR stream running at 60 fps would require about 1.7GB/s of download wihout any compression. Bitrate is basically the measure of that, how much we've managed to compress that data flow. There are many ways you can achieve this compression, and a lot of it relates to how individual codecs work, but put simply, one of the many methods effectively involves grouping pixels into larger blocks (e.g. 32x32 pixels) and saying they all have the same colour. As a result, at low bitrates you'll start to see blocking and other visual artifacts that significantly degrade the viewing experience.
As a side note, one cool thing that codecs do (not sure if literally all of them do it, but I think most by far), is that not each frame is encoded in its entirety. You have, I, P and B frames. I frames (also known as keyframes) are a full frame, they're fully defined and are basically like a picture. P frames don't define every pixel, instead they define the difference between their frame and the previous frame, e.g. that the pixel at x: 210 y: 925 changed from red to orange. B frames do the same, but they use both previous and future frames for reference. That's why you might sometimes notice that in a stream, even when the quality isn't changing, every couple of seconds the picture will become really clear, before gradually degrading in quality, and then suddenly jumping up in quality again.
This is true. That said, if can't tell the difference between 1080p and 4K from the pixels alone, then either your TV is too small, or you're sitting too far away. In which case there's no point in going with 4K.
At the right seating distance, there is a benefit to be had even by going with an 8K TV. However, very few people sit close enough/have a large enough screen to benefit from going any higher than 4K:
Source: rtings.com/tv/learn/what-is-th…
What Is TV Resolution?
The resolution of a television is the number of pixels in each dimension that the TV can display natively. While the resolution isn't the only aspect of picture quality, it is important.RTINGS.com
Selling TVs and monitors is an established business with common interest, while optimizing people's setups isn't.
It's a bit like opposite to building a house, a cubic meter or two of cut wood doesn't cost very much, even combined with other necessary materials, but to get usable end result people still hire someone other than workers to do the physical labor parts.
There are those "computer help" people running around helping grannies clean Windows from viruses (I mean those who are not scammers), they probably need to incorporate. Except then such corporate entities will likely be sued without end by companies willing to sell new shit. Balance of power.
The main advantage in 4K TVs "looking better" are...
- HDR support. Especially Dolby Vision, gives noticeably better picture in bright scenes.
- Support for higher framerates. This is only really useful for gaming, at least until they broadcast sports at higher framerates.
- The higher resolution is mostly wasted on video content where for the most part the low shutter speed blurs any moving detail anyway. For gaming it does look better, even if you have to cheat with upscaling and DLSS.
- The motion smoothing. This is a controversial one, because it makes movies look like swirly home movies. But the types of videos used in the shop demos (splashing slo-mo paints, slow shots of jungles with lots of leaves, dripping honey, etc) does look nice with the motion interpolation switched on. They certainly don't show clips of the latest blockbuster movies like that, because it will become rapidly apparent just how jarring that looks.
The higher resolution is just one part of it, and it's not the most important one. You could have the other features on a lower resolution screen, but there's no real commercial reason to do that, because large 4K panels are already cheaper than the 1080p ones ever were. The only real reason to go higher than 4K would be for things where the picture wraps around you, and you're only supposed to be looking at a part of it. e.g. 180 degree VR videos and special screens like the Las Vegas Sphere.
i can confirm 4K and up add nothing for me compared to 1080p and even 720p. As long as i can recognize the images, who cares. Higher resolution just means you see more sweat, pimples, and the like.
edit: wait correction. 4K does add something to my viewing experience which is a lot of lagging due to the GPU not being able to keep up.
Same.
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- YouTube
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I have 65" 4K TV that runs in tandem with Beelink S12 pro mini-pc. I ran mini in FHD mode to ease up on resources and usually just watch streams/online content on it which is 99% 1080p@60. Unless compression is bad, I don't feel much difference. In fact, my digitalized DVDs look good even in their native resolution.
For me 4K is a nice-to-have but not a necessity when consuming media. 1080p still looks crisp with enough bitrate.
I'd add that maybe this 4K-8K race is sort of like mp3@320kbps vs flac/wav. Both sound good when played on a decent system. But say, flac is nicer on a specific hardware that a typical consumer wouldn't buy. Almost none of us own studio-grade 7.1 sytems at home. JBL speaker is what we have and I doubt flac sounds noticeably better on it against mp3@192kbps.
Interestingly enough, I was casually window browsing TVs and was surprised to find that LG killed off their OLED 8K TVs a couple years ago!
Until/if we get to a point where more people want/can fit 110in+ TVs into their living rooms - 8K will likely remain a niche for the wealthy to show off, more than anything.
Yeah, when I got my most recent GPU, my plan had been to also get a 4k monitor and step up from 1440p to 4k. But when I was sorting through the options to find the few with decent specs all around, I realized that there was nothing about 1440p that left me dissapointed and the 4k monitor I had used at work already indicated that I'd just be zooming the UI anyways.
Plus even with the new GPU, 4k numbers weren't as good as 1440p numbers, and stutters/frame drops are still annoying... So I ended up just getting an ultra-wide 1440p monitor that was much easier to find good specs for and won't bother with 4k for a monitor until maybe one day if it becomes the minimum, kinda like how analog displays have become much less available than digital displays, even if some people still prefer the old ones for some purposes. I won't dig my heels in and refuse to move on to 4k, but I don't see any value added over 1440p. Same goes for 8k TVs.
I don't like large 4k displays because the resolution is so good it breaks the immersion when you watch a movie. You can see that they are on a set sometimes, or details of clothing in medieval movies that give away they were created with modern sewing equipment.
It's a bit of a stupid reason I guess, but that's why I don't want to go above 1080p for tv's.
Quality of the system is such a massive dependency here, I can well believe that someone watching old reruns from a shitty streaming service that is upscaled to 1080p or 4k by their TV they purchased from the supermarket with coupons collected from their breakfast cereal is going to struggle to tell the difference.
Likewise if you fed the TVs with a high end 4k blu ray player and any blu ray considered reference such as Interstellar, you are still going to struggle to tell the difference, even with a more midrange TV unless the TVs get comically large for the viewing distance so that the 1080p screen starts to look pixelated.
I think very few people would expect their old wired apple earphones they got free with their iphone 4 would expect amazing sound from them, yet people seem to be ignoring the same for cheap TVs. I am not advocating for ultra high end audio/videophile nonsense with systems costing 10s of thousands, just that quite large and noticeable gains are available much lower down the scale.
Depending what you watch and how you watch it, good quality HDR for the right content is an absolute home run for difference between standard 1080p and 4k HDR if your TV can do true black. Shit TVs do HDR shitterly, its just not comparable to a decent TV and source. Its like playing high rez loss less audio on those old apple wired earphones vs. playing low bitrate MP3s.
Lawsuits against banks with Epstein ties may shed new light on financier’s crimes
Meanwhile, banks who had done business with Epstein, although not admitting wrongdoing, paid hundreds of millions in settlements to victims. Donald Trump even made releasing the Epstein investigative files part of his campaign platform, and doubled down on his promise to do so early this year.
In the end, Trump’s justice department did not release these files, and his administration has become embroiled in reports about social ties between him and Epstein. Congressional promises to release files have lagged, due to political jockeying and justice department foot-dragging.
But two new lawsuits could shed light on Epstein’s activities amid the stalemate – regardless of their outcome.
These lawsuits, filed by an anonymous plaintiff against Bank of America and the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), allege that these financial powerhouses illicitly enabled Epstein’s sex trafficking. The suits are helmed by Sigrid S McCawley, of Boies Schiller Flexner, and Brad Edwards of Edwards Henderson, who have long represented Epstein victims.
Lawsuits against banks with Epstein ties may shed new light on financier’s crimes
Experts say claim banks enabled Epstein will be difficult to prove but other outcomes could provide solace to victimsVictoria Bekiempis (The Guardian)
U.S. Postal Service Cuts Funding for a Phoenix Mail Room Assisting Homeless People
He and thousands of others have received mail here for years. They use the address for job applications, for medication, to receive benefits like food stamp cards and even to vote. And for 20 years, the U.S. Postal Service provided at least 20% of the mail room’s budget.
But last month, the postal service ended its support of $24,000 a year because a nearby post office is “able to fully serve the community,” a spokesperson said in a statement to ProPublica.
Unlike a standard post office, Keys to Change allows people to receive mail without a government ID, a common problem for some who are homeless.
Phoenix Mail Room for Homeless People Loses Funding
The loss of support comes at a time of uncertainty for one of Arizona’s largest homeless services providers as the Trump administration calls for reducing and restructuring homelessness assistance grants.ProPublica
10M people watched a YouTuber shim a lock; the lock company sued him. Bad idea.
Yeah, it's the Streisand Effect.
“Opening locks” might not sound like scintillating social media content, but Trevor McNally has turned lock-busting into online gold. A former US Marine Staff Sergeant, McNally today has more than 7 million followers and has amassed more than 2 billion views just by showing how easy it is to open many common locks by slapping, picking, or shimming them.This does not always endear him to the companies that make the locks.
On March 3, 2025, a Florida lock company called Proven Industries released a social media promo video just begging for the McNally treatment. The video was called, somewhat improbably, “YOU GUYS KEEP SAYING YOU CAN EASILY BREAK OFF OUR LATCH PIN LOCK.” In it, an enthusiastic man in a ball cap says he will “prove a lot of you haters wrong.” He then goes hard at Proven’s $130 model 651 trailer hitch lock with a sledgehammer, bolt cutters, and a crowbar.
Naturally, the lock hangs tough.
An Instagram user brought the lock to McNally’s attention by commenting, “Let’s introduce it to the @mcnallyofficial poke.” Someone from Proven responded, saying that McNally only likes “the cheap locks lol because they are easy and fast.” Proven locks were said to be made of sterner stuff.
But on April 3, McNally posted a saucy little video to social media platforms. In it, he watches the Proven promo video while swinging his legs and drinking a Juicy Juice. He then hops down from his seat, goes over to a Proven trailer hitch lock, and opens it in a matter of seconds using nothing but a shim cut from a can of Liquid Death. He says nothing during the entire video, which has been viewed nearly 10 million times on YouTube alone.
What happens next won't surprise you!
10M people watched a YouTuber shim a lock; the lock company sued him. Bad idea.
It’s still legal to pick locks, even when you swing your legs.Nate Anderson (Ars Technica)
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Republicans post notice that no federal food aid will go out Nov. 1
The new notice comes after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November. That program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”
‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
Marina Dunbar in Forest Hills
Mon 27 Oct 2025 06.00 EDT
For Mitch, the key issues facing NYC right now are “safety, the trains being safe, and affordability”, adding that while he’s skeptical about whether Mamdani can deliver on all his promises, he’s open-minded. “I don’t know who’s going to pay for all this stuff he wants done … but I’m going in open-minded, and just hoping somebody is offering some alternatives.”Brooklyn, 30, also from Astoria, said their top priorities were protecting LGBTQ rights and tackling the city’s affordability crisis. “I think Mamdani is doing a great job of addressing everything I’m concerned about,” they said.
Nicole, 30, echoed that sentiment, praising Mamdani’s authenticity: “I feel like Mamdani is very genuine in his responses in a way that isn’t typically seen in most politicians. He’s a little less lip service-y than usual.”
‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
Thousands pack Forest Hills stadium on Sunday night, voicing their excitement and hope for changeMarina Dunbar (The Guardian)
‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/38142040
Marina Dunbar in Forest Hills
Mon 27 Oct 2025 06.00 EDT
For Mitch, the key issues facing NYC right now are “safety, the trains being safe, and affordability”, adding that while he’s skeptical about whether Mamdani can deliver on all his promises, he’s open-minded. “I don’t know who’s going to pay for all this stuff he wants done … but I’m going in open-minded, and just hoping somebody is offering some alternatives.”Brooklyn, 30, also from Astoria, said their top priorities were protecting LGBTQ rights and tackling the city’s affordability crisis. “I think Mamdani is doing a great job of addressing everything I’m concerned about,” they said.
Nicole, 30, echoed that sentiment, praising Mamdani’s authenticity: “I feel like Mamdani is very genuine in his responses in a way that isn’t typically seen in most politicians. He’s a little less lip service-y than usual.”
‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
Marina Dunbar in Forest Hills
Mon 27 Oct 2025 06.00 EDTFor Mitch, the key issues facing NYC right now are “safety, the trains being safe, and affordability”, adding that while he’s skeptical about whether Mamdani can deliver on all his promises, he’s open-minded. “I don’t know who’s going to pay for all this stuff he wants done … but I’m going in open-minded, and just hoping somebody is offering some alternatives.”Brooklyn, 30, also from Astoria, said their top priorities were protecting LGBTQ rights and tackling the city’s affordability crisis. “I think Mamdani is doing a great job of addressing everything I’m concerned about,” they said.
Nicole, 30, echoed that sentiment, praising Mamdani’s authenticity: “I feel like Mamdani is very genuine in his responses in a way that isn’t typically seen in most politicians. He’s a little less lip service-y than usual.”
‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
Thousands pack Forest Hills stadium on Sunday night, voicing their excitement and hope for changeMarina Dunbar (The Guardian)
New image-generating AIs are being used for fake expense reports
The fact that workers with expense accounts still feel they're getting paid so little that they deserve to commit fraud says something about that stratum of employee.
Businesses are increasingly being deceived by employees using artificial intelligence for an age-old scam: faking expense receipts.The launch of new image-generation models by top AI groups such as OpenAI and Google in recent months has sparked an influx of AI-generated receipts submitted internally within companies, according to leading expense software platforms.
Software provider AppZen said fake AI receipts accounted for about 14 percent of fraudulent documents submitted in September, compared with none last year. Fintech group Ramp said its new software flagged more than $1 million in fraudulent invoices within 90 days.
About 30 percent of US and UK financial professionals surveyed by expense management platform Medius reported they had seen a rise in falsified receipts following the launch of OpenAI’s GPT-4o last year.
New image-generating AIs are being used for fake expense reports
Software provider AppZen said fake AI receipts accounted for about 14% of fraud attempts.Financial Times (Ars Technica)
Threads adds 'ghost posts' that disappear after 24 hours
Threads adds 'ghost posts' that disappear after 24 hours | TechCrunch
Instagram Threads is launching “ghost posts,” a new disappearing-posts feature that lets users share updates that automatically archive after 24 hours.Sarah Perez (TechCrunch)
I got infected like an idiot
I downloaded a cracked install from tpb (haxnode). It was a loader exe that loaded the original exe and supposedly removed the drm in RAM. It required admin permissions, I didn't trust it, but i ran in a vm and nothing happened.
Then i told myself "i have microsoft defender and windows firewall control, they will warn me" and I ran it in my main laptop, and still nothing happened. Like, literally nothing happened. The original program would not start. It would simply exit. Nothing. The other 6 almost identical torrents from the same uploader but with a different program version had a similar result. I gave up.
Then i reboot, and firstly i notice a couple DOS prompts flashing on the screen, and windows firewall control asking me if "aspnet_compiler.exe" is allowed to access the internet or not.
Suspicious, i go to check that "aspnet_compiler.exe" and it's located in the .net system folder, i scan it with microsoft defender and it doesn't report as a virus. I do not pay attention to the fact that it doesn't have a valid Microsoft signature, and i tell myself "probably just a windows update" and i whitelist it on the firewall.
After a few hours I realize "wait a minute: it's impossible that an official windows exe isn't signed by microsoft!" I go back to scan it, not infected... or it looks like, defender says "ignored because in whitelist". What? The "loader" put c:* in the whitelist!
The "crack loader" wasn't a virus per se. It dropped an obfuscated batch in startup, which had a base64 encoded attachment of the actual malware, that was copied in the .net framework directory with unassuming names...
And this for a $60 perpetual license program that i should buy anyway because it's for work
Depending on what you work on, maybe there's an alternative FOSS or at least paid DRM free software?
Or, if you work for a company and it demands this tool, maybe you could ask them to provide the software for you?
On a 3rd point, I've seen official softwares detect when they're being run in VMs or similar, so maybe that's what happened.
On a 4th point, if you must use a crack, maybe do so on a less usual Linux system, so if it's a functional one but packaged with virus, the virus breaks either because it runs under Wine or similar, or because the less usual system lacks some needed dependency for the virus if it can run on Linux as well?
On a 3rd point, I’ve seen official softwares detect when they’re being run in VMs or similar, so maybe that’s what happened.
this is becoming more common afaik. why blow away your cover in a vm where you would not even get much (unless you are just a miner, but even then performance is worse), especially when checking if we are running in a vm is reaaly easy.
I literally just watched this video yesterday which, as you mention yourself, talks about how modern malware will add itself to the exclusion list aka whitelist.
~Anyway~ ~this~ ~is~ ~a~ ~good~ ~reason~ ~to~ ~try~ ~linux...~
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Xubuntu Website Hacked to Spread Malware Via Downloads: What You Need to Know
The official Xubuntu website was compromised for a short time by attackers who offered users a dangerous ZIP file disguised as an OS downloadHot for Security
There are two layers to this (actually a lot more but)
What you are describing is mostly supply chain. It is the idea that the package manager's inventory should be safe. And that is already a nigh impossible task simply because so many of the packages themselves can be compromised. It seems like every other year there is a story of bad actors infiltrating a project either as an attack or as a "research paper". But the end result is you have core libraries that may be compromised.
But the other side is what impacted OP and will still be an issue even if said supply chain is somehow 100% vetted. People are inherently going to need things that aren't in a package manager. Sometimes that is for nefarious reasons and sometimes it is just because the project they are interested in isn't at the point where it is using a massive build farm to deploy everywhere. Maybe it involves running blind scripts as root (don't fucking do that... even though we all do at some point) and sometimes it involves questionable code.
And THAT is a very much unsolved problem no matter what distro. Because, historically, you would run an anti-virus scan on that. How many people even know what solutions there are for linux? And how many have even a single nice thing to say about the ones that do?
It took over twenty years just for Linux to enter the conversation at the enthusiast level, it took a lot, and I do mean a lot, of enshittification on Microsoft's part and decades of campaigning by free software ideologues for us to get to this point, and if Windows still worked like Windows 7 we still wouldn't be anywhere close.
OpenBSD is super niche relative to FreeBSD, which is super niche relative to Linux. I don't even know if it was built for desktop use, or if it happens to be usable as one thanks to Linux DEs being compatible so long as they don't heavily depend on Linux specific stuff. Though I guess it can be a desktop OS in the most conservative sense of that term even without all that stuff.
I guess in theory you're right. If you're executing code, you're executing code. But usually when executing EXE files it tends to target Windows machines, but yeah, there's no way of telling if it'll recognize it's in a linux environment and do it's thing there as well.
Especially because OP mentioned he just clicked "Yes"/"Allow" to all the super user prompts.
Now personally I don't run an Arch system and only install software from my distro + flatpak; So I feel pretty secure for now. But I can see that trend buckling as the AUR is already under attack.
And this for a $60 perpetual license program that i should buy anyway because it’s for work
Just to pile on: NEVER pirate stuff you use for work. Audits are a thing (especially if said software company gets suspicious for whatever reason) and you WILL be thrown under the bus at a moment's notice and put on an industry wide shitlist because you are just too much of a liability after you get caught once.
Pirate for fun and hobbyist use. The moment you are getting paid, go legit.
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Let's say you are a graphics designer. You use Adobe Illustrator and you pirate it. You work for Innertrode either as a contractor or a full time employee. You make their new logo.
Adobe's legal team are bored. They see that new logo. They know it was made with Illustrator because of some of the visual quirks/tools (or, you know, because it is anything graphical so of course it uses Adobe). They know that Innertrode doesn't have a license. So they call up Lumberg and say "what the fuck?".
Lumberg then calls the person who was in charge of the new logo and they point at you.
If you are staff? You were given training not to pirate anything. It is all your fault. Innertrode buys a few years of a license and apologizes and fires your ass and makes sure to tell everyone they know about you. Or you are a contractor and you signed an agreement saying you had valid licenses for everything and they just give your contact info to Adobe and move on.
And Adobe MIGHT just want to shake you down. Or they might want to make an example and sue the fuck out of some people.
Also... it is a lot of hearsay for obvious reasons, but there are very strong rumors that some of the more prominent cracks tend to add digital watermarks for the purpose of automating this.
Not quite but a possibility answer.
Lot of software gets embedded tracking software where it does a few things to see if it’s tampered with and reports back along with a lot of details. It’s kind of sweet how you can dig in and see where exactly where that computer lives and how it can triangulate exactly where it is even over a VPN.
I happened to work with this software at one point….. lot of companies actually don’t unless there is a business using the software or it’s super expensive think 10k+ per seat or you see a hot spot. Not worth the effort.
Other side of the coin I was a Desktop Eng many moons ago. We would do reporting on all of the systems in SCCM and what’s installed on them and compare to a know good list of applications every so often to minimize legal risk to the business.
I know I sound dumb, and forgive me for not having work experience yet, but...
Why doesn't your company pay for any license they need for you to do work? Like I get if someone was a freelancer, then they're gonna have to pay for their own stuff, but like, a professional, in-house employee pays for their own license?
Am I missing context here?
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A lot of people in graphics design et al are contractors. They get hired for a job, do it with their own resources, and then move on. Those folk tend to need to provide their own software.
Aside from that? Companies DO provide software. But, at least in my experience, early career staff decide they actually NEED matlab or some other super proprietary nonsense and take it upon themselves to get the tools they "need". Which results in their manager having to have The Talk about why you don't do that in an actual company and how they are REALLY lucky you are the one that saw them because that is a fireable offense.
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probably i would have ran it outside as the crack just silently "crashed" (while successfully dropped the malware as admin in the right spot, ready to be ran as admin at the next boot via the task scheduler) and i would have thought "maybe it doesn't run in a sandbox/vm".
But yes, in a hindsight, if i ran in sandboxie then i might have noticed that it had dropped suspiciously named files in common:startup with that nice file transfer GUI (unless if the malware detected sandboxie and did not run the malicious routines)
If it didn't run the malicious routines, problem solved 😀
Not a silver bullet, just something to remember exists.
And this for a $60 perpetual license program that i should buy anyway because it’s for work
If you work for someone, they should be providing the license for you.
If you're a freelancer, it should be part of the costs that you get back as you work. $60 for a perpetual license is honestly not that steep and shouldn't impact your prices much.
This is one of the main reasons I don't pirate anything but audio and video anymore (and even then I'm cautious). It's really not worth it.
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I've poked around on FMHY and most of the direct download sites are total garbage banner ads everywhere and popup galore with slow ass download speeds. Even the big public trackers like 1337x are whack in this regard. Yes obviously use an adblocker which takes care of that problem but if the ~average user goes at this blind they're gonna end up on some random ass sites from misclicks or get redirected or at best wait way too long for a download or it's in parts of an archive and they have to wait til tomorrow for another download etc etc.
Private trackers or bust, always and forever
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i ran in a vm and nothing happened.
Did you configure the VM so that it didn't blatantly look like a VM? Of course malware is gonna act like a good boi when it detects that it's being run in a VM
Nice try malware dev 🤣
Really though, there's a bunch of stuff it can probe... Hard drive name, driver names, mac addresses, hardware profile/resource allotments).
Theresa a bunch of YouTube vids that go over virtual machine detections and hardening your VM to make it less obviously a VM.
(EDIT: Forgot to be thankful, thanks man!)
Always thought those would be the ineffective ones as those videos get a lot of views, so I thought all malware devs already knew about the ones adviced in youtube.
Also, nice jk! I'm not into malware dev tho.
I always felt like collecting data and being creepy is a google's and big tech's thing.
a reminder that you do need an Antivirus in fact as a pirate. Oh People, stop listening to cybersec experts who spend their whole life using foss or buying legit software, they're in a different world from us pirates.
Also a reminder that it happens to the best of us anyway.
Alternative if you want to be hardcore: air gap the system you run questionable software on.
If you're bored, you can even try to infect it with as much shit as possible.
Doesn't work as a test system though. Stuff lies dormant waiting for network access.
‘Tax the Rich!’: Packed Mamdani Rally Features Sanders, AOC, and Hochul Ahead of Election Day
“Ordinary people get one vote. Billionaires get the opportunity to spend as much as they want to elect the candidates they want,” [Senator Bernie] Sanders said, decrying the influence of super PACs that can accept unlimited political donations. “That is the context in which this election is taking place.”
[Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, cast the race as one that “mirrors what we are up against nationally, both an authoritarian criminal presidency, fueled by corruption and bigotry and an ascendant right-wing extremist movement,” as well as the “insufficient, eroded, bygone political establishment, this time in the form of Andrew Cuomo.”
'Tax the Rich!': Packed Mamdani Rally Features Sanders, AOC, and Hochul Ahead of Election Day
"While Donald Trump's billionaire donors think that they have the money to buy this election, we have a movement of the masses," Zohran Mamdani said during the sold-out rally in Queens.jake-johnson (Common Dreams)
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IBM Unveils Digital Asset Platform as Demand for Tokenization, Stablecoins Grows
The IBM Digital Asset Haven, developed with Dfns, aims to offer banks, governments and enterprises a full-stack platform for token custody, governance and compliance.
People really thinking that paper covered in enslavers and selfishly controlled by the most corrupt people on the planet is going to outlast open, decentralized, global networks.
Yeah, much better to trust some random scammer on the internet.
Speaking a common language is a social convention too. That doesn't mean there's a need for someone to start teaching people Volapük.
And if you think developed-country governments (with the exception of the current US kleptocratic kakistocracy) are where you find the most corrupt people on the planet, you might need to get out more.
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Plymouth scientists win £2m to use AI in deep-sea mapping
Plymouth scientists win £2m to use AI in deep-sea mapping
The Deep Vision project aims to help shape legal protections for the habitats.Jonathan Morris (BBC News)
A single point of failure triggered the Amazon outage affecting millions
A single point of failure triggered the Amazon outage affecting millions
A DNS manager in a single region of Amazon’s sprawling network touched off a 16-hour debacle.Dan Goodin (Ars Technica)
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The inverse of the old axiom "The cloud is just someone else's computer" is "Yes, duh, that's how you get economies of scale".
In-housing would mean an enormous increase in demand for physical hardware and IT technical services with a large variance in quality and accessibility. Like, it doesn't fix the underlying problem. It just takes one big problem and shatters it into a thousand little problems.
I think some of you younger folks really don't know what the Internet was like 20 years ago.Shit was up and down all the time.
I worked on a project back in 2008 where I had to physically haul hardware from Houston to Dallas ahead of Hurricane Ike just to keep a second rate version of a website running until we got power back at the original office. Latency at the new location was so bad that we were scrambling to reinvent the website in real time to try and improve performance. We ended up losing the client. They ended up going bankrupt. An absolute nightmare.
Getting screamed at by clients. Working 14 hour days in a cramped server room on something way outside my scope.
Would have absolutely killed for something as clean and reliable as AWS. Not like it didn't even exist back then. But we self-hosted because it was cheaper.
We need to ditch cloud entirety and go in house again.
For many many companies that would be returning to the bad-old-days.
I don't miss getting an emergency page during the Thanksgiving meal because there's excessive temperature being reported in the in-house datacenter. Going into the office and finding the CRAC failed and its now 105 degree F. And you knew the CRAC preventive maintenance was overdue and management wouldn't approve the cost to get it serviced even though you've been asking for it for more than 6 months. You also know with this high temp event, you're going to have an increased rate of hard drive failures over the next year.
No thank you.
There's a huge gulf between pub clowd and shitty on-prem. My daytime contract is with an organization almost completely on-prem for privacy, although on-prem to them means priv-cloud. Space has been rented. Redundant everything piped in. Redundant everything set up. We run VMs by terraform. Wheeeeee
Point is, posing shitty on-prem as the alternative to the clowd is moving the goalposts a bit.
There’s a huge gulf between pub clowd and shitty on-prem.
We agree on this.
Redundant everything piped in. Redundant everything set up. We run VMs by terraform. Wheeeeee
For that customer of yours, is that a single datacenter or does is represent multiple datacenters separated by a large distance across a nation, or perhaps even across national borders?
Point is, posing shitty on-prem as the alternative to the clowd is moving the goalposts a bit.
I think ignoring that shitty on-prem represented a large part of IT infrastructure prior cloud providers is ignoring a critical point. Was it possible to have well-run enterprise IT data centers prior to cloud? Sure. Was everyone doing that? Absolutely not, I'd argue the majority had at least a certain level of jank in their infra and that that floor is raised with cloud providers. Just the basic facilities is enterprise grade irrespective of the server or app config.
I certainly don't miss dealing with air conditioning, dry fire protection, and redundant internet connections.
I also don't miss trying to deal with aging servers out and bringing new hardware in.
That work is still being done by someone in a data centre. But all these jobs went from in-house positions to the centres.
The difference is scale. When in-house, the person responsible for managing the glycol loop is also responsible for the other CRACs, possibly the power rails, and likely the fire suppression. In a giant provider, each one of those is its own team with dozens or hundreds of people that specialize in only their area. They can spend 100% on their one area of responsibilty instead of having to wear multiple hats. The small the company, the more hats people have to wear, and the worse to overall result is because of being spread to thin.
If we want a truly robust system, yeah, we kinda do. This sort of event is only one of the issues with allowing a single entity to control pretty much everything.
There are plenty of potential issues from a corrupt rogue corporation hijacking everything to attacks to internal fuck-ups like we just experienced. Sure, they can design a better cloud, but at the end of the day, it's still their cloud. The Internet needs to be less centralized, not more (and I don't just mean that purely in terms of infrastructure, though that is included of course).
If we want a truly robust system, yeah, we kinda do. This sort of event is only one of the issues with allowing a single entity to control pretty much everything.
What I'm advocating for is the opposite of "allowing one entity to control everything".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_en…
Read about it dude. Netflix has a large presence in all major cloud providers (and they have their own data centers), but has a service whose uptime is NOT dependent on any one of those hosting environments. The proof is the pudding - Netflix service did not go down in the recent AWS outage, nor in the last one.
All of that can be achieved WITHOUT completely abandoning public cloud services and having to completely host all of the hardware for their services.
You're kind of proving (part of) my point?
How? Their reliability would exist without that. There's nothing inherent to their own data center that makes their setup that much better. Having a distributed system across multiple cloud service providers means your actual chance of downtime (here I mean inverse of uptime) is their individual chances of uptime multiplied by each other. In other words, they all have to go down for your service to fail. The catch is you have to use only commodity IaaS and PaaS, nothing proprietary to one CSP.
For smaller companies especially, in terms of pure reliability, there's no reason to think that they would be better at running a high availability data center than Microsoft or AWS or Google.
Parallel distributed architectures give you the advantages of using public cloud (not having to physically manage your own data center) without the disadvantages (dependence on any one cloud vendor), while also potentially increasing your reliability beyond the reliability of any one of your cloud vendors . That is why Netflix is so rock solid.
You really don't see the risk of having no data centers you actually control as an organization?
This really depends on what you think you're getting from having your own DC. Is it reliability? Flexibility? Control? What are your objectives?
There's some argument to be made to have some locally hosted stuff for some flexibility and control. And in some niche cases the pricing of public offerings doesn't make sense.
But as I said, if you're building your own data center for increased reliability then 1) you're necessarily assuming the premise that you're going to be better at managing DCs than Google, Microsoft and AWS which I think in reality would be hard to prove let alone do, and 2) is hard to justify considering you can distribute workloads across multiple data centers already (as proven by the Netflix example) so that your reliability isn't limited by any one vendor.
Bit of an over-reaction to one incident. I'd be willing to bet the uptime, reliability and scalability of AWS is significantly better than what the vast majority of in-house solutions could do. It's absolutely not worth going back.
Millions of customers using AWS also weren't affected - the company I work for certainly wasn't, although some of our tools like Jira were.
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There are still self hosted places today, not everything is cloud based.
Also, there isn't more competition largely because of Amazon so, while I agree with the sentiment that it could improve things, in practice it's a moot point.
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It's funny, because I've heard a variety of reasons why the outage happened, why it wasn't caught in time, why it signaled a problem with hardware versus software or human error versus automation.
I think its safe to say the company is increasingly over-managed and under-staffed, no matter how you slice it. Maybe its time to just break the mega-corp up already and let some good old fashioned free market competition fix this mess.
We need to democratize the internet again, every generation there's a ma bell pretending they own the internet. Current Gen is Google, AWS, Azure and the like, with ISPs just making sure they get their cut.
I don't have an issue with these services existing, but in such a way that everything depends on a couple companies? Dangerous for everyone.
“There’s a monopoly” — proceeds to list 3 separate providers. Don’t forget there’s also Akami, now we’re up to 4. Oh, and Cloud Flare… so that’s 5.
The issue is more so with companies that choose to use cloud providers. They’re the ones attempting to cheap out because they don’t want to pay infrastructure costs. You also have a lack of knowledge by engineers on how to create redundant/reliable systems.
Not everything on the internet went down. There’s plenty that was just fine. So I don’t really don’t know what “democratizing” it would gain, or how.
Edit: For anyone downvoting, I’d love to hear what “democratizing” the internet means, how it would work, or be functional. Because right now it just strikes me as salty people who’s favorite site went down.
Monopolies exist exactly like this. With them not competing fairly and coordinating with one another so as to not encroach on the others territory.
Ever wonder why despite there being dozens of ISPs in the country, you've only ever got an option for like a main one, and an intentionally shitty one to make the main one look better?
It's all a rigged game.
My main point, which may have been buried in my quickness to type things, is that it is on the individual companies to choose how they design and architect their systems. This was only a problem in us-east-1. They could have used other AWS regions, they could have used Azure or GCP. They could have used a multi-cloud or hybrid solution, and none of this would be an impact.
AWS is offering infrastructure, but it’s still on the companies to decide how they’ll use it. The ire should be placed on them, just as much, if not more, for taking the easy way out.
Even if you were to have a co-op owned style cloud solution (democratized as it were). If companies choose to only host in one Datacenter/region it’s squarely on them.
A lot of these big names that went down have very poor infrastructure practices if a single region of a single provider took them out. It’s definitely not for lack of money on their part.
You're right, though. AWS has far more data centers/regions. Even if a company only uses AWS, they can set up High Availability/Disaster Recovery solutions that replicate across AWS regions.
But they won't because:
- management doesn't understand the technology, just "cloud good".
- the experienced tech workers who do understand that you still need HADR in the cloud have all been laid off or retired.
- redundancy costs...wait for it...money.
“There’s a monopoly” — proceeds to list 3 separate providers. Don’t forget there’s also Akami, now we’re up to 4. Oh, and Cloud Flare… so that’s 5.
Thats called a Cartel. and a cartel can fucking monopolize shit, dumbass.
We also need more individuals paying for “business” Internet connections at home. We need self-hosters to be able to feel comfortable running public services from their homes. And so we need a set of practices and recipes to follow, so a self-hoster can feel confident that, if one thing gets broken into, the other few dozen things they’re hosting will stay safe.
The “family nerd” hosting things for the family needs to be a thing again. Sorry, friends, I know family tech support sucks. It’ll suck so much more when it’s a web site down and nobody can reach their kid’s softball team page, and there’s a game next weekend, etc. But we’ve seen what happens when we abdicate our responsibilities and let for-profit companies handle it for us.
(I wish so hard that I had a solution ready, a corporate LAN in a box, that someone can just install and use. I’m working on something, but I’m pretty sure I over-complicated it. It doesn’t need to be Fort Knox, it just needs to be pretty good. And I suck at ops stuff.)
You’re right to be frustrated. Mine is the same way. It’s ok to be passionate about that, and to value punishing greedy ISPs by not paying extra for a business account. (In many cases you could even need both, if you might worry about occasional denial of service attacks and need to be sure attackers can’t also knock out your ability to work from home, for example.)
I think there’s a compelling argument in favor of protecting diversity of hosting and preventing a monoculture or a monopoly. It’s not super compelling, but it’s out there.
Sora might have a 'pervert' problem on its hands
In the last week or so, 10 out of the 25 most popular cameos using my face are various fetishes, including one where I'm a centaur-woman pregnant with octoplets. It's not just me, either. I've seen this kind of content made with cameos of other women: female creators, another woman tech reporter, and a female employee of a prominent venture-capital firm.
**I don't get why anyone is surprised **
Sora allows people to make 'fetish' content using other people's faces
Sora lets you make videos using other people's faces. Great! Except when your face is used in a "fetish" video, like one about feet or pregnancy.Katie Notopoulos (Business Insider)
It seems people keep forgetting what the internet is for
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.youtube.com
There's an ancient rule along the lines of "If a new invention can be used for sexual purposes, then it will be used for sexual purposes."
Internet Rules 34 and 35 are descendents of this rule.
People who don't know are due a rude awakening.
FRYD
in reply to cm0002 • • •