A warning advisory has gone out on Debian mailing lists claiming that Skylake and Kaby Lake processors may “dangerously misbehave” when Hyper-Threading is enabled: the writer advises that users should disable the feature immediately in their BIOS/UEFI to work around the problem. The defect can potentially affect any operating system (it is not restricted to Debian and other Linux-based systems).



This advisory is about a processor/microcode defect recently identified on Intel Skylake and Intel Kaby Lake processors with hyper-threading enabled. This defect can, when triggered, cause unpredictable system behavior: it could cause spurious errors, such as application and system misbehavior, data corruption, and data loss. It was brought to the attention of the Debian project that this defect is known to directly affect some Debian stable users (refer to the end of this advisory for details), thus this advisory.

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Source: [H]ardOCP – Skylake and Kaby Lake Processors Allegedly Have Broken Hyper-Threading

A Tesla engineer decided to quit his job after he “discovered” a cure for hangovers and interest in the potion quickly took off. Obviously, the best cure is to not drink at all, but this FDA-compliant concoction may be useful to those who tend to go crazy on the bottle. Interestingly, it sounds as if all Mr. Lee did was copy the formulas for similar drinks that are already popular and widely available in Korea: his original intent was merely to act as a distributor, but companies were not interested.



…the secret ingredient, according to Liang’s papers, is an herbal compound called dihydromyricetin (DHM) found in the Oriental raisin tree and the rattan tree, Lee says. Herbal drinks from these trees have been used to cure hangovers in Asia for thousands of years, Lee discovered. Hangovers are caused when we drink more alcohol than our livers can handle, and a type of toxic acid builds up, he said. Too much of that acid causes inflammation like a headache. Too much too fast can cause vomiting. DHM helps the body remove this toxic acid, he said.

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Source: [H]ardOCP – Ex-Tesla Engineer Creates a Cure for Hangovers

The “walled garden” approach is not necessarily a bad idea, particularly from a security standpoint, but the concept may conflict with a new bill being proposed in Italy allowing users to download any software, whether proprietary or open source, on any platform. Although the ban is unlikely to actually go forward, iOS does fail to meet the expectations of the proposed law: apps can only be distributed through the App Store, and only if developers adhere to Apple’s guidelines.



The bill in question, Senate Act 2484, is aimed at ensuring Italians have open access to software, content, and services. The portion of the bill potentially relevant to Apple essentially says that users should have the right to download any software, whether proprietary or open source, on any platform. Users have the right to, in an appropriate format to the required technology platform use fair and non-discriminatory software, proprietary or open source content and services of their choice.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – iPhone Faces Potential Ban in Italy Due to “Walled Garden” Software Approach

The Quake Champions beta is only accessible through the Bethesda.net launcher for the time being, but you will be able to play the game from Steam with a linked Bethesda.net account when the game properly releases later this year. The information comes from a recent developer inquiry posted on the Bethesda forum: something I found amusing is the suggestion that Capture the Flag and other classic multiplayer modes aren’t “an immediate priority” for the team, though I imagine they will show up eventually.



“Quake Champions will indeed be released on Steam. You will still be required to have a linked Bethesda.net account, but users playing the game from Steam will not go through the Bethesda.net launcher. During the current beta period the game will only be available through the Bethesda.net launcher.” At the very least, the Steam release should open it up to a wider player base and ensure that there’s enough people in the servers to get a decent game whenever you want.

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Source: [H]ardOCP – Quake Champions Will Be Available on Steam

XDA-Developers has received what they believe to be the finalized specifications for the new Pixel phones due later this year. The larger device, “Taimen,” features a 5.99-inch, 1440p display, Snapdragon 835 processor, and 4GB of RAM, while the smaller device, “Walleye,” features a 4.97-inch, 1080p display with the same innards. Apparently, the latter definitely lacks a headphone jack.



The larger device coming from Google this year will feature a 5.99-inch display with a 1440p OLED panel provided by LG, which isn’t extraordinary given that earlier this year, Reuters reported about Google investing into LG’s display division for their next phone. The phone will sport a smaller bezel than what we saw in the original Pixel XL, and there is a 128GB storage model, though it might not be the only configuration. The device will indeed pack the expected Snapdragon 835 processor (with the big cluster clocked at the reference 2.45GHz frequency, unlike the original Pixel’s lower frequency in the Snapdragon 821-AB) alongside 4GB of RAM.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Pixel 2 “Walleye” and “Taimen” Specifications Revealed