Dithering Digest 25 - Weekly Tech News Roundup

Posted by Colin on Fri, May 3, 2024

Welcome to issue #25 of the Dithering Digest Weekly Tech News Roundup.

Some good news this week. Samsung may be on the brink of some exciting new battery tech that will revolutionise EVs. The UK government actually came up with a sensible tech law and Microsoft have released the source code to MS-DOS 4.0 for you to poke about at!

Enjoy the links!

Tiny11 Updated

Tiny11 is a project to create a stripped back version of Windows 11. It was initially a closed source project but now is a large PowerShell script that allows a lot of customisation.

It will remove superfluous items from Windows 11 and create an ISO file that you can use to perform a streamlined installation.

πŸ”— Thurrott.com

Samsung teases incredible battery tech that could have cars charged in 9 minutes

As EVs are still quite pricy and the infrastructure in the UK isn’t top-tier yet I am still driving around on dead dinosaurs. But if this tech could be applied to phones and tablets it would be amazing. Imagine being able to charge your iPhone in 30 seconds. Battery life would no longer be a concern in things like watches or laptops. It would transform the use of so many devices.

πŸ”— The Register

Microsoft releases MS-DOS 4.0 source code

MS DOS LOGO

If you want to compile and run MS-DOS 4.0 or just see how it works, Microsoft have released the source code on GitHub.

It never fails to amaze me that people can program in assembly language, I don’t think I will ever gain the mental capacity to learn and understand it!

πŸ”— Hackster.io

DARPA shows off scary AI tank

It wouldn’t be an issue of the Dithering Digest without some new terrifying AI story. This time it is a tank that drives itself using AI courtesy of DARPA.

Also, when are these people going to learn? Putting green slits of light that look like EVIL EYES on it does not help put our minds at ease.

πŸ”— The Register

UK Government passing a useful tech law?

The UK government has enacted a law that will prevent the use of default passwords on tech devices. Recent cyberattacks have taken advantage of poorly chosen default passwords on routers and other connected devices and this law aims to stop that. All passwords should be randomised and not easily related to public info such as MAC address.

This seems like a pretty sensible step.

πŸ”— Ars Technica

Apple makes some exceptions to the Core Technology Fee in EU

Following an EU hearing where developers and law-makers were able to quiz Apple executives around the DMA and changes, Apple have made some tweaks to their policies related to the Core Technology Fee.

It seems they will allow an exemption for totally free apps. This will help charities and students just wanting to develop apps for fun or learning without the worry of the CTF hanging over them if their app becomes successful.

Also the EU have determined that iPadOS must also now comply with the DMA and Apple have already begun implementing that.

πŸ”— Six Colors

Computer Joke of the Week

A truck carrying Microsoft software has just overturned on the main road…

That’s the Word on the street.

If you have any cool projects or tinkering you are doing, let us know and we will feature it in future issues of the digest. I would love to hear what you are all dithering on!

Until next week, happy dithering!



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