Daily Tech News 8 March 2025

• The EU has denied that it deliberately targets US companies under its Digital Markets Act to impose massive fines and loot the treasuries of foreign companies, which is obviously what it does. (Yahoo)

  "It applies to all companies which fulfil the clearly defined criteria for being designated as a gatekeeper in the European Union irrespective of where they are headquartered," they said.
  
  "By preventing gatekeepers from engaging in unfair practices vis-à-vis smaller companies, the DMA keeps the door open to the next wave of innovation in vital digital markets," they said.
  
  "Of course, there is no innovation, and there are no smaller companies, because we kill them with our other regulations. Don't quote that."

  Don't worry, we won't.

• The US government is likely to ban DeepSeek - the latest Chinese spyware now in AI flavour - from government devices. (MSN)
  
  Why has this not happened already?
  
  
  
• AMD is launching its high-end Ryzen 9950X3D and Ryzen 9900X3D next week, at $699 and $599 respectively. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  The 9950X3D should sell well despite the price, as it is simply the best mainstream desktop processor for a wide variety of tasks. In previous editions the X3D models traded off raw speed for more cache, but this is no longer the case now that AMD has flipped the whole thing upside down.
  
  The 9900X3D will probably see a price drop sooner rather than later.
  
  
  
• In which The Verge discovers what the role of the vice president is. (The Verge) (archive site)
  
  To wit: Break ties in the Senate, and wait for the president to die.
  
  
  
• Only 22 staff remain at the office in charge of administering the CHIPS Act, with any unspent funds to remain so. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  This legislation dispensed tens of billions of dollars to chipmakers based in - or setting up factories in - America. Which is not the worst misuse of taxpayer funds, but not one that is set to continue.
  
  
  
• Cyclone Alfred arrived. It fortunately declined to a Category 1 before making landfall, and damage and flooding is less than anticipated.
  
  Where I am the rain has settled in, but it's just steady rather than torrential.

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

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