Richi Jennings

Wait. Surely the real problem is that this product category exists.

BTW, I think any drive should get an annual whole-surface rewite—even SSDs. Also known as a nondestructive write test.

I use DiskFresh for Windows.
www.puransoftware.com/DiskFresh.html

Linux alternative is `badblocks -n`

Yep, good value archive storage. Real issue is/was lack of transparency in marketing.

I bought it as a USB external and shucked it, but nothing in the blurb told normies it would have awful perf as a daily driver. The headline description was, "Expansion desktop drive."

It's supposed to automatically reshingle at idle, but occasionally it gets itself into this weird degraded-perf state

I have a 5-year-old shingled Seagate I use for archiving. Every so often the whole thing slows down to 20MB/s writing and no amount of leaving it idle to fix itself will help.

So, then I run a tool to read and rewrite every sector and it's back to normal. Needs about a day per 2TB😱

🤣

US Defense Contractor Boss Sold Zero Days to Russia — Cops a Plea So long and thanks for all the fish: Peter Williams admits to selling unpatched iPhone bugs to a shady Russian broker.

Former head of #L3Harris​’s #Trenchant “offensive cyber” division admits to stealing weapons-grade exploit chain worth $35 million and then selling it for personal gain.

Raises important questions about national security risks of outsourcing such weaponry. In #SBBlogwatch, we go out with a whimper:

How To Get Bare-Metal GPU Performance in Confidential VMs For when you want to make darn sure that your AI data, model and their use are all secure from snoopers.

How To Get Bare-Metal GPU Performance in Confidential VMs: thenewstack.io/how-to-get-b... via @thenewstack.io & @sjvn.bsky.social

A top #NVIDIA engineer explains how you can keep your AI workloads both safe and fast using Kata Containers and Confidential Computing.

Why CIOs Should Put MCP on Their Radar Now Model Context Protocol is the 'USB-C of LLM,' and every bit as hot as AI itself. Here's why.

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is the 'USB-C of LLM,' and every bit as hot as AI itself. Find out why in my latest article in InformationWeek www.informationweek.com/responsible-...

AI is supposed to give humans less work and make things easier...right? Maybe not according to some new research from Snowflake that 77% say their data engineering teams' workloads are getting heavier, not lighter.

venturebeat.com/data-infrast...

Percona's New CEO Peter Farkas Returns to a Company He Never Really Left - FOSS Force In an exclusive conversation, newly minted Percona CEO Peter Farkas explains why the company’s open source-first approach still works -- and how he plans to build on it across global teams and new database...

Just published on FOSS Force: Percona’s New CEO Peter Farkas Returns to a Company He Never Really Left fossforce.com/2025/10/perc...

Elon Musk’s SpaceX ‘is Facilitating’ Scams via Starlink Low Earth Pork: Pig-butchering scammers in Myanmar lose use of 2,500 Starlink terminals.

One notorious center for the grotesquely evil practice of #PigButchering is #Myanmar.

This week, #SpaceX is crowing about how it’s blocked 2,500 #Starlink satellite internet terminals being used by these scumbags to reach their victims. In #SBBlogwatch, we wonder what took Elon so long.

All Things Open Has More in Store for 2025, Including an Added Measure of AI - FOSS Force The ATO 2025 conference may be in the books, but the organization has more events planned before year’s end—and new events are already on its 2026 dance card.

Just published on FOSS Force: All Things Open Has More in Store for 2025, Including an Added Measure of AI fossforce.com/2025/10/all-...

Wi-Fi 8 is coming and it's going to make AI a lot faster Wi-Fi 8 prioritizes consistent performance under challenging conditions and introduces dynamic spectrum management and hardware-accelerated telemetry designed for AI workloads at the network edge.

Usually each new Wi-Fi spec offers the promise of more speed..but speed isn't the only thing that users need. Wi-Fi 8 could be the most important networking spec in a generation. @networkworld.bsky.social www.networkworld.com/article/4073...

Europe's plan to ditch US tech giants is built on open source - and it's gaining steam One topic dominated the recent 2025 OpenInfra Summit Europe, and it wasn't AI.

Europe's plan to ditch US tech giants is built on open source - and it's gaining steam www.zdnet.com/article/euro... via @zdnet.bsky.social & @sjvn.bsky.social

Europe is really sick of US policies and tech companies, so they're turing to #OpenSource -based European companies.

October Patch Tuesday Fails Hard — Windows Update Considered Harmful? Satya fiddles while Redmond burns? Showstopper bugs with security certificates—plus failing USB keyboards and mice—cause QA questions.

#Microsoft​’s #Windows security update rollup is badly buggy this month. #WinRE recovery environment doesn’t work with most keyboards and mice. And a fix for a cryptography bypass bug is causing failures.

Leading to concerns about the #Windows dev process. In #SBBlogwatch, we grab a Linux ISO:

People have a right to speak. They don’t have a right for anyone else to have to listen. That’s why block lists etc exist. I don’t give people the benefit of assuming good faith in the same way I wouldn’t if someone followed me down the street demanding I debate them. I’d call the cops, to be honest

yep:

Kate Bush at Hammersmith Odeon in 1979, showing off her innovative hands-free microphone

The Tour of Life - Wikipedia

Uh, HELLO. And get off my lawn.
Kate Bush circa 1979:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tou...

MX Linux 23.6 Libreto: High Performance on Legacy or Bleeding-Edge Hardware - FOSS Force Whether reviving old gear or maxing out new silicon, MX Linux 23.6 Libretto stays cool, collected, and gets the job done.

Just published on FOSS Force: MX Linux 23.6 Libreto: High Performance on Legacy or Bleeding-Edge Hardware fossforce.com/2025/10/mx-l...

Enterprises expanding AI deployments are hitting an invisible performance wall. The culprit? Static speculators that can't keep up with shifting workloads. The answer would be a new type of self-adaptive system.
venturebeat.com/ai/together-...

German state replaces Microsoft Exchange and Outlook with open-source email Digital sovereignty isn't a phrase you often hear in the US, but it's a big deal in Europe. Here's why.

German state replaces Microsoft Exchange and Outlook with open-source email www.zdnet.com/article/germ... via @zdnet.bsky.social & @sjvn.bsky.social

If European governments can dump Microsoft software and services for #Linux and #opensource software, why can't everyone?

Proximity Networking: Essential Wireless Standards Sharing data wirelessly over a relatively short range is accomplished with a set of technologies called proximity networking.

Proximity Networking: Essential Wireless Standards

Sharing data wirelessly over a relatively short range is accomplished with a set of technologies called proximity networking. Want to come up to speed on RFID, NFC, Bluetooth, and Qi? Start here.
www.aptiv.com/en/insights/...

#Pixnapping: Android Timing Attack Sends Google Back to the Drawing Board If at first you don’t succeed: Researchers discover a new way to steal secrets from Android apps.

Anything any #Android app can display is vulnerable to #Pixnapping attack—including #2FA codes. “It’s like Rowhammer, but for the screen,” quips one wag.

Google thought it had already fixed the previously undisclosed flaw. But the group’s demo says not. In #SBBlogwatch, we blur the pels:

Travel essentials: eight items to pack for your next trip – and what to leave at home Skip the bulky neck pillow. Ditch your chargers. Pack these lighter, more useful gear for your next plane trip

My latest venture into travel writing, a little guide on how to pack light. Seriously light. I obsess over optimizing everything I carry with me, and here are a few of my favorites!

www.theguardian.com/thefilter-us...

California Slaps Tractor Supply with Record $1.35M Privacy Fine - FOSS Force It wasn’t a big tech firm, but the biggest rural retailer in America that got the largest wallop ever from California’s toughest privacy watchdog.

Just published on FOSS Force: California Slaps Tractor Supply with Record $1.35M Privacy Fine fossforce.com/2025/10/cali...

How to switch your Windows 10 PC to Linux Mint - for free You can even try out Mint on your PC first - without installing anything! - to make sure you like it. Just follow these simple steps.

How to switch your Windows 10 PC to Linux Mint - for free zdnet.com/article/how-... via @zdnet.bsky.social & @sjvn.bsky.social

There’s still time to switch from #Windows10 to #Linux. Just saying!

#RediShell: Redis/Valkey Get ‘Perfect 10’ Critical RCE Vuln Redis hell: CVSS 10.0 vulnerability in ubiquitous cloud storage layer. PATCH NOW.

#Redis (Remote Dictionary Server) and its open source fork #Valkey share a scary flaw that can give an attacker full RCE. It’s been assigned a max CVSS score of 10.0—you don’t often see that.

#Redis shouldn’t normally be exposed to the internet, but it often is. In #SBBlogwatch, we descend a layer: