Buying used PC parts to dodge price hikes could come with a catch, like the hardware ban a Reddit user claims they got stuck with after trying to run Valorant with a pre-owned Ryzen 7 5800X3D. The CPU was reportedly already blacklisted in the Vanguard anti-cheat system because its previous owner was flagged for cheating.
The DOJ has charged Greg Lui with conspiracy, money laundering and smuggling over an alleged years-long scheme to sneak export-controlled Nvidia GPUs into China by re-exporting them from other countries, like Malaysia or Singapore. Four people were arrested last year for similar Nvidia smuggling allegations.
[U.S. Department of Justice]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Opt Out October tips go over settings to change in AI tools and browsers, decentralized social media platforms to try out, and suggestions for more private alternatives to popular apps. There’s also a guide on how you can switch to Linux, which could potentially save an old Windows 10 PC, like my ThinkPad, on top of improving your data privacy.
[Electronic Frontier Foundation]
The Galaxy A57 5G now starts at $599 on Samsung’s official website, up from $549, and $100 more than the previous A56 5G, Android Authority reports. Samsung bumped up the starting prices on the other A series phones by $20 to $40, after its Galaxy S26 phones also got a $100 price hike.
[Android Authority]
As of September, 42.2 percent of Steam users have 32GB of memory, with 16GB now trailing at 37.8 percent, down from 41 percent in August. It looks like some Steam users may still be upgrading their RAM, despite months-long shortages and price hikes.
The redesigned hands have 13 degrees of freedom and “dense tactile pressure sensors” that allow Atlas to use real-world tools, like the drill it tries out in a demo video. Boston Dynamics also ditched the pinky finger on the new hands to “reduce cost, size, and failure points.” Maybe Tesla will go a similar route with its bot?
Its consumer business chief Richard Yu said the higher costs are hurting Huawei’s profitability “very badly,” and Huawei will “have to raise prices going forward, though it will be moderate,” Bloomberg reports.
