Microsoft seems to be doing these kinds of migrations lately.

I think their old ways of poorly documenting things even internally came back to bite them. I've seen some things written by people who were at one time Microsoft devs working on Windows 7, 8, and 10, who said that a lot of removed functionality came because trying to figure out what the old code was supposed to be doing was nigh impossible, and figuring it out sometimes just didn't fit the schedules or budgets. If a feature didn't seem to be widely used as a percentage of the userbase, then it often got dropped.

Maybe some rewrites are being taken too far, but anyone who has dealt with code that goes back potentially more than 30 years is almost certainly going to find some really bad and/or confusing implementations.

NIST SP 800-63 has formalized this. Specifically, look up Section 3.1.1.2 in SP 800-63B-4, released just this year. Minimum length 15, max length at least 64, but no other requirements, including complexity or regular rotation. Unicode is supposed to be accepted, normalized against a standard process (that one I don't remember, but it's documented), with one code point counting as one character. Filtering for known bad passwords or patterns is strongly encouraged.

I pushed through an implementation at our company last year, explaining why, showing the NIST draft. A bunch of people protested because it was different, but the CIO told them to live with it because their entire argument was "but we've done it this way for 30 years!" Some critical vendors complained when we started pushing them to comply (or at least implement SAML), but we only have a couple of vendors not complying now, and they should be compliant soon. Users are largely happy with the change, and they complain a lot less when we see suspicious activity and force a rotation.

Something else to consider... Donald Trump Jr has millions of dollars in Unusual Machines stock and also has a position on the board. UM is one of the companies that stands to benefit hugely from this ban, as commercial drone users are forced to find alternative sources for their equipment.

Parents like to take care of their children when they can, or so I'm told.

Also, this isn't a ban on imports from potentially enemy states such as China, it's a ban on imports from *all* countries -- including the USA's closest allies. This is pretty clear proof that the reasons behind this ban are purely financial and that Trump's son reaps a significant amount of that benefit through is stock-holding and position on the board of Unusual Machines.

The USA has the best government money can buy I guess.

It's not just drones that are on the covered list -- its crucial parts of drones that also have other uses.

For example -- lithium polymer batteries, brushless DC motors, flight controllers, cameras and sensors as well as other stuff.

For the hobbyist who wants to fly RC planes and go drone-racing this is a disaster. I'm unaware of any (affordable) US-made lithium polymer batteries suitable for these applications and the vast majority of motors, flight controllers and cameras are imported.

This effectively shuts down the hobby because even if US companies eventually start making this stuff it will almost certainly prohibitively expensive -- beyond the reach of most hobbyists.

The reality is that this has far less to do with "national security" than it does ensuring that certain people's pockets get lined with cash. For instance -- how does a brushless motor made in the USA pose less of a security risk than one made in China, Germany or Australia? Likewise a plain, simple lithium-polymer battery without any electronics -- what's the security risk that such a product poses?

The hobby of RC model aircraft and drones was on a count-down to oblivion from the moment the Commerical Drone Alliance convinced politicians to revoke S336, a piece of law that protected the hobby from regulation. The CDA made it very clear that they wanted the skies cleared of pesky hobbyists so they could exploit it for financial gain and now those in power are using the "national security" card to disguise their true agenda. Nobody can complain about a restriction or ban if its saving the lives of American's... right?

In related news:

Glock have announced that their new Glock 726-plus-AI model comes already loaded with one in the chamber and cocked with the safety off right out of the box.

Purchasers/survivors can, after purchase and unpacking, activate the safety, remove the magazine and rack the slide so as to eject the chambered round if they wish to opt-out of this fantastic new feature.

Safety first!

Maybe YouTube's AI decided to flex?

Why just pick on Meta? YouTube is also a haven for scam advertising. That robot AI puppy ad has been running for *weeks*, despite thousands of people reporting it and tweets to @teamyoutube on X who simply say "leave it with us, we'll look into it" -- yeah, on what timescale?

The reality is that big-tech is not interested in protecting users of their services, they're only interested in the bottom line and a scammer's money is as good as anyone's.

How is it that YouTube can take down *millions* of videos and masses of channels for "scams and deceptive practices" yet can't act in a timely fashion when blatant scam ads infest the platform?

It's not because they can't, it's because they choose not to -- and that ought to make them every bit as culpable as Meta.

In fact, I think there's an argument that if, after being made aware that an ad is a scam, the platform continues to run that ad then they should be charged with conspiracy to defraud and face criminal charges. That might smarten-up their responses a little.

Damn, I was a happy Firefox user for years... now I'll have to try and avoid AI using some other browser.

Don't you think a smart company would have surveyed their market before making such an announcement?

It's much easier to keep customers happy and attract new ones if you give them what THEY want, rather than what you think they want.

Damn... another botched Windows 11 update from Microsoft? :-)

I guess, given the recent social media ban for under-16-year-olds in Australia, these kids can't apply to enter the USA now... hahaha!

I have a combination of prescriptions that mean that I can't use contact lenses. I see quite a lot of people wearing glasses, and Zenni, Warby Parker, and the other online companies have said they sell a decent number of frames with plano lenses (meaning no prescription), presumably for people who want the look.

Eventually, you won't be able to tell. Someone will come in wearing glasses, and the tech is going to be too small and streamlined. There are also companies working on embedding augmented reality capabilities in contact lenses fed by tiny cameras placed just out of the field of vision. You'd be able to see them only in very specific circumstances. Power feed is a primary challenge right now, but it's probably not an unsolvable problem.

Just looking at the technical side, the cost to the end-user of streaming that much data would be exorbitant. Compressed video or even once-per-second snapshots would eat up all the mobile data, and the battery life would be measured in single digit hours.

No one else is going to risk making a part that one of the big defense contractors has under copyright with an exclusivity lock even if the US government says they can. The smaller ones just can't afford the effects of a lawsuit or the risk of treble damages if they do. That's why forcing a right to repair into the contracts is so important.

Google's motto was once: Don't be evil

YouTube's motto is now: Don't be honest