Daring FireballRAM Is the New Bearer Bond
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/03/31/ram-is-the-new-bearer-bond
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/03/31/ram-is-the-new-bearer-bond
DNS@daringfireball talking of RAM
Edward Munn@daringfireball Let’s hope that the recent promises of memory efficient LLMs will cause the prices to drop.
@edmn @daringfireball see my reply above!
Delric@edmn @daringfireball if having more energy efficient light bulbs hadn’t caused electrical usage to go down (instead we just use more bulbs everywhere) i would not count on that
Kev Rodgers@daringfireball @gruber and Beverly Hills Cop, to an extent.
St. Chris
Bob Peterson@daringfireball The large computer company I worked at in the 1980s and 90s suffered a run of memory thefts. This was in the era of big iron computers locked in vast central-core data centers: impossible to get into without a badge. One day our terminals became unresponsive all at once when thieves yanked the memory modules from running machines.
I can't find a more first hand account but this US FinCen report describes the outcome for the crooks. [https://www.fincen.gov/resources/law-enforcement/case-examples/sar-leads-convictions-members-computer-chip-theft-ring]
FinCEN.gov
A New Hampshire bank filed a SAR on a group of individuals who were cashing numerous checks from a local salvage company for amounts under $10,000. Based on this SAR, an investigation was initiated by IRS-CI. During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the men cashing the checks were working with an individual who was stealing computer memory chips from his employer, a major computer manufacturer. The men would then take the chips, sell them to a salvage company, and cash the checks from the salvage company, splitting up the proceeds.
Grant Goodale@daringfireball So, a new Chips movie then
Shenyen@daringfireball Back when Covid was still big and ruined chip supply chains while at the same time mining Ethereum was also a thing, leading to GPUs being crazy expensive, I read a number of Amazon reviews of pre-built PCs that arrived without GPUs. Obviously people ordered them, took out the GPU (or replaced it with an older one), returned it and Amazon didn’t bother to check before they re-sold the unit…
Wouldn’t surprise me to see something similar happen now
Wouldn’t surprise me to see something similar happen now
Matt Chagnon@daringfireball wasn’t that what they were stealing in The Departed?