[RichardG] has noticed a weird discrepancy – his Ryzen mainboard ought to have had fourteen USB3 ports, but somehow, only exposed thirteen of them. Unlike other mainboards in this lineup, it also happens to have a USB-C port among these thirteen ports. These two things wouldn’t be related in any way, would they? Turns out, they are, and [RichardG] shows us a dirty USB-C trick that manufacturers pull on us for an unknown reason.

On a USB-C port using USB3, the USB3 TX and RX signals have to be routed to two different pin groups, depending on the plugged-in cable orientation. In a proper design, you would have a multiplexer chip detecting cable orientation, and routing the pins to one or the other. Turns out, quite a few manufacturers are choosing to wire up two separate ports to the USB-C connector instead.

In the extensive writeup on this problem, [Richard] explains how the USB-C port ought to be wired, how it’s wired instead, shows telltale signs of such a trick, and how to check if a USB-C port on your PC is miswired in the same way. He also ponders on whether this is compliant with the USB-C specification, but can’t quite find an answer. There’s a surprising amount of products and adapters doing this exact thing, too, all of them desktop PC accessories – perhaps, you bought a device with such a USB-C port and don’t know it.

As a conclusion, he debates making an adapter to break the stolen USB3 port out. This wouldn’t be the first time we’re cheated when it comes to USB ports – the USB2 devices with blue connectors come to mind.

New York Times:
Employment in tech occupations grew 12% YoY to a record 6.39M in November 2022, as workers eye banking, retail, health care, and manufacturing amid tech layoffs  —  Most tech jobs are now in mainstream industries like health care, banking and retail, which are increasingly in need of workers with digital skills.

In the catalogue of the Chinese parts supplier LCSC can be found many parts not available from American or European suppliers, and thus anyone who wants to evaluate them can find themselves at a disadvantage. [Sleepy Pony Labs] had just such a part catch their eye, the Sam&Wing AI08 8 channel capacitive touch controller. How to evaluate a chip with little information? Design a dev board, of course!

The chip tested is part of a family all providing similar functionality, but with a variety of interface options. The part tested has eight touch inputs and a BCD output. Said output is used to feed a 74 series decoder chip and drive some LEDs. The touch pads were designed with reference to a Microchip application note which incidentally makes for fascinating reading on the subject as it covers far more than just simple touch buttons.

Whether or not you’ll need this touch chip is a matter for your own designs, however, what this project demonstrates is that with the ready availability of cheap custom PCBs and unexpected parts it’s not beyond reason to create boards just for evaluation purposes.

Perhaps the subject of a previous Hackaday piece would have found this board useful.

Grubhub has been ordered to pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit from the District of Columbia that claims the company misled customers by tacking on hidden fees to their orders. According to a press release, Grubhub must pay $800,000 to DC as a civil penalty, while the remaining $2.7 million “will be paid back to affected customers.”

In March, DC Attorney General Karl Racine filed a lawsuit against Grubhub, accusing it of falsely promising “free” online orders to customers, as well as “unlimited free delivery” for those who subscribe to Grubhub Plus. The lawsuit alleges this practice is “deceptive” since Grubhub still takes a service fee for non-pickup orders made by Grubhub Plus customers, and charges both delivery and service fees for…

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Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
A look at 2022’s worst breaches, leaks, ransomware attacks, state-sponsored hacking campaigns, and digital takeovers, including at least two Twilio breaches  —  The year was marked by sinister new twists on cybersecurity classics, including phishing, breaches, and ransomware attacks.

[Chris Gammell] moderated the KiCad 2022 End-of-Year Recap with several KiCad developers and librarians. They reviewed what’s been bubbling up in the nightly KiCad 6 builds, what we can expect from KiCad 7, and even answered some questions from the user community. Over the course of 2022, the KiCad project has grown both its development team and library team. The project even has a preliminary support commitment from the CERN Drawing Office!

Improvements to the KiCad Schematic Editor include smart wire dragging that simplifies moving components around within schematic diagrams. Components selected in the schematic now remain selected while switching to the PCB Editor. Internal documentation of schematics has advanced with support for fonts, embedded graphics, and the inclusion of hypertext links to datasheets and other reference materials. New features for PDF generation offer interactive files and links between sheets.

A new search panel within the KiCad PCB Editor supports finding components by footprint, net, or text search. A property panel allows common properties to be edited across multiple selected items. While a full-blown auto-router remains outside of the scope for KiCad, “push and shove” routing is faster and easier. An “attempt to finish” feature routes a quick connection for the currently selected trace, and “pack and move” positions all selected footprints into proximity to simplify placing them as neighbors within the board layout.

The KiCad PCB Editor also adds support for the use of fonts and inverted “knockout text” which even works on copper zones. Bitmap graphics can be imported and scaled beneath layout work as reference illustrations. Private footprint layers can be used to place extra documentation within footprints. The design rule checker (DRC) now can catch more layout issues, especially those that may impact manufacturability.

These are just a sampling of the impressive improvements we can expect with KiCad 7.0. There are also additions to circuit simulation and modeling features, a new command line interface for script-based automation, ARM64 support for KiCad running on Apple silicon, and a huge number of additions to the default library including symbols, footprints, and 3D Viewer models.

The KiCad team suggests several ways to support the project. There are always needs for additional developers and librarians. Financial contributions can be made at kicad.org. As users, we can run the nightly builds, try to break them, and give feedback in the form of detailed bug reports. Community testing will help make KiCad 7.0 as solid as possible. The project team is also seeking open hardware projects to include with KiCad 7.0 as demos.  For example, the StickHub project was included with KiCad 6.0 as a demo.

The official release of KiCad 7.0 is currently scheduled for January 31, 2023. While we wait, let’s flashback to our January 2022 presentation of what features made it into the KiCad 6.0 release.

Ernesto Van der Sar / TorrentFreak:
Leaked screener copies of big movies tend to surface at year’s end, but didn’t in 2022, probably due to more security, streaming, and shorter release windows  —  Screeners are advance copies of recent movies that are generally sent out to critics and awards voters for review.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tesla’s accused of violating national labor laws by allegedly telling employees at its Orlando, Florida location not to talk about pay and working conditions, as first reported by Bloomberg. In a complaint filed in September, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) regional director in Tampa claims Telsa “told employees not to complain to higher level managers about their pay or other conditions of employment” and said “not to discuss their pay with other persons.”

The complaint goes on to accuse Tesla of instructing employees not to discuss the hiring, suspension, or termination of employees with others. These incidents occurred from December 2021 to January 2022, the complaint alleges, and violates laws that prevent companies from…

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Jenni Reid / CNBC:
A look at ABBA Voyage, the hit London concert performed by 3D digital avatars of the band created from motion capture, as its producers plan a global expansion  —  – ABBA Voyage, which sees digital avatars of the four-piece Swedish band ‘perform’ a 90-minute concert created from motion capture …

Another approach exists if you’re tired of completing your three Apple Watch rings every day. Check out Gentler Streak to achieve your 2023 health and fitness goals.

Want to try out Windows 10 on your Mac? This guide has everything you need to know to get up and running.

It’s no more.

It’s well and truly curtains for 3G, one of the key technologies that helped usher in the age of the smartphone. Throughout December, Verizon has been disconnecting its customers who were still using the tech, cutting off their phones’ ability to use data, make calls, and send texts. It was the last major US carrier to do so — AT&T turned off its 3G service in February, and T-Mobile started winding its old networks down the month after.

Verizon customers with 3G devices have had plenty of warning. It previously said the network would be going offline in 2019, but with one delay after another, the date has slowly been pushed back to December 31st, 2022. In the meantime, it’s sent people new, LTE-capable phones, as well as letters…

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Welcome to the 465th Android Apps Weekly and the final edition in 2022. Happy new years, and here are the big headlines from the last week:

We asked our readers how well Google did this year. You all told us that you thought Google did pretty well this year, both in terms of hardware and software. Regarding stats, 48% of you said that Google had a good year, while only about 5% thought the year was a total failure. You can hit the link to see the more granular stats.
We also asked our readers when they sideloaded an app on Android last. Over 40% of our readers have sideloaded an app within the last month, and only about 15% have never sideloaded an app at all. We found that interesting since the common narrative is that sideloading is rare. Apparently, we have some rare readers.
Our own Adam Birney attempted to use Google Translate on a trip with some mixed results. For example, some of the traveler-friendly features don’t work offline. Adam outlined his experience with the various features working or not working, and you can read it at the link above.
Google is worried about Search. The number of AI tools and their surging popularity have the company a little on edge. Reportedly, the situation is a code red at Google. The worry is that AI responses give such tight answers that people won’t click on advertising links anymore, which would cause Google to lose a lot of money. Hit the link to keep reading, and we’ll keep monitoring to see what happens.
As per the norm, we have rounded up the best new Android apps, best new Android games, and most controversial apps and games from the last year. You can hit any of the links to check out our selections. Overall, there are 50 apps and games to scroll through, along with ten more controversial apps and games. It was a pretty exciting year with some interesting launches.

Alliance Alive HD Remastered

Price: $11.99

Say, you’re starting your electronics journey with a few projects in mind. You have an ESP8266 board like the Wemos D1, a LiIon battery, you want to build a small battery-powered sensor that wakes up every few minutes to do something, and you don’t want to delve into hardware too much for now. Well then, does [Mads Chr. Olesen] have a tutorial for you! Here, you’ll learn the quick and easy way to get your sensor up and running, learn a few tricks for doing sleep Arduino environment, and even calculate how long your specific battery could last.

You’ll need a TP4056 board, providing charging and battery protection features, a jumper, and maybe a pushbutton – the Fritzing diagram shows everything you’d like to know. From there, you have examples on using deep sleep, do pushbutton or sensor-driven wakeup, manage WiFi, and even read the battery voltage – all of these are a single line of code away, and you learn the few important caveats there are. In the end, there’s even an embedded calculator for how long your Wemos D1 board can survive on a single charge – enter your capacity, the amount of time between wakeups, and see just how long your board will last.

This tutorial is truly accessible if you never touched ESP8266 deep sleep before but would like to start – it’s short and sweet, and you’ll have your battery-powered sensor up and running in no time. It doesn’t go into topics like optimizing the onboard hardware, but in all fairness, you don’t have to do that until you’re ready, and sometimes, it’s really software optimizations that will have a hefty payoff . And, if you ever want to learn more about LiIon-powered devices, our tutorials are there for you.

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Meta buys Netherlands-based Luxexcel, which uses 3D printing to make prescription lenses for smart glasses; Meta reportedly worked with Luxexcel on Project Aria  —  As Meta faces antitrust scrutiny over its acquisition of VR fitness developers Within, the tech giant is making another acquisition.

Anton Shilov / Tom’s Hardware:
Report: AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and others are slashing their orders with TSMC, with the contract manufacturer’s Q1 2023 sales projected to decrease by 15% QoQ  —  Large customers revise orders to TSMC due to the economy slowdown.  —  Being the world’s No. 1 foundry, TSMC was almost immune …

Micha Huigen / The Verge

If you’re the proud owner of a shiny new Steam Deck, here are some of The Verge’s favorite games to enjoy on Valve’s handheld.

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Sometimes you pick a project because the world needs it to be done. Or maybe you or a friend need it. Or maybe you don’t really need it, but it fulfills a longstanding dream. In my mind, the last stop before you reach “why am I doing this” is the “just because” hack.

The ideal “just because” hack is limited in scope. You don’t want to spend years on a whimsical project, and because of this a “just because” hack isn’t usually motivating enough to keep you going that long anyway, except for the tenacious few. A “just because” doesn’t necessarily have to be an easy win, but it makes sense for you to see your way out before you get in too deep.

I’m not sure if it’s the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or not, but in the last week or so in the Hackaday universe, a lot of people have been singing the praises of “just because” hacks. (Check out this one discussion, for instance.) Mostly, it’s a combination of them turning out better than initially thought, or it’s about the learning that came along for the ride. Of course, many of them spin off into longer, serious projects even if they didn’t start that way.

Not everything in life can be frivolous, of course. But that makes the “just because” hack that much sweeter, and you should try to make mental room for them if you can. When the stakes are low, creativity can be high. You might still want to impose a deadline, lest you fall into eternal yak shaving, but take it easy. You don’t need a justification all the time: the journey can be the destination.

Samsung is saying goodbye to what has been a reasonably successful year for the Korean brand. The Galaxy S22 series built on the sales momentum of its predecessors, the company’s latest foldables delivered significant growth over 2021’s devices, and it fared better than most rivals when it came to weathering a declining global market.

We already have a pretty good idea about how the upcoming flagship Galaxy S23 series is shaping up, but there are still plenty of ways for Samsung to improve matters next year, though. So here are our thoughts on how the company can make 2023 better than 2022.

Washington Post:
Sources: Meta is still working on a wrist wearable device, wants to move its hardware manufacturing out of China, but is struggling to find necessary suppliers  —  The company needs China’s factories as it pushes to become a hardware producer  —  SAN FRANCISCO — For more than a year …

Apple has made your device more secure with a Lockdown Mode feature in iOS 16, here’s how to enable it.

Twitter is creaking. Social media seems less fun than ever. Maybe it’s time to get a little more personal.

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Messages lets you quickly and easily chat over iMessage or SMS/MMS, here’s how to set it up.

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

A new leak could confirm rumors that Nvidia’s planning on releasing the “unlaunched” 12GB RTX 4080 graphics card as the RTX 4070 Ti. The company briefly posted the specs for its upcoming RTX 4070 Ti GPU on its website, but Twitter user @momomo_us managed to snag a screenshot before Nvidia pulled the page down.

So far, the leaked specs look identical to that of the 12GB RTX 4080, with the chip sporting 7,680 CUDA cores, a 2.61 GHz boost clock, and 12GB of memory. It also says the GPU could run 4K at up to 240Hz or 8K at 60Hz with DSC and HDR, while an included chart indicates that the RTX 4070 Ti could outperform the RTX 3080 by about 3.5 times when playing Cyberpunk 2077 with its new Ray-Tracing: Overdrive mode.

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Here’s everything you need to know about the spectrum, millimeter-wave technology, and what 5G means for you.