Summary
Overview
This TechLinked episode covers several major tech stories, including Valve's Steam Machine temperature warning bug, Epic Games' legal victory against Google forcing third-party app stores on Android, Meta's AI-driven layoff controversy, Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI over trade secrets, and various other developments in AI hardware, data centers, and PlayStation's digital future.
Steam Machine Temperature Warning Bug
Valve has confirmed that the Steam Machine's red overheating warning is triggering prematurely due to a BIOS bug. Users are seeing the alarm at temperatures far below dangerous levels, with one case reporting warnings at 81°C CPU and 75°C GPU when the thresholds should be 95°C and 90°C respectively. Valve is rolling out a BIOS update that will raise the threshold to 100°C for both chips, matching where the laptop-grade silicon actually starts throttling.
- Red overheating warning going off way too early due to BIOS bug, not actual hardware issues
- One user received full alarm while gaming at 81°C CPU and 75°C GPU, well below dangerous levels
- BIOS update coming soon will raise threshold to 100°C for both chips, matching actual throttling point
- Separate issue: LED bar oriented opposite way from programming, causing confusion about dead GPU warnings
" A BIOS bug is just making it panic at temperatures that the hardware considers a normal Tuesday. "
" Valve's manual said that light meant a dead GPU, but Valve recently admitted that the LED bar in the console is oriented the opposite way from what they thought it was when they programmed it. "
Epic Games vs Google: Third-Party App Stores on Android
The long-running Epic Games lawsuit against Google has finally concluded with Google being forced to allow third-party app stores on Android starting July 22nd. A jury found that Google violated the Sherman Antitrust Act through monopolistic control of Android's app store. When the companies tried to settle with a deal that would have kept competitors from being hosted directly in the Play Store, the judge rejected it as failing to address the core monopoly issue.
- Google must allow third-party app stores on Android starting July 22nd following Epic's antitrust victory
- 2020 lawsuit ruled Google violated Sherman Antitrust Act through monopolistic app store control
- Judge rejected settlement that would have forced users to sideload rival stores instead of hosting them in Play Store
- Decision enables independent app stores to directly compete with Google Play Store
" The Epic Google vs. Epic Games legal saga that's felt like it's dragged on for 100 years has finally been laid to rest this week. "
" The judge, however, called out that this was stupid because it didn't fix the monopoly issue that the whole lawsuit was originally about. "
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