Malaysian police destroy 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs with a steamroller. It's a start...

 

Call it a crypto crackdown - literally. Malaysian authorities seized 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs, laid them out in a parking lot at police headquarters, and used a steamroller to crush them, as part of a joint operation between law enforcement in the city of Miri and electric utility Sarawak Energy.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Hakemal Hawari told CNBC the crackdown came after miners allegedly stole $2 million worth of electricity siphoned from Sarawak Energy power lines. 

A video of the event posted last week by local Sarawak news outlet Dayak Daily has since gone viral on social media.  

Acting on a tip, authorities on the island of Borneo confiscated the rigs in six separate raids between February and April. In total, police destroyed about $1.26 million of mining equipment. 

www.cnbc.com

Don rides the KTM 1290 Super Adventure S

 

KTM had arranged a day of demonstration rides of their KTM 1290 Super Adventure S - from Loomies cafe - on Saturday 17th July.

I rode out to Loomies on Ariel, on a hot late morning, glad that I was wearing my mesh jacket, which once moving - does a great job of keeping me cool, letting the cooling breeze through. Loomies was packed - always the case on a sunny day, but particularly due to the fact that KTM had taken over a good chunk of the parking area!

For our 12.15pm timeslot, I was one of  about seven pre-booked test riders. We were introduced to the bike: KTM 1290 Super Adventure S & told about its abilities & impressive electronics package that included Adaptive Cruise Control and Semi-active Suspension.

We spent around an hour in the saddle & covered 30+ miles, in speeds from stuck in traffic (it was a very busy Saturday!) to motorway speeds. The route was roughly Loomies, Bramdean, Winchester, Twyford, Bishops Waltham, back to Loomies.

So what was the bike like? I was hoping that I'd like it. We miss Holly my Crosstourer, & her ability to endlessly tour two up, with all the luggage. As much as I love Ariel my wonderful CB1000R+: two up (pillion) isn't great, and just forget luggage! It really would be fab to have a bike to tour on as well as Ariel the CB. Sadly although this bike is significantly more powerful then the Honda Crosstourer (134bhp for the Honda, 160bhp for the KTM), and there is a whole load of good stuff on the KTM, It wasn't a bike that would work for me. My notes:

PRO:

Brilliant electronics package

Fantastic easy to read TFT display

Easy to adjust windscreen

Great suspension, comfy ride

Weight is kept low using two low fuel tanks

Keyless start & fuel cap

Easy to access phone / glasses cubby

CONS:

Pronounced vibrations above 4k RPM (engine redlines @ 10k RPM)

Mirrors are blurry due to the vibes

Lots of buttons & functions to learn

Electronics: too much / what happens when they fail

KTM's reputation on reliability...

The vibes come from the powerful V Twin engine, and I just couldn't face days in the saddle having my fillings shaken out. Also, electronics, modes & gizmos, etc - don't do anything for me on a motorbike. I want to be & feel engaged. Much of the electronics nowadays makes me feel that the rider ends up as a passenger. Also, what happens when they break... 

Alternative view: here is a great video review of the KTM 1290 Super Adventure S by the good people at Knox. They put it though it's paces on & off road & genuinely seem to like it. Maybe it's just me then...

www.ktm.com

Piaggio MP3 - 3 wheel scooter. In a word "Nah"

 

I've recently had the "pleasure" of a couple of rides on a mate's Piaggio MP3 Scooter (3 wheels - 2 at the front). Well, that was an experience! 

Over the years, I've ridden most things: scooters, sport bikes, adventure, motocross, tourers, cruisers, etc. Usually (as you might have noticed) I enjoy most things two wheeled. This is the first bike that I've ever ridden where I was pleased to get off & hand it back!

Apart from the fact the engine cut out two or three times in one relatively short journey, the whole feel of this "bike" could be summed up as "vague". Sometimes in a corner, I felt the leaning front end suspension system doing it's thing - which actually was pretty cool. Most other times it just felt loose! Almost like there was a broken linkage, or a flat tyre on one side. Glad I was riding it in warm dry weather - wouldn't have been fun in wet / windy conditions! 

I thought that I'd try getting some heat into the tyres to see if that improved matters - using the good old controlled front end weave manoeuvre. Aaagh - that was scary - thought the bike was going to throw me off!

OK this bike was a "well used example" and that might account for some of my experience, but based on my experience, I honestly couldn't recommend one. While on the subject of 3 wheeled contraptions: I never got round to riding the Yamaha Nikken - most peeps who have ridden one loved it. But almost no-one bought one... I'll stick to two wheels I think!

The return of Clippy?

Microsoft is threatening to bring back its annoying / loveable Clippy character. The software giant claims it will replace the paperclip emoji in Microsoft Office with Clippy if their tweet gets 20,000 likes. 

The tweet has already hugely surpassed that number (130k+), so it seems Clippy could be about to return as a more innocent emoji - but Microsoft is being coy about what might happen next.

Born in Office 97, Clippy originally appeared as an assistant to offer help and tips for using Microsoft Office. You either loved or hated its Groucho eyebrows and persistence, and Microsoft eventually killed off Clippy in Office XP in 2001.

www.theverge.com

Emission free bikes to play key role in new Government plan

Motorcycles and scooters are set to play a key role in the freshly announced Government Transport Decarbonisation Plan, following years of behind the scenes campaigning from the Motorcycle Industry Association.

The Department for Transport announced the radical new plan earlier today, which pledges to end the sale of all new, non-zero emission road vehicles by 2040 at the latest, as well as phasing out the sale of all new non-zero emission heavy goods vehicles in that timeframe.

Whether than will mean a greater expanse of electrification, or further investment in synthetic fuels, MCIA chief executive Tony Campbell welcomes the plan and said: "The government has today laid down a long overdue marker, signalling not the end but the start of our next chapter."

www.motorcyclenews.com

Microsoft puts PCs in the cloud with Windows 365

Microsoft is putting Windows in the cloud. Windows 365 is a new service that will let businesses access Cloud PCs from anywhere, streaming a version of Windows 10 or Windows 11 in a web browser. While virtualization and remote access to PCs has existed for more than a decade, Microsoft is betting on Windows 365 to offer Cloud PCs to businesses just as they shift toward a mix of office and remote work.

Windows 365 will work on any modern web browser or through Microsoft’s Remote Desktop app, allowing users to access their Cloud PC from a variety of devices. “Windows 365 provides an instant-on boot experience,” according to Wangui McKelvey, a general manager for Microsoft 365. This instant access lets workers stream their Windows session with all of their same apps, tools, data, and settings across Macs, iPads, Linux machines, and Android devices. “You can pick up right where you left off, because the state of your Cloud PC remains the same, even when you switch devices,” explains McKelvey.

www.theverge.com

LiveWire One: Electric bike drops the Harley badge and the price

LiveWire, the freshly spun-off electric motorbike brand from Harley-Davidson, have unveiled their first model called the LiveWire One.

The bike is instantly recognisable from the Harley-Davidson version launched in 2019 but now comes in black or white without the famous Bar and Shield badge.

That means you get the same 104bhp, 146-mile claimed range, six-axis IMU controlled electronics, one-hour fast charge time and haptic ‘heartbeat’ vibration at ‘idle’.

The biggest change will be felt by your wallet though as the price looks to be drastically reduced compared to the H-D version of the bike. UK prices haven’t been announced as the One won’t make it to non-American markets until 2022 but the US price is just $21,999.

If you convert that price to GBP and then take off the UK EV grant of £1500 you end up with a projected price of just under £14,500. That’s getting on for half the £28,750 of the Harley-Davidson version.

www.motorcyclenews.com