BearOfaTime

Sounds like marketing foo.

I have a 10+ year old Weller station with digital temp adjustment, and I don’t recall it having a cpu and ram.

Those look pretty cool.

But I’m confused about the marketing around the cpu/ram, etc. Does that really matter for a soldering iron? (Serious question, not being snarky).

I get they’re using that tech to make it adjustible/smart, but it’s a soldering iron, not a pocket computer.

Is there some way those specs genuinely matter? Or is it just to say “we’re using the latest tech to provide controls”?

The article seems to say it can, though they’re promoting their own, of course

Damn you, beat me to it. And now I have that song in my head.

That’s just so you’re oblivious to what’s about to happen.

Scared prey doesn’t taste as good.

So what “unpriviledged user” can run an MSI?

In my world (the business world), by definition unpriviledged means can’t install apps. That’s kind of the first level of unpriviledged, with things like change start menu way farther down the tree. I’ve never worked anywhere that’s allowed end users to even kick off an install of anything - at most we use some automation that responds to a user launching an app shortcut (using an app and system management tool that has its own service, something the user can’t even interact with because the install happens silently with zero dialogs. Such dialogs are really bad practice).

It’s not an immutable OS, an app installer can be malicious, of course, like any OS.

Also this:

This attack does not work using a recent version of the Edge browser or Internet Explorer. Also make sure that Edge or IE have not been set as default browser for the system user and that Firefox or Chrome are not running before attempting to exploit it." Secondly, not all .msi files are exploitable.

So it’s a tempest in a tea pot, especially considering it takes a malicious actor at the computer to click on a command prompt window at just the right time (or remoted in, though since timing is crucial, it probably isn’t likely). You can create a script to do it, but even that is problematic, and not all MSI files aren’t susceptible to this (even says so in the article).

So like so much else, it requires just the right circumstance, with just the right MSI, just the right default browser, just the right user permissions, and just the right malicious actor in front of the machine, with just the right knowledge.

You’re screaming into this void

Only took them what, 20 years?

Why would you run local traffic over the VPN?

I want to know how they aim to improve battery-based soldering irons, since heat requires lots of juice, period.

The only thing we can do is improve the efficiency of that conversion, which just means even faster consumption of batteries.

The only area that can improve is in the tip - better sizing to the job at hand (good luck, this is a portable device, meaning you never really know) and better insulating it so less heat is lost to the rest of the device (and that’s been solved for decades in better quality irons).

My higher quality irons have a very small tip, with very little heat lost to the holder.

The other option is carbon tips, which I’ve had, and work great. But they’re fragile.

Edit: ah, they’re not talking about efficiency, I misunderstood.

Cool idea, actually. Are they using 18650 batteries?

Edit 2: $250 for the power station? Are they on crack? No thanks. My Weller 120v station was maybe $120, I can run an extension cord. This is what they’re competing with, or a Milwaukee cordless. Once Milwaukee sees this, they’ll duplicate it, and it’s hard to beat the flexibility of removable batteries which are designed for high current.

And yet I still want this.