John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons

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Geekish

Anyone who works as a freelancer these days has to be at least a bit familiar with techie things. But it isn’t just that. When I was a kid and those vaguely SF puppet shows were on the television and all the other kids wanted to be Greg Gogetem or Steve Savetheuniverse, I wanted to be the guy in a white coat and glasses called Doc or Brains. Here are some technology-related feeds I find useful and/or entertaining.

Mashable » 'Solo' just dropped its first teaser and everything's perfectly alright now, we're fine, we're all fine here now

Sunday 4 February 23:46:37 UTC 2018

Twitter Facebook We're fine, we're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you? … No, just kidding. We just saw the first footage for the next Star Wars movie, gosh dang it. We are not fine at all. We are freaking the hell out, in a good way. SEE ALSO: 27 reasons 2018 might not totally suck (pop culture edition) The … [Link]

Slashdot » LKRG: A Loadable Linux Kernel Module for Runtime Integrity Checking

Sunday 4 February 23:34:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader quotes BleepingComputer: Members of the open source community are working on a new security-focused project for the Linux kernel. Named Linux Kernel Runtime Guard (LKRG), this is a loadable kernel module that will perform runtime integrity checking of the Linux kernel. Its purpose is to detect exploitation attempts for known security vulnerabilities against the Linux kernel and … [Link]

Mashable » 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' adds a volcano because dinos aren't scary enough already

Sunday 4 February 23:31:09 UTC 2018

Twitter Facebook Dinosaurs may be scary, but they've got nothing on volcanos. And the one in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom may be about to wipe them off the planet – again – for good.  SEE ALSO: 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' trailer is here, and it's everything you've been waiting for Fortunately, the dinos have a couple of human allies in Owen (Chris … [Link]

Mashable » John Krasinski's 'A Quiet Place' debuts a TV spot during a not-very-quiet Super Bowl

Sunday 4 February 23:23:58 UTC 2018

Twitter Facebook Right in the thick of Super Bowl mania, Paramount's made some room for A Quiet Place.  SEE ALSO: Most anticipated films of 2018 The horror trailer stars John Krasinski and Emily Blunt as the parents of a family who spend their days in complete silence, all the better to hide from some mysterious evil. As you may have gathered, their … [Link]

Mashable » 'The Emoji Movie' made 'Get Out' director Jordan Peele decide to quit acting

Sunday 4 February 22:47:25 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookApparently, Patrick Stewart's dignity wasn't the only loss in 2017's The Emoji Movie. You can also thank the shameless cash-grab for Jordan Peele's early retirement from acting. In January, the Get Out director and Key & Peele co-creator announced in an interview with CBS that he was officially putting an end to that chapter of his career (at least for now). … [Link]

Slashdot » Japan Launches the World's Smallest Satellite-Carrying Rocket

Sunday 4 February 22:34:00 UTC 2018

Japan has launched the world's smallest satellite-carrying rocket. Long-time Slashdot reader hey! writes: Last week Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully placed a three-kilogram cubesat into an 180 x 1,500 kilometer orbit at 31 degrees inclination to the equator. The payload was launched on a modified sounding rocket, called the SS-520-5. The assembled rocket weighed a mere 2600 kilograms [2.87 … [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » Why Your API Documentation Shouldn't Rely on a Tool

Sunday 4 February 22:27:02 UTC 2018

Algolia’s Maxime is often asked what tool the company uses for API documentation. He gives the name but he’s tempted to say it’s not an important question. What matters more than the software rendering your docs is the quality of the content. A good readme.md in GitHut is going to be more useful than nicely rendered docs that make no … [Link]

Slashdot » Uber and Lyft Want You Banned From Using Your Own Self-Driving Car in Urban Areas

Sunday 4 February 21:34:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader quotes the Mercury News: The rabble can't be trusted with self-driving cars, and only companies operating fleets of them should be able to use them in dense urban areas. So say Uber and Lyft, as signatories to a new list of transportation goals developed by a group of international non-governmental organizations and titled "Shared Mobility Principles for … [Link]

Mashable » Rest easy: Justin Timberlake isn't resurrecting Prince via hologram

Sunday 4 February 21:32:35 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookHe hasn't even taken the stage yet but Justin Timberlake's halftime performance is already embroiled in controversies.  The most bizarre of these was the rumor, reported Saturday on TMZ, that he'd share the stage with a hologram of the late, great Prince. Reports of a planned holographic tribute to the pop star, who passed away in April 2016, were swiftly met … [Link]

Mashable » Kylie Jenner had a baby, and the loveliest reason for keeping her a secret

Sunday 4 February 21:07:13 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookKylie Jenner's baby girl was born on Feb. 1.  The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star's pregnancy — her first, with rapper Travis Scott — has been the subject of much rumor and speculation, but Jenner herself has kept quiet on the facts of the situation. Turns out, there's a reason for that. SEE ALSO: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West reveal … [Link]

Mashable » Tesla's bringing Powerwall batteries to 50,000 homes in Australia

Sunday 4 February 20:43:12 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookTesla is about to become a very important part of South Australia's power grid. The company's Powerwall batteries are set to provide the juice for a massive "virtual power plant" in the country that will provide electricity for up to 50,000 homes over the next four years, according to the government. SEE ALSO: Tesla is coming to 800 Home Depot stores … [Link]

Slashdot » Gates On a Plane: Alaska Airlines Inflight Entertainment Stars Bill Gates

Sunday 4 February 20:34:00 UTC 2018

theodp writes: On Tuesday, it was announced that Alaska Airlines will make a new Code.org series of six short videos starring Microsoft's Bill Gates on How Computers Work available as inflight entertainment. "Because students and adults alike can learn from these videos," wrote Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi, "we are pleased to announce Khan Academy and Alaska Airlines will make them … [Link]

Mashable » Twitter showers Janet Jackson with love as Justin Timberlake returns to Super Bowl

Sunday 4 February 19:34:49 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookJanet Jackson might've confirmed she's not performing at the Super Bowl tonight, but she's still managing to upstage Justin Timberlake anyway. Janet-loving Twitter users rebranded Timberlake's return to the Super Bowl halftime show as #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay. Who can forget his last trip to the Super Bowl, in 2004, when Timberlake was responsible for Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction"? All these posts highlighting Jackson's … [Link]

Slashdot » Crowdfunding Campaign Seeks a Fully Open Source Alternative to Citrix XenServer

Sunday 4 February 19:34:00 UTC 2018

"Free/libre and 100% community backed version of XenServer," promises a new Kickstarter page, adding that "Our first prototype (and proof of concept) is already functional." Currently, XenServer is a turnkey virtualization platform, distributed as a distribution (based on CentOS). It comes with a feature rich toolstack, called XAPI. The vast majority of XenServer code is Open Source. But since XenServer … [Link]

Slashdot » Finland Will Introduce a Mobile 'Driver's License' App

Sunday 4 February 18:34:00 UTC 2018

The Finnish Broadcasting Corporation reports: Simo Karppinen, Unit Head at the Finnish Transport and Safety Agency Trafi, says it plans to roll out an app that will function as a free digital driving license by the end of summer. The agency said it expects many Finns to take up the use of the digital driving license as soon as it … [Link]

Slashdot » Flat Earther Fails To Launch His Homemade Rocket — Yet Again

Sunday 4 February 17:34:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader writes: Flat earther "Mad" Mike Hughes, who also bills himself as "the last great daredevil," promised Super Bowl-sized ratings for an event Saturday where he'd blast himself nearly half a mile into the sky on a homemade rocket. "We had 20 cameras on site today, ready for a full segment," explained the video-on-demand site Noize TV on … [Link]

Mashable » Give Pink some love: She's trying to sing at the Super Bowl with the flu

Sunday 4 February 16:47:52 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookThis year's flu season keeps getting worse. Its latest target is none other than Pink, who's supposed to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl on Sunday night. In a distressed Instagram post, the singer wrote that "one of the biggest honors of my life" is now "slowly becoming a sort of nightmare." Presumably a snot-filled, exhausting nightmare. She asked … [Link]

Slashdot » Malware Exploiting Spectre, Meltdown CPU Flaws Emerges

Sunday 4 February 16:34:00 UTC 2018

wiredmikey quotes SecurityWeek: Researchers have discovered more than 130 malware samples designed to exploit the recently disclosed Spectre and Meltdown CPU vulnerabilities. While a majority of the samples appear to be in the testing phase, we could soon start seeing attacks… On Wednesday, antivirus testing firm AV-TEST told SecurityWeek that it has obtained 139 samples from various sources, including researchers, … [Link]

Slashdot » Camera Makers Resist Encryption, Despite Warnings From Photographers

Sunday 4 February 15:34:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader shares an article from the security editor of ZDNet: A year after photojournalists and filmmakers sent a critical letter to camera makers for failing to add a basic security feature to protect their work from searches and hacking, little progress has been made. The letter, sent in late 2016, called on camera makers to build encryption into … [Link]

Mashable » 'Fox & Friends' cheers the Nunes memo and Trump's insecurities on 'SNL'

Sunday 4 February 15:27:24 UTC 2018

Twitter Facebook For this week's cold open sketch, Saturday Night Live paid a visit to Donald Trump's preferred source of fake news, Fox & Friends. Of course it did. Between the Nunes memo, the State of the Union address, and the ongoing adventures of Stormy Daniels, this has been a big week in Trumpworld. A sketch like this is all about the … [Link]

Mashable » I tried living like Tom Brady for a week

Sunday 4 February 15:00:00 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookIn honor of the Super Bowl, an event during which America watches two teams play a sport and I eat nachos, I've decided to try to eat like the insane football legend Tom Brady for a week. OK, it's his diet that's insane. But if you want to play 15 seasons of football, I guess not consuming dairy, coffee, yogurt, nightshades, … [Link]

Mashable » What it's like to live as a tea drinker in a coffee drinker's world

Sunday 4 February 14:40:58 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookIt ain't easy bein' a tea drinker in America nowadays — and frankly, it never has been. If you're a coffee drinker, I ask you to listen. It might be hard for you to understand people who live and drink outside your experience. Tea drinkers are forced to function in a society that, intentionally or not, excludes them and their hot … [Link]

Slashdot » What Are Today's Most Difficult IT Hires?

Sunday 4 February 14:34:00 UTC 2018

Slashdot reader snydeq shared an article from CIO: The IT talent gap is driving up demand for skilled IT pros, but for certain roles and skillsets, finding — and signing — the right candidate can feel a bit like trying to capture a unicorn… AI and data science jobs are at the top of the list, in part because they're … [Link]

Mashable » 'Stranger Things 3' sneak peek on 'SNL' is all about fart jokes and horny pre-teens

Sunday 4 February 14:27:40 UTC 2018

Twitter Facebook We might not actually see Stranger Things Season 3 until 2019, but Saturday Night Live has an early look at what's coming up next for Eleven and her imminently pubescent pal, Mike Wheeler. This sketch channels what was arguably the worst episode of the series — the one where Eleven ventures off, discovers punk rock, and meets up with others … [Link]

Mashable » Hillary Clinton returns to 'SNL' with State of the Union advice for Melania Trump

Sunday 4 February 13:39:27 UTC 2018

Twitter Facebook You all saw Melania Trump on the night of Donald Trump's State of the Union address (or hey, maybe you didn't). She didn't look so happy, did she? Maybe it's because she was listening to the advice of some voices from the past. Saturday Night Live's totally-real-and-not-at-all-inaccur~ version of Melania's pre-SOTU preparations sees her visited by the ghosts of White … [Link]

Mashable » Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch rep their colonial Super Bowl LII teams on 'SNL'

Sunday 4 February 13:13:32 UTC 2018

Twitter Facebook Pete Davidson has come to this assembly of Founding Fathers in 1775, to bring us tidings of a momentous win at Bunker Hill by the American colonies against the British. Welcome news indeed! And joining the celebrations are a group of patriots from New England, where the battle was won! Leading the horde of heavy Boston accents was none other … [Link]

Mashable » The coding guidebook every developer should own for less than $20

Sunday 4 February 13:00:00 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookHeads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable's commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Web development is a booming field. But contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a fancy degree or prior coding experience to take advantage of this lucrative career opportunity. All you need … [Link]

Mashable » Sleep easy knowing you got these bamboo sheets on sale for less than $30

Sunday 4 February 13:00:00 UTC 2018

Twitter FacebookHeads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable's commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. When was the last time you replaced your sheets? If you're too embarrassed to say or, worse, can't even remember, it's probably time for a new pair. But you don't have to … [Link]

Slashdot » Are Music CDs Dying? Best Buy Stops Selling CDs

Sunday 4 February 12:34:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader quotes Complex magazine: The future of physical music isn't looking good. According to Billboard, consumer electronics company Best Buy will no longer carry physical CDs and Target may be following suit in the near future. Best Buy notified music suppliers that they will cease selling CDs at stores beginning July 1. The move is sure to hurt … [Link]

Slashdot » New 'Open Source Initiative' Site Announces Anniversary Celebrations and Outreach Programs

Sunday 4 February 8:29:00 UTC 2018

Coining the term "Open Source" was only the beginning. "That same month, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) was founded as a general educational and advocacy organization to raise awareness and adoption for the superiority of an open development process." That's the word from their newly-re-designed site OpenSource.net, which is now commemorating the 20th anniversary of the open source movement with … [Link]

Mashable » Natalie Portman takes on Tide Pods in latest 'SNL' rap

Sunday 4 February 7:42:33 UTC 2018

Twitter Facebook She may be a mom now, but Natalie Portman spits fire as hot as ever. Reimagining the viral Lonely Planet digital short from her last SNL hosting stint in 2006, Portman dropped some sick game – rapping about her not-ballerino husband Benjamin Millepied, and GenZ's favorite pastime, snacking on Tide Pods. "It sounds like you're almost exactly the same but … [Link]

Slashdot » Rust Creator Graydon Hoare Says Current Software Development Practices Terrify Him

Sunday 4 February 5:24:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader writes: On Monday Graydon Hoare, the original creator of the Rust programming language, posted some memories on Twitter. "25 years ago I got a job at a computer bookstore. We were allowed to borrow and read the books; so I read through all the language books, especially those with animals on the covers. 10 years ago I … [Link]

Slashdot » 'How I Coined the Term Open Source'

Sunday 4 February 2:19:00 UTC 2018

Today is the 20th anniversary of the phrase "open source software," which was coined by the executive director of the Foresight Institute, a nonprofit think tank focused on nanotech and artificial intelligence. The phrase first entered the world on February 3rd, 1998. Christine Peterson writes: Of course, there are a number of accounts of the coining of the term, for … [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » Why Bustle Switched Their API to GraphQL

Sunday 4 February 0:25:54 UTC 2018

Facebook’s baby GraphQL is the hot new thing in APIs promising to topple REST from its perch. But how does a newbie go about using it and what for? And why might you not want to use it? David Iffland over at InfoQ sat down with Steve Faulkner, director of engineering at Bustle, to talk about how they adopted GraphQL … [Link]

Slashdot » Five Major Credit Cards Are Now Blocking Cryptocurrency Purchases

Sunday 4 February 0:14:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader quotes CNBC: J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup said Friday they are no longer allowing customers to buy cryptocurrencies using credit cards. "At this time, we are not processing cryptocurrency purchases using credit cards, due to the volatility and risk involved," a J.P. Morgan Chase spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC. "We will review … [Link]

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