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.

Slashdot » Can NASA Return Mars Samples to Earth? New Audit Raises Doubts

Saturday 2 March 22:47:00 UTC 2024

Space.com writes that NASA's plan to return samples from Mars to the earth "is facing major challenges, according to a new report. "Design, cost and scheduling are all significant obstacles, an audit report of NASA's Mars Sample Return (MSR) Program by the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) finds…" It involves landing on Mars to collect samples taken by the … [Link]

Slashdot » Microsoft Begins Adding 'Copilot' Icon to Windows 11 Taskbars

Saturday 2 March 21:47:00 UTC 2024

Microsoft is "delighted to introduce some useful new features" for its "Copilot Preview for Windows 11," according to a recent blog post. TechRepublic adds that "most features will be enabled by default… rolling out from today until April 2024." Windows 11 users will be able to change system settings through prompts typed directly into Copilot in Windows, currently accessible in … [Link]

Slashdot » TurboTax and H&R Block Want 'Permission to Blab Your Money Secrets'

Saturday 2 March 20:34:00 UTC 2024

Americans filing their taxes could face privacy threats, reports the Washington Post: "We just need your OK on a couple of things," TurboTax says as you prepare your tax return. Alarm bells should be ringing in your head at the innocuous tone. This is where America's most popular tax-prep website asks you to sign away the ironclad privacy protections of … [Link]

Slashdot » New Study Shows Like-Charged Particles Attract or Repel in Solution

Saturday 2 March 19:34:00 UTC 2024

You know how like-charged objects repel — and do so regardless of the sign of their electrical charge? Maybe not always, according to new research published in Nature. "We demonstrate experimentally that the solvent plays a hitherto unforeseen but crucial role in interparticle interactions," they write. But more importantly, "interactions in the fluid phase can break charge-reversal symmetry. We show … [Link]

Slashdot » Two New 'Star Wars' Movies Will Begin Filming

Saturday 2 March 18:34:00 UTC 2024

"The Mandalorian & Grogu and Daisy Ridley's untitled Star Wars movie have received working titles ahead of their respective production starts," reports CBR: According to The Cosmic Circus, The Mandalorian and Grogu will be filmed under the working title "Thunder Alley", while Ridley's Star Wars movie will be known as "New Jedi Order…" The Mandalorian & Grogu will be the … [Link]

Slashdot » Watch the Moment 43 Unionized YouTube Contractors Were All Laid Off

Saturday 2 March 17:38:29 UTC 2024

An anonymous Slashdot reader shared this report from The Washington Post: A YouTube contractor was addressing the Austin City Council on Thursday, calling on them to urge Google to negotiate with his union, when a colleague interrupted him with jaw-dropping news: His 43-person team of contractors had all been laid off… The YouTube workers, who work for Google and Cognizant, … [Link]

Slashdot » Threads' API Is Coming in June

Saturday 2 March 17:04:00 UTC 2024

In 2005 Gabe Rivera was a compiler software engineer at Intel — before starting the tech-news aggregator Techmeme. And last year his Threads profile added the words "This is a little self-serving, but I want all social networks to be as open as possible." Friday Threads engineer Jesse Chen posted that it was Rivera's post when Threads launched asking for … [Link]

Slashdot » Ransomware Attack Hampers Prescription Drug Sales at 90% of US Pharmacies

Saturday 2 March 16:04:00 UTC 2024

"A ransomware gang once thought to have been crippled by law enforcement has snarled prescription processing for millions of Americans over the past week…" reports the Washington Post. "The hackers stole data about patients, encrypted company files and demanded money to unlock them, prompting the company to shut down most of its network as it worked to recover." Insurance giant … [Link]

Slashdot » Spotify, Epic Games, and Others Argue Apple's App Store Changes Do Not Comply With DMA

Saturday 2 March 13:30:00 UTC 2024

An anonymous reader quotes a report from MacRumors: Spotify, Epic Games, Deezer, Paddle, and several other developers and EU associations today sent a joint letter to the European Commission to complain about Apple's "proposed scheme for compliance" with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The 34 companies and associations do not believe Apple's plans "meet the law's requirements." Apple's changes "disregard … [Link]

Slashdot » Copilot For OneDrive Will Fetch Your Files and Summarize Them

Saturday 2 March 10:30:00 UTC 2024

An upcoming April release of Copilot for OneDrive will be able to find, summarize, and extract information from a wide range of files, including text documents, presentations, spreadsheets, HTML pages and PDF files. "Users can ask Copilot to tailor summaries to their liking, such as only including key points or highlights from a specific section," reports The Verge. From the … [Link]

Slashdot » The Desert Planet In 'Dune' Is Plausible, According To Science

Saturday 2 March 7:30:00 UTC 2024

The desert planet Arrakis in Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune is plausible, says Alexander Farnsworth, a climate modeler at the University of Bristol in England. According to Science News, the world would be a harsh place for humans to live, and they probably wouldn't have to worry about getting eaten by extraterrestrial helminths. From the report: For their Arrakis … [Link]

Slashdot » Helium Discovery In Northern Minnesota May Be Biggest Ever In North America

Saturday 2 March 4:00:00 UTC 2024

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: Scientists and researchers are celebrating what they call a "dream" discovery after an exploratory drill confirmed a high concentration of helium buried deep in Minnesota's Iron Range. Thomas Abraham-James, CEO of Pulsar Helium, said the confirmed presence of helium could be one of the most significant such finds in the world. … [Link]

Slashdot » Yelp Says Remote-First Policy Boosted Job Apps By 43%, Led To a More Satisfied Workforce

Saturday 2 March 2:32:00 UTC 2024

Since implementing a remote-first policy in 2021, Yelp says it's experienced a surge in job applications and a more satisfied workforce. Fortune reports: Last year, the total number of job applicants was 43% higher compared to 2021, according to Yelp's 2024 Remote Work Report released earlier this month. The number of applicants for sales roles skyrocketed by 103%, and prospects … [Link]

Slashdot » Meta Says It's Deleting All Oculus Accounts At the End of the Month

Saturday 2 March 1:55:00 UTC 2024

Emma Roth reports via The Verge: If you still haven't migrated your Oculus account to a Meta one, you might want to do that soon. In an email sent to users, the company says it will delete Oculus accounts on March 29th, 2024, preventing you from reactivating or retrieving your apps, in-app purchases, store credits, and more. You'll lose your … [Link]

Slashdot » California Approves Waymo Robotaxi Services In LA, SF Neighboring Cities

Saturday 2 March 1:15:00 UTC 2024

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved Alphabet's Waymo robotaxi service to operate in Los Angeles and some cities near San Francisco. Reuters reports: Waymo, which already operates in San Francisco and Phoenix, applied on Jan 19 to expand its driverless services, saying it would work with policymakers, first responders and community organizations. Last month, the CPUC suspended the application … [Link]

Slashdot » Rogue Editors Started a Competing Wikipedia That's Only About Roads

Saturday 2 March 0:32:00 UTC 2024

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: For 20 years, a loosely organized group of Wikipedia editors toiled away curating a collection of 15,000 articles on a single subject: the roads and highways of the United States. Despite minor disagreements, the US Roads Project mostly worked in harmony, but recently, a long-simmering debate over the website's rules drove this … [Link]

John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons