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 » New US Defense Department Report Found 'No Evidence' of Alien Technology

Sunday 10 March 21:43:29 UTC 2024

An anonymous reader shared this report from the Guardian: The U.S. is not secretly hiding alien technology or extraterrestrial beings from the public, according to a defense department report. On Friday, the Pentagon 'published the findings of an investigation conducted by the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), a government office established in 2022 to detect and, as necessary, mitigate threats … [Link]

Slashdot » Does Reddit Represent the Return of the Junk Stock IPO?

Sunday 10 March 21:34:00 UTC 2024

An article in Inc notes a "wild projection" in Reddit's SEC filing that Reddit's global market opportunity by 2027 is $1.4 trillion." Some of the numbers lead back to a single individual: Sam Altman. The co-founder and chief executive of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI owns an 8.7 percent stake in Reddit, more than its co-founder and CEO, Steve Huffman, who owns 3.3 … [Link]

Slashdot » America's Justice Department Opens Criminal Investigation Into Boeing's Window Blowout Incident

Sunday 10 March 20:34:00 UTC 2024

America's Department of Justice "has launched a criminal investigation into the Boeing jetliner blowout that left a gaping hole on an Alaska Airlines plane," reports the Associated Press, citing a report from the Wall Street Journal. "As part of the new investigation, the Justice Department has interviewed pilots and flight attendants on the flight…" the Journal reports. "Investigators have taken … [Link]

Slashdot » Are We in the 'Anthropocene,' the Human Age? Scientists Say: Nope

Sunday 10 March 19:34:00 UTC 2024

Science magazine "has confirmed that a panel of two dozen geologists has voted down a proposal to end the Holocene — our current span of geologic time, which began 11,700 years ago at the end of the last ice age — and inaugurate a new epoch, the Anthropocene. "Starting in the 1950s, it would have marked a time when humanity's … [Link]

Slashdot » 'Now Fusion Has a Chance': New MIT Research Claims Fusion Power's 'Practicality' Has Been Proven

Sunday 10 March 18:34:00 UTC 2024

An anonymous reader shared this article from Futurism: More than two years since MIT claimed its scientists achieved a breakthrough in fusion energy, the university is claiming that new research "confirms" that the magnet-based design used in those tests isn't just impressive in a lab setting, but is practical and economically viable, too. These findings come from a comprehensive report … [Link]

Slashdot » One Year Later, 81% of SVB's Clients Still Bank With Them – and Big Banks Got Bigger

Sunday 10 March 17:34:00 UTC 2024

One year after Silicon Valley Bank's collapse and seizure, "Regional bank stocks remain volatile compared to other types of financial institutions," reports the Observer, "indicating investors' lingering worries about the sector." But not everyone suffered: Benefiting from the crisis were big players, like JPMorgan Chase. After acquiring First Republic's $212.6 billion in loans and $92.4 billion in deposits for just … [Link]

Slashdot » To Replace HexChat, Linux Mint is Building a New Desktop Chat App Called 'Jargonaut'

Sunday 10 March 16:34:00 UTC 2024

Ubuntu-based Linux Mint includes HexChat software by default "to offer a way for users of the distro to talk to, ask questions, and get support from other users," according to the Linux blog OMG Ubuntu. But in February HexChat's developer announced its final release… That got devs thinking. As is, IRC isn't user-friendly. It's a kind of an arcane magic … [Link]

Slashdot » The Apple IIgs: On a Machine This Slow, You Had To Get Weird

Sunday 10 March 15:34:00 UTC 2024

Long-time Slashdot reader garote writes: It's the year 1991. You're a teenage computer geek. You've just upgraded to an Apple IIgs, your first "16-bit" computer. To relieve the crushing boredom of your High School coursework, you and your friends embark on the computer geek equivalent of forming a heavy metal band: Making your own video game. You meet at the … [Link]

Slashdot » Lead From Gasoline Blunted the IQ of About Half the U.S. Population, Study Says

Sunday 10 March 14:34:00 UTC 2024

Slashdot reader ArchieBunker shared this article from NBC News: Exposure to leaded gasoline lowered the IQ of about half the population of the United States, a new study estimates. The peer-reviewed study, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on people born before 1996 — the year the U.S. banned gas containing lead. Overall, … [Link]

Slashdot » 'Monumental' Experiment Suggests How Life on Earth May Have Started

Sunday 10 March 12:34:00 UTC 2024

An anonymous reader shared this article from the Washington Post: A much-debated theory holds that 4 billion years ago, give or take, long before the appearance of dinosaurs or even bacteria, the primordial soup contained only the possibility of life. Then a molecule called RNA took a dramatic step into the future: It made a copy of itself. Then the … [Link]

Slashdot » California State Legislator Proposes Ending Daylight Saving Time

Sunday 10 March 8:34:00 UTC 2024

Legislation proposed in California "aims to repeal Daylight saving time and put California permanently on Standard time," reports a San Diego news station: In November 2018, California voters passed Prop 7, a measure that would allow the state legislature to change Daylight saving time by either keeping it year-round or getting rid of it altogether. However, this measure also requires … [Link]

Slashdot » New US Defense Department Report Finds 'No Evidence' of Alien Technology

Sunday 10 March 4:34:00 UTC 2024

Slashdot » Linux Variants of Bifrost Trojan Evade Detection via Typosquatting

Sunday 10 March 2:34:00 UTC 2024

"A 20-year-old Trojan resurfaced recently," reports Dark Reading, "with new variants that target Linux and impersonate a trusted hosted domain to evade detection." Researchers from Palo Alto Networks spotted a new Linux variant of the Bifrost (aka Bifrose) malware that uses a deceptive practice known as typosquatting to mimic a legitimate VMware domain, which allows the malware to fly under … [Link]

John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons