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 » How the European Space Agency Celebrated April Fool's Day

Saturday 6 April 21:34:00 UTC 2024

The European Space Agency has a Planetary Defence Office, which includes its Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre. "It has come to our attention," they wrote in the April edition of their monthly newsletter, "that a recent trend among journalists has been to come up with creative comparisons to convey the size of an asteroid to the public." So then, as explained … [Link]

Slashdot » US Invests $20 Billion More to Finance Clean-Energy Projects

Saturday 6 April 20:34:00 UTC 2024

Thursday America's Environmental Protection Agency "awarded $20 billion to help finance clean-energy projects across the country," reports the Washington Post. The money comes from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund established by President Biden's signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. The fund seeks to leverage public and private dollars to invest in clean-energy technologies such as solar panels, heat pumps … [Link]

Slashdot » Disneyland Proposes New Area Based on 'Avatar' Movies

Saturday 6 April 19:34:00 UTC 2024

Disneyland is a proposing part of its park be dedicated to James Cameron's Avatar, reports SFGate. "The rendering isn't a carbon copy of the Pandora land in Disney World's Animal Kingdom; instead, it's themed more closely to the recent sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water." The teaser was dropped as part of Wednesday's company shareholders meeting. The concept art shows … [Link]

Slashdot » AI's Impact on CS Education Likened to Calculator's Impact on Math Education

Saturday 6 April 18:34:00 UTC 2024

In Communication of the ACM, Google's VP of Education notes how calculators impacted math education — and wonders whether generative AI will have the same impact on CS education: Teachers had to find the right amount of long-hand arithmetic and mathematical problem solving for students to do, in order for them to have the "number sense" to be successful later … [Link]

Slashdot » Is The US About To Pass a Landmark Online Privacy Bill?

Saturday 6 April 17:34:00 UTC 2024

Leaders from two key committees in the U.S. Congress "are nearing an agreement on a national framework aimed at protecting Americans' personal data online," reports the Washington Post. They call the move "a significant milestone that could put lawmakers closer than ever to passing legislation that has eluded them for decades, according to a person familiar with the matter, who … [Link]

Slashdot » Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Unveil Its Robotaxi on August 8

Saturday 6 April 16:34:00 UTC 2024

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Tesla "is poised to roll out its version of a robotaxi later this year, according to CEO Elon Musk." ("Musk made the announcement on social media saying 'Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8.' His cryptic post contained no other details about the forthcoming line of autonomous vehicles.") Electrek thinks they know what it'll look like. … [Link]

Slashdot » OpenBSD 7.5 Released

Saturday 6 April 15:34:00 UTC 2024

Slashdot reader Mononymous writes: The latest release of OpenBSD, the FOSS Unix-like operating system focused on correctness and security over features and performance, has been released. This version includes newer driver support, performance improvements, stability fixes, and lots of package updates. One highlight is a complete port of KDE Plasma 5. You can view the announcement and get the bits … [Link]

Slashdot » Meta (Again) Denies Netflix Read Facebook Users' Private Messenger Messages

Saturday 6 April 14:34:00 UTC 2024

TechCrunch reports this week that Meta "is denying that it gave Netflix access to users' private messages…" The claim references a court filing that emerged as part of the discovery process in a class-action lawsuit over data privacy practices between a group of consumers and Facebook's parent, Meta. The document alleges that Netflix and Facebook had a "special relationship" and … [Link]

New Scientist – News » 5 solar eclipse activities to do with children

Saturday 6 April 14:30:41 UTC 2024

From building an eclipse viewer to using the sun to pop balloons, here's a child-friendly activity guide for April's eclipse [Link]

Slashdot » SK Hynix To Build $3.87 Billion Memory Packaging Fab In the US For HBM4 and Beyond

Saturday 6 April 13:00:00 UTC 2024

Longtime Slashdot reader DrunkenTerror shares a report from AnandTech: SK hynix this week announced plans to build its advanced memory packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana. The move can be considered as a milestone both for the memory maker and the U.S., as this is the first advanced memory packaging facility in the country and the company's first significant manufacturing … [Link]

Slashdot » NASA Figured Out Why Its Voyager 1 Probe Has Been Glitching for Months

Saturday 6 April 10:00:00 UTC 2024

NASA engineers have traced the Voyager 1 spacecraft's transmitted gibberish to corrupted memory hardware in its flight data system (FDS). "The team suspects that a single chip responsible for storing part of the affected portion of the FDS memory isn't working," NASA wrote in an update. Gizmodo reports: FDS collects data from Voyager's science instruments, as well as engineering data … [Link]

Slashdot » Biden Takes Aim At SpaceX's Tax-Free Ride In American Airspace

Saturday 6 April 7:00:00 UTC 2024

Whenever a rocket launch occurs, air traffic controllers ensure the safety of commercial flights by managing airspace closures and monitoring rocket debris, without receiving compensation from commercial space companies like SpaceX for these services. The Biden administration's budget proposal aims to change this by suggesting that for-profit space companies begin paying for their use of government air traffic control resources. … [Link]

Slashdot » Trudeau Pushes 3D-Printed Homes To Solve Canada Housing Crisis

Saturday 6 April 3:30:00 UTC 2024

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Daily Hive: It is now the third consecutive day a major housing funding announcement has been made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Friday's announcement entails over $600 million in investments targeted to help lower the construction cost of homes and speed up building timelines, with a new focus on creating new building … [Link]

Slashdot » Heat-Trapping CO2, Methane Levels In the Air Last Year Spiked To Record Highs

Saturday 6 April 1:00:00 UTC 2024

According to the latest data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, carbon dioxide and methane levels in the atmosphere reached historic highs last year, growing at near-record fast paces. The Associated Press reports: Carbon dioxide, the most important and abundant of the greenhouse gases caused by humans, rose in 2023 by the third highest amount in 65 years … [Link]

John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons