Enlarge / A PC running Windows 11. reader comments 56 It’s been a bad couple of years for Microsoft’s security and privacy efforts. Misconfigured endpoints, rogue security certificates, and weak passwords have all caused or risked the exposure of sensitive data, and Microsoft has been criticized by security researchers, US lawmakers, and regulatory agencies for… Read More »
reader comments 57 On Thursday, renowned AI researcher Andrej Karpathy, formerly of OpenAI and Tesla, tweeted a lighthearted proposal that large language models (LLMs) like the one that runs ChatGPT could one day be modified to operate in or be transmitted to space, potentially to communicate with extraterrestrial life. He said the idea was “just… Read More »
Enlarge / Part of the cover illustration from “The Applesoft Tutorial” BASIC manual that shipped with the Apple II computer starting in 1981. Apple, Inc. reader comments 71 Sixty years ago, on May 1, 1964, at 4 am in the morning, a quiet revolution in computing began at Dartmouth College. That’s when mathematicians John G.… Read More »
Enlarge / A photo of the Cheyenne supercomputer, which is now up for auction. reader comments 72 On Tuesday, the US General Services Administration began an auction for the decommissioned Cheyenne supercomputer, located in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The 5.34-petaflop supercomputer ranked as the 20th most powerful in the world at the time of its installation in… Read More »
Enlarge / Be careful with the buckets you put out there for anybody to fill. Getty Images reader comments 79 If you’re using Amazon Web Services and your S3 storage bucket can be reached from the open web, you’d do well not to pick a generic name for that space. Avoid “example,” skip “change_me,” don’t… Read More »
Getty Images reader comments 29 If you build a gadget that connects to the Internet and sell it in the United Kingdom, you can no longer make the default password “password.” In fact, you’re not supposed to have default passwords at all. A new version of the 2022 Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act (PTSI)… Read More »
Enlarge / Cans of Tab diet soda on display in 2011. Tab was discontinued in 2020. There has never been a soda named “Spaces” that had a cult following. Getty Images reader comments 57 Anybody can contribute to the Linux kernel, but any person’s commit suggestion can become the subject of the kernel’s master and… Read More »
Enlarge / The Framework Laptop 13. Andrew Cunningham reader comments 16 Since Framework showed off its first prototypes in February 2021, we’ve generally been fans of the company’s modular, repairable, upgradeable laptops. Not that the company’s hardware releases to date have been perfect—each Framework Laptop 13 model has had quirks and flaws that range from… Read More »
Enlarge / A person made of many parts, similar to the attorney who handles both severe criminal law and copyright takedowns for an Arizona law firm. Getty Images reader comments 52 If you run a personal or hobby website, getting a copyright notice from a law firm about an image on your site can trigger… Read More »
Enlarge / An Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center under construction in Stone Ridge, Virginia, in March 2024. Amazon will spend more than $150 billion on data centers in the next 15 years. Getty Images reader comments 62 Redis, a tremendously popular tool for storing data in-memory rather than in a database, recently switched its… Read More »