brushin’ up on the fundamentals
#computing #it
#computing
31 posts · Last used 14d
Why it's important to unplug your PC during a power outage
https://www.engadget.com/2261632/why-important-unplug-pc-power-outage/
#Tech #Computing #Power
A great article by Gary Kildall about CP/M in Byte Magazine Volume 06 Number 06. June 1981. (p. 217)
Operating Systems
https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1981-06/page/n217/mode/1up
#computers #computing #system #cpm #os #byte #magazine #journal #reading #readers #read #mustread #retrocomputing #retrocomputers #retro #vintage #press #tech #plm #pli #cpm86 #mpm #garykildall
Boosted by @trending@homestead.social
Dear news reporters:
I do not care how many movies you watched in the 1980s and 1990s. The Terminator, let alone SKYNET, does not exist. We have not gotten to the point in which Durandal and Leela will fight to take over a space station. JOSHUA is not going to stop projecting nuclear winter and instead opt to play a game of chess. Number Five is not, despite how cute he may be, alive.
Computers are still computers are still computers and will only do what a human being programs them to do, and people are stupid. Stop assigning them agency. Say that "Microsoft created an automatic hacking program which was inadequately contained." Assign the blame CORRECTLY, because you cannot blame a computer, it's doing exactly what it's programmed to do.
OpenAI is a dead slab of metal and electrons arranged to mimic a human face and if you refuse to see that then you're as brain-dead as any chunk of silicon.
#ai #llms #infosec #computing
The early days of UNIX in the UK
https://www.coulouris.net/cs_history/em_story/
#History #Unix #Computing
This is a great place to store your old hard drives and keep them safe
https://www.engadget.com/2255337/best-place-to-store-old-hard-drives-keep-safe/
#Tech #Storage #Computing
Anthropic to build $31bn datacentre in western Queensland, David Crisafulli says https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/16/anthropic-lands-31bn-datacentre-deal-in-western-queensland #AI(artificialintelligence) #RuralandregionalAustralia #Datacentres-Australia #Queenslandpolitics #DavidCrisafulli #Australianews #Queensland #Technology #Anthropic #Computing #Business #Business #Energy
I Dream of Quieter Computing
https://henry.codes/writing/i-dream-of-quieter-computing/
#HackerNews #Tech #Computing
What happens when medical students rely on AI – and never develop their own judgment? | Simar Bajaj and Joseph Sakran https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/10/ai-medical-students-judgment #Health #AiArtificialIntelligence #UsHealthcare #UsNews #Computing #Society #Technology #Medicine #Research
Happy birthday to trailblazing American computer scientist Frances Elizabeth Allen (1932 – 2020) who made foundational contributions to optimizing compilers, optimizing programs and parallel computing. She was the first woman to become an IBM Fellow, where she worked from 1957 to 2002 and as an emeritus fellow afterwards. She was the first woman to win the Turing Prize.
🧵1/
https://minouette.etsy.com/listing/1086564033
#printmaking #womenInSTEM #histSTM #computing #mathematician #sciart #compsci
If, like me, you love 1990s Web sites, back when the internet wasn't enshittified by Big Tech yet, have a look at Wiby, a Web 1.0 search engine.
Click on "Surprise me…" for random discoveries, often personal Web pages about obscure niche subjects, but sometimes you find a hidden gem…
https://wiby.org
#web #internet #online #RetroComputing #RetroTech #VintageComputing #retro #history #computing #IT #1990s #tech #technology #vintage #nostalgia #digital
I came into possession of some old solar panels so I made a solar-powered web server with a raspberry pi. It's been sitting in my garden for two months running continuously on sun/battery power.
Perhaps the continuous uptime is not surprising given the extreme weather in London this summer.
It's been running the nginx start page for most of that time, but I finally made a little zine site and hooked it up to the web.
Channeling Gilbert White, Bruno Latour, lowtechmagazine, whathaveyou. Not much content there as yet.
A Concrete Garden: https://uplode.org#solar #selfhosted #selfhosting #energy #permacomputing #sustainability #computing #lowtech
Massive demand from AI data centers drives up computer memory prices
https://www.npr.org/2026/07/30/nx-s1-5909318/massive-demand-from-ai-data-centers-drives-up-computer-memory-prices
#Technology #AI #Computing
What's the difference between USB 3.0 & 2.0 and which should you use?
https://www.engadget.com/2219836/difference-between-usb-3-0-and-2-0-which-to-use/
#Tech #USB #Computing
I'm happy to announce our work has been accepted at ESORICS 2026, going to be held at Rome, Italy in September later this year!
"A Systematic Look at Quality-of-Service Feature Effects on Side Channels in AMD SEV-SNP"
In our work, we show that AMD CPUs' Quality of Service features introduce and amplify side channels, especially concerning in the confidential computing / trusted execution paradigm of computing.
We show that a malicious hypervisor can use allocation and monitoring features to leak and amplify what's going on in an AMD SEV-SNP confidential VM. The hypervisor can mount keystroke detection attacks, website fingerprinting attacks, Bleichenbacher attacks on RSA, and covert channels.
We reported our findings to AMD, who said that "side channels are not in their threat model for SEV-SNP"... 🙂.
I have a blog write up here (there's a logo of a cat wearing a business tie - no AI): https://snee.la/posts/amd-qos-side-channels/
You can read the paper at: https://snee.la/pdf/pubs/amd-qos-side-channels.pdf
Thanks to Carina Fiedler, @Rayiizzz@infosec.exchange, @supersingular@chaos.social, @misc0110@infosec.exchange and @lavados@infosec.exchange for the fun collaboration! 
#esorics2026 #confidentialcomputing #amd #security #cloud #computing #cloudcomputing
#esorics2026 #confidentialcomputing #amd #security #cloud #computing #cloudcomputing
John Tukey the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) inventor, who coined both "bit" and "software" died exactly 26 years ago today.
The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), one of the most important algorithms in signal processing and data analysis, was introduced by Tukey & Cooley in 1965.
In 1805, Gauss - studying the orbits of asteroids Pallas and Juno - came up with a method to interpolate their trajectories from discrete samples. What he came up with was mathematically very close to the modern FFT but Gauss never published that work, and didn’t analyze its computational complexity. It predated even Fourier’s 1822 work on heat diffusion - but without the framing or generalization that Cooley & Tukey would bring 160 years later.
In 1965, Cooley & Tukey published their now-famous algorithm that reduced the cost of computing a Discrete Fourier Transform from 𝑂(𝑛²) to 𝑂(𝑛 log𝑛). This leap made real-time signal processing and digital media compression feasible.
From radio telescopes to JPEGs, from audio codecs to quantum mechanics - the FFT is everywhere. It’s one of the most important (and elegant) algorithms of the 20th century - rooted in the genius of Gauss, but brought to life in the computer age.
#JohnTukey #FastFourierTransform #FFT #SignalProcessing #ComputerScience #Mathematics #Algorithm #DataScience #DigitalSignalProcessing #FourierTransform #ComputationalScience #ScientificComputing #HistoryOfScience #Innovation #CarlFriedrichGauss #JosephFourier #JamesCooley #STEM #Engineering #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #QuantumComputing #ImageProcessing #AudioProcessing #Statistics #TechHistory #Computing #Science #InnovationLegacy #OnThisDay
How to safely clean your USB ports
https://www.engadget.com/2219833/how-to-safely-clean-usb-port-guide/
#Tech #Computing #DIY
New blog post! Why computing isn't as fun as it used to be. I talk about how moving to macOS made everything work — and become kinda boring. I also talk about my thoughts on how boring AI makes technology.
https://pirategoddess.net/blog/computing-isnt-as-fun/
#Tech #Blog #BlogPost #techblog #AI #computing #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology
Replying to
Gotta be honest. Not sure exactly when the change occurred but I realized something within the last day or two: the sparkle's back. #Computing is FUN again. I feel like #BSD has been a vital component of that rediscovery: it feels more like what really got me into programming in the first place, being able to use the SDSU Sparc stations. As a drab ordinary user I learned to love the Macintosh, but as a programmer I learned to...respect UNIX. Not love it, but I realized at least that there was a value to its style and it felt better for programming.
But that was something about the Macintosh: it offered that option. I never really got into MPW but I knew about it. It was a funky sort of command-line approach to Mac programming. It had that classic Mac weirdness, like it was weird in a good and useful way rather than weird as a calculated commercial thing the way Steve Jobs (bites thumb in his direction) wanted Apple to be.
And he got his way, the slimy conniving piece of [expletive deleted].
~Chara of Pnictogen