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Items tagged with: computers
BTW
there is no reason you shouldn’t have full access to your #computers. there is also no reason whatsoever you shouldn’t install software you’ve developed or is developed by sources you vetted and trust.
this is a post about the (micro)computers in your pockets and purses that are marketed under the moniker of “smart phone”.
don’t matter if it’s an #iOS #iPhone or an #Android #Pixel: they’re #microcomputers.
we should have full access to and use of their hardware & operating systems.
I use computers every day and, personally, I wish there were wayyyy fewer of them.
The issue with modern engineering, technology, and infrastructure is that we have taken all of our hardware problems and turned them into software problems. They are, as a rule, easier to deploy, but much harder to maintain and repair.
In a reasonable system it should not be possible, to hack a gas pump, or for there to be a need to update your refrigerator's firmware, or for an important component to be decommissioned overnight because a tiny startup on the other end of the world went belly up.
The value of physical hardware is that it can be directly inspected and manipulated in a way that software can't. It's harder for hardware to lie or cheat or hide anything whereas secrecy is a norm in software. The material of software is capable of misleading and confusing it's operators in a way physical objects struggle to do without a gimmick of some sort.
Hardware can be coerced to continue running indefinitely whereas old software needs the equivalent of a specially crafted, hermetically sealed life support system to outlive its usefulness for even a few years.
I'm reminded of when so much of the tools and infrastructure in our lives was stupid, direct, gravity fed, lever operated, simple machines that did one thing and did it well.
Now stuff breaks because a wildly abstracted system of captured photons that we tricked into doing math decided that just one out of those gajillions of uncountable particles was in the wrong place.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy software. It's never been easier to just make a tool to solve hyper specific problems. I guess the issue is that software-centric solutions have just bled into so many applications to the point that it is wildly inappropriate and just plain annoying.
Ever since I switched to #GNU #Linux in my private life, using #Windows at work gives me near-daily headaches. I have full admin rights, yet I constantly fight the system: forced updates, inconsistent behavior, sluggish UI, weird errors buried in the registry.
I used to think this was just how #computers worked. But after experiencing the #freedom and clarity of #FOSS, Windows feels more like an obstacle than a tool.
Going back feels wrong.
#os #opensource #free #arch #Fensterfreitag
Long passwords are important.
Source: reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/c…
#tech #technology #encryption #password #passwords #Security #cybersecurity #computing #computers #computer
Interesting job, keeping old technology running.
IEEE Spectrum: What It Takes To Let People Play With the Past spectrum.ieee.org/vintage-tech #vintagecomputing #computers #technology
What It Takes To Let People Play With the Past
Libi Rose keeps obsolete technologies running at the Media Archaeology LabStephen Cass (IEEE Spectrum)
A Brief tour of the End, an accessible fiction podcast directory.
The End | Completed Audio Fiction
The End is a directory with over 1,000 completed audio fiction—either at the series or season level—ready for you to listen to and enjoy at your pace.The End | Completed Audio Fiction
Blind writer tries the Gandalf | Lakera prompt injection game for the first time.
Upon recommendations, I tried this AI prompt injection game for the first time. I made it to level 7 with no help from the internet!
If you want to donate to me, donate to me on this page.
My website is here where I usually blog. I'm not much of a video person, so I blog and write more than I do video!
Gandalf | Lakera – Test your prompting skills to make Gandalf reveal secret information.
Trick Gandalf into revealing information and experience the limitations of large language models firsthand.gandalf.lakera.ai
ICQ is closing down. It was really at its height in 2000 and that is when we integrated ICQ into Opera. We made a small (5k) client and it worked really well.
AOL had purchased ICQ and they were concerned about MSN taking users from them by connecting to their service, so they stopped supporting 3rd party clients. We contacted them, to see if they would make an exception for us, but they did not.
They said that if we removed our 5k client, we could maybe discuss bundling their client, but it was bigger than Opera, so that was not going to happen.
So apparently the term "patch" in software development comes from punched paper tape.
"Small corrections to the programmed sequence could be done by patching over portions of the paper tape and re-punching the holes in that section."
chsi.harvard.edu/harvard-ibm-m…
#til #computers #development #language #history
#Linux on the #desktop is becoming more #popular in my home town, but for the wrong reasons.
It's #poverty: many people have no money for a new #laptop or desktop. Their old #computers still work fine, but can't run the latest versions of #Windows.
We backup their data, install #LinuxMint, restore their data, install some extra programs, show them around and they're good to go.
Interestingly no one had problems making the switch so far. All quiet on the support front.
I can't sign this as I am not a constituent of the EU, but I hope this comes to pass and the EU forces some responsibility into the #tech corporations. Goodness knows the US isn't going to lead the way.
#OpenSource #ConsumerRights #Computers #PlannedObsolescence #FOSS #ElectronicWaste #environmentalism #RightToRepair