A bunch of great news stories from Miles, and a wonderful tail of VR exploration at Siggraph 2018 from Ben.
Plus goat sounds, stories of the geeks hurting each other, and thoughts on existential VR.
NASA’s Opportunity rover has been silent since June 10, when a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly-15-year-old rover.
The idea that there was ice on the Moon tantalized astronomers for years, even before NASA’s Apollo mission to send astronauts to the lunar surface began.
The Infinadeck Omnidirectional Treadmill – Smarter Every Day 192 (VR Series)
Powerful new tools are rapidly improving Earth’s view of the universe.
Construction began this week on the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile, a mammoth, $1 billion project designed to see to the very edge of the universe.
In a cramped warehouse in an industrial neighborhood in Berkeley, California, a Tesla Model 3 is ready to go. It’s powered up, its display screen is on, and it’s pumping out data. But there are some strange error messages. For one, the passenger door window is uncalibrated. For another, the autopilot electronic control unit is missing.
Software now constitutes a new form of logic, rhetoric, and grammar, a new means of thinking, arguing, and interpreting. The Software Arts argues that the foundational ideas and practices of computing come from the arts…
Debian is one of the most important open source projects ever. The Debian Linux operating system is extremely popular in its own right, but also, it is used as the base for countless other distributions. Ubuntu, for instance — one of the most-used distros — is Debian-based. Even Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu, also has a Debian edition. Not to mention, Raspbian — the official Raspberry Pi OS — which is based on Debian too.
When the cybersecurity industry warns about the nightmare of hackers causing blackouts, the scenario they describe typically entails an elite team of hackers breaking into the inner sanctum of a power utility to start flipping switches. But one group of researchers has imagined how an entire power grid could be taken down by hacking a less centralized and protected class of targets: home air conditioners and water heaters. Lots of them.
After more than a week of controversy and pressure, Facebook removed four pages run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from its platform. According to a blog post published Monday morning, Facebook removed the Alex Jones Channel, Alex Jones, InfoWars, and Infowars Nightly News pages for “repeatedly posting content over the past several days” that violates the company’s Community Standards.
Apple will continue to allow the InfoWars mobile app on its App Store even after removing almost all of the podcast episodes associated with Alex Jones’ conspiracy-theory website from its platforms. The iPhone maker released a statement to BuzzFeed News explaining its decision to allow the InfoWars app to remain downloadable from its store.
