Author Archives: mea

A lazy fix 20 years ago means the Y2K bug is taking down computers now

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Programmers wanting to avoid the Y2K bug had two broad options: entirely rewrite their code, or adopt a quick fix called “windowing”, which would treat all dates from 00 to 20, as from the 2000s, rather than the 1900s. An estimated 80 per cent of computers fixed in 1999 used the quicker, cheaper option.

“Windowing, even during Y2K, was the worst of all possible solutions because it kicked the problem down the road,” says Dylan Mulvin at the London School of Economics.

Source: A lazy fix 20 years ago means the Y2K bug is taking down computers now | New Scientist

Magnetic North – Magnetic North Pole

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What is the magnetic field, anyway? Earth’s core is made of molten iron, and that geothermal energy is what keeps us warm, gravitized, and protected from the sun’s unrelenting radiation. As molten iron swirls, rises, is cooled, and falls back into the center, the convection (or circulating heat, the same as a convection oven) powers continental drift and also generates the magnetosphere.

Source: Magnetic North – Magnetic North Pole

A free online introduction to artificial intelligence for non-experts

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The Elements of AI is a series of free online courses created by Reaktor and the University of Helsinki. We want to encourage as broad a group of people as possible to learn what AI is, what can (and can’t) be done with AI, and how to start creating AI methods. The courses combine theory with practical exercises and can be completed at your own pace.

Source: A free online introduction to artificial intelligence for non-experts

NextCry Ransomware Targets NextCloud Linux Servers and Remains Undetected Features

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This statement provides insight into how hackers may have been able to access his system. On October 24, NextCloud disclosed a remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2019-11043) which has been exploited to compromise servers with the default Nextcloud NGINX configuration.

Source: NextCry Ransomware Targets NextCloud Linux Servers and Remains Undetected Features

Quantum Computer Made from Photons Achieves a New Record

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Boson sampling can be thought of as a quantum version of a classical device called the bean machine. In that device, balls are dropped onto rows of pegs, which they bounce off of, landing in slots at the bottom. The random motion of the balls typically leads to a normal distribution in the slots: most balls fall near the center, and fewer fall toward the sides, tapering off at the edges. Classical computers can easily simulate random motion to predict this result.

Source: Quantum Computer Made from Photons Achieves a New Record – Scientific American

Salesforce Transit Center: San Francisco’s $2.2 Billion Cracks

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And the review determined that the two affected beams, both over 60 feet long, barely moved an inch due to the fractures. The redundancies in design guaranteed the beams’ stability. The overall safety of the building was never compromised. If those workers hadn’t discovered the cracks by chance, we still might not know about them.

Source: Salesforce Transit Center: San Francisco’s $2.2 Billion Cracks

US Court Shields Internet Subscribers From Futile Piracy Complaints

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All in all the Court sees no other option than to deny the request for expedited discovery. This is good news for the people who were targeted by these lawsuits, as they won’t be identified. At the same time, it means that Strike 3 can’t continue these cases, as it can’t name a defendant.

Source: US Court Shields Internet Subscribers From Futile Piracy Complaints – TorrentFreak

How DARPA Trucked Its Massive Radio Frequency Testbed Across The United States

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Colosseum may look like a data center, but in reality, it’s a massive radio-frequency emulation testbed that DARPA built for its Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2). SC2 has been a three-year competition to demonstrate the validity of using artificial intelligences to work together in order to use wireless spectrum more efficiently than operating on pre-allocated bands would be.

Source: The Forklift Ballet: How DARPA Trucked Its Massive Radio Frequency Testbed Across The United States IEEE Spectrum – IEEE Spectrum