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2023-07-20

Kevin Mitnick has died

  • Renowned cybersecurity expert Kevin Mitnick has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
  • Mitnick was known for his hacking skills and the "FREE KEVIN" movement that emerged in the 1990s.
  • His impact on the cybersecurity community and inspiration to many is being remembered and celebrated.

Industry Reactions

  • Kevin Mitnick, a legendary hacker, has passed away at the age of 57 due to pancreatic cancer.
  • Mitnick's hacking skills and social engineering techniques inspired many in the industry and paved the way for modern cybersecurity practices.
  • His books, such as "The Art of Deception" and "Ghost in the Wires," are recommended reads for those interested in hacking and cybersecurity.

Stanford president resigns over manipulated research, will retract 3 papers

  • Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne will resign and retract or issue corrections to at least three papers due to manipulated research data.
  • The investigation found instances of manipulation in Tessier-Lavigne's neuroscientific research, spanning labs at three separate institutions.
  • Retracting papers is rare, indicating the seriousness of the findings. This case highlights the importance of upholding scientific integrity in research.

Industry Reactions

  • Stanford president resigns after investigation finds manipulated research data in multiple scientific papers.
  • Student journalist Theo Baker exposes the manipulated data and wins a Polk Award for his work.
  • Case highlights the importance of integrity, ethics, and oversight in academia.

Advanced Python Mastery

  • 'Advanced Python Mastery' is an exercise-driven course on advanced Python programming written by David Beazley, a renowned author in the field.
  • The course is designed for Python programmers who want to go beyond short scripts and learn programming techniques used in popular libraries and frameworks.
  • The course provides detailed presentation slides, exercises, solutions, and supplemental materials, and is best suited for individuals with prior Python knowledge and a Python development environment.

Industry Reactions

  • Advanced Python Mastery is a now-CC-licensed 4-day Python training course that has been iterated on for 16 years.
  • David Beazley, the author, is well-known for his popular Python tutorials and tech talks.
  • Some Discussion Service commenters highly recommend Beazley's other resources, such as his book "Python Essential Reference" and his online immersive courses.

Children of alumni no longer have admissions edge at Carnegie Mellon, Pitt

  • Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have decided to no longer give preferential treatment to students who have family members who attended the schools, known as legacies.
  • The change in policy is a departure from the long-standing tradition of elite universities giving an admissions edge to children of alumni.
  • This decision comes in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that colleges can no longer consider a student's race in admissions decisions, which has sparked debate about fairness and equity in the admissions process.

Industry Reactions

  • Carnegie Mellon and Pitt have decided to eliminate preferential treatment for the children of alumni in admissions.
  • Legacy admissions have been seen as perpetuating privilege and contradicting the ideals of meritocracy.
  • The debate surrounding legacy admissions intersects with discussions on affirmative action and the broader questions of equality of opportunity and the purpose of higher education.

ASUS to manufacture and sell Intel's NUC products

  • Intel has agreed to a partnership with ASUS, a technology solution provider, to manufacture, sell, and support Intel's Next Unit of Compute (NUC) systems product line.
  • This collaboration is important because it allows Intel to focus on enabling ecosystem partners to continue innovation and growth in the NUC systems market.
  • ASUS's expertise in delivering mini PCs and their commitment to excellent support and service make them well-suited to carry forward the NUC systems product line and expand into areas such as AI and AIoT.

Industry Reactions

  • ASUS will manufacture and sell Intel's NUC products, indicating profitability of Intel's NUC line.
  • NUCs are popular due to their affordability, low power consumption, and excellent Linux support, making them reliable for specific use cases.
  • Users discuss their positive experiences with NUCs, including running home automation systems, self-hosting, and using them as mini home servers.

Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

  • Two U.S. senators are introducing a bipartisan bill to prevent government officials and lawmakers from owning individual company stocks.
  • This proposed legislation aims to prevent conflicts of interest and promote public trust in the government.
  • Recent polling shows strong public support for such a measure.

Industry Reactions

  • Senators are proposing a ban on U.S. lawmakers and executive branch members owning stocks to address potential conflicts of interest.
  • Critics argue that the ban alone won't solve the problem and call for additional measures, such as jury duty-like selection processes for politicians.
  • There is debate over whether lawmakers should be allowed to trade stocks at all, with suggestions of decriminalizing insider trading and exploring other countries' restrictions.

Bookwyrm – A federated social network for reading books

  • BookWyrm is a collaborative software that helps people share and discuss books.
  • It is maintained by Mouse Reeve, who is dedicated to offering an alternative to corporate platforms.
  • To support the development of BookWyrm, you can contribute to their Patreon page.

Industry Reactions

  • Bookwyrm is a federated social network for reading books, allowing users to share book lists, reviews, and recommendations in a decentralized manner.
  • The UI of Bookwyrm has been praised for its user-friendly and intuitive design.
  • Bookwyrm offers an anti-corporate and federated approach to book social networks, providing an alternative to centralized platforms like Goodreads.

Twenty.com (YC S23) – Open-source CRM

  • The post is about the launch of Twenty.com, an open-source CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software.
  • Twenty.com is part of the Y Combinator's S23 batch, which is known for supporting and funding startups.
  • The software aims to help businesses manage and improve their relationships with customers.

Industry Reactions

  • Twenty.com is a new open-source CRM aiming to provide a better user experience for small companies and address the limitations of existing CRM systems.
  • The CRM is built with Typescript, React, and NestJS with GraphQL and offers a hosted version for monetization.
  • The open-source nature of Twenty.com and its potential to disrupt the CRM market with a community-led effort have garnered attention from tech-savvy readers.

Netscape and Sun announce JavaScript (1995)

  • Netscape and Sun Microsystems announced the release of JavaScript, an open, cross-platform object scripting language for creating and customizing applications on enterprise networks and the Internet.
  • JavaScript complements Java and is designed for use by HTML page authors and enterprise application developers to script the behavior of objects running on both clients and servers.
  • 28 industry-leading companies have endorsed JavaScript as an open standard object scripting language and plan to integrate it into future products.

Industry Reactions

  • JavaScript is a scripting language that allows developers to create interactive and dynamic web applications.
  • The introduction of JavaScript opened up possibilities for dynamic web applications, such as intelligent forms and multimedia applets.
  • JavaScript has played a significant role in the development of web technologies and has become widely adopted by developers.

A glitch in the SEO matrix

  • A glitch in the SEO matrix has been discovered where a specific keyword related to open-source software for big data management is generating a high volume of searches but has limited content to match.
  • The keyword originated from a popular Cisco Introduction to IoT course and has caused an influx of low-quality blog posts trying to rank for it.
  • The problem with this SEO craze is that the search intent of users is not being met, as they only need a simple answer to their question, not lengthy jargon-filled articles.

Industry Reactions

  • The current state of search engine optimization (SEO) is criticized for prioritizing revenue over user experience and search quality.
  • Ad-based search engines are incentivized to drive traffic to websites with ads, leading to cluttered search results and low-quality content.
  • Alternatives to ad-based search engines and SEO-focused websites are emerging, highlighting the need for improvements in search algorithms and a reevaluation of the ad-based monetization model.