Exclusive photos show significant damage to the Svalbard fiber optic cable, likely caused by an external force such as an anchor or trawl, exposing the cable's copper layer to seawater and causing a ground fault.
Despite initial police suspicions of human activity, the investigation was dropped due to lack of evidence, though underwater drone footage suggested trawler activity.
The incident highlights the vulnerability of subsea cables, especially in remote areas, with fishing activities, particularly trawling, identified as the primary cause of most cable damages.
The damaged Svalbard cable, crucial for satellite data downlinks, impacts ESA, NASA, and commercial operators, including earth observation for Ukraine.
Starlink offers limited backup but lacks the 10Gbps bandwidth of the fiber optic link, prompting discussions on satellite communication upgrades and geopolitical concerns, especially Russia's interest in Svalbard.
The debate includes the high data capacity of the Svalbard Undersea Cable System, advancements in fiber optic technology, and the environmental impact of trawler fishing, with speculation on Russian sabotage and geopolitical tensions.
Jordan Tigani argues that the era of Big Data is over, as most organizations do not handle massive data volumes and struggle to derive actionable insights.
Traditional data management systems like SQLite, Postgres, and MySQL are resurging, while NoSQL and NewSQL systems stagnate, with data sizes often under a terabyte.
Modern cloud platforms separate storage and compute, enabling scalable and cost-effective data management, shifting the focus from data size to efficient data usage and decision-making.
A Motherduck.com user shared an interview experience where managing 6 TiB of data was a key task, sparking debate on the fairness and effectiveness of trick questions in interviews.
The discussion highlighted the importance of assessing candidates' thought processes, the lasting relevance of SQL and relational databases, and the benefits of simpler, cost-effective data management tools.
It also critiqued the tech community's echo chamber effect, emphasizing sustainable growth over chasing unicorn status and the balance between rapid software development and careful planning.
The Guinness Brewery is the birthplace of the t-test, a key statistical method for determining statistical significance.
William Sealy Gosset developed the t-test in the early 20th century to improve product consistency at Guinness by interpreting data from small sample sizes.
Published under the pseudonym "Student," the t-test helps distinguish between actual deviations and natural variations in sample data and remains essential in scientific research.
The text covers a broad range of topics, from the invention of the t-test at the Guinness brewery to historical events like the Balfour Declaration and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It critiques the superficial treatment of mathematics in statistics education and debates the merits of teaching statistics versus calculus, emphasizing the importance of understanding mathematical concepts over rote procedures.
The discussion also touches on the role of open-source software security, corporate policies on research accessibility, and the economic benefits of statistical techniques like the t-test and ANOVA.
The discussion emphasizes the importance of precise language in authentication (AuthN) and authorization (AuthZ) to avoid confusion, particularly for non-native English speakers and junior developers.
It highlights common misunderstandings between terms like "login" and "permissions," and the misuse of abbreviations, stressing the need for accurate terminology in technical contexts.
The conversation also touches on related identity and access management (IAM) issues, such as role-based access control complexities, HTTP status code nuances, and the challenge of maintaining consistent terminology across domains.
Jake Seliger marks the one-year anniversary of his total glossectomy, a surgery to remove his entire tongue due to aggressive squamous cell carcinoma.
Initially expecting a partial removal, Jake and his partner Bess married the night before the surgery, which ultimately became a total glossectomy on May 25, 2023, due to the tumor's rapid spread.
Post-surgery, Jake faced numerous challenges, including additional tumors, chemotherapy, and clinical trials, reflecting on the physical and emotional toll, the support received, and his ongoing struggle for recovery.
A user shared their experience of surviving a year after a total glossectomy due to recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancer, emphasizing the lack of patient perspectives in clinical trials.
The discussion criticized the FDA for delaying the approval of promising treatments like Moderna's mRNA-4157, attributing it to bureaucratic inertia, and debated the balance between drug safety and approval urgency.
Personal stories highlighted the emotional and financial burdens of cancer, the importance of a positive attitude, and the courage required to face severe illnesses, with empathetic responses to the user's chronic pain and thoughts of suicide.
The FILE_ID.DIZ file, created by Clark Development, is a standard ASCII text file used to provide consistent descriptions of shareware programs within distribution archives.
Required by the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) and other networks, it must include up to 10 lines of text, each no more than 45 characters long, detailing the program name, version, and description.
The document outlines guidelines for creating these files, emphasizing simplicity, avoiding special formatting, and recommending popular archive formats like PKZIP (.ZIP) and LHARC (.LZH) for BBS distribution.
The discussion explores the origin and meaning of the ".DIZ" file extension, commonly found in ZIP files, and its historical significance in early computing.
Participants reminisce about old technologies like BBS software, ASCII art, and the cultural context of file naming conventions and leetspeak.
The conversation also touches on the evolution of shareware into trial-ware and freemium models, the decline of shareware, and the rise of open source software, highlighting the enduring relevance of legacy systems in niche communities.
A massive structure called the "Big Ring" has been discovered 9.2 billion light-years away, challenging existing cosmological theories.
The "Big Ring" spans 1.3 billion light-years and does not align with known formation mechanisms, defying the Cosmological Principle of even matter distribution.
This discovery, presented at the 243rd American Astronomical Society meeting, follows the 2022 discovery of the "Giant Arc," another structure that questions current understanding of the universe.
Astronomers have discovered a 1.3 billion light-year-wide ring of galaxies, leading to debates on whether this alignment is real or an illusion.
The discovery raises questions about early-universe mechanisms, statistical flukes, and the interpretation of large-scale cosmic structures.
The debate includes theoretical implications for the universe's expansion, entropy, energy conservation, and challenges to current cosmological models, emphasizing the need for further research.
Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley, former OpenAI board members, argue that private AI companies cannot be trusted to self-govern due to profit pressures.
OpenAI's innovative self-governance model, which combined a non-profit mission with a for-profit subsidiary, failed to align profit incentives with the public good.
They emphasize the necessity of government regulation to ensure AI development benefits humanity, considering AI's significant potential for both positive and negative impacts.
Former OpenAI board members argue against strict AI regulation, suggesting that less stringent rules could benefit AI development, drawing parallels to past internet governance debates.
Critics warn that those seeking control may prioritize power over innovation and advocate for open-source development to prevent monopolies, emphasizing the ethical and societal impacts of unregulated technologies.
The discussion highlights the need for a balanced approach to AI regulation, considering the effectiveness of self-regulation versus government oversight, the role of expertise, and the potential consequences of AI advancements.
Updating from macOS Ventura to Sonoma silently enables iCloud Keychain, even with precautions taken.
Issues encountered include System Settings crashing, a persistent "Some iCloud Data Isn't Syncing" warning, and a "zombie" keychain in Keychain Access.
The author criticizes Apple's software quality and privacy practices, expressing frustration over forced iCloud Keychain usage and default passkeys for App Store Connect logins.
A user reported that macOS Sonoma enabled iCloud Keychain without consent, leading to a broader discussion on Apple's declining software quality.
Commenters shared various bugs in Apple devices, including high CPU usage by Keychain and persistent issues across multiple generations, raising concerns about Apple's quality control and software reliability.
The debate extended to Apple's QA processes, data privacy, and the trustworthiness of password managers, with some users considering alternatives like Linux for fewer intrusive features.
The article "Old Dogs, New CSS Tricks" explores the slow adoption of new CSS features despite their benefits and availability.
Factors hindering adoption include cognitive resistance to change, the need to support older browsers, and outdated design trends.
The author recommends evolving existing patterns, experimenting in side projects, and learning from best practices to gradually integrate new CSS techniques and improve code architecture.
The article examines why new CSS features, such as container queries, are underutilized despite high demand, citing timing mismatches, complexity, and reliance on older frameworks.
Developers often prefer "good enough" solutions and are cautious about integrating new technologies due to past compatibility issues, especially with outdated browsers like Safari on iOS.
There is a call for more advanced CSS tooling to improve robustness and maintainability, with resources like MDN, web.dev, and caniuse.com recommended for staying updated on web technologies.
On May 22, 2024, a critical vulnerability in the stalkerware app PCTattletale was exposed, allowing attackers to access screen recordings from infected devices.
Despite warnings, the company did not respond, prompting Amazon to lock the app's AWS infrastructure; users are advised to run antivirus scans and seek help from the Coalition Against Stalkerware.
The vulnerability, discovered by Jo Coscia, involved an Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) and poor security practices, leading to unauthorized access and a major data breach.
PcTattletale, a surveillance tool, has been leaking victims' screen recordings online due to a backdoor allowing arbitrary PHP code execution via a simple cookie since December 2011.
A critical security flaw in the pcTattletale client API exposes raw AWS credentials, granting unrestricted access to cloud resources and raising concerns about the misuse of 17TB of leaked screenshot data.
The incident highlights significant security concerns about surveillance tools and underscores the need for stringent data protection, user control, and potential new legislation to prevent misuse and privacy breaches.
xAI has raised $6 billion in Series B funding from notable investors like Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz.
The company has made significant progress in AI development, releasing models such as Grok-1, Grok-1.5, and Grok-1.5V.
The new funding will be used to market xAI’s products, improve infrastructure, and speed up research and development, with a mission to create advanced AI systems that are truthful and beneficial for humanity.
xAI has secured a $6 billion Series B funding round to investigate the universe's true nature, raising skepticism about the practicality of using language models (LLMs) for such a mission.
Critics question the philosophical and mathematical limits of AI, drawing parallels to the fictional Library of Babel, and express doubts about Elon Musk's ventures, particularly Tesla's Full Self-Driving technology.
Concerns are also raised about Musk's strategy of using Twitter's real-time data for AI training, the qualifications of his team, and the broader speculative investment landscape in the tech industry.