'I Want a Super-Smart Chair!'
Imagine you had a perfect chair for using your computer. Also a perfect chair for watching TV. And a chair for listening to music, a chair for reading, a chair for napping, a work chair that keeps you awake, and a perfect chair for dinner. Also a massage chair and a diagnostic chair that checks your… Read More »
Posted on 17 August 2019 | 11:34 pmThree Years Later, France's Solar Road is a Flop
DigressivePoser and schwit1 both submitted the same story. That 1-km ( .62-mile) "solar road" paved with photovoltaic panels in France is "too noisy, falling apart, and doesn't even collect enough solar energy," reports Popular Mechanics: Le Monde describes the road as "pale with its ragged joints," with "solar panels that peel off the road and… Read More »
Posted on 17 August 2019 | 8:34 pmIntel Patches Three High-Severity Vulnerabilities
Intel's latest patches "stomped out three high-severity vulnerabilities and five medium-severity flaws," reports Threatpost: One of the more serious vulnerabilities exist in the Intel Processor Identification Utility for Windows, free software that users can install on their Windows machines to identify the actual specification of their… Read More »
Posted on 17 August 2019 | 8:34 pmYouTube's Algorithms Blamed For Brazil's Dangerous Conspiracy Video-Sharing on WhatsApp
Sunday the New York Times reported that YouTube "radicalized" Brazil -- by "systematically" diverting users to conspiracy videos. Yet conventional wisdom in Brazil still puts the blame on WhatsApp, the Times reported in a follow-up story on Thursday shared by Slashdot reader AmiMoJo. "Everything began to click into place when we met Luciana… Read More »
Posted on 17 August 2019 | 6:34 pmElon Musk Begins Selling $25 'Nuke Mars' T-Shirts
Business Insider. BGR reports: Musk's tweet is a reference to the theory that by dropping one or more large bombs on Mars' poles, the CO2 locked away in the ice there would be released, giving the Martian atmosphere a much-needed… Read More »
Posted on 17 August 2019 | 5:34 pmUS Navy Tests WWII-ERA Messaging Tech: Dropping Bean Bags Onto Ships
In World War II, pilots would air-drop messages onto ships using bean-bags. Just as with sextants a few years ago, the Navy is bringing back old tech, because it works. Just as during the Doolittle Raid of Tokyo, the purpose is to prevent eavesdropping. You can read more about the modern bean-bag-drop… Read More »
Posted on 17 August 2019 | 4:34 pm