"Instead, it would make up fictional yet plausible-sounding explanations."

This is a perfect description of 'Reason', the initial product of WayForward Technologies. Douglas Adams had this nailed back in the 80s!

Read your Dirk Gently, people.

It was 1983, and I was shocked when Mom said not only could I get a computer, but we had the money for some extras - ended up with a Pocket Computer 1 (https://www.trs-80.com/wordpress/trs-80-computer-line/pocket-pc-1/) WITH printer, and even a small cassette player. I kept it until a few years ago when I sent it to a podcaster guy who was collecting them. Even into the late 2000s it would still turn on and show a program dated 1986!

Later I found a Timex-Sinclair 1000 on closeout for $20, which meant a great leap into TV-based computing. Then, of course, the Commodore 64, followed by Amigas, until they were no longer usable, by which time I was working in IT and had built a Windows box out of spare parts.

On the plus side, Matt Frewer is ALWAYS fun to watch. So long as he's in it (shut up about Lawnmower Man 2) I'll be glad to watch (shut up about Lawnmower Man 2) because brilliant old Matt Frewer ALWAYS makes things worth (fuck Lawnmower Man 2)...

(but I like everything else he's done, from Meaning of Life to Perry Mason)

They will probably screw it up. But then, they can't remake the original, the whole world has changed - poking fun at corporatism, dangerous marketing, compromised journalism and sleazy politicians in pockets is now mainstream, almost the default. So they'll have to come up with some new angles, while keeping Max's essential irreverence.

Rick and Morty have been trying to do much the same thing, and struggling at it ever since season 3. Simpsons too, and many others.

The best we can hope for is some brilliant ideas for the first season or so, then a mercifully quick ending. And please don't focus too much on the CGI - groundbreaking visuals were a legit part of the show's appeal back in the day, but are now cheap and ubiquitous.

I use AccuBattery on my non-rooted, vanilla Android phone to trigger an audible alert whenever my phone hits 80% charge, so I can (usually) disconnect it. It's a Nexus 6P, still on its initial battery and still lasting the full day with light use.

My brother-in-law has an old iPhone 5c which he can't get into - the iCloud account is clearly still set to one of his Email addresses (he owns hisname.com and even the obfuscated version with first and last letters are the right ones) but password reset emails never arrive. I've encouraged him for a year now to come with me to the nearest Apple store and get their help but could not promise they'd manage it, and he's never had the spare time between work and kids. But if they can definitely do it (once convinced of our bona-fides) then that's more of a reason to make time to go, and not just let this slab of glass depreciate any further!

The exact link I was going to post... hmph.

Max Headroom predicts the future again!

Back in the 90s I worked as a field tech for PC hardware - everything from printers to laptops to monitors. Name brands like Dell, HP, Apple, and so on. I had manufacturer training courses and was supplied with the special tools, and special phone numbers for support.

I was never told to look for those stickers, which often appeared across seams you'd open if you needed to access the devices. They were never mentioned once. I also did not have any way to even get hold of them if I wanted to replace one after destroying it myself during authorized warranty service.

So, there's that.

I work for a medium-sized software company and their work-life balance claims are also bogus. I handed in my resignation last week after nearly a year of trying to work out a 4-day work week. Ever since my wife started a fulltime job, we're running ragged and not even seeing the kids. Since her longterm earning potential dwarfs mine, I figured I'd cut back. But nope -

The company says they need me so much that they're willing to let me go rather than let me work less than fulltime. My manager(s) (I've been talking about this since before a recent reorganization) sound sympathetic enough, but if they agree to my request they've lost part of a headcount which they can't replace.

So yeah, I can underline the fact that "work life balance" is just another empty phrase. But this guy's situation puts mine into some perspective...

Giuliani is the obvious choice for cybersecurity - we all know that fundamentally, computers operate on a series of 9s and 11s.

Have to wonder if a focused microwave emitter like that could also fry a home router if directed horizontally... or, heat up your sandwich?

I've been using Millenata MODISC for backing up my wife's tens of thousands of pics of the kids. Outside of our normal backup processes, about once a year I get a box of discs (not cheap but affordable) and pull off all of the past year's photos, then I tuck them into a fireproof safe and leave it under our deck. (I'm trying to protect against fire and theft more than anything else)

I also spot-check older discs and the ones from 4 years ago, when I started, are still readable. The discs are said to last 1000 years and I'll be happy with 2% of that...

Not sure why there are so many open questions about this find - I just finished reading "Proxima" by Stephen Baxter, and he described it pretty thoroughly... it's a red dwarf star which means the Goldilocks planet is tidally locked. But there's enough atmosphere to keep heat circulating, thus there is liquid water in the warm areas. A relatively simple but well-developed ecosystem exists including a reasonably intelligent species dubbed the Builders who live in harmony with the other plants and animals - possibly devolved from earlier, more technological stages. And there's a weird hatch, deep under Mercury - but I've said too much already...
http://www.goodreads.com/book/...

> how many Slashdot readers today remember using Gopher?

If you're too young to remember Gopher, what are you doing on Slashdot in the first place?

... no need to see the pics, we already pretty much know what it looks like!

I have to mildly disagree with point 6 - it's maybe not QUITE $20, but you can assemble a few components which will make a decent Android phone into something resembling a desktop.

First you need a Miracast dongle - they're available as low as $10-$15 on eBay, though the cheaper you go, the worse the performance can be (they all use the same chipset but some skimp on the antenna...). Second, get a microUSB OTG hub so you can plug in a commodity mouse and keyboard. Third, download Google Docs or get free MS-Office.

Assembly: Plug Miracast into HDMI input of old monitor (or use $5 HDMI-DVI adapter). Plug peripherals into hub and hub into phone.

And that's about it.

I did a lot of product research on these components during the first half of this year, intending to turn it into a pocket-sized product with a custom case and everything, before dropping the project due to lack of time. So I've bought half a dozen kinds of dongle, as well as virtually every folding Bluetooth keyboard on the market (none worked well enough to be worth it for me) and about half the pocketsized Bluetooth mice, and I've done a lot of testing.

Of course this depends a certain amount on the performance of your phone (Miracast does put a load on the CPU) and the availability of monitors and keyboards. But more and more offices are offering docking stations for roving/traveling employees' laptops, which was my intended target market.

As for underprivileged students, my own kids use 4-5 year old desktop PCs my employer gives away for free and every time they get an upgrade, their old ones go to our school for the less-privileged. I just gave away a Core2Quad Dell with 4GB RAM and a 320gig HD, monitor, and color inkjet, with Windows 7 Pro. Because that's what my office was giving away LAST YEAR...