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Submission + - China unveils Haolong space shuttle (space.com)

Geoffrey.landis writes: The Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, part of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), has unveiled their design for a reusable uncrewed spaceplane for delivering and returning cargo from the Chinese Tiangong space station. Like the Sierra Space "Dream Chaser," the vehicle is to be launched as a payload on a separate launch vehicle, and land horizontally on Earth on a runway. The design is aerodynamically a hybrid, incorporating features of both winged and lifting-body designs. A model of the Haolong will make its debut at the 15th "Airshow China", November 12 to 17 in Zhuhai. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Submission + - New thermal material provides 72% better cooling than conventional paste (techspot.com)

jjslash writes: Researchers at the University of Texas have unveiled a new thermal interface material that could revolutionize cooling, outperforming top liquid metal solutions by up to 72% in heat dissipation. This breakthrough not only improves energy efficiency but also enables higher-density data center setups, cutting cooling costs and energy usage significantly. TechSpot reports:

Data centers are hot, both figuratively and literally. As we feed more and more data and processing demands into these server farms, keeping them from overheating is becoming an increasingly expensive and energy-intensive challenge. But researchers at the University of Texas may have a cool solution – a new thermal interface material that can whisk heat away from processors better than the likes of Thermalright and Thermal Grizzly.


Submission + - Trump picks Kristi Noem for Homeland Security Secretary (keloland.com)

sdinfoserv writes: Governor of the State ranked 47th in GDP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... , and most famously known for shooting her dog and banging Corey Lewandowsi, https://nypost.com/2023/09/15/..., has been purportedly chosen to run Homeland Security . Perhaps her solution will be to adopt permit less concealed carry on a national level, just like she did in her frozen, sparsely populated State. https://sdsos.gov/general-serv...

Submission + - US Senate to revive Software Patents with PERA Bill Vote on Thursday (eff.org) 1

zoobab writes: The US Senate to set to revive Software Patents with the PERA Bill, with a vote on Thursday, November 14, 2024.

A crucial Senate Committee is on the cusp of voting on two bills that would resurrect some of the most egregious software patents and embolden patent trolls. The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA), S. 2140, would dismantle vital safeguards that prohibit software patents on overly broad concepts. If passed, courts would be compelled to approve software patents on mundane activities like mobile food ordering or basic online financial transactions. This would unleash a torrent of vague and overbroad software patents, which would be wielded by patent trolls to extort small businesses and individuals.

The EFF is inviting members of the public to contact their Senators.

Submission + - US agency says Tesla's public statements about self driving are misleading (apnews.com)

AmiMoJo writes: The U.S. government’s highway safety agency says Tesla is telling drivers in public statements that its vehicles can drive themselves, conflicting with owners manuals and briefings with the agency saying the electric vehicles need human supervision.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking the company to “revisit its communications” to make sure messages are consistent with user instructions.

The request came in a May email to the company from Gregory Magno, a division chief with the agency’s Office of Defects Investigation. It was attached to a letter seeking information on a probe into crashes involving Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system in low-visibility conditions. The letter was posted Friday on the agency’s website.

The agency began the investigation in October after getting reports of four crashes involving “Full Self-Driving” when Teslas encountered sun glare, fog and airborne dust. An Arizona pedestrian was killed in one of the crashes.

Critics, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have long accused Tesla of using deceptive names for its partially automated driving systems, including “Full Self-Driving” and “Autopilot,” both of which have been viewed by owners as fully autonomous.

Comment Re:Hopefully they'll have better writers (Score 1) 162

I have to agree... Jodie Whittaker seemed to get a rather raw deal in this. I really liked her in Broadchurch, but I can't help but feel the scripts she's been given, overall, for Doctor Who, have been mediocre at best, with all the brow-beating most of them seem to embrace. Somewhat like while I loved both the Moffatt and Chibnall scripts when they *weren't* showrunners, I pretty much hated their seasons *as* showrunners, maybe aside from Capaldi's run. I'm cautiously optimistic that any more NuWho under Davies will compare favorably with Tennant's tenure, which has been my favorite newer incarnation. Allonns-y!

Comment RAID is not a backup! (Score 1) 165

It's 2021, and we still have to remind people that RAID is not a backup?!

Every time someone tells me tape is obsolete, and I should just use disks or The Cloud! to do backups, I ask how they intend to make offline backups of up to 3PB of data (it's about 1/3 that used currently, but increasing year on year, and I expect we'll top out in a few) that is currently air-gapped, with an off-site requirement. In terms of rack space, power, and cooling, we can't expand anymore. Tape (mix of LTO-5/6/7/8, currently) is about the only way we can meet our requirements.

In just terms of physical *weight*, disk is impossible. Imagine how much, say, 64 16TB HDDs weigh vs 87 LTO-8 tapes weigh (roughly 1PB each, ignoring the compression factor of 2.5x, which I never actually see), let alone physical volume... Add in the additional mechanical complexities of needing all the control hardware on-board with disk, and things like vibration during transport becomes a major thing.

Let's not forget that, many times in the past, HW RAID has been shown to be... less than ideal, shall we say. So much so, that I wouldn't trust HW RAID further than I can spit, and would rather rely on Linux SW RAID in terms of reliability. Tapes, I can pull as they fill up, and ship offsite. Drives in a RAID array have to all be pulled in tandem, or you break the array (and have to rebuild later, with its own plethora of problems), so it's still significantly less convenient. Space, as well... I can fit 80 12TB tapes in 4U, in an easy to access fashion, but putting 80 HDDs in the same amount of space (maybe outside a Petabox) isn't really doable, especially with power and cooling.

All in all, tape isn't going away anytime soon. Anyone who says otherwise is either deluded, inexperienced, or trying to up-sell something unfit to task...

Comment Re:Bait and switch (Score 1) 189

Yeah, I used KeePassX then moved to KeePassXC on my Linux systems. Android, I use Keepass2Android Offline and/or KeePassDroid, depending on my mood. Moving to sync them via my own infastructure, ever so slowly. Using a free account on a certain popular cloud sync currently, but with the changes they've made over the years, I'd rather be ahead of, than behind, any new major change they make.

Comment Re:Lock picking tools are not illegal per (Score 1) 36

Indeed, I've bought 2 separate sets of lock picks on Amazon. Prime eligible, even. Perfectly legal to own and use in my state, so long as I don't have criminal intent. I've even used them on a fire safe a coworker lost the key to years ago.

I've also toyed with the idea of learning at least basic gunsmithing, to do more than just basic maintenance on my perfectly legal collection of guns (and finally fix one that keeps misfeeding).

Comment This isn't new... (Score 1) 86

Uh, yeah, I did this in the 80s and 90s as a pre-teen and teen, during the summer months. Hell, even into college it wasn't unusual. It's a little harder now, though weekends are a wildcard (this Memorial Day weekend, I think the earliest I went to sleep was about 6am). It's a bit easier these days, with the internet, but between dialup and writing code back then (with whatever stations didn't go off the air at night), it was certainly possible to keep occupied.

Comment Re:More accurate headline (Score 1) 73

I hate to break this to you, but... Linksys has been owned by Belkin since 2013... Somewhat coincidentally, I stopped recommending or buying Linksys gear sometime around 2013... Mostly went with TP-Link gear supported by OpenWRT, but eventually grew tired of trying to find the stuff that was supported, whether or not I had to first downgrade the firmware, install DD-WRT, and *then* install OpenWRT, with somewhat flaky radios.

Comment Sometimes, yeah, you need wired... (Score 1) 283

Well, at work at least, I have to do a lot of training that, for better or (most likely) worst, requires sitting through an audio track. Being in a cubicle environment, playing the arduous narration for each required training module is a non-starter. I've got earbuds that I (sometimes) listen to when having to do the required training. I should note that where I am, wireless is strictly *not* an option, no BT, nothing. I may disagree with it, and can point out where $parent explicitly supports some wireless options, but I'm at the point where I pick my battles, and this is one that really isn't worth it.

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