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A few basic rules for buying and using computers can save anyone significant amounts of money and produce the confidence required to try new things with computers.

When Gela Nathaniel proposes the idea of a new Multimedia Arts Masters Degree program to the Royal Hastings college of the University of London, little does she know exactly how much chaos she’s inviting both into her life and to the campus. Her six candidates have all been hand selected for the year-long pilot course,…

I love to see resources arrive that are specifically for beginners. This new resource by Blake Watson is exactly that and it’s all about the most important language of the web: HTML. I’ve had a read through and it was a great bit of skill refreshing for me, so even if you consider yourself to be a good developer, check it out yourself. There’s always a benefit in doing some …

Anyone familiar with his work knows that Richard Seymour is extraordinary. Not only startlingly prolific, he is the kind of thinker who leaves no topic unexamined—it is no exaggeration to say he is among Britain’s leading public intellectuals working today. I have had the blessing of a front row seat to Richard’s thinking for more than a decade now (since we met in 2013, we have been in constant, daily …

A mobile driver’s license (often called an mDL) is a version of your ID that you keep on your phone instead of in your pocket. In theory, it would work wherever your regular ID works—TSA, liquor stores, to pick up a prescription, or to get into a bar. This sounds simple enough, and might even be appealing—especially if you’ve ever forgotten or lost your wallet. But there are a few …

ShareEach weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read: Election may decide if Trump’s legal woes reach US Supreme Court or wither (John Kruzel, Reuters) Supreme Court Silence on ‘Personhood’ Leaves IVF Vulnerable (Mary Anne Pazanowski, Bloomberg Law) Unexpected Trouble in the ‘Ghost Gun’ Case (Dan McLaughlin, National Review) Why the Supreme Court May Not Decide the …

At this point, we’ve covered most of the songs on this brand new record from Slack Times, but it’s one of the releases today that you’ve got to be sure to enjoy. Honestly, these 4 songs are perfect; they feel like the band have fully embraced their influences and adopted an approach that brings that to the front, whilst still

It feels like there is a lot of doom and gloom in the world today, from global warming to crime to economic and integrational inequality to political polarization, etc. It’s very easy to get wrapped up in this negative view of the world and I’m far from immune to it. I’m now in my early 40s and have 3 young kids and I regularly worry about the type of world …

State and local ballot measures this November could add a total $50 billion to transit funding, and they have a high rate of success (Smart Cities Dive). That’s important because most federal funding remains several tilted toward driving (Transportation for America). Humans have to take driver’s tests. Why not autonomous vehicles, too? (Associated Press) On the other hand, why do so many human jobs require a driver’s license when driving …

Lee Peterson: The first one is via a VPN. If you already have one or if not you can sign up easily with someone like Nord (the one I use, don’t use a free service!) and simply set your country to Albania. In Albania, Google can’t run ads so you don’t get them. It’s how I use YouTube on the Apple TV. This is a great tip that I had …

I often like to look up the situation of restaurants I'm heading out to on Google Streetview, just so I know what to expect when I get off the bus and lessen (though not completely mitigate) the chance I might head off in completely the wrong direction. I wouldn't recommend doing this for Xi Home just yet though - Blossom Street until recently was a dark, dodgy alleyway round the …

Here's what we looked at this week:Project I-XRAY uses Meta's Ray-Ban 2 smart glasses to instantly access people's personal information. Unusual auto mods: Infinity taillights, and headlights with animated eyeballs.The Pi Foldable Lap Desk, for working/eating in cars.Cabin Anna, that house that slides open, goes into production. Do you have half a mil lying around?Google Japan's keyboard with a Möbius strip form factor.The Spider X1S, a large-format laser cutter with …

One of the tricky parts about covering biopharma research (and one of the tricky parts about trying to fund it or manage it!) is that it works on several time scales at once. I'll illustrate that with several recent news items. There are sudden events like the success or failure of a clinical trial, and there was a good example of that earlier this week. A small company called Scholar …

Jason Koebler reports on a program that automates applying to jobs on LinkedIn, using a few prompts and the now-obligatory LLM. As with most so-called AI, it’s capabilities seem to be more oriented toward volume than quality: the applications it spits out are either generic or inaccurate or both. This is a predictable, dystopian, and also in many ways very funny turn of events. (Look, the days are dark and …

NASA NASA Earth Observatory mapped the Gulf of Mexico’s above-average sea surface temperatures (6-7 October) and brightness temperature—“which is useful for distinguishing cooler cloud structures (white and purple) from the warmer surface below (yellow and orange)”—as Milton crossed Florida. CNN maps the impact of Hurricane Milton across Florida. Riley Walz’s Waffle House Index map: “FEMA officials informally track disaster impact by checking if Waffle House stays open. This site uses …