Author: Robin Edgar

Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft

Virgin Galactic: Alignment pin mishap reported to FAA. If only Musk did that too.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Virgin Galactic has reported itself to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after discovering a detached alignment pin from the mechanism used to keep its suborbital spaceplane attached to the mothership aircraft. According to the company, the alignment pin is used to ensure the spaceplane (in this case, Unity) is aligned correctly to the mothership Read more about Virgin Galactic: Alignment pin mishap reported to FAA. If only Musk did that too.[…]

Netherlands reveals Chinese attack on defence servers using CoatHanger malware on Fortinet Devices – a real pain to remove

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Dutch authorities are lifting the curtain on an attempted cyberattack last year at its Ministry of Defense (MoD), blaming Chinese state-sponsored attackers for the espionage-focused intrusion. Specialists from the Netherlands’ Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) and the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) were called in to investigate an intrusion at an MOD network Read more about Netherlands reveals Chinese attack on defence servers using CoatHanger malware on Fortinet Devices – a real pain to remove[…]

Orient at 45o for stronger, better looking 3D Printed Enclosures

Posted on by Robin Edgar

When it comes to 3D printing, the orientation of your print can have a significant impact on strength, aesthetics, and functionality or ease of printing. The folks at Slant 3D have found that printing enclosures at a 45° provides an excellent balance of these properties, with some added advantages for high volume printing. The trick Read more about Orient at 45o for stronger, better looking 3D Printed Enclosures[…]

Criticism as Dutch domain registry plans move to Amazon cloud

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Questions are being asked in parliament about the decision by Dutch domain registration foundation SIDN to transfer the dot nl domain and its “complete ICT services” to Amazon’s cloud services.  SIDN says the move will make managing the technology easier but some tech entrepreneurs have doubts, and now MPs have asked the government, which supports Read more about Criticism as Dutch domain registry plans move to Amazon cloud[…]

cloudflare bad gateway error page

Cloudflare Hacked

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Web security company Cloudflare on Thursday revealed that a threat actor used stolen credentials to gain access to some of its internal systems. The incident was discovered on November 23, nine days after the threat actor, believed to be state-sponsored, used credentials compromised in the October 2023 Okta hack to access Cloudflare’s internal wiki and Read more about Cloudflare Hacked[…]

EU countries give crucial nod to first-of-a-kind Artificial Intelligence law

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The ambassadors of the 27 countries of the European Union unanimously approved the world’s first comprehensive rulebook for Artificial Intelligence, rubber-stamping the political agreement reached in December. In December, EU policymakers reached a political agreement on the main sticking points of the AI Act, a flagship bill to regulate Artificial Intelligence based on its capacity Read more about EU countries give crucial nod to first-of-a-kind Artificial Intelligence law[…]

Google Search’s cache links are unfortunately being retired

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Google has removed links to page caches from its search results page, the company’s search liaison Danny Sullivan has confirmed. “It was meant for helping people access pages when way back, you often couldn’t depend on a page loading,” Sullivan wrote on X. “These days, things have greatly improved. So, it was decided to retire Read more about Google Search’s cache links are unfortunately being retired[…]

Marauder DIY WiFi and Hacking tool

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[…] The ESP32 Marauder is a suite of WiFi/Bluetooth offensive and defensive tools created for the ESP32 and was originally inspired by Spacehuhn’s esp8266_deauther project. The tool itself serves as a portable device used to test and analyze WiFi and Bluetooth devices. […] Do It Yourself If you would like to create your own ESP32 Read more about Marauder DIY WiFi and Hacking tool[…]

Consumers still pay too much to call another EU country – wait, wasn’t there free roaming?!

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The EU single market holds many advantages. To be able to travel, work or purchase goods effortlessly across numerous different countries creates all kinds of opportunities for consumers. But there are still areas where it is not working or has simply not been accomplished, even if it would be the most logical and appropriate thing Read more about Consumers still pay too much to call another EU country – wait, wasn’t there free roaming?![…]

The European Space Agency will test 3D metal printer metal on the ISS

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The first metal 3D printer that will be used in space is on its way to the International Space Station. The Cygnus NG-20 supply mission, which is carrying the 180kg (397 lbs) printer, launched on Tuesday and is set to arrive at the ISS on Thursday. Astronaut Andreas Mogensen will install the printer, which Airbus Read more about The European Space Agency will test 3D metal printer metal on the ISS[…]

Cory Doctorow’s McLuhan lecture on enshittification (30 Jan 2024)

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Last year, I coined the term ‘enshittification,’ to describe the way that platforms decay. That obscene little word did big numbers, it really hit the zeitgeist. I mean, the American Dialect Society made it their Word of the Year for 2023 (which, I suppose, means that now I’m definitely getting a poop emoji on my Read more about Cory Doctorow’s McLuhan lecture on enshittification (30 Jan 2024)[…]

flight course of an aircraft being gps spoofed and almost entering dangerous airspace

EASA and IATA start work on aviation GPS interference

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held a recent workshop on incidents where people spoofed and jammed satellite navigation systems, and concluded these pose a “significant challenge” to safety. Mitigating the risks posed by such actions will require measures to be enacted in the short term as Read more about EASA and IATA start work on aviation GPS interference[…]

Design Secrets Of Fantastic, Hand-made Puzzle Boxes

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[Kagen Sound] is a woodworker and artist who gives a great behind-the-scenes look at his amazingly high-quality puzzle boxes (video). Not only do his varied puzzle box designs show his math background, but they are all made entirely of wood. There are no nails or fasteners; just intricately-fitted wood and some glue. There’s a lot Read more about Design Secrets Of Fantastic, Hand-made Puzzle Boxes[…]

people of different ethnic backgrounds dancing with music notes floating in the air

Music causes similar emotions and bodily sensations across cultures

Posted on by Robin Edgar

“Music that evoked different emotions, such as happiness, sadness or fear, caused different bodily sensations in our study. For example, happy and danceable music was felt in the arms and legs, while tender and sad music was felt in the chest area,” explains Academy Research Fellow Vesa Putkinen. The emotions and bodily sensations evoked by Read more about Music causes similar emotions and bodily sensations across cultures[…]

AI robot dreaming

AI can better retain what it learns by mimicking human sleep

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Concetto Spampinato and his colleagues at the University of Catania, Italy, were looking for ways to avoid a phenomenon known as “catastrophic forgetting”, where an AI model trained to do a new task loses the ability to carry out jobs it previously aced. For instance, a model trained to identify animals could learn to spot Read more about AI can better retain what it learns by mimicking human sleep[…]

Doom running on gut bacteria, proving you really can play the game on anything

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An MIT biotech researcher has been able to run the iconic computer game Doom using actual gut bacteria. Lauren Ramlan didn’t get the game going on a digital simulation of bacteria, but turned actual bacteria into pixels to display the 30-year-old FPS, as reported by Rock Paper Shotgun. Specifically, Ramlan created a display inside of Read more about Doom running on gut bacteria, proving you really can play the game on anything[…]

Mercedes-Benz source code exposed by leaving private key online

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Mercedes-Benz accidentally exposed a trove of internal data after leaving a private key online that gave “unrestricted access” to the company’s source code, according to the security research firm that discovered it. Shubham Mittal, co-founder and chief technology officer of RedHunt Labs, alerted TechCrunch to the exposure and asked for help in disclosing to the Read more about Mercedes-Benz source code exposed by leaving private key online[…]

Japan will no longer require floppy disks for submitting some official documents

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Japan is an innovative country that leads the way on many technological fronts. But the wheels of bureaucracy often turn incredibly slowly there. So much so, that the government still requires businesses to provide information on floppy disks and CD-ROMs when they submit certain official documents. That’s starting to change. Back in 2022, Minister of Read more about Japan will no longer require floppy disks for submitting some official documents[…]

Turning glass into a ‘transparent’ light-energy harvester

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What happens when you expose tellurite glass to femtosecond laser light? That’s the question that Gözden Torun at the Galatea Lab at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, in collaboration with Tokyo Tech scientists, aimed to answer in her thesis work when she made the discovery that may one day turn windows into single material light-harvesting Read more about Turning glass into a ‘transparent’ light-energy harvester[…]

US states had 65,000 rape-related pregnancies after banning abortion

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Since the US Supreme Court overturned the right to an abortion, estimates suggest that there have been tens of thousands of pregnancies as a result of rape in states with near-total abortion bans. Very few, if any, of those pregnancies were ended by a legal in-state abortion, even if states had exceptions for rape […] Read more about US states had 65,000 rape-related pregnancies after banning abortion[…]

ICANN proposes creating .INTERNAL domain which will never be used in root zone DNS

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has proposed creating a new top-level domain (TLD) and never allowing it to be delegated in the global domain name system (DNS) root. The proposed TLD is .INTERNAL and, as the name implies, it’s intended for internal use only. The idea is that .INTERNAL could take Read more about ICANN proposes creating .INTERNAL domain which will never be used in root zone DNS[…]

Hundreds of thousands of EU citizens ‘wrongly fined for driving in London Ulez’ in one of EUs largest privacy breaches

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Hundreds of thousands of EU citizens were wrongly fined for driving in London’s Ulez clean air zone, according to European governments, in what has been described as “possibly one of the largest data breaches in EU history”. The Guardian can reveal Transport for London (TfL) has been accused by five EU countries of illegally obtaining Read more about Hundreds of thousands of EU citizens ‘wrongly fined for driving in London Ulez’ in one of EUs largest privacy breaches[…]

Investigative Report Proves What Most People Already Suspected: The ‘War On Woke & DEI’ Mostly Pushed By A Bunch Of Censorial, Racist Shitheads

Posted on by Robin Edgar

One of the dumber things we’ve seen over the last couple of years is the supposed “war on woke” and (more recently) attacks on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” efforts (often shortened to the acronym DEI). In almost every case, these attacks misrepresent reality to generate culture war bullshit, and make a bunch of false claims Read more about Investigative Report Proves What Most People Already Suspected: The ‘War On Woke & DEI’ Mostly Pushed By A Bunch Of Censorial, Racist Shitheads[…]

OpenAI-New York Times Copyright Fight Further Illustrates Autonomy-Automaton Dichotomy

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The latest dispute between the New York Times and OpenAI reinforces the distinction in understanding artificial intelligence (AI) between autonomy and automatons, which we have previously examined. The Gray Lady turned heads late this past year when it filed suit against OpenAI, alleging that the artificial intelligence giant’s ChatGPT software infringed its copyrights. Broadly speaking, the Times alleged that the famous Read more about OpenAI-New York Times Copyright Fight Further Illustrates Autonomy-Automaton Dichotomy[…]