Fed2 Star - September 9, 2019 - page 2 (of 2)

[Fiona Craig]

Fed2 Star
Earthdate September 9, 2018


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Official News part two


DIY PROJECT OF THE WEEK: SUPERHERO GAUNTLET

by Hazed

You can now buy a kit that will let you build your own superhero
gauntlet. The kit’s components snap together with magnets, completing
circuits to bring the gadgets to life – no soldering irons needed.

The wearable gauntlet can be customised with stickers once it’s complete.

It looks like a brilliant way to introduce your children to STEM
concepts (that’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics). It
will be available from August 24, at a cost of $150.

Source:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/aspiring-avengers-can-now-build-their-own-superhero-gau-1827999508


ON THE WEB: RULES OF PHONE ETIQUETTE

by Hazed

Young people today, they are glued to their phones, ignoring the world
around them while they check their Instagram or WhatsApp or Snapchat. It
can be so annoying if you want to talk to someone, only to find they are
oblivious to you, besotted by the little glass screen.

So the BBC News website has compiled a list of five rules of phone
etiquette. Read the list here:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45042096

They all seem very sensible to me – of course, getting people to
actually abide by them is not going to be easy!


VIDEO OF THE WEEK: WIND-POWERED BEACH ANIMALS

by Hazed

If you go down to the beach today, you’re sure of a big surprise… you
might encounter a multi-legged, walking, wind-powered machine called a
Strandbeest. That means “beach animals” and these creatures are the
creations of Theo Jansen, who makes them out of PVC tubes.

Watch a video of the strandbeests in operation on the beach here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-45062301/theo-jansen-creates-wind-powered-strandbeests-that-can-walk


WINDING DOWN

An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week’s net, technology and
science news
by Alan Lenton

Right! This week we have material on a Google plan to hide parts of URLs
in its Chrome browser, a piece on blockchains, the ultimate in knitting
(yes, really), a picture of clouds and lightning, some videos on the
topic of paper aeroplanes, and an update (such as it is) on the
Google/Mastercard affair. URLs point to material on non-emerging
technology, Deepfakes, immortality, attempts to make ISPs into copyright
cops, the largest aircraft ever built, a Microsoft blunder, open source
Tesla security, and the California privacy law.

This week here at the Winding Down Corporate HQ we have a family get
together, which included the transforming of my study into a guest
bedroom, so perhaps you’ll understand why Winding Down is a little more
sparse than usual! Incidentally, next week is the regular once a month
week off, so there will be no Winding Down, but as a famous cyborg once
said, “I’ll be back!” On 23 September, to be precise...


Shorts:

I gather Google have embarked in a new scheme to have the Chrome browser
hide parts of the URL in the bar, hidden so you can’t see the full URL.
(I moved over to Firefox six months or so ago so I haven’t actually seen
it). Regardless, I consider this move to be incredibly dangerous, since
it means you can’t check that you really are where you thought you were
online. What Google think they are playing at, I have no idea.

However, it is possible to stop your browser doing this and revert to
the full display of URLs, but, being Google you would need a PhD in
Computing Science to discover it for yourself. Fortunately, there is a
very clear, blow by blow, account of what you need to do on Lauren
Weinstein’s blog. If you are still using Chrome I’d urge you to use it
to change your browser settings.

Sadly, the truth is that in the last few years Google have moved from
being an enabler of good things to being a typical multinational with
all that that implies.
https://lauren.vortex.com/2018/09/07/heres-how-to-disable-google-chromes-confusing-new-url-hiding-scheme


Homework:

I’m sure most of you will have heard of Bitcoin and the blockchain by
now. Indeed, some companies have even discovered that they can jack up
the perceived value of their shares by changing their name to include
the word ‘blockchain’. Expect to hear such gems as ‘The Blockchain Cup
Cake Corporation’ in the not too distant future! Even where names are
not being changed, senior executives are champing at the bit to have a
‘blockchain project’ under way, whether they need it or not – and most
often they don’t.

From what I know of the readers of this digital rag, I’m sure that you
will want to prevent your company from going bust by blowing vast
amounts of money on a useless bug-ridden blockchain project... So, it
was with interest that I read an excellent piece called ‘Avoiding the
pointless blockchain project’.

The author starts from a slightly different position than the normal
assumption that the blockchain is a ledger. It may be used as a ledger,
but at the bottom it is a distributed database. You know, it’s like a
replacement for your SQL relational database. The critical question is
whether you -need- to replace your existing database? After all, the big
SQL databases from the likes Oracle and IBM have been around for
multiple decades. Most of the bugs were fixed years ago, and the thing
is stable and works. Why would you want to replace all those decades of
solid code with newly written stuff that’s only been around for a year
or so? (OK. Hating Oracle is a valid reason, but it’s not a -sufficient-
reason...)

So if you, or your company, are toying with the idea of blockchain
project, them I would urge you to read this superb article that puts it
all into perspective and gives you a set of questions to answer in the
affirmative before you undertake betting your shirt on a blockchain. I
know things like blockchain are to geeks like catnip is to a cat, but
stop and read this article first. Here’s the URL:
https://www.multichain.com/blog/2015/11/avoiding-pointless-blockchain-project


Geek Stuff:

I’m sure that knitting is not normally considered to be a geek
occupation, but how about hacking a knitting machine to make a star map?
Yes really. Software engineer Sarah Spencer used a Raspberry Pi, an
Arduino compatible board, Python and a PHP/MySQL web interface to hack
the machine. Go and have a look at the URL – the result is impressive!
https://www.sciencealert.com/software-engineer-sarah-spencer-heart-of-pluto-knitting-machine-night-sky-map


Pictures:

This week’s picture is an amazing one of a gigantic Cumulonimbus cloud
over Tokyo, complete with a lightning strike. A classic picture!
http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2018/08/27/cumulonimbus-cloud-over-tokyo/

And for those of you who just -love- to make paper aeroplanes, here are
two videos from a world expert, that will enable your paper planes to
outfly everyone else’s!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?CMPID=ene090618&v=SfquWcLHrKc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDiC9iMcWTc


Scanner:

Gartner’s great vanishing: Some of 2017’s emerging techs just disappeared
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/20/gartners_great_vanishing_every_2017_emerging_tech_trend_has_disappeared/

Researchers explain a really simple way to tell if a video is a ‘Deepfake’
https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-explain-a-really-simple-way-to-tell-if-a-video-is-a-deepfake

On going on and on and on (reflections on immortality)
https://aeon.co/essays/theres-a-big-problem-with-immortality-it-goes-on-and-on

Texas ISP slams music biz for trying to turn it into a ‘copyright cop’
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/21/texas_isp_copyright_police/

The largest aircraft ever built will soon launch rockets into space
https://hackaday.com/2018/08/29/stratolaunch-announces-carrier-aircraft-with-largest-wingspan-ever/

Your Phone prematurely ejected, Skype texting on the way, and 900 more
years of Windows [See Microsoft blunder at end of article! – AL]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/20/microsoft_messaging_round_up/

Why critics who bash Musk’s open source Tesla security project are wrong
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-critics-who-bash-musks-open-source-tesla-security-project-are-wrong/

Big Tech turns saboteur to cripple new California privacy law in private
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/21/ca_privacy_law_sabotage/


Quote for the week:

Seen on a T-Shirt while travelling on the tube (the London subway for my
American readers) this week:

The Universe is made up of:
Protons
Electrons
And morons


Coda:

Last week I promised an update on the Google/Mastercard affair, but to
be honest there seems to be a suspicious dearth of information, other
than it definitely exists. This article was the best I could find on it.
https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/computers/item/29967-google-ties-into-mastercard-data-amazon-looks-to-snare-advertising


Acknowledgements

Thanks to readers Barb and Fi for drawing my attention to material for
Winding Down.

Please send suggestions for stories to al...@ibgames.com and include the
words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless
prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...

Alan Lenton
al...@ibgames.com
9 September 2018

Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist,
the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web
site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan.

Past issues of Winding Down can be found at
http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.