The Engineering That Makes A Road Cat’s Eye Self-Cleaning
Although most people manage to navigate roads without major issues during the day, at night we become very reliant on the remaining navigational clues. The painted marks on the asphalt may not be as obvious in the glare of headlights, not to mention scuffed up and/or covered by snow and hidden by fog. This is where cat’s eyes are a great example of British ingenuity. A common sight in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, they use retroreflectors embedded in the road. Best of all, they are highly durable and self-cleaning, as [Mike Fernie] details in a recent video on these amazing devices.
Invented in the 1930s by [Percy Shaw], cat’s eyes feature a sturdy body that can take the abuse of being driven over by heavy trucks, along with a rubber dome that deforms to both protect the reflectors and wipe them clean using any water that’s pooled in the area below them. They also provide an auditory clue to the driver when they pass the center line, which can be very useful for night-time driving when attention may be slipping.
In the video the cat-squishing cleaning process is demonstrated using an old cat’s eyes unit that seems to have seen at least a few decades to road life, but still works and cleans up like a charm. Different color cat’s eyes are used to indicate different sections of the road, and modern designs include solar-powered LEDs as well as various sensors to monitor road conditions. Despite these innovations, it’s hard to beat the simplicity of [Percy]’s original design.
youtube.com/embed/wSgusOiaw5Q?…
Build Yourself A Graphing Weather Display
These days, Internet connectivity is ubiquitous, so you can look up live weather data on just about any device around you. Regardless, [Jozerworx] wanted a simple, clean, independent weather display, and came up with this simple design.
The build is based on the Lilygo T5 EPD devboard, which combines an ESP32-S3 microcontroller with a nice 4.7-inch e-paper display. This display has the benefit that it only uses power when it’s being updated, making it particularly suitable to run off a battery for extended periods of time. Meanwhile, the ESP32 and its inbuilt Wi-Fi connectivity allow it to query the internet for updated weather forecasts. Weather data is sourced via the OpenWeather API, which [Jozerworx] notes comes with the caveat of requiring an API key. It’s a little fussy, but if you want good weather data, there are few easier ways to get it. The display shows a forecast for the next five days, while also showing graphs of ambient temperature and humidity along with useful information like the sunset and sunrise schedule.
Files are on Github for those eager to learn more. [Jozerworx] also notes that getting started with the display is particularly easy with the inclusion of a setup mode. This allows the display to act as a Wi-Fi access point with a web page that you use enter your home Wi-Fi connection details.
We’ve featured a great many charming weather displays over the years, too. If you’re working to plot, chart, or even predict the weather—don’t hesitate to show us your cool projects over on the tipsline!
ESP32 EPaper Weather Station
jozerworx.com/esp32-epaper-wea…
One Lucky 3DS Gets A Switch-Style Dock
The Nintendo Switch dock set a new bar for handheld docking user experience – just plug your console in to charge it, output image to your monitor, and keep it working with any USB peripherals of your choice. What if a 3DS is more your jam? [KOUZEX] shows off a Switch-style dock design for his gorgeous yellow 3DS, with Switch Pro controller support, and this dock wasn’t just a 3D printing job – there’s a fair bit of electronics to show, too.
While the 3DS looks stock at a glance, it has already been upgraded internally – there’s a USB-C capture card built in, half-ticking the “monitor output” requirement, and a Raspberry Pi board turns that output into HDMI. Building a charging dock is also pretty simple, with just two contacts on the side that desire 5V. Now, the pro controller support was a fair bit harder – requiring an internal modchip for emulating buttons, and trying out receiver boards for the Switch controller until a well-functioning one was found.
The build video is quite satisfying to watch, from assembling some QFNs onto tiny OSHPark boards using a hotplate and soldering them into the 3DS, to planning out, building, and dremeling some prints to create a true slide-console-into-dock experience, same way the Switch pulled it off. It even has the same USB-C and HDMI arrangement as the Switch dock, too! Want a simpler dock for your 3DS? Don’t forget that you can build a charger dock for yours with just a 3D print and a few wires.
youtube.com/embed/Kqn9QqYMQOM?…
RAI, A QUASI 4 ANNI DI GUERRA ARRIVA IL SECONDO REPORTAGE DAL LATO RUSSO: MICALESSIN ENTRA A POKROVSK
La maggior parte dei civili ha gradualmente abbandonato le zone conquistate dalla Russia fra Avdiïvka e Pokrovs'k, dove è si è svolta una delle battaglie più violente dell'intera guerra in Ucraina. Per le strade si vedono passare quasi soltanto mezzi militari dell'esercito di Mosca, tra cui i convogli che portano aiuti nelle città assediate. Nel reportage di Gian Micalessin, la vita "dell'altro fronte", quello russo, e i pensieri dei civili.
Puntata andata in onda dalle 0:30 alle 2:45, non sia mai ci sia troppa gente a vedere dei civili ucraini che accusano il regime di Kiev di usarli come scudi umani, mentre l'esercito russo vuole difenderli.
Il primo reportage lato russo fu fatto da Report.
Trace Line Clock Does It With Magnets
We love a good clock project, and [byeh_ in] has one with a design concept we don’t believe we have seen before. The Trace Line Clock has smooth lines and a clean presentation, with no sockets or visible mechanical fixtures.
Reading the clock is quite straightforward once one knows what is going on. At its heart, the unmarked face is much like any other analog clock face, and on the inside is a pretty normal clock movement. The inner recessed track on the face represents hours, and the outer is minutes. The blue line connects the two, drawing a constantly changing line.
Sped-up footage shows how the line moves.
To make the blue segment move without breaking the lines of the clock, [byeh_ in] uses magnets. The inside end moves around the inner ring with the hour hand, while the rest of the blue segment follows the minute hand. Since the length between these two points is not constant, [byeh_ in] cleverly designed one of the magnets to be floating. By keeping the magnet captive in a channel on the underside of the blue segment, the whole thing moves smoothly, no matter how the two ‘hands’ align.
Speaking of smooth, it’s important for the parts to move together with minimal friction. To achieve this [byeh_ in] uses something we think is under-utilized in 3D printed parts: candle wax. Wax is non-greasy, sticks well to 3D printed parts simply by rubbing, slides easily, and doesn’t make a mess. Directions and 3D models are available should you wish to try making your own.
We’re always delighted by the amazingly different ways people can re-imagine a clock. From clocks with hands but void of a face to clocks made out of clocks, we love to see ’em so if you’ve got a favorite, drop us a tip!
Non rubano portafogli, rubano la corrente! I “Pikachu del Bitcoin” fulminano la rete elettrica
I ladri di solito prendono di mira beni materiali: denaro contante o non contante, gioielli, automobili. Ma con le criptovalute, le cose sono molto più strane.
La polizia malese sta dando la caccia a circa 14.000 aziende illegali di mining di Bitcoin che hanno rubato circa 1,1 miliardi di dollari in elettricità dalla rete elettrica del Paese negli ultimi cinque anni.
Per rilevare queste attività di estrazione mineraria “underground”, le forze dell’ordine sono costrette a schierare droni e utilizzare sensori portatili per rilevare consumi energetici anomali. Il risultato è un gioco di spionaggio virtuale del gatto e del topo, che dimostra chiaramente quanto possa essere redditizio il mining di criptovalute quando a pagare l’elettricità è qualcun altro.
Il prezzo di Bitcoin ha registrato un forte aumento quest’anno, raggiungendo un nuovo massimo storico di oltre 126.000 dollari a ottobre. Da allora, il prezzo è crollato, ma il mining della moneta, diventato oramai oneroso al livello di costi di alimentazione, ha costretto i miner a connettersi alla rete, rubando illegalmente energia elettrica.
Per la Malesia, non si tratta solo di un problema di perdite economiche. Oltre alle perdite di oltre 1 miliardo di dollari per la società elettrica statale Tenaga Nasional, le fabbriche di bitcoin stanno mettendo a dura prova la rete elettrica e possono danneggiare fisicamente le infrastrutture.
“Non si tratta più solo di furti”, ha dichiarato a Bloomberg Akmal Nasir, Vice Ministro per la Transizione Energetica e le Risorse Idriche della Malesia e a capo di una task force per combattere il mining illegale di Bitcoin. “Queste operazioni possono danneggiare le nostre attrezzature. Questa sta diventando una minaccia sistemica”.
Storie simili non si limitano alla Malesia. In Iran, le continue interruzioni di corrente dell’anno scorso hanno acceso il dibattito sul ruolo del mining illegale di Bitcoin. Anche in Kuwait, quest’anno, le autorità hanno adottato misure severe contro i miner di criptovalute, a causa di una grave crisi energetica e di blackout.
A livello globale, il mining di Bitcoin consuma quantità colossali di energia, paragonabili a quelle di interi Paesi. Eppure, gli Stati Uniti rimangono il principale polo minerario: secondo un recente rapporto dell’Università di Cambridge, rappresentano oltre il 75% di tutta l’attività di mining. Questo nonostante altre criptovalute, come Ethereum, siano già passate a meccanismi alternativi di conferma delle transazioni che riducono drasticamente il consumo di energia.
In un contesto di tale domanda, in Malesia stanno proliferando le miniere illegali. Centri commerciali e aree industriali abbandonati vengono affittati, e trasformati in miniere di criptovalute.
I minatori ufficiali devono pagare l’elettricità e le tasse. Ma per molti è più redditizio correre il rischio e connettersi alla rete illegalmente: l’energia rubata riduce significativamente i costi e aumenta le possibilità di rimanere redditizi, anche in caso di significative fluttuazioni del tasso di cambio.
“Anche se l’attività mineraria fosse organizzata secondo tutte le regole, il problema rimane l’estrema volatilità del mercato stesso”, afferma Nasir. “Non vedo una sola attività mineraria legale che possa dirsi veramente di successo”.
Secondo il viceministro, le aziende agricole illegali operano come vere e proprie organizzazioni criminali. “C’è un sindacato dietro di loro”, ha osservato. “Hanno un loro meccanismo operativo ben consolidato”.
L'articolo Non rubano portafogli, rubano la corrente! I “Pikachu del Bitcoin” fulminano la rete elettrica proviene da Red Hot Cyber.
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L’Australia vieta i social media agli adolescenti: dal 10 dicembre divieto al di sotto di 16 anni
In Australia, a breve sarà introdotta una normativa innovativa che vieta l’accesso ai social media per i minori di 16 anni, un’iniziativa che farà scuola a livello mondiale.
Un’analoga misura sarà presto adottata anche in Malesia, Danimarca e Norvegia, che seguiranno le orme dell’Australia, mentre l’Unione Europea, con una risoluzione approvata recentemente, ha manifestato l’intenzione di introdurre restrizioni analoghe.
Nell’attesa dell’entrata in vigore di tale normativa, prevista per il 10 dicembre, milioni di adolescenti australiani e le loro famiglie sono in trepida attesa, domandandosi quali ripercussioni avrà concretamente questo divieto.
La nuova iniziativa del governo australiano volta a limitare l’accesso degli adolescenti ai social media sta già generando un acceso dibattito tra i diretti interessati. A pochi giorni dall’entrata in vigore del divieto, i giovani membri dell’Australian Theatre for Young People’s Council stanno condividendo le loro opinioni sulle conseguenze per i più giovani.
Il divieto sarà il primo provvedimento del genere al mondo.
Tuttavia, misure simili sono già in fase di valutazione in Malesia, Danimarca e Norvegia, e l’Unione Europea ha approvato misure volte a introdurre restrizioni analoghe. Le autorità australiane spiegano la loro decisione come il desiderio di ridurre i rischi per il benessere mentale degli adolescenti e di ridurre l’esposizione a contenuti dannosi.
Tuttavia, all’interno del Paese, vi sono una vasta gamma di preoccupazioni, dai timori che il divieto spinga gli adolescenti verso piattaforme online meno sicure ai dubbi sull’impatto sui loro diritti e sulla reale efficacia di questa misura.
Alcuni adolescenti ritengono che le autorità abbiano mal indirizzato i loro sforzi. La quattordicenne Sarai Adas osserva che i contenuti tossici provengono spesso da autori adulti e commentatori politici, e che gli adolescenti ne raccolgono le conseguenze.
Adas ritiene importante sviluppare l’alfabetizzazione mediatica, che rimane sottorappresentata nei programmi scolastici, soprattutto con il ruolo crescente degli algoritmi e dei sistemi di intelligenza artificiale. Sostiene che abbandonare i social media priverà molti dell’opportunità di mantenere contatti internazionali, sviluppare capacità creative e acquisire nuove idee.
La tredicenne Pia Monte non usa i servizi vietati, ma è preoccupata per chi ne fa affidamento. La quattordicenne Grace Goh dimostra una moderazione simile; per lei, è improbabile che le restrizioni comportino un cambiamento radicale: comunica principalmente tramite app di messaggistica istantanea ed è convinta che la maggior parte dei suoi coetanei aspetterà o troverà soluzioni alternative.
Il quindicenne Ewan Buchanan-Constable sottolinea che i siti di condivisione video lo hanno aiutato a sviluppare interessi creativi. Crede che la protezione degli adolescenti possa essere ottenuta attraverso un’educazione precoce alla sicurezza online, piuttosto che bloccando completamente i servizi. Osserva che gli adulti tendono a esagerare il ruolo dei social media nella vita degli adolescenti, sebbene per molti siano solo un aspetto secondario della loro giornata.
La quindicenne Emma Williamson, che presto compirà sedici anni, considera le restrizioni sia un ostacolo temporaneo che un’opportunità per prendersi una pausa dal flusso incessante di informazioni. Sottolinea che il programma scolastico si limita a discutere di cyberbullismo e affronta a malapena l’uso sano delle piattaforme digitali. Ritiene che gli sforzi del governo dovrebbero concentrarsi sull’istruzione, non sui divieti .
Gli adolescenti concordano su una cosa: i social media sono diventati una parte importante della loro comunicazione e autoidentificazione, e limitare drasticamente l’accesso non risolverà i problemi sistemici dell’ambiente online.
Molti sono convinti che, senza cambiamenti significativi nella regolamentazione delle piattaforme e nello sviluppo dell’alfabetizzazione digitale, il nuovo approccio si rivelerà solo una misura temporanea, incapace di affrontare la causa principale del problema.
L'articolo L’Australia vieta i social media agli adolescenti: dal 10 dicembre divieto al di sotto di 16 anni proviene da Red Hot Cyber.
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Il nuovo video di Pasta Grannies: youtube.com/shorts/4S5aSxRH1gw
@Cucina e ricette
(HASHTAG)
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Macron si sbaglia: Asml non è un chokepoint europeo ma euro-americano
Per vedere altri post come questo, segui la comunità @Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁)
Che cosa ha detto e che cosa non ha detto Macron su Cina, terre rare, semiconduttori, Asml e non solo. L'analisi di startmag.it/innovazione/macron…
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IPv6 al FLUG
firenze.linux.it/2025/12/ipv6-…
Segnalato dal LUG di Firenze e pubblicato sulla comunità Lemmy @GNU/Linux Italia
#Firenze
Nuova attività in collaborazione col GOLEM e con la partecipazione straordinaria del sensei giomba, promotore ufficiale di IPv6 nella piana empolese e dintorni. Martedì 9 novembre 2025, ci sarà una serata di spippolamento
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Linux Fu: The SSD Super Cache
NVMe solid state disk drives have become inexpensive unless you want the very largest sizes. But how do you get the most out of one? There are two basic strategies: you can use the drive as a fast drive for things you use a lot, or you can use it to cache a slower drive.
Each method has advantages and disadvantages. If you have an existing system, moving high-traffic directories over to SSD requires a bind mount or, at least, a symbolic link. If your main filesystem uses RAID, for example, then those files are no longer protected.
Caching sounds good, in theory, but there are at least two issues. You generally have to choose whether your cache “writes through”, which means that writes will be slow because you have to write to the cache and the underlying disk each time, or whether you will “write back”, allowing the cache to flush to disk occasionally. The problem is, if the system crashes or the cache fails between writes, you will lose data.
Compromise
For some time, I’ve adopted a hybrid approach. I have an LVM cache for most of my SSD that hides the terrible performance of my root drive’s RAID array. However, I have some selected high-traffic, low-importance files in specific SSD directories that I either bind-mount or symlink into the main directory tree. In addition, I have as much as I can in tmpfs, a RAM drive, so things like /tmp don’t hit the disks at all.
There are plenty of ways to get SSD caching on Linux, and I won’t explain any particular one. I’ve used several, but I’ve wound up on the LVM caching because it requires the least odd stuff and seems to work well enough.
This arrangement worked just fine and gives you the best of both worlds. Things like /var/log and /var/spool are super fast and don’t bog down the main disk. Yet the main disk is secure and much faster thanks to the cache setup. That’s been going on for a number of years until recently.
The Upgrade Issue
I recently decided to give up using KDE Neon on my main desktop computer and switch to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, which is a story in itself. The hybrid caching scheme seemed to work, but in reality, it was subtly broken. The reason? SELinux.
Tumbleweed uses SELinux as a second level of access protection. On vanilla Linux, you have a user and a group. Files have permissions for a specific user, a specific group, and everyone else. Permission, in general, means if a given user or group member can read, write, or execute the file.
SELinux adds much more granularity to protection. You can create rules that, for example, allow certain processes to write to a directory but not read from it. This post, though, isn’t about SELinux fundamentals. If you want a detailed deep dive from Red Hat, check out the video below.
youtube.com/embed/_WOKRaM-HI4?…
The Problem
The problem is that when you put files in SSD and then overlay them, they live in two different places. If you tell SELinux to “relabel” files — that is, put them back to their system-defined permissions, there is a chance it will see something like /SSD/var/log/syslog and not realize that this is really the same file as /var/log. Once you get the wrong label on a system file like that, bad, unpredictable things happen.
There is a way to set up an “equivalence rule” in SELinux, but there’s a catch. At first, I had the SSD mounted at /usr/local/FAST. So, for example, I would have /usr/local/FAST/var/log. When you try to equate /usr/local/FAST/var to /usr/var, you run into a problem. There is already a rule that /usr and /usr/local are the same. So you have difficulties getting it to understand that throws a wrench in the works.
There are probably several ways to solve this, but I took the easy way out: I remounted to /FAST. Then it was easy enough to create rules for /var/log to /FAST/var/log, and so on. To create an equivalence, you enter:
semanage fcontext -a -e /var/log /FAST/var/log
The Final Answer
So what did I wind up with? Here’s my current /etc/fstab:
UUID=6baad408-2979-2222-1010-9e65151e07be / ext4 defaults,lazytime,commit=300 0 1
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs mode=1777,nosuid,nodev 0 0
UUID=cec30235-3a3a-4705-885e-a699e9ed3064 /boot ext4 defaults,lazytime,commit=300,inode_readahead_blks=64 0 2
UUID=ABE5-BDA4 /boot/efi vfat defaults,lazytime 0 2
tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,mode=1777 0 0
<h1>NVMe fast tiers</h1>
UUID=c71ad166-c251-47dd-804a-05feb57e37f1 /FAST ext4 defaults,noatime,lazytime 0 2
/FAST/var/log /var/log none bind,x-systemd.requires-mounts-for=/FAST 0 0
/FAST/usr/lib/sysimage/rpm /usr/lib/sysimage/rpm none bind,x-systemd.requires-mounts-for=/FAST 0 0
/FAST/var/spool /var/spool none bind,x-systemd.requires-mounts-for=/FAST 0 0
As for the SELinux rules:
/FAST/var/log = /var/log
/FAST/var/spool = /var/spool
/FAST/alw/.cache = /home/alw/.cache
/FAST/usr/lib/sysimage/rpm = /usr/lib/sysimage/rpm
/FAST/alw/.config = /home/alw/.config
/FAST/alw/.zen = /home/alw/.zen
Note that some of these don’t appear in /etc/fstab because they are symlinks.
A good rule of thumb is that if you ask SELinux to relabel the tree in the “real” location, it shouldn’t change anything (once everything is set up). If you see many changes, you probably have a problem:
restorecon -Rv /FAST/var/log
Worth It?
Was it worth it? I can certainly feel the difference in the system when I don’t have this setup, especially without the cache. The noisy drives quiet down nicely when most of the normal working set is wholly enclosed in the cache.
This setup has worked well for many years, and the only really big issue was the introduction of SELinux. Of course, for my purposes, I could probably just disable SELinux. But it does make sense to keep it on if you can manage it.
If you have recently switched on SELinux, it is useful to keep an eye on:
ausearch -m AVC -ts recent
That shows you if SELinux denied any access recently. Another useful command:
systemctl status setroubleshootd.service
Another good systemd “stupid trick.” Often, any mysterious issues will show up in one of those two places. If you are on a single-user desktop, it isn’t a bad idea to retry any strange anomalies with SELinux turned off as a test: setenforce 0. If the problem goes away, it is a sure bet that something is wrong with the SELinux system.
Of course, every situation is different. If you don’t need RAID or a huge amount of storage, maybe just use an SSD as your root system and be done with it. That would certainly be easier. But, in typical Linux fashion, you can make of it whatever you want. We like that.
Da Haaretz:
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the Knesset's National Security Committee hearing on his party's proposed death penalty bill for terrorists wearing a gold noose-shaped pin
a gold noose-shaped pin = una spilletta in oro a forma di cappio
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Perché dovremmo preoccuparci della privacy quando navighiamo, anche se non abbiamo nulla da nascondere. Il post di @Emanuele
Questo non è un tutorial sulla privacy. È il mio punto di vista, frutto di anni di vita online e di errori che mi hanno insegnato a proteggere i miei dati. Lo dedico a chi naviga, a chi usa i social senza pensarci troppo e a chi pensa di non avere nulla da nascondere.
La tua privacy online è preziosa come le chiavi di casa.
Se vuoi seguire altri post sulla #Privacy puoi seguire il gruppo Activitypub @Privacy Pride
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We are publishing a risograph-printed zine about the surveillance technologies used by ICE.#Announcements
Amazon, Alphabet, Meta e Oracle con i bond per l’intelligenza artificiale
Per vedere altri post come questo, segui la comunità @Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁)
Il diluvio di bond per l’IA aumenta la pressione sui mercati. L'articolo del Wall Street Journal tratto dalla rassegna di Liturri.
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Noelle and Sam discuss everything from sexbots and AI porn to censorship, age verification legislation, and their favorite parody porn flicks.#Podcast
Agenzie USA colpite da impiegati infedeli muniti di AI. 96 database governativi cancellati
Il Dipartimento di Giustizia degli Stati Uniti ha accusato i fratelli gemelli Muneeb e Sohaib Akhter di aver cancellato 96 database contenenti informazioni sensibili, tra cui verbali di indagini e documenti richiesti ai sensi del Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), dopo aver lasciato il loro lavoro presso un appaltatore del governo federale e di aver utilizzato strumenti basati sull’intelligenza artificiale per coprire le loro tracce .
Secondo gli inquirenti, gli Akhter avrebbero deliberatamente attaccato l’infrastruttura IT del loro ex datore di lavoro, che forniva servizi a diverse agenzie governative statunitensi. I fratelli avrebbero continuato ad accedere ai sistemi anche dopo aver lasciato il lavoro , bloccato l’accesso ad altri utenti, distrutto dati e tentato di coprire le proprie tracce. L’atto d’accusa è stato emesso il 13 novembre.
L’episodio più grave, secondo i pubblici ministeri, si è verificato il 18 febbraio.
Quel giorno, avrebbero cancellato circa 96 database, inclusi file FOIA e materiali relativi a indagini sensibili. Appena un minuto dopo aver cancellato uno dei database, appartenente al Dipartimento per la Sicurezza Interna (DHS), secondo gli investigatori, avrebbe avuto accesso a uno strumento basato sull’intelligenza artificiale chiedendo come cancellare i log di sistema. Gli investigatori ritengono che questo sia un chiaro segno di un tentativo di occultamento delle prove.
Nella corrispondenza inclusa nel fascicolo, i fratelli hanno anche discusso di come “ripulire” la loro casa in caso di una visita delle forze dell’ordine. I computer portatili aziendali, che erano ancora in loro possesso dopo il licenziamento, sono stati completamente cancellati prima di essere restituiti al datore di lavoro.
Un’altra accusa contro i Muneeb è quella di aver avuto accesso illegalmente ai dati dell’Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Secondo il Dipartimento di Giustizia, avrebbero avuto accesso ai registri fiscali federali di almeno 450 persone. Sohaib, a sua volta, è accusato di aver condiviso una password per un sistema governativo, il che costituisce di per sé un reato federale.
Sono quindi accusati di cospirazione per commettere frode informatica, distruzione di documenti, furto di dati governativi e furto d’identità aggravato. Complessivamente, rischiano fino a 45 anni di carcere. Sohaib è accusato di cospirazione, distruzione di documenti e trasmissione di una password che potrebbe essere utilizzata per hackerare un computer governativo; le sue accuse prevedono una pena massima fino a sei anni.
Il Ministero della Giustizia ha dichiarato che i fratelli hanno abusato della loro fiducia trovandosi dalla parte sbagliata della barricata, da appaltatori incaricati della gestione di dati governativi sensibili a persone accusate di aver minato processi governativi critici. Tuttavia, gli Akhter rimangono tecnicamente innocenti fino a prova contraria in tribunale.
L'articolo Agenzie USA colpite da impiegati infedeli muniti di AI. 96 database governativi cancellati proviene da Red Hot Cyber.
Cheap And Aggressive DRAM Chip Tester
People enjoy retrocomputing for a wide variety of reasons – sometimes it’s about having a computer you could fully learn, or nostalgia for chips that played a part in your childhood. There’s definitely some credit to give for the fuzzy feeling you get booting up a computer you built out of chips. Old technology does deteriorate fast, however, and RAM chip failures are especially frustrating. What if you got a few hundred DRAM chips to go through? Here’s a DRAM chip tester by [Andreas]/[tops4u] – optimized for scanning speed, useful for computers like the ZX Spectrum or Oric, and built around an ATMega328P, which you surely still have in one of your drawers.
The tester is aimed at DIP16/18/20 and ZIP style DRAM chips – [Andreas] claims support for 4164, 41256, 6416, 6464, 514256, and 44100 series RAM chips. The tester is extremely easy to operate, cheap to build, ruthlessly optimized for testing speed, sports a low footprint, and is fully open-source. If you’re ever stuck with a heap of RAM chips you want to quickly test one by one, putting together one of these testers is definitely the path to take, instead of trying to boot up your well-aged machine with a bunch of chips that’d take a while to test or, at worst, could even fry it.
[Andreas] includes KiCad PCB and Arduino source files, all under GPL. They also provide adapter PCBs for chips like the 4116. What’s more, there are PCB files to build this tester in full DIP, in case that’s more your style! It’s far from the first chip tester in the scene, of course, there are quite a few to go around, including some seriously featureful units that even work in-circuit. Not only will they save you from chips that failed, but they’ll also alert you to fake chips that are oh so easy to accidentally buy online!
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Belting out the Audio
Today, it is hard to imagine a world without recorded audio, and for the most part that started with Edison’s invention of the phonograph. However, for most of its history, the phonograph was a one-way medium. Although early phonographs could record with a separate needle cutting into foil or wax, most record players play only records made somewhere else. The problem is, this cuts down on what you can do with them. When offices were full of typists and secretaries, there was the constant problem of telling the typist what to type. Whole industries developed around that problem, including the Dictaphone company.
The issue is that most people can talk faster than others can write or type. As a result, taking dictation is frustrating as you have to stop, slow down, repeat yourself, or clarify dubious words. Shorthand was one way to equip a secretary to write as fast as the boss can talk. Steno machines were another way. But the dream was always a way to just speak naturally, at your convenience, and somehow have it show up on a typewritten page. That’s where the Dictaphone company started.
History of the Dictaphone
Unsurprisingly, Dictaphone’s founder was the famous Alexander Graham Bell. Although Edison invented the phonograph, Bell made many early improvements to the machine, including the use of wax instead of foil as a recording medium. He actually started the Volta Graphophone Company, which merged with the American Graphophone Company that would eventually become Columbia Records.
In 1907, the Columbia Phonograph Company trademarked the term Dictaphone. While drum-based machines were out of style in other realms, having been replaced by platters, the company wanted to sell drum-based machines that let executives record audio that would be played back by typists. By 1923, the company spun off on its own.
Edison, of course, also created dictation machines. There were many other companies that made some kind of dictation machine, but Dictaphone became the standard term for any such device, sort of like Xerox became a familiar term for any copier.
Dictaphones were an everyday item in early twentieth-century offices for dictation, phone recording, and other audio applications. Not to mention a few other novel uses. In 1932, a vigilante organization used a Dictaphone to bug a lawyer’s office suspected of being part of a kidnapping.
Some machines could record and playback. Others, usually reserved for typists, were playback-only. In addition, some machines could “shave” wax cylinders to erase a cylinder for future use. Of course, eventually you’d shave it down to the core, and then it was done.
The Computer History Archives has some period commercials and films from Dictaphone, and you can see them in the videos below.
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As mentioned, Dictaphone wasn’t the only game in town. Edison was an obvious early competitor. We were amused that the Edison devices had a switch that allowed them to operate on AC or DC current.
Later, other companies like IBM would join in. Some, like the Gray Audograph and the SoundScriber used record-like disks instead of belts or drums. Of course, eventually, magnetic tape cassettes were feasible, too, and many people made recorders that could be used for dictation and many other recording duties.
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The Dictabelt
For the first half of the twentieth century, Dictaphones used wax cylinders. However, in 1947, they began making machines that pressed a groove into a Lexan belt — a “Dictabelt,” at first called a “Memobelt.” These were semi-permanent and, since you couldn’t easily melt over some of the wax, difficult to tamper with, which helped make them admissible in court. Apparently, you could play a Dictabelt back about 20 times before it would be too beat up to play.
These belts found many uses. For one, Dictaphone was a major provider to police departments and other similar services, recording radio traffic and telephone calls. In the late 1970s, the House Select Committee on Assassinations used Dictaphone belts from the Dallas police department recording in 1963 to do audio analysis on the Kennedy assassination. Many Dictaphones found homes in courtrooms, too.
As you can see in the commercials in the video, Dictabelts would fit in an envelope: they are about 3.5 in x 12 in or 89 mm x 300 mm. The “portable” machine promised to let you dictate from anywhere, keep meeting minutes, and more. A single belt held 15 minutes of audio, and the color gives you an idea of when the belt was made.
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Magnetic Personality
Of course, Dictaphone wasn’t the only game in town for machines like this. IBM released one that used a magnetic belt called a “Magnabelt’ that you could edit. Dictaphone followed suit. These, of course, were erasable.
Even as late as 1977, you could find Dictaphones in “word processing operations” like the one in the video with the catchy tune, below. Of course, computers butted into both word processing and dictation with products like Via Voice or DragonDictate. Oddly, DragonDictate is from Nuance, which bought what was left of Dictaphone.
Insides
Since this is Hackaday, of course, you want to see the insides of some of these machines. A video from [databits] gives us a peek below.
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Offices have certainly changed. Most people do their own typing now. Your phone can record many hours of crystal-clear audio. Computers can even take your dictation now, if you insist.
Should you ever find a Dictabelt and want to digitize it for posterity, you might find the video below from [archeophone] useful. They make a modern playback unit for old cylinders and belts.
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We’d love to see a homebrew Dictabelt recorder player using more modern tech. If you make one, be sure to let us know. People recorded on the darndest things. Tape caught on primarily because of World War II Germany and Bing Crosby.
Press Release: EU stands up to Big Tech with €120 million fine to X
The European Commission took aim at X for breaking the DSA, proof that Europe’s landmark law can bite. Despite political pressure and corporate pushback, the EU is showing that online platforms can and will be held accountable for practices that mislead users, cause harm, or undermine democracy.
The post Press Release: EU stands up to Big Tech with €120 million fine to X appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).
PODCAST SIRIA. Un anno di celebrazioni, tra problemi atavici e l’incertezza del futuro
@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo
A Damasco e nelle più importanti città del Paese si celebra il primo anniversario della caduta di Bashar al-Assad e della presa del potere da parte del gruppo dell'autoproclamato presidente Ahmad al-Sharaa.
L'articolo PODCAST SIRIA. Un
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Il PD delega all’ANM il “no” alla riforma
@Politica interna, europea e internazionale
L'articolo Il PD delega all’ANM il “no” alla riforma proviene da Fondazione Luigi Einaudi.
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L’Europa tra pace impossibile e leadership smarrita. L’opinione del gen. Del Casale
@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo
Continua a far discutere il piano Trump per la pace in Ucraina come pure la posizione che l’Unione europea deve assumere a sua volta, schiacciata tra un’emarginazione internazionale e un ruolo rivendicato, almeno da co-protagonista, nella soluzione della crisi che più direttamente intacca la sua
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How Big is Your Video Again? Square vs Rectangular Pixels
[Alexwlchan] noticed something funny. He knew that not putting a size for a video embedded in a web page would cause his page to jump around after the video loaded. So he put the right numbers in. But with some videos, the page would still refresh its layout. He learned that not all video sizes are equal and not all pixels are square.
For a variety of reasons, some videos have pixels that are rectangular, and it is up to your software to take this into account. For example, when he put one of the suspect videos into QuickTime Player, it showed the resolution was 1920×1080 (1350×1080). That’s the non-square pixel.
So just pulling the size out of a video isn’t always sufficient to get a real idea of how it looks. [Alex] shows his old Python code that returns the incorrect number and how he managed to make it right. The mediainfo library seems promising, but suffers from some rounding issues. Instead, he calls out to ffprobe, an external program that ships with ffmpeg. So even if you don’t use Python, you can do the same trick, or you could go read the ffprobe source code.
[Alex] admits that there are not many videos that have rectangular pixels, but they do show up.
If you like playing with ffmpeg and videos, try this in your browser. Think rectangular pixels are radical? There has been work for variable-shaped pixels.
Franc Mac
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