Popular blockchains can be centralised fairly easily | Trail of Bits study funded by DARPA

[…]Over the past year, Trail of Bits was engaged by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to examine the fundamental properties of blockchains and the cybersecurity risks associated with them. DARPA wanted to understand those security assumptions and determine to what degree blockchains are actually decentralized. […] The report also contains links to the Read more about Popular blockchains can be centralised fairly easily | Trail of Bits study funded by DARPA[…]

How to Search Reddit and Actually Find What You Want using keywords

These keywords allow you to tell Reddit to search for only specific things, rather than the entirety of Reddit. These aren’t menu-based, meaning you’ll need to know which terms to enter into the search bar to get the results you want. There are eight in total, and you can use them in the following ways: Read more about How to Search Reddit and Actually Find What You Want using keywords[…]

Microsoft’s free Top Gun ‘Flight Simulator’ expansion is finally here

Now that Top Gun: Maverick is finally reaching theaters, the matching Microsoft Flight Simulator expansion is launching as well. Microsoft and Asobo Studio have released the free add-on to both hype up the Tom Cruise movie and give you a taste of the US Navy’s real-world flight training. You’ll get a “Maverick Edition” livery for Read more about Microsoft’s free Top Gun ‘Flight Simulator’ expansion is finally here[…]

Microsoft PowerToys – customise your windows experience

Microsoft PowerToys is a set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity. Always on Top Always on Top enables you to pin windows on top of all other windows with a quick key shortcut (⊞ Win+Ctrl+T). PowerToys Awake PowerToys Awake is designed to keep a computer awake Read more about Microsoft PowerToys – customise your windows experience[…]

Android will soon let you archive apps to save space

[…] Google announced today it’s working on a new feature it estimates will reduce the space some apps take up by approximately 60 percent. Best of all, your personal data won’t be affected. The feature is called app archiving and will arrive later this year. Rather than uninstalling an app completely, it instead temporarily removes Read more about Android will soon let you archive apps to save space[…]

The Alternative to Web Scraping. The “lazy” programmer’s guide to… | by Doug Guthrie

One of the better sites for financial data is Yahoo Finance. This makes it a prime target for web scraping by finance enthusiasts. There are nearly daily questions on StackOverflow that reference some sort of data retrieval (oftentimes through web scraping) from Yahoo Finance. Web Scraping Problem #1 trying to test a code that scrap Read more about The Alternative to Web Scraping. The “lazy” programmer’s guide to… | by Doug Guthrie[…]

Developer Bricks Open-Source Apps Colors and Faker – used in 20k projects – no reason given, world of crazy

The eccentric developer behind two immensely popular open-source NPM coding libraries recently corrupted them both with a series of bizarre updates—a decision that has led to the bricking of droves of projects that relied upon them for support. Marak Squires is the creator behind the popular JavaScript libraries Faker and Colors—the likes of which are Read more about Developer Bricks Open-Source Apps Colors and Faker – used in 20k projects – no reason given, world of crazy[…]

Ventoy – add an iso to usb drive and boot it (or any other iso on it) up without any configuration

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files. With ventoy, you don’t need to format the disk over and over, you just need to copy the ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files to the USB drive and boot them directly. You can copy many files at a time and ventoy will give you Read more about Ventoy – add an iso to usb drive and boot it (or any other iso on it) up without any configuration[…]

Discord is quietly building an app empire of bots – The Verge

Discord has been quietly building its own app platform based on bots over the past few years. More than 30 percent of Discord servers now use bots, and 430,000 of them are used every week across Discord by its 150 million monthly active users. Now that bots are an important part of Discord, the company Read more about Discord is quietly building an app empire of bots – The Verge[…]

Apple’s macOS Monterey memory leak blamed on custom cursors

Sleuthing leads to suspected RAM-gobbling culpri Apple’s macOS Monterey, the iGiant’s latest desktop operating system release, turns out to have an insatiable appetite for memory if you use certain apps. Shortly after the OS update was released on October 25, Apple customers – at least those who avoided installation woes – began to notice that Read more about Apple’s macOS Monterey memory leak blamed on custom cursors[…]

Intel open-sources AI-powered tool to spot bugs in code

Intel today open-sourced ControlFlag, a tool that uses machine learning to detect problems in computer code — ideally to reduce the time required to debug apps and software. In tests, the company’s machine programming research team says that ControlFlag has found hundreds of defects in proprietary, “production-quality” software, demonstrating its usefulness. […] ControlFlag, which works Read more about Intel open-sources AI-powered tool to spot bugs in code[…]

Knowbots – the first way to search, relevant again?

Back before the search engines, the internet was relatively small but still growing enough that it needed searching. Computers were slower so the speed with which we expect results from Google was impossible. In order to search the internet, Gopher users had Archie, Veroncia and Jughead as well as lists of known Gopher servers – Read more about Knowbots – the first way to search, relevant again?[…]

This Site Can Tell You If Anyone Else Has Taken Pictures With Your Camera

[…] This website provides an avenue for investigation, and offers a sliver of hope. It’s a tiny sliver of hope to be sure, but it’s better than no hope at all. It works like this: You upload a picture taken with the missing camera to stolencamerafinder.com, which then uses the camera’s serial number (saved in the Read more about This Site Can Tell You If Anyone Else Has Taken Pictures With Your Camera[…]

Kumu – network mapping tool

Stakeholder mapping Explore the complex web of loyalties, interests, influence, and alignment of key players around important issues. Systems mapping Understand and engage complex systems more effectively using systems maps and causal loop diagrams. Social network mapping Capture the structure of personal networks and reveal key players. Visualize the informal networks within your organization and Read more about Kumu – network mapping tool[…]

How TikTok serves you content you love – simple, actually

A new video investigation by the Wall Street Journal finds the key to TikTok’s success in how the short-video sharing app monitors viewing times. Why it matters: TikTok is known for the fiendishly effective way that it selects streams of videos tailored to each user’s taste. The algorithm behind this personalization is the company’s prize Read more about How TikTok serves you content you love – simple, actually[…]

Google is starting to tell you how it found Search results

Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google will now show its search engine users more information about why it found the results they are shown, the company said on Thursday. It said people googling queries will now be able to click into details such as how their result matched certain search terms, in order to better decide if the Read more about Google is starting to tell you how it found Search results[…]

Southwest Airlines cancels 500 flights after computer glitch grounds fleet – for 2nd time in 24 hours

Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) said on Tuesday it canceled about 500 flights and delayed hundreds of others after it was forced to temporarily halt operations over a computer issue — the second time in 24 hours it had been forced to stop flights. The Federal Aviation Administration said it had issued a temporary nationwide groundstop at Read more about Southwest Airlines cancels 500 flights after computer glitch grounds fleet – for 2nd time in 24 hours[…]

Crypto Miners Overrun Docker Hub’s Autobuild, so they have to close free version

This week, Docker announced some changes to Docker Hub Autobuilds — the primary one of interest being that autobuilds would no longer be available to free tier users — and much of the internet let out a collective groan to the tune of “this is why we can’t have nice things!” *sigh* A story as Read more about Crypto Miners Overrun Docker Hub’s Autobuild, so they have to close free version[…]

One Fastly customer triggered internet meltdown by changing a setting

A major internet blackout that hit many high-profile websites on Tuesday has been blamed on a software bug. Fastly, the cloud-computing company responsible for the issues, said the bug had been triggered when one of its customers had changed their settings. The outage has raised questions about relying on a handful of companies to run Read more about One Fastly customer triggered internet meltdown by changing a setting[…]

Windows Defender bug fills Windows 10 boot drive with thousands of files

A Windows Defender bug creates thousands of small files that waste gigabytes of storage space on Windows 10 hard drives. The bug started with Windows Defender antivirus engine 1.1.18100.5 and will cause the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scans\History\Store folder to be filled up with thousands of files with names that appear to be MD5 hashes. Windows Defender folder filled with Read more about Windows Defender bug fills Windows 10 boot drive with thousands of files[…]

NASA / JPL honours open source devs with a badge on their github if their code made it to Mars

[…] we have worked with JPL to place a new Mars 2020 Helicopter Mission badge on the GitHub profile of every developer who contributed to the specific versions of any open source projects and libraries used by Ingenuity. You can check out the full list of projects like SciPy, Linux, and F Prime (F’) that Read more about NASA / JPL honours open source devs with a badge on their github if their code made it to Mars[…]