You know the old problem of how to portray the round globe of Earth on a flat map? Now a trio of map experts has worked together to solve this problem. Their new map is 2-sided and round. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/astrophysicists-new-design-world-map…
Tag: tape
Did Linux Kill Commercial Unix?
When Dave McKay first used computers, punched paper tape was in vogue, “and he has been programming ever since,” according to his biography page at How-To Geek. It adds that “His use of computers pre-dates the birth of the PC and the public release of Unix.” Now long-time Slashdot reader sbinning shares McKay’s “short history of UNIX and how Linux got…
Fujifilm and IBM Set World Record With 580TB Magnetic Tapes
An anonymous reader quotes a report from PCMag.com: Mark Lantz, Manager of Advanced Tape Technologies at IBM Research, explains how researchers at IBM and Fujifilm brought together more than 15 years of work to set a new world record in tape storage. What they achieved is an areal density of 317Gbpsi (gigabits per square inch), which translates to a single tape…
Ask Slashdot: What’s the Ultimate Backup System? Cloud? Local? Sync? Dupes? Tape…?
Long-time Slashdot reader shanen noticed a strange sound in one of their old machines, prompting them to ponder: what is the ultimate backup system? I’ve researched this topic a number of times in the past and never found a good answer… I think the ultimate backup would be cloud-based, though I can imagine a local solution running on a smart storage…
The Digital Nomads Did Not Prepare for This
They moved to exotic locales to work through the pandemic in style. But now tax trouble, breakups and Covid guilt are setting in. From a report: For a certain kind of worker, the pandemic presented a rupture in the space-time-career continuum. Many Americans were stuck, tied down by children or lost income or obligations to take care of the sick. But…
Activists Turn Facial Recognition Tools Against the Police
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: In early September, the City Council in Portland, Ore., met virtually to consider sweeping legislation outlawing the use of facial recognition technology. The bills would not only bar the police from using it to unmask protesters and individuals captured in surveillance imagery; they would also prevent companies and a variety…
Researchers Found the Manual For the World’s Oldest Surviving Computer
Researchers will be able to gain a deeper understanding of what’s considered the world’s oldest surviving (digital) computer after its long-lost user manual was unearthed. Engadget reports: The Z4, which was built in 1945, runs on tape, takes up most of a room and needs several people to operate it. The machine now takes residence at the Deutsches Museum in Munich,…
Tesla Model Y Owners Find Cooling System Cobbled Together With Home Depot-Grade Fake Wood
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive: According to several owners of the all-new Model Y, Tesla has allegedly assembled their cars using what appears to be faux wood trim from a home improvement store. It all started with a forum post featuring a photo of a Model Y’s frunk plastics removed. The original poster of the thread had…
For Space Junk Cleanup, DragRacer Satellite Will Test ‘Terminator Tape’ This Fall
schwit1 quotes Space.com: An experimental mission to test tether-based orbital debris cleanup methods with “Terminator Tape” is slated to launch this fall to test the deorbit performance of two satellites. The Millennium Space Systems mission, called DragRacer, involves two small satellites that are set to launch simultaneously to low Earth orbit (LEO) to measure how fast satellites fall out of space….
The 20th Anniversary of the Power Mac G4 Cube
Steven Levy from Wired remembers the Power Mac G4 Cube, which debuted July 19, 2000. From the report: I was reminded of this last week, as I listened to a cassette tape recorded 20 years prior, almost to the day. It documented a two-hour session with Jobs in Cupertino, California, shortly before the launch. The main reason he had summoned me…