Yahoo News reports:
On Friday, Chadwick Boseman’s family posted a final tweet on his Twitter account, announcing that he had died after a four-year battle with colon cancer. Twitter confirmed on Saturday afternoon that this tweet from Boseman’s account is now the most-liked tweet on Twitter of all time… “The 43-year-old’s death shocked many in Hollywood who were unaware he had spent…
Tag: Writer
Cory Doctorow’s New Book Explains ‘How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism’
Blogger/science fiction writer Cory Doctorow (also a former EFF staffer and activist) has just published How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism — a new book which he’s publishing free online. In a world swamped with misinformation and monopolies, Doctorow says he’s knows what’s missing from our proposed solutions: If we’re going to break Big Tech’s death grip on our digital lives, we’re…
Cory Doctorow: ‘Self-Driving Cars are Bullshit’
“Self-driving cars are bullshit,” writes Cory Doctorow:
I’m a science fiction writer, so I quite enjoy thinking about self-driving cars. They make for really interesting analogies about data, liability, self-determination, information security and openness… But I’m a science fiction writer and that means I can tell the difference between “thought experiments” and “real things.” Alas, the same cannot be said of corporate…
Can Firefox Be Saved?
“Even with another infusion of cash from Google, you have to wonder just how long Firefox will survive as a viable, mainstream web browser,” argues ZDNet contributing editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols:
I’ve been using Mozilla’s Firefox browser since it was still in beta. In 2004, for a while, it was my favorite web browser. Not because it was open-source, but because it…
InfoWorld Lists ‘Four Powerful Features Python is Still Missing’
InfoWorld’s senior writer calls Python a “living language,” citing its recent addition of the “walrus operator” for in-line assignments and the newly-approved pattern matching. “And they’re only two of a slew of useful features that could be added to Python to make the language more expressive, more powerful, more suited to the modern programming world. What else might we wish for?”…
The awesome beauty of the Eagle Nebula
The Eagle Nebula – aka Messier 16 or M16 – is home to several well-known cosmic structures, including the stunning Pillars of Creation and Stellar Spire. Source: https://earthsky.org/clusters-nebulae-galaxies/the-awesome-beauty-of-m16-the-eagle-nebula…
Can Tesla Build Cheaper Electric Cars With Advanced (and Cobalt-Free) Batteries?
“One of the main reasons we’re not all driving electric vehicles is the price,” argues a transportation writer in Forbes — explaining how Tesla hopes to finally change that: The company is placing a huge bet on rechargeable battery technology that doesn’t use cobalt. This is one of the main elements making lithium ion batteries so expensive. It’s also fraught with…
AI Site Claims Simulated Conversations With Famous Dead Scientists
Slashdot reader shirappu writes: AI|Writer is an experiment in which artificial intelligence is used to simulate both real and fictitious famous personalities through written correspondence. Users can ask questions and receive explanations from simulated versions of Isaac Newton, Alfred Hitchcock, Marie Curie, Mary Shelley, and many more. The Next Web calls it “a new experiment by magician and novelist Andrew Mayne,”…
‘Fallout’ TV Series From ‘Westworld’ Creators In the Works At Amazon
According to Hollywood Reporter, “Amazon Studios has licensed the rights to the best-selling video game franchise Fallout, with married writers and showrunners Joy and Nolan attached to oversee the potential TV series.” From the report: The project is currently in development but has a series commitment penalty attached. That means that if Amazon execs like the script, Fallout would bypass the…
Michael Hawley, Programmer, Professor and Pianist, Dies at 58
Michael Hawley, a computer programmer, professor, musician, speechwriter and impresario who helped lay the intellectual groundwork for what is now called the Internet of Things, died on Wednesday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 58. From a report: The cause was colon cancer, said his father, George Hawley. Mr. Hawley began his career as a video game programmer at…