GeekNights Mondays: Science Technology Computing

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss Federated Architecture in light of the collapse of Twitter. Federation is how most of the Internet works, and you should understand the ramifications of it before you dive into platforms like Mastodon. From XMPP (formerly Jabber) to ActivityPub , even the nature of an email address , federation is how the Internet was intended to be used. In the news, the FCC has...

Tonight on GeekNights, in the shadow of Twitter's collapse at the hands of a narcissistic failure of a man , we discuss the best way to protect yourself from the inevitable collapse of every platform : the POSSE model . Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere. Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights Monday - The POSSE Model and The End of Twitter Things of the Day Rym -  The Most I...

Tonight on GeekNights, we reveal the secrets of How to Not Suck at Smartphone Security. There is a lot of drama that can arise from mishandling your smartphone. Tonight we'll walk you through a simple set of rules that, if you follow them, will nearly guarantee such drama does not befall you. In the news, KakaoTalk loses millions of users after a massive outage not only cuts people off from their...

Tonight on GeekNights, after a surprisingly long hiatus between Rym going to Europe for work and Rym & Emily biking 480 miles across the state of New York , we talk a bunch about IPv6 woes with Intel NICs , and happenings in the street before we get to the news that companies shouldn't spy on their employees , and the GTX 4090 is coming . Eventually, we talk a bit about web scraping and why it is...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider how to not suck at buying a new smartphone. Android or Apple, you actually do have a choice, and there are some basic things to think about. In the news, you can't park there , this program is illegally packaged in 14 distributions , BeReal is pretty cool , this is why schools are banning smartphones , and the lack of transparency in algorithmic CSAM detection is...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the humble vacuum cleaner .You definitely don't want to be in a situation where a shop vac would be the solution to your problem and you do not have a shop vac. Also these are " not a scam ." In the news, necrobotic spiders are a thing , Amazon continues to rush toward being a full-on dystopian megacorb , and Netflix has 90 seconds to get your attention. Related...

Tonight on GeekNights we discuss Software as a Service (SaaS). This is one of the most lucrative, important, and enduring ways software is created and sold. In the news, a chess robot attacked a kid , Amazon buys One Medical as we edge ever closer to cyber-capitalist dystopia, Minecraft (rightly) bans blockchain (and nothing of value was lost ), and warming rivers due to human-caused climate chang...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider refrigeration . In the news, the illegitimate Supreme Court of the United States has taken away basic human rights , Google Hangouts is shutting down , and Google is merging Meet and Duo . Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights Monday - Refrigeration Things of the Day Rym -  15th century German bathhouse Scott -  Modern reproductions of vintage...

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss the Google engineer who thinks the AI has come to life . It's a LaMDA, and one Blake Lemoine has made some extraordinary claims . In the news, the Rangers had a good run , Meet Web Push for Safari , New York wins a right to repair , and everybody is having fun with DALL E . Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights Monday - The Chatbot isn't Sentient Things of th...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider scanners . Ancient devices used to convert paper documents and photos into files on computers, often using something called TWAIN . For many consumers, they have been replaced by "smart phones." In the news, NVIDIA releases open source GPU drivers , hell has frozen over, Russia appears to have lost custody of a relatively intact Krasukha-4 . Related Links Forum T...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider tech debt . Where it comes from, what it means, and what you can do about it. Rym's made a career of owning and addressing the tech debt of legacy systems, and there aren't really "correct" answers here. In the news, Microsoft is offering an Edge VPN , Ukrainian drones are shockingly effective against the Russian Navy , and you should check your home to see if it...

Tonight on GeekNights, we talk about display cables . The standards can be confusing , S-Video was not that common, VGA was king for a long long time, and we grew up in the days of RF . In the news, web scraping is perfectly legal , the bad man is trying (and failing ) to buy Twitter , and Rym got a 3080Ti. Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights Monday - Video Cables Things of the Day Rym -&nb...

Tonight on GeekNights, we revisit the topic of hosting we last covered in 2006 . From simple web hosting to SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and even Iaas (Infrastructure as a Service), a lot has changed. Amazon EC2 didn't even exist when we did that first episode. In the news, Vimeo moves further into B2B , Twitch pauses its "porn on the front page" feature , Amazon is r...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the concept of lock-in in technology. From platforms to software, app stores to physical connectors, it's actually a fairly complex topic. In the news, reason 499 not to buy a Tesla , Facebook collapses in the manner we have always expected, and Facebook is in trouble in Europe . Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights Monday - Technological Lock-In Things of the D...

Tonight on GeekNights, we talk about package managers . We've covered Linux package management specifically in the ancient past. In the news, Rym's gonna do the Tunnel Run once it's safe to travel again, Europe has better vaccination policies than the US , Canon reminds you that the chips in their printer ink cartridges are unnecessary , Zynga was worth $12.7 BB , a nefarious developer set off a l...

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss software libraries . Most of you are probably too old to remember DLL Hell , but you probably don't want to be proving how square roots are calculated just to calculate them in your program. In the news, Amazon has had multiple outages , the log4j zero-day is a nightmare , and VR is edging into the mainstream with its first real consumer maturity milestone. Relate...

Tonight on GeekNights, we present our 2021 GeekNights holiday technology gift guide! You can refer to our recent gaming gift guide as a companion to this. In the news, COVID vaccine boosters are fantastic , take heed as the Omicron variant poses a "very high" global risk , Streamlabs agrees to rename SLOBS after public outcry, we're running out of quarters , and we're running out of Twitter CEOs ....

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider Home HVAC: Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning . We've previously covered server room cooling , and the show is interrupted at the end by a classic . In the news, New York is taking some action on robocalls (though it's honestly too late at this point), people are upset that Microsoft is forcing Edge on Start Menu web search results , and Unity acquires We...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider documentation. Client documentation, user guides, service runbooks, developer notes, and the like. We've previously covered Documentation Systems , as well as in a game design lecture on game rules . In the news, Rym finally dressed up as Zed from Zardoz , Facebook's name change to "Meta" isn't fooling anyone, a theoretical unicode-based attack on compilers is be...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider upgrades of and migrations between Operating Systems . We may need to consider that the concept of an Operating System has changed and continues to evolve as computer technology matures. In the news, Apple Day told us about new MacBook Pros and AirPods (plus how people apparently aren't actually using Siri), and a kid accidentally shot himself immediately after a...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the Leopard that is social media. It is difficult to summarize the myriad ways that social media has materially harmed society despite its great promise. From Orkut to Facebook to Twitter, it's been a destabilizing force. In the (possibly too on-the-nose) news, Facebook had a major global outage today (see our episode on outages ), Facebook has a whistleblower re...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the archaic "computer magazine" that you may have heard old people talking about. From PC Gamer to Maximum PC to Computer Shopper, the pre-Internet was a wild time. In the news, Western Digital "My Book" users had all their data deleted in a convoluted story , Western Digital tried to trick people into buying inferior drives , Google's internal dysfunction led br...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider Apple, CSAM, and Privacy . Apple is under fire for its solution here, some have warned of its dangers , and other companies already do similar things . (It's worth noting that Apple is already doing this on iCloud Mail). In the news, OnlyFans sells out its core user base , though the situation is more complex than it appears and other similar entities have compli...

Tonight on GeekNights, we accidentally do a June tech news roundup. So, in that news, US carries share vertical location data for 911 calls , Apple adds additional safety measures to AirTags (though there are still workarounds ), Facetime is (sort of) coming to the web , and there's a ton of WWDC news . Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights Monday - Tech News Roundup - June 2021 Things of the Day...

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the video camera. In the news, there is drama at Freenode , Audacity won't gather telemetry data , Spotify is getting podcast transcription , and Samsung seems to have given up on upcycling . Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights Monday - Video Cameras Things of the Day Rym -  Eminem - Lose Yourself But It's Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra...