Received a new box of documents from Yaakov Kirschen in Israel a few days ago for use in my ongoing research project into his computer software.
Some of these documents are really sad, including a handwritten letter from his wife Sali to a creditor where she explains that they can’t repay a debt. Their projects generated almost no income, and they had spent all their savings to fund it.
It’s just been pointed out to me that the reason Apple runs a trade-in programme for older devices is so they can reduce the size of the used market, and has fuck all to do with recycling.
@DJDarren The Verge did a documentary on this a while ago. I guarantee you will be very angry by the end of it.
Basically, back in the 1980s, there was a company called Sun Remarketing that built a business buying unsold Apple computers, refurbishing then, and supporting them.
They even went so far as to create new operating systems and upgrades for them.
Lots of people couldn't afford the latest Mac, but we're happy to buy last year's model.
Using a range of underhanded legal tactics, Apple deliberately put them out of business, resulting in thousands of working computers being deliberately dumped in a landfill.
The reason was simple: It was more profitable for Apple to dump unsold computers in a landfill and force everyone to pay full price for the latest machines.
Planned obsolescence is very much Apple's business model.
Computers and Society: Modern Perspectives by Ronald M. Baecker, 2019
Computers and Society: Modern Perspectives is a wide-ranging and comprehensive textbook that critically assesses the global technical achievements in digital technologies and how are they are applied in media; education and learning; medicine and health; free speech, democracy, and government; and war and peace.
We will have old, otherwise unsupported #computers and #smartphones for visitors to try, as well as some new ones, all running #FreeSoftware.
The oldest, Dell Latitude D600, would have become #eWaste in 2010. If it were human, today it could legally drink alcohol in the USA ... it is that old and, with a little patience, still quite usable!
Honestly, I had no idea DuckDuckGo had its own web browser lol. This article reminded me to try out DuckDuckGo's search engine again, and compare its search results with those of Google Search. I was actually surprised to find out that DuckDuckGo churned out way better search results. I'm definitely gonna use it instead of Google from now on.
Chip War: The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller
An epic account of the decades-long battle to control what has emerged as the world's most critical resource--microchip technology--with the United States and China increasingly in conflict.
Okay, some quick #geek catching up, since I'm /sorta/ back.
About a month ago, on #irc, I turned “git" into a verb. I.E.
"I gitted it.”
You can also do “We gitted it" or "You gitted it”. It works in all circumstances that I can imagine having to use a sentence about adding something to a git repo.
It's just so much easier to type than "I added it to my git.” Talk about convoluted. I think my solution is best.
And most (neural network style) "#AI" or #LLM systems cannot even tell you WHY they produced the result they give. It's all in the training data. Huge "garbage in, garbage out" risks/biases!
Call me superficial, but what first got me really excited about electronics were the boards and components, like mysterious jewelry from another world— and especially the little bespoke dev boards with interesting colors and patterns— and those inviting arrays of protoboard holes that seemed to whisper “modify me! make something cool!” Here are some beautiful components for you to enjoy. #electronics#arduino#lightBlueBean#segmentDisplay#computerscience#roaches#oled#atmega328p
Part of making educational units means standardizing everything— but I want to expose my students to all the variety and possibilities of customization for these little computers. The joy of making a little dodad that does just what you want it to do and nothing more. Computers can be so much more than aluminum or titanium rectangles that are powerful and interchangeable with rounded corners. (no apologies to apple even as I tap this out on one of the damn rectangles) #teaching#computers#apple
Dual monitor advice: Purposely turn down the brightness of your "secondary" monitor.
What I'd really love is a way for my desktop environment (currently Gnome, but this should count for windows too) to automatically dim other when content goes fullscreen on one monitor. But for now, dimming the other monitor works. #tech#computers#dualmonitor
The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
The Innovators is Walter Isaacson's story of the people who created the computer and the Internet. It is destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution and a guide to how innovation really works.
The Computing Universe
A Journey Through a Revolution
In this book, Tony Hey and Gyuri Pápay lead us on a journey from the early days of computers in the 1930s to the cutting-edge research of the present day that will shape computing in the coming decades.
The Computer: A Brief History of the Machine That Changed the World
This book, aimed at general readers, covers the entirety of computing history from antiquity to the present, placing the story of computing into the broader context of politics, economics, society, and more.
An advanced computer-aided design program, called AD2000, available from Control Data Corp., helps to automate the industrial design and drafting process. It was used to create this automotive component model displayed on a computer graphics terminal (1978).
Since the 1980s, Usborne has been releasing great books for learning about computers and programming. Vibrant and fun, with big letters for the young and old, the company has put a whole bunch of them online for free as PDFs. They may not be as culturally relevant, but their ability to teach remains neon bright.
I recommending "Write Your Own Adventure Programs" for the curious, it's fun simply to read!