Adhoc Systems

With about half a century of life, the Unix shell is pervasive and entrenched in our computing infrastructure—with recent virtualization and containerization trends only propelling its use. A fresh surge of academic research highlights show potential for tackling long-standing open problems that are

https://www.sigops.org/2021/the-return-of-the-unix-shell/

Section 230 reform is just a start, Frances Haugen says in Senate testimony.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/10/algorithms-shouldnt-be-protected-by-section-230-facebook-whistleblower-tells-senate/

Online shopping giant wants incentives as it speeds up distribution in wake of pandemic.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/10/amazon-wins-record-us-tax-breaks-to-expand-delivery-network/

Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative mandates data-breach reporting for gov't contractors.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/10/us-govt-will-slap-contractors-with-civil-lawsuits-for-hiding-breaches/

Syniverse and carriers haven't revealed whether text messages were exposed.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/10/company-that-routes-sms-for-all-major-us-carriers-was-hacked-for-five-years/

The console's system-bricking CMOS issue is no more. Will the PS3 be next?

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/09/sonys-latest-ps4-firmware-fixes-the-consoles-software-kill-switch/

While it's good that the issue is fixed for PS4 consoles, something more needs to be done. Manufacturers shouldn't be able to make their systems reliant on an online service and then discontinue that service. Forced obsolescence is extremely anti-consumer

The proposal would represent a “once in a generation” investment in broadband networks. Here’s what it would do, and what it leaves out

https://themarkup.org/ask-the-markup/2021/09/28/whats-missing-from-the-infrastructure-bills-65-billion-broadband-plan

Every once in a while, a new platform pops up in the fediverse that legitimately surprises me. As the ecosystem continues to grow and shift and change, new apps emerge with completely new kinds of fuAn overview of BookWyrm, a federated social reading app designed as an alternative to GoodReads.

https://wedistribute.org/2021/08/bookwyrm-is-the-federated-goodreads-replacement-i-didnt-know-i-needed/

Over the last few months, I have spent a lot of time thinking about, talking about, and building a search engine. The search engine was...

https://jamesg.blog/2021/09/20/thoughts-on-building-a-search-engine

Students from the Netherlands will take their new solar ride 3,000 km to Spain.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/09/self-sustaining-solar-house-on-wheels-wants-to-soak-up-the-sun/

I'd love to take a road trip in one of these.

Insurance claims, maintenance tickets show how snow and storms hit solar power.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/09/the-stormy-relationship-between-solar-power-and-the-weather/