News gathered 2024-09-05
(date: 2024-09-05 09:33:27)
Lenovo Auto Twist AI laptop concept lets you open, close, and swivel the screen without touching it
date: 2024-09-05, from: Liliputing
Lenovo is showing off a new concept laptop at IFA this week that has a swivel hinge that allows you to twist the screen around so that it faces away from the keyboard. This allows you to turn the PC into a tablet simply by closing the lid with the screen facing up. But that’s […]
The post Lenovo Auto Twist AI laptop concept lets you open, close, and swivel the screen without touching it appeared first on Liliputing.
Global powers sign AI pact promising to preserve human rights, democracy
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
No, Russia and China are not on the list
The US, EU, UK, and other nations have signed up to a legal framework setting out a treaty for the implementation of AI that is underpinned by human rights and democratic values.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/ai_treaty/
Hunter Biden arrives at Los Angeles court for tax trial
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
Los Angeles — Hunter Biden arrived Thursday at a Los Angeles courthouse for the first day of jury selection in his federal tax trial, just months after the president’s son was convicted of gun charges in a separate case.
The case accuses Hunter Biden of a four-year scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes while pulling in millions of dollars from foreign business entities. He is already facing potential prison time after a Delaware jury convicted him in June of lying on a 2018 federal form to purchase a gun that he possessed for 11 days.
Hunter Biden walked into the courtroom holding hands with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, and flanked by Secret Service agents. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges related to his 2016 through 2019 taxes and his attorneys have indicated they will argue he didn’t act “willfully,” or with the intention to break the law, in part because of his well-documented struggles with alcohol and drug addiction.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, placed some restrictions on what jurors will be allowed to hear about the traumatic events that Hunter Biden’s family, friends and attorneys say led to his drug addiction.
The judge barred attorneys from connecting his substance abuse struggles to the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden from cancer or the car accident that killed his mother and sister when he was a toddler. He also rejected a proposed defense expert lined up to testify about addiction.
The indictment alleges that Hunter Biden lived lavishly while flouting the tax law, spending his cash on things like strippers and luxury hotels — “in short, everything but his taxes.”
Hunter Biden’s attorneys had asked Scarsi to also limit prosecutors from highlighting details of his expenses that they say amount to a “character assassination,” including payments made to strippers or pornographic websites. The judge has said in court papers that he will maintain “strict control” over the presentation of potentially salacious evidence.
Meanwhile, prosecutors could present more details of Hunter Biden’s overseas dealings, which have been at the center of Republican investigations into the Biden family often seeking — without evidence— to tie the president to an alleged influence peddling scheme.
The special counsel’s team has said it wants to tell jurors about Hunter Biden’s work for a Romanian businessman, who they say sought to “influence U.S. government policy” while Joe Biden was vice president.
The defense accused prosecutors of releasing details about Hunter Biden’s work for the Romanian in court papers to drum up media coverage and taint the jury pool.
The judge will ask a group of prospective jurors a series of questions to determine whether they can serve on the jury, including whether their political views and knowledge of the case would prevent them from being impartial.
Potential jurors are expected to be asked about their own family and personal histories with substance abuse as well as any tax issues and past dealings with the Internal Revenue Service. And despite President Joe Biden dropping his bid for reelection, they’ll also answer questions about whether they believe criminal charges can be filed for political reasons.
A heavily scrutinized plea deal and diversion agreement that would have prevented either trial from moving forward collapsed in July 2023 under questioning from a judge. Special counsel indicted Hunter Biden soon after, splitting the deal into the Delaware gun charges and the California tax case.
Sentencing in Hunter Biden’s Delaware conviction is set for Nov. 13. He could face up to 25 years in prison, but as a first-time offender, he is likely to get far less time or avoid prison entirely.
https://www.voanews.com/a/hunter-biden-arrives-at-los-angeles-court-for-tax-trial/7772661.html
US-China rivalry on display at gathering of Pacific Islands leaders
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
Washington — Efforts by Beijing to limit Taiwan’s participation in the recently concluded Pacific Islands Forum underscore the intense and ongoing tug-of-war between Western democracies and China for influence in the region, analysts say.
During the Pacific Islands Forum, or PIF, which wrapped up Friday, Beijing ally Solomon Islands tried unsuccessfully to block Taiwan from future participation. Then, on Saturday, the PIF removed a reference to Taiwan in its final communique after Beijing’s top Pacific diplomat expressed outrage at its inclusion.
The communique originally reaffirmed a 30-year-old agreement allowing Taiwan to take part in the PIF. That wording was later removed. Beijing’s communist leaders insist that democratically ruled Taiwan is a part of China and have worked for decades to limit the island’s participation in international organizations.
After the references to Taiwan were removed, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday, “Taiwan issued the strongest condemnation on China’s arbitrary intervention and unreasonable actions that undermine regional peace and stability.”
However, the ministry said the revision did not undermine Taiwan’s status at the forum or prevent it from participating in the future.
Asia Group senior adviser Kathryn Paik, who helped lead the creation of the first U.S.-Pacific Islands Forum Summit while at the U.S. National Security Council, said that while Taiwan’s status as a development partner is still solid, what happened highlights the intensity of Beijing’s efforts in the region.
“China has made gaining access and influence in the Pacific a top priority in recent years, sending savvy diplomats to the region. In fact, China currently has vastly more diplomats on the ground in more countries than the United States, outnumbering the U.S. in almost every location,” Paik told VOA. “The pushback on the Solomon Islands’ attempt — which was transparently an attempt by China — to remove Taiwan as a development partner to the PIF demonstrated the high regard that many nations have for Taiwan’s contributions to Pacific development.”
PIF officials did not explain why Taiwan was removed from the communique but stressed that the PIF would continue to welcome Taiwan at its regional meetings.
Nikkei Asia reported that Chinese Special Envoy for the Pacific Qian Bo told reporters Friday the reference was “a mistake” that “should be corrected.”
“Taiwan is part of China. Taiwan is not a dialogue partner of PIF, so China has the representation on behalf of the whole China, including Taiwan and the mainland,” Qian said.
VOA reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Washington and the Solomon Islands for comment but has yet to receive a response.
Partnership through 2027
On Sunday, Taiwan announced an agreement with the Pacific Islands to extend the development partnership through 2027, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
The statement also highlighted programs Taiwan has supported in the Pacific Islands, efforts that have focused on areas such as agriculture, education, medical care, communications technology, women’s empowerment and basic infrastructure.
Commenting Tuesday on China’s efforts at the PIF, the U.S. State Department backed Taiwan’s continued right to attend regional meetings.
“The PRC’s efforts to pressure Pacific Island countries to remove this reference fit a pattern of PRC coercion to constrain Taiwan’s international position,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA, using an abbreviation of the country’s formal name, the People’s Republic of China. “Taiwan is a highly capable, engaged, democratic and responsible member of the global community.”
US Pacific territories
While China and the United States maintain status as partner nations in the PIF, U.S. territories Guam and American Samoa were granted status as associate members during last week’s meetings. Although they do not have voting rights, they will be able to provide speakers at plenary sessions and nominate members to PIF working groups.
“The United States supports the U.S. Pacific territories’ increased participation in the PIF and greater connectivity with PIF members,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA.
The Asia Group’s Paik said that having two U.S. territories “more tightly knit into the Pacific community” further reinforces that the U.S. is a Pacific nation and opens opportunities for the U.S. to influence decision-making at the forum.
Ivan Kanapathy, a former deputy senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, agrees.
“This will provide more allied voices and reduce PRC influence, which often relies on elite capture,” said Kanapathy, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
He added: “Washington must convince the region that it is willing to impose real costs on Beijing — more than just diplomatic statements.”
Some information for this report came from Reuters.
Age discrimination layoff case against X granted class-action status
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Judge clears path for 149 ex-Twitters over 50 to sue collectively
Thousands of people were caught up in the mass Twitter layoffs following Elon Musk’s acquisition/deconstruction of the platform. Now, according to a judge, 150 of them can collectively sue the social media giant for age discrimination in its decision to lay them off. …
Revisiting the Elm City project
date: 2024-09-05, from: John Udell blog
“Communities that want to build comprehensive public calendars will be able to do so using a hybrid approach that blends existing iCalendar feeds with feeds synthesized from web calendars. It’s not a perfect solution, but with LLM assistance it’s a workable one. And who knows, maybe if people see what’s possible when information silos converge, … Continue reading Revisiting the Elm City project
https://blog.jonudell.net/2024/09/05/revisiting-the-elm-city-project/
NASA’s Boeing Starliner Mission Landing Criteria, Timeline
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
As NASA and Boeing prepare to return the company’s Starliner spacecraft uncrewed from the International Space Station to Earth, safety and mission success remain as top priorities for the teams. Mission managers will complete a series of operational and weather checks before the spacecraft undocks from the orbital complex. The Starliner spacecraft is the first […]
US secures release of 135 Nicaraguan political prisoners
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-secures-release-of-135-nicaraguan-political-prisoners/7772560.html
Join the Eclipsing Binary Patrol and Spot Rare Stellar Pairs!
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
Eclipsing binaries are special pairs of stars that cross in front of one another as they orbit—stars that take turns blocking one another from our view. At Eclipsing Binary Patrol, the newest NASA-funded citizen science project, you’ll have a chance to help discover these unusual pairs of objects. In Eclipsing Binary Patrol, you’ll work with real data […]
Ames Wind Tunnel
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
Construction of the Ames wind tunnel and its original 40- by 80-foot test section. A later expansion created an additional 80- by 120-foot test section. A Navy blimp, which would have been based at Hangars 2 and 3 at Moffett Field, patrols in the background. Image Credit: NACA
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/ames-wind-tunnel/
The ice is thinning, economically speaking
date: 2024-09-05, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Private payroll company ADP reports that 99,000 jobs were added to the economy in August, less than in July. This continual cooling in demand for workers can be considered a good thing — as long as we don’t go through the ice. But first, Nordstrom’s department stores could go private. Plus: what we know about how former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris want to change our tax bills.
Security boom is over, with over a third of CISOs reporting flat or falling budgets
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Good news? Security is still getting a growing part of IT budget
It looks like security budgets are coming up against belt-tightening policies, with chief security officers reporting budgets rising more slowly than ever and over a third saying their spending this year will be flat or even reduced.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/security_spending_boom_slowing/
NASA to Support DARPA Robotic Satellite Servicing Program
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have signed an interagency agreement to collaborate on a satellite servicing demonstration in geosynchronous Earth orbit, where hundreds of satellites provide communications, meteorological, national security, and other vital functions. Under this agreement, NASA will provide subject matter expertise to DARPA’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) […]
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/nasa-to-support-darpa-robotic-satellite-servicing-program/
NASA’s Hubble, MAVEN Help Solve the Mystery of Mars’ Escaping Water
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
Mars was once a very wet planet as is evident in its surface geological features. Scientists know that over the last 3 billion years, at least some water went deep underground, but what happened to the rest? Now, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) missions are helping unlock that mystery. […]
Digitizing Tutor Observations: A Look into Self-Observations of Asynchronous Tutoring
date: 2024-09-05, from: Digital Humanities Quarterly News
Before accepting my role as Assistant Director of the California State University, Channel Islands Writing & Multiliteracy Center (WMC), I understood asynchronous tutoring as additional support for students to utilize when the incentive to attend a synchronous session was unavailable (either because of their schedules or other personal reasons). Writing centers in the past have […]OpenAI co-founder’s Safe Superintelligence startup inhales $1B in funding
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
No product? No problem!
Wondering if the AI bubble is set to pop? Safe Superintelligence (SSI) has just scored more than $1 billion in investor funding.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/ssi_funding/
AI (kind of) in the Writing Center
date: 2024-09-05, from: Digital Humanities Quarterly News
We were ahead of the curve. In the summer of 2022, four months before ChatGPT burst onto the scene, we sent out our usual July message to tutors at UConn’s Writing Center, reminding them about August orientation dates and that everyone would need to bring a draft essay based on a pair of readings. Here’s […]How My Role at the Writing Center Shaped My Digital Literacies
date: 2024-09-05, from: Digital Humanities Quarterly News
During my formal education as an English and Portuguese language and literature undergraduate major in Brazil, I learned English through traditional methods like timed exams, grammar drills, and textbooks, and was mostly discouraged from using technology. This approach left me feeling inadequate, and I soon internalized that “writing in English was not for me.” Despite […]Britain halts criminal proceedings against movie producer Weinstein
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
LONDON — Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein won’t face charges of indecent assault in Britain, prosecutors announced on Thursday.
The Crown Prosecution Service, which in 2022 authorized two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein, said it decided to discontinue proceedings because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.’’
“We have explained our decision to all parties,’’ the CPS said in a statement. ’’We would always encourage any potential victims of sexual assault to come forward and report to police, and we will prosecute wherever our legal test is met.”
Weinstein became the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement in 2017 when women began to go public with accounts of his behavior. After the revelations emerged, British police said they were investigating multiple allegations of sexual assault that reportedly took place between the 1980s and 2015.
In June 2022, the Crown Prosecution Service said it had authorized London’s Metropolitan Police Service to file two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein in relation to an alleged incident that occurred in London in 1996. The victim was in her 50s at the time of the announcement.
Unlike many other countries, Britain does not have a statute of limitations for rape or sexual assault.
Weinstein, who has denied that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone, remains in custody in New York while awaiting retrial in Manhattan, prosecutors said in August.
After the retrial, he is due to start serving a 16-year sentence in California for a separate rape conviction in Los Angeles, authorities said. Weinstein was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 while already serving a 23-year sentence in New York.
His 2020 conviction in Manhattan was thrown out earlier this year when the state’s top court ruled that the judge in the original trial unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Weinstein, the co-founder of the Miramax entertainment company and The Weinstein Company film studio, was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, having produced films such as “Pulp Fiction” and “The Crying Game.”
Beyond the Hype: Writing Centers and the AI Revolution in Higher Education
date: 2024-09-05, from: Digital Humanities Quarterly News
Although I’m genuinely tired of hearing this phrase, I have to start with it because it’s an undeniable fact: The launch of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022 marked a seismic shift in the landscape of higher education. I consider myself lucky to have had a front-row seat when witnessing the transformative impact of AI on […]Eclipses Create Atmospheric Gravity Waves, NASA Student Teams Confirm
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
Student teams from three U.S. universities became the first to measure what scientists have long predicted: eclipses can generate ripples in Earth’s atmosphere called atmospheric gravity waves. The waves’ telltale signature emerged in data captured during the North American annular solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023, as part of the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP) […]
https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/eclipses-create-atmospheric-gravity-waves/
Intel Arrow Lake to be made elsewhere as 20A process node canned
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Meanwhile, Broadcom reportedly displeased with 18A wafers
Surprising news about Intel continues to emerge with the chipmaker vowing to use an external foundry in place of its own 20A process to make the upcoming Arrow Lake processors, amid talk that Broadcom has rejected Intel’s 18A process as not ready for mass production.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/intel_arrow_lake/
Volvo Is Watering Down Its 2030 All-Electric Pledge
date: 2024-09-05, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Thunderstorms brought widespread flooding to Tampa Bay, Florida • The famous Constantine Arch in Rome was damaged by lightning • Super Typhoon Yagi is now the second-most powerful storm of 2024 and is expected to hit China on Friday.
THE TOP FIVE
- Biden to announce $7.3 billion in rural clean energy grants
The Biden administration today is expected to announce $7.3 billion in grants for rural electric cooperatives to finance clean energy projects aimed at bringing reliable, affordable energy to rural Americans. The infusion, which comes from the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program of the Inflation Reduction Act, is “the largest investment in rural electrification since FDR’s administration,” said White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian. The 16 cooperatives will have projects dotted across 23 states. The projects are expected to create 4,500 permanent jobs and prevent more than 43 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution each year. Biden will announce the news at the Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin. Dairyland will receive $573 million for solar and wind installations across Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. “One in five rural Americans will benefit from these clean energy investments, thanks to partnerships with rural electric cooperatives like Dairyland,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement. “Put simply, this is rural power, for rural America.”
- Volvo walks back 2030 all-electric pledge
Volvo is watering down its commitment to sell only electric vehicles by 2030, aiming instead to have at least 90% of its sales be electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles by that year. CEO Jim Rowan blamed market forces, lack of EV charging infrastructure, and lower-than-expected customer demand for the change. The company said it will invest in plug-in hybrids for growth. “We are resolute in our belief that our future is electric,” Rowan said. “However, it is clear that the transition to electrification will not be linear, and customers and markets are moving at different speeds.” The walk-back follows similar moves from other carmakers including Ford. Volvo was one of the first legacy automakers to commit to a fully-electric future, and as the Financial Times noted, it “remains the most bullish about the transition.”
- Parts of L.A. could hit 118 degrees this week
The intense heat wave positioned over the West Coast is bringing dangerously hot temperatures to Southern California. In some areas, temperatures will be 20 degrees above normal for this time of year. Los Angeles will see triple-digit highs through the end of the week. Palm Springs will hit 114 degrees Fahrenheit today. The Woodland Hills neighborhood of L.A. could reach 118 degrees by Friday. “In terms of this summer, it’s going to be the hottest we’ve seen or close to it,” Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the Los Angeles Times. Cooling centers are open across the state and are listed here. According to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, average annual temperatures in the state have risen by about 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895. Seven of the past eight years have been the warmest on record.
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- Ultium battery plant in Tennessee votes to unionize
The Ultium electric vehicle battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, has joined the United Auto Workers union. The plant, which employs 1,000 people, is a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution. The UAW said in a statement that “the workers organized without facing threats or intimidation and won their union once a majority of workers signed cards.” This is the second Ultium plant to unionize, but the first in the South. The other, in Ohio, joined the UAW in 2022. “It could be a big deal,” wrote Jameson Dow at Electrek, “given the developing ‘battery belt’ in the U.S. South, where many companies have decided to build battery plants, with hundreds of billions of dollars in investment and hundreds of thousands of jobs on the docket. If other factories see the success at GM, they might start getting their own ideas and unionization could spread through the industry.”
- YouGov poll finds rampant misinformation about EVs
The results of a new YouGov survey show that drivers are terribly misinformed about the costs, safety, and functionality of electric vehicles. In the survey, 1,000 people who currently drive gas-powered cars were asked to read 10 statements about EVs and identify whether they were true or false. The majority (90%) of participants answered just five or fewer questions correctly, and more than half (57%) of participants scored no higher than two out of 10. In other words, if this test had been scored on an A-F grading scale, nearly everyone would have failed. Sixty-two percent of them said EVs are more expensive to run than internal combustion engine cars (they’re not), 41% thought EVs are more likely to catch fire (they’re not), and 35% believed EVs emit about the same CO2 over their lifetime as ICE vehicles (they don’t).
“This is affecting drivers’ car choices, with people displaying a poor understanding of EVs being less likely to want their next car to be an EV,” concluded the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, the nonprofit that commissioned the survey. “Drivers who scored two or less out of 10 were 11 times less likely to want their next car to be an EV than those who scored eight or more out of 10.”
The survey was conducted in the U.K., but many of these myths are common among U.S. drivers, too.
THE KICKER
🙌 The Fight, a new Heatmap Plus weekly newsletter from senior reporter Jael Holzman, just launched. It will deliver must-read exclusive scoops and analysis on the local battles and national trends shaping the future of climate action. Check it out. 🙌
https://heatmap.news/electric-vehicles/volvo-2030-electric-pledge
Trump election subversion case back in court as judge holds hearing that could set its path forward
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
Washington — A judge will hear arguments Thursday about the potential next steps in the federal election subversion prosecution of Donald Trump in the first hearing since the Supreme Court narrowed the case by ruling that former presidents are entitled to broad immunity from criminal charges.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers submitted dueling proposals late Friday before the status conference. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is presiding over the case that charges Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump is not expected to be present, and it was not immediately clear whether Chutkan will make any rulings Thursday.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team filed a new indictment last week to strip out certain allegations against Trump, the Republican nominee for president, and comply with the Supreme Court ruling. His team said it could be ready at any time to file a legal brief laying out its position on how to apply the justices’ immunity opinion to the case.
Defense lawyers said they intend to file multiple motions to dismiss the case, including one that piggybacks off a Florida judge’s ruling that said Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.
Neither side envisions a trial happening before the November election, especially given the amount of work ahead. Chutkan is tasked with determining which of the acts alleged in the indictment can remain part of the case in light of the Supreme Court opinion.
The justices in July ruled that former presidents enjoy absolute immunity for the exercise of their core constitutional duties and are presumptively immune from prosecution for all other official acts.
Smith’s team responded to the ruling with a revised indictment last week that removed references to Trump’s efforts to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to remain in power, an area of conduct for which the Supreme Court said Trump is immune.
The case is one of two federal prosecutions against Trump. The other, charging him with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, was dismissed in July by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. She said Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unlawful.
Smith’s team has appealed that ruling. Trump’s lawyers say they intend to ask Chutkan to dismiss the election case on the same grounds.
In politics, a shared emphasis on the care economy
date: 2024-09-05, from: Marketplace Morning Report
As divisive as politics can be, especially this election season, you can actually find some small areas of common ground. That currently includes some limited bipartisan focus on policies that aim to support families raising children. Today, we’ll look at some of the latest research regarding support for care proposals. Also on the show: the economy as an Impressionist painting and trends in the subscription economy.
Vega rocket’s last blast hurls Sentinel-2C satellite into orbit
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
ESA and Arianespace now twiddling thumbs until Vega-C returns to flight
The European Space Agency (ESA) has bid a fond farewell to the Vega rocket with the successful launch of the Copernicus Sentinel-2C spacecraft.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/final_vega_launch/
NASA Tunnel Generates Decades of Icy Aircraft Safety Data
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
On Sept. 13, 1944, researchers subjected a Bell P-39L Airacobra to frigid temperatures and a freezing water spray in the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)’s new Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) to study inflight ice buildup. Since that first run at the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory (now NASA’s Glenn Research Center) in Cleveland, the facility […]
Doing the Least Work Possible
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/09/05/doing-the-least-work-possible/
Investigating the Impact of Multimodality in the Writing Center
date: 2024-09-05, from: Digital Humanities Quarterly News
As a new graduate student at Northeastern University in the 2010s, I remember attending several professional development workshops on multimodal writing. Touted as a more accessible, creative, and enjoyable approach to teaching writing, the assignments that the speaker shared looked like shadowboxes filled with visual and textual content. I sat with other graduate students and […]Amazon congratulates itself for AI code that mostly works
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Web services souk celebrates ‘leader’ designation for Q Developer
Amazon Web Services on Tuesday took a moment to pat itself on the back for being thought of inside the box, specifically, the upper right-hand square that’s part of Gartner’s trademarked Magic Quadrant.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/amazon_q_developer_gartner/
US, Britain, EU to sign first international AI treaty
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-britain-eu-to-sign-first-international-ai-treaty-/7772325.html
On Building (and Leaving) a Multiliteracy Center
date: 2024-09-05, from: Digital Humanities Quarterly News
My context for developing a multiliteracy center was unique and rather complicated. When I was tasked in fall 2017 with building a new student support center for UMass Dartmouth’s campus, I was prohibited from using the word “writing” in the name of this center. I will not go at length into the reasons for this, […]China expands its Africa investment
date: 2024-09-05, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: China’s President Xi Jinping has announced almost $51 billion in new funding for the continent — in projects including infrastructure and clean energy, with a promise to create a million jobs. But there are warnings about the debt burden facing some countries. Also: An inquiry into an apartment block fire in the United Kingdom is heavily critical of cladding manufacturers, successive governments and regulators.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/china-expands-its-africa-investment
Of Paywalls and Algorithms: Confronting Challenges to Digital Literacy in the Writing Center
date: 2024-09-05, from: Digital Humanities Quarterly News
As a writing center practitioner and digital media scholar, I’ve observed with great interest the increasing entanglement of digital technologies in students’ writing processes. I’ve assisted students who struggle to get their words down on paper by setting up voice-to-text tools, allowing them to compose a first draft verbally. I’ve learned about mind-mapping programs like […]More than Watergate: The Nixon-Sampson Agreement
date: 2024-09-05, from: National Archives, Pieces of History blog
Today’s post comes from Laurel Gray, a processing intern with the Textual Division at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It’s the first in a series on the archival ramifications of the Watergate scandal. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Watergate. Many are familiar with the scandal that resulted in President Richard Nixon resigning … Continue reading More than Watergate: The Nixon-Sampson Agreement
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2024/09/05/more-than-watergate-the-nixon-sampson-agreement/
Artemis IV: Gateway Gadget Fuels Deep Space Dining
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
Learn about the handy device NASA is developing to help astronauts rehydrate their meals aboard the Gateway Lunar Space Station during the ambitious Artemis IV mission.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/artemis-iv-gateway-gadget-fuels-deep-space-dining/
If every PC is going to be an AI PC, they better be as good at all the things trad PCs can do
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Microsoft’s Copilot+ machines suck at one of computing’s oldest use cases
Comment A significant cadre of computer users is waking up to the fact that Microsoft’s first volley of Copilot+ machines – notebooks capable of local AI processing – simply aren’t very good at a bog-standard use case.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/ai_pc_gaming/
Teen charged with killing 4 at Georgia high school had been focus of earlier tips about threats
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
WINDER, Ga. — More than a year ago, tips about online posts threatening a school shooting led Georgia police to interview a 13-year-old boy, but investigators didn’t have enough evidence for an arrest. On Wednesday, that boy opened fire at his high school outside Atlanta and killed four people and wounded nine, officials said.
The teen has been charged as an adult in the deaths of Apalachee High School students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and instructors Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference.
At least nine other people — eight students and one teacher at the school in Winder, about an hour’s drive northeast of Atlanta — were taken to hospitals with injuries. All were expected to survive, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
The teen, now 14, was to be taken to a regional youth detention facility on Thursday.
Armed with an assault-style rifle, the teen turned the gun on students in a hallway at the school when classmates refused to open the door for him to return to his algebra classroom, classmate Lyela Sayarath said.
The teen earlier left the second period algebra classroom, and Sayarath figured the quiet student who recently transferred was skipping school again.
But he returned later and wanted back in the classroom. Some students went to open the locked door but instead backed away.
“I’m guessing they saw something, but for some reason they didn’t open the door,” Sayarath said.
When she looked at him through a window in the door, she saw the student turn and heard a barrage of gunshots.
“It was about 10 or 15 of them at once, back-to-back,” she said.
The math students ducked onto the floor and sporadically crawled around, looking for a safe corner to hide.
Two school resource officers encountered the shooter within minutes after a report of shots fired went out, Hosey said. The teen immediately surrendered and was taken into custody.
The teen had been interviewed after the FBI received anonymous tips in May 2023 about online threats to commit an unspecified school shooting, the agency said in a statement.
The FBI narrowed the threats down and referred the case to the sheriff’s department in Jackson County, which is adjacent to Barrow County.
The sheriff’s office interviewed the then-13-year-old and his father, who said there were hunting guns in the house but the teen did not have unsupervised access to them. The teen also denied making any online threats.
The sheriff’s office alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the teen, but there was no probable cause for arrest or additional action, the FBI said.
Hosey said the state Division of Family and Children’s Services also had previous contact with the teen and will investigate whether that has any connection with the shooting. Local news outlets reported that law enforcement on Wednesday searched the teen’s family home in Bethlehem, Georgia, east of the high school.
“All the students that had to watch their teachers and their fellow classmates die, the ones that had to walk out of the school limping, that looked traumatized,” Sayarath said, “that’s the consequence of the action of not taking control.”
Authorities were still looking into how the teen obtained the gun used in the shooting and got it into the school with about 1,900 students in Barrow County, a rapidly suburbanizing area on the edge of metro Atlanta’s ever-expanding sprawl.
It was the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to active shooter drills in classrooms. But they have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.
Before Wednesday, there had been 29 mass killings in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.
On Wednesday evening, hundreds gathered in Jug Tavern Park in downtown Winder for a vigil. Volunteers handed out candles and also water, pizza and tissues. Some knelt as a Methodist minister led the crowd in prayer after a Barrow County commissioner read a Jewish prayer of mourning.
Christopher Vasquez, 15, said he attended the vigil because he needed to feel grounded and be in a safe place.
He was in band practice when the lockdown order was issued. He said it felt like a regular drill as students lined up to hide in the band closet.
“Once we heard banging at the door and the SWAT (team) came to take us out, that’s when I knew that it was serious,” he said. “I just started shaking and crying.”
He finally settled down once he was at the football stadium. “I just was praying that everyone I love was safe,” he said.
Kamala Harris Has Other Things to Talk About Than Fracking
date: 2024-09-05, from: Heatmap News
Fracking is just about the last thing Kamala Harris wants to talk about right now, which may be understandable. In a CNN interview last week — her first major sit-down since becoming the Democratic Party’s official nominee for president — she changed her earlier campaign position on whether the technique used to extract oil and natural gas should be banned. Cries of “Flip-flopper!” are a staple of shallow campaign coverage. The issue is a bit complicated, and could prove awkward in at least one battleground state. And she’d rather spend her limited time attacking Donald Trump on abortion and other issues where she has a clearer advantage.
But when the fracking issue comes up again — and it will — Harris has a great story to tell, one that most Americans are probably unaware of. There’s a green energy revolution underway, but rather than celebrate it, Harris and many other Democratic politicians tend to tiptoe around the issue, apparently terrified that a single infelicitous sentence could turn the supposedly large numbers of pro-fossil fuel voters against them.
We saw that dynamic in action on CNN, when interviewer Dana Bash homed right in on the fact that, running in the presidential primaries in 2020, Harris said she favored a ban on fracking. “Fracking, as you know, is a pretty big issue, particularly in your must-win state of Pennsylvania,” Bash said. “Do you still want to ban fracking?” Like almost every political reporter, Bash has no interest in the benefits and problems fracking presents, or whether banning it is a good or bad idea. The point is to zing Harris for her apparent flip-flop and speculate on whether it will move votes in one of the few swing states.
Harris was determined to allay the concerns of any pro-fracking voters tuning in. “I would not ban fracking,” she said. “As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.” Loud and clear!
She did go on to argue that a fracking ban is unnecessary because the Inflation Reduction Act is creating large numbers of green energy jobs, so “we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.” To the casual viewer, it probably seemed like a perfectly good answer, but it was also somewhat beside the point. The reason many would like to ban fracking isn’t that it holds back the creation of green jobs. It’s that it entrenches our reliance on fossil fuels and creates environmental and health problems in the areas where it is deployed.
Of course, all those considerations — jobs, the environment, and where we’re getting our energy now and in the future — are interrelated. Which is why there is an opportunity for Harris to use that question to focus voters’ attention on the transformation now taking place.
With one party saying the only thing that matters in energy is drilling for more fossil fuels and the other telling people not to worry because they won’t stop us drilling for more fossil fuels, how many Americans know about the dramatic increase in renewable energy, especially solar, that is now underway? According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nearly 50 gigawatts of solar power will be added to the grid this year, accounting for 59% of all new electricity generation:
Wind and solar now generate more electricity than coal. Even more remarkable is how inexpensive solar power has become. Since 1990, the price per kilowatt hour of a solar panel has dropped by 98%, and solar has become the least expensive type of new energy to generate. With all the innovation taking place in the renewable energy world — a good deal of it spurred by the investments made by the Biden administration — energy prices are likely to keep coming down as more and more of our power is generated by renewables.
This is a triumphant story of human ingenuity, thoughtful government action, and the operation of the free market. Harris could use it to describe a glorious future of power that is cheap, clean, and nearly limitless, one she is trying to create and Trump is trying to impede. Given that “We won’t go back” is one of her campaign slogans, it would seem like a perfect fit for her. But like many Democrats, she seems wary of saying anything that might spook the relatively small number of people whose livelihoods depend on fracking.
Consider Pennsylvania, the only swing state where this issue is supposed to matter. From the discussion in the political press, you might think the state’s voters are almost unanimous in their devotion to fracking, but that’s just not true. Even there, the public is closely divided on the issue: Some polls have found majorities of Pennsylvanians opposed to fracking, while others show them split down the middle. And while Pennsylvania produces a lot of natural gas that way, the number of people who actually work in fracking in the state is extremely modest, in the low five figures. Yet the assumption of news coverage is that the contrast between the Biden administration’s emphasis on clean energy and Trump’s opposite “Drill, baby, drill” approach can only redound to Trump’s benefit; as one Wall Street Journal article in April was headlined, “A Pennsylvania Fracking Boom Weighs on Biden’s Re-Election Chances.” The Pennsylvanians who are opposed to fracking because of its environmental impacts — or simply see it as something their state no longer needs — are shoved to the periphery of that kind of coverage.
So what if the next time she is asked about why she changed her mind about a fracking ban, Harris took the opportunity to explain to people what the future of energy is actually going to look like, and why it’s so encouraging? She’ll have to do that over the objection (or at the very least the indifference) of the reporters covering her campaign, who neither know nor care about the substance of the climate issue or energy policy. But she should do it anyway. Not only would it be right on the merits, it might even be good politics.
https://heatmap.news/politics/harris-campaign-pennsylvania-fracking
The fingerpointing starts as cyber incident at London transport body continues
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Network admins take a ride on the Fright Bus
The Transport for London (TfL) “cyber incident” is heading into its third day amid claims that a popular appliance might have been the gateway for criminals to gain access to the organization’s network.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/the_fingerpointing_starts_as_the/
30,000 badges and still no hack?
date: 2024-09-05, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
No one has managed to hack our new chip yet. Are you interested in collecting a bounty?
The post 30,000 badges and still no hack? appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/30000-badges-and-still-no-hack/
Key aspects of Palantir’s Federated Data Platform lack legal basis, lawyers tell NHS England
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Unless solution found, patients must be allowed to opt out
Exclusive NHS England has received advice from lawyers saying key aspects of its controversial Federated Data Platform (FDP) lack a legal basis, meaning that unless a solution is found, it must allow citizens to opt out of sharing their data.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/fdp_lacks_legal_basis/
AI’s thirst for water is alarming, but may solve itself
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Its energy addiction, on the other hand, only seems to get worse
Comment Once an abstract subject of science fiction and academic research, the concept of artificial intelligence has become the topic of dinner table conversations over the past two years.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/ai_water_energy/
Cross-format poetry
date: 2024-09-05, from: Status-Q blog
Continuing the theme of Good Stuff Spotted on Mastodon, this comes from Natasha Jay: There was a young man From Cork who got limericks And Haikus confused.
https://statusq.org/archives/2024/09/05/12171/
Wahlsoftware: Offene Quellen - Weniger Missverständnisse
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: Chaos Computer Club Updates
Der Chaos Computer Club fordert erneut öffentliche und transparente Wahl- und Auswertungssoftware. Die vorläufige Sitzverteilung im sächsischen Landtag musste nachträglich korrigiert werden, weil die eingesetzte Auswertungssoftware versagt hat. Der Vorgang nährt Misstrauen in das Wahlsystem und führt zur Verbreitung wilder Verschwörungstheorien. Die seit jeher gepflegte Intransparenz gießt Öl in dieses Feuer.
https://www.ccc.de/de/updates/2024/wahlsoftware-offene-quellen-weniger-missverstandnisse
Apple accused of hoodwinking UK antitrust cops
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Mac maker denial of Safari self-preferencing called out by OWA
Apple appears to have misled the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in a regulatory filing that attempts to downplay competition concerns, according to Open Web Advocacy (OWA).…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/apple_safari_uk_cma/
MASTER PLAN Bonus: Ralph Nader Vs. The Master Plan
date: 2024-09-05, from: The Lever News
David Sirota talks with the man whose legislative successes prompted a corporate backlash and Lewis Powell’s infamous memo.
https://www.levernews.com/master-plan-bonus-ralph-nader-vs-the-master-plan/
AT&T sues Broadcom for breaching VMware support extension contract
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Telco giant slams silicon-and-software shop for trying to bully it into buying software it doesn’t want or need, at huge prices
US telecoms giant AT&T has alleged Broadcom has reneged on an extended support deal it struck with VMware, and warned the consequences could be massive outages for customer support operations – and even the US president’s office.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/att_sues_broadcom_vmware_support/
Sol 4294: Return to McDonald Pass
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024 Curiosity has returned to “McDonald Pass,” a block within Gediz Vallis that we first spotted about a month ago (as seen in the above Front Hazcam image). The block shows some interesting zonation — the distribution of textures and colors into different areas, or zones. We’re hoping that […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sol-4294-return-to-mcdonald-pass/
Sols 4291-4293: Fairview Dome, the Sequel
date: 2024-09-05, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 30, 2024 Our backwards drive to “McDonald Pass” got hung up on the steep slopes of “Fairview Dome,” but unlike a lot of movie sequels, our inadvertent return visit to Fairview Dome was at least as good as the original. We took full advantage of the chance to investigate this […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4291-4293-fairview-dome-the-sequel/
Is it cheaper to drive, fly, or take the train?
date: 2024-09-05, from: Hannah Richie at Substack
Peak train tickets are far more expensive than driving.
https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/travel-prices
Security biz Verkada to pay $3M penalty under deal that also enforces infosec upgrade
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Allowed access to 150k cameras, some in sensitive spots, but has been done for spamming
Physical security biz Verkada has agreed to cough up $2.95 million following an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – but the payment won’t make good its past security failings, including a blunder that led to CCTV footage of Tesla, Cloudflare, and others being snooped on. Instead, the fine is about spam.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/verkada_ftc_settlement/
The Long, Strange Journey of Language Models
date: 2024-09-05, from: Peter Warden
Have you ever wondered why ChatGPT and similar advanced AI systems are known as Large Language Models? What are “language models”, even? To answer that, and understand how remarkable the current state of the art is, I need to jump back a few decades. Understanding language has always been a goal for artificial intelligence researchers, […]
https://petewarden.com/2024/09/05/the-long-strange-journey-of-language-models/
White House seizes 32 domains, issues criminal charges in massive election-meddling crackdown
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Russia has seemingly decided who it wants Putin the Oval Office
The Biden administration on Wednesday seized 32 websites and charged two employees of a state-owned media outlet connected to a $10 million scheme to distribute pro-Kremlin propaganda, and claimed the actions were necessary to counter Russia’s attempts to influence the upcoming US presidential election.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/biden_cracks_down_on_putins/
White House signals it may block sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The White House is signaling an openness to blocking the acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, as a government review of the proposed takeover by the Japanese company is wrapping up.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that President Joe Biden plans to stop the deal from going forward. A White House official, insisting on anonymity to discuss the matter, did not deny the report and said Biden still needs to receive the official recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). That review could end as soon as this month.
Biden had voiced his objections to the merger, backing his supporters in the United Steelworkers union who oppose the deal. The objection carries weight as U.S. Steel is headquartered in the swing state of Pennsylvania and is a symbol of Pittsburgh’s industrial might in an election year when Republicans and Democrats alike are promising more domestic manufacturing jobs.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, came out against the deal this week. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has said he would block the merger if he were still in the White House.
Stock in U.S. Steel fell roughly 17% on the news that Biden would stop the merger.
The CFIUS review process generally pertains to business issues with national security implications. U.S. Steel spokesperson Amanda Malkowski said in an email that the company had not received any update on the process and that the company sees “no national security issues associated with this transaction, as Japan is one of our most staunch allies.”
“We fully expect to pursue all possible options under the law to ensure this transaction, which is best future for Pennsylvania, American steelmaking, and all of our stakeholders, closes,” Malkowski said.
A spokesman representing Nippon Steel said the company had not received any updates from the federal government on the review process.
U.S. Steel on Wednesday hosted a rally in support of the acquisition. It said in a statement that without the Nippon Steel deal the company would “largely pivot away from its blast furnace facilities, putting thousands of good-paying union jobs at risk, negatively impacting numerous communities across the locations where its facilities exist, and depriving the American steel industry of an opportunity to better compete on the global stage.”
China’s envoy not expelled; he left because term ended, says US
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
washington — China’s consul general in New York left his post as scheduled after completing his posting last month, the State Department said on Wednesday, hours after New York’s governor said she asked for his expulsion in the aftermath of the arrest of a former aide who was accused of secretly acting as a Chinese agent.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that Consul General Huang Ping “was not expelled.”
“Our understanding is that the consul general reached the end of a regular scheduled rotation in August, and so rotated out of the position, but was not expelled,” Miller said.
“But of course, when it comes to the status of particular employees of a foreign mission, I would refer you to the foreign country to speak to it. But there was no expulsion action.”
China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Huang Ping’s status.
Governor asked for envoy’s expulsion
Earlier on Wednesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul told an event that she spoke by phone at the request of Secretary of State Antony Blinken to a high-ranking State Department official “and I had conveyed my desire to have the consul general from the People’s Republic of China in the New York mission expelled.”
“And I’ve been informed that the consul general is no longer in the New York mission,” she said.
Miller said Hochul had spoken on Wednesday to Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
Asked by an audience member if she had been interviewed by investigators, including the FBI, Hochul said: “They asked me one question.”
“I’m not able to talk about it but it had something to do with identifying whether or not something was my signature and that was it,” she said.
Former aide charged
Linda Sun, 41, a former aide to Hochul, was charged on Tuesday with secretly acting as an agent of the Chinese government in exchange for millions of dollars in compensation and gifts, including meals of gourmet duck.
Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, 40, pleaded not guilty to criminal charges before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo in Brooklyn, after being arrested on Tuesday morning.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said that while working in state government, Sun blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from meeting with officials and sought to arrange for a high-level New York state official to visit China. In exchange, Chinese government representatives allegedly arranged for millions of dollars in transactions for Hu, who had business activities in China.
Prosecutors said Sun and Hu used the money to buy a 2024 Ferrari Roma sports car, as well as property on New York’s Long Island and in Honolulu worth about $6 million.
Hochul was not accused of any wrongdoing. Her office fired Sun in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct and reported Sun’s actions immediately to authorities. Her office also has assisted law enforcement throughout the process, a spokesperson for the governor said.
According to the website of China’s consulate in New York, Huang Ping had been the consul general since November 2018. Prior to that, Huang, 61, served as a Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe and did stints as an official at the embassy in Washington and China’s consulate in Chicago.
https://www.voanews.com/a/china-s-envoy-not-expelled-he-left-because-term-ended-says-us/7772092.html
North Korean scammers plan wave of stealth attacks on crypto companies, FBI warns
date: 2024-09-05, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Feds warn of ‘highly tailored, difficult-to-detect social engineering campaigns’
The FBI has warned that North Korean operatives are plotting “complex and elaborate” social engineering attacks against employees of decentralized finance (DeFi) organizations, as part of ongoing efforts to steal cryptocurrency.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/05/fbi_north_korean_scammers_prepping/
Trump, Harris offer different futures for Ukraine as they vie for US presidency
date: 2024-09-05, from: VOA News USA
Ukraine faces wildly different prospects under a potential Donald Trump or Kamala Harris U.S. presidency. But as their campaigns race to the finish line, neither candidate has laid out exactly how they plan to deal with Russia’s war on Ukraine. Experts say in that same space of time, the battlefield in Ukraine has itself radically changed, giving more power to Ukraine in determining its own fate. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
PostgreSQL 17 RC1 Released!
date: 2024-09-05, from: PostgreSQL News
The PostgreSQL Global Development Group announces that the first release candidate of PostgreSQL 17 is now available for download. As a release candidate, PostgreSQL 17 RC 1 will be mostly identical to the initial release of PostgreSQL 17, though some more fixes may be applied prior to the general availability of PostgreSQL 17.
The planned date for the general availability of PostgreSQL 17 is September 26, 2024. Please see the “Release Schedule” section for more details.
Upgrading to PostgreSQL 17 RC 1
To upgrade to PostgreSQL 17 RC 1 from earlier versions of PostgreSQL,
you will need to use a major version upgrade strategy,
e.g. pg_upgrade or pg_dump /
pg_restore. For more information, please visit the
documentation section on
upgrading:
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/17/upgrading.html
Changes Since 17 Beta 3
Several bug fixes were applied for PostgreSQL 17 during the Beta 3 period. These include:
- Revert the MERGE/SPLIT partition feature.
- Fix for feature that improves performance around logical decoding of subtransactions.
For a detailed list of fixes, please visit the open items page.
Release Schedule
This is the first release candidate for PostgreSQL 17. Unless an issue is discovered that warrants a delay or to produce an additional release candidate, PostgreSQL 17 should be made generally available on September 26, 2024.
For further information please see the Beta Testing page.
Links
- Download
- Beta Testing Information
- PostgreSQL 17 Beta Release Notes
- PostgreSQL 17 Open Issues
- Feature Matrix
- Submit a Bug
- Follow @postgresql on X/Twitter
- Donate
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-17-rc1-released-2926/
You had one job – and four US regulators will share info to check a merger didn’t unfairly end it
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The mass layoffs that follow tech acquisitions are likely to attract greater scrutiny
Tech companies are forever acquiring each other, but future buys will likely face more scrutiny after four US federal regulators decided to share data that they hope will help antitrust investigators assess whether an acquisition impacts labor markets – not just the market for tech.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/mergers_us_layoffs/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Internet Archive’s e-book lending is not fair use, appeals court rules.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Liz Cheney says she's voting for Kamala Harris.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4862534-liz-cheney-kamala-harris-election/
Android 15 is released to AOSP
date: 2024-09-04, from: OS News
Today we’re releasing Android 15 and making the source code available at the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Android 15 will be available on supported Pixel devices in the coming weeks, as well as on select devices from Samsung, Honor, iQOO, Lenovo, Motorola, Nothing, OnePlus, Oppo, realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo, and Xiaomi in the coming months. We’re proud to continue our work in open source through the AOSP. Open source allows anyone to build upon and contribute to Android, resulting in devices that are more diverse and innovative. You can leverage your app development skills in Android Studio with Jetpack Compose to create applications that thrive across the entire ecosystem. You can even examine the source code for a deeper understanding of how Android works. ↫ Matthew McCullough at the Android Developers blog While it’s great that we’re still getting open source Android releases, the reality of it is that Google has eroded so much away from the Android Open Source Project that AOSP has become effectively useless. Back in the olden days, AOSP was a complete mobile operating system, but those days are long behind us. Google has moved so much from AOSP over to proprietary frameworks, applications, and cloud services that running that it’s no longer a complete package, which is a huge shame. Still, AOSP plays an important role for the custom ROM community and the various companies and communities making privacy-first, de-Googled Android versions, and for that reason alone it’s good that it still exists, even in its gutted state. Android 15’s AOSP release will surely find its way to LineageOS, /e/OS, GrapheneOS, and the countless other alternatives to butchered Android OEM versions and people seeking a more private smartphone experience. As for when Android 15 will hit Pixels – that’s going to be a few weeks from now, later than usual after the source release.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140672/android-15-is-released-to-aosp/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The web's clipboard, and how it stores data of different types.
https://alexharri.com/blog/clipboard
The Geek’s Prayer
date: 2024-09-04, from: Status-Q blog
From Phil Giammattei‘s Mastodon feed… Lord, grant me the acumen to automate the tasks that do not require my personal attention, the strength to avoid automating the tasks that do, and the wisdom to know the difference. (Thanks to Rupert Curwen for reposting.)
https://statusq.org/archives/2024/09/04/12168/
Alleged cybercriminal wanted by US spent 15 years evading arrest
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
Palo Alto takes a big $500M bite out of IBM QRadar
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Big Blue also shifts to Prisma SASE to secure its 250,000 workforce
Palo Alto Networks has completed its purchase of IBM’s QRadar SaaS offering, spending $500 million to buy up the service’s customers and hopefully shift them into its own Cortex platform.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/palo_alto_networks_ibm_qradar/
What’s new in Windows App SDK 1.6
date: 2024-09-04, from: Windows Developer Blog
We are proud to announce that version 1.6 of the Windows App SDK is now available! Whether you’re looking for the incredible performance boost and footprint reduction of Native AOT support, enhancements for deploying your
The post What’s new in Windows App SDK 1.6 appeared first on Windows Developer Blog.
https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2024/09/04/whats-new-in-windows-app-sdk-1-6/
US sailor detained in Venezuela
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
pentagon — Venezuela has detained a U.S. Navy sailor who was visiting the country while on personal travel, U.S. officials have confirmed to VOA.
The reason for the detention is unknown.
A defense official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity because of international sensitivities said the sailor was detained “on or about August 30, 2024, by Venezuelan law enforcement authorities while on personal travel to Venezuela.”
“The U.S. Navy is looking into this and working closely with the State Department,” the defense official added.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. was tracking the detention closely and was seeking additional information.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby added that the U.S. was “obviously in touch” with Venezuelan authorities.
The tension in the U.S.-Venezuela relationship has been further stretched since Venezuela held elections earlier this year.
The Biden administration has questioned the results that kept Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in power, stating last month that “Maduro and his representatives have tampered with the results of that election, falsely claimed victory and carried out widespread repression to maintain power.”
Earlier this week, the U.S. seized Maduro’s plane over alleged sanctions violations.
Guita Mirsaeedi and Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-sailor-detained-in-venezuela/7771677.html
Lilbits: Bluetooth 6.0 is coming, OSOM is shutting down, and Microsoft launches new Surface for Business products
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has launched the Bluetooth 6.0 specification with support for distance awareness, among other things. The company founded by some of the folks behind the Essential Phone when that company folded is now… also folding. Microsoft has announced several new Surface tablets and laptops for business customers. And a company looking to […]
The post Lilbits: Bluetooth 6.0 is coming, OSOM is shutting down, and Microsoft launches new Surface for Business products appeared first on Liliputing.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 might boost productivity if you survive the compliance minefield
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Loads of governance issues to worry about, and the chance it might spout utter garbage
Microsoft has published a Transparency Note for Copilot for Microsoft 365, warning enterprises to ensure user access rights are correctly managed before rolling out the technology.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/copilot_microsoft_365_compliance/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-04, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Better late than never.
I am a:
⚪️ man
⚪️ woman
🔘 TikTok influencer
looking for a:
⚪️ man
⚪️ woman
🔘man in finance, trust
fund, 6'5"
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113081284176366094
An Asteroid Hit Earth’s Atmosphere Today—Here’s Why Astronomers Say That’s a Good Thing
date: 2024-09-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Asteroid 2024 RW1 was discovered early this morning, marking the ninth time in history that humans have detected an approaching space rock before its impact
Programming the Convergent WorkSlate’s spreadsheet microcassette future
date: 2024-09-04, from: OS News
That’s the 1983 Convergent WorkSlate, a one-of-a-kind handheld system from some misty alternate history where VisiCalc ruled the earth. Indeed, even the “software” packages Convergent shipped for it — on microcassette, which could store voice memos and data — were nothing more than cells and formulas in a worksheet. The built-in modem let you exchange data with other Workslates (or even speak over the phone to their users), and it came with a calculator desk accessory and a rudimentary terminal program, but apart from those creature comforts its built-in spreadsheet was the sole centre of your universe. And, unlike IAI and the Canon Cat, I’ve yet to find any backdoor (secret or otherwise) to enable anything else. That means anything you want to program has to be somehow encoded in a spreadsheet too. Unfortunately, when it comes to actually programming the device it turns out the worst thing a spreadsheet on an 8-bit CPU can be is Turing-complete (so it’s not), and it has several obnoxious bugs to boot. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make it do more than balance an expense account. Along the way we’ll examine the hardware, wire into its peripheral bus, figure out how to exchange data with today’s future, create a simple game, draw rudimentary graphics and (with some help) even put it on the Internet with its very own Gopher client — after we tell of the WorkSlate’s brief and sorrowful commercial existence, as this blog always must. ↫ Cameron Kaiser The amount of knowledge, skill, and sheer passion Cameron Kaiser displays in every one of these articles he writes is astonishing, and I’m incredibly grateful websites like OSNews can benefit from the work of people far, far smarter and more skillful than I’ll ever be. The code for the projects detailed in the article is available on GitHub, and more technical information can be found on Kaiser’s website.
Kamala Harris Campaign Experiments With Ads for an Audience With “Brain Rot”
date: 2024-09-04, from: 404 Media Group
The Harris campaign is creating “overstimulation,” “ADHD,” or “content sludge” videos designed to appeal to a very online audience with a short attention span.
https://www.404media.co/kamala-harris-campaign-experiments-with-ads-for-an-audience-with-brain-rot/
Planned Parenthood confirms cyber-attack as RansomHub threatens to leak data
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
93GB of info feared pilfered in Montana by heartless crooks
Planned Parenthood of Montana’s chief exec says the org is responding to a cyber-attack on its systems, and has drafted in federal law enforcement and infosec professionals to help investigate and rebuild its IT environment.…
cl-forth: Common Lisp implementation of the Forth 2012 Standard
date: 2024-09-04, from: Tilde.news
https://github.com/gmpalter/cl-forth
The Internet Archive just lost its appeal over ebook lending
date: 2024-09-04, from: Tilde.news
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/4/24235958/internet-archive-loses-appeal-ebook-lending
Book Review: ‘Command’ by Lawrence Freedman
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: RAND blog
Lawrence Freedman’s Command explores the political aspects of military operations since World War II, focusing on the inherent challenges of command. It highlights three key dichotomies in shaping military command: politicians versus generals, delegation versus control, and obedience versus initiative.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/09/book-review-command-by-lawrence-freedman.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Has anyone tried SearchGPT?
Workers Uncover an Underground Chamber Sealed for More Than a Century Near the National Mall
date: 2024-09-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The dry cistern was discovered by construction crews working on the Smithsonian Castle’s renovation
The Marshall Star for September 4, 2024
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
Rocket Hardware for Future Artemis Flights Moved to Barge for Delivery to Kennedy NASA is making strides with the Artemis campaign as key components for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket continue to make their way to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Teams with NASA and Boeing loaded the core stage boat-tail for Artemis III and the core stage […]
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/marshall/the-marshall-star-for-september-4-2024/
Welcome to The Fight
date: 2024-09-04, from: Heatmap News
Welcome to The Fight, I’m your punk rock climate journalist host Jael Holzman. I’ve dedicated my entire career in journalism to understanding how and why people oppose projects crucial to decarbonization. Now, every week, I’ll be delivering must-read exclusive scoops and analysis on the local battles and national trends shaping the future of climate action as part of Heatmap Plus, a new side of the site launching today that will go even deeper into the projects, politics, and people shaping the energy transition.
As part of Heatmap Plus, you’ll get high-level analysis of our proprietary polling and forecasting data, in-depth case studies exploring why projects succeed or fail, exclusive interviews with leading policymakers, developers, and activist groups, and my weekly newsletter — The Fight — that will offer a comprehensive weekly snapshot of the battles being waged over renewable energy projects across the country, plus a lot of original reporting.
A little bit about me: For years, I reported on the transition by writing about mining – one of the dirtiest businesses central to renewable energy, vehicle electrification, and industrial decarbonization. As I covered those topics, it was evident that climate activists, policymakers, and investors alike were all quietly torn up by the reality that building things meant some pretty shocking knock-on effects for the environment and society. I also found the threat of those consequences became a useful tool for shaping public opinion against the energy transition, a practice best described as “trade-off denial.”
Earlier this year, I joined Heatmap after being approached with an opportunity: how would I like to investigate conflicts over individual renewables and battery projects in places where a hollowed-out local media left no reporters available to ask the tough questions? On top of that, I’d get to take a wide-angle lens, sussing out what national policy trends, forces, and industries were driving opposition and the hurdles to projects getting built. I could give Heatmap readers all the information they’d need, project by project, accompanied by exclusive data and regular Q&A sessions with readers.
So after months of investigating various projects and their opponents, I’m excited to debut the first edition of The Fight. I’ve got to tell you, these stories might bother you. In our inaugural send, for example, you’ll hear about how a fight against a California battery storage project might impact permitting nationwide, the ways a few activists can manipulate emotional fears to create real roadblocks to construction, and the wide gulf between what regulators and developers want versus the individuals most likely to sue to stop a project.
This won’t always be fun — in fact, sometimes it might be a bummer. But over the span of this newsletter, by talking to all sides involved and providing an airing of grievances, it’s my hope we’ll use well-intentioned journalism to inform you on how the things we need to ditch fossil fuels can be built faster and get community buy-in.
This newsletter will go out exclusively to subscribers of Heatmap Plus. If you want to get it, you can join Plus here — for a limited time, you can take $50 off by using the code FIGHTLAUNCH at checkout.
But enough small talk. Let’s get started.
https://heatmap.news/politics/the-fight-newsletter-renewable-energy-opposition
📺 TV in movies
date: 2024-09-04, from: Interesting, a blog on writing
“In news you can use tonight, some exposition for our theatrical audience.”
https://inneresting.substack.com/p/tv-in-movies
Git Tower 12
date: 2024-09-04, from: Michael Tsai
Bruno Brito: With Tower Workflows, we aim to provide you with the ability to create and customize your own branching workflows. You can use popular branching workflows as a starting point, tweak them, come up with your own unique solution from scratch, or embrace other popular workflows like the Stacked Pull Requests workflow.For this to […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/04/git-tower-12/
Snow Leopard at 15
date: 2024-09-04, from: Michael Tsai
Joe Rossignol: Today marks the 15th anniversary of Apple releasing Mac OS X Snow Leopard, which became available to purchase for $29 on August 28, 2009.After advertising Mac OS X Leopard as having “over 300 new features” in 2007, Apple previewed Snow Leopard at WWDC 2008. Notably, during that year’s “State of the Union” session, […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/04/snow-leopard-at-15/
Snapchat for iPad
date: 2024-09-04, from: Michael Tsai
Hartley Charlton: After 13 years, Snapchat has finally rolled out an update that brings native app support to the iPad. […] Until now, iPad users who wanted to use Snapchat had to run the iPhone version of the app, which was not optimized for the larger display, leaving it to run at a lower resolution […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/04/snapchat-for-ipad/
Apple’s Magic Sound File Renaming
date: 2024-09-04, from: Michael Tsai
Shamino: For those who are unaware, in macOS 11 (aka “Big Sur”), Apple changed all of the standard system sounds [names]. […] The interesting thing is that if you go to look for the actual sound files (in /System/Library/Sounds), you’ll find that the filenames are the same as the old names. […] There is a […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/04/apples-magic-sound-file-renaming/
Blinken heads to Haiti, Dominican Republic this week
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
state department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Thursday, marking his first visits to both Caribbean nations as the top U.S. diplomat.
Blinken’s visit to Port-au-Prince underscores U.S. support for Haiti, with additional humanitarian assistance anticipated as the country grapples with gang violence. His trip to Santo Domingo follows the start of Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader’s second term in mid-August.
A senior State Department official told reporters on Wednesday that the United States is prioritizing efforts with its international partners to set up a structure that ensures “a reliable source of financing and staffing” for a security mission in Haiti.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is reportedly considering the possibility of transitioning a largely U.S.-funded multinational security force into a traditional United Nations peacekeeping operation.
“A formal PKO (peacekeeping operation) is one of the ways that we could accomplish that, but we’re looking at multiple ways to do that,” said Brian Nichols, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.
With about a month left in the mandate of the U.N.-ratified, Kenya-led Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti, progress has been limited, and many pledges remain unfulfilled.
“The one-year anniversary of the mission is October 2, and we’re going to work to ensure that it’s poised for success and renewal of its mandate in whatever form that takes,” Nichols told VOA on Wednesday.
Multinational security support
Gang-related violence and drug trafficking have fueled political instability and insecurity in Haiti, leading to an unbearable living situation for the Haitian people.
In October 2022, Haiti requested the deployment of an international force to assist the Haitian National Police in combating heavily armed gangs and facilitating humanitarian aid. In October 2023, the United Nations Security Council authorized the MSS.
The United States and Canada are the top funders of the MSS in Haiti. The estimated first-year cost for the mission is $589 million. The U.S. has already provided $309 million — $200 million toward the MSS mission base and $109 million in financial support.
During a visit to Haiti in July, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced an additional $60 million in humanitarian assistance for the Haitian people, along with providing armored vehicles for the national police.
While in Haiti, Blinken will review the progress made toward improving security and encourage efforts to appoint the provisional electoral council so Haiti can move toward elections, according to the State Department.
Blinken will hold talks with Edgard Leblanc Fils, president of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, and Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille. Blinken also will meet with MSS head Godfrey Otunge and Normil Rameau, head of the Haitian National Police.
At least 80% of Port-au-Prince is no longer under the control of the Haitian authorities, with violence spreading to other parts of the country.
In the past year, displacement in Haiti has tripled as gang violence grips the Caribbean nation. The United Nations reports that at least 578,000 people have been displaced due to violence, including murders, kidnappings and rapes.
The situation is further exacerbated by widespread hunger, with nearly half of the 11.7 million population facing acute food insecurity.
Gangs, some aligned with political elites, accumulated their control over territory and illicit markets during the tenure of the deeply unpopular former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who took office after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Henry resigned in April 2024 following the formation of a Transitional Presidential Council.
The Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic will host the 2025 Summit of the Americas, where Western Hemisphere leaders will address shared challenges and policy issues facing the region.
“In the Dominican Republic, we will reinforce our shared priorities such as promoting democratic governance, supporting free and fair elections in the region, and fighting corruption,” Nichols told reporters.
On August 16, President Luis Abinader was inaugurated for a second four-year term. He has vowed to boost security by training more police over the next four years. His administration has barred migrants from neighboring Haiti.
“We certainly hope to see more normal relations between the Dominican Republic and Haiti,” Nichols said. “The countries are inexorably linked, and we certainly will have those conversations with leaders on both sides of the border.”
The U.S. and the Dominican Republic signed a historic Open Skies agreement on August 2. Once in effect, the agreement will expand opportunities for airlines, travel companies and people-to-people exchanges. More than 4 million U.S. citizens visit the Dominican Republic each year.
The Dominican Republic is a crucial partner for the U.S. in hemispheric affairs, due to its position as the second-largest economy in the Caribbean, after Cuba, and the third-largest country by population, behind Cuba and Haiti. The U.S. is its primary trading partner.
Additionally, the Dominican Republic is home to Pueblo Viejo, one of the world’s largest gold mines, and serves as a major global supplier of ferronickel.
The United States said it will continue robust collaboration with the Dominican Republic to advance inclusive economic growth, bolster democratic institutions, uphold human rights, and enhance governance and security.
The Dominican Republic and the United States, along with five Central American countries, are parties to the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA-DR. This agreement enhances economic opportunities by eliminating tariffs, opening markets, reducing barriers to services and promoting transparency.
The U.S. Agency for International Development is investing more than $9.5 million to strengthen the Dominican Republic’s existing justice system and to reduce crime and violence.
https://www.voanews.com/a/blinken-heads-to-haiti-dominican-republic-this-week/7771462.html
1st International Workshop on Low Carbon Computing
date: 2024-09-04, from: Tilde.news
https://www.sicsa.ac.uk/loco/loco2024/
Scientists Solve a ‘Murder Mystery’ After a Pregnant, Tagged Shark Got Eaten
date: 2024-09-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
It’s rare for apex predators to become prey, but researchers suggest they’ve documented the first known case of a porbeagle shark getting consumed by another animal
Atomic clocks are so last epoch, it’s time someone nailed down the nuclear clock
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
‘Giant step’ in research could unlock a bunch of crazy science stuff
An international team of researchers has, for the first time, coupled an atomic nucleus to an atomic clock to compare differences in their timekeeping frequencies.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/giant_step_in_nuclear_clock/
NASA Earth Scientists Take Flight, Set Sail to Verify PACE Satellite Data
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
From sea to sky to orbit, a range of vantage points allow NASA Earth scientists to collect different types of data to better understand our changing planet. Collecting them together, at the same place and the same time, is an important step used to verify the accuracy of satellite data. NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean […]
https://www.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-earth-scientists-take-flight-set-sail-to-verify-pace-satellite-data/
US sending Pentagon rep to China’s top security forum this month
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
Pentagon — The United States is planning to send Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, to China’s top annual security forum this month, two U.S. defense officials have confirmed to VOA.
One of the officials, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity ahead of the forum, called Chase’s upcoming attendance “consistent participation from the U.S.”
Chase is more senior than the U.S. representative at last year’s Xiangshan Forum, but his rank is on par with historical norms for Pentagon representatives who attend the annual meeting. The Pentagon did not send a representative from 2020-2022 due to the pandemic.
“This engagement is meant to be more of the same” to keep the lines of military communication open and ensure that China has a clear understanding of the United States’ position on global security issues, the defense official told VOA.
The forum comes on the heels of a face-to-face meeting in Singapore between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, in late May.
Austin spoke with Dong for the first time in April, marking the first dialogue between the two countries’ defense chiefs in nearly 17 months. The top U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown, spoke with his Chinese military counterpart in December.
“Of course talks can make a difference. Having those mil-to-mil communications, those senior channels open, actually allows for the avoidance of a miscalculation,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters earlier this year.
Chinese state media reports say that more than 90 countries and international organizations plan to send delegations to Beijing for the September 12-14 forum.
Reuters was first to report the decision.
Beijing has asserted its desire to control access to the South China Sea and bring democratically ruled Taiwan under its control, by force if necessary. President Joe Biden has said U.S. troops would defend the island from attack.
China’s defense ministry has said the Taiwan issue is the “core of China’s core interests.”
Tensions have risen sharply between China and U.S. ally the Philippines in the South China Sea, with China’s coast guard using water cannons to threaten Filipino fishing ships. China has also used collision and ramming tactics, undersea barriers and a military-grade laser to stop Philippine resupply and patrol missions.
Last year, Austin and his Philippine counterpart established the U.S.-Philippines Bilateral Defense Guidelines, which reaffirmed that an armed attack in the Pacific – including anywhere in the South China Sea – on either of their public vessels, aircraft, or armed forces, would invoke mutual defense commitments outlined in the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.
Qualcomm guns for Intel, AMD with cheaper 8-core X chips
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It’s set to slice up the AI PC competition at $700-$900
Not to be outshined by Intel’s Lunar Lake launch, Qualcomm on Wednesday rolled out a pair of slimmed-down X chips aimed at cheaper Copilot+ PCs.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/qualcomm_8core_xplus/
NASA Astronaut Don Pettit’s Science of Opportunity on Space Station
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
Science ideas are everywhere. Some of the greatest discoveries have come from tinkering and toying with new concepts and ideas. NASA astronaut Don Pettit is no stranger to inventing and discovering. During his previous missions, Pettit has contributed to advancements for human space exploration aboard the International Space Station resulting in several published scientific papers […]
TowWhee
date: 2024-09-04, from: Chris Coyier blog
I love the product name. Ruby has just learned two-wheel bike riding and is loving it. But we live in a very hilly area. This little tow strap thing is very easy to pop on and off so I can tug her up hills when she needs it, then remove when she doesn’t (it’s kind […]
https://chriscoyier.net/2024/09/04/towwhee/
A Viking-Era Vessel Found in Scotland a Decade Ago Turns Out to Be From Asia
date: 2024-09-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Experts used X-ray technology to link the artifact—part of the famous Galloway Hoard—to an Iranian silver mine
Empty capsule to return to Earth soon; 2 astronauts will stay behind
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Boeing will attempt to return its problem-plagued capsule from the International Space Station later this week — with empty seats.
NASA said Wednesday that everything is on track for the Starliner capsule to undock from the space station Friday evening. The fully automated capsule will aim for a touchdown in New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range six hours later.
NASA’s two stuck astronauts, who flew up on Starliner, will remain behind at the orbiting lab. They’ll ride home with SpaceX in February, eight months after launching on what should have been a weeklong test flight. Thruster trouble and helium leaks kept delaying their return until NASA decided that it was too risky for them to accompany Starliner back as originally planned.
“It’s been a journey to get here, and we’re excited to have Starliner return,” said NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich.
NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will close the hatches between Starliner and the space station on Thursday. They are now considered full-time station crew members along with the seven others on board, helping with experiments and maintenance, and ramping up their exercise to keep their bones and muscles strong during their prolonged exposure to weightlessness.
To make room for them on SpaceX’s next taxi flight, the Dragon capsule will launch with two astronauts instead of the usual four. Two were cut late last week from the six-month expedition, which is due to blast off in late September. Boeing must vacate the parking place for SpaceX’s arrival.
Boeing encountered serious flaws with Starliner long before its June 5 liftoff on the long-delayed astronaut demo.
Starliner’s first test flight went so poorly in 2019 — the capsule never reached the space station because of software errors — that the mission was repeated three years later. More problems surfaced, resulting in even more delays and more than $1 billion in repairs.
The capsule had suffered multiple thruster failures and propulsion-system helium leaks by the time it pulled up at the space station after launch. Boeing conducted extensive thruster tests in space and on the ground, and contended the capsule could safely bring the astronauts back. But NASA disagreed, setting the complex ride swap in motion.
Starliner will make a faster, simpler getaway than planned, using springs to push away from the space station and then short thruster firings to gradually increase the distance. The original plan called for an hour of dallying near the station, mostly for picture-taking; that was cut to 20 or so minutes to reduce the stress on the capsule’s thrusters and keep the station safe.
Additional test firings of Starliner’s 28 thrusters are planned before the all-important descent from orbit. Engineers want to learn as much as they can since the thrusters won’t return to Earth; the section containing them will be ditched before the capsule reenters.
The stuck astronauts — retired Navy captains — have lived on the space station before and settled in just fine, according to NASA officials. Even though their mission focus has changed, “they’re just as dedicated for the success of human spaceflight going forward,” flight director Anthony Vareha said.
Their blue Boeing spacesuits will return with the capsule, along with some old station equipment.
NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX a decade ago to ferry its astronauts to and from the space station after its shuttles retired. SpaceX accomplished the feat in 2020 and has since launched nine crews for NASA and four for private customers.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
What Trump 2.0 Would Mean for Texas.
https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-second-term-texas/
Taking A Mile
date: 2024-09-04, from: Tedium site
The risk of the open internet is that someone will exploit your well-intentioned openness thoughtlessly. That’s how the internet slowly stops being open.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16793000/open-internet-content-scraping-risks
HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is a $1499 convertible laptop with a 3K OLED display and Intel Lunar Lake
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
After launching an HP OmniBook X 14 laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor in May and AMD Ryzen AI 300 model called the OmniBook Ultra in July, HP is rounding out its trifecta of premium 14 inch laptops with an Intel Lunar Lake model called the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 2-in-1. As the […]
The post HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is a $1499 convertible laptop with a 3K OLED display and Intel Lunar Lake appeared first on Liliputing.
Firefox 130 lands with a yawn, but 131 beta teases a long-awaited feature
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: Liam Proven’s articles at the Register
The upcoming version might bring tab previews, cookie banner block, and vertical tabs
<p>Firefox 130 is landing on users' machines, while version 131 enters beta — with a feature we've all been waiting for.</p> https://go.theregister.com/i/cfa/https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/firefox_130_release/
Firefox 130 lands with a yawn, but 131 beta teases a long-awaited feature
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The upcoming version might bring tab previews, cookie banner block, and vertical tabs
Firefox 130 is landing on users’ machines, while version 131 enters beta — with a feature we’ve all been waiting for.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/firefox_130_release/
Gateway’s Propulsion System Testing Throttles Up
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
The powerhouse of Gateway, NASA’s orbiting outpost around the Moon and a critical piece of infrastructure for Artemis, is in the midst of several electric propulsion system tests. The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), being manufactured by Maxar Technologies, provides Gateway with power, high-rate communications, and propulsion for maneuvers around the Moon and to transit […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/gateways-propulsion-system-testing-throttles-up/
‘Error’ causes Alexa to endorse Kamala Harris, refuse to discuss Trump
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Bot shouldn’t have political opinions, says Amazon
It would be perfectly reasonable to expect Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa to decline to state opinions about the 2024 presidential race, but up until recently, that assumption would have been incorrect.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/error_amazon_alexa_k/
4 shot, killed at high school in US state of Georgia; student in custody
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
WINDER, Georgia — A 14-year-old student opened fire at a high school in the U.S. state of Georgia, killing four people on Wednesday, authorities said. The shooting sent students scrambling for shelter in their classrooms — and eventually to the football stadium — as officers swarmed the campus and parents raced to find out if their children were safe.
The dead were identified as two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta. At least nine other people with injuries were taken to hospitals.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said two school resource officers encountered the shooter within minutes after a report of shots fired. The suspect, a student at the school, immediately surrendered and was taken into custody. He is being charged as an adult with murder.
Authorities were still looking into how the suspect obtained the gun used in the shooting and how he got it into the school.
The investigation was still “very active,” Hosey said, with lots of interviews and crime scene work yet to be done.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith choked up as he began to speak during the news conference. He said he was born and raised in the community and his kids are in the school system.
“My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community,” he said. “But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. I want that to be very clear and known. Love will prevail over what happened today.”
Schools closed rest of week
Superintendent Dallas LeDuff said county schools will be closed for the rest of the week as they cooperate with the investigation, but grief counseling will be available.
The school shooting was just the latest among dozens across the United States in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to active shooter drills in classrooms. But they have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.
Jacob King, a sophomore football player, said he had dozed off in his world history class after a morning practice when he heard about 10 gunshots.
King said he didn’t believe the shooting was real until he heard an officer yelling at someone to put down their gun. King said when his class was led out, he saw officers shielding what appeared to be an injured student.
Before Wednesday’s shooting, there had been 29 mass killings in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.
Last year ended with 217 deaths from 42 mass killings in the U.S., making 2023 one of the deadliest years on record for such shootings in the country.
Ashley Enoh was at home Wednesday morning when she got a text from her brother, who’s a senior at Apalachee High.
“Just so you know, I love you,” he texted her.
Students, teachers create barricades
Sophomore Kaylee Abner was in geometry class when she heard gunshots. She and her classmates ducked behind their teacher’s desk, and then the teacher began flipping the desk in an attempt to barricade the classroom door, Abner said. A classmate beside her was praying, and she held his hand while the students waited for the police.
Layla Ferrell, a junior, was in a health class when the words “hard lockdown” appeared on a screen in the classroom and lights began flashing. Ferrell said she and her frightened classmates piled desks and chairs in front of the door to create a barricade.
Helicopter video from WSB-TV showed dozens of law enforcement and emergency vehicles surrounding the school in Barrow County, about 80 kilometers northeast of Atlanta.
When Erin Clark, 42, received a text from her son Ethan, a senior at the high school, that there was an active shooter, she rushed from her job at the Amazon warehouse to the school. The two texted “I love you,” and Clark said she prayed for her son as she drove to the high school.
With the main road to the school blocked, Clark parked and ran with other parents, who were then directed to the football field. Amid the chaos, Clark found Ethan sitting on the bleachers.
Clark said her son was writing an essay in class when he first heard the gunshots. Her son then worked with his classmates to barricade the door and hide.
“I’m so proud of him for doing that,” she said. “He was so brave.”
Students had only started the school year a little over a month ago.
“It makes me scared to send him back,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Traffic going to the school was backed up for more than 1 kilometer as parents tried to get to their children.
“It’s just outrageous that every day, in our country, in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive,” Vice President Kamala Harris said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.
In a message posted to social media, former President Donald Trump said, “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said in a statement, “This is a day every parent dreads, and Georgians everywhere will hug their children tighter this evening because of this painful event.”
The FBI’s Atlanta office said its agents were at the school “coordinating with and supporting local law enforcement.”
Apalachee High School has about 1,900 students, according to records from Georgia education officials. It became Barrow County’s second-largest public high school when it opened in 2000, according to the Barrow County School System. It’s named after the Apalachee River on the southern edge of Barrow County.
The shooting had reverberations in Atlanta, where patrols of schools in that city were beefed up, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said.
In Winder, Abner said that when she goes home Wednesday night, she hopes to avoid thinking about those terrifying moments in her geometry class.
“I’ll probably not think about it, even though it happened,” she said. “Just think happy thoughts, don’t think about it anymore.”
Sophomore Shantal Sanvee, who was in a classroom near the gunshots, said “she saw ’a whole lot of blood. And it was just, it was just horrible.”
“I don’t think I want to be here for like a long time now,” she added.
As an officer led the students toward the football stadium, freshman Michelle Moncada was in tears. People who she knew had been shot.
“I was just really, really nervous,” Moncada said.
The stadium was filled with tear-stricken students wondering whether their friends were OK. She saw one of her friends on the floor. A bullet had grazed him.
“It doesn’t feel real,”she said.
https://www.voanews.com/a/police-respond-to-shooter-at-us-high-school-/7771305.html
Asus launches Vivobook S 14 and Vivobook Flip 14 Lunar Lake laptops
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
Asus is expanding its Vivobook line of laptops with two semi-premium models featuring 14 inch OLED displays and Intel Lunar Lake processors. The new Asus Vivobook S 14 (Q423 / S5406SA) is a 2.8 pound notebook that goes up for pre-order at Best Buy tomorrow for $1000 and up, while new Asus Vivobook 14 Flip […]
The post Asus launches Vivobook S 14 and Vivobook Flip 14 Lunar Lake laptops appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/intel-launches-vivobook-s-14-and-vivobook-flip-14-lunar-lake-laptops/
NASA TechRise Student Challenge
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
Are you ready for this year’s NASA TechRise Student challenge? From researching Earth’s environment to designing experiments for space exploration, schools are invited to join NASA in its mission to inspire the world through discovery. If you are in sixth to 12th grade at a U.S. public, private, or charter school – including those in […]
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The Big Five publishing houses, John Green sue Florida over book bans.
US judge says X must face class action age bias claims over mass layoff
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
Asus NUC 14 Pro AI is a Lunar Lake mini PC with up to Core Ultra 9 288V
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
Intel may no longer be making NUC-branded mini PCs, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t find NUC systems featuring the latest Intel processors. The same day that Intel officially launched its Core Ultra (Series 2) line of processors (code-named “Lunar Lake”), Asus has introduced the first mini PC powered by one of those chips. […]
The post Asus NUC 14 Pro AI is a Lunar Lake mini PC with up to Core Ultra 9 288V appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/asus-nuc-14-pro-ai-is-a-lunar-lake-mini-pc-with-up-to-core-ultra-9-288v/
Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED with Intel Lunar Lake coming soon for $1300
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
The new Asus Zenbook S 14 is a thin and light laptop with an Intel Lunar Lake processor, a high-resolution OLED display, and a premium design that, among other things, includes a lid with the new “Ceraluminum” material that Asus introduced earlier this year. Asus says the new Zenbook S 14 will be available soon with prices […]
The post Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED with Intel Lunar Lake coming soon for $1300 appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/asus-zenbook-s-14-oled-with-intel-lunar-lake-coming-soon-for-1300/
6 Ways Students Can Engage With NASA Glenn
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
School is back in session, and the joy of learning is back on students’ minds. Teachers and parents seeking ways to extend students’ academic excitement outside of the classroom should know NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland offers various opportunities to engage with NASA. NASA educators encourage Ohio students and teachers to take part in […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/back-to-school-6-ways-students-can-engage-with-nasa-glenn/
atNorth plans mega datacenter that will help grow veggies and heat homes
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It’ll also do computery stuff
Nordic datacenter operator atNorth says its next facility - the biggest to date - is to feature a heat reuse scheme for large-scale greenhouses and local housing.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/atnorth_datacenter_heat_reuse/
Leveraging Teacher Leaders to Share the Joy of NASA Heliophysics
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
Many teachers are exceptionally skilled at bridging students’ interests with real-world science. Now for the third year, the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) has brought together such a group of highly-motivated secondary and higher education teachers as part of their NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) Space Physics Ambassador program. In June of 2024, […]
Maui wildfire report shows communities how to avoid similar disasters
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
GM battery joint venture agrees to recognize UAW at Tennessee plant
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
Painting the Plane as We Fly It: Designing JSR
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: Deno blog
JSR, created for the JavaScript community, needed a logo and a website to look distinct, friendly, and inclusive. Here’s how we approached this design problem.
https://deno.com/blog/designing-jsr
Bernie Sanders: Kamala Harris Can Beat Trump on the Economy
date: 2024-09-04, from: Capital and Main
The longtime senator tells Capital & Main that backing Medicare expansion, higher taxes on the wealthy and a hike in the minimum wage is a winning agenda.
The post Bernie Sanders: Kamala Harris Can Beat Trump on the Economy appeared first on .
https://capitalandmain.com/bernie-sanders-kamala-harris-can-beat-trump-on-the-economy
Microsoft’s Inflection acquihire is too small to matter, say UK regulators
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Deal can’t lessen competition if AI minnow wasn’t much of a competitor
Microsoft’s “acquihire” of Inflection AI was today cleared by UK authorities on the grounds that the startup isn’t big enough for its absorption by Microsoft to affect competition in the enterprise AI space.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/microsoft_inflection_acquihire_cma/
Why Not Just Build a Bunch of Batteries?
date: 2024-09-04, from: Distilled Earth blog
Can the electricity grid just run on solar and batteries? Probably not.
https://www.distilled.earth/p/why-not-just-build-a-bunch-of-batteries
That’s Sorry, Alright
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/09/04/thats-sorry-alright/
This IRA Program Spawned 50,000 Solar Projects In Low-Income Communities. Who Benefited?
date: 2024-09-04, from: Heatmap News
By the numbers, a new federal program designed to give low-income communities access to renewable energy looks like a smashing success. According to data provided exclusively to Heatmap, in its first year, the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program steered nearly 50,000 solar projects to low-income communities and tribal lands, which are together expected to produce more than $270 million in annual energy savings.
But those topline numbers don’t say anything about who will actually see the savings, or how much the projects will benefit households that have historically been left behind. In reality, the majority of the projects — about 98% — were allocated funding simply for being located in low-income communities, with no hard requirement to deliver energy or financial savings to low-income residents.
A closer look at the data reveals a more complicated success story. While the program did make some clear strides in bridging the solar inequality gap, other factors — including the language in the law that created it — are also holding it back.
The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program came out of the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022. Though the goal is to increase solar access for low-income households, it’s not actually a tax credit for low income households. It’s for small wind and solar developers — and beginning in 2025, developers of other types of clean energy — whose projects meet certain criteria.
The law caps the total amount of energy the program can support at 1.8 gigawatts per year, and developers have to apply and get their project approved in order to claim funds. To be eligible, a project must produce less than 5 megawatts of power and fall under one of four categories: It must be located in a low-income community, be built on Indian land, be part of an affordable housing development, or distribute at least half its power (and guaranteed bill savings) to low-income households. The first two categories qualify for a 10% credit; the second two, which stipulate that at least some financial benefits go to low-income residents, qualify for 20%. In both cases, the credit can be stacked on top of the baseline 30% tax credit for clean energy projects that meet labor standards, meaning it could slash the cost of building a small solar or wind farm in half.
Each of these provisions has the potential to address at least some of the barriers disadvantaged communities face in accessing clean energy. Low-income homeowners may not have the money for a down payment for rooftop solar or the credit to find financing, for instance. But by giving developers a tax credit for projects located in low-income communities, solar leasing programs, in which homeowners lease panels from a third party in exchange for energy bill savings, now have an incentive to expand into these neighborhoods, and potentially offer lower lease rates. The program helped fund nearly 48,000 residential solar projects in the first year.
Tribal lands, meanwhile, account for more than 5% of solar generation potential in the U.S., but are still a largely untapped resource, for reasons including lack of representation in utility regulatory processes, complex land ownership structures, and limited tribal staff capacity. The program gives outside developers additional incentive to work through the challenges, and it also earmarks funds for tribe-owned development. Crucially, the IRA also opened the door for tribes, as well as other tax-exempt entities, to utilize clean energy incentives and receive a direct payment equal to the tax credits. The program supported 96 solar projects on tribal lands in the first year.
The third category attempts to overcome the famous “split incentive” problem for low-income renters whose landlords have little reason to spend money on a solar project that primarily benefits tenants. The program helped finance 805 solar projects on low-income residential buildings, where the developers are required to distribute at least 50% of the energy savings equitably among tenants.
Lastly, while renters in some states can subscribe to community solar projects, which offer utility bill credits in exchange for a small subscription fee, the subscriptions can be scooped up by wealthier customers if there’s no low-income requirement. The program sponsored 319 community solar projects where at least half the capacity had to go to low-income residents and offer at least 20% off their bills.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo declared the program a success. “These investments are already lowering costs, protecting families from energy price spikes, and creating new opportunities in our clean energy future,” he said.
Despite overwhelming demand during the four-month application period, however, the program ended up with capacity to spare. Although applications totaled more than 7 gigawatts, ultimately, the Department approved just over 49,000 projects equal to about 1.4 gigawatts, or roughly enough to power 200,000 average households. All of it was solar.
The gap between applications and awarded projects has to do with the program’s design. The Treasury divided the 1.8 gigawatt cap between the four categories, setting maximum amounts that could be awarded for each one. Within the four categories, the awards were further divided, with half set aside for applicants that met additional ownership or geographic criteria, such as tribal-owned companies, tax-exempt entities, or projects sited in areas with especially high energy costs relative to incomes.
For example, 200 megawatts were earmarked for Indian lands, with half reserved for applicants meeting those additional criteria, but only 40 megawatts were awarded. The fourth category, meanwhile, which was designed to encourage community solar development, was oversubscribed.
Since tax data is confidential, the Treasury Department could not share much detail about these projects, including where, exactly, they were, who developed them, or who will benefit from them. A map overview shows a concentration of awards across the sunbelt, with Illinois, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, and Puerto Rico also seeing a lot of uptake.
IRS,
RAAS, Statistics of Income, August 2024
I reached out to more than a dozen nonprofits, tribal organizations, and other groups who advocate for or develop clean energy projects benefiting low-income communities to find examples of what the program was actually funding. The first person I was connected with was Richard Best, the director of capital projects and planning for Seattle Public Schools, who got a 10% tax credit for solar arrays on two new schools under construction in low-income neighborhoods. While the school system already planned to put solar on these schools, Best said the tax credits helped offset increased construction costs due to supply chain interruptions, preventing them from having to make compromises on design elements like classroom size.
“It’s not insignificant,” he told me. “The solar array at Rainier Beach High School is in excess of a million dollars — just the rooftop solar array. That’s $400,000 [in tax credits]. So these are significant dollars that we’re receiving, and we’re very appreciative.”
Jody Lincoln, an affordable housing development officer for the nonprofit ACTION-Housing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, got a 10% tax credit to add solar to a former YMCA that the group recently converted to a 74-unit apartment building. The single room occupancy rental units serve men who are coming out of homelessness or incarceration. Lincoln told me the building operates “in the gray,” and that any cost saving measures they can make, including the energy savings from the solar array, enable it to continue to operate as affordable housing. When I asked if they could have built the solar project without access to the IRA’s tax credits, she didn’t hesitate: “No.”
These two examples show the program has potential to deliver benefits to low-income communities, even in cases where the energy savings aren’t going directly to low-income residents.
I also spoke with Alexandra Wyatt, the managing policy director and counsel at the nonprofit solar company Grid Alternatives. She told me Grid partnered with for-profit solar developers, such as the national solar company SunRun, who were approved for the tax credit bonus for rooftop solar lease projects on low-income single-family homes. In these cases, Grid helped pull together other sources of funding like state incentives for projects in disadvantaged communities to pre-pay the leases so that the homeowners could more fully benefit from the energy bill savings.
It’s unlikely that all of the nearly 48,000 residential rooftop solar projects in low-income communities that were approved for the credit in the first year had such virtuous outcomes. It’s also possible that projects installed on wealthier homeowners’ roofs in gentrifying neighborhoods were subsidized. In an email to me, a Treasury spokesperson said the Department recognizes that “simply being in a low-income community does not mean low-income households are being served,” and that it was required by statute to include this category. It was still the agency’s decision, however, to allocate such a large portion of the awards, 700 megawatts, to this category — a decision that some public comments on the program disagreed with.
Wyatt applauded the Treasury and the Department of Energy, which oversees the application process, for doing “an admirable job on a tight timeframe with a challenging program design handed to them by Congress.” She’s especially frustrated by the 1.8 gigawatt cap, which none of the other renewable energy tax credits have, and which changes it into a competitive grant that’s more burdensome both for developers and for the agencies. It adds an element of uncertainty to project finance, she said, since developers have to wait to see if their application for the credit was approved.
Wendolyn Holland, the senior advisor for policy, tax and government relations at the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy told me there was tons of interest among indigenous communities and tribal clean energy developers in taking advantage of the IRA programs, but it wasn’t really happening. Holland cited challenges for tribes reaching the stage of “commercial readiness” required to apply for federal funding. Tribal developers have also said they are limited by the lack of transmission on tribal lands. When I asked the Treasury about the paltry number of projects on Indian Lands, a spokesperson said it was not for lack of trying. The Department and other federal agencies have conducted webinars and other forms of outreach, they said, through which they’ve heard that many tribes are struggling to access capital for energy projects, and that development on Indian lands has “unique challenges due to the history of allotment of Indian lands and status of some land as federal trust land.”
Holland is optimistic that things will change — in December, Biden issued an executive order committing to making it easier for tribes to access federal funding. The Alliance also recently petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to address barriers for tribal energy development in its new rules that are supposed to get more transmission built.
The unallocated capacity from 2023 was carried over to the next year’s round of funding, so it wasn’t lost. But a dashboard tracking the second year of the program looks like it’s following a similar pattern. While the community solar-oriented category, which was increased to allow for 900 megawatts, is nearly filled up, the tribal Lands category, which kept its 200 megawatt cap, has received applications to develop less than a sixth of that.
Wyatt said that so far, she does think the bonus credit has been successful in spurring good projects that might not otherwise have happened. Still, it will probably take a few years before it will be possible to assess how well it’s working. The good news is, as long as it doesn’t get repealed, the program could run for up to eight more years, leaving plenty of time to improve things. It’s already set to change in one key way. Beginning in 2025, it becomes tech-neutral, meaning that developers of small hydroelectric, geothermal heating or power, or nuclear projects, will be able to apply. (When asked why no wind projects were approved to date, a spokesperson for the Treasury said taxpayer privacy rules meant it couldn’t comment on applications, but they added that wind projects tend to be larger than 5 megawatts and take longer to develop.)
One thing is for sure, despite the heavy administrative burden of screening tens of thousands of applications, the agencies involved are clearly committed to implementing the program.
“I’m definitely pleased that they managed to get the program up and running as quickly as they did,” Wyatt told me. “I mean, it’s kind of lightning speed for the IRS.”
https://heatmap.news/economy/low-income-ira-solar
Fairphone launches a cheaper version of the Fairphone 5 with less memory and storage
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
Dutch company Fairphone has made a small name for itself by offering a line of smartphones that are made from ethically sourced materials, feature a modular and repairable design, and receive software updates for longer than most phones from bigger phone companies. But the company’s phones aren’t exactly cheap: the Fairphone 5 has sold for […]
The post Fairphone launches a cheaper version of the Fairphone 5 with less memory and storage appeared first on Liliputing.
A frank conversation about the subminimum wage
date: 2024-09-04, from: Marketplace Morning Report
A new Washington Post investigation examines a program in which workers with disabilities are employed for much less than minimum wage — sometimes less than a dollar an hour. It’s legally sanctioned and aimed at training people with disabilities to work and eventually go on to higher-paying jobs. But it doesn’t always work out that way. Plus, entrepreneurs are getting their turn in the political spotlight, and markets respond to a weak manufacturing report.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus is made for cheap(er) laptops in the $700 to $900 price range
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
Windows laptops with Qualcomm’s ARM-based processors have been shipping for years, but for most of that time they were powered by souped-up versions of Qualcomm’s smartphone processors. This year the chip maker shook things up with its new Snapdragon X line of processors that offer CPUs that are powerful enough to compete with the latest […]
The post Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus is made for cheap(er) laptops in the $700 to $900 price range appeared first on Liliputing.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
This is the kind of debate-bomb Trump is getting ready for the debate.
https://www.threads.net/@kamalahq/post/C_f5DCuqbGL
A Battery Backlash Goes to Washington
date: 2024-09-04, from: Heatmap News
One hour north of Los Angeles, the small town of Acton is experiencing a battery energy storage buildout — and quickly becoming the must-watch frontline in the backlash against lithium-ion energy storage systems. The flashpoint: wildfires.
Like many parts of California, Acton has hot summers with heavy winds, putting it at elevated risk of the kind blaze that makes national headlines. Battery storage fires, while rare, are a unique threat, with relatively little data available about them to help regulators or the public understand the risk. People in Acton wondered: Would they really be safe if a wildfire engulfed a battery storage site, or if a battery failure sparked a new conflagration?
When L.A. County blessed the first battery energy storage system project in Acton last year, developers and local fire officials said they were doing everything in their power to ensure the batteries would meet safety standards. Residents were far from convinced.
“This will turn our community into industrial hell and it’ll erase us from the face of the Earth,” Jacqueline Ayer, a member of Acton’s town council, told me. Ayer is helping lead the local fight against the projects.
I’ve now spent more than a month researching the fight in Acton. In the process, I’ve learned how much — or little — we know about when battery energy storage and wildfires mix. We’ll get to that later in this story. To be honest, debunking battery fire risk wasn’t why I spent a month on Acton. It was what happened when the fears took hold.
Feeling they’d been failed by both the regulatory approval process and the court system, the Acton project’s opponents turned to their representative in Washington, House Republican Mike Garcia. Though Garcia can’t do anything to stop this particular project, he can severely hinder future ones: As Heatmap can exclusively report, after lobbying from Acton, Garcia inserted language into the annual funding bill for the Department of Energy that would block it from implementing a new rule designed to expedite permits for federally funded battery projects.
“What we’re hoping is that [with Garcia] being at the federal level, he’ll shed some light to the people at the top,” said Ruthie Brock of the activist group Acton Takes Action, “because if the top becomes informed, it’ll trickle down to local governments.”
This is why the Acton fight is so important — it demonstrates the risk of failing to obtain community buy-in, which can ricochet in ways no one intended. The political and media environments are quick to sensationalize the downsides of renewable energy, creating a tinderbox atmosphere in which small local fights can quickly become national ones.
Fearing a known unknown
On some level, a fight over battery fires going national was inevitable. Across the country, from New York to Washington state, communities are revolting against battery energy storage sites coming to their backyards. Often, those opposed cite the feared threat of fires or explosions.
Fires in battery energy storage systems, a.k.a. BESS, are quite rare. According to what data is available, the number of fires has stayed relatively flat even as deployment has grown drastically. There were fewer than 10 failure events in the U.S. in 2023, and there have been even fewer so far this year.
But when a fire does happen, experts say it can be quite difficult to put out. In some cases, there’s nothing a community can do other than let the blaze run.
“There’s a lack of consensus. There’s a lot of experts out there providing guidance, and that’s something we’re trying to work on with training throughout the country,” Victoria Hutchinson, an engineer with the Fire Protection Research Foundation, told me. “[It’ll] instill some fear in the meantime we figure out the best approach.”
Information on BESS and wildfires is even less available. Guillermo Rein, a professor of fire science and the editor-in-chief of the journal Fire Technology, told me the matter has not really been studied.
“When I say [BESS are] new, I mean really new,” Rein said. “We hardly know how it works when it gets [on] fire and we don’t have many technologies that are proven to work. We have technologies that we wish will work, but proven technologies that work are very rare. That means we have a new hazard we are struggling to understand and in the meantime, we don’t know how to protect against it.”
Parsing what happened in Acton
Los Angeles County approved Acton’s first battery storage system — Humidor, a 300 megawatt project by Hecate Energy — last summer through an expedited “ministerial” process, the local equivalent of a “categorical exclusion” under the National Environmental Policy Act. Ministerial reviews and categorical exclusions are used by regulators to skip the drawn out process of an environmental review because they can reasonably predict a lack of significant impact. Joseph Horvath, a spokesperson for L.A. County Planning, gave me a statement defending the approval and stating BESS projects must meet all local and state zoning and fire codes to receive a ministerial approval.
California had identified the Acton community back in 2021 as a potential site for energy storage to protect against future power shut offs. Acton made sense because it’s close to the SoCal Edison Vincent substation, making it well positioned to connect to the grid. There was also a real sense of urgency: To achieve its goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045, the state estimates it will need to install a projected 52,000 megawatts or more of battery storage. Humidor is the first of what appears to be multiple projects being planned for the area, including two more Hecate facilities according to materials on the company’s website.
Convinced that a battery boom could mix poorly with extreme fire risk, and that the county moved far too fast to approve Humidor, Acton residents sued. The county, they argued, had little reason to conclude the facility would have an insignificant impact on the environment — so few BESS projects have been approved that the county used the standards from a different kind of project — an electrical substation — to draw that conclusion. L.A. County Planning told me they chose this comparison for reasons including the “purpose of BESS and its connection to the larger network for distributive purposes.”
Rein told me that at least when it comes to the fire risk, this isn’t an accurate comparison, and that there’s not actually enough data to claim such a facility would have an insignificant impact. “I would put great efforts into making sure this facility is safe,” he said. “They can’t just say, I met the regulation, I did enough. Because it’s a new hazard.”
Many of those in Acton opposed to the project believe the approval was rushed, and claim that little information was made available to the public as it was going through the county’s process. Furious residents have told county planners that the Acton town council was not notified in advance that an approval was on its way. They testified before the county board of supervisors that Hecate held only a single public meeting to discuss what it intended to build, with little notice given to potentially concerned citizens.
Obtaining a social license
In my experience as a journalist reporting on large energy projects with serious community impacts, transparency is key to getting local buy-in to build a project. For years I covered the mining industry, where innumerable decades of toxic waste spills and labor scandals have forced companies to really innovate and spend serious dough on obtaining “social license to operate,” a term developers and investors use to describe acceptance to a company’s business practices.
This, of course, differs from the YIMBY school of thought that companies and governments should eschew frustrated municipalities to pursue the overriding net good of climate action. There are certainly merits to this argument, especially when it comes to communities that won’t take yes for an answer, and we’ll be exploring case studies supporting that view in future editions of The Fight.
I’m on the fence about whether Acton is one of those cases, though. Ayer, an environmental engineer by trade, told me she supports decarbonization and wants to see climate action happen. She just wants to feel assured the technology is safe.
If it wasn’t a lithium-ion battery storage facility “I would feel comfortable,” she said. “We will shoulder some of the weight. But it isn’t right that we shoulder all of the weight.”
When I tried to talk to Hecate about Acton’s wildfire concerns and how the company had engaged with the community, a company spokesperson, Bobby Howard, declined to make anyone available for an interview citing “ongoing litigation related to the subject.” Howard provided a factbook that said only that Humidor would “meet or exceed” local and state fire codes — without specifying which codes — and detailed some of the outreach the company did, including the public meeting as well as mailers to “thousands of individuals throughout the greater Los Angeles area, including civically engaged individuals throughout Acton.”
Howard declined to answer questions requesting more information about the company’s public outreach and wildfire planning. He did tell the Los Angeles Times earlier this year that Humidor would have “seismic bracing, safety zones around the perimeter, substantial setbacks from parcel boundaries, gravel breaks and a masonry wall around the facility.”
Stanford University senior research scholar and legal energy expert Michael Wara explained to me that in cases like these, having buy-in from the community is important to avoiding litigation and social blowback. “That is losing,” Wara said. “You have not served your client if you end up in litigation.”
“Having a process by which people are informed about a project and have an opportunity to provide input is important for buy-in for all kinds of projects related to the energy transition if you want to build in a democratic society,” he said. “Is it really the fire risk the community is concerned about?”
Fire is the new whales
When it comes to the Acton battery fight, it’s the fears of fire that scare me the most, not the fire itself.
I sought reasons to be optimistic about putting battery energy storage in areas like Acton that are prone to wildfire because, well, California is essentially one big fire risk zone. James Campbell, a wildfire policy expert at the Federation of American Scientists, told me that battery energy storage decreases net wildfire risk compared to gas storage tanks and pipelines. “If we consider the whole-climate trade-offs, battery systems are much safer,” he said.
On its end, Hecate claimed in a letter to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors that a BESS fire has never traveled off-site, and that because the fires are fueled by flammable gasses, there is minimal risk of embers traveling elsewhere and igniting grass or bushes. The company pointed me to this letter when I reached out for comment.
“Nothing about fire risk mitigation is about certainty. It’s more, risk mitigation and fire is kind of like wearing a seatbelt,” Wara told me. “If you’re going 120 miles an hour down the highway and you get in a high-speed collision, your seatbelt will not save you. [But] there’s rapid advances in how these systems work.”
In the end, he added, meeting California’s carbon emissions targets will “probably mean building somewhere that there is non-trivial wildfire risk.”
What’s happening to offshore wind should be a cautionary tale for developers considering whether sinking time and money into community relations is really worth it: Last year, coastal fishermen and beach town mayors in New Jersey joined forces with fossil fuel funding and right-wing agitators to foment a conspiracy-infused campaign against offshore wind that has truly rattled the future of the industry.
Part of that offshore wind backlash grew out of New Jersey Republicans in Congress using the pulpit of their offices and filing amendments to legislation. As Garcia takes up Acton’s cause, I do wonder whether battery energy storage might be next. November’s election makes it less likely his language hindering expedited approvals for BESS projects will make it into the final funding bill, and Garcia’s office did not respond to requests to discuss its prospects.
But regardless, it’s an ember that could become a fire of its own.
https://heatmap.news/plus/the-fight/spotlight/hecate-energy-acton-mike-garcia
The Week in Renewable Fights
date: 2024-09-04, from: Heatmap News
1. York County, South Carolina – Silfab Solar’s efforts to build a solar panel factory in coastal South Carolina have become a nexus of fear politics in recent weeks, even as the community’s Republican congressman tries to assuage residents’ concerns.
- Members of the community are concerned about chemicals that will be used at the plant, which will be built near two schools. They also say they’re worried about the risk of fires or explosions.
- A town meeting about Silfab last week was hosted by Representative Ralph Norman and drew more than a hundred people. It turned into a fury venting session. You can watch the drama play out in full here.
- On his part, Norman seems to be straddling the line, trying to assure residents the project will be safe while recognizing that many are fretting about the project.
- Move Silfab, a group campaigning to relocate the plant, is holding a community organizing event this Saturday.
2. Knox County, Nebraska – North Fork Wind LLC last week joined with landowners to sue Knox County in federal court over expansions to a stepback ordinance that the company says were expressly designed to kill their 600-megawatt wind farm.
- Knox County changed a 2,000-foot stepback into a 6,600-foot one earlier this year after a push by self-described “Wind Watchers,” what appears to be an ad hoc collection of activists that are opposing wind energy projects across Nebraska. Upon examining social media pages for some “Wind Watchers” groups, I can tell you there’s a lot of misinformation about wind and solar in their content feeds.
- I’m watching ordinances and legal challenges like these closely. They’re quickly becoming an easy way for projects to get gummed up in administrative red tape over the concerns of fear-founded groups like Wind Watchers.
3. Madison County, Ohio – What could be the largest agri-voltaics project in the U.S. may be poised for a showdown in the Ohio Supreme Court.
- Savion Energy’s 800-megawatt Oak Run solar project was re-approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board last week after a lengthy battle with local opposition.
- Critics then told local press they’re looking at taking this decision to the state Supreme Court as a last stand against the project.
- This is happening as the same court will soon decide in two cases whether the Power Siting Board can reject solar projects based solely on whether there’s local dissent.
- Agri-voltaics are crucial to the future of solar energy and present an opportunity for sustainable renewable development on farmland. Keep an eye out for a much longer dive into the opposition to Oak Run in next week’s edition of The Fight.
4. Nantucket County, Massachusetts – If you thought the Vineyard Wind debacle would go away, the fishermen want you to know you’re sadly mistaken.
- The New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Association – a fishing trade group formed last year to oppose offshore wind development – held a protest on the water outside Avangrid’s project last week that got picked up by Fox News.
5. San Luis Obispo County, California – I’m monitoring resistance to an ongoing study by Port San Luis and Clean Energy Terminals in central California on whether to become an offshore wind operation and maintenance hub.
- The U.S. will need many more offshore wind manufacturing sites to meet its deployment goals. While no projects off California’s coast are currently underway, building infrastructure at sites like Port San Luis will be essential to building a state offshore wind industry.
- Right now, local officials are facing opposition from REACT Alliance, a California grassroots group that as far as I can tell has little local support but is linked with the growing network of anti-offshore organizations. While in its infancy, the fact they’re so plugged in with other more successful and vocal organizations is definitely a concern.
Here are a few more hotspots I’m watching…
- In Nebraska, a utility-scale solar project by National Grid Renewables is sparking anger from a neighboring town with a population of 120 people. There’s scant info about the project online. (Dear NGR folks, please email me back about this project! I want to learn more.)
- In Iowa, the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline received a crucial construction permit from the state utilities commission. But there’s a catch: the project must first get clearance from regulators in North and South Dakota before the build. And there’s going to be many, many hurdles to that.
https://heatmap.news/plus/the-fight/hotspots/silfab-solar-north-fork-oak-run
What I’m Watching in Washington
date: 2024-09-04, from: Heatmap News
China, China, China – Republicans in Congress are trying to pressure the U.S. into an even more hawkish stance against Chinese battery supply chains ahead of the November election.
- The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Marco Rubio, wrote the Defense Department last week requesting the Defense Department blacklist the world’s largest battery manufacturer CATL, a Chinese company.
- The House of Representatives is also scheduled to vote next week on a bill requiring the Homeland Security Department to blacklist CATL and other Chinese-owned battery manufacturers.
- I’ve written a lot of stories about how many Republicans are trying to get the U.S. to entirely decouple its commercial enterprises from Chinese companies – a wholly different objective than building up U.S. industries so the nation can compete with and wean off China. (Like what the IRA did.)
- No matter the national security justifications, forcibly decoupling from China would take essential supplies off the table for an energy transition.
- What I’m watching for is if the Republican pressure influences how Kamala Harris approaches this topic, and whether she’ll differ from the Biden administration’s approach to China and batteries.
BLM’s solar plan – The Bureau of Land Management last week released its long-awaited programmatic environmental impact statement for solar development across the Southwest, opening 31 million acres to potential projects across almost a dozen states.
- The Biden administration says its steering development away from “wildlife and land conflicts,” but it already faces pushback from conservation activists. One of the most likely plaintiffs against the plan – the Center for Biological Diversity – released a statement critical of the document that noted it would impact a sizable amount of desert tortoise habitat.
Trump’s energy whisperer – The Trump campaign told Reuters last week the former president would ax the EPA’s climate-minded power plant rules if elected… but that’s not what caught my eye.
- No, what’s most notable is that the campaign official who made this news was former Trump administration Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who is now a key figure at the MAGA-aligned America First Policy Institute.
- I’ve covered Bernhardt for years and interviewed him last year upon the release of his book, “You Report to Me.” It’s my belief he is angling for an even more influential role in a future Trump administration that would leverage his expertise in the administrative state to make Trump far more successful at undoing energy and climate rules. (OMB?)
Other policy moves worth watching…
Nevada’s new plan — Joe Lombardo, the Republican governor of Nevada, released a new statewide climate plan after the one put forward by his Democratic predecessor vanished. It’s getting panned.
‘Greenwashing’ push — The Agriculture Department launched an initiative aimed at combating misleading climate claims in the meat and poultry industries.
https://heatmap.news/plus/the-fight/policy-watch/marco-rubio-catl-china
The Center for Biological Diversity’s Patrick Donnelly Responds to Critics
date: 2024-09-04, from: Heatmap News
Welcome to The Fight’s Q&A section where we’ll speak with the movers and shakers shaping every side of the debate over renewable energy deployment.
Today our subject is Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmentalist organization at times on the plaintiff end of lawsuits against projects. I decided to speak with him about how his organization’s opposition to some projects squares with its support for rapid climate action.
The following is an abridged version of our conversation.
What would you say to someone who says the work you do is delaying climate action?
There’s a huge amount of projects in the pipeline, and it’s not likely that our level of intervention is going to materially affect the overall rollout of clean energy.
We [the U.S.] aren’t picking the right projects to pursue. No plan exists in the federal government for where that energy is going to come from, where we’re going to pick which projects to permit. And we have no filtering criteria for which to say, well, this is a good project and there’s so many problems with this project that it’s a really bad project and we shouldn’t permit.
Why do you think the government isn’t engaging organizations like CBD about which projects to pursue?
It’s not a legal obligation. It’s probably a moral obligation. If you’re going to go to 50% EVs or whatever, you better have a plan for where all the lithium is going to come from! There’s places with lower tribal conflicts, these are knowable things. We can do it next week. We also need to consolidate solar projects. There are millions of acres that don’t have tortoises on them. We have more than enough land. I could just pencil that out right now – it’s not that hard to find the least conflicts. The data exists.
But again, industry’s been in the driver’s seat. Industry’s said, we have this application and it needs to be processed because we brought it in.
So what you’re saying is, you’d sit with Jigar Shah and just plan it out?
If he asked me to come, I’d be in D.C. tomorrow. Absolutely. That’s what we want — let’s plan it out, and then I can go work on other things, y’know? I’d be happy to sue over that [other] stuff.
Absent this planning, which sounds nice but has not happened, proponents of permitting reform often cite CBD’s repeated opposition as a reason to pass legislation that could limit your ability to challenge projects. What do you think about how your actions now could impact your capacity to act in the future?
I think some level of permitting reform was inevitable. I don’t think anything in the permitting bill will cease our efforts. It will make it harder for sure. I think the biggest thing it will do is eliminate the ability for frontline communities to engage, so we’re looking at an undemocratic clean energy transition where you have technocrats making decisions for how people’s lives will play out. People in these rural communities feel like they’re under assault. Low income desert folks feel like their whole life is going to be turned upside down.
https://heatmap.news/plus/the-fight/qa/patrick-donnelly-center-for-biological-diversity
US trade deficit widens to two-year high on imports
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit widened to the highest level in more than two years in July as businesses likely front-loaded imports in anticipation of higher tariffs on goods, suggesting trade could remain a drag on economic growth in the third quarter.
While the surge in imports reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday would subtract from gross domestic product, it was an indication of strong domestic demand and inconsistent with financial market fears of a recession.
“The July trade data suggest that net trade will weigh on third-quarter GDP growth, but that is hardly cause for concern when it reflects the continued strength of imports, painting a better picture of domestic demand than renewed recession fears would suggest,” said Thomas Ryan, North America economist at Capital Economics.
The trade gap increased 7.9% to $78.8 billion, the widest since May 2022, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said.
The government revised the trade data from January through June 2024 to incorporate more comprehensive and updated quarterly and monthly figures.
Imports increased 2.1% to $345.4 billion. Goods imports rose 2.3% to $278.2 billion, the highest since June 2022. They were boosted by an increase in capital goods, which increased $3.3 billion to a record high, mostly reflecting computer accessories.
Imports of industrial supplies and materials, which include petroleum, increased $2.8 billion. There were also rises in imports of nonmonetary gold-finished metal shapes.
President Joe Biden’s administration has announced plans to impose steeper tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, batteries, solar products and other goods.
The government said last week a final determination will be made public in the “coming days.” There are also fears of even higher tariffs on Chinese imports should former President Donald Trump return to the White House after the November 5 election.
The politically sensitive goods trade deficit with China increased $4.9 billion to $27.2 billion. Exports to China fell $1.0 billion while imports advanced $3.9 billion.
“Imports of goods from China increased, which shows how difficult it will be to direct U.S. manufacturers away from their dependence on lower-cost goods originating from China if that is what Congress and political candidates wish to do,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS.
Exports gained 0.5% to $266.6 billion. Goods exports climbed 0.4% to $175.1 billion. Exports of motor vehicles, parts and engines decreased $1.7 billion to the lowest since June 2022. Consumer goods exports fell $800 million.
Exports of capital goods surged $1.8 billion to a record $56.1 billion, boosted by semiconductors.
The goods trade deficit increased 6.9% to $97.6 billion after adjusting for inflation.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-trade-deficit-widens-to-two-year-high-on-imports/7771073.html
Cicada ransomware may be a BlackCat/ALPHV rebrand and upgrade
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Researchers find many similarities, and nasty new customizations such as embedded compromised user credentials
The Cicada3301 ransomware, which has claimed at least 20 victims since it was spotted in June, shares “striking similarities” with the notorious BlackCat ransomware, according to security researchers at Israeli outfit endpoint security outfit Morphisec.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/cicada_ransomware_blackcat_links/
Apple helped nix part of a child safety bill. More fights are expected.
date: 2024-09-04, from: OS News
Kim Carver, a legislator in the US state of Louisiana, added a provision to a child safety bill forcing Apple and Google to enforce age restrictions on downloads in their application stores. In other words, it would force Apple to make sure minors could not download gambling and casino applications – i.e., 99% of mobile games – that make up the vast majority of Apple’s services revenue. It would also make application stores play a role in enforcing age restrictions on social media applications, which makes sense because Apple and Google know the age of every one of their users. Well, it turns out Apple was not happy. They sent out an absolute army of lobbyists – including a guy known for lobbying on behalf of truck-stop casinos, in case you were wondering about the type of people Apple uses for lobbying – to kill this specific provision. Carver’s provision would have breezed through the Louisiana senate, but it needed a key committee approval before being put up for a vote. And it’s this committee that Apple started heavily influencing and pressuring. Carver began hearing rumblings that Apple was making inroads with the committee—his amended bill might be in trouble. Uncertain on how to proceed, he approached the chairwoman of the committee, Sen. Beth Mizell, for advice. He declined to describe the substance of the conversation to The Wall Street Journal, but in the end, he promised not to object if she removed the app store provisions or support restoring them on the Senate floor. “I made the choice to take the win that we could get,” Carver said. ↫ Jeff Horwitz and Aaron Tilley at The Wall Street Journal This is not the first time Apple has pressured legislatures to drop bills it didn’t like. A famous case is the state if Georgia, which intended to pass a number of application store bills to open up the App Store in much the same way the European Union did with the DMA. Apple went absolutely mental in Georgia, including threatening to cancel “a $25 million investment in a historically Black college in Atlanta”. Apple won. The way these sleazebag companies get away with such blatant corruption is by using third-party lobbyists, which technically are not employed by the companies in question, so no matter how low and sleazy these lobbyists go, the companies they lobby for can wash their hands in innocence and absolve themselves from any responsibility for the various financial and legal threats levied at underfunded, understaffed local legislatures. Spending a few millions on a local development project or whatever is peanuts for Apple, but a massive boon for a small community somewhere, so Apple pulling out means nothing to Apple, but would massively affect such a community. It’s not surprising local legislatures fold. Circling back to the age restriction provision itself – telling stores what they can and cannot sell is an entirely normal thing to do, and happens all the time all over the world. It’s why in, say, The Netherlands, supermarkets are only allowed to sell “light” alcohol like beer and wine, with hard alcohol moved to separate liquor stores that have to be separate from the supermarket, so age restrictions are easier to enforce. There’s also just an infinite number of things you’re just not allowed to sell, period. As always, Silicon Valley believes it’s a very special snowflake to whom regular, normal, widely accepted rules do not apply. Why shouldn’t a store selling gambling applications and similarly addictive and damaging applications have to do the absolute bare minimum to protect minors? Imagine the massive outcry if a Costco or Walmart was found to sell massive amounts of hard liquor to children – why should Silicon Valley companies be treated any differently?
Missing for Four Decades, This Unusual Double Portrait of Rubens and van Dyck Has Finally Resurfaced
date: 2024-09-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The 17th-century painting, stolen in a 1979 heist, turned up at an auction in France in 2020. It recently returned home to Chatsworth House in England
David Attenborough on Cybertruck behavior. “Here we see the Cybertruck has formed…
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/09/0045223-david-attenborough-on-cyb
Acer Iconia X12 is a 12.6 inch Android tablet with a 2.5K AMOLED display
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
Acer’s been selling inexpensive Android tablets for more than a decade, but it’s been a while since the company released a model with the kind of specs that might attract folks looking for something other than a budget device. The new Acer Iconia X12 is part-way there. It’s a 12.6 inch Android tablet with a mix of […]
The post Acer Iconia X12 is a 12.6 inch Android tablet with a 2.5K AMOLED display appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/acer-iconia-x12-tablet/
NASA’s Webb Reveals Distorted Galaxy Forming Cosmic Question Mark
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
It’s 7 billion years ago, and the universe’s heyday of star formation is beginning to slow. What might our Milky Way galaxy have looked like at that time? Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found clues in the form of a cosmic question mark, the result of a rare alignment across light-years of […]
Podcast: Is Criticizing AI Ableist?
date: 2024-09-04, from: 404 Media Group
On the podcast this week: generative AI Doom, drama in NaNoWriMo, and Apple’s face swap problem.
https://www.404media.co/podcast-is-criticizing-ai-ableist/
‘Right to Repair for Your Body’: The Rise of DIY, Pirated Medicine
date: 2024-09-04, from: 404 Media Group
Four Thieves Vinegar Collective has made DIY medicine cheaper and more accessible to the masses.
https://www.404media.co/right-to-repair-for-your-body-the-rise-of-diy-pirated-medicine/
FCC finally gets around to banning Kaspersky from telecoms kit
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Communications agency now passing on the order to operators
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has woken up and issued a ban on Kaspersky software being used in telecoms kit, months after Washington deemed it a national security risk and blockaded future sales.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/fcc_kaspersky_ban/
Space Station AMS-02 Instrument Works on the Mystery of Dark Matter
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
Visible matter in the form of stars and planets adds up to about five percent of the total known mass of the Universe. The rest is either dark matter, antimatter, or dark energy. The exact nature of these substances is unknown, but the International Space Station’s Alpha-Magnetic Spectrometer or AMS-02 is helping to solve the […]
The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/09/the-100-best-tv-episodes-of-all-time
Lagniappe for September 2024
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
Explore Lagniappe for September 2024 featuring: Gator Speaks NASA’s Stennis Space Center keeps writing new history, and the front office announcement in August delights this ’ol Gator! The news delights me because the south Mississippi NASA center will continue to be in good hands with Christine Powell serving as the new deputy director. And talk […]
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/stennis/lagniappe-for-september-2024/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-04, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
This is me in multiple
layers.
https://mastodon.social/@appleinsider/113079493427295113
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113079504000712474
Key Moments Lead to Fulfilling NASA Stennis Career
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
Joseph Ladner’s experiences working at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, motivate him to “pay it forward” so more people can be a part of something great. “It is exciting to be at a place like NASA Stennis that continues to reinvent itself to stay relevant,” Ladner said. “You can do just […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/key-moments-in-joseph-ladner-career/
Acer’s Project DualPlay gaming laptop concept has detachable controllers for 2-player gaming
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
The Acer Project DualPlay is a concept gaming laptop designed for multiplayer gaming. Designed to be part of the Acer Predator line of premium gaming notebooks, the laptop has a modular design that allows the computer’s large touchpad to be detached and used as a wireless controller… or separated into two joysticks that allow two […]
The post Acer’s Project DualPlay gaming laptop concept has detachable controllers for 2-player gaming appeared first on Liliputing.
Acer’s new Swift 14 laptops come with a choice of Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm chips
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
Acer is debuting three new laptops with 14 inch displays and support for Microsoft Copilot+ features at IFA this week. What’s a little unusual is that customers have a choice of three different processors. The Acer Swift 14 AI (SF14-51) comes with Intel Lunar Lake processor options, while the Swift 14 AI (SF14-61) is powered by an AMD […]
The post Acer’s new Swift 14 laptops come with a choice of Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm chips appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/acers-new-swift-14-laptops-come-with-a-choice-of-intel-amd-or-qualcomm-chips/
GenAI spending bubble? Definitely ‘maybe’ says ServiceNow
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It won’t generate hundreds of million of dollars for customers tomorrow, and there’s a ‘lot of noise’ from tech industry
ServiceNow is trying to assure investors that payback for enterprise GenAI investment is coming, but it may not be soon and biz customers shouldn’t expect to get huge returns “tomorrow”.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/servicenow_remains_bullish_on_gen_ai/
Acer’s first handheld gaming PC is the Nitro Blaze 7 with a Ryzen 8845HS chip and 144 Hz display
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
Acer is making a play for the ever-expanding handheld gaming PC space. The new Acer Nitro Blaze 7 (GN771) is the company’s first handheld and one of the first from any company to feature a 35+ watt AMD Ryzen 8040HS series processor. The handheld also features a 7 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS LCD touchscreen […]
The post Acer’s first handheld gaming PC is the Nitro Blaze 7 with a Ryzen 8845HS chip and 144 Hz display appeared first on Liliputing.
Phoenix Just Hit Another Grim Heat Record
date: 2024-09-04, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Ruins of the sunken village of Kallio have emerged from a dried up lake in drought-stricken Greece • AccuWeather reduced its 2024 forecast for the number of named Atlantic storms • It will be hot, humid, and rainy in Beijing today where U.S. climate envoy John Podesta will meet for climate talks with his Chinese counterpart.
THE TOP FIVE
- Harris campaign reportedly hires a ‘climate engagement director’
Climate activists are pushing Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to be more vocal about climate change on the campaign trail. E&E News reported that Michael Greenberg, founder of Climate Defiance, had a virtual meeting yesterday with a senior Harris advisor. “We want her to oppose fossil-fuel subsidies,” Greenberg told E&E. “We need to rapidly phase out fossil-fuel infrastructure, fossil-fuel use, fossil-fuel exports.” Harris has so far been relatively quiet about the climate crisis, but that might change with the rumored hiring of Camila Thorndike as campaign “climate engagement director.” Thorndike comes from Rewiring America where she was senior director of public engagement, and she also worked on the Inflation Reduction Act as a legislative assistant to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
- Phoenix hits 100 degrees for 100 days straight
Phoenix, Arizona, recorded its 100th straight day of temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday. The hot streak started in late May and is expected to go on for another two weeks. Temperatures this week are forecast to hit 113 by Thursday. At least 150 heat deaths have been recorded this year in the county that encompasses Phoenix, and 440 additional deaths are under investigation, The Washington Post reported. States up and down the West Coast are facing an intense heat wave, with some 26 million under heat warnings. In Oregon, where temperatures usually start to dip this time of year, temperature records could shatter as the mercury reaches 105 degrees in Portland.
- Competition from data centers causes trouble for Wyoming DAC project
In case you missed it: Project Bison, a large direct air capture facility proposed for Wyoming, has been put on pause because the company behind it can’t compete with data centers for renewable energy to power its operations. “We’ve seen growing competition for clean power amongst industries that are emerging much faster than anybody would have ever predicted,” CarbonCapture Inc.’s CEO Adrian Corless said in a statement posted on the company’s website. As a result, CarbonCapture is looking for a new home for Project Bison. The company was aiming to reach 5 million metric tons of carbon removal annually by 2030. Last year it was awarded $12.5 million from the Department of Energy to develop the Wyoming Regional DAC Hub. It is looking into whether the DOE will allow it to transfer its application to a new state.
Relatedly, Morgan Stanley released research yesterday that found the data center boom is expected to produce 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions through 2030. Altogether, the pollution produced to power data centers will amount to about 40% of annual U.S. emissions. “This creates a large market for decarbonization solutions,” the report said.
- Report: Drought in Sicily and Sardinia fueled by climate change
New analysis from the World Weather Attribution found human-caused climate change made the devastating droughts taking place across Sicily and Sardinia twice as likely. Both of the Italian islands are under a state of emergency after a year of low rainfall and persistent heat triggered some of the worst droughts on record. Due to water shortages, the region’s farmers have been forced to sell or slaughter their livestock, and harvests of wheat and olive crops are expected to fall by half. While the region is used to hot and dry conditions, the WWA said this drought is worsened by evapotranspiration, or the evaporation of water from soil and plants. “Sardinia and Sicily are becoming increasingly arid with climate change,” said Mariam Zachariah, a climate and environment researcher at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute. “Searing, long lasting heat is hitting the islands more frequently, evaporating water from soils, plants, and reservoirs.” WWA has linked other recent extreme weather events to climate change, including Typhoon Gaemi, Mexico’s May-June heat wave, and Brazil’s historic floods.
- Study finds U.S. beef industry could cut emissions by 30% with
mitigation practices
New research published in the journal Nature Food investigates how America’s beef producers can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The study produced some interesting insights. For example:
- The U.S. beef industry accounts for about 3.3% of the nation’s total emissions.
- 64% of emissions from the sector are produced during the grazing stage.
- About 30% of the industry’s emissions could be mitigated with the implementation of new practices such as adding trees to grazed lands, managing when and where animals graze to improve plant health, cover cropping, and using methane-reducing feed additives.
THE KICKER
The U.S. now has 192,611 public DC Fast and Level 2 EV charging ports, up from about 95,000 in 2021.
https://heatmap.news/climate/phoenix-heat-100-degrees-record
California Companies Wrote Their Own Gig Worker Law. Now No One Is Enforcing It
date: 2024-09-04, from: The Markup blog
Prop. 22 promised improved pay and benefits for California gig workers. But when companies fail to deliver, the state isn’t doing much to help push back
Starlink U-turns, will block X in Brazil after all
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Musk fought the law and the law won… for now
The sound of a screeching rubber on road was heard in South America last night as Elon Musk’s satellite broadband operation, Starlink, agreed to comply with an order in Brazil to block the billionaire’s social media mouthpiece, X.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/starlink_performs_a_180_and/
ReMarkable Paper Pro brings a splash of color to the popular E Ink writing tablet
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
ReMarkable has been shipping purpose-built E Ink writing tablets since 2017, and the company has earned a reputation for continuing to push software updates so that it’s existing tablets get better over time rather than cranking out new models every single year. Now the company is launching its third model in seven years, and the […]
The post ReMarkable Paper Pro brings a splash of color to the popular E Ink writing tablet appeared first on Liliputing.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Why Lyft's CEO says 'it would be insane' not to go all in on bikeshare.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/04/lyft-is-going-all-in-on-docked-bikeshare/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-04, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
First day of school and we passed a fresh storrowing!
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113079125006342667
The bigger they are, the harder they fall
date: 2024-09-04, from: Marketplace Morning Report
AI chipmaking company Nvidia lost $279 billion in market value yesterday, and its shares kept falling in after-hours trading overnight. Despite reports of an escalating Department of Justice antitrust probe, the stock’s decline centers more on questions around the future of artificial intelligence. We hear more. We also explore the shifting geography of U.S. oil production and learn how gaps in USDA food programs are being filled by tribal governments.
The Corporation Stealing Your Kid’s Lunch Money
date: 2024-09-04, from: The Lever News
As students head back to school, one of the largest payment processors in the world is fighting to protect the millions it makes upcharging parents on school meals.
https://www.levernews.com/the-corporation-stealing-your-kids-lunch-money/
US voices impatience with Taliban over morality law targeting Afghan women
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
Islamabad — An American diplomat has condemned the Taliban’s new morality law in Afghanistan, warning that it “aims to complete the erasure of women from public life.”
Rina Amiri, the United States special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights, posted on social media late Tuesday that she raised concerns about the law during her recent meetings with counterparts in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
“My message was clear: Our support for the Afghan people remains steadfast, but patience with the Taliban is running out,” Amiri wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The way to legitimacy domestically & internationally is respecting the rights of the Afghan people.”
The U.S. warning comes days after the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, enacted the contentious decree that orders Afghan women not to speak aloud in public and cover their bodies and faces entirely when outdoors.
The 114-page, 35-article law also outlines various actions and specific conduct that the Taliban government, called the Islamic Emirate, considers mandatory or prohibited for Afghan men and women in line with its strict interpretation of Islam.
The legal document empowers the Ministry for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, which the Taliban revived after coming back to power in August 2021, to enforce it strictly.
Enforcers are empowered to discipline offenders, and penalties may include anything from a verbal warning to fines to imprisonment. The law requires them to prevent “evils” such as adultery, extramarital sex, lesbianism, taking pictures of living objects and befriending non-Muslims.
Official Taliban media quoted Akhundzada this week as ordering authorities to “rigorously enforce” the new vice and virtue decree across Afghanistan “to bring the people closer to the Islamic system.”
The law was enacted amid extensive restrictions on Afghan women’s education and employment opportunities.
Since regaining power three years ago, the Taliban have prohibited girls ages 12 and older from continuing their education beyond the sixth grade and restricted women from seeking employment, except in certain sectors such as health.
Afghan females are not allowed to visit parks and other public places, and a male guardian must accompany them on road trips or air travel.
The United Nations promptly responded to the new law last month, condemning it as a “distressing vision” for the impoverished country’s future and urging de facto authorities to reverse it.
The Taliban government, which is officially not recognized by any country, has dismissed U.N.-led foreign criticism as offensive.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, asserted that “non-Muslims should first educate themselves about Islamic laws and respect Islamic values” before expressing concerns or rejecting the law. “We find it blasphemous to our Islamic Sharia when objections are raised without understanding it,” he said.
Double Debian update: 11.11 and 12.7 arrive at once
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: Liam Proven’s articles at the Register
But Bullseye’s days are numbered and it’s time to think about upgrading
<p>The latest update to Debian "Bookworm" arrives at the same time as the last ever update to "Bullseye," and there's trouble ahead for Nvidia legacy users.</p> https://go.theregister.com/i/cfa/https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/double_debian_update/
Double Debian update: 11.11 and 12.7 arrive at once
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
But Bullseye’s days are numbered and it’s time to think about upgrading
The latest update to Debian “Bookworm” arrives at the same time as the last ever update to “Bullseye,” and there’s trouble ahead for Nvidia legacy users.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/double_debian_update/
Global markets take a tumble
date: 2024-09-04, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Financial markets in Asia and the U.S. have tumbled with investor concerns that the U.S. economy could be headed toward recession. Then, in Mexico, Congress is expected to pass judicial reforms that have prompted judges and court staff protests. And in an attempt to address a falling birth rate, the government in South Korea plans to bring in domestic workers from the Philippines to support families.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/global-markets-take-a-tumble
Dell’s Inspiron 14 with Snapdragon X Plus for $900
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
When the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (7441) with a Snapdragon X processor launched earlier this year for $1099 and up, it was one of the most affordable Microsoft CoPilot+ PCs available. Now Dell is introducing a cheaper model. The new Dell Inspiron 14 (5441) with Snapdragon X Plus will be available later this month for $899 […]
The post Dell’s Inspiron 14 with Snapdragon X Plus for $900 appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/dells-inspiron-14-with-snapdragon-x-plus-for-900/
Asus launches ProArt PZ13 2-in-1 tablet with Snapdragon X Plus for $1100 and up
date: 2024-09-04, from: Liliputing
The Asus ProArt PZ13 is a 13.3 inch Windows 11 tablet with a 2880 x 1800 pixel touchscreen OLED display, support for pressure-sensitive pen input and a detachable keyboard, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor. First unveiled in June, the ProArt PZ13 is set to go on sale soon, with a model sporting 16GB of […]
The post Asus launches ProArt PZ13 2-in-1 tablet with Snapdragon X Plus for $1100 and up appeared first on Liliputing.
Do look up! NASA unfurls massive shiny solar sail in orbit
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
60 years after Arthur C Clarke wrote Sunjammer, space agency catches up
NASA has successfully extended into orbit an 80 m2 (860 square foot) sail that is designed to catch emissions from the Sun and convert them into propulsion for space exploration.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/nasa_acs3_solar_sail/
Admins wonder if the cloud was such a good idea after all
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
As AWS, Microsoft, and Google hike some prices, it’s time to open up the ROI calculator
After an initial euphoric rush to the cloud, administrators are questioning the value and promise of the tech giant’s services.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/cloud_buyers_regret/
Research Plane Dons New Colors for NASA Hybrid Electric Flight Tests
date: 2024-09-04, from: NASA breaking news
Parked under the lights inside a hangar in Seattle, a hybrid electric research aircraft from electric motor manufacturer magniX showed off a new look symbolizing its journey toward helping NASA make sustainable aviation a reality. During a special unveiling ceremony hosted by magniX on Aug. 22, leaders from the company and NASA revealed the aircraft, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/hybrid-electric-aircrafts-new-colors/
The amber glow of bork illuminates Brighton Station
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The train on platform 4 is destined for networking hell
BORK!BORK!BORK! Strange things are afoot at Brighton
Station as football fans keen to make the journey to London to see their
team take on England’s finest instead found themselves destined for
Addr = 67 (43h).…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/bork/
What 2024 Will Mean for Clean Energy — in Megatons
date: 2024-09-04, from: Heatmap News
You don’t need us to say it: The 2024 election will have enormous stakes for America’s climate policy and the planet’s climate. But how well can we quantify those stakes? What would a Trump presidency — or a Harris presidency, for that matter — really mean for the country’s emissions trajectory?
On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Jesse and Rob speak with Sonia Aggarwal, the chief executive officer of Energy Innovation, a climate policy think tank that operates across North America, Europe, and Asia. She was previously special assistant to the president for climate policy, innovation, and deployment under President Joe Biden, and she co-chaired the Biden administration’s Climate Innovation Working Group. She and Jesse — another top-notch modeler — dive into what the data can and can’t tell us about the election and how to think about energy system models in the first place. Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap, and Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University.
Subscribe to “Shift Key” and find this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also add the show’s RSS feed to your podcast app to follow us directly.
Here is an excerpt from our conversation:
Sonia Aggarwal: It is very clear in the modeling that there are certain policies that take us in the direction of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and other policies that take us in the direction of increasing greenhouse gas emissions compared to where we would be going otherwise.
Now, as Jesse said, there can be all kinds of things that happen that might change the specific numbers, but we certainly can tell in the models that if you look at a policy — that is, for example, a clean electricity standard — you’re going to see a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions when you adopt that standard. And that will happen against the background of lots of other things in the economy, but we know that the effect of that particular policy is to bring emissions down, and that’s very clear. So that’s one thing that we can definitely tell with the models.
Jesse Jenkins: Yeah. Maybe just one other point on this is that, what we had in our mind when we started the REPEAT Project was a role similar to what the Congressional Budget Office does to try to estimate the financial and budgetary impacts of congressional decisions, right? You know, Congress is making decisions all the time that affect revenues. They’re going to spend more money. They’re going to raise more money here and there. They’re going to lower taxes. They’re going to raise taxes. They’re going to expand this program. And Congress legitimately wants to have a sense of whether that’s going to increase or decrease the deficit and, you know, whether that’s going to raise more money than it spends or vice versa, and which programs have the biggest budgetary cost.
And so every bill is scored on this budgetary front, over a 10-year period in particular. And then, because they know it’s less certain beyond that, they put less weight on the period beyond 10 years. And I would bet every single one of those numbers is wrong, right? The Congressional Budget Office probably misses every single one of those numbers. But, they’re directionally correct, and they’re not wrong by orders of magnitude.
What they give Congress is the best information they have at the time — during the fog of war and enactment — to make a more informed decision about the financial implications of their policies. And I think that’s how we should think about the aggregate ensemble of models that have emerged to help us understand the climate implications of these decisions, as well.
Aggarwal: Be careful when you ask modelers questions about models, because you will …
Robinson Meyer: No, but this is, I think, the key question. Because I think there’s some degree to which these models kind of do act in a way that’s very authoritative and very useful to policymakers, right? I think that understanding them — just to be clear, in line with how you presented them, but I think still really important — as tools for decision-making under uncertainty and authoritative, you know, biblical accounts of exactly what a policy will do is the right way to understand, right?
This is a tool for thinking. It is a tool to bring into the rest of the thinking that you would do about, in this case, what the climate impacts of the 2024 election are. But it doesn’t mean that you should use it to throw out every other tool you have and every other piece of evidence we have, however, given that all the pieces of evidence are pointing in the right direction. I think it’s useful, in that regard, to get a sense of just how catastrophic for the climate a Project 2025 could be.
This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by …
Watershed’s climate data engine helps companies measure and reduce their emissions, turning the data they already have into an audit-ready carbon footprint backed by the latest climate science. Get the sustainability data you need in weeks, not months. Learn more at watershed.com.
As a global leader in PV and ESS solutions, Sungrow invests heavily in research and development, constantly pushing the boundaries of solar and battery inverter technology. Discover why Sungrow is the essential component of the clean energy transition by visiting sungrowpower.com.
Antenna Group helps you connect with customers, policymakers, investors, and strategic partners to influence markets and accelerate adoption. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.
https://heatmap.news/podcast/shift-key-s2-e4-sonia-aggarwal
What is this computing industry anyway? The dawning era of 32-bit micros
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: Liam Proven’s articles at the Register
Part 3 And you may ask yourself, ‘How do I work this?’ And you may ask yourself, ‘Where is that large computer?’
<p>This is the third part of The Register FOSS desk's roundup of some of the more memorable missteps and could-have-beens from the beginnings of the microcomputer industry until today.</p> What is this computing industry anyway? The dawning era of 32-bit micros
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
And you may ask yourself, ‘How do I work this?’ And you may ask yourself, ‘Where is that large computer?’
Part 3 This is the third part of The Register FOSS desk’s roundup of some of the more memorable missteps and could-have-beens from the beginnings of the microcomputer industry until today.…
WHO-backed meta-study finds no evidence that cellphone radiation causes brain cancer
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The signal may not rot your mind, we can’t say the same for the content
Time to take off the tin foil hat: A review of 28 years of research into the health effects of radio wave exposure from cellphones has found no evidence to link the handhelds to brain cancer, or negative effects on health more generally. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/who_study_cellphone_cancer/
European chip lobby seeks more government cash and policy clout
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Last year’s €43B was a nice snack. Now for a feast of regulatory capture
Sixteen months after the European Union signed off on its €43 billion Chips Act in the hope it would stimulate semiconductor manufacturing in the bloc, semiconductor trade group the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) has asked for more public money – and more say over policy decisions impacting local chipmakers.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/esia_eu_semiconductor_wishlist/
Programming the Convergent WorkSlate’s spreadsheet microcassette future
date: 2024-09-04, from: Old Vintage Computer Research
In this particular future, we will all use handheld spreadsheets stored on microcassettes, talking to each other via speakerphone, and probably listening to Devo and New Order a lot. (Though that part isn’t too different from my actual present.)
That’s the 1983 Convergent WorkSlate, a one-of-a-kind handheld system from some misty alternate history where VisiCalc ruled the earth. Indeed, even the “software” packages Convergent shipped for it — on microcassette, which could store voice memos and data — were nothing more than cells and formulas in a worksheet. The built-in modem let you exchange data with other Workslates (or even speak over the phone to their users), and it came with a calculator desk accessory and a rudimentary terminal program, but apart from those creature comforts its built-in spreadsheet was the sole centre of your universe. And, unlike IAI and the Canon Cat, I’ve yet to find any backdoor (secret or otherwise) to enable anything else.
That means anything you want to program has to be somehow encoded in a spreadsheet too. Unfortunately, when it comes to actually programming the device it turns out the worst thing a spreadsheet on an 8-bit CPU can be is Turing-complete (so it’s not), and it has several obnoxious bugs to boot. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make it do more than balance an expense account. Along the way we’ll examine the hardware, wire into its peripheral bus, figure out how to exchange data with today’s future, create a simple game, draw rudimentary graphics and (with some help) even put it on the Internet with its very own Gopher client — after we tell of the WorkSlate’s brief and sorrowful commercial existence, as this blog always must.
To make this work, Convergent had to constantly drive the cutting edge to stay ahead of the market, which gained them the nickname of the “Marine Corps of Silicon Valley.” Management candidates were told up front to expect sixty-hour-plus work weeks or be disqualified, and some designers reportedly worked close to 100 during crunch times. Within one year it had its first product ready, the 1980 IWS “Integrated Workstation” based on a 5MHz 8086 with up to 640K of RAM running CTOS (“Convergent Technologies Operating System”), a multiprocess microkernel operating system with support for IPC, networking and netbooting (over RS-422). Among other companies, Burroughs rebadged the IWS as the B22 and called the OS “BTOS” (for Burroughs). Convergent followed the IWS in 1981 with the AWS “Application Workstation,” a cut-down diskless IWS with less sophisticated graphics that Burroughs sold as the B21, and the more powerful Intel 80186-based NGEN in 1983 that could also boot MS-DOS. This was sold by many companies, Burroughs most notably as the B25, but also Prime as the Producer 200 and NCR as the Worksaver 300. In its MS-DOS form Microdata/McDonnell-Douglas sold it with their Pick-based Reality database as the M1000 and Datapoint as the Vista-PC. These systems were notable not only for their power but also their unmistakable boxy modular expansion scheme developed by designer Mike Nuttall. By 1982 Convergent had 800 employees and sales of $96 million (about $313 million in 2024 dollars).
In their continued efforts to anticipate market trends, Convergent started evaluating the portables market in 1982 through its new Advanced Information Products division, then based out of the Great American Technology Center in Santa Clara (their former building at 2441 Mission College Blvd is now occupied by Sutter Health). At that time portables were seen as premium products (compare with the Data General/One) and handheld units even more so due to their novelty. AIP noted in particular the 1982 Epson HX-20’s small totable form factor, long battery life and light weight, as well as built-in microcassette storage, but also its cramped screen and lack of application software. AIP management determined that a purpose-specific series of portable systems with built-in applications could do better and carve out its own unique higher-end market. This strategy seemed to be vindicated by the early 1983 introduction of the Kyotronic 85, a portable Intel 80C85 system with a nearly full-size keyboard, 40-column screen (the same as many home computers and portable PCs), BASIC, simple text editor, and built-in modem and terminal program. Although a slow seller for Kyocera in its native Japan, it was immediately licensed by the Tandy Corporation as the iconic TRS-80 Model 100 in April (as well as, among others, NEC as the NEC PC-8201A, which I once used as my sole computer for a month on Penang Island in Malaysia) and went on to sell strongly in Tandy’s Radio Shack stores. Codenamed “Ultra,” AIP’s proposed handheld line used high-end but largely off-the-shelf technology on a common hardware platform, differing primarily in on-board software, RAM and built-in peripherals.
To Convergent’s dismay, their usual partners were unenthusiastic about the entire concept. Even a high-end model would clearly sell for much less than their workstation systems, necessarily with lower margins and possibly requiring entry into lower-end markets where those companies then had little or no presence. There were also questions about how much money such a system could truly make given its high manufacturing costs and the need to sell in volume, something new for Convergent who had so far produced only smaller quantities of relatively niche hardware. In an abrupt deviation from their usual business model, marketing manager Karen Toland convinced Convergent leadership that consumer sales could still be profitable — that is, if they chose the right consumers. Should they make a splash in the market, she reasoned, the Ultra line could be further expanded, and proposals existed to make a writer-oriented version or a low-end cheaper unit for students.
For launching the line, AIP decided to initially concentrate on a single high-end model. They convened focus groups in New York City, Chicago and locally in San Francisco where sixty management, consultant and executive volunteers talked about their daily tasks and what features they felt would improve them. From these groups the idea emerged of using spreadsheets as the interface for executives who would be unfamiliar with or uninterested in doing their own programming. Although this high-end variant also had a keyboard and could be used for text entry (though not its strong suit), the volunteers also suggested the internal microcassette drive for voice dictation using a built-in microphone (“executives don’t type,” Toland observed), and the device’s built-in 300bps modem could additionally autodial telephone numbers and serve as a speakerphone. The ROM even provided functions to exchange spreadsheet data with another device or a connected mainframe, which we’ll explore. The logic board and accessory PCBs were produced in Japan by Oki Semiconductor using Oki and Hitachi chips, with final assembly States-side. The focus group members got free units off the assembly line in appreciation.
In August 1983 Convergent officially unveiled the WorkSlate at $895 (in 2024 about $2800), initially only through the premium American Express Christmas catalogue, alongside an optional battery-powered “MicroPrinter” for $295 ($910). Nevertheless, Convergent hadn’t long to wait for market partners. New York securities firm EF Hutton had recently announced their Huttonline service providing investment information, account data and E-mail on their IBM mainframe and quickly added the WorkSlate to the pre-configured computers they provided to subscribers, along with their porkier IBM PCs and Wang systems. For $1194 (about $3750) Hutton would send you a WorkSlate and MicroPrinter with Portfolio Analysis software on microcassette and, of course, a monthly bill. By November 1983 the WorkSlate was already in ComputerLand and Businessland retail stores, two months ahead of Convergent’s originally scheduled rollout.
I own two WorkSlates, though neither are in completely working order, and my second unit is in worse physical condition than this one. Both have non-functional microcassette decks, apparently a common problem with this machine, and this “display” unit also seems to have a bad speaker. The other unit has a working speaker but a very dim LCD that needs to “warm up” before use. You’ll meet this second unit soon enough because we’ll be doing some hardware experimentation on it.
The keyboard on the unit is quite unusual, consisting of hard plastic mostly circular keytops that are all but impossible to touchtype on, though this wouldn’t have necessarily been considered a grave fault by an intended audience unlikely to type much anyway. Other than being a QWERTY keyboard, the layout is otherwise totally unique. It has no Enter or Return key, replaced instead by the functionally equivalent Do It; while there is a conventional alphabetic Shift, there is no number row (moved instead to the side numeric keypad), requiring a green Special key for most symbols acting like symbol Shift, Control, Alt and Command all rolled into one. These symbols are silkscreened on the keyboard in green, with other special keys printed in yellow.
Function keys at the top select or enable menus, along with special dedicated keys for Cancel (Escape), Options and selecting a Worksheet on the left of the keyboard, and a cursor diamond pad in the centre (reminds me a bit of the Commodore 116). The numeric keypad is more or less conventional, but has extra mathematical operations, and is also used for more symbols with Special. Finally, there are separate On/Off and Eject buttons, though the Eject button is actually mechanical and not part of the keyboard matrix.
Even the box itself screams 1980s. While hardly Memphis Group, Nuttall’s textured slab motif with its perpendicular contours and distinctive keytops was designed to attract the eye of the Reagan-era executive as something fashionable and trendy instead of staid and nerdy. Yes, this is the kind of computer murderous yuppies like Patrick Bateman might have used to make Dorsia reservations and schedule ordering their business cards. While to my great disappointment it didn’t turn up in that particular movie, it did make several appearances in Airwolf as part of the eponymous hi-tech superchopper’s navigation system:
Now, when’s the last time you saw a spreadsheet do that?
Other controls are a potentiometer dial on the left side of the unit for adjusting LCD contrast and another one on the right for speaker volume, plus 1/8” jacks for connecting a monoaural earphone or external microphone. These route to the tape deck and can only be used for voice recording and playback.
Both of my machines call themselves model WK-100 with the same FCC ID and their serial numbers differ by nearly 2,000, so it seems unlikely there are other variations given the WorkSlate’s short seven-month production run. (However, see my footnote about this when we disassemble one.) Because of a lawsuit that was filed at its cancellation, we know there could have been at most 67,000 WorkSlates that ever existed, and sales data suggests that Convergent sold no more than a few thousand. Only a small number of working systems persist today, of course. More about that at the end.
A tour of the WorkSlate
Let’s take a little tour of the machine. I apologize for the variability of these photographs since it was very hard to get a good straight shot of the screen with no reflections. In particular they don’t do the LCD much justice, which is in reality quite sharp and contrasty for a 1983 panel even though it lacks a backlight.
The display is in the unusual dimensions of 46 characters wide by 16 rows high using 6x8 glyphs. Although the panel is theoretically dot-addressible with a resolution of 276x128, the firmware doesn’t allow for bitmapped graphics. The 46-character width may have been chosen to allow a typical 40 columns in the cell region of the spreadsheet (using the left six columns for the row number, cursor and padding).
The top row of the LCD is reserved as a status line and divided into multiple fields. The leftmost field is the sheet name, which defaults to “ empty ” (spaces are part of the name), and can be no longer than eight characters. The second field shows the contents of the cell, which is naturally blank on a cold start. Following the contents field is the available memory, given as a percentage, which does double duty for the tape counter (where appropriate) and the machine’s progress when doing calculations. The blank field after that is where status icons for the phone appear when enabled, such as ringing, off-hook or on-hold, and the rightmost fields are of course the date and time. If the timer is enabled, a little clock icon appears after the time.
The status line is periodically replaced by flashing announcements, most often “Replace backup batteries” on my units since I don’t have the backup lithium batteries installed. Alarms and error messages appear here as well.
WorkSlate formulas are a curious mix. The general format also descends more or less from Microsoft Multiplan, which to the best of my knowledge was one of the earliest spreadsheets (if not the first) to indicate formulae with an equals sign, and does not mark built-in functions with an @ as VisiCalc did. However, unlike Multiplan which uses R1C1 relative notation for cell references, the WorkSlate uses VisiCalc A1 absolute notation, and also uses VisiCalc’s three-dot operator for ranges (…).
That said, the most notable difference about WorkSlate formulas is that they use “proper” mathematical symbols: division is entered as ÷, not /, and multiplication as ×, not *. There is also a true inequality operator (≠).
Entry of strings and numbers is fairly straightforward, and they can be edited with the cursor diamond and backspace, though entering many common typographical characters requires awkward Special combinations. But editing a newly entered formula can be even more irritating because on initial entry the cursor diamond is used to indicate the cell you want, not to edit the line.
The lines and boxes on the display are generated using the WorkSlate’s simple palette of graphics characters, many of which are accessible from the DRAW option (but it’s possible to access the entire character set — more soon). However, you can’t enter these in the formula the first time around because the available menus aren’t orthogonal; you have to enter a placeholder character and then change it. Some indicator characters cannot be entered directly at all which was likely on purpose to avoid confusion.
There are no other chart types built-in, but we’ll fix that in the second example program.
I said almost because there is a curious bug in that years ending in 00 (2000, 1900, 1800, etc.) cannot be entered as such; they come out as 20, 19, 18, and so forth. Calculations on those dates are similarly affected because the year in memory really is 20, 19, 18, etc. (e.g., x/x/20 + 365 is x/x/21), but if you add 365 to a correctly accepted year like 1899 you still get 1900, so it seems to be a problem with parsing the year on entry rather than the internal representation. This glitch would have become very obvious as the millenium approached but was likely never noticed during the short window in which the WorkSlate was commercially sold and used. More serious bugs are yet to come.
In a (presently) less obnoxious vein, I should note for completeness that the firmware also has a Y9999 problem in that 1/1/9999 plus 365 days ends up 1/1/9900 as shown in A8. If you are reading this document from the year 10,000, may I be the first to congratulate you on keeping your unit running that long and suggest that you simply take years mod 10K for date storage.
The Options key at the lower left brings up the set of main options applicable to most any instance, three pages’ worth cycled through by repeatedly pressing it. You select the desired option with the function keys under the screen or you can just press Cancel. The most important of these options is probably CHANGE, which is actually necessary to do some types of editing versus just changing cells directly on the sheet itself. In this mode the cursor diamond is used for motion and not indicating cells.
Edit operations like cutting, copying and pasting are also done from Options, as is system setup. If you copy a formula to another cell, unless you make the reference absolute with an @, cell references are treated as relative and automatically adjusted for you. Oddly, you can only cut and paste within the sheet you’re in.
The WorkSlate can handle up to five simultaneous worksheets, which exactly maps to one side of a microcassette which can hold up to five worksheets as well. Computer history lore holds that Boeing Calc (yes, that Boeing) was the first spreadsheet to implement tabbed sheets in 1985, but I think this gives Convergent a credible claim to having implemented something like it earlier, even if it wasn’t recognised as such. Only the first two are “standard” (i.e., can represent any sort of spreadsheet). However, each sheet is otherwise independent and the other three by default are reserved for each of the WorkSlate’s “derived types,” the memo pad, phone list and calendar. These are globally available but to conserve space are not actually constructed in memory until the first time you use them. It is possible to overwrite them and recover the sheet slot and any memory they were using, but they will not be available to you again in their default form until you cold-start the unit.
The Memo Pad allows you to dictate to microcassette or type text strings directly into large cells. By default the Memo Pad displays a set of tape control options accessible with the function keys, replacing the available memory percentage with a tape counter. The WorkSlate has full software control of the tape motor and automatically rewinds and stops as appropriate. However, the designers didn’t think the Memo Pad feature through fully because you can’t write both voice and binary data to the same side of a microcassette, even though the Memo Pad will let you record and type simultaneously. As part of the recording process, the WorkSlate writes a small binary header at the beginning of a cassette saying if the tape is voice or data and the firmware will prevent you from mixing the two. Instead, you dictate on one side, then save the text on the other. You can play back the audio through the WorkSlate’s internal speaker or using the side earphone/mic ports.
The Phone List is a simple three-column phone book of which only the first 14 rows are constructed automatically; more can be added by copying empty rows or creating the cells by hand.
Analogously with the Memo Pad, by default the Phone List maps phone options to the function keys such as answering incoming calls on the connected phone line or putting the call on hold, turning on the speakerphone, or opening a terminal connection. The feature that makes the Phone List a “phone list” is the ability to autodial the number in the current cell using the modem. Strictly speaking the dial feature would work from any cell with digits in any worksheet, because the Phone List is “just a spreadsheet” like everything else (see also the Dial() built-in function, which will dial a number), but the Phone List at least made the concept explicit. If you wanted to dial a number manually, it was possible to put the numeric keypad into a “phone” configuration (that’s what that missing overlay was for, since it moves the numbers around).
Finally, the Calendar, which displays date and time options beneath a constructed datebook. Similar to the Phone List, this only builds two weeks of entries starting with the current date and only for 8am to 5pm (oh, how I wish I only had to work 8-5), though you can change the first date in B1 and the others will update, and you can change the hour numbers manually as you like. Simplistically, you could just enter appointments right into the cells and use it as an organizer; the layout as constructed gives you half-hour slots.
But the WorkSlate also has an alarm feature. Let’s say you want to meet Patrick Bateman for, uh, lunch. He doesn’t like it when you’re late. I mean, he’ll kill you for that. Here, your WorkSlate can save your life by reminding you five minutes before. Our lunch is set for 3pm, so we’ll set the reminder for 2:55pm.
You can then add text to the reminder which will appear when the alarm goes off. The WorkSlate will put the text into the current cell, overwriting any previous entry (so you can just set alarms to enter schedule entries if you like; theoretically the number of alarms is limited only by available memory).
What this has actually done is create an unusual formula in that cell. We see our alarm text as a string, but then followed by a function Alarm() with a date and time parameter which is the real trigger. Notice that the alarm time, or date for that matter, doesn’t have to have anything to do with the actual “time cell” you’re using: the Calendar is also all “just a spreadsheet,” so Alarm() works in any cell in any spreadsheet in exactly the same fashion too. Conceivably you could even put an alarm in your phone book, say. The idiom of “adding” (with a plus sign) the string to the alarm function is how the cell’s text contents are set simultaneously with the alarm, which in turn are used as the alarm’s label.
And indeed, true to form, the alarm goes off at 2:55pm (audio beeping and in the status bar), and so we hurry to our lunch at Dorsia and listen to him rant on about Huey Lewis, after which we walk back to our condo safely. Another life saved by the WorkSlate. Bret Easton Ellis missed a literary opportunity here.
The Memo, Phone and Time buttons also pop up those functions apart from their dedicated worksheets, letting you use them in a standard spreadsheet as well. The Finance button affords quick access to simple wizards for things like various methods of depreciation, loan value and payments, and Net Present Value on future receipts given a discount rate. These options are all implemented based on a set of built-in functions and the wizard generates the formulas for you.
What makes these two subprograms (the second to come presently) true desk accessories is that the spreadsheet remains live. While the keyboard is primarily occupied by the Calculator, you can still move around in the spreadsheet with the cursor diamond, and you can still enter and modify cell values by using the CHANGE option (i.e., via the Options key) while the accessory is running.
Okay, you want to see the hardware now. Let’s switch to the “beater” unit, turn it over and crack it open.
Removing the visible screws and taking the back off, the first thing that greets us is a laminated non-conductive copper sheet held on by clips and remnants of battery crud in the main compartment. We can also see the back of the tape motor, the reset pushbutton, and at the bottom the microphone.
We can also see the back of the GPIO port next to the battery compartment, with one of its lines going to the cathode (serving as ground) and two to the anode. This will be important later. No, I don’t know why there’s Scotch tape on the board either except possibly to hold that tiny surface mount component on, so I did not disturb it. The nicer of the two doesn’t have it.
To actually turn the board over and see the electronics requires lifting the mic out of its little hidey-hole (it can stay connected), removing a couple more screws and then carefully worming the cassette door out (eject it first).
The main logic board then can flip over like a book page. The three main PCBs are the LCD, keyboard and logic board, all connected by two relatively robust ribbon cables which you can leave connected for this purpose. We aren’t going to open up the keyboard since I’ve always hated fishing for keycaps.
The LCD display board (“Rev 2”) is all Oki chips. Although each line of the TN LCD pancel is 276 pixels wide, each group of seven MSM5839GS chips at the top and bottom can drive a line of 280 dots (40 dots per chip), four of which are simply not displayed. These chips act as column drivers. The row drivers are the two M5238GS chips in the centre, both being 32-dot common drivers that using both groups of column drivers can each refresh 64 rows of the screen (i.e., 32 times two). With two such chips, one for the top half and one for the bottom half, we have all 128 rows for our observed panel resolution of 276x128. The refresh rate, according to the partial service manual on Bitsavers, is a very stable 69Hz.
The logic board contains everything else including the speaker, ports, microphone, pots, microcassette mechanism and primary electronics. However, its most noticeable feature is the surprising number of bodge wires, which is rather unexpected in a high-end device. There may well have been PCB yield problems — or possibly late-breaking hardware bugs — that required manual rework but it’s notable that the rework itself is so extensive. It’s not clear whether Oki did this at the factory or if it was done on final assembly in the United States. Jeff Birt, who has done a particularly detailed disassembly of the WorkSlate (YouTube video) and looked at several units, told me that no two were alike with different boards and correspondingly different bodges, though both of mine are the C-60-00124-01 version with similar board work.
The primary CPU clock comes from the crystal at X1, a 4.9152MHz oscillator. This is internally divided down by four to yield a nominal internal clock speed of 1.2288MHz, but for power savings reasons the CPU is rarely running full-tilt: besides additional memory-to-memory operations and a register-swap instruction, the 6303 also adds a SLP “sleep” instruction different from the existing 6803 WAI “wait for interrupt.” In sleep mode, the 6303 actually powers down its bus and runs no instructions but keeps the contents of the internal RAM and its registers active and maintains the serial port and timer, running on about one-sixth the wattage, until it is awakened by an interrupt or reset. When otherwise idle the WorkSlate firmware sleeps the CPU between its 10ms keyscan timer interrupts, effectively reducing the average system speed to as low as roughly 125kHz. On top of that, the 6303 can also enter a standby mode where the registers and CPU state are dumped to internal RAM and then the chip halts completely, powering only the internal RAM (the WorkSlate maintains power to the rest of memory and critical components like the gate arrays and real-time clock). When you press On/Off, this runs a ROM routine that saves the CPU state along with a ROM checksum, then signals the tape gate array at U29 (not visible here) to assert the CPU’s standby line and power down. Pressing On/Off to resume will cause the tape gate array to deassert standby and send a reset to the CPU instead. The CPU powers back on and enters its normal reset vector, which looks at the internal RAM to see if the ROM checksum still matches. If it does, then power must have been maintained, and the CPU duly restores the rest of the processor state to resume operation. Otherwise, a cold start occurs. This detail will become relevant when we talk about a particular critical bug in the WorkSlate firmware.
Serial data from the GPIO port, microcassette deck and modem data lines are fed to the on-chip 5-line serial port; the on-chip 8-line parallel port is wired to the modem control and ROM banking lines. Otherwise, except for the on-chip peripheral registers at $0000 and the internal RAM at $0080, all other memory and memory-mapped I/O in its address range is manipulated via the decoder gate array at U13 (with the blue sticker on it). Like most 8-bit CPUs, the 6800 family can access a total address space of 64K. Main memory consists of eight Hitachi HM6116LFP-2 static RAMs in U1 through U8, each containing 2K for a total of 16K. The RAM at U1, however, has a special purpose: 736 bytes of it provide the screen memory as ASCII characters which are then turned into dot data by the LCD controller at U11, a Hitachi HD61830. The HD61830 has built-in character glyphs, but these are only 5x7, so to implement 6x8 glyphs to paint the LCD with no gaps, external character data is provided by a small ROM at U12 next to it. A special decoder gate array mode lets the CPU manipulate the HD61830’s registers directly with its address bus lines. Once initialized, the LCD controller then regularly fetches characters from U1 and uses its external character ROM to generate the pixel stream for the row drivers. All the CPU has to do is change characters in the screen memory as needed and the LCD is automatically refreshed. In addition to the LCD controller, the decoder array can also select RAM, ROM, keyboard, tape gate array functions, DTMF dialer, or the real-time clock.
There is mention in the service manual of a 32K RAM option, though it describes it as “four 16K-bit by eight bit static CMOS RAMs” which would actually be 64K. I’m not aware of any production WorkSlates with more than 16K of RAM, 32K or otherwise.
Other major chips visible here are the HD146818FP real-time clock at U21 that handles the clock, calendar and upcoming alarm based on a 32.768kHz crystal at X2, the Mostek MK5089N DTMF touch-tone dialer at U22 with its 3.579545MHz crystal at X3 (using the NatSemi MM74C374N octal latch at U23), and the 300bps modem-on-a-chip Motorola MC14412 at U24 with its own 4.0MHz crystal at X4.
The two system ROMs are at U16 and U15, both 32K Hitachi 23256 equivalents. Their date codes indicate second week 1984, which was well into the WorkSlate’s brief commercial lifespan and makes them likely the last, if not only, production ROM revision that exists. The decoder array banks the appropriate ROM into $8000-$ffff as specified by lines on the CPU parallel port (so as currently configured the machine can support no more than 32K of RAM, even if more were physically present). Pads for a third ROM are at U14 nearby which would likely have been used in one of the other Ultra models, and the decoder array already has support for banking this ROM in too should one be installed. If one of my units quits completely, my next task will be to desolder and dump these ROMs, since I’m not aware of any copy of any version of them anywhere.
The cassette mechanism is a miracle of early 1980s miniaturization which also makes it a nightmare to work on, especially since tape drive issues appear to be the most common defect in surviving WorkSlates and the microcassette failures on my two systems are different. The “nice” unit has a stuck tape head that will neither reliably retract nor extend, making reading tapes vary between unreliable and impossible. Jeff’s video series I linked previously examines a similarly failed unit which he determined was due to a small pin that fractured and prevented the actuator from moving the head properly. This failure has the side effect of preventing you from pressing the eject button and locking the cassette door closed unless you can pry it up or push down the head. Unfortunately his repair required rebuilding this tiny pin in his shop, something non-trivial for an idiot like me who has to make sure he doesn’t solder his own fool fingers together. This “beater” unit, on the other hand, simply won’t spin the reels at all. It’s possible that both its motor and head are bad.
However, the Loan Analysis tape is all data, with an effective baud rate (as with all WorkSlate data tapes) at a fixed 2400bps, 8N1 — exactly like serial data, complete with start and stop bits. The trick is converting it from its frequency modulation encoding (yes, the same as the early floppy format, unlike other cassettes that use another digital format or analogue encodings like FSK) to regular bits; FM is designed to allow clock recovery despite jitter, but there seems to be more of it on a tape than there is on floppy media, and the real unit has a voltage-controlled oscillator at U19 to compensate which locks the speed of the tape gate array’s decoder to the true speed of the tape. It should still be possible to decode this and other Taskware cassettes from an audio recording with some manual work, though that by itself doesn’t help us with actually getting data in and out. Some people have figured out tricks like whistling into the speakerphone with a modem but that limits you to 300 baud.
The MicroPrinter and the GPIO port
Fortunately there’s an even better way of exchanging data with the unit or this whole article might not have been possible. Interestingly enough, that way starts with the MicroPrinter.
The MicroPrinter was the first of two peripherals produced for the WorkSlate and the only one available at launch; the second, the $195 ($600 in 2024 dollars) CommPort, was a combination serial-parallel port device that was not available until January 1984, and is comparatively rare. The CommPort was the only supported means for using a conventional parallel printer. That said, even though this entry will use serial access heavily, we don’t actually need the CommPort to communicate with the WorkSlate — or even the modem to do so, for that matter, though I’m getting ahead of myself.
The MicroPrinter is in fact a small portable plotter that uses four coloured pens to draw on a 4.5” (11.5cm) paper roll. (Plotter dweebs will have already guessed what’s under the hood just from that description but please don’t spoil the disassembly for everyone else.) It defaults to a 40 column width line, exactly what the WorkSlate would display in the content area, but can also draw text in a “compressed” form for a full 80 characters or render spreadsheets sideways with up to 24 or 48 rows. The colour settings in the WorkSlate only apply to the MicroPrinter; the margin and paper settings only apply to a connected parallel printer.
Only one peripheral can be attached to the port at a time, likely because of the limited power budget. That makes our task simpler because we don’t have to worry about daisy-chaining. One thing I noticed with the WorkSlate propped up is that the profile of the main unit and the printer both match, another nice Nuttall touch.
I only have one example of the printer. It identifies itself as a model WP-100.
As before a laminated copper sheet covers the rear of the main circuit board, but the plotter mechanism is instantly recognizeable as an Alps DPG-1302. This was used in a huge number of contemporary printer-plotters and is best known in the Atari 1020 and Commodore 1520, but also appeared in the Texas Instruments HX-1000, Tandy Radio Shack CGP-115, Mattel Aquarius 4615 and Astor MCP-40, rebadged by Oric and (though unreleased) Tomy, among many others. The factory nylon gears in this mech are notorious for stripping (replacements existjj) and the pens are long dried out, though we’re not here to print on it today.
However, there is a second processor in the MicroPrinter, arguably making it more powerful than the computer it’s connected to. The HD44860 next to it is a little 4-bit microcontroller with its own 128 bytes (as 256 nybbles) of RAM and 4 kiloword ROM using 10-bit instructions (hello, decle!), plus a timer/counter, on-chip oscillator, 44 lines of GPIO and two interrupts. Unlike the 6800, the 44860 is a strict Harvard architecture CPU. All but one instruction run in a single 5 microsecond machine cycle for an effective clock speed of 200kHz. Not unlike other 4-bit CPUs we’ve seen, the program counter treats the ROM as two banks of 32 pages each containing 64 words, and program execution stays in the same page until changed with a long jump. To make it wackier, though, the lowest six bits of the program counter are actually an infinitely repeating polynomial sequence, so subsequent instructions are not contiguous in ROM (and you thought COMP-X was weird).
After following some of the traces, my guess is the 44860 is responsible for directly driving the mechanism. The 6301 acts as the master, receiving instructions and data from the WorkSlate on the peripheral bus and sending commands to the 44860, which controls putting pen(s) to paper. (Jeff Birt disassembled a CommPort and showed that it actually has two 6301s in it, so it’s even more powerful than the printer. They both run at 1.2288MHz also. Convergent’s hardware designers must have found a special on 4.9152MHz crystals.)
However, if the MicroPrinter is connected to the GPIO peripheral port, the Terminal instead ignores the modem and sends data directly to the printer. That gives us an opportunity: if we can act like a MicroPrinter and do whatever dance it does with the WorkSlate, we can trigger the Terminal through the GPIO peripheral port and send and receive data directly — without a CommPort. Encouragingly, the partial technical description describes the data as serial 9600bps TTL, 8N1. That’s just a UART. Anything can talk to that!
There’s one problem, though:
It’s that rotten coiled cable. It’s 8P8C, but in the same dimensions as a 6P4C RJ-11 telephone jack.
I dithered over shaving down an Ethernet cable to make it fit, and actually tried doing that with some files for a couple hours, though I eventually abandoned the idea because I was worried the two sides wouldn’t come out even (and my arms were tired). A tip of the hat here to Lamar Owen on classiccmp who suggested one of the narrow “universal modular” connectors sold by Sandman (not affiliated, just satisfied). I made an order with them and we’ll talk more about that in a second.
Connecting the coiled cable to a tester showed that it was wired straight-thru except for pins 4 and 5, which are swapped. This sounded suspiciously like a null modem swapping receive and transmit lines. We saw by the board traces where the GPIO port receives power and ground, so on the back end of the “beater” GPIO port connector I soldered jumpers to ground and pins 4 and 5, and a couple of the others that weren’t obviously connected to the power rails. (Spoiler: at the end of this section we’ll have an easier way of hooking up devices without having to modify the unit, so don’t worry — you won’t have to crack your WorkSlate open to use the example programs.)
However, we also know that the GPIO port is not always connected to the 6303’s 5-pin serial port because the tape gate array can hook up other sources. Walking the traces with the 6303 data sheet, we can see some processor lines get brought out to a header at the top of the board. I soldered a couple more jumpers to the data lines for the 5-line serial port just to see what those were doing.
After fiddling with various permutations I was able to monitor serial data going back and forth, and those demonstrate the WorkSlate can ask an external device to identify itself in a completely old-school standard way. With picocom in partial hex mode (picocom -b9600 –imap tabhex,crhex,spchex /path/to/your/serial/port), upon starting the Terminal the WorkSlate sends an XON (ASCII 17, ^Q) followed by an ENQ (ASCII 5, ^E) out the GPIO port, which is the standard transmission control character to command a remote station to send its answerback string. The 6301 in the MicroPrinter responds with
1 MicroPrinter.
followed by a CR-LF. This is an interesting string to receive because the number suggests multiple printers could have been connected, either giving a total number of devices or saying what their “device numbers” were.
I don’t have a CommPort to figure out how that would have acted, but after some experimentation I determined all the WorkSlate is looking for is a single line feed character — if you send that in response, and quickly since it only seems to wait about three seconds before reporting an error message, the Terminal opens. Likewise, if you were wondering if a connected device can command the WorkSlate to identify itself, it can, and the WorkSlate responds even if the Terminal isn’t running. Send an ENQ character yourself to the WorkSlate (Control-E) and it will answer with
Workslate
plus a CR-LF. Very logical. In fact, this is exactly how you can connect two WorkSlates together directly with the GPIO port, since they will both respond to the other’s ENQuiry, and they will even share power. It doesn’t seem like any of the other GPIO lines are used (other than power), so everything is in-band signaling with all the advantages and disadvantages that implies.
Parenthetically, the design of this particular banjo is such that it can be connected in series and used to tap the connection between two devices on either end. We’ve already found out what we needed to know without doing that, but this trick could be useful to you for something else.
The universal modular cable was the right width but it still didn’t fit. The reason is that there’s also a little key divot we have to carve out. (The outcropping next to it is there to prevent the coiled cable from being put in anything but a WorkSlate-family device, but it isn’t needed to get the banjo’s cable to mate.)
I put the cable in the vise in the workshop and, carefully with a Dremel rotary tool at medium RPM, took a couple swipes off that side of the modular connector. Now it fits!
We can demonstrate that the connection is good by looking for the 6 volt line we know is present from what we saw with the logic board. Six volts is not TTL, so a line with 6V on it can only be the power rail. It didn’t take me long to find ground on pin 1 and a strong 6V on pin 2. To ensure we don’t fry anything we’ll leave that completely unconnected. Pin 8 also appears to be connected to the power rail (more than 5V), though at a lower voltage.
With alligator clip jumpers on and consulting my notes from the test connections, I ran pin 1 to ground, pin 4 to receive (RXD) and pin 5 to transmit (TXD) on my 5V USB-TTL adapter.
Spreadsheet storage and operations, or, Turing completeness is overrated
I commented in the introduction that the worst thing a spreadsheet on a 8-bit CPU could be is Turing-complete, because being Turing-complete implies the possibility of unbounded loops. (We’re going to ignore macro facilities for this discussion and most 8-bit spreadsheets didn’t have them anyway.) Even if your software were properly coded with a means to halt a potentially infinite cascade of computations, it could make your hard work all but unusable especially if the spreadsheet formulas were highly complex.
The most common way this happens in a spreadsheet is with circular references, where one cell’s calculated result depends on the calculated result of another cell which depends on the result of the first one. VisiCalc infamously had a strict left to right and top to bottom evaluation order which could cause aggravating errors if there were interdependent references. For at least a couple years the only spreadsheet that could correctly resolve them was Sorcim’s CP/M VisiCalc clone SuperCalc. Former product manager Wally Feigenson posits this example which also did not compute correctly in contemporary versions of Lotus 1-2-3: given a particular dollar amount of gross sales (he used $100 as an example), calculate your cost of sales as a percentage (example, 60%) and calculate your gross profit (gross sales minus cost of sales), and then calculate your profit sharing as a percentage of net profits (example, 10%) and your net profits as your gross profit minus the profit sharing.
That last part is an obvious circular reference but is nevertheless a plausible business calculation. On paper you’d end up doing the numbers twice to resolve the problem, and that’s what SuperCalc did. Though Feigenson cites this example to show off the new “iterative calculation” feature in SuperCalc 3, his example works just fine in SuperCalc2 for MS-DOS:
Microsoft Multiplan had its own solution to this problem. Its evaluation scheme builds a chain of dependencies and works down the list (“compute-until-done”). If the process started hitting the same cells again, it would conclude a loop was present and abort with an error message. However, it could optionally run in an “iterative” mode where effectively the loop limit was removed and it ran until the values “stabilized” (defined as an absolute sum of changes between runs of less than 0.001). You could even create a custom test condition for termination, which could include a different delta value of its own or a cap on the total number of iterations. This mode was very useful for mathematical operations in particular (Newton-Raphson comes to mind) but also allowed the possibility that a run could go infinitely. Likely because of the pitfalls this could pose to an incautious user Microsoft chose to remove iterative calculations for Excel and did not reimplement it for almost a decade.
As the WorkSlate’s strongest influence was Multiplan, it adopts the same “compute-until-done” strategy, but with a twist. It will detect and report a circular reference after the first run, yet it will allow processing to continue for a fixed three iterations before terminating. Consider this spreadsheet with A1 being =B1+1 and B1 being =A1+1:
Regardless, this means that Feigenson’s example will also work on Multiplan (if iterative calculation is enabled), and by extension on the WorkSlate:
The point of all this is to say that our WorkSlate programming endeavours can’t depend on any computation where the number of necessary iterations is unknown (and therefore potentially unlimited). On the WorkSlate, this is a good thing. If you’ve ever worked for a clueless executive, you know they will ask the impossible of you, and they will ask the impossible of their toys too (but I repeat myself). It is entirely plausible that someone got themselves in trouble during testing with this and it would have had obvious impacts on battery life and responsiveness. Because the WorkSlate was never meant to run arbitrary programs, even though it makes this article more complicated and there will be many computational operations we simply can’t express in its spreadsheet’s terms, these limits are absolutely okay.
With that introduction, next we should figure out how worksheets are sent and received so we can start writing our own in a more efficient manner. Along with hanging up, pausing a transfer and the irrelevant-to-us option for talking over the phone line we’re not using, the Terminal has options for exchanging data (Send and Receive). Let’s take the silly little spreadsheet we have onscreen and send it to the computer I’m typing this on.
^R^R^Q\S C2 A1 A3 A E c[space] \M 202 \N " empty " \W 13 9+2[space] A1-"Allen" B1-"Loves" C1-"Cigars" A2-1 B2-2 C2-3 ^C^Q
The control sequences are two DC2 (ASCII 18, ^R) characters, which on TTYs would turn on the tape punch to start receiving data (again, very logical), followed by an XON (ASCII 17, ^Q), and then the spreadsheet data. At the end it sends an End-of-Text ETX (ASCII 3, ^C) character — and here you thought ^C just meant “break” — and another XON, ending the transmission. Sheet data always consists of the first four lines in order (), followed by rows and columns going left to right and top to bottom, though it will accept them unsorted. After some fuzzing and experiments, here’s what I think everything means.
The line is quite obviously the name of the sheet, demarcated by quote marks. It is always eight characters and padded with spaces.
The line describes the maximal dimensions of the sheet (here going from A1 to C2) with the cursor to be placed in A3. Notice that the cursor position does not need to be within the bounding coordinates. In fact, other than the cursor position itself, the WorkSlate doesn’t appear to make use of these values on receiveback and will freely put subsequent cell data outside of the stated dimensions. Similarly, the last three characters (we’ll call them “flags”) don’t appear to do anything either. For a typical generic sheet they are usually rendered A E c, in that order and with that capitalization. However, the Memo Pad and Phone List, should you send those, are marked with a e c, and the Calendar is marked with a E c. The only pattern I’ve found is that sheets where events may be present are tagged with a capital E, and sheets with alternate cell alignments are tagged with a lowercase a. Likely these were hints about what types of features the sheet uses, maybe as a way to reduce power further by turning off unneeded interrupts or chips, but since you can use pretty much any built-in formula feature in any sheet, they don’t appear to actually gate any particular attribute. If you alter the flags in a sheet and send it back to the WorkSlate, it will preserve their values but the sheet still apparently acts the same. For our code we will still set the bounding box correctly and use the most common A E c flags on the off chance they’re salient, somewhere.
The line describes column width, out to the maximum column given by . The default layout, used here, makes column A 13 characters wide and everything else 9. (This default is also used for any cell outside the bounding box where the width isn’t specified, by the way.) As a little bit of compression repeated values are designated with +d, so 13 9+2 indicates the sheet consists of one column of 13 characters (A) followed by two columns of 9 characters (B, C).
Special attributes like overlap and justification are not part of the header lines; since they’re specific to an individual cell, they’re appended to each cell entry after a space. The codes are, sensibly, “D”ecimal, “L”eft, “R”ight, “W”hole and “O”verlap. An interesting thing about overlap is that while the large cell is emitted with “O”, the cells it overlaps are emitted also, just blank and empty.
Finally, the line is how many bytes the spreadsheet is expected to take in memory. Interestingly, the only use the firmware seems to make of this value is deciding whether to even attempt to load the sheet — if it’s bigger than available memory, then the WorkSlate will immediately abort. Even if you make this value zero, which surprisingly it will accept, it will still abort reception if the sheet ends up exceeding available memory or the 128x128 maximum anyway, so you can’t use such a trick to stomp on anything interesting (darn). This behaviour is nevertheless useful to us because it means we don’t really need to sweat getting the value exactly right as long as we provide an acceptable one, though as a practical measure we’ll still try to provide a proper estimate in our examples. Interestingly, you might think that you could have a value up to 16384 here (i.e., 16 kilobytes) and you would be wrong: remember that 736 bytes are required for the screen memory minus various work areas minus table attributes minus the 128 bytes built into the 6303. Experimentally I determined the largest value you can have for is 12868 bytes, and that only for a completely clean, empty system.
Memory usage for strings and numbers (and date and time values, which are emitted in their display form but stored as numbers) is straightforward to estimate. Every sheet starts at 144 bytes in size, plus 2 bytes for every cell in the bounding box. The bounding box here is 2 rows by 3 columns for six cells, so 12 bytes. Each number value takes up eight bytes (presumably a tag byte followed by the floating point value, see below for why the value itself appears to be seven bytes), and each string value is two bytes plus one byte for each character. If we tally this all up for the example, we get 144 + 12 + (2 + 5) + (2 + 5) + (2 + 6) + 8 + 8 + 8 = 202 bytes, the reported value.
Incidentally, if you put a quote mark inside a quoted string, it just gets sent inside the quoted string unescaped. The WorkSlate will figure it out.
Formulas are a little trickier. Let’s look again at the WorkSlate version of Wally Feigenson’s 1-2-3 torture test. I’ve removed the control characters and terminal spaces for didactic purposes but they are still present in the same positions.
\S B5 A1 B4 A E c \M 299 \N " empty " \W 15 9 A1-"Sales" B1-100 A2-"Cost of Sales" B2=.6~$~B1 A3-"Gross Profit" B3=B1-B2 A4-"Profit Sharing" B4=.1~$~B5 A5-"Net Profits" B5=B3-B4
What’s with the tildes? They’re how the WorkSlate’s extended character set is implemented: paired tildes act like escape/de-escape sequences, where characters between them are interpreted as symbols. Consider this constructed sheet (I’ll get to how I actually got it in the system in a second), where we escape all seven-bit printable ASCII characters in turn:
\S A3 A1 A1 A E c
\M 0
\N "CharSet "
\W 40
A1-"~ !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?~"
A2-"~@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_~"
A3-"~`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~~"
Uploaded to the WorkSlate, it renders like this:
I haven’t worked out all the pieces yet for formulas, but we can get close. This is a 10-cell spreadsheet (A1 to B5), so we start out with 144 + 20 = 164 bytes baseline usage. We add (2 + 5) + 8 + (2 + 13) + (2 + 12) + (2 + 14) + (2 + 10) = 236 bytes for all the strings and the single number in B1. To save memory and speed execution time, formulas are stored tokenized. My current theory is that each formula appears to have a minimum usage of 8 bytes, plus 7 bytes for every number and 2 bytes for every cell reference, and then one additional byte for every token (built-in functions, parentheses, operators, etc.). That means B3 and B5 are 8 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 13 bytes each and B2 and B4 are 8 + 7 + 1 + 2 = 18 bytes each. 236 + 18 + 13 + 18 + 13 = … uh, 298 bytes. I’m not sure where the extra byte went. Fortunately the exact memory value doesn’t really matter for what we’re doing here as long as we give the machine something it can parse as a positive integer, with a sufficient fudge factor so it doesn’t waste time loading something obviously too big.
We can use picocom to directly receive to a file by adding something like –receive-cmd “ascii-xfr -rnv”, which will show progress, prevent line feeds from being mucked with and capture all the control characters for faithful transmission back. However, to get the receive operation to terminate, you’ll need to manually send a ^Z from the Terminal which you can do by pressing Special-C, releasing them, then Z. Doing so doesn’t cause any problems because ^Z will never be part of a spreadsheet transmission. Special-C works the same for all other control characters.
This format is completely different from Microsoft Multiplan’s, by the way, which is pretty clear evidence that while the WorkSlate was (strongly, in some cases) influenced by Multiplan it is definitely not descended from it. In particular, it bears almost no similarity to Multiplan’s SYLK format, and cannot read a sheet rendered as such.
At 9600bps, though, it’s a problem. It was a problem for the Canon Cat to receive and reliably process every character into the document as it arrived at that speed, and the Cat is a 5MHz 68000, so a 1.2288MHz 6800 (even an enhanced one) has no chance whatsoever because there’s no ACIA or UART and everything here is bitbanged. On top of that, since there is no hardware flow control in the WorkSlate and XON/XOFF signalling is in-band, the buffering we take for granted with modern serial interfaces is really going to ruin your day. Usually by the time my code saw the XOFF, the WorkSlate was already dropping characters and the receive would fail for all but the most trivial transmissions. (I should note that the CommPort does have hardware flow control, but it does it in “software” — i.e., one of its 6301s is dedicated to the task and bitbangs the flow control lines; there’s no UART or ACIA inside it either. What’s less clear about the CommPort is whether it squeezes everything else into those two GPIO serial lines.)
With the Canon Cat, we solved this with a custom file sender tool that introduces an intercharacter or intercharactergroup (?) delay. We can use that here too and we’ll use a variation of it later on, but ascii-xfr has a similar delay option, so we might as well just use that for consistency with picocom. After lots of fiddling, the fastest reliable transmission rate seems to be with a 3 millisecond intercharacter delay; counting start and stop bits (it’s 8N1), we get about 1.042 milliseconds per character at 9600bps, increasing latency to 4.042 milliseconds per character for an effective speed of 2474bps. Why not just transmit at 2400bps? Because the internal serial port expects 9600bps, and that can’t be changed, so there.
Other than overruns, there are two minor bugs when sending sheets to the WorkSlate. The first is that it doesn’t seem to correctly display the new name of the sheet when receiving it (i.e., the field), even though the new name appears correctly after the transmission successfully completes. The other one, to be relevant to the third program example, is that upon its selection in the Terminal the receive option sends two DC4 characters (ASCII 20, ^T) and then waits for you to select the destination sheet. DC4 historically would signal teletypes to turn on the punch tape reader, so again this is a logical signal byte to send. However, while in theory this should alert the remote system to have a sheet ready to go, in practice you have no idea when the transfer will actually begin because the user could take any amount of time deciding where to put the received data. Even more strangely, if the remote side sends DC2 DC2 like the start of a spreadsheet while the Terminal is active, the Terminal will automatically interpret this as a Receive request and immediately ask you to select the destination sheet, but it will not send DC4 DC4 in response. That oversight seems like a bug, though admittedly another one most people wouldn’t have cared about at the time. I’m just not “most people.”
Nevertheless, with all that in mind, our command line for the next couple examples will be picocom -b9600 /path/to/your/serial/port –send-cmd “ascii-xfr -snv -c3” –receive-cmd “ascii-xfr -rnv” and you can adjust that for your own terminal program such as minicom, etc.
Let’s bring on the programs. Everything here is in this Github project and the WorkSlate WorkSpace.
Hack No. 1: Rock, Paper, Scissors
We did Rock Paper Scissors for COMP-X, the first game I know of written for the Tandy Pocket Computer PC-5/6 Assembler mode, so on this occasion of what I believe to be the first game for WorkSlate we’ll do the same. So that you could potentially play this while the Calculator or Terminal are open, I made it just four rows high and best out of three.
To make our programming tasks a little easier we’re going to write a simple one-pass “cross-assembler” (a pre-processor, really) that will take a soup of cells, organize them and then emit the proper headers and control characters. It will also let us comment and annotate. As usual, the “WorkSlate Spreadsheet Crossassembler” (henceforth WSSC) is written in Perl primarily to annoy people. Pass it an assembler source file as an argument or on standard input and it will emit the ready-to-upload sheet on standard output. It accepts cells written in the same way we’ve seen above, but cell width can be optionally added to any cell with a dot (like B1.13-“hello world”). The cross-assembler will keep track of what cells were what width and emit the proper header (or stop with an error if there are inconsistencies, since width is per column). You can attach attributes like justification or number format to a cell in the same way we saw above (e.g., a space followed by R for right justification). Pseudo-ops manage starting cell, default column widths and worksheet name, and lines can be commented out by starting them with #.
There is no documentation out there anywhere on the WorkSlate’s unusual set of built-in functions other than the infrequently encountered (and maddeningly incomplete) Reference Guide, so I’ve taken it upon myself to create the WorkSlate WorkSpace as a supplemental resource. You can refer to it for more details on some of the functions we’ll use here and in the next two hacks.
This and the next hack will depend, completely in the second hack’s case, on the If() conditional function. This function is almost exactly the same as in Multiplan, and even modern Excel: given three parameters, it returns the second parameter if the first is true, or the third parameter if it’s false. Also like Multiplan, you can combine a list of conditions with And() and Or(), invert them with Not(), and chain If()s together by using another If() as one of the arguments. Note, however, that the WorkSlate uses plain tokens True and False instead of Multiplan’s functions True() and False().
The WorkSlate also has Multiplan’s same limitation on string comparisons: there are none. This is very clear in Multiplan’s documentation but not in the WorkSlate’s. In particular, we can’t do moves in this game by entering Rock, Paper, Scissors, or even the letters R, P, and S, because while If(A1=“P”,“Paper”,“Not Paper”) doesn’t result in an error (and I do consider that a bug), it doesn’t ever evaluate as true. Comparing ASCII values doesn’t work either, for that matter, so the moves you will enter must be numeric.
Since this is a Turing-incomplete spreadsheet, it can’t “wait” for your answer because that would be an unbounded loop, but part of the game is to reveal the computer’s move only after you do and we want (at least to make it look like) it’s doing it one at a time. The IsNA() function tests if the cell is not a number (“NA” is short for “not available for calculation”), which also evaluates to true for blank cells, so if our moves are in column A and the computer’s are in column B, we’ll have B1 be B1=If(IsNA(A1),““,F4) to wait for a valid number in A1 before revealing our computed move from F4.
Computing the winner ran into another problem. The numbers are set so that higher numbers beat lower numbers, but paper covers rock, so we check for that specifically. On each turn the player gets a score of 1 for winning, 0 for a tie or -1 for losing. Unfortunately, a perfectly reasonable single-cell formula for this like C1=If(IsNA(A1),““,If(And(A1=0,B1=2),1,If(And(A1=2,B1=0),-1,If(A1>B1,1,If(B1>A1,-1,0))))) is too big for the WorkSlate, even though it fits in 128 characters. The limit on formula length, again experimentally determined, seems to be about 108 characters. Instead, we calculate the second set of conditions (which one is greater) in off-screen column I and do the check for paper-rock in column C, using the value in I if not.
Nothing prevents you from entering bogus values or playing in the wrong column or playing out of order, because we don’t control the interface. Winners don’t cheat (or do drugs, for that matter). If you don’t want to play nice, then the only person you’re hurting is yourself. You don’t want to hurt yourself, do you?
Here’s a video. The WSSC source is in Github, with a ready-to-upload sheet. We demonstrate a full game from start to finish, ending in clearing column A as a player would. Notice the recalculation progress indicator in the status row when we enter our moves, showing the number of cells yet to be evaluated counting down as computations complete.
Hack No. 2: Pie Charts on the WorkSlate
Remember those bar charts I showed you way, way back at the beginning? Good times, but they aren’t enough. If we’re going to have business cards with watermarks, then by golly we’ll have to have better charts here in the 1980s office or heads will roll. Literally, perhaps. Plus, would Stringfellow Hawke put up with this from his nav computer?
What I really wanted to do here was figure out a means of primitive graphics. The firmware does not support treating the screen as a bitmap, so everything would need to be character cells. If we set up a matrix where every column in the, cough, “frame buffer” is one, gurgle, “pixel” (the rows are already), then by assigning a formula to every single cell we can draw something at the highest, urgh, “resolution” the WorkSlate firmware will permit. That’s not outrageous, or at least not by my standards of outrage.
Still, you should have already guessed the pitfall here: memory usage. My first attempt was to draw a Mandelbrot set off a set of coordinates. The typical algorithm requires you to iterate on each pixel until you can decide if it’s actually in the set or not, or you’ve exceeded an upper bound on number of times through the loop. Pixels that are not part of the set typically get a colour based on how many runs it took to figure that out, but the set itself is black, so it can be drawn in monochrome. Experimentally it took at least six iterations to yield something that looked like the set should look on a screen this blocky, and much below 14x10 (yes, really) it became unrecognizeable, so that was the lower bound on detail.
By also reducing the, er, “colour depth” (i.e., the extent of our graphics character palette) we didn’t need to save the result of every computation and it was possible to collapse the six iterations into a collective double iteration, a test, a triple iteration and then a second test. I modeled this in Perl and got a (barely) credible result:
......8.. ......88... ......88888.. ...88888888.. ..888888888.. 888888888888.. ..888888888.. ...88888888.. ......88888.. ......88...
So I wrote a script to spit out all the formulas as WSSC source. Unfortunately, this reduction still generated huge formulas for every displayed cell, and since we have limits on formula length, it ended up soaking up nine off-screen cells for each of the 140 on-screen “pixels” (A1, A2, B15 and B16 contain part of the coordinates and some pre-calculated ratios):
D51=A1+(B15~$~2) D52=A2+(B16~$~5) D53=((((((D51~$~D51)-(D52~$~D52))+D51)~$~(((D51~$~D51)-(D52~$~D52))+D51))-((2~$~D51~$~D52+D52)~$~(2~$~D51~$~D52+D52)))+D51) D54=(2~$~(((D51~$~D51)-(D52~$~D52))+D51)~$~(2~$~D51~$~D52+D52)+D52) D55=((((D51~$~D51)-(D52~$~D52))+D51)~$~(((D51~$~D51)-(D52~$~D52))+D51))+((2~$~D51~$~D52+D52)~$~(2~$~D51~$~D52+D52)) D56=((2~$~D53~$~D54+D52)~$~(2~$~D53~$~D54+D52))+D51 D57=((((D53~$~D53)-(D54~$~D54))+D51)~$~(((D53~$~D53)-(D54~$~D54))+D51))-D56 D58=(2~$~(((D53~$~D53)-(D54~$~D54))+D51)~$~(2~$~D53~$~D54+D52)+D52) D59=(((((D57~$~D57)-(D58~$~D58))+D51)~$~(((D57~$~D57)-(D58~$~D58))+D51))+((2~$~D57~$~D58+D52)~$~(2~$~D57~$~D58+D52)))
Notice that this doesn’t include actually setting the pixel itself — this is just the computations to determine what the pixel should be. Incredibly some tests with a couple runs of pixel math all parsed but when I tried to load the whole thing the WorkSlate completely ran out of memory about halfway through. Given we were already scraping the bottom in terms of rendering quality, that was the end of that.
But the idea was sound, so I thought about something else we could implement where the necessary math for each pixel could be lighter. And what would be more appropriate for a spreadsheet machine than another graphing option? Enter … the WorkSlate Pie Chart!
For simplicity we will assume a spherical cow simple two-value
pie where they sum to 100% (viz., the percentage that is and isn’t
Pac-Man), so we can just work with a single value. Here, a percentage
will be most convenient. The portion of the pie that should be painted
can be made up of a sufficient number of lines emanating from the centre
of the circle to touch the given percentage of the circumference. For
example, if we provide the value 47%, then we will start at a point on
the circumference of the pie chart and travel an arc covering 47% of
that circumference, drawing radii to every point we reach and moving
along the circumference at intervals sufficient to ensure painting all
the pixels in the sector covered by that arc.
I wrote a script that does exactly this for every integer percentage between 1 and 100 with an adjustable radius, plotting a disc with its center at (radius, radius) so that we aren’t dealing with negative coordinates. Arbitrarily we’ll start the walk at (2r, r) and move clockwise. For each percentage value, we use a simple Bresenham’s line algorithm to draw a virtual line and examine each of the cells it would pass through. What we want is to record the lowest percentage value that cell would be painted for. If subsequent lines touch that cell but it would already have been painted by an earlier value, we don’t change it. At the end it spits out WSSC source that we can assemble.
A radius of six turned out to be a nice value and with rounding on cells this large yielded a 13x13 pie with an actual radius of about 6.6667, about as big as could reasonably fit onscreen anyway. Each pixel formula ended up looking like this (WSSC source):
C5.1=If(IsNA(A1),"",If(A1>=55,"~:~","~?~")) C6.1=If(IsNA(A1),"",If(A1>=52,"~:~","~?~")) C7.1=If(IsNA(A1),"",If(A1>=49,"~:~","~?~")) C8.1=If(IsNA(A1),"",If(A1>=46,"~:~","~?~")) C9.1=If(IsNA(A1),"",If(A1>=44,"~:~","~?~")) D10.1=If(IsNA(A1),"",If(A1>=41,"~:~","~?~")) D11.1=If(IsNA(A1),"",If(A1>=39,"~:~","~?~")) D3.1=If(IsNA(A1),"",If(A1>=60,"~:~","~?~"))
Our percentage value is in A1. If it’s not set, we display no pixel at all. If it is, then if it’s over that cell’s lowest critical value we display a filled cell and a non-filled cell otherwise (using tilde escapes). Because we only emit formulas for cells that could be part of a 100% pie, we don’t waste any memory defining cells outside the disc. There are no other built-in functions involved — it’s all If().
I also want to point out that on this totally clean machine with nothing else in RAM but the pie chart sheet, we’re already using 51% of its free memory!
And here’s a video. The Perl generator is in Github, with ready-to-assemble WSSC source and a ready-to-upload sheet for radius “six” as displayed. We test 1%, 2%, 10%, 47%, 82%, 100%, 9999999999% and -3%.
Every time the pie is recalculated, you’ll notice that the progress indicator always starts at 138. That’s because there are exactly 138 cells in the circle, which is its precise on-screen area after rounding:
% perl -e 'print ((355/113)*((20/3)*(20/3)));print"\n"' # that is, (pi)r^2
139.626352015733
% grep -c -F 'If(' pie6.ws
138
And, indeed, every possible pixel is recomputed every time the percentage value is changed, a very direct measurement of the disc’s area. QED.
Hack No. 3: The WorkSlate Surfs Gopherspace
I promised you bugs, and now you shall have bugs. Bugs you must live with. Bugs that make Naked Lunch look like Snoopy with writer’s block. I’m not kidding, either: the bugs we’ve encountered up to this point were annoying, and some seemed just plain sloppy, but all of them were correctable or could be worked around. The bugs in this section, however, can cause data loss or even make the WorkSlate crash so hard it will think it lost power. The worst part is I can’t find anything exploitable about them, so for the misery they cause they give us nothing in return.
In the slavering bestiary that is the WorkSlate’s built-in functions inventory (again, see the WorkSlate WorkSpace for more detail), we’ve seen unusual functions like primitive bar graphers and phone dialers and alarm setters. But recall that Convergent was unusually sensitive to where the market was going because the products they were developing for their partners had to be relevant when they finally hit retail. The new age of the microcomputer inspired wild feats of fantasy about a pervasively connected future where we might read completely virtual articles on computer screens, transmitted on wires and hosted on distant servers (ha, like that would ever happen). An exec who could afford a WorkSlate probably also had enough dough, or worked for a corporation with enough dough, to have an account on a service like The Source or CompuServe, and these were the very people Convergent was trying to entice.
To that end Convergent added a whole class of built-in functions that handle serial communications. Among other things, you could set up a series of spreadsheet cells that dialed an external computer, sent credentials, waited for a command prompt, sent a command, pulled data and then hung up, jumping from cell to cell automatically. If you set an alarm on the first cell, it would even turn itself on and do it unattended overnight when connect charges for those services were substantially less. This kind of thing was exactly why EF Hutton immediately added it to their supported systems list for Huttonline, for example — out of the box, their subscribers could now use the system in the sci-fi super-connected manner everyone expected the new wave of computers to do.
Well, theoretically, anyway. Here’s an example combining two real sessions from the manuals. Consider a system where you enter a login ID and password, and then at a command prompt, ask for a stock quote. On a typical dumb terminal, that session might look like this (totally plausible, mainframe systems like GEnie worked this way too), with what you would have typed in bold:
ENTER ID: JOE ENTER PASSWORD: 793AZY702 ! STOCK QUOTE
This string of ten cells would pull the results of the stock inquiry down for you into a sheet, assuming the remote system could speak in WorkSlate sheet format. CR is one of the WorkSlate graphic characters intended to visually represent a carriage return (there was also an LF for line feeds).
A1="Wake Up"+Alarm(9/5/2024,1:00am)+GoTo(A2)
A2="LOGIN"+Dial("5551212",Data)+GoTo(A3)
A3=Delay(2)+WaitFor("ENTER ID: ")+GoTo(A4)
A4=Send("JOECR")+GoTo(A5)
A5=WaitFor("ENTER PASSWORD: ")+GoTo(A6)
A6=Send("793AZY702CR")+GoTo(A7)
A7=WaitFor("! ")+GoTo(A8)
A8=Send("STOCK QUOTECR")+GoTo(A9)
A9=Keep(B1...C1,1,1,20)+GoTo(A10)
A10=HangUp(0)
The alarm in A1 would run this for you at 1am on September 5th, but you could run it anytime by starting the sequence from A2. You could even consolidate these into fewer cells; the + conjoins the functions, and then GoTo() jumps to the next. Now, you’re screaming at your screen reading this completely virtual article that this is ludicrous because how could you prevent this script from running automatically every time the spreadsheet gets recalculated? Simple: it doesn’t run automatically every time the spreadsheet gets recalculated.
(Side note: does that mean you could use GoTo() to implement an infinite loop after all? Yes, but only a completely useless one. While execution of these functions is deferred until you give the start signal with Special-Do It, other calculations are not, which is how the string labels worked in the example above. In particular, something like the trivial circular reference example we had before
A1=GoTo(B1)+B1+1 B1=GoTo(A1)+A1+1
still immediately evaluates to 5 and 6 and gives you an error even before you hit Special-Do It. When you press Special-Do It, it loops, all right, back and forth between A1 and B1, but their values never change.)
I said “theoretically,” and I mentioned bugs, so let’s talk about our first one. The Keep() feature is designed to parse ASCII formatted text into cells. You pass it a range, the first line of data to start parsing, the first character position of data to start parsing, and the maximum length of each line. Go right ahead and try it. Even if you pass it data formatted as instructed in the manual’s example, Keep() will faithfully import it, but then just sits there. I tried sending lots of permutations of every control character I could think of, even the ETX XON at the end of regular sheets, and Keep() just keeps on keepin’ on until it times out (90 seconds), you press Cancel, or you get kicked off. If you’re interactively logged onto a service and able to cancel when the transmission completes, maybe that was enough in the day, but it doesn’t seem to work as described in the manual.
However, that’s more obnoxious than serious. Here’s the bad part: Keep() does terminate properly if you pass it sheet data instead of plain ASCII text. Unfortunately, it then proceeds to ignore the cell range you gave it and overwrite the entire sheet like you did a receive. But not all of it, by golly: it will filter formulas out in some misguided way of protecting you from mal-Taskware, I guess, meaning you can’t even pass it the same formulas back to reinstate them. You’d better hope your beautifully written login script was written to tape because if it gets what looks like a sheet, that script and the rest of the current worksheet are toast.
Well, then, let’s see what alternatives we have, and there’s a really encouraging-looking one in the manual called SheetIn(). This takes a single dummy argument, officially zero. “Theoretically” (that’s called foreshadowing, kids), it should be able to just automatically replace the sheet we’re viewing with the sheet it receives. I wrote up a test program that sends almost the exact same sheet data twice, differing only in the string so that we can see we completed the transmission. The first time, we’ll send it
A1=SheetIn(0) A2-"Hello World"
and the second time
A1=SheetIn(0) A2-"Yello Wyrld"
which will both compute out to the same dimensions and same memory usage. We’re replacing nothing but the string and even that is the same length, so if any contrived setup can work, it should be this one. After opening the Terminal, we press Do It, signaling the test program to send the first set of cells after a delay. We then load into the current sheet using the regular Receive option, which works fine. So far so good.
Now we press Do It again in the Terminal to signal the test program to send the second version, again after a delay, and press Special-Do It in A1 to receive it with SheetIn() this time. The receive completes successfully, A2 changes to the new string — and the machine crashes. In fact, it crashes so hard that all data is lost! This is such an explosive bug I just have to show you a video of it:
To make sure this wasn’t a hardware failure, I tried it on both my units, and they both crash in the same way.
What on earth happened? Without knowing the contents of the ROMs I can only theorize, but my best guess is that the action of loading the new sheet clears caches — including whatever internal representation of the formula the CPU was executing, causing it to either hit a bogus instruction directly ($00 is invalid, for example) or a bogus code pointer or token that leads it to a bogus instruction. An alternative theory is that the load process alters the processor stack, causing the CPU to hit a bad instruction returning from whatever routine handles SheetIn(). Like the 6502, the 6800, 6801 and 6803 don’t trap undefined opcodes (something I had to handle manually when virtualizing the 6502), but the 6303 can, and has a specific vector for it.
Recall that during a normal power-down, the CPU checksums the ROM and stores this value in its internal RAM before signalling the tape gate array to put it in standby. Powering down the system would require the CPU to send an explicit signal to the tape gate array, so either the vector was rigged deliberately as a fail-safe on the assumption an illegal instruction could never occur, or it merely ends up doing so erroneously. Either way, because the system got powered down without properly checksumming the ROM to its internal RAM, when we power it on again the CPU sees the checksum is wrong and assumes power was lost. This causes it to execute the cold-start routine and all data is cleared.
This isn’t a “killer POKE” because there’s no (apparent?) harm done to the hardware, but it’s still stupendously catastrophic. I suspect Convergent actually knew about this because while SheetIn() gets a brief mention in the Reference Guide it appears nowhere else in the documentation. Its exact converse SheetOut() does (which works fine), and our not-so-functional friend Keep() appears many places, but SheetIn() goes otherwise completely unacknowledged. Likely the problem was discovered too late in development to rewrite the firmware and they just decided to mostly pretend it didn’t exist.
But we know the regular manual Receive option works and can load entire spreadsheets with formulas just the way we want them. This requires the user to do some manual work when receiving generated data from a remote system, but if we send the two DC2 characters while the Terminal is active, we can immediately put the user into the Receive option and they just have to pick the desired destination sheet from there. We won’t know when they do, but we can warn them in the Terminal and implement a reasonable delay before starting the transmission.
So, to get the WorkSlate on the Internet, we’ll create a proxy that turns Gopher menus into spreadsheets. No, stop laughing and hear me out. Since Gopher is line by line, that corresponds very well to rows, we can use the scrolling display to break up each line into full screen width cells, and we can use the parts of the serial communications package that do work to send commands to the proxy and wait for results. This isn’t as clean as Keep() and SheetIn() would have been, but we’ll get to keep our data, and we won’t crash loading the very first site. To make the most of the WorkSlate’s limited capacity, the proxy will manage history and keep an internal copy of the current menu so that the WorkSlate only has to transmit short codes for selection, and cap menus and documents to 128 lines and the 12,868 byte limit.
Since the Terminal is a critical part of this project (it’s how we signal the user to start the Receive process), we’ll need it to be open the whole time but we still want a decently sized content area to actually see the Gopher site we’re visiting. Unlike the Calculator, the Terminal’s on-screen footprint is adjustable from Options, SET UP, Terminal, Display and then select # Lines. For these screenshots we’ll reduce it to four lines instead of the default seven.
We start the proxy running on the connected computer, and then enter the Terminal. The proxy sees the ENQ from the WorkSlate, sends a linefeed to acknowledge, and then displays a prompt. These prompts are how we synchronize the WorkSlate and the proxy.
When we press Do It, the proxy tells us transmission is imminent, and sends DC2 DC2 to the Terminal. This opens the Receive option automtically and we select the sheet we’ll use. I think most users can handle pressing one button in five seconds. The transmission is sent and the WorkSlate itself indicates success in the status row.
While waiting for a selection, the proxy goes into a loop where it sends a linefeed to the WorkSlate about once a second. This allows you to exit the Terminal and then immediately return to it, like for example if you were dealing in a document where you wanted more screen space to view it.
So that we don’t have to insert a complete request on every single valid row, the proxy sorts the menu into lines and determines what to do for each line. Each active line (i.e., each selectable option) has a formula of the form =Send(“###CRLF”)+WaitFor(““) (the CRLF is represented in tilde notation as ~-~, which the WorkSlate translates to a real $0d $0a), where ### is the line number. We can have no more than 128 lines, so three digits is sufficient.
When we’re ready to pick a menu option, we go to it with the cursor diamond and press Special-Do It. The WorkSlate sends the number command and line ending and waits for an asterisk in response. This is a signal from the proxy that the menu is ready (or there was an error, which is turned into a menu). The proxy backspaces over it, prints a new message to the user to get ready to accept a new sheet, and sends DC2 DC2 to open the Receive option. The new sheet is sent after the usual five-second delay. The “Quit” option is implemented by sending a special line “000” which causes the proxy to gracefully terminate, leaving the Terminal open.
As of this writing the Floodgap root gopher menu turns into 94 lines, the progress of which is shown in the status row.
And here we are. We can navigate around the document with the cursor diamond …
… including to the right for long rows, meaning we can read standard 80-column-formatted documents, no problem!
For item types that the proxy doesn’t yet support, instead of a formula we’ll just emit a × in that column as a marker. For obvious reasons we don’t support images, HTML, PDFs, binaries, etc., but I couldn’t think of a good way to support indexed search servers like Veronica-2 yet even though I really wanted to. I’ll talk about that at the end.
At the top of every menu is a Quit option, and if this isn’t the root, a Back option above that. If I ever make the default menu into a real bookmarks menu, it would make sense to put it in the history as well. The WorkSlate lets you jump to the top of a sheet with Shift-Up and to the bottom with Shift-Down, so I put those options at the top for easy access. Backing up is implemented with a history maintained by the proxy and sending special line number 999.
If you overflow a menu with too many rows, the last row is replaced with a × and an “Out of rows” message (the same applies to “Out of memory” when the proxy calculates the sheet will exceed the maximum bytes available). Again, Shift-Down will easily let you see if the Gopher menu or text file got truncated.
The Gopher proxy comes in two pieces: the Gopher proxy itself, written in Perl, and a C program that allows you to run the proxy over a given serial port and implements the intercharacter delay. This descends from usb2ppp in BURLAP, so it will work on the same systems and accepts the same arguments (port speed, path, program and arguments) even though the only supported speed connected directly to the GPIO port is 9600bps. You start it with something like ./serport /path/to/your/port 9600 perl ./gopher.pl and then start Terminal on the WorkSlate. A running log for debug purposes is written to standard error on the computer running the proxy. Since the proxy feeds the WorkSlate all the sheet data it needs, there’s no bootstrap you need to load on the device itself.
There’s a couple improvements I was mulling over, but this entry has taken too much time and gone way too long, so I’ll ponder them later. The first is tabbed browsing (I said stop laughing). Since you can select which of the five sheets you want to load Gopher data into, you should be able to run multiple sessions. However, because the proxy maintains what it thinks the state of the current menu is, you can’t load one menu in one sheet and another menu in another sheet because the proxy doesn’t know which one is active. Solving this would require tracking a much larger history and adding more state information to the Send() string, maybe a hash key or something, but that would also make the sheet data bigger and reduce the memory available, though in practice I ended up exceeding the 128 row limit much more often than the 12K memory one.
The second is accepting input from the user, on a first pass to allow things like searching Veronica-2, but also to enter arbitrary hosts and selectors without having to modify the proxy or manually hunt for the right menu item. While SheetIn() exceeds uselessness verging on active harm, SheetOut() works just fine, so we could potentially send a very brief sheet with a form that the user fills out and then runs a formula to ship it back. The problem here is the Terminal: you can’t directly type into cells while it’s open. Either the user would have to modify the cell with Options-CHANGE or exit the Terminal and go back into it, neither catastrophic or particularly onerous, but also making an already clunky experience worse. I suppose the user could just type into the Terminal but the point is to make this work with the WorkSlate’s native interface. It’s a hack already, though, so I might implement input forms anyway just for fun in the future.
Why there wasn’t a WorkSlate on every 1980s executive desk
By now you’re probably wondering why every boardroom denizen didn’t have one of these things back in the day. Certainly for those who did own one, they really seemed to like it. William H. “Bill” Millard, who launched IMS Associates (builders of the WarGames-famous IMSAI 8080) and ComputerLand, one of the earliest retail vendors of the WorkSlate, openly raved about his. In a May 1984 interview with InfoWorld, he said, “The spreadsheet is the most exciting product I have ever seen personally. … Listen, I’m bananas about this WorkSlate. I carry it with me everywhere.” He further elucidated: “It’s no bigger than a three-ring binder, it’s plastic, has a workable keyboard, 128 by 128 spreadsheet, memory, tape cassette, power backup, built-in modem. You can sit on the airplane and be doing spreadsheets. To me this is a blockbuster product.”
Internally the company blamed Karen Toland, the manager who came up with the consumer sales idea in the first place, and she departed the same year. That spelled the end for any expansion of the “Ultra” line and the company pivoted internal development to Unix systems back along their vendor-first model. Convergent “paused” production of the WorkSlate in July 1984 and officially halted it outright by August, provoking a lawsuit from Oki Electronics who said Convergent had contracted to buy 253,000 circuit boards and only purchased 67,000 (making this figure the absolute upper bound on total machines manufactured). Oki further alleged that Convergent never paid for nearly $430,000 ($1.3m) worth of boards that did get shipped and complained they had thousands of custom boards in their warehouses they couldn’t sell to anyone else. Convergent started marking down remainder units with deep discounts and even sold them directly to Comdex attendees from their booth for $399 ($1200). Reports from 1985 found WorkSlates in liquidation selling for $300 or less.
In the end, Convergent and Oki settled out of court and the company eventually took an $8.4 million ($25.2m) write-off on the product. If the estimate of $3 million in WorkSlate sales in the November 5, 1984 InfoWorld is accurate, then Convergent could have sold no more than a few thousand of them. Allen Michels left the company in 1985 and Convergent never sold another direct consumer product again. Disappointing sales of the AT&T 7300 UNIX PC which its Special Projects division developed caused further financial problems for the company: by 1986 AT&T had only sold 10,000 of the 50,000 systems Convergent produced, and the 7300’s incompatibility with existing software ironically made AT&T’s earlier 6300 PC (a rebadged Olivetti M24) a much better buy. While simultaneously upgrading the MegaFrame to the CTIX-based MightyFrame with newer 68020 and 68030 CPUs, Convergent returned to its x86 workstation roots with the 80386 Server PC which could run CTOS, CTIX and MS-DOS. Its most noteworthy technical achievement was being able to run CTIX and MS-DOS applications simultaneously using the 80386’s virtual 8086 mode.
Unfortunately, neither of these products appealed to their traditional vendor base, who largely believed Convergent’s era as a market driver had passed. Convergent tried to get into the networking space by acquiring 3Com in March 1986 for $135 million ($385m), but the deal was scuttled at the last minute by 3Com shareholders who protested that the price undervalued the company. Only Unisys, newly formed in 1986 when Convergent’s old partner Burroughs bought out Sperry Rand, still regarded Convergent’s technologies favourably and bought them out too as part of an expansion strategy in 1988 for $350 million ($930m). All of Convergent’s former intellectual property, including the WorkSlate, remains with Unisys today.
Everything in this entry is on Github, and supplemental technical documentation is in the WorkSlate WorkSpace.
https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2024/09/programming-convergent-workslates.html
Telegram apologizes to South Korea and takes down smutty deepfakes
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Unclear if this is a sign controversial service is cleaning up its act everywhere
Controversial social network Telegram has co-operated with South Korean authorities and taken down 25 videos depicting sex crimes.…
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Tony Levin: The Iconic Bass Sounds Of Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Paul Simon and more.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=hnalFYalZnXMoT5L&v=fRScUtBc6yU&feature=youtu.be
Washington pushing for deal to end Gaza conflict
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
Peace continues to elude Gaza as the conflict there speeds toward the one-year mark, with public rage over the recent killing of hostages, fears over the spread of polio — and amid all this, ongoing, delicate negotiations helmed by Washington. Anita Powell files from the White House.
https://www.voanews.com/a/washington-pushing-for-deal-to-end-gaza-conflict/7770668.html
OpenAI allegedly wants TSMC 1.6nm for in-house AI chip debut
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Another job for Broadcom, then
OpenAI’s first custom-designed silicon chips allegedly will be manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the same outfit churning out processors for Nvidia, Apple, AMD, Intel, and others.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/openai_ai_chips_tsmc/
DoJ reportedly advances Nvidia antitrust probe
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Uncle Sam apparently worried GPU giant may be punishing customers who shop around
Updated The US Department of Justice on Tuesday is said to have stepped up its antitrust investigation into Nvidia, issuing subpoenas seeking evidence for its case against the AI chip giant.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/nvidia_doj_subpoena/
Judge rejects Trump’s request to intervene in hush money case
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
new york — A federal judge on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump’s request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, thwarting the former president’s latest bid to overturn his felony conviction and delay his sentencing.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Trump’s lawyers permission to file paperwork asking the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to take control of the case. He said they had failed to satisfy the burden of proof required for a federal court to seize the case from the state court where Trump was convicted in May.
The ruling leaves Trump’s case in state court, where he is scheduled to be sentenced September 18.
Trump’s lawyers had sought to move the case to federal court so they could then seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling granting ex-presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts.
Hellerstein, who denied Trump’s request last year to move the case to federal court, said nothing about the Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling affected his “previous conclusion that the hush money payments” at issue in Trump’s case “were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.”
Hellerstein sidestepped a defense argument that Trump had been the victim of “bias, conflicts of interest, and appearances of impropriety” at the hands of the judge who presided over the trial in state court, Juan M. Merchan.
“This Court does not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Trump’s arguments concerning the propriety of the New York trial,” Hellerstein wrote in a four-page decision.
Instead, Hellerstein noted, Trump can pursue a state appeal or, after exhausting that path, seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It would be highly improper for this Court to evaluate the issues of bias, unfairness or error in the state trial,” Hellerstein wrote. “Those are issues for the state appellate courts.”
Hellerstein’s ruling came hours after Trump’s lawyers filed paperwork seeking his permission to pursue federal court intervention. Trump’s lawyers had initially asked the federal court to step in last week, but their papers were rejected because they hadn’t first obtained Hellerstein’s permission to file them, as required.
Messages seeking comment were left with Trump’s lawyers and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case.
Earlier in the day Tuesday, Manhattan prosecutors raised objections to Trump ’s effort to delay post-trial decisions in the case while he sought to have the federal court step in.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office argued in a letter to the judge presiding over the case in state court that he had no legal obligation to hold off on post-trial decisions and wait for Hellerstein to rule.
Prosecutors urged the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, not to delay his rulings on two key defense requests: Trump’s call to delay sentencing until after the November election, and his bid to overturn the verdict and dismiss the case in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
Merchan has said he will rule September 16 on Trump’s motion to overturn the verdict. His decision on delaying sentencing has been expected in the coming days.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to disrupt his 2016 presidential run. Trump has denied her claim and said he did nothing wrong.
Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation or a fine.
Trump to plead not guilty to charges in revised election indictment
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
Ex-senior New York State staffer charged in cash-for-favors scandal with China
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Bagging two posh properties, three luxury cars on a govt salary a bit of a giveaway – allegedly
The US Department of Justice has accused a now-former senior official of the New York State government of illegally advancing the interests of the Chinese government and communist party.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/new_york_aide_china_agent/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Automattic Welcomes Pedraum Pardehpoosh as VP of Product.
https://automattic.com/2024/09/03/welcome-pedraum-pardehpoosh/
Musk’s Starlink will comply with judge’s order to block X in Brazil
date: 2024-09-04, from: VOA News USA
SAO PAULO, brazil — Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet service provider Starlink backtracked Tuesday and said it will comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court justice’s order to block the billionaire’s social media platform, X.
In a statement posted on X, Starlink said it will heed Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ order despite him having frozen the company’s assets. Previously, it informally told the telecommunications regulator that it would not comply until de Moraes reversed course.
“Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil,” the company statement said. “We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that @alexandre’s recent order violate the Brazilian constitution.”
De Moraes froze the company’s accounts last week as a means to compel it to cover X’s fines, which exceed $3 million, reasoning that the two companies are part of the same economic group. Starlink filed an appeal, its law firm Veirano told The Associated Press on August 3, but has declined to comment further in the days since.
Days later, the justice ordered the suspension of X for refusing to name a local legal representative, as required in order to receive notifications of court decisions and swiftly take any requisite action — particularly, in X’s case, the taking down of accounts.
A Supreme Court panel unanimously upheld the block on Monday, undermining efforts by Musk and his supporters to cast the justice as an authoritarian renegade intent on censoring political speech in Brazil.
Had Starlink continued to disobey de Moraes by providing access, telecommunications regulator Anatel could eventually have seized equipment from Starlink’s 23 ground stations that ensure the quality of its internet service, Arthur Coimbra, an Anatel board member, said on a video call from his office in Brasilia.
The company has said it has more than 250,000 clients in Brazil, and it is particularly popular in the country’s more remote corners where it is the only available option.
Some legal experts questioned de Moraes’ basis for freezing Starlink’s accounts, given that its parent company SpaceX has no integration with X. Musk noted on X that the two companies have different shareholder structures.
X has clashed with de Moraes over its reluctance to block users — mostly far-right activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy and allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro — and has alleged that de Moraes wants an in-country legal representative so that Brazilian authorities can exert leverage over the company by having someone to arrest.
US govt halts medical study into Havana Syndrome, cites ‘coercion’ of participants
date: 2024-09-04, updated: 2024-09-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
What was screwing with minds of US diplomats – wait, is that a black helicopt…
An inquiry by the US government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) into Havana Syndrome – the seemingly mysterious illness that struck down American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba and then around the world – has been halted after it was found the study’s participants had been coerced into taking part.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/us_halts_havana_syndrome/
Bem Vindos ao Bluesky!
date: 2024-09-04, from: Bluesky web news
Que semana! Nos últimos dias mais de 2.6 milhões de usuários se registraram na plataforma, sendo que mais de 85% são Brasileiros. Sejam muito bem vindos, estamos muito contentes por tê-los aqui!
https://bsky.social/about/blog/09-04-2024-bem-vindos
Welcome to Bluesky!
date: 2024-09-04, from: Bluesky web news
What a week! In the last few days, Bluesky has grown by more than 2.6 million users, over 85% of which are Brazilian. Welcome, we are so excited to have you here!