When Insurers Exit: Climate Losses, Fragile Insurers, and Mortgage Markets [pdf]
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Vanilla OS 2: an immutable distribution to run all software
We’re bad at marketing We can admit it, marketing is not our strong suit. Our strength is writing the kind of articles that developers, administrators, and free-software supporters depend on to know what is going on in the Linux world. Please subscribe today to help us keep doing that, and so we don’t have to […]
Our Android App Is Frozen in Carbonite
After seven years of trying, the most recent struggle with Google proved that we need to change course on our adventure in the Android galaxy. A couple of months ago, Google changed its API policy and revoked iA Writer’s access to Google Drive on Android. By freezing up Android’s main storage option, our app was […]
Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes
A woman with type 1 diabetes started producing insulin (blue) after a stem cell transplant.Credit: Lennart Nilsson, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, TT/Science Photo Library A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells1. She is the first person with the […]
Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?
Robin K. HillThe Techno-Pro Attitudehttps://bit.ly/3XgIziSJune 10, 2024 Tech solutionism, as identified by Moss and Metcalf,7 is the notion that all problems have tractable technical fixes. We see variants in the naming and definition of this phenomenon: the technology imperative,8 or “the underlying technocratic philosophy of inevitability”,4 or even old-fashioned technocracy itself. (My own version is […]
Behind OpenAI’s plan to make A.I. flow like electricity
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, is talking to the United Arab Emirates, Asian chipmakers and U.S. officials to expand the computing power needed to build artificial intelligence. Late last year, Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, started pitching an audacious plan that he hoped would create the computing power his company needed to build […]
A coffee table that walks
Carpentopod is a walking coffee table, designed and built by Netherlands-based game developer Giliam de Carpentier. Inspired to improve upon Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests, Carpentier wrote software to generate leg linkage mechanisms, then have them virtually compete against each other. Through evolution, the end result was a leg design optimized for smoothness of gait, walking speed […]
A pilot project in universal algebra to explore new ways to collaborate
A pilot project in universal algebra to explore new ways to collaborate and use machine assistance? 25 September, 2024 in math.RA, polymath | Tags: Artificial Intelligence, machine assisted proof, universal algebra | by Terence Tao Traditionally, mathematics research projects are conducted by a small number (typically one to five) of expert mathematicians, each of which are […]
End of an era: Landsat 7 mission takes final images
A joint mission between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA, Landsat 7 was initially designed for a five-year mission. Beating the odds, the satellite observed the Earth for a quarter-century, delivering invaluable scientific data for the benefit of all humanity. Illustration of Landsat 7 in orbit Landsat 7 captured one of its final […]
Why the U.S. Can’t Build Icebreaking Ships
USCG Polar Star I want to say thank you to all the people who sent condolences following last week’s post, especially those who shared their own stories of loss. I was not able to respond to every single one, but my wife and I took great comfort from reading them. – The U.S. has interests […]