Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

staff-disquiet-as-alan-turing-institute-faces-identity-crisis

When the UK government announced the creation of the Alan Turing Institute in 2014 it promised a “fitting memorial” to the renowned computer scientist and artificial intelligence pioneer. More than a decade on, Britain’s leading AI institute is in turmoil as staff warn it may be in danger of collapse and ministers demand a shift […]

SystemD Service Hardening

systemd-service-hardening

Controversy aside, systemd provides us a very complete, robust method of controlling services (amongst a multitude of other Linux things). For a lot of things though, this is optimized for success out of the box and not necessarily security. Such is the way of many IT endeavors. This doc though is meant to provide a […]

Google admits anti-competitive conduct involving Google Search in Australia

google-admits-anti-competitive-conduct-involving-google-search-in-australia

The ACCC has today commenced Federal Court proceedings against Google Asia Pacific over anti-competitive understandings that Google admits it reached in the past with Telstra and Optus regarding the pre-installation of Google Search on Android mobile phones. Google has co-operated with the ACCC, admitted liability and agreed to jointly submit to the Court that Google […]

Clojure Async Flow Guide

clojure-async-flow-guide

Getting started The flow library enables a strict separation application logic from the deployment concerns of topology, execution, communication, lifecycle, monitoring and error handling. Step fns and process launchers You provide logic to flow in the form of step-fns, which are wrapped into running processes, executing in a loop. Flow manages the life cycle of […]

Why It’s OK to Block Ads (2015)

Over the past couple of months, the practice of ad blocking has received heightened ethical scrutiny. (1,2,3,4) If you’re unfamiliar with the term, “ad blocking” refers to software—usually web browser plug-ins, but increasingly mobile apps—that stop most ads from appearing when you use websites or apps that would otherwise show them. Arguments against ad blocking […]

The Lives and Loves of James Baldwin

the-lives-and-loves-of-james-baldwin

A Critic at Large The Lives and Loves of James Baldwin Baldwin photographed in 1963 with Lucien Happersberger—“the one true love story of my life,” Baldwin maintained. Alongside the public crusade for civil rights, there was always a private search for a secure, loving relationship. His thesis about our fear of love linked the two.Photograph […]

The decline of high-tech manufacturing in the United States

the-decline-of-high-tech-manufacturing-in-the-united-states

In 2012, Brookings Institution identified three manufacturing sub-sectors employing unusually high concentrations of engineering and science occupations as “very high-tech” manufacturing: Computer and electronic products Pharmaceuticals & medicine Aerospace products and parts While these sub-sectors don’t capture the entirety of high-tech manufacturing, they do represent a large portion of it. Using 2022 County Business Patterns […]

AI vs. Professional Authors Results

ai-vs.-professional-authors-results

Before you look at the results make sure to do the test! So, before I get to the numbers and reveals I’ll reiterate a few things: i)  I hate that AI can do this. ii)  These authors write books – typically long series – so flash fiction is not their forte. iii)  Flash fiction is […]

Llama-Scan: Convert PDFs to Text W Local LLMs

llama-scan:-convert-pdfs-to-text-w-local-llms

A tool for converting PDFs to text files using Ollama. Convert PDFs to text files locally, no token costs. Use the latest multimodal models supported by Ollama. Turn images and diagrams into detailed text descriptions. Requirements Python 3.10+ Ollama installed and running locally Installing Ollama and the Default Model Install Ollama Pull the default model: […]