Archives
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COMPUTERS 
April 5, 2019 Running LEDs in reverse could cool computers
The quest to find more efficient methods for cooling computers is almost as high on scientists’ agendas as the desire to discover better battery chemistries. More cooling is crucial for reducing costs. It would also allow for more powerful processing to take place in smaller spaces, where limited processing should be crunching numbers instead of […]
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COMPUTERS 
March 9, 2019 INSIDE THE HIGH-STAKES RACE TO MAKE QUANTUM COMPUTERS WORK
DEEP BENEATH THE Franco-Swiss border, the Large Hadron Collider is sleeping. But it won’t be quiet for long. Over the coming years, the world’s largest particle accelerator will be supercharged, increasing the number of proton collisions per second by a factor of two and a half. Once the work is complete in 2026, researchers hope to […]
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COMPUTERS 
February 18, 2019 Chinese Embassy hands over 44 computers to Mveso
Chief Mandla Mandela and Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Lin Songtian Johannesburg – Schools around former President Nelson Mandela’s birthplace are set to have a major boost. On Monday, the Chinese Embassy in South Africa will hand over 44 computers to the community of Mveso in the Eastern Cape. Up to 22 of the computers […]
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COMPUTERS 
February 17, 2019 Are computers finally able to understand the subtleties of language?
We are more comfortable with the idea of talking to machines than ever before. That is due mainly to the growing popularity of smart speakers and virtual assistants, such as Google Home, Amazon Echo and Apple’s Siri. Indeed, as they have proven capable of carrying out tasks such as playing music and setting alarms, we have been happy to ask them to do so. But […]
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COMPUTERS 
February 15, 2019 Computers could write full, and wrong, news stories
A research group backed by Silicon Valley heavyweights has released a paper showing that technology that can generate realistic news stories from little more than a headline suggestion is poised to advance rapidly in the coming years. OpenAI, the group backed by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, among others, was founded to research how to make […]
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February 13, 2019 Alleged hacker who avoided extradition to US seeks return of computers
Lauri Love was arrested in 2013. He continues to protest his innocence and has not been charged. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images A computer activist who successfully resisted attempts to extradite him to the US over alleged hacking has applied for the return of his confiscated computers, after the National Crime Agency confirmed he is still […]
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COMPUTERS 
February 8, 2019 Behind every great cloud is a whole bunch of expensive computers
As we saw in tech company earnings over the last couple of weeks, tech giants are making a lot of money on cloud computing. Amazon, Google and Microsoft rent out computer storage and computing power to smaller companies for lots of profit, and they spend a lot of money on it themselves, too. “Cloud” is […]
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COMPUTERS 
February 3, 2019 New Malware Targets Apple Mac Computers to Steal and Mine Cryptos
A recently discovered form of malware steals browser cookies and other information on victims’ Apple Mac computers to steal cryptocurrencies. Researchers at cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks published a report on Thursday, saying that the malware, dubbed “CookieMiner,” intercepts browser cookies related to cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet service providers’ websites visited by the victims. The malicious code […]
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COMPUTERS 
February 1, 2019 Researchers Discover Malware That Targets Apple Mac Computers and Cryptocurrency Exchanges
If you ever check bitcoin prices on a cryptocurrency exchange, make sure you delete your digital cookies. Failing to do so may put your personal data like passwords, credit card information, and saved iPhone text messages on your Mac computer at risk of being accessed by hackers. Cybersecurity researchers from Palo Alto Networks published research […]
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COMPUTERS 
January 29, 2019 Computers and authority: Defeatism, enemy of freedom
Fighting a battle when the odds are against you requires a lot of courage and a strong moral conviction. These attributes perhaps best describe Dr Richard M. Stallman (RMS to fellow programmers) for whom computing freedom is non-negotiable. A pioneer in the field of computing, Stallman could see how computing would be used to control […]
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COMPUTERS 
January 27, 2019 Computers and authority
Computational sovereignty is a concept that applies to governments, especially to countries. A country’s government should be sovereign. It should make decisions about that country in accord with the people that it serves. A legitimate government has to be democratic. If it is not democratic it shouldn’t continue to be the government. But if the […]
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COMPUTERS 
January 25, 2019 Photographing computers to show the art inside the black box
What computers mean to us depends largely on what we bring to them. Our expectations, our past experience, the dreams and myths that surround them, their physical characteristics—all these aspects resonate on multiple, often overlapping levels. One level is aesthetic. Many nonspecialists in the computer arts enjoy these machines for their visual appeal and curiosity. […]