GeekNights Mondays: Science Technology Computing

Tonight on GeekNights, 18 years after Rym tried to switch to Mac, Scott switches to Mac. (Except for gaming). In the news, Rym is building a new primary workstation,, Tim Sweeney calls out Apple's "malicious compliance" in light of The Digital Markets Act, and the Superb Owl went to overtime.

Related LinksForum Thread

• Scott Switches to Mac

Discord Chat

• Scott Switches to Mac

Things of the Day

• Rym - Why It Was Almost Impossible to Make the Blue LED
• Scott - No Vehicles in the Park

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss the vicious smartphone upgrade cycle. Try to use your phone for more than a year or two at least. In the news, Apple has to halt new Apple Watch sales, Adobe gives up on buying Figma, and Scott had fun on the Star Wars ride at Disneyland.

Related LinksForum Thread

• The Smartphone Upgrade Cycle

Discord Chat

• The Smartphone Upgrade Cycle

Things of the Day

• Rym - Why do Americans Pronounce it Zee?
• Scott - Battle of Cherbourg (1864)

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the the idea of remote access. In the news, here's a list of all the tech layoffs so far in 2023, and Twitch changes its simulcasting guidelines.

Related LinksForum Thread

• Remote Access

Things of the Day

• Rym - Star Trek + Design
• Scott - Homeward

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the current state of search engines and why Google increasingly doesn't work anymore. In the news, iOS has multiple zero-day zero-interaction vulnerabilities (update your devices immediately) and Reddit is trying to embrace the worst parts of phpBB. 12 years ago we gave two short talks about how game mechanics (and UX design) literally make the communities that use them.Related LinksForum Thread

• Search Engines (suck now)

Things of the Day

• Rym - Imaginary Numbers Are Real
• Scott - The best hockey goal in the history of Australia

Tonight on GeekNights, in light of Twitter's dying husk removing the ability to block people, we consider the concept of "blocking" in social platforms. The root problem is, as always, the twin evils of advertising and capitalism. In the news, the inability to warn the residents of Maui to the rapidly escalating wildfires requires significant government technology investment, and Dolby Atmos FlexConnect might prove interesting for home theatre setups.Related LinksThings of the Day

• Rym - Quantum Fields: The Most Beautiful Theory in Physics!
• Scott - The process of making fake food.

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss when, how, and if you should upgrade your technology. From phones to cameras to TVs to skis, it comes mostly down to what problem you're trying to solve. In the news, Web Environment Integrity is a potentially worrying but not yet apocalyptic threat to the World Wide Web, the BBC has launched its own journalism Mastodon, and the US has a new nuclear reactor.Related LinksForum Thread

• Upgrading Your Tech

Things of the Day

• Rym - Feed the Machine - Metropolis Music Video
• Scott - Bruce Lee and Me

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the surprising challenges of throttling and rate limiting. In the news, Twitter rate-limiting reading twitter and broke Tweetdeck while also blocking non-logged-in views , Norway has 100 years of phosphate rock deposits, and the US Supreme Court is wholly illegitimate.Related LinksThings of the Day

• Rym - Dr. Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker Montage - 24 Clips
• Scott - A Candid Conversation with Miles Davis

Tonight on GeekNights, we briefly consider when and why to adopt a new technology. In the news, Apple WWDC 2023 brings a $3,500 AR/VR headset in 2024 (we've talked about AR (Augmented Reality) before), and Reddit is pulling a Twitter and possibly destroying the best third party app it has.Related LinksThings of the Day

• Rym - The FIRE TOILET
• Scott - Learn x86-64 assembly by writing a GUI from scratch

Tonight on GeekNights, we talk about the noise that computers make. It used to be a lot worse, but most of you are probably too young to have experienced this era. In the news, Rym went to a Star Trek convention, Google supports passkeys, actually read this article and not just the headline, and Rym is running in the New York Marathon in November!Related LinksForum Thread

• Computer Noise

Things of the Day

• Rym - The Heisenberg uncertainty principle
• Rym - The more general uncertainty principle
• Scott - Counter-Strike Steganography for Ukraine

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider computer fonts. In the news, the world lost a legend with the passing of Al Jaffee, why "trucks" have taken over America, and Mac sales are down 40%.Related LinksForum Thread

• Computer Fonts

Things of the Day

• Rym - Starship Velociraptor
• Scott - merlin