GeekNights Mondays: Science Technology Computing

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider how to not suck at buying a new smartphone. Android or Apple, you actually do have a choice, and there are some basic things to think about. In the news, you can't park there, this program is illegally packaged in 14 distributions, BeReal is pretty cool, this is why schools are banning smartphones, and the lack of transparency in algorithmic CSAM detection is causing harm.Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - How to Not Suck at Getting a New Smartphone

Things of the Day

• Rym - How Sake Was Made in 1850
• Scott - I turned my 80s typewriter into a Linux terminal

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the humble vacuum cleaner.You definitely don't want to be in a situation where a shop vac would be the solution to your problem and you do not have a shop vac. Also these are "not a scam." In the news, necrobotic spiders are a thing, Amazon continues to rush toward being a full-on dystopian megacorb, and Netflix has 90 seconds to get your attention.Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - Vacuum Cleaners

Things of the Day

• Rym - Pixel Inferno (FTL)
• Scott - Live Cultivation in China

Tonight on GeekNights we discuss Software as a Service (SaaS). This is one of the most lucrative, important, and enduring ways software is created and sold. In the news, a chess robot attacked a kid, Amazon buys One Medical as we edge ever closer to cyber-capitalist dystopia, Minecraft (rightly) bans blockchain (and nothing of value was lost), and warming rivers due to human-caused climate change threaten the nuclear power that is crucial to transition us off of fossil fuels.Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - Software as a Service

Things of the Day

• Rym - The Brighton Seaside
• Scott - Efficient Dehumidifier

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider refrigeration. In the news, the illegitimate Supreme Court of the United States has taken away basic human rights, Google Hangouts is shutting down, and Google is merging Meet and Duo.Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - Refrigeration

Things of the Day

• Rym - 15th century German bathhouse
• Scott - Modern reproductions of vintage sound cards

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss the Google engineer who thinks the AI has come to life. It's a LaMDA, and one Blake Lemoine has made some extraordinary claims. In the news, the Rangers had a good run, Meet Web Push for Safari, New York wins a right to repair, and everybody is having fun with DALL E.Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - The Chatbot isn't Sentient

Things of the Day

• Rym - Star Trek: Voyager: The Animated Series
• Scott - Open Circuits

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider scanners. Ancient devices used to convert paper documents and photos into files on computers, often using something called TWAIN. For many consumers, they have been replaced by "smart phones." In the news, NVIDIA releases open source GPU drivers, hell has frozen over, Russia appears to have lost custody of a relatively intact Krasukha-4.Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - Scanners

Things of the Day

• Rym - Supersymmetry, explained visually
• Scott - The Most Egregious Referee Failure in NHL History

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider tech debt. Where it comes from, what it means, and what you can do about it. Rym's made a career of owning and addressing the tech debt of legacy systems, and there aren't really "correct" answers here. In the news, Microsoft is offering an Edge VPN, Ukrainian drones are shockingly effective against the Russian Navy, and you should check your home to see if it has any of these strange old holes.

Also don't forget that the GeekNights Book Club is a thing!

Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - Tech Debt

Things of the Day

• Rym - How Electricity Actually Works
• Scott - Sweet, Garlicky & Crunchy Doritos Furikake

Tonight on GeekNights, we talk about display cables. The standards can be confusing, S-Video was not that common, VGA was king for a long long time, and we grew up in the days of RF. In the news, web scraping is perfectly legal, the bad man is trying (and failing) to buy Twitter, and Rym got a 3080Ti.Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - Video Cables

Things of the Day

• Rym - You can only BORROW this game
• Scott - 2022 /r/place Atlas

Tonight on GeekNights, we revisit the topic of hosting we last covered in 2006. From simple web hosting to SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and even Iaas (Infrastructure as a Service), a lot has changed. Amazon EC2 didn't even exist when we did that first episode. In the news, Vimeo moves further into B2B, Twitch pauses its "porn on the front page" feature, Amazon is reportedly censoring interesting words like "union" in its new internal app.Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - Hosting in 2022

Things of the Day

• Rym - Drop Mario into Blender
• Scott - Infinite Mac

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the concept of lock-in in technology. From platforms to software, app stores to physical connectors, it's actually a fairly complex topic. In the news, reason 499 not to buy a Tesla, Facebook collapses in the manner we have always expected, and Facebook is in trouble in Europe.Related LinksForum Thread

• GeekNights Monday - Technological Lock-In

Things of the Day

• Rym - RIP to Magawa
• Scott - PROOF! drawing a SWORD from your BACK and why you would want to