Monthly Archives: July 2018

Python Language Founder Steps Down

Posted on by

After almost 30 years of overseeing the development of the world’s most popular language, Python, its founder and “Benevolent Dictator For Life” (BDFL), Guido van Rossum, has decided he would like to remove myself entirely from the decision process. From a report: Van Rossum isn’t leaving Python entirely. He said, “I’ll still be there for a while as an ordinary core dev, and I’ll still be available to mentor people — possibly more available.” It’s clear from van Rossum’s note he’s sick and tired of running the organization. He wrote, “I don’t ever want to have to fight so hard for a PEP (Python Enhancement Proposals) [PEP 572 Assignment Expressions] and find that so many people despise (sic) my decisions.” In addition, van Rossum hints he’s not been well. “I’m not getting younger… (I’ll spare you the list of medical issues.)” So, “I’m basically giving myself a permanent vacation from being BDFL, and you all will be on your own.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Python Language Founder Steps Down

Dealmaster: Get a 500GB Samsung 860 EVO SSD for $100

Posted on by

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. Today’s list is led by a deal on Samsung’s 860 EVO solid state drive, the 2.5-inch SATA version of which is currently going for $100 through Newegg’s eBay store. The SSD has typically sat around $120 as of late.

As you’ve likely heard before, a good SSD is usually a simple way to breathe new life into an aging PC. The SATA-based 860 EVO isn’t as powerful as pricier NVMe drives, but should still bring a comfortable real-world performance boost to any PC saddled with an older HDD. Samsung has earned a reputation for reliability with the EVO line over the years, and its limited warranty covers five years or 300 terabytes written if anything goes wrong. Most importantly, this is a good deal in a market where price is key.

If you’re not looking for a new SSD, we also have a ton of deals for Dell’s “Black Friday in July” sale, discounts on Google Chromecast devices and PlayStation Plus memberships, and much more. Have a look for yourself below.

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – Dealmaster: Get a 500GB Samsung 860 EVO SSD for 0

Add a Little Lemon Oil to Your Coffee

Posted on by

Hot coffee is not something I can even look at during the summer; it’s all iced coffee, sometimes even without cream because dairy gets more and more oppressive as the temperature climbs. If however, you wish to add a little pep to your icy morning drink while keeping it refreshing, you should grab a strip of lemon…

Read more…



Source: LifeHacker – Add a Little Lemon Oil to Your Coffee

eBay Gives Away Free Google Home Mini With Select Purchases, Here's How To Score The Deal

Posted on by

eBay Gives Away Free Google Home Mini With Select Purchases, Here's How To Score The Deal
This time of year many people are gearing up for Amazon Prime Day. Not to be outdone by their competitor, eBay is offering a free Google Home Mini with qualifying purchases of $119 or more.

Customers will simply need to shop for $119 worth of items (not counting the cost of the Mini), add a Google Home Mini directly from Google’s eBay page,

Source: Hot Hardware – eBay Gives Away Free Google Home Mini With Select Purchases, Here’s How To Score The Deal

See the South Pole Message That Alerted Astronomers to the Cosmic-Ray-Spewing Blazar

Posted on by

Today, scientists made a huge announcement: Telescopes around the world recorded a source of mysterious, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, the highest-energy particles that hit the Earth. It all started with a text message.

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – See the South Pole Message That Alerted Astronomers to the Cosmic-Ray-Spewing Blazar

Three Giant Tesla Coils Perform A Star Wars Medley

Posted on by

star-wars-tesla-coils.jpg

This is a video of three large Dual Resonant Solid State Tesla Coils (DRSSTCs) performing a Star Wars medley at the recent Kansas City Maker Faire. I liked the part where they were playing Star Wars tunes and looked like they were shooting lightning. I’ve never gotten to experiment with a Tesla coil myself, but I used to have one of those plasma globes (which, FUN FACT: were also invented by Tesla) from Spencer’s when I was in high school. “Fascinating.” I used to rest my balls on it for birth control (plus as a party trick). “Wait, what?” I learned that in 10th grade health class. “You did not learn that in health class.” Well not from the teacher.

Keep going for the video.

Source: Geekologie – Three Giant Tesla Coils Perform A Star Wars Medley

Never Stop Sneakin’ is a brilliant send-up of ’90s stealth games

Posted on by

Enlarge / Hummingbird is just one of many unlockable, playable characters. (credit: Humble Hearts)

Nostalgia is a tricky thing. We all feel it at one time or another, and it often seems nothing gets butts in the proverbial seats as reliably as the promise of remembering everything as it was, when you didn’t know any better and assumed the world was a simpler place. Maybe that’s why so many corporations and creators use it as a crutch for storytelling.

When you overuse nostalgia, though, it stinks of the laser-focused cynicism that launched Ernest Cline’s career. But there’s a happy medium. You can use reverence for the classics to launch into something entirely different—paying homage to the past without simply replicating it whole-cloth.

Never Stop Sneakin’, the stealth-comedy game from developer Humble Hearts, does just that. Anyone who has ever played one of the first three Metal Gear Solid games will immediately recognize Never Stop’s inspiration. The chunkiest of 3D graphics obviously mime the original PlayStation, a style that’s still a rarity in a sea of indie games leaning on pixel art. Its starting protagonist, Agent Hummingbird, is a stylistic mix of Solid Snake’s gruff masculinity and Raiden’s skinny-and-sultry gait. Even the game’s crooning theme song is an overt recreation of the iconic Snake Eater theme—itself a callback to early James Bond tunes.

Developer Humble Hearts clearly appreciates some tactical espionage action. But Never Stop Sneakin’ isn’t a direct riff on Konami’s once-flagship series. You stealth around enemies and take down a variety of wacky bosses, sure, but the action is extremely minimalist. You can play an entire level with a single finger: either a thumb on the control stick or a digit dragged across a touch screen. That makes it a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch, where I’ve been playing the score-based sneak-em-up.

Read 14 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – Never Stop Sneakin’ is a brilliant send-up of ’90s stealth games

Canadian Telecoms Make The Most Money on Data Usage In The World: Tefficient

Posted on by

An anonymous reader shares a report: Canadian wireless users have some of the lowest data usage in the world, but Canadian telecom companies make the most money off the customers they have, a new report shows. A study by telecom comparison site Tefficient looked at data usage per SIM card in 36 countries worldwide in 2017, and how much money telecoms made per gigabyte of wireless data used. Canadians used about 1.3 GB of data per month per SIM card last year. There were only five countries where wireless customers used less than that — the Czech Republic, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, and Greece. By contrast, Indian telecoms had the lowest revenue per gigabyte, and showed the highest growth in data usage in 2017 — more than 300 percent.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Canadian Telecoms Make The Most Money on Data Usage In The World: Tefficient

Intel to Buy eASIC

Posted on by

Intel is buying another Santa Clara chipmaker, eASIC. eASIC builds programmable chips for its customers, something which Intel moved into with its acquisition of Altera Corp in 2015. 120 people from eASIC will join Intel’s current programmable solutions group. This purchase should allow Intel customers to custom tailor a chip’s programming at the factory. This could allow a much faster path to a custom Application-Specific Integrated Circuit than a company doing it on their own.



“Instead of getting programmed in the field, it gets programmed in the factory,” Dan McNamara, who heads Intel’s programmable solutions group, told Reuters in an interview. “It still costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, but you get it done in four months as opposed to two years.”

While Intel designs all of current programmable chip lineup, it uses its own foundries to physically manufacture the most advanced models but Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (2330.TW) for lower-end ones, McNamara said. The chips from eASIC are currently manufactured by TSMC and GlobalFoundries, he said, but no decisions have been made about whether Intel will start manufacturing eASIC’s chips.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Intel to Buy eASIC

Intel To Acquire eASIC: Lower Cost ASICs in FPGA Design Time

Posted on by

Along with the other announcement today, Intel is also announcing that it will acquire a company called eASIC which develops FPGA-like design tools to roll out ‘structured ASICs’. These structured ASICs an intermediary between a full FPGA and a full ASIC that allow for a quick roll out time and cheaper production cost. Technically Intel has been using eASIC technology since at least 2015 in its custom Xeons, however today’s announcement means that the eASIC team will become part of Intel’s Programmable Solutions Group (PSG).



Source: AnandTech – Intel To Acquire eASIC: Lower Cost ASICs in FPGA Design Time

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Claims It Has Enabled Its Partners To 'Double the Number of Black and Latinx Students and Girls Taking AP Computer Science'

Posted on by

theodp writes: In a Monday blog post, the outgoing Head of Education for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative made the claim that “we’ve made investments that enabled our partners to double the number of Black and Latinx students and girls taking AP Computer Science.” The claim is an apparent reference to the highly-promoted and wildly-successful new AP Computer Science Principles course (dubbed “Coding Lite” by the NY Times), which the NSF and College Board began development on in 2009. Zuckerberg’s CZI LLC was created in late 2015.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Claims It Has Enabled Its Partners To ‘Double the Number of Black and Latinx Students and Girls Taking AP Computer Science’