The technology thread

[ncurd]

It'll probably be a cesspool at some stage but using bluesky really does feel like a good twitter alternative right now.

At least I have a way of getting a semi decent newsfeed again without several tones of bile.

 

[ncurd]

Facinating snapshot

The Secret Barrister (@barristersecret.bsky.social)

Without wishing to be one of *those* people, this illustrates why Twitter is not just toxic, but ineffective for anyone trying to share information or (let’s be honest) self-promote. A basic tweet plugging a book offer. 500k followers on Twitter (left), 90k here (right). But look at the engagement.

bsky.app

 

[ncurd]

Is my social media feed being manipulated to push an agenda?

You betcha!

I was kinda aware of this one and one the many reasons my FB account merely just exists now rather than I actively use it.

‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine

Private messages detail an alleged campaign to tarnish Blake Lively after she accused Justin Baldoni of misconduct on the set of “It Ends With Us.”

www.nytimes.com

 

[Gavin]

Oneplus 13 and 13R set to be released on 7th January.

Anyone else considering it as an upgrade?

Got my 6T from 2018 ready to upgrade.

 

[AlRums]

Tech entrepreneur trapped in circling self-driving car on way to airport: ‘I feel like I’m in the movies’

“It’s circling around a parking lot. I got my seat belt on. I can’t get out of the car,” Waymo customer Mike Johns told a company rep over the phone.

nypost.com

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Is my social media feed being manipulated to push an agenda?

You betcha!

I was kinda aware of this one and one the many reasons my FB account merely just exists now rather than I actively use it.

‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine

Private messages detail an alleged campaign to tarnish Blake Lively after she accused Justin Baldoni of misconduct on the set of “It Ends With Us.”

www.nytimes.com

I've disabled Facebook on my phone (for some idiotic reason Samsung made it so it can't be deleted)

It's just become a cesspit of AI generated clickbait and right wing trolling.

 

[AlRums]

China's 'artificial sun' shatters nuclear fusion record by generating steady loop of plasma for 1,000 seconds

A nuclear fusion reactor in China, dubbed the "artificial sun," has broken its own record to bring humanity one step closer to near-limitless clean energy.

www.livescience.com

Leaps and bounds.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

I've disabled Facebook on my phone (for some idiotic reason Samsung made it so it can't be deleted)

It's just become a cesspit of AI generated clickbait and right wing trolling.

what really? cant be deleted?

too the point, im more and more convicted there is an active effort to sew division because yes, i,m a left wing leaning person who gets a stream of right wing bile....but right wing people get a stream of left wing stuff. i guess its not a huge lead to accept some algorithm has worked out people engage more with things they dont like (more likely to leave a negative review than a positive)....i but then people think "everyone" is out to get them...which pushed them further to extremes....******* scary downward spiral

god i wish we could take social media back to just pictures of food or sitting on a beach/hot tub

 

[Which Tyler]

China's 'artificial sun' shatters nuclear fusion record by generating steady loop of plasma for 1,000 seconds

A nuclear fusion reactor in China, dubbed the "artificial sun," has broken its own record to bring humanity one step closer to near-limitless clean energy.

www.livescience.com

Leaps and bounds.

Also getting some good advances in transparent solar cells. Still a hefty outlie, but from what I'm reading, you can get about 30% efficiency at power conversion for about a 10% loss of visual clarity - converting light energy from outside the human visible range.
What that means, is that your phone could have this on its screen, and self-charge by being left on a windowsill; or the window itself could be a solar panel - imagine a sky scraper with every window generating electricity.

 

[Reiser99]

Also getting some good advances in transparent solar cells. Still a hefty outlie, but from what I'm reading, you can get about 30% efficiency at power conversion for about a 10% loss of visual clarity - converting light energy from outside the human visible range.
What that means, is that your phone could have this on its screen, and self-charge by being left on a windowsill; or the window itself could be a solar panel - imagine a sky scraper with every window generating electricity.

If money wasn't an issue you could build an entire city around energy generation. Solar panels, wind, stepping on pavement. Roads could do similar.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Tbh there's not really much excuse for why modern buildings, particularly warehouses and the like, shouldn't be built with solar panels, charging points and batteries as standard.

We can't be demanding a switch to all electric vehicles but then make practically no effort to build the required infrastructure to make it work.

 

[Which Tyler]

Tbh there's not really much excuse for why modern buildings, particularly warehouses and the like, shouldn't be built with solar panels, charging points and batteries as standard.

We can't be demanding a switch to all electric vehicles but then make practically no effort to build the required infrastructure to make it work.

On top of the usual problems of political will... the switch to electric vehicles still looks like being a temporary solution until hydrogen tech is ready to be mass produced, and way less changes to existing infrastructure.

IIRC one of the German manufacturers thinks it's close enough now that they've halted development on electric cars, to concentrate on hydrogen.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

On top of the usual problems of political will... the switch to electric vehicles still looks like being a temporary solution until hydrogen tech is ready to be mass produced, and way less changes to existing infrastructure.

IIRC one of the German manufacturers thinks it's close enough now that they've halted development on electric cars, to concentrate on hydrogen.

Hydrogen would work better with existing infrastructure but it's notoriously difficult to store and the chance of cars full on exploding in crashes will be much higher. The energy density is poor due the volume, so it would need to be compressed, exacerbating the above storage and explosive issues.

 

[Which Tyler]

Pretty sure that's all been known and acknowledged for well over a century.
And yet, hydrogen cell cars are already on the road, with "accepted" solutions to all of those problems.
In the UK, you can already buy a Toyota Mirai or Hyundai Nexo

From what I can tell, 2 years ago, there were 300 hydrogen cell cars on the roads in the UK - earliest stat I'm finding for (all) electric car numbers were 1082 in 2011, so presumably about 15 years behind electric cars, but likely a more rapid uptake once the infrastructure exists.

 

[Amiga500]

Hydrogen would work better with existing infrastructure but it's notoriously difficult to store and the chance of cars full on exploding in crashes will be much higher. The energy density is poor due the volume, so it would need to be compressed, exacerbating the above storage and explosive issues.

Ah - well actually there have been real investigations into this. I spent a bit of time years ago on systems around a fuel cell based aircraft APU so it's not completely alien to me.

Bottom line, it was proven H2 vehicles are safer than petrol. 3 main reasons.

1. The tank is far heavier duty and less susceptible to piercing.
2. If the tank is pierced pure H2 needs O2 to combust, therefore it acts more like a directed flame (think gas hob) rather than the explosive fuel:air mix in a petrol tank ullage.
3. If the tank is pierced, H2 will rise into the air above the vehicle and if it combusts will do so above the vehicle. Petrol would pool immediately around and therefore ignite "in" the vehicle.

 

[Amiga500]

Oh, should also point out, all the above is assuming storage of H2 as pure H2.

There is more hydrogen in a litre of water than there is in a litre of pure liquid hydrogen!
In the long term, storage within adsorbents or absorbents is likely to offer a more volume effective approach.

 

[Which Tyler]

No point storing it as water though, as the whole point is to oxidise hydrogen to create electricity.
I was under the I oression that compressed gas was the storage option of choice, but absolutely reserved the right to be wrong.

My A-level chemistry (from 30 years ago) can't get it's head around a litre of H2O containing more hydrogen than a litre of H2, as I've a mole isn't a mole