Daily Archives: 2021-10-06

The Insane Innovation of TI Calculator Hobbyists

Source: Hacker News

Article note: TI's z80 and 68k calculators really are a weird and wonderful little ecosystem, and is definitely a lot of clever people's entry point into thinking like a programmer. I hadn't paid it much mind in the last decade or so, but it still seems to be a thing.
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PLOS2021: ISO-C became unusable for operating systems

Source: Hacker News

Article note: This is a pretty nifty paper, and some of the HN discussion is interesting too (...and a lot of it is people who seem to think the underlying hardware of computers is free magic). Watching theory folks, hardware folks, and application programmers collide in C is always a good show, because each of them look at behaviors and say "of course it should do x"... and the x is different for all of them. Rust is the first language I've seen that can _compellingly_ do the kind of low-level stuff that C is the default for without requiring an enormous amount of outside-the-language support (...written in C or assembly) to actually interface the hardware AND still be at least as optimizable as C, but theirs is very hard-won in terms of platform code compared to C's "the language definition is to do what the host hardware does" approach.
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One America News founder claimed he started network at AT&T’s request

Source: Ars Technica

Article note: Well, it's _mostly_ a platforming argument, but there is still a noticeable bit of "Disassembled abusive (but productive) monopoly reassembling itself like a Terminator, in the image of the modern even-more abusive and parasitic monopoly, funding an anti-government propaganda network."
Eagle-trimmed logo for One American News Network.

Enlarge (credit: One America News Network)

A Reuters report published today with the title "How AT&T helped build far-right One America News" alleges that the telecom giant played a significant role "in creating and funding OAN, a network that continues to spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic."

While there's no evidence or allegation that AT&T played a direct role in creating OAN, Reuters points to a court case in which OAN's founder said he created the network after AT&T "told us they wanted a conservative network." OAN also apparently gets the vast majority of its revenue from a carriage deal with the AT&T-owned DirecTV, which is by far the largest cable or satellite TV provider that carries the channel. OAN is carried by providers including DirecTV, AT&T U-verse, Verizon FiOS, and CenturyLink, but not by large cable operators such as Comcast, Charter, and Cox.

OAN owner Herring Networks claimed in a 2016 lawsuit that AT&T promised to carry OAN on DirecTV in exchange for OAN's public support of AT&T's attempt to purchase the satellite provider, which required government approval. OAN's lawsuit claimed that AT&T reneged on the deal once its purchase of DirecTV was finalized in 2015. OAN finally got on DirecTV in 2017, weeks after agreeing to drop its lawsuit against AT&T. Herring also claimed in court that AT&T in 2013 proposed acquiring a 5 percent ownership stake in Herring, but that purchase was never made.

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Twitch source code and creator payouts part of massive leak

Source: The Verge - All Posts

Article note: Huh. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the fallout of the payout information, and whether anyone does some (possibly firewalled through a document/implement clean room process) interop work for the platform.
Illustration by William Joel / The Verge

Twitch appears to have been hacked, leaking source code for the company’s streaming service, an unreleased Steam competitor from Amazon Game Studios, and details of creator payouts. An anonymous poster on the 4chan messaging board has released a 125GB torrent, which they claim includes the entirety of Twitch and its commit history.

The poster claims the leak is designed to “foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space.” The Verge is able to confirm that the leak is legitimate, and includes code that is as recent as this week. Video Games Chronicle first reported details on the leak earlier today.

The leak includes the following:

  • 3 years worth of details regarding creator payouts on Twitch.
  • The entirety of...

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