Submission + - Celebrating 5 decades - Original code for Altair Basic (gatesnotes.com)

Submitted by klubar
klubar writes: Bill Gates reminisces about developing the original basic for the Altair 8800. Links to the original ASM code (PDF) in fanfold. Bill, Paul Allen and Monte Davidoff took about two months to develop the code — using a PDP-10 simulator for the Intel 8080 chip.

"I still get a kick out of seeing it, even all these years later," Gates said. "Computer programming has come a long way over the last fifty years, but I'm still super proud of how it turned out."

Submission + - Schrödingerâ(TM)s economics (thetimes.com) 1

Submitted by databasecowgirl
databasecowgirl writes: Commenting in The Times on the absurdity of Metaâ(TM)s copyright infringement claims, Caitlin Moran defines Schrödingerâ(TM)s Economics: where a company is both the most valuable on the planet yet also too poor to pay for the materials it profits from. Ultimately âoeMove fast and break thingsâ means breaking other peopleâ(TM)s things. Or, possibly worse, going full "The Talented Mr Ripley": slowly feeling so entitled to the things you are enamoured of that you end up clubbing out the brains of your beloved in a boat.

Submission + - "Real Genius" star Val Kilmer Dead at 65 (imdb.com)

Submitted by EmagGeek
EmagGeek writes: Val Kilmer, star of the iconic 90's science-comedy film "Real Genius," has died at the age of 65 from complications due to pneumonia. Many of us remember his breakout role in the cult classic, where he starred as brilliant yet unmotivated student Chris Wright, whose intellect overshadowed his professor and archenemy Prof. Jerry Hathaway, played by William Atherton, another notable film actor known for his roles in blockbuster films such as Ghostbusters and popular Christmas movie Die Hard. He had many other notable roles including his brilliant portrayal of Jim Morrison in "The Doors," and also many forgettable appearances in B-movies such as Top Gun and a movie in The Batman series.

He was a versatile actor who enjoyed the craft and refused to be typecast. We'll miss him.

Submission + - Microsoft uses AI to find flaws in GRUB2, U-Boot, Barebox filesystems (bleepingcomputer.com) 1

Submitted by zlives
zlives writes: seems to need physical access with perhaps the exception of GRUB.
from the MS source https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...
"Using Security Copilot, we initially explored which functionalities in a bootloader have the most potential for vulnerabilities, with Copilot identifying network, filesystems, and cryptographic signatures as key areas of interest. Given our ongoing analysis of network vulnerabilities and the fact that cryptography is largely handled by UEFI, we decided to focus on filesystems."
it seems they ignored network and encryption so possible there are additional things to be discovered.

Submission + - Happy Birthday, Apple Computer, Inc. 1

Submitted by NoMoreACs
NoMoreACs writes: It was 49 Years Ago Today. . .

April 1, 1976, Apple Computer was Incorporated.

. . .and the Rest, is History!

Submission + - UK's GCHQ intern transferred top secret files to his phone (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: 'A former GCHQ intern has admitted risking national security by taking top secret data home with him on his mobile phone.

'Arshad, from Rochdale in Greater Manchester, is said to have transferred sensitive data from a secure computer to his phone, which he had taken into a top secret area of GCHQ on 24 August 2022.

'The court heard that Arshad took his work mobile into a top secret GCHQ area and connected it to work station.

'He then transferred sensitive data from a secure, top secret computer to the phone before taking it home, it was claimed.

'Arshad then transferred the data from the phone to a hard drive connected to his personal home computer.'

Seriously? What on earth was the UK's equivalent of the NSA doing allowing its hardware to carry out such a transfer?

Submission + - OpenFDA (open.fda.gov) API: "temporary suspension of updates"

Submitted by aikawa
aikawa writes: The OpenFDA API is used by developers to get information about drugs, recalls, medical devices, and adverse events.

Since March 31, the OpenFDA status page reads: "there is a temporary suspension of updates to the openFDA datasets".

This is impacting third-party developers, and there is speculation that it might be linked to ongoing changes at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), which is set to loose 20,000 full-time employees under DOGE. OpenFDA is one of the most-used government Open Data APIs, its demise would be a serious setback for the Open Data movement.

Submission + - Copilot Can't Duplicate 2013 TouchDevelop and Windows Phone Code Generation Demo

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "The devil is in the details," Ross Perot famously said of President Clinton's economic plan back in 1993. Such, too, is the case with code generation, now personified by the much-hyped coding capabilities of Copilot and other GenAI LLMs.

But ask Copilot to "write a program that can be run on an iPhone 16 to select 15 random photos from the phone, tint them to random colors, and display the photos on the phone" in 2025 like TouchDevelop did for the long-discontinued Windows Phone in a 2013 Microsoft Research 'SmartSynth' natural language code generation demo (ACM paper, demo video), and you'll get lots of code and caveats from Copilot, but nothing that you can execute as is (compare to functioning 10 lines of code TouchDevelop program). It's a good reminder that just because GenAI can generate code, it doesn't necessarily mean it will generate the least amount of code, the most understandable or appropriate code for the requestor, or code that runs unchanged and produces the desired results.

TouchDevelop — a programming environment and language that enabled schoolchildren and expert programmers alike to write applications directly on mobile devices and in the browser — was (like BASIC) abandoned by Microsoft, who explained: "We determined we needed to replace Touch Develop with MakeCode in order to provide a more holistic, hands-on computing education platform that will bring computer science to life through physical computing devices like the micro:bit and immersive experiences like [Microsoft-owned] Minecraft." It marked an abrupt change in direction from the "Don't just play on your phone, program it" learn-to-code messaging for K-12 students that was promoted for years by the tech giants and even President Obama.

Interestingly, a Microsoft Research video from CS Education Week 2011 shows enthusiastic Washington high school students participating in an hour-long TouchDevelop coding lesson and demonstrating the apps they created that tapped into music, photos, the Internet, and yes, even their phone's functionality, showing us how lacking iPhone and Android still are today as far as easy programmability-for-the-masses goes (when asked, Copilot replied that Apple's Shortcuts app wasn't up to the task). Two years later during CSEdWeek 2013, the new Hour of Code (TM) was launched by tech-backed nonprofit Code.org with a decidedly dumbed-down approach to introducing kids to coding, with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg teaching 30+ million schoolkids how to drag-and-drop puzzle pieces to advance an Angry Bird character up, down, left, and right, the same concepts a 5-year-old might learn by playing Pop-O-Matic Trouble.

Submission + - Grown-ups are buying more toys than preschoolers (nypost.com) 1

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

Adults now account for 28% of all global toy sales, according to analytics firm Circana — an increase of 2.5% since 2022. In 2024, grown-ups bought more toys than any other age group, including preschoolers.

I wonder if attachment to physical items in increasingly digital existence plays a role in this.

Submission + - Clothes that Grow with Your Kids (thetimes.com)

Submitted by databasecowgirl
databasecowgirl writes: After observing how quickly a gift of baby clothes no longer fit, aeronautical engineering graduate from Imperial College London, Ryan Yasin decided to tackle the growing problem of perfectly good clothes ending up in landfills.

The Sunday Times documents strategies science is developing to counter the environmental damage implicit in the disposable fast fashion at Imperialâ(TM)s White City campus in west London, which provides resources for start-ups and is becoming a hub of sustainable fashion solutions.

Submission + - CDC buried Measles Forcast That Emphasized Vaccines (propublica.org)

Submitted by XXongo
XXongo writes: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered staff this week not to release their experts’ assessment that found the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks where vaccination rates are lagging, according to internal records. The assessment had emphasized the importance of vaccinating people against the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease that has spread to 19 states, the records show. The shift in its long-standing messaging about vaccines is a sign that it may be falling in line under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines. Meanwhile, researchers say that measles vaccination rates may be as low as 71% in younger children, well below the threshold needed for herd immunity.

Submission + - Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water (bbc.com) 1

Submitted by Hmmmmmm
Hmmmmmm writes: Utah has become the first US state to ban the use of fluoride in its public water, following concerns raised by health secretary Robert F Kennedy that the mineral poses potential health risks.

Governor Spencer Cox signed the ban into law this week, which will go into effect on 7 May. Other states, including Florida and Ohio, are weighing similar legislation.

Fluoride has been added to US drinking water since 1945 to prevent cavities.

Utah's move to remove the mineral has been criticised by experts, who worry it will have consequences for oral health, especially for children.

The bill, signed by Cox on Thursday, prohibits communities from adding fluoride to their public water supplies.

The law does not mention any public health concerns related to the mineral, but Republican state lawmaker Stephanie Gricius — who introduced the bill in the state legislature — has argued that there is research suggesting fluoride could have possible cognitive effects in children.

Gricius has said that her bill would give citizens a choice whether they want to consume fluoride or not.

This concern over fluoride was previously raised by Kennedy, the US health secretary, who said in November that "the Trump White House will advise all US water systems to remove fluoride from public water".

He alleged the chemical found in toothpaste and regularly used by dentists "is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease".

Most of western Europe does not add fluoride to its water. In England, about one in 10 people has fluoridated drinking water, though a programme has since been introduced to fluoridate water for 1.6 million people in north-east England.

By contrast, around 63% of the US population have fluoridated water.

Experts who support putting fluoride in water says studies show that community water fluoridation prevents at least 25% of tooth decay in children and adults.

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