Even if no one reads my daily commentary I’m going to keep at this. It’s fun. 😁
Chrome/Chromium Emergency Patch
Another day, another emergency patch for the most popular browser family. As of this 10:30 AM Central time I can’t tell if Microsoft Edge is involved.
Google Chrome emergency update fixes 6th zero-day exploited in 2023 – Bleeping Computer
Microsoft’s stable channel release notes very briefly had a November 28th update saying they’re aware of the vulnerability but now that blurb was removed.
File Under Reasons Why Rebooting Fixes Things/And I Miss Windows 2000
This is more true with Windows I think. If you make a major config change and something doesn’t work, give it a reboot. At least you don’t have to restart after changing an IP address like the bad old days of Windows 2000, though I think Windows 2000 was a damn fine operating system.
Sometimes I look back to Windows 2000 and miss the simplicity of an operating system that was an operating system and not a consumer journey experience platform, thing, like what we have now.
… So anyway I switched to linux…..
NASA Computers Were Hardcore
https://history.nasa.gov/computers/contents.html
Good old web page on NASA’s history firing off odd computers into the great unknown. My favorite is the Voyager computers because they’re still kicking to this day.
This is a picture of one of the Voyager’s computer modules. The entire thing was cutting edge for the time, and its architecture not entirely proven.
The second hardware modification to Voyager’s data computer led to a first in spaceflight computing: volatile memory. After the first round of prototype programs, an intermediate hardware design evolved using CMOS ICs51. This type of circuit is very low powered, fast, and can tolerate a wide range of voltages, making it excellent for space use. Early in the 1970s, CMOS was still relatively new, so it was with some risk that JPL chose the circuits. To go along with the new CMOS processor, the data computer group fought for CMOS memories as well. Trying to drive a slow plated-wire memory with fast CMOS circuits would have negated the attempt to speed up the computer. However, CMOS memories are volatile, in that if power is cut off, the data stored in them disappear. The designers of previous manned and unmanned spacecraft avoided volatile memories, fearing that power transients would destroy the memories at critical mission times. Voyager management had to be convinced that the risk was acceptable.
https://history.nasa.gov/computers/Ch6-2.html
But it turned out to be a good risk, and they still get the occasional patch:
NASA’s Voyager Team Focuses on Software Patch, Thrusters – nasa.gov
Already Feeling Nostalgic for DEF CON 31.
After only attending DEF CON online during the covid lockdown, DEF CON 31 was my first time being there in person. The thing I enjoyed most was walking around with some SAO boards I built myself. This adapter is already obsolete but I wonder if DEF CON might bring the modular approach back again next year? Here’s hoping.
TTFN!