Archiving the Internet

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the immense challenge of archiving the Internet. This is a critical era of human history, and historians centuries from now will be desperate to know things we all think are "common knowledge" today. In the news, the Internet Archive flew too close to the sun, the emerging geopolitical blocs will likely end TikTok in America, and Nvidia (correctly) says cryptocurrencies do not "bring anything useful for society"

E-Waste and Worthless Tech

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider what to do about E-Waste and worthless old technology. Old cables, old smartphones, 500MB hard drives, and the like. It's OK to get rid of it (and you probably should), but don't just throw it in the garbage unless you're a bad person. In the news, new open gangway subway cars debut on the A train in New York, and Silicon Valley Bank collapsed.

GPT-3 and Autoregressive Language Models

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the technology and ramifications of Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) and autoregressive language models in general. We further explore other similar machine learning tools and their short and long-term ramifications for humans. In the news, Discord Stages have low bitrate limits, the US Department of Energy concludes with low confidence that COVID-19 emerged from a lab leak in China, the UK wasn't content with ruining its economy with Brexit and is also considering ruining its technology with the Online Safety Bill, and a terrifying toxic new Dust Bowl is descending on Utah.

Online Advertising and Adtech

Tonight on GeekNights, Rym is back from his ski trip, so we resume our regularly scheduled shows with a review of online advertising and adtech. In the news, the Department of Justice is seeking to break up Google in some trust busting over online advertising and tech layoffs foretell difficult times ahead.

Zero Trust Security

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss the concept of Zero Trust Security. It's a pain, and it's not necessary in all environments, but it's something you should understand. In the news, a company is suing to put profits over preventing harm to children, disgraced former president Donald Trump has been referred for criminal prosecution over his coup attempt, Apple introduces Advanced Data Protection, and Google introduces client-side encryption to paid gmail.

Federated Architecture

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss Federated Architecture in light of the collapse of Twitter. Federation is how most of the Internet works, and you should understand the ramifications of it before you dive into platforms like Mastodon. From XMPP (formerly Jabber) to ActivityPub, even the nature of an email address, federation is how the Internet was intended to be used.

In the news, the FCC has a more accurate broadband map, and the rail unions are (rightly) threatening to strike over intolerable working conditions.

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