Why the floppy disk just won’t die
A surprising number of industries, from embroidery to aviation, still use floppies. Enlarge / Photo taken in Florence, Italy (credit: Daniele Ciabatti/EyeEm via Getty) When Mark Necaise got down to his last four floppy d.....»»
In six new rogue worlds, Webb Telescope finds more star birth clues
The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted six likely rogue worlds—objects with planetlike masses but untethered from any star's gravity—including the lightest ever identified with a dusty disk around it......»»
Professor proposes how a black hole in orbit around a planet could be a sign of an advanced civilization
In 1971, English mathematical physicist and Nobel-prize winner Roger Penrose proposed how energy could be extracted from a rotating black hole. He argued that this could be done by building a harness around the black hole's accretion disk, where infa.....»»
Fortanix protects individual file systems on specified hosts
Fortanix announced a major enhancement to its Fortanix Data Security Manager (DSM): File System Encryption. This new feature complements full disk encryption with the ability to protect individual file systems on specified hosts through encryption, g.....»»
New Windows 11 build removes ancient, arbitrary 32GB size limit for FAT32 disks
But the Windows NT-era disk formatting UI hasn't been fixed yet. Enlarge / If you've formatted a disk in Windows in the last 30 years, you may have come across this dialog box. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) As we wait for.....»»
Secretive: Open-source app for storing and managing SSH keys in the Secure Enclave
Secretive is an open-source, user-friendly app designed to store and manage SSH keys within the Secure Enclave. Typically, SSH keys are stored on disk with appropriate permissions, which is usually sufficient. However, it’s not overly difficult.....»»
Disk Drill Pro review: premium data recovery without a subscription
I review Disk Drill Pro, an app that helps recover lost files from your HDD, SSD, and external drives at a great price......»»
German Navy still uses 8-inch floppy disks, working on emulating a replacement
Four Brandenburg-class F123 warships employ floppies for data-acquisition systems. Enlarge / An example of an 8-inch floppy disk. It's unclear which brand disks the German Navy uses. (credit: Cromemco, CC BY-SA 4.0) Th.....»»
Japan finally says goodbye to floppy disks
Japan announced this week that it has scrapped its use of floppy disks -- and only a couple of decades later than the rest of us!.....»»
Japan wins 2-year “war on floppy disks,” kills regulations requiring old tech
But what about fax machines? Enlarge (credit: Getty) About two years after the country’s digital minister publicly declared a “war on floppy discs,” Japan reportedly stopped using floppy disks in governmental syst.....»»
Japan ends 2-year “war on floppy disks,” kills regulations requiring old tech
But what about fax machines? Enlarge (credit: Getty) About two years after the country’s digital minister publicly declared a “war on floppy discs,” Japan reportedly stopped using floppy disks in governmental syst.....»»
Newly discovered ransomware uses BitLocker to encrypt victim data
ShrinkLocker is the latest ransomware to use Windows' full-disk encryption. A previously unknown piece of ransomware, dubbed ShrinkLocker, encrypts victim data using the BitLocker feature built into the Windows operating system. BitL.....»»
REBELS-25 is a dynamically cold disk galaxy, observations find
An international team of astronomers has observed a high-redshift massive star-forming galaxy known as REBELS-25. They found that REBELS-25 is a dynamically cold disk galaxy. This finding was presented in a research paper published May 9 on the pre-p.....»»
AI and physics combine to reveal the 3D structure of a flare erupting around a black hole
Scientists believe the environment immediately surrounding a black hole is tumultuous, featuring hot magnetized gas that spirals in a disk at tremendous speeds and temperatures. Astronomical observations show that within such a disk, mysterious flare.....»»
Researchers find baby stars discharge plume-like "sneezes" of magnetic flux during formation
Kyushu University researchers have shed new light into a critical question on how baby stars develop. Using the ALMA radio telescope in Chile, the team found that in its infancy, the protostellar disk that surrounds a baby star discharges plumes of d.....»»
5.25-inch floppy disks expected to help run San Francisco trains until 2030
"We have a technical debt that stretches back many decades." Enlarge (credit: Getty) The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which runs the city's Muni Metro light rail, claims to be the first US agen.....»»
8BitDo’s $100 wireless mechanical keyboard is a tribute to Commodore 64
The clicky Kailh White switches are easily replaceable. Fits in nicely with old cassettes and floppy disks. [credit: 8Bi.....»»
Astronomers have solved the mystery of why this black hole has the hiccups
Blame it on a smaller orbiting black hole repeatedly punching through the accretion disk. Enlarge / Scientists have found a large black hole that “hiccups,” giving off plumes of gas. (credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT).....»»
New analysis reveals a tiny black hole repeatedly punching through a larger black hole"s disk of gas
At the heart of a far-off galaxy, a supermassive black hole appears to have had a case of the hiccups. Astronomers from MIT, Italy, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere have found that a previously quiet black hole, which sits at the center of a galaxy.....»»
“Temporary” disk formatting UI from 1994 still lives on in Windows 11
"It wasn't elegant, but it would do until the elegant UI arrived." It never did. Enlarge / If you've formatted a disk in Windows in the last 30 years, you may have come across this dialog box. (credit: Andrew Cunningham).....»»
Holographic message encoded in simple plastic
There are many ways to store data—digitally, on a hard disk, or using analog storage technology, for example as a hologram. In most cases, it is technically quite complicated to create a hologram: High-precision laser technology is normally used fo.....»»