Day: December 22, 2021

US Army Creates Single Vaccine Against All COVID & SARS Variants, Researchers Say – Defense One

US Army Creates Single Vaccine Against All COVID & SARS Variants, Researchers Say – Defense One:

Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide. 

The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well.

[Sounds like good news!]

Meet the Self-Hosters, Taking Back the Internet One Server at a Time

Meet the Self-Hosters, Taking Back the Internet One Server at a Time:

Much of this growth can be seen on Reddit, with r/selfhosted hitting over 136,000 members and continuing to rise, up from 84,000 just a year ago. The discussions involve self-hosting software that spans dozens of categories, from home automation, genealogy, and media streaming to document collaboration and e-commerce. The list maintained by nodiscc and the community has grown so long that its stewards say it needs more curation and better navigation.

The quality of free and easy-to-use self-hosting software has increased too, making the practice increasingly accessible to the less-technically savvy. Add to that the rise of cheap, credit card-sized single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi, which lower the starting costs of creating a home server to as little as $5 or $10. “Between high-available hosting environments, to one-click/one-command deploy options for hundreds of different softwares, the barrier for entry has dramatically been lowered over the years,” said KmisterK.

[I did this for a long time and then messed up a transition, lost a bunch of things, and tossed in the towel. It still makes me sad, but it remains clear that while it would have been nice to not lose all that history, it has had no overwhelmingly detrimental effect. I’m glad to be blogging again, it had been so long when I felt I had lost my voice, but it seems it was just hiding behind the couch. And I’m working on a podcast as well, (something I thought I’ve never do…) but I have some thoughts. Birth of a notion and all that.]

Thunderbolt™ 3 & 4 Explained

Thunderbolt™ 3 & 4 Explained:

Thunderbolt 4 is compatible with plenty of connections or interfaces including:

DisplayPort
PCle
USB4
It’s even backwards compatible with previous versions of Thunderbolt and connects via USB Type-C
When it comes to speed, Thunderbolt 4 ports have 40Gbps bandwidth. However, Thunderbolt 4 stands out by increasing Thunderbolt 3’s minimum PCIe data requirements from 16Gbps to 32Gbps. That means more room for higher transfer rates and better performance.

For external devices that use PCIe, Thunderbolt 4 will work like a charm.

Games can be transferred and stored onto an external drive and be played from there, rather than having to transfer the files to the system instead
Last and certainly not least, especially for laptop enthusiasts, Thunderbolt 4 is capable of charging various devices and you won’t need a separate power supply to charge your device.

[The confusion continues…]