fastcompany.com

SamsonSeinfelder , to Technology in If you value privacy, ditch Chrome and switch to Firefox now

The best time to switch to Firefox was 5 years ago. The second best is today.

sycamore ,

Oops, I switched 15 years ago,

jflorez ,

I switch when it was Phoenix, then switch again when it was Firebird, and finally switch when it become Firefox

sycamore ,

you win Firefox!

ryan213 , to Technology in Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees
@ryan213@lemmy.ca avatar

Made of plastic... Just what we need!

invertedspear ,

If we can recycle single use plastic into this, then great. Somehow I doubt that’s how it would be made.

masquenox ,

If we can recycle single use plastic into this, then great.

They won't - they'll just use "Recycling!" as a pretext to continue business as usual... which was the whole point of "Recycling!" in the first place.

asdfasdfasdf ,

Disagree. Even if we could, from what I understand, large, solid pieces of plastic are better than extremely small, thin, fragile pieces since those are going to turn into microplastics and get everywhere. I'd rather have them in one big chunk.

ZagamTheVile , to Technology in Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

I admit I didn't read the article throughly, but surely if it's impossiblely thin it can't exist. I only bring this up because I'm an obnoxious pedant.

lurch ,

i just read the title and it sounds like it will freeze people to death

A_Very_Big_Fan ,

Same. Guess I won't bother looking into it if it's impossible 🤷‍♀️

Aux ,

We can make materials as thin as one atom. It's just very expensive.

iknowitwheniseeit ,

Can't you make one atom thin sheets of carbon with a pencil and tape?

Aux ,

Yes, you can, but your sheet will be very small. If you want to make a sheet large enough to make a shirt, things get ridiculously expensive.

robotica ,

Yeah but he was being pedantic over the word "impossibly". If we can make 1 atom thin sheets, then it's not impossible, right?

werefreeatlast ,

I would require a wet T shirt contest to really see and compare.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

"This is thin."

"Impossibly thin!"

"No... I'm pretty sure it's possible considering we are holding it right this very second."

TheGrandNagus , (edited ) to Technology in Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

To be clear, the headline refers to yank degrees:

In outdoor tests in Arizona, the textile stayed [...] 16 F (8.9 C) cooler than regular silk, a breathable fabric often used for dresses and shirts.

They didn't really compare it to many materials it seems.

I also don't know why they said 16+ degrees. That was the largest temperature delta they saw, not the least...

Besides, this is only part of the tale:

  • Is it affordable?

  • Is it mass manufacturable?

  • Is it comfortable?

  • Is it durable?

  • Is it washable?

  • Is it crease prone?

  • Can it be easily mixed with other materials, e.g. to make it elasticated?

  • Is it recyclable?

  • Is it dyeable?

  • is it fine for sensitive skin?

  • etc

Sounds cool (heh) though. I'm often too warm.

AbidanYre ,

yank degrees

We prefer the term freedom units, thank you.

Venator ,

I prefer the term Yankee doodlegrees, thank you.

captainlezbian ,

Idk yank units sounds really catchy

Zron ,

I’ll yank your units

Aux ,

More like wank degrees, lol.

Solemn ,

... Silk is used as a cold weather baselayer in active wear? Not sure if it performs differently as an outer layer, but it's got solid insulating properties for keeping in heat

HelixDab2 , to Technology in Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

On top of that, as we experience higher temperatures, many people also crank up their air conditioners—which emit more heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

This is not correct. Air conditioning units do not 'emit more [...] greenhouse gases'. Air conditioners use a refrigerant--usually R134a--which does have a high global warming potential (GWP) compared to methane or CO2, but that refrigerant is in a closed loop; it's not going anywhere unless the system is damaged. Most a/c failures aren't from refrigerant leaking out of the system, and the system no longer being able to effectively transfer heat, but from the compressor motor failing. When the compressor fails, in most cases you can evacuate the refrigerant, replace the broken part, and then recharge the system. (The fact that they can be repaired doesn't mean that they usually are repaired. Which is shitty.)

What is true is that a/c units emit heat themselves. An air conditioner moves heat from inside a space to outside of that space; in the process of doing so, the a/c unit itself is creating an additional small amount of heat from the function of the compressor motor, electronics, etc.

Beyond that, most electricity that's used to run a/c systems--and every other electrical device--is produced from burning fossil fuels. So if there's more demand for electricity--such as from a heat dome that has everyone running their a/c full-time--then yes, more CO2 is going to get pumped out into the atmosphere. But if your electricity is coming from sources that are largely emissions-free, like solar, wind, or hydro, then air conditioning is a negligible source of heat.

tl;dr - don't feel bad about using your a/c when heat rises to dangerous levels; agitate at a local, state, and national level for renewable, carbon-neutral ways of generating electricity, and for more efficient use of electricity.

crawancon ,

Thank you.

I don't think we should feel bad for housing AC. it was created by us to feel comfortable. Just because companies and bitcoin miners and ultron-ass skynet-ass LLM/ML-ass trainers are using stupid amounts of resource doesn't mean the population is the cause. it's the greedy few.

HelixDab2 ,

I agree with all of this. At the same time, I think that, in most cases, people should allow their body to adapt to heat, if they are healthy enough to do so. Most people can learn to be comfortable in higher heat than they believe, although some people have medical conditions that will make them more susceptible to heat exhaustion and heat stroke. If you can get by without it, you should. If you're at risk by not using it, don't feel guilty.

(FWIW, my office only has a/c because I have a very, very large printer in here, and it tends to have head strikes and scrap prints out if there's no climate control. But since I'm not printing at the moment, the current temp in here is 82F.)

Mbourgon , to Technology in Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

What are examples of “broadband emitter “ fabrics that I can buy? The only links I can find are for this article.

kautau ,

https://www.walmart.com/ip/862670990

In all serious though I don’t think that term has ever been used outside of articles for this research

Mbourgon ,

Dang it. Because something keeps me a couple of degrees cooler than some-wicking-fabric would be nice

kautau ,
tyler ,

Nighthawk in light shows how to make your own on YouTube. He has lots of videos about stuff like this. Someone else in the comments linked one of his vids.

harrys_balzac , to Technology in Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

A good stop-gap while cities de-car-ify and rebuild green space.

Naich ,
@Naich@lemmings.world avatar

Don't need to decarify to rebuild green spaces.

blazera ,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Green space was overwhelmingly removed for car space

WalrusDragonOnABike ,

And you don't need to re:build green spaces to decarify. But you probably should.

RobotToaster ,

They'll just build more luxury condos where the roads were.

iopq ,

Which would be great, because it would give people with high incomes places to live, lowering the competition for housing and the rents at the top end. Those people would spend and contribute to the local economy, since they have the money to spend.

This would be a huge win for everyone, as building more housing often is.

piecat , to Technology in Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

Nighthawkinlight just released a video on a material that accomplishes this that you could make at home.

https://youtu.be/Nqxjfp4Gi0k?si=4rEVK5DjNZCGc1Fi

tyler ,

So different thickness materials can actually cool you off just from a heat transfer perspective, completely ignoring the PCM capabilities (I didn’t click your link I’m just assuming it’s his latest vid). https://www.thermal-engineering.org/what-is-critical-thickness-of-insulation-critical-radius-definition/

So wearing a thin tshirt in cold weather for example can actually be colder than wearing no shirt at all. Same in reverse. I’m wondering if this material is doing that rather than being some sort of PCM.

thejml , to Technology in Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

It’s going to need to be like 40F cooler pretty soon here.

vzq , to Technology in Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

Actual degrees or American fantasy units?

chance , to retrocomputing in The short, happy reign of CD-ROM

Encarta seems so quaint to me now, but it really was a well curated encyclopedia that had a designed charm to it.

I admit when I saw this headline I thought "but what about music" and for me, CD's lived long after the 90's due to small music players and cars having audio CD players but not yet being able to read MP3's. Decks with that feature and cars with that feature were not much later.... but we still burnt them to CDRs.

vext01 , to retrocomputing in The short, happy reign of CD-ROM
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

I have good memories of the cdrom era.

Shame about the undismissable AI video overlaid on the page...

So tired of AI. Can we just not?

mox ,

Even without AI, I find the modern web's flood of unnecessary javascript unbearable. You might want to try Firefox Reader View, which helps on many sites (like this one).

narc0tic_bird , (edited ) to Ukraine in Signal’s founder warns Ukrainians about using Telegram. Here’s why
@narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee avatar

[...] the most secure messaging app in the world, Signal.

That's a very bold claim the author of the article makes.

INHALE_VEGETABLES ,
borari ,
@borari@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Are you saying that is wrong?

missphant ,
@missphant@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

WhatsApp does use that same Signal protocol for its messages but that's very poor writing considering all the tracked metadata arguably makes it just as insecure as Telegram.

Yearly1845 ,

So the Hunter Biden case is a complete farce but I found it alarming that they were proving WhatsApp messages as evidence during the trial. Clearly the messages aren't encrypted against Meta, or they hold keys users don't know about or they wouldn't be able to furnish messages.

partial_accumen ,

Or possibly a user's phone who was a party to the Whatsapp conversation was collected as evidence and unlocked by the user.

Yearly1845 ,

Good point, had not considered that.

Zorsith ,
@Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Ownership by Facebook renders WhatsApp inherently untrustworthy.

Dayroom7485 ,

I might be missing the point, but isn’t this a decently dumbed-down description of the difference between services that are end-to-end encrypted and those that are not?

doodledup , (edited )

I'm not aware of any messenger that is more secure. In fact, almost every other encrypted messenger uses the same algorithm.

It might not by the most anonymous messenger (as there is Session and Threema for example that don't require a phone number) but it's probably the most secure.

Hawke ,

Signal no longer requires a phone number either.

doodledup ,

It does. You can share your username with others. But for registering it still requires one and your account is still linked to one.

Hawke ,

Well, that’s true but it barely affects anonymity.

All that can be determined from that is that the number in question has a signal account, and how recently the account has checked for messages. It doesn’t tie messages or contacts to the number. (Any more)

AProfessional ,

It does tie them together for Signal themselves.

doodledup , (edited )

Actually, it does not. Signal cannot build social graphs based on communications. This is one of many unique inventions that Signal implemented and what makes Signal so great.

narc0tic_bird ,
@narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee avatar

Well even then it's not the most secure but one of the most secure, no?

skillissuer , to Ukraine in Signal’s founder warns Ukrainians about using Telegram. Here’s why
@skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

they said the same about matrix

Beaver OP ,
@Beaver@lemmy.ca avatar

Could you please offer a source for that claim?

skillissuer ,
@skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

i don't have it on hand, but dessalines had some receipts about it ("Why not Signal" piece)

Beaver OP ,
@Beaver@lemmy.ca avatar

I will look in that direction.

skillissuer ,
@skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

notice that dessalines covers a very specific threat model and signal would still be an improvement over, say, whatsapp

Beaver OP , to Ukraine in Signal’s founder warns Ukrainians about using Telegram. Here’s why
@Beaver@lemmy.ca avatar

More Ukrainians should also look into the Matrix protocol as it is end to end encrypted, the service is decentralized and the company that is behind the protocol is based on the UK.

The app element is good app to get started.

Ukraine could have multiple matrix servers for everyone to use.

5 for civilians. 8 for military branches and 3 for government.

skillissuer , (edited )
@skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

polish MoD has siloed matrix instance that they use for their own communications, with their own client. it's e2ee but not for classified information

Beaver OP ,
@Beaver@lemmy.ca avatar

Damn that’s great inspiration!

Is there a reason for it not being e2ee for classified information?

skillissuer , (edited )
@skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

maybe they feel it's not safe enough. client is called DSI Merkury 2.0 if you want to look it up more closely

e: lol it's just element clone, they even left original theme in the same shape. it has forced 2FA and as governmental app could be tied to governmental qualified electronic signature infrastructure (every citizen can get one for free) but not sure about it

behold this pixellated screencap:

https://discuss.tchncs.de/pictrs/image/018e405b-bca5-42be-b4e2-01db61442999.png

doodledup ,

It's not a good direct alternative to Telegram as it's decentralized and is not based on phone numbers.

It can work as addition to Signal, but it's not a good alternative.

Beaver OP ,
@Beaver@lemmy.ca avatar

Tied numbers make it easier for Russians to track you down.

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