In all DRM devices there are private signed certificates that can be used to establish a secure authenticated connection. To get at them you need to crack/hack/file the top of the chip to exfiltrate the certificate. More modern “Trusted Computing” like platforms include verified boot chains so even if you extract the certificate you couldn’t use it because you also need to sign the boot chain to ensure no code has been altered.

Absolutely - modern pirates are extracting the digital streams with the DRM removed. However they closely guard the methods of operation because once the exploits or compromised keys are known they can be revoked and they have to start cracking again. They likely have hardware with reverse engineered firmware which won’t honour key revocation but still needs to be kept upto date with recent-ish keys.

For example the Blu-Ray encryption protocols are well enough known you can get things working if you have the volume keys. However getting hold of them is tricky and you have to be careful your Blu-Ray doesn’t read a disk that revokes the old keys.

For streaming things are a little easier because if you get the right side of the DRM you can simply copy the stream. However things like HDCP and moving DRM into secure enclaves are trying to ensure that the decryption process cannot be watched from the outside. I’m sure their are compromised HDCP devices but again once their keys get leaked they will no longer be able to accept a digital stream of data (or may negotiate down to a sub-HD rate).

Church of England? They are pretty vanilla and low key in my experience.

As I understand it is to operate the defensive missile battery they have just shipped.

They are pretty focused on reducing the cost of launches by aggressively re-using components that would normally crash into the sea. Previous launches landed on floating sea platforms but yesterday’s heavy was so big it needed a more stable landing zone. So after boosting the Star Liner the rocket returned down the trajectory it had followed up and then hovered briefly before being caught by two pincers on the very launch pad it had left five minutes before. That’s pretty cool.

We still have a lot of slag heaps in the top of some of our local hills. They make for some interesting mountain bike runs but they aren’t exactly diverse in floor coverage. Some pits are now tourist attractions but I don’t know what ongoing work is done to maintain the abandoned ones.

Nice. A friend of mine built one with ball bearings: https://youtu.be/40DkJ9vt5CI?si=2TupxpdiZkEg3nVB

Magic Wormhole - it’s been around awhile but it’s super useful for moving files from your internet connected server to your phone without going through multiple hops copying stuff to you local machine and finding a cable.

That’s how it starts. Before you know it you’ll be buying no-name smart bulbs from Ali Baba and investigating custom firmware for full local only control.

Very binary, much wow.

You can play bedrock on Linux using either the mcpelauncher or setting up waydroid. Both require you to have purchased it via Google play.

Other way around. Loyalty cards have always been about getting that sweet sweet data about customer habits.

So similar to premium bonds? Usually those are government backed though.

The phrase “no loose lottery” should be a red flag right away.

I write assembly for test cases and early setup code. I read far more assembly than I write.

Why do the $20 subscription when the API pricing is much cheaper, especially if you are trying different models out. I’m currently playing about with Gemini and that’s free (albeit rate limited).

I wrote a bit of BASIC on my Spectrum but there was a reason they had keyword shortcuts on that keyboard. It wasn’t until I got my Dragon 32 which had I proper keyboard that I really got into coding.

My dad failed his 11+ so was sent to a technical school so he actually learnt how to lay a row of bricks or how to beat out lead flashing. He did end up doing a PhD in Physics but I suspect his early school years explain why he’s always been much more practical than me. My wife was a stage tech during uni so I’ll happily defer to her for joinery. I can just about solder a copper pipe or big pads on a PCB.

For range it doesn’t add much in most cases. But it also depends on how long between journeys you have. If you’re traveling in a van and you are going to be stationary for a few weeks at a time then it can start to make sense, maybe with an extra fold out.

You can, they are called canals. Look at the Nile delta and the network of irrigation trenches used to spread water from the river to the wider areas. There are a number of dam projects in Africa which are all about managing water flows.

The principle problem is when your divert water it’s usually at a cost to another area that was using it.