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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 24 - 29 JULY 2023
Hello and Welcome,
Meeting This Week
NO MEETINGS
Meeting Next Week
2023/08/01 — 18:00-20:00 — August, Tue — Main Meeting
Schedule of Current & Upcoming Meetings
First Tuesday 18:00-20:00 — Main Meeting
First Saturday 13:00-14:00 — Penrith Group
Second Tuesday 18:00-20:00 — Programming
Third Tuesday 10:00-12:00 — Tuesday Group
Third Saturday 14:00-16:00 — Web Design
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Go to the official Sydney PC Calendar for this month's meeting details.
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Penrith meetings are held every 2nd month on the 1st Saturday from 1-2 pm.
The following meetings are in September and November 2023.
ASCCA News:Tech News:
Killed by Mozilla
Information sent by John Lucke:
As with all browsers, Mozilla has been developing the Firefox browser for many years, and it is the choice of countless users worldwide. However, there have been rumours that Firefox will be discontinued, but Mozilla has denied this.
These rumours may result from people reading about old applications developed by Mozilla that have now been discontinued. A list of about two dozen of these is currently available on a website called Killed by Mozilla, showing the development of Firefox since 1998 and is well worth a read.
A list of Google's discontinued apps is also available on a site called Killed by Google and is worth viewing. However, Google is far more brutal, showing over 200 being axed!
— John Lucke
Has Google Chrome Finally Killed Mozilla Firefox?
See the Chill-o-Pedia article by HEATHER JOHNSON, UPDATED ON MARCH 24TH, 2023.
Chrome killing Firefox?
The battle for dominance in the search engine and browser market has intensified over the past 5-10 years. Browsers are the only way in which traffic can move around the internet. Billions of people worldwide use search engines daily, but what browsers do they use?
Several heavyweights are now fighting for the top spot for the best Internet browser. On the other hand, it is little or no competition on the Search Engine front (Google all the way). Internet Explorer has slipped behind Firefox in recent years thanks to a few persistent security vulnerabilities.
The newcomer on the market seems intent on blowing the competition out of the water. The mighty Google Chrome has only been around for a few years but already looks set to overshadow other big names. Let's analyze if Google Chrome has finally killed Mozilla Firefox.
Windows 11 'Moment 3' Update: Minor But Useful
See the InfoPackets article by John Lister on July 14, 2023, at 12:07 pm EDT.
The latest Windows 11 update brings a host of new features. The emphasis is on minor improvements rather than a major overhaul.
All users who have the latest edition of Windows 11 (codenamed 22H2) will now get the "Moment 3" update. Those on older editions will only be getting the regular security patch.
"Moment 3" doesn't include any dramatic changes but includes new and tweaked features with small but meaningful benefits. For example, File Explorer and the desktop will get "access keys," designed to bring the benefits of shortcut keys without the need for the user to memorize the commands.
Users must click either a blank area of the desktop or File Explorer or select an icon. They can then hit the menu key on their keyboard (usually found next to Ctrl in the bottom right of the keyboard) to bring up a list of commands, each of which can be activated by hitting a single letter.
Every Second Counts
Other changes affect notifications from message apps such as email including one-time passwords such as a two-factor authentication code. These notifications will now have a one-click button to copy the code to the clipboard, ready to paste into a web page rather than fully typing the code. This is similar to the way some smartphones handle such codes.
The new features include having a shield icon appear in the system tray when a Virtual Private Network is active, optionally displaying seconds in the clock at the bottom right of the screen, and more detailed information and settings about USB 4 devices. (Source: thurrott.com)
Bugs Less Likely
As with any Windows update, there's always a risk of introducing new bugs that overshadow improvements. However, that's less likely than usual because of the way Moment 3 was distributed.
It's already been available to some users who had chosen the "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" option. Even then, Microsoft only rolled it out to some users in this category. (Source: techradar.com)
In effect, they were running a limited test program on ordinary users rather than those who have signed up for early access and are likely more tech confident than average. The staggered rollout was likely designed to reach enough people that potentially widespread problems would be picked up while minimizing the numbers affected by any bugs.
Aussie inventors recognised in European awards for helping the paralysed communicate
See the iTWire article by By David M Williams | Thursday, 13 July 2023, at 9:07 pm.
Australian company Synchron was a finalist in the European Inventor Awards for improving the quality of life for those with severe paralysis and other neurological disorders.
Synchron was founded by Australian researchers Drs Thomas Oxley and Professor Nicholas Opie and has produced an endovascular brain-computer interface. That means a system transmits data from the brain wirelessly, which in turn controls external digital devices hands-free. In other words, it truly allows patients to communicate using their thoughts. It's implanted through blood vessels and means people with no, or limited, mobility can operate technology by thinking about it. The interface, the Synchron Switch, is the size of a paperclip.
The two met at the University of Melbourne while Opie, an engineer and vascular bionics expert, worked on a bionic eye. "I always had a fascination with making things with my hands and understanding how the body works," he said. "I was lucky to be born in an age where these things can be combined, and I can build body parts."
Through the friendship of their academic supervisors, Opie became introduced to Oxley, a medical doctor taking neurological training. Oxley demonstrated a stent used to remove blood clots in people with strokes. While speaking about it, they realised if the stent had electrons and sensors on it, this could allow people with paralysis to control external equipment.
They had this vision back in 2011 and felt both the passion and call to make this project a reality. However, Opie's previous experience with his bionic eye taught him that despite having good results, he could only ultimately turn it into a product with a company behind it. Thus, Oxley and Opie started Synchron, a commercial entity that would raise funding.
Fast forward a decade, and the dream of controlling digital devices via brain signals was a reality. The first clinical trial was completed last year with great success. This model was called the Stentrode, which was placed through jugular vessels in the neck, using blood vessels to reach the cortex.
Opie explained, "For most people with paralysis, the brain is fine. The connection from the brain to the limbs is not working."
The outcomes do not depend on whether this connection is not working because of a stroke, a spinal injury, neuronal disease, or even a lost limb; provided the brain is working and emitting signals, Synchron can help.
The clinical trial worked with four people with motor neurone disease and successfully had them manipulate motor control software. While the patients cannot talk or move their hands, with Synchron's invention, they can communicate through email and text.
Opie explained, "When you think of doing a movement like squeezing your hand, part of the brain activates and has a bigger signal."
These thoughts, these brain activations, and the signals they send out are then interpreted by the Synchron implant and converted into specific actions like cursor movements or clicks or zooms. And this means that people who could not previously communicate verbally or with their hands can now write to their loved ones.
There is more; "We also have a scoring chart of how you can perform daily living," Opie said, such as shopping or banking. "Running through these tests and connecting with digital tech allows them to do these things and have freedom and independence again."
While all results are thriving, it's still a long journey. "The next steps are to complete an early feasibility trial in the US with ten patients," Opie said. "On success, we can apply to perform a pivotal trial and then gain approval to commercialise on the success of that."
These trials are mandatory to ensure the safety of the technology. Currently, Synchron is leading the world in its field and is the only group that has received FDA approval for a device of this type. It has not experienced any device-related adverse events in or after surgery.
In time, Opie explained, the technology can control more devices, such as wheelchairs or prosthetics. Currently, Synchron still needs to focus on these for regulatory considerations because the patients it works with are more interested in using computers and phones to communicate and are less concerned with mobility aids. The ability to communicate brings them greater benefits.
...
How much it will cost is yet to be established. However, Opie stated, "The people we're looking at might not have jobs and might not have had jobs for some time. We're not doing this to fill our pockets but want it for people to live better lives." As such, Synchron works with healthcare providers, medicare bodies, and the like. "We hope to make it free but government-supported."
The Synchron implant may provide opportunities. "Those with motor neurone disease may have had a career until they became too unwell to work. If their jobs can be done using a computer, then why not? They could do their job again or a new one."
If only Stephen Hawking had been born a bit later, Synchron may have made writing his books easier. "He's a great inspiration," Opie said. "One of the most amazing people with that condition, who showed your brain is still fine even if it does not appear so visually."
Being named a finalist for the European Inventor Award "goes out to the huge Synchron family," he said. "It's mainly the patients and families and the journey they have been on. A lot don't like to be named, but we want them to know we're doing it for them."
"We appreciate what they've done," Opie said.
Fun Facts:
Our universe is actually 27 billion years old, almost double the current age estimate.
See the Earth.com article by Eric Ralls | Earth.com staff writer | 14-07-2023.
Early Galaxies
Picture this: our universe is not the spry 13.7 billion-year-old entity that we once believed it to be. Instead, it could be a grand 26.7 billion years old.
According to a new study by Rajendra Gupta, adjunct professor of physics at the University of Ottawa, this finding fundamentally changes our understanding of the universe. It may solve the puzzle of the "impossible early galaxy problem."
We've been estimating the universe's age using two primary methods for years. First, by calculating the time since the Big Bang, the colossal explosion is believed to have birthed our universe. And second, by studying the oldest stars based on the redshift of light coming from far-off galaxies.
The redshift phenomenon happens when light from an object moving away from us stretches towards the red end of the light spectrum. By measuring this redshift, we've calculated the universe's age.
In 2021, scientists used a model called the Lambda-CDM concordance, to estimate the universe to be about 13.797 billion years old.
Stars can't be older than the universe.
But there's a problem. Some stars, like the Methuselah, appear to be older than the universe itself. And that's not all. The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered early galaxies that seem far too advanced for their age.
These galaxies were around 300 million years after the Big Bang but had the mass and maturity typically seen in galaxies billions of years old. They're much smaller than we'd expect, adding another piece to the puzzle.
This is where Fritz Zwicky's tired light theory comes into play. According to this theory, the redshift might not be due to galaxies moving away from us. Instead, light loses energy as it travels across the universe.
Reinterpreting redshift to account for our universe's age
For a long time, this theory conflicted with what we saw in the universe. But according to Gupta, if we let this theory coexist with an expanding universe, we can reinterpret the redshift as a combination of these phenomena.
But Gupta didn't stop there. He also introduced a new idea based on physicist Paul Dirac's hypothesis about "coupling constants."
These are fundamental physical rules that control how particles interact. According to Dirac, these constants might have changed over time.
If we let these constants evolve, the time for early galaxies to form extends from a few hundred million years to several billion years. That could explain why the galaxies we see are so advanced for their age.
Finally, Gupta challenges the traditional interpretation of the "cosmological constant." This represents dark energy pushing the universe to expand faster.
Instead, he proposes a new constant that accounts for the evolving coupling constants. This change could help us understand why the early galaxies were smaller than expected. It also offers a more accurate picture of the universe.
In the words of Gupta, "Our newly-devised model stretches the galaxy formation time by several billion years, making the universe 26.7 billion years old, and not 13.7 as previously estimated."
The universe might be much older than we thought, which could illuminate some of its biggest mysteries.
More about the big bang theory
The Big Bang Theory is the prevailing cosmological model explaining the existence of the observable universe. The theory provides a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena. These include the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, and the large-scale distribution of galaxies in space.
Here's a breakdown of the key components of the Big Bang Theory:
The Singularity
The Big Bang Theory postulates that the universe originated from a singularity, a point of infinite density and temperature, approximately 13.8 billion years ago.
A singularity defies our current understanding of physics. To fully understand it would require a unification of general relativity (which describes gravity) and quantum mechanics (which explains the behaviour of particles at the smallest scales).
The Expansion
The term "Big Bang" might conjure images of an explosion. However, it's more accurate to think of it as an expansion. Instead of matter exploding into a pre-existing space, space itself has been and continues to expand, carrying galaxies with it.
Georges Lemaître, a Belgian physicist, first proposed this theory of an expanding universe. It was later confirmed by Edwin Hubble's observations that distant galaxies were moving away from us in every direction.
This is often described as the "redshift" because the light from these galaxies shifts towards the longer (and redder) wavelengths as they move away from us.
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
The CMB is one of the key pieces of evidence supporting the Big Bang Theory. It's the afterglow left from the hot, dense state of the early universe, and it permeates the entire cosmos.
In the 1960s, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson accidentally discovered the CMB while using a radio telescope for a different experiment. The uniformity of this radiation in every direction was one of the major confirmations of the Big Bang Theory.
The Abundance of Light Elements
The Big Bang Theory explains the universe's observed abundance of light elements (like hydrogen, helium, and lithium). In the first few minutes after the Big Bang, conditions were right for nuclear fusion to occur. This created these light elements in a process known as Big Bang nucleosynthesis.
Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
The Big Bang Theory also provides a framework for understanding the universe's large-scale structure, including the distribution of galaxies and galaxy clusters, which is believed to be influenced by the distribution of dark matter.
Inflation
In the first fraction of a second after the universe began, it's thought to have undergone a rapid expansion known as inflation. This concept, proposed by physicist Alan Guth in the 1980s, helps explain why the universe appears homogeneous (or similar) in all directions and resolves other long-standing puzzles in cosmology.
A wide range of ovservations supports the Big Bang Theory and provides the basis for understanding the universe's history and current structure. It's important to note that the theory evolves as new observations are made and physicists refine their models to reflect the data better.
Cosmologists are actively researching topics like dark energy, dark matter, and the nature of the universe's expansion. This research could further refine our understanding of the Big Bang and the universe's history.
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Bob Backstrom
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