England’s Bletchley Park, famous for its World War II codebreaking success, is about to put on display some of the actual Nazi messages it decrypted. Bletchley’s National Museum of Computing houses a working replica of the five-tonne ‘Colussus’ decryption engine, of which 10 were in use at the peak of the wartime codebreaking effort. The ‘original and freshly discovered’ messages will be available for visitors to marvel at.
The first ever bug bounty program was launched in 1983. The prize for finding a bug in the software? A Volkswagen Beetle (a bug – geddit?). Such is the pressure on software firms to produce vulnerability-free code that they will offer cash rewards to white hat security researchers who can find and report flaws. Bug-hunting has become an industry, and anyone with the right smarts can try for a slice of the bug bounty pie.
Smart cities aim to provide their residents with improved public services and better quality of life by investing in digital technologies. They also emphasize community involvement in the running of the city. With the key stakeholders (citizens) participating more directly in matters of infrastructure, mobility, environment, sustainability and economy, their city functions better and serves their needs and desires more efficiently. Digital technology aids citizens by providing real-time monitoring of services and utilities, and the ability to respond to changing needs in real time.
Last year courseindex.com featured a story about a new centre for cyber security at Bletchley Park in the UK, a ‘Hogwarts for hackers’ designed to recruit the best young minds in I.T. in the fight against cyberterrorism and other computer-based threats to national security.
Cuddly Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is the figurehead of a new educational enterprise aimed at training the next generation of tech wizards and fast-tracking the most promising ones.
It’s official. We now live in the future. Why? Because we have self-driving cars. We even have a few flying cars, that long-fantasised-about sci-fi staple. Pretty soon autonomous vehicles will be mainstream, and the industry will need armies of young boffins to design and engineer them. So it’s about time there were courses that introduced smart young people to the autonomous vehicle industry and prepared them for careers in it.
Eat blueberries and you will live for ever. Quinoa gives you superpowers. Being within 100 feet of an egg yolk will kill you instantly. Exaggeration? Yes, but every day we hear dietary messages from the media and food ‘experts’ that aren’t that far from such hyperbole. Social Media use food fads as bait to draw us in and show us ads (thanks, Buzzfeed). There is conflicting advice out there that can make our heads spin. To pick the right things to eat and create a healthy and sustainable diet, the best thing to do is educate ourselves in nutritional science and then make our own choices.
Those involved in the creative process know how hard it can be sometimes to open the floodgates of their creativity when required. If they wait for inspiration, they might find themselves waiting a long time. The old adage about creativity (or was it success?) being 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration definitely applies here.
When you turn the key of your Bentley and the engine purrs to life, spare a thought for the minions who designed, manufactured and tested all those moving parts, perfected the aerodynamics, gave it brakes that make it stand on its nose and made the gear changes feel like silk. Minion school is a place called the University of Bolton in England, where they deliver a BSc (Hons) degree in Motorsport Technology.
Stand-up comedy is an interesting instance of the nature vs. nurture debate. Are good comedians just naturally funny people, or have they painstakingly crafted their acts over hundreds of performances so they can push our laughter buttons and get results?
Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, studied philosophy at college. Astute viewers will have noted the many references to philosophy in the show – Homer, for one, is so named as a nod to a great thinker (but he thinks it comes from baseball). Critics have noted for a long time that the show does more than merely play with philosophy. Rather than mentioning clever stuff in passing to show its creator’s erudition, the Simpsons actually does philosophy.
