Stephen Cass
@stephencass.bsky.social
Special Projects Director at @spectrum.ieee.org. Co-author of Hollyweird Science Vol. 1 and 2. Occasional science fiction editor. Maker and Retrocomputician. Feral cat servitor. 5e DM. ADHD. KB1WNR. 65xx. Originally from Dublin.
Finally we have the evidence. Let's see Big Trebuchet get out of those warning labels now!
Andrew Curry@andrewcurry.com · 4d agoThe man's skeletal injuries looked like a train hit him, but he died in 1304 CE. At #ppa26Berlin last week, @uniofbradford.bsky.social scientist Jo Buckberry concluded he was likely whacked by a flying boulder, making him the first confirmed trebuchet death in the archaeological record. @science.org
It's a new Packrat Monday! (The reason behind the facial hair continuity error will be revealed soon :) ) Our amazing citizen scientist David Schneider came in to talk about making a balloon & payload that can report from circling the globe! #DIY #Pico #HamRadio youtube.com/shorts/xiALW...
Packrat Monday: Orbit the Earth with a Balloon
YouTube video by IEEE Spectrum
youtube.com
One of the great joys of my adult life has been realizing that I can just pick up a new skill every so often, take a fun little class in it weekly for a year or two, and simply enjoy meeting people and getting medium proficient and not attempting to become professional in it at all!
Aliens
Alt: A GIF showing tough space marines and Sigourney Weaver saying "I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure"
static.klipy.com
Anne@anneb.bsky.social · 2w agoFilm you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
Oh yeah, did you read the thing I wrote? Its also in the August print issue of @spectrum.ieee.org. spectrum.ieee.org/jailbreaking... All about the exploits and jailbreaking I did when I first got started in AI/LLM research.
How Darth Vader Taught Me Card Counting and AI Security Got Weird
It only took a little prompting to hijack the biggest AI models
spectrum.ieee.org
Get in nerds, we're going to play electronic battleship! (My latest Packrat Monday for @spectrum.ieee.org ) #VintageToys #DIY, #Repair youtube.com/shorts/BZkJa...
Packrat Monday: Vintage Toy Repair
YouTube video by IEEE Spectrum
youtube.com
Finally got my own copy of the TI logic datasheet book: so much fun to leaf through, and when the apocalypse comes I won’t have to stop making projects! Ah, time enough at last…
You do not need to save your "nice" protoboards for a special occasion. You do not need to save your "nice" protoboards for a special occasion. You do not need to save your "nice" protoboards for a special occasion. You do not need to save your "nice" protoboards for a special occasion....
I've worked with lasers tied to OS/2 Warp machines and WIndows 3.1. I have had to reverse engineer an application that worked with COBOL and RPG. I don't list all the computer languages I know how to read because engineers don't believe me.
ICYMI from us at @spectrum.ieee.org: the fundamental challenge to orbital data centers is good old fashioned heat: "Ultimately, the physics tax is universal... the constraint is never the silicon. It’s the thermodynamics." spectrum.ieee.org/orbital-data...
The Real Cost Of Cooling GPUs In Space Might Shock You
Shedding heat will require ingenious new designs
spectrum.ieee.org
Larry laid his mouse in front of the press to be photographed. Lest you ask, this is a real photograph via the Press Association.
My latest Packrat Monday for @spectrum.ieee.org , in which I get paid to write Commodore 64/6502 assembly code! #C64, #retrocomputing, #DIY youtube.com/shorts/V1QaS...
Packrat Monday: The Chip Hall of Fame
YouTube video by IEEE Spectrum
youtube.com
Old web forums were poorly coded and rough around the edges, but maybe we gave up on them too quickly in the social media era.
What We Lost When We Quit Using Crappy Old Web Forums
Old web forums were poorly coded and rough around the edges, but maybe we gave up on them too quickly in the social media era.
tedium.co
Fell into a teletext hole thanks to @nmsni.co.uk 's most recent YouTube video () and I suddenly remembered a long forgotten memory when I noticed that a text service's clock once looked different. I remember emailing the editor who was all "erm, the computer broke". And now I know why
A Look Inside: BBC Ceefax Generator
Looking at a genuine ex-BBC Ceefax generator from 1997
youtu.be
Just another Packrat Monday, ooooh ahhhwooo.... 🎵🎶 In which I find a wonderful Psion 5 to play with #retrocomputing #VCF youtube.com/shorts/GREZO...
Packrat Monday: The Vintage Computer Festival East
YouTube video by IEEE Spectrum
youtube.com
I’m so sad to share that yesterday was my last day at Scientific American. It was an honor to work alongside my incredible colleagues and to speak with researchers across the sciences. If you’re looking to hire staff or freelance, please consider me and my other laid off coworkers (🧵)
"Hash matching is pointless. Defenders must go fully behavioral and use AI themselves to catch such malware." Our research lead @princechaddha in @IEEESpectrum on why vibecoded malware breaks traditional detection... and what actually works now. spectrum.ieee.org/vibecoding-m...
How Did Two Prompts Turn Into Potent Vibe Hacking Malware
“Vibeware” is forcing new anti-malware strategies
spectrum.ieee.org
Now consumer digital photography has been around for a generation, lets note the the psychological impact of being able to rapidly scroll through years of images versus paging through photo albums, resulting in seeing yourself age decades in seconds, like some macabre flick book... #MementoMori
BrailleRAP is an open source DIY Braille embosser. Derived from a 3d printer controller and a bunch of 3d printed parts, BrailleRAP can emboss Braille text in a lot of languages and even emboss vector graphics to build tangible documents like maps, board games, and art representation. #OHWC2026
If you have ever emailed a writer to let them know you enjoyed something they wrote, you are among the noblest and best and most saintly in this entire world, and I hope you sleep really well tonight.
If you're involved in training/teaching, or a student, this is worth a read – "The Anatomy of a Learning Stall": tagide.com/blog/llm/the...
Bluesky: People should have hobbies! Me: <giggles maniacally in ADHD>
The latest Hands On in @spectrum.ieee.org: Nils Janßen's amazing soft clock, which uses air in 3D-printed channels to handle some of the processing load with pneumatic equivalents of transistors, diodes, and memory! #SoftRobotics #Maker, #DIY spectrum.ieee.org/soft-robotic...
This Squishy Clock Uses Pneumatic Logic to Drive Its Display
The mesmerizing silicone display is powered by air
spectrum.ieee.org
Since people keep asking how much solar is benefitting from the Iran war: we just reduced our 2026 forecast to 640GW(DC) of installation, down 2% from last year. We increased forecasts for Egypt and Malaysia, and Nigeria etc may grow. But big markets are shrinking due to saturation.
