Discover everything about science & technology from Sander Hofman

Een brullende T-Rex? Nou…niet bepaald. We zullen natuurlijk nooit zeker weten hoe dino’s klonken, maar recent onderzoek laat zien dat ze zeer waarschijnlijk niet konden brullen. Daar hadden ze niet de juiste organen voor. Waarschijnlijk koerden ze! That’s right, als een duif. Daar wordt een T-Rex heel wat minder eng van hè?

This week, the world lost Kevin Mitnick (59). Dubbed “the most dangerous hacker in America” back in the 1990s, he was a legendary blend: half hacker, half con man. An incredibly smart cookie with the wit and audacity to get anything done. When he was 12 years old, Mitnick convinced a bus driver to tell him where he could buy his own ticket puncher, and was then able to ride any bus in the greater Los Angeles area using unused transfer slips he found in a dumpster next to the bus company garage. When he was a young adult in the 80s and 90s, he got obsessed with exploring telephone and computer systems. The way he hacked was about much more than infiltrating and exploiting computer systems—he was a gifted "social engineer", someone who could con people into doing things to unwittingly compromise a system. As he honed the arts of phreaking (phone hacking), social engineering and hacking, he broke into the systems of Sun Microsystems, NEC, Motorola, Nokia, and even got access to the switch access services of Pacific Bell (which could be used to wiretap phone lines). He also got himself a prime spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. He was hunted down and jailed in 1995. He spent 5 years in federal custody, of which 4 in solitary confinement out of fear that he could "start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone”. After his release, he became a speaker, white hat hacker, security consultant and author.

When I was a kid coming online in the mid 90s, I vividly remember being enthralled with the FREE KEVIN campaign that was all over the internet. The campaign was run out of the hacker mag “2600 Magazine” during Mitnick’s time in jail. It was a trigger for me to dive headfirst into the online hacker scene of the 90s and I was in awe of what I discovered. Mitnick was one of the pioneers. Later, his 2003 book “The Art of Deception” became a bible on my desk—and on the desks of an entire generation.

🍿Ben je van plan om de film Oppenheimer te gaan kijken? 🎥 Pak dan eerst nog even deze podcast mee! Tom Holland en Dominic Sandbrook van The Rest Is History hebben een tweedelige podcast gemaakt over de man en zijn missie, echt de moeite waard om de context mee te pakken.

Vorig jaar publiceerde Tweakers het veelgelezen eerste deel van hun interview met ASML CTO Martin van den Brink, en nu is er part deux, geschreven door Daan van Monsjou. Martin duikt de roerige jaren van EUV in, vertelt over de belangrijke technische doorbraken, evalueert de rol van een beetje geluk, en kijkt vooruit naar High-NA en Hyper-NA.

Dr. Gordon Moore (94) died last week. He was a computing visionary, co-founder of chipmaker Intel and namesake of the famous “Moore’s Law”. I got to interview him in 2014. A memorable moment in multiple ways! 🙏

Omdenken! De warmte van een bescheiden datacenter houdt dit Britse zwembad meer dan de helft van de tijd op een comfy 30C. 😎

Je hebt ze vast wel op social media voorbij zien komen: AI-gegenereerde kloons die AI-gegenereerde teksten voorlezen. Wat komt er bij kijken om zo’n kloon te maken? Deze journalist van Vice accepteert een uitnodiging van het Amerikaanse bedrijf Synthesia om er achter te komen.

Interesting piece that shows the power of cross-pollination amongst the sciences + a good pinch of engineering to get to a completely new application. “Miniaturization, experimentation, and A.I. have unlocked revolutionary potential in an old technology.”

VPRO Tegenlicht kreeg vorig jaar toegang tot het reilen en zeilen bij high-tech bedrijf ASML. Full disclosure: daar werk ik. 😉 De docu is één van mijn persoonlijke hoogtepunten van 2022: ik mocht de makers van de VPRO (regisseur Kees Brouwer en redactie) begeleiden tijdens hun safari door onze techjungle. 🐘🤠⚙️

Flight time was 5 minutes. 🚀🫁

“The drone they used was an M600 Pro, made by a Chinese company called DJI (this model is no longer in production). The team modified it to remove its original landing gear and payload rack so that the team could install a specially-designed lung transport box. They also modified the drone’s electronic systems for better connectivity to make sure it wouldn’t get thrown off track by interfering signals, and added safety features like a parachute recovery system, cameras, lights, and GPS trackers.”