Tootfinder

My TrueNAS computer (HP Z420) is beeping non-stop. The TrueNAS interface doesn’t show anything wrong, I’ve rebooted and it’s still beeping. (Maybe I should try a shutdown?)
I don’t know enough about PC hardware to know what’s going on…
#truenas #selfhosted

My government offers public subsidies for buying computers and laptops. That’s great, right? I’ve been able to use a modern laptop for the first time in years. After buying a laptop with that subsidy, I received an email informing me that the antivirus connection couldn’t be detected.
- Yeah, so? I don’t need antivirus software. I use GNU/Linux and common sense, and that’s been enough for two decades.
- Yeah, but you have to install Windows 11 Pro and this antivirus so we don’t pe…

A look at Clawdbot, an open-source personal AI agent that runs locally on the user's computer and integrates with multiple LLMs and messaging services (Federico Viticci/MacStories)
https://www.macstories.net/stories/clawdbot-sho…

Clawdbot Showed Me What the Future of Personal AI Assistants Looks Like
For the past week or so, I’ve been working with a digital assistant that knows my name, my preferences for my morning routine, how I like to use Notion and Todoist, but which also knows how to control Spotify and my Sonos speaker, my Philips Hue lights, as well as my Gmail. It runs on...

“Tahoe is the worst regression in the entire history of MacOS. There are many reasons to prefer MacOS to any of its competition, but the one that has been the most consistent since System 1 in 1984 is the superiority of its user interface. There is nothing about Tahoe’s new UI that is better than its predecessor…. Fundamental principles of computer-human interaction — principles that Apple itself forged over decades — have been completely ignored.”
—John Gruber

Hi! I'm Koffietje! (Not very original, might change that later.)
Obviously, I'm a big fan of coffee! Generally black, over-steeped in a French press. But lately I've been messing around with the Moka pot.
I'm also big on Linux. My daily driver is Fedora, which seems to work incredibly well on my computers. I'm also curious about ARM & RISC-V, and have dipped my toes into BSD. Always trying to learn more, and currently I'm working on my Bash skills, tryi…

Quantum computers must be cooled to extremely low temperatures to minimize vibrations and prevent errors.
So far, chip-based systems have been limited to inefficient and slow cooling methods.
Now, a team of researchers at MIT and MIT Lincoln Laboratory has implemented a much faster and more energy-efficient method for cooling photonic chip-based quantum computers.
Their approach achieved cooling to about 10 times below the limit of standard laser cooling.
Key to this te…

Efficient cooling method could enable chip-based trapped-ion quantum computers
Researchers demonstrated a new method of cooling trapped ions using chip-based systems, which could enable more stable and scalable quantum computers and quantum sensors.

Classic contemporary detective show plot point right here.
> After the discovery of McNally’s body, police arrested McCullagh, but they released him after learning of the broadcast, which provided an alibi. [...] Police seized McCullagh’s computers and analysis established that the purported livestream had been prerecorded.

A live stream lie unravelled: how Stephen McCullagh tried to get away with pregnant girlfriend’s murder
YouTube gamer planned audacious alibi, appeared grief-stricken at wake and apparently spied on victim’s family

The unusual electronic and optical properties of #perovskites have long been touted as useful for improving solar cells and television screens,
but these materials have never quite hit the big time.
Existing approaches have hoovered up all the investment and attention, and perovskites remain confined to specialist applications.
Now researchers at Empa, ETH Zurich and the Politecnico…

Perovskite nanocrystal computer components inspired by brain cells
Researchers at Empa, ETH Zurich and the Politecnico di Milano are developing a new type of computer component that is more powerful and easier to manufacture than its predecessors. Inspired by the human brain, it is designed to process large amounts of data fast and in an energy-efficient way.

It's been a rough week because so many computer things I wanted to do just were too difficult, didn't work, or I ended up spending (wasting?) too much time on them.
Some things did work though, and I learned a lot. Some of what I learned is that computers and certain companies (and people) suck, but there's always a way around things that don't work.

US prosecutors charge three people affiliated with Super Micro, including a co-founder, with smuggling Nvidia chips to China; SMCI drops 9% after hours (Jordan Novet/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/19/us-tech-execs-smuggled-nvidia-chips-t…

U.S. prosecutors charge Super Micro Computer employees with smuggling Nvidia chips to China
The U.S. government has been trying to crack down on illegal shipments of top-tier Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China.