"It's not just Intel chips that are vulnerable to hard-to-fix security flaws. Researchers at the Graz University of Technology have detailed a pair of side channel attacks under the "Take A Way" name that can leak data from AMD processors dating back to 2011, whether it's an old Athlon 64 X2, a Ryzen 7 or a Threadripper. Both exploit the "way predi... [PCSTATS]

The ADATA SE800 is an NVMe based external SSD, which means it offers much better performance than earlier external storage. In our testing we saw speeds up to 1 GB/s, that, paired with 1 TB capacity on the SE800 make it an excellent choice if you want to move a lot of data around.... [PCSTATS]

"About a year ago we took a look at Razer�s Kraken Tournament Edition headset, which we really did enjoy. It was however designed for professional gamers, hence the name �Tournament Edition�. For those looking for a more polished home solution Razer has the new Kraken Ultimate Edition. This sits as their flagship Kraken gaming headset and brings al... [PCSTATS]

" After re-creating our profile in the SXFI mobile application, we went on and watched several TV shows such as Star Trek: Picard, Better Call Saul and Altered Carbon. The EQ was left on neutral and we were quite surprised by the quality of the surround sound delivered by the product, same basically as the one found with the SXFI THEATER. SXFI AIR ... [PCSTATS]

There are so many things that can be done with a little spare time and a Raspberry Pi that it boggles the mind; the little developer board can be made to do just about anything builders can dream up. One of the most recent projects we've seen using the Pi turned up on Reddit from a person called jul-bruegger who combined the Raspberry Pi Zero... [PCSTATS]

Riotoro just released their very first 7.1 virtual surround sound gaming headset called the Aviator Classic and today it�s up to us to put it to the test. ... [PCSTATS]

Fnatic React is the first gaming headset released by this world-famous esports brand. It's a simple analog headset with no extra features or gimmicks. It is laser-focused on what's important: sound and microphone quality, as well as wearing comfort.... [PCSTATS]

"I will share a better explanation to the idea for this article in a later section, but here is a short version: How much an impact, if any, does the aspect ratio have on performance? Beyond any doubt, 16:9 is the most common aspect ratio, and the differences between a 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 display or image can be thought of in terms of sampling ... [PCSTATS]

The XPG Battlecruiser is the larger of the two initial case offerings from ADATA XPG, with the smaller Invader making an excellent first impression. This means the Battlecruiser has some big shoes to fill, especially as the $150�$200 segment tends to attract a demanding crowd.... [PCSTATS]

If you export your WordPress blog, it is delivered to you as an RSS feed that holds all of the blog's entries, pages and comments. WordPress makes use of five namespaces and calls the format WordPress eXtended RSS (WXR). I'm working on a Java application that converts a WXR file into a set of static HTML pages.

The RSS Advisory Board has published the RSS 2.0 Specification for 20 years, releasing 10 revisions over that time. The current version of the specification can always be found at this URL:

https://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification

The revisions have mostly been minor, aside from one clarification that namespaces can be used to extend RSS by adding elements and attributes, not just elements.

The best way to learn how to implement RSS as a software developer is to read the RSS Best Practices Profile created by the board. It includes all the rules of the specification along with our recommendations for how to handle issues that have arisen among implementers.

For example, the enclosure section describes how to deal with the biggest ambiguity in RSS: Can an item contain more than one enclosure?

The RSS specification is available under a Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike license, so it can be republished on websites and software related to RSS and syndication under those terms.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the effort that became the Atom feed format. It all began on June 16, 2003, with a blog post from Apache Software Foundation contributor Sam Ruby asking for feedback about what constitutes a well-formed blog entry.

The development of RSS 2.0 had been an unplanned hopscotch from a small group at Netscape to a smaller one at UserLand Software, but Atom was a barn raising. Hundreds of software developers, web publishers and technologists gathered for a discussion in the abstract that led to a concrete effort to build a well-specified syndication format and associated publishing API that could become Internet standards. Work was done on a project wiki that grew to over 1,500 pages. Everything was up for a vote, including a plebiscite on choosing a name that ballooned into a four-month-long bike shed discussion in which Pie, Echo, Wingnut, Feedcast, Phaistos and several dozen alternatives finally, mercifully, miraculously lost out to Atom.

The road map of the Atom wiki lists the people, companies and projects that jumped at the chance to create a new format for feeds. XML specification co-author Tim Bray wrote:

The time to write it all down and standardize it is not when you're first struggling to invent the technology. We now have aggregators and publishing systems and search engines and you-name-it, and I think the community collectively understands pretty well what you need, what you don't need, and what a good syntax looks like.

So, now's the time.

As someone whose only contribution to the project was voting on names, I think I was too quick to rule out Phaistos, a suggestion inspired by a clay disc produced by movable type before 1600 B.C. Comments on the wiki page proposing that monicker offer a sample of the name wars:

MikeBlumenthal: Does one of the great mysteries of antiquity, a document which, after almost 100 years of trying, is still a mystery not only as to its meaning but even as to its purpose, and which stands as a paragon of impenetrability, really fit as a name for an interoperability format?

Jayseae: Actually, the current state of RSS is pretty much a mystery -- why should this project be any different? I like the association with publishing -- though I'm not sure the pronunciation really flows. Perhaps it could be shortened somehow?

AsbjornUlsberg: Sorry, but I don't like it. We could just as gladly give the project any other Greek-sounding name, like Papadopolous.

Arising from all the chaos and debate, the Atom format became a beautifully specified IETF standard in 2005 edited by Mark Nottingham and Robert Sayre that's used today in millions of feeds. It is the most popular syndication format that's never argued about.

Everybody got that out of their system on the wiki.

The exodus of users away from Twitter and Reddit has led many of those information refugees to discover the joy of subscribing to feeds in a reader. RSS and Atom feeds are an enormous open decentralized network that can never be ruined under new ownership -- because there's no owner.

Tara Calishain of ResearchBuzz has written a 4,000-word introduction to RSS for people who are new to the world of feeds:

I could not do ResearchBuzz without RSS feeds. They're invaluable. And I think if you learn more about them, you'll appreciate why I consider RSS the most underrated tech on the Internet. That's what this article is about: I'm going to explain what RSS feeds are, show you how to find them, go over some of the RSS feed readers available, and, finally, list several tools and resources you might find useful on your journey.

... I follow over a thousand RSS feeds which deliver information to me throughout the day. Do you think I could visit a thousand websites a day to check for new information? Even if I tried to visit a thousand a week that would be over 142 websites a day. Assuming it took me two minutes to visit a site and check for new content, I would spend over 4.5 hours a day just visiting websites.

Do you see why I'm so grateful for RSS?

Calishain, who was blogging before Netscape created RSS in 1999, covers a lot more than the basics, showing how to find hidden feeds on websites, check a bunch of feeds for freshness and create keyword-based feeds to search sites like Google News, Hacker News and WordPress. Even experienced readers of readers will learn new things, and there's a collection of nine handy RSS Gizmos she has developed.

On that subject, Calishain just began programming a year ago:

In spring 2022 I decided to find out if I could really learn JavaScript after being diagnosed as autistic. (I'm a high school dropout and didn't think I could learn something like programming.)

I CAN! And I LOVE IT!

Welcome to the not-so-secret society of programmers, Tara! Please slow down a little. You're making the rest of us look bad.

Meghan Elizabeth Kallman and Josephine Ferorelli discuss the politics of pregnancy and childbirth in an era of environmental challenges.

After a 2021 leak at the U.S. military’s Red Hill fuel storage facility poisoned thousands, activists, Native Hawaiians, and affected military families have become unlikely allies in the fight for accountability.

Displaced by climate change, Fulani children are getting access to education no one in their communities has had before.

When it comes to telling the story of climate change, we need both journalism and fiction to imagine a better world.

When we think about climate change, we often think in terms of statistics, studies, and measurements of melting glaciers, dwindling wildlife populations, and mass human migration. It’s a grim reality.

Grappling with the fantasy and memory of flooding on California’s last remaining almond farm.

Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank fighting for the right to a homeland, and for their basic right to water—which Israel continues to deny.

A decade after Typhoon Haiyan decimated the Philippines, the city of Tacloban is setting a new standard for surviving global catastrophes.

It’s not just our homes that are at risk from climate change; it’s our customs, songs, and stories.

A photographer’s connections with eight Indigenous women have helped her come to terms with her own Native ancestry and colonial trauma.

Emily Raboteau’s latest book is a meditation on how we can more clearly see and care for all we hold dear.

Sage Regenerative Kitchen’s executive chef explains why she added meat to the menu—and why she believes so deeply in regenerative farming.

As temperatures continue to rise, California workers, worker protection groups, and state regulators are making progress on implementing heat regulations.

Facing the ongoing impacts of pollution and derailments, activists in East Palestine, Ohio, and Baltimore are teaming up to pursue justice for their communities.

As Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastate the Southeastern U.S., Antonia Juhasz articulates a just vision for how to fix our climate.

A self-described "climate refugee" deals with the devastation of Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina.

Analyst Jean Bricmont offers a deep analysis of how France's left-leaning coalition swept a plurality of seats in the recent snap elections.

The Heritage Foundation has a plan to rewrite the rules of government under a second Trump term, and they’ve helpfully laid it all out for public viewing.

The Vice President becomes the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in a game-changing political moment.

Community organizers with the Sunrise Movement explain why they protested outside the GOP Vice Presidential hopeful’s office.

Violence against communities of color has always been political, but American elites have avoided that framing, says NDN Collective’s Janene Yazzie.

In a high-stakes election, left-leaning third party candidates are receiving Republican support, and may be wooing disaffected progressive voters. Former Green Party vice presidential candidate Rosa Clemente shares her take on this year’s race.

Video now circulating in Israeli media corroborates allegations from Palestinian detainees that Israeli agents at Sde Teiman detention center rape and torture prisoners.

In response to Project 2025’s regressive political agenda, YES! has launched this hub for the big ideas—and grassroots methods—that offer solutions for democracy.

A Bangladesh-born labor explores the South Asian nation’s prospects to transition to a stable democracy now that the dust has settled from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster.

Librarian Amanda Jones refused to stay silent in the face of vicious attacks by a right-wing book-banning campaign. She tells all in a new book.

Instead of Project 2025’s harsh anti-immigrant policies, here’s what a progressive, human-centered vision for immigrant rights looks like.

A Pennsylvania man is challenging mandatory life without parole sentencing for felony murders in a case that has national implications.

Project 2025, created by the extremist right-wing Heritage Foundation, takes a colonialist position on U.S. influence at home and abroad. Its authors argue that too much public land is not

In the face of Project 2025’s dystopian vision for education, Ibram X Kendi lays out a progressive alternative for public education in the U.S.

Immigrants faced repeated dehumanization on a vast scale during the 2024 election. An organizer reflects on what happened and how to move forward.

To show their support of a future Madame President, Gov. Tim Walz and others in the party are publicly relinquishing male power and privilege.

The beguiling, mist-covered forest of Los Cedros provides a vision of a future where the rights of the natural world are actively and effectively protected.

Despite muted microphones during the first debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, each candidate's face spoke volumes.

Gen Z voters are cautiously optimistic about the vice president. But they want her to end the Gaza genocide.

From the U.S. to Palestine, Indigenous people have been pushed off their land in the name of conservation. It’s time we decolonize our relationships—with the Earth and each other.

The Tony Award-winning play, loosely based on Alicia Keys’ childhood, falls into the same trap much theatre does, failing to depict the nuances of Black trauma.