Month: December 2022

Elektromobilität: Serienfertigung des Solarautos Lightyear 0 startet

Das Luxus-Elektroauto mit Solarzellen wird zunächst im Zeitlupentempo vom Band rollen. Der günstigere Nachfolger soll in einigen Jahren auf den Markt kommen. (Elektroauto, Technologie)

Das Luxus-Elektroauto mit Solarzellen wird zunächst im Zeitlupentempo vom Band rollen. Der günstigere Nachfolger soll in einigen Jahren auf den Markt kommen. (Elektroauto, Technologie)

OpenAI: GPT-3 kann Lyrik und bekommt gute Dialoge

OpenAI hat das Sprachmodell für GPT-3 aktualisiert – und das kann nun auch reimen. Eine Variante für Chats ist überraschend gut. (GPT-3, KI)

OpenAI hat das Sprachmodell für GPT-3 aktualisiert - und das kann nun auch reimen. Eine Variante für Chats ist überraschend gut. (GPT-3, KI)

"Am Ende ist Fußball auch Zufall"

Sprachabgründe, Facharbeitertum und der Starkult des Augenblicks: Vor dem entscheidenden Gruppenspiel gegen Costa Rica haben nur die deutschen Medien Oberwasser

Sprachabgründe, Facharbeitertum und der Starkult des Augenblicks: Vor dem entscheidenden Gruppenspiel gegen Costa Rica haben nur die deutschen Medien Oberwasser

My secret life as an 11-year-old BBS sysop

Revisiting the wonder and betrayal of online life circa 1992.

Benj Edwards' BBS computer running The Cave in 1994.

Enlarge / Benj Edwards' computer running The Cave BBS in 1994. (credit: Benj Edwards)

Thirty years ago last week—on November 25, 1992—my BBS came online for the first time. I was only 11 years old, working from my dad's Tandy 1800HD laptop and a 2400 baud modem. The Cave BBS soon grew into a bustling 24-hour system with over 1,000 users. After a seven-year pause between 1998 and 2005, I've been running it again ever since. Here's the story of how it started and the challenges I faced along the way.

Enter the modem

In January 1992, my dad brought home a gateway to a parallel world: a small black plexiglass box labeled "ZOOM" that hooked to a PC's serial port. This modem granted the power to connect to other computers and share data over the dial-up telephone network.

While commercial online services like CompuServe and Prodigy existed then, many hobbyists ran their own miniature online services called bulletin board systems, or BBSes for short. The Internet existed, but it was not yet widely known outside academic circles.

Read 42 remaining paragraphs | Comments

My secret life as an 11-year-old BBS sysop

Revisiting the wonder and betrayal of online life circa 1992.

Benj Edwards' BBS computer running The Cave in 1994.

Enlarge / Benj Edwards' computer running The Cave BBS in 1994. (credit: Benj Edwards)

Thirty years ago last week—on November 25, 1992—my BBS came online for the first time. I was only 11 years old, working from my dad's Tandy 1800HD laptop and a 2400 baud modem. The Cave BBS soon grew into a bustling 24-hour system with over 1,000 users. After a seven-year pause between 1998 and 2005, I've been running it again ever since. Here's the story of how it started and the challenges I faced along the way.

Enter the modem

In January 1992, my dad brought home a gateway to a parallel world: a small black plexiglass box labeled "ZOOM" that hooked to a PC's serial port. This modem granted the power to connect to other computers and share data over the dial-up telephone network.

While commercial online services like CompuServe and Prodigy existed then, many hobbyists ran their own miniature online services called bulletin board systems, or BBSes for short. The Internet existed, but it was not yet widely known outside academic circles.

Read 42 remaining paragraphs | Comments