The Mecha Comet, a modular handheld Linux computer built by Shoaib Merchant, has secured over $1.19 million from more than 3,300 Kickstarter backers and is now slated to ship in October or November. The device features a 4-inch AMOLED display, dual USB ports, mini HDMI, a SIM tray, hardware kill switches for wifi, microphone and camera, and snap-in open-hardware extensions like a keyboard and gamepad.
linux.slashdot.org
· 2026-08-24
Quantinuum has unveiled Helios, a trapped-ion quantum computer using 98 qubits, the largest such system built to date. The machine relies on a new four-way X junction hardware design paired with Helios runtime software, allowing it to move and process data across multiple paths simultaneously rather than in a single line, as earlier machines required.
tech.slashdot.org
· 2026-08-23
A web developer describes replacing pixel-based CSS measurements with the ch unit (roughly a character's width) and the ex unit (the height of a lowercase letter) on a text-heavy blog. The goal is to size content width, padding, and margins in proportion to the text itself, using an approach like max-width: min(75ch, 100%) for readable line lengths.
shkspr.mobi
· 2026-08-23
Researchers discovered that AliExpress's homepage runs hidden, inaudible audio-processing code tied to Alibaba's security systems, which measures how a device's hardware handles an audio signal to create a unique fingerprint without cookies. The behavior was uncovered by a developer whose Bluetooth headphones failed to switch between devices while an AliExpress tab stayed open, since the silent audio graph kept the system's audio path active even when muted. The same scripts reportedly also collected canvas, WebGL, and hardware configuration data as part of a broader tracking setup.
techspot.com
· 2026-08-23