English self-taught mathematician and physicist Oliver Heaviside was born #OTD in 1850.
He invented a new technique for solving differential equations, independently developed vector calculus, and rewrote Maxwell's equations in the form commonly used today. He significantly shaped the way Maxwell's equations are understood and applied in the decades following Maxwell's death. His practical experience in telegraphy provided a foundation for his later theoretical work.
At #37c3 they have IRC, and Matrix for text and for voice they setup their own LTE/2G/3G/SIP/DECT network where you bring whatever phone-like device and pick a 4 digit phone number.
Meanwhile in the USA for #defcon they just paid Discord money and told everyone to accept their privacy policy, and even the DC Privacy Village asks people to sign up for Slack and Google.
People ask why I fly to CCC from the USA. It is because that is the closest place to find a thriving hacker culture.
I can finally reveal some research I've been involved with over the past year or so.
We (@redford, @mrtick and I) have reverse engineered the PLC code of NEWAG Impuls EMUs. These trains were locking up for arbitrary reasons after being serviced at third-party workshops. The manufacturer argued that this was because of malpractice by these workshops, and that they should be serviced by them instead of third parties.
1/4