Happy 30th birthday, World Wide Web!

Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of CERN releasing the WWW to the public! (Now) Sir Tim Berners-Lee developed the concept of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to make it easier to share information within CERN among their scientists, running on a computer that Steve Jobs helped create after he was kicked out of Apple, The NeXT Step. It was an amazingly powerful computer and included an optical drive - not a CD - for storage!

The NeXT basically became the prototype for the later Mac operating systems when Jobs returned to Apple.

The Register article, though short, has some very good material in it.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/02/world_wide_web_30th_anniversary/

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/05/02/167232/cern-celebrates-30-years-since-releasing-the-web-to-the-public-domain

And just to be pedantic, the Internet and the World Wide Web are two different things! The internet is a communications network: the hardware and protocols for moving information between hosts (a host is any device that connects to the internet). WWW is the software, such as the web browser that you're using right now, that makes it a heck of a lot more easier for end users to benefit from it.

Germany releases a monthly travel pass for 49 Euros!

What an excellent idea! All buses and trains, unlimited ridership, about $53USD. Of course you can never see something like that in the USA because that would be SOCIALISM! Or something like that. Also a huge PITA to administer.

This would be a heck of a bargain if you're going to vacation in Germany for a couple of weeks, even more so if you live there. ;-)

As the article says, it's valid for "almost all forms of public transport apart from long-distance intercity trains. Cross-country travel will still be possible using regional trains, significantly reducing costs for some people who used to pay hundreds of euros a month for their regular commutes."

https://apnews.com/article/germany-public-transit-cheap-ticket-trains-metro-3d83f1a35ab8e3945b8034b9bd511c29

AI-generated videos!

THIS IS A SERIOUS WARNING: go to the bathroom before seeing these videos, and don't drink anything while watching them. I am not responsible if you spray beverages on top of your monitor or computer!

The first two are embedded in Ars Technica articles, the third in a Tweet.

First up, a 30 second beer commercial:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/05/ai-generated-beer-commercial-contains-joyful-monstrosities-goes-viral/

Next, we have Wil Smith eating spaghetti:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/yes-virginia-there-is-ai-joy-in-seeing-fake-will-smith-ravenously-eat-spaghetti/


And finally, Pepperoni Hug Spot: "It's like family, but more cheese."
https://twitter.com/Pizza_Later/status/1650605646620794916