Skip to Content

Geek Show

Listen closely and you can hear it: the gentle sound of millions of folks nervously scratching their heads wondering just what the heck is going on with the open-source, or “free” software that has suddenly gotten so much attention (see “Programs to the People,” TR January/February 1999). There’s no better source of information, rumor and opinion on this phenomenon than Slashdot, which titles itself: “News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters.” The creation of 22-year-old Rob Malda- whose nom de Web is “Commander Taco” - Slashdot feels like a geek clubhouse. Malda and others post articles on topics ranging from “the personalities behind Linux” to an essay predicting the arrival of “sexbots” that never have headaches.

The creation of 22-year-old Rob Malda-whose nom de Web is “Commander Taco”-Slashdot feels like a geek clubhouse.Malda and others post articles on topics ranging from “the personalities behind Linux” to an essay predicting the arrival of “sexbots” that never have headaches.

Anti-Microsoft sentiment permeates the site; these people know their code and they’re offended by what many perceive to be bloated, inefficient software.The “Ask Slashdot”part of the site ranges beyond programming, as knowledgeable participants weigh in on quirky questions like,”What is the bandwidth of a nerve?”(Answer: Well, it depends on what you mean by “bandwidth”and “nerve.”)

This is one of those virtual communities you hear so much about. Articles generate a torrent of (mostly) well-informed commentary, much of it signed by “Anonymous Coward”-the epithet Slashdot assigns to contributors unwilling to reveal their names. In one persistent thread, commentators proudly quantify what they call the “Slashdot Effect”: the spike in the hit count experienced by Web pages that Slashdot links to. Look to this site as your technical and cultural guide to a powerful movement that is starting to emerge from the computer underground.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora

The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.

Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.

Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.

This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language

A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.