2021 dawned in optimism, with the arrival of a pair of highly effective mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 alongside an incoming presidential administration that promised to take the pandemic seriously. We all know how the year went—in short, 2021 was the kind of year that had some people not only looking out for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse but actually wondering what was taking them so long to get here.
As we look back on the top stories of 2021, let’s just hope that 2022 isn’t about to say “hold my beer.”
20. Why don’t PCs use error correcting RAM? “Because Intel,” says Linus
Error Correcting Checksum RAM works by adding a bit of extra memory for detecting and correcting errors. It also can act as an extra layer of protection against bit-flipping attacks like Rowhammer. It’s all good stuff, but you won’t find ECC outside of server-grade systems, and that really irks Linus Torvalds.