This one time, at Hacker Summer Camp …

As the entire security industry descends on Las Vegas this week for Hacker Summer Camp – not one, but three conferences – attendees can count on two hot topics dominating the discussion. First, a literal hot topic: the triple-digit August heat. Second, and to no one’s surprise: agentic AI – how to govern and secure agents so …

[Alumoi]

the triple-digit August heat

Damn, over 100 Celsius.

[RM Myers]

Re: the triple-digit August heat

Are you sure it isn't over 100 Kelvin? This is Las Vegas, a city renowned for its academic culture, particularly the advanced research in probabilistic and anatomical theory. These people wouldn't use any temperature scale accept Lord Kelvin's finest.

[David 132]

Re: the triple-digit August heat

°Ra (degrees Rankine) - that scale gives those big impressive numbers that fit the Vegas ethos.

[DS999]

Re: the triple-digit August heat

I dunno I think Kelvin is impressive enough. I would be impressed if someone comes back from a conference and says "the temperature was over 300 the entire week!"

[jake]

Re: the triple-digit August heat

Don't be disingenuous. It doesn't behoove you.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: the triple-digit August heat

” anatomical theory”

That sounds like a good area do dig in

[Blazde]

Re: the triple-digit August heat

anatomical theory

It's so hot the two smallest digits on each of your hands will literally melt off. I'm going to stay in the 5 digit heat myself.

[Anonymous Coward]

Welcome to America -

Be safe, be white

Leave your GrapheneOS phone at home

Don't eat the lettuce

[localgeek]

Not a word

About the ethics of using a planet-destroying plagiarism machine to "stay relevant"?

[Doctor Syntax]

"As the entire security industry descends on Las Vegas"

Entire? Surely it's just the US component & the sub-set of the rest of the world that's able to get visas & is prepared to risk it.

[jake]

Nah. It's only tourists who go to Lost Wages. Silly Con Valley proper has largely ignored it since roughly 1996.

[just4this]

Silly Con Valley folk used to enjoy playing Spot the Fed.

Which has lost the appeal it once had now that they know the Fed as Geoff the guy who codes the back doors for us.

[wpolarised]

Seems a bit on the nose for an event called "black hat" to have all the TLAs in attendance. I daresay with the US as it is right now C3 might be a nicer time

[MachDiamond]

Used to be fun

The cost to go to just Def Con is very expensive now. I appreciate that it takes money to put the show on, but good grief. Las Vegas has been monetizing everything for a bunch of years now and gone are the great buffets that would let you eat for less than at home. Now it's famous name fast food at $30 for a burger. Fries and a Coke are another $15. Bottles of water at the hotel are astronomical and the hotels themselves cost a mint. One always needs to find the total price since the room might be advertised cheap, but there's a resort fee, parking and all sorts of other added costs that make the room rate a rounding error.

I might need to sell all my vintage hacker shirts to help subsidize a trip. For the cost to go to one of the cons in Vegas, I can spend less to take the train or drive to attend a 2600 meeting in another city/state. It's not the same, but I can get the videos of sessions from Def Con and depending on the group, the 2600 gatherings have long since branched out from phone phreaking. The most local one I go to is a load of fun. I drive about half way and take a tram the rest of the way for a wee bit of security.

[Anonymous Coward]

Las Vegas, just say no

Las Vegas is bad enough any time of year, but August? To traipse around, sleep deprived,with thousands of others from one PowerPoint presentation to the next?