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Even the US Government Says AI Requires Massive Amounts of Water

1 month 1 week ago
A Government Accountability Office report released this week reveals generative AI systems consume staggering amounts of water, with 250 million daily queries requiring over 1.1 million gallons -- all while companies provide minimal transparency about resource usage. The 47-page analysis [PDF] found cooling data centers -- which demand between 100-1000 megawatts of power -- constitutes 40% of their energy consumption, a figure expected to rise as global temperatures increase. Water usage varies dramatically by location, with geography significantly affecting both water requirements and carbon emissions. Meta's Llama 3.1 405B model has generated 8,930 metric tons of carbon, compared to Google's Gemma2 at 1,247.61 metric tons and OpenAI's GPT3 at 552 metric tons. The report confirms generative AI searches cost approximately ten times more than standard keyword searches. The GAO asserted about persistent transparency problems across the industry, noting these systems remain "black boxes" even to their designers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Setting Up a Secure Mail Server with Dovecot on Ubuntu Server

1 month 1 week ago
by George Whittaker Introduction

Email remains a cornerstone of modern communication. From business notifications to personal messages, having a robust and reliable mail server is essential. While cloud-based solutions dominate the mainstream, self-hosting a mail server offers control, customization, and learning opportunities that managed services can't match.

In this guide, we will explore how to set up a secure and efficient mail server using Dovecot on an Ubuntu Server. Dovecot is a lightweight and high-performance IMAP and POP3 server that provides secure access to mailboxes. When paired with Postfix, it forms a powerful mail server stack capable of sending and receiving messages seamlessly.

Whether you're a system administrator, a DevOps enthusiast, or simply curious about running your own mail infrastructure, this article provides a deep dive into configuring Dovecot on Ubuntu.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into configuration and deployment, ensure the following requirements are met:

  • Ubuntu Server (20.04 or later recommended)

  • Root or sudo access

  • Static IP address assigned to your server

  • Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) pointing to your server

  • Proper DNS records:

    • A record pointing your domain to your server IP

    • MX record pointing to your mail server’s FQDN

    • Optional: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for email authentication

You should also ensure that your system is up-to-date:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Understanding the Mail Server Stack

A modern mail server is composed of several components:

  • Postfix: SMTP server responsible for sending and routing outgoing mail.

  • Dovecot: Handles retrieval of mail via IMAP/POP3 and secure authentication.

  • SpamAssassin / ClamAV: For filtering spam and malware.

  • TLS/SSL: Provides encrypted communication channels.

Here's how they work together:

  1. Postfix receives email from external sources.

  2. It stores messages into local mailboxes.

  3. Dovecot lets users access their mail securely using IMAP or POP3.

  4. TLS/SSL encrypts the entire process, ensuring privacy.

Step 1: Installing Postfix and Dovecot Install Postfix

sudo apt install postfix -y

During installation, you will be prompted to choose a configuration. Select:

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George Whittaker