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GM Banned from Selling Driver Data to Insurers

2025-01-17
GM Banned from Selling Driver Data to Insurers

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges that General Motors (GM) and OnStar collected, used, and sold drivers' precise geolocation data and driving behavior without adequate notification or consent. The FTC issued a proposed order banning GM from selling this data to consumer reporting agencies for five years. This follows a New York Times investigation revealing GM's sale of driving data—including instances of hard braking and speeding—to insurers, leading to increased premiums for drivers. GM claims it has already taken steps to address these issues, including ending its Smart Driver program and ceasing data sales to analytics firms. The FTC's order is subject to a 30-day public comment period.

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(techcrunch.com)
Tech

Go 1.24: Weak Pointers, Improved Finalizers, and Blazing-Fast Maps

2025-01-17
Go 1.24: Weak Pointers, Improved Finalizers, and Blazing-Fast Maps

Go 1.24, slated for a February release, packs a punch with significant improvements. This interactive tutorial highlights key features like weak pointers, enhanced finalizers, a highly optimized map implementation using SwissTable, concurrent hash-trie maps, directory-scoped filesystem access, and more. Example code showcases usage and performance gains. Testing is also enhanced with synthetic time for testing, simplified logging, and new string and byte iterators. These improvements significantly boost Go's development efficiency and performance.

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(antonz.org)
Development weak pointers map performance

Rust Prototyping: Debunking the Myths

2025-01-17
Rust Prototyping: Debunking the Myths

This article challenges the common belief that Rust is unsuitable for rapid prototyping. The author argues that Rust's strong type system and tooling actually help developers catch design flaws early, reducing rework later. The article details several Rust prototyping techniques, such as using simple types, leveraging type inference, judiciously using `unwrap`, and utilizing IDE features effectively. Real-world examples illustrate how Rust's type system aids design, leading to robust production-ready code. The author also emphasizes avoiding premature optimization and recommends the `dbg!` macro for debugging. In short, this article provides a practical guide to Rust prototyping, enabling developers to efficiently translate ideas into working code.

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(corrode.dev)
Development Prototyping Programming Techniques

GM Settles FTC Charges Over Secret Sharing of Driver Location Data

2025-01-17
GM Settles FTC Charges Over Secret Sharing of Driver Location Data

General Motors (GM) has settled with the FTC over privacy concerns related to its discontinued Smart Driver program. The FTC alleged that GM collected and shared precise geolocation data from millions of vehicles without informed consent, providing this data to insurance companies and impacting drivers' premiums. The settlement prohibits GM from sharing such data for five years and mandates obtaining affirmative consent for data collection, along with data access and deletion options for users. This case highlights the ongoing debate surrounding the privacy of automotive data and consumer protection.

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(www.theregister.com)
Tech

16 Months of Startup Life: A Former Employee's Honest Account

2025-01-17
16 Months of Startup Life: A Former Employee's Honest Account

A former Confluent employee shares his honest experience of the first 16 months of building his startup, ShadowTraffic. The post details his journey, from initial self-doubt and the elation of landing his first customer, to hitting plateaus, customer churn, and the anxieties that come with it. He describes the process not as a single leap, but as a continuous cycle of fear, courage, and calm. Key takeaways include the importance of product validation, the challenges of early customer acquisition, and the need for consistent customer support. Ultimately, the author emphasizes the importance of long-term commitment and believing in your vision.

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(michaeldrogalis.substack.com)
Startup journey customer

Zig 0.14.0 Release Incoming: Improved x86 Backend and Incremental Compilation

2025-01-17

After a period of quiet development, the Zig Software Foundation is gearing up for the release of Zig 0.14.0. This release focuses on improvements to the x86 backend (potentially becoming the default for debug builds) and incremental compilation (disabled by default, but enabled via a compiler flag). Other improvements include labeled switch continue and upgraded support for nearly all target platforms. The team encourages users to upgrade to the latest master branch and will focus on ensuring a smooth upgrade during the release month. While a 1.0 release is still some time away, the team is committed to delivering stable, incremental releases.

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(ziglang.org)
Development

Fern, a YC Startup, is Hiring an AI Engineer – Up to $192k!

2025-01-17
Fern, a YC Startup, is Hiring an AI Engineer – Up to $192k!

Fern, a Y Combinator-backed startup, is hiring an AI Engineer with a salary of up to $192,000 plus an $18,000 living proximity bonus. Fern simplifies API usage by providing high-quality SDKs and documentation for businesses. The role requires 4+ years of backend or full-stack development experience, proficiency in TypeScript and at least one other language, and experience developing and deploying AI products. This is a fast-growing SaaS company offering end-to-end project ownership and the chance to build zero-to-one AI features.

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(www.ycombinator.com)
Development

GPT-4: Multimodal Mayhem Ushers in a New Era of AI

2025-01-17

OpenAI has unveiled GPT-4, its latest large language model. More than just a text processing upgrade, GPT-4 boasts powerful multimodal capabilities, processing image inputs and generating text outputs. This means AI can understand and generate richer information, expanding applications beyond text to encompass images, videos, and more. GPT-4's exceptional performance across various benchmarks showcases its impressive comprehension and generation abilities, signaling a significant leap forward in AI technology. This release will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the AI field, accelerating the adoption of AI across various industries.

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(creduse.com)
AI

Programming in Lua (First Edition) Online

2025-01-17

The online version of the first edition of "Programming in Lua," a comprehensive guide to Lua programming by its chief architect, Roberto Ierusalimschy, is now available. This detailed resource covers all aspects of Lua, from language fundamentals to data structures, standard libraries, and the C API. While written for Lua 5.0, it remains largely relevant for later versions. All errata have been incorporated into this online edition, which is freely available for personal use.

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(www.lua.org)
Development Tutorial

Playing the NES with a Family BASIC Keyboard: A Retro Hardware Hack

2025-01-17

Linus Akesson connected a Family BASIC keyboard to an NES using a custom adapter to play its unique triangle waveform live. He details the adapter's creation, covering the Family BASIC keyboard's matrix layout, the NES controller port's signal characteristics, and the use of an ATtiny85 microcontroller for multiplexing and serializing the signals. The result? A successful performance of a tune called "Platform Hopping," showcasing impressive retro hardware hacking skills.

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(www.linusakesson.net)
Hardware

Mipmapping Alpha-Tested Textures: A Clever SDF-Based Solution

2025-01-17
Mipmapping Alpha-Tested Textures: A Clever SDF-Based Solution

A game developer encountered issues with mipmapping alpha-tested textures used for foliage rendering. Mipmaps caused textures to disappear or distort at a distance. The article explores various solutions, including adjusting alpha values and using Signed Distance Fields (SDFs). Ultimately, a combined approach using premultiplied alpha, max downsampling of SDFs, and averaging premultiplied colors proved effective, preserving texture shape while avoiding artifacts and improving visual quality.

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(lisyarus.github.io)
Game texture rendering mipmap

GM Banned from Selling Driver Data for Five Years

2025-01-17
GM Banned from Selling Driver Data for Five Years

General Motors and its subsidiary OnStar are banned from selling customer geolocation and driving behavior data for five years following an FTC settlement. A New York Times investigation revealed GM collected detailed driving data, including acceleration, braking, and trip length, and sold it to insurers and third-party brokers without consent. The FTC accused GM of a misleading enrollment process for its OnStar service, failing to disclose data collection and sale to third parties. The settlement requires GM to obtain consent before collecting driving data and allow data deletion upon request.

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(www.theverge.com)
Tech General Motors

In Defense of Productivity Systems: It's About Doing the Work, But Systems Help

2025-01-17
In Defense of Productivity Systems: It's About Doing the Work, But Systems Help

This article explores the pros and cons of productivity tools. The author argues that while a minimalist 'heads-down' approach works for some, a personalized system is key for most to truly boost efficiency. Using personal experience, the author highlights the importance of building and using a system that suits individual needs, emphasizing the diversity of styles across different systems and the value of mutual inspiration. Ultimately, the author concludes that regardless of system complexity, the key lies in finding what works and taking action.

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(nicky.bearblog.dev)
Misc efficiency

Canon Wants $5/Month to Use Your Expensive Camera as a Webcam

2025-01-17
Canon Wants $5/Month to Use Your Expensive Camera as a Webcam

A blogger recounts his frustration with Canon's software requiring a $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annual subscription to fully utilize his Canon camera as a webcam. Despite the headline's $6299 price tag, his camera cost significantly less. Even with the paid subscription, features like brightness and color correction are limited, and only 720p video is available. The author argues that this subscription model is unjustified for a hardware company with nearly $30 billion in profit.

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(romanzipp.com)
Tech Canon Webcam Subscription Model

McDonald's App Security Flaw: The Perils of Trusting Clients

2025-01-17
McDonald's App Security Flaw: The Perils of Trusting Clients

A blog post exposes a critical security vulnerability in the McDonald's app. The vulnerability stems from the app's excessive trust in clients, allowing hackers to bypass security checks and obtain free Big Macs and other deals. The post details how attackers utilize root access, custom recovery systems, and other methods to circumvent the app's security mechanisms, highlighting that simply checking client trustworthiness is ineffective. The author urges developers to abandon blind trust in clients and implement stronger security measures to prevent similar incidents.

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(liberda.nl)
Development client-side security mobile app security

PostgreSQL Anonymizer: Declarative Data Masking for Postgres

2025-01-17

PostgreSQL Anonymizer is a powerful database extension enabling declarative definition of data masking rules directly within the database schema. It supports multiple masking methods including static, dynamic masking, and anonymous dumps, offering various masking functions like randomization, faking, partial scrambling, and custom functions. Designed for anonymization-by-design, it protects sensitive data like PII and commercially sensitive information during development. The extension includes detection functions to suggest columns needing anonymization. Quick start via Docker, complete tutorials, and success stories from organizations like the French Public Finances Directorate General (DGFiP) and bioMérieux are provided.

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(postgresql-anonymizer.readthedocs.io)
Development Data Masking Anonymization

CIELab Color Space and Perceptual Brightness Issues: The Red Brightness Discrepancy

2025-01-17
CIELab Color Space and Perceptual Brightness Issues: The Red Brightness Discrepancy

This article explores the limitations of the CIELab color space and its modern variants (CIECAM02 and Oklab) in predicting perceived brightness. While designed for perceptual uniformity, they don't perfectly predict human color perception, especially with highly saturated colors like red. This deviation, known as the Helmholtz-Kohlrausch effect, makes reds appear darker in CIELab than they actually are. The author proposes a new method based on 'Predicted Equivalent Achromatic Lightness' (L_EAL) to address this, highlighting its superior accuracy in applications like image desaturation.

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(johnaustin.io)
Development color space perceptual brightness Helmholtz-Kohlrausch effect

Devin: The Autonomous AI Engineer That Wasn't

2025-01-17
Devin: The Autonomous AI Engineer That Wasn't

Answer.AI conducted a month-long evaluation of Devin, a hyped AI tool promising fully autonomous software engineering capabilities. Initial tests showed promise, with Devin successfully handling simple tasks like migrating data from Notion to Google Sheets. However, as task complexity increased, Devin's shortcomings became apparent. It struggled with creating new projects, conducting research, and modifying existing code, often getting stuck in technical dead-ends or producing overly complex solutions. Out of 20 tasks, only 3 were successful, 14 failed, and 3 were inconclusive. The team concluded that Devin's autonomous nature proved to be a liability, ultimately hindering its effectiveness. Currently, developer-driven workflows supplemented by AI assistance offer a more reliable approach.

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(www.answer.ai)
Development AI developer tools AI testing

Mastering the Isolated Queen Pawn (IQP): A Deep Dive

2025-01-17
Mastering the Isolated Queen Pawn (IQP): A Deep Dive

This blog post delves into the dynamic and intriguing Isolated Queen Pawn (IQP) structure in chess. It explores the advantages and disadvantages for both White and Black, outlining strategic plans with practical examples from notable games. The author highlights key ideas for White (e.g., pawn breaks, attacks on f7, kingside attacks) and Black (controlling d5, favorable exchanges). The conclusion emphasizes that understanding the IQP's nuances is crucial for success, recommending 'Winning Pawn Structures' by Boburin for further study.

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(lichess.org)
Game chess strategy isolated queen pawn chess tactics

Kokoro TTS: Revolutionary AI Voice Generator

2025-01-17

Kokoro TTS is a cutting-edge text-to-speech platform powered by the revolutionary Kokoro 82M model. It offers high-quality, natural-sounding speech synthesis with multiple voice options and the ability to adapt tone and emotion based on text context. Ideal for content creation, accessibility, and professional applications, Kokoro TTS is incredibly easy to use: simply input text, select a voice, and generate high-quality speech in seconds. A free trial and various paid plans are available.

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(kokorotts.online)
AI AI voice synthesis

Oldest Alphabet Unearthed: 4,400-Year-Old Clay Cylinders Rewrite History

2025-01-17
Oldest Alphabet Unearthed: 4,400-Year-Old Clay Cylinders Rewrite History

UC Santa Cruz history professor Elaine Sullivan discovered four small clay cylinders inscribed with mysterious symbols at an Early Bronze Age burial site in Umm el-Marra, Syria. Initially overlooked, these artifacts were later identified as an early Semitic alphabet predating previously known examples by at least 500 years. This discovery challenges our understanding of the alphabet's origins, shifting its location from Egypt and the Southern Levant to Northern Syria. The research highlights the importance of meticulous fieldwork and interdisciplinary collaboration in archaeology, emphasizing that artifacts often hold secrets only later generations can unlock.

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(www.universityofcalifornia.edu)
Tech archaeology alphabet origins Bronze Age

Cascading OKRs: A Better Approach

2025-01-17
Cascading OKRs: A Better Approach

Traditional cascading OKRs, breaking down company objectives into departmental and team goals, often fails due to its additive nature. This ignores interdependencies between departments. The author proposes an 'enabling' approach, focusing on how teams support the company's strategic objectives rather than simply decomposing them. Even if a team's OKRs don't directly relate to the company's, their supporting role is crucial. The article stresses that OKRs should serve the overall company strategy, not just quarterly goals. Teams should consider their contribution to the long-term strategic vision.

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(jessitron.com)
Development Team Management Strategic Objectives

Nyxelf: A Powerful Tool for Analyzing Malicious Linux ELF Binaries

2025-01-17
Nyxelf: A Powerful Tool for Analyzing Malicious Linux ELF Binaries

Nyxelf is a powerful tool designed for analyzing malicious Linux ELF binaries. It combines static analysis techniques using tools like readelf, objdump, and pyelftools with dynamic analysis within a secure QEMU-based sandbox. Features include UPX unpacking, syscall tracing, process/file activity monitoring, and an intuitive GUI powered by pywebview. JSON output supports automated workflows, making Nyxelf ideal for security researchers and reverse engineers.

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(github.com)
Security malware analysis linux security binary analysis

Bypassing Disk Encryption with Automatic TPM2 Unlock: A Critical Vulnerability

2025-01-17

This article exposes a critical vulnerability in systems using TPM2 for automatic disk encryption unlocking. An attacker with brief physical access can decrypt the disk without altering the TPM's state. The vulnerability stems from most setups failing to verify the LUKS identity of the decrypted partition. The attacker can use the initrd image in the unencrypted boot partition to create a fake LUKS partition with a known key, tricking the system into executing a malicious init program, thereby obtaining the original disk key. Solutions include using a TPM PIN or properly verifying the LUKS identity within the initrd.

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(oddlama.org)
Tech Disk Encryption

Is the World Becoming Uninsurable? Climate Change and Systemic Risk

2025-01-17
Is the World Becoming Uninsurable? Climate Change and Systemic Risk

This article explores the increasing possibility of the world becoming uninsurable due to rising global risks. The author begins with their personal experience of being unable to obtain hurricane insurance, highlighting the increasing frequency of extreme weather events due to climate change, forcing insurance companies to withdraw from high-risk areas or raise premiums dramatically. The article criticizes the reliance on solely political or technological solutions, arguing that government mandates forcing insurers to provide coverage are unsustainable and will ultimately lead to taxpayers bearing massive losses. Historical precedents of climate-driven societal upheaval are reviewed, emphasizing how the current 'limitless possibilities' mindset ignores the constraints imposed by nature. The article concludes that the world is becoming uninsurable because many things taken for granted are no longer financially viable, and rising systemic risks are beyond the reach of purely political or technological solutions.

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(charleshughsmith.substack.com)
Tech systemic risk

AT&T Pulls 5G Home Internet from NY Over Affordable Broadband Law

2025-01-17
AT&T Pulls 5G Home Internet from NY Over Affordable Broadband Law

AT&T has ceased offering its 5G home internet service in New York State in response to a new law mandating affordable broadband plans for low-income residents. The Affordable Broadband Act, implemented after a lengthy legal battle, requires ISPs to offer $15/25Mbps or $20/200Mbps plans to eligible households. AT&T argues the price regulations make further investment in the state uneconomical. Existing customers will have a 45-day grace period. This decision highlights the ongoing tension between telecom companies' profitability and the need for accessible broadband access.

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(arstechnica.com)
Tech New York

PC Gaming's Decade-Long Reign: Outperforming Consoles by a Mile

2025-01-17
PC Gaming's Decade-Long Reign: Outperforming Consoles by a Mile

A recent Epyllion report reveals PC gaming's continued dominance over the last decade. The report highlights that since 2011, PC gaming content spending has surpassed console revenue by over 65%, totaling over $30 billion (excluding hardware). This success is attributed to factors like a vast game library, near-full backward compatibility, multitasking capabilities, lower entry costs, and better esports suitability. Even with an $18 billion increase in console spending in 2024 compared to 2011, PC gaming's content spending remains significantly higher.

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(insider-gaming.com)
Game console gaming games market

2025 Predictions: Linux Kernel, Open Source, and the Uncertain Future

2025-01-17

LWN.net's 2025 predictions paint a picture of exciting advancements and looming challenges in the Linux kernel and open-source landscape. The article foresees transformative changes with the extensible scheduling class (sched-ext), increased adoption of Rust in the kernel, the discovery of new backdoor attempts, risks associated with single-maintainer projects, the potential fallout from AI-generated code, growing support for free generative AI and maintainers, persistent cloud product failures and data breaches, a surge in open hardware, a resurgence of mobile device distributions, and the impact of geopolitical factors. The year ahead promises both significant opportunities and considerable hurdles for the open-source community.

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(lwn.net)
Development

Streaming SSR with React Relay and Vite: A Deep Dive

2025-01-17
Streaming SSR with React Relay and Vite: A Deep Dive

Aqora's engineering team shares their journey implementing streaming server-side rendering (SSR) with React Relay and Vite. The article details challenges encountered integrating React Router and Relay, including handling Suspense with SSR, managing the Relay store's data flow, and generating meta tags. Solutions involved `createStaticHandler`, `renderToPipeableStream`, `preloadQuery`, and `react-helmet-async`, resulting in efficient SSR that improves SEO and performance. Key code snippets and architectural decisions are provided, offering valuable insights for developers.

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(aqora.io)
Development
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