Create React App Deprecated: Embrace React Frameworks

2025-02-15
Create React App Deprecated: Embrace React Frameworks

The React team announced that Create React App (CRA) is entering maintenance mode and is no longer recommended for new projects. While CRA simplified React app creation, it has limitations in building high-performance production apps, lacking built-in solutions for routing, data fetching, and code splitting. The team recommends migrating to established React frameworks like Next.js or Remix, offering better performance and developer experience, addressing CRA's shortcomings. Migration guides are available for existing CRA projects. Documentation for building custom setups with Vite or Parcel is also provided for those with unique needs.

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Development Frameworks

TrueNAS on a Raspberry Pi 5: A Hacky but Educational Journey

2025-08-28

The author attempts to run TrueNAS, a network storage system typically used on more powerful hardware, on a Raspberry Pi 5. Due to the Raspberry Pi's lack of official UEFI support, a community project, rpi5-uefi, is used. While successfully installing TrueNAS, limitations in UEFI mode—including missing fan, GPIO, and built-in Ethernet support, plus restrictions on multiple PCIe devices—prevent some hardware from being recognized. The author concludes that while a challenging learning experience, higher-end Arm hardware is still recommended for high-performance needs.

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Hardware

Visual Drum Machine Built with React Flow

2025-08-20
Visual Drum Machine Built with React Flow

A visual drum machine and pattern sequencer built with Strudel.cc, React Flow, and styled with Tailwind CSS. Create complex musical patterns by connecting instrument and effect nodes via a drag-and-drop interface. Features include a wide array of instruments and effects, real-time pattern editing, group controls, and a well-organized project structure using Zustand for state management. A comprehensive getting-started guide is provided.

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Development visual drum machine

Xennial Reflections: Aging, and Finding Peace

2025-05-07
Xennial Reflections: Aging, and Finding Peace

The author, an Xennial approaching 50, reflects on aging and life's transitions. From a vibrant nightlife enthusiast to someone who now cherishes quiet evenings at home, the shift isn't solely attributed to age but rather a reevaluation of personal needs. The piece reminisces about the unique experiences of Xennials, bridging the analog and digital worlds, resulting in a dual wisdom. The author encourages maintaining curiosity, challenging preconceived notions, and ultimately concludes that aging isn't inherently negative; what truly matters is inner peace and a love for life.

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Revolutionizing Drone Design: Ascent AeroSystems' Helius Challenges the Quadrotor

2025-03-21
Revolutionizing Drone Design: Ascent AeroSystems' Helius Challenges the Quadrotor

For a century, airplane design has been bird-inspired. Drones, however, have taken a different path. Ascent AeroSystems' Helius drone uses an innovative coaxial twin-rotor design, revolutionizing the traditional quadrotor form. This design makes the Helius more compact, easier to store, and capable of carrying heavier payloads, performing better in harsh weather. The Helius features a low-light camera system, AI obstacle avoidance, and high-speed flight capabilities (up to 45 mph), with a flight time exceeding 30 minutes and weighing just over half a pound. Despite its $4,500 price tag, its powerful performance makes it ideal for industrial, government, law enforcement, and emergency response units, potentially shaping the future of drone design.

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Local NVMe SSDs: The Future of Cloud Databases?

2025-06-02
Local NVMe SSDs: The Future of Cloud Databases?

Cloud storage was initially designed around the limitations of older hardware, using network-attached disks to enhance durability and scalability. However, today's cost-effective NVMe SSDs offer significantly superior performance. This article demonstrates that PostgreSQL databases using local NVMe SSDs outperform AWS RDS and Aurora by several times in TPC-C and TPC-H benchmarks. While network-attached storage retains advantages in elasticity and durability, the reliability and affordability of NVMe SSDs now largely compensate, making local NVMe SSDs a compelling future for cloud databases.

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IBM Acquires HashiCorp: Building a Comprehensive Hybrid Cloud Platform

2025-02-27
IBM Acquires HashiCorp: Building a Comprehensive Hybrid Cloud Platform

IBM has completed its acquisition of HashiCorp, a leader in automating and securing the infrastructure for hybrid cloud applications and generative AI. This acquisition strengthens IBM's hybrid cloud offerings, enabling clients to accelerate innovation, enhance security, and maximize cloud value. HashiCorp's products, such as Terraform and Vault, will integrate with IBM's Red Hat, watsonx, and other technologies, creating powerful synergies. This move solidifies IBM's position in the hybrid cloud market and demonstrates its continued investment in automation software to help organizations optimize IT spending and reduce costs.

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Mobile App Revenue Gap Explodes: Top 5% Earn 500x More

2025-03-17
Mobile App Revenue Gap Explodes: Top 5% Earn 500x More

A new report from RevenueCat reveals a widening chasm in mobile app revenue. In 2024, the top 5% of apps earned 200 times more than the remaining 95%; this year, that figure has skyrocketed to 500 times! Top-performing apps rake in over $5,000 per month, while the 25th percentile earns a meager $5-20, and even less for many. A staggering 76.1% of North American developers derive over 80% of their revenue from iOS. To compensate, developers are exploring various monetization strategies, including paywalls, upsells, price increases, and even usage-based pricing for AI apps. Low subscription renewal rates are a major challenge, with less than 10% of monthly subscribers reaching their second year.

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USPTO-Funded Study: Background for the Unleashing American Innovators Act

2025-03-19
USPTO-Funded Study: Background for the Unleashing American Innovators Act

This study was funded by the USPTO and independently prepared as background material for the USPTO’s report to Congress, as mandated by the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022. The authors acknowledge helpful comments and discussions with Lauren Ailes and Brett Lockard, as well as USPTO employees and participants at NBER and European Commission events. The views expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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MIT Spinout Extends Bridge Lifespan by 100 Years

2025-05-24
MIT Spinout Extends Bridge Lifespan by 100 Years

Allium Engineering, founded by two MIT PhDs, is revolutionizing infrastructure with a new technology that triples the lifespan of bridges and other structures. By adding a thin layer of stainless steel cladding to traditional rebar, they drastically improve corrosion resistance. This easily integrated process requires no special handling, significantly extends infrastructure lifespan, reduces maintenance needs, and lowers carbon emissions. Already used in several US projects, Allium's technology promises rapid global scaling, building a more durable, affordable, and sustainable infrastructure for the future.

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Blackmagic Unveils $30K 3D Camera for Apple Vision Pro Video Capture

2024-12-19
Blackmagic Unveils $30K 3D Camera for Apple Vision Pro Video Capture

Blackmagic has announced its URSA Cine Immersive camera, priced at $30,000, available for pre-order with deliveries starting late in the first quarter of 2025. This is the world's first commercial camera system designed for capturing 3D content specifically for Apple's Vision Pro headset. Featuring a custom stereoscopic 3D lens system with dual 8K sensors, it captures 180-degree field of view video with spatial audio at up to 90fps. Each eye boasts 8160 x 7200 resolution and 16 stops of dynamic range.

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Hardware

Java's Compact Object Headers Graduate to Product Feature

2025-05-22

JEP 519 promotes the experimental 'Compact Object Headers' feature to a full product feature in Java. Initially introduced in JDK 24 to optimize object header layout and improve performance, it has undergone extensive testing at Oracle and Amazon, proving its stability and performance gains. The `-XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions` flag is no longer needed for activation. Future expansion for more object header bits is planned for, with Project Valhalla and Lilliput providing solutions.

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Development

Gen Z Demands Stricter Social Media Regulation

2025-03-07
Gen Z Demands Stricter Social Media Regulation

A new study reveals that over 60% of 16-to-24-year-olds in the UK believe social media does more harm than good, advocating for stricter regulations to safeguard young people's mental health. The research identifies social media as the most significant negative influence on teens' mental wellbeing, with many expressing regret over excessive phone use during their upbringing. This study fuels the upcoming parliamentary debate on a bill aiming to enhance children's smartphone safety, urging government intervention to protect children from the detrimental effects of social media.

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Tech

Perl: The Duct Tape of the Internet, A Story of Rise and Fall

2025-08-01
Perl: The Duct Tape of the Internet, A Story of Rise and Fall

Perl was once ubiquitous, powering countless websites around the turn of the millennium. Its strength lay in handling massive text data, even finding use in bioinformatics. However, Perl's messy syntax earned it the nickname "duct tape of the internet," often jokingly referred to as 'write-only'. Created by Larry Wall, a linguist, its design reflected a philosophy rejecting linguistic purity. Perl's multitude of approaches, while initially appealing, ultimately contributed to its decline in popularity. Despite its fall from grace, Perl stands as a testament to the idea that programming shouldn't be constrained by dogma.

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Development

From Mouse Ports to Thunderbolt: A History of Mac Connectors

2025-04-06

This article traces the evolution of Apple Mac computer connectors from 1984 to the present. From the initial DE-9 mouse port, RJ11 keyboard port, and RS-422 serial ports to later ADB, SCSI, Parallel ATA, USB, FireWire, and Thunderbolt, each connector reflects technological advancements and shifts in Apple's design philosophy. The article details the technical characteristics, applications, and Apple's choices at different times, showcasing a technological history rich in detail and stories.

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Retis: Tracing Packets in the Linux Networking Stack

2024-12-19
Retis: Tracing Packets in the Linux Networking Stack

Retis is a powerful tool that uses eBPF probes to trace packets within the Linux networking stack. It interacts with control and data paths like Open vSwitch and Netfilter, making it invaluable for debugging network issues, exploring the Linux networking stack, or testing network features. Retis offers packet filtering and tracking, retrieving metadata and contextual information beyond the packet itself. No compilation on the target system is required, and post-processing capabilities, such as reconstructing a packet's journey, are included. User-friendly with pre-built profiles and support for custom probes and filters, Retis provides flexibility and ease of use.

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Linux Kernel 6.16 Patches Core Dump Vulnerabilities: Saying Goodbye to a 'Stupid' API

2025-06-14

The Linux kernel 6.16 release significantly improves core dump handling, addressing long-standing security vulnerabilities. Previous API designs had flaws, such as core dump handlers running with root privileges, making them attractive attack targets, and race conditions leading to vulnerabilities. The new improvements introduce pidfd to ensure handlers operate on the correct crashed process and allow handlers to bind to a socket for receiving core dumps, reducing privilege escalation risks and effectively preventing attacks.

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Development core dump

Is the Culture a Utopia? A Critical Look at Iain M. Banks' Galactic Civilization

2025-09-15
Is the Culture a Utopia? A Critical Look at Iain M. Banks' Galactic Civilization

This article offers a critical analysis of the utopian superintelligence civilization depicted in Iain M. Banks' Culture series. The author argues that the seemingly utopian Culture maintains a seemingly harmonious yet fundamentally unfree society through subtle control mechanisms. The homogeneity of Culture citizens, strict birthrate control, and skepticism toward the 'Special Circumstances' program all point to underlying social manipulation. The seemingly benevolent superintelligent Minds maintain control through force and surveillance, and their motivations and actions contain many contradictions. Ultimately, the author contends that the Culture's 'utopia' is fundamentally built on material wealth and technological advancement, neglecting higher-level human needs for justice and self-determination. The author encourages more nuanced positive sci-fi that moves beyond simple promises of material abundance.

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Misc

The IRB Nightmare: Navigating the Absurdity of US Human Subjects Research

2025-02-13
The IRB Nightmare: Navigating the Absurdity of US Human Subjects Research

The author recounts, in a lighthearted yet insightful manner, the complexities of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval in US human subjects research. Using the analogy of an absurdly steep driveway, he illustrates the difficulty in comprehending the often illogical rules. The article debunks common misconceptions about IRB applicability, delving into the origins and intricacies of the Common Rule, and the added layer of FDA regulations. The author highlights the convoluted nature of current regulations, emphasizing that practical enforcement depends on selective application by regulatory bodies rather than strict adherence to written law. Ultimately, the author advocates for streamlining IRB processes, particularly for low-risk research, suggesting a post-hoc penalty system rather than pre-approval.

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Longtime Google Engineer Leaves After 19 Years, Reflecting on Go's Evolution

2025-05-11

A senior engineer who spent 19 years at Google, heavily involved in the development of the Go programming language, has left the company. The article reflects on their 14-year journey with Go, from contributing to the compiler frontend to shaping language features like generics and influencing the project's overall direction. The author believes Go still has significant room for growth and hopes to contribute to its future development.

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Development

Trump's 100% Tariff on Foreign Films: A Hollywood Survival Fight

2025-05-06
Trump's 100% Tariff on Foreign Films: A Hollywood Survival Fight

Trump announced a 100% tariff on all foreign films to combat the decline of the American film industry and foreign competition. This move has sparked controversy, as many big-budget films are shot in multiple countries. While American films dominate the domestic market, other countries like China and New Zealand attract significant film productions through tax incentives, generating substantial economic benefits. The impact on the global film industry could be profound, highlighting the challenges and pressures facing the American film industry.

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Tech

Matt Mullenweg's Conflict of Interest: Time to Resign?

2025-01-12

This article argues that Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, faces a significant conflict of interest by simultaneously leading the non-profit WordPress Foundation and the for-profit company Automattic. The author contends that Automattic's business interests could clash with the Foundation's mission, potentially harming the WordPress community. The article sparked a heated debate about open-source governance and commercial interests, with community members voicing strong opinions on both sides.

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Development conflict of interest

Logitech's Solar-Powered Wireless Keyboard: Signature Slim Solar+

2025-09-05
Logitech's Solar-Powered Wireless Keyboard: Signature Slim Solar+

Logitech is gearing up to launch the Signature Slim Solar+, a wireless keyboard boasting a solar panel promising up to 10 years of battery life. Resembling the MX Keys S but with an added solar panel above the keys, this keyboard charges using ambient light. Made with 70% recycled plastic, it's lightweight and connects to up to three devices. Customization options via the Logi Options+ app and an AI Launch key (Copilot) are also included. Pricing and availability remain unannounced.

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Bald Eagle's Triumphant Return: A Conservation Success Story

2025-02-25
Bald Eagle's Triumphant Return: A Conservation Success Story

The American bald eagle, once on the brink of extinction, has staged a remarkable comeback. Its resurgence is a testament to successful conservation efforts, including the ban on DDT, habitat preservation, and innovative techniques like artificial incubation. From a single nesting pair in New Jersey in the 1980s, the population has soared to nearly 300 active nests in the state alone. While threats like habitat loss, pollution, and avian flu remain, the bald eagle's recovery serves as an inspiring example of environmental conservation.

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Sonic Unleashed Recompiled: An Unofficial PC Port with Stunning Enhancements

2025-03-02
Sonic Unleashed Recompiled: An Unofficial PC Port with Stunning Enhancements

Unleashed Recompiled is a fan-made PC port of the Xbox 360 version of Sonic Unleashed, achieved through static recompilation. This unofficial port brings the game to Windows and Linux with significant improvements, including high resolutions, ultrawide support, boosted frame rates, enhanced performance, and modding capabilities. You'll need to supply your own legally obtained game files. Built using custom recompilers inspired by N64: Recompiled, Unleashed Recompiled boasts a revamped menu system, achievement support, and enhanced visuals, offering a vastly improved experience over the original console release.

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Farewell to Complex JS: Building Interactive Websites with Lots of Little HTML Pages

2025-03-12

While updating his blog, the author discovered that using multiple small HTML pages instead of complex JS interactions significantly simplifies the development process. Seamless transitions between pages are achieved using CSS transitions, making features like navigation menus and search functions incredibly easy to implement. This approach reduces complexity and improves maintainability. The author believes this is an effective way to leverage the strengths of the web.

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Development

Three Optimized Algorithms for Computing Polygonal Mesh Edges

2025-06-02
Three Optimized Algorithms for Computing Polygonal Mesh Edges

This post presents three equivalent algorithms for computing the edges of a polygonal mesh, representing progressive optimization steps to achieve the same result with increasing efficiency. Starting with a description of mesh topology representation and edge concepts, it details three approaches: a map-based algorithm (O(n log n) complexity), a sort-based algorithm (O(n log n) complexity), and a novel minor valence algorithm (O(n) complexity). The author compares their performance, highlighting the innovative nature and potential game development applications of the minor valence algorithm.

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Development mesh processing

Deciphering Linear Elamite: Persistence, Chance, and Controversy

2025-02-26
Deciphering Linear Elamite: Persistence, Chance, and Controversy

After eleven years of painstaking work, French scholar François Desset achieved the seemingly impossible: deciphering Linear Elamite, a 4,000-year-old writing system. This wasn't merely an academic feat, but a battle against time and chance. The breakthrough came from a set of silver vessels in a private London collection, their inscriptions providing unprecedented clues. Desset's findings challenge conventional narratives, suggesting Linear Elamite might be the world's earliest purely phonetic writing system and highlighting Iran's pivotal role in early writing development. However, this discovery sparked controversy, with some scholars questioning his methodology and the provenance of the artifacts.

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Ultima VII: Revisited - A 3D Remake of a Classic RPG

2025-02-23

Ultima VII: Revisited is a replacement engine for the classic RPG Ultima VII. It renders the game in 3D and fixes numerous issues plaguing the original, such as low frame rate, companions' inability to feed themselves, and UI conflicts with environment lighting. Creator Anthony Salter aims to let players experience this ahead-of-its-time classic in a new way, appreciating its unique 3D world and clever design through a modern 3D engine and improved game systems.

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Game Engine

Say Goodbye to Obsolete Op-Amps: A Guide to Modern Alternatives

2025-01-07
Say Goodbye to Obsolete Op-Amps: A Guide to Modern Alternatives

This article critiques the widely used but outdated LM741 and LM324/LM358 op-amps, recommending superior, user-friendly modern alternatives such as the Microchip MCP6272, MCP6022, and Texas Instruments OPA2323, TLV3542, and OPA2356. It details crucial parameters to consider when choosing an op-amp, including supply voltage range, maximum output current, rail-to-rail I/O (RRIO), input stage type (FET vs. bipolar), gain-bandwidth product, slew rate, and noise. The author emphasizes that many parameters are often overblown in hobbyist projects.

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