Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Popular：

Virtualization DNS security formal verification reachability analysis compiler errors macro conflict web extension development framework Bitmap Graphics API inconsistencies All Tags

US House Proposes New Fees on EVs and Hybrids

2025-05-01

US House Proposes New Fees on EVs and Hybrids

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is proposing new annual fees for electric vehicles ($200) and hybrids ($100) as part of a budget bill. This Republican-backed measure aims to bolster the highway trust fund, but critics worry it will stifle EV adoption. While commercial and farm vehicles are exempt, the revenue generated is expected to be a small fraction of the federal budget, and the fees will increase annually with inflation until 2035. The move is part of a broader Republican effort, described as a 'war against science and the environment'.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech taxation

arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community-Driven Features

2025-03-03

arXivLabs is an experimental framework enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Participants, individuals and organizations alike, embrace arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who share them. Have an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

(arxiv.org)

Development

Self-Playing Guitar System: 9400 Hours of Mastery, $40,000 Price Tag

2025-08-15

Self-Playing Guitar System: 9400 Hours of Mastery, $40,000 Price Tag

Michael Kuzma, a guitarist and electrical engineer, spent 9,400 hours developing his Kuzma Self-Playing Guitar System. This invention, attachable to any guitar, uses 3D-printed parts, motors, and actuators to pick and fret. While not quite ready for Hendrix, it can handle Oasis covers. Kuzma even uses it for hands-free busking. The robot guitar can play at speeds exceeding human capabilities (44 notes per second!). Kuzma custom-builds these systems, starting at $40,000, with the final price depending on customizations, the chosen guitar, and delivery location.

(www.core77.com)

Tech robot guitar

pg_test_fsync: Benchmarking Disk Write Performance for Databases

2025-05-28

This article introduces `pg_test_fsync`, a tool for quickly benchmarking disk or cloud storage write performance, particularly useful for database WAL logs and other low-latency write workloads. The author tests a consumer-grade Samsung 990 Pro SSD and an enterprise-grade Micron 7400 SSD, revealing significantly faster synchronous write speeds on the enterprise SSD due to its controller DRAM cache and power-loss protection. `fdatasync` proves faster than `fsync` or `O_SYNC`, but even `fdatasync` takes 1.6 milliseconds for a single 8kB write. The article notes that multiple small writes degrade performance, suggesting batching writes for efficiency.

(tanelpoder.com)

Development

Right to Repair Bills Filed in All 50 US States

2025-02-24

Right to Repair Bills Filed in All 50 US States

After eleven years of advocacy, the Right to Repair movement has achieved a major victory: legislation has been introduced in all 50 US states, granting consumers the right to repair their own electronics and appliances. This grassroots effort, supported by repair professionals, farmers, students, and lawmakers, has seen five states already pass Right to Repair laws, covering one-fifth of the US population. This success highlights growing consumer demand for repairable products and has even led major tech companies like Google and Apple to support some of the legislation.

(www.ifixit.com)

Tech

Cloudflare Launches First MoQ CDN: The Beginning of the End for WebRTC?

2025-08-23

Cloudflare has officially launched its Media over QUIC (MoQ) CDN, a technical preview of a new standard aiming to replace WebRTC, HLS/DASH, and RTMP/SRT for real-time media streaming. Developers can test it using Cloudflare's public endpoint and various client libraries, even building live broadcasts quickly with provided Web Component APIs. While currently limited in features (e.g., lacking authentication and Safari support), this marks a significant step forward for MoQ, hinting at a revolution in real-time media delivery.

(moq.dev)

Tech Real-time Media

Flock Safety's Nationwide Surveillance Network: A Privacy Nightmare?

2025-09-04

Flock Safety's Nationwide Surveillance Network: A Privacy Nightmare?

Flock Safety is deploying automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras across the US, creating a massive surveillance network spanning thousands of cities. The system allows private users to create 'hotlists' and cross-references plates against police and FBI databases, raising serious privacy concerns. Its ability to track individuals' movements and widespread use by law enforcement, potentially for political persecution, is alarming. The article urges opposition to this mass surveillance, suggesting legislative action, public engagement, and limitations on data retention, sharing, and database usage to protect civil liberties.

(www.aclu.org)

Tech

Sebald's Uncanny Insights: Power, Order, and the Ghost of Kafka

2025-04-07

Sebald's Uncanny Insights: Power, Order, and the Ghost of Kafka

This essay delves into W.G. Sebald's interpretation of Kafka and Canetti, highlighting his profound insights into the nature of power. Sebald argues that totalitarian power stems from a fear of chaos, attempting to establish a sterile order through violence, ultimately leading to self-destruction. This power, he suggests, is parasitic rather than creative, barren and self-serving, its only aim self-perpetuation, mirroring the vampiric despots in Kafka's works. Sebald's analysis offers a timely warning, especially relevant in our current era.

(newrepublic.com)

Misc totalitarianism

Open Source Distilling: Bringing Tradition into the 21st Century

2025-06-06

This project aims to create the world's first open-source software for home distilling. The author, with 15 years of homebrewing and 5 years of distilling experience, plans to leverage the Raspberry Pi and Python to automate the distilling process, including temperature monitoring and alerts. Early development of hardware and software is complete, with ongoing updates planned; community contributions are welcome.

(opensourcedistilling.com)

Development distilling

Chess Champion Carlsen Returns to Tournament After Jeans Controversy

2024-12-30

Chess Champion Carlsen Returns to Tournament After Jeans Controversy

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen rejoined a major tournament after initially quitting over a dress code dispute. He was asked to change out of his jeans at the Fide World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) subsequently relaxed its dress code to allow "elegant minor deviations," including appropriate jeans. Carlsen criticized the event's handling of the situation but ultimately returned, stating his love for the tournament. The incident sparked debate about dress code rules in professional chess.

(news.sky.com)

Game Chess Dress Code

Goodbye Tedious Workflows: My tmux-Powered Dev Setup

2025-06-23

This post details a highly efficient development workflow built around tmux. The author uses clever tmux configuration and scripting to directly open files on a remote server, seamlessly jump between panes, and switch effortlessly between files—all without local clones. The post walks through the configuration, including regular expressions and scripts, and compares alternatives. The motivation stemmed from frustrations with VSCode's lag and keybinding conflicts. While complex to set up, the author argues the efficiency gains outweigh the cost.

(jyn.dev)

Development remote development

Puerto Rico's Microgrids: Grassroots Innovation Against Power Crises

2025-06-26

Puerto Rico's Microgrids: Grassroots Innovation Against Power Crises

Facing frequent blackouts due to its aging grid, some areas of Puerto Rico are relying on microgrids and solar power systems to maintain electricity supply. During an island-wide blackout in April, Adjuntas town's microgrid system successfully kept the lights on for many residents and businesses. However, $20 billion in federal disaster relief funds have been hampered by bureaucratic red tape and politics. Despite this, private efforts are pushing the development of solar and energy storage systems, with 4,000 systems coming online each month, showcasing resilient grassroots innovation. Adjuntas' example, with its strategy of interconnected microgrids, successfully withstood the blackout, offering valuable experience for other regions.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Tech microgrids

Bypassing TCP/UDP: An Unexpected Network Experiment

2025-02-25

Bypassing TCP/UDP: An Unexpected Network Experiment

The author attempts to create a custom network transport protocol, bypassing TCP and UDP, to explore its behavior on different operating systems and network environments. Experiments reveal that the custom protocol partially succeeds in local loopback tests, but in cross-network environments, most cloud servers and network devices drop custom protocol packets except for AWS, and there are issues such as poor cross-platform compatibility. The final conclusion: Unless necessary, stick to TCP or UDP!

(github.com)

Development

Nine-Day Milestone: Gene-Edited Pig Lung Transplanted into Human

2025-08-27

Nine-Day Milestone: Gene-Edited Pig Lung Transplanted into Human

A team from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University achieved a groundbreaking feat: successfully transplanting a genetically modified pig lung into a brain-dead human, maintaining function for nine days. While the experiment was ultimately terminated due to organ rejection, it represents a significant advancement in xenotransplantation. The focus wasn't on immediate success, but on observing the human immune response. The pig lung underwent six gene edits to minimize immune and inflammatory responses. Results highlighted challenges such as pulmonary edema and antibody-mediated rejection. Future research will focus on optimizing immunosuppression, refining gene editing, and ultimately achieving clinical translation.

(www.sciencealert.com)

Tech Xenotransplantation Organ Transplant

Protectionism Won't Reverse US Deindustrialization

2025-05-20

Protectionism Won't Reverse US Deindustrialization

President Trump's protectionist trade policies have failed to halt the long-term decline of US manufacturing. The article argues that manufacturing's shrinking share of developed economies since the 1940s is a universal trend of "tertiarization," where services dominate. Attempts to reverse this through trade restrictions are ineffective. More effective strategies are public investment, including support for SMEs, education, and infrastructure, rather than tax cuts or wage suppression.

(blog.waldrn.com)

Tech deindustrialization

The Altair 8800: The Unsung Hero of the PC Revolution

2025-05-02

The Altair 8800: The Unsung Hero of the PC Revolution

Before Apple, before Commodore, there was the MITS Altair 8800. Released in 1975, this kit-based computer, featured on the cover of Popular Electronics, is considered the first commercially successful personal computer. Priced at $397, it lacked a keyboard and display, relying on switches and lights. Its popularity, exceeding 25,000 units sold, spurred the creation of Microsoft (Bill Gates and Paul Allen developed BASIC for it) and inspired Steve Wozniak's Apple I. The Altair's legacy extends to the S-100 bus standard, solidifying its place as a pivotal moment in computing history.

(www.goto10retro.com)

Tech personal computer

LibreOffice Accuses Microsoft of Deliberately Complex File Formats for User Lock-in

2025-07-19

LibreOffice Accuses Microsoft of Deliberately Complex File Formats for User Lock-in

LibreOffice has again criticized Microsoft, accusing it of intentionally using overly complex OOXML file formats (.docx, .xlsx) to lock in users and hinder switching to alternative office suites. LibreOffice argues that while XML should promote interoperability, Microsoft's OOXML is excessively complex, likened to a 'train' only Microsoft can build, preventing competition. The article uses a railway analogy to illustrate Microsoft's actions, urging users to switch to Linux and LibreOffice.

(www.neowin.net)

Tech

TernFS: XTX's Exabyte-Scale Distributed Filesystem

2025-09-18

Facing exploding data storage needs, algorithmic trading firm XTX built TernFS, a distributed filesystem scaling to tens of exabytes and millions of concurrent clients. TernFS employs sharded metadata storage, a decentralized design, and supports multi-region deployment, achieving high availability and performance. Key features include immutable files, redundant data storage, fault tolerance, and flexible storage policies. TernFS is already used extensively at XTX and is open-sourced for community use, offering a novel solution for large-scale data storage.

(www.xtxmarkets.com)

Tech big data storage

Obsidian Plugin Bounty: Improve Notion Import

2025-09-17

Obsidian Plugin Bounty: Improve Notion Import

The Obsidian Importer plugin is seeking a developer to improve its Notion import functionality. Currently, import relies on HTML export, which is inefficient. A $5,000 bounty is offered for a solution within 30 days that uses the Notion API for progressive file download and adds support for converting Notion databases to Bases. Applicants must be familiar with the Importer codebase and the Notion API, and should detail their approach, especially addressing the differences between Databases and Bases and determining which Notion database elements (views, columns, groups, etc.) can be imported.

(github.com)

Development

sxwm: Minimal, Fast, Configurable Tiling Window Manager for X11

2025-05-04

sxwm: Minimal, Fast, Configurable Tiling Window Manager for X11

sxwm is a lightweight X11 tiling window manager prioritizing minimalism, speed, and configurability. It seamlessly switches between tiling and floating layouts, boasts 9 workspaces, and features a user-friendly configuration file (sxwmrc) requiring no C programming knowledge. Supporting mouse interactions, multi-monitor setups, and integration with tools like sxbar, sxwm delivers a highly efficient and responsive window management experience. Its key strengths lie in its incredibly low resource usage and blazing-fast performance.

(github.com)

Development

Service as a Software Substitute (SaaSS): Another Threat to Your Computing Freedom

2025-02-06

This article explores the concept of "Service as a Software Substitute (SaaSS)", which refers to using someone else's service as a replacement for running your own program. Richard Stallman argues that SaaSS deprives users of control over their computing because the process is handed over to servers controlled by others. This is similar to proprietary software, both presenting security risks such as data leaks and backdoors. The author calls for users to reject SaaSS and choose to use free software and programs running on computers they control to maintain their computing freedom.

(www.gnu.org)

Development computing freedom

Liana Pandemic Threatens Tropical Rainforests: Visible from Space

2025-05-11

Liana Pandemic Threatens Tropical Rainforests: Visible from Space

A new study reveals a dramatic surge in lianas in tropical rainforests, jeopardizing carbon storage and biodiversity. Lianas, which spread rapidly and outcompete trees for resources, are increasing by 10-24% per decade. This is linked to rising atmospheric CO2 levels, as lianas benefit disproportionately from increased CO2. The resulting tree mortality and hampered forest regeneration lead to a 95% reduction in carbon storage. Surprisingly, their unique leaf properties make lianas detectable from space, opening new avenues for monitoring their spread. Researchers urge a focus on climate change mitigation and caution against intervention until the lianas' full ecological role is understood.

(phys.org)

Tech tropical rainforest lianas

Rendering Chrome in a Terminal: The Carbonyl Browser Project

2025-09-05

The Carbonyl project attempts to render web pages within a terminal. The author cleverly uses terminal characters and escape sequences, combined with Rust and C++, to achieve basic web rendering. The article details how to simulate pixels using Unicode characters, handle text drawing, mouse input, and inter-process communication with Chrome, while tackling rendering efficiency and layout issues. While still early-stage, Carbonyl demonstrates the feasibility of rendering web pages in a terminal environment, offering developers a novel area of exploration.

(fathy.fr)

Development terminal rendering

Firefox Delivers Tab Groups Based on 4,500+ Community Requests

2025-04-29

Firefox Delivers Tab Groups Based on 4,500+ Community Requests

Firefox's new tab groups feature is a direct result of over 4,500 user requests on Mozilla Connect. This highly requested feature allows users to group browser tabs for better organization and management of numerous open pages. The development process highlights the power of community feedback, with the Firefox team actively listening to user suggestions and iterating through beta testing. The final feature balances flexibility and ease of use. Looking ahead, Firefox is exploring AI-powered smart tab groups for even more efficient tab management.

(blog.mozilla.org)

Development Tab Groups Community Feedback

Microsoft's Valentine's Day Surprise: Cortana Location History Axed, GDPR Compliance Efforts

2025-02-20

Microsoft's Valentine's Day Surprise: Cortana Location History Axed, GDPR Compliance Efforts

Microsoft released Windows 11 24H2 preview build 26120.3281 to Dev and Beta channels, removing the Location History API for Cortana and making changes to address European privacy concerns. The API, previously deprecated, allowed Cortana to access 24 hours of location data. The update also disables account-based content in File Explorer for Entra IDs in the EEA, impacting Recent, Favorites, and Recommended features. Additionally, the update includes one-click OneDrive file resuming and an upcoming Recall update that will delete all existing snapshots. The rollout to the general release of Windows 11 remains uncertain.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

The 17-Year-Old ThinkPad: A Case Study in Robustness vs. Fragility

2025-04-03

The 17-Year-Old ThinkPad: A Case Study in Robustness vs. Fragility

This article contrasts a 17-year-old ThinkPad with a modern MacBook, exploring the relationship between product longevity and design philosophy. The ThinkPad, with its modular design, easy repairability, and open ecosystem, demonstrates remarkable resilience, allowing for easy repairs and upgrades even when things break. The author leverages Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Lindy Effect, arguing that products that have withstood the test of time tend to have longer lifespans. In contrast, the modern MacBook, while powerful, suffers from a closed design, difficult repairs, and dependence on Apple's software ecosystem, making it fragile and short-lived. The conclusion highlights the ThinkPad's durability stemming from its modularity and extensive community support, giving it a significantly longer lifespan.

(pilledtexts.com)

Hardware Lindy Effect

Remembering Aaron Swartz: A Mastodon JavaScript Conundrum

2025-01-12

Remembering Aaron Swartz: A Mastodon JavaScript Conundrum

Jeremia Kimelman's Mastodon post remembering Aaron Swartz highlights the need for JavaScript to use the Mastodon web application, suggesting native apps as an alternative. This sparks reflection on web vs. native apps and the intersection of internet freedom and technological accessibility, echoing Swartz's fight for open access.

(journa.host)

Misc

Gemini AI Assistant Now Integrated into Chrome

2025-09-19

Gemini AI Assistant Now Integrated into Chrome

Google's Gemini AI assistant is now integrated directly into the Chrome browser. Leveraging the context of your open tabs, it offers AI assistance for tasks like extracting key takeaways, clarifying concepts, and finding answers. This differs from the standalone Gemini web app; while accessible on other browsers, the web app lacks the ability to share page content or utilize live mode.

(gemini.google)

AI

Massive Supply Chain Attack Compromises Hundreds of E-commerce Stores

2025-05-11

Massive Supply Chain Attack Compromises Hundreds of E-commerce Stores

Hundreds of e-commerce stores, including a $40 billion multinational, are running backdoored versions of popular software. Security firm Sansec discovered that attackers have been actively exploiting these backdoors since at least April 20th. Affected packages are from vendors including Tigren, Magesolution (MGS), Meetanshi, and Weltpixel, released between 2019 and 2022. Attackers compromised vendor servers to inject backdoors, gaining access to all customer stores and their visitors. The backdoor disguises itself as a license check, located in License.php or LicenseApi.php. E-commerce stores using software from these vendors are urged to check their security immediately.

(sansec.io)

Tech e-commerce security backdoor vulnerability

Physicists Develop Mathematical Model to Predict Bowling Ball Trajectories

2025-04-16

Physicists Develop Mathematical Model to Predict Bowling Ball Trajectories

With over 45 million bowling fans in the US, improving strike percentage is a constant pursuit. A team of physicists, including three skilled bowlers and a Team England coach, has developed a mathematical model to predict bowling ball trajectories. The model accounts for lane oil composition and patterns, ball asymmetries, and player variability, offering a more nuanced approach than previous statistical analyses. The complexity stems from numerous variables influencing the ball's path, such as inconsistent oil application on lanes. This research provides a new perspective for enhancing bowling performance by leveraging physics and mathematics.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech bowling physics model

← Previous 1 2 … 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 … 596 597 Next →