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FBI, Scrapers, and a Weird Fediverse Encounter

2025-06-09

A Fediverse instance admin recounts a bizarre tale: the FBI pays shady companies to scrape data, which is used to monitor online threats. The twist? A forum search engine, BoardReader, was scraping his instance and feeding data to Facebook, leading to FBI contact. The admin thwarted the scraping, only to discover the FBI's target wasn't his instance, but a user, WitchKingOfAngmar, whose threatening posts were indirectly obtained via BoardReader. This user turned out to be a perpetrator of bomb threats. The story highlights the challenges law enforcement faces with decentralized networks, and the issues of data scraping and privacy.

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(blog.freespeechextremist.com)
Tech

Amazon to Slash 14,000 Management Roles in Cost-Cutting Drive

2025-03-17
Amazon to Slash 14,000 Management Roles in Cost-Cutting Drive

Amazon plans to cut approximately 14,000 managerial positions by early 2025, aiming for annual savings of $2.1 billion to $3.6 billion. This represents a 13% reduction in its global management workforce, shrinking the number of managers from 105,770 to 91,936. The move, part of CEO Andy Jassy's strategy to streamline operations and decision-making, follows previous layoffs and is accompanied by initiatives like a 'bureaucracy tipline' to identify inefficient processes. This latest cost-cutting measure adds to over 27,000 job cuts in 2022 and 2023.

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(techstartups.com)
Startup

The Rise and Fall of the Sharp X68000: A Japanese Home Computer Legend

2025-05-27
The Rise and Fall of the Sharp X68000: A Japanese Home Computer Legend

The Sharp X68000, released in 1987, was a highly capable home computer popular in Japan, renowned for its advanced graphics and sound capabilities. Powered by a Motorola 68000 CPU and featuring custom coprocessors for superior graphics, it became a favorite among gamers. However, its limited market reach and lack of international presence ultimately led to its decline in the 1990s, leaving it a nostalgic relic for many.

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(en.wikipedia.org)
Hardware Japanese home computer

Scaling Customer Container Builds with the Depot API

2025-06-30
Scaling Customer Container Builds with the Depot API

Many SaaS platforms need to run code on behalf of their customers, presenting challenges in container building. This post demonstrates building tools with the Depot API to create isolated build environments for a multi-tenant SaaS platform. Using a Go client, you can create projects, manage project caches, retrieve build metrics, and logs. The Depot API leverages Buf.build, offering client libraries for various languages, making integration into existing infrastructure seamless. The article details creating, deleting, and resetting project caches, fetching build metrics and step details, ultimately enabling scalable and secure customer container infrastructure.

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(depot.dev)
Development container builds

py3-TTS-Wrapper: A Unified Cross-Platform Text-to-Speech Library

2025-02-10
py3-TTS-Wrapper: A Unified Cross-Platform Text-to-Speech Library

py3-TTS-Wrapper is a Python library offering a unified interface for seamless integration with various text-to-speech (TTS) services like AWS Polly, Google TTS, and Microsoft Azure TTS. It supports SSML for enhanced control, allowing customization of voice, language, volume, pitch, and rate. Features include streaming, file output, and offline engine support (eSpeak-NG, PicoTTS). Whether you need TTS in your project or want to explore different TTS engines, py3-TTS-Wrapper simplifies the process.

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(pypi.org)
Development

Microsoft Cancels Data Center Leases, Raising AI Overcapacity Concerns

2025-02-24
Microsoft Cancels Data Center Leases, Raising AI Overcapacity Concerns

Microsoft has canceled some US data center leases, according to TD Cowen, sparking concerns about potential overinvestment in AI computing capacity. While Microsoft maintains its $80 billion infrastructure spending target for the fiscal year, it declined to comment on the lease cancellations. Analysts suggest this could be due to shifting workloads to Oracle, internal investment reallocation, or a more cautious outlook on AI demand. Despite this, other tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Meta continue massive AI infrastructure investments, highlighting the intense competition in the field.

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(finance.yahoo.com)
Tech

Scaling RL: Next-Token Prediction on the Web

2025-07-13
Scaling RL: Next-Token Prediction on the Web

The author argues that reinforcement learning (RL) is the next frontier for training AI models. Current approaches of scaling many environments simultaneously are messy. Instead, the author proposes training models to reason by using RL for next-token prediction on web-scale data. This leverages the vast amount of readily available web data, moving beyond the limitations of current RL training datasets focused on math and code problems. By unifying RL with next-token prediction, the approach promises to create significantly more powerful reasoning models.

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(blog.jxmo.io)
AI

Tesla Denies Remotely Disabling Cybertruck: Viral Video Debunked

2025-08-12
Tesla Denies Remotely Disabling Cybertruck: Viral Video Debunked

A viral video surfaced showing a Cybertruck seemingly deactivated on a highway, with the owner claiming Tesla remotely disabled it due to its appearance in an unauthorized music video. The video included a flashing red warning message on the truck's screen and a purported cease-and-desist letter. However, Tesla swiftly debunked the video, stating it's fake. They pointed out discrepancies: the warning message doesn't match Tesla's standard format, and the letter contains errors such as an outdated job title. Despite this, the video spread rapidly across BlueSky, X, and Reddit, reinforcing pre-existing negative opinions about Tesla and Elon Musk.

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(www.theverge.com)
Tech Fake Video

OpenEuroLLM: Europe's Push for Open-Source Multilingual LLMs

2025-02-03

A consortium of 20 leading European research institutions and companies has launched OpenEuroLLM, a project to build a family of high-performance, multilingual large language models (LLMs). The initiative aims to boost Europe's AI competitiveness by democratizing access to high-quality AI technology through open-source principles. This will empower European companies and public organizations to develop impactful products and services. OpenEuroLLM operates within Europe's regulatory framework and collaborates with open-source communities to ensure complete openness of models, software, data, and evaluation, catering to diverse industry and public sector needs while preserving linguistic and cultural diversity.

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(openeurollm.eu)
AI

8,500-Year-Old Sunken Village Unearthed: A Silent Warning from Climate Change

2025-09-02
8,500-Year-Old Sunken Village Unearthed: A Silent Warning from Climate Change

Archaeologists in Denmark have discovered an 8,500-year-old Stone Age settlement submerged 8 meters below the surface of Aarhus Bay. The discovery, part of a EU-funded project exploring sunken Northern European landscapes, has yielded well-preserved artifacts including animal bones, stone tools, and arrowheads thanks to the oxygen-free environment. The research offers insights into how Stone Age societies adapted to rising sea levels and serves as a valuable historical parallel to today's climate change challenges.

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(apnews.com)
Tech Prehistoric Archaeology Sea Level Rise

Windows 10 Fights Back: Market Share Rises as Windows 11 Falls

2025-09-10
Windows 10 Fights Back: Market Share Rises as Windows 11 Falls

Despite Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 Home edition next month, its market share unexpectedly rose by 3 percentage points to 45%. Simultaneously, Windows 11 saw a 4 percentage point drop to 49%. This anomaly has sparked speculation, with some attributing it to statistical error while others suggest users might be reverting to Windows 10 due to compatibility issues or other factors. However, Windows 10's market share is still expected to decline as more users upgrade to Windows 11 or switch to alternative operating systems.

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(www.ghacks.net)
Tech

Court Affirms: AI-Generated Art Can't Be Copyrighted

2025-03-18
Court Affirms: AI-Generated Art Can't Be Copyrighted

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has upheld the U.S. Copyright Office's decision that AI-generated artwork without human input cannot be copyrighted. The ruling rejects Stephen Thaler's claim that his AI system, DABUS, independently created a copyrightable image. The court affirmed that human authorship is a fundamental requirement for copyright protection under U.S. law. This decision follows similar rulings and reflects the ongoing struggle to define copyright in the rapidly evolving field of generative AI. Thaler plans to appeal, while the Copyright Office maintains the court's decision is correct.

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(www.yahoo.com)
Tech

Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Languages: A Hilarious Debunking

2025-03-02
Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Languages: A Hilarious Debunking

This article humorously debunks common misconceptions programmers hold about programming languages in the context of software localization. From assuming all languages have the same sentence structures and word lengths as English, to believing translations always maintain the same length, the article highlights the absurdity of these assumptions. It underscores the importance of understanding linguistic diversity and cultural nuances in software development and localization.

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(www.lexiconista.com)
Development software localization

The UK's Electrifying History: From Chaos to Nationalization and Back

2025-06-16
The UK's Electrifying History: From Chaos to Nationalization and Back

This article chronicles the evolution of the UK's electricity system from its chaotic beginnings in the late 19th century to its current state. Initially, local electricity companies operated independently, resulting in inconsistent voltage and frequency, and low efficiency. World War I exposed the criticality of this fragmented system, leading to government-driven efforts toward regional interconnection. Despite the 1919 Electricity (Supply) Act, progress was slow due to local protectionism and the lack of enforcement power. A 1925 inquiry highlighted the severity of the situation, paving the way for a large-scale national grid. After World War II, the grid was nationalized, only to be privatized under Margaret Thatcher's government, leading to ongoing debate. The article uses the UK's century-long electricity journey as a case study to explore the influence of government regulation, market competition, and technological advancements on energy systems.

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(www.worksinprogress.news)
Tech Electricity Grid Nationalization

Formal Specifications: Beyond Instructions, Defining Software Behaviors

2025-07-28
Formal Specifications: Beyond Instructions, Defining Software Behaviors

This post delves into the distinction between formal specifications and traditional programs. While programs are lists of instructions, formal specifications are sets of behaviors. Using a counter example, the author illustrates how specifications define all correct behaviors and leverage set theory, employing generators (Init and Next) to describe infinite sets of behaviors. This contrasts with the concept of nondeterminism in programming; in formal specifications, nondeterminism refers to multiple ways a behavior can be extended, while in programs, it refers to uncertain code paths. The article emphasizes understanding formal specifications as sets of behaviors, crucial for debugging and interpreting model checker errors.

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(surfingcomplexity.blog)
Development formal specification behavioral modeling

The Heartbreaking Story Behind the 1948 '4 Children for Sale' Photo

2025-05-06
The Heartbreaking Story Behind the 1948 '4 Children for Sale' Photo

A shocking 1948 photograph of a Chicago couple selling their four children sent shockwaves across America. The story behind the image is far more tragic than the picture itself. The unemployed father abandoned the family, leaving the mother unable to cope, resulting in the children being sold separately and experiencing drastically different fates. The youngest child was adopted by a strict but kind couple, leading a relatively stable life; while two others were treated as slaves by their buyers, enduring abuse and hardship. Years later, surviving siblings reunited, recounting their harrowing past and expressing deep resentment towards their mother. This story exposes the desperation and helplessness of lower-class families in 20th-century America, reflecting the shortcomings of child protection at the time.

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(allthatsinteresting.com)
Misc social news child abuse family tragedy

The Tech Industry's Inclusion Illusion: A Schizoaffective Programmer's Story

2025-08-28
The Tech Industry's Inclusion Illusion: A Schizoaffective Programmer's Story

A programmer with schizoaffective disorder recounts their experience of being systematically excluded from over 20 tech companies over the past few years, each time after disclosing their mental health condition. This powerful essay details the systemic discrimination faced in healthcare, the workplace, and personal relationships, exposing the gap between tech companies' performative diversity initiatives and the reality of supporting employees with severe mental illnesses. The author calls for genuine inclusion across healthcare, professional environments, communities, and personal relationships, moving beyond superficial awareness.

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(kennethreitz.org)
Tech workplace discrimination

Rethinking Functional Tests: A Continuation Tree Approach

2025-03-13

Traditional unit testing often uses a list structure, but this is inefficient for multi-step functional tests, leading to repetitive code. This article proposes a continuation tree approach, organizing test cases into a tree. Each node represents a step, and connections between nodes represent possible user actions. Leveraging database version control, the method creates database copies at each node, avoiding repeated setup and reducing code complexity from O(N²) to O(N). The author demonstrates an Erlang implementation using nested callbacks and highlights advantages like reduced code duplication and easier error localization.

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(www.evanmiller.org)
Development functional testing testing methodology

PowerPoint Killed Seven: The Columbia Disaster

2025-08-29
PowerPoint Killed Seven: The Columbia Disaster

The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster of January 16th, 2003, claimed the lives of seven astronauts. An investigation revealed that a piece of foam insulation detached 82 seconds into launch, striking the shuttle's left wing and causing catastrophic damage upon re-entry. The incident highlights the devastating consequences of seemingly minor failures in complex systems, prompting reflection on both spacecraft safety and the effectiveness of communication, in contrast to the often ineffective ‘death by PowerPoint’ presentations.

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(mcdreeamiemusings.com)
Tech Space Shuttle Columbia Space Disaster

Firefox Adds Terms of Use and Updated Privacy Notice

2025-02-28
Firefox Adds Terms of Use and Updated Privacy Notice

Mozilla is introducing Terms of Use and an updated Privacy Notice for Firefox for the first time. This move aims to increase transparency around how user data is handled, emphasizing user control. Mozilla clarifies that the new terms do not grant them ownership of user data or the right to use it beyond what's described in the Privacy Notice. Users can review default settings and adjust their data management at any time. This update will roll out to new users in early March and existing users later this year.

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(blog.mozilla.org)
Development

Sci-Fi: From Moon Dreams to Hopeful Futures

2025-04-29
Sci-Fi: From Moon Dreams to Hopeful Futures

Science fiction once inspired us to reach the moon. Now, dominated by dystopian and apocalyptic visions, it fosters pessimism about the future. This article argues that sci-fi should reclaim its optimistic spirit, showcasing brighter futures and inspiring the creation of a better reality. The author calls for sci-fi writers to craft hopeful narratives, offering new perspectives and possibilities for building a more ideal society, preventing unpreparedness in the face of real-world crises.

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(craig-russell.co.uk)
Tech future optimism

Nix: Demonstrably Secure Software Supply Chains

2025-05-12
Nix: Demonstrably Secure Software Supply Chains

Meeting stringent software supply chain security regulations often involves costly air-gapped environments and extensive vetting. This article introduces Nix, a powerful package manager, as a solution. Nix enables verifiable supply chain integrity without sacrificing development speed. It tracks the exact origin and integrity of software, producing auditable offline source packages. A bootable NixOS image example demonstrates how Nix extracts verifiable Fixed-Output Derivations (FODs) from the dependency tree, allowing for offline rebuilds to ensure complete traceability and integrity. This transforms compliance from a roadblock into a manageable post-development verification step, significantly reducing costs and enhancing developer efficiency.

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(nixcademy.com)
Development Verifiability

Riot Games' Anti-Cheat Masterclass: How Valorant Fights Cheaters

2025-05-04
Riot Games' Anti-Cheat Masterclass: How Valorant Fights Cheaters

Riot Games' anti-cheat team utilizes its kernel-level anti-cheat system, Vanguard, to ban thousands of Valorant cheaters daily. Vanguard employs various strategies, including leveraging Windows security features, hardware fingerprinting, and infiltrating cheat communities. They even publicly shame cheat developers and strategically allow some cheating to slow down the evolution of cheat technology. While advanced cheats like DMA attacks and screen reader cheats persist, Riot's team continually adapts its techniques and prioritizes transparency to address the increasingly sophisticated cheating landscape, with AI-assisted cheating posing a new challenge.

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(techcrunch.com)
Game

Windows 11 App Update: Paint, Snipping Tool, and Notepad Get AI Boost

2025-05-22
Windows 11 App Update: Paint, Snipping Tool, and Notepad Get AI Boost

Microsoft is rolling out updates to Paint, Snipping Tool, and Notepad for Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels on Windows 11. Paint now features an AI sticker generator, a smart object selection tool, and a new welcome experience; Snipping Tool adds perfect screenshot and color picker capabilities; and Notepad introduces an AI writing feature for quick text drafting. Most of these new features require a Copilot+ PC and Microsoft account login, with some requiring a Microsoft 365 subscription.

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(blogs.windows.com)
Development App Update

Two Reports Highlight Knowledge Gaps and Best Practices for Open Source CRA Compliance

2025-03-22
Two Reports Highlight Knowledge Gaps and Best Practices for Open Source CRA Compliance

The Linux Foundation released two groundbreaking research reports exploring community-driven strategies to address open source security and the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). The first report analyzes how three Linux Foundation projects meet CRA minimum compliance requirements, sharing best practices. The second report reveals significant knowledge gaps within the open source ecosystem regarding CRA awareness, with many respondents unfamiliar with the act and lacking compliance readiness. The reports recommend manufacturers take a more active role in open source security, calling for increased funding and legal support to foster better security practices.

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(www.linuxfoundation.org)
Development Cyber Resilience Act open source security CRA compliance cyber resilience

Privacy Concerns: Privacy-Focused Browser Accused of Telemetry Issues

2025-03-22
Privacy Concerns: Privacy-Focused Browser Accused of Telemetry Issues

A user reported multiple privacy and telemetry issues with a browser version 1.8.2b on macOS aarch64. The browser is marketed as privacy-focused, yet the user claims telemetry appears to be enabled and the documentation lacks details on fingerprinting and other privacy-related practices. The user demands transparency, requesting either a detailed explanation of data collection methods or a cessation of privacy-focused marketing if the claims are unsubstantiated.

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(github.com)
Misc telemetry

Lisp1 vs. Lisp2: The Great Namespace Debate

2025-08-09

This technical report delves into the advantages and disadvantages of separating function and value namespaces in Lisp. Lisp1 uses a single namespace, while Lisp2 separates them. The authors analyze the trade-offs in notational simplicity, referential clarity, compiler complexity, higher-order functions, macros, and space/time efficiency. While Lisp1 offers advantages in conciseness and functional programming style, Lisp2 excels in macro usage and mitigating naming conflicts. Ultimately, the report concludes that the status quo (Lisp2) is preferable for Common Lisp.

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(dreamsongs.com)
Development

Postgres: Powering Scalable, Observable Durable Workflows

2025-08-09
Postgres: Powering Scalable, Observable Durable Workflows

This blog post delves into the technical reasons behind DBOS's choice of PostgreSQL as the metadata store for their durable workflow library. PostgreSQL's concurrency control, specifically its locking clauses, solves contention issues in database-backed queues, enabling scalability to tens of thousands of workflows per second. Its relational data model and secondary indexes simplify the development of observability tooling for real-time monitoring and visualization of workflow execution. Furthermore, PostgreSQL transactions guarantee exactly-once execution semantics for database operations, preventing duplication. PostgreSQL's features make it ideal for building robust and performant durable workflow libraries.

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(www.dbos.dev)
Development Durable Workflows

Wine 10.0: Smoother Windows App Support on Linux

2025-01-22
Wine 10.0: Smoother Windows App Support on Linux

Wine 10.0 has been released, boasting over 6,000 changes that significantly improve performance, compatibility, and visual experience when running Windows applications on Linux. Key features include full ARM64EC architecture support, 64-bit x86 emulation for better resource utilization, and improved high-DPI scaling. Enhanced Vulkan graphics, better desktop integration, and Direct3D updates further boost performance, particularly for gamers.

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(betanews.com)
Development Windows compatibility
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