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13,000+ 3D Vertebrate Models Now Openly Available!

2025-04-05
13,000+ 3D Vertebrate Models Now Openly Available!

The Florida Museum of Natural History has launched the openVertebrate (oVert) project, an ambitious initiative to provide free, digital 3D vertebrate anatomy models and data to researchers, educators, students, and the public. Using CT scans, the project has already created detailed 3D models of the skeletons (and some soft tissues) of over 13,000 specimens, representing more than half the genera of amphibians, reptiles, fishes, and mammals. The oVert team plans to scan another 20,000 fluid-preserved specimens in the coming years, aiming to cover over 80% of vertebrate genera. These models and data will be freely downloadable and suitable for 3D printing.

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(www.openculture.com)
Tech 3D models vertebrates

Sguaba: Rust Crate for Foolproof Coordinate Transformations

2025-05-31
Sguaba: Rust Crate for Foolproof Coordinate Transformations

Sguaba, a new open-source Rust crate, simplifies coordinate transformations between various systems (WGS84, ECEF, NED, FRD) for engineers. Leveraging Rust's type system, it prevents accidental mixing of coordinate systems, a common source of errors. Designed for ease of use, Sguaba provides intuitive types like `Coordinate`, `Vector`, `Orientation`, and `Pose`, and uses `RigidBodyTransform` for conversions. Comprehensive documentation and examples are included. While currently missing ENU and ECI support, contributions are welcome.

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(blog.helsing.ai)
Development Coordinate Transformation

Run 35-Year-Old SGI Demos in Your Browser

2025-09-22
Run 35-Year-Old SGI Demos in Your Browser

This project brings classic demos from 35-year-old SGI workstations to modern browsers. The original C/C++ source code is compiled to WebAssembly using Emscripten and SDL2, with rendering handled by an IRIS GL software rasterizer from the Alice 4 project. Currently, Flight, Newave, and Arena demos are supported, with plans to add more, along with features like a virtual mouse and keyboard, popup menus, and more, for a truly authentic SGI experience.

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(github.com)
Game

SAP's €20B Bet: A Sovereign Cloud to Challenge US Giants in Europe

2025-09-05
SAP's €20B Bet: A Sovereign Cloud to Challenge US Giants in Europe

SAP is investing €20 billion over the next decade to expand its sovereign cloud infrastructure in Europe, positioning itself as a secure and compliant alternative to American cloud giants. This initiative focuses on providing sovereign infrastructure for public sector and regulated environments, offering three options: SAP Cloud Infrastructure (IaaS), Sovereign Cloud On-Site, and Delos Cloud in Germany. While the CEO previously cautioned against directly competing with US hyperscalers in infrastructure, this investment prioritizes integrating sovereignty into the technology stack, not replicating global infrastructure. The strategy emphasizes boosting Europe's competitiveness through software, AI, and applied innovation.

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(www.theregister.com)
Tech sovereign cloud

Chrome EULA Controversy: Google's Swift Response and Correction

2025-03-02
Chrome EULA Controversy: Google's Swift Response and Correction

A blog post clarifies a misunderstanding regarding a clause in the Google Chrome End User License Agreement (EULA). The clause granted Google broad rights to content created by users within Chrome, raising user concerns. The Google Chrome team swiftly responded, explaining it was due to the use of universal terms of service and that the clause didn't apply to Chrome, promising its removal. Google subsequently updated the EULA, explicitly stating users retain copyright and other rights to their content, resolving the controversy.

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(www.mattcutts.com)
Tech EULA

Ancient DNA Reveals Isolated Saharan Population 7,000 Years Ago

2025-04-11
Ancient DNA Reveals Isolated Saharan Population 7,000 Years Ago

A new genetic analysis sheds light on the genetic makeup of humans living in the Sahara's green oasis 7,000 years ago. Researchers sequenced ancient DNA from two women buried at the Takarkori rock shelter in Libya, finding their closest genetic relatives were 15,000-year-old foragers from Morocco. This suggests a long-standing, stable population in North Africa before and during the Saharan humid period. This lineage diverged from those leaving Africa over 50,000 years ago and remained largely isolated for millennia, with only minor gene flow from the Levant, including Neanderthal DNA. The study suggests pastoralism spread through cultural exchange, not large-scale migration.

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(www.sciencealert.com)
Tech Sahara Desert human migration

Optoelectronic Neural Networks: A Dawn for Post-Moore's Law Computing?

2025-04-10
Optoelectronic Neural Networks: A Dawn for Post-Moore's Law Computing?

This review summarizes the rapid development of optoelectronic neural networks in recent years, from the pioneering work in deep learning to the latest advances in building large-scale neural networks using photonic devices. Researchers have explored various optical computing methods, including coherent nanophotonic circuits, diffractive deep neural networks, and photoelectric multiplication to implement deep learning. These studies have not only achieved breakthroughs in image recognition and StarCraft, but also provide new possibilities for breaking the limitations of Moore's Law and exploring new paths for post-Moore's Law computing.

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(www.nature.com)
Tech optoelectronic neural networks post-Moore's law

MinIO's Controversial Community Edition Changes Spark Outrage

2025-05-30
MinIO's Controversial Community Edition Changes Spark Outrage

MinIO, a popular open-source object storage solution, has removed key web-based management features from its community edition, prompting backlash from users. The free version now requires users to rely on command-line tools or upgrade to a paid plan. This decision, likened by some to 'enshittification,' has led many to explore alternatives like SeaweedFS, Garage, and Zenko. MinIO maintains that the changes are necessary to sustain the project's development.

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(biggo.com)
Development minio

Cyc: The $200M AI That Never Was

2025-04-08
Cyc: The $200M AI That Never Was

This essay details the 40-year history of Cyc, Douglas Lenat's ambitious project to build artificial general intelligence (AGI) by scaling symbolic logic. Despite a $200 million investment and 2000 person-years of effort, Cyc failed to achieve intellectual maturity. The article unveils its secretive history, highlighting the project's insularity and rejection of alternative AI approaches as key factors contributing to its failure. Cyc's long, slow demise serves as a powerful indictment against the symbolic-logic approach to AGI.

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(yuxi-liu-wired.github.io)
AI Symbolic AI

Beyond Alphabetical Order: The Weird and Wonderful Ways Ecologists Determine Authorship

2025-04-15
Beyond Alphabetical Order: The Weird and Wonderful Ways Ecologists Determine Authorship

This blog post explores unconventional methods for determining authorship order in ecology and evolutionary biology papers. From alphabetization to basketball skills, even coin flips, rock-paper-scissors, and bake-offs have been used. The author compiled numerous examples, including croquet matches, random number generators, geographical location, practical considerations, game theory, and dice rolls to decide authorship order. A brownie bake-off stands out as the most unusual and entertaining example. The post also highlights a retracted paper due to authorship disputes, along with examples using code and other innovative approaches. The lighthearted tone reveals the creativity and challenges researchers face when ordering authors.

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(dynamicecology.wordpress.com)
Misc Academic Publishing Authorship Order

Instacar Bypasses Apple's Payment System, Sparking Controversy

2025-05-15
Instacar Bypasses Apple's Payment System, Sparking Controversy

The app Instacar, unavailable in the US App Store, displays a warning in the EU App Store for using an external payment system, bypassing Apple's private and secure payment system. The article argues that Apple's understanding of online payments is naive, clinging to the outdated notion that its system's security is a unique advantage. This ignores the fact that mainstream online payment platforms like Stripe and Amazon already offer secure and private transactions.

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(daringfireball.net)
Tech Payment System

San Francisco: A Tech Utopia Divided

2025-04-20
San Francisco: A Tech Utopia Divided

San Francisco, the heart of the tech industry, presents a stark duality. On one hand, lavish parties thrown by tech giants; on the other, ordinary citizens struggling with high housing costs and poverty. The rapid growth of the tech sector hasn't benefited everyone, exacerbating inequality and raising concerns about the future. The author, through personal experiences and observations, reveals the social issues hidden beneath the veneer of tech prosperity, highlighting the widening gap between the promised tech utopia and the harsh realities.

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(rachdele.substack.com)
Tech tech development

A 1991 GPLv2 License Request: A Nostalgic Tale of Mail and Paper Copies

2025-04-24
A 1991 GPLv2 License Request: A Nostalgic Tale of Mail and Paper Copies

While working with open-source software, the author noticed a physical address instead of a URL in the GPLv2 license notice, sparking curiosity. This led to reflections on software distribution in the pre-internet era of 1991 and how people obtained the full GPL license text via mail. The author decided to try it themselves, writing to the address to request the GPLv2 license. They received a reply, but it contained the GPLv3 version instead. This experience is filled with nostalgia and highlights the differences in information access across different eras.

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(code.mendhak.com)
Development

Why are Thunderstorms Rare in the UK?

2025-05-04
Why are Thunderstorms Rare in the UK?

The author observes a stark difference in thunderstorm frequency between Spain and the UK. The article explains thunderstorm formation: warm, moist air rises, colliding with cooler air, creating convection. Water droplets freeze into ice crystals, leading to charge separation and ultimately, lightning and thunder. Lightning's color stems from incandescence at high temperatures and luminescence from excited nitrogen. The article concludes that thunderstorms require warm, humid conditions, which are less common in the UK's higher latitude and cooler climate.

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(www.onepotscience.com)
Tech thunderstorm climate

LHC Ultraperipheral Collisions Unravel the Mystery of Gluon Saturation

2025-02-11
LHC Ultraperipheral Collisions Unravel the Mystery of Gluon Saturation

Ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) offer a unique window into gluon dynamics. Experiments use photons to probe gluons within protons and nuclei, investigating gluon saturation—a dynamic equilibrium between gluon splitting and recombination. Researchers found that as energy decreases, the number of gluons in hadrons increases, forming 'gluonic hotspots' that overlap in the gluon saturation regime. The experiments also observed nuclear shadowing, where nuclei contain fewer gluons than expected. These findings shed light on the origin of 99% of the visible universe's mass and the nature of the strong interaction. Future LHC runs and the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) will further explore gluon dynamics, uncovering more mysteries.

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(cerncourier.com)
Tech gluon saturation hadron physics

India's IT Giants Face Slowest Growth in Years Amid Global Uncertainty

2025-04-17
India's IT Giants Face Slowest Growth in Years Amid Global Uncertainty

India's three largest IT services companies, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Wipro, are experiencing their steepest growth slowdown in years. Global economic uncertainty and geopolitical challenges have led corporations to curtail large technology projects, resulting in disappointing performance from all three firms. Infosys projected 0-3% revenue growth for FY26, significantly below analyst expectations. Wipro anticipates a 1.5-3.5% sequential revenue decline in Q1, and TCS also missed fourth-quarter earnings estimates. While companies highlight strengths in AI, cloud, and digital technologies, macroeconomic headwinds and AI-driven pricing pressures threaten to constrain medium-term industry growth to a modest 4-5%, with little prospect of acceleration.

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(indiadispatch.com)
Tech Indian IT economic slowdown growth deceleration

The Periodic Table of Cognition: Are We Still in the Phlogiston Era of AI?

2025-09-24
The Periodic Table of Cognition: Are We Still in the Phlogiston Era of AI?

Drawing parallels between the early days of electricity's discovery and our current understanding of artificial intelligence, the author argues that our grasp of intelligence is fundamentally flawed, much like early scientists' misconceptions about electricity. Intelligence, the author posits, is likely not a singular force but a complex system composed of multiple cognitive elements, similar to how water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. An attempt to create a 'periodic table of cognition' using AI reveals the immense complexity of intelligence and highlights how our use of AI currently outpaces our understanding. Further exploration of these cognitive elements is crucial for predicting the future trajectory of AI development.

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(kk.org)
AI

iOS 26 FaceTime's Surprise: Auto-Freezing Nudity in Video Calls

2025-07-06
iOS 26 FaceTime's Surprise: Auto-Freezing Nudity in Video Calls

An unexpected feature in the iOS 26 beta has surfaced: FaceTime automatically freezes video and audio when nudity is detected, displaying a warning message with options to resume or end the call. Initially intended for child account communication safety, this function seems to be active for adult accounts as well. While Apple emphasizes on-device machine learning, preventing content upload, this unintended application raises privacy concerns.

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(9to5mac.com)
Tech

Beyond Silicon: Penn State Creates CMOS Computer from 2D Materials

2025-06-14
Beyond Silicon: Penn State Creates CMOS Computer from 2D Materials

Researchers at Penn State have achieved a breakthrough, creating a functional CMOS computer using two-dimensional (2D) materials—just one atom thick—instead of silicon. Published in Nature, this development represents a significant leap towards thinner, faster, and more energy-efficient electronics. Using molybdenum disulfide and tungsten diselenide for n-type and p-type transistors respectively, the team overcame previous challenges in scaling 2D materials to complex computer architectures. While the operating frequency is currently low, this research paves the way for moving beyond silicon-based technology, promising a new era in electronics.

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(www.sciencedaily.com)
Tech CMOS computer

World's Second Worst Graphics Card: A TTL Gate Masterpiece?

2025-09-22
World's Second Worst Graphics Card: A TTL Gate Masterpiece?

Inspired by Ben Eater's 'world's worst video card', Leoneq built something even... worse? This text-mode graphics card, boasting a VGA resolution of 800x600@60Hz (accessible 400x300), uses only TTL gates and a surprisingly low 21 IC count. Featuring support for Latin, Polish, and even the Standard Galactic Alphabet, the card leverages EPROMs and SRAM for character storage. While plagued by glitches, noise sensitivity, and a generally unimpressive image, this project is a testament to resourcefulness and a humorous take on hardware limitations. It's a testament to the power of ingenuity even when facing a 'terrible idea'.

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(github.com)
Hardware

The Subtle Art of Children's Non-Fiction Illustration: Balancing Detail and Delight

2025-09-24
The Subtle Art of Children's Non-Fiction Illustration: Balancing Detail and Delight

This article explores the artistry of illustration in children's non-fiction books. Using "Road Builders" as an example, the author praises illustrator Simms Taback's style, which features rich vehicle details without sacrificing childlike charm, avoiding overly realistic stiffness. This style perfectly caters to children's curiosity about machinery, making complex equipment approachable. The author argues that instead of using fictional cartoon characters to attract children, presenting realistic yet interesting details showcasing the charm of machinery is more respectful of children's intellectual level and more likely to spark their interest.

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(alyssarosenberg.substack.com)
Design children's books

Pope Leo XIV Rejects AI Papal Avatar: Tech Development Needs Human Connection

2025-09-24
Pope Leo XIV Rejects AI Papal Avatar: Tech Development Needs Human Connection

Pope Leo XIV has rejected a proposal to create an AI-powered virtual version of himself, which would have allowed Catholics worldwide to have virtual audiences. The Pope expressed concerns that an AI representation would be inappropriate, and voiced worries about AI's potential to cause job displacement and exacerbate social inequality. He stressed that technological advancement must be balanced with faith and humanity, preventing technology from becoming a cold, empty shell that neglects human values. This decision echoes the concerns previously raised by Pope Francis, highlighting the importance of upholding ethics and social fairness in the face of technological progress.

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(www.theregister.com)
Misc religious technology

NYC Secret Service Busts Massive SIM Farm: The Weird Hardware Inside

2025-09-24
NYC Secret Service Busts Massive SIM Farm: The Weird Hardware Inside

The Secret Service's recent takedown of a massive SIM farm in NYC has revealed bizarre hardware. These devices, called SIM banks or gateways, hold hundreds of SIM cards, enabling mass texting and calling. While some legitimate uses exist (network testing, marketing), they're predominantly used for spam, scams, and harassment. The devices, costing thousands of dollars each, highlight the scale of such operations and the challenges in combating them. The discovery near a UN meeting underscores the potential threat to telecom systems.

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(tedium.co)
Tech SIM farm Secret Service

Beat Saber's Secret: Instructed Motion in VR Game Design

2025-05-02
Beat Saber's Secret: Instructed Motion in VR Game Design

Beat Saber's success isn't solely due to music and rhythm; its core lies in the design concept of 'Instructed Motion.' The article argues that scoring isn't based on precise timing, but on the breadth and accuracy of player movements. This isn't limited to music games; the VR combat game Until You Fall exemplifies this, guiding players through specific defensive and offensive motions to enhance immersion and control game intensity and player feeling.

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(www.roadtovr.com)
Game VR game design game mechanics

Crafting Immersive Text Adventures

2025-09-18

Welcome to the world of text adventures! This channel explores the creation of interactive stories where player choices shape the narrative. Whether you're a developer, a retro gaming enthusiast, or simply curious, join the journey. Learn tips and tricks, follow updates on the latest text games, and discover how to craft compelling worlds and mysteries, one line of code at a time. Get ready to build your own text adventure!

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(the-ventureweaver.itch.io)
Game

Cerabyte Secures Western Digital Investment for 5000-Year Data Storage

2025-05-12
Cerabyte Secures Western Digital Investment for 5000-Year Data Storage

German data storage startup Cerabyte announced it has received strategic investment from Western Digital, accelerating development of its groundbreaking ceramic-based data storage technology. Boasting a 5000-year lifespan and potentially yottabyte-scale capacity, Cerabyte's technology has undergone extreme testing, proving resilient to heat, water, radiation, and more. Aiming for sub-$1/TB storage by 2030, this partnership promises to bring commercially viable, ultra-long-term data storage solutions to market.

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(www.tomshardware.com)
Tech ceramic storage

I Briefly Owned [email protected]

2025-05-08
I Briefly Owned steve@next.com

In 1991, a new employee at NeXT, on a whim, forwarded the email address [email protected] to his own inbox. This resulted in a flood of emails intended for Steve Jobs, from reporters, CEOs, and finance professionals. Panicked, he quickly reversed the forwarding and explained to Jobs. Surprisingly, Jobs replied, "Great idea, thank you." This story is full of drama and highlights Jobs' humor and tolerance.

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(blog.hayman.net)
Misc

Efficient Bit-Packed Integer Vectors in Rust: O(1) Random Access with Bit Compression

2025-09-25
Efficient Bit-Packed Integer Vectors in Rust: O(1) Random Access with Bit Compression

This article explores the engineering challenges of implementing an efficient vector-like data structure in Rust that stores integers in a compressed, bit-packed format while achieving O(1) random access performance and minimizing memory usage. The article details the implementation of bit packing and access, crossing word boundaries, unaligned access, iterators, and mutability, and demonstrates its performance advantages through benchmark results. Furthermore, the article discusses the architectural design of this data structure, including abstractions over the physical storage layer and logical type layer, and the use of a builder pattern, offering new ideas for building efficient and flexible data structures.

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(lukefleed.xyz)
Development Bit Packing

Search Engine Adds PDF Indexing: Conquering the Challenges of Text Extraction

2025-05-13

The search engine recently gained the ability to index PDFs, a feat more complex than it seems. PDFs aren't text-based; they're graphical, representing text as glyph coordinates that may be rotated, overlapping, or disordered. This article details improvements to PDFBox's PDFTextStripper class. By statistically analyzing font sizes and line spacing, it more effectively identifies semantic information like headings and paragraphs. This enhances the accuracy and suitability of PDF text extraction, enabling effective indexing of PDF content.

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(www.marginalia.nu)
Development PDF indexing
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