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Mullvad VPN App's 2024 Security Audit Report Released

2024-12-12
Mullvad VPN App's 2024 Security Audit Report Released

Mullvad VPN has released the report for its 2024 third-party security audit of its VPN app. The audit uncovered six vulnerabilities, ranging in severity from low to high, all of which have been addressed. Three high-severity vulnerabilities involved signal handlers and a virtual IP address leak and have been fixed in the latest version. The audit also noted some non-security issues that Mullvad is actively working to resolve. Overall, the Mullvad VPN app is deemed highly secure, but users are still advised to upgrade to the latest version.

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(mullvad.net)
Tech VPN security security audit vulnerability fixes

Sharing a ChatGPT Account: How AI Transformed Our Lives

2025-02-15
Sharing a ChatGPT Account: How AI Transformed Our Lives

The author and his wife share a ChatGPT Pro account and utilize AI in distinct ways. His wife, in education and social work, employs AI for drafting addiction prevention materials, writing yoga studio contracts, and researching health information. The author primarily uses it for coding, software development, market research, and task automation. They discovered AI's applications extend beyond technical tasks, serving as a tool to enhance efficiency, aiding in planning and executing tasks, ultimately freeing up more time for family.

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(startupbaniya.com)
Misc efficiency improvement

TikTok's Return to the App Store Imminent

2025-02-14
TikTok's Return to the App Store Imminent

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that a letter from Trump-era Attorney General Pam Bondi to Apple allows the restoration of TikTok on the App Store. Currently, iPhones with TikTok can continue using it, and a web version exists. However, updates and re-downloads are blocked, and transfer between iPhones (crucially impacting Apple's upcoming low-end launch) is impossible. Apple confirmed TikTok's return for Thursday evening. Previously, Apple and Google were legally obligated to remove TikTok due to ByteDance's failure to divest. Despite a bill passed and signed by President Biden, his administration delayed enforcement, leaving the decision to the Trump administration. Trump, after initially pushing for a ban, later supported TikTok's continued availability, granting ByteDance a 75-day extension to negotiate with US firms and potentially the government.

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(9to5mac.com)
Tech

Plex's 2025 Roadmap: Revamped User Experience and New Features

2025-01-22
Plex's 2025 Roadmap: Revamped User Experience and New Features

Plex kicked off 2025 with a bang, announcing updates focused on enhancing user experience and introducing exciting new features. These include a revamped review and interaction system allowing users to write and comment on reviews, enhanced profile visibility and sharing options on watch.plex.tv for increased community interaction, a preview of a redesigned Apple TV app, and the official release of HEVC hardware encoding for Plex Pass subscribers, boosting video quality while reducing bandwidth consumption. Overall, Plex aims to create a more robust streaming platform and a more vibrant community.

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(www.plex.tv)
Tech

Website Anti-Scraping Mechanism: Anubis Explained

2025-08-12

A website implemented Anubis, an anti-scraping mechanism, to combat aggressive data scraping by AI companies. Anubis resembles Hashcash, increasing computational load to deter scrapers. This approach has minimal impact on individual users but significantly raises the cost for large-scale scraping. Anubis is a temporary solution; the ultimate goal is to better differentiate legitimate users from bots by identifying headless browsers, thus avoiding inconveniencing ordinary users. Note that Anubis requires modern JavaScript features, so please disable plugins like JShelter.

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(wiki.freebsd.org)
Tech

Lebanon's Forgotten Cold War Space Race

2025-04-30
Lebanon's Forgotten Cold War Space Race

During the Cold War, Lebanon, a small nation, defied expectations by launching rockets into low Earth orbit under the leadership of Manoug Manougian and his Lebanese Rocket Society. Operating with minimal resources and ingenuity, they achieved remarkable feats, only to be ultimately thwarted by geopolitical tensions, fears of militarization, and international pressure. Their story highlights the power of vision and determination in overcoming resource constraints and achieving seemingly impossible goals, a testament to human ingenuity in the face of adversity.

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(kasurian.com)
Tech Space Race Lebanon

Revolutionary Material Failure Theory: From Nano to Macro

2025-03-01

A groundbreaking paper presents a new theoretical framework for material failure, encompassing isotropic and anisotropic materials. It bridges the gap between nano-scale analysis, such as graphene, and macro-scale predictions for composite materials, creating a complete model from micro to macro. This theory overcomes limitations of traditional failure criteria, accurately distinguishing ductile from brittle failure and predicting fatigue and creep failure. It offers a revolutionary advancement for materials science and engineering applications.

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(www.failurecriteria.com)
Tech failure theory composite materials

A Tiny CSS Animation Caused 60% CPU and 25% GPU Usage on My M2 MacBook

2025-07-23
A Tiny CSS Animation Caused 60% CPU and 25% GPU Usage on My M2 MacBook

A seemingly insignificant CSS animation was mysteriously consuming 60% CPU and 25% GPU on my M2 MacBook. This post details the debugging process using Chrome DevTools' performance profiling tools to pinpoint the culprit: animating the `height` property. The author explains the browser's rendering pipeline and demonstrates how switching to the cheaper `transform` property (using a clever workaround to avoid visual artifacts) dramatically reduced resource consumption to under 6% CPU and 1% GPU.

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(www.granola.ai)
Development browser rendering

1948: Speed Record, Swim Trunks, and a History-Making Pose

2025-04-08
1948: Speed Record, Swim Trunks, and a History-Making Pose

In 1948, 47-year-old Rollie Free employed an unconventional strategy to break the world motorcycle speed record: wearing only swim trunks, he lay horizontally on his Vincent HRD Black Shadow motorcycle to minimize wind resistance. This daring attempt succeeded on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, resulting in a record-breaking speed of 150.313 mph and an iconic photograph. While the record has since been broken, Free's image and approach remain legendary in motorcycle history.

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(www.life.com)
Misc Motorcycle

Why I Don't Use Domain-Driven Design

2024-12-29

Tony Marston, a seasoned software developer with four decades of experience building enterprise applications, explains why he doesn't use Domain-Driven Design (DDD). He argues that DDD overemphasizes object-oriented design theory at the expense of database design and code reusability in large systems. He prefers a layered architecture with a separate class for each database table, leveraging inheritance and the Template Method pattern for code reuse. Marston believes this approach better suits real-world projects and increases development efficiency.

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(www.tonymarston.net)
Development Domain-Driven Design Code Reusability

Linnaeus's Note-Taking: The Organizational Genius Behind Taxonomic Revolution

2025-03-23
Linnaeus's Note-Taking: The Organizational Genius Behind Taxonomic Revolution

This article explores the contributions of 18th-century naturalist Carl Linnaeus, highlighting not only his creation of binomial nomenclature but also his revolutionary note-taking system. Linnaeus amassed over 13,000 plant specimens, innovatively using an expandable card system instead of bound books for organization, enabling efficient and flexible categorization. He even added blank pages to books for immediate recording of new discoveries, influencing subsequent reading and research methods. Linnaeus's success stems from both his scientific talent and his unique organizational and recording practices, offering valuable lessons for us today.

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(jillianhess.substack.com)
Tech Linnaeus

Russian Basketball Star Arrested for Alleged Involvement in Ransomware Attacks

2025-07-12
Russian Basketball Star Arrested for Alleged Involvement in Ransomware Attacks

Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin was arrested in France on a US request, accused of participating in a ransomware network that targeted over 900 companies, including two federal institutions. Kasatkin denies the accusations, claiming he's not tech-savvy, and his lawyer suggests his computer might have been hacked or pre-infected. Currently in custody, his basketball career is jeopardized.

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(www.lemonde.fr)
Tech russian basketball player

Enhanced Spin-Orbit Torque via Orbital Hall Effect for High-Density SOT-MRAM

2025-03-01
Enhanced Spin-Orbit Torque via Orbital Hall Effect for High-Density SOT-MRAM

Researchers significantly improved Spin-Orbit Torque (SOT) Magnetic Random-Access Memory (MRAM) device performance by leveraging the enhanced orbital Hall effect (OHE) of Ru, Nb, and Cr layers in combination with a perpendicularly magnetized [Co/Ni]3 ferromagnetic layer. Experiments showed a ~30% increase in damping-like torque efficiency with a positive sign for the Ru/Pt OHE layer compared to pure Pt. This resulted in a ~20% reduction in switching current across >250 devices and a >60% reduction in switching power. This work paves the way for next-generation SOT-MRAM devices with enhanced performance for high-density cache memory applications.

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(www.nature.com)
Hardware Orbital Hall Effect Spin-Orbit Torque

Smalltalk MVC: Untangling the Misconceptions of Model-View-Controller

2025-09-07

This article delves into the Smalltalk MVC pattern, clarifying long-standing misconceptions surrounding MVC, particularly the deviations in Apple's Cocoa version. The author emphasizes the independence and reusability of the model in Smalltalk MVC, noting that the model interacts with the view and controller only indirectly through notifications. This contrasts with the Cocoa version of MVC, where controllers (and now view controllers) often become the least reusable components. The article further explains how to correctly identify models, ranging from simple observable booleans to complex models, and how to handle view models and function argument models to build cleaner, more maintainable application architectures.

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(stlab.cc)
Development Design Pattern

Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS and the Paradox of Human Violence

2025-09-17
Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS and the Paradox of Human Violence

Harvard professor Avi Loeb discusses the anomalous observations of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS and contrasts them with the reality of human political violence. 3I/ATLAS exhibits unusual features like a retrograde trajectory, an unusually large nucleus, an anomalous tail, and unique polarization properties, sparking discussion of extraterrestrial civilizations. The article juxtaposes the study of 3I/ATLAS with recent attacks on US political figures, highlighting the stark contrast between humanity's violence and the vast scale of cosmic exploration. It calls for humans to set aside differences and collaboratively explore the universe, seeking a path to coexistence.

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(avi-loeb.medium.com)
Tech extraterrestrial civilization

Can AI Replace Research Scientists? UF Study Says No (Mostly)

2025-03-29
Can AI Replace Research Scientists? UF Study Says No (Mostly)

A University of Florida study tested generative AI's ability to conduct academic research. While AI excelled in ideation and research design, it struggled significantly with literature review, results analysis, and manuscript production, requiring substantial human oversight. Researchers advocate for high skepticism towards AI outputs, viewing them as requiring human verification and refinement. Published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the study prompts reflection on AI's role in research—more assistant than replacement.

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(news.warrington.ufl.edu)
AI

Trump's Tariffs: A Protectionist Repeat of History

2025-04-03
Trump's Tariffs: A Protectionist Repeat of History

Trump's latest round of tariffs has sparked reflection on the history of US protectionism. The article uses the US shipbuilding industry as a cautionary tale, showing how protectionist policies stifle innovation and lead to industry decline. From the Tariff Act of 1789 to today, the US repeats the same mistakes; high tariffs haven't protected domestic industries but increased consumer costs and harmed US competitiveness. Experts warn this will particularly hurt the clean energy sector, reliant on imported components. Ultimately, protectionism hinders innovation and backfires.

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(grist.org)
Tech protectionism

Arundhati Roy's Mother: A Memoir of Rebellion and Reconciliation

2025-09-04
Arundhati Roy's Mother: A Memoir of Rebellion and Reconciliation

Arundhati Roy, after winning the Booker Prize for her debut novel *The God of Small Things*, shifted to political writing, becoming a controversial public intellectual in India. Her new memoir, *Mother Mary Comes to Me*, focuses on her complex relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, a prominent educator and social activist. Mary's influence on Arundhati was profound and contradictory, serving as both a role model and an object of rebellion. Roy portrays her mother's strictness, contradictions, and love with a delicate touch, exploring how she navigated her mother's shadow to find self-identity and ultimately achieve reconciliation. This memoir is not only a personal growth story but also reflects the complex political and cultural context of Indian society.

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(www.vulture.com)
Misc Arundhati Roy Mother-Daughter Relationship

Improved p-fast Trie: A Highly Efficient Prefix Matching Algorithm

2025-08-10

This article presents an improved p-fast trie data structure, a highly efficient algorithm for finding the longest matching prefix or nearest predecessor/successor of a query string in a set of strings. Compared to previous versions, this improved version is more concise and space-efficient. It uses a hash table to store each unique prefix and a bitmap to represent the possible next characters for each prefix, achieving O(log k) time complexity (where k is the key length). While predecessor searches might require more probes, its performance still surpasses traditional qp-tries.

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(dotat.at)
Development prefix matching

Building Games: 3 Months vs. 3 Days with LLMs

2025-08-25

A software engineer with 15 years of experience built two web-based card games based on Argentinian card games in his spare time: one in 3 months, the other in 3 days. The first, Truco, was built entirely by hand using Go for the backend and React for the frontend. The second, Escoba, leveraged the power of LLMs (Claude) to drastically reduce development time for the backend. The author details the process using Go, WASM, and React, providing a minimal Tic-Tac-Toe game as a starting point to encourage others to try game development.

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(marianogappa.github.io)
Game

Guid Smash: A Long Shot at a Collision

2025-08-17

Guid Smash is a website running an experiment to generate a GUID matching a specific target: 6e197264-d14b-44df-af98-39aac5681791. Despite the astronomically low probability of a collision (approximately 1 in 2^122), the site generates and compares GUIDs at a rate of 467,074 per second, aiming to demonstrate this improbability. As of now, billions of GUIDs have been checked without a match, vividly illustrating the uniqueness of GUIDs and the nature of probability in action.

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(www.guidsmash.com)
Misc

The Essence of Computing Science: Elegance over Complexity

2024-12-24

This essay by Edsger W. Dijkstra explores the nature of computing science. Dijkstra argues that computing science should be a highly formalized branch of mathematics, emphasizing methodology over factual knowledge, thus bridging the gap between theory and practice. He criticizes the current academic world's pursuit of complexity and the resulting neglect of simple and effective solutions, and calls on computer scientists to pursue elegant solutions and find joy in the process.

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(www.cs.utexas.edu)
Development computer science algorithms methodology

US Government Mandates Code Sharing to Save Billions

2024-12-27

President Biden signed the SHARE IT Act into law, requiring US federal agencies to share custom-developed source code to reduce redundant software development costs. The act aims to save approximately $12 billion annually by publicly listing and sharing custom code, preventing agencies from unknowingly paying for duplicate work. The law excludes classified code, national security systems, and code posing privacy risks if shared. The initiative has garnered support from software companies like Atlassian and GitLab, who believe code sharing promotes efficiency and innovation.

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(fedscoop.com)
Tech code sharing government software cost savings

US Net Neutrality Rules Struck Down Again

2025-01-05
US Net Neutrality Rules Struck Down Again

A US appeals court has dealt another blow to net neutrality, overturning the FCC's latest attempt to reinstate the rules. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals cited the Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, arguing the FCC lacked the authority to reclassify internet service providers as common carriers. This decision, based on a Supreme Court ruling limiting agencies' power to interpret laws, effectively kills the FCC's April order. The long-running battle over net neutrality continues, with FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel calling for Congressional action to codify open internet principles into federal law.

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(www.theregister.com)
Tech court ruling

2025 AI, Robotics, and Space Exploration Predictions: Hype vs. Reality

2025-01-10

MIT AI Lab founder Rodney Brooks' 2025 New Year's prediction review summarizes his 2018 predictions on self-driving cars, robotics, AI, and space exploration. He notes that AI hype significantly distorts the understanding of reality, with many predictions of AI replacing human jobs unfulfilled. Self-driving technology progresses slowly, failing to deliver on the promise of fully autonomous vehicles. Robotics faces similar challenges, with humanoid robots far from practical application. In space exploration, while commercial spaceflight shows progress, it's far from reaching expectations. Brooks emphasizes the importance of rationally assessing technological advancements and avoiding hype, as true technological breakthroughs require time and sustained effort.

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(rodneybrooks.com)
AI

Ultralytics Suffers Supply Chain Attack: A PyPI Security Incident Analysis

2024-12-14
Ultralytics Suffers Supply Chain Attack: A PyPI Security Incident Analysis

The Python project Ultralytics recently suffered a supply chain attack. Attackers compromised the project's GitHub Actions workflows and stole a PyPI API token, resulting in tainted versions 8.3.41, 8.3.42, 8.3.45, and 8.3.46. The attack didn't exploit a PyPI vulnerability but targeted the GitHub Actions cache. PyPI, leveraging Trusted Publishing and Sigstore transparency logs, quickly identified and removed the malicious software. The incident highlighted shortcomings in API token and GitHub environment configurations. The article stresses securing software forges and build/publish workflows, providing developers with security recommendations: using Trusted Publishers, locking dependencies, avoiding insecure patterns, and enabling multi-factor authentication.

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(blog.pypi.org)
Development supply chain attack PyPI security software security

Czech Beavers Outperform 7-Year Government Plan, Saving $1.2 Million

2025-02-04
Czech Beavers Outperform 7-Year Government Plan, Saving $1.2 Million

In the Czech Republic, beavers built a dam in just two days, a project that had taken local authorities seven years to plan. This industrious rodent workforce saved the administration a cool $1.2 million. A water restoration project in Brdy nature park, initiated in 2018, finally secured all necessary permits and was poised to begin construction. However, beavers inhabiting the park since 2020 beat the government to the punch, constructing dams in the same locations. The head of the nature reserve administration stated, "The beavers saved us 30 million Czech crowns. They built the dams without any project documentation and for free." This unexpected feat highlights the remarkable engineering capabilities of beavers and provides a cost-effective, environmentally friendly solution.

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(www.voxnews.al)
Misc beavers dam environmental engineering

Utah Bill Demands Transparency for AI-Generated Police Reports

2025-02-22
Utah Bill Demands Transparency for AI-Generated Police Reports

A Utah Senate bill (S.B. 180) would mandate disclosure when police reports are generated by AI. The bill requires police departments to establish AI usage policies, including disclaimers on AI-generated content and officer certification of accuracy. This follows the rapid spread of Axon's Draft One, which uses bodycam audio to create reports. Critics warn of AI's potential to misinterpret language, provide plausible deniability for officers, and compromise justice. King County, Washington prosecutors have already instructed officers to avoid using the technology. While a step towards regulation, stronger oversight is needed to address the concerns surrounding AI in law enforcement.

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(www.eff.org)
Tech AI in law enforcement police reports

Record-Low-Loss Hollow-Core Fiber Achieves 45% Faster Data Transmission

2025-09-06
Record-Low-Loss Hollow-Core Fiber Achieves 45% Faster Data Transmission

Researchers from the University of Southampton and Microsoft have developed a novel hollow-core fiber (HCF) with a record-low attenuation of 0.091 dB/km at 1550 nm, significantly outperforming traditional silica fibers. This breakthrough, achieved through advanced modeling to minimize loss mechanisms, enables 45% faster transmission speeds and opens the door for longer, unamplified spans in optical communication networks.

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(phys.org)
Tech hollow-core fiber
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