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Spinning Globe on a Commodore PET: A Retro 8-bit Dev Story

2025-01-11
Spinning Globe on a Commodore PET: A Retro 8-bit Dev Story

This post details the creation of a spinning globe animation demo on a Commodore PET, written in 6502 assembly. The author cleverly uses PETSCII characters and bit vector techniques to cram a 32x32 pixel world map into 4.8KB of memory, achieving surprisingly smooth animation. The article dives into the data structure design, projection algorithm, and optimization strategies, showcasing impressive programming skills and a passion for retro game development.

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(www.masswerk.at)
Game 6502 assembly

Anthropic Launches Claude for Education, Taking on ChatGPT

2025-04-03
Anthropic Launches Claude for Education, Taking on ChatGPT

Anthropic launched Claude for Education, a new AI chatbot service aimed at higher education, directly competing with OpenAI's ChatGPT Edu. This tier offers students and faculty access to Claude, featuring a new 'Learning Mode' to foster critical thinking. It includes enterprise-grade security and already boasts agreements with universities like Northeastern and the London School of Economics. Anthropic aims to boost revenue and increase user adoption among students through this offering.

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(techcrunch.com)
AI AI education

Playing the NES with a Family BASIC Keyboard: A Retro Hardware Hack

2025-01-17

Linus Akesson connected a Family BASIC keyboard to an NES using a custom adapter to play its unique triangle waveform live. He details the adapter's creation, covering the Family BASIC keyboard's matrix layout, the NES controller port's signal characteristics, and the use of an ATtiny85 microcontroller for multiplexing and serializing the signals. The result? A successful performance of a tune called "Platform Hopping," showcasing impressive retro hardware hacking skills.

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(www.linusakesson.net)
Hardware

phptop: Lightweight PHP Performance Monitoring Tool

2025-06-05
phptop: Lightweight PHP Performance Monitoring Tool

phptop is a lightweight PHP performance monitoring tool that tracks per-query execution time (wallclock, user, and system CPU time) along with memory and other resource usage. It's easily activated globally on a LAMP server with a single line configuration change in your php.ini. It's low-resource and has been used by Bearstech in production for years without issue. Requires PHP >= 5.2.0, tested up to PHP 8.2.

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(github.com)
Development

Minimal Ray Tracer in J: A Surprisingly Enjoyable Experience

2025-05-30

This post details the author's experience building a minimal ray tracer in J, a terse array-based programming language. The author explores key J concepts like tacit verbs, array programming, and verb composition, demonstrating their application in implementing core ray tracing elements such as vector math, lighting calculations, and pixel rendering. The resulting ray tracer is concise and surprisingly performant, leading the author to praise J's interactive development experience and speed compared to other languages like Common Lisp.

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(idle.nprescott.com)
Development J programming language

UK Government's Secret Backdoor Demand to Apple Exposed, Raising Privacy Concerns

2025-04-21
UK Government's Secret Backdoor Demand to Apple Exposed, Raising Privacy Concerns

The UK government's attempt to secretly demand a backdoor into Apple's end-to-end encryption was thwarted when the Home Office failed to keep it secret on national security grounds. This highlights the dangers of government abuse of security mechanisms and the inappropriateness of secret courts in a democracy. The article draws parallels between the UK government's actions and the Trump administration's misuse of security clearances, arguing both demonstrate abuse of power and security mechanisms, threatening individual liberties and freedom of speech. The author calls for stronger legal oversight of state abuse of security mechanisms to address new security challenges in the digital age.

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(www.theregister.com)
Tech

Faster Addition and Subtraction on Modern CPUs: Outsmarting Carry Propagation

2025-05-30

This article explores techniques to accelerate large integer addition and subtraction on modern CPUs. Traditional methods, similar to manual long addition, process digits from least to most significant, handling carries serially. This limits parallelism. The article proposes a clever approach: altering the number system to delay carry propagation, performing it all at once to exploit CPU parallelism, significantly boosting speed. The core idea involves splitting large integers into smaller parts, utilizing x86's `add` and `adc` instructions, and employing radix-251 representation to minimize carry operations, resulting in faster addition and subtraction than traditional methods.

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(www.chosenplaintext.ca)
Development CPU optimization large integer arithmetic carry propagation

Building an IPv6-Only Network with Jool: A Practical Guide

2025-01-06

This post details setting up an IPv6-only network on Linux using the Jool tool. The author starts by highlighting the limitations of traditional dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 home networks. Jool is introduced as a superior alternative to TAYGA, emphasizing its support for Stateful NAT64. The guide provides installation instructions for various Linux distributions, followed by a comprehensive walkthrough of configuring Stateful NAT64, DNS64, and IPv4-to-IPv6 port mapping to achieve IPv4 access within an IPv6-only environment. Persistence of the configuration across reboots is also covered.

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(taoshu.in)
Development

A Marriage Proposal in Corporate Jargon: Hilariously Inefficient

2025-01-15
A Marriage Proposal in Corporate Jargon: Hilariously Inefficient

This humorous piece details a marriage proposal conducted entirely in corporate jargon. Gary uses terms like 'optimization,' 'hockey-stick growth,' and 'value-add' to express his love, while Cindy responds with 'ROI,' 'core values,' and other business terms, showcasing the humor and unique romance of modern professionals. Their engagement unfolds amidst discussions of 'data-driven insights' and 'single source of truth,' satirizing the prevalence of corporate jargon and efficiency-obsessed culture. The piece ultimately celebrates the adaptability of love in unexpected contexts.

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(www.mcsweeneys.net)
Misc marriage proposal

From Leather to PCs: The Rise and Fall of Radio Shack

2025-06-23
From Leather to PCs: The Rise and Fall of Radio Shack

In 1919, a small leather company was founded, eventually evolving under Charles Tandy's leadership into a retail empire. In 1963, a struggling Radio Shack was acquired, and transformed into a powerhouse of consumer electronics, driven by the incredibly popular TRS-80 personal computer. This story recounts the dramatic journey of Radio Shack, from humble beginnings to market dominance, and ultimately, the surprising success of a seemingly unlikely venture into the burgeoning personal computer market, showcasing bold leadership, market savvy, and a bit of luck.

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(www.abortretry.fail)
Startup business history

Mysterious MAC Addresses: A Hidden Signal in Bluetooth Devices

2025-04-24
Mysterious MAC Addresses: A Hidden Signal in Bluetooth Devices

This article unveils a shocking discovery: Analysis of a large number of Bluetooth device MAC addresses reveals anomalously low entropy and structured patterns, completely unlike randomly generated MAC addresses. These structured patterns include fixed bits, a rotating page counter, and a precise 2000ms broadcast interval. Even more perplexing, these patterns align with the frequency of a microfluidic pump, pulsating at a 2000ms cycle, found in blood samples. This suggests a hidden, synthetic emission architecture may be covertly communicating through consumer Bluetooth devices, the purpose and origin of which remain unknown.

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(substack.com)
Tech MAC address

Git's Tiny Patch, Huge Potential: Optimizing `bundle-uri` for Faster Clones

2025-03-16
Git's Tiny Patch, Huge Potential: Optimizing `bundle-uri` for Faster Clones

This post details an author's journey optimizing Git clone speed using the `bundle-uri` feature. While using a local file as a starting point significantly sped up cloning, using a CDN proved unexpectedly slow. The root cause? Git only copies `refs/heads` references, ignoring others. A tiny patch was submitted to fix this, resulting in faster clones downloading only incremental data. Future Git servers may automatically utilize `bundle-uri`, reducing server load and boosting clone efficiency.

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(blog.gitbutler.com)
Development

Tracking New Books with Perplexity AI: An LLM Hack

2025-04-20
Tracking New Books with Perplexity AI: An LLM Hack

The author experimented with Perplexity AI's API to track new books by their favorite authors. While Perplexity AI, being based on web searches, produces inconsistent results and hallucinations, through clever prompt engineering and coding, the author built a system to list new books relatively efficiently. Despite repetition and inconsistencies, this is a fun example of using an LLM to solve a real-world problem, showcasing both the potential and limitations of LLMs.

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(lars.ingebrigtsen.no)
Development LLM application API calls

Netflix Improves Subtitles: A Fix for Muddled Dialogue?

2025-04-26
Netflix Improves Subtitles: A Fix for Muddled Dialogue?

Netflix has introduced a new subtitle feature addressing the increasingly common problem of unclear dialogue in streaming content. This isn't a single issue, but a confluence of factors: a more naturalistic acting style leading to softer speech, aggressive audio compression by streaming services, and the vast range of home audio hardware making mastering difficult. While not a perfect solution, the new subtitles improve the viewing experience for millions who rely on them.

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(arstechnica.com)
Tech Subtitles

2025 AI Predictions: Cautious Optimism and Technological Bottlenecks

2025-01-02
2025 AI Predictions: Cautious Optimism and Technological Bottlenecks

AI expert Gary Marcus released 25 predictions for AI in 2025. He reviewed his 2024 predictions, noting most were accurate, such as the diminishing returns of large language models (LLMs), and persistent problems like AI hallucinations and reasoning flaws. Marcus is cautiously optimistic for 2025, predicting no artificial general intelligence, continued limited profits from AI models, lagging regulation, and persistent reliability issues. He suggests that neurosymbolic AI will become more prominent, but also warns of cybersecurity risks stemming from AI.

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(garymarcus.substack.com)
AI AI predictions technological bottlenecks

The Paradox of Effort in AI Development

2025-04-11
The Paradox of Effort in AI Development

Using the childhood analogy of damming a creek, the author explores the tension between striving for maximum effort and making wise choices in AI development. Initially, like a child, the author tried building dams with small rocks and leaves, only to discover a more efficient method with a shovel. This realization highlights how 'victory' can sometimes mean a shrinking of the game's space. Similarly, in AI, the author relentlessly pursued an investment banking job, only to find, upon success, that the game of 'making as much money as possible' was no longer available. He argues that against overwhelming forces (nature, the market), full effort can be counterproductive. Anthropic's recent report on educational applications, however, suggests a growing awareness of potential risks, akin to noticing the struggling clams on a beach.

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(www.lesswrong.com)
AI

From Vacuum Tubes to Chiplets: A History of Semiconductor Scaling and its Challenges

2025-05-22
From Vacuum Tubes to Chiplets: A History of Semiconductor Scaling and its Challenges

This article traces the history of semiconductor scaling, from bulky vacuum tubes to integrated circuits and massive modern SoCs. Starting with the invention of the transistor at Bell Labs, it details breakthroughs in silicon materials, planar processes, MOSFETs, and the exponential growth in chip integration driven by Moore's Law. However, the article highlights the challenges SoCs face in manufacturing, cost, and yield, setting the stage for a future discussion on how chiplets can overcome these limitations.

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(www.chipstrat.com)
Tech

Caching Strategies for High-Performance, Low-Cost Websites

2025-05-16
Caching Strategies for High-Performance, Low-Cost Websites

This article details the caching techniques used on the author's websites, jasonthorsness.com and hn.unlurker.com. Different approaches are presented for various website types: mostly-static sites utilize content hashing, CDNs, and client-side caching; data-driven dynamic sites combine short-term cache-control headers, backend memory caching, single-instancing, and disk caching; and for authenticated sites, the author suggests prioritizing non-per-user components and leveraging collaborative caching between the browser and server. Through clever caching strategies, the author achieves high performance at a minimal cost, maintaining stability even under heavy traffic.

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(www.jasonthorsness.com)
Development

Pre-Columbian Venetian Beads Found in Arctic Alaska: Rewriting History?

2025-05-24
Pre-Columbian Venetian Beads Found in Arctic Alaska: Rewriting History?

Archaeologists have unearthed Venetian glass beads dating from 1397-1488 AD in pre-Columbian archaeological sites in Arctic Alaska. These beads, thousands of kilometers from their origin, predate Columbus's arrival in the Americas and provide compelling evidence of extensive trans-Eurasian trade networks reaching the Arctic before European maritime expansion. The discovery necessitates a reassessment of global trade and Indigenous connectivity, showcasing a far more interconnected world than previously imagined and challenging long-held assumptions about hemispheric isolation.

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(peterfrankopan.substack.com)
Tech Transcontinental Trade

Beyond the Romantic Narrative: A Reassessment of Vietnamese Anti-Colonialism

2025-04-14
Beyond the Romantic Narrative: A Reassessment of Vietnamese Anti-Colonialism

The heroic narrative of Vietnamese anti-colonial struggle, depicting a unified nation resisting foreign invaders, is widely celebrated. However, new scholarship reveals a more complex history. The first half of the 20th century saw competing nationalist ideologies vying for influence, offering diverse interpretations of Vietnamese national identity and anti-colonial strategies. The article explores the ideas of key figures like Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chau Trinh, Nguyen An Ninh, Pham Quynh, and Ho Chi Minh, highlighting their use of national shame to motivate compatriots towards anti-colonial nation-building and their differing interpretations of concepts like 'freedom' and 'democracy'. This challenges the simplistic, romanticized narrative, showcasing the complexity and diversity of Vietnamese anti-colonialism.

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(aeon.co)
Misc Vietnamese history anti-colonialism

Handling Difficult Employees: 5 Archetypes and How to Manage Them

2025-03-03
Handling Difficult Employees: 5 Archetypes and How to Manage Them

Canopy founder Claire shares her insights on managing challenging employees, outlining five common archetypes: the resistant veteran, the passive resister, the brilliant but abrasive tech genius, the excuse-maker, and the emotionally volatile employee. The article details the characteristics of each type and offers specific strategies for effective management, emphasizing a focus on team well-being and data-driven decisions rather than emotional reactions. The ultimate goal is a healthy, high-performing team culture, sometimes requiring the difficult decision to part ways.

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(newsletter.canopy.is)
Startup employee types

Quartz: The Rise and Fall of a Digital Media Darling

2025-04-07
Quartz: The Rise and Fall of a Digital Media Darling

Quartz, once lauded as a 'pirate ship attacking the Royal Navy' in the digital media landscape, met its demise after a decade-long journey. From its 2012 launch to its 2018 acquisition by a Japanese firm and subsequent 2022 takeover by G/O Media, which ultimately dismantled it, Quartz experienced both triumph and tragedy. The founder recounts the tumultuous ride, from ambitious beginnings to the heartbreaking sale, highlighting the brutal realities of digital media competition and the challenges of sustainable business models. Ultimately, Quartz's core value lay in its people and culture, while the intervention of private equity ultimately destroyed this once promising brand.

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(www.zachseward.com)
Startup digital media media acquisition

TLA+: Modeling Beyond the Code Level

2025-06-03

TLA+ is a language for modeling software above the code level and hardware above the circuit level. It features an IDE and tools for model checking, most notably the TLC model checker. Based on mathematics, it differs significantly from programming languages. PlusCal, a simpler algorithm language, translates to TLA+ for verification. TLA+ models system behavior as sequences of states, emphasizing the importance of high-level modeling to prevent design flaws and enhance system simplicity. One industrial project demonstrated a tenfold reduction in real-time operating system code size using TLA+, highlighting its power in improving design before coding.

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(lamport.azurewebsites.net)
Development concurrent systems

Pledge: A Lightweight Reactive Programming Framework for Swift

2025-04-10
Pledge: A Lightweight Reactive Programming Framework for Swift

Pledge is a lightweight, thread-safe reactive programming framework for Swift that simplifies state management and event propagation. Unlike other frameworks with steep learning curves, Pledge focuses on solving everyday problems faced by developers. It offers thread-safe implementation, priority-based notifications, customizable queues, batch updates, rate limiting, and common functional operators. Using `PLObservable` and `PLGlobalStore`, developers can easily implement the observer pattern and global state management, improving code efficiency and maintainability.

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(github.com)
Development Reactive Programming State Management

Micro-LEDs Achieve Gigabit-per-Second Quantum Random Number Generation

2025-09-20
Micro-LEDs Achieve Gigabit-per-Second Quantum Random Number Generation

Researchers from Saudi Arabia and the US have demonstrated a micro-LED-based quantum random number generator (QRNG) achieving an unprecedented 9.375 Gbit/s generation rate. Leveraging intensity fluctuations in the spontaneous emission of blue GaN micro-LEDs, the system passed rigorous NIST tests. Its compact, reliable, and energy-efficient design makes it promising for applications requiring high-speed random number generation, such as data encryption and complex simulations. Future work involves integrating a 2D array of micro-LEDs for parallel generation and creating a fully integrated QRNG chip.

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(discovery.kaust.edu.sa)
Tech Quantum Random Number Generator Micro-LED High-Speed Computing

Static Electricity: The Secret to Planet Formation?

2025-04-08
Static Electricity: The Secret to Planet Formation?

A new study published in Nature Astronomy suggests that static electricity plays a crucial role in planet formation. Researchers conducted experiments aboard a suborbital rocket, discovering that tiny dust particles in protoplanetary disks use static charges to clump together, forming larger 'pebbles' that eventually grow into planets through gravitational attraction. This research solves the long-standing 'bouncing barrier' problem—the size threshold dust particles must reach to bind gravitationally. The experiments showed that only charged dust particles can overcome this barrier, ultimately leading to planet formation.

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(nautil.us)
Tech

Wings Over Dallas Disaster: A Case Study in Air Show Safety Failures

2025-03-02
Wings Over Dallas Disaster: A Case Study in Air Show Safety Failures

The 2022 Wings Over Dallas air show collision, resulting in six deaths, exposed critical safety failures. Air boss Russell Royce's reliance on visual separation, neglecting established procedural separation techniques, was a key factor. The investigation revealed a deeper problem within the Commemorative Air Force (CAF): a culture accepting risky practices, stemming from reliance on experienced pilots and a lack of formal protocols. The accident spurred reforms by the CAF and the FAA, highlighting the need for a stronger safety culture within the warbird community and improved air show oversight.

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(admiralcloudberg.medium.com)
Tech air show safety aviation accident NTSB investigation

Canadian Parliament E-petitions: Disclaimers and Government Responses

2025-02-20

The House of Commons and its Members have no obligation to authorize the publication or presentation of e-petitions or paper petitions. Publishing or presenting a petition does not constitute endorsement of the views or information contained within by the House of Commons or any Member of Parliament; nor do they assume any liability for the content. Petitions are not protected by parliamentary privilege until presented to the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament. Government responses to e-petitions and paper petitions are received electronically and posted as-is after being tabled in the House of Commons, though delays may occur with high volumes. The House of Commons is not responsible for the content and format of government responses but will assist those requiring accessible formats in contacting the Privy Council Office.

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(www.ourcommons.ca)
Misc Canadian Parliament E-petitions Government Responses

The College Tuition Myth: It's Cheaper Than You Think

2025-02-23
The College Tuition Myth: It's Cheaper Than You Think

Despite widespread belief that college tuition is skyrocketing, data reveals a different story. Since 2014, public four-year college tuition has actually fallen by 21% in real terms, while private college tuition is down 12% after adjusting for inflation. This is due to a peculiar pricing strategy: universities set a high sticker price, then offer substantial financial aid to low-income students, effectively subsidizing their education. This creates a huge gap between the published cost and the net price, with the public fixating on the inflated sticker price. While sticker prices continue to rise, net prices are falling, thanks to increased federal Pell Grants, rebounding state appropriations, and colleges offering more aid. With the number of 18-year-olds peaking this year before a long decline, competition for students will intensify, likely pushing net tuition further down. However, public perception remains skewed, leading many to miss out on higher education and eroding confidence in the system.

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(www.theatlantic.com)
Misc higher education tuition financial aid
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