LLMs and AI: Scraping the Web Dry

2025-03-20
LLMs and AI: Scraping the Web Dry

LLM and AI companies are aggressively scraping data from the web, targeting everything from large websites to small project forges like the GNOME GitLab server. This unchecked scraping is overwhelming servers and creating significant financial burdens and security risks for website owners. The author urges website owners to set billing limits to avoid unexpected costs and condemns the irresponsible actions of these companies. The question is raised: how long until personal websites and services like Mastodon become targets?

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Tech AI abuse

Tornado Cash De-listed: Sanctions Rollercoaster Ends (For Now)

2025-03-21
Tornado Cash De-listed: Sanctions Rollercoaster Ends (For Now)

The US Treasury Department removed Tornado Cash, a crypto mixing service accused of aiding North Korea's Lazarus Group in laundering stolen funds, from its sanctions blacklist. A federal appeals court ruled that OFAC couldn't sanction Tornado Cash's smart contracts, as they weren't considered 'property' of any foreign national. While the Treasury expressed continued concern over North Korean cybercrime, the de-listing sent the TORN token soaring. However, the Treasury hinted at potential future actions, suggesting the complete removal of sanctions might have 'disruptive consequences'. Co-founder Roman Storm still faces criminal trial.

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Tech

Beyond Reality: From Jordan Algebras to the Leech Lattice in an Exotic Spacetime

2025-03-17
Beyond Reality: From Jordan Algebras to the Leech Lattice in an Exotic Spacetime

This article explores the deep connections between Jordan algebras, octonions, and the Leech lattice. Starting with Pascual Jordan's work in the 1930s on the algebraic properties of Hermitian matrices, it introduces formally real Jordan algebras and their classification, including a special 27-dimensional exceptional Jordan algebra. Building on this, the article explains how projective spaces are constructed from Jordan algebras, focusing on the octonionic projective plane generated by the exceptional Jordan algebra. Finally, it delves into an exotic spacetime constructed from octonionic Hermitian matrices and a unique integral unimodular lattice within it—the Leech lattice. A surprising finding is that this lattice exhibits two distinct orbits under the action of the E6 group, unlike typical understanding.

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Meta Wins Arbitration Case, Halts Publication of Tell-All Memoir

2025-03-13
Meta Wins Arbitration Case, Halts Publication of Tell-All Memoir

Meta has won an arbitration case against Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former policy executive, preventing the sale and promotion of her tell-all memoir, "Careless People." The book details Zuckerberg's attempt to bring Facebook to China and alleges misconduct by Meta's current policy chief. The arbitrator ruled Wynn-Williams violated a non-disparagement agreement. Meta calls the book "old news" and has received support from multiple former employees.

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Neuro-First AI Startup Seeks Engineers to Build Groundbreaking Brain-Computer Interfaces

2025-03-17
Neuro-First AI Startup Seeks Engineers to Build Groundbreaking Brain-Computer Interfaces

Piramidal is hiring Research Engineers to build AI systems focused on neural data, enabling previously impossible tasks. Ideal candidates possess strong engineering skills, including designing, implementing, and enhancing massive-scale distributed machine learning systems, and a foundational understanding of neuroscience. The company offers competitive compensation and equity, driven by a mission to empower human potential through technology, championing cognitive liberty and opposing the commodification of minds.

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AI

Goethe's Sorcerer's Apprentice: Power Over Wisdom

2025-01-30
Goethe's Sorcerer's Apprentice: Power Over Wisdom

Goethe's poem, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," a tale made famous by Disney's Fantasia, illustrates the perils of power unchecked by wisdom. The apprentice, using magic beyond his understanding, creates a chaotic situation highlighting the risks of uncontrolled human creations. The article explores the 'sorcerer's apprentice syndrome' found in numerous stories where humanity's inventions—like robots—turn against their creators, underscoring the timeless warning against prioritizing power over knowledge.

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Exploiting a Flaw in LCP DRM: A Simple Bypass in the Thorium Reader

2025-03-17
Exploiting a Flaw in LCP DRM: A Simple Bypass in the Thorium Reader

A blogger discovered a way to bypass LCP DRM, an ebook digital rights management scheme. The method leverages the Thorium reader's debugging functionality to easily extract unencrypted ebook content, including text, images, and metadata, without cracking encryption. This prompted a discussion with the Readium consortium (LCP DRM developers), who acknowledged a security vulnerability and stated they would improve security measures. The blogger argues this highlights deficiencies in LCP DRM, and both readers and publishers should be aware of the issue.

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Tech

Orra: Revolutionizing Multi-Agent Application Development

2025-02-27
Orra: Revolutionizing Multi-Agent Application Development

Orra is a revolutionary platform for building production-ready multi-agent applications that handle complex real-world interactions. Going beyond simple crews and agents, Orra coordinates tasks across your existing stack, agents, and any tools running as services using intelligent reasoning—across any language, agent framework, or deployment platform. Features include smart pre-evaluated execution plans, domain grounding, durable execution, tools-as-services, state reversion for failure handling, automatic service health monitoring, real-time status tracking, and webhook result delivery. It supports multiple language SDKs (with Ruby, DotNet, and Go coming soon) and offers Docker and Docker Compose for running the control plane server. Users can select between Groq's deepseek-r1-distill-llama-70b model or OpenAI's o1-mini/o3-mini models. Orra's Plan Engine powers multi-agent applications through intelligent planning and reliable execution, featuring progressive planning levels, full semantic validation, capability matching and verification, safety constraint enforcement, and state transition validation.

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arXivLabs: Community Collaboration on New arXiv Features

2025-03-20
arXivLabs: Community Collaboration on New arXiv Features

arXivLabs is an open platform enabling developers to collaborate with the arXiv community to build and share new features directly on the website. Participants must adhere to arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. Have an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs!

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Development

arXivLabs: Community Collaboration on arXiv Features

2025-03-16
arXivLabs: Community Collaboration on arXiv Features

arXivLabs is a framework for collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the arXiv website. Individuals and organizations working with arXivLabs share and uphold arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who adhere to them. Got an idea for a project that will benefit the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

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Development

Europe's Tech Industry Calls for 'Radical Action' to Build a 'Euro Stack'

2025-03-17
Europe's Tech Industry Calls for 'Radical Action' to Build a 'Euro Stack'

Amidst rising geopolitical tensions, over 80 European tech organizations penned a letter to the EU, urging "radical action" to lessen reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure and services. They advocate for a "Euro Stack," prioritizing homegrown alternatives with strong commercial potential, ranging from apps and AI models to chips and connectivity. The letter stresses reducing dependence on US tech giants, proposing "Buy European" public procurement mandates and subsidies for local providers to boost demand and foster European tech growth and innovation. This follows concerns over US executive orders potentially disrupting services and highlights the need for digital sovereignty.

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ByteCraft: Generating Games and Animations with AI

2025-03-19
ByteCraft: Generating Games and Animations with AI

ByteCraft is a groundbreaking AI model capable of generating executable game and animation files from text descriptions. Trained by fine-tuning a 7B parameter LLM, ByteCraft produces files containing diverse elements like characters, sounds, and animations. While many generated files are imperfect, this research represents a significant leap in AI code generation, demonstrating the potential for AI to understand and generate byte-level data. Future improvements, fueled by increased computational power, promise more complete and complex programs, potentially revolutionizing game and animation creation.

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Game

Level Up Your Coding: The Infinite Canvas Advantage

2025-03-15

A game developer shares how using a graphics tablet and Milton software revolutionized his note-taking process. Milton's infinite canvas and zoom capabilities allow for clear visualization of complex algorithms. Even when days pass with minimal code written, reviewing notes reveals the thought process and planning, maintaining momentum. The author advocates for graphics tablets, suggesting even entry-level models significantly boost efficiency.

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Deep-Sea 'Dark Oxygen' Discovery Sparks Scientific Debate

2025-03-20
Deep-Sea 'Dark Oxygen' Discovery Sparks Scientific Debate

A study suggesting that polymetallic nodules on the deep ocean floor may produce 'dark oxygen' through electrolysis has ignited a fierce scientific debate. This challenges the established view that photosynthesis was the primary source of early Earth's oxygen. The discovery has implications for theories on the origin of life and the burgeoning deep-sea mining industry. However, many scientists are skeptical, citing potential methodological flaws and suggesting alternative explanations for the observed oxygen. Further research is needed to validate or refute this controversial finding.

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Google DeepMind Unveils Gemini Robotics: AI for Dexterous Robot Control

2025-03-12
Google DeepMind Unveils Gemini Robotics: AI for Dexterous Robot Control

Google DeepMind announced Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, two new AI models designed to control robots with unprecedented dexterity and precision. Built upon the Gemini 2.0 large language model, these models incorporate vision-language-action (VLA) capabilities and enhanced spatial reasoning. Gemini Robotics allows robots to understand and execute complex commands like "pick up the banana and put it in the basket," while Gemini Robotics-ER focuses on seamless integration with existing robotic control systems. This represents a significant leap forward in robotics, particularly in handling intricate physical manipulations and demonstrating strong generalization capabilities. Google is partnering with Apptronik to build the next generation of humanoid robots using Gemini 2.0, showcasing the potential for widespread adoption. However, Google also emphasizes safety, releasing the "ASIMOV" dataset to help researchers evaluate the safety implications of robotic actions.

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AI

Open-Source OLMo-2 Outperforms GPT-3.5? Mac-Friendly Setup!

2025-03-18
Open-Source OLMo-2 Outperforms GPT-3.5?  Mac-Friendly Setup!

The open-source language model OLMo-2, with 32 billion parameters, claims to outperform GPT-3.5-Turbo and GPT-4 mini. All data, code, weights, and details are freely available. This post details a simple setup for running it on a Mac using the llm-mlx plugin. Download the 17GB model with a few commands and engage in interactive chat or generate images; the example shows generating an SVG of a pelican on a bicycle.

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AI

Nango: An Open, Unified API for Integrations

2025-03-17

Frustrated with the limitations of existing B2B SaaS integration solutions, Bastien and Robin teamed up in 2022. They took over an abandoned open-source OAuth project, realizing it was the key to a more flexible approach: an open, extensible platform. In 2023, after joining Y Combinator's winter batch, they relaunched Nango as a single, unified API infrastructure to power all integrations.

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Development API Integration

CryptPad Enterprise: Secure Collaboration in 2025

2025-03-12
CryptPad Enterprise: Secure Collaboration in 2025

In 2025, data privacy is paramount. Governments are increasing surveillance, and file-hosting companies lack transparency and regulation. Your files, ideas, and conversations are stored on their servers, potentially accessible to third parties. Traditional collaboration suites are convenient, but they control your data. CryptPad Enterprise solves this with end-to-end encryption, ensuring only you and your team can access your data. Hosted in the EU, it guarantees GDPR compliance and offers a full collaboration suite in a secure environment, allowing confidential teamwork without security compromises.

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Netflix's Underrated Masterpiece: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

2025-03-18
Netflix's Underrated Masterpiece: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

Netflix's 2019 series, *The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance*, is a criminally underrated fantasy epic. Serving as a prequel to the 1982 film, this 10-episode masterpiece boasts stunning puppetry and an all-star voice cast (including Taron Egerton and Anya Taylor-Joy), recounting the Gelfling rebellion against the evil Skeksis on the planet Thra. Despite its premature cancellation due to high production costs and viewership, its exceptional production quality, profound storytelling, and mature dark themes make it a must-watch classic, rivaling the likes of *Lord of the Rings* and *Star Wars*.

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Game Puppetry

Nebu: A Lightweight Spreadsheet Editor for Varvara

2025-03-06

Nebu is a lightweight graphical spreadsheet editor for the Varvara system, designed to handle csv/tsv files. Math operations are performed by specifying a rectangular range of cells followed by an operator. A range is defined using a colon between two cell identifiers. A cell performs at most one operation, and the range must precede the cell and cannot recursively include itself. It supports basic arithmetic (+, -, *, /), counting non-empty cells (#), and string concatenation ("). If no operator is specified, it defaults to summation. Nebu launches instantly and weighs less than an empty Excel file.

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Development Varvara

Stelvio: Streamlined AWS Management for Python Devs

2025-03-20
Stelvio: Streamlined AWS Management for Python Devs

Stelvio is a Python library simplifying AWS cloud infrastructure management and deployment. It uses pure Python, offering smart defaults for complex configurations. Developers define cloud resources with familiar Python code, cleanly separating infrastructure from application code. Currently supporting Lambda, DynamoDB, and API Gateway (with more AWS services planned), Stelvio prioritizes developer productivity over infrastructure complexity, offering a more streamlined approach than Terraform, Pulumi, or AWS CDK. Note: Stelvio is in early alpha, ideal for experimentation.

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Development Cloud Infrastructure

Odysseus: A Landmark Live-Action Role-Playing Game

2025-03-19
Odysseus: A Landmark Live-Action Role-Playing Game

Odysseus, a €190,000, 50-hour non-stop sci-fi LARP (live-action role-playing game), has become a landmark achievement in the field. Over 200 volunteers transformed an elementary school into a sprawling spaceship, utilizing custom open-source software, RFID scanners, and intricate character relationships involving 300+ NPCs. Its innovative 'clockwork' gameplay and immersive experience have sparked discussion on the commercial viability of LARPs, prompting its creators to explore sustainable business models for this previously non-profit endeavor.

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Building a Container Image from Scratch: A Deep Dive into OCI

2025-03-20

This article provides a clear and concise explanation of container image internals. By building a simple "hello world" image from scratch, the author details the four core components of an OCI image: layers, config, manifest, and index. The article explains how layers are created, how they combine to form a complete filesystem, and how content-addressability ensures data integrity and efficiency. The process of building with both a scratch and an alpine base image is compared, culminating in the successful running of the built container image.

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Can AI Auto-Generate System Architecture Diagrams?

2025-03-20
Can AI Auto-Generate System Architecture Diagrams?

This article explores three use cases for AI-generated system architecture diagrams: generic technology diagrams, whiteboard diagrams, and diagrams of real-world systems. Experiments show AI excels at generating generic technology diagrams and whiteboard diagrams, producing basic architecture diagrams from simple descriptions and readily accepting refinements. However, AI struggles with generating diagrams of real-world systems, failing to accurately extract information from source code to produce detailed, accurate architecture diagrams. This is mainly due to challenges including a lack of sufficient training data, the complexity of code analysis, and the AI's difficulty in understanding system design intent. In short, AI-assisted whiteboarding is feasible, but auto-generating diagrams of real-world systems remains a challenge, requiring essential human involvement.

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Development System Architecture

Indian Chemical Firm Indicted in US Fentanyl Precursor Smuggling Case

2025-03-21
Indian Chemical Firm Indicted in US Fentanyl Precursor Smuggling Case

An Indian chemical manufacturing company, Vasudha Pharma Chem Limited (VPC), and three of its high-ranking executives were indicted in a US federal court for illegally importing precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl. The indictment alleges VPC advertised and sold these chemicals globally, including two sales of 25 kilograms of N-BOC-4P to an undercover agent. A larger, planned four-metric-ton transaction—two tons to Mexico and two to the US—was also detailed. If convicted, the individuals face up to 10 years in prison, and VPC faces substantial fines. Two executives were arrested in New York City.

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Tech fentanyl

Fauna Database Shutting Down, Core Tech Going Open Source

2025-03-19
Fauna Database Shutting Down, Core Tech Going Open Source

Fauna, a document-relational database service, announced it will be sunsetting its service in the coming months. Unable to secure the funding needed for global expansion in the current market, the company made the difficult decision to cease operations. However, Fauna is committing to open-sourcing its core database technology, drivers, and CLI tooling, making its unique transactional features, document-relational data model, and FQL language available to the wider developer community. Existing customers will receive migration support to ensure a smooth transition.

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Development

Retro Boy: A Highly Accurate Game Boy Emulator in Rust, Now on the Web!

2025-03-20
Retro Boy: A Highly Accurate Game Boy Emulator in Rust, Now on the Web!

Retro Boy is a cycle-accurate Game Boy emulator written in Rust and playable in your web browser. Leveraging wasm-pack for WebAssembly compilation, it uses Web Audio API and HTML Canvas for audio and graphics. Supporting MBC1, MBC3, MBC5, and HuC1 cartridges, it boasts accurate CPU, audio, and graphics emulation, even including GameShark/GameGenie cheat code support. The user-friendly interface features fullscreen mode, pause/resume, selectable color modes, and customizable keymapping. Retro Boy passes a significant portion of Blargg's test ROMs, demonstrating its high accuracy.

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Game

Amnesty's Mobile Verification Toolkit: A Forensic Tool for Spyware Detection

2025-03-17
Amnesty's Mobile Verification Toolkit: A Forensic Tool for Spyware Detection

Amnesty International's Security Lab released the Mobile Verification Toolkit (MVT) in July 2021. This tool helps simplify and automate the process of gathering forensic evidence to identify potential compromises on Android and iOS devices. MVT uses publicly available Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) to scan for traces of known spyware campaigns, but it's crucial to remember that this is not a guarantee of complete device security. Intended for technologists and investigators familiar with digital forensics and command-line tools, MVT is not for general self-assessment.

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Liquid Shape Distortions: Free Psychedelic Animation Generator

2025-03-17
Liquid Shape Distortions: Free Psychedelic Animation Generator

Liquid Shape Distortions is a free, browser-based psychedelic animation generator that creates psychedelic art using liquid motion, distortion, shadows, and light. Inspired by drum & bass/acid techno music and 90s rave posters, this tool can be used to create art for music videos, concert posters, stylized animations in creative projects, or simply enjoyed alongside music. Users can utilize hotkeys and a control menu for randomization, pausing/playing, screenshots, video export, music playback, and customization of canvas size, animation speed, patterns, and colors. The animation is created with WebGL shaders, resulting in unique art each time it's run. This open-source project is free for personal and commercial use.

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10 Years of Hardware Startup Lessons Condensed into a 300+ Page Book

2025-03-18

An engineer with over a decade of experience across multiple hardware startups has compiled their hard-earned wisdom into a 300+ page guide to electronics design. Covering everything from ideation and component selection to schematic design, PCB layout, cost optimization, manufacturing, testing, lab setup, troubleshooting, demo tips, and recommended companies, this book aims to accelerate your learning and prevent common pitfalls. A free digital copy or a physical copy for $39 is available.

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