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A Night at a Secret North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai

2025-02-16

A Night at a Secret North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai

A visit to a clandestine North Korean state-owned restaurant in Shanghai offers a unique time warp experience. The restaurant's retro decor and waitresses' 70s and 80s attire create a nostalgic ambiance. These highly educated young women from elite North Korean families speak fluent Mandarin, providing impeccable service. The dinner includes a captivating show blending traditional Korean folk songs with classic Chinese tunes. While the food is traditionally prepared, the service is exceptional. This immersive experience provides a rare glimpse into the secretive world of North Korea.

(simplyfabulicious.wordpress.com)

Misc North Korean culture state-owned restaurant Shanghai

Isomorphic Web Components: Server-Side Rendering Made Easy

2024-12-15

Isomorphic Web Components: Server-Side Rendering Made Easy

The long-held belief that server-side rendering of web components is difficult has been challenged. This article demonstrates how to achieve server-side rendering of existing web components by cleverly using Happy DOM to emulate a browser environment. Two methods are detailed: using the `` tag for direct rendering and emulating the DOM to run component code and generate HTML. The author emphasizes the advantages of this approach: compatibility with all web components, robustness in the face of JavaScript failure, and avoidance of framework lock-in. This solves the server-side rendering problem for web components, offering a flexible and resilient solution.

(jakelazaroff.com)

Development Server-Side Rendering Isomorphic

Vatican Weighs In: AI, Human Dignity, and the Common Good

2025-01-30

A joint report from the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education explores the challenges and opportunities posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI). While acknowledging AI's remarkable ability to mimic certain aspects of human intelligence, the report emphasizes the fundamental differences between AI and human intelligence. Human intelligence, it argues, is holistic, encompassing reason, emotion, embodiment, and relationality—dimensions absent in current AI systems. The report stresses that AI development and use must uphold human dignity and promote integral human development, cautioning against applications that could lead to discrimination, manipulation, or social disruption. It calls for responsibility, transparency, and accountability in AI, ensuring it serves the common good.

(www.vatican.va)

AI Human Dignity Tech and Religion

BreezeWiki: Say Goodbye to Fandom Ads

2025-03-31

Tired of annoying ads and videos on Fandom wikis? BreezeWiki offers a clean and refreshing reading experience. Simply replace "fandom.com" with "breezewiki.com" in the URL to say goodbye to slow loading and data consumption. BreezeWiki is supported by multiple independently run mirror websites, ensuring availability even if one mirror is down. While BreezeWiki doesn't allow editing or creating new pages, it provides readers with a content-focused reading environment and has been well-received by many users.

(breezewiki.com)

Misc

The Enigma of Julius and the Rise of AI

2024-12-23

The Enigma of Julius and the Rise of AI

The author recounts the story of Julius, a college classmate who, despite a lack of actual technical skills, rose through the ranks of various companies due to charisma and self-assurance. His success is mirrored in the author's current experience with seemingly productive AI tools that require extensive manual corrections. The narrative explores the parallels between Julius's career trajectory and the complexities of AI's impact on the workplace.

(ploum.net)

Misc workplace

LLMs and Humans Exhibit Bias: A TTS Voice Attractiveness Ranking Experiment

2025-03-10

Last year, the author used LLMs to rank Hacker News users and discovered a bias where the models consistently favored the first user mentioned in the prompt. This year, a new experiment ranking TTS voice attractiveness revealed a similar bias in human participants, who favored voices presented on the right side of the screen. This reinforces the author's previous findings and highlights the importance of sample size and randomization when using both AI and human judgments to mitigate bias.

(wilsoniumite.com)

AI human bias TTS voices

Visual Timeline: A Colorful Journey Through Your Life

2025-03-01

Visual Timeline: A Colorful Journey Through Your Life

Visual Timeline is an app that lets you visualize your entire life—past, present, and future—in a colorful, week-by-week view. Color-code life periods (childhood, college, jobs), highlight important events (achievements, trips), and add detailed notes. It automatically adds birthdays and world events, and allows YAML export for backups. Keep it private or share it via a unique link; it's a living, growing representation of your life story, constantly updated.

(lifeweeks.app)

Misc life logging

Auto-AVSR: Open-Source Lip-Reading Speech Recognition Framework Achieves SOTA

2025-02-03

Auto-AVSR: Open-Source Lip-Reading Speech Recognition Framework Achieves SOTA

Auto-AVSR is an open-source, end-to-end audio-visual speech recognition (AV-ASR) framework focusing on visual speech (lip-reading). Achieving a word error rate (WER) of 20.3% for visual speech recognition (VSR) and 1.0% for audio speech recognition (ASR) on the LRS3 benchmark, it provides code and tutorials for training, evaluation, and API usage, supporting multi-node training. Users can leverage pre-trained models or train from scratch, customizing hyperparameters as needed.

(github.com)

AI lip reading

Bacteria Build Living Gels in Polymers: A New Twist on Biofilms

2025-01-26

Bacteria Build Living Gels in Polymers: A New Twist on Biofilms

Caltech and Princeton University scientists have discovered that bacteria growing in polymer solutions, like mucus, form long, intertwined cables—a kind of ‘living Jell-O.’ This is significant for understanding diseases like cystic fibrosis, where thickened lung mucus fosters dangerous bacterial infections. The discovery also has implications for studying biofilms (the slimy coatings on surfaces) and their industrial impacts. The researchers found that external pressure from the polymers forces the bacterial cells together. A theoretical model accurately predicts when these cable structures will form. The reason for cable formation remains a mystery: it may be a bacterial defense mechanism or conversely, a way for the body to expel the infection more easily. This unexpected finding opens up new avenues of research into bacterial growth and biofilm control.

(www.caltech.edu)

Tech polymers biofilms

Efficient Cloud-Native Raster Data Access: An Alternative to Rasterio/GDAL

2024-12-15

Efficient Cloud-Native Raster Data Access: An Alternative to Rasterio/GDAL

The exponential growth of Earth observation data in cloud storage necessitates efficient access and analysis of satellite imagery. This article introduces an alternative cloud-native raster data access approach to Rasterio/GDAL. Traditional GeoTIFFs are inefficient, while Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFFs (COGs) improve efficiency through tiling and multi-resolution access. However, even with COGs, tasks like time-series NDVI analysis suffer from latency. The authors leverage STAC GeoParquet, combined with pre-calculated byte ranges, to reduce HTTP requests, significantly speeding up data access. Initial tests show this approach drastically reduces time-to-first-tile for Sentinel-2 data and lowers costs. A future open-source library, "Rasteret," will implement these techniques.

(blog.terrafloww.com)

Tech Cloud-native Raster data

ISS Over-Sterilization: A Microbial Ecosystem Approach to Space Travel

2025-03-05

ISS Over-Sterilization: A Microbial Ecosystem Approach to Space Travel

New research suggests that the International Space Station's (ISS) excessive sterilization may be counterproductive. Researchers found that continuous disinfection leads to a loss of microbial diversity, potentially harming astronaut health. They propose future spacecraft designs consider microbial spread, using isolated modules to control contamination. A more forward-thinking approach involves introducing beneficial microbes, even creating self-sustaining ecosystems with plants, pollinators, and animals. This research offers new insights into life support systems for future deep space missions.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech space microbiology

SoftBank Acquires Ampere Computing for $6.5B, Doubling Down on AI

2025-03-20

SoftBank Group Corp. announced the acquisition of Ampere Computing, a leading independent silicon design company, for $6.5 billion in an all-cash deal. This acquisition strengthens SoftBank's AI infrastructure investments and accelerates its growth in AI. Ampere will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, retaining its name and Santa Clara headquarters. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son stated the acquisition will help accelerate its vision for Artificial Super Intelligence. Ampere CEO Renee James expressed excitement about joining SoftBank and continuing its AmpereOne roadmap for high-performance Arm processors and AI. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025.

(group.softbank)

Tech

Open-Source Ergonomic Keyboard: Ergo S-1 - Build Your Own Comfort

2025-01-03

Open-Source Ergonomic Keyboard: Ergo S-1 - Build Your Own Comfort

The Ergo S-1 is an open-source, wireless, split ergonomic keyboard compatible with Cherry/Gateron switches and Cherry/OEM/DCS keycaps, powered by the ZMK firmware. Designed during a period of unemployment, this keyboard prioritizes ease of DIY assembly, making it accessible to a wider audience. The project provides comprehensive assembly instructions, a bill of materials, and Fusion 360 design files, along with support for custom keymaps. While complete kits aren't yet available, pre-built keyboards are sold on Etsy, and the creator is actively working towards easier-to-assemble kits.

(github.com)

Hardware ergonomic keyboard

Visual Proof: a² – b² = (a + b)(a – b)

2024-12-15

Visual Proof: a² – b² = (a + b)(a – b)

Futility Closet's blog post presents a visual proof of the mathematical formula a² – b² = (a + b)(a – b), quoting Sophie Germain's insightful words: “It has been said that algebra is but written geometry and geometry is but diagrammatic algebra.” The post uses an easily understood diagram to demonstrate the formula, highlighting the elegance of mathematics and the strong relationship between algebra and geometry.

(www.futilitycloset.com)

Misc mathematical proof geometry algebra

2024 Box Office Top 10: Animation Reigns Supreme, Superhero Fatigue Sets In

2024-12-30

2024 Box Office Top 10: Animation Reigns Supreme, Superhero Fatigue Sets In

The 2024 box office was a rollercoaster, a sluggish first half due to strikes giving way to a blockbuster-fueled second half. Animation dominated, with Pixar's Inside Out 2 becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time at $1.698 billion, outperforming many superhero films and claiming the year's top spot. Disney's Moana 2 also scored big, nearing $800 million. Superhero movies, meanwhile, underperformed except for Deadpool & Wolverine ($1.33 billion), highlighting the genre's waning box office dominance. Other hits included sequels like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kung Fu Panda 4, and the Wicked adaptation, proving classic IPs and quality content still resonate.

(www.slashfilm.com)

Game box office superhero movies

OpenAI Bets on Trump's AI Plan to Settle Copyright Disputes

2025-03-14

OpenAI Bets on Trump's AI Plan to Settle Copyright Disputes

OpenAI is hoping that Donald Trump's AI Action Plan, due in July, will declare AI training as fair use, resolving copyright debates and granting AI companies unfettered access to training data. OpenAI argues this is crucial to winning the AI race against China. Courts are currently debating whether AI training constitutes fair use, with rights holders claiming AI models threaten their market position and diminish overall human creativity. OpenAI is involved in dozens of lawsuits, arguing AI transforms copyrighted works and that AI outputs are not substitutes for originals. OpenAI hopes Trump's plan will prevent rulings like one favoring rights holders, which deemed AI training not fair use because it threatened to replace a legal research firm. OpenAI suggests the US should prioritize the AI industry's 'freedom to learn' to avoid China gaining an advantage by accessing copyrighted data US companies cannot.

(arstechnica.com)

AI US-China AI Race

Cursor: AI Coding Assistant – Hype vs. Reality

2025-03-12

Cursor: AI Coding Assistant – Hype vs. Reality

AI coding tools like Cursor are generating mixed reactions, with some claiming to build entire SaaS applications in three days, while others deem them useless. This author, an AI skeptic, shares tips for maximizing Cursor's efficiency. Key strategies include creating a `.cursorrules` file and iteratively refining its rules to avoid excessive input; clearly specifying code locations and relevant context; using Composer (Agent) for simple changes and Chat (Ask) for complex ones; carefully reviewing and refactoring AI-generated code; and thoroughly communicating with the AI before tackling complex tasks. The author concludes that AI coding tools are useful when mentally fatigued, but caution is advised against over-reliance, acknowledging potential skill atrophy.

(www.nickcraux.com)

Development

Minimal Automatic Differentiation Engine in Rust

2025-06-20

Minimal Automatic Differentiation Engine in Rust

This is a minimal automatic differentiation engine written in Rust. It can train a tiny Multi-Layer Perceptron to learn the XOR function and render a computation graph of a single Perceptron to graph.html. The core is the Scalar struct, storing value, optional gradient, and an Edge describing the operation that produced it. Operator overloads and helper functions build a directed acyclic graph, caching the local derivative for every edge. `backward()` recursively propagates gradients from the output node, accumulating them into leaf nodes created with `Scalar::new_grad`. The graph can be visualized with `plot::dump_graph`.

(github.com)

Development Automatic Differentiation

Halliday AR Glasses: A Unique Design with Significant Drawbacks

2025-01-27

Halliday AR Glasses: A Unique Design with Significant Drawbacks

Halliday's AR glasses, showcased at CES, boast a novel optical design that deviates from conventional waveguide-based approaches. Employing a monocular projector to directly project images onto the eye via a mirror optical system, they offer advantages in brightness and efficiency, and compatibility with standard prescription lenses. However, users must look upward to view the image, leading to discomfort and social awkwardness. Stray light also results in a halo effect, diminishing contrast. Despite successful marketing, the design may hinder resolution and image quality improvements, and the lack of a camera limits its AI potential. While innovative, its drawbacks significantly outweigh the benefits.

(kguttag.com)

Hardware AR Glasses Optical Design

Xcode 16's Local Package Dependency Nightmare: Why I'm Using Two Editors

2025-01-23

Xcode 16's Local Package Dependency Nightmare: Why I'm Using Two Editors

Developer Christian Tietze encountered significant issues with Xcode 16 while working on a Swift Package. Xcode 16's altered approach to local package referencing broke file operations, test running, and more. To overcome this, he's forced to use both Xcode (for compiling and running the app) and Emacs (for editing and testing the package). The post laments Xcode 16's buggy update, Apple's aggressive software upgrade policy, and recommends developers learn a backup editor.

(christiantietze.de)

Development

A Hilariously Wrong History of Robotics

2025-06-20

A Hilariously Wrong History of Robotics

This humorous article recounts the history of robotics, from Da Vinci's mechanical knight to today's humanoid robots, covering the rise and fall of artificial intelligence. It's peppered with anecdotes, such as Westinghouse's Elektro robot and the cutthroat competition following Google's robotics acquisitions. It boldly predicts the future of robotics, including robots replacing programmers and AI's eventual dominance.

(generalrobots.substack.com)

Tech

Slashing CI Time with AI-Powered E2E Test Selection

2025-09-06

Slashing CI Time with AI-Powered E2E Test Selection

End-to-end (E2E) tests are slow, fragile, and expensive, often run nightly due to CI bottlenecks. This leads to bugs slipping into production. This article details a solution using Claude Code to intelligently select only the relevant E2E tests for a given PR. By analyzing code changes and test files, Claude Code predicts which tests need to run, reducing testing time from 44 minutes to under 7 minutes. This significantly improves CI efficiency and prevents production bugs. While slightly costly, the savings in developer time and bug fixes make it a cost-effective solution.

(jampauchoa.substack.com)

Development

Stelo CGM Teardown: Unlocking the Secrets of a Cheap CGM

2025-02-23

This article details a teardown of Dexcom's Stelo CGM, an affordable ($50) continuous glucose monitor. The author shares their experience using the device and delves into its internal workings, including the nRF52832 microcontroller, CR1216 coin cell battery, and other unidentified chips. By measuring power consumption, the author reveals that the battery life far exceeds the claimed 15 days, and explores the possibility of using energy harvesting for permanent power. The article also sparks discussion on product cost breakdown and market competition, making it a compelling read for both tech enthusiasts and those interested in medical technology.

(andykong.org)

Hardware CGM Hardware Teardown

Silent Builders: Real Stories from Federal Employees

2025-02-21

This blog post shares real stories from federal employees who work tirelessly behind the scenes, simplifying tax filing, veterans' benefits, and financial aid applications. They aided refugees, vaccine distribution, and baby formula access during crises. They strive to improve government websites while protecting personal information. However, they're largely ignored while facing the threat of government technology dismantling. The blog highlights their contributions and warns of the dangerous consequences of undermining government technology.

(www.wethebuilders.org)

Misc government employees public service technological disruption

Moon Landing Makes History: GPS Navigation Achieved on Lunar Surface

2025-03-05

Moon Landing Makes History: GPS Navigation Achieved on Lunar Surface

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander successfully touched down on the moon and achieved a groundbreaking feat: using Earth-based GPS signals for navigation on the lunar surface. This joint NASA-Italian Space Agency experiment (LuGRE) aboard Blue Ghost represents a significant leap forward for future Artemis missions. LuGRE set a new record for highest-altitude GNSS signal acquisition during its journey, ultimately achieving a navigational fix at approximately 225,000 miles from Earth. This autonomous navigation capability reduces reliance on human operators and promises to revolutionize future spacecraft navigation.

(www.popsci.com)

Tech lunar navigation

Janus: A Deep Dive into a Powerful AI Model

2025-01-27

Janus: A Deep Dive into a Powerful AI Model

DeepSeek AI has released a technical report detailing their Janus AI model, covering its architecture, performance, and applications. The report, available as a PDF, offers in-depth technical specifications and is ideal for AI professionals. Janus demonstrates significant potential, hinting at a potential paradigm shift in the AI landscape.

(github.com)

AI technical report

S2: Revolutionizing Stream Data Storage in the Cloud

2024-12-21

Bandar Systems introduces S2, a novel stream data storage service designed to revolutionize data processing in the cloud era. Unlike traditional object-based storage, S2 centers around streams, offering efficient, scalable, and cost-effective real-time data ingestion and processing. It supports high-throughput, low-latency read and write operations and provides multiple storage classes to meet varying performance and cost requirements. S2 aims to replace systems like Kafka and Kinesis, providing users with a more powerful and flexible stream data management solution.

(s2.dev)

Development stream data storage cloud native serverless

50 Years of Travel Wisdom: The Laser-Back Method

2025-02-16

50 Years of Travel Wisdom: The Laser-Back Method

A seasoned traveler with over 50 years of experience shares their insights. They categorize travel into two modes: relaxation and engagement, favoring the latter. The article advocates for planning trips around passions, not just famous landmarks, offering numerous practical tips, such as visiting a driver's mother, crashing weddings, utilizing Google Maps for public transit, and taking street food tours. A unique 'laser-back' travel method is introduced: heading to the most remote destination first and meandering back to the city, maximizing the experience.

(kk.org)

Misc travel tips travel planning travel experience

F-Droid Security Issues: Open Source Doesn't Guarantee Security

2025-01-20

F-Droid Security Issues: Open Source Doesn't Guarantee Security

This article delves into the security vulnerabilities of the popular Android open-source app store, F-Droid. F-Droid's unique signing mechanism introduces an additional trusted party, increasing security risks. Its strict inclusion policy leads to slow app updates and the use of outdated libraries. A low target API level and lack of good practices further exacerbate security concerns. The article also highlights F-Droid's misleading permission displays and confusing user experience, comparing it to Google Play Store. Ultimately, it advises users to use F-Droid cautiously, emphasizing that open source does not guarantee security.

(privsec.dev)

Tech Android security open-source software

Running Windows 98 Smoothly in UTM SE: A How-To

2025-09-13

Running Windows 98 Smoothly in UTM SE: A How-To

This guide details how to successfully run Windows 98 within UTM SE (a QEMU-based emulator), enabling you to enjoy classic 90s Windows and DOS software. It focuses on resolving PCI device conflicts (via ACPI), choosing optimal virtual hardware (CPU, video, sound, network), and performance optimization. The author thoroughly explores the pros and cons of various hardware options and shares experiences running Windows 98 on iPad and Mac, offering valuable insights for retrocomputing enthusiasts.

(sporks.space)

Development

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