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Self-Hosting a Nearly Free, Open Source TURN Server on Oracle Cloud

2025-03-28

Self-Hosting a Nearly Free, Open Source TURN Server on Oracle Cloud

This guide details setting up a nearly free, open-source TURN server on Oracle Cloud's free tier, offering an alternative to WebRTC implementations relying on third-party services. It walks through creating subnets, security lists, instance configurations, installing Nginx, Certbot, a PeerJS server, and a Coturn server. The guide covers configuring iptables rules and using coturn-credential-api for authentication, providing complete control over WebRTC communication and enhancing privacy and security by avoiding reliance on Google or other large providers.

(github.com)

Development TURN server Oracle Cloud

ReelControl: Reclaim Your Video Playback Control

2025-04-02

ReelControl: Reclaim Your Video Playback Control

Tired of the annoying lack of native progress bars on Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook Reels? ReelControl is here to help! This browser extension adds progress bars and playback controls to videos on these platforms, letting you easily see video length, rewind, fast-forward, and skip unwanted parts. The developer reports not only an improved viewing experience but also a significant reduction in time spent on these platforms. The project is open-source, and contributions are welcome!

(chromewebstore.google.com)

Development video playback control

Body Doubling: A Productivity Hack for Focus and Task Completion

2025-03-29

Body doubling is a productivity technique gaining popularity, especially among those with ADHD. It involves working alongside another person, either physically or virtually, to improve focus and task completion. The presence of the 'body double' acts as an external motivator, reducing distractions and fostering a sense of accountability. While long-term studies are limited, anecdotal evidence and expert opinions suggest its effectiveness as a complementary approach to medication and helpful for individuals with other conditions like autism or anxiety.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Development

Sophisticated npm Malware Campaign Uses Clever Evasion Techniques

2025-03-26

Sophisticated npm Malware Campaign Uses Clever Evasion Techniques

A recent sophisticated malware campaign leveraged two seemingly benign npm packages, ethers-provider2 and ethers-providerz, to inject malicious code into locally installed `ethers` packages. These packages cleverly hide their malicious payload, ultimately establishing a reverse shell connection to the attacker's server. Even after removing the malicious packages, the malicious functionality may persist due to the attackers' clever injection method. This highlights the ongoing risk of malicious packages in open-source repositories and the need for enhanced security measures.

(www.reversinglabs.com)

Development npm security

Saltwater-Soluble Plastic Breakthrough

2025-03-28

Saltwater-Soluble Plastic Breakthrough

Scientists at RIKEN in Japan have developed a new type of plastic that's as durable as conventional plastic but dissolves quickly in saltwater, leaving behind safe compounds. Made from supramolecular polymers with reversible bonds, this plastic offers a potential solution to plastic pollution. While strong enough for everyday use, a simple scratch on a hydrophobic coating allows saltwater to initiate rapid decomposition into nitrogen and phosphorus, beneficial nutrients for plants and microbes. Although excess nutrients can also be harmful, controlled decomposition in specialized facilities could recover these elements for reuse.

(newatlas.com)

Tech sustainable plastic supramolecular polymers biodegradable

Village Roadshow Files for Bankruptcy: A Casualty of the Streaming Wars

2025-03-31

Village Roadshow Files for Bankruptcy: A Casualty of the Streaming Wars

Village Roadshow Entertainment, the prolific film financing company behind franchises like “Joker,” “The Matrix,” and “Ocean’s Eleven,” has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A protracted legal battle with Warner Bros., stemming from the studio's release of “The Matrix Resurrections” on HBO Max simultaneously with its theatrical release, is cited as a major factor. The company's ambitious, pre-pandemic expansion into independent film and television production proved unprofitable, further exacerbating its financial woes. The bankruptcy highlights the disruptive impact of streaming on traditional entertainment businesses.

(www.latimes.com)

Startup

The Mystery of the Passive USB-to-PS/2 Mouse Adapter

2025-03-28

The Mystery of the Passive USB-to-PS/2 Mouse Adapter

Early USB mice often included a green adapter to convert the USB Type-A plug to PS/2. This wasn't a smart adapter; it was purely mechanical, with no circuitry. The mouse itself did the conversion, detecting the signal type (USB or PS/2) and adjusting accordingly. It's analogous to a simple power adapter – the intelligence resides in the device, not the adapter. So, if you find one of these, remember it's just a physical connector; the actual conversion happens within the dual-bus mouse.

(devblogs.microsoft.com)

Hardware Mouse Adapter

Tropical Trees Thrive After Lightning Strikes: A New Discovery

2025-03-28

Tropical Trees Thrive After Lightning Strikes: A New Discovery

A new study reveals that the Dipteryx oleifera tree, native to Central America, not only survives lightning strikes but actually benefits from them. Lightning strikes eliminate competing vegetation and parasitic vines, giving the D. oleifera trees more sunlight and nutrients. This leads to a 14-fold increase in reproductive success. Researchers hypothesize that these trees may have evolved to attract lightning. This discovery sheds light on the underappreciated role of lightning in shaping forest ecosystems and has implications for tropical reforestation efforts.

(www.caryinstitute.org)

Tech lightning tropical trees

Tailscale on Plan 9: An April Fool's Prank That Actually Worked

2025-04-02

Tailscale on Plan 9: An April Fool's Prank That Actually Worked

Tailscale's April Fool's Day announcement wasn't a joke: they actually ported Tailscale to the Plan 9 operating system. The journey was fraught with challenges, including outdated Go compiler support for Plan 9, kernel issues, and inter-process communication bugs. The team even fixed a decades-old bug in the Plan 9 kernel. The project, initially a naive undertaking, evolved into a significant effort, culminating in a working demo running Tailscale on Plan 9, even showcased on a web browser. This wasn't just a prank; it was a testament to the team's technical prowess and a fascinating exploration of a niche OS.

(tailscale.com)

Development

Sparse Interpretable Audio Codec: Towards a More Intuitive Audio Representation

2025-02-01

This paper introduces a proof-of-concept audio encoder that aims to encode audio as a sparse set of events and their times of occurrence. It leverages rudimentary physics-based assumptions to model the attack and physical resonance of both the instrument and the room, hopefully encouraging a sparse, parsimonious, and easy-to-interpret representation. The model works by iteratively removing energy from the input spectrogram, producing event vectors and one-hot vectors representing time of occurrence. The decoder uses these vectors to reconstruct the audio. Experimental results show the model's ability to decompose audio, but there's room for improvement, such as enhancing reconstruction quality and reducing redundant events.

(blog.cochlea.xyz)

AI audio coding

Compositor Rewrite: Massive Performance Boost for Image Compositing

2025-03-27

Compositor Rewrite: Massive Performance Boost for Image Compositing

The Compositor image compositing engine has been rewritten, resulting in significant performance improvements. Performance gains are particularly noticeable in certain node configurations; caching of static resources like images is optimized, and memory usage is reduced on node setups with many nodes operating on pixels. Filter nodes are dramatically faster: Levels is up to 10x faster, Filter and Kuwahara are twice as fast, Blur nodes are up to four times faster, the Glare filter is 6x more performant and more advanced, and Pixelate is 9x faster. Adjusting compositor node trees is also significantly faster and more interactive, as the compositor now avoids computing outputs not viewed by the user through the backdrop or image editor. The overall compositing experience should feel much more responsive, whether using the CPU or GPU.

(www.blender.org)

Development image compositing

TechCrunch Acquired by Private Equity Firm Regent

2025-03-25

TechCrunch Acquired by Private Equity Firm Regent

TechCrunch, after years under Yahoo's ownership, has been acquired by Regent, a private equity firm. The acquisition ensures minimal disruption to TechCrunch's operations, with the same team continuing its focus on original reporting and analysis. Regent's support will allow TechCrunch to maintain its position as a leading voice in tech news, covering Silicon Valley and beyond, while upholding its commitment to unbiased, reader-first reporting.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech

Microsoft Shuts Down Shanghai IoT & AI Lab Amidst Growing Tensions

2025-03-31

Microsoft Shuts Down Shanghai IoT & AI Lab Amidst Growing Tensions

Microsoft has quietly closed its Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insider Lab in Shanghai's Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, marking another step back from China amid rising geopolitical tensions. Opened in 2019 to support domestic development of IoT and AI technologies, the lab was reportedly shut down earlier this year, with equipment removed and the logo gone. The closure highlights the increasing challenges faced by tech companies operating in the complex Chinese environment.

(www.scmp.com)

Tech China withdrawal geopolitical tensions

Go Scripting Library: script — Simplifying Sysadmin Tasks

2025-01-31

Go Scripting Library: script — Simplifying Sysadmin Tasks

The `script` library for Go provides shell-script-like capabilities for system administrators, including reading files, executing subprocesses, counting lines, matching strings, and more. It processes data streams using a pipeline approach with a clean API, making Go programming as efficient and convenient as shell scripting. `script` supports a wide range of operations, from file I/O and HTTP requests to external command execution and custom filters, significantly simplifying system administration tasks. For example, it easily replicates `grep` functionality and supports concurrent execution for improved performance.

(github.com)

Development Sysadmin

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.

(wilderutopia.com)

Misc Goethe Sorcerer's Apprentice Power vs. Wisdom

MIT's Putnam Seminar: More Than Just a Competition

2025-03-28

MIT's Putnam Seminar: More Than Just a Competition

MIT's Putnam Seminar attracts math enthusiasts from around the globe. It's not just training for the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition; it's a platform for student interaction, enhancing mathematical literacy and communication skills. Through student presentations, professorial guidance, and lectures from upperclassmen, the seminar helps students transition from high school math Olympiads to collegiate learning. Beyond problem-solving techniques, it emphasizes communication, encouraging blackboard presentations and providing extra practice. Ultimately, it helps students excel in the Putnam Competition but, more importantly, fosters a love of math and a drive for continuous learning.

(news.mit.edu)

Development math competition

arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

2025-03-31

arXivLabs is a framework enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Individuals and organizations involved embrace arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who share them. Have an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

(arxiv.org)

Development

Ketchup Entertainment Snags Warner Bros.' Shelved 'Coyote Vs. Acme'

2025-03-31

Ketchup Entertainment Snags Warner Bros.' Shelved 'Coyote Vs. Acme'

Ketchup Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to Warner Bros.' shelved animated film, 'Coyote Vs. Acme,' for a reported $50 million. The live-action/animated hybrid, starring Will Forte, John Cena, and Lana Condor, follows Wile E. Coyote's lawsuit against Acme Corp. Initially shelved due to Warner Bros.' cost-cutting measures, the film's acquisition marks a significant investment for Ketchup Entertainment and signals a theatrical release in 2026.

(deadline.com)

Game film acquisition Looney Tunes

Taming the C++ UB Dragon: A Status Update on Safety and Security Improvements

2025-03-31

Taming the C++ UB Dragon: A Status Update on Safety and Security Improvements

C++'s undefined behavior (UB) has long been a source of security vulnerabilities and hard-to-debug errors. The C++ standards committee is actively working to address this, making progress in C++26 by eliminating UB for uninitialized variables and enhancing the standard library's bounds safety. Future efforts will systematically catalog and address remaining UB cases using erroneous behavior, language profiles, and contracts. The goal is to achieve parity with other modern memory-safe languages in terms of security vulnerabilities, without sacrificing C++'s performance or flexibility.

(herbsutter.com)

Development

Open-Source Gen-AI Powering Enterprise Search: Introducing Onyx

2025-03-04

Open-Source Gen-AI Powering Enterprise Search: Introducing Onyx

Onyx (formerly Danswer) is an open-source AI platform connecting your company's documents, apps, and people. It features a rich chat interface and supports various LLMs. Seamlessly integrate with over 40 connectors including Google Drive, Slack, and Salesforce, maintaining synchronized knowledge and access controls. Build custom AI agents with unique prompts, knowledge bases, and actions. Deploy Onyx securely at any scale—laptop, on-premise, or cloud. A Community Edition is freely available under the MIT license, while an Enterprise Edition offers enhanced features for larger organizations.

(github.com)

Development Enterprise Search

FBI's Illegal Seizure: Violating the Fourth Amendment and Due Process

2025-03-21

FBI's Illegal Seizure: Violating the Fourth Amendment and Due Process

Four years ago, the FBI raided U.S. Private Vaults (USPV) in Beverly Hills, seizing tens of millions of dollars in cash, valuables, and personal items, including Linda Martin's $40,200 life savings, without charging her with a crime. The FBI's actions were found to violate the Fourth Amendment, yet they refused to return the property. Only after Martin filed a nationwide class-action lawsuit did the FBI return her money, but she continues her suit to prevent future similar actions. The core issue is the FBI's failure to state reasons for the seizure in its notice, violating due process. This case highlights the government's abuse of civil forfeiture, with 93% of federal forfeitures never reaching court, allowing the FBI to keep the money without justification.

(reason.com)

Misc Civil Rights Civil Forfeiture

Steam Deck: More Than a Handheld, a Symbol of Freedom

2025-04-03

The Steam Deck's success isn't due to exceptional battery life or top-tier performance, but rather its underlying philosophy: freedom and openness. Running a customized version of Arch Linux, it lets users install any software and even replace parts themselves. This contrasts sharply with closed mobile systems, showcasing respect for user autonomy. While Valve's libertarian approach has drawn criticism, such as silence on social issues and tolerance of gambling websites, the Steam Deck remains an excellent example of balancing commercial interests with user freedom. It has fueled the growth of the Linux gaming ecosystem, providing players with a more open gaming experience.

(isomorphism.xyz)

Game Linux gaming openness

The Decline of Social Media: A Race to the Bottom

2025-03-28

A seasoned social media user expresses concern over the current state of social media, lamenting its transformation into a battleground of low-quality content and interaction bait. High-quality content is neglected in favor of cheap, click-driven material often generated by AI, prioritizing monetization over authenticity. The author criticizes platform algorithms for stifling creativity and promoting inauthenticity, citing examples of rampant fake content and hashtag manipulation. He calls for creators to return to their creative roots, focusing on producing work they enjoy rather than chasing numbers. Ultimately, he chooses to focus on his own blog, freeing himself from platform constraints.

(christianheilmann.com)

Misc AI-generated content

Microrobot Takes Flight: Tiny, Untethered Flying Robot Achieves New Milestone

2025-03-31

Microrobot Takes Flight: Tiny, Untethered Flying Robot Achieves New Milestone

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a tiny, untethered flying robot with a wingspan of less than a centimeter. Powered wirelessly by external magnetic fields, its current range is limited, but the team suggests improvements could extend its capabilities. This breakthrough opens possibilities for search and rescue, industrial inspection, and even pollination, setting a new record for the smallest flying robot.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Tech microrobot flying robot magnetic field propulsion

Waymo's Self-Driving Accident Analysis: Are Humans the Real Culprits?

2025-03-26

Waymo's Self-Driving Accident Analysis: Are Humans the Real Culprits?

This article analyzes 38 serious accidents involving Waymo self-driving cars between July 2024 and February 2025. Surprisingly, the vast majority of these accidents were not caused by Waymo vehicles themselves, but rather by other vehicles driving recklessly, such as speeding and running red lights. Waymo's data shows that its self-driving vehicles have a much lower accident rate than human drivers. Even if all accidents were attributed to Waymo, its safety record is still significantly better than human drivers. Compared to human driving, Waymo has made significant progress in reducing accidents, especially those resulting in injuries.

(www.understandingai.org)

AI

Testing Without Mocks: A Novel Approach to Unit Testing

2025-03-29

This article presents a novel approach to unit testing that eliminates the need for mocks and spies, resulting in fast, reliable, and maintainable tests. The core idea involves combining state-based testing with a new infrastructure technique called "Nullables." Nullables aren't test doubles; they're production code with an "off" switch, allowing tests to run without relying on external systems or state. While requiring modifications to production code, this approach avoids many drawbacks of traditional methods, such as flaky tests and difficult refactoring, and offers significant performance gains. The article thoroughly explains the patterns and techniques involved, including Narrow Tests, State-Based Tests, and Overlapping Sociable Tests, providing ample code examples and diverse use cases, making it ideal for developers to learn and implement.

(www.jamesshore.com)

Development

eBPF-Go on Windows: A Developer's Guide

2025-03-27

This document details running the eBPF-Go library on Windows. Because eBPF on Windows is not yet stable, the library supports three modes: interpreter, JIT, and compilation to a native Windows driver. It explains differences from Linux, handling platform-specific ELF files, the exported API, development setup (using a Windows VM and build scripts), using pre-built binaries, and debugging and interpreting error codes. Debugging includes using WinDbg and interpreting the trace log. Error handling involves understanding Windows system error codes, RPC errors, ebpf_result_t, and Unix-style errno.

(ebpf-go.dev)

Development

Microlightning: A New Spark in the Origin of Life Debate

2025-03-30

Microlightning: A New Spark in the Origin of Life Debate

New research published in Science Advances suggests that microlightning within water droplets may have played a crucial role in the formation of Earth's earliest organic molecules. Building on the famous Miller-Urey experiment, scientists found that electrical discharges between oppositely charged water droplets can produce amino acids, the fundamental building blocks of life. This process, potentially more frequent than lightning on early Earth, could have provided an abundant source of life's precursors. This challenges existing theories suggesting life originated from hydrothermal vents or arrived via asteroids, offering a compelling new perspective on the origin of life.

(www.cnn.com)

Tech amino acids

Ancient Pigments: From Imperial Purple to Han Purple

2025-03-05

Ancient Pigments: From Imperial Purple to Han Purple

This article explores the stories behind several famous ancient pigments, including the costly Tyrian purple of the Mediterranean (made from thousands of snails), the vibrant Egyptian blue (made from sand, salt, and copper), the mysterious Mayan blue (made from indigo plants and clay), and the artistically and scientifically significant Han purple (made by melting sand, barium, and copper at high temperatures). These pigments not only reflect the craftsmanship and aesthetics of ancient civilizations but also contain rich cultural and historical information, and even retain value in modern scientific research.

(worldhistory.substack.com)

Tech ancient pigments history of technology

Finland's Housing First: A Radical Approach to Ending Homelessness

2025-03-06

Finland's Housing First: A Radical Approach to Ending Homelessness

Finland has dramatically reduced homelessness by implementing a 'Housing First' approach. This involves providing small apartments and counseling to those affected, without preconditions. Remarkably, 80% successfully reintegrate into stable lives, at a lower cost than the societal burden of homelessness. The success is attributed to a collaborative effort involving the government, NGOs like the Y-Foundation, and social workers, who provide ongoing support. This model offers a compelling solution for tackling homelessness globally.

(thebetter.news)

Misc Homelessness

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