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150 Years of the Metre: From French Revolution to Laser Light

2025-05-23

150 Years of the Metre: From French Revolution to Laser Light

The 1875 Metre Convention standardized measurement, ending inconsistent units across countries. Initially defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator through Paris, the metre's definition has evolved with scientific advancements. Early definitions relied on platinum-iridium bars, then krypton-86 light wavelengths. Today, it's defined by the speed of light, enabling precise measurements like the Moon's gradual recession from Earth. Despite global adoption, remnants of imperial units persist in various contexts, highlighting the ongoing challenges of standardization.

(www.abc.net.au)

Tech Metric System Measurement

German Stellarator Sets New Fusion Record

2025-06-06

German Stellarator Sets New Fusion Record

The Wendelstein 7-X stellarator fusion reactor in Greifswald, Germany, has achieved a new world record for the triple product in long plasma discharges, lasting 43 seconds. The triple product, a key factor in fusion, considers plasma density, ion temperature, and energy confinement time. This achievement utilized a novel pellet injector from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, precisely coordinating heating and fuel injection. While tokamaks still hold the record for short-duration discharges, this milestone demonstrates the stellarator's progress towards power plant applications, surpassing JET in longer discharge times despite a smaller plasma volume. This represents a significant step towards sustainable fusion energy.

(www.heise.de)

Tech

An AI PhD's Take: LLMs – Useful Tools, or a Crutch?

2025-04-15

A 2024 AI PhD and author of a book on LLMs shares his nuanced perspective on large language models. He doesn't outright reject them, but approaches their capabilities and limitations with caution. He details how he uses LLMs for writing assistance, information retrieval, and technical problem-solving, while candidly acknowledging their shortcomings: errors, lack of deep thinking, and over-reliance on established viewpoints. He argues LLMs are tools, not replacements for thought, requiring critical thinking and careful verification for effective use.

(www.gleech.org)

AI

Domesday Book: Not Just Taxes, But 11th-Century Big Data?

2025-07-10

Domesday Book: Not Just Taxes, But 11th-Century Big Data?

New research challenges long-held assumptions about William the Conqueror's Domesday Book. Using the earliest surviving manuscript, Exon Domesday, researchers argue the survey wasn't simply about maximizing taxes, but a sophisticated exercise in governmental control—an 11th-century form of big data. The study reveals how William's administration gathered vast economic and territorial data across England in under seven months, processing it with astonishing speed and clarity. The team also proposes a likely identity for the principal scribe, potentially Gerard, William's chancellor. This innovative approach, using only pen, parchment, and human interaction, highlights the ingenuity of the Domesday creators and its significance as a remarkable feat of administrative innovation.

(www.ox.ac.uk)

Misc governance

Legendary Director David Lynch Dies at 78

2025-01-16

Legendary Director David Lynch Dies at 78

Acclaimed filmmaker David Lynch passed away on January 16, 2025, at the age of 78. Known for his surrealist style and exploration of psychological thriller, Lynch's works including Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, The Elephant Man, and the TV series Twin Peaks, have profoundly impacted cinema and television. His bold and avant-garde style, filled with symbolism, left an indelible mark on the industry. Lynch's death is a significant loss to the film world, but his legacy will live on through his enduring works.

(deadline.com)

Game

Hotline Reborn: A Swift Resurrection for Modern Apple Systems

2025-02-08

Hotline Reborn: A Swift Resurrection for Modern Apple Systems

A project is underway to resurrect the classic 1997 Mac online community software, Hotline, by completely recreating it in Swift and SwiftUI for modern Apple systems (iOS, macOS, etc.). Currently, it's a client-side application for connecting to and interacting with Hotline servers, offering features like IRC-style chat, private messaging, forum-like news, bulletin board posting, and FTP-style file transfers. The goal is a modern, open-source Hotline client, aiming to revive this beloved brand for a new generation.

(github.com)

Development retro

Safari's text-wrap: pretty: A New Era in Web Typography

2025-04-08

Safari's text-wrap: pretty: A New Era in Web Typography

Safari Technology Preview 216 introduces `text-wrap: pretty`, revolutionizing web text layout. Leveraging paragraph-based algorithms, it tackles longstanding typographic issues like excessively short last lines, uneven ragged edges, and distracting typographic rivers. Unlike traditional line-by-line algorithms, `pretty` evaluates the entire paragraph, optimizing layout for improved readability and aesthetics. While Chrome and other browsers support `pretty`, Safari's implementation is more comprehensive, adjusting the entire paragraph instead of just the last few lines. `text-wrap: balance` focuses on making all lines roughly the same length, ideal for headlines and shorter text. Developers should choose the appropriate `text-wrap` value based on their needs and be mindful of performance implications.

(webkit.org)

Development web typography

Terminology 1.14.0 Released: New Translations, Improvements, and Fixes

2025-04-21

Terminology 1.14.0 is out! This release adds Hungarian and Slovak translations, improves translations for multiple languages, and fixes several bugs, including a translucent background on startup and wheel event issues. It also adds the ability to report or set selections via escape codes, and configuration for double-width emoji support. Internal code improvements and a new colorscheme are also included.

(www.enlightenment.org)

Development software update

Wii Homebrew Channel Source Code Archived Due to Copyright Infringement

2025-04-27

Wii Homebrew Channel Source Code Archived Due to Copyright Infringement

The source code repository for the Wii Homebrew Channel has been archived and will no longer accept contributions. This is due to the discovery that libogc, a crucial library upon which the Homebrew Channel depends, contains significant portions of code stolen from Nintendo's SDK and the open-source RTOS RTEMS. The developers of libogc have refused to address the copyright infringement. This revelation exposes a long-standing issue of copyright violations within the Wii homebrew community, prompting reflection on ethical software development practices. The source code is now publicly released, but developers state they cannot guarantee its legality and that it has only been tested under the Dolphin emulator.

(github.com)

Development

Evidence of Harm: Why TikTok Should Be Banned

2025-04-17

Evidence of Harm: Why TikTok Should Be Banned

The US Supreme Court will soon decide whether to block a ban on TikTok. This article argues for the ban, citing overwhelming evidence of harm to minors. Compiled from lawsuits filed by 14 state Attorneys General, internal documents reveal TikTok's knowledge of its algorithm's addictive nature, leading to sleep deprivation, academic decline, and worsening mental health in children. The platform is rife with pornography, violence, and drug-related content, with severe child sexual exploitation and harassment, yet TikTok's response is demonstrably inadequate. The authors urge public awareness of TikTok's harm to children and support for its removal.

(www.afterbabel.com)

Tech Child Safety Algorithmic Addiction

Private Equity's Predatory Grip on Disability Services: A National Crisis

2025-08-29

Private Equity's Predatory Grip on Disability Services: A National Crisis

Private equity firms are aggressively acquiring group homes and other disability services, leading to widespread reports of abuse, neglect, and even death. Driven by profit maximization, these firms often cut costs, compromising the quality of care. While states like Florida have attempted to sanction companies like Sevita, a major player in the field, enforcement is hampered by the firms' multi-state operations and vast resources. Federal and state regulators struggle to keep pace, highlighting a systemic failure to protect vulnerable populations. Some states are enacting stricter regulations on healthcare mergers and acquisitions, but a comprehensive solution remains elusive.

(www.governing.com)

Misc disability services

Airflow: Redefining Video Streaming

2025-01-29

Airflow is a one-time purchase, lifetime-use video streaming software that streams videos to Chromecast, Apple TV, and AirPlay 2 enabled TVs. Unlike others, Airflow boasts a custom-built video processing pipeline. It supports features like HEVC video streaming to Apple TV without transcoding, adaptive audio volume, spatial headphone downmix, and even real-time subtitle text recognition (OCR) for enhanced 4K video playback. It also offers a remote control app, supports various subtitle and audio formats, and features a polished UI with powerful capabilities such as multiple playlist support and speed testing.

(airflow.app)

Development video streaming

Go's GC: A Deep Dive and a Custom Arena Allocator

2025-04-21

Go's GC: A Deep Dive and a Custom Arena Allocator

This article delves into the intricacies of Go's garbage collection and leverages that knowledge to build a high-performance arena allocator. By cleverly exploiting Go's GC behavior, the author achieves faster memory allocation than Go's built-in allocator, especially for large-scale allocations. The article details the design principles, implementation, and benchmark results of the custom arena allocator, also analyzing its performance in high-concurrency environments.

(mcyoung.xyz)

Development Memory Allocation

Cross-Compiling Raylib Lisp Bindings and Games for Windows from Linux

2025-06-30

This article details the process of cross-compiling C code and an SBCL Lisp program for Windows from Linux, using Wine to run a Windows SBCL within a Linux-based Emacs, and loading .dll files into the Lisp image to produce a .exe executable. The author outlines cross-compiling C code using mingw-w64-toolchain, configuring the Raylib library for cross-compilation to generate .dll files, installing and using SBCL within Wine, leveraging vend for dependency management, and finally using sb-ext:save-lisp-and-die to create the Windows executable.

(www.fosskers.ca)

Development

Cyberpunk 2077: First Switch 2 Game Confirmed to Use DLSS

2025-04-21

Cyberpunk 2077: First Switch 2 Game Confirmed to Use DLSS

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is the first game officially confirmed to utilize Nvidia's DLSS upscaling technology on the Nintendo Switch 2. DLSS, or Deep Learning Super Sampling, uses AI to boost resolution without significant performance loss. The Switch 2 version will offer Quality and Performance modes in both docked and handheld, each with varying frame rates and resolutions. The Switch 2's custom NVIDIA processor and GPU, featuring RT Cores and Tensor Cores, enable DLSS and real-time ray tracing, promising a visually stunning experience.

(www.videogameschronicle.com)

Game Cyberpunk 2077

LexisNexis Data Breach Exposes Sensitive Info of Over 364,000 Individuals

2025-05-29

LexisNexis Data Breach Exposes Sensitive Info of Over 364,000 Individuals

LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a data broker, suffered a data breach affecting over 364,000 individuals. A hacker accessed a third-party platform used for software development on December 25, 2024, stealing sensitive data including names, birthdates, addresses, Social Security numbers, and driver's license numbers. The breach highlights ongoing concerns about data security and the lack of stringent regulations on data brokers. This incident follows previous controversies surrounding LexisNexis's data sharing practices and the recent Trump administration decision to scrap regulations restricting the sale of personal information by data brokers.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech data broker

Trump's Secret $21 Billion Cryptocurrency Reserves

2025-05-31

Trump's Secret $21 Billion Cryptocurrency Reserves

A March executive order from the Trump administration secretly established two national cryptocurrency reserves: a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimates their combined value exceeds $21 billion, primarily from crypto assets seized by the government. This move sparked debate in the crypto industry, with some praising it for boosting crypto's reputation and others expressing concerns about government intervention contradicting crypto's decentralized nature. The US government is improving its processes for managing and securing these reserves, but uncertainty remains about their precise composition and future direction.

(www.yahoo.com)

Tech national reserves

75+ Open Problems in Computational Geometry

2025-05-17

The Open Problems Project website compiles over 75 unsolved problems in computational geometry and related fields. Started in 2001 with 30 initial problems, it's now a comprehensive resource categorized by topics such as convex hulls, graph theory, and Voronoi diagrams. While no longer accepting new submissions, the site encourages updates to existing problems, particularly those solved (fully or partially), fostering collaboration and advancement in the field.

(topp.openproblem.net)

Development open problems

Business Insider Lets Journalists Use AI for First Drafts, No Disclosure Needed

2025-09-17

Business Insider Lets Journalists Use AI for First Drafts, No Disclosure Needed

Business Insider has become one of the first major news outlets to formally allow journalists to use AI to create first drafts of stories, without requiring disclosure to readers. Internal memos reveal AI can be used as a tool for research and image editing, but journalists are responsible for ensuring the final product is their own work. While AI-generated or unvetted content will be flagged, articles using AI for drafting won't explicitly state so. This move reflects Business Insider's aggressive embrace of AI, despite previous controversies surrounding AI-generated content.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech AI journalism media industry

Microsoft Report: The Rise of the Frontier Firm, Powered by AI

2025-04-25

Microsoft Report: The Rise of the Frontier Firm, Powered by AI

Microsoft's latest report reveals how AI is evolving from a tool to a true assistant, fundamentally transforming how enterprises operate. The report introduces the concept of the 'Frontier Firm,' characterized by hybrid teams of AI agents and humans managing on-demand intelligence needs. It projects that all organizations will be on a journey to become Frontier Firms within the next two to five years. This transformation occurs in three phases: AI as an assistant boosting efficiency; AI agents acting as 'digital colleagues'; and AI agent teams running entire business processes. The report highlights significant productivity gains from AI, addressing capacity gaps, but also emphasizes the need to rethink knowledge-based tasks and find the optimal human-agent ratio. New roles, such as 'agent bosses,' will emerge, and organizational structures will shift from traditional functional models to outcome-driven 'Work Charts.'

(www.zdnet.com)

Tech Frontier Firm

Japan Unveils World's First Solar Super-Panel: Outpowering 20 Nuclear Reactors

2025-04-29

Japan is revolutionizing renewable energy with its breakthrough perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology. This new solar panel boasts the power equivalent of 20 nuclear reactors. Lightweight, flexible, and adaptable, PSCs are ideal for space-constrained urban environments. Japan aims to generate 20 gigawatts of electricity from PSCs by 2040, aligning with its 2050 net-zero emissions goal. This technology leverages Japan's iodine production capabilities for an independent supply chain. While durability and cost remain challenges (projected to fall to ¥10/W by 2040), PSCs promise to transform Japan's energy landscape and lead the global renewable energy sector.

(www.japanenergyevent.com)

Tech Perovskite Solar Cells

Gnosis Mystic: Empowering AI to Control Your Python Functions in Real-Time

2025-06-25

Gnosis Mystic: Empowering AI to Control Your Python Functions in Real-Time

Gnosis Mystic is a powerful tool that gives AI assistants direct access and control over your Python functions through runtime hijacking and intelligent analysis. With minimal decorators, Claude can inspect, optimize, and control your code in real-time. It solves the problem of AI assistants being blind to your running code, lacking access to runtime behavior and state, and enables real-time function monitoring, safe experimentation, runtime control, intelligent analysis, and live debugging, significantly boosting development efficiency and code security.

(github.com)

Development

Open Source: Illusion or Reality?

2025-02-09

Open Source: Illusion or Reality?

This article delves into the complexities surrounding the definition and practice of 'open source'. While the Open Source Initiative (OSI) certification serves as a crucial benchmark, the cultural aspects of open source—transparency and governance—are equally vital. Android, despite its open-source code, exemplifies the blurred lines due to Google's control and commercial strategies. Companies often modify licenses for commercial gain, leveraging the 'open source' brand to circumvent regulations. Similar issues plague open-source AI projects like DeepSeek and Llama, raising questions about their true openness. While expanding the definition to encompass the spirit of open source is debated, the license-based definition remains a clear and practical standard.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech software license

Trump's Policies Fueling a Brain Drain: Who Benefits?

2025-04-12

Trump's Policies Fueling a Brain Drain: Who Benefits?

President Trump's administration is weakening America's appeal to talented immigrants. Recent actions, including detaining foreign nationals with valid visas and slashing research funding, are pushing skilled workers away. Tech companies are warning employees against leaving the country for fear of being barred from re-entry. This brain drain presents opportunities for other nations. Our analysis identifies the countries poised to gain the most.

(www.economist.com)

Misc

DeepSeek Opensources 5 AGI Repos: A Humble Beginning

2025-02-21

DeepSeek Opensources 5 AGI Repos: A Humble Beginning

DeepSeek AI, a small team pushing the boundaries of AGI, announces it will open-source five repositories over the next week, one per day. These aren't vaporware; they're battle-tested production-ready building blocks of their online service. This open-source initiative aims to foster collaborative progress and accelerate the journey towards AGI. Accompanying this release are two research papers: a 2024 AI Infrastructure paper (SC24) and a paper on Fire-Flyer AI-HPC, a cost-effective software-hardware co-design for deep learning.

(github.com)

AI AI Infrastructure

Scraperr: Precise Web Data Extraction with XPath

2025-05-11

Scraperr: Precise Web Data Extraction with XPath

Scraperr is a self-hosted web scraping application that uses XPath selectors for precise data extraction. It offers a clean interface to manage scraping jobs, view results, and export data in various formats. Features include queue management, domain spidering, custom headers, media downloads, results visualization, and notification channels. Remember to respect robots.txt, terms of service, and implement rate limiting. Use only on websites that explicitly permit scraping.

(github.com)

Development

New Short Message Compression Tool: ts_sms

2024-12-30

ts_sms is a new tool for short message compression using large language models. It employs lossless compression, reducing bits by identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy without information loss. Compared to tools like brotli, ts_sms shows advantages in compressing small messages. Both Linux and Windows versions are available. Its core technology is similar to ts_zip, utilizing a specific padding system compatible with arithmetic coding, eliminating the need to explicitly encode message length.

(bellard.org)

Development

Rust for C++ Programmers: A Practical Guide

2025-05-31

This book serves as a practical guide for C++ programmers transitioning to Rust. It translates common C++ patterns into idiomatic Rust, using concrete code examples and discussing engineering trade-offs. The book is designed for both sequential and random-access reading, perfect for when you encounter a Rust problem and think, "I know how to do this in C++". Written by experts at Brown University's Cognitive Engineering Lab, it focuses on accuracy and detail, with no AI-generated content.

(cel.cs.brown.edu)

Development

VLC Hits 6 Billion Downloads, Teases AI-Powered Subtitles

2025-01-09

VLC Hits 6 Billion Downloads, Teases AI-Powered Subtitles

The popular open-source media player VLC has surpassed 6 billion downloads. At CES 2025, VideoLAN showcased a new AI-powered subtitle system that generates and translates subtitles in real-time using locally-run open-source AI models. This eliminates the need for internet connectivity. While a release date wasn't announced, this innovative feature demonstrates VLC's continued commitment to free, ad-free, and cutting-edge technology.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech AI subtitles

An Infinitely High Stack of Blocks? Impossible!

2025-08-20

This paper explores a counter-intuitive physics problem: the stability of an infinitely extending stack of blocks. By analyzing torque and center of mass, the author demonstrates that finite-height stacks of blocks can remain stable even when their tops extend far beyond the edge of a table—a result that defies intuition. However, when attempting to extrapolate this to an infinitely high stack, the author finds that regardless of the limiting procedure used, the end result is either no stack at all or a stack that doesn't lean. This reveals the subtleties of limit operations when dealing with infinity and the limitations of intuition.

(sites.pitt.edu)

Tech mechanics limits

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