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Salt Typhoon: Chinese Cyber Espionage Campaign Targets Millions of Americans

2025-08-30

Salt Typhoon: Chinese Cyber Espionage Campaign Targets Millions of Americans

A top FBI cyber official revealed that China's 'Salt Typhoon' cyber espionage campaign has stolen data from millions of Americans over several years through intrusions into US telecommunications networks. The campaign's reach is vast, potentially affecting nearly every American, targeting individuals beyond sensitive sectors and including high-profile figures like former and current presidential administration officials. The operation, active since at least 2019, compromised around 200 US organizations and impacted over 80 countries. The FBI warns of China's reckless and unbounded actions through affiliated companies, urging a heightened awareness of cybersecurity threats and the need for robust defenses against such attacks.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech cyber espionage

CoreWCF Streaming RPC Performance Bottleneck: A Stack Overflow Failure Postmortem

2025-05-08

CoreWCF Streaming RPC Performance Bottleneck: A Stack Overflow Failure Postmortem

The author attempted to use CoreWCF for streaming RPC between .NET Framework and .NET 8 to test the throughput of random number transfers. However, after posting a question on Stack Overflow, it was closed without an answer. The issue is that the CoreWCF service continues to consume significant CPU and write to the stream even after the client disconnects. The author suspects a misunderstanding of how WCF streams are supposed to work, suggesting WCF streams may not be suitable for handling streams of unknown length. The article explores the challenges of using WCF streaming for high-throughput RPC and considers alternatives, such as using single message requests or session mode, to improve performance and reliability.

(richardcocks.github.io)

Development

Ubuntu 25.04: Plucky Puffin Soars with Performance and Security Enhancements

2025-04-17

Ubuntu 25.04: Plucky Puffin Soars with Performance and Security Enhancements

Canonical has released Ubuntu 25.04, codenamed "Plucky Puffin," featuring GNOME 48, improved installation and boot experience, and a new "devpack" for the Spring framework. This release boasts performance improvements for AI workloads on Intel GPUs and support for confidential computing using AMD SEV-SNP. The Linux 6.14 kernel includes improved scheduling and a new NTSYNC driver for better Windows game performance on Wine and Proton. Ubuntu 25.04 also includes the latest toolchains, enhanced manageability and networking controls, and expanded support for Intel Core Ultra processors and ARM64 hardware.

(canonical.com)

Development

The Last Inca Bridge: A 500-Year-Old Tradition in the Andes

2025-06-09

High in the Peruvian Andes, Victoriano Arizapana annually rebuilds a bridge made of grass and fiber – the Q’eswachaka bridge – a tradition spanning over 500 years. This incredible feat of engineering, hanging 60 feet above a rushing river, is strong enough to support over a hundred men. Arizapana's family has been the custodian of this Inca legacy, annually dismantling and rebuilding the bridge with the local community. This story explores not only the breathtaking architectural marvel but also the enduring power of tradition, community, and the dedication to preserving a unique cultural heritage.

(www.atlasobscura.com)

Misc Inca civilization

Silicon Valley's Secret Power Plays: How Encrypted Group Chats Shaped American Politics

2025-04-28

Silicon Valley's Secret Power Plays: How Encrypted Group Chats Shaped American Politics

This article exposes a hidden network of power built by Silicon Valley elites through encrypted group chats (like Signal and WhatsApp), playing a crucial role in shaping American politics, particularly the alliance between the tech world and the right wing. Led by Marc Andreessen, tech moguls discuss politics, strategies, and even influence mainstream opinion in these private chats. These chats once propelled support for Trump, but internal rifts have emerged with shifting political landscapes, reflecting the complex dynamics of American politics and the tech sector.

(www.semafor.com)

Tech

Firefly's Rocket Expertise Fuels Deep-Sea Probe

2025-03-02

Firefly's Rocket Expertise Fuels Deep-Sea Probe

Firefly, initially focused on rockets for launching satellites and spacecraft, has leveraged its experience building the Alpha rocket – despite some early setbacks – to design the propulsion system for its Blue Ghost deep-sea probe. CEO Jason Kim highlights the use of flight-proven attitude control thrusters from the Alpha rocket and in-house developed reaction control thrusters, reducing risk and capitalizing on existing expertise. Firefly's Texas facility, where rocket engine tests are conducted alongside a cow pasture, has expanded significantly. While thrusters were built on-site, the main engine for Blue Ghost was sourced from a supplier.

(www.cnn.com)

Tech Aerospace Technology

Parasite SEO Operator Evaded Google Penalties with Finesse

2024-12-21

This article exposes how parasite SEO operator Finixio/Clickout Media swiftly and effectively evaded Google penalties. Following a Google algorithm update, several Finixio/Clickout Media websites faced severe penalties for violating Google's site reputation abuse policy, resulting in plummeting traffic and rankings. However, through clever use of redirects and cloaking techniques, they restored their operations within days and continued profiting from their parasite website network. They even expanded their operations after being penalized, leveraging new websites and existing high-authority sites (like CoinTelegraph) to continue promoting gambling and cryptocurrency. The article details their strategies, including using geolocation to hide content and placing content on various platforms. It points out that the root cause of this phenomenon is Google's weakening of topical authority in its algorithms, making domain authority the primary ranking factor.

(recleudo.com)

Development parasite SEO Google penalties site reputation

Windows 7's 30-Second Startup Bug: A Simple Coding Error?

2025-05-01

Windows 7's 30-Second Startup Bug: A Simple Coding Error?

Remember Windows 7? While a triumph for Microsoft, a quirky bug plagued some users: a 30-second startup delay when using a single-color wallpaper. A recent blog post reveals the culprit: a simple coding error. The system waited for a message confirming the background image was ready, a message only sent if a complex bitmap was used—not a single color. Adding insult to injury, a group policy setting to hide desktop icons compounded the issue due to its placement in the code. The fix, deployed months later, highlights the surprising ways seemingly minor programming oversights can cause major headaches.

(www.pcworld.com)

Development coding error system startup

My Pocket Data Revealed My Secrets

2025-07-07

My Pocket Data Revealed My Secrets

Before Pocket's shutdown, the author exported nearly 900 saved articles spanning seven years and used the AI tool o3 to analyze them. Surprisingly, o3 accurately inferred the author's age, gender, location, profession, income, family status, and even political leanings, risk tolerance, and learning style. This prompted reflections on data privacy and AI capabilities, inspiring the creation of a personalized content recommendation system.

(noperator.dev)

AI

Python f-string Cheat Sheet: Mastering String Formatting

2025-08-21

This blog post presents a cheat sheet for Python's f-string formatting, covering various formatting options for numbers, integers, and strings, including fill, width, grouping, precision, and type. It also explores modifiers common to all objects, such as !s, !r, !a, and how to mix and match these modifiers with other format specifications. Whether you're working with numbers, integers, or strings, this cheat sheet empowers you to easily harness the power of Python f-strings, enhancing code readability and efficiency.

(fstring.help)

Development string formatting

Open-Source Toolkit: Assessing and Mitigating Hallucination Risk in LLMs

2025-09-09

Open-Source Toolkit: Assessing and Mitigating Hallucination Risk in LLMs

Hassana Labs has released an open-source toolkit for assessing and mitigating hallucination risk in large language models (LLMs). Without requiring model retraining, the toolkit leverages the OpenAI Chat Completions API. It creates an ensemble of content-weakened prompts (rolling priors) to calculate an upper bound on hallucination risk using the Expectation-level Decompression Law (EDFL). A decision to answer or refuse is made based on a target service-level agreement (SLA). Supporting both evidence-based and closed-book deployment modes, the toolkit provides comprehensive metrics and an audit trail for building more reliable LLM applications.

(github.com)

AI Hallucination Risk Model Reliability

Return to Office Mandates? Employees Would Rather Quit

2025-01-15

Return to Office Mandates? Employees Would Rather Quit

A survey of 5,395 US adults reveals that nearly half would leave their jobs if forced back to the office. Tech companies are increasingly mandating a return to in-person work, but many employees prioritize flexible work arrangements. Even figures like Elon Musk, who deems working from home "morally wrong," are met with resistance. The survey shows a strong preference for remote work, especially among women and those under 50, sparking debate on productivity, company culture, and talent retention. Many companies seem to prioritize control over trust and flexibility.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech employee retention

The Absurdity of Secrecy: Why the US Government Forbids Its Intelligence Officers From Reading Publicly Available Leaks

2025-06-22

The Absurdity of Secrecy: Why the US Government Forbids Its Intelligence Officers From Reading Publicly Available Leaks

This article examines the paradoxical US government policy prohibiting intelligence officers from accessing publicly available leaked documents, despite their widespread dissemination online. Using the 1969 KGB forgery operation and recent mega-leaks like Snowden as examples, it argues that while these leaks pose geopolitical risks, they also offer invaluable learning opportunities for understanding intelligence tradecraft and computer network penetrations. However, US government policy punishes officers for even looking at this information. This approach is not only absurd but hinders the US national security establishment's ability to improve and meet future challenges. The author calls for a shift in government thinking—from protecting information to learning lessons from it—to better navigate the increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape.

(www.theatlantic.com)

Tech intelligence leaks

Zig 0.13.0 Released: A General-Purpose Language Focused on Robustness and Optimization

2025-02-05

Zig 0.13.0 Released: A General-Purpose Language Focused on Robustness and Optimization

Zig 0.13.0 has been released, a general-purpose programming language and toolchain designed for building robust, optimal, and reusable software. While currently unstable, Zig's focus on low-level programming concepts makes it an attractive option for experienced programmers. Prior experience with languages like C, C++, Rust, or Go will be helpful.

(zig.guide)

Development low-level programming

Anthropic Gives Claude the Power to End Conversations

2025-08-16

Anthropic has empowered its large language model, Claude, with the ability to terminate conversations in cases of persistent harmful or abusive user interactions. This feature, born from exploratory research into AI welfare, aims to mitigate model risks. Testing revealed Claude's strong aversion to harmful tasks, apparent distress when encountering harmful requests, and a tendency to end conversations only after multiple redirection attempts fail. This functionality is reserved for extreme edge cases; the vast majority of users won't be affected.

(www.anthropic.com)

AI AI welfare

Five Ways to Model Polymorphic Data in Relational Databases

2025-07-09

Five Ways to Model Polymorphic Data in Relational Databases

This article explores five approaches to modeling polymorphic data in relational databases: single table, nullable foreign keys, tagged union, child-to-parent foreign keys, and JSON. Each method has its pros and cons; for example, the single table approach is simple but can be slow, while JSON is easily extensible but lacks data validation. The author suggests choosing the method that's easiest to read, maintain, and debug, and avoiding premature optimization.

(www.dolthub.com)

Development polymorphic data relational databases

Hubble Confirms First Lone Black Hole

2025-04-21

Hubble Confirms First Lone Black Hole

A team of astronomers, using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and Gaia spacecraft, has confirmed the existence of the first isolated stellar-mass black hole. Initially spotted in 2022, this approximately seven-solar-mass black hole was detected through its gravitational microlensing effect. Unlike previously discovered black holes which all had companion stars, this discovery offers a new window into these mysterious objects and paves the way for future searches using the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

(phys.org)

Tech

Dr. Demento Retires After 55 Years of Broadcasting Novelty Music

2025-06-19

Dr. Demento Retires After 55 Years of Broadcasting Novelty Music

Radio personality Barret "Dr. Demento" Hansen announced his retirement this week, ending a 55-year career dedicated to comedy and novelty music. His show, which began in 1970, will conclude in October with retrospective episodes culminating in a final broadcast of the program's top 40 songs. Dr. Demento's show, initially a freeform rock program, evolved into a platform for comedic songs and musical oddities, introducing audiences to artists like "Weird Al" Yankovic, whom he's largely credited with discovering. The show's long run spanned various mediums, from reel-to-reel tapes to online streaming, showcasing Hansen's enduring influence on radio and comedy.

(sopghreporter.com)

Misc

Linux Kernel Performance Boost: Restartable Sequences Improved

2025-09-20

The Linux kernel's restartable sequences feature, aimed at boosting performance in threaded applications, has seen increased use alongside new kernel capabilities. However, this has revealed some issues. Developer Thomas Gleixner recently improved the code, addressing performance bottlenecks and historical oversights. These changes significantly enhance efficiency but might require ABI changes in user space, demanding thorough testing for compatibility.

(lwn.net)

Development restartable sequences

Intel Cuts Over 5,000 Jobs in Restructuring Amidst AI Shift

2025-07-17

Intel Cuts Over 5,000 Jobs in Restructuring Amidst AI Shift

Intel is undertaking a major restructuring, laying off over 5,000 employees across four US states to streamline operations and focus on AI. The cuts, impacting California, Oregon, Arizona, and Texas, are part of CEO Lip-Bu Tan's plan to address the company's losses and lagging competitiveness in the semiconductor market. Tan aims to make Intel leaner, faster, and more focused on core AI products to regain its footing.

(www.manufacturingdive.com)

Tech

iPhone Agent: Control Your iOS Device with GPT-4.1

2025-06-02

iPhone Agent: Control Your iOS Device with GPT-4.1

PhoneAgent is an iOS app leveraging OpenAI's GPT-4.1 model to control your iPhone across multiple apps. By accessing the accessibility tree, it can perform tasks like sending messages, downloading apps, and making calls. It uses Xcode's UI testing framework, requiring no jailbreak, but is experimental and has known limitations, such as handling long-running tasks and animations. The app sends app content to the OpenAI API and communicates with UI tests via a TCP server.

(github.com)

Development

Litestream: Major Update Brings Fast Point-in-Time Restores and Lightweight Read Replicas

2025-05-20

Litestream: Major Update Brings Fast Point-in-Time Restores and Lightweight Read Replicas

Litestream, an open-source tool enabling full-stack applications to run reliably on top of SQLite by recovering from object storage, has received a major update. The improvements leverage technology from LiteFS to provide significantly faster point-in-time restores (PITR), simplify replication management using object storage's compare-and-swap capabilities, and introduce lightweight read replicas based on a virtual filesystem (VFS). These changes enhance Litestream's reliability and ease of use, particularly when dealing with numerous databases. The update also positions Litestream to better support LLM code development by providing PITR as a primitive for rollbacks and branching.

(fly.io)

Development

Hegel 2.0: The Unrealized Revolution of Ternary Computing

2025-05-14

Hegel 2.0: The Unrealized Revolution of Ternary Computing

This article explores the Cold War clash between the US and Soviet Union in computer science and philosophy. Warren McCulloch's refusal of a Soviet invitation sets the stage for a narrative about the ternary computer SETUN and its connection to McCulloch's neural network theory and Gotthard Günther's 'transclassical logic'. Günther sought to synthesize Hegel's dialectic with cybernetics, arguing that ternary logic could solve contradictions inherent in binary logic and provide a foundation for a digital metaphysics. Though SETUN ultimately failed, it spurred exploration of non-binary computing and prompted reconsideration of binary oppositions in digital culture.

(www.cabinetmagazine.org)

Tech Ternary Computing

Google's AI Now Makes Calls for You to Local Businesses

2025-07-17

Google's AI Now Makes Calls for You to Local Businesses

Google has launched a new feature in the US that lets its AI make calls to local businesses on your behalf, handling inquiries about pricing and availability for services like pet grooming or dry cleaning. Users simply specify their needs in Google Search, and the AI takes over, eliminating the need for phone calls. Powered by Google's Duplex model and Gemini AI, the system gathers information and sends updates via text or email. While available to all, paid subscribers get higher usage limits. Google is also testing its advanced Gemini 2.5 Pro in AI Mode, along with integrating Deep Search for more comprehensive query results.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech

NASA Open-Sources Peer Review Tool for Enhanced Software Development

2025-05-15

NASA Open-Sources Peer Review Tool for Enhanced Software Development

NASA's Stennis Space Center has released its first open-source software: a peer review tool designed to streamline and enhance collaborative software application development. Built from years of internal experience using LabVIEW, the tool automates parts of the review process, improving code comparison and comment functionality. This ultimately leads to better software quality and more efficient development. Now available to the public, the tool is intended to be a community-driven project, constantly refined and improved by developers worldwide.

(www.nasa.gov)

Development

Qwen3: A Multi-Lingual LLM with Switchable Thinking Modes

2025-04-28

Qwen3: A Multi-Lingual LLM with Switchable Thinking Modes

Alibaba DAMO Academy released Qwen3, its latest large language model, offering various model sizes with open-sourced weights. Qwen3 features switchable "thinking" and "non-thinking" modes, letting users control reasoning depth and speed based on task complexity. It supports 119 languages and dialects. Enhanced coding and agentic capabilities are also included, along with diverse deployment and development tools.

(qwenlm.github.io)

AI

DOGE Budget Cuts: A PR Stunt Masking Larger Issues

2025-04-25

While headlines focus on DOGE budget cuts, their impact on the deficit is negligible—$0.00. The Department of Government Efficiency canceled zero grants and contracts, resulting in significant social costs to vulnerable communities, research, and essential services. The article highlights two alternative policies that would generate far more savings than the DOGE cuts, such as closing corporate tax loopholes and reducing carbon emissions. These policies offer a more substantial and meaningful approach to addressing the deficit while maintaining critical services.

(www.debtinperspective.com)

Misc budget deficit policy analysis

May Mobility Unveils Electric Autonomous Minibus at CES 2025

2025-01-10

May Mobility Unveils Electric Autonomous Minibus at CES 2025

Autonomous vehicle startup May Mobility revealed its latest creation at CES 2025: an electric, autonomous minibus developed in partnership with European electric bus manufacturer Tecnobus. Capable of carrying up to 30 passengers, including wheelchair users, this minibus is slated to join May Mobility's existing fleet of 40 retrofitted Toyota Siennas by late 2026. Designed for urban transit, corporate campuses, airports, and planned communities, it features swappable batteries for minimal downtime and is approved for use in Europe and Canada. May Mobility currently operates autonomous shuttle services in several US cities and has a pilot program in Japan with NTT.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech

The Rise and Fall (and Rise?) of the HTAP Database

2025-05-29

The Rise and Fall (and Rise?) of the HTAP Database

This blog post chronicles the journey of the HTAP (Hybrid Transactional/Analytical Processing) database. From the 1970s, when a single database handled all transactions and analytics, to the 1980s' workload isolation, the 1990s' storage architecture split, and the 2010s' rise of NewSQL and cloud data warehouses, HTAP databases held great promise. However, challenges such as the difficulty of replacing existing OLTP systems, the fact that most workloads don't need distributed OLTP, cloud-native architectures favoring shared-disk over shared-nothing, and misaligned team incentives, led to HTAP's failure to gain widespread adoption. Today, the data stack is shifting towards modular lakehouse architectures, achieving HTAP functionality through composition rather than consolidation of databases. This marks the demise of HTAP databases as a standalone database, but its spirit lives on in the lakehouse architecture.

(www.mooncake.dev)

Development

C++: A Resurgence of Programming Fun

2024-12-23

C++: A Resurgence of Programming Fun

The author reflects on over a decade of programming, lamenting that languages like JavaScript, Python, and Ruby failed to recapture the joy he felt coding as a child. Recently, while developing a roguelike game using C++, he rediscovered that programming fun. He argues that C++ was once notorious for the overuse of template metaprogramming, but since C++11, the standards committee's efforts have revitalized the language. Additions like auto type inference, nullptr, and range-based for loops have significantly improved developer experience and efficiency. Modern C++ is powerful, boasting rich libraries and tools, yet avoids the negative aspects of excessive popularity. The relatively pure community allows developers to focus on creation, which is the essence of programming enjoyment.

(learncodethehardway.com)

Development

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