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DoubleClickjacking: Bypassing All Clickjacking Protections

2025-01-17

DoubleClickjacking: Bypassing All Clickjacking Protections

DoubleClickjacking is a novel attack exploiting the timing of double-click events to bypass all known clickjacking protections, including X-Frame-Options, CSP's frame-ancestors, and SameSite cookies. Attackers trick users into double-clicking a seemingly benign button, rapidly switching windows in milliseconds to hijack actions like authorizing malicious apps or changing account settings. It leverages the subtle timing difference between `mousedown` and `onclick` events, making it effective regardless of double-click speed. While some sites mitigate this by disabling buttons until user interaction (mouse movement or keyboard input) is detected, this requires client-side protection. Long-term solutions require new browser standards to defend against this.

(www.paulosyibelo.com)

Tech clickjacking doubleclickjacking

Google Search Now Requires JavaScript: Security or Something Else?

2025-01-17

Google Search Now Requires JavaScript: Security or Something Else?

Google has announced that its search engine now mandates JavaScript for use. The stated reason is to better protect against malicious activity like bots and spam, improving the overall user experience. However, this move may inconvenience users relying on accessibility tools and has sparked speculation about Google's intent to limit third-party search trend analysis tools. While Google claims the affected user percentage is minuscule, the sheer volume of daily Google searches means millions are still impacted, leading to widespread discussion.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech Malicious Activity

Project Mini Rack: Compact, Portable Homelabs

2025-01-17

Jeff Geerling announces Project MINI RACK, an open-source project for building compact 10" homelabs. The project provides resources for hardware and software, showcasing three example mini-racks: a battery-backed solar-powered rack, a low-cost Raspberry Pi cluster, and a high-performance compute-dense rack. A build showcase encourages community contributions and sharing of designs. This addresses the need for smaller, more portable homelab solutions.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware homelab mini rack open source hardware

Conquering the StarCraft: Brood War Translation Barrier with LLMs and Open Source

2025-01-17

Conquering the StarCraft: Brood War Translation Barrier with LLMs and Open Source

A StarCraft: Brood War (BW) player tackled a long-standing community problem: translating Korean-language strategic analyses and commentary videos. BW's culture is heavily rooted in Korea, creating a significant barrier for non-Korean speakers. The author cleverly combined Whisper for transcription, Google Colab's free GPU resources, and ChatGPT for translation, alongside a custom userscript. This dramatically improved translation speed and accuracy, solving the 'Foreigner Knowledge' problem and making Korean-language BW insights accessible to a wider audience.

(blog.sourcedive.net)

Game StarCraft Game Translation

Microsoft's AI Red Team: Securing AI is a Never-Ending Battle

2025-01-17

Microsoft's AI Red Team: Securing AI is a Never-Ending Battle

Microsoft's AI red team, after testing over 100 of the company's generative AI products, concluded that AI models both amplify existing security risks and introduce new ones. Their findings highlight seven key lessons learned, emphasizing that securing AI systems is an ongoing process requiring continuous investment and a combination of automated tools and human review. The report also stresses the importance of considering the model's intended use when assessing risks, noting that simpler attack methods are often more effective than complex gradient-based attacks. Furthermore, the ethical and societal biases introduced by AI are highlighted as critical concerns.

(www.theregister.com)

AI red teaming

Medicare to Negotiate Prices for 15 Popular Drugs

2025-01-17

Medicare to Negotiate Prices for 15 Popular Drugs

The Biden administration announced that 15 commonly used drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, will be included in Medicare's price negotiation program. This marks the first time the U.S. government will directly negotiate drug prices with manufacturers, and is expected to save taxpayers billions of dollars. While Ozempic and Wegovy have drawn scrutiny for their high costs, Medicare currently only covers them for diabetes treatment, not weight loss. The incoming Trump administration will decide whether to implement a proposed rule to cover these medications for obesity. This brings the total number of drugs subject to Medicare price negotiations to 25, covering a third of prescription drug spending. The pharmaceutical industry has sued over the program, but groups like the AARP say they will fight to uphold the law.

(apnews.com)

Tech Drug Price Negotiation

Rescued from the Digital Void: Kevin Killian's Amazon Reviews

2025-01-17

Rescued from the Digital Void: Kevin Killian's Amazon Reviews

This book collects over two thousand Amazon reviews written by the late poet Kevin Killian between 2003 and 2019. Beginning after a heart attack as a form of therapeutic writing, Killian's reviews evolved from short comments into insightful essays on everything from everyday objects to books and films. They offer a unique perspective on popular culture from the first quarter of the 21st century, blending humor and personal reflection. The publication of this collection is a rescue mission for Killian's digital legacy and a poignant reflection on the ephemeral nature of online content.

(www.clereviewofbooks.com)

Misc literary criticism Amazon

Nonlinear Optics Sandbox: AI-Powered Control of Complex Optical Systems

2025-01-17

Nonlinear Optics Sandbox: AI-Powered Control of Complex Optical Systems

WestonCB's Nonlinear Optics Sandbox is an interactive platform for studying controlled nonlinear dynamics through the simulation of coupled optical fields. The project uses a specific optical configuration—coupled fundamental/harmonic fields interacting with an adaptive medium—as an idealized model to explore how optimization processes can guide complex nonlinear systems towards desired states. It combines real-time visualization, GPU-accelerated physics simulation, and gradient-based optimization, offering a novel tool for researching nonlinear dynamics and the control of complex systems.

(github.com)

Tech Nonlinear Optics AI Optimization Complex Systems

hyveOS: Serverless Swarm Orchestration for Drones and Robots

2025-01-17

hyveOS is a decentralized system for coordinating swarms of robots and drones, eliminating the need for internet connection or central servers. Developers can install hyved on various devices (like Raspberry Pis) and use diverse SDKs (including Python, Rust, JavaScript, etc.) to build applications. Its core strength lies in its decentralized architecture, enabling flexible and reliable swarm control adaptable to complex scenarios. Sample applications are provided for easy onboarding.

(docs.p2p.industries)

Development

Keeling Labs: Pioneering ML for Complex Energy Control

2025-01-17

Keeling Labs: Pioneering ML for Complex Energy Control

Keeling Labs is a mission-driven startup in Venice, Los Angeles, pioneering machine learning solutions for complex control problems in the energy sector. The team boasts experience from companies like Rivian, DeepMind, and boasts a collaborative in-person work environment emphasizing whiteboarding and brainstorming. If you're passionate about energy trading and machine learning and want to join a growing startup, Keeling Labs might be the perfect fit.

(www.keelinglabs.com)

Startup energy trading

AI vs. End-to-End Encryption: A Privacy Showdown

2025-01-17

AI vs. End-to-End Encryption: A Privacy Showdown

This article explores the clash between AI and end-to-end encryption. The rise of AI assistants necessitates off-device processing of increasingly sensitive data, challenging the privacy protections offered by end-to-end encryption. While companies like Apple are attempting to mitigate this with 'Private Cloud Compute' and trusted hardware, this approach relies on complex software and hardware security, falling short of a perfect solution. A deeper concern lies in the control of powerful AI agents; once deployed, access becomes paramount, raising the specter of government or corporate access compromising personal privacy.

(blog.cryptographyengineering.com)

Tech AI privacy end-to-end encryption

French Modernists and the Mass Media: A Love-Hate Relationship

2025-01-17

French Modernists and the Mass Media: A Love-Hate Relationship

This essay explores the complex relationship between 19th-century French modernist writers and the mass media, particularly newspapers. From Baudelaire to Proust, they both loathed the negative impacts of newspapers (e.g., inciting crime, suppressing literature) and were deeply influenced by them, utilizing their platforms for creation and promotion. Newspapers served as both a crucible of modernity and a laboratory for literary innovation. Writers struggled against them while actively integrating them into their work; Mallarmé's groundbreaking poem *A Throw of the Dice* was published in the commercial magazine *Cosmopolis*. Ultimately, the author argues that in the face of the internet's information deluge, we can learn from the French modernists' experience, maintaining artistic independence while skillfully leveraging new media.

(aeon.co)

Literature Modernism Mass Media Literature

Dark Patterns Detective: Unmasking the Design Tricks That Manipulate You

2025-01-17

Dark Patterns Detective: Unmasking the Design Tricks That Manipulate You

Dark Patterns Detective is an interactive game that teaches you to identify and understand the hidden design patterns manipulating user decisions online. Through gameplay, you'll learn to spot manipulative tactics, decode the psychology behind design choices, and ultimately become a more empowered and informed digital user. The game is free to play, but consider sharing it or supporting future creations if you find it valuable.

(games.productartistry.com)

Design design psychology

Fast Food vs. Home-Cooked Software: A Developer's Dilemma

2025-01-17

This article explores two contrasting approaches to software development: fast food and home-cooked. Fast food software uses agile sprints, prioritizing rapid iteration over long-term maintainability. Home-cooked software emphasizes upfront design, resulting in lean, stable code, but with longer development cycles. The author criticizes the prevalent fast food approach, highlighting its creation of massive technical debt and poor user experiences. A call for a return to a more quality-focused, maintainable approach is made.

(ownerofhappy.org)

Development

Mermaid Chart Visual Editor Update: Effortless Class Diagram Editing

2025-01-17

Mermaid Chart Visual Editor Update: Effortless Class Diagram Editing

Mermaid Chart recently updated its visual editor to make creating and editing class diagrams significantly easier. New features include changing rendering direction, adding classes and relationships, adding titles and notes, updating diagram configuration, and changing themes and layouts. Users can now easily create and update class diagrams via drag-and-drop, eliminating the need for manual Mermaid syntax. The visual editor also provides a powerful dialog interface for modifying class properties, such as adding attributes and methods, setting visibility modifiers and data types. These improvements make creating and maintaining complex class diagrams more efficient and accessible, especially for team members less familiar with Mermaid's syntax.

(docs.mermaidchart.com)

Development Class Diagram Visual Editor

Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban: National Security Trumps Free Speech

2025-01-17

Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban: National Security Trumps Free Speech

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law banning TikTok unless its Chinese parent company sells it. The ruling prioritizes national security concerns over free speech arguments, citing risks posed by TikTok's ties to China. While President-elect Trump suggested a negotiated solution and the Biden administration indicated it wouldn't enforce the ban immediately, the decision leaves TikTok's future in the US uncertain. The court found the law did not violate petitioners' First Amendment rights.

(apnews.com)

Tech US-China Tech Rivalry

The Morro Castle Disaster: A Suspicious Fire and a Trail of Suspects

2025-01-17

The Morro Castle Disaster: A Suspicious Fire and a Trail of Suspects

In 1934, the luxury liner SS Morro Castle was ravaged by a sudden fire at sea, resulting in a devastating loss of life. The captain's mysterious death just hours before the blaze only deepened the mystery. Chaos ensued as passengers and crew struggled to escape the inferno and the stormy waters. Investigations pointed towards radio operator George Rogers, whose past and connections to the captain’s death raised significant suspicions, yet a lack of definitive proof left the case unresolved. The tragedy highlighted maritime safety failings of the era, leaving behind a lingering question mark about who was truly responsible for the disaster.

(www.damninteresting.com)

Misc maritime disaster SS Morro Castle arson

Go 1.24: Weak Pointers, Improved Finalizers, and Blazing-Fast Maps

2025-01-17

Go 1.24: Weak Pointers, Improved Finalizers, and Blazing-Fast Maps

Go 1.24, slated for a February release, packs a punch with significant improvements. This interactive tutorial highlights key features like weak pointers, enhanced finalizers, a highly optimized map implementation using SwissTable, concurrent hash-trie maps, directory-scoped filesystem access, and more. Example code showcases usage and performance gains. Testing is also enhanced with synthetic time for testing, simplified logging, and new string and byte iterators. These improvements significantly boost Go's development efficiency and performance.

(antonz.org)

Development weak pointers map performance

GM Banned from Selling Driver Data to Insurers

2025-01-17

GM Banned from Selling Driver Data to Insurers

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges that General Motors (GM) and OnStar collected, used, and sold drivers' precise geolocation data and driving behavior without adequate notification or consent. The FTC issued a proposed order banning GM from selling this data to consumer reporting agencies for five years. This follows a New York Times investigation revealing GM's sale of driving data—including instances of hard braking and speeding—to insurers, leading to increased premiums for drivers. GM claims it has already taken steps to address these issues, including ending its Smart Driver program and ceasing data sales to analytics firms. The FTC's order is subject to a 30-day public comment period.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech

Rust Prototyping: Debunking the Myths

2025-01-17

Rust Prototyping: Debunking the Myths

This article challenges the common belief that Rust is unsuitable for rapid prototyping. The author argues that Rust's strong type system and tooling actually help developers catch design flaws early, reducing rework later. The article details several Rust prototyping techniques, such as using simple types, leveraging type inference, judiciously using `unwrap`, and utilizing IDE features effectively. Real-world examples illustrate how Rust's type system aids design, leading to robust production-ready code. The author also emphasizes avoiding premature optimization and recommends the `dbg!` macro for debugging. In short, this article provides a practical guide to Rust prototyping, enabling developers to efficiently translate ideas into working code.

(corrode.dev)

Development Prototyping Programming Techniques

Zig 0.14.0 Release Incoming: Improved x86 Backend and Incremental Compilation

2025-01-17

After a period of quiet development, the Zig Software Foundation is gearing up for the release of Zig 0.14.0. This release focuses on improvements to the x86 backend (potentially becoming the default for debug builds) and incremental compilation (disabled by default, but enabled via a compiler flag). Other improvements include labeled switch continue and upgraded support for nearly all target platforms. The team encourages users to upgrade to the latest master branch and will focus on ensuring a smooth upgrade during the release month. While a 1.0 release is still some time away, the team is committed to delivering stable, incremental releases.

(ziglang.org)

Development

GM Settles FTC Charges Over Secret Sharing of Driver Location Data

2025-01-17

GM Settles FTC Charges Over Secret Sharing of Driver Location Data

General Motors (GM) has settled with the FTC over privacy concerns related to its discontinued Smart Driver program. The FTC alleged that GM collected and shared precise geolocation data from millions of vehicles without informed consent, providing this data to insurance companies and impacting drivers' premiums. The settlement prohibits GM from sharing such data for five years and mandates obtaining affirmative consent for data collection, along with data access and deletion options for users. This case highlights the ongoing debate surrounding the privacy of automotive data and consumer protection.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

16 Months of Startup Life: A Former Employee's Honest Account

2025-01-17

16 Months of Startup Life: A Former Employee's Honest Account

A former Confluent employee shares his honest experience of the first 16 months of building his startup, ShadowTraffic. The post details his journey, from initial self-doubt and the elation of landing his first customer, to hitting plateaus, customer churn, and the anxieties that come with it. He describes the process not as a single leap, but as a continuous cycle of fear, courage, and calm. Key takeaways include the importance of product validation, the challenges of early customer acquisition, and the need for consistent customer support. Ultimately, the author emphasizes the importance of long-term commitment and believing in your vision.

(michaeldrogalis.substack.com)

Startup journey customer

Fern, a YC Startup, is Hiring an AI Engineer – Up to $192k!

2025-01-17

Fern, a YC Startup, is Hiring an AI Engineer – Up to $192k!

Fern, a Y Combinator-backed startup, is hiring an AI Engineer with a salary of up to $192,000 plus an $18,000 living proximity bonus. Fern simplifies API usage by providing high-quality SDKs and documentation for businesses. The role requires 4+ years of backend or full-stack development experience, proficiency in TypeScript and at least one other language, and experience developing and deploying AI products. This is a fast-growing SaaS company offering end-to-end project ownership and the chance to build zero-to-one AI features.

(www.ycombinator.com)

Development

GPT-4: Multimodal Mayhem Ushers in a New Era of AI

2025-01-17

OpenAI has unveiled GPT-4, its latest large language model. More than just a text processing upgrade, GPT-4 boasts powerful multimodal capabilities, processing image inputs and generating text outputs. This means AI can understand and generate richer information, expanding applications beyond text to encompass images, videos, and more. GPT-4's exceptional performance across various benchmarks showcases its impressive comprehension and generation abilities, signaling a significant leap forward in AI technology. This release will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the AI field, accelerating the adoption of AI across various industries.

(creduse.com)

AI

Playing the NES with a Family BASIC Keyboard: A Retro Hardware Hack

2025-01-17

Linus Akesson connected a Family BASIC keyboard to an NES using a custom adapter to play its unique triangle waveform live. He details the adapter's creation, covering the Family BASIC keyboard's matrix layout, the NES controller port's signal characteristics, and the use of an ATtiny85 microcontroller for multiplexing and serializing the signals. The result? A successful performance of a tune called "Platform Hopping," showcasing impressive retro hardware hacking skills.

(www.linusakesson.net)

Hardware

Programming in Lua (First Edition) Online

2025-01-17

The online version of the first edition of "Programming in Lua," a comprehensive guide to Lua programming by its chief architect, Roberto Ierusalimschy, is now available. This detailed resource covers all aspects of Lua, from language fundamentals to data structures, standard libraries, and the C API. While written for Lua 5.0, it remains largely relevant for later versions. All errata have been incorporated into this online edition, which is freely available for personal use.

(www.lua.org)

Development Tutorial

GM Banned from Selling Driver Data for Five Years

2025-01-17

GM Banned from Selling Driver Data for Five Years

General Motors and its subsidiary OnStar are banned from selling customer geolocation and driving behavior data for five years following an FTC settlement. A New York Times investigation revealed GM collected detailed driving data, including acceleration, braking, and trip length, and sold it to insurers and third-party brokers without consent. The FTC accused GM of a misleading enrollment process for its OnStar service, failing to disclose data collection and sale to third parties. The settlement requires GM to obtain consent before collecting driving data and allow data deletion upon request.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech General Motors

Mipmapping Alpha-Tested Textures: A Clever SDF-Based Solution

2025-01-17

Mipmapping Alpha-Tested Textures: A Clever SDF-Based Solution

A game developer encountered issues with mipmapping alpha-tested textures used for foliage rendering. Mipmaps caused textures to disappear or distort at a distance. The article explores various solutions, including adjusting alpha values and using Signed Distance Fields (SDFs). Ultimately, a combined approach using premultiplied alpha, max downsampling of SDFs, and averaging premultiplied colors proved effective, preserving texture shape while avoiding artifacts and improving visual quality.

(lisyarus.github.io)

Game texture rendering mipmap

In Defense of Productivity Systems: It's About Doing the Work, But Systems Help

2025-01-17

In Defense of Productivity Systems: It's About Doing the Work, But Systems Help

This article explores the pros and cons of productivity tools. The author argues that while a minimalist 'heads-down' approach works for some, a personalized system is key for most to truly boost efficiency. Using personal experience, the author highlights the importance of building and using a system that suits individual needs, emphasizing the diversity of styles across different systems and the value of mutual inspiration. Ultimately, the author concludes that regardless of system complexity, the key lies in finding what works and taking action.

(nicky.bearblog.dev)

Misc efficiency

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