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From Montgolfier Brothers to Exoplanet Exploration: The Amazing Story of Scientific Ballooning

2025-03-31

From Montgolfier Brothers to Exoplanet Exploration: The Amazing Story of Scientific Ballooning

This article chronicles the remarkable journey of high-altitude balloons in scientific exploration, from the Montgolfier brothers' first manned flight in the 18th century to modern-day use in observing cosmic microwave background radiation and exoplanet atmospheres. High-altitude balloons, with their unique advantages, have helped scientists achieve a series of groundbreaking discoveries, including the discovery of cosmic rays and the determination of the universe's shape, showcasing their continued contribution to fields like astronomy and meteorology. Far from being 'low-tech', this represents nearly 250 years of scientific refinement, still shining brightly in today's age of rocketry.

(nautil.us)

Tech high-altitude balloons

Netflix CEO: YouTube is a Training Ground, Come to Netflix for Monetization and De-risking

2025-03-31

Netflix CEO: YouTube is a Training Ground, Come to Netflix for Monetization and De-risking

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos recently commented on the relationship between YouTube and Netflix. He views YouTube as a platform for creators to hone their skills and develop ideas, but lacking financial support. Netflix, on the other hand, offers funding, reduces creator risk, and provides better monetization avenues. He specifically highlighted creators producing high-quality content on YouTube without compensation, inviting them to join Netflix for payment and reduced risk.

(www.semafor.com)

Startup

Gumloop's guMCP: An Open-Source Unified Model Context Protocol Server Collection

2025-03-31

Gumloop's guMCP: An Open-Source Unified Model Context Protocol Server Collection

Gumloop has released guMCP, an open-source collection of Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers that run locally and remotely. Aiming to create the largest unified MCP server collection, it fosters a community around AI integrations and the future of AGI. Supporting both stdio and SSE transports, guMCP includes servers for file systems, databases, development tools, web automation, and more, encouraging community contributions. Licensed under GPL-3.0, security is paramount, with compliance to SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA.

(github.com)

Development

Honey Extension Loses 4 Million Users After Shady Practices Exposed

2025-03-31

PayPal's Honey browser extension, known for finding coupon codes, lost over 4 million Chrome users after a YouTube video exposed its shady practices. Honey was found to hijack affiliate links, benefiting itself at the expense of other referrers, even without offering users comparable value. While Honey has updated its extension with disclosures and the behavior is no longer present, the damage is done, highlighting the importance of transparency in browser extensions and user rights.

(9to5google.com)

Tech

Archaeology of the Pentium's Microcode ROM

2025-03-31

Archaeology of the Pentium's Microcode ROM

This article delves into the low-level circuitry of the microcode ROM in the original Pentium processor. Using microscopic images of the chip die, the author reveals the ROM's physical structure: two rectangular banks of transistors, each providing 45 bits of output for a total 90-bit micro-instruction. The article meticulously details the functioning of the microcode address register, row select drivers, and output circuitry. It also explains the role of shift registers and XOR gates for testing purposes, and the complexity of power distribution within the Pentium. Ultimately, the author highlights the unexpected complexity of the Pentium's microcode ROM and the optimizations implemented for performance and density.

(www.righto.com)

Hardware

KOReader: A Powerful Cross-Platform E-reader

2025-04-01

KOReader: A Powerful Cross-Platform E-reader

KOReader is a document viewer primarily designed for e-ink readers, supporting numerous formats (PDF, EPUB, MOBI, etc.) and devices (Kindle, Kobo, etc.). It boasts a highly customizable reading view, multilingual support, integration with tools like Calibre, and e-ink optimizations for fast page turns. Extensible via plugins, KOReader is developed and maintained by a global community of volunteers.

(github.com)

Development e-reader

Micron's Price Hike: AI Fuels Memory Chip Surge

2025-03-31

Micron's Price Hike: AI Fuels Memory Chip Surge

Micron Technology has announced price increases for DRAM and NAND flash memory, citing robust demand in the coming years. This price hike, expected to last through 2026, is driven by soaring demand from AI, data centers, and consumer electronics, coupled with supply constraints. A key driver is the surging demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), crucial for AI accelerators and next-gen GPUs, fueled by advancements from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel. Micron is investing $7 billion in a new HBM assembly facility in Singapore to meet this demand. The resurgence of the PC and smartphone markets further bolsters memory demand, suggesting a sustained upward price trend.

(www.tomshardware.com)

Tech memory prices

The Dying Art of Reading: A Professor's Lament

2025-03-31

The Dying Art of Reading: A Professor's Lament

A tenured professor, writing anonymously, laments the declining reading comprehension skills of today's college students. He details how many students struggle with adult literature, exhibiting reading levels comparable to elementary school. The pervasive use of AI for cheating further exacerbates the issue, hindering genuine learning. The professor argues this isn't a failure of the education system, but a societal problem rooted in students' addiction to their phones, lack of reading engagement, and a transactional view of college as a mere stepping stone to a job. He expresses deep sadness and concern.

(www.persuasion.community)

Misc

France Slaps Apple with €150M Fine Over App Tracking Transparency

2025-03-31

France Slaps Apple with €150M Fine Over App Tracking Transparency

France's competition authority fined Apple €150 million for violating competition law with its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework. The authority argues that ATT disproportionately harms smaller publishers because Apple's own ad tracking requires only single consent, while others need double consent. While the fine is insignificant to Apple's revenue, Apple must modify ATT to comply. Apple maintains that ATT is consistent for all developers and enjoys broad support.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Ghibli-core: AI Art's Delight and Dilemma

2025-03-31

Ghibli-core: AI Art's Delight and Dilemma

OpenAI's integration of native image generation into ChatGPT unleashed a flood of Studio Ghibli-style art across social media. This sparked a debate about the future of AI, art, and attention. While the technical improvements were significant, the widespread adoption of the feature to create Ghibli-esque imagery highlighted the ease with which AI can reproduce distinct artistic styles. This led to discussions about the devaluation of artistic labor and the potential for AI to homogenize creative output. The incident underscores AI's capacity for both delight and disruption, emphasizing the growing importance of art direction in guiding AI-assisted creative processes.

(carly.substack.com)

AI Ghibli artistic value

1995's Predictions for 2025: Hits and Misses

2025-03-31

1995's Predictions for 2025: Hits and Misses

This article revisits predictions made in 1995 about life in 2025. Some predictions, such as the widespread adoption of the internet and mobile devices, were surprisingly accurate. Others, like supersonic passenger planes and a Mars colony, completely missed the mark. The article explores the relationship between prediction accuracy and the context of the time, noting that technological advancements don't always translate to increased leisure time.

(newslttrs.com)

Tech tech predictions futurism

China's Stealthy Talent Grab in Taiwan: A Tech War Intensifies

2025-03-31

China's Stealthy Talent Grab in Taiwan: A Tech War Intensifies

Taiwan's Investigation Bureau exposed how multiple Chinese tech companies secretly poached Taiwanese high-tech talent, particularly in chip design and manufacturing, by establishing shell companies in Taiwan to hide their Chinese connections. These companies used intermediaries in places like Singapore to circumvent Taiwanese laws, attracting engineers from companies like Intel and Microsoft to work on projects, including those supporting China's 'East Data, West Compute' strategy. This not only threatens Taiwan's tech industry but also raises concerns about the potential use of Taiwanese technology for China's military ambitions.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech talent poaching Chinese tech companies Taiwan

Run Unmodified Minecraft in Your Browser with Browsercraft

2025-03-31

Browsercraft lets you play an unmodified version of Minecraft (1.2.5) directly in your browser using CheerpJ, a Java runtime for modern browsers built on WebAssembly. CheerpJ runs any Java application without modification, making this a unique feat. While still a work in progress (audio is currently unsupported), the project is open-source and welcomes contributions.

(browsercraft.cheerpj.com)

Game

Mastering High-Performance Go: Patterns and Techniques

2025-03-31

This series of articles helps developers write faster, more efficient Go applications. It covers practical patterns and techniques like memory reuse, allocation control, efficient networking, and concurrency, backed by benchmarks and code examples. Future articles will delve into high-performance networking in Go, including efficient use of `net/http` and `net.Conn`, managing concurrent connections, and load testing. Whether you're a seasoned backend engineer or new to Go, this series offers valuable insights.

(goperf.dev)

Development

Nova Act SDK: A Crucial Step Towards Reliable Agents

2025-03-31

Nova Act SDK: A Crucial Step Towards Reliable Agents

The Nova Act SDK simplifies the development of intelligent agents by allowing developers to break down complex workflows into atomic commands (like search, checkout, answering on-screen questions), add more detailed instructions to these commands (e.g., "don't accept the insurance upsell"), and call APIs, thus improving reliability. As intelligent agents are still in their early stages, the Nova Act SDK represents a crucial advancement.

(www.aboutamazon.com)

AI intelligent agents

The Guardian US: Thriving on Reader Donations, Defying Traditional Media

2025-03-31

The Guardian US: Thriving on Reader Donations, Defying Traditional Media

During the Trump era, many US media outlets lost credibility due to their owners' political leanings. The Guardian US, however, took a different approach, relying on reader donations to sustain its operations and achieving remarkable success. Its anti-Trump fundraising strategy cleverly capitalized on the public's yearning for press freedom and reliable information, leading to explosive audience growth and significant revenue increases, even surpassing the Wall Street Journal's US readership. While the donation-based model has inherent volatility, The Guardian's global perspective and high-quality journalism have successfully challenged traditional media business models, offering a new paradigm for other publications.

(nymag.com)

Startup media operations reader donations

Those White Crystals on Your Cheese: A Delicious Secret

2025-03-31

Those White Crystals on Your Cheese: A Delicious Secret

Confused by white stuff on your cheese? Don't throw it away! This article reveals the secret of those white crystals. They're not mold, but rather calcium lactate, tyrosine, or leucine crystals – signs of a well-aged cheese, adding unique texture and flavor. Learn about the different types, their formation, appearance, and taste. This guide helps you distinguish them and identify high-quality aged cheese. Next time you see white crystals, confidently savor the delicious reward of time and craftsmanship.

(www.thephcheese.com)

Misc cheese crystals

Windows 11's Blue Screen of Death Gets a Makeover

2025-03-31

Windows 11's Blue Screen of Death Gets a Makeover

Microsoft is revamping the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) in Windows 11. The new design ditches the classic blue screen, sad face, and QR code for a simpler, black screen reminiscent of Windows update screens. Currently appearing as green in test builds, the final color remains unclear. Microsoft aims for faster user recovery while retaining technical details. This is the first major redesign since the sad face addition in Windows 8. The new BSOD simply states, "Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart."

(www.theverge.com)

Development BSOD UI redesign

Tracking Login Failures: A Key to Better User Experience

2025-03-31

Tracking Login Failures: A Key to Better User Experience

Do you only focus on login success rates while ignoring login failure rates? This article highlights the importance of tracking login failure rates, which helps you identify and resolve user login issues and improve user experience. It details how to define and measure login failure rates and analyzes common causes of login failures, such as system performance, poor user experience, and security measures. By tracking login failure rates, you can understand user behavior, improve login processes, and ultimately improve user retention and business value.

(fusionauth.io)

Development login failures

Nvidia's GTC Reveal: Will DGX Spark and Station Disrupt the PC Market?

2025-03-31

Nvidia's GTC Reveal: Will DGX Spark and Station Disrupt the PC Market?

Nvidia unveiled two new workstations at its GTC event, the DGX Spark and DGX Station, aimed at AI developers. DGX Spark is a compact desktop, while DGX Station is a more powerful workstation-class machine, both offering significant AI compute power. While analysts believe Nvidia is attempting to expand its enterprise footprint, the high price point and niche market focus raise questions about their potential to truly "disrupt" the broader PC market. Nvidia's strategy appears more focused on empowering developers with powerful AI tools than targeting the general consumer market. Concurrently, Nvidia is aggressively expanding into software and networking infrastructure, aiming to build a complete enterprise-grade AI ecosystem.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Unexpectedly Large Isospin Symmetry Violation Found at CERN

2025-03-31

Unexpectedly Large Isospin Symmetry Violation Found at CERN

Analysis of data from CERN's NA61/SHINE collaboration revealed a surprising anomaly: a significant imbalance between charged and neutral kaons produced in argon-scandium collisions. Charged kaons were produced 18.4% more frequently than neutral kaons, suggesting a much larger violation of isospin symmetry than predicted by existing models. This challenges our understanding of the strong interaction and quantum chromodynamics (QCD), opening avenues for further research into the role of electromagnetic interactions and quark behavior. The 4.7σ significance of the result demands further investigation and theoretical explanations.

(phys.org)

Tech Quark Isospin Symmetry

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

Chrome 135: Fully Customizable `<select>` Elements with CSS

2025-03-31

Chrome 135: Fully Customizable `<select>` Elements with CSS

Chrome 135 brings a major update: full CSS customization of the `` element. Years in the making, this delivers a standardized, accessible, and stylable ``. Developers can now use the new `appearance: base-select` property to unlock rich customization features, including adding rich HTML content (like images and SVGs) to `` elements, without breaking older browsers. While parser changes exist, Chrome mitigates the risk of breaking existing websites with a Finch experiment. This update opens doors to create far more engaging and meaningful `` experiences.

(developer.chrome.com)

Development

Gemini 2.5 Pro: The New King of Code Generation?

2025-03-31

Gemini 2.5 Pro: The New King of Code Generation?

Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro, launched on March 26th, claims coding, reasoning, and overall superiority. This article focuses on a head-to-head comparison with Claude 3.7 Sonnet, another top coding model. Through four coding challenges, Gemini 2.5 Pro demonstrated significant advantages in accuracy and efficiency, especially with its million-token context window enabling complex task handling. While Claude 3.7 Sonnet performed well, it paled in direct comparison. Gemini 2.5 Pro's free access further enhances its appeal.

(composio.dev)

AI

Attack Hidden in Plain Sight: Tenant-Level Security Analysis Unmasks Malicious Activity

2025-03-31

Attack Hidden in Plain Sight: Tenant-Level Security Analysis Unmasks Malicious Activity

A security team uncovered a seemingly ordinary user login that masked a sophisticated attack targeting 24 users. The attacker used the Microsoft Azure CLI, attempting logins from a Mexican data center with no more than two attempts per user to avoid brute-force detection. They also utilized IPs from the 2001:0470:c8e0::/48 range to evade IOC-based detection. By analyzing login activity at the tenant level, rather than focusing on individual users, the team successfully identified the attack. This highlights the importance of tenant-wide log analysis to uncover malicious activities hidden within seemingly normal user behavior.

(petrasecurity.substack.com)

Tech security analysis Azure security malicious login

Supercharge Your Airflow Pipelines with LLMs: The Apache Airflow AI SDK

2025-03-31

Supercharge Your Airflow Pipelines with LLMs: The Apache Airflow AI SDK

This Apache Airflow AI SDK, built on Pydantic AI, lets you seamlessly integrate large language models (LLMs) into your Airflow workflows. Using decorator-based tasks (@task.llm, @task.llm_branch, @task.agent), it simplifies LLM calls and agent orchestration. Support for various models (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), automatic output parsing, and DAG branching capabilities make your data pipelines smarter and more efficient.

(github.com)

Development

Kagi Family Plan: A Safer Search Experience for Kids

2025-03-31

Kagi Family Plan: A Safer Search Experience for Kids

Kagi's new Family Plan prioritizes a safe and private search experience for families. It features a kid-friendly interface, parental controls (including whitelisting and blacklisting websites), and AI-powered quick answers with safety warnings and content filtering. Kagi also uses fun avatars, like a poop emoji, to teach kids about online identity and privacy. The plan's unique approach emphasizes child online safety and promotes responsible tech use through engaging, lighthearted methods.

(help.kagi.com)

Tech family search engine

Compiler Options Hardening Guide for C and C++: A Security Deep Dive

2025-03-31

This OpenSSF guide details compiler and linker options to enhance the security and reliability of C/C++ code. It recommends flags for compile-time vulnerability detection and runtime protection against buffer overflows and control-flow hijacking. The guide analyzes performance trade-offs and use cases for each option, stressing the importance of secure coding practices.

(best.openssf.org)

Development C/C++ Security Compiler Flags Secure Coding

Bell Labs Holmdel: From Research Hub to Thriving Tech Community

2025-03-31

Bell Labs Holmdel: From Research Hub to Thriving Tech Community

The Bell Labs Holmdel Complex in New Jersey, a former research and development facility for Bell System and Bell Labs, underwent a remarkable transformation. This iconic Eero Saarinen–designed building, once home to thousands of engineers and researchers and the site of Nobel Prize-winning work, was repurposed into Bell Works, a vibrant mixed-use development. Now a thriving community, it houses tech startups, residential spaces, retail, and entertainment, seamlessly blending its mid-century modern architecture with contemporary design.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Tech Adaptive Reuse Tech Campus Urban Renewal

The Eco Cycle: How Tech Turns from Miracle to Burden

2025-03-31

This article explores the 'Eco Cycle,' where technology initially offers convenience and innovation but eventually becomes a burden as it becomes mainstream. Using examples like fax machines, email, cars, and smartphones, the author illustrates how technology shifts from an empowering tool to a source of disruption. It argues that traffic jams aren't a technological problem, but rather a consequence of humanity's endless pursuit of convenience. Ultimately, the author calls for a rejection of constant connection and a liberation from technological dependence to achieve true freedom.

(maksimizmaylov.com)

Tech tech philosophy

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