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Parallels Desktop Now Runs x86 Windows and Linux on Apple Silicon Macs

2025-01-15

Parallels Desktop Now Runs x86 Windows and Linux on Apple Silicon Macs

Parallels Desktop 20.2 adds early support for running 64-bit x86 Windows and Linux operating systems on Apple Silicon Macs. This allows users of M1, M2, and later Macs to run a wider range of operating systems, although performance will be slower than native ARM versions due to emulation. Limitations include USB device support, nested virtualization, and slower boot times, but it's a significant step for developers and users needing x86 compatibility on Apple Silicon.

(www.howtogeek.com)

Development

NotepadJS: A Minimalist PWA Notepad

2025-01-22

NotepadJS: A Minimalist PWA Notepad

NotepadJS is a minimalist PWA application that mimics the Windows Notepad. The developer aimed to recreate the simplicity and ease of use of the classic Notepad, leveraging the modern File System Access API for local file reading and writing. This project marks the developer's first foray into Vue.js, and contributions in the form of criticism, issues, and pull requests are welcomed.

(github.com)

Development Notepad

Remove the Pedals: A Revolutionary Approach to Teaching Kids to Ride Bikes

2025-01-14

Remove the Pedals: A Revolutionary Approach to Teaching Kids to Ride Bikes

The traditional method of teaching kids to ride bikes—running alongside and letting go—often leads to frustration and tears. This article introduces a revolutionary approach: remove the pedals! By focusing first on balance, children can master this crucial skill before adding the complexity of pedaling. This method makes learning to ride significantly easier and less daunting, resulting in less frustration and more successful experiences. The author's anecdote highlights a simple yet profound lesson about breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps—a principle applicable far beyond bicycle riding.

(www.fortressofdoors.com)

Misc parenting bicycle learning techniques

The Tedious Heroism of David Ruggles: A Story of the Underground Railroad

2025-01-10

The Tedious Heroism of David Ruggles: A Story of the Underground Railroad

This article recounts the largely unremarkable efforts of abolitionist David Ruggles in 1836 to free five enslaved men aboard the brig Brilliante. The narrative focuses on the tedious, often frustrating bureaucratic battles Ruggles faced, highlighting the unglamorous reality of much abolitionist work—the countless hours spent navigating legal processes, petitioning officials, and enduring setbacks. While only two men were ultimately freed, the article emphasizes the vital importance of this 'tedious heroism' in the broader struggle against slavery and its often-overlooked contribution to historical change.

(commonplace.online)

Misc Underground Railroad Abolitionism David Ruggles

Ocean Bacteria's Nanotube Networks: A Revolutionary Discovery of Microbial Interconnectivity

2025-01-27

Ocean Bacteria's Nanotube Networks: A Revolutionary Discovery of Microbial Interconnectivity

A groundbreaking discovery reveals complex networks of bacterial nanotubes connecting the most abundant photosynthetic bacteria in the ocean, Prochlorococcus. These nanotubes act as tiny bridges, linking the inner spaces of bacterial cells and facilitating the exchange of nutrients and information. This challenges the traditional view of bacteria as isolated individuals, demonstrating a far more interconnected microbial world than previously imagined. This interconnectivity may have profound implications for Earth's oxygen and carbon cycles.

(www.quantamagazine.org)

Tech bacterial nanotubes marine microbes intercellular communication

A Faster Quantum Fourier Transform Algorithm

2025-01-27

Ronit Shah presents an improved algorithm for the Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT). Traditionally, approximate QFT requires Θ(n log n) gates, and exact QFT requires Θ(n²) gates. The new algorithm, leveraging a novel recursive partitioning of qubits, reduces the cost of approximate QFT to Θ(n(log log n)²) gates and exact QFT to Θ(n(log n)²) gates. This breakthrough promises significant efficiency gains in quantum computation.

(arxiv.org)

Tech quantum fourier transform algorithm optimization

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

Solving Computational Science Problems with AI: Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs)

2025-01-22

This article explores the use of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) to solve challenging problems in computational science, particularly partial differential equations (PDEs). PINNs overcome limitations of traditional numerical methods by incorporating physical laws directly into the neural network's loss function. This addresses issues like insufficient data, high computational cost, and poor generalization. The article explains PDEs, partial derivatives, and demonstrates PINNs' implementation using the 2D heat equation, covering network architecture, loss function definition, and training. Results show PINNs accurately and efficiently model heat diffusion, offering a powerful tool for various scientific and engineering challenges.

(mertkavi.com)

AI PDEs

Prison-Born Board Game 'Poleana' Takes Mexico by Storm

2024-12-29

Prison-Born Board Game 'Poleana' Takes Mexico by Storm

Poleana, a board game originating in Mexican prisons nearly a century ago, is experiencing a surge in popularity. Combining chance and strategy, the game demands quick thinking and calculations as players navigate the board, aiming to 'escape' the prison it symbolizes. Despite its origins, the game's unique appeal has drawn diverse players, leading to large-scale tournaments. Poleana is more than just a game; it's a testament to cultural preservation and social inclusion.

(apnews.com)

Game board game Mexico

Trump Team Purges National Security Council: Loyalty Checks Spark Controversy

2025-01-28

Trump Team Purges National Security Council: Loyalty Checks Spark Controversy

President-elect Trump's team is conducting political vetting of civil servants on the National Security Council (NSC), questioning their voting choices, political contributions, and social media posts. Some officials are being asked to demonstrate loyalty to Trump or face dismissal, raising concerns about the loss of expertise and diversity of opinion in policymaking. While the incoming administration has the right to choose a team aligned with its political vision, this approach risks stifling dissent and negatively impacting national security policy. The actions are reminiscent of the Trump administration's previous controversies surrounding whistleblowers.

(www.independent.co.uk)

Politics political vetting trump

The New Yorker's Obscure Punctuation Marks: Diaereses vs. Umlauts

2025-01-30

The New Yorker's Obscure Punctuation Marks: Diaereses vs. Umlauts

A viral article about The New Yorker's use of diaereses sparked a discussion about the difference between diaereses and umlauts. The article explains that The New Yorker uses diaereses in words like "coöperate" to indicate that the two vowels should be pronounced separately, not as a diphthong. However, diaereses and umlauts look similar but serve different purposes: diaereses separate adjacent vowels, while umlauts indicate a change in vowel pronunciation. The article traces the origins of both marks, explains their usage in English and German, and explores how the umlaut sound change has affected the spelling and pronunciation of English words. It concludes with a humorous summary of the differences between diaereses and umlauts, and reveals the historical and cultural reasons behind The New Yorker's continued use of diaereses, despite reader complaints.

(www.arrantpedantry.com)

Misc style guide

CCL: A Minimalist Configuration Language Based on Category Theory

2025-01-11

The author presents CCL, a minimalist configuration language inspired by Category Theory. CCL's core is key-value pairs, eschewing complex features in favor of composability and extensibility. Clever use of whitespace and simple rules handle nested structures and comments, enabling powerful features like lists, comments, sections, and multiline strings while maintaining extreme simplicity. A unique fixed-point design elegantly solves key override conflicts. Leveraging monoids and monoid homomorphisms from Category Theory ensures correct and efficient configuration composition. CCL's code is concise, easily understood, and readily implemented, making it a valuable example of elegant software design.

(chshersh.com)

Development configuration language category theory

Perplexity AI's TikTok Bid: US Government Could Get 50% Stake

2025-01-27

Perplexity AI's TikTok Bid: US Government Could Get 50% Stake

AI startup Perplexity AI has proposed a new deal to merge with TikTok's US operations, giving the US government up to a 50% stake in the resulting entity. This revised proposal, submitted after a previous offer was ignored, aims to circumvent the impending TikTok ban. The US government's stake, acquired after an IPO exceeding $300 billion, would be non-voting, with no board representation. ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, wouldn't need to fully divest but would cede “full US board control” and relinquish TikTok's proprietary algorithm. The plan echoes former Treasury Secretary Mnuchin's suggestion of diluting Chinese ownership to comply with US law. Several investors are reportedly interested in TikTok, and President Trump anticipates a deal within 30 days.

(apnews.com)

Tech US Government

Skyvern Browser Agent 2.0: Achieving State-of-the-Art in Web Automation

2025-01-17

Skyvern Browser Agent 2.0: Achieving State-of-the-Art in Web Automation

Skyvern, an open-source no-code browser agent builder, released version 2.0. This release boasts a state-of-the-art 85.85% score on the WebVoyager benchmark, achieved by implementing a planner-actor-validator agent loop. This architecture breaks down complex instructions into smaller, manageable tasks, and a validation step ensures successful completion. Skyvern 2.0 can handle complex prompts like "Navigate to Amazon and add an iPhone 16, case, and screen protector to cart." The team's commitment to open source is further demonstrated by publicly releasing the entire evaluation results.

(blog.skyvern.com)

Development browser automation

Temporal API: Revolutionizing Date and Time Handling in JavaScript

2025-01-30

Temporal API: Revolutionizing Date and Time Handling in JavaScript

The Temporal API simplifies date and time manipulation in JavaScript. It supports various calendar systems (like the Chinese Lunar calendar), handles time zone conversions seamlessly, and offers intuitive comparison methods. For example, it can calculate the next Chinese New Year or determine the duration until a future Unix timestamp. While `toLocaleString` behavior varies slightly across browser implementations, the Temporal API offers robust date and time operations, making it a boon for developers.

(developer.mozilla.org)

Development Date Time

Duolicious: The Open-Source Dating App Revolution

2025-01-05

Duolicious: The Open-Source Dating App Revolution

Duolicious, claiming the title of world's most popular open-source dating app (by monthly active users), offers a unique approach to finding love. Leveraging a question bank of over 2000 prompts, it delves deep into user personalities to match them with compatible individuals. Rejecting shallow swiping and liking, Duolicious fosters genuine connections through original messaging. Completely free and ad-free, it's sustained by community donations and code contributions. Both the front-end and back-end code are open-source, inviting developers to contribute.

(github.com)

Game dating app AI matching

Janus-Pro-7B: A Unified Multimodal Understanding and Generation Model

2025-01-27

Janus-Pro-7B: A Unified Multimodal Understanding and Generation Model

DeepSeek introduces Janus-Pro-7B, a novel autoregressive framework unifying multimodal understanding and generation. Unlike previous approaches, Janus-Pro cleverly decouples visual encoding, enabling efficient processing within a single transformer architecture. This decoupling not only resolves the conflict between the visual encoder's roles in understanding and generation but also enhances the framework's flexibility. Janus-Pro surpasses previous unified models and matches or exceeds the performance of task-specific models. Its simplicity, high flexibility, and effectiveness make it a strong contender for next-generation unified multimodal models.

(huggingface.co)

AI

Using `uv` as Your Shebang for Efficient Python Scripting

2025-01-28

Using `uv` as Your Shebang for Efficient Python Scripting

Rob Allen shares his experience using `#!/usr/bin/env -S uv run --script` as a shebang line for his Python scripts. This approach leverages the `uv` tool to manage script dependencies, allowing direct execution from the command line without needing to set up virtual environments, etc., improving script convenience and executability. The author creates many automation scripts in his ~/bin directory and simplifies their execution using this method.

(akrabat.com)

Development scripting

Rite Aid's 'Zombie' Stores: A Ghost of Retail Past?

2024-12-30

Rite Aid's 'Zombie' Stores: A Ghost of Retail Past?

Once a dominant player in the US drugstore market, Rite Aid is now a shadow of its former self, facing bankruptcy and fierce competition. Hundreds of stores have closed, leaving empty shelves and earning them the moniker "zombie" stores. Consumers are forced to seek alternatives at competitors like Walmart and Amazon. Rite Aid's struggles reflect broader challenges in the pharmacy sector, including intense competition, rising costs, and staffing shortages. While some vacant locations are being repurposed by other retailers, Rite Aid's future remains uncertain, with its "zombie" stores potentially marking the end of an era.

(qz.com)

Startup pharmacy industry market competition pharmacy sector retail decline Retail Bankruptcy Competition

Marginalia Search: A Privacy-Focused Search Engine, Rejecting AI and Cloud Services

2025-01-27

Marginalia Search has unveiled a redesigned website, emphasizing its commitment to user privacy. Prioritizing non-commercial content, it offers tools for both search and discovery, aiming to unearth lost websites. Built with simple technology, it eschews AI and cloud services, operating under an AGPL open-source license. Privacy is paramount, filtering tracking and adtech, with no user or search data shared. Logs are retained for a maximum of 24 hours and anonymized.

(marginalia-search.com)

Tech

Go 1.24's `go tool`: A Game Changer for Dependency Management

2025-01-27

Go 1.24's `go tool`: A Game Changer for Dependency Management

Go 1.24 introduces a revolutionary change in tool management with the new `go tool` command and the `tool` directive in `go.mod`. Previously, developers relied on `tools.go` or manual installations, leading to performance overhead and dependency bloat. `go tool` elegantly solves these issues. Its caching mechanism speeds up builds, and it prevents unnecessary dependencies, significantly improving developer workflow. While migration might encounter some compatibility hiccups, like with gqlgen, the performance gains and streamlined dependency management make `go tool` one of the most exciting advancements in the Go ecosystem in recent years.

(www.jvt.me)

Development

The Science of Mocktails: Mimicking the Taste of Alcohol

2025-01-30

The Science of Mocktails: Mimicking the Taste of Alcohol

This article delves into the science behind creating alcohol-free cocktails that taste remarkably similar to their alcoholic counterparts. It challenges the common assumption that alcohol's flavor is dominant, instead highlighting the role of trigeminal nerve stimulation (the burning sensation) and its drying effect on the mouth. The article analyzes the bitterness and sweetness of low-alcohol beverages and how alcohol enhances other flavor compounds. By using spicy ingredients like ginger and chili to mimic the burn, and strong tea tannins to replicate the astringency, one can craft mocktails with a similar mouthfeel. The focus, however, isn't on perfectly replicating the taste of alcohol, but rather using these elements to enhance the overall flavor profile.

(www.seriouseats.com)

Misc mocktails alcohol-free cocktails sensory science

Viral Growth on Social Media: Fleeting Fame or Sustainable Success?

2025-01-31

Viral Growth on Social Media: Fleeting Fame or Sustainable Success?

Product launches are different in the age of social media. Going viral can bring a massive influx of users, but these are often low-quality, short-lived 'looky-loos'. The author argues that chasing viral growth is misguided; focusing on durability, scalability, and value is key. Sustainable growth comes from high-quality users and retention. Only products that stand the test of time and attract valuable users truly succeed. Metrics like long-term cohort retention, power user engagement, and organic acquisition should be prioritized over fleeting viral spikes.

(andrewchen.substack.com)

Startup product growth user retention

Koa.js: A Next-Gen Node.js Web Framework

2025-01-10

Koa.js, from the creators of Express, is a new web framework for Node.js that aims for a smaller, more expressive, and robust foundation for web applications and APIs. Leveraging async functions, Koa ditches callbacks and significantly improves error handling. It doesn't bundle middleware, offering instead an elegant set of methods for building fast and enjoyable servers. Middleware cascades in a streamlined fashion, and Koa provides a rich context with methods simplifying common HTTP tasks like content negotiation, caching, and redirection.

(koajs.com)

Development

The Mathematical Magic Behind Undergraduate Divisibility Problems

2025-01-20

The Mathematical Magic Behind Undergraduate Divisibility Problems

This blog post explores the origin of common problems in undergraduate mathematics courses, such as proving that a polynomial is always a multiple of a certain integer. The author points out that these problems stem from combinatorial counting, specifically Pólya-Redfield counting. This method uses the orbit-counting formula under group action to connect the value of a polynomial to the counting of a certain combinatorial structure, ensuring the polynomial is always a multiple of a specific integer. The article uses two examples, bracelet counting and tic-tac-toe board counting, to explain how Pólya-Redfield counting is used to construct these problems. It also proposes a conjecture about whether all such polynomials originate from Pólya-Redfield counting.

(grossack.site)

Development combinatorial mathematics Pólya-Redfield counting group action

The Software Trust Crisis: Why We Have to Trust Software (Mostly)

2024-12-31

The Software Trust Crisis: Why We Have to Trust Software (Mostly)

This article explores the difficult problem of trusting software. The author argues that even secure messaging apps rely on trust in the vendor; the sheer volume of code in open-source software makes review impractical; code signing verifies integrity but relies on user diligence and is easily circumvented. The article delves into vulnerabilities in the software supply chain, including code signing, blocklisting, auto-updates, and package managers. It introduces techniques like reproducible builds and binary transparency to enhance software trust, but ultimately concludes that this is a far-from-solved problem, leaving us with the uncomfortable reality of having to trust software vendors.

(educatedguesswork.org)

Tech code signing binary transparency

Turning Databases Inside Out: A Paradigm Shift

2025-01-28

Martin Kleppmann's talk challenges the conventional database architecture. He proposes a revolutionary approach: inverting the database. Instead of the traditional global, shared, mutable state, Kleppmann suggests viewing a database as an ever-growing collection of immutable facts. Using a distributed stream processing framework like Apache Samza, data streams are processed in real-time. At its core is a distributed, durable commit log (e.g., Apache Kafka). This approach promises simpler code, better scalability and robustness, lower latency, and greater flexibility for data manipulation.

(martin.kleppmann.com)

Development

Frustration Tolerance: The Key to Surviving Large Organizations

2025-01-20

Frustration Tolerance: The Key to Surviving Large Organizations

In large organizations, ambitions often clash with reality. This article explores 'frustration tolerance,' a crucial factor determining success in navigating organizational complexities, conflicts, and slow progress. High frustration tolerance enables individuals to view challenges as manageable, while low tolerance leads to giving up, negativity, and burnout. Four root causes of low frustration tolerance are identified: demands for comfort, fairness, achievement, and emotional control. Reframing organizational friction as a catalyst for innovation allows for developing higher frustration tolerance and thriving in complex environments.

(www.leadingsapiens.com)

Development Leadership Organizational Behavior Frustration Management

Bad Apple in Vim: 6500 Regexes and a Whole Lotta Magic

2025-01-12

Bad Apple in Vim: 6500 Regexes and a Whole Lotta Magic

This post details how the author rendered the Bad Apple music video within Vim using only search queries. Each frame was converted into a binary pixel array, decomposed into rectangles, and represented by a Vim regex. The result? A file containing over 6500 regexes, played sequentially via a Vim macro to create the animation. This impressive feat showcases Vim's surprising capabilities and the author's considerable programming skill.

(eieio.games)

Development Regex

The Reddit Revolt Against Blinding Headlights

2025-01-10

The Reddit Revolt Against Blinding Headlights

A growing online movement, spearheaded by a Reddit community (r/FuckYourHeadlights), is fighting back against the increasingly bright headlights on modern cars. The article delves into the complexities of this issue, exploring the technological advancements in LED lighting, the regulatory shortcomings of NHTSA standards, and the human impact of excessive glare. While LEDs offer benefits like energy efficiency and longer lifespan, their intensity has led to widespread complaints and a debate over safety and comfort. Experts highlight headlight alignment, vehicle size, and the intentional manipulation of light distribution as contributing factors. The article concludes by examining potential solutions, including adaptive driving beam technology, while acknowledging the need for a balanced approach that prioritizes both safety and driver well-being.

(theringer.com)

Tech headlights

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