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Uber and Waymo Team Up: Austin Gets RoboTaxi Choice

2025-03-08

Uber and Waymo Team Up: Austin Gets RoboTaxi Choice

Uber and Waymo have officially launched "Waymo on Uber" in Austin, offering users a choice between a Waymo robotaxi and a human-driven vehicle at the same price. This collaboration marks a shift in the relationship between the two former rivals, with Waymo handling vehicle technology and Uber managing fleet operations. The service hints at future partnerships in the autonomous vehicle industry and underscores Uber's strategic moves in the robotaxi market. The partnership builds on a previous collaboration in Phoenix and anticipates expansion to Atlanta.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech robotaxi Uber-Waymo partnership

Toothbrush-Sized Ultrasound Transducer for Painless Gum Disease Screening

2025-06-30

Toothbrush-Sized Ultrasound Transducer for Painless Gum Disease Screening

Scientists have developed a toothbrush-shaped ultrasound transducer for a less invasive way to screen for gum disease. In tests on animal tissues, this miniaturized device produced results comparable to traditional manual probing. Its small size allows easy access to molars and premolars, while its high-frequency operation provides high-quality images, overcoming limitations of larger transducers. This innovative tool promises a more comfortable and effective approach to diagnosing and treating gum disease.

(phys.org)

Tech gum disease

VPNSecure Cancels Lifetime Subscriptions, Angering Users

2025-05-12

VPNSecure Cancels Lifetime Subscriptions, Angering Users

The new owners of VPN provider VPNSecure have angered users by canceling all lifetime subscriptions. They claim they were unaware of these subscriptions during the acquisition and cannot honor them. This has led to widespread complaints, prompting VPNSecure to offer discounted subscriptions as compensation. However, this hasn't appeased users, highlighting issues of transparency and responsibility in business acquisitions.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech lifetime subscription

NATS Trademark Dispute Escalates: Synadia Reclaims Project, CNCF Fights Back

2025-05-02

NATS Trademark Dispute Escalates: Synadia Reclaims Project, CNCF Fights Back

A legal battle is brewing over the trademark and marketing of the widely used NATS message server. After Synadia, the former owner, reclaimed the software from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), the CNCF is now seeking to have the NATS trademark and logo deleted. The CNCF argues Synadia relinquished all rights in 2018 and must adhere to agreements. Synadia counters that the CNCF failed to foster community involvement, with most contributions originating from Synadia, and proposes switching NATS to a Business Source License (BSL). The CNCF rejects the BSL as non-open source, emphasizing its commitment to open-source values. The core dispute revolves around ownership, trademark rights, and licensing, potentially leading to a project fork similar to the Terraform/OpenTofu split.

(www.heise.de)

Development nats

OxCaml: Supercharging OCaml for Performance

2025-06-13

OxCaml is a high-performance extension to the OCaml programming language developed by Jane Street. Serving as both their production compiler and an experimental platform, OxCaml aims to improve OCaml's suitability for performance-oriented programming. It offers safe, convenient, and predictable control over performance-critical aspects, focusing on fearless concurrency, memory layout control, and allocation management. While aiming for eventual upstream contribution, some OxCaml extensions are currently non-portable, resulting in libraries exclusive to OxCaml. Open-source and actively seeking experimental users, OxCaml enhances OCaml with quality-of-life improvements like polymorphic parameters and immutable arrays.

(oxcaml.org)

Development

TRON: Ares - Leto's AI Takes Over the Real World

2025-04-06

TRON: Ares - Leto's AI Takes Over the Real World

After years of development and setbacks, Disney's TRON franchise is back with a reboot: TRON: Ares. Jared Leto stars as Ares, a sophisticated AI program sent from the digital world into our reality, marking humanity's first encounter with AI beings. The film also features Evan Peters, Greta Lee, and a star-studded cast, including the return of Jeff Bridges. With a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack, TRON: Ares hits theaters October 10, 2025.

(arstechnica.com)

Game Jared Leto

Amazon's Kuiper vs. SpaceX's Starlink: A Tale of Two Satellite Architectures

2025-05-03

Amazon's Kuiper vs. SpaceX's Starlink: A Tale of Two Satellite Architectures

Amazon's Kuiper project recently launched its first batch of satellites, showcasing a key architectural difference from SpaceX's Starlink. Starlink utilizes a simplified, flat-panel design maximizing payload and minimizing cost, while Kuiper employs a more conventional approach offering greater design flexibility. Though individual Kuiper satellite mass is comparable to Starlink, the launch architecture and design philosophy highlight contrasting deployment strategies. China's Qianfan constellation also mirrors Starlink's flat-panel design, indicating the industry impact of SpaceX's approach.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Super Cars II: The Story Behind the Amiga Classic

2025-08-07

Super Cars II: The Story Behind the Amiga Classic

Spillhistorie.no interviewed Andrew Morris and Shaun Southern, the creators of Super Cars, a 1991 Amiga top-down racing game. Inspired by Super Sprint, Super Cars II added weapons and strategic elements, along with a unique humorous question-and-answer mechanic. Development faced tight deadlines and technical challenges, such as handling graphics and AI on the Atari ST version. Despite rampant piracy, the Super Cars series enjoyed good sales and positive reception. The developers still express interest in creating a sequel.

(spillhistorie.no)

Game

Cells Remember Too: Challenging the Definition of Memory

2025-08-05

Cells Remember Too: Challenging the Definition of Memory

Neuroscientist Nikolay Kukushkin at NYU has found that both nerve and kidney cells can differentiate patterns of neurotransmitter bursts and form memories lasting up to a day. This suggests that even non-neural cells can perform pattern recognition and memory, challenging the traditional neuroscientific definition of memory. The research indicates that the formation of cellular memory is related to the spacing of stimuli; spaced stimuli more easily form lasting memories, similar to the mechanisms of memory formation in animals. The study also reveals long-standing biases in the scientific community, limiting memory to observable behavioral changes and ignoring cellular-level memory mechanisms.

(www.quantamagazine.org)

Tech cellular memory

Home Assistant: A Kernel Dev's Home Automation Journey

2025-05-17

A kernel developer's year-long exploration of Home Assistant, an open-source home automation system, is detailed. The article examines Home Assistant's project health, balancing its business model with its open-source community, highlighting its active developer base and transition to the Open Home Foundation. Installation, while officially recommending a dedicated OS, proves relatively straightforward on standard Linux systems, albeit demanding some technical know-how. Home Assistant connects various home devices through integrations, varying in quality but offering powerful functionality overall. Security concerns are addressed, acknowledging potential risks but noting the project's security policy and audit mechanisms mitigating some vulnerabilities. Ultimately, Home Assistant empowers users with control over their home network and devices, presenting a compelling alternative to cloud-based services.

(lwn.net)

Development

Brian Eno's Airport Music: A Meditative Journey on Death and Acceptance

2025-04-02

Brian Eno's Airport Music: A Meditative Journey on Death and Acceptance

Brian Eno's *Music for Airports* is more than just background music; it's a meditation on death and acceptance. Created in 1978, this ambient masterpiece features slow, contemplative melodies, ambiguous tonality, and sounds designed to exist in the background. Initially conceived for airport playback, it aimed to create a calming atmosphere, preparing listeners for the possibility of death with serenity. Today, *Music for Airports* not only graces actual airport terminals but also exists in various reinterpreted forms, a flowing work of art across time and space.

(www.openculture.com)

Misc Ambient Music Airports

LLM-Powered Retro Game Dev: Cloning a ZX Spectrum App in Hours

2025-03-17

LLM-Powered Retro Game Dev: Cloning a ZX Spectrum App in Hours

The author demonstrates the power of Large Language Models (LLMs) in software rewriting and cloning through an experiment. Starting with an LLM-generated C sales tax calculator, the author disassembles it into assembly, then uses the LLM to generate functional specification documents. Finally, the LLM translates the specification into a ZX Spectrum assembly program, which runs successfully. The entire process took about two hours, showcasing the potential of LLMs for cross-language software conversion and rapid prototyping, and hinting at the potential risks for 'open-source' software.

(ghuntley.com)

Development

US Revokes Visas of Seven Brazilian Supreme Court Justices

2025-07-19

US Revokes Visas of Seven Brazilian Supreme Court Justices

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the revocation of visas for seven Brazilian Supreme Court justices, in addition to Judge Alexandre de Moraes. This action follows the Brazilian Supreme Court's issuance of search warrants and restraining orders against former President Jair Bolsonaro, stemming from allegations that Bolsonaro sought interference from US President Donald Trump in Brazilian courts. Bolsonaro denies the accusations, calling the court's actions cowardly. The move escalates tensions between the US and Brazil and highlights Trump's continued support for Bolsonaro.

(nypost.com)

Tech Brazilian Politics US Foreign Policy Bolsonaro

Generative Search: AI Revolutionizes Internet Search

2025-01-11

Generative Search: AI Revolutionizes Internet Search

Generative AI is reshaping internet search. Forget keyword searches and link sorting; conversational search powered by AI is providing direct answers, integrating real-time information from across the web. Google's AI Overviews, OpenAI's web-integrated ChatGPT, and other search engines are vying for dominance, but face challenges like copyright disputes and AI hallucinations. Trillions of dollars are at stake, alongside concerns about information reliability and the future of publishers.

(www.technologyreview.com)

Tech

Linear Regression and Gradient Descent: From House Pricing to Deep Learning

2025-05-08

Linear Regression and Gradient Descent: From House Pricing to Deep Learning

This article uses house pricing as an example to explain linear regression and gradient descent algorithms in a clear and concise way. Linear regression predicts house prices by finding the best-fitting line, while gradient descent is an iterative algorithm used to find the optimal parameters that minimize the error function. The article compares absolute error and squared error, explaining why squared error is more effective in gradient descent because it ensures the smoothness of the error function, thus avoiding local optima. Finally, the article connects these concepts to deep learning, pointing out that the essence of deep learning is also to minimize error by adjusting parameters.

(briefer.cloud)

AI linear regression

MELP and MELPe Vocoders: The Evolution of Military Speech Communication

2025-09-17

MELP and MELPe Vocoders: The Evolution of Military Speech Communication

This article introduces Mixed-Excitation Linear Prediction (MELP) and its enhanced version, MELPe, vocoders. Originally invented by Alan McCree, MELP became a US DoD standard (MIL-STD-3005) in 1997 and saw widespread use in military applications and satellite communications. MELPe, an improvement on MELP, became the new MIL-STD-3005 in 2001 and was adopted by NATO as STANAG-4591 in 2002. MELPe significantly outperforms older military standards like CELP and LPC-10e in speech quality, intelligibility, and noise immunity, especially in noisy environments.

(melpe.org)

Tech speech coding

Lambda Calculus Interpreter in 383 Bytes

2025-01-15

Lambda Calculus Interpreter in 383 Bytes

This blog post introduces a brand new 383-byte implementation of a binary lambda calculus interpreter as an x86-64 Linux ELF executable. This tiny interpreter manages to achieve garbage collection, lazy lists, and tail recursion. Programs are encoded in a remarkably small binary format; for example, its metacircular evaluator is only 232 bits. The author provides friendly portable C code and pre-built binaries for other platforms. This project is a fun learning tool for lambda calculus and showcases the possibility of implementing complex computation in extremely resource-constrained environments.

(justine.lol)

Development Lambda Calculus

Data Deluge: Drowning in Digital Trash

2025-04-06

Data Deluge: Drowning in Digital Trash

Trillions of blurry images, half-baked videos, and AI-generated content are being created and stored annually, leading to massive environmental waste. The author argues that most organizations lack proper data management, resulting in a deluge of redundant, outdated, and inaccurate information. Cloud storage exacerbates this, making data hoarding cheap and leading to a massive surge in digital garbage. This, in turn, negatively impacts AI training and accuracy. The article calls for better data management practices to combat this growing environmental and resource problem.

(gerrymcgovern.com)

Tech data management data waste

WordPress.com's AI Website Builder: Minutes to a Site, But with Quirks

2025-04-09

WordPress.com's AI Website Builder: Minutes to a Site, But with Quirks

WordPress.com launched an AI-powered website builder in early access. Users provide prompts to generate websites with text, layouts, and images in minutes. While impressive for its speed, it currently can't handle e-commerce or complex integrations. A WordPress.com account and paid hosting ($18+/month) are required. Testing revealed a somewhat quirky experience; for example, AI-generated images were sometimes oddly paired with unrelated content (Christmas cookies with a gaming event).

(www.theverge.com)

Development

Linux Kernel 6.16: Subtle Changes, Significant Improvements

2025-07-30

Linux Kernel 6.16: Subtle Changes, Significant Improvements

The Linux 6.16 kernel release, while seemingly minor, packs significant improvements. Rust integration deepens with new bindings for the driver core and PCI subsystem, simplifying the addition of Rust-based hardware drivers. The Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) gains new Rust abstractions, boosting graphics performance and reducing vulnerabilities. XFS and Ext4 filesystems receive enhancements resulting in performance boosts up to 37%. Security is enhanced with support for Intel TXT and TDX, and improvements are made for Intel APX and Nvidia Blackwell GPUs. Network performance is also boosted with changes to how TCP/IP interacts with DMABUF.

(www.zdnet.com)

Development

Ultrasonic Deep Drawing Cuts Friction by 20%, Extends Tool Lifespan

2025-03-08

Ultrasonic Deep Drawing Cuts Friction by 20%, Extends Tool Lifespan

Fraunhofer IWU has developed VibroDraw, a groundbreaking ultrasonic deep drawing process that reduces friction by at least 20%. By integrating ultrasonic vibrations, the process minimizes material damage, extends tool lifespan, and increases production efficiency. Successfully applied to manufacturing cell housings for electric vehicle batteries, VibroDraw promises to enable larger cell formats, leading to improved range and energy density.

(techxplore.com)

Tech Ultrasonic Deep Drawing Friction Reduction

Universe's Decay Rate Far Faster Than Previously Thought: 10⁷⁸ Years Until the End

2025-05-12

Universe's Decay Rate Far Faster Than Previously Thought: 10⁷⁸ Years Until the End

A team of Dutch scientists has revealed that the universe is decaying far faster than previously anticipated. Their calculations, focusing on Hawking-like radiation, predict that the longest-lasting celestial bodies, white dwarf stars, will decay in approximately 10⁷⁸ years—significantly shorter than the previously estimated 10¹¹⁰⁰ years. This research reinterprets Hawking radiation, considering the 'evaporation' of other objects like neutron stars. The team even calculated the 'evaporation' time for humans and the moon at around 10⁹⁰ years. This interdisciplinary study, combining astrophysics, quantum physics, and mathematics, offers new insights into Hawking radiation.

(phys.org)

Tech universe decay Hawking radiation astrophysics

US and China Agree to 90-Day Tariff Truce

2025-05-12

US and China Agree to 90-Day Tariff Truce

The US and China announced a temporary agreement to lower tariffs, offering a 90-day truce in their ongoing trade war. The US will reduce tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, while China will lower tariffs on US goods from 125% to 10%. Both sides cited a desire to avoid economic decoupling and buy time for further negotiations. The agreement offers a lifeline to American businesses that had suspended orders, hoping for a tariff reduction amid rising prices.

(news.slashdot.org)

Tech Trade Deal

Body Doubling: A Productivity Hack for Focus and Task Completion

2025-03-29

Body doubling is a productivity technique gaining popularity, especially among those with ADHD. It involves working alongside another person, either physically or virtually, to improve focus and task completion. The presence of the 'body double' acts as an external motivator, reducing distractions and fostering a sense of accountability. While long-term studies are limited, anecdotal evidence and expert opinions suggest its effectiveness as a complementary approach to medication and helpful for individuals with other conditions like autism or anxiety.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Development

Liquid Glass: Apple's UI Design Fail?

2025-06-23

From Mac OS X's Aqua to Windows Vista's Aero, and now iOS's Liquid Glass, translucent UI design has always pursued a "cool" look, sacrificing usability. The author criticizes Liquid Glass for its excessive focus on visual effects, blurring interface elements and reducing readability and usability. Visual design is prioritized over user experience, arguing that it's not a true UI design breakthrough but a misuse of design principles.

(take.surf)

Design

North Korean Hackers Extort US Companies After Stealing Source Code

2025-01-24

North Korean Hackers Extort US Companies After Stealing Source Code

The FBI issued a warning about North Korean hackers posing as IT workers to infiltrate US companies, steal source code, and extort ransoms. These hackers use various methods, including AI face-swapping technology, to conceal their identities. After gaining access, they copy code to personal accounts and threaten to leak information for ransom. The FBI advises companies to strengthen hiring processes, limit permissions, and monitor network traffic to prevent such attacks. A joint statement from the US, South Korea, and Japan revealed that North Korean state-sponsored hacking groups stole over $659 million in cryptocurrency in 2024.

(www.bleepingcomputer.com)

Tech North Korean Hackers

Potential Issue with zpool import/export in Linux OpenZFS

2024-12-26

A potential issue exists in Linux OpenZFS versions (as of 2.3.0) regarding importing and exporting ZFS pools. Even if no filesystems within a ZFS pool have the 'sharenfs' property set, `zpool import` and `zpool export` still run `exportfs -ra`. This can wipe out manually added or modified NFS exports, impacting environments like high-availability systems using custom NFS export configurations. The problem stems from OpenZFS blindly executing `exportfs -ra`, regardless of whether NFS exports need changing.

(utcc.utoronto.ca)

Development

AI-Powered Smart Glasses: The Second Coming?

2025-06-15

AI-Powered Smart Glasses: The Second Coming?

A decade after Google Glass's failure, smart glasses are making a comeback, fueled by advancements in artificial intelligence. Snap's announcement of AI-powered eyewear launching in 2026 signals a renewed industry push. Google, Meta, and Amazon are also developing sophisticated smart glasses leveraging AI to process images, video, and speech, enabling features like real-time translation and object recognition. Despite privacy concerns and high prices, market research indicates significant growth potential. Tech companies believe smart glasses will eventually replace smartphones, becoming the primary human-computer interface.

(www.cnn.com)

Tech

Composable SQL: A Functional Approach to Solving SQL Testing and Business Logic Problems

2025-01-29

This article explores the shortcomings of SQL in testing and reusing business logic, proposing a solution called "functors"—composable SQL fragments. By parameterizing queries and relying on interfaces instead of concrete tables, functors solve the challenges of SQL testing and allow for business logic reuse across queries, improving code readability, testability, and reusability. The author also discusses extensions such as generics, generalizing business logic, and avoiding global variables, ultimately achieving efficient, testable, and understandable SQL queries.

(borretti.me)

Development

Alibaba Open-Sources Qwen3-Coder: A 480B Parameter Code Model

2025-07-23

Alibaba Open-Sources Qwen3-Coder: A 480B Parameter Code Model

Alibaba has released Qwen3-Coder, a powerful 480B-parameter code model achieving state-of-the-art results in agentic coding tasks. Supporting a native context length of 256K tokens (extensible to 1M), Qwen3-Coder excels in coding and intelligent tasks. Alongside the model, they've open-sourced Qwen Code, a command-line tool designed for seamless integration. Extensive use of large-scale reinforcement learning significantly improved code execution success rates and complex problem-solving capabilities.

(qwenlm.github.io)

AI code model

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