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Apple's New Gaming App: A Resurrected Game Center, But Much More

2025-06-09

Apple's New Gaming App: A Resurrected Game Center, But Much More

Apple is launching a dedicated gaming app, "Games," pre-installed on Macs, iPhones, and iPads this fall with macOS Tahoe 26 and iOS 26. This revamped Game Center will act as a modern gaming hub, similar to Xbox or GOG Galaxy, featuring leaderboards, matchmaking, recommendations, news, and direct access to Apple Arcade. Users can see what friends are playing, challenge them, and access their entire App Store game library. The Mac version includes an overlay for quick access to communication tools, audio, Bluetooth, and battery life. This release underscores Apple's growing push into gaming, following recent additions of AAA titles to Mac and mobile and the acquisition of the small game studio RAC7. While the Epic Games legal battle continues, Fortnite's return to the App Store with third-party payment support marks a significant development.

(www.engadget.com)

Game Apple Gaming Game Center

Google Tag Manager: The Stealthy Surveillance Leviathan

2025-07-05

Google Tag Manager (GTM) has become one of the internet's most destructive tools for privacy invasion. Masquerading as a benign tool, it hides intrusive scripts and amplifies Google Analytics' (GA) surveillance capabilities. This article exposes how GTM circumvents content blockers by shifting to first-party cookies and server-side operation. It details methods to disable GTM's surveillance, including disabling JavaScript, using browser extensions like uBlock Origin, and employing browsers like Lynx. The author urges users to actively resist this surveillance and protect their online privacy.

(backlit.neocities.org)

Tech data surveillance

China's Great Firewall Mysteriously Blocks Port 443 for an Hour

2025-08-21

China's Great Firewall Mysteriously Blocks Port 443 for an Hour

On August 20th, China's Great Firewall experienced a mysterious outage, blocking access to most foreign websites for about an hour. The outage affected TCP port 443, the standard port for HTTPS traffic, disrupting services reliant on it, including some Apple and Tesla services. The cause remains unclear, possibly a new device being tested, misconfiguration, or human error. This isn't the first Great Firewall glitch, highlighting flaws in China's internet censorship.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Network Outage

Escobar Fold Phone Scamster Pleads Guilty, Faces 20 Years

2025-07-23

Escobar Fold Phone Scamster Pleads Guilty, Faces 20 Years

Olof Kyros Gustafsson, former CEO of the company behind the infamous Escobar Fold 1 and 2 phones, has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering. Gustafsson and Escobar, Inc. took orders for phones and other products, but failed to deliver them, instead pocketing customer funds. They also sent products to tech reviewers and influencers to boost sales. The 'Escobar Fold 2' was revealed to be a rebranded Samsung Galaxy Fold with a gold sticker. Gustafsson faces up to 20 years in prison and $1.3 million in restitution.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech

AlphaEvolve: The Unsung Heroes Behind AI Algorithm Discovery

2025-05-14

AlphaEvolve: The Unsung Heroes Behind AI Algorithm Discovery

AlphaEvolve, a project focused on using AI for algorithm discovery, wouldn't have been possible without the collaborative efforts of a large team. The acknowledgement section names over 40 individuals, highlighting the diverse roles, from researchers and engineers to designers, involved in its creation and emphasizing the collaborative nature and complexity of AI algorithm discovery.

(deepmind.google)

AI Algorithm Discovery

Venu Sports Streaming Service Scrapped Before Launch

2025-01-10

Venu Sports Streaming Service Scrapped Before Launch

The much-anticipated Venu Sports streaming service, a joint venture between ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, has been canceled before its official launch. Announced last year with a planned launch in Fall 2024, Venu aimed to provide live streaming access to a wide range of sports, including NFL, NBA, and more. However, an antitrust lawsuit and regulatory scrutiny led to significant hurdles. While a Disney-FuboTV merger temporarily resolved a lawsuit, concerns from DirecTV and EchoStar ultimately resulted in the project's termination.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech sports

Glowing Plants: Cheap Nanoparticles Turn Succulents into Night Lights

2025-08-29

Glowing Plants: Cheap Nanoparticles Turn Succulents into Night Lights

Researchers at South China Agricultural University have developed a low-cost, biocompatible phosphor compound that allows succulents to glow for up to two hours after just a few minutes of sunlight or LED exposure. This inexpensive method, involving injecting nanoparticles into the leaves, avoids complex genetic modification techniques. The team found an optimal nanoparticle size for uniform, bright illumination, even enough to light nearby objects. The technology could revolutionize indoor and garden decor, creating stunning, glowing landscapes at minimal cost (around $1.4 per plant). Long-term safety studies are underway.

(newatlas.com)

Tech plant lighting

Low-Background Steel: A Digital Archive Against AI Contamination

2025-06-10

Low-Background Steel: A Digital Archive Against AI Contamination

Launched in March 2023, Low-background Steel (https://lowbackgroundsteel.ai/) is a website dedicated to archiving online resources untouched by AI-generated content. Using the analogy of low-background steel (metal uncontaminated by radioactive isotopes from nuclear testing), the site curates pre-ChatGPT Wikipedia dumps, the Arctic Code Vault, Project Gutenberg, and more. Its goal is to preserve and share pristine text, images, and videos, combating the explosion of AI-generated content since 2022. Submissions of uncontaminated content sources are welcome.

(blog.jgc.org)

AI AI contamination

Gorilla Social Lives: A Complex Equation of Costs and Benefits

2025-05-09

A 20-year study of 164 wild mountain gorillas reveals the complex interplay of costs and benefits associated with sociality. The study found that the advantages and disadvantages of social bonds varied depending on group size and sex. Friendly females in smaller groups experienced less illness but fewer offspring, while those in larger groups had higher birth rates but more illnesses. Males with strong social ties tended to be sicker but less prone to injuries from fights. This research highlights how the diversity of social strategies in social animals, including humans, arises from the trade-offs between costs and benefits.

(www.sciencedaily.com)

Tech gorillas social behavior

SpaceX Dragon Successfully Docks with ISS: A Mission Breakdown

2025-01-03

SpaceX Dragon Successfully Docks with ISS: A Mission Breakdown

SpaceX's Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) in a meticulously planned mission. The mission involved several key phases: Falcon 9 launched Dragon into orbit; Dragon then performed a series of orbital maneuvers to approach the ISS; finally, Dragon autonomously docked, followed by pressurization and crew ingress. The precision and complexity demonstrate SpaceX's advanced space technology.

(www.spacex.com)

Tech Dragon ISS

Mechanical CPR Device Shows Promise for Space Travel

2025-09-09

Mechanical CPR Device Shows Promise for Space Travel

Performing CPR in microgravity is extremely challenging. Current protocols on the ISS require a strenuous handstand technique. Researchers tested three mechanical chest compression devices in simulated microgravity, finding that the best device achieved a compression depth of 53mm, significantly better than the 34.5mm achieved with the handstand method (the effective depth is 50mm). This research could lead to improved space CPR guidelines, addressing the increased risk of cardiac events as space travel becomes more common.

(www.newscientist.com)

Tech CPR Mechanical Device

Hyperview: Native Mobile Apps as Easy as Websites

2025-01-08

Hyperview is a new hypermedia format and React Native client for building server-driven mobile apps with the ease of website creation. It renders screens by fetching Hyperview XML (HXML) content from a server, supporting various backend technologies like Django, Rails, or Node. Updates are instant via backend changes, eliminating lengthy app store review times. Hyperview excels for network-based apps (social networks, marketplaces, media browsing), but isn't ideal for apps heavily reliant on offline data or local computation.

(hyperview.org)

Development native mobile app server-driven

Saltwater-Soluble Plastic Breakthrough

2025-03-28

Saltwater-Soluble Plastic Breakthrough

Scientists at RIKEN in Japan have developed a new type of plastic that's as durable as conventional plastic but dissolves quickly in saltwater, leaving behind safe compounds. Made from supramolecular polymers with reversible bonds, this plastic offers a potential solution to plastic pollution. While strong enough for everyday use, a simple scratch on a hydrophobic coating allows saltwater to initiate rapid decomposition into nitrogen and phosphorus, beneficial nutrients for plants and microbes. Although excess nutrients can also be harmful, controlled decomposition in specialized facilities could recover these elements for reuse.

(newatlas.com)

Tech sustainable plastic supramolecular polymers biodegradable

Meta Hit With €5,000 Fine for Tracking Pixels, Opens Door to Massive GDPR Lawsuits

2025-07-10

Meta Hit With €5,000 Fine for Tracking Pixels, Opens Door to Massive GDPR Lawsuits

A German court ordered Meta to pay €5,000 to a user for embedding tracking pixels on third-party websites without consent, violating the GDPR. This ruling sets a precedent, potentially opening the floodgates for mass lawsuits against Meta. The court stated that individual users don't need to prove specific damages to sue. Meta's practice of using tracking technology to profile users and generate billions in profit was deemed a massive violation of European data protection law. Experts warn this decision could significantly impact websites and apps using similar tracking technologies, with potential class-action lawsuits posing a serious financial and operational threat to Meta.

(therecord.media)

Tech

Fruit Fly Gyroscopes: Unveiling the Internal Architecture of Flight Stabilizers

2025-06-15

Fruit Fly Gyroscopes: Unveiling the Internal Architecture of Flight Stabilizers

Spanish researchers have discovered that the fruit fly's haltere, a gyroscopic organ essential for flight stability, is not hollow. Its unique shape arises from an intricate internal cellular structure acting like architectural supports. These structures connect via cellular projections and a protein matrix (laminin and collagen), creating an internal tension system that counteracts external forces and maintains the haltere's shape. Experiments with genetically modified fruit flies showed that disrupting this system leads to haltere deformation and impaired flight stability. This research not only reveals the developmental mechanism of the fruit fly haltere but also offers new insights for tissue engineering and biomimetic structure design.

(phys.org)

Tech fruit fly flight

Open Source's Coordination Problem: Lessons from Linux Desktop and LSP

2025-06-20

The author uses their experience with NixOS and a KDE application as a starting point to discuss the challenges of coordinating open-source software in the Linux desktop environment. They highlight the lack of a unified API standard in the Linux desktop, leading to a fragmented software ecosystem, described as an "Escher-like perpetual motion machine." This is contrasted with the release of the Language Server Protocol (LSP) by Microsoft a decade ago. While the implementation was mediocre, its mere existence solved the coordination problem for IDE features, driving industry progress. The author argues that the open-source community's lack of coordination led to the missed opportunity to create a unified IDE protocol before LSP. Linux's success, however, is attributed to the pre-defined API standard provided by POSIX, reducing coordination difficulties. This article prompts reflection on the open-source community's coordination mechanisms and software ecosystem development models. Category: Tech

(matklad.github.io)

Tech

Why Do Game Graphics Look So Bad? A Look at HDR's Failures

2025-07-25

Why Do Game Graphics Look So Bad? A Look at HDR's Failures

This article dissects the use of High Dynamic Range (HDR) in game graphics and its shortcomings. Many games, while visually impressive, lack the realism of films or photographs, exhibiting excessive contrast and unnatural color saturation. The author analyzes the issues with tone mapping functions and Look-Up Tables (LUTs) used in game engines, pointing out how their improper use leads to visual distortions. Using examples like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Forza Horizon 3, the author shows how avoiding excessive contrast and carefully utilizing color can yield superior visual results. The solution, the author argues, needs to address both technical and artistic aspects, requiring game developers to prioritize the importance of tone mapping in visual design.

(ventspace.wordpress.com)

Game game graphics tone mapping

Flatpak's Development Stagnation: A Lack of Maintainers Hinders Innovation

2025-05-23

Despite its popularity among developers and users, and adoption by distributions like Fedora, the core Flatpak project is facing development stagnation. The main cause is the loss of key developers, leading to slow code review and merging, and a backlog of new features and improvements. The article explores challenges in Flatpak's OSTree and OCI support, permission refinement, network namespaces, and NVIDIA driver integration, proposing a potential OCI-based refactoring to leverage the broader container ecosystem and address existing issues.

(lwn.net)

Development application packaging

AI-Powered Photo Organizer: Sort Your Memories by Person

2025-02-08

AI-Powered Photo Organizer: Sort Your Memories by Person

Tired of struggling to organize your massive photo collection? Sort_Memories is an AI-powered tool that makes it easy! Simply upload a few sample photos of the individuals you want to sort by, then upload your group photos. The tool uses face recognition to automatically sort your photos into groups, neatly organizing pictures of you and your loved ones. Built with Python, face_recognition, and Flask, it's easy to use. Just clone the repository, install dependencies, run the script, and visit the specified localhost URL.

(github.com)

AI Face Recognition Photo Management

MIT Spinout Extends Bridge Lifespan by 100 Years

2025-05-24

MIT Spinout Extends Bridge Lifespan by 100 Years

Allium Engineering, founded by two MIT PhDs, is revolutionizing infrastructure with a new technology that triples the lifespan of bridges and other structures. By adding a thin layer of stainless steel cladding to traditional rebar, they drastically improve corrosion resistance. This easily integrated process requires no special handling, significantly extends infrastructure lifespan, reduces maintenance needs, and lowers carbon emissions. Already used in several US projects, Allium's technology promises rapid global scaling, building a more durable, affordable, and sustainable infrastructure for the future.

(news.mit.edu)

Tech Infrastructure

Trump's AI-Powered Surveillance State: A Techno-Dystopia Unleashed

2025-06-08

Trump's AI-Powered Surveillance State: A Techno-Dystopia Unleashed

Since Donald Trump's return to the White House, the US government has ramped up mass surveillance using AI, targeting immigrants, foreign nationals, and students. This involves unauthorized social media scanning, biometric data analysis, phone interception, and more, all without judicial oversight. Trump and Elon Musk, along with private sector players like Palantir and Anduril, are driving this expansion. Agencies such as DHS and ICE utilize tools like Babel X and SocialNet, collecting data from various sources including social media. The government even uses social media activity as grounds to deny asylum or citizenship. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) collects sensitive citizen data, feeding a new deportation platform. Experts warn of human rights violations and the expansion of this surveillance to Europe.

(english.elpais.com)

Tech Techno-Surveillance

Escaping the Grind: A Mom's Experience with Remote Work in Europe

2025-06-08

Escaping the Grind: A Mom's Experience with Remote Work in Europe

In 2022, a Michigan mom quit her remote people operations job at a US company due to the struggle of balancing work and caring for her one-year-old. After several months of searching, she landed a job as a People Experience Manager at Storyblok, a fully remote Austrian company. She discovered a stark contrast in work-life balance, with European companies offering better work hours and generous paid leave, including Austria's 'care leave' which provides paid time off for childcare needs. While time zone differences present some challenges, she greatly values the improved work-life integration and finds it difficult to imagine returning to a US-based company.

(www.businessinsider.com)

Startup European work culture

APL's Double-Efficiency Solid-State Refrigeration Breakthrough

2025-09-21

APL's Double-Efficiency Solid-State Refrigeration Breakthrough

Researchers at Johns Hopkins APL have developed a new solid-state thermoelectric refrigeration technology using nano-engineered materials, boasting double the efficiency of commercially available bulk materials. This scalable technology, called CHESS, addresses the growing demand for energy-efficient cooling solutions. Tested in real-world refrigerators, CHESS demonstrated nearly a 75% efficiency improvement. Its minuscule material requirements allow for mass production using semiconductor chip manufacturing, driving down costs and paving the way for wider adoption, potentially extending from small-scale refrigeration to large-scale HVAC applications and beyond.

(www.sciencedaily.com)

Tech Solid-State Cooling Nano-materials Thermoelectric

Bear Note-Taking App Changes License to Combat Free-Riding

2025-09-01

Bear Note-Taking App Changes License to Combat Free-Riding

Herman, the developer of the Bear note-taking app, has announced a change in the app's open-source license from MIT to the Elastic License. This decision stems from instances of others forking the project to create competing services, harming the developer's interests. The Elastic License is nearly identical to MIT but adds a stipulation prohibiting the software from being offered as a hosted or managed service. The developer cites the rise of AI-powered coding, making it easier to create competing products, as a reason for this change, prioritizing the protection of their work and the app's long-term sustainability.

(herman.bearblog.dev)

Development

Pure CSS 3D Engine: Building Realistic 3D Worlds with HTML Elements

2025-08-21

Pure CSS 3D Engine: Building Realistic 3D Worlds with HTML Elements

A developer spent months creating a stunning 3D environment demo using only CSS 3D transforms, HTML elements, and JavaScript. The demo features complex models, realistic lighting and shadows, and even collision detection. The article details the technical aspects, including creating 3D objects from rectangular elements, cleverly using gradients and canvas for lighting and shadow effects, and heightmap-based collision detection. This is not just a technical showcase; it demonstrates the immense potential of CSS in the field of 3D graphics.

(keithclark.co.uk)

Development 3D Engine

Gravitational Wave Sources: From Quadrupole Moment to Compact Objects

2025-04-06

This article explores the sources of gravitational waves. According to general relativity, the generation of gravitational waves is related to the time-varying quadrupole moment of the matter distribution in spacetime. Unlike electromagnetic waves, the lowest-order source term for gravitational waves is the quadrupole moment, meaning only non-spherical, accelerating objects can produce significant gravitational waves. Compact objects like white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, and their binary systems are major sources of gravitational waves. Their non-spherical shapes and orbital motion cause changes in the quadrupole moment, generating detectable gravitational waves.

(www.as.arizona.edu)

Tech gravitational waves compact objects

Philips Hue Prices to Increase in the US Due to Tariffs

2025-06-25

Philips Hue Prices to Increase in the US Due to Tariffs

Signify, the parent company of Philips Hue, has confirmed price increases for its smart lighting and security products in the US, effective July 1st. The increase is a direct result of tariffs on Chinese imports. While specific price changes and affected products haven't been detailed, the statement suggests the entire Hue lineup may be impacted. The new Hue Play Wall Washer already shows a higher US price compared to its European counterpart. This price hike could push US consumers towards more affordable alternatives. Signify warns of potential further price increases depending on future tariff adjustments.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech Smart Lighting

Debugging React Server Components in Next.js with OpenTelemetry

2025-01-23

Debugging React Server Components in Next.js with OpenTelemetry

React Server Components (RSCs) offer performance benefits but introduce debugging challenges. This article demonstrates using OpenTelemetry, a powerful observability framework, to trace RSC activity within Next.js applications. OpenTelemetry allows tracing requests, collecting metrics, and aggregating logs, giving developers insights into server-side component execution, including lifecycle events, data fetching operations, and rendering performance. A real-world case study showcases optimizing a page loading numerous GitHub API calls using OpenTelemetry. The article details installing necessary packages, creating an instrumentation.js file, and configuring data export destinations. It also explains creating custom spans for more granular insights.

(www.dash0.com)

Development

Prevent Common Go Bugs with Custom Types

2025-07-25

Prevent Common Go Bugs with Custom Types

In Go development, mixing up integers, strings, or UUIDs representing different things leads to subtle bugs. This post introduces a simple yet effective technique: define distinct types for different meanings. For instance, use AccountID and UserID for account and user IDs respectively; the compiler will catch type mismatches, preventing errors. The author demonstrates this in their libwx weather library, avoiding errors from using generic types like float64. This simple yet often overlooked technique is worth adopting.

(www.dzombak.com)

Development Coding Best Practices

arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

2025-07-19

arXivLabs is a framework enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Individuals and organizations involved embrace arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who share them. Got an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

(arxiv.org)

Tech

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