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WHOIS Sunset: RDAP Takes Over gTLD Registration Data

2025-03-17

Starting January 28, 2025, the Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) becomes the primary source for generic top-level domain (gTLD) registration information, replacing the sunsetting WHOIS service. RDAP offers improvements such as internationalization support, secure access, authoritative service discovery, and differentiated data access. Developed by the IETF, RDAP has been used by ICANN-accredited registrars since 2019. Users can access data via ICANN's RDAP lookup service (https://lookup.icann.org/en) or its open-source command-line client. For non-public data, use the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) or contact the registrar directly.

(www.icann.org)

Tech gTLD

Build Your Own CLI Coding Agent: A Practical Guide with Pydantic-AI and MCP

2025-08-29

This article details how the author built a command-line coding agent using the Pydantic-AI framework and the Model Context Protocol (MCP). By integrating the Claude model, test runners, a code execution sandbox, documentation search, and AWS tools, the agent enables code testing, debugging, documentation lookup, and code modification, significantly boosting development efficiency. The author highlights the importance of MCP in extending agent capabilities and the benefits of building a custom agent to fit specific project needs. Ultimately, the agent acts as an intelligent programming partner, collaborating with developers to write, debug, and test code.

(martinfowler.com)

Development

JavaScript Date Object UTC Trap: Missing Data in Japan

2025-07-30

A seemingly simple JavaScript date filter caused the loss of backend data for Japanese users before 9 AM. The reason? `new Date('YYYY-MM-DD')` creates a date object at midnight UTC, which is 9 AM in Japan (UTC+9). Therefore, 'greater than January 1st' actually meant 'greater than 9 AM on January 1st'. The fix involved explicitly setting the time to midnight to avoid the UTC default.

(senhongo.com)

Development Date

s5cmd: Blazing Fast S3 Command-Line Tool

2025-06-11

s5cmd: Blazing Fast S3 Command-Line Tool

s5cmd is a lightning-fast command-line tool for interacting with S3 and local filesystems. It boasts impressive speed improvements over existing tools like s3cmd and aws-cli, achieving up to 32x faster uploads and saturating 40Gbps network links for downloads. Supporting a wide array of operations, from basic object management (list, upload, download, delete) to advanced features like server-side encryption, ACL management, and SQL-based JSON selection, s5cmd offers a powerful and efficient workflow. Installation is straightforward via pre-built binaries, Homebrew, MacPorts, Conda, or building from source. It's compatible with Google Cloud Storage and other S3-compatible services, making it a versatile solution for managing object storage.

(github.com)

Development

Erlang-RED: Re-imagining Node-RED's Backend in Erlang

2025-05-16

Erlang-RED: Re-imagining Node-RED's Backend in Erlang

This project experiments with replacing Node-RED's existing Node.js backend with an Erlang equivalent. Leveraging Erlang's inherent concurrency, the goal is to boost Node-RED's performance. A significant portion of Node-RED nodes are already implemented, with a flow-based testing system ensuring functionality. Development is flow-driven, separating test flows and code for better maintainability and integration.

(github.com)

Development

Magic: The Gathering – Turing Machines and the Twin Prime Conjecture

2025-04-27

Magic: The Gathering – Turing Machines and the Twin Prime Conjecture

The collectible card game Magic: The Gathering is surprisingly complex, capable of simulating a Turing machine and theoretically performing any computation a computer can. However, using it for calculations is impractical. More intriguingly, players are using the game's mechanics to tackle mathematical problems, such as the twin prime conjecture. One player devised a strategy where the damage inflicted depends on the truth of the conjecture: if it's true, the damage is infinite. While this doesn't prove the conjecture, it showcases a fascinating interplay between games and mathematics, offering a novel perspective for math enthusiasts.

(www.scientificamerican.com)

Game Magic: The Gathering Twin Prime Conjecture

Emulating FMAdd: A Deep Dive into 32-bit Floats

2025-01-02

This post delves into emulating the FMAdd (fused multiply-add) instruction on hardware lacking native support, specifically focusing on a 32-bit float SIMD implementation. It explains FMAdd's operation and how to avoid double rounding errors inherent in intermediate floating-point calculations. The author details a clever technique using 'rounding to odd' and the extra precision of double-precision floats to eliminate rounding errors, achieving accurate FMAdd results. The post also briefly covers calculating precise addition results and error terms, promising a follow-up on handling 64-bit floats.

(drilian.com)

Development floating-point arithmetic FMAdd instruction

Australia's Mandatory Online Age Verification: A Privacy vs. Safety Showdown

2025-07-11

Australia's Mandatory Online Age Verification: A Privacy vs. Safety Showdown

Australia is set to implement unprecedented mandatory online age verification, starting with search engines. Using technology similar to the teen social media ban, Google and Microsoft will filter search results for users under 18 to limit access to harmful content. Experts warn this could compromise privacy and may not effectively protect young people. Seven age verification methods are offered, but government tests showed inaccuracies, and VPNs can easily circumvent the system. The changes largely went unnoticed, raising concerns about government transparency and public engagement. Debate now centers on whether this will extend to other internet sectors, potentially leading to mandatory age verification becoming the norm.

(www.abc.net.au)

Tech

CISA and DOGE Employee's Credentials Found in Multiple Public Leaks

2025-05-09

CISA and DOGE Employee's Credentials Found in Multiple Public Leaks

Login credentials belonging to Kyle Schutt, a software engineer working for both the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have appeared in multiple public leaks from info-stealer malware. This strongly suggests his devices have been compromised. Schutt accessed FEMA's core financial management system, potentially exposing sensitive information about US civilian federal government networks and critical infrastructure. Journalist Micah Lee found Schutt's usernames and passwords in at least four stealer malware logs since 2023. These credentials also surfaced in massive data breaches affecting companies like Adobe, LinkedIn, Gravatar, and The Post Millennial. The exact timing and frequency of the hacks remain unclear, highlighting significant cybersecurity risks within the government.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

The Myth of the Two Fitted Sheet Patents

2025-08-10

The internet perpetuates a myth about fitted sheets originating from just two patents. This article debunks that, showing fitted sheets existed long before 1992, and often without elastic. A deeper patent search reveals numerous earlier designs similar to modern fitted sheets, demonstrating a more complex evolutionary path. The author suggests the 'two-patent' narrative is a simplification, highlighting the importance of verifying online information and the nuances of historical narratives.

(ratfactor.com)

Misc fitted sheets patents online misinformation

I Set Up a BitTorrent Tracker and This Happened...

2025-06-17

Noticing many BitTorrent trackers were dead, the author had a curious idea: buy a defunct domain, set up a tracker, and see what happens. The result? Millions of peers flooded in! This highlighted the centralized risks of the BitTorrent protocol and the legal gray area of trackers regarding copyright. While the tracker itself might not constitute 'inducement' to infringe, the author shut it down out of caution.

(kianbradley.com)

Development tracker

Relive the 80s: Epson MX-80 Font Pack Released

2025-08-21

Michael Walden has recreated the fonts from the iconic Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer, popular in the 1980s. Manually transcribing the font data, he's expanded the character set to include Windows-1252 characters and offers the fonts in various formats (.fon, .ttf, .otf, .woff, .woff2). Perfect for retro printing simulations or displaying program listings on web pages and in documentation.

(mw.rat.bz)

Design retro font

comptime.ts: Compile-Time Computation for TypeScript

2025-08-07

comptime.ts: Compile-Time Computation for TypeScript

comptime.ts is a dead-simple TypeScript compiler designed for efficient compile-time evaluation of expressions marked with `comptime`. This allows for code optimization by shifting computations from runtime to compile time. It supports various use cases, including calculating constants, generating static content, and optimizing performance-critical code. Integration is straightforward via Vite, Bun, or the CLI, boosting developer productivity. However, comptime expressions must be JSON-serializable, and complex expressions may increase build times.

(comptime.js.org)

Development Compile-Time Computation

C Programming Practices: Purity, Speed, and Correctness

2025-09-18

This document presents notes on C programming practices, covering coding style, function and variable naming conventions, formatting, commenting, and clever C tricks like bit counting and loop unrolling. The author emphasizes striving for code purity, speed, and correctness, offering insights into utilizing header files, compilers effectively, and revisiting common programming paradigms like the use of GOTO statements. The goal is to improve the quality and efficiency of C programming.

(www.teamten.com)

Development

Apollo 11's Lunar Customs Declaration: A Moon Rock Mystery

2025-07-24

Apollo 11's Lunar Customs Declaration: A Moon Rock Mystery

Upon their return from the moon in 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts had to fill out a customs declaration form. The form listed "moon rock and moon dust samples" as acquired items, with "Moon" as the departure point and Honolulu, Hawaii as the arrival. This incredible document highlights not only humanity's first moon landing but also the meticulous nature of US customs and a charming anecdote about Neil Armstrong's friendship with a pilot.

(magazine.uc.edu)

Tech Apollo 11 Customs Declaration

AI Revitalizes 100 Kung Fu Classics: A Chinese Film Revolution

2025-06-19

AI Revitalizes 100 Kung Fu Classics: A Chinese Film Revolution

China's film industry is undergoing an AI revolution. A massive project aims to use AI to restore and remaster approximately 100 classic kung fu films, including iconic titles such as Bruce Lee's *Fist of Fury*, Jackie Chan's *Drunken Master*, and Jet Li's *Once Upon a Time in China*. The initiative goes beyond simple upscaling, aiming to enhance visual aesthetics and modernize the viewing experience for contemporary audiences. Backed by the Chinese government with significant funding (100 million yuan), this project signifies a bold step in integrating AI into Chinese filmmaking.

(www.hollywoodreporter.com)

Tech Kung Fu

Meta Launches New AI App Powered by Llama 4

2025-04-29

Meta Launches New AI App Powered by Llama 4

Meta has unveiled a new standalone AI app built on its Llama 4 model, focusing on a more personalized AI experience. The app offers voice interaction and integrates features like image generation and editing. Users can engage in natural, conversational interactions with the AI via voice or text, leveraging its powerful search capabilities to solve problems and access information. A 'Discover' feed allows users to share and explore AI applications. Voice conversation features are initially available in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

(about.fb.com)

AI AI App

Reject Cookies: A Chrome Extension to End Annoying Cookie Banners

2025-04-29

Tired of annoying cookie consent banners? The Reject Cookies Chrome extension automatically rejects non-essential cookies and closes pop-ups. While initially using Cursor for development, the approach shifted to a more targeted method, focusing on specific vendors like OneTrust for better accuracy. The extension is a work in progress and welcomes user feedback and contributions to expand its coverage of cookie providers.

(blog.bymitch.com)

Development

Palo Alto Networks Acquires CyberArk for $25 Billion, Expanding into Identity Security

2025-08-02

Palo Alto Networks Acquires CyberArk for $25 Billion, Expanding into Identity Security

Cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks announced a $25 billion acquisition of identity management and security company CyberArk, marking its entry into the identity security market. The deal, a combination of cash and stock, is Palo Alto's largest acquisition to date and follows a string of purchases since Nikesh Arora became CEO in 2018. This acquisition, exceeding $7 billion in total acquisitions under Arora's leadership, solidifies Palo Alto's position as a major player in the cybersecurity landscape.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech identity security

pipask: Secure Python Package Installation

2025-05-03

pipask: Secure Python Package Installation

pipask is a safer alternative to pip, adding security checks before installing Python packages. It prioritizes using PyPI metadata, avoiding downloading and executing code whenever possible. If third-party code execution is necessary, pipask asks for user consent. After performing checks, including repository popularity, package age, known vulnerabilities, PyPI download counts, and metadata verification, it presents a formatted report and requests approval. Upon approval, it hands off installation to standard pip.

(github.com)

Development

Provider-Agnostic CAS Cache with Pluggable Codecs and Generation Store

2025-08-25

Provider-Agnostic CAS Cache with Pluggable Codecs and Generation Store

cascache is a provider-agnostic Compare-And-Set (CAS) cache featuring pluggable codecs and a generation store. It offers safe single-key reads (no stale values), optional bulk caching with read-side validation, and an opt-in distributed mode for multi-replica deployments. Cascache ensures CAS safety using generation snapshots, supports various underlying stores (Ristretto, BigCache, Redis) and codecs (JSON, Msgpack, CBOR, Proto), and provides both local and distributed generation storage modes for high performance and availability.

(github.com)

Development

Smartphone Fast Charging: A Deep Dive into Technologies and Standards

2025-04-22

This article delves into the world of smartphone fast charging, comparing various technologies and standards. From the benefits of slow charging to the intricacies of USB PD, Qualcomm Quick Charge, VOOC, SuperVOOC, and others, it explores the trade-offs between speed and battery health. The article highlights inconsistencies in advertised power ratings, the incompatibility of different fast-charging protocols, and the significant heat generation associated with high-wattage charging. Wireless charging technologies like Qi, MagSafe, and Qi2 are also examined, emphasizing their lower efficiency and heat generation compared to wired charging. The article concludes with recommendations for safe and effective charging practices to maximize battery lifespan.

(eb43.github.io)

Hardware smartphone charging

The Prospero Challenge: Rendering Implicit Surfaces with Extreme Performance

2025-03-24

The Prospero Challenge: Rendering Implicit Surfaces with Extreme Performance

The Prospero Challenge invites developers to render an implicit surface defined by 7866 mathematical expressions as quickly as possible. Participants explore various optimization techniques, including expression pre-parsing, Numba acceleration, GPU computation, and LLVM compilation, using tools like Python, Numpy, CUDA, and JIT compilers. Solutions have achieved millisecond rendering times and significantly reduced memory consumption. The challenge encourages experimentation and the sharing of results to advance the state of the art in implicit surface rendering.

(www.mattkeeter.com)

Development implicit surface

Xlibre: A Modern Xorg Fork Challenges Wayland's Dominance

2025-06-17

Wayland, touted as a modern replacement for Xorg, faces criticism for its incomplete functionality and forceful adoption. It struggles in crucial areas like remote desktop, custom keyboard bindings, and legacy software support. This raises concerns within the open-source community as Wayland's shortcomings impact user experience, especially for those with disabilities. In response, Xlibre, a fork of Xorg, aims to modernize Xorg and provide a complete and stable alternative. Xlibre offers a glimmer of hope for the Linux desktop, but its success in challenging Wayland remains to be seen.

(www.dedoimedo.com)

Development

Conquering Advent of Code 2024 with BQN

2025-01-25

The author participated in the 2024 Advent of Code challenge and chose to learn the array language BQN. The article details the learning journey, covering setup, documentation and tooling experiences, and an introduction to BQN's features such as its unique operators, array manipulations, and function definitions. Several Advent of Code solutions are shared, showcasing BQN's strengths in handling arrays and grid problems, contrasting BQN with imperative languages. While initially challenging, the author ultimately finds BQN a fun and powerful language, particularly suited for solving programming puzzles.

(nrk.neocities.org)

Development array language

Otter.ai Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Unauthorized Recordings

2025-08-18

Otter.ai Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Unauthorized Recordings

Otter.ai, a Mountain View-based AI transcription company, is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging it secretly records private conversations without permission to train its AI. The lawsuit claims Otter.ai's Otter Notebook service, used for transcribing Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings, defaults to recording without consent, violating privacy and wiretap laws. Plaintiff Justin Brewer alleges severe privacy invasion. Otter.ai defends its practices by stating it de-identifies data, but the lawsuit questions the effectiveness of this process, citing a lack of transparency. This raises serious concerns about privacy in AI-powered transcription services, particularly regarding data used for AI training.

(www.npr.org)

Tech

Windows 11 App Update: Paint, Snipping Tool, and Notepad Get AI Boost

2025-05-22

Windows 11 App Update: Paint, Snipping Tool, and Notepad Get AI Boost

Microsoft is rolling out updates to Paint, Snipping Tool, and Notepad for Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels on Windows 11. Paint now features an AI sticker generator, a smart object selection tool, and a new welcome experience; Snipping Tool adds perfect screenshot and color picker capabilities; and Notepad introduces an AI writing feature for quick text drafting. Most of these new features require a Copilot+ PC and Microsoft account login, with some requiring a Microsoft 365 subscription.

(blogs.windows.com)

Development App Update

0 to 1: A Software Engineer's Two-Year Journey

2025-07-17

This blog post chronicles a software engineer's two-year work experience across multiple projects. He details the development of Maximus, a bug dashboard application, evolving from a static web app to a full-stack solution significantly improving team efficiency. He also recounts improving the quarterly service report generation process, migrating from outdated Excel VBA to a Python-based pipeline utilizing sqlite for data management. Additional tools were built, including one for comparing network device upgrade reports. Beyond work, he developed two personal projects: TweetLists.app, for sharing tweet lists; and Tiles.run, an AI-powered notebook. The author reflects on lessons learned in software development, teamwork, product strategy, and offers insights into his future plans.

(aswinc.blog)

Development personal projects

Tattoy: Level Up Your Terminal with GPU-Powered Effects

2025-06-13

Tattoy: Level Up Your Terminal with GPU-Powered Effects

Tattoy is a terminal enhancement framework that renders graphics using UTF8 half-blocks, supporting GPU shaders and ShaderToy shaders, and provides a live-updating minimap of the terminal scrollback. It automatically adjusts text contrast, is compatible with existing shells and themes, and allows running commands in the background, such as audio visualizations or system monitors. Plus, Tattoy features a plugin system enabling developers to extend functionality using any language.

(tattoy.sh)

Development terminal enhancement GPU shaders plugin system

Turing Award Recognizes Reinforcement Learning Pioneers

2025-03-05

Turing Award Recognizes Reinforcement Learning Pioneers

Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton have been awarded the 2024 ACM A.M. Turing Award for their foundational work in reinforcement learning. Their research, starting in the 1980s, laid the conceptual and algorithmic groundwork for this crucial approach to building intelligent systems. Reinforcement learning, inspired by psychology and neuroscience, uses reward signals to guide agents toward optimal behavior. Barto and Sutton developed key algorithms like temporal difference learning and policy gradient methods, and their textbook, 'Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction,' became a standard reference. The combination of reinforcement learning with deep learning has led to breakthroughs like AlphaGo and improvements in models like ChatGPT. Their work continues to shape the field of AI.

(awards.acm.org)

AI Turing Award

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