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One Woman Dev Team Reaches Two Million Users

2024-12-17

Nadia Odunayo, a software engineer, built The StoryGraph, a reading community app with over a million users, as a solo developer. The StoryGraph helps users track their reading and recommends books based on mood and preferences. This inspiring story highlights Odunayo's grit, technical skills, and the 'one-person framework' she used to achieve this impressive feat. It offers valuable insights for aspiring solo developers.

(brightonruby.com)

Development solo development reading community user growth

Shape-Shifting Antenna Takes Inspiration From 'The Expanse'

2024-12-16

Shape-Shifting Antenna Takes Inspiration From 'The Expanse'

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory have developed a novel shape-shifting antenna inspired by the science fiction series, 'The Expanse'. Using 3D-printed shape-memory alloy, the antenna dynamically adapts its shape through heating and cooling to meet various communication needs. Effectively operating from 4-11 GHz, this innovative design holds promise for 6G wireless communication, addressing the challenge of requiring multiple antennas for multi-band operation. While slower than alternative technologies, it offers advantages in power efficiency and frequency range, especially in systems needing to integrate diverse antenna types for optimal performance.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Tech shape-shifting antenna 6G communication

Mass Psychogenic Illness and Social Networks: A Changing Outbreak Pattern?

2024-12-21

A 2012 outbreak of conversion disorder at a New York high school saw numerous adolescent girls develop facial tics, muscle spasms, and speech problems. The diagnosis sparked controversy, with parents challenging the psychogenic explanation and suggesting environmental causes. This article analyzes the two types of mass psychogenic illness (MPI), its economic impact, and the shift in its spread in the social media age. The authors posit that social media may accelerate MPI transmission and amplify challenges to diagnoses, creating new public health hurdles. The Leroy case highlights the complexity of managing MPI in the digital age, suggesting traditional isolation strategies may be insufficient.

(pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Misc Mass psychogenic illness Conversion disorder Social media

Black Candy: A Self-Hosted Music Streaming Server

2024-12-26

Black Candy: A Self-Hosted Music Streaming Server

Black Candy is a self-hosted music streaming server, your personal music center. It offers easy installation via Docker, allowing you to quickly set up your own music streaming service. A demo is available for testing. While SQLite is the default database, PostgreSQL is also supported. Data persistence is managed by mounting the /app/storage directory. For improved performance, Nginx proxy is supported, and mobile apps are available.

(github.com)

Development self-hosted

Coccinelle: A Powerful Tool for Linux Kernel Development

2024-12-26

Coccinelle is a powerful tool for Linux kernel development, used for pattern matching and text transformation. It enables the application of complex, tree-wide patches and detects problematic coding patterns. This document details Coccinelle's installation, usage, various modes (patch, report, context, org), and advanced features such as parallelization, using a single semantic patch, controlling processed files, debugging, and .cocciconfig support. Coccinelle leverages Semantic Patch Language (SmPL) and offers multiple modes for generating patches, reports, context information, and Org-mode reports, catering to diverse needs.

(docs.kernel.org)

Development

ByteDance's INFP: AI Brings Still Images to Life

2024-12-22

ByteDance's INFP: AI Brings Still Images to Life

ByteDance has unveiled INFP, a groundbreaking AI that transforms static images into lively characters capable of speaking, singing, and interacting with their environment. This technology uses advanced algorithms to seamlessly sync audio with realistic movements, facial expressions, and lip-syncing, breathing life into still images. Applications span art creation, storytelling, virtual interviews, and musical performances, opening exciting possibilities for AI creativity and human-computer interaction.

(pdftranslate.ai)

AI image generation ByteDance

Great Question (YC) Hiring People Operations Manager

2024-12-12

Great Question (YC) Hiring People Operations Manager

Great Question, a YC-backed startup simplifying customer research, is seeking an experienced People Operations Manager. This role will focus on streamlining recruitment, onboarding, compensation standardization, and enhancing company culture to boost employee engagement and retention. The ideal candidate will have 3+ years of experience in people operations, expertise in compensation and performance management, excellent communication skills, and a proven ability to thrive in a remote work environment. This is a crucial opportunity to contribute to a rapidly growing startup.

(www.ycombinator.com)

Startup Hiring People Operations YC Startup

Hardware-Level Network Time Security: Netnod's FPGA Implementation of NTS

2024-12-13

Hardware-Level Network Time Security: Netnod's FPGA Implementation of NTS

Following a 2019 software implementation of Network Time Security (NTS), Netnod has deployed NTS at the hardware level using FPGAs for their NTP and NTS protocols. This hardware implementation offers enhanced security, mitigating side-channel attacks and improving efficiency and scalability. While challenges existed in processing complex NTS packets, Netnod overcame them with a multi-engine parallel processing solution. Their NTS service is now in production.

(labs.ripe.net)

Hardware network security hardware security

Unspoken Rules of Terminal Programs: A 20-Year Retrospective

2024-12-12

This article summarizes the author's 20 years of experience with terminal programs, distilling common, albeit unofficial, 'rules' of behavior. These rules cover program responses to Ctrl-C, Ctrl-D, and the 'q' key, color usage, readline keybinding support, and pipe output. The author notes that while not mandatory standards, understanding these rules helps predict terminal program behavior and reduces the learning curve. The article uses examples to analyze the applicability and exceptions to these rules, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between a program's own responsibility and default OS behavior.

(jvns.ca)

Development terminal programs command line programming tips

Visualizing Concurrency: A Guide to Understanding Program State Space

2024-12-20

Concurrent programming is notoriously complex due to the difficulty of enumerating all possible states. This article uses visualization to explain how to understand the mechanics of concurrent program execution. It begins by introducing the concept of program state, which is a combination of variable values and instruction location, and then demonstrates the transition process of program states and the generation of state space using a simple C-like program example. The article then introduces concurrent programs, and, using two concurrently executing programs, P and Q, it explains how to represent the state of a concurrent program and the construction of the state space. Finally, the article explores how to use the model checking tool SPIN and the LTL language to verify the correctness of concurrent programs, highlighting the important role of model checking in ensuring the correctness of concurrent programs.

(wyounas.github.io)

Development state space model checking

MIT Study Unveils Why Laws Are Written in Incomprehensible Legalese

2024-12-17

MIT Study Unveils Why Laws Are Written in Incomprehensible Legalese

A new study from MIT cognitive scientists reveals why legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand. Contrary to the belief that complexity stems from iterative edits, the research suggests that convoluted legalese serves to convey authority, akin to a 'magic spell'. Experiments showed that even non-lawyers instinctively use complex language structures when writing laws. This finding could inspire lawmakers to simplify legal language for better public comprehension.

(news.mit.edu)

AI Legal Language Cognitive Science

Bizarre Particle's Mass Depends on Travel Direction

2024-12-12

Bizarre Particle's Mass Depends on Travel Direction

Scientists have unexpectedly discovered a strange quasiparticle, a semi-Dirac fermion, in a ZrSiS material. This particle exhibits a peculiar behavior: it's massless when moving along a specific direction but gains mass when traveling in other directions. This discovery, stemming from research into the properties of quasiparticles within ZrSiS, relates to Einstein's mass-energy equivalence, E=mc². When moving at light speed in a specific direction, the quasiparticle is massless; changing direction and slowing down causes it to gain mass. The finding could potentially lead to novel applications for ZrSiS, similar to those of graphene.

(newatlas.com)

Physics semi-Dirac fermion quasiparticle mass-energy equivalence

GribStream: A Fast and Efficient Historical Weather Forecast API

2024-12-20

GribStream: A Fast and Efficient Historical Weather Forecast API

GribStream is a fast, efficient, and easy-to-use historical weather forecast API leveraging the National Blend of Models (NBM) and the Global Forecast System (GFS). It provides access to massive historical weather data; a single HTTP request can retrieve tens of thousands of hourly data points for months in seconds. The API supports various output formats (CSV, Parquet, JSON, etc.) and location queries. Its cost-effective pricing and powerful features allow developers to easily access the data they need without downloading and archiving.

(gribstream.com)

Development historical data

GCC Build Failure: A Debugging Mystery Caused by sbuild Refactoring

2024-12-22

Official Debian GCC builds started failing mysteriously after an sbuild refactoring. A team embarked on a six-stage investigation, ultimately uncovering a conflict between the new sbuild init system and a D language unit test. The test accidentally terminated its own process group, halting the build. The root cause was the use of -2 as a special PID value in the D language unit test, leading to SIGTERM signals being sent to the wrong process group. Switching back to the old init system or modifying the test code resolved the issue.

(www.linux.it)

Development debugging

Maine Prison's Remote Work Program: A Path to Redemption

2024-12-24

Maine Prison's Remote Work Program: A Path to Redemption

Maine's prison system is conducting a bold experiment: allowing inmates to work remotely. This program not only provides inmates with fair market wages, helping them pay restitution, support children, and save for the future, but also instills dignity and hope. Remote work allows inmates to learn new skills, build self-worth, and prepare for re-entry into society. While facing skepticism from victims and the public, the program's positive impact is undeniable, offering a model for prison reform in other states.

(www.bostonglobe.com)

Misc prison reform reintegration

Luon Programming Language: A Statically Typed Lua

2024-12-14

Luon Programming Language: A Statically Typed Lua

Luon is a new, statically-typed programming language with a syntax similar to Oberon-based languages, incorporating concepts from Lua and targeting the LuaJIT VM. Essentially a statically-typed version of Lua, it allows for the reuse of existing Lua and C libraries via external procedure declarations. Luon addresses shortcomings in Lua's error handling and code structure, offering a compiler and integrated IDE supporting procedural, generic, and object-oriented programming. The project includes extensive examples and test cases and is under active development.

(github.com)

Development statically typed

Farewell to Endless Meetings: A New Approach to High-Velocity Software Development

2024-12-15

Tired of endless meetings and lengthy planning? This article introduces a high-efficiency software development method: code-centric, rapid iteration. The author uses baking as an example to illustrate the concept of achieving the optimal solution through rapid experimentation, frequent testing, and continuous improvement. This method emphasizes reducing documentation, expressing ideas directly in code, using mock data and hot-reloading tools to speed up development, and improving code readability through concise code style and naming conventions. The author advocates breaking down projects into independently executable files, minimizing restart time, and using default language tools for debugging. Although this method may seem like a "chaotic lab," it can efficiently complete projects and avoid the redundancy and inefficiency of traditional methods.

(mihaiolteanu.me)

Development agile development efficient programming

Open Source Firmware: Necessity and Strategic Choices

2024-12-17

This article explores the necessity of open-source firmware. The author argues that firmware, as software controlling hardware, should adhere to free software principles. This is not only about freedom itself but also directly related to users' practical interests. Non-free firmware can restrict hardware functionality, hide security vulnerabilities, and even prevent users from fixing security issues. The article analyzes two viewpoints: one considers open-source firmware desirable but not necessary; the other advocates that all system software should be open-source. The author leans towards the former, believing that prioritizing the freedom of the operating system kernel is more important, but simultaneously emphasizes the benefits of open-source firmware and discusses how to promote it through strategic means.

(mjg59.dreamwidth.org)

Development firmware free software

Canva Engineering Cuts CI Build Times from Hours to Under 30 Minutes

2024-12-18

Canva Engineering Cuts CI Build Times from Hours to Under 30 Minutes

Canva's engineering team dramatically reduced their continuous integration (CI) build times, from an average of 80 minutes to under 30 minutes, sometimes as low as 15. This was achieved through a multifaceted approach. They identified and resolved Bazel caching issues, optimized pipeline structures, improved Git repository checkouts and caching, and leveraged Bazel Remote Build Execution (RBE). Extensive experimentation, including testing different instance types and adjusting Bazel configurations, played a crucial role. A series of incremental improvements significantly increased CI efficiency, reduced costs, and enhanced the developer experience.

(www.canva.dev)

Development Continuous Integration CI Optimization

University Revamps Programming Curriculum: Emphasizing Explicit, Systematic Design

2024-12-19

Northeastern University's computer science department has developed a unique programming curriculum that emphasizes explicit and systematic program design, rather than focusing on trendy programming languages. The curriculum starts with a simple teaching language, gradually introducing students to design principles before applying them to industrial languages. This approach cultivates logical reasoning and problem-solving skills for large, complex software. The curriculum also highlights the social aspects of programming, encouraging pair programming to improve communication and collaboration. This method not only enhances students' job prospects but also lays a solid foundation for their future careers.

(felleisen.org)

Development program design curriculum reform

Lessons Learned in Long-Term Software Development

2024-12-22

Lessons Learned in Long-Term Software Development

This article summarizes lessons learned in long-term software development, emphasizing the importance of keeping code simple, carefully choosing dependencies, thorough testing, and strong teamwork. Drawing on interactions with Mastodon users and experiences at the Dutch Electoral Board, the author highlights the significant risks of excessive dependencies, complex code, and frequent team turnover in long-term projects. He advises developers to periodically review dependencies, write extensive test cases, and meticulously document code philosophy and design decisions to address the challenges of long-term maintenance and technological change. The article also underscores the benefits of open source and the importance of simple code, cautioning developers against blindly chasing new technologies and opting instead for time-tested solutions.

(berthub.eu)

Development dependency management code simplicity

C++ Compiler Errors: Nonsensical Errors from a Function Declaration

2024-12-12

C++ Compiler Errors: Nonsensical Errors from a Function Declaration

A developer adding XAML support to a C++ application encountered a series of compiler errors simply by including the winrt/Windows.UI.Xaml.h header file. The errors stemmed from what appeared to be a normal function declaration: `template struct consume_Windows_UI_Xaml_IExceptionRoutedEventArgs { [[nodiscard]] auto ErrorMessage() const; };` The root cause was a pre-existing macro named ErrorMessage in the developer's project, conflicting with the function name. This macro created an ErrorMessageString object and returned a pointer to an error message string. The macro's lack of boundaries caused the compiler to misinterpret the function declaration as a macro invocation, resulting in errors like "not enough arguments." The solution involved disabling the macro using #pragma undef before including the header or removing the macro entirely and replacing it with an inline function.

(devblogs.microsoft.com)

Development Compiler Errors Macro Definition compiler errors macro conflict macro

ModernBERT: A Revolutionary BERT Replacement

2024-12-19

ModernBERT: A Revolutionary BERT Replacement

Answer.AI and LightOn introduce ModernBERT, a family of state-of-the-art encoder-only models that outperform BERT in both speed and accuracy. ModernBERT incorporates numerous advancements from recent LLM research, boasting an extended context length (8192 tokens), faster processing, and superior performance across various benchmarks. Its particularly strong code retrieval capabilities unlock new applications like large-scale code search and enhanced IDE features. ModernBERT is a drop-in replacement for BERT models and is available on Hugging Face.

(huggingface.co)

AI encoder model

Spacer CLI Tool: Elegantly Separate Log Outputs

2024-12-23

Spacer CLI Tool: Elegantly Separate Log Outputs

Spacer is a simple CLI tool that inserts spacers when command output stops. If you're someone who habitually presses enter a few times in your log tail to distinguish between outputs from different requests, then Spacer is for you! By default, it inserts a spacer every 1 second, but you can customize the interval using the `--after` flag (floating-point numbers are supported). Note that Spacer only monitors STDOUT; if your command outputs primarily to STDERR, use `|&` instead of `|` to redirect STDERR to STDOUT.

(github.com)

Development CLI tool log processing terminal

cURL and libcurl Drop Hyper Support

2024-12-22

cURL and libcurl Drop Hyper Support

After a four-year experiment, the cURL project has announced it's abandoning the use of the Rust-based Hyper library as an HTTP backend. Despite Hyper's memory safety advantages and support from Let's Encrypt, lack of user demand and developer involvement led to its termination. The cURL team cited the high cost of maintaining the Hyper code and a focus on improving and maintaining the existing codebase. While the experiment failed, cURL gained valuable experience and improved its HTTP handling capabilities.

(daniel.haxx.se)

Development

JMAP Turns 10: A Decade of Open Email Protocol

2024-12-23

JMAP Turns 10: A Decade of Open Email Protocol

Fastmail celebrates the 10th anniversary of JMAP, its open-source email protocol. Over the past decade, JMAP has evolved from initial concept to a mature standard, incorporating email, contacts, and calendar functionalities, through industry workshops, collaborations with developers, and IETF standardization. Looking ahead, Fastmail plans to enhance the Cyrus IMAP server and continue promoting JMAP adoption to improve user experience and make it the industry standard for email.

(www.fastmail.com)

Development open-source protocol email

Hertz Desperate to Offload Tesla Inventory, Offers Deep Discounts

2024-12-25

Hertz Desperate to Offload Tesla Inventory, Offers Deep Discounts

Rental car giant Hertz is aggressively selling off its Tesla Model 3 inventory at drastically reduced prices. A Hertz customer posted on Reddit a screenshot showing a 2023 Model 3 with 30,000 miles for just $17,913 – significantly below market value. While buying used rental cars carries risks, the low price and remaining battery warranty are tempting many. Hertz's move is likely a response to high depreciation on its large Tesla fleet and a push to clear inventory before year-end.

(jalopnik.com)

Tech Tesla Hertz Used Cars

Cultivated Meat: From a $330,000 Burger to the Future of Food

2024-12-16

Cultivated Meat: From a $330,000 Burger to the Future of Food

From Winston Churchill's 1931 prediction to the world's first lab-grown burger in 2013, the cultivated meat industry has overcome challenges to become a booming sector. The initial high cost (the first burger cost $330,000) fueled innovation, leading to over 100 companies worldwide investing a total of $2.6 billion. Technological advancements have reduced costs, such as serum-free growth media, and increased efficiency with innovations like PluriMatrix. Regulatory approvals in countries like the US and Singapore are paving the way for wider adoption, though mainstream acceptance is projected to take 20-30 years.

(www.synbiobeta.com)

Tech cultivated meat cell-based meat food technology

Revolutionary Technique Cuts LLM Memory Costs by Up to 75%

2024-12-17

Revolutionary Technique Cuts LLM Memory Costs by Up to 75%

Sakana AI, a Tokyo-based startup, has developed a groundbreaking technique called "universal transformer memory" that significantly improves the memory efficiency of large language models (LLMs). Using neural attention memory modules (NAMMs), the technique acts like a smart editor, discarding redundant information while retaining crucial details. This results in up to a 75% reduction in memory costs and improved performance across various models and tasks, offering substantial benefits for enterprises utilizing LLMs.

(venturebeat.com)

AI Memory Optimization Neural Networks

Optimistic Computing: A Path Towards Better Software

2024-12-15

This essay explores the concept of "Optimistic Computing," not as blind optimism, but as a convergence of several powerful ideas: simplicity and ease of use ("boot to kill"), local-first principles, and user empowerment. The author argues that by limiting dependencies, simplifying workflows, creating a seamless "just works" experience, and giving users more control, we can build more reliable, secure, and long-lasting software. This philosophy applies to both individual users and enterprise software development, ultimately aiming for a digital world that respects user privacy and data ownership.

(www.deobald.ca)

Development optimistic computing local-first

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