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IMDb Terminal App v1.1: A Complete Rewrite with Enhanced Features

2025-08-18

IMDb Terminal App v1.1: A Complete Rewrite with Enhanced Features

A powerful Ruby-based terminal application for discovering and managing movies and TV series from IMDb's Top 250 lists and trending lists. Version 1.1 is a complete rewrite using rcurses, boasting significant functional upgrades. It offers advanced filtering, smart search with preview, streaming info integration, terminal poster display, wishlists, and dump lists. The enhanced search experience and robust data management make finding and organizing your favorite movies and shows incredibly efficient.

(github.com)

Development movie management

Knight Ride: A Strategic Chess-like Puzzle

2025-04-01

Knight Ride is a strategic puzzle game where you guide a knight to a target square within a limited number of moves. Earn points for speed, avoiding attacks, and capturing opponent pieces. Capturing pieces awards extra moves and points (Pawn: 1, Knight/Bishop: 3, Rook: 5, Queen: 9). Capture streaks yield bonus points. Moving to an attacked square costs a point, and capturing all pieces doubles your score. Run out of moves, and it's game over!

(knightride.rakhim.org)

Game

NASA's Space Game Dream: From Moonbase Alpha to the Fall of Starlite

2025-06-27

NASA's Space Game Dream: From Moonbase Alpha to the Fall of Starlite

NASA once attempted to promote space exploration through gaming, collaborating with game studios in 2009 to develop the lunar base simulator, Moonbase Alpha. The game unexpectedly gained popularity due to its unique DECtalk speech synthesis system, with players creating various songs, becoming a viral phenomenon. However, the subsequent ambitious space MMO, Starlite: Astronaut Academy, ultimately failed due to funding issues and internal conflicts, leaving behind a story filled with regret.

(www.spacebar.news)

Game

Aether CMS: A Minimalist Static Site Generator That's Actually Fast

2025-06-06

Tired of bloated CMSs like WordPress? Aether CMS is a fast, minimal static site generator built for simplicity. It uses a file-based system instead of a database, leverages Markdown and YAML, and features an intuitive admin interface. Developers can quickly create custom pages and themes, while content creators can easily create and publish content. Aether's core strength lies in its lightweight architecture and blazing speed; it relies on only four core modules and generates pure static HTML for lightning-fast loading. Perfect for personal blogs, company documentation, marketing sites, and more, Aether is the ideal choice for those who prioritize speed and simplicity.

(lebcit.github.io)

Development lightweight CMS

Vicinae: A High-Performance Desktop Launcher Challenging Raycast

2025-09-13

Vicinae: A High-Performance Desktop Launcher Challenging Raycast

Vicinae is a high-performance native desktop launcher built with C++ and Qt, inspired by Raycast. It boasts a mostly compatible extension API leveraging server-side React/TypeScript, eliminating the need for a browser or Electron. Features include file indexing with full-text search, a smart emoji picker, a calculator, an encrypted clipboard history tracker, shortcuts, window manager integration, and a customizable theming system. While some features may have limited support on certain platforms, Vicinae aims to provide developers and power users with fast, keyboard-centric access to common system actions.

(github.com)

Development desktop launcher

Slashing R&D Funding: A Macroeconomic Disaster

2025-04-30

A new analysis reveals the devastating long-term economic consequences of cutting federal funding for scientific R&D. Reducing public R&D spending by 25% would shrink GDP comparably to the Great Recession. Halving it would impoverish the average American by roughly $10,000 (in today's dollars). Furthermore, such cuts would significantly reduce federal revenue; a 25% reduction leading to a 4.3% annual decrease, and a 50% cut resulting in an 8.6% annual decline. Agencies like NIH and NSF, crucial for funding basic and applied research, face funding freezes and downsizing, highlighting the urgent need to address this issue.

(impa.american.edu)

Tech R&D funding

Bloxi: An AI Copilot for Simulink

2025-06-13

Bloxi: An AI Copilot for Simulink

A second-year aero-engineering student at Imperial College London built Bloxi, an AI copilot that translates plain-English prompts into working Simulink control-system models. Leveraging multimodal LLMs, Bloxi builds models step-by-step, allowing for real-time debugging and a more intuitive workflow. The student, who also shares his work to increase productivity for other engineers, released the code, hoping others will improve upon it.

(github.com)

Development Model Building

Google CEO Testifies: Data Sharing Proposal Would Be a 'De Facto' Breakup of Search

2025-04-30

Google CEO Testifies: Data Sharing Proposal Would Be a 'De Facto' Breakup of Search

Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified in an antitrust trial that the Department of Justice's proposal to share search data with rivals would be a “de facto” divestiture of the company’s search engine. Pichai argued that sharing data and ranking algorithms would allow competitors to reverse-engineer Google's technology, harming its R&D. The DOJ wants Google to divest Chrome, license search data, stop paying for exclusive placements, and extend the ban to AI products like Gemini. Google counters that this would harm consumers, the economy, and US tech leadership. This marks Pichai's third antitrust trial testimony in recent years, highlighting the intense antitrust scrutiny Google faces.

(www.moneycontrol.com)

Tech Pichai

p2panda: A Modular Toolkit for Building Local-First, Privacy-Respecting P2P Apps

2025-04-13

p2panda is a modular, open-source project empowering developers to build modern, privacy-respecting, and secure local-first applications. Its modular design allows flexibility in choosing components and seamless integration with existing systems. Leveraging existing libraries and standards (like BLAKE3, Ed25519, STUN, etc.), p2panda ensures collaboration, encryption, and access control even over unstable or ephemeral connections. At its core is a 'broadcast-only' architecture, making it not only offline-first but also compatible with post-internet communication infrastructure such as shortwave, packet radio, and more. It provides tools for peer discovery, data synchronization, large file transfer, data storage, and stream processing.

(p2panda.org)

Development

Librebox: An Open-Source Roblox-Compatible Game Engine Emerges

2025-08-23

Librebox: An Open-Source Roblox-Compatible Game Engine Emerges

Librebox is a new open-source game engine running Luau, aiming to replicate the Roblox Public API for seamless code compatibility. Developers gain complete control, building immersive games with a familiar interface while owning their platform. Currently in a demo stage, it boasts basic scene rendering, lighting, and shadows, with future plans including physics, networking, and a full feature set. Librebox is completely free and open-source, independent of Roblox's code or assets, offering a compelling alternative for game developers seeking freedom and ownership.

(github.com)

Game

Vortex M: A Modern Remix of the Iconic Model M Keyboard

2025-08-04

Vortex M: A Modern Remix of the Iconic Model M Keyboard

The Vortex M keyboard pays homage to the legendary IBM Model M, boasting a retro aesthetic with PBT double-shot keycaps and a textured plastic case, replicating the classic 1980s design. However, under the hood lies a modern mechanical keyboard: customizable Cherry MX switches, hot-swappable sockets, Bluetooth/2.4GHz/USB-C connectivity, and multi-device support. It blends retro aesthetics with modern functionality, offering a comfortable and relatively quiet typing experience, all at a competitive price. A great option for those seeking a retro look with modern performance.

(reviews.ofb.biz)

Hardware modern

Printing Digital Data to Paper: An Extreme Storage Method

2025-06-03

This article explores various methods of storing digital data on paper, ranging from simple character encoding (like Base16, Base32, Base64) to more complex dot encodings (like QR codes, Optar), and even color encodings. The author experimentally compares the information density and reliability of different methods and discusses key issues such as OCR, error correction codes, and long-term storage. Results show that dot encoding methods (like stacked QR codes and Optar) can store up to 100KB of data on an A4 page, while character encoding methods are limited by OCR accuracy, resulting in relatively small storage capacity. The article also explores the possibility of handwriting data encoding and paper data transmission, offering new ideas for preserving digital data under extreme conditions.

(www.monperrus.net)

Tech paper storage

Commodore OS Vision 3.0: A Retro-Fueled Linux Distro Packed with Games

2025-04-26

Commodore OS Vision 3.0, a free, fan-made Commodore-inspired Linux distribution (based on Debian Bookworm), is now available. Boasting over 200 free Linux-compatible games and a trove of classic Commodore titles and demos, it's a nostalgic gamer's dream. It also features Commodore OS BASIC V1, a modern BASIC implementation with 3D graphics and physics. A new resource hub, Commodore OS Central, is under development, aiming to become a game installer and community platform. A retro-styled settings manager allows for easy configuration of ROMs, emulation, and startup options.

(www.commodoreos.net)

Game

Beavers Build Dam Overnight, Saving Village?

2025-02-10

Beavers Build Dam Overnight, Saving Village?

Jaroslav Obermajer, head of the Central Bohemian office of the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency, reported to Radio Prague International that beavers built a dam overnight, preventing a village from being flooded. Using rocks, mud, and wood, these industrious rodents created a structure that not only benefits them but also provides habitat for numerous other species and acts as a natural firebreak, carbon sink, and flood control measure. While a Bavarian beaver manager, Gerhard Schwab, praises the beavers' efficiency, he questions the 'overnight' claim.

(www.nationalgeographic.com)

Tech

Enhanced MySQL 8.0: Open-Source Project Delivers Significant Performance Boost

2025-06-01

Enhanced MySQL 8.0: Open-Source Project Delivers Significant Performance Boost

An open-source project has comprehensively optimized MySQL 8.0, addressing join performance degradation since version 8.0.28, bulk insert performance issues, and other bottlenecks. Optimizations span InnoDB storage engine scalability, redo logs, hash join cost model, memory usage, and high availability. Testing shows the optimized version is particularly effective on high-performance hardware, delivering more stable and efficient service, especially for high-concurrency scenarios in internet companies. The project also provides ongoing version maintenance and easy-to-use binary downloads.

(github.com)

Development

Bluesky Blocks Mississippi Users Over Age-Verification Law

2025-08-23

Bluesky Blocks Mississippi Users Over Age-Verification Law

Bluesky, a social networking startup, has opted to block access from Mississippi users rather than comply with a new state law mandating age verification for all users. Citing resource constraints and concerns about the law's broad scope and privacy implications, Bluesky argues the required technical changes are too extensive for its small team. The company highlights the law's potential to stifle innovation and disproportionately harm smaller platforms. This decision affects only the Bluesky app built on the AT Protocol; other apps may choose a different course of action.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech

macOS Dev Tool: One-Click Kill for Processes on Ports 2000-6000

2025-08-24

macOS Dev Tool: One-Click Kill for Processes on Ports 2000-6000

This lightweight macOS status bar app monitors and manages development processes running on ports 2000-6000. It provides real-time process detection and lets you kill individual processes or all at once. Using `lsof`, it scans ports every 5 seconds, displaying the process count via a color-coded status bar icon (green: 0, red: 1-9, orange: 10+). Clicking the icon opens a context menu to kill all or specific processes. It uses a SIGTERM → SIGKILL termination strategy for safe process shutdown.

(github.com)

Development dev tool

Streaming vs. Downloading: It's All Downloading?

2025-05-26

Streaming vs. Downloading: It's All Downloading?

This article reveals the core difference between streaming and downloading video: whether the device retains cached video frames. Streaming players buffer frames to handle network fluctuations, which is essentially downloading. Platforms restrict downloads based on user trust, relying on users to delete cached files. Users can circumvent these restrictions, retaining copies. While differences exist in file order, transcoding, and DRM, the core distinction lies solely in whether the video file is retained.

(danq.me)

Tech downloading video

Retro Light Cycle Game Built with Rust and ggez

2025-09-03

Retro Light Cycle Game Built with Rust and ggez

A classic TRON-inspired light cycle game built using Rust and the ggez game framework. Features single-player and two-player modes, adjustable AI difficulty, a boost mechanic for strategic gameplay, and impressive visual effects. The game boasts a retro 8-bit aesthetic and includes a pause menu. The open-source project is available under the MIT license.

(github.com)

Game

Drone-Based Cloud Seeding Sparks Safety Debate

2025-09-13

Drone-Based Cloud Seeding Sparks Safety Debate

Rainmaker Technology's plan to use small drones for cloud seeding faces opposition from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), who argue its safety measures are insufficient and pose a significant risk. ALPA urges the FAA to reject Rainmaker's request for an exemption to carry hazardous materials on drones. Rainmaker's drones could operate near commercial airliners, raising concerns about collisions and fire hazards. The FAA's decision will set a precedent for future drone-based weather modification. While cloud seeding itself is established, the use of drones introduces new challenges and safety concerns requiring rigorous standards and testing.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech cloud seeding

Austrian Cloud Provider Ditches VMware for KVM After 500%+ License Hike

2025-01-13

Austrian Cloud Provider Ditches VMware for KVM After 500%+ License Hike

Facing a massive VMware license cost increase (over 500%), Austrian cloud provider Anexia migrated 12,000 VMs to a KVM-based open-source platform. This move not only saved significant costs, preventing an existential crisis, but also garnered customer support. Anexia leveraged its existing Netcup platform and Anexia Engine abstraction layer for a seamless migration, requiring only a single click and brief reboot. This migration showcases the viability of open-source alternatives and highlights the market backlash against Broadcom's aggressive pricing post-VMware acquisition.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Open Source Migration

OpenAI's Surprise Deprecation of GPT-4o Sparks User Backlash

2025-08-09

OpenAI's unexpected removal of GPT-4o and other older models with the launch of GPT-5 has angered many ChatGPT users. Many relied on GPT-4o for creative collaboration, emotional nuance, and other tasks, finding GPT-5's different approach disruptive to their workflows. While OpenAI has since reinstated GPT-4o for paid users, the incident highlights the diverse needs of LLM users and OpenAI's oversight in user experience during model updates. It also reignited ethical discussions surrounding LLMs, particularly concerning responsible responses to high-stakes personal decisions.

(simonwillison.net)

AI

Payment Processors Weaponized: A Threat to Online Free Speech

2025-07-25

Payment Processors Weaponized: A Threat to Online Free Speech

This blog post discusses the growing threat of payment processors being used as tools for online censorship. Using the recent removal of games from Steam and itch.io due to NSFW content as a case study, the author highlights how organizations like Collective Shout leverage payment processors to enforce their ideologies. The post analyzes the motives and methods of groups such as Collective Shout and Exodus Cry, exploring potential political and technological solutions, including advocating for more open payment systems and stronger legislation to protect free speech online. The author calls for technologists, gamers, and LGBTQ+ activists to unite against this form of censorship, while cautioning against repeating the mistakes of GamerGate.

(soatok.blog)

Tech

LLMs: Accelerating Incompetence in Software Engineering

2025-05-28

LLMs: Accelerating Incompetence in Software Engineering

This essay argues that over-reliance on Large Language Models (LLMs) in software engineering can accelerate incompetence. An experienced software engineer details how LLMs, while offering speed in code generation, introduce significant risks: incorrect outputs, inability to understand context, increased technical debt, and the suppression of critical thinking and creativity. Drawing on the insights of Peter Naur and Fred Brooks, the author emphasizes that programming is about building program theory and managing program entropy, tasks beyond current LLMs' capabilities. The essay concludes that while LLMs are useful tools, they cannot replace human ingenuity and deep thinking, and over-reliance can lead to increased costs and project failures.

(www.slater.dev)

Development

Antitrust Wave Sweeping Corporate America: Big Companies Are Panicking?

2025-02-22

Antitrust Wave Sweeping Corporate America: Big Companies Are Panicking?

Antitrust enforcement in the US is quietly reshaping the business landscape. From Equifax's monopolistic data pricing to Pepsi's discriminatory pricing against smaller convenience stores, to Corteva and Syngenta's exclusive dealing arrangements, and American Express's anti-competitive fees, a wave of antitrust lawsuits is making headway in the courts, with judges increasingly receptive to plaintiffs' claims. This signals a significant shift, with long-neglected antitrust laws being reinterpreted and enforced, posing major challenges to large corporations and foreshadowing profound changes in the rules of commerce.

(www.thebignewsletter.com)

Startup business

Fossil Fuel-Funded Groups Harass Scientists Blocking Offshore Wind

2025-08-27

Fossil Fuel-Funded Groups Harass Scientists Blocking Offshore Wind

A Brown University report exposes how fossil fuel-funded groups and their lawyers use legal battles and disinformation to impede the development of clean, affordable offshore wind energy on the US East Coast. These groups employ deceptive environmental claims, such as protecting North Atlantic right whales, to delay or cancel wind projects, thus protecting the fossil fuel industry's interests. One law firm even threatened Brown University to suppress research findings. The report highlights the connections between fossil fuel companies, the political right wing, and disinformation networks, and their obstruction of climate action. This incident underscores the challenges of energy transition and the pressures faced by academic research.

(electrek.co)

Tech Fossil Fuel Lobbying

Unlocking the Cosmos: Mastering Astrophotography Post-Processing

2025-06-06

Unlocking the Cosmos: Mastering Astrophotography Post-Processing

Astrophotography editing is crucial for transforming raw data into stunning images. Raw images are often dark and require techniques like histogram stretching, curves adjustments, color balancing, and noise reduction to reveal hidden details and remove light pollution. The article explores both basic and advanced editing methods, including software recommendations (Siril, Photoshop), and advanced techniques such as HDR compositing and star removal, to guide astrophotographers in creating breathtaking celestial masterpieces.

(astroimagery.com)

Tech

Implementing Flash Attention Backend in SGLang: Basics and KV Cache

2025-04-29

Implementing Flash Attention Backend in SGLang: Basics and KV Cache

This blog post details the end-to-end implementation of the Flash Attention backend in SGLang, now the default attention backend in SGLang 0.4.6. It dives deep into how Attention Backends function in modern LLM serving engines and explains the inner workings of Flash Attention. The author shares implementation details, including KV cache and CUDA Graph support, and outlines future work such as Speculative Decoding, MLA, Llama 4, and multimodal support. Benchmarks show FA3 consistently delivers the highest throughput, outperforming FlashInfer and Triton.

(hebiao064.github.io)

Development

Canada Unveils Multi-Billion Dollar High-Speed Rail Plan

2025-02-24

Canada Unveils Multi-Billion Dollar High-Speed Rail Plan

The Canadian government announced a multi-billion dollar plan to build a high-speed rail network connecting Quebec City and Toronto. The approximately 1000km, 300kph electric rail line will be Canada's largest infrastructure project ever, with completion time and final cost yet to be determined. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Liberal Party's future, Prime Minister Trudeau expressed confidence in the project's continuation, highlighting its importance for Canada's transportation system and its role in addressing traffic congestion and environmental concerns. The project, named Alto, aims to provide a faster, more efficient alternative to car and air travel.

(apnews.com)

Tech high-speed rail

The Million-Dollar Kickstarter Spoon Scam?

2025-03-16

The Million-Dollar Kickstarter Spoon Scam?

A Kickstarter campaign for Polygons, innovative origami measuring spoons, raised over $1 million in 2016, promising delivery by 2017. Years later, over a third of backers haven't received their spoons, sparking fraud accusations. Designer Rahul Agarwal acknowledges delays, insists it's not a scam, and projects delivery completion in 2025. This highlights the risks of crowdfunding and the importance of investor caution.

(arstechnica.com)

Misc

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