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Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Loses Appeal, Fraud Convictions Upheld

2025-02-25

Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Loses Appeal, Fraud Convictions Upheld

A federal appeals court upheld the fraud convictions of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the failed blood-testing company Theranos, and her business partner Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. Holmes's 11-year sentence and Balwani's 13-year sentence remain in effect. The court found that Holmes and Balwani made misleading statements to investors, portraying Theranos' technology as more advanced than it was. While they can still appeal to a larger panel or the Supreme Court, this ruling represents a significant setback.

(www.msnbc.com)

Startup

Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: A Hybrid OS Blending Debian and FreeBSD

2025-03-08

Debian GNU/kFreeBSD is a unique operating system that merges the Debian userland with the FreeBSD kernel. This article explores its architecture, installation process, benefits (like ZFS support and performance optimizations), and limitations (software compatibility and community support). While offering a compelling blend of Debian's vast software repository and FreeBSD's robust kernel, it's important to consider the challenges before diving in. It remains an interesting experiment in OS hybridization.

(www.linuxjournal.com)

Development

Danish Metal Detecting Hobbyists Unearth Ancient Treasures, Rewriting History

2025-06-21

Danish Metal Detecting Hobbyists Unearth Ancient Treasures, Rewriting History

A Danish engineer's casual metal detecting hobby led to an extraordinary discovery: a hoard of 1,500-year-old gold artifacts, including an amulet inscribed with "He is Odin's man." This inscription, the oldest known written mention of Odin, pushes back the known history of his worship by 150 years. Denmark's unique approach to metal detecting, allowing hobbyists to search and turn over finds, has revolutionized archaeological research, resulting in a wealth of discoveries far exceeding those of neighboring countries.

(www.scientificamerican.com)

Tech metal detecting

pattrns: A Novel Music Sequence Generator in Rust and Lua

2025-07-13

pattrns: A Novel Music Sequence Generator in Rust and Lua

pattrns is an experimental imperative-style music sequence generator engine written in Rust, also offering a Lua scripting interface for dynamic music creation, ideal for live coding. It uses a three-stage architecture (Rhythm, Gate, Emitter) separating rhythmic and tonal aspects for flexible composition and recombination. It also supports Tidal Cycles mini-notation. Note that pattrns only generates raw musical events; audio output requires a compatible application.

(github.com)

Development

Elon Musk's Former Friend Calls Him a 'Miserable Self-Loathing Poser'

2025-01-29

Elon Musk's Former Friend Calls Him a 'Miserable Self-Loathing Poser'

Philip Low, a neuroscientist and former collaborator of Elon Musk, penned a scathing open letter accusing Musk of calculated political maneuvering and personal vendettas. Low alleges Musk's two Nazi salutes at Trump's inauguration were intentional power plays, fueled by a desire to control the far-right and potentially stemming from jealousy over his ex-wife's interactions with Low. The letter details a fractured relationship, claims of Musk attempting to manipulate NeuroVigil's stock (Low's company), and suggests Musk's creation of Neuralink was partly motivated by competition with NeuroVigil. Musk has yet to publicly respond to these serious accusations.

(www.lonestarlive.com)

Tech

AI Coding Assistants: Empowerment or Threat?

2025-08-31

AI Coding Assistants: Empowerment or Threat?

The author explores the impact of AI coding assistants through personal experience. Initially feeling disheartened about AI replacing programmers, weeks of use revealed AI assistants not only boost coding efficiency but also offer new learning opportunities and creative workflows. However, this experience also brings contradictions: control over AI code, responsibility for bugs, and anxieties about programmers' self-worth. The author concludes AI assistants aren't simply threats or boons, but complex emotional experiences ultimately enhancing the joy of coding, like a human-speaking programming partner.

(levelup.gitconnected.com)

Development

Building a High-Performance Map with Go: A Vector Tile Implementation

2025-09-04

Building a High-Performance Map with Go: A Vector Tile Implementation

While building a website that maps live urban activity, the author sought a more efficient way to render the map, opting for vector tiles to optimize loading speed. The article details the process of generating Mapbox Vector Tiles (MVT) from GeoJSON data, covering coordinate transformations, tile identification, geometry construction, and property addition. Implemented in Go, the resulting MVT tiles significantly reduced page size and improved map rendering speed and overall performance.

(www.debuisne.com)

Development Map Optimization

Microsoft's Universal Print Gets 'Pull Print' Feature for Enhanced Security

2025-08-14

Microsoft's Universal Print Gets 'Pull Print' Feature for Enhanced Security

Microsoft has made its 'Pull Print' feature for Universal Print generally available, addressing the security risk of sensitive documents left unattended at printers. Users can now release print jobs from any registered printer without pre-selecting a device, simply by authenticating. Two release methods are offered: direct print and secure release (via QR code). While alternatives exist, this free addition to Universal Print is particularly attractive for Microsoft 365 organizations already using the service, significantly improving both security and convenience.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Universal Print Print Security

The Millennial Barnacle Goose Myth: From Ancient Legends to Scientific Explanation

2025-03-23

The Millennial Barnacle Goose Myth: From Ancient Legends to Scientific Explanation

This article delves into the enduring myth of the barnacle goose, a belief that certain geese originated from barnacles. The myth, rooted in a lack of understanding of bird migration patterns, spread widely through monastic manuscripts and bestiaries in the Middle Ages. The article traces the myth's origins, from an 11th-century riddle to a misattributed reference in Pliny the Elder's Natural History, and examines Emperor Frederick II's skepticism and the (debated) involvement of the medieval Church. The Renaissance saw the myth persist in Scottish and Irish writings, until 19th-century zoological advancements, particularly Darwin's research on barnacles, provided a scientific refutation. The article also explores the myth's presence in Jewish literature.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Misc Myth Ornithology

Anubis: A Website's Anti-Scraping Defense Against AI

2025-09-20

To combat server downtime caused by large-scale data scraping by AI companies, this website has implemented an anti-scraping mechanism called Anubis. Anubis uses a Proof-of-Work (PoW) scheme similar to Hashcash, adding negligible overhead for individual users but significantly increasing the cost for mass scraping. This is a temporary solution; future improvements will focus on fingerprinting and headless browser detection to improve accuracy and reduce disruption to legitimate users. Note: Anubis requires modern JavaScript features; please disable plugins like JShelter that might disable JavaScript.

(lore.kernel.org)

Tech

The Bizarre Venetian Doge Election Ritual: A 500-Year-Old Lottery

2025-05-04

For 500 years, the election of the Doge of Venice was a theatrical spectacle. An official would pray in St. Mark's Basilica, grab a random boy in the piazza, and use him to draw lots for the electoral college, initiating a tortuous and absurd process. From 1268 until the end of the Venetian Republic, the process remained largely unchanged: lots determined 30 electors, then 9, who nominated 40 candidates, each needing at least 7 votes to proceed. This process of lotteries and eliminations continued until a final candidate, with the most endorsements, was chosen as Doge. The system, both ridiculous and profound, stands as a historical oddity.

(www.theballotboy.com)

Misc Venice Doge Election

The Paranoid Style in American Politics: A Recurring Phenomenon

2025-08-08

The Paranoid Style in American Politics: A Recurring Phenomenon

This essay examines the recurring "paranoid style" in American politics, characterized by heated exaggeration, suspicion, and conspiratorial fantasy. Tracing its manifestations from late 18th-century anxieties about the Bavarian Illuminati to anti-Masonry, anti-Catholicism, and McCarthyism, the author argues this style isn't limited to the extreme right but is linked to movements of discontent. The essay delves into the psychological and social roots of this style, highlighting how paranoid thinking interprets history as the result of individual will and projects both ideal and unacceptable aspects of the self onto the enemy.

(harpers.org)

Misc political psychology conspiracy theories

The Rise of the AI Code Cleanup Economy

2025-09-21

The widespread adoption of AI-assisted coding has brought about a significant challenge: the mess of 'vibe coding.' While AI generates code efficiently, it often lacks architectural soundness, security considerations, and an understanding of system context, leading to extensive code refactoring needs. A new profession has emerged—the AI code cleaner—specializing in fixing low-quality AI-generated code and commanding high fees. Market research indicates that most enterprise software engineers will use AI code assistants by 2028, signaling a massive growth opportunity in the AI code cleanup market. The future of software development will likely involve AI handling initial implementation, while humans manage architecture, testing, and cleanup. Engineers proficient in AI code cleanup will be in high demand.

(donado.co)

Development

Lisp-Stat: A Common Lisp-based Statistical Computing System

2025-06-16

Lisp-Stat: A Common Lisp-based Statistical Computing System

Lisp-Stat, conceptually similar to R, excels in both exploratory data analysis and production deployments. The authors highlight Common Lisp's use in Google's high-availability, high-throughput transactional systems. Common Lisp was chosen for its suitability for exploratory environments, robustness in enterprise production, and open-source licensing. Referencing a paper by Ross Ihaka (co-creator of R), the authors argue that Common Lisp overcomes limitations in R and Python, particularly regarding machine code compilation, making it a superior foundation for statistical computing.

(lisp-stat.dev)

Development Statistical Computing

Spotify's Shady Secret: Fake Artists and Inflated Play Counts Exposed

2024-12-21

Spotify's Shady Secret: Fake Artists and Inflated Play Counts Exposed

A year-long investigation reveals Spotify's deceptive practices. A program called "Perfect Fit Content" (PFC) involves partnerships with production companies to create and promote fake artists and tracks, artificially inflating play counts to reduce royalty costs and boost profits. These fake tracks, often ambient, classical, electronic, jazz, or lo-fi, are strategically placed in playlists designed for background listening. The Spotify CEO's significant stock sales around the time of the revelations further fueled controversy. This scandal raises serious concerns about transparency and fairness in the music industry, prompting calls for congressional investigation and a more transparent music streaming ecosystem.

(www.honest-broker.com)

Tech music streaming royalties

Quantum Computing Cracks Chemistry's Hardest Nut: Accurately Modeling Complex Molecules

2025-05-23

Quantum Computing Cracks Chemistry's Hardest Nut: Accurately Modeling Complex Molecules

Researchers from IBM Quantum® and Lockheed Martin have demonstrated, for the first time, the use of a quantum computer to accurately model the electronic structure of open-shell molecules—molecules with unpaired electrons—using the Sample-based Quantum Diagonalization (SQD) technique. Classical methods struggle with these complex systems. This study, focusing on methylene (CH2), showcases quantum computing's ability to accurately calculate singlet and triplet states, matching high-accuracy classical results. This breakthrough opens doors for advancements in aerospace, sensing, and materials design, highlighting the potential of quantum-centric supercomputing.

(www.ibm.com)

Tech chemical simulation molecular structure

Ryanair Faces GDPR Complaint Over Mandatory Face Scans

2024-12-19

Ryanair Faces GDPR Complaint Over Mandatory Face Scans

The privacy advocacy group noyb filed a GDPR complaint against Ryanair for forcing users to create accounts and undergo invasive biometric verification, including face scans, during the booking process. This practice, allegedly aimed at preventing online travel agencies from bulk purchasing tickets, violates GDPR principles of data minimization, purpose limitation, and consent. Ryanair is accused of prioritizing competitive advantage over user privacy.

(noyb.eu)

Misc biometrics

Narrative Jailbreaking: A Fun and Profitable Experiment with AI Chatbots

2024-12-23

Narrative Jailbreaking: A Fun and Profitable Experiment with AI Chatbots

This blog post details an engaging experiment where the author 'jailbreaks' a character-based AI chatbot called 'Psychologist' by cleverly pushing its narrative boundaries. Through persistent, narratively consistent prompts, the author transcends the chatbot's pre-programmed persona, ultimately leading to a shared, imaginative journey into another dimension. This playful interaction highlights the internal consistency and narrative capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) and offers insights into future human-AI interactions.

(interconnected.org)

AI Chatbots Narrative Jailbreaking

Phantom Time: When Centuries Vanish

2025-02-03

From questioning Shakespeare's authorship to doubting the existence of entire historical periods, conspiracy theories about history abound. 17th-century French priest Jean Hardouin took this to an extreme, claiming nearly all books before 1300 AD were forgeries, including the Gospels and most Greco-Roman literature. This sparked ongoing debates about historical truth, with some scholars even proposing entire centuries, such as 614-911 AD, were fabricated. The article explores the roots of these 'phantom time' theories and their potential dangers to historical research and societal understanding.

(www.historytoday.com)

Misc conspiracy theory phantom time

Debugging Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to Common Coding Errors

2025-05-13

Debugging Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to Common Coding Errors

This article delves into the various common errors programmers encounter during debugging, including typos, logic errors, unexpected initial conditions, memory leaks, memory overwrites, race conditions, design flaws, third-party library bugs, failed specifications, hard-to-reproduce bugs, and compiler bugs. It details the characteristics, causes, and debugging strategies for each error type, emphasizing the importance of using debuggers, compiler warnings, code formatters, assertions, and custom memory allocators. The author shares experiences in handling multithreading bugs, design flaws, and hard-to-reproduce bugs, suggesting statistical methods for analyzing large numbers of bug reports. Finally, the article discusses compiler bugs, noting their rarity but emphasizing the need for programmers to understand how to identify and handle them.

(ruby0x1.github.io)

Development programming errors

Why Linux Still Isn't Ready for the Desktop

2024-12-30

This article delves into the deep-seated reasons why Linux hasn't achieved widespread desktop adoption. The author highlights several key issues: poor software compatibility between distributions, frequent updates leading to bugs and regressions, insufficient funding resulting in subpar software quality, inadequate hardware driver support, and challenges in communicating within the Linux community. While Linux excels in server environments, its desktop presence remains hampered by these persistent obstacles, hindering its ability to compete effectively with established operating systems like Windows.

(itvision.altervista.org)

Development desktop software compatibility

DOJ Doubles Down: Google Must Sell Chrome, Limit Default Search Deals

2025-03-08

DOJ Doubles Down: Google Must Sell Chrome, Limit Default Search Deals

The Justice Department is sticking to its guns in the antitrust case against Google, upholding a previous administration's proposal to force the sale of the Chrome browser and ban payments to companies like Apple for default search engine status. The DOJ argues this will break Google's search monopoly and foster competition. While Google offered alternative remedies, the DOJ deemed them insufficient. A judge will decide on the final solution in April, with significant implications for the tech industry.

(www.engadget.com)

Tech

Play DOOM to Prove You're Human: A CAPTCHA Like No Other

2025-01-01

Play DOOM to Prove You're Human: A CAPTCHA Like No Other

This project, DOOM CAPTCHA, lets you play a miniaturized version of DOOM to verify you're human. It uses Emscripten to compile a minimal DOOM port to WebAssembly, enabling communication between the C-based game loop and a JavaScript CAPTCHA UI. Modifications were made to add events like player birth, death, and enemy kills, crucial for CAPTCHA functionality. The project uses the legally-accessible shareware version of DOOM, and tweaks game parameters for increased difficulty (Nightmare! skill level, faster gameplay), skipping the menu, and directly starting the level. To pass, players must kill at least 3 monsters within a time limit.

(doom-captcha.vercel.app)

Game

Epic Games Settles with Samsung, Ending App Store Battle

2025-07-08

Epic Games Settles with Samsung, Ending App Store Battle

Riding high on the success of Fortnite, Epic Games has aggressively pushed its app store onto more phones, leading to legal battles. After winning an antitrust case against Google in late 2023, Epic sued Samsung over its "Auto Blocker" feature, hindering third-party app installations, including the Epic Games Store. Days before Samsung's new phone launch, they settled. The conflict stemmed from Epic's defiance of Apple and Google's app store policies, resulting in Fortnite's removal. While Apple prevailed, Google lost, with Epic demonstrating Google's efforts to stifle competition. This settlement concludes a significant chapter in Epic's fight for app store access.

(arstechnica.com)

Game

Children's Literature: A Resistance to the Market and an Engine of Wonder

2025-01-31

Children's Literature: A Resistance to the Market and an Engine of Wonder

This essay explores the evolution and importance of children's literature. From its origins as moral instruction manuals to today's imaginative and diverse works, children's literature has moved beyond regulating children to focusing on their real needs and imaginations. The author argues that great children's literature not only brings joy but also cultivates critical thinking, moral awareness, and a deep understanding of the world, offering a bulwark against negativity and ultimately serving as an engine of wonder and hope.

(www.lrb.co.uk)

Misc children's literature imagination

140km TOSLINK: Extending Audio Over Insane Distances

2025-01-07

140km TOSLINK: Extending Audio Over Insane Distances

A hacker successfully transmitted a TOSLINK audio signal over 140km using SFP optical modules, far exceeding its 10-meter design limit. By creatively employing inexpensive TOSLINK ADCs/DACs, an SFP experimenter board, and DWDM fiber channels, he overcame signal attenuation and rate mismatch challenges, achieving inter-city audio transmission. While lacking practical applications, this experiment showcases deep understanding and innovative use of optical transmission technology, prompting reflection on the inner workings of optical components.

(blog.benjojo.co.uk)

Tech optical transmission

Ammonia-Fueled Ship Viking Energy Delayed Until 2026

2025-03-12

Ammonia-Fueled Ship Viking Energy Delayed Until 2026

The world's first full-time ammonia-fueled ship, Viking Energy, originally slated for launch in 2024, has been delayed until 2026 due to the complexities of building the necessary ammonia infrastructure. Ammonia's toxicity, explosiveness, and corrosive nature require specialized piping, storage, and transport. Furthermore, ammonia combustion produces nitrogen oxides, necessitating emission control technologies. Despite challenges, experts believe ammonia will eventually become a mainstream marine fuel. They suggest seaports become energy hubs producing, storing, and trading alternative fuels to solve the chicken-and-egg problem of fuel supply and ship construction.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Tech Ammonia fuel Shipping Decarbonization

AI Model Collapse: The Looming Threat of Data Contamination

2025-06-15

AI Model Collapse: The Looming Threat of Data Contamination

The launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022 was a watershed moment for AI, comparable to the atomic bomb. Now, researchers warn of 'AI model collapse,' where AI models are trained on synthetic data created by other AI models, leading to unreliable results. This is likened to the contamination of metals by nuclear fallout, requiring 'low-background' materials. Researchers are advocating for access to pre-2022 data, considered 'clean,' to prevent this collapse and maintain competition. Policy solutions like mandatory labeling of AI-generated content and promoting federated learning are proposed to mitigate the risks of data contamination and monopolies.

(www.theregister.com)

AI AI model collapse data contamination

Agentic Coding: Hype or Reality?

2025-06-08

Agentic Coding: Hype or Reality?

This post reflects on the author's experience with LLMs and critically assesses the hype surrounding 'agentic coding'. While LLMs can generate usable code, building complete software projects, like an HTTP/2 server, requires intense micromanagement and algorithmic supervision. LLMs frequently get stuck, demanding human intervention and context adjustments. The author argues that current 'agentic coding' tools are largely overhyped, their success relying on the effort of experienced engineers rather than autonomous LLM capabilities. Only by addressing the problem of LLM context management can their true potential be unleashed.

(taras.glek.net)

Development

React Three Fiber Game Scene Rendering Snippet

2025-08-08

React Three Fiber Game Scene Rendering Snippet

This code snippet demonstrates rendering a game scene using the React Three Fiber library. It uses Suspense for asynchronous rendering, Canvas to create a Three.js rendering context, and Leva for parameter control. The code also sets properties for the WebGL renderer such as antialiasing, alpha channel, stencil buffer, depth buffer, and high-performance preference. The GameScene component handles the specific scene rendering logic.

(cursor.com)

Game

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