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Dia: The AI-Powered Browser Challenging the Status Quo

2025-06-14

Dia: The AI-Powered Browser Challenging the Status Quo

Traditional web browsers face a challenge from AI. The Browser Company's Dia browser integrates AI deeply, aiming to redefine how users interact with the internet. Built on Chromium, Dia boasts a clean interface and features an AI chatbot that searches the web, summarizes files, generates content based on open tabs, and leverages browsing history for context. Its 'Skills' feature allows users to create code snippets as shortcuts, such as automatically generating reading layouts. While browser AI isn't new, Dia's ease of use and powerful features position it as a strong contender against established browsers.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech

KDE Unveils Alpha of its Own Linux Distro: KDE Linux

2025-09-11

At Akademy 2025, the KDE Project released an alpha version of KDE Linux, a distribution built to showcase the best of KDE's offerings using advanced technologies. Based on Arch Linux but eschewing Pacman, it employs KDE Builder and Flatpak for software installation. While aiming for home, business, and OEM use, the alpha release is rough around the edges. Future plans include testing, enthusiast, and stable editions, with a potential end-of-life plan involving migration to another distro.

(lwn.net)

Development

$92M Wildlife Crossing: Soil Laid, Entering New Phase of Ecological Restoration

2025-04-05

$92M Wildlife Crossing: Soil Laid, Entering New Phase of Ecological Restoration

Nearly three years and $92 million later, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing project reached a critical milestone: soil placement. Designed to address habitat fragmentation caused by the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles, the crossing will provide a safe passage for animals, including endangered mountain lions. 6,000 cubic yards of specially formulated soil, rich in native microbes, were added to restore the local ecosystem. The project is divided into two phases: Phase 1, involving seeding and planting native plants, is expected to finish this summer; Phase 2, connecting the structure to surrounding hills, is slated for completion by the end of 2026. This project showcases human ingenuity in ecological restoration and provides valuable experience for similar endeavors.

(www.yahoo.com)

Tech

ACM's Transition to Full Open Access: A New Era for Computing Research

2025-07-30

ACM's Transition to Full Open Access: A New Era for Computing Research

ACM, a leader in computing research, is transitioning to a fully Open Access (OA) publishing model by the end of 2025. This significant move will make all ACM research freely available. The transition will be facilitated by ACM Open, a subscription model based on institutional publishing output, offering unlimited OA publishing and full access to the ACM Digital Library. This approach ensures sustainability while removing barriers to research and accelerating innovation. A Premium and Basic version of the ACM Digital Library will be offered starting in January 2026.

(www.acm.org)

Tech Computing Research

Beach Boys Co-Founder Brian Wilson Dies at 82

2025-06-11

Beach Boys Co-Founder Brian Wilson Dies at 82

Brian Wilson, co-founder and primary songwriter of the Beach Boys, has passed away at age 82. His family announced the news, sharing their heartbreak at the loss of the beloved musical auteur who pioneered the use of the studio as an instrument, influencing generations of musicians. Diagnosed earlier this year with a neurocognitive disorder similar to dementia, Wilson's legacy extends far beyond his iconic surf rock hits. From the band's humble beginnings in California to the groundbreaking experimental pop of *Pet Sounds*, Wilson's journey was marked by both creative genius and personal struggles, including a complex relationship with psychologist Eugene Landy and battles with addiction. Despite these challenges, his impact on music remains undeniable, leaving behind a body of work that continues to inspire and influence.

(pitchfork.com)

Music Beach Boys

Athena Moon Lander's Demise and the Lessons Learned

2025-03-15

Athena Moon Lander's Demise and the Lessons Learned

Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander, Athena, tipped over during its March 6th landing near the moon's south pole, prematurely ending its mission. Despite the setback, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured images of Athena and its landing site, providing valuable data for future missions. While the mission was unsuccessful in its primary goals, the attempt in the harsh polar environment offers insights paving the way for future exploration of the region, particularly in the search for water ice.

(www.space.com)

Tech lander

OpenAI's o3 Model: Cheap AI, Bright Future?

2025-06-12

OpenAI's o3 Model: Cheap AI, Bright Future?

OpenAI launched its more energy-efficient ChatGPT o3 model, boasting 80% lower costs. CEO Sam Altman envisions a future where AI is 'too cheap to meter,' but MIT Technology Review points to research indicating massive AI energy consumption by 2028. Despite this, Altman remains optimistic, predicting abundant intelligence and energy in the coming decades, driving human progress. Critics, however, see Altman's predictions as overly optimistic, ignoring numerous limitations and drawing comparisons to Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos. OpenAI's partnership with Google Cloud also raises eyebrows, contrasting with Microsoft's stance last year labeling OpenAI a competitor.

(www.theregister.com)

AI

Forgotten Lands: A BLM Adventure and the Fight for Public Land

2025-06-22

Forgotten Lands: A BLM Adventure and the Fight for Public Land

This article recounts the author's journey exploring Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, specifically in California's Bodie Hills. A harrowing vehicle mishap leads to a deeper understanding of the lands' complex history and current threats. Once booming due to the gold rush, the Bodie Hills now face new mining proposals that could devastate its ecosystem and Indigenous heritage. The author's experience highlights the need for awareness and protection of these often-overlooked public lands, urging readers to prevent a repeat of past environmental destruction.

(longreads.com)

Tech public lands mining

Watts Over mAh: Why the Most Important Gadget Spec Is Hiding in Plain Sight

2025-04-02

Watts Over mAh: Why the Most Important Gadget Spec Is Hiding in Plain Sight

This article criticizes the misleading use of milliampere-hours (mAh) and GHz to measure battery and processor performance in consumer electronics. The author argues that watts (W) are a far superior metric, directly reflecting a device's actual power and energy consumption. Using the Steam Deck as an example, the author demonstrates with simple math how watts allow for more accurate battery life predictions. The article also exposes manufacturers' deliberate obfuscation of wattage data and the historical origins of the 'horsepower' unit, highlighting its misleading marketing tactics. The author calls for greater transparency from manufacturers in using the accurate watt unit, empowering consumers to better understand device performance.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech

Let's Encrypt's Imminent Support for IP Address SAN Certificates

2025-06-25

Let's Encrypt's Imminent Support for IP Address SAN Certificates

Let's Encrypt is nearing the release of certificates supporting IP address Subject Alternative Names (SANs), initially limited to a short-lived (6-day) profile and an allowlist-only approach. The feature is still under development, with no public launch timeline yet. A sample certificate and a website utilizing it are provided, along with discussions about discovered bugs in Firefox and Discourse related to IP address SANs. The post also sparks debate on the validity of using IP addresses as DNS names within SANs and whether the DNS-01 challenge is applicable to IP address certificates.

(community.letsencrypt.org)

Development IP Address SAN

Bird-Inspired Drone Uses Legs to Take Off

2025-01-10

Bird-Inspired Drone Uses Legs to Take Off

Researchers at EPFL have developed a bio-inspired drone, RAVEN, with bird-like legs that enable it to walk, hop, and even jump into the air for takeoff. This research not only reveals the efficiency of birds' jumping takeoffs but also offers a novel approach for fixed-wing drones. RAVEN uses its legs to store and release energy, resulting in a more energy-efficient and faster takeoff than conventional methods. Future applications could include cargo delivery.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Tech bio-inspired robotics drone

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

Indiana's Pi Bill: When Legislators Tried to Define Pi

2025-03-19

Indiana's Pi Bill: When Legislators Tried to Define Pi

In 1897, the Indiana General Assembly nearly passed a bill attempting to legislate the value of pi and solve the mathematical problem of squaring the circle. Proposed by a physician and amateur mathematician, the bill contained flawed calculations resulting in an incorrect value for pi. Fortunately, a Purdue University professor intervened, preventing the bill from becoming law and averting a mathematical absurdity. This bizarre episode remains a fascinating footnote in mathematical history, a reminder that scientific truth cannot be legislated.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Misc mathematical history pi legislation

National Archives Needs Your Help Deciphering Historical Handwriting

2025-01-18

National Archives Needs Your Help Deciphering Historical Handwriting

The US National Archives holds a vast collection of historical documents written in cursive, many of which are difficult to read. To increase accessibility of its digital catalog, the Archives launched the 'Citizen Archivist' program, recruiting volunteers to transcribe and organize these handwritten records. Volunteers can use simple online tools to transcribe or tag already transcribed documents, contributing even small amounts of time. This project not only aids historical research but also gives more people access to American history and even reignites interest in cursive writing, as more states mandate its teaching in schools.

(www.smithsonianmag.com)

Tech historical archives volunteers cursive handwriting

Gemini AI Boosts Google Workspace: Summarization for PDFs and Forms Arrives

2025-06-13

Gemini AI Boosts Google Workspace: Summarization for PDFs and Forms Arrives

Google is rolling out new Gemini AI features to Workspace, simplifying information retrieval from PDFs and form responses. Gemini's file summarization capabilities now extend to PDFs and Google Forms, condensing key details and insights for easier access. For PDFs, Gemini generates summary cards with clickable actions like 'draft a proposal' or 'list interview questions'. For Forms, it summarizes short-answer responses, highlighting key themes. A new 'help me create' feature automatically generates forms based on user descriptions, even incorporating data from other Google Workspace files. These features are rolling out in stages throughout June and July, with varying language support.

(www.theverge.com)

AI AI Summarization

Gamify Your Running Habit: Grow a Garden with Every Run

2025-05-25

Gamify Your Running Habit: Grow a Garden with Every Run

This app gamifies running by turning it into a plant-growing game. Users install the app, create a virtual garden, and set weekly goals. Each run rewards users with plants based on distance, with longer runs unlocking rarer species. Consistent running expands the garden, and users can share their progress or keep it private. The simple interface focuses on the run itself, not complex metrics, making it easy to build a running habit.

(www.runandgrow.com)

Game habit building

Deep Time vs. Shallow Time: Butterflies, Geology, and the Climate Crisis

2025-07-28

Deep Time vs. Shallow Time: Butterflies, Geology, and the Climate Crisis

This essay explores the tension between deep geological time and the fleeting span of human history. Using the drastic decline in butterfly populations as a case study, the author juxtaposes millions of years of geological evolution with the rapid impact of climate change in recent decades. The author traces Darwin and Lyell's understanding of deep time and how they attempted to scientifically comprehend and quantify deep time scales. The essay concludes with a call to recognize humanity's impact on Earth and take action to address the climate crisis, making informed choices based on the understanding of deep time and shallow time's relationship.

(harpers.org)

Tech deep time

Gladiator's Roman Army: A Historical Debacle

2025-06-27

Gladiator's Roman Army: A Historical Debacle

This article critically analyzes the iconic opening battle sequence in the movie Gladiator. While visually aiming for verisimilitude in Roman military equipment, the sequence contains numerous historical inaccuracies in army composition, tactical deployment, and weapon use. For example, the depicted Roman army has an excessively high proportion of archers, neglecting the dominant role of heavy infantry; the battle formation deviates significantly from actual Roman warfare; and the siege weapons used are anachronistic. The author argues that the film strives for a semblance of historical accuracy rather than true historical fidelity, leading viewers to mistakenly assume meticulous research.

(acoup.blog)

Tech Roman army film history

Cloudflare's Web Bot Auth: Secure Your Bots with Cryptographic Signatures

2025-08-28

Cloudflare's Web Bot Auth: Secure Your Bots with Cryptographic Signatures

Cloudflare introduces Web Bot Auth, an authentication method using cryptographic signatures in HTTP messages to verify requests originate from automated bots. This guide details integrating Web Bot Auth into Cloudflare, covering key generation (Ed25519), hosting a key directory, bot registration, and request signing. By adhering to IETF drafts, developers ensure their bot requests are verified, enhancing security and preventing abuse.

(developers.cloudflare.com)

Development

Reddit's 20-Year Rise: From Humble Beginnings to a $28 Billion Valuation

2025-05-13

Reddit's 20-Year Rise: From Humble Beginnings to a $28 Billion Valuation

Reddit, now valued at $28 billion, started as an idea from two University of Virginia graduates, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. Inspired by Digg and Slashdot, they created a platform based on user voting and discussion, quickly differentiating itself through unique subreddits. After overcoming early challenges like faking activity, competing with Digg, a Condé Nast acquisition, and infrastructure issues, Reddit exploded in popularity with the introduction of AMAs (Ask Me Anything) and subreddits. Despite facing content moderation and business model struggles, Reddit successfully went public, achieving profitability through advertising, premium memberships, and AI tools (like AI-powered moderation and search). It now sells content access to OpenAI and Google. Today, it's the ninth most popular website globally, influencing various sectors, yet its founders remain committed to its core value of 'real people, real opinions'.

(www.zdnet.com)

Tech Internet History

Microsoft to Cut Thousands of Jobs Amid AI Spending Spree

2025-06-19

Microsoft to Cut Thousands of Jobs Amid AI Spending Spree

Microsoft is reportedly planning to lay off thousands of employees, primarily in sales, in a cost-cutting measure following heavy investment in artificial intelligence. The cuts are expected early next month, after the close of Microsoft's fiscal year, though the exact timing and departments affected may still change. This move highlights the potential for industry-wide adjustments after the recent AI boom.

(www.bloomberg.com)

Tech Tech industry restructuring

Pediatric Urgent Care Clinic Brave Care Permanently Closes

2024-12-30

Pediatric Urgent Care Clinic Brave Care Permanently Closes

Brave Care, a pediatric urgent care clinic, has permanently closed its doors. Operating in Oregon and Texas, Brave Care provided treatment for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries in children, ranging from colds and flu to allergies, rashes, and broken bones. They accepted most major insurance and offered convenient on-site labs, prescription dispensing, and easy appointments. Despite the closure, patients can still access their health records through Cariend. Brave Care was known for its family-centered care and positive patient reviews.

(bravecare.com)

Misc pediatric urgent care clinic closure healthcare

Website Data Collection and User Privacy Notice

2025-05-21

Website Data Collection and User Privacy Notice

This website uses technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information to provide the best user experience. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent may adversely affect certain features and functions. Technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. Technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. The technical storage or access is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.

(magazine.atavist.com)

Misc

Retro Tech: Tektronix's Vintage Soldering Training Videos

2025-01-09

Retro Tech: Tektronix's Vintage Soldering Training Videos

This article highlights two vintage soldering training videos produced by Tektronix in the 1970s and 80s. The first video, aimed at assembly line workers, focuses on practical PCB soldering techniques. The second, geared towards repair technicians, delves into more advanced skills like desoldering and PCB repair. Both videos blend practical demonstrations with theoretical knowledge of soldering chemistry and tool usage, showcasing Tektronix's dedication to high-quality soldering.

(hackaday.com)

Hardware retro tech soldering techniques electronics repair

Microsoft's New Command Palette: An Enhanced PowerToys Run

2025-05-17

Microsoft's New Command Palette: An Enhanced PowerToys Run

Microsoft has quietly released Command Palette, a revamped launcher app for Windows, succeeding its PowerToys Run. This updated tool offers quick access to commands, apps, and development tools, including search functionality for apps, files, and folders; calculations; system commands; and website/web search capabilities. Crucially, Command Palette boasts extensibility, allowing users to add custom commands and features, making it a powerful asset for developers and power users. Window Walker functionality is also integrated for easy window switching.

(www.theverge.com)

Development

SQLite's WAL Mode: Durability vs. Performance Trade-off

2025-08-24

SQLite's WAL (Write-Ahead Log) mode, often used for higher write throughput, compromises data durability compared to the default journal mode. The `synchronous` pragma controls how often fsync is called; the default is NORMAL. In NORMAL mode, WAL files are synced before each checkpoint, and the database file after, but most transactions lack sync operations. For applications where durability isn't critical, NORMAL is sufficient. For guaranteed durability across power loss, `synchronous=FULL` adds a WAL file sync after each transaction commit, increasing durability at the cost of write speed. This explanation, prompted by concerns about SurrealDB potentially sacrificing durability for benchmark performance, clarifies SQLite's approach.

(avi.im)

Development WAL mode Data Durability

Reinforcement Learning Algorithms: A Comprehensive Guide

2025-01-28

Reinforcement Learning Algorithms: A Comprehensive Guide

This article provides a comprehensive overview of reinforcement learning algorithms, starting from fundamental value and policy iteration, progressing to Monte Carlo methods, temporal difference learning, value-based methods, and policy gradient methods. It delves into advanced algorithms like Deep Q-Networks (DQN), TRPO, and PPO. The article uses a problem-solution approach, systematically explaining the core ideas and improvements of various algorithms, making it a valuable reference for the reinforcement learning field.

(jakubhalmes.substack.com)

AI

Scala Capture Checking: The Tech Behind a Failed Talk

2025-08-26

This article recounts the author's failed presentation on capture checking at Scala Days 2025 and the subsequent deep dive into the technology. Capture checking aims to solve the problem of values escaping their intended scope, such as premature closure of resources in try-with-resource patterns. Scala implements capture checking by introducing 'capture sets', a type system feature that allows marking a type and all values it captures. The article details capture sets, subtyping, syntactic sugar, and the mechanisms for capturing functions and classes, exploring capture set behavior in type parameters. Ultimately, the author argues that while capture checking involves many details, it's a largely invisible feature for most developers, improving Scala's safety and enabling wider capabilities usage.

(nrinaudo.github.io)

Development Capture Checking

Trump Tariffs Cause a Dramatic Drop in US Port Imports

2025-05-10

Trump Tariffs Cause a Dramatic Drop in US Port Imports

President Trump's tariffs have led to a drastic decline in US port imports, with Seattle's port experiencing an unusual lack of container ships. This has raised concerns about supply chain disruptions, rising prices, and job losses. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are facing similar issues, with imports down 35% year-on-year. Experts warn that the impact will ripple across the nation, starting with West Coast ports and spreading to other regions. While the administration is negotiating with China to potentially reduce tariffs, the outcome remains uncertain.

(www.newsweek.com)

Tech ports

Wi-Fi and Radar Interference: The Challenges of DFS

2024-12-30

Wi-Fi and Radar Interference: The Challenges of DFS

This article explores the interference issues between Wi-Fi networks and radar systems in the 5GHz band. Since Wi-Fi operates on unlicensed spectrum, proximity to airports or other radar-using facilities can lead to interference, causing device dropouts. Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) aims to mitigate this, but its implementation isn't seamless. DFS can cause brief Wi-Fi access point outages, impacting user experience. The article suggests avoiding UNI II band DFS channels near radar facilities or using newer APs and the UNI II extended band to minimize problems.

(blog.iptel.com.au)

Tech Radar Interference

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