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Microsoft's Phased Open-Sourcing of WinUI: A Six-Month Roadmap

2025-08-02

Microsoft's Phased Open-Sourcing of WinUI: A Six-Month Roadmap

Microsoft announced a phased approach to open-sourcing WinUI, the user interface framework for Windows 11. Due to WinUI's complexity and deep integration with Windows, open-sourcing won't be a simple switch flip. Microsoft plans a four-phase rollout: Phase 1 increases GitHub mirroring frequency; Phase 2 allows external developers to build locally; Phase 3 enables external contributions and testing; and Phase 4 establishes GitHub as the primary development platform. This will be an incremental process, and Microsoft encourages developer feedback and contributions.

(www.neowin.net)

Development

Weekend Hack: Gaussian Sampling Saves the Day

2025-06-24

Weekend Hack: Gaussian Sampling Saves the Day

A SaaS application's pricing slider caused 15-second delays from the ML model. Full pre-computation would take nearly 7 days. The author cleverly used Gaussian distribution to strategically sample price points, prioritizing the middle range with higher precision, and reducing precision towards the ends. Pre-computation finished over the weekend, successfully avoiding a demo failure.

(medium.com)

Development Gaussian sampling pre-computation

GraalVM for JDK 24 Released: Performance Boost and Smaller Binaries

2025-03-18

GraalVM for JDK 24 Released: Performance Boost and Smaller Binaries

GraalVM for JDK 24 is now available! This release boasts significant improvements, including GraalNN, a machine learning-based optimization boosting peak performance by ~7.9% on average across various microservice benchmarks; SkipFlow, reducing native executable sizes by ~6.35%; enhanced premain support for Java agents; and Vector API optimizations matching JIT performance. Security features are also improved, such as enhanced SBOM support, alongside debugging and monitoring enhancements. Overall, GraalVM 24 offers notable improvements in performance, size, and security, making it a worthwhile upgrade for developers.

(medium.com)

Development

Unlocking On-Chain Data Potential with AI Agents and the SQD Data Lake

2025-02-23

Unlocking On-Chain Data Potential with AI Agents and the SQD Data Lake

Subsquid has released a new ElizaOS plugin that leverages the SQD data lake to provide on-chain data to AI agents. The plugin offers ERC20 transfers and Uniswap swap decoded events as both providers and actions. Agents can query data using natural language and export results in JSON, CSV, and Parquet formats. This post demonstrates a simplified version of a CLI tool called Cryo that uses the plugin to extract on-chain data and discusses potential future improvements such as multi-chain support and an improved query experience.

(blog.sqd.dev)

Development Blockchain Data

Firefox Updates Terms of Use to Clarify Data Handling

2025-03-01

Firefox Updates Terms of Use to Clarify Data Handling

Mozilla updated Firefox's Terms of Use and Privacy Notice, addressing user concerns about data licensing. The revised terms more clearly explain how Mozilla handles user data, emphasizing that Mozilla does not "sell" user data in the typical sense. Mozilla clarifies that some jurisdictions have broad definitions of "selling," prompting the wording change to mitigate legal risks. While Mozilla shares some data with partners, measures are in place to protect user privacy, such as removing identifying information or aggregating data.

(blog.mozilla.org)

Tech

Pro-Level Zoom Audio with Audio Hijack and BlackHole

2025-08-01

Pro-Level Zoom Audio with Audio Hijack and BlackHole

During the pandemic, a friend sought a way to improve Zoom call audio quality. This post details the author's solution using Audio Hijack (instead of Reaper), the BlackHole virtual audio driver, and a DAW. By creating an aggregate audio device and cleverly using BlackHole's dual-channel capability (one for Zoom mic, one for speaker), and routing/mixing audio within the DAW, high-quality audio input/output is achieved, with monitoring, recording, and system sound sharing capabilities. This method bypasses Zoom's audio processing limitations, giving users complete control over their audio.

(noahliebman.net)

Development

Instant Graphics and Sound on Atari ST BBS: A Retro Tech History

2025-01-06

This multi-part series chronicles the rise and impact of the "Instant Graphics and Sound" (IGS) format on Atari ST bulletin board systems (BBSs). From its beginnings in 1988 within an Atari user group in Florida to the psychedelic animations by artist Steve Turnbull on CrossNet in 1991, the series explores how IGS transformed the Atari BBS scene. It features stories of developers like Larry Mears and Steve Turnbull, and highlights the vibrant community interaction and contributions.

(breakintochat.com)

Tech BBS culture

RIP Skype: Microsoft Officially Kills Off Its Legacy Messaging App

2025-02-28

RIP Skype: Microsoft Officially Kills Off Its Legacy Messaging App

After two decades, Microsoft is finally pulling the plug on Skype in May. Users are being urged to migrate to Microsoft Teams for their communication needs. While Skype has received updates over the years, the writing has been on the wall since the launch of Teams, Microsoft's collaboration platform designed to compete with Slack. This move solidifies Microsoft's commitment to Teams as its primary communication service.

(www.xda-developers.com)

Tech

Revisiting Deluxe Paint: A 40-Year-Old Pixel Art Powerhouse

2025-09-09

Revisiting Deluxe Paint: A 40-Year-Old Pixel Art Powerhouse

Forty years later, the author revisits Deluxe Paint III, a classic pixel art program. By working through the software's tutorials and testing animation tools, they explore its unique features such as color mixing, ranges, and stenciling, comparing them to modern image software. The article highlights Deluxe Paint's collaborative toolset, encouraging creative exploration rather than rigid precision, a stark contrast to modern software's focus on efficiency. The author concludes that Deluxe Paint remains a powerful and pure form of digital expression.

(stonetools.ghost.io)

Design

ScreenCoder: Revolutionizing UI-to-Code Generation with Multimodal Agents

2025-08-04

ScreenCoder: Revolutionizing UI-to-Code Generation with Multimodal Agents

ScreenCoder is an intelligent UI-to-code generation system that transforms screenshots or design mockups into clean, production-ready HTML/CSS code. Its modular multi-agent architecture combines visual understanding, layout planning, and adaptive code synthesis for accurate and editable front-end code. Developers and designers can easily customize layouts and styling. ScreenCoder bridges the gap between design and development—simply copy, customize, and deploy.

(github.com)

Development

Codeberg: A Non-Profit Git Hosting Platform Championing Open Source

2025-02-04

Codeberg, a non-profit organization based in Berlin, Germany, operates a Git hosting platform prioritizing the commons. Unlike commercial platforms, Codeberg rejects tracking, third-party cookies, and profiteering. It maintains its own servers, ensuring user data remains secure and is never sold. Its vibrant community comprises developers, artists, academics, hobbyists, and professionals united by a passion for free culture, openness, and creativity. Codeberg's future depends on its users, and welcomes global participation.

(codeberg.org)

Development

Getty Center: A Fortress Against the Flames

2025-01-12

During the 2019 Getty Fire, the Getty Center proved its mettle as the safest place for art and archives. Built with fire-resistant stone, concrete, and steel, its design incorporates wide-open plazas and meticulously landscaped grounds to slow fire spread. Inside, state-of-the-art air filtration and fire separations ensure internal safety, while a one-million-gallon water tank provides ample fire suppression. Year-round fire safety drills and preparedness ensured the protection of both art and personnel.

(www.getty.edu)

Tech fire safety art preservation Getty Center

Meta Loses Landmark Case: UK Users to Get Targeted Ad Opt-Out

2025-03-22

Meta Loses Landmark Case: UK Users to Get Targeted Ad Opt-Out

British consumers will be able to opt out of targeted online advertising following a landmark legal victory for campaigner Tanya O’Carroll against Meta. O’Carroll sued Meta (Facebook's parent company) for its inability to disable the user profiling used for ad targeting. After becoming a mother in 2017, she was bombarded with baby-related ads. Attempts to disable these ads through Facebook's settings failed. Further investigation revealed Meta had tagged her with over 700 characteristics based on her activity, inferring her movie preferences, holiday destinations, shopping habits, clothing style, political views, and personal details. This victory sets a precedent for user privacy rights.

(www.thetimes.com)

Tech

Automattic Announces Restructuring, 16% Workforce Reduction

2025-04-02

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg announced a company restructuring involving a 16% workforce reduction. This decision aims to improve efficiency, profitability, and competitiveness in a rapidly evolving market. Affected employees will receive severance packages, benefits, and job placement resources. Automattic stated this restructuring is necessary to ensure long-term success and continue its mission to democratize the internet.

(automattic.com)

Startup

The Secret Code of Hobos: A Lost Cultural Heritage

2025-06-15

The Secret Code of Hobos: A Lost Cultural Heritage

The 'hobo' culture of early 20th-century America was far more complex than we often imagine. They weren't simply homeless individuals, but a group with a unique culture and secret communication system. They used a special symbolic language—the 'hobo code'—leaving markings on walls, water towers, and other surfaces to indicate food, shelter, and danger. While the extent of this code's use is debated, it symbolizes the unique ways hobos created to survive and help each other, and its legacy can be seen in later cultural phenomena like graffiti art.

(www.openculture.com)

Misc hobo culture secret language cultural history

C++ Memory Leaks: Show Rust Devs Who's Boss!

2025-05-11

C++ Memory Leaks: Show Rust Devs Who's Boss!

This video tutorial demonstrates how to intentionally create and hunt down memory leaks in C++. While Rust developers often poke fun at C++'s memory management, this tutorial shows how to use _CrtDumpMemoryLeaks and the DEBUG_NEW macro to detect and pinpoint memory leaks, proving that C++ developers can effectively handle memory issues without needing a borrow checker or lifetimes. Starting with a simple example, the tutorial progressively teaches how to use debugging tools to track down memory leaks, even in complex programs.

(www.babaei.net)

Development Memory Leaks

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

Browser Resource Loading: A Deep Dive into the Black Box

2025-02-20

Loading a webpage and its subresources involves a complex interplay of factors. Browsers consider render-blocking resources, preload scanners, resource hints (preload/preconnect), loading modifiers (async/defer/module), fetchpriority, responsive images, and more. They then decide when to load each resource, optimizing for modern HTTP/2 and HTTP/3. However, different browsers employ vastly different strategies, sometimes even intentionally delaying requests. This talk delves into the decision-making process behind resource loading, showing how to influence browser behavior to prioritize critical resources like the LCP image. We'll analyze numerous waterfalls, explain browser discrepancies, and offer solutions to common problems—without resorting to blindly preloading everything with fetchpriority=high. You'll gain a deeper understanding of browser internals and confidently tackle resource loading challenges.

(fosdem.org)

Development browser optimization resource loading

India's New Tax Law: Government Can Now Access Your Digital Life

2025-03-06

India's New Tax Law: Government Can Now Access Your Digital Life

A new Indian tax law grants tax authorities the power to forcibly access your social media accounts, emails, bank accounts, investment accounts, and more to investigate tax evasion. The law defines "virtual digital space" broadly, encompassing nearly all online accounts and data. This has raised serious privacy concerns, with experts arguing the law lacks sufficient oversight and procedural safeguards, potentially leading to abuse of power and conflicting with the Supreme Court's rulings on the right to privacy.

(economictimes.indiatimes.com)

Tech tax law digital space

US Judicial Independence Under Siege

2025-03-11

Chief Justice John Roberts' 2024 year-end report on the federal judiciary expresses concern over declining trust in the courts' independence. The report highlights violence, intimidation, disinformation, and threats to defy court orders as undermining judicial independence. These threats aim to coerce judges into ruling against the law. Roberts draws parallels to historical events, emphasizing the importance of judicial independence for upholding the rule of law and the system of checks and balances. While the President claims to abide by court decisions, the threat of defiance remains, potentially leading to a constitutional crisis and eroding public trust.

(www.lawfaremedia.org)

Misc constitutional crisis US politics

Physics' New Frontier: Beyond Thermodynamics

2024-12-22

Physics' New Frontier: Beyond Thermodynamics

This article delves into the significance and limitations of thermodynamics in physics. The author argues that while statistical mechanics provides a microscopic understanding of thermodynamics, it may obscure more general principles. A call is made to focus on macroscopic, empirical observations, such as non-equilibrium thermodynamics and self-organizing systems, suggesting these areas may hold new physical laws and offer solutions to practical problems, echoing the initial development of thermodynamics from steam engine improvements.

(scottlocklin.wordpress.com)

Physics non-equilibrium thermodynamics self-organizing systems

From Open Source to AI Unicorn: The Timefold AI Story

2025-02-14

From Open Source to AI Unicorn: The Timefold AI Story

Three years ago, the author's open-source project, OptaPlanner, was facing the axe. Instead of giving up, he founded Timefold AI. This article recounts his journey of transforming a nearly defunct open-source project into a rapidly growing Planning AI company, achieving commercial success without sacrificing open-source values. From a humble hobby project to acquisition by Red Hat and finally, independent entrepreneurship, the author navigates the challenges of building a startup: finding a sustainable business model, assembling a team, securing funding. Timefold AI ultimately launched a cloud SaaS platform based on its open-source project and gained market traction. It's an inspiring story of perseverance, innovation, and teamwork, demonstrating the potential of open-source commercialization.

(timefold.ai)

Startup

compile_flagz: Boosting C/C++ IDE Support in Zig Build Systems

2025-09-13

Zig's build system offers powerful cross-compilation capabilities for C/C++ projects, but editor support often lags due to missing include paths. compile_flagz addresses this by generating a `compile_flags.txt` file, a standard format used by language servers like clangd. This file provides the necessary compilation settings, enabling features like code completion and error highlighting. The author details its usage and implementation, showcasing its effectiveness in a game decompilation project (ROLLER). A quick start guide is also provided.

(simonhartcher.com)

Development

XLibre: A Rebellious Fork of X11 Challenges Wayland's Dominance

2025-06-29

XLibre: A Rebellious Fork of X11 Challenges Wayland's Dominance

Frustrated by Wayland's slow progress and shortcomings, developer Enrico Weigelt launched XLibre, a deep improvement of X11. XLibre isn't just a simple branch; it's a complete overhaul aimed at fixing Wayland's flaws and offering superior performance and security. Weigelt claims he was ousted from the Xorg project by Red Hat, sparking industry debate about Red Hat's control over Linux development. Surprisingly, Fedora, a Red Hat derivative, is considering replacing X11 with XLibre. XLibre's future remains uncertain, but it's undeniably injected new variables into the Linux desktop world.

(www.webpronews.com)

Development

Lyme Disease Breakthrough: New Antibiotic and Understanding Chronic Symptoms

2025-05-06

Lyme Disease Breakthrough: New Antibiotic and Understanding Chronic Symptoms

Northwestern University researchers have identified piperacillin, an antibiotic significantly outperforming doxycycline, the current gold standard for Lyme disease treatment. Piperacillin cured Lyme disease in mice at a dosage 100 times lower than doxycycline, with minimal impact on gut microbiota. Furthermore, the research uncovered a potential cause for Post-Treatment Lyme Disease (PTLD): lingering Borrelia cell wall remnants in the liver triggering an immune response. This discovery paves the way for more precise Lyme disease diagnostics, treatments, and strategies to prevent chronic symptoms.

(news.northwestern.edu)

Tech Lyme Disease Antibiotic Chronic Illness

AI Cracks CAPTCHAs: The Never-Ending Arms Race

2025-07-31

AI Cracks CAPTCHAs: The Never-Ending Arms Race

The ChatGPT Agent AI tool recently bypassed Cloudflare's Turnstile bot-detection system, accessing websites without solving image CAPTCHAs. This isn't the first time AI has cracked CAPTCHAs; it's the latest development in an ongoing arms race. Originally designed to distinguish humans from machines, CAPTCHAs have evolved into a method to slow down or increase the cost of bot attacks, even leading to the rise of human CAPTCHA-solving farms. The race continues, with AI and anti-AI technologies locked in a perpetual struggle.

(arstechnica.com)

AI

Cruz's Telecom Director to Lead US Broadband Deployment Program

2025-02-04

Cruz's Telecom Director to Lead US Broadband Deployment Program

US Senator Ted Cruz has been pushing for an overhaul of a $42.45 billion broadband deployment program, and now his telecom policy director, Arielle Roth, has been nominated to lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the agency responsible for distributing the funds. Roth's nomination is pending Senate approval. Cruz previously criticized the NTIA's implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, accusing it of 'technology bias' for prioritizing fiber. Roth herself criticized the program for adding extra-legal requirements and a 'woke social agenda,' increasing costs and deterring participation. Her appointment could lead to less emphasis on fiber and more funding for cable, fixed wireless, and satellite services, potentially impacting municipal broadband and fiber networks.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech government

C++ Initialization Gotcha: The Subtleties of `=default`

2025-05-15

This article delves into the perplexing world of C++ initialization. A simple example reveals the significant impact of the placement of `=default` on the initialization of struct members: struct members with `=default` in the declaration are zero-initialized (value 0), while those with `=default` in the definition have indeterminate values, leading to undefined behavior if read. The article thoroughly explains the differences between default, value, and zero initialization, and emphasizes the importance of explicitly initializing variables to avoid potential bugs and security risks.

(blog.tartanllama.xyz)

Development Initialization

How Top Programmers Use LLMs to Supercharge Productivity

2025-07-21

Veteran programmer antirez shares his 18-month experience using large language models like Gemini 2.5 PRO and Claude Opus for coding. He argues that current LLMs are best used as powerful assistants, not as standalone project completers. By clearly describing problems and iterating effectively, LLMs can help eliminate bugs, explore ideas faster, engage in pair-design, and even learn technologies outside one's expertise. However, antirez stresses the importance of providing ample context, choosing the right model, and maintaining control over the code, avoiding reliance on automated agents. Only then can code quality be assured and efficiency maximized.

(antirez.com)

Development

Postcard: Open-Source Personal Website & Newsletter Tool

2025-07-04

Postcard: Open-Source Personal Website & Newsletter Tool

In 2022, Philip Thomas launched Postcard, a personal website and newsletter tool, as a replacement for social media to stay connected with friends. Postcard gained thousands of users, and despite modest revenue, the author continues to maintain it. Now, the author is open-sourcing the code, allowing developers to contribute and customize. Postcard is a simple Ruby on Rails application, supporting both single-user and multi-user modes. Deployment is straightforward with a Dockerfile and render.yaml for easy deployment on Render.

(www.contraption.co)

Development

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