Party Squasher: Smart Sensor Prevents Airbnb Parties Before They Start

2025-01-03
Party Squasher: Smart Sensor Prevents Airbnb Parties Before They Start

Party Squasher is a smart sensor designed for short-term rental managers to prevent disruptive parties. Unlike noisy and unreliable noise monitors, Party Squasher discreetly counts the number of mobile phones in a property, alerting users via text or email when occupancy exceeds a set threshold. This prevents parties before they even begin, protecting property and neighborly relations. Easy to install and maintain, Party Squasher offers both standard and pro versions for individual and large-scale property managers.

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Fellowry: A Crowdsourced GTM Knowledge Base Solving Sales Challenges

2025-01-04

Fellowry is a crowdsourced Go-to-Market (GTM) knowledge base featuring over 200 sales strategies. It's a treasure trove of insights from sales professionals covering cold emailing, cold calling, LinkedIn marketing, and more. Users share tips on crafting effective cold emails, boosting cold call success rates, and leveraging LinkedIn for targeted outreach. Whether you're a sales newbie or a seasoned pro, Fellowry offers valuable perspectives to overcome sales hurdles and improve performance.

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Meta Launches 'Edits' Video Editing App to Capitalize on CapCut's Absence

2025-01-20
Meta Launches 'Edits' Video Editing App to Capitalize on CapCut's Absence

Following the removal of ByteDance's CapCut video editing app from app stores, Meta announced its new video editing app, Edits, on Sunday. Instagram head Adam Mosseri revealed the app will launch on iOS next month, with Android to follow. Edits boasts a suite of creative tools, including inspiration and idea tracking tabs, and a high-quality camera, along with draft sharing capabilities. Meta's move is seen as capitalizing on the market gap left by CapCut's absence, mirroring previous strategic launches like Instagram Reels and Threads.

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Development Video Editing

Hello World: Minimized to 167 Bytes

2025-01-02
Hello World: Minimized to 167 Bytes

This article documents the author's journey to create the smallest possible 'Hello World' program. Initially using Rust, the author discovered that minimizing the binary size required a deep dive into low-level programming. Ultimately, assembly language was chosen, and through clever techniques such as removing debugging symbols and manually crafting the ELF header, a 64-bit Linux 'Hello World' program was reduced to an impressive 167 bytes! The article delves into the file size expansion during the linking process and the details of the ELF file format, making it highly valuable for low-level system developers.

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Development minimal program

Ryzen 7 9800X3D Teardown Reveals Mostly Dummy Silicon

2024-12-18
Ryzen 7 9800X3D Teardown Reveals Mostly Dummy Silicon

A teardown of AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor reveals a surprising finding: the majority of its volume is comprised of dummy silicon for structural integrity. While the SRAM cache die is significantly smaller than the compute die, AMD has added a substantial layer of dummy silicon above and below to protect the thin, fragile components. This results in a total package thickness of roughly 800µm, with dummy silicon accounting for a staggering 93%. Despite the seemingly wasteful design, it ensures stability and thermal performance. AMD is expected to announce 12-core and 16-core Ryzen 9 X3D processors soon.

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Hardware

Elixir/Erlang Hot Code Swapping: Zero-Downtime Deployments

2024-12-13

This article delves into Elixir/Erlang's hot code swapping capabilities, enabling the loading and unloading of code at runtime without requiring system restarts for application upgrades. A simple KV module example demonstrates manual hot swapping, while iex's c/1 and r/1 commands, and the Relups tool, are introduced for easier application and release upgrade management. The article explains Erlang applications, releases, appups, and relups, detailing the use of the Distillery tool to generate application releases and upgrade releases, ultimately achieving zero-downtime deployments and preventing service interruptions.

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Development hot code swapping

Amazon Updates FBA Inventory Reimbursement Policy: Manufacturing Cost Takes Center Stage

2024-12-19

Amazon announced an update to its Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) inventory reimbursement policy, effective March 10, 2025. The new policy will reimburse sellers based on the manufacturing cost of lost or damaged inventory, with sellers able to provide their own cost or use Amazon's estimate. While aiming for greater transparency and predictability, the change has sparked seller concerns about potentially lower reimbursements, especially for handmade sellers. Amazon also introduced automatic reimbursements for items lost in their fulfillment centers.

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My 2024 Reading List: A Journey Through Philosophy, Science, and Literature

2025-01-01
My 2024 Reading List: A Journey Through Philosophy, Science, and Literature

Waqas Younas shares his 2024 reading list, a diverse collection spanning philosophy, logic, literature, history, and biography. From Cicero's letters to Nietzsche's Human, All Too Human, and from quantum mechanics to Tagore's poetry, the books reflect a journey of intellectual exploration. The engaging review interweaves insightful excerpts and personal reflections, making it a captivating read for anyone interested in a broad spectrum of subjects.

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38C3 Chaos Communication Congress: A Digital Celebration

2024-12-25

From December 27th to 30th, 2021, the 38th Chaos Communication Congress (38C3) took place in Hamburg, Germany. The event featured a wide range of activities including talks, self-organized sessions, lightning talks, and more. Information was disseminated through the official website, event blog, and digital map. Volunteer registration, an information desk, and accessibility support were also provided to foster an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere.

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California's Minimum Wage Hike: A Surprise Success

2024-12-22
California's Minimum Wage Hike: A Surprise Success

California's September 2023 law raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 per hour faced immediate backlash, with predictions of widespread job losses and business closures. However, these predictions proved false. Since the law's April implementation, California's fast-food sector has seen job growth exceeding the national average. Economists' analyses revealed that increased wages didn't decrease employment; instead, reduced employee turnover and increased productivity lowered labor costs for employers. While prices rose, the increase was far less than anticipated, significantly outweighed by the wage increase for workers. This challenges assumptions about minimum wage impacts, highlighting biases in economic understanding and the role of media in disseminating misinformation.

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Fish Shell 4.0: An Epic Rewrite from C++ to Rust

2024-12-28

The Fish shell team completed a massive undertaking: rewriting Fish shell from C++ to Rust over nearly two years. Driven by limitations in C++'s tooling, compiler/platform differences, ergonomics, and thread safety, the team chose Rust to enhance performance, security, and developer experience. Employing a "Ship of Theseus" approach, they incrementally replaced components, ensuring stability throughout the process. While challenges arose, such as compatibility issues with autocxx, the team successfully released the Fish 4.0 beta, boasting performance improvements, new features, and easier-to-install statically linked versions.

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Development

TikTok Ban: Supreme Court Showdown Looms

2025-01-06
TikTok Ban: Supreme Court Showdown Looms

The Supreme Court is set to hear a case challenging a federal ban on TikTok, which mandates ByteDance sell the app due to national security concerns about Chinese government influence. The article analyzes the conflict between this ban and the First Amendment's free speech protections. While the government has a history of preventing foreign control over US communication infrastructure, the direct ban on a specific platform raises concerns about potential abuse and chilling effects on free speech. The author predicts a likely loss for TikTok but stresses the crucial importance of the Court's wording to prevent broader damage to free speech rights. The case highlights the tension between national security and fundamental freedoms.

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AI Search Engine War: Can OpenAI Challenge Google's Dominance?

2024-12-28
AI Search Engine War: Can OpenAI Challenge Google's Dominance?

The author likens Google's search results to a 'picnic infested with flies,' overflowing with ads and AI-generated content, making it difficult for users to quickly find what they need. Google's response of adding more information, the author argues, is counterproductive, losing the simplicity and ease of use that defined its early success. In contrast, OpenAI's ChatGPT search prioritizes simplicity and user trust, providing a single answer in a conversational format, akin to a friend's recommendation. However, it still needs to address the issue of AI 'hallucinations'. Ultimately, OpenAI's success in challenging Google's search engine dominance hinges on maintaining its product's core values and avoiding Google's mistakes.

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AI

Major Math Error Corrected in Black Plastic Study; Authors Say It Doesn't Matter

2024-12-20
Major Math Error Corrected in Black Plastic Study; Authors Say It Doesn't Matter

A study reporting toxic flame retardants from electronics in black plastic household products, including kitchen utensils, contained a significant mathematical error. The initial findings suggested exposure levels were near the safety limit, causing public alarm and prompting articles advising people to discard their kitchenware. A correction revealed the actual exposure is far below the safe limit. While the overall conclusion—that flame retardants significantly contaminate plastic products—remains, the study also found contamination is uncommon, affecting only a minority of products.

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The Harvard Blood Factory: How a Pure Scientist Won WWII

2025-01-07
The Harvard Blood Factory: How a Pure Scientist Won WWII

Edwin Cohn, a temperamental Harvard protein chemist, unexpectedly transformed his lab into a highly effective applied R&D powerhouse during WWII. Initially focused on theoretical research, the war spurred him to lead his team in inventing methods to produce life-saving albumin from blood. Cohn's team not only created albumin more stable than plasma but also developed other blood products for treating battlefield injuries. While his methods are outdated, his ability to translate lab discoveries into commercial-scale products remains a valuable lesson. Cohn's story offers a compelling case study for science organizations and funders: combining a pilot plant, funding, and vision to tackle significant problems can yield extraordinary results in translating research into real-world impact.

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Pink Floyd's 'Young Lust': A Hidden History of Telephone Technology

2025-01-02

The mysterious phone call at the end of Pink Floyd's 'Young Lust' isn't just random noise; it's a snapshot of 1979's technological transition in telephony. This article deciphers the various tones – multi-frequency (MF), single-frequency (SF) signaling, and switch interactions – revealing the shift from electromechanical to electronic digital systems. The recording, meticulously planned, captures the complexities of an international call, offering a fascinating glimpse into technological history.

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Missile Strike Confirmed as Cause of Azerbaijan E190 Crash

2024-12-28
Missile Strike Confirmed as Cause of Azerbaijan E190 Crash

An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer E190 passenger plane crashed on Christmas Day, killing 38 people. The Azerbaijani government confirmed that a Russian Pantir-S1 surface-to-air missile caused the crash. The aircraft was attempting an emergency landing when it went down. Russian air defense forces were engaged in shooting down Ukrainian drones in the area, but civilian airspace wasn't closed. Despite pilot requests for an emergency landing, the plane was denied access to Russian airports and crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan.

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A 50-Year-Old Bug in C's File I/O: Unraveling a Legacy Mystery

2024-12-26

While improving a DOS emulator, a developer stumbled upon a seemingly trivial bug in file I/O: appending text to a file using the `echo` command produced unexpected results. Debugging revealed a flaw in how C runtime libraries handle switching between reading and writing, a flaw tracing back to the 1970s and even earlier UNIX systems. The article delves into the historical context, from early K&R C to modern C standards, exploring implementation differences across various UNIX versions and C compilers. The root cause is identified as limitations in early C libraries' handling of update mode, with variations in how different operating systems and compilers addressed these limitations. The author concludes that even today, for portable C code, an explicit `fseek` call is necessary when switching between reading and writing a file.

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Development file I/O legacy bug

38C3: Illegal Instructions - Chaos Communication Congress Explores Tech and Society

2024-12-29

The 38th Chaos Communication Congress (38C3), themed "Illegal Instructions," will take place in Hamburg from December 27th to 30th, 2024. This four-day conference, organized by the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), will feature talks and workshops on technology, society, and utopia. Topics range from hardware hacking and security to ethical and political discussions surrounding technological advancements. From liberating Wi-Fi on ESP32 to breaking Apple's new iPhone remote control feature and examining the EU's digital identity systems, 38C3 promises a diverse program sparking debate about technological ethics and societal responsibility.

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Tech Society

From Failed Game to Workplace Collaboration Giant: The Rise of Slack

2024-12-23
From Failed Game to Workplace Collaboration Giant: The Rise of Slack

Tiny Speck's years-long effort to build the online game Glitch ended in failure, leaving the company facing financial ruin and potential team dissolution. However, CEO Stewart Butterfield saw a lifeline in the company's internal IRC server and its associated tools, which had streamlined team communication. These tools combined instant messaging, file sharing, searchable logs, and more, creating an efficient collaboration system. Building upon this, Tiny Speck pivoted to develop Slack, a workplace communication platform centered around team collaboration. Slack's success not only saved the company but also revolutionized how people work, becoming a benchmark for modern team collaboration.

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Startup startup pivot

Revolutionary Robot Simulator Genesis Unveiled: 430,000 Times Faster Training

2024-12-23
Revolutionary Robot Simulator Genesis Unveiled: 430,000 Times Faster Training

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have unveiled Genesis, an open-source robot simulation system that trains robots 430,000 times faster than real-world training. Genesis leverages graphics cards to run up to 100,000 simulations concurrently, drastically reducing the time needed for robots to learn complex tasks like object manipulation, walking, and tool use. Furthermore, the team is developing an AI agent capable of generating 3D physics simulations from text prompts, simplifying environment creation and reducing costs. Written in Python and open-sourced, Genesis represents a significant leap forward in robotics research, democratizing access to high-speed simulation.

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ELIZAGEN: Unveiling the History of the First Chatbot, ELIZA

2024-12-26
ELIZAGEN: Unveiling the History of the First Chatbot, ELIZA

ELIZAGEN.org is a comprehensive online resource dedicated to preserving and exploring the history of ELIZA, the world's first chatbot. The site houses various implementations of ELIZA across different programming languages (including the original MAD-SLIP, Lisp, and BASIC versions), along with historical documents, original code, experimental records, and papers. ELIZAGEN showcases ELIZA's evolution across platforms, from PDP-10s to modern web browsers. It offers a fascinating look into the origins, development, and impact of ELIZA, highlighting its lasting influence on AI and computer culture.

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Intel's New Laptop Chips Promise Extended Battery Life

2025-01-06
Intel's New Laptop Chips Promise Extended Battery Life

Intel unveiled its new Core Ultra processors at CES, claiming they will significantly extend laptop battery life. Targeted at business PCs and high-end consumer devices, the new chips aim to boost both battery life and AI performance. Tests showed an HP laptop with the new processor running Microsoft Teams for 10.5 hours and Microsoft 365 for 20.3 hours on a single charge, exceeding the battery life of a comparable Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered Dell device. Intel also boasted superior performance in generative AI applications. Processors based on Intel's Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake designs will debut in 2025, initially for business machines before expanding to thin and light laptops, high-performance notebooks, and desktop PCs.

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Oasis Security Research Team Discovers Microsoft Azure MFA Bypass

2024-12-12
Oasis Security Research Team Discovers Microsoft Azure MFA Bypass

Oasis Security's research team discovered a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Azure's Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) implementation. Attackers could bypass MFA to gain unauthorized access to user accounts, including Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, and Azure Cloud. The vulnerability exploited the lack of rate limiting, allowing rapid session creation and code enumeration to exhaust the possibilities of a 6-digit code without alerts. Microsoft has since implemented a stricter rate limit to address the issue. This highlights the importance of enabling MFA and monitoring failed attempts.

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Lucy: A Concise DSL for Finite State Machines

2025-01-01

Lucy is a concise language for describing Finite State Machines (FSMs). It allows complex events, guards, actions, and destination states to be expressed in a single line. Nesting machines enables hierarchical FSMs. Lucy compiles to XState, a leading JavaScript FSM library, supporting all its core features. Written in C and compiled to WebAssembly, Lucy boasts a significant speed advantage (15x faster than its previous JavaScript-based compiler), making it ideal for JavaScript projects.

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Development Finite State Machine

Sonair Accelerates 3D Ultrasonic Sensor Development with Rust

2024-12-28
Sonair Accelerates 3D Ultrasonic Sensor Development with Rust

Sonair leveraged the Rust programming language to dramatically accelerate the development of its groundbreaking 3D ultrasonic sensor. The article details the reasons for choosing Rust, including its speed, safety, and robust ecosystem. Despite the team's initial lack of Rust experience, they found it surprisingly easy to learn, and its strong type system and borrow checker helped them write safer, more reliable code. Sonair uses Rust for production and Python for algorithm prototyping, creating an efficient workflow. Ultimately, Sonair aims to be among the first to deploy a safety-certified Rust implementation, setting a new standard for functional safety in embedded systems.

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China to Subsidize Smartphone Purchases to Boost Spending

2025-01-03
China to Subsidize Smartphone Purchases to Boost Spending

China will expand consumption subsidies to include smartphones and other electronics to boost domestic spending amid rising external headwinds. Officials from the nation’s top economic planning agency said Friday that a national trade-in program currently covering home appliances and cars will be broadened this year to personal devices such as phones, tablets, and smartwatches. Post-Covid, Chinese consumers have held onto their smartphones longer due to a lack of exciting new features and general belt-tightening. Like with cars and washing machines, investors hope incentives will revive the world’s largest smartphone market and drive sales not only for brands like Huawei and Xiaomi but also for platforms popular with device fans like Alibaba and JD.com. The move is part of China’s efforts to encourage consumption to offset the effects of potential new US tariffs on Chinese exports, a key growth driver. For only the second time in at least a decade, top leaders last month prioritized stimulating spending and domestic demand in 2025. The government will “significantly” increase the sale of ultra-long special treasury bonds to fund the program, which also encourages companies to upgrade equipment, according to Yuan Da, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission. Several provinces started their own trade-in programs for personal devices and phones in late 2024, but a nationwide initiative could prove more effective. The central government committed 300 billion yuan ($41.1 billion) of funds raised from special treasury bonds in July to support the subsidies. Including local government efforts, these incentives led to a surge in car and home appliance sales starting in September. Subsidies for upgrading business equipment will also be expanded to areas including agricultural facilities, according to Yuan. A specific plan for the program’s expansion will be released soon.

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IncludeOS: Run Applications in the Cloud with Zero Overhead

2024-12-17

IncludeOS is a lightweight operating system that lets you run your application in the cloud without a traditional OS. It integrates OS functionality directly into your application, creating high-performance, secure, and resource-efficient virtual machines. IncludeOS applications boot in tens of milliseconds and require only a few megabytes of disk and memory. Simple command-line tools facilitate building and deployment, and ample examples and documentation help developers get started quickly.

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My Experience with Claude 3.6: A Quantum Leap in AI Assistance

2025-01-02

Since Anthropic released Claude 3.6, my usage has skyrocketed. It's a significant improvement across the board, particularly in accuracy and reliability. I analyzed my usage data, showing a multi-hundred percent increase in conversations, messages, and words inputted. Claude helps me solve problems, from overcoming anxiety and decision paralysis to sparking creativity in exploring ideas, coding, and writing. It's even fun to interact with, like conversing with a brilliant scholar. Claude 3.6 is more than a tool; it's a highly capable partner that boosts productivity and expands horizons.

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