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Running OCaml on a TI-84+ CE Calculator

2025-05-20

This post details the author's journey in compiling an OCaml program to run on a TI-84+ CE calculator. Leveraging Js_of_ocaml, a tool typically used to compile OCaml to JavaScript, the author cleverly repurposed it to generate C code instead. Due to the TI-84+ CE's resource constraints, a simple garbage collector was implemented, along with necessary C functions for interacting with the calculator's hardware. The author successfully ran a simple OCaml program, demonstrating the feasibility of their approach.

(farlow.dev)

Development

Your Food Packaging Might Be Poisoning You With Microplastics

2025-06-24

Your Food Packaging Might Be Poisoning You With Microplastics

New research reveals that opening plastic-wrapped food, like meat and produce, or using plastic bottles and tea bags, contaminates food with micro- and nanoplastics. These tiny particles can even enter the bloodstream, posing potential health risks. The study highlights the need to reduce plastic use and implement stricter regulations to protect consumers.

(www.cnn.com)

Tech

Offshore Companies and Nominee Shareholders: A High-Stakes Gamble

2025-09-07

The allure of offshore tax havens tempts many to use nominee shareholders, believing they can secretly control their companies. However, this is incredibly risky. Legally, control rests with the nominee, leaving the beneficial owner vulnerable. This article uses case studies to illustrate the potential legal pitfalls: nominees can dispose of company assets without restriction, leaving the true owner with little legal recourse. Unless you have absolute documentary control, you're betting your company's future on someone else's goodwill.

(johnnydoe.is)

Startup offshore companies nominee shareholders

Geospatial Data Just Got a Major Upgrade: Iceberg and Parquet Add Native GEO Support

2025-02-15

The Apache Iceberg and Parquet communities have announced native support for geometry and geography data types, bridging the gap between geospatial data and the modern data ecosystem. This breakthrough addresses past challenges like fragmented formats and proprietary systems, enabling faster queries, lower storage costs, and increased interoperability. Organizations can now build more cost-effective and innovative geospatial solutions using cloud-native architectures. This opens up a new era of possibilities for geospatial data processing and analysis.

(wherobots.com)

Tech geospatial data

Systemd to Boot Directly from HTTP-Downloaded Disk Images

2025-02-11

Systemd lead developer Lennart Poettering is adding the ability to boot directly from a disk image downloaded via HTTP within the initial RAM disk (initrd) during the Linux boot process. Building on recent systemd additions, this allows downloading the root disk image via HTTP, attaching it to a loopback device, and mounting it. The goal is to allow pointing UEFI to a URL to load the Unified Kernel Image (UKI) and boot the root filesystem. The immediate use case is simplifying physical device testing by easily booting new root filesystems over HTTP on each boot. The work-in-progress pull request includes the initial code for this; future extensions may include NVMe-over-TCP support.

(www.phoronix.com)

Development boot

Post-Wildfire Home Loss File System: A Digital Resource

2025-01-14

Post-Wildfire Home Loss File System: A Digital Resource

This digital resource is a Home Loss File System created by California wildfire survivors to support those navigating the challenging process of disaster recovery. It provides essential resources, checklists, and organizational tools to efficiently manage insurance claims, document losses, and track expenses. The system includes multiple sheets covering everything from immediate post-fire steps to mental health resources and rebuilding information, along with summaries of California insurance claim rules and links to additional helpful resources.

(docs.google.com)

Misc disaster recovery insurance claims property loss

eBPF, .NET 5, and the Mystery of IPv4 Disguised as IPv6

2025-05-09

This post details a debugging odyssey involving eBPF, .NET 5's DualMode sockets, and IPv4 masquerading as IPv6. The author used an eBPF program to redirect DNS requests on port 53, but encountered unexpected behavior with .NET 5 applications. .NET 5's SocketsHttpHandler uses DualMode sockets, sending IPv4 traffic over an IPv6 socket using IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses. This tricked the eBPF program into blocking the IPv4 traffic as IPv6. The solution involved checking `skb->protocol` instead of `skb->family` to differentiate between true IPv6 and IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses.

(blog.gripdev.xyz)

Development

Playing Games to Test Software: How One Company Conquered Metroid and Mario

2025-08-24

Playing Games to Test Software: How One Company Conquered Metroid and Mario

A company used playing Nintendo games, specifically Metroid and Super Mario Bros., to test its software platform, Antithesis. Initially, their AI testing system got stuck on a red door in Metroid because it prioritized eliminating enemies, depleting its missiles. This led them to develop a new 'swarm testing' technique that optimizes objectives while exploring the state space, such as prioritizing having more missiles. This not only solved the red door problem but enabled Antithesis to explore the game world more efficiently, uncover bugs, and even exploit game mechanics for speedruns. This technique isn't limited to game testing; it's applicable to various software testing scenarios, such as finding memory leaks or performance anomalies.

(antithesis.com)

Development

Fraud, Arrogance, and the Failed Quest for an Alzheimer's Cure

2025-02-23

Fraud, Arrogance, and the Failed Quest for an Alzheimer's Cure

Charles Piller's 'Doctored' exposes decades of fraud and hype in Alzheimer's research. The book details how the dominant amyloid hypothesis, potentially based on fabricated data, led to the underwhelming results of Leqembi, a highly anticipated drug. Billions have been spent with little progress, due to the suppression of alternative research avenues. Piller's investigation calls for a reevaluation of Alzheimer's research and a renewed hope for a real cure.

(www.sciencefriday.com)

Tech scientific fraud

GREASE: Open-Source Tool for Finding Bugs in Binaries

2025-03-20

GREASE is an open-source tool that leverages under-constrained symbolic execution to help reverse engineers find hard-to-spot bugs in binary code, improving system security. Supporting various architectures and formats, it integrates with Ghidra, functions as a standalone command-line tool, or a Haskell library. GREASE analyzes functions by running them with fully symbolic registers, iteratively refining symbolic preconditions using heuristics when errors occur. While limitations exist, such as potential false positives and negatives, GREASE significantly aids in enhancing software security, particularly when analyzing COTS software only available in binary form.

(www.galois.com)

Development bug detection

OpenAI Uses Reddit's r/ChangeMyView to Benchmark AI Persuasion

2025-02-02

OpenAI Uses Reddit's r/ChangeMyView to Benchmark AI Persuasion

OpenAI leveraged Reddit's r/ChangeMyView subreddit to evaluate the persuasive abilities of its new reasoning model, o3-mini. The subreddit, where users post opinions and engage in debates, provided a unique dataset to assess how well the AI's generated responses could change minds. While o3-mini didn't significantly outperform previous models like o1 or GPT-4o, all demonstrated strong persuasive abilities, ranking in the top 80-90th percentile of human performance. OpenAI emphasizes that the goal isn't to create hyper-persuasive AI, but rather to mitigate the risks associated with excessively persuasive models. The benchmark highlights the ongoing challenge of securing high-quality datasets for AI model development.

(techcrunch.com)

AI persuasion

Crystal Ball Challenge: Knowing the Future Isn't Enough to Guarantee Riches

2024-12-15

Crystal Ball Challenge: Knowing the Future Isn't Enough to Guarantee Riches

Elm Partners conducted an experiment called the "Crystal Ball Challenge," where 118 finance students traded stocks and bonds using the Wall Street Journal's front page from one day in the future (with price data blacked out) over 15 days. The results were surprising: despite having future information, most participants didn't profit, averaging a mere 3.2% gain. Experienced traders, however, performed exceptionally well, averaging a 130% gain. The experiment demonstrated that even with 'future' knowledge, successful investing requires sensible position sizing. This research highlights the importance of decision-making under uncertainty and position sizing, offering valuable lessons for financial education.

(elmwealth.com)

Startup investment strategy risk management market prediction

TarFlow: Transformer-based Normalizing Flows Achieve SOTA Image Likelihood Estimation

2025-06-28

TarFlow: Transformer-based Normalizing Flows Achieve SOTA Image Likelihood Estimation

Researchers introduce TarFlow, a novel normalizing flow model leveraging Transformers and masked autoregressive flows. TarFlow efficiently estimates density and generates images by processing image patches with autoregressive Transformer blocks, alternating the autoregression direction between layers. Three key techniques boost sample quality: Gaussian noise augmentation during training, post-training denoising, and an effective guidance method for both class-conditional and unconditional generation. TarFlow achieves state-of-the-art results in image likelihood estimation, significantly outperforming previous methods and generating samples comparable in quality and diversity to diffusion models—a first for a standalone normalizing flow model.

(machinelearning.apple.com)

AI

Robinhood's Secret Weapon: 50% AI-Generated Code

2025-07-18

Robinhood's Secret Weapon: 50% AI-Generated Code

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev revealed that nearly all of the company's engineers are essentially 'vibe coders,' relying heavily on AI code editors. He estimates that around 50% of Robinhood's new code is AI-generated, surpassing Microsoft and Google's previously reported 30%. The increasing sophistication of AI code editors makes distinguishing between human and AI-written code difficult. This AI adoption has significantly improved Robinhood's efficiency and cost control, impacting teams across the board, from software engineering to customer support. Robinhood's stock price is up over 177% this year, fueled by its expanding crypto ventures, new product launches, and active retail investor base.

(www.businessinsider.com)

Tech

Noether's Theorem: The Symmetry Behind Conservation Laws

2025-02-09

Noether's Theorem: The Symmetry Behind Conservation Laws

Einstein's general relativity, introduced in 1915, challenged fundamental physics by implying energy could be created and destroyed. The shifting spacetime of relativity broke the classical energy conservation law. Hilbert and Klein, unable to resolve this, passed the problem to Emmy Noether. In 1918, Noether published two groundbreaking theorems. Her theorem, now famous, revealed a profound connection: every conservation law reflects an underlying symmetry of the system. This discovery, crucial for understanding quantum field theory symmetries, profoundly impacted the course of physics.

(www.quantamagazine.org)

Tech Noether's Theorem General Relativity

Workout.cool: The Open-Source Fitness Platform Reborn

2025-06-18

Workout.cool: The Open-Source Fitness Platform Reborn

Workout.cool is a modern, open-source fitness coaching platform resurrected from the ashes of its predecessor, workout.lol. After the original project was abandoned due to video licensing issues, developer Snouzy took over and rebuilt it from the ground up, offering a comprehensive exercise database, progress tracking, and personalized workout plans. Built with Next.js App Router and Feature-Sliced Design, the project welcomes community contributions. It's a by-the-community, for-the-community project aiming to provide a reliable and maintainable platform for the open-source fitness community.

(github.com)

Development

Fixing a Broken Monitor Power Button: A Hardware Repair Odyssey

2025-01-28

The author's LG 27UL500-W monitor's power button stopped working. Disassembly revealed the problem wasn't a simple button failure, but a multi-layered button membrane inside, with one layer showing signs of overheating and corrosion – likely a factory defect. The repair involved replacing a soldering iron tip, wrestling with tiny parts, and general frustration. Ultimately, the power button was successfully fixed, with the author detailing the process and lessons learned.

(www.lkhrs.com)

Hardware Hardware Repair Monitor Electronics

The Simon-Ehrlich Bet: A Century of Resource Scarcity?

2025-01-12

The Simon-Ehrlich Bet: A Century of Resource Scarcity?

In 1980, economist Julian Simon bet biologist Paul Ehrlich on the future price of five metals. Ehrlich predicted rising prices due to resource depletion from population growth, while Simon believed human innovation would prevent this. Simon won the 10-year bet. However, analyzing data from 1900 to the present, this article reveals that both Simon and Ehrlich would have won in different decades. The long-term trend, though, shows that prices haven't dramatically increased despite vastly increased production, supporting Simon's view that human ingenuity mitigates resource scarcity.

(ourworldindata.org)

Tech Resource Scarcity Price Prediction Human Ingenuity

AI-Powered Turtle Artist in ROS Sim

2025-05-31

AI-Powered Turtle Artist in ROS Sim

turtlesim_agent is an AI agent that transforms the classic ROS turtlesim simulator into a creative canvas driven by natural language. Leveraging LangChain, it interprets text instructions and translates them into visual drawings, turning the simulated turtle into a digital artist. Users describe shapes or drawing intentions in plain English; the AI reasons through the instructions and executes them using turtlesim's motion commands. This project explores how large language models interact with external environments to exhibit creative behavior.

(github.com)

AI

Exploiting EOL Network Devices: A Junkyard Competition Win

2025-07-29

Exploiting EOL Network Devices: A Junkyard Competition Win

Researchers secured second place at DistrictCon's Junkyard competition by successfully exploiting two discontinued network devices: a Netgear WGR614v9 router and a BitDefender Box V1. Their exploit chains highlighted the persistent security risks of end-of-life (EOL) hardware, where unpatched vulnerabilities remain exploitable after manufacturer support ceases. The researchers detailed multiple vulnerabilities, including authentication bypasses, buffer overflows, and command injections, leading to remote root access on both devices. This research underscores the importance of considering manufacturer support lifecycles and community firmware options when selecting devices and highlights the ongoing security challenges posed by EOL IoT devices.

(blog.trailofbits.com)

Tech

Hive Roaster: Revolutionizing Home Coffee Roasting

2025-02-26

Hive Roaster: Revolutionizing Home Coffee Roasting

The Hive Roaster Cascabel is a lightweight, durable home coffee roaster inspired by commercial designs. It allows for high-quality coffee bean roasting at home with ease. Its unique design combines convective and conductive heat for low-smoke, mess-free indoor roasting, and it's incredibly easy to learn. User reviews are overwhelmingly positive, praising its simplicity and professional-level results, even in small apartments. The Hive Roaster is available internationally, including Thailand, and has earned endorsements from professional coffee roasters.

(hiveroaster.com)

Hardware coffee roasting home appliance

C Programming Practices: Purity, Speed, and Correctness

2025-09-18

This document presents notes on C programming practices, covering coding style, function and variable naming conventions, formatting, commenting, and clever C tricks like bit counting and loop unrolling. The author emphasizes striving for code purity, speed, and correctness, offering insights into utilizing header files, compilers effectively, and revisiting common programming paradigms like the use of GOTO statements. The goal is to improve the quality and efficiency of C programming.

(www.teamten.com)

Development

Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund: A Petrodollar Powerhouse

2025-02-01

Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund: A Petrodollar Powerhouse

After claiming sovereignty over the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 1963, Norway discovered vast oil reserves. In 1990, the Government Petroleum Fund was established to invest this wealth in a diverse portfolio of assets. Today, this fund is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, boasting over $1.78 trillion in assets – equivalent to over $319,900 per Norwegian citizen. While equities constitute the majority of the fund's value, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) has increasingly allocated capital to renewable energy infrastructure. Ironically, Norway's ambitious green transition, including its near-complete shift to electric vehicles, is fueled by trillions in petrodollars.

(sherwood.news)

Startup Sovereign Wealth Fund Oil Investment

Starlink Mini: Portable High-Speed Internet Anywhere

2025-01-04

Starlink Mini: Portable High-Speed Internet Anywhere

SpaceX's Starlink has launched a portable mini satellite dish for $599, offering high-speed internet virtually anywhere. With monthly plans starting at $50, this backpack-friendly device delivers speeds up to 100Mbps, ideal for digital nomads and those in remote areas. Durable and weather-resistant, it supports up to 128 devices and boasts low latency, perfect for online gaming. Elon Musk showcased its impressive speed, calling it world-changing.

(www.cnet.com)

Tech Satellite Internet Portable

Hundreds of Apps Secretly Spying on Users Through Their Microphones

2025-04-27

Hundreds of Apps Secretly Spying on Users Through Their Microphones

Hundreds of smartphone apps and games are monitoring users via their microphones, even when phones are in pockets or apps run in the background. A startup called Alphonso provides the technology, collecting TV viewing data and selling it to advertisers. While Alphonso claims it doesn't record conversations, only identifying commercial audio, privacy concerns remain. Users can protect themselves by denying microphone access to unnecessary apps.

(www.the-independent.com)

Tech microphone surveillance

25 Years in Open Source: A KDE Developer's Bitter Farewell

2025-09-16

A 25-year veteran of the open-source world recounts their journey with KDE. From early days with Linux and contributions to Ubuntu and Kubuntu, to spearheading KDE Neon, they witnessed both the triumphs and the harsh realities of open source. Ultimately, a clash of ideals led to their expulsion from the project, resulting in the loss of their job, friends, and family. This poignant account reflects on the commercialization of open-source communities and the crucial importance of worker rights.

(jriddell.org)

Development

Netflix Solves the EBPF Flow Log IP Address Attribution Problem

2025-04-08

Netflix Solves the EBPF Flow Log IP Address Attribution Problem

Netflix previously used eBPF to collect TCP flow logs, but IP address attribution issues rendered the data unreliable. The initial approach relied on a Sonar service, but suffered from delays and inaccuracies. To solve this, Netflix redesigned its attribution method. For local IP addresses, it leverages EC2 instance certificates or utilizes the IPMan service and eBPF maps to handle container workloads. For remote IP addresses, FlowCollector collects flow logs and uses timestamps and local IP address attribution information to infer remote IP address ownership. A Kafka-based mechanism shares data across nodes, addressing regionalization and non-workload IP address attribution. Finally, validation using the Zuul service demonstrates that the new method effectively eliminates misattribution, making eBPF flow logs provide reliable network insights.

(netflixtechblog.com)

Tech flow logs IP address attribution

Simulating a Cambrian Explosion: Evolve Your Own Virtual Creatures

2025-02-14

MIT researchers have developed a Cambrian Vision Simulator allowing users to define and evolve their own embodied agents. You can set tasks, evolve agents' eyes or brains, and explore generative design of visual intelligence. This project will also be exhibited at the MIT Museum, showcasing evolving eyes in virtual reality. The research aims to use biological principles (natural evolution) to study the evolution of vision and design more intelligent artificial vision, triggering a Cambrian Explosion of artificial vision.

(eyes.mit.edu)

AI Evolutionary Algorithms

Four Foundational Fallacies of AI: A Winding Path to AGI

2025-09-11

Four Foundational Fallacies of AI: A Winding Path to AGI

This article explores Melanie Mitchell's four foundational fallacies of artificial intelligence: equating narrow AI progress with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI); underestimating the difficulty of common-sense reasoning; using anthropomorphic language to mislead the public; and ignoring the importance of embodied cognition. The author argues these fallacies lead to hype cycles and dangerous trade-offs in the AI field, such as prioritizing short-term gains over long-term progress, sacrificing public trust for market excitement, and forgoing responsible validation for speed to market. Ultimately, the author advocates for a synthesis of the 'cognitive paradigm' and the 'computationalist paradigm', infusing current AI practices with scientific principles for safer and more responsible AI development.

(blog.apiad.net)

AI

Flame: A Unique BBS System Masquerading as a MUD

2025-04-03

Flame is not a MUD, IRC, or chat room. It's a bulletin board system (BBS) implemented as a MUD. It serves many purposes: a quiet place to visit, a social substitute, a space for self-expression, and a virtual party zone. Connect via telnet to flame.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au port 4242, or use flame-tunnel.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au to bypass firewalls. Flame also runs a gopher and web server. Its history dates back to 1990 as a remote access BBS, appearing in a magazine in 1991 and transitioning to a MUD in 1992 while retaining its phone line connection.

(www.ucc.asn.au)

Misc

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