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curl's Experimental HTTPS RR Support: The Next Generation of DNS Records

2025-03-31

curl's Experimental HTTPS RR Support: The Next Generation of DNS Records

curl now experimentally supports the new DNS record type HTTPS RR, offering a more modern way than SRV and URI to convey service metadata such as ECH configuration, ALPN lists, target hostnames, ports, and IP addresses. HTTPS RR enhances HTTPS connection security (via ECH encryption of the SNI field) and efficiency (by pre-fetching HTTP/3 support information), and simplifies service discovery. curl achieves HTTPS RR resolution through DoH, getaddrinfo(), or c-ares, but currently lacks runtime disabling and still has incomplete HTTPS RR support.

(daniel.haxx.se)

Development

DESI Releases First Data Release, Opening Up a Universe of Possibilities

2025-03-19

DESI Releases First Data Release, Opening Up a Universe of Possibilities

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration has released its first data release (DR1), a massive dataset providing invaluable resources for scientists worldwide to explore the mysteries of dark energy and the cosmos. This release, complete with extensive documentation, empowers researchers, even those without access to large telescopes, to advance their work. Anthony Kremin of Berkeley Lab highlighted the dataset's immense potential for groundbreaking discoveries, inviting the scientific community to explore its possibilities. The DR1 paper is publicly available, and accompanying videos are on the DESI YouTube channel.

(newscenter.lbl.gov)

Tech data release

UK-Ukraine Partnership to Deliver Thousands of Interceptor Missiles Monthly

2025-09-12

UK-Ukraine Partnership to Deliver Thousands of Interceptor Missiles Monthly

UK Defence Secretary John Healey announced "Project Octopus," a new partnership with Ukraine to deliver thousands of interceptor missiles monthly. Ukraine will share technology for a cost-effective interceptor drone proven highly effective against Russian-deployed Shahed drones. The UK will rapidly develop and mass-produce this drone, boosting Ukraine's defenses. This follows a £200 million investment by Ukrainian drone manufacturer UKRSPECSYSTEMS in two new UK facilities – the first major Ukrainian defense investment in the UK.

(www.shephardmedia.com)

Tech military cooperation drone technology

NULL Pointer Dereferences on macOS Apple Silicon: Exploitable No More?

2025-03-21

NULL Pointer Dereferences on macOS Apple Silicon: Exploitable No More?

This article explores why NULL pointer dereference vulnerabilities are no longer exploitable for privilege escalation on Apple Silicon (ARM64) macOS. Historically, attackers manipulated memory mapping (especially in 32-bit systems) to exploit these bugs for code execution. However, macOS has significantly improved its security over the years. Hardware mitigations like SMEP, PAN, and PXN, along with Pointer Authentication Codes (PAC), the removal of 32-bit support, and enhanced kernel memory management make such exploits incredibly difficult, if not impossible. On modern macOS, NULL pointer dereferences primarily result in Denial of Service (DoS), not privilege escalation. The article details these improvements and provides a checklist for researchers before reporting such vulnerabilities.

(afine.com)

Tech macOS Security Vulnerability Research ARM64 Security

Argentine Rodents Thrive in Dubai Oasis

2024-12-19

Argentine Rodents Thrive in Dubai Oasis

A surprising new population of Patagonian mara, rabbit-like rodents from Argentina, has established itself in the Al Qudra Lakes oasis outside Dubai. These long-legged, large-eared animals now roam the desert landscape, typically home to gazelles. Their arrival remains a mystery, possibly stemming from escaped pets of the wealthy. Despite the harsh desert climate, the oasis provides a suitable habitat, and the lack of natural predators has allowed the mara to flourish and reproduce for several years. The thriving population suggests successful adaptation and breeding in their unexpected environment.

(apnews.com)

Misc Dubai Patagonian mara wildlife

Building Software Fast: Lessons Learned

2025-07-14

This post details lessons learned about building software quickly. The author advocates for setting realistic quality goals based on project needs, emphasizing a 'rough draft' approach where a functional prototype is built first, then refined. Strategies include simplifying requirements, avoiding distractions, and making small, focused code changes. The author also highlights valuable skills like code reading, data modeling, scripting, and debugging, and the effective use of LLMs to accelerate development. It's a practical guide for developers aiming to improve efficiency and deliver high-quality software.

(evanhahn.com)

Development

Beyond Boring MFA: Hilariously Absurd Authentication Ideas

2025-07-30

Tired of tedious multi-factor authentication? This author shares a series of wildly creative alternatives, ranging from poker hand comparisons to Rubik's Cube puzzles, even chess matches and karaoke performances! Each idea has its quirks, some boasting high security, others prioritizing ease of use, while others are simply hilariously absurd. The author ultimately cautions that finding the balance between security and user experience is key, warning against reinventing the wheel.

(tesseral.com)

Development

Apple Eyes AI-Powered Search in Safari, Potentially Ditching Google

2025-05-08

Apple Eyes AI-Powered Search in Safari, Potentially Ditching Google

Apple is actively exploring a major revamp of its Safari web browser, shifting its focus to AI-powered search engines. This move could signal the end of Apple's long-standing partnership with Google, creating seismic shifts in the industry. Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of services, revealed this during testimony in the US Department of Justice's lawsuit against Alphabet Inc. The lawsuit centers on a roughly $20 billion annual deal making Google the default search engine in Safari. The case could force the tech giants to sever ties, dramatically altering the functionality of iPhones and other Apple devices.

(www.bloomberg.com)

Tech

Figma Files for IPO, Plans NYSE Listing

2025-07-02

Figma Files for IPO, Plans NYSE Listing

Figma, the collaborative design tool, announced it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO), planning to list its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FIG." The number of shares and price range haven't been determined yet and are subject to market conditions. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Allen & Company, and J.P. Morgan will act as joint lead book-running managers for the offering. Founded in 2012, Figma has evolved into a collaborative platform helping teams transform ideas into digital products.

(www.figma.com)

Startup

Cross-Platform MIDI Editor IEMidi Released

2025-03-07

Cross-Platform MIDI Editor IEMidi Released

IEMidi is a cross-platform MIDI editor built with ImGui and RtMidi, letting users map MIDI messages to actions like volume control, mute, console commands, or file opening. This open-source project welcomes contributions in coding, packaging, documentation, design, or testing. Windows users can download an installer, while Linux users can install via yum or apt.

(github.com)

Development MIDI editor

Volumetric Lighting in React Three Fiber: Raymarching with Post-Processing

2025-06-14

Volumetric Lighting in React Three Fiber: Raymarching with Post-Processing

This article delves into creating realistic volumetric lighting effects in React Three Fiber by combining post-processing and volumetric raymarching. The author meticulously explains coordinate system transformations, reconstructing 3D rays from screen space, and utilizing depth buffers for performance optimization. Advanced techniques like light shaping using SDFs, shadow mapping, and light scattering are covered, culminating in a dynamic volumetric lighting effect with shadows and fog. Multiple demos showcase the technique in archways and space scenes, while also exploring multi-light sources and omnidirectional shadowing.

(blog.maximeheckel.com)

Development volumetric lighting raymarching

China's 'Pretend to Work' Spaces: A Rising Trend Amidst High Unemployment

2025-06-02

China's 'Pretend to Work' Spaces: A Rising Trend Amidst High Unemployment

Faced with high unemployment, a growing number of young Chinese are paying to rent spaces where they can pretend to work. These companies offer desks, Wi-Fi, and a comfortable environment, allowing job seekers to avoid the pressure of explaining their situation to family and friends. While not officially registered, these spaces have become an internet trend, sparking debate about their social implications. Some see them as a way to relieve psychological pressure, while others worry they encourage job avoidance.

(english.elpais.com)

Startup job seeking pressure internet trend

Synthesizing OOP and Functional Design for Reusability

2025-09-09

This 1998 ECOOP paper tackles the challenge of extending both tools and data types in evolving programs by combining the strengths of object-oriented and functional programming. Traditional approaches struggle to support both: functional programming excels at adding tools, while OOP excels at adding new tools or extending datasets, but not both simultaneously. The paper proposes a composite design pattern that synthesizes the best of both, suggesting new linguistic features for class-based languages to achieve extensibility without modifying existing code.

(cs.brown.edu)

Development code reuse

From Pegasus to Predator: The Evolution of Commercial Spyware on iOS

2024-12-30

From Pegasus to Predator: The Evolution of Commercial Spyware on iOS

This talk traces the evolution of iOS spyware from the initial discovery of Pegasus in 2016 to the latest cases in 2024. It begins by analyzing how exploits, infection vectors, and methods of commercial spyware on iOS have changed over time. The presentation then explores advancements in detection methods and forensic resources available to uncover commercial spyware, including a case study on the discovery and analysis of BlastPass, a recent NSO exploit. Finally, it discusses technical challenges and limitations of detection methods and data sources, concluding with open research topics and suggestions for improving the detection of commercial spyware.

(media.ccc.de)

Tech iOS spyware exploits

CubeSats: Democratizing Space Exploration with Tiny Satellites

2025-09-15

This article explores CubeSats, miniature satellites often powered by Raspberry Pis or microcontrollers. It delves into their construction, building methods, and showcases projects like the MySat kit and RASCube. The author interviews team members involved in the SilverSat CubeSat launch and a satellite tracking expert. CubeSats lower the barrier to entry for space exploration, offering valuable learning and hands-on opportunities for students and enthusiasts, highlighting the allure of technological innovation.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Tech CubeSats

Always Attend the Funeral: A Father's Lesson in Human Kindness

2024-12-16

Always Attend the Funeral: A Father's Lesson in Human Kindness

The author recounts how her father instilled in her the importance of always attending funerals, a lesson she initially resisted. Through years and personal experience, she realizes it's not just about obligation, but about offering comfort and acknowledging life's inevitable losses. Her father's death solidified this belief, highlighting the profound impact of seemingly small acts of kindness in the face of grief, emphasizing the importance of showing up for others even when inconvenient.

(www.npr.org)

Misc life lessons family human kindness

FTC's Rulemaking Process Rebuffed: Procedural Irregularities Found

2025-07-09

FTC's Rulemaking Process Rebuffed: Procedural Irregularities Found

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) faced a setback in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which overturned its new negative option rule due to a lack of preliminary regulatory analysis. The court found the FTC violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before issuing the proposed rule, depriving industry groups and businesses of adequate participation. This decision raises concerns about transparency and fairness in the FTC's rulemaking process and highlights a significant event in tech regulation.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Airline Safety Videos: A Million-Dollar Gamble on Entertainment vs. Safety

2025-04-07

Airline Safety Videos: A Million-Dollar Gamble on Entertainment vs. Safety

Airlines spend millions on safety videos, evolving from simple demonstrations to elaborate productions featuring celebrities and exotic locations. This article explores the transformation of airline safety videos, examining their shift from purely informative to entertainment-driven marketing tools. While these videos garner massive views and brand benefits, research suggests that highly entertaining videos may hinder passenger retention of crucial safety information. The piece analyzes various airline examples, discussing the economic rationale and safety implications of this trend, raising questions about the balance between entertainment and safety.

(thehustle.co)

Misc airline safety brand building

My M1 Max MacBook Pro's Battery Drain Mystery: Solved by Sleep Aid

2025-08-01

My M1 Max MacBook Pro started mysteriously draining its battery overnight. Analyzing power management logs with `pmset` proved too complex, so I wrote a small analysis tool, but it wasn't very helpful. I then discovered Sleep Aid, a tool that displays wake events more clearly and lets you change settings. It turned out the 'Wake for maintenance' option was disabled; enabling it fixed the issue, and my battery now lasts through the night.

(manuel.bernhardt.io)

Hardware Battery Drain

Differentiable Programming: A Deep Dive from First Principles

2025-04-17

This article provides a comprehensive explanation of differentiable programming, starting from the definition of derivatives in calculus and progressing to concepts like gradients, directional derivatives, and Jacobians. It details three differentiation methods: numerical differentiation, symbolic differentiation, and automatic differentiation (forward and reverse modes), comparing their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, it demonstrates how reverse-mode automatic differentiation, combined with gradient descent, can solve real-world optimization problems using an image de-blurring example.

(thenumb.at)

Development differentiable programming automatic differentiation

LA Wildfires: A Self-Inflicted Wound

2025-01-18

LA Wildfires: A Self-Inflicted Wound

The author recounts their personal experience with the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, arguing that the disaster wasn't a natural event but rather a consequence of long-term negligence in forest fire management. The article highlights the lack of preventative measures, such as regular brush clearing, and the excessively lengthy environmental review processes hindering fire prevention efforts, leading to massive fuel accumulation and ultimately, catastrophic wildfires. The author calls for a renewed focus on fire prevention, streamlined approval processes, and a critical examination of current policies to avert future tragedies.

(caseyhandmer.wordpress.com)

Tech forest fire prevention environmental policy

Japanese Lunar Lander Enters Moon Orbit Ahead of June Landing Attempt

2025-05-10

Japanese Lunar Lander Enters Moon Orbit Ahead of June Landing Attempt

ispace's lunar lander, Resilience, has entered lunar orbit and is scheduled to attempt a landing in the first week of June. This is ispace's second attempt, following the crash landing of its first lander in 2023. Resilience carries a small rover to collect lunar soil samples for analysis. This mission follows successful (or partially successful) moon landings by US companies Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines earlier this year.

(phys.org)

Tech

MacBook Air with M4: Multitasking Redefined

2025-03-05

MacBook Air with M4: Multitasking Redefined

The new MacBook Air, powered by the M4 chip, delivers a significant performance boost. Multitasking is smoother than ever, effortlessly handling video editing, demanding games like Sid Meier's Civilization VII, and numerous apps and tabs simultaneously. Its silent, fanless design enhances the user experience. The faster Neural Engine in the M4 chip brings powerful AI capabilities to the MacBook Air, enhancing everything from auto-framing in video calls to AI image upscaling and running the latest large language models, boosting productivity and creativity. With up to 18 hours of battery life and fast charging (50% in 30 minutes), you can power through your work without battery anxiety.

(www.apple.com)

Hardware M4 chip

Coconut Action Party: Uncovering the Secrets of Malaya's WWII Stamps

2025-05-09

Coconut Action Party: Uncovering the Secrets of Malaya's WWII Stamps

Lin Yangchen's 'Coconut Action Party' delves into the unique coconut-themed postage stamps of Malaya during World War II. The book covers the design, printing, wartime forgeries and usage, and post-war stamp issues across various colonies and Malay states. Through meticulous analysis of materials, colors, designs, and security markings, it reveals the unique postal system and social changes of this historical period. The book also utilizes advanced technology, such as scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, for in-depth stamp analysis, offering invaluable resources for collectors and history enthusiasts.

(www.linyangchen.com)

Misc stamps Malaya

Y Combinator CEO: 'Vibe Coding' Reshapes the Startup Landscape

2025-03-18

Y Combinator CEO: 'Vibe Coding' Reshapes the Startup Landscape

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan believes "vibe coding," using AI for programming, is enabling startups to remain lean and efficient. He suggests that smaller teams can now accomplish large-scale projects with AI assistance, encouraging struggling young engineers to "vibe code" and build their own startups. Tan notes that roughly 81% of Y Combinator's current batch are AI companies, with 25% having 95% of their code generated by LLMs. While AI debugging remains a challenge, "vibe coding" dramatically increases software development speed, allowing small teams to achieve significant success in niche markets, potentially generating hundreds of millions in annual revenue.

(www.businessinsider.com)

Startup vibe coding

PNG Rises From the Ashes: A 20-Year Hiatus Ends

2025-06-25

After a two-decade slumber, the PNG image format is back with a bang! This update brings native HDR support, official recognition of APNG animations, support for Exif metadata, and general cleanup and improvements to the specification. This resurgence is fueled by collaborative efforts from tech giants like W3C, Adobe, and Apple, and driven by the need for HDR capabilities. Major browsers and software such as Chrome and Safari already support the new spec, with future improvements focusing on compression algorithms and parallel encoding/decoding.

(www.programmax.net)

Tech image format

The Future of Distributed Systems Programming: Beyond Existing Paradigms

2025-02-27

The Future of Distributed Systems Programming: Beyond Existing Paradigms

This article explores the limitations of existing distributed systems programming models, including external-distribution, static-location, and arbitrary-location architectures. The author argues that these models are merely improvements on existing sequential programming paradigms and fail to truly address inherent challenges in distributed systems like concurrency, fault tolerance, and version control. The article calls for a native distributed programming model that offers stronger safety and control, similar to Rust, while maintaining performance and scalability, and better cooperating with large language models.

(www.shadaj.me)

Development programming model

Apple's New Spam Filter: A $500M Headache for GOP Campaigns?

2025-07-30

Apple's New Spam Filter: A $500M Headache for GOP Campaigns?

Apple's iOS 16 update includes a new spam filter that automatically sorts texts from unknown numbers into a separate folder, raising concerns for US political campaigns. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) estimates this could cost them $25 million in lost revenue, with a potential $500 million loss across all GOP campaigns. Their concern stems from the fact that 70% of small-dollar donations come via text, and iPhones account for 60% of US mobile devices. While some view this as a privacy enhancement, the NRSC argues it disenfranchises voters and calls for a delay in the feature's rollout. Democrats, however, suggest the impact will primarily affect campaigns using deceptive fundraising tactics.

(www.businessinsider.com)

Tech text message filter political fundraising

PC Gaming's Decade-Long Reign: Outperforming Consoles by a Mile

2025-01-17

PC Gaming's Decade-Long Reign: Outperforming Consoles by a Mile

A recent Epyllion report reveals PC gaming's continued dominance over the last decade. The report highlights that since 2011, PC gaming content spending has surpassed console revenue by over 65%, totaling over $30 billion (excluding hardware). This success is attributed to factors like a vast game library, near-full backward compatibility, multitasking capabilities, lower entry costs, and better esports suitability. Even with an $18 billion increase in console spending in 2024 compared to 2011, PC gaming's content spending remains significantly higher.

(insider-gaming.com)

Game console gaming games market

Implementing Dynamic Scoping in Fennel: A Clever Approach

2025-07-27

Implementing Dynamic Scoping in Fennel: A Clever Approach

The author tackles the challenge of implementing dynamic scoping in Fennel, a Lua dialect where it's not natively supported. The article explores several approaches, including manipulating function environments using Lua's debug library and cleverly cloning functions to set their environments. While the author ultimately decides against integrating this feature into the fennel-cljlib library for now, the in-depth exploration of Lua function environments and dynamic scoping, along with the comparison of different implementation strategies, provides valuable insights into functional and metaprogramming concepts.

(andreyor.st)

Development Dynamic Scoping

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