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Allstate Sued for Exposing 190K New Yorkers' Driver's License Numbers

2025-03-12

Allstate Sued for Exposing 190K New Yorkers' Driver's License Numbers

New York State is suing Allstate Insurance for poorly designed websites that exposed the personal information of nearly 190,000 New Yorkers. The vulnerability, residing in Allstate's National General unit's quote-generating websites, allowed attackers to easily obtain driver's license numbers, used subsequently for fraudulent claims. The lawsuit alleges that Allstate prioritized profit over security, failing to implement adequate safeguards and neglecting to notify affected individuals. The state is seeking penalties and an injunction to prevent future violations.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Critique of Graham's Lisp Coding Style

2025-07-13

This review analyzes the maintainability and portability of Graham's Lisp code, finding it concise with short, well-motivated function definitions. However, it criticizes his overly brief and cryptic naming conventions, excessive use of nested if statements, avoidance of loop constructs, and preference for recursion over iteration, even at the risk of stack overflows. These stylistic choices deviate from common Lisp practices and can negatively impact code readability.

(courses.cs.northwestern.edu)

Development Programming Practices

AI System Robin Makes First Scientific Discovery

2025-05-27

AI System Robin Makes First Scientific Discovery

FutureHouse's multi-agent system, Robin, has achieved a breakthrough in automated scientific research. By integrating three AI agents – Crow, Falcon, and Finch – Robin autonomously completed the entire scientific process, from hypothesis generation and experimental design to data analysis, discovering ripasudil as a potential treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration (dAMD). This discovery, achieved in just 2.5 months, showcases a new paradigm for AI-driven scientific discovery and hints at the future automation of scientific research. Robin will be open-sourced on May 27th, offering new possibilities for research across various fields.

(www.futurehouse.org)

AI AI scientific discovery automated research

Appeals Court Strikes Down FCC's Net Neutrality Rules

2025-01-02

Appeals Court Strikes Down FCC's Net Neutrality Rules

A US appeals court overturned the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) net neutrality rules. These rules mandated equal treatment of all internet traffic by broadband providers, prohibiting preferential treatment. The court's decision partly relied on last year's Supreme Court ruling in Loper Bright, which limited regulatory agency power by overturning the Chevron Doctrine. The FCC chair called for Congressional action to enshrine net neutrality in federal law, while another commissioner lauded the decision as a reversal of the Biden administration's regulatory overreach.

(www.tvtechnology.com)

Tech

Disney's 'Go Away Green': Camouflaging Infrastructure

2025-02-12

Disney's 'Go Away Green': Camouflaging Infrastructure

Disney Parks utilize a range of muted colors, including various shades of green, gray, brown, and blue, dubbed "Go Away Green," to seamlessly blend infrastructure like speakers, fences, and trash cans into the environment. This clever camouflage technique, inspired by military colors, minimizes distractions and enhances the immersive experience, focusing visitor attention on the attractions rather than the park's functional elements. The strategy is applied to large buildings and smaller infrastructure alike.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Design Theme Park Design Color Theory

Thunder Compute: Seeking a Top-Tier Systems Engineer for GPU Virtualization

2025-05-08

Thunder Compute: Seeking a Top-Tier Systems Engineer for GPU Virtualization

Thunder Compute, a Y Combinator-backed startup, is hiring a Systems Engineer to build their VMware for GPUs. Their software eliminates idle GPU cycles through sharing and oversubscription, networking GPUs over IP. This challenging role requires top 0.1% C++ skills, deep understanding of low-level networking and compilers, and experience in latency-sensitive environments. The company is willing to relocate to find the right candidate.

(www.ycombinator.com)

Development Systems Engineer

Heatproof Magnetism: A Surprising Discovery Defies Expectations

2025-01-19

Heatproof Magnetism: A Surprising Discovery Defies Expectations

High temperatures are known to disrupt order and patterns. However, physicists have theoretically demonstrated a type of idealized magnetism that maintains its orderly structure regardless of temperature. This surprising discovery stems from a simple question posed at a lecture, leading to a deeper exploration of quantum field theory. Researchers found that in a system resembling two intertwined magnetic grids, a specific magnetic order persists even at infinitely high temperatures. The freely spinning magnetic vectors stabilize the up-down aligned vectors, maintaining overall magnetic order. This finding could have implications for cosmology and the quest to achieve room-temperature quantum phenomena.

(www.quantamagazine.org)

Physics magnetism high temperature

UK Government Approves Beaver Reintroduction, Boosting River Ecosystem Restoration

2025-03-06

The UK government has announced it will accept applications to reintroduce beavers to English river catchments, paving the way for this native species to thrive in British rivers and lakes once more. This nature-based solution aims to tackle issues like flooding, pollution, and poor water quality. Beavers, acting as ecosystem engineers, improve hydrological conditions, water quality, and create habitats for other wildlife. The plan follows years of careful planning and public consultation, enjoying widespread support. The reintroduction is expected to significantly improve biodiversity and contribute to broader ecosystem restoration efforts, with beavers eventually becoming a normal part of UK wildlife.

(www.wildlifetrusts.org)

Tech

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

Revolutionizing Embedded CPUs: Efficient Computer's Electron E1

2025-07-25

Revolutionizing Embedded CPUs: Efficient Computer's Electron E1

Efficient Computer is challenging decades of conventional CPU design with its Electron E1 chip, a 'clean sheet' processor for the embedded market. This chip employs static scheduling and data flow control, eliminating caches and out-of-order execution, resulting in claimed energy efficiency improvements of up to 100x over leading ARM cores. Its unique spatial data flow architecture, coupled with a smart compiler supporting C++ and Rust, aims for general-purpose capabilities while also targeting machine learning frameworks like PyTorch. While challenges remain regarding compiler maturity and market adoption, the Electron E1 represents a potentially groundbreaking advancement for power-constrained embedded systems in areas such as aerospace, defense, and wearables.

(morethanmoore.substack.com)

Hardware embedded chip static scheduling

M87 Supermassive Black Hole Emits Astonishing Gamma-Ray Flare

2024-12-16

M87 Supermassive Black Hole Emits Astonishing Gamma-Ray Flare

In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope captured the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87. Now, an international team, including researchers from UCLA, has observed a teraelectronvolt gamma-ray flare from this black hole, tens of millions of times larger than its event horizon. This rare, decade-defining flare provides crucial insights into particle acceleration near black holes and could help solve the mystery of cosmic ray origins. UCLA played a significant role in the construction and data analysis of the VERITAS telescope, instrumental in detecting this event.

(newsroom.ucla.edu)

Tech black hole gamma-ray flare cosmic rays

A Surprisingly Effective Cure? The Case for More Academic Fraud in AI

2025-02-21

A Surprisingly Effective Cure? The Case for More Academic Fraud in AI

This blog post argues that widespread, subtle academic fraud in AI research – cherry-picked results, manipulated datasets, etc. – has normalized low standards, resulting in publications lacking scientific merit. The author provocatively suggests that a recent, highly publicized case of explicit academic fraud could be a turning point. By forcing a reckoning with the community's blind spot, the scandal may ironically lead to increased scrutiny of all research, ultimately fostering higher standards and more truthful publications. The author believes this harsh, even self-destructive, approach might be the best way to cure the cancer of low standards in AI research.

(jacobbuckman.com)

AI Academic Fraud Scientific Integrity

Open-Source AI Agent Refact.ai Achieves Stunning 69.8% on SWE-bench Verified

2025-05-22

Open-Source AI Agent Refact.ai Achieves Stunning 69.8% on SWE-bench Verified

Refact.ai, a leading open-source AI programming agent, achieved a remarkable 69.8% score on the SWE-bench Verified benchmark, autonomously solving 349 out of 500 real-world GitHub issues. This success is attributed to its robust architecture: the Claude-3.7 model at its core, supported by a debug_script() sub-agent for debugging and code modification, and a strategic_planning() tool for optimized problem-solving. The entire Refact.ai pipeline is open-source, and its real-world application demonstrates significant productivity gains for developers.

(refact.ai)

AI

DeaDBeeF: A Highly Customizable Cross-Platform Audio Player

2025-02-12

DeaDBeeF (0xDEADBEEF) is a modular, cross-platform audio player compatible with GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows, BSD, OpenSolaris, and other Unix-like systems. It plays numerous audio formats, handles format conversion, boasts a highly customizable UI, and supports numerous plugins for extended functionality. The screenshot showcases a heavily customized DeaDBeeF instance running on Linux with several plugins.

(deadbeef.sourceforge.io)

Hardware audio player customizable

The Demise of the Demo Scene: A Graceful Exit

2025-09-07

The demo scene, recently recognized as a UNESCO Living Cultural Heritage in Sweden, is slowly fading away. This isn't due to a lack of appeal, but rather its unique cultural attributes resisting commodification and replication. Born in the early days of affordable home computers in the 80s and 90s, it thrived on limited resources and communication, fostering a community of passionate programmers and creative individuals. The internet and powerful modern computers have since opened up new creative avenues, offering younger generations a plethora of alternatives. The author argues that the scene's decline is natural, and its essence lies not in perpetuation, but in the joy of creation and preserving its unique charm.

(www.datagubbe.se)

Game demo scene subculture

DOGE's Intrusion into FEMA: A Power Grab in Plain Sight

2025-02-13

DOGE's Intrusion into FEMA: A Power Grab in Plain Sight

Sources inside FEMA reveal that DOGE, an organization whose motives remain unclear, has gained access to FEMA's core financial management system, including the FEMA Grant Outcomes (FEMA GO) and the Integrated Financial Management and Information System (IFMIS). This access grants DOGE control over disaster grant disbursements and access to sensitive personal information of disaster relief and migrant aid applicants, including A-numbers. While claiming to be auditing FEMA, DOGE employees, described as primarily computer scientists, lack financial management expertise, leading to misunderstandings and potential misuse of data. The firings of at least four FEMA employees under questionable circumstances further escalate concerns. This situation raises serious questions about data security, internal controls within government agencies, and potential political maneuvering.

(www.dropsitenews.com)

Tech

The US Navy's Silicon Valley Makeover: Streamlining Procurement for Faster Tech Adoption

2025-06-16

The US Navy's Silicon Valley Makeover: Streamlining Procurement for Faster Tech Adoption

The US Navy is undergoing a quiet transformation. CTO Justin Fanelli is streamlining cumbersome procurement processes to attract startups for naval technology projects. Using an 'innovation adoption kit' and a 'horizon model,' the Navy is partnering with companies like Via to rapidly deploy new technologies, such as advanced cybersecurity and alternative GPS. This shift has also changed Silicon Valley's attitude toward government partnerships, with more companies actively participating and providing solutions in AI, robotic process automation, and other areas, significantly improving efficiency and morale.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech Naval Technology Silicon Valley Partnership

The True Cost of PMI: Why You Should Pay Down Your Low-Interest Mortgage

2024-12-24

The True Cost of PMI: Why You Should Pay Down Your Low-Interest Mortgage

The author achieved a guaranteed 10.66% return by paying down their low-interest mortgage to eliminate PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance). The article analyzes the trade-offs between paying down a low-interest mortgage and investing, highlighting that while low-interest rates offer modest returns, the cost of PMI is significant. The author calculated a 10.66% effective return on eliminating PMI, exceeding most investment returns. Readers are encouraged to perform their own calculations to assess the value of prepaying their mortgage.

(andrewbridges.org)

Misc mortgage return on investment

Demodesk: Shaping the Future of Sales, Hiring Globally

2025-01-23

Demodesk: Shaping the Future of Sales, Hiring Globally

Demodesk, a tech company offering AI-powered sales coaching, scheduling automation, and video conferencing platforms, is hiring globally. They champion a remote-friendly environment, offering flexible work conditions and a comprehensive benefits package including stock options, healthcare, and commuter benefits, with a focus on employee growth and development. Join Demodesk and help shape the future of sales!

(demodesk.com)

Startup AI sales

Rust at 10: A Story of Community and Infrastructure

2025-05-17

Rust at 10: A Story of Community and Infrastructure

On Rust's 10th anniversary, original author Graydon Hoare reflects on its journey. It's not just a programming language story, but a narrative of a vast community building and maintaining shared technical infrastructure. Rust's success stems from the need for robust infrastructure and the long-term investment from organizations like Mozilla, along with thousands of volunteers. Rust evolved from a simple prototype into a powerful language with a huge ecosystem and wide applications. The future requires continued talent attraction, maintaining stability and compatibility, and further enhancing quality.

(rustfoundation.org)

Development

Berlin Swapfest: C-base's Quarterly Electronics & Tools Exchange

2025-03-01

Berlin Swapfest: C-base's Quarterly Electronics & Tools Exchange

Berlin's c-base hackerspace is hosting its first quarterly Swapfest on April 19th. Buy, sell, or swap electronics, computer equipment, and tools. Promoting reuse and right-to-repair, the event encourages participants to bring items they no longer need. Whether you're building a home lab or seeking components and tools, this is the place to be. Selling is free, though a deposit may be required for larger items that aren't taken home. Transactions are flexible (PayPal, crypto, cash) with disputes handled by the parties involved.

(www.swapfest.berlin)

Misc hackerspace electronics swap right-to-repair

Luck be a Landlord Faces Potential Google Play Ban

2025-01-13

Luck be a Landlord Faces Potential Google Play Ban

On New Year's Day, the developer of Luck be a Landlord received an email from Google Play stating that the game "contains gambling" and may be removed from the store. Despite no changes to the game's content in months, Google Play deemed it a policy violation, causing significant concern for the developer. The developer has previously battled with Google Play over the game's ban in 13 countries, with no resolution. Reluctantly, the developer chose to agree that the game "contains gambling" in the age rating questionnaire to prevent a global ban. The developer hopes players can continue playing on Android and encourages subscribing to the newsletter for updates on their next game.

(blog.trampolinetales.com)

Game game removal Google Play policies gambling elements

OpenAI's Operator: The End of the Open Web?

2025-01-25

OpenAI's Operator: The End of the Open Web?

OpenAI's new AI agent, Operator, browses the web for you, potentially signaling the end of the open internet as we know it. Tools like Operator change how we access information; we go directly to the AI, bypassing intermediaries like Google and TripAdvisor. This threatens the ad-revenue models of these websites, potentially leading to their decline. The future may involve a structured data layer where middlemen sell data to AI companies. This raises concerns about the sources of high-quality user data and the future of the open web itself.

(brids.bearblog.dev)

Tech Open Web Information Access

Xerox to Acquire Lexmark for $1.5 Billion

2024-12-23

Xerox Holdings Corporation announced it will acquire Lexmark International, Inc. for $1.5 billion. This acquisition strengthens Xerox's core print portfolio and builds a broader global print and managed print services business to better meet the evolving needs of clients in the hybrid workplace. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2025, combines two industry leaders to create a more comprehensive offering and expand geographic reach, particularly in the APAC region.

(newsroom.lexmark.com)

Tech Merger and Acquisition Printing Industry Hybrid Workplace

Oregon DA's Illegal Phone Search Leads to Privacy Violation Lawsuit

2025-02-14

Oregon DA's Illegal Phone Search Leads to Privacy Violation Lawsuit

An Oregon woman's nude photos became the talk of her small town after a prosecutor viewed her sensitive cellphone data without a warrant, consent, or suspicion of a crime. While a federal appeals court ruled the Grant County DA had qualified immunity, the case highlights a troubling Fourth Amendment violation. The court acknowledged the Idaho State Police had consent to search the phone, but that didn't extend to another state's DA reviewing the data and disseminating private photos. The ruling sparks criticism of qualified immunity's protection of officials from liability. Though the woman received no remedy, the case serves as a warning to law enforcement; similar actions violate the Constitution and could result in liability.

(www.oregonlive.com)

Misc privacy violation illegal search qualified immunity

Taming the Synchronized Demand Spike: A Principled Approach

2025-08-25

Taming the Synchronized Demand Spike: A Principled Approach

Synchronized demand, where a large number of clients request service almost simultaneously, can overwhelm even well-resourced systems. This article presents a principled approach to mitigate this using randomized jitter to spread requests over time. By calculating a safe window size (W), requests are uniformly distributed, thus reducing peak arrival rate. The article further discusses leveraging server-side hints (like Retry-After headers) and rate limiting to refine the strategy, balancing system stability and fairness. The approach is framed as a control problem, emphasizing the need for telemetry-driven decision-making and verification.

(www.gojiberries.io)

Development

Starfish Unveils Miniaturized, Ultra-Low Power Chip for Neurotech

2025-05-26

Starfish Neurotech announced an upcoming revolutionary miniaturized, ultra-low power chip for brain-computer interfaces. Designed for simultaneous recording and stimulation of multiple brain regions to treat neurological disorders, the 2x4mm chip boasts 1.1mW power consumption, 32 electrode sites, and 16 simultaneous recording channels. It supports wireless power and data transmission. Starfish seeks collaborators in wireless power delivery, communication, or custom implanted neural interfaces to further this technology.

(starfishneuroscience.com)

Tech Neurotechnology

The Truth About Mixed-DPI Support in X11

2025-06-26

This article clears up the misconceptions surrounding mixed-DPI configuration support in the X11 windowing system. The author delves into the history of X11, from its origins with single X screens, through the Xinerama extension, to the modern XRANDR extension. The article reveals that X11 has always had the capability to support mixed DPI, but the key lies in client applications correctly utilizing the DPI information provided by the XRANDR extension. Different approaches are examined, along with solutions for various scenarios, including using the Qt toolkit for automatic mixed-DPI support and workarounds for toolkits lacking support, such as GTK+. Ultimately, the author calls on developers to improve toolkits and applications to fully leverage X11's mixed-DPI capabilities.

(wok.oblomov.eu)

Development mixed DPI multi-monitor

Critical Alert: Massive Supply Chain Attack Hits NPM Ecosystem

2025-09-16

Critical Alert: Massive Supply Chain Attack Hits NPM Ecosystem

Over 40 npm packages, including the popular @ctrl/tinycolor package (over 2 million weekly downloads), have been compromised in a sophisticated supply chain attack. The attacker used a self-propagating mechanism to infect downstream dependencies, causing a cascading compromise. The payload is a Webpack-bundled script that steals AWS, GCP, GitHub, and other cloud credentials and sensitive information, establishing persistence via GitHub Actions. The attack has resulted in widespread credential theft; immediate action is required to check affected packages and rotate all credentials.

(www.stepsecurity.io)

Development

llama-scan: PDF to Text Conversion with Ollama

2025-08-18

llama-scan: PDF to Text Conversion with Ollama

llama-scan is a tool that leverages Ollama to convert PDFs to text files locally, eliminating token costs. It utilizes Ollama's latest multimodal models, enabling detailed text descriptions of images and diagrams. Installation is straightforward: install Ollama and then llama-scan using pip or uv. Features include custom output directories, model selection, options to keep intermediate image files, adjustable image width, and specifying page ranges for efficient PDF text extraction.

(github.com)

Development

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