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The Rise and Fall of Omnimax: A Giant Screen Saga

2025-06-08

The Rise and Fall of Omnimax: A Giant Screen Saga

This article recounts the fascinating history of Omnimax, a giant screen movie system. From the birth of IMAX in the 1970s to the rise and eventual decline of Omnimax due to the rise of digital technology, the article traces the journey of this once-great film projection technology. It explores its use in science museums, its relationship with IMAX, and the challenges of preserving its legacy. Omnimax, with its unique spherical screen and high-resolution images, once thrived but ultimately faded due to high costs and a lack of content. The article also details the behind-the-scenes stories of Omnimax filmmaking and some of its classic films.

(computer.rip)

Tech Giant Screen

Semiconductor-Free Solar Panel: A Bismuth Alloy Thermoelectric Approach

2025-02-28

This article details a novel thermoelectric solar panel design that eschews complex semiconductor materials. Overcoming the challenges of earlier ZnSb-based designs, the author utilizes bismuth alloys and a simple construction featuring painted zinc absorber plates and bismuth alloy thermocouples. While currently only 0.01% efficient, the author envisions improvements in materials and design leading to applications powering low-power devices in remote locations.

(simplifier.neocities.org)

Tech thermoelectric bismuth alloy

Deputy: A Clojure-Hosted Dependently-Typed Language

2025-05-20

Deputy is an experimental dependently-typed programming language embedded in Clojure, featuring inductive datatypes. It explores the implications of a Lisp-based REPL-driven workflow for both programming and type checking. Implemented as a Clojure library, it allows programmers to leverage the host language while working at the type level. This enables type-level computations that depend on values, unlocking powerful programming patterns. Importantly, despite the rich dynamic semantics of types, type checking remains a purely compile-time operation.

(zenodo.org)

Development

Climate Change May Increase Arsenic Levels in Rice

2025-04-18

Climate Change May Increase Arsenic Levels in Rice

A six-year study reveals that climate change, specifically rising CO2 and temperature, increases inorganic arsenic levels in rice grains. Rice cultivation involves flooding paddies, leading to arsenic absorption from the water. Inorganic arsenic, a toxic substance from industrial materials, contaminates water sources. Exposure to inorganic arsenic is linked to various health issues, including cancers and heart disease. This research highlights the potential threat of climate change to food security and human health, especially in regions where rice is a staple food.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech rice

Imaging Mounted Disks Under Duress: A blktrace-Based Solution

2025-01-15

Imaging Mounted Disks Under Duress: A blktrace-Based Solution

This post details a clever method for backing up system disks when point-in-time snapshots aren't available. The author faced the challenge of needing to back up a system nearing failure that lacked snapshot capabilities, while rebooting or reconfiguring storage was undesirable. The solution leverages Linux's blktrace API to track block device activity in real-time, allowing for complete disk imaging even while data is being written. The author shares their Go-based tool, hot-clone, which tracks modified blocks, ensuring no data loss during imaging. This provides a reliable solution for backing up critical systems in emergency situations.

(blog.benjojo.co.uk)

Development system backup disk imaging

GitHub Tightens Rate Limits for Unauthenticated Requests

2025-05-14

GitHub Tightens Rate Limits for Unauthenticated Requests

GitHub is updating rate limits for unauthenticated requests to improve platform security and stability. This affects operations like cloning repositories over HTTPS, anonymously accessing REST APIs, and downloading files from raw.githubusercontent.com. Recent increases in API scraping prompted the update to safeguard the platform and ensure a reliable experience for developers globally. Unauthenticated users may encounter new rate limits, while authenticated users will retain higher limits. GitHub encourages authentication for consistent and reliable access.

(github.blog)

Development Rate Limits

Google Search's AI Mode Gets a Massive Upgrade: Gemini 2.5, Shopping, and More

2025-05-20

Google Search's AI Mode Gets a Massive Upgrade: Gemini 2.5, Shopping, and More

Google has fully rolled out its AI Mode to all Search users in the US, powered by Gemini 2.5. This enhanced mode includes new features like shopping capabilities, ticket price comparison, and custom chart generation. Designed to handle complex queries beyond traditional search, AI Mode allows users to compare fitness trackers, for example. Future plans include integrating many of AI Mode's features into the core search experience and adding 'Deep Search' for comprehensive reports. AI Mode will also gain the ability to complete web tasks like booking tickets and reservations, and personalized recommendations via Gmail integration.

(www.engadget.com)

AI

Hidden Webshell: Identical MD5 Hash PHP Files

2025-09-24

Hidden Webshell: Identical MD5 Hash PHP Files

Two PHP files share the same MD5 hash, but one is a webshell. This technique allows attackers to bypass cached webshell detection. A hexdump reveals subtle differences between the files, resulting in identical MD5 hashes despite vastly different functionality. This highlights the insufficiency of relying solely on MD5 hashing for security checks; a more comprehensive security strategy is needed.

(github.com)

Development MD5 collision security detection

Netflix Q1 Earnings: Price Hikes Pay Off, Advertising Revenue to Double

2025-04-18

Netflix Q1 Earnings: Price Hikes Pay Off, Advertising Revenue to Double

Netflix's Q1 earnings report revealed $10.5 billion in revenue, a 13% year-over-year increase, and a net income of $2.9 billion. This success is attributed to January's price increases, coupled with continued membership and advertising revenue growth. While Netflix no longer discloses precise subscriber numbers, it projects a doubling of advertising revenue by 2025. The company also plans a TV app homepage redesign, an interactive search feature using generative AI, and further expansion into live content, including talk shows and boxing matches, solidifying its position as a streaming giant.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech Earnings Report

Harlem Blues: A White Musician's Journey into the Heart of Black Music

2025-05-02

Harlem Blues: A White Musician's Journey into the Heart of Black Music

In the 1980s, a young white musician in Harlem, NYC, transcends racial divides and forges a deep musical partnership with a legendary bluesman known only as "Satan." The author recounts his journey, from chance encounters at outdoor jazz concerts to jamming in local bars, culminating in a long-lasting duo with "Satan," playing blues on the streets of Harlem. This experience shattered preconceived notions and revealed the unifying power of music across racial lines, offering a powerful message of connection and healing.

(theamericanscholar.org)

Misc race

Heavy Social Media Use Linked to Higher Irritability

2025-01-23

Heavy Social Media Use Linked to Higher Irritability

A study published in JAMA Network Open found a correlation between frequent social media use and higher levels of irritability among US adults. The research, involving 42,597 participants, revealed that even after accounting for anxiety and depression, frequent use, especially among active posters, was associated with increased irritability scores. A dose-response relationship was observed, with TikTok users exhibiting the largest increase in irritability when posting multiple times daily. Political engagement also correlated with higher irritability levels. The findings suggest a potential feedback loop between social media use and irritability.

(medicalxpress.com)

Tech irritability

How the Environment Decided the American Revolutionary War

2025-06-02

This article details the suffering endured by British and Hessian soldiers during the American Revolutionary War due to the harsh environment. Extreme heat, swamps, mosquitoes, alligators, venomous snakes, and diseases like malaria and yellow fever resulted in a massive loss of life far exceeding battlefield casualties. Using soldier journals and letters, the author vividly portrays their fear and despair in the face of the American wilderness and the devastating impact on their physical and mental health. In contrast, American rebels portrayed America as a land of plenty and opportunity. The article highlights the decisive role of the environment in the war and the drastically different perceptions of it between opposing sides.

(www.historytoday.com)

Misc American Revolution Environmental History

The Ideological Brain: How Neuroscience Explains Political Polarization

2025-04-13

The Ideological Brain: How Neuroscience Explains Political Polarization

Political neuroscientist Leor Zmigrod's new book, *The Ideological Brain: The Radical Science of Flexible Thinking*, explores how ideologies impact the human brain and body. Using neuroimaging and psychological research, Zmigrod reveals how ideologies affect cognitive flexibility and responsiveness, linking extreme ideologies to activity in specific brain areas like the amygdala. The book also examines the relationship between cognitive flexibility and dopamine, and how cultivating creativity and cognitive flexibility can increase resistance to ideological influence. Zmigrod's research challenges the notion of ideological thinking as mere 'mindlessness,' presenting it as a complex cognitive process.

(nautil.us)

AI Ideology Cognitive Flexibility

Can AI Replace $1M in Freelance Software Engineering? OpenAI's Latest Research

2025-04-16

Can AI Replace $1M in Freelance Software Engineering? OpenAI's Latest Research

OpenAI's new paper, SWE-Lancer, benchmarks frontier AI models on real-world software development tasks. Using over 1400 Upwork freelance jobs (totaling over $1 million), the study divided tasks into individual contributor tasks (bug fixing, feature building) and engineering manager tasks (selecting the best solution). Even the top performer, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, only completed 33.7% of tasks, earning roughly $403,000. AI excelled at selecting solutions over creating them, suggesting initial applications might focus on code review and architectural decisions. This benchmark offers a concrete way to measure AI progress, helping leaders understand and predict AI's capabilities and impact.

(newsletter.getdx.com)

Development

WinFile: The Nostalgia-Inducing Windows File Manager Returns!

2025-04-22

WinFile: The Nostalgia-Inducing Windows File Manager Returns!

Microsoft announced that it will archive the WinFile project on March 1, 2025, but the good news is that this classic Windows File Manager has been resurrected as a native x86, x64, and arm64 desktop app, supporting all currently supported versions of Windows, including Windows 11. The maintainer welcomes bug fixes and suggestions for improvements but will not be developing new branches. The WinFile project source code includes two main versions: the `original_plus` branch, which is kept as close to the original as possible, and the actively developed `master` branch. Users can download pre-compiled versions from the Microsoft Store or the project page.

(github.com)

Development File Manager

Canonical's Hiring Process: A Kafkaesque Nightmare

2025-06-01

A job applicant details their harrowing experience applying twice for positions at Canonical. The process involved bizarre requirements, from high school grades to pseudoscientific psychometric tests, culminating in an awkward interview with Mark Shuttleworth. The author meticulously documents each stage, ultimately obtaining the rejection reason via GDPR: "Culture/behaviour/motivation misalignment." This account exposes Canonical's unusual and opaque hiring practices, serving as a cautionary tale for prospective applicants.

(dustri.org)

Misc

Meta Denies Sharing Pirated Books for AI Training

2025-02-21

Meta Denies Sharing Pirated Books for AI Training

Meta claims it didn't seed a torrent of pirated books used for AI training, despite admitting to downloading it. In a court filing, Meta stated it took precautions to avoid seeding the downloaded files, arguing authors can't prove distribution occurred during the torrenting process. While admitting to downloading the dataset from sources like LibGen and Z-Library, Meta contends downloading itself isn't illegal, merely accessing publicly available data. This case involves copyright infringement claims, with authors alleging Meta engaged in large-scale data piracy and violated California's Computer Data Access and Fraud Act (CDAFA).

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Manhattan's Century-Old Steam System: A City's Thermal Legacy

2025-03-13

Since 1882, Manhattan has relied on a vast steam system to heat its buildings, from the Waldorf Astoria to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. This article delves into the history of this remarkable infrastructure, tracing its evolution from a solution to the heating challenges of a densely populated city to its continued role in supplying heat to much of Manhattan. The article also compares steam systems with modern hot water systems, exploring the role of district heating in the future of urban development.

(worksinprogress.co)

Tech urban infrastructure energy systems

Andrew Ng Slams 'Vibe Coding,' Says AI Programming Is 'Deeply Intellectual'

2025-06-05

Andrew Ng Slams 'Vibe Coding,' Says AI Programming Is 'Deeply Intellectual'

Stanford professor Andrew Ng criticizes the term "vibe coding," arguing it misrepresents AI-assisted programming as a casual process. He emphasizes it's a deeply intellectual exercise requiring significant effort. Despite his criticism of the term, Ng remains bullish on AI coding tools, highlighting their productivity benefits. He urges companies to embrace AI-assisted coding and encourages everyone to learn at least one programming language to better collaborate with AI and improve efficiency.

(www.businessinsider.com)

AI

Gmail Security: Debunking Major Vulnerability Rumors

2025-09-02

Gmail Security: Debunking Major Vulnerability Rumors

Recent claims of a major Gmail security vulnerability are entirely false. Google assures users that Gmail's protections are strong and effective, blocking over 99.9% of phishing and malware attempts. The company emphasizes its ongoing investment in security, constant innovation, and clear communication about risks and protections. Google encourages users to adopt strong password alternatives like Passkeys and follow best practices for identifying and reporting phishing attacks.

(blog.google)

Tech Gmail Security

Dayflow: AI-Powered Timeline App for Time Tracking and Privacy

2025-09-25

Dayflow: AI-Powered Timeline App for Time Tracking and Privacy

Dayflow is a native macOS app that records your screen activity at 1 FPS, analyzes it every 15 minutes with AI, and generates a clean timeline with summaries. It's lightweight and privacy-focused, letting you choose between Gemini (BYO API key) or local models (Ollama/LM Studio) as your AI provider. Built out of a desire for a simple, trustworthy timeline, Dayflow aims to be a quiet, respectful assistant, not another dashboard to manage.

(github.com)

Development

RPG in a Box: Game Creation Made Easy

2025-05-14

RPG in a Box empowers users to create games and interactive experiences without any programming or modeling skills. This intuitive tool features a voxel editor, map editor, visual scripting, dialogue system, camera controls, UI customization, item system, and sound effect generator. Export your creations to standalone Windows and macOS games, making it easy to share your work with others.

(rpginabox.com)

Game

TU Delft's Autonomous Drone Beats Human Champions in Historic Race

2025-06-04

TU Delft's Autonomous Drone Beats Human Champions in Historic Race

A team from TU Delft won the A2RL Drone Championship in Abu Dhabi, a race pushing the limits of physical AI. Their drone, using a single camera and innovative deep neural network training, outperformed 13 autonomous drones and even human champions. This achievement, unlike previous AI victories in virtual settings, happened in a real-world, high-stakes competition. The efficient and robust AI developed has broad applications in robotics, from self-driving cars to search and rescue operations.

(www.tudelft.nl)

Tech Drone Racing

Revolutionizing Cross-Chain Transactions with Intents

2025-09-24

Revolutionizing Cross-Chain Transactions with Intents

Traditional cross-chain transactions are complex, time-consuming, and expensive. This article introduces a new approach called "intents," where users simply declare their desired outcome (e.g., swap 1000 USDC for 100 SOL) without specifying the steps. A network of "solvers" automatically fulfills the request. This is analogous to saying "get me milk" instead of giving detailed driving instructions. NEAR Protocol pioneered a cross-chain intent system, leveraging chain signatures to achieve 2-3 second finality and native Bitcoin support, exceeding $1 billion in total volume. Its 1Click API simplifies development, enabling easy creation of cross-chain DEX interfaces.

(blog.shodipoayomide.com)

Development cross-chain transactions intents NEAR Protocol

iPhone Air Teardown Reveals Clever Design to Avoid 'Bendgate'

2025-09-23

iPhone Air Teardown Reveals Clever Design to Avoid 'Bendgate'

iFixit's teardown of the new iPhone Air reveals a unique design. Key components, including the logic board, are clustered at the top, while a large battery occupies most of the phone's body. Interestingly, this battery is identical to the one in Apple's MagSafe battery pack, and they're interchangeable. This design mitigates the 'Bendgate' issue seen in previous thin iPhones by placing the less resilient logic board away from stress points and utilizing a more robust battery.

(arstechnica.com)

Hardware iFixit teardown battery design

Improved Father Ted Tape Dispenser: Smaller, Better, Easier to Build

2025-06-01

Improved Father Ted Tape Dispenser: Smaller, Better, Easier to Build

The author has improved their Father Ted tape dispenser from a year ago. The new version is smaller, sounds better, and looks more professional. It uses a 3D-printed case, an IR sensor, and an ESP8266 microcontroller, costing less than €10 and is much easier to build. The author has shared the 3D printable models and instructions, encouraging others to build their own. They also suggest donating to a charity supporting trans people, in response to negative comments from the creator of Father Ted.

(stephencoyle.net)

Hardware DIY electronics

The 512x342 Mystery: Why the Original Mac Had That Resolution

2025-05-27

The 512x342 Mystery: Why the Original Mac Had That Resolution

Why did the original Macintosh use a non-standard 512x342 resolution instead of the more common 512x384? This article delves into the reasons, revealing it wasn't simply a matter of technical limitations. The 128KB memory constraint, the CPU resource usage for a 60Hz refresh rate, and the pursuit of square pixels for optimal graphics and printing all played a role. This showcases Apple's masterful trade-offs in the original Mac's design, balancing performance, usability, and cost to achieve a surprisingly impressive product for its time.

(512pixels.net)

Hardware Apple History

India's IT Giants Face Slowest Growth in Years Amid Global Uncertainty

2025-04-17

India's IT Giants Face Slowest Growth in Years Amid Global Uncertainty

India's three largest IT services companies, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Wipro, are experiencing their steepest growth slowdown in years. Global economic uncertainty and geopolitical challenges have led corporations to curtail large technology projects, resulting in disappointing performance from all three firms. Infosys projected 0-3% revenue growth for FY26, significantly below analyst expectations. Wipro anticipates a 1.5-3.5% sequential revenue decline in Q1, and TCS also missed fourth-quarter earnings estimates. While companies highlight strengths in AI, cloud, and digital technologies, macroeconomic headwinds and AI-driven pricing pressures threaten to constrain medium-term industry growth to a modest 4-5%, with little prospect of acceleration.

(indiadispatch.com)

Tech Indian IT economic slowdown growth deceleration

ChatGPT's New Image-Reasoning Models Raise Privacy Concerns

2025-04-17

ChatGPT's New Image-Reasoning Models Raise Privacy Concerns

OpenAI's latest AI models, o3 and o4-mini, can accurately pinpoint the location of photos based on visual clues, even identifying specific restaurants and bars. This capability, showcased on social media, has sparked concerns about privacy risks, as malicious actors could potentially use it for doxxing. Tests reveal that even older models like GPT-4o exhibit similar location-guessing abilities, although o3 sometimes surpasses it. While not flawless, with instances of incorrect guesses and system failures, o3's performance highlights the emerging risks of powerful AI reasoning models. OpenAI hasn't yet addressed these concerns in their safety report.

(techcrunch.com)

AI

Snobol4: A Surprisingly Effective "One Weird Trick" Language

2025-05-13

Snobol4 is a fascinating programming language centered around pattern matching. Unlike languages relying on loops and conditionals, Snobol4 uses pattern matching statements for all logic and control flow. This minimalist approach, while potentially less efficient for large programs, offers surprising ease of understanding for beginners and proves effective for smaller tasks. The author compares its pattern matching to Awk, but significantly more powerful, highlighting its impressive purity and demonstrating how a "one weird trick" can yield surprisingly effective programming.

(ratfactor.com)

Development

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