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India's Democracy Rankings: A Battle for Narrative Control

2025-03-11

India's Democracy Rankings: A Battle for Narrative Control

Faced with declining international democracy rankings, the Indian government displays a duality: publicly dismissing the rankings as unfair while privately working to mitigate their negative economic impact. The article reveals the government's strategic shift from initially trying to improve rankings to ultimately attempting to control the global narrative. This includes forming high-level committees to improve scores across various global indices, attempting communication with rating agencies to understand their methodologies, and employing media campaigns and suppression of dissent to shape a favorable public image. Ultimately, the Indian government even embarks on creating its own democracy index, aiming to challenge the Western-dominated evaluation system. This shift reflects a governance model of narrative control and intolerance of dissent, prompting deeper reflection on the state of Indian democracy.

(www.theplankmag.com)

Politics Indian Politics Democracy Index Narrative Control

Global ACM-ICPC Rankings: Tsinghua and Peking Universities Shine

2025-09-05

The 2023 ACM-ICPC International Collegiate Programming Contest global rankings are out, with St. Petersburg State University taking the top spot. Notably, Tsinghua University and Peking University secured the fourth and fifth places respectively, showcasing the strong performance of Chinese universities in computer science. The ranking includes many prestigious universities from China, the US, Japan, and Europe, highlighting the fierce competition. This top-tier global event not only tests the programming skills of contestants but also reflects the differences in computer science talent cultivation across various countries and regions.

(worldfinals.icpc.global)

Tech programming contest university rankings

Configurable 3D-Printed Calendar in OpenSCAD: Zeller's Congruence and Beyond

2025-02-14

Configurable 3D-Printed Calendar in OpenSCAD: Zeller's Congruence and Beyond

A developer created a highly configurable 3D-printed calendar model using OpenSCAD. Leveraging Zeller's congruence for accurate day-of-week calculations, the model automatically adjusts date offsets. Users can customize rendered months, column layout, layer height, add custom holiday markings, and even include magnet holes. This project showcases OpenSCAD's power in algorithmic implementation and parametric modeling, supporting multilingual features and multi-material printing.

(chrastecky.dev)

Design Calendar

Misleading Adblocker Test Websites: A Critique from Brave

2025-02-20

Misleading Adblocker Test Websites: A Critique from Brave

Shivan Kaul Sahib, Lead for Privacy Engineering at Brave, criticizes many existing adblocker testing websites. These sites employ flawed methodologies, including arbitrary testing criteria, failure to emulate real-world scenarios, disregard for advanced features (like resource replacement), and inability to account for domain-specific rules. This leads to misleading results, even harming the adblocking ecosystem. Kaul Sahib argues that adblockers should be compared based on native support, performance, advanced features, and ethical practices, not low-quality tests. Brave refuses payments to unblock advertisers, collaborates with reputable testing sites, and strives for improved web privacy.

(brave.com)

Tech adblocker Brave browser

Swift's WebAssembly Journey: Performance, Security, and the Future

2025-04-05

Swift's WebAssembly Journey: Performance, Security, and the Future

The Swift community has steadily improved WebAssembly support over the years, and this article outlines a vision and roadmap for its future. WebAssembly, with its portability, security, and high performance, is ideal for cross-platform applications. Swift's integration with WebAssembly expands its reach and enhances security, particularly in developer tools. Virtualizing Swift macros and SwiftPM plugins using WebAssembly offers stronger security and faster build times. Future goals include increased API coverage in core libraries, improved cross-compilation support, enhanced component model support, and a better debugging experience. The article also delves into platform-specific considerations like debugging, multi-threading, 64-bit address space, and shared libraries, showcasing the potential for Swift's flourishing within the WebAssembly ecosystem.

(forums.swift.org)

Development Cross-platform Development

Chasing JIT Compilers: The False Promise of Optimizing Inline Caches

2025-03-13

This paper investigates improving Ahead-of-Time (AoT) compiler performance by adding Dynamic Binary Modification (DBM). Researchers implemented a DBM-based inline cache (IC) optimization in the Hopc AoT JavaScript compiler. However, experiments showed no performance improvement. The study found that reducing memory accesses doesn't always speed up execution on modern architectures, challenging traditional optimization strategies. It concludes that sophisticated compiler optimizations are only worthwhile if the processor can't already accelerate the code, a finding applicable to both AoT and JIT compilers.

(programming-journal.org)

Development dynamic binary modification

MacBooks Dominate Apple's Computer Sales: 86% Market Share

2025-03-22

MacBooks Dominate Apple's Computer Sales: 86% Market Share

New data reveals MacBooks' dominance in Apple's computer market, capturing a stunning 86% of total sales. The MacBook Pro leads with 53% market share, followed closely by the MacBook Air at 33%. In contrast, iMac and other desktop Macs account for only 14%, highlighting a strong consumer preference for portable computers. This trend suggests Apple is prioritizing resources towards MacBook development and updates, leading to comparatively slower refresh cycles for desktop models.

(macdailynews.com)

Tech Apple computers

arXivLabs: Community Collaboration on arXiv Features

2025-05-21

arXivLabs is a framework enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Participants must embrace arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. Got an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

(arxiv.org)

Development

California Bill Mandates Disclosure for All Online Bots

2025-02-07

California Bill Mandates Disclosure for All Online Bots

Assembly Member Wilson's legislation reshapes California's approach to online bots, requiring all bots to identify themselves when interacting with state residents, regardless of purpose. This expands current law, which only mandates disclosure for bots influencing commerce or voting. The bill updates the definition of 'bot' to include AI-powered systems generating synthetic content. Anyone using a bot must disclose its automated nature and provide this information upon request. This applies across websites, apps, and platforms. Large platforms (over 10 million monthly US visitors) must ensure compliance. The changes reflect the evolving AI landscape and prioritize transparency in online communication.

(www.veeto.app)

Tech bot disclosure

Intel 285K CPU Failures Lead to AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Switch

2025-09-07

Intel 285K CPU Failures Lead to AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Switch

The author's Intel 285K CPU failed twice in a few months, leading to a switch to the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D. The first failure occurred after a lengthy CUDA compilation task, rendering the PC unbootable. While ruling out overheating, the author suspects CPU reliability issues. A new CPU and motherboard were purchased. Benchmarks comparing the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and the Intel 285K show slightly higher power consumption for the AMD chip but superior performance. The author expresses hope for continued competition in the CPU market.

(michael.stapelberg.ch)

Hardware

Web Interaction Paradigm Shift: Invoker Commands Explained

2025-02-25

This explainer details a new proposal for web interaction: Invoker Commands. By adding `commandfor` and `command` attributes to `` elements, it assigns behavior to buttons in a more accessible and declarative way, reducing the amount of JavaScript required. The proposal defines a `CommandEvent`, allowing developers to customize interactions. Built-in support for `` and `` elements is included, with a focus on accessibility and security. It also supports custom commands and provides ample example code demonstrating how to simplify web interaction development using this proposal.

(open-ui.org)

Development

AI-Powered Crime Syndicate on the Myanmar-Thailand Border: A Global Threat

2025-04-02

AI-Powered Crime Syndicate on the Myanmar-Thailand Border: A Global Threat

Thousands are trapped in scam centers run by criminal gangs and warlords along Myanmar's border with Thailand. Victims are forced into online fraud schemes, leveraging AI-generated scripts and realistic deepfakes to target victims worldwide. While recent crackdowns by Chinese and Thai authorities have freed some, experts warn the industry, fueled by billions in investment and advanced technology, will rebound stronger. This sophisticated criminal network poses a global threat, demanding international cooperation to combat its scale and human rights abuses.

(edition.cnn.com)

Tech Transnational Crime Cyber Fraud

BreakerMachines: Shield Your Microservices from Cascading Failures

2025-07-06

BreakerMachines: Shield Your Microservices from Cascading Failures

In the world of microservices, cascading failures and retry storms are nightmares for developers. BreakerMachines, a Ruby library, acts as a guardian, protecting your system from these disasters using a sophisticated circuit breaker mechanism. Built on the battle-tested state_machines gem, it offers classic and Fiber modes, supports asynchronous operations, and provides flexible configuration options to adjust thresholds and timeouts based on service criticality and traffic. BreakerMachines effectively prevents cascading failures and helps quickly locate problems through visual dashboards and smart alerts, thus improving system stability and reliability.

(github.com)

Development circuit breaker failure protection

Costco Rejects Shareholder Demand to Scrap DEI Initiatives

2024-12-28

Costco Rejects Shareholder Demand to Scrap DEI Initiatives

Costco's board rejected a shareholder proposal urging a reevaluation of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program, arguing it poses legal and financial risks. The board countered that its commitment to DEI is crucial for fostering a respectful and inclusive workplace, boosting employee morale, and driving innovation. They maintained the program's legality and emphasized ongoing evaluations of its effectiveness. The decision highlights the ongoing debate surrounding DEI initiatives in American corporations.

(www.newsweek.com)

Startup Shareholder Proposal

Running ELKS on an NES: The NES86 Project

2025-02-17

Running ELKS on an NES: The NES86 Project

The NES86 project is an amazing feat of engineering: an IBM PC emulator running on the NES! By emulating an Intel 8086 processor and supporting PC hardware, it successfully runs the ELKS (Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset), including a shell and utilities. This means you can run some x86 software on your old NES, albeit limited to a simple serial terminal. The project is open-source and provides detailed build instructions, covering both the compilation of the ELKS image and the generation of the NES86 ROM. Prepare for a challenge—running a modern OS on retro hardware!

(github.com)

Development

Swiss-Made USB-C Upgrade Case Sells Out!

2025-07-30

Swiss-Made USB-C Upgrade Case Sells Out!

A Swiss-made iPhone case lets you upgrade your older iPhone to USB-C in seconds, without buying a new device! The first three batches are already sold out, but you can sign up for email alerts to get priority when it's back in stock. Supports wireless charging, MagSafe, and fast charging, and is compatible with CarPlay. Note: Accessories requiring power from the phone (like wired headphones) will still require the Lightning port.

(obsoless.com)

Hardware iPhone Case Swiss Made

Secure Your Angular App with Keycloak and the BFF Pattern

2025-01-28

This article demonstrates building a secure web application using the Backend for Frontend (BFF) pattern, integrating Keycloak and Angular. To avoid storing sensitive data in the browser, authentication flows with Keycloak are entirely handled by a dedicated BFF server. The BFF acts as a secure intermediary between Keycloak and the Angular app, managing OAuth2 and PKCE flows, securely storing tokens, and preventing sensitive operations (like token refresh) from reaching the browser. The Angular app interacts only with simplified endpoints provided by the BFF, eliminating direct communication with Keycloak. The article details Keycloak configuration, BFF server setup (using Express.js), and Angular app development, highlighting the security benefits of this architecture.

(blog.brakmic.com)

Development BFF pattern

Testing Without Mocks: A Novel Approach to Unit Testing

2025-03-29

This article presents a novel approach to unit testing that eliminates the need for mocks and spies, resulting in fast, reliable, and maintainable tests. The core idea involves combining state-based testing with a new infrastructure technique called "Nullables." Nullables aren't test doubles; they're production code with an "off" switch, allowing tests to run without relying on external systems or state. While requiring modifications to production code, this approach avoids many drawbacks of traditional methods, such as flaky tests and difficult refactoring, and offers significant performance gains. The article thoroughly explains the patterns and techniques involved, including Narrow Tests, State-Based Tests, and Overlapping Sociable Tests, providing ample code examples and diverse use cases, making it ideal for developers to learn and implement.

(www.jamesshore.com)

Development

Chess Champion Carlsen Returns to Tournament After Jeans Controversy

2024-12-30

Chess Champion Carlsen Returns to Tournament After Jeans Controversy

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen rejoined a major tournament after initially quitting over a dress code dispute. He was asked to change out of his jeans at the Fide World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) subsequently relaxed its dress code to allow "elegant minor deviations," including appropriate jeans. Carlsen criticized the event's handling of the situation but ultimately returned, stating his love for the tournament. The incident sparked debate about dress code rules in professional chess.

(news.sky.com)

Game Chess Dress Code

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

Physics' New Frontier: Beyond Thermodynamics

2024-12-22

Physics' New Frontier: Beyond Thermodynamics

This article delves into the significance and limitations of thermodynamics in physics. The author argues that while statistical mechanics provides a microscopic understanding of thermodynamics, it may obscure more general principles. A call is made to focus on macroscopic, empirical observations, such as non-equilibrium thermodynamics and self-organizing systems, suggesting these areas may hold new physical laws and offer solutions to practical problems, echoing the initial development of thermodynamics from steam engine improvements.

(scottlocklin.wordpress.com)

Physics non-equilibrium thermodynamics self-organizing systems

Big Tech's Data Centers: Who's Paying the Price?

2025-08-10

Big Tech's Data Centers: Who's Paying the Price?

Soaring electricity bills are prompting states to grapple with the costs of powering Big Tech's energy-hungry data centers. While the precise impact is debated, growing evidence suggests that residential and commercial ratepayers are subsidizing these massive energy demands, particularly as the AI boom fuels data center expansion. States are exploring various solutions, from pressuring grid operators to developing specialized rates for data centers, but challenges remain in ensuring fair cost allocation and transparency, especially given the influence of tech giants. The question remains: will states have the political will to make Big Tech pay its fair share, or will ordinary citizens continue to bear the burden?

(apnews.com)

Tech electricity costs

Smalltalk MVC: Untangling the Misconceptions of Model-View-Controller

2025-09-07

This article delves into the Smalltalk MVC pattern, clarifying long-standing misconceptions surrounding MVC, particularly the deviations in Apple's Cocoa version. The author emphasizes the independence and reusability of the model in Smalltalk MVC, noting that the model interacts with the view and controller only indirectly through notifications. This contrasts with the Cocoa version of MVC, where controllers (and now view controllers) often become the least reusable components. The article further explains how to correctly identify models, ranging from simple observable booleans to complex models, and how to handle view models and function argument models to build cleaner, more maintainable application architectures.

(stlab.cc)

Development Design Pattern

Claude vs. ChatGPT: A Tale of Two Memory Systems

2025-09-12

Claude vs. ChatGPT: A Tale of Two Memory Systems

This post compares the drastically different memory systems of Claude and ChatGPT, two leading AI assistants. Claude starts each conversation with a blank slate, searching conversation history only when explicitly invoked using `conversation_search` and `recent_chats` tools for keyword and time-based retrieval, offering a powerful tool for professionals. In contrast, ChatGPT, designed for a mass market, automatically loads memory components, building user profiles and providing instant personalization. These design choices reflect the different target audiences (professionals vs. general users) and product philosophies (professional tool vs. consumer product), highlighting the vast design space and future directions of AI memory systems.

(www.shloked.com)

AI AI memory systems

Erythritol: The Sweetener That Might Increase Your Stroke Risk?

2025-07-20

Erythritol: The Sweetener That Might Increase Your Stroke Risk?

Erythritol, a sugar alcohol found in many low-carb and sugar-free products, has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in recent studies. New research from the University of Colorado Boulder delves into the cellular mechanisms, revealing how erythritol impacts brain blood vessels. In lab experiments, erythritol reduced nitric oxide (vasodilator), increased endothelin-1 (vasoconstrictor), and impaired the production of t-PA (clot-buster), leading to constricted blood vessels and increased clot formation. It also increased the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), damaging cells and causing inflammation. While this study was in vitro, researchers urge consumers to monitor their erythritol intake and consider the potential risks associated with this widely used sweetener.

(www.sciencedaily.com)

Tech sugar substitute

Google DeepMind Forms 'World Modeling' AI Team to Push for AGI

2025-01-07

Google DeepMind Forms 'World Modeling' AI Team to Push for AGI

Google DeepMind is assembling a new AI research team focused on developing "world models" capable of simulating physical environments. Led by former OpenAI Sora co-lead Tim Brooks, the team aims to leverage massive pre-training on video and multimodal data to advance AGI development. This initiative will power applications in gaming, robot training, and beyond, including visual reasoning and simulation, planning for embodied agents, and real-time interactive entertainment. This signifies Google's intensified push in the AGI race, competing with rivals like OpenAI.

(www.theverge.com)

AI world models

Enhanced Windows 7 SP2: A Revamped Experience, Proceed with Caution

2025-03-26

Enhanced Windows 7 SP2: A Revamped Experience, Proceed with Caution

A project called Windows 7 Service Pack 2 aims to revitalize older Windows 7 systems with updates and enhancements. Currently unfinished, it only supports 64-bit systems and excludes ESU updates and custom GPU drivers. Installation requires careful attention; improper steps may brick your system. Currently, ISO images are available for clean installs, with an in-place installer planned for later. The team emphasizes limited RAID/Intel RST support and no 32-bit support.

(github.com)

Development 64-bit System

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

PixiEditor 2.0: A Universal 2D Editor, Free and Open Source

2025-08-03

PixiEditor 2.0: A Universal 2D Editor, Free and Open Source

PixiEditor 2.0 transcends its pixel-art roots, evolving into a powerful universal 2D editor supporting raster, vector, animation, and procedural effects. Its core is a configurable render pipeline and node graph, giving unprecedented control and enabling the creation of even 3D texturing workspaces. The software remains free and open-source, sustained by paid extensions and asset packs. Version 2.0 introduces frame-by-frame animation, vector editing tools, and various workspaces like a card builder and 3D cube texturing tool, along with multiple palettes. While hardware requirements are slightly higher, the developers are committed to improving support for a wider range of configurations.

(pixieditor.net)

Development 2D Editor

RepairTuber Rossmann Slams Brother for Anti-Consumer Printer Practices

2025-03-04

RepairTuber Rossmann Slams Brother for Anti-Consumer Printer Practices

Louis Rossmann, a renowned repair YouTuber, expressed his disappointment with Brother printers in a recent video. He highlighted how Brother is disabling third-party toner cartridges and color registration functionality through firmware updates, harming consumers. Rossmann, who previously recommended Brother printers as a solution to cartridge DRM issues, now retracts his advice. He urges users to keep their printers offline and disable automatic updates to avoid issues. Brother's actions are seen as anti-consumer and raise concerns about individual property rights.

(www.tomshardware.com)

Hardware printer anti-consumer

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