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The Brutalist and the AI-Enhanced Accent: A Commentary on Technological Interference in Film

2025-03-10

The Brutalist and the AI-Enhanced Accent: A Commentary on Technological Interference in Film

The Oscar-winning film 'The Brutalist' sparked controversy over its use of AI to refine the Hungarian accents of its actors. While the director claims AI was used subtly, critics argue it masked the actors' linguistic shortcomings and sets a worrying precedent for future film production. The article delves into the ethical implications of AI in filmmaking, suggesting its potential to stifle artistic originality and create a bland, homogenous aesthetic devoid of genuine human expression and artistic flaws. The author ultimately questions the future of artistic expression in an increasingly AI-driven world.

(thebaffler.com)

Tech

APL's Scalable Thin-Film Refrigeration Tech: CHESS

2025-07-03

APL's Scalable Thin-Film Refrigeration Tech: CHESS

APL has developed CHESS, a thin-film thermoelectric material, revolutionizing refrigeration. Using only 0.003 cubic centimeters—about the size of a grain of sand—per unit, CHESS leverages established MOCVD manufacturing for scalability and cost-effectiveness. Its potential extends beyond small-scale refrigeration to large-scale HVAC systems, mirroring the scalability of lithium-ion batteries. Furthermore, CHESS can convert temperature differences into usable energy, opening doors for energy harvesting in various applications, from computers to spacecraft. This breakthrough signifies the viability and scalability of high-efficiency solid-state refrigeration.

(www.jhuapl.edu)

Tech thermoelectric material thin-film technology

Self-Hosting a Nearly Free, Open Source TURN Server on Oracle Cloud

2025-03-28

Self-Hosting a Nearly Free, Open Source TURN Server on Oracle Cloud

This guide details setting up a nearly free, open-source TURN server on Oracle Cloud's free tier, offering an alternative to WebRTC implementations relying on third-party services. It walks through creating subnets, security lists, instance configurations, installing Nginx, Certbot, a PeerJS server, and a Coturn server. The guide covers configuring iptables rules and using coturn-credential-api for authentication, providing complete control over WebRTC communication and enhancing privacy and security by avoiding reliance on Google or other large providers.

(github.com)

Development TURN server Oracle Cloud

Lunar Trailblazer Mission Ends Prematurely After Communication Loss

2025-08-05

Lunar Trailblazer Mission Ends Prematurely After Communication Loss

NASA's Lunar Trailblazer mission, aimed at mapping lunar water resources, has ended prematurely after losing contact with the satellite. Launched in February, the satellite successfully separated from its rocket but failed to correctly orient its solar arrays, leading to battery depletion and communication loss. While unsuccessful, NASA views the mission as a valuable learning experience for future low-cost, small satellite missions, contributing to a sustained human presence on the Moon. The mission sought to create high-resolution maps of water on the moon's surface, assessing its abundance, form, and temporal changes.

(www.engadget.com)

Tech Satellite Communication Failure

75Hz E-Paper Display Dev Kit Breaks the Speed Barrier

2025-09-10

75Hz E-Paper Display Dev Kit Breaks the Speed Barrier

Modos, a two-person startup, has launched a groundbreaking e-paper display development kit boasting a record-breaking 75Hz refresh rate. This open-source FPGA-based kit overcomes the long-standing perception of e-paper displays as slow. The kit supports various e-paper panel sizes and includes a comprehensive hardware and software package, enabling developers to create smooth, responsive applications. While initially aiming for an e-paper laptop, Modos pivoted to this dev kit due to panel size limitations, opening exciting possibilities for low-power, high-resolution e-paper applications. It even allows repurposing displays from older e-readers.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Hardware e-paper display

Zelle Shuts Down Standalone App, Focusing on Bank Integrations

2025-04-02

Zelle Shuts Down Standalone App, Focusing on Bank Integrations

Payment app Zelle announced it will shut down its standalone app on Tuesday. Despite over 150 million users, only 2% utilize the app for person-to-person payments. This led to the decision to discontinue the app; users will need to re-enroll through their bank or other financial institution. Launched in 2017, Zelle's bank integrations enable instant, fee-free transfers. In 2024, it processed $1 trillion in payments, surpassing all other payment apps. This success stems from its use in larger transactions like rent, contrasting with Venmo's focus on social payments.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech payment app

FBI's Warrantless Searches Deemed Unconstitutional, Sparking Calls for Section 702 Reform

2025-01-24

FBI's Warrantless Searches Deemed Unconstitutional, Sparking Calls for Section 702 Reform

A US court ruled that the FBI's warrantless searches of communications, conducted under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), violate the Fourth Amendment. The ruling stems from a case involving 3.4 million warrantless searches in 2021. While the judge acknowledged potential exceptions for national security emergencies, the decision emphasizes that the government cannot circumvent warrant requirements simply because data is already held. This ruling reignites calls for Section 702 reform, with digital rights groups urging Congress to mandate warrants for searching US persons' data and increase transparency to protect civil liberties.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech Fourth Amendment

The Startup CTO Handbook: Practical Guide for High-Performing Engineering Teams

2025-03-12

The Startup CTO Handbook: Practical Guide for High-Performing Engineering Teams

Zach Goldberg's 'The Startup CTO Handbook' offers a compelling daily resource for engineering leaders. Drawing on years of startup experience, Goldberg provides practical frameworks and insightful perspectives to tackle complex challenges in building high-performing engineering teams. The book emphasizes continuous learning, offering actionable advice on topics such as effective 1:1s, skip-level meetings, technical debt management, and navigating the CTO-CEO relationship. Whether you're a fledgling engineering leader or a seasoned CTO, this handbook is an invaluable guide.

(github.com)

Development Engineering Culture

Re-examining a Chess Complexity Metric: A Critical Analysis

2025-09-01

Re-examining a Chess Complexity Metric: A Critical Analysis

This article presents a critical analysis of David Peng's research paper on a chess complexity metric and its accompanying codebase. The author argues that the proposed metric is flawed, its conclusions lack sufficient logical support, and it fails to adequately account for rapid advancements in neural network technology and the dynamic nature of chess engine evaluations. Several logical fallacies within the paper are dissected, and improvements are suggested, including incorporating Stockfish-NNUE evaluations, considering time factors, and including more human vs. engine game data. The author concludes by urging the implementation of a reliable chess complexity metric before cheaters can exploit it.

(lichess.org)

Game

Telephoto Lenses: A Traveler's Secret Weapon

2025-09-13

Telephoto lenses, while bulky, offer a unique perspective that elevates travel photography. They eliminate distracting elements, focusing attention on the subject, such as bringing distant mountains and clouds sharply into the center of the frame. The compression effect of a telephoto lens skillfully blends elements at different depths of field—a lake, people on a bench, and distant mountains—into a cohesive image. This article uses real-world examples to showcase the advantages of telephoto lenses in landscape and long-range photography, and employs darktable for post-processing to enhance details and colors, resulting in more impactful images.

(avidandrew.com)

Design telephoto lens

2024's Most Scathing Book Reviews: Literary Heavyweights Face the Critics

2024-12-22

2024's Most Scathing Book Reviews: Literary Heavyweights Face the Critics

The most brutal book reviews of 2024 are in, and even literary giants didn't escape unscathed. From Melania Trump's clichéd memoir to Haruki Murakami's disappointing magical realism, Lionel Shriver's clumsy satire, and Malcolm Gladwell's hollow brand extension, critics delivered scathing critiques. The reviews dissected the shortcomings of these works, pointing out bland writing, shallow character development, and tired plots, offering readers a thought-provoking glimpse into the literary landscape.

(lithub.com)

Misc book reviews literature criticism

Automating Four Years of Piano Sight-Reading Practice: From Python to D3

2025-05-22

The author shares their experience automating four years of piano sight-reading practice using an iPad app. They built a Pythonista interface to automate key selection and track practice data, visualized progress with D3.js, and discovered that randomization and data visualization significantly improved sight-reading ability. Key insights include bypassing note naming in favor of pattern recognition and the benefits of a structured practice routine.

(sandrock.co.za)

Misc piano practice

Through-the-Earth Communication: Revolutionizing Underground Connectivity

2024-12-14

Traditional radio waves struggle to penetrate rock, making communication in mines and caves challenging. This article explores Through-the-Earth (TTE) communication, utilizing ultra-low frequency (300-3000 Hz) signals that propagate through rock strata. TTE systems, including portable magnetic-loop cave radios, Personal Emergency Devices (PEDs), and the innovative 'Miner Lifeline' technology, are highlighted for their crucial role in mine rescue operations and cave exploration, even after catastrophic events like fires or explosions.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Tech Through-the-Earth Communication Mine Communication Emergency Rescue

Reverse Engineering Samsung's Exynos Hypervisor: H-Arx's Modular Design and Rust Integration

2025-03-13

This article delves into the reverse engineering analysis of Samsung's virtualization-based security platform, H-Arx, found in Exynos mobile processors. H-Arx boasts a modular design, comprising a core component (harx.bin) and loadable plugins (like uh.bin), with parts written in Rust. The analysis details H-Arx's loading process, plugin loading mechanism, and core-plugin communication, revealing how it uses Hypervisor Calls (HVCs) and Secure Monitor Calls (SMCs) for inter-privilege level communication. Key security features like Real-time Kernel Protection (RKP), Kernel Data Protection (KDP), and Hypervisor Device Manager (HDM) are also explored, along with their roles within the H-Arx architecture. This reverse engineering provides valuable insights into Samsung's Exynos security mechanisms.

(dayzerosec.com)

Tech Samsung Exynos security platform

AP Program Gets a Makeover: Industry Partners Join the Fold

2025-03-22

AP Program Gets a Makeover: Industry Partners Join the Fold

The College Board, creator of the Advanced Placement (AP) program, is revolutionizing its curriculum. Partnering with industry giants like IBM and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, they've launched AP Career Kickstart, initially offering courses in cybersecurity and business principles/personal finance. This aims to bridge the gap between high school education and in-demand job skills, attracting students not solely focused on college. The courses offer college credit and industry-recognized skills, enhancing employability. This signifies a blurring of lines between traditional education and vocational training, reflecting a broader societal re-evaluation of higher education's value.

(www.edweek.org)

Tech AP Program Career Education Skills Training

The Performance Cost of Abusing Go's panic/recover

2025-03-04

This article benchmarks the performance difference between using Go's `panic` and `recover` for array iteration versus a traditional loop. The results demonstrate a significant performance penalty for abusing `panic`/`recover` for control flow in smaller datasets. This is attributed to the inhibition of compiler optimizations such as inlining and bounds check elimination. While `panic`/`recover` can offer efficiency gains in handling internal errors, the author cautions against overuse and stresses the importance of keeping such mechanisms internal to a package, away from public APIs.

(jub0bs.com)

Development

Oracle's Java Pricing Changes Spark Mass Exodus

2025-01-29

Oracle's Java Pricing Changes Spark Mass Exodus

Oracle's January 2023 shift in Java SE licensing from per-user/processor to per-employee pricing has triggered a massive backlash, with costs skyrocketing. Dimensional Research reveals that 88% of Oracle Java users are considering switching to open-source alternatives, reaching 92% in France and 95% in Germany. This reflects a growing need for cost-effective Java solutions, forcing organizations to reassess their long-term Java licensing and support strategies.

(www.theregister.com)

Development

The Million-Dollar Domain: Why Milk.com's Owner Won't Sell

2025-09-07

The Million-Dollar Domain: Why Milk.com's Owner Won't Sell

The mystery of Milk.com, a personal website using a potentially million-dollar domain name for a resume and recipes, is explored. The show delves into the low cost of domain registration in the early days of the internet and the subsequent rise of domain investing. The owner of Milk.com explains why they're hesitant to sell and what price might change their mind.

(www.npr.org)

Misc domain investing early internet domain value

Monero's Privacy: A Battleground of Attacks and Defenses

2025-05-28

Monero's Privacy: A Battleground of Attacks and Defenses

Monero (XMR), a privacy-focused cryptocurrency, has been a target for governments, cybersecurity experts, and analytics firms aiming to deanonymize its transactions. This article analyzes various attempts to break Monero's privacy, including efforts by companies like Chainalysis and CipherTrace, and academic research on its ring signature scheme. While some methods, such as exploiting timing analysis or correlating off-chain data, have shown limited success, Monero's ring signatures, stealth addresses, and confidential transactions have proven remarkably resilient. The proactive defense efforts of the Monero community, including the "Breaking Monero" series, have further strengthened its resistance to tracking.

(monero.forex)

Tech

Motorola Edge 2024 and Moto G Power 2025 Review: Budget Kings?

2025-03-02

Motorola Edge 2024 and Moto G Power 2025 Review: Budget Kings?

This review compares the Motorola Edge 2024 and Moto G Power 2025. The Edge 2024 offers good value at its $300 sale price, but suffers from shutter lag in its camera and limited software updates (only two Android OS upgrades). The Moto G Power 2025 boasts IP68 water resistance, longer battery life, and extended software support, but its performance is slightly weaker than its predecessor, and the camera is just adequate. Ultimately, both phones have strengths and weaknesses, requiring careful consideration based on individual needs.

(www.wired.com)

Hardware phone review Motorola budget phones

Nvidia CEO Casts Doubt on Imminent Quantum Computing Breakthrough, Sending Stocks Plunging

2025-01-08

Nvidia CEO Casts Doubt on Imminent Quantum Computing Breakthrough, Sending Stocks Plunging

Shares of IonQ and other quantum computing companies plummeted on Wednesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that truly 'useful' quantum computers are likely still two decades away. This announcement dampened recent excitement surrounding the field, following a significant breakthrough by Alphabet last month. Stocks like Quantum Computing Inc., D-Wave, and Rigetti saw drops exceeding 30%, highlighting the market's sensitivity to the timeline of quantum computing's practical applications.

(uk.finance.yahoo.com)

Tech

Optimizing the Separating Axis Theorem with Gauss Map Traversal

2025-07-10

Optimizing the Separating Axis Theorem with Gauss Map Traversal

This article presents an optimized collision detection algorithm for convex polyhedra. Reframing the Separating Axis Theorem (SAT) as a sphere-based optimization problem, the author reveals that the minimum lies at the intersections of great circles on a Gauss map. A graph traversal algorithm avoids repeated support function calculations, requiring only one full evaluation initially. The algorithm then efficiently updates the support point by traversing the Gauss map, resulting in significant performance gains. Tests show a 5-10x speedup over traditional SAT.

(cairno.substack.com)

Development collision detection separating axis theorem Gauss map

TorchFT: Fault-Tolerant LLM Training Under Extreme Failure Rates

2025-06-27

Researchers used TorchFT and TorchTitan to train a model in a real-world environment with extreme synthetic failure rates to prove the reliability and correctness of fault-tolerant training. Even with 1200 failures and no checkpoints, training loss remained stable. TorchFT uses a global Lighthouse server and per-replica group Managers for real-time coordination and implements various fault-tolerant algorithms such as Fault-Tolerant HSDP and LocalSGD/DiLoCo. Experimental results demonstrate that even under extremely high failure rates, TorchFT effectively trains the model, showcasing its robustness in handling various failure scenarios.

(pytorch.org)

AI fault-tolerant training

The New Yorker's Obscure Punctuation Marks: Diaereses vs. Umlauts

2025-01-30

The New Yorker's Obscure Punctuation Marks: Diaereses vs. Umlauts

A viral article about The New Yorker's use of diaereses sparked a discussion about the difference between diaereses and umlauts. The article explains that The New Yorker uses diaereses in words like "coöperate" to indicate that the two vowels should be pronounced separately, not as a diphthong. However, diaereses and umlauts look similar but serve different purposes: diaereses separate adjacent vowels, while umlauts indicate a change in vowel pronunciation. The article traces the origins of both marks, explains their usage in English and German, and explores how the umlaut sound change has affected the spelling and pronunciation of English words. It concludes with a humorous summary of the differences between diaereses and umlauts, and reveals the historical and cultural reasons behind The New Yorker's continued use of diaereses, despite reader complaints.

(www.arrantpedantry.com)

Misc style guide

Philosophy Eats AI: How Philosophical Frameworks Shape AI's Future

2025-01-19

Philosophy Eats AI: How Philosophical Frameworks Shape AI's Future

Research from MIT Sloan Management Review reveals that the success of AI hinges not just on technology, but also on the underlying philosophical frameworks guiding its development. The article argues that philosophy pervades AI, from training data to deployment, influencing reasoning, prediction, and innovation. Leaders must proactively leverage philosophical thinking, rather than relying on implicit principles, to unlock AI's full value and gain a competitive edge. Neglecting this philosophical dimension will lead to suboptimal returns on AI investments.

(sloanreview.mit.edu)

AI AI philosophy AI business strategy value creation

Nvidia Quietly Kills 32-bit PhysX Support on RTX 50 Series GPUs

2025-02-19

Nvidia Quietly Kills 32-bit PhysX Support on RTX 50 Series GPUs

Nvidia has silently ended support for 32-bit PhysX on its RTX 50 series GPUs. This game-specific physics technology, popular in the early 2000s, is officially retired due to the deprecation of 32-bit CUDA applications support starting with the RTX 50 series. While no 64-bit PhysX games exist, RTX 50 and later GPUs will lack PhysX support entirely. PhysX, once used in major titles like the Batman Arkham trilogy and Borderlands series, offloaded physics calculations from the CPU to the GPU for performance gains. However, its Nvidia-only nature and inflexibility led to its decline. To use PhysX on RTX 50 series cards, users must now utilize an older GPU dedicated to PhysX.

(www.tomshardware.com)

Game GPU Physics

Rails 8's Solid Queue: A Deep Dive into the New Background Job Processor (Part 1)

2025-05-11

Rails 8's Solid Queue: A Deep Dive into the New Background Job Processor (Part 1)

Rails 8 introduces Solid Queue, a novel background job processing library that eliminates the need for external services like Redis. This article delves into Solid Queue's architecture, explaining the interplay between Jobs and Workers and how database tables (solid_queue_jobs, solid_queue_ready_executions, solid_queue_claimed_executions, solid_queue_processes) manage job queuing, execution, and monitoring. Solid Queue achieves high performance and reliability through clever database design and the use of FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED statements, employing a supervisor process to prevent job loss. The article also highlights SQLite limitations and AppSignal's performance monitoring capabilities, promising a deeper dive in part two.

(blog.appsignal.com)

Development Background Jobs

Elm's Governance Crisis: A Contributor's Account

2025-02-16

A long-time Elm contributor details their reasons for leaving the community, citing the Elm core team's leadership style and restrictive native module policies. The author describes autocratic decision-making, lack of transparency and fairness, and suppression of community contributions. They argue that the core team's actions violate the spirit of open source and unfairly impact community members, especially non-native English speakers and minority groups. The post raises concerns about governance and fairness in open-source projects.

(lukeplant.me.uk)

Development open source governance native modules

AI Cracks 3000-Year-Old Cuneiform, Revolutionizing Ancient Studies

2025-03-08

AI Cracks 3000-Year-Old Cuneiform, Revolutionizing Ancient Studies

Researchers from Cornell and Tel Aviv Universities have developed ProtoSnap, an AI system that automatically identifies and copies cuneiform characters from 3000-year-old tablets. Using a diffusion model, ProtoSnap compares pixel similarity between an image of a character and a prototype, accurately recreating characters despite variations in writing styles and age. This drastically accelerates cuneiform translation and research, providing massive datasets for studying ancient societies and offering new insights into their religion, economy, social structures, and legal systems.

(news.cornell.edu)

AI Cuneiform

Yearly CPU Performance Report: Data Reveals Trends in PC Processor Performance

2025-02-12

A yearly CPU performance report based on data from PerformanceTest software shows a steady increase in PC processor performance since 2021, with the inclusion of ARM architecture processors diversifying data sources. The report includes two charts: overall yearly performance and top CPU performance for each year. Data is drawn from global user-submitted benchmark results. Note that data before 2021 is primarily from Windows systems and x86 processors, potentially introducing bias. The report is updated bi-weekly, with early-year data less accurate than year-end data.

(www.cpubenchmark.net)

Hardware CPU performance processor architecture

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