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Programming Lewis Carroll's Memoria Technica

2024-12-27

This article explores Lewis Carroll's *Memoria Technica*, a cipher he devised to aid in remembering numbers. The cipher maps consonants to digits, ignoring vowels and punctuation. The article describes the cipher's mechanics, presents online tools for encoding and decoding, and discusses its potential use in steganography. The authors detail their TypeScript implementation, highlighting optimizations for efficiency. Examples illustrate encoding and decoding, and the article analyzes the cipher's strengths and weaknesses as a steganographic technique, including a potential vulnerability related to letter and digit frequency discrepancies.

(ztoz.blog)

Development Steganography

Ray Tracing in One Weekend: From Zero to Stunning Images

2025-01-02

This tutorial teaches you how to write a ray tracer in a weekend using C++. Starting with basic PPM image output, it progressively introduces concepts like rays, cameras, spheres, and materials, culminating in a renderer capable of producing anti-aliased images with diffuse and metallic materials. The tutorial covers vector math, ray-sphere intersection, surface normal calculations, material abstraction, and depth of field, providing clear code examples and beautiful renderings. Even without prior programming experience, you can follow along and build your own ray tracer.

(raytracing.github.io)

Development

OpenAI's o3 Model Finds Linux Kernel Zero-Day

2025-05-22

OpenAI's o3 Model Finds Linux Kernel Zero-Day

This post details how the author discovered a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2025-37899) in the Linux kernel using OpenAI's o3 model. Auditing ksmbd, the author leveraged o3 to analyze the code, successfully identifying a use-after-free vulnerability in the SMB 'logoff' command handler. o3 understood the complex logic of concurrent connections and object sharing, pinpointing the flaw. Furthermore, o3 rediscovered another vulnerability, CVE-2025-37778. The author argues o3 represents a significant leap in code reasoning capabilities, offering vulnerability researchers a powerful new tool to drastically increase efficiency.

(sean.heelan.io)

Development Zero-day

Beyond Vibe Coding: The Rise of Cyborg Coders

2025-06-07

Beyond Vibe Coding: The Rise of Cyborg Coders

This article critiques the 'vibe coding' approach, where developers rely solely on intuition and instinct. It argues this method is outdated and dangerous in today's software development landscape. The author introduces 'cyborg coding,' advocating for collaboration between human developers and AI tools. AI assists with coding, debugging, and brainstorming, while humans provide judgment, ethics, and direction. The article emphasizes that AI tools are not cheats but productivity accelerators. The key is to use AI effectively as a partner, not a replacement, to build better software systems.

(chaserabenn.medium.com)

Development

Dating App Deep Dive: The Untold Story of User Behavior and Retention

2025-02-04

An engineer who spent months working inside a dating app reveals its inner workings. The article details user ranking algorithms (based on like-to-pass ratio, with significant gender differences), user behavior (men prioritize looks, women prioritize personality, but both lean towards entertainment rather than serious dating), recommendation algorithms (personalization over simple recommendations), retention (tied to likes and matches, harder to improve for men), monetization (men pay for more likes), and user demographics (younger users prioritize looks, older users prioritize personality). The author argues that a dating app's success lies in precise personalization and effective retention strategies, not complex algorithms or features.

(blog.luap.info)

Misc

Arcan 0.7 Released: The All-Tomato Desktop Update Arrives

2024-12-26

Arcan 0.7 Released: The All-Tomato Desktop Update Arrives

Arcan 0.7 marks the end of the second phase of the 'anarchy on the desktop' project and the beginning of the final phase. This release focuses on bug fixes and improvements to Lash#Cat9 and Xarcan. Lash#Cat9, a Lua-based command-line environment, adds features such as a Debug Adapter Protocol implementation and an interactive spreadsheet. Xarcan allows for custom window managers, utilizing Arcan as a display driver and enabling interoperability with X servers. Arcan 0.7 aims to improve performance and security, with future versions planned to feature more flexible remote programming and simpler device connection.

(arcan-fe.com)

Development

RamaLama: Running AI Models as Easily as Docker

2025-01-31

RamaLama: Running AI Models as Easily as Docker

RamaLama is a command-line tool designed to simplify the local running and management of AI models. Leveraging OCI container technology, it automatically detects GPU support and pulls models from registries like Hugging Face and Ollama. Users avoid complex system configuration; simple commands run chatbots or REST APIs. RamaLama supports Podman and Docker, offering convenient model aliases for enhanced usability.

(github.com)

AI containerization

77 Days, 3877 Miles: A Cyclist's Epic Journey Down the Eastern Divide Trail

2025-01-15

In the fall of 2024, zygomorph completed an epic 77-day bicycle journey covering 3,877 miles (6,239 km) along the US portion of the Eastern Divide Trail. From Maine to Florida, this detailed journal chronicles his adventure, filled with stunning scenery, challenging terrain, and unforgettable experiences. Each day is meticulously documented, rich with vibrant descriptions and photos, making for a compelling tale of outdoor exploration.

(www.crazyguyonabike.com)

Misc bikepacking long-distance cycling outdoor adventure bicycle touring

PgDog: A High-Performance PostgreSQL Transaction Pool and Logical Replication Manager

2025-05-26

PgDog: A High-Performance PostgreSQL Transaction Pool and Logical Replication Manager

PgDog, written in Rust, is a fast, secure, and scalable transaction pooler and logical replication manager for PostgreSQL, capable of handling hundreds of databases and hundreds of thousands of connections. It features database sharding, load balancing with health checks and failover, transaction and session pooling for efficient client connection management. Monitoring is facilitated by OpenMetrics, and it includes a CSV parser and logical replication support for streamlined data ingestion and database sharding.

(github.com)

Development Database Sharding

Arbital Shuts Down: The End of an AI Safety Research Organization

2024-12-27

Arbital, an organization focused on AI safety research, recently announced its closure. This news sent shockwaves through the AI safety community. Known for its rigorous research and forward-thinking perspectives, Arbital's closure represents a significant loss to the field. While Arbital hasn't publicly disclosed the reasons for its closure, industry insiders speculate it may be related to funding issues or a shift in research direction. Arbital's closure serves as a reminder of the many challenges facing AI safety research, requiring more resources and sustained effort.

(arbital.com)

AI Artificial intelligence research

Musk's DOGE Agency Faces Racism Scandal and Data Security Concerns

2025-02-07

Musk's DOGE Agency Faces Racism Scandal and Data Security Concerns

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is embroiled in controversy over allegations of racism and unauthorized access to sensitive government data. A key employee with access to the Treasury Department's payment system resigned following the surfacing of racist social media posts. While DOGE claims its mission is to improve government efficiency, its actions have sparked outrage from Democrats and unions who argue its access to Treasury and Office of Personnel Management data poses significant security risks and conflicts of interest. Court intervention has limited DOGE's access, but the controversy continues, raising serious questions about the legality and transparency of its operations.

(www.forbes.com)

Tech

Tesla's Reign in China: Power, Lawsuits, and Silence

2025-02-12

Tesla's Reign in China: Power, Lawsuits, and Silence

Tesla's success in the Chinese market is inextricably linked to its aggressive suppression of critics. This article exposes numerous instances where Tesla sued car owners and media outlets in China, almost always winning. It details how Tesla's connections with high-ranking Chinese officials secured preferential treatment and policies. The case of Zhang Yazhou, a car owner sued and defeated for publicly questioning Tesla's brake system, highlights concerns about Tesla using legal means to silence critics and harm consumer rights. This underscores Tesla's unique business model in China and the intertwined relationship between power and capital in influencing business operations and public opinion.

(apnews.com)

Tech Legal Battles

EU OS: A Common Linux Distro for the Public Sector (But Not an EU Project)

2025-06-09

EU OS: A Common Linux Distro for the Public Sector (But Not an EU Project)

EU OS isn't an official European Union project, but it should be. It's a proof-of-concept Fedora-based Linux distribution using KDE Plasma and bootable containers, designed for public sector organizations. Its value lies in providing a common base OS with options for layered modifications (national, regional, organizational). This ensures a consistent desktop environment, user management, and data handling. EU OS also partners with HackDays and endof10.org, promoting Linux adoption.

(eu-os.eu)

Development Public Sector

Brazilian Court Orders Apple to Allow Alternative App Stores on iOS

2025-03-07

Brazilian Court Orders Apple to Allow Alternative App Stores on iOS

A Brazilian court has ordered Apple to allow alternative app stores on iOS within 90 days. The ruling stems from a 2022 complaint filed by Mercado Livre. While Apple argues this compromises user privacy and security and plans to appeal, the court deemed that similar compliance in other countries hasn't caused significant harm. This echoes the EU's Digital Markets Act, signifying growing global pressure on Apple to open its closed ecosystem.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech

Europe's Shift Away From Microsoft: Data Sovereignty Takes Center Stage

2025-06-28

Europe's Shift Away From Microsoft: Data Sovereignty Takes Center Stage

Amidst Microsoft's push to migrate Windows 10 users to Windows 11 and concerns about data security and sovereignty, several European governments and organizations are switching to Linux. The article highlights US government interference with data and the potential influence of political pressure on Microsoft services, driving Europe's pursuit of technological independence. Examples include France's Gendarmerie successfully migrating to Ubuntu Linux and Denmark's plan to abandon Windows and Office. This trend reflects Europe's emphasis on data security and sovereignty, and its concerns about reliance on American tech companies.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech De-Microsoft

Solving a Variant of N-Queens in Haskell: Backtracking, Optimization, and Benchmarks

2025-06-24

This blog post details solving a variant of the N-Queens puzzle found on LinkedIn using Haskell. The puzzle involves placing N queens on a colored N x N board such that each row, column, and color region contains exactly one queen, with no two queens diagonally adjacent. The author explores several optimization techniques, including backtracking, elimination, early dead-end detection, and candidate ranking. The resulting Haskell solution is benchmarked against an SMT solver, demonstrating significant performance improvements through efficient data structures and algorithmic refinements. The code elegantly handles the problem's complexities, showcasing Haskell's strengths in functional programming.

(imiron.io)

Development N-Queens

Ketchup Entertainment Snags Warner Bros.' Shelved 'Coyote Vs. Acme'

2025-03-31

Ketchup Entertainment Snags Warner Bros.' Shelved 'Coyote Vs. Acme'

Ketchup Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to Warner Bros.' shelved animated film, 'Coyote Vs. Acme,' for a reported $50 million. The live-action/animated hybrid, starring Will Forte, John Cena, and Lana Condor, follows Wile E. Coyote's lawsuit against Acme Corp. Initially shelved due to Warner Bros.' cost-cutting measures, the film's acquisition marks a significant investment for Ketchup Entertainment and signals a theatrical release in 2026.

(deadline.com)

Game film acquisition Looney Tunes

TSMC Employees' Surprisingly High Fertility Rate: One in Fifty Taiwanese Babies is a 'TSMC Baby'

2024-12-17

TSMC Employees' Surprisingly High Fertility Rate: One in Fifty Taiwanese Babies is a 'TSMC Baby'

The surprisingly high fertility rate among employees of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's leading semiconductor manufacturer, has drawn significant attention. While TSMC employees constitute only 0.3% of Taiwan's population, they account for 1.8% of all babies born in Taiwan—meaning one in every fifty Taiwanese babies is a 'TSMC baby'. This phenomenon is attributed to TSMC's family-friendly policies, including childcare services from 7 am to 8 pm, flexible work arrangements, and generous maternity leave. The company's culture, fostering positive peer interactions and encouraging parenthood, also plays a vital role, creating a positive feedback loop that boosts birth rates.

(www.boomcampaign.org)

Misc fertility rate family-friendly policies

Engelbart's Five-Key Keyset: The Mouse's Perfect Partner

2025-06-15

Engelbart's Five-Key Keyset: The Mouse's Perfect Partner

Concurrently with inventing the computer mouse, Doug Engelbart and his team at SRI created a one-handed input device called the "five-key keyset," designed for efficient single-handed text editing and command entry in conjunction with the mouse. Inspired by telegraph operators and stenographers, users combined presses of five keys to input letters and commands, while mouse buttons functioned as Shift and Ctrl keys. This groundbreaking interface, showcased in the 1968 "Mother of All Demos," offered a new approach to high-performance user interfaces, enabling fast and efficient text editing even while manipulating the mouse with one hand.

(dougengelbart.org)

Tech mouse five-key keyset

Stunning WebGL Water Simulation: Ray Tracing and Heightfield

2025-05-10

Evan Wallace's WebGL water simulation demo is breathtaking. It uses ray tracing for realistic reflections and refractions, combined with analytic ambient occlusion and heightfield water simulation, creating a lifelike, shimmering water surface. Users can interactively create ripples, rotate the camera, and even control lighting and gravity. This demo requires a powerful graphics card and up-to-date drivers, but the visual results are stunning, showcasing the capabilities of WebGL.

(madebyevan.com)

Development Water Simulation

dk coder: Empowering Non-Programmers to Build Secure Apps

2025-06-16

dk coder: Empowering Non-Programmers to Build Secure Apps

The dk coder is a script runner and cross-compiler designed for users with limited programming experience to build substantial, safety-focused applications. Its ease of use, portability, and IDE support tackles the 'README-itis' problem: lengthy READMEs deter users from installing, resulting in lost users. A Quick Walkthrough Guide introduces dk scripts with simple examples. Developers should consult the dk Runtime for supported Windows, macOS, and Linux versions. For scripting, refer to dk Parties for project organization and keep the dk Libraries and dk Macros manuals handy. Experienced OCaml users should check out the Coming From OCaml guide.

(diskuv.com)

Development script runner cross-compiler ease of use

Pentagon awards OpenAI $200M contract for 'frontier AI'

2025-06-17

Pentagon awards OpenAI $200M contract for 'frontier AI'

The US Department of Defense has awarded OpenAI a contract worth up to $200 million to develop "frontier AI" capabilities for national security. While OpenAI emphasizes its technology won't be used for weapons, the contract's mention of "warfighting" and recent appointments of OpenAI executives to the US Army Reserve have raised concerns. The collaboration aims to explore AI applications in healthcare and cybersecurity, among others, but details remain scarce. OpenAI's past work with military contractor Anduril further fuels scrutiny of this partnership.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech AI military applications defense contract

Upspin Shutting Down: Community Too Small to Sustain

2025-02-15

Upspin, a distributed storage system designed to foster data sharing, is shutting down its central infrastructure—the keyserver—on May 6th due to insufficient community engagement. While Upspin offered strong end-to-end encryption and ease of use, along with a backlog of valuable improvements, the maintenance effort outweighs the current community size. The developers thank all contributors and leave the door open for future possibilities.

(groups.google.com)

Development distributed storage project shutdown

Dandelions: Weed or Wonder?

2025-03-18

Dandelions: Weed or Wonder?

Often reviled as tenacious weeds, dandelions offer a surprising array of benefits. This article explores the multifaceted nature of the common dandelion, highlighting its nutritional value and culinary uses. Through personal foraging experiences and interviews with experts, the author reveals dandelions' potential as a readily available, healthy food source. While acknowledging their invasive potential, the piece ultimately champions a more nuanced perspective, suggesting that the question isn't whether to appreciate dandelions, but rather, when and where their presence is beneficial.

(baynature.org)

Misc Dandelions Foraging

Action!: A Retro IDE for the Atari 8-bit

2025-09-05

Action!: A Retro IDE for the Atari 8-bit

This article revisits Action!, a compiled language for the Atari 8-bit computer. Created by Clinton Parker, Action! was optimized for the 6502 CPU and featured an integrated development environment (IDE) including a monitor, compiler, text editor, and debugger—a rarity for 8-bit systems. While less advanced than C or Pascal, its speed, innovative editor (with features like scrolling and split-screen), and tight integration made it stand out. The author recounts their experience acquiring and using Action!, discussing its limitations and how add-ons like Action! RunTime and Action! ToolKit partially addressed them. Action! primarily saw use in hobbyist and magazine software.

(www.goto10retro.com)

Development

Visionary Artist Robert Wilson Dies at 83

2025-08-02

Visionary Artist Robert Wilson Dies at 83

Robert Wilson, a groundbreaking artist celebrated for his highly visual and stylized theatrical productions, passed away at 83. His death, following a brief illness, was announced by the Watermill Center, the arts organization he founded. Wilson's work, ranging from the iconic opera 'Einstein on the Beach' with Philip Glass to collaborations with Marina Abramović, defied traditional theatrical norms, blending music, dance, and visual art into epic, often lengthy performances. A prolific visual artist in his own right, Wilson's paintings, sculptures, and installations graced museums worldwide. His legacy extends beyond his artistic creations to the Watermill Center, a vital hub for the arts he established. Wilson's innovative approach to stagecraft and visual storytelling will continue to inspire future generations.

(www.theartnewspaper.com)

Art Visual Arts

Snow Signs: A Cross-Cultural Journey Through Time

2024-12-25

Snow Signs: A Cross-Cultural Journey Through Time

This article explores the diverse ways different cultures around the world have represented 'snow' in writing and symbolism, from the Shang oracle bone script in ancient China to the 'wind, flowers, snow, and moon' motif on ancient Chinese wine jugs, and from the Naxi Dongba script to the Inuktitut language's detailed descriptions of various snow types. The article also delves into snow-related words and symbols in ancient Greek, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Mayan civilizations, showcasing the unique understandings and expressions of snow across cultures, highlighting their cultural contexts and historical origins.

(viewsproject.wordpress.com)

Misc writing systems cross-cultural comparison snow

SparkCat: Crypto-Stealing Malware Lurking in App Stores

2025-02-05

SparkCat: Crypto-Stealing Malware Lurking in App Stores

ESET researchers uncovered a cross-platform malware dubbed "SparkCat" hidden within Google Play and the App Store, affecting over 242,000 downloads. The malware embeds a malicious SDK, using OCR to identify images of cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases in users' photo galleries and sending them to a C2 server. Attackers employed a custom C2 communication protocol written in Rust, increasing analysis difficulty. The malware aims to steal cryptocurrency and utilizes multiple techniques to evade security measures.

(securelist.com)

Tech app store security

Trofaf: A Super Simple Live Static Blog Generator in Go

2024-12-19

Trofaf: A Super Simple Live Static Blog Generator in Go

Trofaf is a super-simple live static blog generator written in Go. Requiring only three directories (posts, public, templates), it generates a static website from markdown files and front matter, automatically updating whenever changes are detected. It offers command-line options for customization and prioritizes simplicity over extensive features, making it ideal for users seeking a straightforward blogging solution.

(github.com)

Development Static Blog Generator Blog Engine

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

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