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GLP-1 Drugs: The Unexpected Economic Revolution

2025-03-01

GLP-1 Drugs: The Unexpected Economic Revolution

A new weight-loss medication, GLP-1, is silently reshaping the global economy. It not only helps people lose weight but also regulates impulse control. This is causing a massive disruption to industries reliant on impulsive spending, such as restaurants, entertainment, and advertising, forcing them to adapt. Some companies are already changing, converting malls into medical centers and shifting advertising strategies to long-term partnerships. However, this transformation also risks widening societal inequality due to varying access to the drug. This is a profound economic and social shift with far-reaching consequences.

(wildfirelabs.substack.com)

Tech economic revolution impulse control

Age in South Korea: More Than Just Numbers

2025-06-11

Age in South Korea: More Than Just Numbers

In South Korea, age isn't just a number; it's a cornerstone of social interaction. Instead of asking age directly, Koreans often inquire about birth year. This stems from their unique age reckoning system, employing both international and Korean age. Korean age begins at one at birth and increases every January 1st, often exceeding international age by one or two years. This leads to a complex social hierarchy and etiquette, with older individuals commanding greater respect, reflected even in the language's multiple levels of formality. While South Korea officially adopted the international age standard in June 2023, Korean age remains deeply ingrained, impacting aspects like the legal drinking age. Understanding this nuanced age culture is vital for navigating social interactions in South Korea.

(bryanhogan.com)

Misc Korean Culture Age Social Etiquette

Wayland's Fragmentation: A Cross-Desktop Compatibility Nightmare

2025-06-17

Wayland's design omits basic functionality enjoyed by X11, Windows, and macOS applications for decades—like window positioning and mouse cursor control. This wasn't an oversight; it was intentional. Further compounding the issue is fragmentation: GNOME, KDE, and other compositors interpret Wayland protocols differently. Application developers can't rely on consistent implementations, leading to unsustainable support burdens, especially for niche applications on already-fragmented Linux. Worse, these problems reside in Wayland protocols, window managers, and compositors—beyond the reach of application developers. We hope the Wayland ecosystem matures, but we aren't there yet.

(www.kicad.org)

Development Cross-platform compatibility

Punch Cards: A Surprisingly Relevant Piece of Digital Humanities History

2025-02-12

This article explores the digitization and reuse of punch cards for knitting machines. Punch cards, a fascinating binary data storage format, are still used today. The article details methods for converting punch card images into data using computer vision and recreating punch cards using CNC machines. The author stresses the importance of high-quality scans and the need for standardized metadata to better preserve and utilize this valuable historical material and foster the transmission and development of knitting technology. The article also highlights the role of community-supported archives in preserving this legacy.

(blog.archive.org)

Misc Punch Cards Knitting Machines

Musk's Shadow Government: How DOGE Is Reshaping Federal Agencies

2025-02-07

Musk's Shadow Government: How DOGE Is Reshaping Federal Agencies

Under President Trump's authority, Elon Musk has deployed a clandestine team, dubbed the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), to infiltrate federal agencies. This team, comprised of employees from Musk's companies and allies, along with newly recruited young staffers, is seizing control from career civil servants and commandeering computer systems. Their actions have already disrupted numerous federal programs affecting millions. ProPublica's investigation reveals the identities and activities of several DOGE members, many attempting to conceal their roles. While the White House claims their actions are legal, concerns remain about transparency, accountability, and the growing influence of Musk within the government.

(projects.propublica.org)

Tech

The Apathy Epidemic: Why Doesn't Anyone Care Anymore?

2025-01-15

The Apathy Epidemic: Why Doesn't Anyone Care Anymore?

This rant explores the pervasive apathy in modern society. From malfunctioning software and poorly designed public infrastructure to everyday inconsiderateness, the author argues that a lack of care is rampant. While not necessarily malicious, this indifference stems from a failure to exert even minimal effort to improve things. The author laments this state of affairs and yearns for a community where caring is the norm, reflecting on their own attempts to inspire positive change and the challenges of living among those who seem unconcerned.

(grantslatton.com)

Misc apathy

Vertical AI's Bitter Pill: The Rise of Horizontal AI

2025-01-21

This post explores the competition between vertical AI applications (AI optimized for specific domains) and horizontal AI applications (more general-purpose, scalable AI). Using personal experience and Hamilton Helmer's Seven Powers framework, the author argues that as model performance improves, vertical AI applications struggle to maintain a competitive edge. Except for a rare few possessing exclusive and essential resources, most vertical AI applications will eventually be overtaken by superior horizontal AI. Horizontal AI, akin to a remote coworker, is easily integrated, cheaper, and continuously improves performance through model advancements. The author uses their AcademicGPT project as a case study, showing how a vertical AI application was surpassed by more general horizontal AI models.

(lukaspetersson.com)

AI vertical AI horizontal AI

Creating and Installing a Self-Signed TLS Certificate and CA

2025-02-17

Creating and Installing a Self-Signed TLS Certificate and CA

This article demonstrates how to create a self-signed TLS certificate and Certificate Authority (CA) on a Linux system and install it to address the issue of browsers not trusting self-signed certificates. It details the steps for generating private keys, certificate signing requests, signing certificates, and installing the CA certificate on Ubuntu and Arch Linux systems. Instructions for importing the CA certificate into Firefox and Chromium browsers are also included. By creating your own CA and adding it to the trusted CA list, man-in-the-middle attacks can be effectively avoided, ensuring the security of your private network.

(previnder.com)

Development TLS certificate self-signed certificate CA certificate

DockView: Zero-Dependency Docking Layout Manager for React, Vue, and TypeScript

2025-01-11

DockView: Zero-Dependency Docking Layout Manager for React, Vue, and TypeScript

DockView is a zero-dependency docking layout manager supporting tabs, groups, grids, and split views. It works with React, Vue, and vanilla TypeScript. Features include serialization/deserialization, theming, drag-and-drop, popout windows, floating groups, a comprehensive API, and high test coverage. Built with security in mind, DockView uses GitHub Actions for verified publishing and builds. It boasts excellent documentation and live examples, making it a powerful and easy-to-use layout management solution.

(github.com)

Development Layout Manager

Zero-Sum Games: It's All About Information Warfare

2025-02-24

Zero-Sum Games: It's All About Information Warfare

In zero-sum games like poker and quant trading, information asymmetry is key. The game-theoretic optimal (GTO) strategy isn't always best, as it assumes all opponents play rationally. Success hinges on identifying exploitable patterns in opponent behavior while concealing your own strategy. High-frequency trading firms might profit from predictable patterns in competitor algorithms, while those algorithms defend by adding randomness to their trades. This mirrors poker's table image; players can mislead opponents by creating a false pattern of behavior, ultimately profiting. Zero-sum games are fundamentally information warfare, not just a pure strategy contest.

(rohan.ga)

Tech zero-sum game quant trading

Helion: A Modern Doom Engine Redefining Performance

2025-06-12

Helion: A Modern Doom Engine Redefining Performance

Helion is a modern Doom engine built from the ground up, prioritizing performance. It utilizes static rendering and a state management system to overcome the rendering challenges of complex maps, enabling smooth gameplay even on older hardware previously incapable of handling them. Unlike traditional BSP tree rendering, Helion leverages GPU resources efficiently, resulting in massive performance gains. It supports various WAD formats and requires only Windows 7 and an OpenGL 3.3 compatible GPU.

(github.com)

Game

Secure and Efficient Rust-based RDP Client: IronRDP

2025-03-21

Secure and Efficient Rust-based RDP Client: IronRDP

IronRDP is a collection of Rust crates providing a secure implementation of the Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). It supports various codecs including uncompressed raw bitmaps, RLE, RDP 6.0 bitmap compression, and Microsoft RemoteFX. A full-fledged asynchronous RDP client is included, along with a blocking example for easier integration. The project also details how to enable RemoteFX on the server for enhanced graphics performance.

(github.com)

Development

Build Your Own Unsettling Vetinari Clock: A DIY Hack

2025-09-05

Inspired by Lord Vetinari's unsettlingly erratic clock from the Discworld series, a maker built a DIY clock with an irregularly ticking second hand. The project uses an ATtiny25 or PIC12F683 microcontroller and features open-source hardware and software designs. Clever firmware controls the clock, creating a seemingly random movement pattern over 32 seconds while maintaining accurate timekeeping. This fun project showcases embedded systems programming and provides complete hardware and software resources for replication and modification.

(www.waitingforfriday.com)

Hardware

Euclid Spots a Rare Einstein Ring in a Nearby Galaxy

2025-03-02

Euclid Spots a Rare Einstein Ring in a Nearby Galaxy

The European Space Agency's Euclid telescope has discovered a perfect Einstein ring – a ring-shaped optical phenomenon created by gravitational lensing – in the galaxy NGC 6505, a mere 590 million light-years from Earth. This is incredibly rare, as Einstein rings typically occur in much more distant galaxies. The discovery not only confirms Einstein's General Theory of Relativity but also provides valuable data for studying dark matter and stellar composition in the galaxy's center. Euclid's exceptionally long observation time and high-resolution imaging made this astonishing discovery possible.

(www.euclid-ec.org)

Tech

TinyKVM: Blazing Fast Single-Process Sandbox

2025-03-14

TinyKVM: Blazing Fast Single-Process Sandbox

A PhD student and game developer, alongside working on libriscv and an untitled game, created TinyKVM, a KVM-based single-process sandbox. TinyKVM runs static Linux ELF programs with near-native performance and incredibly low call overhead (around 2us). Leveraging hugepages for performance boosts, it supports GDB debugging and efficient VM resets, making it suitable for sandboxing Linux programs, even large language models (LLMs). TinyKVM boasts a minimal codebase, prioritizing security with a minimized attack surface. Future plans include Intel TDX/AMD SEV and AArch64 architecture support.

(info.varnish-software.com)

Development

Git's Large File Killer: The End of Git LFS is Nigh

2025-08-16

Large files have long been a thorn in Git's side. Git LFS, while a solution, introduced new complexities and costs. However, Git itself is gradually addressing this issue. The latest Git releases feature partial clones, offering the same benefits as Git LFS—fast clones and small checkouts—without the need for extra tools or server-side costs. Even more exciting, Git's large object promisors are under development, promising to eventually obsolete Git LFS entirely, making large file management simpler and more efficient. No more large file headaches!

(tylercipriani.com)

Development

Reverse Engineering Solos Smart Glasses: Displaying Arbitrary Images on a Retro Gadget

2025-09-04

A hacker successfully reverse-engineered the Solos smart glasses released in 2018 and managed to display arbitrary images on their screen. By analyzing Bluetooth packet captures, they discovered the communication protocol between the glasses and the smartphone app. Using a Python script, they RLE-encoded image data and sent it to the glasses, successfully displaying custom images. While some protocol details remain a mystery, this work demonstrates the customizability of the glasses and opens up possibilities for future development, such as displaying email subjects, weather forecasts, and more.

(jfloren.net)

Hardware

OpenBSD Major Update: FILE Object Structure Becomes Opaque

2025-07-21

OpenBSD recently underwent a significant system update making the internal structure of the FILE object in its standard input/output library opaque. This means programs can no longer directly access the internal structure of the FILE object. The change is far-reaching, affecting libc and many libraries that depend on it, including libcrypto, libtls, and libssl. To ease the transition, some helper symbols are temporarily retained but will be removed in the future. Developers are strongly encouraged to use a snapshot upgrade to avoid potential problems.

(undeadly.org)

Development system update

Threads: The Quietly Dominant X Replacement

2025-08-24

Threads: The Quietly Dominant X Replacement

Threads, Meta's text-based social media platform linked to Instagram and Facebook, has quietly amassed 400 million monthly active users, rivaling X (formerly Twitter). Its success stems from a focus on community engagement, a calmer atmosphere free from the drama plaguing X, and its ease of use. Interviews with several users highlight how its novelty and community-centric approach fostered vibrant groups, particularly around books and sports. While lacking some X features, Threads' scale, Meta's backing, and ActivityPub integration position it as a strong competitor with a potentially more decentralized future than Twitter ever had.

(mashable.com)

Tech

Building Internet Resilience Clubs to Prepare for Catastrophic Outages

2025-06-16

War, geopolitics, and climate change are increasing the frequency and severity of internet disruptions in Europe. Valerie Aurora proposes forming "Internet Resiliency Clubs" as a grassroots solution. These volunteer groups utilize inexpensive LoRa radios and open-source Meshtastic software to establish localized communication networks independent of centralized infrastructure. By leveraging their technical skills and personal connections, these clubs aim to rapidly restore internet connectivity during crises, addressing the shortcomings of governmental and corporate preparedness. The article details the club's formation, required equipment (LoRa radios, Meshtastic software, power banks, solar panels, etc.), usage, and shares lessons learned from Ukraine's experience in network resilience.

(bowshock.nl)

Tech community organizing

Near-Catastrophic OpenZFS Bug Highlights the Power of Rust's Type System

2025-07-11

Near-Catastrophic OpenZFS Bug Highlights the Power of Rust's Type System

A subtle yet devastating bug in OpenZFS's core disk allocation function was recently discovered. The bug, a simple type error resulting in the wrong size being returned, could silently overwrite data. It took nearly two days to track down. While the bug wasn't present in any released version, it spurred reflection on the limitations of static analysis in C and the advantages of Rust's type system. Rust's ability to define custom types (like `PhysicalSize` and `AllocatedSize`) would have prevented this. The author argues that relying solely on programmer perfection is flawed; leveraging tools and language features to improve code quality and mitigate hard-to-detect, high-impact bugs is key.

(despairlabs.com)

Development

Japan's New Law Challenges Apple's iOS Browser Monopoly

2025-08-06

Japan's New Law Challenges Apple's iOS Browser Monopoly

Japan's newly enacted Smartphone Act prohibits Apple's long-standing ban on third-party browser engines on iOS, mandating that Apple allow browsers like Firefox and Chrome to use their own engines instead of forcing them to use WebKit. This legislation aims to foster browser competition on iOS and ensure web apps have access to the APIs and performance needed to compete with native apps. The act also requires fair access to functionally equivalent OS APIs and a choice screen for browsers promptly after first activation. While the act is expected to take effect by December 2025, enforcement is likely to be a lengthy and complex process.

(open-web-advocacy.org)

Tech

FFmpegKit Officially Retired: Time Constraints and Legal Challenges Force Closure

2025-02-18

After years of development, the FFmpegKit video processing library is officially retired. The author, citing time constraints and the legal complexities surrounding FFmpeg licensing, can no longer maintain the project. Version 6.0, the last release, will be removed from download after April 1st, 2025. Users are advised to build FFmpegKit locally or find alternative solutions. This highlights the challenges of maintaining open-source projects and the importance of navigating complex licensing agreements.

(tanersener.medium.com)

Development

Adversarial Policies Defeat Superhuman Go AIs

2024-12-24

Researchers achieved a >97% win rate against the state-of-the-art Go AI, KataGo, by training adversarial policies. These adversaries didn't win by playing Go well, but by tricking KataGo into making critical blunders. The attack transferred zero-shot to other superhuman Go AIs and was simple enough for human experts to replicate without algorithmic assistance. The vulnerability persisted even after KataGo was adversarially trained to defend against it, highlighting surprising failure modes in even superhuman AI systems.

(arxiv.org)

AI adversarial policies AI vulnerabilities Go AI

The Royal Navy's Century-Long Battle Against Lightning Rods

2025-03-07

The Royal Navy's Century-Long Battle Against Lightning Rods

In the mid-18th century, Benjamin Franklin elucidated the nature of lightning and advocated for lightning rods. Yet, a century later, the British Navy remained unconvinced. Dr. William Snow Harris invented a shipborne lightning rod system and demonstrated its principles through an ingenious booklet with interactive, gold-leafed illustrations. Despite his decades-long efforts, backed by data, experiments, and key lightning incidents, the Navy resisted. Only after political maneuvering was Harris finally successful in 1842, getting his lightning rods installed on all Royal Navy vessels. His victory was short-lived, however; the advent of ironclad ships rendered them obsolete. This story highlights the enduring struggle between scientific discovery and political decision-making.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Tech lightning rod Royal Navy

Reverse Engineering Shenmue's Realistic Sun Positioning

2025-03-12

Reverse Engineering Shenmue's Realistic Sun Positioning

This post details a reverse engineering exploration of the code behind the realistic sun simulation in Sega's classic Dreamcast game, Shenmue. By analyzing functions responsible for calculating sun position, the author unveils how the developers cleverly approximated the sun's location using Earth's rotation and axial tilt. Comparisons between Shenmue and Shenmue II highlight subtle algorithmic differences. This investigation showcases the dedication to detail in game development and the power of reverse engineering in understanding software logic and developer intent.

(wulinshu.com)

Game Shenmue

EU's DMA Opens the Floodgates for Alternative iOS App Stores

2025-03-14

EU's DMA Opens the Floodgates for Alternative iOS App Stores

The European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) has unleashed a wave of alternative app stores for iOS users in the EU. Developers are seizing the opportunity, launching options like AltStore PAL, Setapp Mobile, Epic Games Store, Aptoide, and Mobivention, offering users choices beyond Apple's App Store. These stores cater to diverse needs: AltStore PAL emphasizes open source and developer self-hosting; Setapp Mobile offers curated subscription apps; Epic Games Store and Aptoide focus on games; and Mobivention targets enterprise internal apps. While Apple charges fees, the DMA's impact has broken Apple's App Store monopoly, creating opportunities for users and developers alike.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech Alternative App Stores

The Spectacular Failure of Britain's Land Value Tax: A Cautionary Tale

2025-03-13

The Spectacular Failure of Britain's Land Value Tax: A Cautionary Tale

In the early 1900s, the British Liberal Party attempted to implement a land value tax, inspired by Henry George's theories, to solve local government funding crises. However, the initiative proved disastrous. Complex calculations, high administrative costs, and a crippling blow to the construction industry led to its repeal. The episode serves as a cautionary tale about the practical challenges of implementing a pure land value tax and the importance of considering administrative realities and economic impacts.

(worksinprogress.co)

Tech land value tax British history

Metamorphic Rocks: Messengers from Earth's Depths

2024-12-27

Metamorphic Rocks: Messengers from Earth's Depths

This essay explores the incredible journeys of metamorphic rocks. Starting as humble seabed sediments, these rocks are buried deep within the Earth's crust, undergoing intense heat and pressure that transforms them into new mineral forms. Their eventual return to the surface provides invaluable insights into the planet's deep interior. The author vividly describes this transformation as an epic journey, highlighting the importance of metamorphism in plate tectonics and the crucial role of water in the process. The story also contrasts the ease of exploring space with the challenges of accessing Earth's subsurface.

(aeon.co)

Tech metamorphic rocks Earth science Metamorphic rocks

Meta's Internal Emails Reveal Obsession with Beating GPT-4

2025-01-15

Meta's Internal Emails Reveal Obsession with Beating GPT-4

Leaked internal emails reveal Meta executives and researchers were fiercely focused on surpassing OpenAI's GPT-4 while developing Llama 3. Messages show a strong desire to outcompete rivals, even dismissing open-source competitors as insignificant. Their ambition led them to use the LibGen dataset, containing copyrighted works, for training, now resulting in multiple copyright lawsuits. While the released Llama 3 proved competitive with leading closed-source models, even outperforming some, Meta's aggressive tactics highlight the intense competition and risks in the AI race.

(techcrunch.com)

AI AI race

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