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Algorithmic Design with Grasshopper: A Visual Programming Tutorial

2025-05-08

Algorithmic Design with Grasshopper: A Visual Programming Tutorial

This tutorial introduces visual programming in Grasshopper, a plugin for Rhino 3D. Grasshopper allows algorithmic generation of geometry by connecting data and functions within a visual diagram. The tutorial covers the basics of creating points, lines, polylines, curves, and surfaces using various components and parameters. Learn to construct points using the 'Construct Point' component, create lines with the 'Line' component, and generate curves with the 'Interpolate' component, among others. This hands-on guide empowers designers to create complex 3D models efficiently.

(baharmon.github.io)

Design Visual Programming

AGI Arms Race: Avoiding Mutual Assured AI Malfunction (MAIM)

2025-03-06

AGI Arms Race: Avoiding Mutual Assured AI Malfunction (MAIM)

A policy paper by Eric Schmidt, Alexandr Wang, and Dan Hendrycks warns against a "Manhattan Project" style push for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), arguing that a US-led race for superintelligent AI could provoke fierce retaliation from China, potentially destabilizing international relations. They introduce the concept of Mutual Assured AI Malfunction (MAIM) and suggest a defensive strategy prioritizing deterring other countries from creating threatening AI. This involves expanding cyberattack capabilities, limiting adversaries' access to advanced AI chips and open-source models, rather than focusing on "winning the race to superintelligence." This contrasts with recent proposals for government-backed AGI development and marks a shift in Schmidt's previously expressed views.

(techcrunch.com)

AI

Tens of Thousands of High-Scoring Students Denied Access to Advanced Math

2025-08-03

Tens of Thousands of High-Scoring Students Denied Access to Advanced Math

A shocking discovery reveals that over half of the high-scoring students predicted to succeed in advanced math are denied access to those classes in North Carolina. Research shows that schools rely heavily on teacher recommendations instead of objective student achievement data, disproportionately impacting low-income and minority students. This practice wastes human potential and severely limits students' future prospects. While legislation now mandates the enrollment of high-scoring students, schools have circumvented the law, highlighting the deep-seated resistance to objective placement criteria. The study calls for a data-driven approach to ensure all high-potential students have equal opportunities.

(www.educationprogress.org)

Tech

Chrome 135: Fully Customizable `<select>` Elements with CSS

2025-03-31

Chrome 135: Fully Customizable `<select>` Elements with CSS

Chrome 135 brings a major update: full CSS customization of the `` element. Years in the making, this delivers a standardized, accessible, and stylable ``. Developers can now use the new `appearance: base-select` property to unlock rich customization features, including adding rich HTML content (like images and SVGs) to `` elements, without breaking older browsers. While parser changes exist, Chrome mitigates the risk of breaking existing websites with a Finch experiment. This update opens doors to create far more engaging and meaningful `` experiences.

(developer.chrome.com)

Development

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

Hacking Physics with a Napkin

2024-12-14

This article explores unconventional approaches to solving physics problems using simple estimation and dimensional analysis. The author demonstrates the power of these methods by calculating the speed of falling raindrops, the length of the E. coli genome, and the mass of a proton, among other examples. The article suggests this napkin-based approach can greatly enhance physics education and learning. Further techniques like Fermi estimation and random walks are introduced and applied to problems like estimating the E. coli genome length and determining the optimal speed for walking or running in the rain, showcasing their practicality.

(hapax.github.io)

Misc dimensional analysis Fermi estimation

Ada Lovelace's Program: A Legacy of Computing

2024-12-16

This article delves into Ada Lovelace's program for Babbage's Analytical Engine, designed to calculate Bernoulli numbers. It explains the mathematical background of Bernoulli numbers and the mechanics of Babbage's Analytical Engine. While never executed, Lovelace's program, with its rigorous approach, loops, and variable tracking, is considered the world's first complex program, foreshadowing many aspects of modern programming. The article analyzes bugs found within the program and discusses Lovelace's place in computing history, highlighting her contributions extending beyond mere calculation; she foresaw the computer's vast potential, surpassing her contemporaries.

(twobithistory.org)

AI Ada Lovelace Babbage Analytical Engine Bernoulli Numbers

First mRNA Vaccine Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Developed

2025-07-14

First mRNA Vaccine Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Developed

Researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Institute for Biological Research have leveraged COVID-19 vaccine technology to create the world's first mRNA-based vaccine against a deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacterium. The vaccine, targeting *Yersinia pestis* (the cause of bubonic plague), demonstrated 100% protection against pneumonic plague in animal models. This groundbreaking technology holds promise for combating other lethal bacteria, offering a new hope in global public health. The study is featured in *Advanced Science*.

(medicalxpress.com)

Tech antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Scream-Activated Smart Switch: A Pointless Yet Fun Project

2025-05-10

Tired of yelling at Siri or Alexa? This project details a scream-activated smart switch. Using a Sonoff S31 smart switch and an INMP441 microphone, along with ESPHome and Arduino code, the author created a system that controls the switch by detecting sound frequency and amplitude. While using ESPHome might be overkill, the project is straightforward, requiring no internet connection. Future iterations plan to improve hardware selection and explore further applications, such as controlling garage doors or changing light colors.

(rulethepla.net)

Hardware voice control

Sensirion SGP41 TVOC Sensor Accuracy Test: Relative Changes, Not Absolute Values

2024-12-15

Sensirion SGP41 TVOC Sensor Accuracy Test: Relative Changes, Not Absolute Values

AirGradient conducted accuracy and precision tests on the Sensirion SGP41 TVOC sensor used in their air quality monitors. The tests revealed that the sensor effectively tracks relative changes in TVOC levels – detecting increases or decreases – but cannot provide precise absolute values. This is due to limitations inherent in low-cost VOC sensors, including lack of specificity, cross-sensitivity, environmental sensitivity, and baseline drift. While the sensor cannot precisely measure TVOC concentrations, it still offers practical value in identifying TVOC sources and for environmental monitoring. Future testing by AirGradient will explore sensor performance under various conditions to further understand its capabilities and limitations.

(www.airgradient.com)

Hardware TVOC sensor air quality monitoring sensor accuracy

Google Pixel 4a Battery Overheating Recall

2025-03-10

Google Pixel 4a Battery Overheating Recall

Google has launched a battery performance improvement program for its Pixel 4a phone to address overheating risks. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission confirmed the update introduces new battery management features to mitigate the risk of overheating, preventing potential fire or burn hazards. Not all Pixel 4a devices are affected; users can check their device's eligibility through a tool provided by Google. Affected users are eligible for a $100 Google Store discount code or a $50 payment.

(9to5google.com)

Hardware Battery Overheating

Running Pong in Browser Tabs

2025-02-20

Running Pong in Browser Tabs

A developer ingeniously runs Pong across 240 browser tabs! Using AppleScript to create a tab grid, Web Workers for efficient background updates, and Broadcast Channel for inter-tab communication, they render the game on tab favicons. This project showcases the power of browser APIs and creative problem-solving.

(eieio.games)

Development creative coding

Internet Archive: A Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

2024-12-22

The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization dedicated to universal access to knowledge. It provides a massive digital library of websites (via the Wayback Machine), books, movies, music, and more, offering a free and easily accessible resource for researchers, educators, and the public. Users can freely browse and download these materials, exploring the history and cultural diversity of the internet.

(archive.org)

Misc Internet Archive digital library

Microdosing Ozempic: Hollywood's Latest Anti-Aging Secret?

2025-02-10

Microdosing Ozempic: Hollywood's Latest Anti-Aging Secret?

Hollywood is buzzing about a new trend: microdosing Ozempic and other GLP-1 receptor agonists. Instead of using these diabetes drugs for weight loss, celebrities are taking lower-than-prescribed doses to harness their anti-inflammatory properties, improved cognitive function, and potential benefits in preventing diseases like Alzheimer's. Doctors report reduced inflammation, improved mental clarity, and fewer aches and pains with microdosing, while avoiding the unpleasant side effects of higher doses. This approach also offers cost savings. The trend reflects a broader focus on longevity and anti-aging strategies.

(www.hollywoodreporter.com)

Tech microdosing anti-aging

The Systemic Problem of Academic Dishonesty in Computer Science Courses

2025-05-31

This article uses the author's experience combating plagiarism in undergraduate computer science courses to illustrate a systemic issue: widespread student plagiarism. While instructors recognize plagiarism's severity, factors like lack of institutional support, overwhelming workload, and potential negative repercussions deter most from actively addressing it. The author argues the solution lies in shifting incentives to make plagiarism costly, streamlining plagiarism detection, and providing more support for instructors.

(kevinchen.co)

Development plagiarism detection

A Gentle Introduction to Graph Neural Networks: Unveiling the Power of Graph Data

2024-12-20

A Gentle Introduction to Graph Neural Networks: Unveiling the Power of Graph Data

This article provides an accessible introduction to Graph Neural Networks (GNNs). It begins by explaining graph data and its real-world applications, such as social networks, molecular structures, and text. The article then delves into the core components of GNNs, including message passing, pooling operations, and various types of graph data. By building a modern GNN model step-by-step, it clarifies the role and motivation behind each component's design. Finally, it offers an interactive GNN playground, allowing readers to experience firsthand the construction and prediction process of a GNN model, deepening their understanding.

(distill.pub)

AI Graph Neural Networks Graph Data

My Experience with Claude 3.6: A Quantum Leap in AI Assistance

2025-01-02

Since Anthropic released Claude 3.6, my usage has skyrocketed. It's a significant improvement across the board, particularly in accuracy and reliability. I analyzed my usage data, showing a multi-hundred percent increase in conversations, messages, and words inputted. Claude helps me solve problems, from overcoming anxiety and decision paralysis to sparking creativity in exploring ideas, coding, and writing. It's even fun to interact with, like conversing with a brilliant scholar. Claude 3.6 is more than a tool; it's a highly capable partner that boosts productivity and expands horizons.

(borretti.me)

AI Productivity Tool

Microsoft Killing Off its Remote Desktop App

2025-03-11

Microsoft Killing Off its Remote Desktop App

Microsoft is ending support for its legacy Remote Desktop app for Windows on May 27th, 2025. Users will need to switch to the newer Windows app, which offers features like multi-monitor support and dynamic resolutions. While the built-in Remote Desktop Connection app in Windows remains unaffected, the new app currently only supports work or school accounts. Microsoft plans to eventually add personal account support, aligning with its long-term goal of fully cloud-based Windows.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech Remote Desktop

Ig Nobel Prizes: Celebrating the Unconventional in Science

2025-09-20

Ig Nobel Prizes: Celebrating the Unconventional in Science

The Ig Nobel Prizes are back, celebrating research that's both hilarious and thought-provoking. This year's winners tackled everything from the bacterial composition of discarded chewing gum to the link between movie theater smells and film content. Other studies explored the surprisingly practical, such as the evolutionary purpose of beards and how pedestrians avoid collisions. These quirky experiments highlight the unexpected side of science, showing how even seemingly absurd research can yield valuable insights and remind us that scientific exploration knows no bounds.

(improbable.com)

Misc Ig Nobel Prizes unusual research

Fixing Concurrency Bugs in AWS SSM Plugin Enables VS Code Remote SSH

2025-02-12

Fixing Concurrency Bugs in AWS SSM Plugin Enables VS Code Remote SSH

A recent Stanford graduate at Formal, while troubleshooting a customer issue with Visual Studio Code's Remote SSH connection to AWS EC2 instances for machine learning, unexpectedly uncovered and fixed several concurrency bugs in AWS's SSM reference library. The problem stemmed from insufficient TCP/IP port forwarding support in the Formal Connector, preventing VS Code from properly initializing the remote development environment. The fix involved deep dives into SSH and SSM protocols, ultimately resolving data races and sequence number issues by modifying the AWS Session Manager plugin. This now allows secure VS Code Remote SSH connections through the Formal Connector.

(www.joinformal.com)

Development VS Code Remote SSH Concurrency Bugs

Less AI Knowledge, More AI Acceptance?

2025-01-27

Less AI Knowledge, More AI Acceptance?

New research reveals a surprising finding: people with less knowledge about AI are more open to integrating it into their daily lives. This contradicts common assumptions. The study found higher AI acceptance rates in nations with lower average AI literacy. The reason? AI's ability to perform tasks previously thought exclusive to humans creates a sense of wonder and awe. Those familiar with AI's technical workings see it as a tool, not magic. Promoting AI requires balancing public understanding with maintaining enthusiasm to fully harness its potential.

(theconversation.com)

AI AI acceptance AI literacy

Linear Algebra Powers Interactive Diagramming Editor

2024-12-17

Linear Algebra Powers Interactive Diagramming Editor

Ivan Shubin, in developing his interactive diagramming editor Schemio, cleverly used matrix operations from linear algebra to solve a series of challenging problems. Initially, Schemio only supported simple shape creation and manipulation. However, when a hierarchical structure was introduced, coordinate transformations became complex. The author initially used a recursive approach but encountered issues with scaling and pivot points. Ultimately, Shubin leveraged matrices to represent transformations (translation, rotation, scaling), using matrix multiplication for coordinate conversion and ingeniously employing matrix inversion to solve the world-to-local coordinate conversion problem. Furthermore, matrix operations addressed the precise adjustment of an object's position and rotation when moving within the hierarchy, preventing unexpected jumps. Schemio's source code is open-source and available on GitHub.

(medium.com)

Development linear algebra matrix operations interactive diagramming editor

Windows 11: Still a Waste of Time?

2025-02-04

A tech writer revisited Windows 11 and found it still lacking. File Explorer remains slow, Settings are inferior to Control Panel, and hardware requirements are unnecessarily stringent. The author criticizes Microsoft's insistence on TPM 2.0, arguing it's irrelevant for home users and contradicts Microsoft's own security narrative. While recent updates were relatively smooth, Explorer's sluggishness, poor UI design, and the ability for apps to override privacy settings persist. The conclusion? Windows 11 remains largely useless, its market share shrinking in favor of Windows 10.

(www.dedoimedo.com)

Tech

Apple Unveils iPad Air with M3 Chip and New Magic Keyboard

2025-03-04

Apple Unveils iPad Air with M3 Chip and New Magic Keyboard

Apple announced the new iPad Air powered by the M3 chip, boasting significant performance improvements, with up to a 4x graphics performance boost. Available in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, the new iPad Air features a more powerful Neural Engine and supports Apple Intelligence, offering enhanced AI capabilities like Photo Cleanup and Image Wand. A new, lower-priced Magic Keyboard designed for the iPad Air also launched. Additionally, the standard iPad received an update, featuring the A16 chip and double the starting storage.

(www.apple.com)

Hardware M3 chip

Google Releases OSV-SCALIBR: A Powerful Software Composition Analysis Library

2025-01-19

Google Releases OSV-SCALIBR: A Powerful Software Composition Analysis Library

Google has released OSV-SCALIBR, an extensible Software Composition Analysis (SCA) library for scanning installed packages, standalone binaries, and source code for vulnerabilities. It supports numerous programming languages and package managers, and generates Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs). OSV-SCALIBR is Google's primary SCA engine and is now open-source, with plans to integrate it into OSV-Scanner for a more robust command-line interface.

(security.googleblog.com)

Development Software Security

Y2K Panic: A Real Crisis?

2025-01-07

Y2K Panic: A Real Crisis?

A former IBM Y2K test manager recounts the tense period, refuting claims that the Y2K problem was overhyped. He uses firsthand experience to demonstrate that significant date-processing issues existed, and inaction would have had catastrophic consequences for the financial industry. The article contrasts practical experiences with academic perspectives, highlighting the gap in understanding between practitioners and theorists, and the challenges faced by technical staff under pressure. The author emphasizes the need for early problem identification and resolution, sharing how his team ensured system stability through risk assessment and multi-stage testing.

(clarotesting.wordpress.com)

Tech

Open-Source Hyperspectral Oil Paint and Painting Dataset: Unlocking Painting Techniques

2025-06-16

Open-Source Hyperspectral Oil Paint and Painting Dataset: Unlocking Painting Techniques

This open-source project provides a large dataset containing hyperspectral scan data, processing code, and reconstructed paint samples. The dataset is intended for use in art historical research and computer graphics, such as pigment mapping and spectral upsampling. It includes hyperspectral scans of nine paintings and reflectance measurements of numerous paint samples. A Python package, `painting_tools`, is also provided for processing spectral data and mixing and layering pigments using the Kubelka-Munk model. Researchers can use this dataset to study the materials and techniques of paintings and develop new image processing and analysis methods.

(github.com)

Tech hyperspectral imaging painting analysis

Spectrum Outage in Southern California After Attempted Copper Theft

2025-06-16

Spectrum Outage in Southern California After Attempted Copper Theft

Spectrum internet subscribers in Southern California experienced widespread outages over the weekend after thieves attempting to steal copper lines accidentally cut fiber optic cables in Van Nuys. Thousands of customers were affected. Spectrum has restored service, is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible, and is crediting affected customers one day of service. The company stated that these acts of vandalism are increasing industry-wide due to rising precious metal prices.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech fiber optic cable

Coding with Free AI: A Multi-Model Approach

2025-08-10

This article details a strategy for efficient coding using multiple free AI models. The author utilizes a browser with numerous tabs, each accessing a different free AI model (e.g., GLM 4.5, Kimi K2, Qwen3 Coder, Gemini AI Studio). A tool called AI Code Prep GUI helps curate code snippets for these models, avoiding information overload. The author advocates using AI for high-level problem-solving and planning, delegating code editing to other tools, maximizing efficiency with free resources. The article also cautions against using Grok.com due to concerns about its potential promotion of misinformation.

(wuu73.org)

Development free AI tools efficient coding

AI: The Coming Fragmentation of Software Engineering

2025-03-30

The author's wife uses Lovable, an AI tool, to build a social platform. While efficient, the AI frequently gets stuck, requiring human intervention. This observation leads the author to predict a future where software engineering is fragmented: a large pool of low-skilled 'AI prompters' supported by a smaller number of highly skilled specialists who resolve issues and optimize performance. AGI, the author argues, is overhyped; the reality is an AI-assisted development model where AI handles routine tasks, but complex problem-solving and architecture remain crucial human roles. This shift will result in fewer software engineering jobs, but survivors will ascend to higher-level positions requiring stronger architectural design skills and leadership. The future is bright for the adaptable, bleak for the complacent.

(verdikapuku.com)

Development

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