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Quickwit Acquired by Datadog: A Multi-Petabyte Search Engine's Cross-Continental Journey

2025-01-10

Quickwit Acquired by Datadog: A Multi-Petabyte Search Engine's Cross-Continental Journey

Quickwit, a multi-petabyte scale open-source search engine built by three engineers over four years across three continents, has been acquired by Datadog. This post details Quickwit's journey from an idea conceived in a Parisian gyoza restaurant to its acquisition. Overcoming challenges of cross-border collaboration, they built a highly efficient and manageable search engine using Rust, partnering with companies like Binance and Mezmo to achieve success. The acquisition marks a new chapter for Quickwit, which will continue as an open-source project under the Apache License 2.0, bringing new features.

(quickwit.io)

Development

Microsoft Unveils Phi-4: A Small Language Model Excelling in Complex Reasoning

2024-12-15

Microsoft Unveils Phi-4: A Small Language Model Excelling in Complex Reasoning

Microsoft has introduced Phi-4, a new 14-billion parameter small language model (SLM) that outperforms larger models in complex reasoning tasks, particularly in mathematics, surpassing even Gemini Pro 1.5 on math competition problems. This achievement is attributed to high-quality synthetic and organic datasets and post-training innovations. Currently available on Azure AI Foundry under an MSRLA, Phi-4 will launch on Hugging Face next week. Microsoft emphasizes its commitment to responsible AI development, integrating robust safety features into Phi-4's design and deployment.

(techcommunity.microsoft.com)

AI small language model complex reasoning

Elegantly Solving the Problem of Anchor Links on Extremely Long Pages

2025-04-03

Elegantly Solving the Problem of Anchor Links on Extremely Long Pages

This article tackles the problem of anchor links failing to scroll to the correct heading on very long pages. The author explores several solutions, starting with simple padding adjustments, then shifting trigger lines, and finally employing a sophisticated approach involving virtual headings and an optimization algorithm. A cubic polynomial function ensures smooth transitions, addressing issues of layout and user experience. The optimal solution balances maintaining original heading positions with preserving section spacing, resulting in a robust and elegant solution for extremely long pages.

(thirty-five.com)

Development

Calibre 8.0 Released: Enhanced Kobo Support and More

2025-03-21

Calibre 8.0 is here, boasting significantly improved Kobo support! It now natively edits, views, and converts KEPUB files, automatically converting EPUB to KEPUB when sending to Kobo devices (configurable via the Kobo icon). New features include connecting to folders (ideal for Chromebooks), a revamped ToC editor, updated macOS icons, and numerous bug fixes. Previous 7.x releases introduced exciting additions like an audio overlay tool, automatic PDF header/footer removal, drastically faster EPUB opening, and the new Piper neural network TTS engine, enhancing reading and editing workflows.

(calibre-ebook.com)

Development e-book update

LLMs: A Double-Edged Sword?

2025-02-09

LLMs: A Double-Edged Sword?

Technologists and publicists are raving about how Large Language Models (LLMs) will revolutionize how we work, learn, play, communicate, create, and connect. They're right that AI will impact nearly every facet of our lives and that LLMs represent a giant leap forward in making computing accessible to everyone. However, alongside the benefits, AI will also flood our information environment with unprecedented levels of misinformation.

(thebullshitmachines.com)

AI Information Overload

Citizen Science: Analyzing Satellite Imagery of the Palisade and Eaton Fires

2025-01-09

Citizen Science: Analyzing Satellite Imagery of the Palisade and Eaton Fires

This project analyzes the Palisade and Eaton fires in Southern California in January 2025 using imagery from GOES-16 and GOES-18 satellites. Reprojected data is downloaded from UW SSEC's RealEarth program; each image is 128x128 pixels, centered at (34.1, -118.4), with 1.0 km pixels. The code combines data from both satellites for increased resolution and currently measures hotspot areas. This project showcases the accessibility of citizen science, demonstrating how publicly available data can be used for scientific research.

(github.com)

Tech satellite imagery analysis citizen science fire monitoring

eBPF and Container Runtimes: Connecting via the CRI

2025-07-11

This article explores how open-source eBPF projects connect with container runtimes (CRs) using the Container Runtime Interface (CRI) to enrich context with pod and container information. It details the connection process: locating the Unix socket file, establishing a gRPC connection using the CRI API, and querying information. Examples from Tetragon, crictl, and Tracee illustrate different approaches to connecting to the CR, including hardcoded default socket paths and runtime connection attempts. Finally, it demonstrates querying container information like cgroup paths using the CRI API, such as Tetragon's method for retrieving a container's cgroup path.

(h0x0er.github.io)

Development Container Runtime

Rick in 240 Lines of Code: A Stunning GLSL Animation

2025-02-06

Rick in 240 Lines of Code: A Stunning GLSL Animation

This article details the author's eight-month journey creating a breathtaking Rick animation using only 240 lines of GLSL code, no libraries, and no images. The author embeds a live coding editor within the post, allowing readers to program their own animations. The process is explained step-by-step, from basic color fills to using signed distance functions (SDFs) like Bézier curves, stars, and rounded rectangles to meticulously craft Rick's features and hair. Noise functions and time domain warping bring dynamic effects to Rick's hair and add random eye movements. The author shares various animation techniques, including looping values, switching drawn content, and noisy movement, providing complete code and explanations to empower readers to create their own GLSL animations.

(danielchasehooper.com)

Design code art

Why HNSW Isn't the Universal Solution for Vector Databases: The Rise of IVF

2024-12-23

Why HNSW Isn't the Universal Solution for Vector Databases: The Rise of IVF

HNSW, while popular for its speed and accuracy in vector similarity search, faces limitations in large-scale applications due to its memory-intensive nature. This article argues that disk-based alternatives like IVF (Inverted File Index), especially when combined with quantization techniques (RaBitQ, PQ, SQ, ScaNN), offer superior speed and scalability for massive datasets. IVF, by quantizing and compressing vectors, reduces memory footprint and leverages efficient prefetching and sequential scans for significantly faster search. Insertion and deletion costs are also lower. While HNSW excels in smaller-scale applications, IVF with quantization emerges as the more advantageous choice for massive datasets.

(blog.pgvecto.rs)

Development vector database

Raised by Wolves: Ambitious Sci-Fi, Cold Emotion

2025-08-11

Raised by Wolves: Ambitious Sci-Fi, Cold Emotion

HBO Max's "Raised by Wolves" is a wildly ambitious sci-fi series tackling themes of faith and parenting on a biblical scale. Set in a war-torn future, android parents attempt to raise human children on a distant planet, with only one surviving after 12 years. Meanwhile, human parents bond with a child during a long space voyage, only to discover it taken by the android mother upon arrival. The series unfolds with complex plotlines, initially focused on world-building, with a somewhat cold emotional tone. However, later episodes reveal more compelling storytelling. While emotionally distant, its original premise and exploration of faith make it a worthwhile watch for sci-fi fans.

(www.rogerebert.com)

Tech androids faith

Magic Todo: AI-Powered Smart To-Do List

2025-03-24

Magic Todo is a smart to-do list app that not only lets you record tasks like a regular to-do list but also automatically breaks down tasks into steps based on a spiciness level (🌶️) you set. The spicier, the more detailed the breakdown. It auto-categorizes top-level tasks with emojis and offers filtering by category or completion status. Each item provides edit, delete, add subtask, and estimation features, with drag-and-drop reordering. Additional features include device synchronization, export options, undo/redo, and bulk actions.

(goblin.tools)

Development To-Do List Task Management

Fly.io's GPU Gamble: A Post-Mortem

2025-02-14

Fly.io's GPU Gamble: A Post-Mortem

Fly.io attempted to integrate GPUs into its public cloud, aiming to provide users with AI/ML inference capabilities. However, the project ultimately failed. Several key reasons are highlighted: developers' overwhelming preference for LLM APIs over GPUs, Nvidia driver support limitations hindering cost-effectiveness and flexibility, and significant security and hardware cost concerns. Despite the failure, Fly.io gained valuable lessons, emphasizing the importance of thorough market research before large-scale investments.

(fly.io)

Tech

Ocean Bacteria's Nanotube Networks: A Revolutionary Discovery of Microbial Interconnectivity

2025-01-27

Ocean Bacteria's Nanotube Networks: A Revolutionary Discovery of Microbial Interconnectivity

A groundbreaking discovery reveals complex networks of bacterial nanotubes connecting the most abundant photosynthetic bacteria in the ocean, Prochlorococcus. These nanotubes act as tiny bridges, linking the inner spaces of bacterial cells and facilitating the exchange of nutrients and information. This challenges the traditional view of bacteria as isolated individuals, demonstrating a far more interconnected microbial world than previously imagined. This interconnectivity may have profound implications for Earth's oxygen and carbon cycles.

(www.quantamagazine.org)

Tech bacterial nanotubes marine microbes intercellular communication

The SaaS Private Deployment Trap: A Cautionary Tale

2025-03-18

This post explores the pitfalls of offering private deployments for SaaS platforms. While lucrative, private installs come with significant operational and support burdens. The author argues that they transform SaaS vendors into ops or helpdesk organizations, requiring substantial resources to maintain customer-specific environments. The article advises against private deployments unless absolutely necessary, suggesting managed hosted deployments and careful contract terms and pricing to mitigate risks.

(blog.lusis.org)

Development Private Deployment Operational Costs

Why North England Remains Economically Depressed: A Historical Perspective

2025-01-25

This article delves into the deep-seated reasons behind North England's economic underperformance, arguing it's not simply an economic issue but a consequence of historical power structures and political decisions. From the Norman Conquest to the Thatcher era, power has been concentrated in the South, leading to chronic underinvestment and resource disparities in the North. The author highlights the South's consistent neglect and preferential treatment, coupled with a lack of regional power balance, as crucial factors in the North's economic stagnation. Despite this bleak picture, the article expresses optimism about the North's future, suggesting that reforming power structures and resource allocation is key to reversing the trend.

(tomforth.co.uk)

Startup UK Economy Regional Development Centralization of Power

Bun: Why Package Installs Are 7x Faster Than npm

2025-09-11

Bun package manager is renowned for its blazing speed, averaging ~7x faster than npm, ~4x faster than pnpm, and ~17x faster than yarn. This isn't magic; Bun treats package installation as a systems programming problem, not a JavaScript problem. It achieves this through minimizing system calls, caching manifests as binaries, optimizing tarball extraction, leveraging OS-native file copying, and scaling across CPU cores. The article delves into how Bun, written in Zig, bypasses Node.js's limitations (thread pool, event loop) to achieve incredibly fast package installations.

(bun.com)

Development

Deconstructing Zork: A Deep Dive into 15,000 Lines of 80s Game Dev

2025-01-20

Deconstructing Zork: A Deep Dive into 15,000 Lines of 80s Game Dev

Rok Ajdnik, in a whimsical quest to test a Kubernetes cluster, embarked on a journey through the 15,000 lines of code that comprise the classic text adventure game, Zork. This article details Zork's evolution across different versions, its ZIL programming language, and its ingenious architecture, including the parser, game objects, syntax, and object tree. Hidden gems are unearthed, such as easter eggs (XYZZY), questionable commands (RAPE), and intentionally trollish mechanics. The author also shares progress on porting Zork to Go.

(medium.com)

Game Game History

Rust Standard Library on Apache NuttX RTOS: LED Blinky and Beyond

2025-01-27

Rust Standard Library on Apache NuttX RTOS: LED Blinky and Beyond

This article details building applications using the Rust standard library on the Apache NuttX real-time operating system. It covers JSON handling with Serde, asynchronous functions with Tokio, and LED control with the Nix crate. The author explains the difference between owned and raw file descriptors in Rust and compares the Nix and Rustix POSIX binding crates. Detailed steps for building and running Rust applications on NuttX, along with troubleshooting tips, are provided.

(lupyuen.org)

Development

Graphite: Your Open-Source 2D Creative Powerhouse

2025-03-09

Graphite: Your Open-Source 2D Creative Powerhouse

Graphite is a free and open-source vector and raster graphics engine currently in alpha. It boasts a fully nondestructive workflow combining layer-based compositing with node-based generative design. Evolving beyond a simple vector editor, Graphite's game-engine-like architecture offers a comprehensive toolbox for photo editing, motion graphics, digital painting, desktop publishing, and VFX compositing. Graphics programmers and Rust developers are encouraged to contribute, and donations are welcome to support its continued development. Graphite aims to become an industry-standard art and design tool, empowering creators of all levels.

(github.com)

Development graphics engine 2D creation

Nvidia's ACE AI: Your New PUBG Teammate?

2025-01-07

Nvidia's ACE AI: Your New PUBG Teammate?

At CES 2025, Nvidia showcased a significant advancement in its AI character technology, ACE. No longer just chatbots, ACE characters are becoming autonomous in-game companions. In PUBG, the "PUBG Ally" will act as a teammate, communicating, strategizing, looting, driving, and fighting alongside players. Powered by small language models (SLMs) and multi-modal SLMs, ACE characters exhibit human-like decision-making and environmental awareness. This technology will expand to other games like Naraka: Bladepoint and inZOI, marking a significant leap in AI integration within gaming.

(www.theverge.com)

Game

@celine/bibhtml v3.0.3: A Web Components-Based Referencing System

2024-12-21

@celine/bibhtml v3.0.3: A Web Components-Based Referencing System

@celine/bibhtml, a Web Components-based referencing system for HTML documents, has released version 3.0.3. It aims to provide a user experience similar to LaTeX/BibTeX referencing, using Citation.js under the hood and gracefully degrading when citations and references are malformed or JavaScript is disabled. Supporting BibTeX, unstructured text, DOI, and Wikidata formats, it offers three custom elements: ``, ``, and ``, simplifying reference management in HTML.

(maxbo.me)

Development Reference Management

Pump: AI-Powered Cloud Cost Optimization Saving You 60%

2025-03-20

Pump: AI-Powered Cloud Cost Optimization Saving You 60%

Cloud spending hits a staggering $500 billion annually, the fastest-growing expense for tech companies. Pump offers an AI-powered platform automating savings and leveraging group buying to slash cloud costs by up to 60%. Backed by Y Combinator, Pump's experienced team is building a transparent, collaborative, and fast-paced company culture focused on success.

(www.ycombinator.com)

AI Cloud Cost Optimization Group Buying

Beyond REST: Why State Synchronization is the Future of Web Apps

2025-05-15

Building web apps with React, Typescript, and a Rust/Axum REST backend, the author encountered significant challenges with REST's state transfer approach for what are essentially state synchronization problems. Using a simple text input example, the article highlights issues like race conditions from concurrent requests, inaccurate loading indicators, and inconsistencies across multiple app instances. The author argues for a shift towards state synchronization protocols, such as those based on CRDTs, to improve efficiency and eliminate common REST-related bugs.

(www.mbid.me)

Development State Synchronization

Decentralized Push Notifications: Escaping the Centralized Trap?

2025-02-04

This article explores how mobile push notifications introduce centralization to decentralized services and how to avoid it, even for mainstream configurations. Many decentralized apps (e.g., Mastodon, Nextcloud) currently rely on Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), leading to centralization. The article proposes a solution: directly using the WebPush protocol to communicate with FCM servers, combined with the UnifiedPush framework, to achieve decentralized push notifications. This eliminates the need for centralized gateways and allows users to choose their preferred services. While not all services will immediately support WebPush, the future trend is towards decentralization.

(unifiedpush.org)

Development push notifications

Decompilation's Resurgence: A Look Back at 2024

2025-01-30

2024 marked a significant resurgence in decompilation research. Academic publications from that year comprised nearly 30% of all top-tier publications ever in the field. This post summarizes the academic and ideological advancements in decompilation during 2024. A surge in academic papers occurred, with four focusing on defining 'good' decompilation and four exploring AI's role, including symbol prediction and code simplification. Nearly all papers included open-source implementations, fostering industry adoption. The year also saw a tour by decompilation pioneer Dr. Cristina Cifuentes and a prominent expert panel at Recon 2024, further driving the field forward.

(mahaloz.re)

Development decompilation

Easily Calculate the Number of Language Model Tokens for a String

2025-02-05

Easily Calculate the Number of Language Model Tokens for a String

This article presents a simple method to calculate the number of language model tokens in a string. This is crucial for estimating application running costs, checking if text fits within the language model's context window, and determining if chunking is necessary. While a rough estimate can be obtained by dividing the character count by 4, a more accurate method involves using the specific language model (Hugging Face or OpenAI model) you're using. The author provides a Jupyter Notebook to calculate the token count for strings, files, or all files in a folder, eliminating reliance on external services, ensuring security and free usage.

(blog.mastykarz.nl)

Development token counting

Greenland Ice Sheet Crevasses Accelerate Melt: A Rising Sea Level Threat

2025-02-10

Greenland Ice Sheet Crevasses Accelerate Melt: A Rising Sea Level Threat

Numerous studies in recent years highlight the accelerating role of crevasses in Greenland's ice sheet, significantly contributing to ice calving and exacerbating sea level rise. Researchers have employed diverse methods, including satellite imagery, airborne LiDAR, and field observations, to investigate crevasse formation, expansion, and hydrological impacts. Findings reveal that crevasses not only compromise ice sheet stability but also expedite meltwater drainage, further accelerating ice melt. This poses a significant challenge to the future of the Greenland Ice Sheet and presents a major threat to global sea level change and coastal safety.

(www.nature.com)

Tech Greenland Ice Sheet ice melt sea level rise

Fresh 2.0 Delayed: Deno's Next-Gen Web Framework Gets a Foundation Upgrade

2025-05-15

Fresh 2.0 Delayed: Deno's Next-Gen Web Framework Gets a Foundation Upgrade

The Deno team announced a delay for Fresh 2.0, their web framework built on the latest web standards, pushing the release to late Q3 2025. The delay stems from a focus on improving Deno's core platform and the JavaScript registry (JSR), addressing compatibility issues with Node.js, and ultimately building a more robust foundation for Fresh 2.0's speed, extensibility, and ease of use. Fresh 2.0 will feature Express/Hono-like APIs, true async components, and a new plugin system. It's already powering deno.com and Deno Deploy in production, with an alpha version available for developers to test, along with a migration guide for existing projects.

(deno.com)

Development

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

The Curious Case of Consumer Routers and Weak Power Supplies

2025-01-09

The Curious Case of Consumer Routers and Weak Power Supplies

A senior computer scientist recounts two incidents highlighting performance issues with consumer-grade routers stemming from inadequate power supplies. The first involved the author's home router, exhibiting slowness when powered by a solar inverter. The second occurred in Kiribati during an ISIF Asia-funded project. Using an oscilloscope, the author observed the router drawing excessive current during voltage dips, leading to instability. Adding capacitors to stabilize the power supply resolved the issues, underscoring how seemingly minor power problems can cause significant network failures.

(blog.apnic.net)

Tech router power supply network issues

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