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Hackers Face Lawsuit After Exposing Polish Train Manufacturer's Manipulation

2024-12-27

The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) is raising funds for three hackers who revealed at the 37C3 conference how Polish rail vehicle manufacturer Newag manipulated its trains to be repairable only in its own workshops. Newag reacted with a 90s-style aggressive lawsuit, pursuing both criminal and civil charges. The legal costs have already reached €30,000. The CCC is calling for donations to cover legal and other expenses. The hackers' research did not involve any illegal replacement of train components. The CCC believes Newag's lawsuit aims to prevent future publications about these 'illegal instructions,' emphasizing that only the content teams decide who speaks at the congress. The 38C3 congress will continue reporting on this case.

(www.ccc.de)

Tech hackers railways

Rendering the Impossible: Introducing Meschers

2025-09-06

Representing impossible objects – geometric constructions perceivable but not physically realizable – has been a challenge in computer graphics. Existing methods, like cutting or bending, disrupt geometry, hindering downstream processing. This paper introduces Meschers, a novel mesh representation based on discrete exterior calculus. Instead of 3D vertex positions, Meschers store 2D screen-space positions and per-edge depth differences, allowing representation of Escher-like impossibilities. This enables standard geometry processing operations like smoothing, heat diffusion, and geodesic distance queries, as well as inverse rendering, deforming possible shapes into impossible ones. Meschers offer new avenues for understanding human visual perception and expanding computer graphics capabilities.

(anadodik.github.io)

Development impossible objects geometry processing

testtrim: The Testing Tool That Couldn't Test Itself (Until Now)

2025-01-25

Mathieu Fenniak details his journey adding syscall tracing to testtrim, an experimental project optimizing software test execution. Initially, testtrim used strace to identify test dependencies but couldn't test itself because strace can't trace an already-traced process. Two nested tracing attempts failed: the first due to abysmal performance, the second due to shared state and non-atomicity in strace's output. The solution involved using FIFO pipes and shared memory for real-time data streaming between parent and child processes, enabling self-testing and validating testtrim's value in reducing test targets.

(mathieu.fenniak.net)

Development syscall tracing

Optimized FP32 Matrix Multiplication on AMD RDNA3 GPU: Outperforming rocBLAS by 60%

2025-03-28

Optimized FP32 Matrix Multiplication on AMD RDNA3 GPU: Outperforming rocBLAS by 60%

This post details the optimization journey of creating an FP32 matrix multiplication kernel for AMD RDNA3 GPUs that surpasses rocBLAS by 60%. The author iteratively refines eight kernels, starting with a naive implementation and progressing to ISA-level optimizations. Techniques include LDS tiling, register tiling, global memory double buffering, LDS utilization optimization, and ultimately ISA-level VALU optimization and loop unrolling. The final kernel outperforms rocBLAS, achieving nearly 50 TFLOPS.

(seb-v.github.io)

Development matrix multiplication

Kleene: A Docker-like Container Manager for FreeBSD

2025-02-18

Kleene: A Docker-like Container Manager for FreeBSD

Kleene is a container management platform built specifically for FreeBSD, bringing the familiar concepts of Docker while leveraging FreeBSD's native tools and philosophy. Following the KISS principle, it uses FreeBSD's jails, ZFS, and PF to simplify application deployment, maintenance, and upgrades. It features a client-server architecture with Klee (Python client) communicating with Kleened (Elixir server). Kleene offers a streamlined way to build, run, and manage containerized applications with transparency and control. While familiar to Docker users, it also lowers the barrier to entry for FreeBSD newcomers.

(gyptazy.com)

Development Container Management

Apple's iOS 18 Uses Homomorphic Encryption for Private Photo Search

2025-01-15

Apple's iOS 18 utilizes homomorphic encryption to enhance its photo search functionality, enabling cloud-based searches without revealing the content of users' photos. The article explains the underlying principles of homomorphic encryption, allowing computations on encrypted data with the decrypted result matching computations on unencrypted data. Apple's implementation isn't fully homomorphic, trading some privacy for performance and combining it with differential privacy and anonymization networks to bolster privacy. While not perfect, it represents a significant step towards balancing privacy and usability.

(boehs.org)

Tech homomorphic encryption

Red Hat's Minimum Viable Open Source AI

2025-02-06

Red Hat's Minimum Viable Open Source AI

Red Hat defines the minimum criteria for open-source AI as open-source-licensed model weights combined with open-source software components. This article details Red Hat's vision for open-source AI, emphasizing the importance of open licensing for model weights to facilitate community contributions and improvements. They highlight their contributions through projects like InstructLab and the Granite model family, and their commitment to building open-source AI platforms on technologies like Kubernetes and KubeFlow. Their ultimate goal is to democratize and broadly deploy open-source AI across hybrid cloud environments.

(www.redhat.com)

Tech Open Source AI Model Weights

arXivLabs: Community Collaboration on arXiv Features

2025-06-20

arXivLabs is a new collaborative framework enabling developers to build and share new arXiv features directly on the arXiv website. Individuals and organizations involved share arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners who adhere to them. Have an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs!

(arxiv.org)

Development

$30 Homebrew Automated Blinds Opener: A Weekend Hack

2025-05-18

This weekend project details the creation of a slow, silent automated blind opener for under $30 using salvaged parts and 3D printing. The core components include a geared motor (from a repurposed water flosser!), a magnetic encoder, relays, and an ESP8266. While the magnetic encoder proved less-than-ideal, torque feedback successfully determines blind position. The opener integrates seamlessly into a home automation system, allowing for app control and automated sunrise/sunset operation.

(sifter.org)

Hardware

Rest: From Oblomov to the Modern World

2025-03-26

Rest: From Oblomov to the Modern World

This essay explores the meaning of 'rest,' from the extreme portrayal in the Russian novel *Oblomov* to its varied interpretations across religion, philosophy, and modern society. Through personal anecdotes and observations of history and culture, the author argues that rest is not merely idleness but crucial for physical and mental restoration, creative thought, and maintaining life's balance. The piece is interspersed with numerous anecdotes of notable figures, ultimately concluding that while perfect balance may be unattainable, the continuous exploration of rest and work is the essence of life.

(www.commentary.org)

Misc rest

FreeBSD as a High-Fidelity Audio Server: A Deep Dive

2025-02-06

FreeBSD as a High-Fidelity Audio Server: A Deep Dive

This comprehensive guide details configuring FreeBSD as an audiophile-grade audio server. It covers system and audio subsystem parameter tuning, real-time operation, bit-perfect signal processing, and optimal methods for enabling and configuring the system's graphic equalizer and high-quality audio equalization using FFmpeg filters. A comparison with Linux is included, along with numerous commands and configuration examples to help build a superior audio system. Linux users will also find valuable insights, particularly regarding MPD player and filter configuration.

(m4c.pl)

Hardware Audio Server High-Fidelity Audio

Extracting MRR from Stripe Data: Pitfalls and SQL Implementation

2025-05-16

Extracting MRR from Stripe Data: Pitfalls and SQL Implementation

This article details how to extract data from the Stripe API and calculate Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR). The author highlights the unreliability of using Stripe's `subscriptions` object directly, as it only contains the latest subscription state. The correct approach uses `invoice line items`, handling discounts, varying billing cycles (monthly, quarterly, annually), and more. The article provides detailed SQL code, covering data cleaning, cycle normalization, and the final MRR metric calculations, including new MRR, churn MRR, expansion MRR, and reactivation MRR. The article emphasizes the method's adaptability and customizability, and recommends an application to simplify MRR calculations.

(www.definite.app)

Development MRR calculation

Deel CEO Implicated in Espionage Scandal: Former Employee's Confession Reveals Details

2025-04-02

Deel CEO Implicated in Espionage Scandal: Former Employee's Confession Reveals Details

Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz is embroiled in a corporate espionage scandal. Former Rippling employee Keith O'Brien, in a sworn Irish affidavit, admitted to being hired by Deel to spy on competitor Rippling, acting on instructions from CEO Alex Bouaziz. O'Brien stated he communicated with Alex Bouaziz and Deel's CFO (Alex's father, Philippe Bouaziz) via Telegram and received payment for his actions. The incident has garnered attention from the Irish press, and Rippling has filed a lawsuit against Deel.

(www.newcomer.co)

Tech corporate espionage

India Welcomes Chinese AI: DeepSeek Deploys Amidst Massive Compute Center Launch

2025-01-30

India Welcomes Chinese AI: DeepSeek Deploys Amidst Massive Compute Center Launch

India's IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, will host its large language models on Indian servers, marking a rare opening for Chinese technology in India. This comes as India invests heavily in its own AI sector, unveiling a new AI compute facility boasting 18,693 GPUs and offering significant discounts to Indian firms. DeepSeek's R1 model, recently released to much fanfare for its performance relative to its development cost, has shaken the tech industry, impacting Nvidia's market cap. India aims to attract $30 billion in hyperscaler and data center investments over the next few years, fostering the development of homegrown AI models and establishing a regulatory body to ensure AI safety.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech China Tech

L3 Systems WristPC Keyboard: A Rugged Wearable Keyboard

2025-01-27

L3 Systems has developed the WristPC Keyboard for portable and wearable computer applications. This rugged QWERTY keyboard features a standard PC keyboard interface and comes in black anodized aluminum or blue ABS plastic housings. Completely sealed, it's designed for use in rain and harsh environments. Its curved back ensures comfortable and secure wrist placement, with an optimized alphanumeric layout and conveniently positioned arrow keys. Optional wrist straps and keyboard illumination are available. Custom keyboards for Aaton Cantar users are also offered (requires separate Gotham Sound Dsub15-USB adapter).

(www.l3sys.com)

Hardware keyboard ruggedized

Enhancing Bash and Zsh Tab Completion: Showing Descriptions for Complete Words

2025-08-10

This article details an improvement to Bash and Zsh tab completion, allowing it to display descriptions even for already completed words. Previously, tab completion only showed descriptions when multiple options matched, making it inconvenient for users to see descriptions of single commands. The author cleverly solves this by adding 'dummy' completion options, enabling users to see descriptions with a single tab press. This significantly improves user experience, despite a minor UI imperfection of word duplication.

(mill-build.org)

Development Tab Completion

Adding Refinement Types to Rust: A Feasibility Study

2024-12-24

This article explores the feasibility of adding refinement types to the Rust programming language. Drawing on experience with YAIOUOM, a static analyzer that used refinement types to check units of measure, the author examines approaches to implementing refinement types within Rust's type system. Several options are proposed, including modifications to trait resolution, type variable unification, and the introduction of a pluggable keyword mechanism for post-compilation type checking. An optimistic approach—ignoring unit information early in compilation and checking later—is deemed more practical. API design and error message handling are discussed. Future work involves gathering feedback, writing a rustc driver supporting plugins, and implementing several refinement types, potentially including a new version of YAIOUOM and subsets of Flux or Liquid Haskell.

(yoric.github.io)

Development Refinement Types Type System

Geometric Series Solution for Capacitor Charge Under Square Wave Excitation

2025-01-24

This article analyzes the charge and discharge process of a capacitor under the influence of a symmetric square wave voltage. By establishing recursive equations for charging and discharging, the geometric series solution for the process is obtained. Special cases are discussed where the time constant is much smaller or larger than the period of the square wave. For example, when the time constant is much smaller than the period, the capacitor fully charges and discharges; when the period is much smaller than the time constant, the circuit acts as a low-pass filter.

(ivanbelenky.com)

Hardware capacitor square wave geometric series

Jeep's Full-Screen Pop-Up Ads Spark Outrage: Glitch or Intentional?

2025-02-15

Jeep's Full-Screen Pop-Up Ads Spark Outrage: Glitch or Intentional?

Jeep owners have taken to Reddit to express their fury over full-screen pop-up ads appearing on their in-car screens. The ads promote Mopar extended warranties, but a software glitch prevented users from dismissing them permanently. Stellantis claims it was a temporary software error that's been fixed. However, the incident raises concerns about intrusive in-car advertising and the possibility of car manufacturers using such methods to test user tolerance. The author urges automakers to avoid such practices to prevent user backlash.

(www.theautopian.com)

Tech software glitch

Nintendo Switch 2: Backward Compatibility, but Not Perfect

2025-01-16

Nintendo Switch 2: Backward Compatibility, but Not Perfect

Nintendo released a first-look trailer for the Switch 2, confirming backward compatibility with most existing Switch games, both physical and digital. However, not all Switch games will be fully compatible; details will be shared later. Nintendo Switch Online membership will continue to work on the Switch 2. A deeper look at the Switch 2 will be revealed in a Nintendo Direct presentation on April 2nd, 2025.

(www.nintendo.com)

Game Nintendo Switch 2 Backward Compatibility

Ledger Co-founder Kidnapped, Ransom Demanded in Crypto

2025-01-25

Ledger Co-founder Kidnapped, Ransom Demanded in Crypto

David Balland, co-founder of cryptocurrency hardware wallet firm Ledger, and his wife were kidnapped from their home in France. The kidnappers demanded a cryptocurrency ransom, and Balland suffered injuries during the 24-hour ordeal. French police successfully rescued both victims. The incident highlights the security risks faced by executives in the cryptocurrency industry, and underscores the dual nature of cryptocurrency's value and risk.

(moneycheck.com)

Tech ransom

GrapheneOS: Android's Unshakeable Fortress Against Forensic Attacks

2025-09-11

GrapheneOS: Android's Unshakeable Fortress Against Forensic Attacks

GrapheneOS, an open-source, privacy-focused Android OS, recently faced a social media smear campaign falsely claiming it was compromised. The attack misrepresented consent-based data extraction as a security breach. This article clarifies digital forensics, Cellebrite's capabilities, and the distinction of consent-based data extraction. GrapheneOS's robust security features, including disabling USB connections in AFU mode, Titan M2's brute-force attack limitations, and auto-reboot, effectively counter such attacks. Cellebrite itself admits it cannot unlock fully updated GrapheneOS devices without user consent. The incident highlights GrapheneOS's superior protection of user privacy and data security.

(discuss.grapheneos.org)

Tech

The Matrix Generation: Ontological Shock and the Dawn of Cyberspace

2025-01-30

The Matrix Generation: Ontological Shock and the Dawn of Cyberspace

This essay explores the unique experience of coming of age in the digital era, focusing on the generation that matured around the turn of the millennium. The author argues that the release of *The Matrix* in 1999 perfectly captured the anxieties and ontological shock of this generation, coinciding with Y2K fears, a contested election, and 9/11. This confluence of events, coupled with rapid technological advancement, created a profound sense of societal and psychological disruption. The essay concludes that this experience shaped a generation's approach to technology, fostering both fluency and skepticism, a critical awareness of the underlying systems at play.

(www.chrbutler.com)

Misc digital age ontological shock technology and society

Visualizing Concurrency: A Guide to Understanding Program State Space

2024-12-20

Concurrent programming is notoriously complex due to the difficulty of enumerating all possible states. This article uses visualization to explain how to understand the mechanics of concurrent program execution. It begins by introducing the concept of program state, which is a combination of variable values and instruction location, and then demonstrates the transition process of program states and the generation of state space using a simple C-like program example. The article then introduces concurrent programs, and, using two concurrently executing programs, P and Q, it explains how to represent the state of a concurrent program and the construction of the state space. Finally, the article explores how to use the model checking tool SPIN and the LTL language to verify the correctness of concurrent programs, highlighting the important role of model checking in ensuring the correctness of concurrent programs.

(wyounas.github.io)

Development state space model checking

Microsoft Research Unveils F*: A Proof-Oriented Programming Language

2024-12-25

F* (pronounced F star) is a general-purpose, proof-oriented programming language supporting both purely functional and effectful programming. Combining the expressive power of dependent types with automated proof generation via SMT solving and tactic-based interactive theorem proving, F* defaults to compiling to OCaml. However, it can also be extracted to F#, C, or WebAssembly using KaRaMeL, or to assembly using Vale. Developed and actively maintained by Microsoft Research, Inria, and the community, the open-source F* is used in various projects, including those within Mozilla Firefox and the Linux kernel, showcasing its applications in security, cryptography, and systems development.

(fstar-lang.org)

Development proof-oriented programming dependent types

Hacking a Dummy Plug's EDID with a Raspberry Pi

2025-06-15

The author cleverly used a Raspberry Pi and I2C tools to modify the EDID information of a cheap HDMI dummy plug. By reading and writing new EDID data, the dummy plug was disguised as a 1080p capture device, solving the incompatibility problem with 4K resolution. The whole process details the steps and reminds readers to be careful to avoid damaging the equipment.

(www.downtowndougbrown.com)

Hardware

Programming with Music and Photos? Exploring the Weird World of Esoteric Languages

2025-09-08

Programming with Music and Photos? Exploring the Weird World of Esoteric Languages

A new book, "Forty-Four Esolangs: The Art of Esoteric Code," explores 44 bizarre programming languages, some using musical notation, others producing different results each run, and even one using photographs. Author Daniel Temkin uses these languages to explore the creativity of programming and the subtle power dynamics between programmer and machine. He highlights the contrast between esoteric languages and AI-generated code, the latter often lacking creativity. The history of esoteric languages dates back to early computing and is intertwined with the rise of shareware, demoscene culture, and the early internet.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Development esoteric languages

Dennis Ritchie's Primeval C Compiler: A Blast from the Past

2025-03-24

Dennis Ritchie's Primeval C Compiler: A Blast from the Past

This post shares the source code of the earliest known versions of the C compiler, written by the late legend Dennis Ritchie. These are not compilable with modern C compilers like GCC, but represent the spark that ignited a soon-to-be trillion-dollar industry. Links to Aiju's PDP-11/Unix emulator (for attempting compilation) and the Research Unix repository are provided for those wishing to delve into the history of computing.

(github.com)

Development

Mystery Drone Sightings Continue to Plague US East Coast

2024-12-18

Mystery Drone Sightings Continue to Plague US East Coast

A wave of mysterious drone sightings is causing widespread concern and airspace closures along the US East Coast. These SUV-sized drones have been reported near military bases and airports in New Jersey and New York, disrupting air travel. While federal agencies are investigating, explanations remain elusive, with speculation ranging from political conspiracies to other unknown causes. The ongoing mystery fuels public anxiety and calls for swift resolution to prevent further disruptions and potential threats.

(www.theregister.com)

Misc drones US East Coast airspace closures

Public Domain Day 2025: Mickey, Faulkner, and a Flood of Creative Freedom

2025-01-01

Public Domain Day 2025: Mickey, Faulkner, and a Flood of Creative Freedom

On January 1, 2025, thousands of copyrighted works from 1929, including sound recordings from 1924, enter the US public domain. This includes literary giants like Faulkner's *The Sound and the Fury* and Hemingway's *A Farewell to Arms*, early Mickey Mouse cartoons, and Gershwin's *An American in Paris*. These works become free for all to copy, share, and build upon, preserving cultural heritage and fueling future creativity. The event highlights the vital role of the public domain in artistic innovation and the enduring legacy of works created amidst historical turmoil.

(web.law.duke.edu)

Misc Public Domain

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