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Clippy Reborn: An Electron-Based Fun Project

2025-05-06

Developer Felix Rieseberg has recreated Microsoft's Office assistant, Clippy, as an open-source Electron application purely for fun. It's not intended as a masterpiece, but rather a personal creative project, akin to painting watercolors or pottery—the joy lies in the building process. The author expresses gratitude to Microsoft for Electron and the iconic Clippy design, and lists other contributors to the project.

(felixrieseberg.github.io)

Development

Nvidia's AI Power Play: Moore's Law is Dead, Long Live the 600kW Rack

2025-03-31

Nvidia's AI Power Play: Moore's Law is Dead, Long Live the 600kW Rack

At Nvidia's GTC, Jensen Huang unveiled Nvidia's next three generations of GPUs, including the Blackwell and Rubin processors, and a massive 600kW rack-scale system. This reveals Nvidia's strategy to pursue massive compute power expansion by stacking more silicon, increasing memory bandwidth, and lowering precision, post-Moore's Law. However, this brings immense power consumption and cooling challenges, necessitating the construction of specialized "AI factories." Nvidia's move also paves the way for competitors, signaling a new era of ultra-dense computing in data centers.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech AI Compute

Open-Source Ergonomic Keyboard: Ergo S-1 - Build Your Own Comfort

2025-01-03

Open-Source Ergonomic Keyboard: Ergo S-1 - Build Your Own Comfort

The Ergo S-1 is an open-source, wireless, split ergonomic keyboard compatible with Cherry/Gateron switches and Cherry/OEM/DCS keycaps, powered by the ZMK firmware. Designed during a period of unemployment, this keyboard prioritizes ease of DIY assembly, making it accessible to a wider audience. The project provides comprehensive assembly instructions, a bill of materials, and Fusion 360 design files, along with support for custom keymaps. While complete kits aren't yet available, pre-built keyboards are sold on Etsy, and the creator is actively working towards easier-to-assemble kits.

(github.com)

Hardware ergonomic keyboard

Tesla's Robotaxi Launch: A Dangerous Game of Smoke and Mirrors?

2025-06-17

Tesla's upcoming Robotaxi launch in Austin, Texas, raises serious safety concerns. Elon Musk's repeated promises of full self-driving have consistently fallen short. This Robotaxi plan utilizes geofencing and remote operation, a stark contrast to previous promises, and raises doubts about its safety and scalability. Competitor Waymo already operates successful Robotaxi services in multiple cities, highlighting Tesla's rushed and opaque approach. The launch appears more like a PR stunt to maintain the illusion of Tesla's self-driving leadership than a genuine technological breakthrough.

(electrek.co)

Tech

Melbourne Home Buyer Uncovers 60-Year-Old Model Train Network!

2025-07-01

Melbourne Home Buyer Uncovers 60-Year-Old Model Train Network!

A Melbourne man's recent home purchase in the northern suburbs yielded an unexpected surprise: a sprawling model train network hidden beneath the floorboards! The new homeowner, Daniel Xu, a keen train enthusiast and engineer, discovered the elaborate setup, complete with extensive tracks and miniature landscapes, built by the previous owner in the 1960s. Despite its dusty, spiderweb-covered state, Xu plans to restore and upgrade this unique find, sharing the joy of trains with friends and their children.

(www.sbs.com.au)

Misc model train unexpected discovery home renovation

The Definitive Guide to Tcl Programming, 2nd Edition Released

2025-04-04

The highly anticipated second edition of "The Tcl Programming Language" is finally here! Covering Tcl 9, this comprehensive guide explores the Tcl language from basic syntax to advanced features such as metaprogramming, object-oriented programming, asynchronous I/O, and concurrent programming. The 660-page book details Tcl's flexibility and power, with overwhelmingly positive reviews praising it as the best resource for learning and referencing Tcl.

(www.magicsplat.com)

Development programming guide

Apple TV+ Offers Free Streaming Weekend

2024-12-30

Apple TV+ Offers Free Streaming Weekend

Apple is offering free access to its Apple TV+ streaming service from January 3rd to 5th, 2025. This three-day free trial includes access to Apple TV+'s library of award-winning shows and movies, giving potential subscribers a chance to sample its content, including popular series like Severance (with season 2 premiering January 17th), For All Mankind, Silo, and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. All you need is an Apple ID to take advantage of this offer.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech free streaming streaming service

Tesla Light Show: A Guide to Custom Light Shows

2024-12-27

Tesla Light Show: A Guide to Custom Light Shows

Tesla has released a custom light show feature allowing users to create and play personalized light shows on 2021 and later Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck vehicles via a USB drive using the xLights software. This guide details the steps to create and run custom light shows, including software installation, file format requirements, light effect control, and troubleshooting, and provides a validation script to help users check if their light show files meet Tesla's requirements.

(github.com)

Misc Light Show

Square Kufic: A Labyrinthine Journey into Islamic Calligraphy

2025-05-06

Square Kufic: A Labyrinthine Journey into Islamic Calligraphy

As a child, the author was captivated by the intricate geometric patterns adorning mosques, later discovering them to be Square Kufic calligraphy, a 12th-13th century Islamic script. This style transforms Arabic letters into geometric designs, bending and breaking rules to create stunning, sometimes indecipherable, patterns. The article explores Square Kufic's origins, characteristics, and modern reinterpretations, showcasing artists who integrate verses into architecture or create modern art pieces. Personal anecdotes and a discussion of the Topkapi Scroll reveal the art form's multi-layered appeal: from visual beauty to cryptic messages, offering rich cultural depth and endless intrigue.

(uwithumlaut.wordpress.com)

Design Islamic Calligraphy Square Kufic

Common Lisp Time Handling: The LOCAL-TIME Solution

2025-01-01

This paper delves into the complexities of time handling in Common Lisp and presents the author's solution: the LOCAL-TIME library. It traces the evolution of human time representation, from imprecise, context-dependent notations to precise scientific ones, highlighting the chaos introduced by political factors like daylight saving time. LOCAL-TIME uses an efficient fixnum-based representation, integrates world timezone data, and handles various time calculations and format conversions, thereby avoiding errors stemming from imprecise time representation—like the infamous Y2K problem.

(naggum.no)

Development Time Handling

RAM Data Remanence Times: Significant Differences Between DDR4 and DDR5

2024-12-15

3mdeb conducted research testing data remanence times in different RAM types (DDR4 and DDR5). Results showed DDR5 data vanishes almost instantly after power loss, while DDR4 data persists for significantly longer, up to two minutes. This highlights critical differences in data security between RAM types. A custom UEFI application was used, writing and comparing memory patterns while accounting for temperature and humidity. This research is significant for understanding memory data security and designing more secure systems.

(blog.3mdeb.com)

Hardware RAM data remanence

Controversy Erupts at FOSDEM: Billionaire Jack Dorsey's Keynote Sparks Outrage

2025-01-16

Jack Dorsey, former Twitter CEO, is slated to give a keynote at FOSDEM, a leading free software conference. This has sparked significant backlash within the FOSS community. Critics point to Dorsey's role in Twitter's decline and his involvement with Block, arguing he doesn't deserve such a prominent platform. The author calls for a boycott and is organizing a sit-in to protest Dorsey's presence and advocate for redirecting funds towards supporting the FOSS community.

(drewdevault.com)

Development

OpenSSH Embraces Post-Quantum Cryptography: Future-Proofing SSH Security

2025-08-11

OpenSSH 10.0 now defaults to post-quantum key exchange algorithms (mlkem768x25519-sha256) to protect against future attacks from quantum computers. The article explains the potential risk quantum computing poses to existing cryptography, particularly the "store now, decrypt later" attack. OpenSSH mitigates this risk by using hybrid algorithms combining post-quantum and classical methods, ensuring security even if future cryptanalysis breaks the post-quantum component. OpenSSH 10.1 will warn users about non-post-quantum key exchange schemes, encouraging upgrades to stronger algorithms.

(www.openssh.com)

Tech

The Vast Emptiness of Space: A Journey Across the Solar System

2025-06-13

This blog post vividly describes a virtual journey across the solar system, starting from Earth. It emphasizes the immense distances between planets and the vast emptiness of space, prompting reflection on humanity's smallness and greatness in the cosmos. Using analogies like movie lengths and driving times, the author translates astronomical distances into relatable concepts, exploring the limitations of the human brain in processing massive amounts of information and infinite space. The post ultimately suggests that this emptiness highlights the meaning of life's existence.

(joshworth.com)

Misc Astronomical Distances Human Perception

Goodfire Releases Interpretability Tools for Llama 3.3 70B

2024-12-23

Goodfire has trained sparse autoencoders (SAEs) on Llama 3.3 70B and released the interpreted model via an API. This allows exploration of the model's latent space through an interactive feature map. The team demonstrates feature steering capabilities and introduces improvements for easier and more reliable SAE-based steering. While showcasing progress in steering, limitations are acknowledged, including tension between feature steering and classification, and potential factual recall degradation at higher steering strengths. Future work includes refining steering methodologies and developing safety evaluations for responsible scaling of interpretability efforts.

(www.goodfire.ai)

AI Interpretability Sparse Autoencoders

WebFFT: The Fastest Fourier Transform on the Web!

2025-01-25

WebFFT: The Fastest Fourier Transform on the Web!

WebFFT is a metalibrary containing numerous FFT libraries, both JavaScript and WebAssembly-based. It benchmarks available implementations and selects the fastest for optimal performance. Implementing fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) and 2D FFTs is straightforward, supporting real-valued inputs. A profiler helps optimize usage.

(github.com)

Development

Archive Team: Rescuing Digital History from the Brink

2024-12-18

Archive Team is a loose collective of archivists, programmers, and volunteers dedicated to preserving our digital heritage. Since 2009, they've been battling website shutdowns, data deletions, and more, striving to save historical information before it's lost forever. They actively participate in various data archiving projects, offering advice on data management and recovery. Current projects include saving data from platforms like Telegram and Cohost, along with ongoing efforts for sites such as Blogger, GitHub, and Imgur.

(wiki.archiveteam.org)

Tech digital heritage web archiving data preservation

Microsoft Patches Critical Windows Secure Boot Vulnerability

2025-01-16

Microsoft Patches Critical Windows Secure Boot Vulnerability

Microsoft has patched a critical vulnerability that allowed attackers to bypass Windows Secure Boot. The vulnerability, present in system recovery software from multiple vendors, involved a mis-signed UEFI application that allowed malicious firmware to be installed before the OS even loads. The patch revokes the problematic signature. The status of Linux systems remains unclear.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Slow Deployments Breed Meetings: A Reverse Causality Argument

2024-12-22

Slow Deployments Breed Meetings: A Reverse Causality Argument

Programmers often complain about too many meetings hindering productivity. Kent Beck challenges this notion, suggesting that meetings are a consequence, not the cause, of slow deployments. Facebook's experience shows that increasing deployment frequency is key. When deployment speed lags behind code changes, organizations add meetings and reviews to mitigate risk, ultimately reducing efficiency. Instead of reducing meetings, focus on improving deployment capacity by shortening cycles or enhancing code quality. This essay offers a fresh perspective, exploring the counter-intuitive relationship between slow deployments and increased organizational overhead.

(tidyfirst.substack.com)

Development deployment efficiency reverse causality

Mistral CEO: Nations Must Build Their Own AI Infrastructure to Avoid Economic Dependence

2025-03-24

Mistral CEO: Nations Must Build Their Own AI Infrastructure to Avoid Economic Dependence

Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch argues that AI will have a double-digit impact on every country's GDP in the coming years. He urges nations to build independent AI systems to avoid economic dependence on others, likening it to the importance of building electricity factories a century ago. He sees AI not just as technology, but as a vehicle for cultural and societal values, requiring greater involvement. Mistral, a rapidly growing European AI company, is focused on developing open-source large language models, competing with companies like OpenAI, and boasts faster model speeds. Mensch is a strong advocate for open-source, believing it accelerates AI development, a principle that guided Mistral's creation.

(www.businessinsider.com)

Tech economic dependence

Command & Conquer Source Code Released: A Trip Back in Time

2025-03-04

Command & Conquer Source Code Released: A Trip Back in Time

EA recently open-sourced the code for classic Command & Conquer games (1995-2003), revealing fascinating comments like "HACK ALERT!" and the programmer's lament, "oh shit." This release aids modders, preserves the games for future platforms (complementing projects like OpenRA and OpenSAGE), and offers 35 minutes of newly discovered alpha footage from Generals and Renegade. It's a testament to how classic games can find renewed life with the right community and corporate collaboration.

(arstechnica.com)

Game

NVIDIA RTX Kit: AI-Powered Next-Gen Rendering

2025-03-05

NVIDIA RTX Kit: AI-Powered Next-Gen Rendering

NVIDIA has released RTX Kit, a suite of neural rendering technologies revolutionizing computer graphics. Integrating neural networks, it dramatically improves performance, image quality, and interactivity. Features include RTX Neural Shaders, Neural Texture Compression, Texture Filtering, Mega Geometry, and Character Rendering, enabling real-time rendering of incredibly detailed scenes and photorealistic characters. Available now on GitHub, RTX Kit empowers developers to enhance asset generation, material processing speed, and texture compression, even creating realistic hair and skin. Specific features, like DLSS 4's multi-frame generation, require GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs.

(developer.nvidia.com)

Tech neural rendering

China Advises AI Experts to Avoid US Travel

2025-03-01

The Chinese government has reportedly advised its AI specialists to avoid traveling to the United States, fearing the risk of sensitive information leaks or detention, according to the Wall Street Journal. While not an outright ban, directives have been issued in major tech hubs like Shanghai and Beijing, with leading AI companies advising employees against US and allied country travel unless absolutely necessary. Travelers are required to report their plans beforehand and provide detailed accounts upon return. This move highlights the intense competition and geopolitical tensions between China and the US in the AI arena.

(www.saba.ye)

AI AI talent flow

From Hand-Coding HTML to Zola: My Blog Migration Journey

2025-02-12

Clayton Ramsey shares his experience migrating his personal blog from hand-coded HTML to the Zola static site generator. Initially, he found hand-coding HTML manageable, but the repetitive tasks of handling math formulas (using MathML), code highlighting, and maintaining navigation bars became overwhelming. He switched to Zola, leveraging a Python script to convert LaTeX to MathML, ultimately automating the deployment process. While encountering challenges with GitHub Actions' YAML configuration, he found the migration significantly improved efficiency and lowered the barrier to writing new posts.

(claytonwramsey.com)

Development blog migration

Microsoft's Outlook Versions: A User Experience Nightmare?

2025-03-25

Microsoft's Outlook Versions: A User Experience Nightmare?

Microsoft veteran Scott Hanselman recently poked fun at the plethora of Outlook versions on Bluesky, including Outlook (New), Outlook (New), Outlook (Zero Sugar), and more, sparking a heated discussion. This highlights a common problem in Microsoft software: version proliferation. For example, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Teams (Personal) often coexist. Microsoft's push for the new Outlook, built on a modern service architecture, lacks many features of the classic version, such as COM add-in support, causing inconvenience for enterprise users. While Microsoft promises support for the Classic version until at least 2029, its forced migration strategy has raised user concerns, mirroring the case of a soft drink company replacing a well-liked product with a 'new' version and renaming the old one 'classic'. Hanselman's humorous commentary reveals the potential pitfalls of having multiple, similarly functioning options, potentially confusing users and negatively impacting user experience.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Accidental Community: How a Static Web Page Sparked the Local-First Movement

2025-02-12

A former Facebook engineer, while sailing the world, developed TinyBase, a local-first data store. He then created a simple static website, localfirstweb.dev, to curate and promote the concept. Unexpectedly, the site went viral, attracting developers and leading to a thriving Discord community built by Yonatan, a Harvard Business School graduate. This showcases how a seemingly small action can create a powerful ripple effect, highlighting the potential of the local-first software development movement.

(localfirstweb.dev)

Development

Reverse Engineering the League of Legends Game Engine for High-Fidelity Datasets

2025-02-12

This article details the creation of a high-fidelity League of Legends dataset by reverse engineering the game engine and replay file format. Existing datasets and analytics tools suffer from low granularity, imprecision, and incompleteness. The author's tool captures precise player positions, ability usage timings, and damage calculations at millisecond intervals. The article describes the technical challenges, including decrypting internal replay files, emulating the game engine, and processing encrypted packets. This work has significant implications for reinforcement learning and offers valuable insights into data extraction for similar games.

(maknee.github.io)

Game

Foxconn Navigates Tariff Troubles, Sees AI Server Boom

2025-03-14

Foxconn Navigates Tariff Troubles, Sees AI Server Boom

Foxconn CEO Young Liu revealed that US tariffs are causing significant headaches for tech giants like Apple and Amazon. In response, Foxconn's clients are increasingly planning US-based manufacturing collaborations to mitigate tariff impacts. While the consumer electronics business faces challenges, Foxconn's AI server segment is booming, with Q4 revenue up 78% year-on-year and projected to more than double this quarter. This growth is fueled by rising demand from smaller companies developing their own LLMs.

(on.ft.com)

Tech Foxconn AI Servers

OKRs: Tool or Trap?

2024-12-25

OKRs: Tool or Trap?

This article explores the duality of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). The author points out that many companies misuse OKRs for performance reviews, leading teams to overemphasize measurable metrics while neglecting the actual objectives and external effects. The author uses the example of Alexa to illustrate how blindly pursuing key results can be counterproductive. In contrast, Honeycomb uses OKRs as a tool for communication and reflection, treating key results as clues to observe the world and improve work, rather than ultimate judgment criteria, thus avoiding metric distortion.

(jessitron.com)

Development OKRs performance review goal management

System76's COSMIC Alpha 6: A Polished Rust Desktop Environment

2025-03-01

System76's COSMIC Alpha 6: A Polished Rust Desktop Environment

System76 released COSMIC Alpha 6, a significant update to its Rust-based desktop environment. New features include Desktop Zoom for easy scaling, improved workspace management with intuitive window switching and dragging, and enhancements to the file manager, media player, and text editor. Numerous bug fixes boost performance and stability. Alpha 6 also optimizes fonts, memory management, and CPU usage for a smoother experience.

(linuxiac.com)

Development

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