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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.

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(yoric.github.io)
Development Refinement Types Type System

Particles.js: Code Samples and More

2025-01-09

Particles.js is a powerful JavaScript library for creating stunning particle effects. This article provides code samples and additional examples of Particles.js, enabling developers to easily implement various particle animations, from simple falling effects to complex interactive scenes. Whether for web design or game development, Particles.js adds a touch of visual flair to your projects.

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(tiki.li)
Development particle effects web effects

Why Finding High-Quality Products Is So Difficult

2024-12-16

This article explores the pervasive challenge of finding high-quality products and services in the market. The author argues that markets aren't perfectly efficient, with inefficiencies in companies and products persisting for years. Consumers struggle to discern product quality, often swayed by marketing. Even expert advice proves unreliable. Businesses, prioritizing efficiency, outsource or buy off-the-shelf solutions, but these often lack quality and may have fundamental flaws. The author uses personal anecdotes and case studies to illustrate information asymmetry and trust deficits within and between companies, hindering the production and sale of high-quality goods. The conclusion highlights that building quality isn't easy, but reliable service often necessitates in-house development—a significant hurdle for smaller companies.

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(danluu.com)
Tech product quality market efficiency information asymmetry

Numbers Look Like Leaves in Set Theory

2024-12-28
Numbers Look Like Leaves in Set Theory

While learning ZFC set theory, the author discovered that the graphical representation of natural numbers using Von Neumann ordinals, when rendered using a force-directed graph layout, strikingly resembles leaves. The article details the recursive definition of Von Neumann ordinals and their tree-like structure, visually demonstrating how numbers from 0 to 16 take on a leaf-like form. The author concludes by questioning whether this 'leaf' shape is inherent to the structure of Von Neumann ordinals themselves and plans to investigate the set-theoretic representation of rational numbers.

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(www.christo.sh)
AI set theory von neumann ordinals mathematical visualization

MIT Study Unveils Why Laws Are Written in Incomprehensible Legalese

2024-12-17
MIT Study Unveils Why Laws Are Written in Incomprehensible Legalese

A new study from MIT cognitive scientists reveals why legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand. Contrary to the belief that complexity stems from iterative edits, the research suggests that convoluted legalese serves to convey authority, akin to a 'magic spell'. Experiments showed that even non-lawyers instinctively use complex language structures when writing laws. This finding could inspire lawmakers to simplify legal language for better public comprehension.

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(news.mit.edu)
AI Legal Language Cognitive Science

25 Years Later: The Untold Story of the Mac OS X Dock

2025-01-06
25 Years Later: The Untold Story of the Mac OS X Dock

This blog post recounts the experiences of James Thomson, an early engineer on the Mac OS X Dock. He details his time working on the Dock at Apple in Ireland, including the initial design process, interactions with Steve Jobs, and his eventual departure from Apple. The story is filled with tension and intrigue, including secrecy surrounding the project, Jobs's demands about the engineer's location, and the challenges and triumphs Thomson faced during development. The post offers a fascinating glimpse into the creation of a pivotal piece of Mac OS X, and the journey of a software engineer.

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(tla.systems)
Development

Supercharge SQLite with Ruby Functions

2025-01-27

This article demonstrates how to enhance SQLite's capabilities by integrating Ruby functions. The author creates User-Defined Functions (UDFs) to directly call Ruby code within SQL queries, enabling features like generating time-ordered UUIDs, performing regex matching, and calculating statistical measures (e.g., standard deviation and percentiles). The article also explores using the SQLITE_DIRECTONLY flag to prevent issues when accessing custom functions outside the application's process. Overall, this provides a powerful way to boost SQLite's flexibility and functionality, particularly useful for data exploration and analysis.

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(blog.julik.nl)
Development

Microsoft's Windows 11 24H2 Update Breaks Scanners

2025-01-04
Microsoft's Windows 11 24H2 Update Breaks Scanners

Microsoft's latest Windows 11 24H2 update has rendered many users' scanners unusable. Despite Microsoft claiming to have fixed an issue with the eSCL scan protocol, numerous Canon users are still experiencing problems, with their multifunction devices failing to scan properly on Windows 11 unless connected via wired Ethernet. Canon has confirmed the issue and says Microsoft is working on a fix, expected in January 2025. Affected users can use the built-in Windows Fax and Scan app as a workaround. This highlights the compatibility challenges that can arise from major OS updates.

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(www.theregister.com)
Tech Scanner Issues Compatibility Problems

The Entropy of Large Language Model Output: An Information-Theoretic Perspective

2025-01-13

This post explores the output of large language models (LLMs like ChatGPT) from an information-theoretic perspective. The author calculates the entropy of each output token to measure the model's certainty in predicting the next token. Experiments show lower entropy (higher certainty) at sentence endings or word fragments, and higher entropy (more uncertainty) in descriptive statements. A comparison of token types at low vs. high entropy reveals that low entropy often correlates with factual statements (containing proper nouns), while high entropy correlates with descriptive statements. A Tamil language example is used for further illustration, emphasizing the importance of discerning truth from falsehood.

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(nikkin.dev)
AI Entropy Information Theory

Northern Giant Hornet Eradicated from the United States

2024-12-23

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the eradication of the northern giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) from Washington state and the US after three years without confirmed detections. This success is attributed to a multi-year collaborative effort involving state and federal agencies, community members, and the public, who played a crucial role in reporting sightings. The hornets posed a significant threat to honeybees, other pollinators, and agriculture, and their eradication protects the US ecosystem and agricultural industry. While eradicated, vigilance continues to prevent reintroduction.

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(agr.wa.gov)
Misc Northern Giant Hornet invasive species eradication

Token Security Raises $20M to Secure the Booming World of Machine Identities

2025-01-27
Token Security Raises $20M to Secure the Booming World of Machine Identities

The rise of cloud computing and AI has led to a surge in machine identities, creating more entry points for hackers. Token Security, a startup tackling this growing security risk, just secured $20 million in Series A funding. Their platform automatically identifies and manages machine identities, helping companies prevent breaches before they occur. Founded by veterans of Israel's Unit 8200, the company counts HPE among its clients and plans to use the funding to expand its AI capabilities and US presence. The funding highlights the increasing importance of securing machine identities, often overlooked in traditional cybersecurity strategies.

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(techcrunch.com)
Tech machine identity

Gravitational Wave Detectors May Find Neutron Stars Lighter Than White Dwarfs

2024-12-26
Gravitational Wave Detectors May Find Neutron Stars Lighter Than White Dwarfs

Scientists used data from the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories to search for low-mass neutron stars with less than 1.4 solar masses. While none have been found yet, the study suggests that such neutron stars could form due to the rapid compression of the core during a supernova explosion. This research provides new constraints on the properties of neutron star matter and the mass limits of neutron stars. More sensitive gravitational wave detectors in the future will further test this theory.

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(www.universetoday.com)
Tech Neutron stars Gravitational waves

Public Bathhouses: A Sustainable Future?

2024-12-22
Public Bathhouses: A Sustainable Future?

This article explores the sustainability of public bathhouses and their historical context. From ancient Roman bathhouses to modern shower rooms, public bathing has played different roles throughout history, fulfilling hygiene needs while also serving as social and recreational spaces. The article analyzes the high energy consumption of modern bathrooms and proposes public bathhouses as a more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative. It also discusses different types of public bathhouses and how to design a low-carbon, environmentally friendly public bathhouse, such as using renewable energy sources like solar and geothermal energy. Ultimately, the article calls for a reconsideration of the value of public bathhouses and their potential as a sustainable solution to address today's environmental crisis.

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(solar.lowtechmagazine.com)
Tech public bathhouses

BlogScroll: A GitHub-Hosted Directory of Personal Blogs and Sites

2025-01-03

BlogScroll is an open directory of personal websites and blogs, entirely maintained on GitHub. Created to highlight the often-overlooked digital gardens individuals cultivate outside the major tech platforms, it champions a decentralized internet. With categories spanning design, photography, and technology, and an RSS feed for updates, BlogScroll offers a valuable resource for discovering unique online voices and content.

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(blogscroll.com)
Misc Personal Blogs Site Directory

The Unix Trinity: dmr, kt, and bwk

2025-02-12

In Unix history, the initials dmr, kt, and bwk represent legendary figures: Dennis M. Ritchie (dmr), co-creator of Unix and the C programming language; Ken Thompson (kt), co-creator of Unix alongside Ritchie; and Brian W. Kernighan (bwk), co-author of influential Unix programs and books like "The C Programming Language" and "The UNIX Programming Environment". These three giants shaped the foundations of Unix and profoundly impacted modern computer science.

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(drio.github.io)
Development C Programming Language

CIA's Animal Spies: From Pigeons to Rats, Declassified Secrets of Nature's Arsenal

2024-12-13

The CIA's history of using animals in espionage is filled with creativity and challenges. From pigeons carrying miniature cameras, to the attempted use of a cat for eavesdropping in the 'Acoustikitty' program (ultimately failing due to the cat's independent nature), to robotic catfish 'Charlie' for underwater reconnaissance, and the dragonfly-mimicking miniature drone 'Insectothopter', the CIA showcased its imagination, leveraging animal characteristics for intelligence gathering. Additionally, they used animal remains as camouflaged dead drops, even employing rats soaked in cat repellent to deliver messages. These imaginative attempts highlight the CIA's innovative spirit in technology and intelligence, and also reflect the unique value of animals in special environments.

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(www.cia.gov)
Misc animal spies CIA technological innovation

Ente Photos: On-Device Machine Learning for Enhanced Privacy

2024-12-15
Ente Photos: On-Device Machine Learning for Enhanced Privacy

Ente Photos utilizes a unique on-device machine learning approach, running models locally instead of in the cloud to guarantee end-to-end encryption and user privacy. Overcoming challenges of limited compute, diverse platforms, and restricted access to ML libraries, Ente achieves features like image indexing, clustering, semantic search, and face recognition. While local processing presents technical hurdles, Ente addresses them through model optimization, algorithmic refinements, and meticulous image processing, leveraging open-source tools like ONNX Runtime. The result is a consistent and efficient cross-platform experience, allowing users to securely explore and manage their memories.

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(ente.io)
AI on-device machine learning

Guitaraoke: Automating Chord Generation for Karaoke Videos

2025-01-21
Guitaraoke: Automating Chord Generation for Karaoke Videos

To enhance his monthly Guitaraoke night, Dylan Beattie built a system that automatically displays song chords on karaoke videos. He uses the Vamp plugin to extract chord information from audio, then ImageSharp and FFMpegCore to generate a transparent video overlay with the chords, finally compositing this onto the original video. This involves audio analysis, image processing, and video composition, resulting in real-time chord display for guitarists. Future improvements include automatic beat detection and batch processing.

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(dylanbeattie.net)
Development Audio Processing

Kokoro TTS: Revolutionary AI Voice Generator

2025-01-17

Kokoro TTS is a cutting-edge text-to-speech platform powered by the revolutionary Kokoro 82M model. It offers high-quality, natural-sounding speech synthesis with multiple voice options and the ability to adapt tone and emotion based on text context. Ideal for content creation, accessibility, and professional applications, Kokoro TTS is incredibly easy to use: simply input text, select a voice, and generate high-quality speech in seconds. A free trial and various paid plans are available.

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(kokorotts.online)
AI AI voice synthesis

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.

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(www.goodfire.ai)
AI Interpretability Sparse Autoencoders

Qubes OS Unveils Secure PDF Conversion Tool

2024-12-12

The Qubes OS team has developed a novel security mechanism for converting untrusted PDFs into trusted ones. Leveraging Qubes' Disposable VMs, the process isolates PDF parsing within a secure container. The PDF is converted to a simple RGB image representation, then back to a PDF. This approach effectively mitigates attacks from malicious PDFs; even if parsing fails, the resulting PDF will only be a corrupted image, posing no system threat. This innovation significantly enhances Qubes OS security, allowing users to handle PDFs from the web or email more safely.

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(blog.invisiblethings.org)
Tech secure PDF conversion disposable VMs

Quantus: Revolutionizing Fintech with a Cutting-Edge Quantitative Trading Platform

2024-12-12

Quantus is an advanced quantitative trading platform designed to provide professional traders and institutional investors with efficient and reliable trading solutions. It integrates powerful data analytics tools, flexible backtesting capabilities, and a low-latency execution system, enabling users to better capitalize on market opportunities and enhance investment returns. With its robust technology and user-friendly interface, Quantus is quickly becoming a rising star in the fintech landscape.

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(quantus.finance)
Tech quantitative trading fintech trading platform

AI Facial Recognition Derails Murder Case

2025-01-28
AI Facial Recognition Derails Murder Case

Cleveland police used AI facial recognition to obtain a search warrant in a murder case, but the technology's results are inadmissible in court. A judge subsequently threw out the evidence, potentially derailing the prosecution. The case highlights a critical lack of oversight, regulation, and training surrounding the use of AI in law enforcement, raising ethical and legal concerns about its application in judicial proceedings.

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(www.cleveland.com)
Tech Facial Recognition Justice

Houseplant: Streamlining ClickHouse Database Migrations

2024-12-27

Houseplant is a command-line tool designed to simplify ClickHouse database migration management. It allows developers to write migrations in a user-friendly YAML format, making them easy to read and maintain. Simple commands like `houseplant init`, `houseplant generate`, and `houseplant migrate` enable initialization, migration generation, execution, and rollback. Houseplant supports various environment configurations and offers an intuitive command-line interface for seamless ClickHouse schema management.

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(houseplant.readthedocs.io)
Development Database Migrations

Bilinear Up/Downsampling: Pixel Grid Alignment and That Infamous GPU Half-Pixel Offset

2025-01-27
Bilinear Up/Downsampling: Pixel Grid Alignment and That Infamous GPU Half-Pixel Offset

This article delves into the common misconceptions and pitfalls surrounding bilinear up/downsampling techniques. The author points out that bilinear up/downsampling isn't a single concept; its definition and implementation vary, leading to long-standing bugs and confusion, even affecting top libraries like TensorFlow. The article thoroughly explains pixel grid alignment, GPU half-pixel offsets, and the role of odd/even filters. Using a signal processing perspective, it analyzes operations like zero-insertion and post-filtering, ultimately concluding that choosing the right coordinate system and filter is crucial for obtaining correct results.

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(bartwronski.com)
Development signal processing

Infinigen: Infinite Photorealistic 3D Scene Generator

2025-01-22
Infinigen: Infinite Photorealistic 3D Scene Generator

Developed by the Princeton Vision & Learning Lab, Infinigen is a procedural generator of 3D scenes, built on Blender and freely available under the BSD 3-Clause License. It generates limitless variations of high-quality 3D scenes using randomized mathematical rules, controlling everything from macro structures to micro details. Infinigen automatically generates annotations for various computer vision tasks like optical flow and depth estimation, making it ideal for 3D vision research. Its focus on real geometry ensures accurate ground truth data.

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(infinigen.org)
AI 3D scene generation

Cloudflare Prevents DNS Conflicts with Formal Verification

2025-01-07
Cloudflare Prevents DNS Conflicts with Formal Verification

Cloudflare uses Topaz, a system that formally verifies the correctness of its internal DNS addressing behavior. Topaz encodes DNS business objectives as declarative programs, each with a match function, a response function, and a configuration. Before deployment, a custom model checker verifies these programs for conflicts and bugs, ensuring reliable and consistent DNS configuration. This improves internet reliability by preventing inconsistencies in IP address resolution.

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(blog.cloudflare.com)
Tech Formal Verification

DOOM Ported to Run Entirely on AMD GPUs

2024-12-15

An AMD developer has successfully ported the classic game DOOM to run almost entirely on AMD GPUs. Leveraging the ROCm library and the LLVM libc C library, the port offloads rendering and game logic to the GPU, handling OS functions via an RPC interface. This impressive feat showcases the potential of the LLVM C library for GPU programming and opens exciting possibilities for game development.

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(www.phoronix.com)
Game GPU Gaming
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