Basel Tax Authority Buys Bahamian Web Address Due to Flyer Error

2025-01-31
Basel Tax Authority Buys Bahamian Web Address Due to Flyer Error

The Basel-Stadt tax authority had to purchase a web address in the Bahamas due to a mistake on an information flyer for digital tax returns. The flyer, sent to over 100,000 households, omitted the '.ch' from the web address, redirecting users to a '.bs' domain in the Bahamas. While the error has been addressed and the Bahamian address will redirect to the correct Swiss site, the mistake cost the authority CHF 900, significantly cheaper than the estimated CHF 100,000 to reprint the flyers. Taxpayers can still file their returns online, albeit with a brief Caribbean detour.

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Misc tax error

Test-Driven Blogging: Using AI to Improve Your Writing Workflow

2025-03-09
Test-Driven Blogging: Using AI to Improve Your Writing Workflow

This post introduces unit-text, a tool leveraging GPT models to assist in blog post creation. The author emphasizes iterative writing, goal-oriented approaches, and draws parallels to Test-Driven Development (TDD) in software, proposing "Test-Driven Blogging." unit-text uses prompts and GPT feedback to help writers check for consistency, logical fallacies, and goal achievement, improving writing efficiency and quality. Currently a prototype CLI tool, future plans include interactive ideation, autonomous research, and API integration.

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Herculaneum Papyrus 5: A Breakthrough in Ink Detection

2025-02-05
Herculaneum Papyrus 5: A Breakthrough in Ink Detection

Significant progress has been made in ink detection and segmentation of P.Herc. 172 from the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford (Scroll 5). The scroll exhibits unusually visible ink, greatly aiding ink detection model training. While segmentation requires further refinement, preliminary analysis suggests authorship by Philodemus, with words like 'disgust', 'fear', and 'life' identified, along with symbols indicating a finished work. Scroll 5's unique characteristics offer potential as a 'Rosetta Stone' for ink detection in other scrolls. The team has released extensive segmentation data to facilitate research.

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CMU's ML in Production Course: From Model to Product

2025-01-28

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) offers a course, "Machine Learning in Production/AI Engineering," covering the entire lifecycle of building machine-learned models into real-world products. It encompasses model building, deployment, assurance, maintenance, responsible AI (safety, security, fairness, explainability), and MLOps. Targeted at students with some data science and programming experience, it doesn't require a software engineering background. Through case studies and a large-scale project, students learn to translate models into deployable and maintainable products, fostering collaboration in interdisciplinary teams.

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Development AI Engineering

Using `uv` as Your Shebang for Efficient Python Scripting

2025-01-28
Using `uv` as Your Shebang for Efficient Python Scripting

Rob Allen shares his experience using `#!/usr/bin/env -S uv run --script` as a shebang line for his Python scripts. This approach leverages the `uv` tool to manage script dependencies, allowing direct execution from the command line without needing to set up virtual environments, etc., improving script convenience and executability. The author creates many automation scripts in his ~/bin directory and simplifies their execution using this method.

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Development scripting

Svelte 5: A Conversation with Rich Harris on the Future of Frameworks

2025-01-28
Svelte 5: A Conversation with Rich Harris on the Future of Frameworks

Smashing Magazine interviewed Rich Harris, the creator of Svelte, revealing major updates and future directions for Svelte 5. A ground-up rewrite, Svelte 5 introduces clearer state management. Harris emphasizes that Svelte's goal isn't solely market share, but building high-quality, resilient, and accessible applications, and improving overall software quality by addressing widespread flaws. Future efforts will focus on the surrounding ecosystem, including SvelteKit, aiming to become a Rails or Laravel for JavaScript, simplifying full-stack development.

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Development Web Frameworks

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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Trump Admin Cuts Off Crucial F-16 Jamming Support: Ukraine's Response

2025-03-09
Trump Admin Cuts Off Crucial F-16 Jamming Support: Ukraine's Response

The Trump administration cut off vital support for the jamming capabilities of Ukraine's F-16 fighter jets, jeopardizing a critical air countermeasure. However, Ukraine isn't defenseless. They can leverage the jamming capabilities of French Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters, along with promised upgrades to their electronic warfare systems, to compensate for the American shortfall. While not a long-term solution, it buys Ukraine valuable time until more sustainable alternatives can be found.

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Google Maps Labels US as 'Sensitive Country' Amidst Gulf of Mexico Name Change

2025-02-01
Google Maps Labels US as 'Sensitive Country' Amidst Gulf of Mexico Name Change

Google Maps has reclassified the United States as a 'sensitive country,' a designation shared with nations like China and Russia, following its confirmation of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. This move, prompted by Trump's executive order, has sparked debate, highlighting the impact of political shifts on tech companies' operations and perceptions of the US globally. The reclassification raises concerns about the changing global perception of the United States under Trump's presidency.

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My Vim Workflow: A Decade of Productivity Hacks and Automation

2025-02-13

This article details a decade's worth of Vim (specifically GVim on Windows) usage, culminating in a collection of productivity tips and custom configurations. The focus isn't on specific Vim scripts, but rather on the importance of identifying and optimizing one's workflow. The author showcases custom key mappings for streamlined actions: using `` instead of ``, automating buffer saving with error handling, and quick system clipboard copying. Techniques for automatically creating directories before saving files and running Git commands within the :terminal are also explored. The article encourages readers to explore Vim's help pages and iterate on their own workflow optimization.

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Development

UK Council's Oracle Project Costs Balloon to £40M

2025-01-28
UK Council's Oracle Project Costs Balloon to £40M

West Sussex County Council in the UK is undertaking a £40 million ($50 million) Oracle-based transformation project, a massive escalation from the initial £2.6 million estimate. To fund this, the council is selling off assets like property, including a former fire station. The project, initially slated for 2021, has faced repeated delays, a system integrator change, and a new contract with Oracle extending it to 2030. This highlights the risks of runaway costs in large IT projects and the financial challenges faced by local governments.

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Chrome Sync Sunset: Older Chrome Versions Affected

2025-01-28

Google has announced that Chrome Sync will be discontinued on Chrome versions older than four years. This means users on older Chrome versions will no longer be able to sync their bookmarks, passwords, and other data. The move encourages users to upgrade to the latest Chrome version for improved performance and security. Users of older Chrome versions should upgrade to avoid data loss or functional limitations.

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Meta's Llama Hits 1 Billion Downloads, Aiming for Open-Source AI Domination

2025-03-18
Meta's Llama Hits 1 Billion Downloads, Aiming for Open-Source AI Domination

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company's open-source AI model, Llama, has surpassed 1 billion downloads, a 53% increase since early December 2024. While powering Meta's AI assistant and used by companies like Spotify and AT&T, Llama faces copyright lawsuits and data privacy concerns. Undeterred, Meta plans to release more Llama models, including reasoning and multimodal models, and is investing $80 billion in AI this year, aiming to lead the AI field.

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AI

Toyota's Woven City: Phase 1 Complete, First Residents Moving In

2025-02-26
Toyota's Woven City: Phase 1 Complete, First Residents Moving In

Toyota Motor Corporation has announced the completion of phase one of its futuristic city, Woven City, located southwest of Tokyo. Spanning over 700,000 square meters, this innovative urban development will integrate autonomous vehicles, robotics, and advanced digital technologies to offer residents a unique and technologically advanced living experience. The city features dedicated roads for autonomous vehicles, pedestrian zones, and underground passageways for deliveries and waste management. Approximately 360 Toyota employees and their families will begin moving in during the second half of this year, with a projected population of 2,000 residents eventually.

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Tech

Daylight DC-1: A Monochromatic Tablet That Reimagines Computing

2025-02-19

The Daylight DC-1 is a unique grayscale tablet prioritizing a healthy relationship with light and the outdoors. The author's experience on an Amtrak train highlighted its readability in direct sunlight, comfortable nighttime use, and the ease of using Android. While it has some shortcomings, such as keyboard support, software roughness, and missing features, it's an impressive device, particularly its innovative display technology. The author ultimately praises its potential and the company's direction.

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(jon.bo)

Raising Analog Kids in a Digital World: A Family's Approach

2025-03-30

A couple shares their strategy for raising children with an analog childhood in a digital age. They created a curated playroom filled with books, board games, musical instruments, and other physical toys, minimizing screen time. Emphasis is placed on emotional security, autonomy, and attention span development, supported by clear house rules and consistent family involvement. This philosophy extends to their home design, with a retro color palette creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

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Bluesky's Trending Topics: A Curated Overview

2025-01-23

Bluesky social media platform showcases a vibrant array of trending feeds, categorized into diverse interests such as science, pets, books, music, gaming, art, Black culture, and sports. These curated feeds, organized by keywords and hashtags, offer users streamlined access to engaging content. The platform also provides tools for users to create and manage their own thematic feeds.

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The Death of Authenticity: How 'Authenticity' Became a Commodity

2025-01-20
The Death of Authenticity: How 'Authenticity' Became a Commodity

This essay traces the evolution of 'authenticity' in contemporary culture. From the early hipster obsession with independent, non-commodified goods to the current prevalence of marketing terms like 'handmade' and 'small-batch,' authenticity has shifted from a scarce commodity to a ubiquitous one. The author argues that the rise of the internet and social media has lowered the cost of information dissemination, leading to shared value replacing scarcity and ushering in a 'post-authenticity' era. Brands are no longer simply commodities but active participants in shaping culture, demanding a more nuanced approach to critique.

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The Tyranny of Structurelessness: Power Dynamics in the Women's Liberation Movement

2025-01-22

This article examines the pitfalls of 'structureless' organizational forms in the women's liberation movement. Jo Freeman argues that seemingly structureless groups inevitably develop informal power structures, leading to elitism and exclusion. The lack of formal structures results in opaque decision-making processes, with power concentrated in the hands of a few, leaving the majority confused. The author advocates for formal, democratic organizational structures to ensure equitable power distribution and accountability, proposing principles for democratic structuring such as delegation of authority, responsibility, distributed power, and information sharing to foster the healthy development of the women's liberation movement.

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Remote Radioactive Material Detection: A 10-Meter Breakthrough

2025-03-24
Remote Radioactive Material Detection: A 10-Meter Breakthrough

Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a novel method for remotely detecting radioactive materials using short-pulse CO2 lasers, achieving detection at a distance of 10 meters—over ten times farther than previous methods. The technique leverages the ionization of surrounding air by radioactive materials. By accelerating these ions with a laser, a cascade of ionization creates microplasmas that scatter laser light, enabling remote detection. This technology holds promise for nuclear disaster response and nuclear security, but challenges remain, including the size of the laser system and environmental noise.

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The Undocumented 68030 Instruction That Saved the Mac Classic II

2025-01-25

While debugging a Macintosh Classic II in MAME, the author discovered a bus error causing a 'Sad Mac' in 32-bit addressing mode. Reverse engineering revealed an out-of-bounds jump in the ROM, leading the CPU to execute an undocumented 68030 instruction. Surprisingly, this instruction corrected the value of register A1, preventing a crash and allowing the Classic II to boot successfully. The author validated this by repairing a vintage Classic II and modifying its ROM. This case highlights the power of emulators in uncovering hardware quirks and showcases how a software bug was inadvertently fixed by hardware.

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Hardware

Nine: A Stunning C64 Demo

2025-02-05

A developer released 'Nine', a small yet incredibly impressive C64 demo at Fjälldata 2025. A video explaining its workings is in the works, but for the impatient, the machine code monitor is available. The demo has been lauded by users, with some calling it the best of 2025. However, one user reported a syntax error when running it on VICE emulator.

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Game Demo

We Should Own the Economy: A Movement to Redistribute Capital

2025-03-20
We Should Own the Economy: A Movement to Redistribute Capital

This article launches a movement to address wealth and power imbalances by changing who owns capital. The author argues that current capitalism concentrates wealth in the hands of a few, threatening democracy. To counter this, they're writing a book, "We Should Own the Economy," crowdfunded to research solutions. The book will explore how to broaden capital ownership, including employee ownership structures, purpose-driven businesses, and new financial platforms. Readers are invited to participate, co-creating a fairer, more inclusive economic system.

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In Search of Lost Time: A Summary of Proust's Masterpiece

2025-01-21
In Search of Lost Time: A Summary of Proust's Masterpiece

Marcel Proust's *In Search of Lost Time* is not merely a narrative, but a profound exploration of memory, time, and self-awareness. Through meticulous descriptions of everyday details, particularly the evocative power of smells and tastes, Proust unlocks the narrator's dormant memories, revealing that time isn't linear but exists in fragmented pieces within our recollections. The novel's unique stream-of-consciousness style and masterful portrayal of psychological states immerse the reader in the narrator's rich and complex inner world, prompting reflection on life's meaning and value.

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Stop Using Fake Bold and Italics on Social Media!

2025-03-08
Stop Using Fake Bold and Italics on Social Media!

This post details a test showing the inconsistent behavior of screen readers when encountering fake bold and italic text created using Unicode characters. Some screen readers ignore the formatting entirely, while others announce each character individually, leading to a poor user experience for visually impaired individuals. The author stresses the importance of using standard markup like HTML for text styling to ensure accessibility and avoid confusion for screen reader users.

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Development screen readers

EHT Reveals Turbulent Accretion Flow Around M87*'s Black Hole

2025-01-25

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has released a new analysis of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87 (M87*), combining observations from 2017 and 2018. The study confirms that M87*'s black hole rotational axis points away from Earth and highlights the significant role of turbulence within the accretion disk in explaining the observed shift in the ring's brightness peak. Using a vastly expanded simulation image library, the team confirmed the counter-clockwise 30-degree shift of the brightest region of the ring between 2017 and 2018. This research represents a major step forward in understanding the complex dynamics of black hole environments.

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Ledger Co-founder Kidnapped: Massive Investigation Underway in France

2025-01-23
Ledger Co-founder Kidnapped: Massive Investigation Underway in France

David Balland, a co-founder of the cryptocurrency wallet company Ledger, has been kidnapped, prompting a large-scale investigation by French authorities. The incident unfolded in the Cher department of France, involving a significant police deployment including helicopters and searches of multiple locations. The motive behind the kidnapping remains unclear, and whether a ransom is involved has not been publicly disclosed. This event highlights the security risks within the cryptocurrency industry.

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Tech kidnapping
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