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SpaceX Starship Flight 9: Partial Success, Both Stages Lost

2025-05-28

SpaceX Starship Flight 9: Partial Success, Both Stages Lost

SpaceX launched its Starship megarocket for the ninth time, marking the first significant reuse of Starship hardware. While the upper stage reached space – a major improvement – both stages were ultimately lost before completing their flight goals. Leaks caused a loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phases, according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Despite the loss, valuable data was gathered, and SpaceX plans three more Starship test launches in the next three to four weeks.

(www.space.com)

Tech

IPv4 Down? Linux, WireGuard, and Hetzner Saved My Internet!

2025-06-29

A power outage knocked out my IPv4 internet connectivity, leaving only IPv6, but many websites were inaccessible. I used a Hetzner VPS, WireGuard, and Linux network namespaces to cleverly fix this. By setting up a WireGuard server on the VPS, I tunneled my IPv6 connection to restore IPv4 functionality. Network namespaces allowed me to run my work VPN and Docker without interfering with WireGuard. I also solved WireGuard MTU issues. This whole process highlighted the flexibility and problem-solving power of Linux.

(jamesmcm.github.io)

Development

Infected qBittorrent Docker Image Secretly Mines Crypto

2025-09-23

While migrating servers, the author discovered a suspicious process, netservlet, consuming excessive CPU resources within a hotio/qbittorrent Docker container. Investigation revealed netservlet to be a stealth cryptocurrency miner, likely XMRig or a variant. Analysis of a core dump revealed strings related to cryptocurrency mining (e.g., cryptonight, ethash_calculate_dag_item) and a mining pool address (auto.c3pool.org:19999). This highlights the importance of not trusting random Docker images, regularly monitoring system resources, and auditing hosts and containers to prevent security breaches.

(apogliaghi.com)

Development cryptocurrency mining

10-Minute EV Charging in -10°C? Michigan Engineers Crack the Code

2025-04-06

10-Minute EV Charging in -10°C? Michigan Engineers Crack the Code

University of Michigan engineers have developed a modified manufacturing process for EV batteries that solves the range vs. charging speed trade-off, especially in cold weather. By combining a stabilizing coating on the electrode with microscale channels, they achieved 500% faster charging at -10°C. This breakthrough addresses a major consumer concern, potentially boosting EV adoption by overcoming winter range anxiety and slow charging times. The technology is designed for easy integration into existing manufacturing processes.

(news.umich.edu)

Tech EV battery fast charging cold weather charging

Wine 10.6 Released: Enhanced CMD, Bcrypt, and Game Compatibility

2025-04-21

The open-source software Wine has been updated to version 10.6, fixing 27 bugs and improving game and application compatibility. This release updates the lexer in the command processor CMD, adds PBKDF2 algorithm support to Bcrypt, and enhances WindowsCodecs' support for image metadata. Fixes include improvements for Unity games, Alan Wake, GDI+ issues, and various other games and apps.

(www.phoronix.com)

Development Game Compatibility

Quoting in JavaScript: Inspired by Lisp for Modular Front-End Development

2025-06-01

Quoting in JavaScript: Inspired by Lisp for Modular Front-End Development

This article explores how the "code is data" concept from Lisp can improve modularity in JavaScript for web app development. The author points out JavaScript's lack of Lisp's quoting mechanism, preventing direct manipulation of code snippets as data. However, by mimicking quoting—sending client-side module identifiers instead of the actual code to the client—delayed execution and modular composition are achieved. This allows backend programs to compose server-side and client-side behaviors, ensuring all server-side logic completes within a single request/response cycle and enabling progressive streaming, thus improving efficiency and maintainability of web applications.

(overreacted.io)

Development

Chinese Hackers Breached US Telecom Firm Earlier Than Previously Known

2025-06-05

Chinese Hackers Breached US Telecom Firm Earlier Than Previously Known

Corporate investigators uncovered evidence that Chinese hackers infiltrated an American telecommunications company in the summer of 2023, suggesting a breach of the US communications system earlier than publicly reported. Investigators discovered malware linked to Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups residing on the company's systems for seven months, starting in summer 2023. An unclassified report, shared with Western intelligence agencies, confirms the intrusion but omits the name of the affected company.

(www.bloomberg.com)

Tech Chinese hackers US telecom

The Sisyphean Task: Convincing a Kubernetes Team to Embrace Serverless

2025-07-05

The author recounts their futile attempts to persuade their Kubernetes team to adopt an AWS serverless architecture. Kubernetes engineers raised concerns about runaway costs, vendor lock-in, and reliance on proprietary technology. The author details the arguments surrounding cost, scalability, and responsibility sharing, ultimately conceding that both technologies have strengths and can coexist. The humorous tone highlights the clash of perspectives within a tech team, reflecting the challenges of cloud-native technology adoption in enterprises.

(medium.com)

Development

Garmin Connect: Your Fitness Data Hub

2025-01-08

Garmin Connect: Your Fitness Data Hub

Garmin Connect is more than just a simple fitness tracking app; it's a comprehensive fitness data hub that records and analyzes your various fitness activities, such as running, cycling, and swimming. It not only tracks your distance, time, and calorie consumption but also provides personalized training plans and recommendations to help you better manage your health and fitness goals. Seamlessly connecting with other Garmin devices, you can easily view and manage your fitness data and share your achievements with friends. In short, Garmin Connect is your powerful assistant in achieving your fitness goals.

(connect.garmin.com)

Misc fitness tracking health management

Btrfs Performance Boost: Chunk Allocation with Device Roles

2025-07-11

A significant performance improvement is coming to the Btrfs filesystem! A new patch introduces a performance-based chunk allocation method using device roles, addressing the current imbalance caused by allocation based solely on free space. By defining five device roles (metadata_only, metadata, none, data, data_only) and prioritizing roles alongside remaining space, the system can intelligently assign faster devices to metadata and slower devices to data, significantly boosting read/write performance. This improvement avoids complex device speed measurements, leveraging the existing on-disk format for smarter, more efficient storage management.

(lwn.net)

Development

YC Deletes Controversial AI Factory Worker Monitoring Demo

2025-02-26

YC Deletes Controversial AI Factory Worker Monitoring Demo

A demo video from Y Combinator-backed startup Optifye.ai, showcasing AI-powered software for monitoring factory worker productivity, sparked a social media backlash. The video depicts a supervisor using the software to reprimand a low-performing employee, leading to accusations of creating "sweatshops-as-a-service." While some argued it reflects existing issues, YC ultimately deleted the video. This incident highlights growing concerns about AI's use in the workplace, particularly regarding worker surveillance.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech worker monitoring

Real-time Neuroplasticity: Giving Pre-trained LLMs Real-time Learning

2025-04-08

Real-time Neuroplasticity: Giving Pre-trained LLMs Real-time Learning

This experimental technique, called "Neural Graffiti," uses a plug-in called the "Spray Layer" to inject memory traces directly into the final inference stage of pre-trained large language models (LLMs) without fine-tuning or retraining. Mimicking the neuroplasticity of the brain, it subtly alters the model's "thinking" by modifying vector embeddings, influencing its generative token predictions. Through interaction, the model gradually learns and evolves. While not forcing specific word outputs, it biases the model towards associated concepts with repeated interaction. The aim is to give AI models more proactive behavior, focused personality, and enhanced curiosity, ultimately helping them achieve a form of self-awareness at the neuron level.

(github.com)

AI

Going Rogue: A TTRPG That Lets You Rewrite Rogue One (and Boycott Disney)

2025-05-25

Going Rogue: A TTRPG That Lets You Rewrite Rogue One (and Boycott Disney)

Jess Levine's tabletop RPG, Going Rogue, inspired by Star Wars' Rogue One and Andor, centers around the guaranteed death of player characters. This mechanic serves as a reflection on the sacrifices and rewards of political action, allowing players to experience the emotional 'bleed' of their characters' dedication and find catharsis often missing in real-life activism. While not explicitly promoting socialism, the game encourages players to confront their feelings about political commitment. Furthermore, in response to Disney's political stances and inclusion on the BDS boycott list, Going Rogue actively encourages players to cancel their Disney+ subscriptions, reclaiming narrative ownership of the Star Wars universe.

(aftermath.site)

Game Tabletop RPG Political Activism

Romanian National Pleads Guilty in Massive 'Swatting' Conspiracy Targeting US Officials

2025-06-03

Romanian National Pleads Guilty in Massive 'Swatting' Conspiracy Targeting US Officials

A Romanian national pleaded guilty to participating in a years-long swatting conspiracy that targeted dozens of US government officials, including a former president. He and a Serbian accomplice made false 911 calls, claiming emergencies at the officials' homes and threatening to bomb government buildings and places of worship. The targets included members of Congress, governors, and cabinet officials. The case highlights the dangers of online crime and the need for international cooperation to combat it.

(nypost.com)

Tech swatting

Automating the Search for Artificial Life with Foundation Models

2024-12-24

Automating the Search for Artificial Life with Foundation Models

Sakana AI, in collaboration with MIT and others, has developed ASAL, an algorithm using vision-language foundation models to automate the discovery of artificial life. ASAL tackles three search problems: finding simulations with specific target behaviors, discovering simulations generating perpetual novelty, and illuminating all possible simulations. Successfully applied to Lenia, Boids, Particle Life, and others, ASAL unearthed novel artificial lifeforms and cellular automata rules surpassing Conway's Game of Life in open-endedness. This breakthrough promises to revitalize ALife research by overcoming the limitations of manual simulation design and offers insights for future AI development, incorporating principles of open-endedness and self-organization.

(sakana.ai)

AI Artificial Life Foundation Models Automated Search

Excel's Date Parsing: A 400-Year-Old Bug?

2025-04-07

Excel's Date Parsing: A 400-Year-Old Bug?

While building Quadratic, an AI spreadsheet, the team uncovered bizarre quirks in Excel's date parsing. Entering "1/2" and adding 1 yields 45660; "10:75" becomes 0.46875. This stems from Excel's serial date system, counting days since January 1, 1900. However, historical inaccuracies (treating 1900 as a leap year and the Gregorian calendar shift) create discrepancies. Quadratic uses Rust's chrono library, avoiding these issues and integrating seamlessly with Python, SQL, and other modern tools. The team corrected the 1900 leap year error, restoring balance to the universe.

(www.quadratichq.com)

Development Date Parsing

US Tariffs: A Doomed Economic Gamble

2025-04-15

On April 2nd, 2025, the US president announced hefty new tariffs on imports, aiming to revive American manufacturing. However, a 15-year manufacturing veteran argues this policy is fundamentally flawed. High labor costs, a weak industrial supply chain, lack of crucial expertise, insufficient infrastructure, and policy uncertainty will likely backfire, harming the US economy. The author advocates for improving worker skills, building infrastructure, addressing social issues, and implementing gradual, targeted policies instead of blanket tariffs.

(www.molsonhart.com)

Tech

Blue Shield Data Breach: Google Analytics Misconfiguration Exposed Member Data

2025-04-10

Blue Shield of California announced a potential data breach affecting some members' protected health information. Between April 2021 and January 2024, a misconfiguration of Google Analytics allowed certain member data, including plan details, location, and demographics, to be shared with Google Ads for targeted advertising. Social Security numbers and financial information were not compromised. Blue Shield severed the connection in January 2024 and is taking steps to prevent future incidents. Members are advised to monitor their accounts and credit reports for suspicious activity.

(news.blueshieldca.com)

Tech

Singularities: Physics' Unbreakable Dead Ends?

2025-05-28

Singularities: Physics' Unbreakable Dead Ends?

The birth of the universe and the center of a black hole both point to singularities—points where the fabric of spacetime breaks down. Einstein's general relativity predicts singularities, but it fails there. Recent research shows that singularities persist even when considering quantum effects, challenging physicists' efforts to build a complete theory of quantum gravity. This suggests that our universe may contain regions where spacetime structure completely disintegrates, time stops, and everything becomes unpredictable. Future quantum gravity theories might explain singularities, but the concept of spacetime may need redefinition.

(www.quantamagazine.org)

Tech

Perplexity's Bold Move: Copying Google's Playbook?

2025-04-25

Perplexity's Bold Move: Copying Google's Playbook?

Perplexity, an AI search engine, is building its own browser, Comet, to collect user data outside its app for targeted advertising, as revealed by CEO Aravind Srinivas. This raises privacy concerns and draws parallels to Google's antitrust lawsuit. Perplexity's partnerships with Motorola and potential deals with Samsung, mirroring Google's strategy with Chrome and Android, aim to build a comprehensive user profile. While Srinivas argues for more relevant ads, this move may fuel distrust in big tech's data tracking practices. OpenAI and Perplexity have expressed interest in acquiring Chrome if Google is forced to divest.

(techcrunch.com)

AI

Rails 8: Surprisingly Great for Solo Projects

2025-01-01

After building and deploying a new Rails 8 application, it's clear: Rails is awesome, especially for small, single-developer projects. The new Getting Started guide is excellent, leading you from zero to a production-ready app with authentication, caching, rich text, CI, and a database – all without much hassle. Rails 8 simplifies database setup, making SQLite production-ready. Built-in CI config and free Github Actions minutes make continuous integration a breeze. A new, easy-to-use authentication generator and streamlined deployment further enhance the experience. Rails 8 makes development efficient and accessible, even for solo developers.

(literallythevoid.com)

Development

NASA Open-Sources Peer Review Tool for Enhanced Software Development

2025-05-15

NASA Open-Sources Peer Review Tool for Enhanced Software Development

NASA's Stennis Space Center has released its first open-source software: a peer review tool designed to streamline and enhance collaborative software application development. Built from years of internal experience using LabVIEW, the tool automates parts of the review process, improving code comparison and comment functionality. This ultimately leads to better software quality and more efficient development. Now available to the public, the tool is intended to be a community-driven project, constantly refined and improved by developers worldwide.

(www.nasa.gov)

Development

Bitcoin Hits All-Time High Above $118,000, Fueled by Tech Rally

2025-07-12

Bitcoin Hits All-Time High Above $118,000, Fueled by Tech Rally

Bitcoin surged to a new all-time high above $118,000, mirroring the strong performance of tech stocks like Nvidia. Analysts attribute the rally to sustained institutional investment, increased corporate bitcoin holdings (e.g., MicroStrategy, GameStop, Trump Media), and anticipation surrounding upcoming crypto regulation discussions during "Crypto Week." The correlation between Bitcoin and tech stocks, along with shifting regulatory expectations, are key factors driving the price increase.

(finance.yahoo.com)

Tech

The Book of Secret Knowledge: A Curated Collection of Dev & Sec Tools

2025-05-31

The Book of Secret Knowledge: A Curated Collection of Dev & Sec Tools

This GitHub repository is a treasure trove of tools, scripts, cheat sheets, and resources used daily by the author. It's aimed at system and network administrators, DevOps engineers, penetration testers, and security researchers, offering a comprehensive collection of tools for everything from shell scripting and network analysis to security auditing and database management. The repository is constantly updated with new items.

(github.com)

Development tools

AWS Aurora DSQL: A Database Architecture Revolution from JVM to Rust

2025-05-27

AWS Aurora DSQL: A Database Architecture Revolution from JVM to Rust

AWS announced Aurora DSQL at re:Invent, and this post delves into its development journey. To tackle the challenge of horizontally scaling writes in traditional databases, the AWS team initially used JVM but encountered severe performance bottlenecks, especially tail latency issues caused by garbage collection. They ultimately decided to rewrite the data plane in Rust, which significantly improved performance and reduced tail latency. Furthermore, the team also migrated the control plane to Rust, avoiding the complexities of multiple languages. This project demonstrates that questioning existing solutions and experimenting with new technologies (even costly language migrations) can yield significant rewards.

(www.allthingsdistributed.com)

Development

Evaluating LLMs in Text Adventures: A Novel Approach

2025-08-12

This article proposes a novel method for evaluating the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) in text adventure games. The approach involves setting a turn limit and defining a set of in-game achievements to measure how well an LLM can progress within those constraints. Due to the high degree of freedom and branching in text adventures, this method isn't designed to provide an absolute performance score, but rather to offer a relative comparison between different LLMs. The LLM is given a series of achievement goals and a limited number of turns to achieve them; the final score is based on the number of achievements completed. Even powerful LLMs struggle to explore all branches within the turn limit, making the score a reflection of relative capability rather than absolute gaming skill.

(entropicthoughts.com)

AI Text Adventure Games

UniK3D: Universal Camera Monocular 3D Estimation

2025-04-17

UniK3D revolutionizes monocular 3D reconstruction by accurately estimating metric 3D scenes from single images, regardless of camera type. Unlike previous methods reliant on simplified assumptions, UniK3D directly predicts 3D points without extra information. Its key innovation lies in a spherical 3D representation and a novel camera representation, overcoming limitations of traditional approaches in wide-angle and panoramic settings. Zero-shot evaluation across 13 diverse datasets demonstrates state-of-the-art performance in 3D, depth, and camera metrics, particularly excelling in challenging large field-of-view scenarios. Code and models are available on GitHub.

(lpiccinelli-eth.github.io)

AI

Google's AI Summaries: Devouring the Web's Ecosystem?

2025-06-22

Google's AI Summaries: Devouring the Web's Ecosystem?

Google's AI-generated web page summaries, launched in May 2024, increased search impressions but decreased click-through rates to source websites by 30 percent. This means more people use Google Search, but fewer visit the original sites. Studies show significantly higher click-through rates when AI summaries are absent. Web publishers are alarmed as search traffic, and thus ad and subscription revenue, plummets. Data reveals a drastic imbalance between web page crawling and referral traffic for AI companies like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic; Google's ratio has soared from 2:1 to 18:1. This has led to lawsuits from publishers questioning compensation for the content used to train AI models. While Google dominates search, its actions risk undermining the very foundation of its business.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Content Ecosystem

TikTok Ban: A First Amendment Showdown

2025-01-15

TikTok Ban: A First Amendment Showdown

The ACLU argues that a law effectively banning TikTok in the US violates the First Amendment. The law grants the president sweeping power to shut down communication platforms under the guise of national security, without sufficient evidence of imminent harm. The ACLU contends the government cannot ban speech it dislikes without a high bar of evidence, and that the ban sets a dangerous precedent for future restrictions on online speech. They urge the Supreme Court to intervene and protect Americans' right to free expression and access to information.

(www.aclu.org)

Tech

Discord Beta Tests New In-App Currency: Discord Orbs

2025-05-29

Discord Beta Tests New In-App Currency: Discord Orbs

Discord is beta testing "Discord Orbs," a new in-app currency redeemable for digital items. Users earn Orbs by completing promotional Quests, which involve interacting with advertiser content. Orbs can be spent on items in the Discord Shop or exchanged for exclusives like badges or Discord Nitro trials. The rollout is initially limited to a small number of users globally. Previously, Quest rewards were handled by publishers; Orbs offer an alternative.

(www.theverge.com)

Game in-app currency rewards

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