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Apitally API Analytics: Lightweight Metadata Collection, Protecting Your Sensitive Data

2025-02-05

Apitally API Analytics: Lightweight Metadata Collection, Protecting Your Sensitive Data

Apitally's API analytics and monitoring client libraries collect only non-sensitive metadata about your endpoints, requests, and responses. This includes HTTP methods, paths, response status codes, timing, and the size of request and response bodies. Data is aggregated client-side before being sent to Apitally servers. For API request logging, the libraries allow you to configure logging details and easily mask sensitive fields, ensuring data security.

(apitally.io)

Development API Monitoring Client Libraries

Stack Overflow Controversy: User Account Erased, Raising Copyright and Censorship Questions

2025-01-09

Stack Overflow Controversy: User Account Erased, Raising Copyright and Censorship Questions

The programmer Q&A site Stack Overflow is embroiled in controversy over the removal of Luigi Mangione's account while retaining his contributions. The article argues this violates the attribution clause of the Creative Commons license and contrasts sharply with how other tech platforms handled Mangione's accounts. The author alleges Stack Overflow's actions were retaliatory, stemming from a question he posed that resulted in a year-long ban. The incident raises questions about copyright, censorship, platform power, and the relationship between tech companies and user rights.

(substack.evancarroll.com)

Development Censorship

Broken VSCode Extension Download Links

2025-02-04

Broken VSCode Extension Download Links

Download links for extensions in the VSCode marketplace are broken. New installation instructions direct users to download OS-appropriate versions from a 'Version History' link, but this link is missing. The previous sidebar download link has also been removed, preventing users from downloading extensions. This affects all operating systems and browsers.

(github.com)

Development Extensions Download Links

Conquering Database Counter Lock Contention: The Slotted Counter Pattern

2025-02-04

Conquering Database Counter Lock Contention: The Slotted Counter Pattern

Updating database counters in high-concurrency scenarios often leads to lock contention, causing performance degradation and even deadlocks. This article introduces a pattern called "slotted counters" that effectively mitigates lock contention by distributing counters across multiple slots. This pattern distributes update operations across multiple rows, eliminating the bottleneck of single-row updates and improving concurrency performance. GitHub used a similar solution to address counting issues; the core idea is to distribute update operations across multiple rows and then aggregate them to get the final count.

(planetscale.com)

Development

NSF Freezes Grants Amidst Trump's DEI Crackdown

2025-02-01

NSF Freezes Grants Amidst Trump's DEI Crackdown

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has frozen all grant payments following executive orders from the Trump administration, sending shockwaves through the US scientific community. The freeze affects both existing grants and new applications, leaving scientists unable to pay bills or continue their research. The orders target NSF's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, conflicting with Congressional mandates for broader participation in science. NSF is reviewing billions of dollars in existing grants for DEI-related activities, a process criticized as wasteful and potentially damaging to US science in the long term. The situation highlights a clash between the administration's policies and the needs of researchers.

(www.npr.org)

Tech Grant Freeze Trump Administration

Shein, Temu, and the US De Minimis Tax Rule: A Looming Showdown

2025-02-02

Shein, Temu, and the US De Minimis Tax Rule: A Looming Showdown

The meteoric rise of Shein and Temu has thrust the US de minimis tax rule—which exempts shipments under $800 from duties and taxes—into the spotlight. Critics argue it fosters unfair competition and potentially allows banned goods entry. While both Shein and Temu claim support for reform, provided it's fair, Congressional bills aiming to alter or eliminate the rule face uncertain futures. Experts suggest the rule's unlikely demise soon, with many retailers adopting a 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' strategy, seeking ways to leverage it for cost reduction.

(www.businessinsider.com)

Startup e-commerce tax policy international trade

Bitcoin Miner Bitfarms Pivots to AI Data Centers

2025-02-03

Bitcoin Miner Bitfarms Pivots to AI Data Centers

Bitfarms, a Toronto-based bitcoin mining company, is exploring the transformation of its facilities into AI data centers. They've hired consultants to assess their North American sites and develop a computing and AI strategy. This leverages their existing land and power resources to capitalize on the AI boom. While some critics question the feasibility due to the complexities of AI data centers, Bitfarms' CEO highlights the potential for long-term, stable cash flow, while maintaining the upside potential of bitcoin mining operations.

(finance.yahoo.com)

Tech

JS1K Winner: Bouncing Beholder - A 1KB Platformer

2025-02-04

Bouncing Beholder is a JavaScript platform game that fits within the incredibly tight constraints of 1024 bytes. The author achieved this feat through ingenious coding techniques, such as method name abbreviation, minimizing function use, and a highly holistic code design. The game involves navigating a procedurally generated landscape, collecting coins, and avoiding hazardous terrain. The article details the development process and showcases fascinating low-level optimization strategies, offering a unique look into the world of extreme code compression.

(marijnhaverbeke.nl)

Game

OpenAI's 'Strawberry' Project: Aiming for Deep Reasoning in AI

2025-02-03

OpenAI's 'Strawberry' Project: Aiming for Deep Reasoning in AI

OpenAI is secretly developing a project codenamed "Strawberry," aiming to overcome limitations in current AI models' reasoning abilities. The project seeks to enable AI to autonomously plan and conduct in-depth research on the internet, rather than simply answering queries. Internal documents reveal that the "Strawberry" model will use a specialized post-training method, combined with self-learning and planning capabilities, to reliably solve complex problems. This is considered a significant breakthrough, potentially revolutionizing AI's role in scientific discovery and software development, while also raising ethical concerns about future AI capabilities.

(economictimes.indiatimes.com)

AI AI reasoning

26,000-Year-Old Mammoth Ivory Portrait: World's Oldest?

2025-02-04

26,000-Year-Old Mammoth Ivory Portrait: World's Oldest?

A tiny mammoth ivory carving unearthed at the Dolní Vĕstonice archaeological site in the Czech Republic is believed to be the oldest surviving portrait in the world, dating back approximately 26,000 years. Measuring just 4.8 centimeters tall, the sculpture depicts a woman's face with remarkably detailed features including eyes, chin, and nose, possibly wearing her hair up or a hat. Unlike other artifacts from the site, this individualized portrait represents the earliest known depiction of a specific person. In 2018, facial reconstruction of a woman's skull found at the same site revealed striking similarities to the carving, further supporting its identification as a portrait. This discovery offers invaluable insights into the art and culture of Upper Paleolithic humans.

(www.livescience.com)

Misc Paleolithic art portraiture

How I Use LLMs to Supercharge My Engineering Workflow

2025-02-04

A senior software engineer shares his practical applications of large language models (LLMs) in his daily workflow. He leverages LLMs for code completion, writing throwaway code, learning new domains, last-resort debugging, and proofreading documents. He stresses LLMs are not a replacement for core logic or formal writing but a powerful aid, particularly effective for tackling unfamiliar codebases or learning new technologies. The key is using them strategically, not expecting miracles.

(www.seangoedecke.com)

Development

Quantum Mechanics at 100: A Triumphant Theory, Yet No One Knows Why It Works

2025-02-03

Quantum Mechanics at 100: A Triumphant Theory, Yet No One Knows Why It Works

Quantum mechanics, the most successful and important theory in modern physics, makes remarkably accurate predictions and explains phenomena ranging from lasers to the Higgs boson. Yet, for a century, physicists have struggled to agree on its fundamental principles. This article traces the origins of quantum mechanics, from Planck and Einstein's early work to the breakthroughs of Heisenberg, Born, Jordan, and Schrödinger, exploring the measurement problem, wave functions, the uncertainty principle, and the decades-long debate between Einstein and Bohr about the nature of quantum reality. Quantum entanglement further challenges our intuition and understanding of spacetime. Despite its immense success, the foundations of quantum mechanics remain shrouded in mystery, making it both fascinating and deeply challenging.

(www.nature.com)

Tech

My Last Name Is 'Null,' and It's Breaking the Internet

2025-02-03

My Last Name Is 'Null,' and It's Breaking the Internet

The author's last name is "Null," a reserved word in many programming languages. This seemingly innocuous detail causes significant problems, from website form submissions failing to email addresses being rejected. Even when systems accept "Null," unexpected errors arise. Workarounds, like adding a period or using aliases, are temporary fixes. This humorous tale highlights common software development issues and the helplessness of large corporations in addressing them effectively. The author's struggles with Bank of America's email system, which consistently fails to handle his name, serve as a prime example.

(www.wired.com)

Development

OpenAI's Operator: The End of the Open Web?

2025-01-25

OpenAI's Operator: The End of the Open Web?

OpenAI's new AI agent, Operator, browses the web for you, potentially signaling the end of the open internet as we know it. Tools like Operator change how we access information; we go directly to the AI, bypassing intermediaries like Google and TripAdvisor. This threatens the ad-revenue models of these websites, potentially leading to their decline. The future may involve a structured data layer where middlemen sell data to AI companies. This raises concerns about the sources of high-quality user data and the future of the open web itself.

(brids.bearblog.dev)

Tech Open Web Information Access

The Surprisingly Complex History of the Word "Mainframe"

2025-02-01

The Surprisingly Complex History of the Word

This article delves into the unexpected evolution of the term "mainframe." Initially referring to the physical frames of early computers like the IBM 701, its meaning shifted over time. It became synonymous with the CPU, and eventually settled on its modern definition: a large, powerful computer for transaction processing or business applications. The article explores this semantic shift, analyzing the impact of minicomputers and microcomputers, IBM's role in popularizing the term, and its eventual widespread adoption.

(www.righto.com)

Tech mainframe technical terminology

No-Panic Rust: Can Rust Replace C for Low-Level Systems Programming?

2025-02-03

This article explores the feasibility of using Rust to replace C for low-level systems programming, specifically focusing on a Protocol Buffers library called upb. The author initially doubted Rust's ability to match C in performance and code size but discovered a technique called "No-Panic Rust." This involves avoiding the use of `panic!()`. The article delves into the principles, advantages, and challenges of No-Panic Rust, including code size, unrecoverable exits, and runtime overhead. It demonstrates how to write No-Panic Rust code using techniques such as leveraging the libc library, optimization options, and `std::hint::assert_unchecked`, emphasizing the retention of overflow checks in debug mode for extra consistency checks. While this technique demands meticulous work and may necessitate avoiding most of the standard library, it promises to deliver the performance and code size of a C library while retaining Rust's safety guarantees.

(blog.reverberate.org)

Development Systems Programming

Bag of Words: Build and Share Smart Data Apps with AI

2025-02-17

Bag of Words: Build and Share Smart Data Apps with AI

Bag of Words empowers users to create comprehensive dashboards from a single prompt and iteratively refine them. It seamlessly integrates with various data sources, including databases, APIs, and business systems, enabling efficient data utilization. Key features include natural language queries, dashboard management, and compatibility with multiple LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.). The project offers Docker deployment and detailed setup instructions for Python and Node.js environments, using the AGPL-3.0 license.

(github.com)

AI Data Applications

RamaLama: Running AI Models as Easily as Docker

2025-01-31

RamaLama: Running AI Models as Easily as Docker

RamaLama is a command-line tool designed to simplify the local running and management of AI models. Leveraging OCI container technology, it automatically detects GPU support and pulls models from registries like Hugging Face and Ollama. Users avoid complex system configuration; simple commands run chatbots or REST APIs. RamaLama supports Podman and Docker, offering convenient model aliases for enhanced usability.

(github.com)

AI containerization

Airflow: Redefining Video Streaming

2025-01-29

Airflow is a one-time purchase, lifetime-use video streaming software that streams videos to Chromecast, Apple TV, and AirPlay 2 enabled TVs. Unlike others, Airflow boasts a custom-built video processing pipeline. It supports features like HEVC video streaming to Apple TV without transcoding, adaptive audio volume, spatial headphone downmix, and even real-time subtitle text recognition (OCR) for enhanced 4K video playback. It also offers a remote control app, supports various subtitle and audio formats, and features a polished UI with powerful capabilities such as multiple playlist support and speed testing.

(airflow.app)

Development video streaming

Steve Jurvetson: The Space-Obsessed VC Who Backed Tesla and SpaceX

2025-02-04

Steve Jurvetson: The Space-Obsessed VC Who Backed Tesla and SpaceX

This article profiles Steve Jurvetson, a legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist whose office is a museum of space artifacts. His unique investment philosophy—backing only history-making innovations—led him to invest in transformative companies like Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, and SpaceX. The piece traces his journey from a curious childhood filled with scientific exploration to his rapid-fire academic career at Stanford, his close relationships with Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, and his distinctive investment approach. Jurvetson emphasizes the importance of maintaining a 'childlike mind' as key to staying ahead of the curve in the investment world.

(cloudvalley.substack.com)

Startup Tech Investing

Running Linux in a PDF: A RISC-V Emulator in Your Browser

2025-01-31

Running Linux in a PDF: A RISC-V Emulator in Your Browser

Developer @ading2210 has achieved the remarkable feat of running a Linux system inside a PDF file. Leveraging the Javascript engine within PDFs and an asm.js compiled version of the TinyEMU RISC-V emulator, a functional Linux environment is created. Output is displayed using ASCII characters, and input is managed through a virtual keyboard. While boot times are slow (30-60 seconds), the project showcases the surprising capabilities of the PDF format. The code is open-source and supports both 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

(github.com)

Development

AI Music Generation: Convenience vs. Creativity

2025-01-31

AI Music Generation: Convenience vs. Creativity

The success of AI music company Suno sparks a reflection on the role of AI in artistic creation. The author, a Stanford professor, questions Suno's claim that AI can easily solve the tedious parts of music creation, arguing that the challenges and difficulties inherent in the creative process constitute the meaning and value of art. Using his own experiences and teaching practices as examples, he illustrates the importance of the creative process and calls for the preservation of human active creation in the age of AI, avoiding a purely consumerist culture.

(hai.stanford.edu)

AI music creation

Roc Compiler's Rewriting Journey: From Rust to Zig

2025-02-04

Roc Compiler's Rewriting Journey: From Rust to Zig

The Roc programming language compiler team has embarked on a significant undertaking: rewriting their 300K-line Rust compiler in Zig. This isn't a simple language port; it's a strategic move to address Rust's slow compilation times and accumulated technical debt. The rewrite will improve the parser, formatter, canonicalization, documentation generation, type inference, and LLVM code generation, among other modules. They also plan to use an interpreter for the development backend, significantly speeding up the development loop. The ultimate goal is to improve compilation speed, enhance maintainability, and release Roc 0.1.0.

(gist.github.com)

Development rewrite

Groundhog Day API: Predicting the Weather, One Groundhog at a Time

2025-02-02

Groundhog Day API: Predicting the Weather, One Groundhog at a Time

The GROUNDHOG-DAY.com API serves up all of North America's weather-predicting animals and their yearly forecasts. It boasts three simple GET endpoints: retrieve all groundhogs and predictions, fetch a single groundhog's data, and get predictions for a specific year. While data updates aren't handled through the API itself (you'll need to use the website for that), it's a quirky and surprisingly useful dataset for your next big idea. Ready to build your Groundhogs as a Platform (GaaP) strategy?

(groundhog-day.com)

Misc Weather Prediction Groundhog

Kill Your Sticky Headers!

2025-02-01

The author hates sticky headers, those persistent elements that cling to the top of websites and steal precious screen real estate. To combat this annoyance, they created a simple bookmarklet that removes all fixed-position elements from a webpage with a single click. The bookmarklet uses `querySelectorAll` to efficiently find and remove these elements, resulting in a cleaner reading experience. The author details the inconveniences of sticky headers, such as reduced screen space, disrupted spacebar scrolling, and interrupted reading flow. While it might remove other fixed elements, a simple refresh restores them. This simple solution avoids the complexity of custom stylesheets or browser extensions.

(alisdair.mcdiarmid.org)

Development bookmarklet

Effective Stakeholder Engagement in Agile Projects: A How-To Guide

2025-02-02

This article explores the crucial role of stakeholder engagement in agile project management. It highlights the challenges of maintaining consistent participation in fast-paced, iterative environments, particularly with changing requirements and geographically dispersed teams. The article emphasizes the importance of tools like stakeholder mapping, digital collaboration platforms (Jira, Trello), and prioritization frameworks (MoSCoW, Kano) in fostering effective communication and alignment. The key roles of project managers and business analysts in bridging the gap between stakeholders and agile teams are also discussed, illustrating how successful engagement leads to improved project outcomes and reinforces the value of agile methodologies. Real-world examples from Kaiser Permanente, Revolut, and Atlassian showcase the practical application of these strategies.

(cacm.acm.org)

Development Agile Project Management Stakeholder Engagement

Baltic States Sever Ties with Russia's Power Grid, Embrace European Energy Independence

2025-02-07

Baltic States Sever Ties with Russia's Power Grid, Embrace European Energy Independence

This weekend, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will complete their disconnection from the Russian electricity network and connect to the Continental European Synchronous Area. This move aims to strengthen grid stability and ensure energy independence and security. The €1.6 billion project involved years of work, building 1,400 km of high-voltage lines and numerous substations, and establishing strong European partnerships to mitigate risks. While potential risks exist, tests are complete, and the average consumer shouldn't notice any disruption. This marks a significant step towards energy security for the Baltic states and offers a model for other nations reliant on Russian energy.

(elering.ee)

Tech energy independence

Scratching an Itch: The Surprising Science Behind It

2025-02-03

Scratching an Itch: The Surprising Science Behind It

New research delves into the paradox of scratching. While it feels good, scratching worsens inflammation by activating mast cells and releasing substance P, leading to an inflammatory cascade. However, it also reduces Staphylococcus aureus, a common skin infection bacteria. Researchers conclude that while scratching might offer some benefit in specific contexts, the skin damage likely outweighs the advantages, particularly with chronic itching. This study, published in Science, opens avenues for new therapies targeting inflammatory skin conditions.

(newatlas.com)

Tech itching inflammation Staphylococcus aureus

OpenAI Launches Cheaper, Faster Reasoning Model: o3-mini

2025-01-31

OpenAI Launches Cheaper, Faster Reasoning Model: o3-mini

OpenAI unveiled o3-mini, a new AI reasoning model in its 'o' family. While comparable in capability to the o1 family, o3-mini boasts faster speeds and lower costs. Fine-tuned for STEM problems, particularly programming, math, and science, it's available in ChatGPT with adjustable 'reasoning effort' settings balancing speed and accuracy. Paid users get unlimited access, while free users have a query limit. Also accessible via OpenAI's API to select developers, o3-mini offers competitive pricing and improved safety, though it doesn't surpass DeepSeek's R1 model in all benchmarks.

(techcrunch.com)

AI

Rejection Sampling's Unexpected Triumph: A Deep Dive into Performance Testing

2025-01-31

While optimizing his ray tracer, PSRayTracing, the author delved into performance testing for algorithms generating random vectors within a unit circle/sphere. Initially, he believed an analytical solution would be more efficient than rejection sampling. However, benchmarks in Python and C++, across various compilers and hardware platforms, yielded surprising results: with compiler optimizations enabled, rejection sampling often outperformed the analytical approach. The author concludes that practical performance testing is crucial when optimizing code, avoiding reliance on theoretical assumptions, as compiler optimization strategies and hardware variations significantly impact final performance.

(16bpp.net)

Development performance testing

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