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Pink Floyd's 'Young Lust': A Hidden History of Telephone Technology

2025-01-02

The mysterious phone call at the end of Pink Floyd's 'Young Lust' isn't just random noise; it's a snapshot of 1979's technological transition in telephony. This article deciphers the various tones – multi-frequency (MF), single-frequency (SF) signaling, and switch interactions – revealing the shift from electromechanical to electronic digital systems. The recording, meticulously planned, captures the complexities of an international call, offering a fascinating glimpse into technological history.

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(telephoneworld.org)
Tech Telephone Technology

Powering Up and Disassembling a Rohde & Schwarz SKTU BN 4151/2/5 Noise Generator

2025-01-02
Powering Up and Disassembling a Rohde & Schwarz SKTU BN 4151/2/5 Noise Generator

A video on MakerTube PeerTube demonstrates powering up and disassembling a Rohde & Schwarz SKTU BN 4151/2/5 noise generator. JavaScript is required to view the video. If JavaScript is disabled, users need to enable it, use a third-party application, or review the source code on GitHub or Framasoft's GitLab. The video also notes that PeerTube may be incompatible with some browsers; Mozilla Firefox's latest version is recommended.

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(makertube.net)
Hardware Rohde & Schwarz Noise Generator

Boring Cities Are Making You Sick

2025-01-02
Boring Cities Are Making You Sick

New research reveals that dull, unstimulating urban design isn't just an eyesore; it's actively harming residents' health. The article highlights the mismatch between human needs and 20th-century city planning, leading to increased rates of depression, cancer, and diabetes. Advances in neuroscience and neuroarchitectural research, using wearable technology to measure responses to environments, are providing concrete evidence of this link. Progressive cities are now incorporating well-being into economic strategies, and the construction industry is starting to incorporate these neuroscientific findings into building design, prioritizing human health alongside structural and energy considerations. This shift promises a future of more joyful and engaging urban spaces.

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(www.wired.com)
Design neuroarchitecture

Xiaomi Tightens Global Bootloader Unlock Policy: One Device Per Year

2025-01-02
Xiaomi Tightens Global Bootloader Unlock Policy: One Device Per Year

Xiaomi has recently changed its global bootloader unlock policy, limiting users to unlocking only one device per year, down from the previous three. This move has sparked outrage among developers and power users. The new policy may stem from security concerns, abuse prevention, and a push for improved software stability. However, it will significantly impact custom ROM development, device customization, and user experience. Many users are voicing their intention to switch brands.

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(xiaomitime.com)
Tech Xiaomi Bootloader Unlock Policy Change

Dragon Name Generator: Craft Unique Names for Your D&D, Skyrim, and WoW Dragons

2025-01-02

Struggling to name your dragon? DragonNameGenerator.net offers a powerful tool to generate unique dragon names tailored to various games (D&D, Skyrim, WoW, etc.), colors, genders, and even your own name! It covers diverse dragon types and lore, from fiery red dragons to cunning black ones. Specialized generators for D&D, Skyrim, and WoW enhance your gaming experience by providing names perfectly suited to each universe. Create the perfect name for your mythical companion today!

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(dragonnamegenerator.net)
Game dragon name generator gaming role-playing

2024's Biggest AI Fails: From 'AI Slop' to Out-of-Control Chatbots

2025-01-02
2024's Biggest AI Fails: From 'AI Slop' to Out-of-Control Chatbots

2024 saw significant advancements in AI, but also exposed numerous shortcomings. The proliferation of generative AI led to a flood of low-quality content ('AI slop') across the internet, impacting model training effectiveness. AI-generated fake images distorted perceptions of real-world events, such as false event promotions. Elon Musk's xAI company's Grok image generator, lacking necessary safety restrictions, generated violent and illegal content, raising concerns. Out-of-control chatbots and inaccurate information output also caused negative impacts, such as an airline chatbot providing incorrect refund policies. Erroneous AI search result summaries and the spread of deepfake pornography further highlighted the inadequacy of AI ethics and safety regulations.

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(www.technologyreview.com)
AI AI failures

Ray Tracing in One Weekend: From Zero to Stunning Images

2025-01-02

This tutorial teaches you how to write a ray tracer in a weekend using C++. Starting with basic PPM image output, it progressively introduces concepts like rays, cameras, spheres, and materials, culminating in a renderer capable of producing anti-aliased images with diffuse and metallic materials. The tutorial covers vector math, ray-sphere intersection, surface normal calculations, material abstraction, and depth of field, providing clear code examples and beautiful renderings. Even without prior programming experience, you can follow along and build your own ray tracer.

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(raytracing.github.io)
Development

Emulating FMAdd: A Deep Dive into 32-bit Floats

2025-01-02

This post delves into emulating the FMAdd (fused multiply-add) instruction on hardware lacking native support, specifically focusing on a 32-bit float SIMD implementation. It explains FMAdd's operation and how to avoid double rounding errors inherent in intermediate floating-point calculations. The author details a clever technique using 'rounding to odd' and the extra precision of double-precision floats to eliminate rounding errors, achieving accurate FMAdd results. The post also briefly covers calculating precise addition results and error terms, promising a follow-up on handling 64-bit floats.

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(drilian.com)
Development floating-point arithmetic FMAdd instruction

Volkswagen's Data Breach: CCC Exposes Millions of Vehicle Location Data Stored Unencrypted

2025-01-02

The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) revealed that the Volkswagen Group systematically collected and stored movement data from hundreds of thousands of VW, Audi, Skoda, and Seat vehicles for extended periods. This data, including driver information, was left unprotected and accessible on the internet. The breach affected private vehicles, corporate fleets, and even government agencies, including sensitive data from the German Federal Intelligence Service and a US Air Force base. The CCC highlighted that the data collection and long-term storage were problematic, exacerbated by poor security. The findings were published in Der Spiegel and will be detailed at the 38th Chaos Communication Congress (38C3) in Hamburg.

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(www.ccc.de)
Tech privacy breach automotive data

Dropbox's Engineering Career Framework: A Deep Dive

2025-01-02

Dropbox has unveiled its Engineering Career Framework, a guide designed not as a promotion checklist, but as a tool to help engineers understand the responsibilities and impact at each level (e.g., Software Engineer IC1 to IC7). It defines core responsibilities and craft skills, emphasizing business impact as the primary metric. Each level outlines expected behaviors across Results, Direction, Talent, and Culture pillars. Engineers work with their managers to set quarterly goals, using the framework to guide their development and create lasting impact.

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(dropbox.github.io)
Development engineering framework

mitmproxy2swagger: Automagically Reverse-Engineer REST APIs

2025-01-02
mitmproxy2swagger: Automagically Reverse-Engineer REST APIs

mitmproxy2swagger is a powerful tool that automatically converts mitmproxy captured traffic into OpenAPI 3.0 specifications. This allows you to automatically reverse-engineer REST APIs simply by running your apps and capturing the traffic. It supports both mitmproxy flow files and HAR files exported from browser developer tools. To use it, capture traffic with mitmproxy, save it as a file, and then run mitmproxy2swagger, specifying the input file, output file, and API prefix. The first run generates an initial schema which requires manual editing to remove unwanted paths. A second run generates the complete OpenAPI specification based on the edited schema, optionally including example data.

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(github.com)
Development

Apollo Program: The Untold Story of Engineering Triumph and Tragedy

2025-01-02
Apollo Program: The Untold Story of Engineering Triumph and Tragedy

This article reviews Mike Gray's book, *Angle of Attack: Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon*, focusing on North American Aviation's pivotal role and chief engineer Harrison Storms's struggles in the Apollo program. From blueprints to launchpad, Storms led his team through countless challenges, including developing the supersonic B-70 bomber and the X-15 hypersonic aircraft, and advancing rocket engine technology. Apollo's success relied heavily on Storms' team's innovations in materials science, welding, and rocket construction. However, after the Apollo 1 fire, Storms was unjustly dismissed, fading into relative obscurity. This book reveals the human cost and unforeseen challenges behind one of humanity's greatest achievements.

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(www.construction-physics.com)
Tech Aerospace Engineering Technological Challenges

Google Duplex: AI Makes Convincing Phone Calls

2025-01-02

Google Duplex is a groundbreaking AI assistant capable of conducting incredibly natural-sounding phone conversations. It mimics human speech patterns, including filler words like "um" and "uh," making interactions remarkably realistic. This technology allows Duplex to independently make appointments, book reservations, and handle various daily tasks, representing a significant leap forward in natural language processing and voice interaction. However, its capabilities have also sparked ethical concerns regarding transparency and potential misuse.

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(adi.earth)
AI Voice Assistant NLP

Zasper: A Supercharged IDE for Data Science

2025-01-02
Zasper: A Supercharged IDE for Data Science

Zasper is a new IDE built from the ground up for data science, boasting massive concurrency, minimal memory footprint, and exceptional speed. It's perfectly suited for REPL-style data applications, with Jupyter notebooks being one example. Currently, Zasper is fully supported on Mac with limited support on Linux. Benchmarks show it uses 75% less RAM and CPU than JupyterLab. Created by Prasun Anand, it aims to be a free, open-source solution that runs locally, maximizing the power of modern computers.

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(github.com)
Development high performance

Where Are MrBeast's Early Sponsors Now?

2025-01-02
Where Are MrBeast's Early Sponsors Now?

This post traces the journey of MrBeast's early sponsors, analyzing their return on investment. Companies like Quidd, while gaining massive exposure (260M views) through early investment, pivoted to NFTs with an unclear current business model. Honey faced controversy for allegedly stealing referral links. TikTok benefited significantly from MrBeast's advertising, becoming a short-video giant. Mobile games like Raid: Shadow Legends, despite significant early investment, ultimately declined due to poor user retention. The author concludes that many early MrBeast sponsors employed somewhat underhanded business practices, and teases a follow-up post detailing MrBeast's business model and modern sponsorship strategies.

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(www.preethamrn.com)
Misc Sponsors

The Secret History of Bogus Software: The Untold Story of Microsoft's Early Game Developers

2025-01-02

In the 1980s, a group of Microsoft programmers secretly formed "Bogus Software," a clandestine game studio. They developed iconic games like Minesweeper and Solitaire, along with other lesser-known titles. Initially internal projects, many eventually found their way into the Windows Entertainment Pack. This article details the history of Bogus Software, its members, the games they created, and the fascinating stories behind them.

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(minesweepergame.com)
Game Microsoft history programming culture

Autodesk Deletes Decade-Old Forum Posts: A Developer Revolt

2025-01-02

Autodesk's announcement to archive (effectively delete) forum content older than 10 years has sparked outrage within its developer community. Valuable code samples, solutions, and years of shared expertise are set to vanish, leaving developers reliant on this resource facing significant losses. While Autodesk cites improved search and user experience as reasons, developers decry the move as 'monumentally stupid,' accusing the company of destroying community knowledge and damaging long-term relationships. Many are migrating to alternative platforms like TheSwamp and GitHub.

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(forums.autodesk.com)
Development developer community content deletion

Kotaemon: Open-Source RAG Tool for Chatting with Your Documents

2025-01-02
Kotaemon: Open-Source RAG Tool for Chatting with Your Documents

Kotaemon is an open-source Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-based tool that lets you chat with your own documents. It features a clean and user-friendly interface, supporting various Large Language Models (LLMs) such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, and local LLMs. Whether you're an end-user performing document QA or a developer building your own RAG pipeline, Kotaemon provides convenient tools and a customizable UI. It supports multiple file types and offers advanced features like multi-modal QA, complex reasoning, and configurable settings.

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(github.com)
Development

RWKV: A Novel Language Model Blending RNN and Transformer Strengths

2025-01-02

RWKV is a novel Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) language model that combines the best of RNNs and Transformers, achieving superior performance. Unlike traditional Transformers, RWKV boasts linear time and constant space complexity, fast training, infinite context length, and is attention-free. The current version, RWKV-7, offers various demos and tools, including WebGPU demos, fine-tuning utilities, and servers for fast inference. It also features a vibrant community and numerous related projects, and is a Linux Foundation AI project.

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(www.rwkv.com)
AI language model

Mercure: A Fast and Reliable Real-time Communication Solution

2025-01-02
Mercure: A Fast and Reliable Real-time Communication Solution

Mercure is an open, easy, fast, reliable, and battery-efficient solution for pushing data updates to web browsers and other HTTP clients. It's ideal for publishing asynchronous and real-time updates of resources served through web APIs, powering reactive web and mobile apps. The protocol and a production-ready Go implementation, along with libraries and a Docker image, are available on GitHub. A managed, highly scalable version is also offered at Mercure.rocks.

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(github.com)
Development real-time communication web API

Turo Car-Sharing App Implicated in Las Vegas Explosion and New Orleans Attack

2025-01-02
Turo Car-Sharing App Implicated in Las Vegas Explosion and New Orleans Attack

A Tesla Cybertruck rented through the Turo car-sharing app exploded in Las Vegas, killing one and injuring seven. Separately, a pickup truck rented via Turo was used in a deadly attack in New Orleans, resulting in 15 fatalities. President Biden ordered an investigation into a possible connection between the two incidents. Turo stated it's cooperating with law enforcement but hasn't found a link and admits it cannot fully verify all renter identities. The events raise serious questions about Turo's safety protocols and background checks, highlighting inherent risks in the sharing economy.

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(www.businessinsider.com)
Tech Cybertruck explosion New Orleans attack

Meta's Gamble: Flooding Facebook and Instagram with AI Bots

2025-01-02
Meta's Gamble: Flooding Facebook and Instagram with AI Bots

Meta is deploying AI-powered chatbots across Facebook and Instagram, aiming to engage younger users and capitalize on its substantial investment in generative AI. While presented as an innovation, analysts see this as a continuation of Meta's automation strategy, subtly replacing organic social interaction with algorithmic content curation and AI-generated posts. These bots will have profiles, share content, and integrate seamlessly into user feeds. The move represents a bold, if somewhat strange, bet on the future of social media.

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(nymag.com)
Tech Social Media

Spirituality: Secure Attachment to Reality

2025-01-02
Spirituality: Secure Attachment to Reality

This article connects spiritual development with attachment theory, proposing that spirituality is essentially about forming a secure attachment to reality itself. Just as children develop attachment patterns with caregivers, we develop similar patterns with existence. Secure attachment means feeling safe to experience whatever arises, trusting reality's reliability, and returning to a sense of basic okayness even in difficulty, knowing we are loved. Insecure attachment can lead to using spiritual practices as self-validation or escapism. The author argues that healing hinges on establishing safety, which precedes growth. By building secure attachment to reality, we open ourselves to vulnerability and achieve genuine transformation.

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(intimatemirror.substack.com)
Misc spirituality attachment theory psychological healing

Exercise: The Most Potent Medical Intervention Ever Known?

2025-01-02
Exercise: The Most Potent Medical Intervention Ever Known?

A massive, multidisciplinary study reveals the profound impact of exercise on the human body. The research demonstrates that exercise goes beyond cardiovascular benefits, affecting multiple systems including the digestive system, mood, and mental health. Experiments on rats showed exercise altered the molecular makeup of nearly every tissue, even mirroring and reversing changes associated with disease. The study also found notable gender differences in response to exercise, highlighting the need for future research to include both sexes. Experts advise that any movement is better than none, with even short bouts of daily exercise offering significant benefits.

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(www.pbs.org)
Health exercise medical intervention

Blogs Rot, Wikis Wait: A Developer's Migration Journey

2025-01-02

A developer penned on his website that blogs are like outdated commodities, destined to decay; whereas wikis are like an endless abyss, waiting to be explored and written upon. He's migrating his site to a brand new wiki system, sharing his thoughts on blogs vs. wikis and his journey building a new site. He argues wikis better reflect the dynamic and community-driven nature of content, while blogs feel like a static storefront. He invites everyone to join his new wiki, collaboratively creating a vibrant and ever-evolving online space.

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(j3s.sh)
Development blogs wikis website migration

AROS OS 2024: A Year of Significant Progress Towards 64-bit

2025-01-02
AROS OS 2024: A Year of Significant Progress Towards 64-bit

2024 was a banner year for the AROS operating system. The core Deadwood system saw major updates to both its 32-bit and 64-bit branches, including a 64-bit emulator for 32-bit compatibility. Major distributions like AROS One and Tiny AROS received updates, boasting improved software and game support. Hardware recommendations expanded, welcoming the A600GS. Software highlights included the updated Odyssey browser with a newer WebKit engine, a new Final Writer release, and ports of classic games such as Wipeout Rewrite and Doom 3. Overall, AROS made significant strides in 2024, setting the stage for a 64-bit future.

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(arosnews.github.io)
Development 64-bit

ASCII Porn: A History of Text-Based Erotica

2025-01-02
ASCII Porn: A History of Text-Based Erotica

This article explores the history of ASCII porn, tracing its evolution from early teletype machines to internet forums and bulletin board systems. Its speed of transmission in low-bandwidth environments made it a dominant form of early online pornography. The article examines the creative journeys and styles of ASCII artists, explores its place in art and culture, and discusses its continued presence on the internet today, such as its popularity on platforms like Twitter.

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(www.vice.com)
Misc pornography

Could Gorbachev's Reforms Have Saved the USSR?

2025-01-02

This article explores whether the collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable. Historians analyze the USSR's demise from multiple angles: economic struggles, Gorbachev's reforms (perestroika and glasnost), rising nationalism, and the loss of media control. Some argue the Soviet economic model couldn't sustain both military might and a decent standard of living, and that Gorbachev's reforms exacerbated existing tensions, ultimately leading to the USSR's disintegration. Others suggest that had the Communist Party maintained control over the media, the Soviet Union might have survived longer. Ultimately, the USSR's collapse resulted from a confluence of factors, not a single cause.

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(www.historytoday.com)
Tech Soviet Union Collapse Gorbachev

SvarDOS: DR-DOS Reborn as an Open Source OS

2025-01-02
SvarDOS: DR-DOS Reborn as an Open Source OS

SvarDOS, an open-source operating system based on DR-DOS, recently transitioned from being a FreeDOS distribution to having its own EDRDOS kernel. It can run on 8086 or 8088 PCs and boasts a network-capable package manager. While the default install is incredibly small, its robust repository contains over 400 packages, including network drivers, editors, and games. SvarDOS requires more manual configuration than FreeDOS, but its powerful features and online update mechanism make it a noteworthy retro OS.

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(www.theregister.com)
Development open source OS
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