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VMware's Aggressive Licensing Changes Spark Exodus of SMBs

2025-03-24

VMware's Aggressive Licensing Changes Spark Exodus of SMBs

VMware's new licensing policy, mandating a minimum purchase of 72 CPU cores for renewals and new licenses, has angered small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). This forces even companies needing far fewer cores to overspend, coupled with a 20% penalty for late renewals. This move is seen as VMware abandoning loyal customers in favor of large enterprises. As a result, many IT admins and infrastructure managers are migrating to open-source alternatives like Proxmox, seeking more flexible and cost-effective virtualization. VMware's strategy shift may have profound long-term consequences.

(systemadministration.net)

Tech Licensing Open-Source Alternatives

LangManus: An Open-Source AI Automation Framework for Multi-Agent Collaboration

2025-03-23

LangManus: An Open-Source AI Automation Framework for Multi-Agent Collaboration

LangManus is a community-driven open-source AI automation framework that integrates language models with tools for web search, crawling, and Python code execution. Developed by former colleagues in their spare time, this project aims to explore multi-agent and deep research, participating in the GAIA leaderboard. LangManus employs a hierarchical multi-agent system with roles such as Coordinator, Planner, Supervisor, Researcher, Coder, Browser, and Reporter, supporting various LLM integrations including Qwen and OpenAI-compatible models. The project is open-sourced under the MIT license and welcomes community contributions.

(github.com)

AI AI automation multi-agent system

Outperforming std::deque: Introducing the Shift-To-Middle Array

2025-03-23

Outperforming std::deque: Introducing the Shift-To-Middle Array

The Shift-To-Middle Array is a dynamic array designed to outperform std::deque, std::vector, and linked lists in insertion and deletion at both ends. It achieves this by using contiguous memory, improving cache locality, and supporting SIMD and parallel optimizations. Benchmarks show significant performance gains, especially on multi-core CPUs and hardware with SIMD instruction sets. The project is open-source, with full API documentation and benchmark reports available. Contributions are welcome!

(github.com)

Development dynamic array

AMD RDNA 4: Out-of-Order Memory Accesses and the Elimination of False Dependencies

2025-03-23

AMD RDNA 4: Out-of-Order Memory Accesses and the Elimination of False Dependencies

AMD's RDNA 4 architecture introduces significant memory subsystem enhancements, notably addressing false dependencies between wavefronts present in RDNA 3 and earlier architectures. Previously, one wavefront could be stalled by another's memory accesses, impacting performance. RDNA 4 resolves this by implementing new out-of-order queues, allowing requests from different shaders to be serviced out of order. This article details testing that verifies this improvement and compares AMD, Intel, and Nvidia GPU architectures in handling cross-wave memory dependencies. While not entirely novel, RDNA 4's improvements significantly enhance performance, particularly in emerging workloads like ray tracing.

(chipsandcheese.com)

Hardware GPU architecture memory subsystem

Signal's Rise in the Netherlands: Universities Ditch WhatsApp Over Privacy Concerns

2025-03-23

Signal's Rise in the Netherlands: Universities Ditch WhatsApp Over Privacy Concerns

Signal messaging app is rapidly gaining popularity in the Netherlands, particularly among universities, driven by growing concerns over WhatsApp's data privacy practices and the spread of misinformation. Institutions like Utrecht University of Applied Sciences are recommending or considering switching to Signal due to its non-profit nature, open-source code, and strong privacy focus. The National Student Union also voiced privacy concerns, advocating for Signal or other open-source alternatives. This follows previous security concerns in higher education, with TikTok previously facing bans due to espionage risks.

(dub.uu.nl)

Tech

Low-Tech Magazine's Compressed Book Edition: A Sustainable Publishing Experiment

2025-03-23

Low-Tech Magazine's Compressed Book Edition: A Sustainable Publishing Experiment

Low-tech Magazine, known for its low-energy website, has released a 'compressed' edition of its book series. This single volume condenses three previous books, reducing paper consumption and carbon emissions by nearly two-thirds through smaller fonts, images, and a two-column layout. The article compares the environmental impact of online and print reading, revealing that while the website's server footprint is low, reader device energy use is significant. The compressed edition lowers costs and tree usage, though recycled paper is explored as an ideal but practically limited solution. Ultimately, content compression, rather than paper choice alone, offers the greatest resource reduction.

(solar.lowtechmagazine.com)

Misc sustainable publishing

Running Steam on an Orange Pi 5 Plus: A Ludicrously Neat Experiment

2025-03-23

Running Steam on an Orange Pi 5 Plus: A Ludicrously Neat Experiment

The author details a six-step process for installing Steam on an Orange Pi 5 Plus, involving Armbian installation, adding Box86/64 repositories, installing dependencies, and further configuration. While successful, performance is inconsistent, with most tested games running at 720p and barely exceeding 30 FPS. The author concludes it's more a fun technical challenge than a practical gaming solution, although future improvements from Collabora and Valve's ARM initiatives might change that.

(interfacinglinux.com)

Hardware

iNaturalist Project Update: 7000+ Observations and Growing!

2025-03-23

After a two and a half year hiatus, an iNaturalist project focused on collecting the first ever photographs of each species has released a journal update. The project boasts over 7,000 observations and 2,000 members. The update reiterates the project rules: 1. Observations must be the first photos of that species ever taken anywhere; 2. Photos must be of a living organism; 3. Sexually dimorphic species or species with distinct life stages are eligible. The project thrives on user contributions and thanks numerous contributors, especially highlighting @borisb's significant contributions to beetle identification and advocacy for the project.

(www.inaturalist.org)

Misc species records

Great Singing App, But Needs Sharps and Flats

2025-03-23

Great Singing App, But Needs Sharps and Flats

This app is fantastic for learning music theory and piano, especially for singers wanting to improve their pitch. It teaches piano skills crucial for accurate singing. However, it lacks lessons on sharps and flats, a significant omission. While additional lessons are available as in-app purchases, their content isn't specified. The practice mode allows flat training, but lacks the structured approach of the main lessons and doesn't label sharps and flats on the keys. A great app, but incomplete without comprehensive sharp and flat instruction.

(apps.apple.com)

Game music learning music theory

macOS Sonoma's Mysterious Liquid Detection: Debunking the Myth

2025-03-23

macOS Sonoma's Mysterious Liquid Detection: Debunking the Myth

This article investigates a new background process, `liquiddetectiond`, that appeared in macOS Sonoma 14.1. Initially, it was wrongly suspected as an Apple tool to collect user data for warranty denials. However, investigation reveals it actually detects liquids in USB-C ports to prevent corrosion and prolong device life, not for data collection or warranty avoidance. The functionality is only available on select new MacBook and MacBook Pro models, and logs show it operates locally without sending data to Apple.

(eclecticlight.co)

Tech liquid detection background process

Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty: The MyTerms Standard Empowers Users

2025-03-23

Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty: The MyTerms Standard Empowers Users

In the age of AI, personal data privacy and autonomy are challenged as never before. This article introduces the IEEE P7012 standard (MyTerms), designed to empower users with agency over their interactions with websites and services through machine-readable agreements. MyTerms, modeled after Creative Commons, allows users to choose from a list of agreements provided by a non-profit, ensuring the user is the first party and therefore in control of their data. This innovation promises to reshape digital sovereignty, giving users more autonomy.

(doc.searls.com)

Tech user autonomy IEEE standard

The AI Coding Assistant: An Existential Crisis for Software Engineers?

2025-03-23

The rise of AI coding assistants is fundamentally reshaping the role of software engineers, transitioning them from pure coders to orchestrators and managers of AI systems. This shift has sparked an identity crisis within the software engineering community. The article explores the challenges and opportunities presented by this transformation, highlighting that the core value of a software engineer lies in problem-solving and value creation, not just coding. The future demands stronger communication, systems thinking, and adaptability to thrive in the age of AI.

(annievella.com)

Development

Six Months In: My Year-Long Project on Building Friendships

2025-03-23

Six Months In: My Year-Long Project on Building Friendships

This post summarizes the author's sixth month of a year-long project focused on building and maintaining friendships. Key takeaways from eight books on the subject include: strong friendships improve health, even weak ties are valuable for opportunities, building friendships requires significant time investment, genuine interest is more effective than self-promotion, and declining social capital poses risks. The author found the topic far more complex than anticipated and will share personal reflections next week.

(www.scotthyoung.com)

Misc social skills

Multiple Critical Vulnerabilities in Pagure Lead to Remote Code Execution

2025-03-23

Multiple Critical Vulnerabilities in Pagure Lead to Remote Code Execution

Security researchers discovered multiple critical vulnerabilities in Pagure, the software forge used by Fedora, allowing for remote code execution (RCE). One vulnerability stemmed from an argument injection in the PagureRepo.log() function, enabling attackers to write to arbitrary files and execute arbitrary code. Other flaws included path traversal and improper handling of symbolic links. These vulnerabilities could be exploited to modify Fedora package specification files, potentially introducing malicious code. Attackers could even gain complete control of the Pagure server by overwriting the `/srv/git/.bashrc` file. Fedora has migrated to Forgejo to address this, but the vulnerabilities highlight critical issues in open-source software supply chain security.

(fenrisk.com)

Development

Improved Crosscoder Unveils Secrets of LLM Fine-tuning

2025-03-23

Improved Crosscoder Unveils Secrets of LLM Fine-tuning

Researchers introduce a novel method, the 'tied crosscoder,' for comparing the base and fine-tuned chat models of large language models (LLMs). Unlike traditional crosscoders, the tied crosscoder allows the same latent factors to fire at different times for the base and chat models, leading to more effective identification of novel features in the chat model. Experiments demonstrate this approach provides clearer explanations of how chat behavior emerges from base model capabilities and yields more monosemantic latents. This research offers new insights into the fine-tuning process of LLMs and guides future model improvements.

(www.lesswrong.com)

AI crosscoder model fine-tuning

Formal Verification of ML Models in Lean 4

2025-03-23

Formal Verification of ML Models in Lean 4

The `formal_verif_ml` project offers a Lean 4 framework for formally verifying properties (robustness, fairness, interpretability) of machine learning models. It includes a Lean library, model translator, web interface, and CI/CD pipeline, supporting various model types. An interactive web portal lets users upload models, view generated Lean code, trigger proof compilation, and visualize the architecture.

(github.com)

AI

Germany's Zeitenwende: A Military Resurgence?

2025-03-23

Germany's Zeitenwende: A Military Resurgence?

The war in Ukraine has spurred Germany's Zeitenwende, a significant shift towards increased defense spending. Facing challenges like budget shortfalls, an aging military, and outdated infrastructure, Germany is striving to rebuild its Bundeswehr, aiming to meet NATO's 2% defense spending target and bolster troop numbers. Newly elected Chancellor Merz is committed to accelerating this process, but overcoming internal resistance and achieving the ambitious goals remains to be seen.

(www.cnn.com)

Tech German Defense Military Reform

ttyd: Share Your Terminal Over the Web

2025-03-23

ttyd: Share Your Terminal Over the Web

ttyd is a simple command-line tool for sharing your terminal over the web. It offers a wealth of options, including port specification, network interface binding, authentication, user permission settings, custom working directories, and more, allowing for flexible configuration. Advanced features such as SSL encryption, IPv6 support, and client argument passing ensure secure and reliable remote terminal access.

(github.com)

Development terminal sharing

Go Program: Convert Security Audit JSON to Markdown Report

2025-03-23

Go Program: Convert Security Audit JSON to Markdown Report

A simple Go program converts `security-audit.json` to `security-audit.md` for use in CI pipelines. An example report is provided, along with example CI integration files (`dependency-audit.yml` and `dependency-audit-only-when-detected.yml`), the latter only creating a GitHub issue if vulnerabilities are detected. The program allows customization of input and output file paths and offers an option to fail if no vulnerabilities are found.

(github.com)

Development Security Audit

Revisiting 'The Mother of All Demos': Doug Engelbart and his 5-Key Keyset

2025-03-23

Revisiting 'The Mother of All Demos': Doug Engelbart and his 5-Key Keyset

This article recounts Douglas Engelbart's groundbreaking 1968 computer demonstration, "The Mother of All Demos." It revisits the innovative technologies showcased, like the mouse and hypertext, but also delves into the lesser-known 5-key keyset and the author's experience interfacing it with a modern USB connection. Furthermore, the article clarifies the origin of the name, revealing it wasn't initially associated with Engelbart's demo but later adopted. A blend of technical details and historical narrative, the article offers a fascinating look at technological history and personal exploration.

(www.righto.com)

Tech Engelbart

Home Batteries vs. Gas Generators: The Backup Power Showdown

2025-03-23

Home Batteries vs. Gas Generators: The Backup Power Showdown

With rising grid outage risks, home batteries and gas generators are top choices for backup power. Gas generators offer a lower upfront cost, but higher long-term running and fuel costs, plus noise and carbon monoxide risks. Home batteries, especially paired with solar, have higher initial investment but benefit from tax credits, lower operating costs, and quieter, cleaner operation. Batteries last about 10 years, generators 20+, but require maintenance. Ultimately, home batteries win on flexible installation, quiet operation, and ease of maintenance, making them a more convenient backup power solution.

(pv-magazine-usa.com)

Hardware home energy storage backup power

Compute Wins: The New Paradigm in AI Development

2025-03-23

This article explores a new trend in AI development: the supremacy of compute. The author uses personal experiences and analogies to illustrate that over-engineered AI systems are like meticulously cared-for plants that struggle to adapt to changing environments, while large-scale compute-based AI systems, like naturally growing plants, can learn and adapt autonomously. By comparing rule-based, limited-compute, and scale-out approaches to building customer service automation systems, the author demonstrates the superiority of the scale-out solution. The rise of Reinforcement Learning (RL) further confirms this trend, as it explores multiple solutions through massive computation, ultimately achieving results that surpass human design. In the future, the role of AI engineers will shift from crafting perfect algorithms to building systems that can effectively leverage massive computational resources.

(ankitmaloo.com)

AI Compute

Ernst Fraenkel's The Dual State and the Trumpian Warning

2025-03-23

Ernst Fraenkel's *The Dual State* and the Trumpian Warning

This article revisits Ernst Fraenkel's *The Dual State*, written before his escape from Nazi Germany. The book describes how the Nazi regime maintained a facade of normalcy in its capitalist economy while simultaneously operating a 'prerogative state' of unchecked violence. The author argues that dictatorships don't abolish existing laws but create a lawless zone alongside the 'normative state.' Actions by the Trump administration, such as abuses of power and suppression of dissent, mirror this 'dual state' model, serving as a warning against such systemic risks.

(www.theatlantic.com)

Misc

Boosting Safari's Privacy: A Practical Guide

2025-03-23

Boosting Safari's Privacy: A Practical Guide

This post details the author's setup for enhancing Safari's privacy. It leverages iCloud Private Relay to mask IP addresses and encrypt DNS queries, alongside three extensions: Wipr (ad blocker), StopTheMadness Pro (anti-tracking), and Hush (cookie and popup blocker). Testing reveals strong protection against web tracking, though fingerprint uniqueness remains an area for improvement. Comparisons with Firefox and Brave configurations are included, ultimately showcasing the author's satisfaction with their chosen Safari setup.

(matanabudy.com)

Development Browser Extensions

YC-Backed Real Estate Startup Hiring TypeScript Engineer

2025-03-23

YC-Backed Real Estate Startup Hiring TypeScript Engineer

A YC-backed (S24) startup is seeking a TypeScript engineer to join their team disrupting the real estate industry. They're building a cutting-edge AI platform automating real estate agent workflows, including messaging, deal management, and customer interaction. The role offers a $100k-$150k salary and 0.5%-2.5% equity. Candidates should have experience using AI to ship code quickly, delivering consumer-facing features, and a solid understanding of existing AI models.

(www.workatastartup.com)

Development Real Estate Tech

Trump Admin Halts Coordinated Effort Against Russian Hybrid Warfare

2025-03-23

Trump Admin Halts Coordinated Effort Against Russian Hybrid Warfare

The Biden administration established cross-agency working groups to counter Russia's hybrid warfare campaign, collaborating with European allies. However, following Trump's inauguration, this effort largely ceased. This raises concerns that the Trump administration is de-prioritizing the threat, leaving the US vulnerable to future attacks and potentially emboldening Russia. The pause coincides with a significant shift in US-Europe relations and potentially has profound implications for the Ukraine conflict.

(www.yahoo.com)

Tech intelligence cooperation

The Pioneer of Climbing Gyms: Peter Mayfield and City Rock

2025-03-23

The Pioneer of Climbing Gyms: Peter Mayfield and City Rock

Forty years ago, there wasn't a single purpose-built climbing gym in the US. In 1990, climbing prodigy Peter Mayfield founded City Rock Gym, California's first commercial climbing gym, revolutionizing the sport. He not only created a training space for experienced climbers but also made climbing accessible to the masses, particularly children and women. City Rock prioritized safety, introduced membership systems and professional climbing classes, setting a standard for future gyms. While City Rock eventually closed, Mayfield's innovative spirit and social responsibility continue through his non-profit, Gateway Mountain Center, benefiting youth.

(www.climbing.com)

Startup climbing

The Bloody Polenta: A Century of Serratia marcescens

2025-03-23

The Bloody Polenta: A Century of Serratia marcescens

From the 'bloody polenta' incident of 1819 to 20th-century biowarfare experiments, Serratia marcescens, a bacterium renowned for its striking red pigment, has left an indelible mark on science, medicine, and culture. Mistakenly implicated in 'miraculous blood' events, it's been used to study germ dispersal and even deployed as a biological weapon. Despite some strains' pathogenicity, it plays a vital role in immunotherapeutic and antimicrobial research, with its red pigment, prodigiosin, boasting diverse biomedical applications. This article recounts the century-long saga of this 'miracle bacterium', unveiling its fascinating and often overlooked scientific story.

(www.asimov.press)

Tech

Homeworld 2's Stunning Background: A Vertex Color Gradient Masterpiece

2025-03-23

This article unveils the secret behind the stunning background art of Homeworld 2. By analyzing game data, the author discovered that the backgrounds aren't created using textures, but rather a clever implementation of vertex color gradients. This bold solution not only avoids texture compression artifacts but also subtly controls detail, keeping the background where it belongs and preventing it from overpowering the foreground. This technique mirrors the 2.5D tree approach in Diablo 3, showcasing a perfect blend of technology and artistry.

(simonschreibt.de)

Game vertex coloring

The Placebo Effect: Stronger Than You Think

2025-03-23

The Placebo Effect: Stronger Than You Think

The 18th-century London street sale of Perkins Tractors (metal rods for pain relief) showcased the early form of the placebo effect. Today, placebos come in various forms, from oral pills to injections, and their effectiveness varies depending on the form. Studies show that intra-articular placebo injections are more effective at pain relief than topical placebos, which are in turn more effective than oral placebos. Surprisingly, the difference in effectiveness between intra-articular and oral placebos sometimes exceeds the difference between active pain relief drugs and oral placebos. Furthermore, doctor demeanor and patient age also impact placebo effectiveness. The significantly increased placebo effectiveness in the US in recent years has led to some drugs failing approval due to reduced relative efficacy, a phenomenon worthy of further investigation.

(www.samstack.io)

Tech placebo effect

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