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AI Surveillance in Schools: A Privacy Tightrope Walk

2025-03-12

AI Surveillance in Schools: A Privacy Tightrope Walk

Numerous US schools employ AI-powered surveillance software to monitor student online activity, aiming to prevent school violence and student suicide. However, this practice raises serious privacy concerns. Unredacted student data obtained by news organizations reveals the software captures not only potential threats but also vast amounts of sensitive personal information, including struggles with depression, heartbreak, family issues, and even outing LGBTQ+ students. While the software helps schools intervene in crises, its high false-positive rate, privacy violations, and uncertain long-term effectiveness fuel ethical debates about student privacy, safety, and mental health.

(apnews.com)

Tech student privacy school safety

Reverse Engineering Shenmue's Realistic Sun Positioning

2025-03-12

Reverse Engineering Shenmue's Realistic Sun Positioning

This post details a reverse engineering exploration of the code behind the realistic sun simulation in Sega's classic Dreamcast game, Shenmue. By analyzing functions responsible for calculating sun position, the author unveils how the developers cleverly approximated the sun's location using Earth's rotation and axial tilt. Comparisons between Shenmue and Shenmue II highlight subtle algorithmic differences. This investigation showcases the dedication to detail in game development and the power of reverse engineering in understanding software logic and developer intent.

(wulinshu.com)

Game Shenmue

IBM CEO: Global Trade Isn't Dead, AI Is a Tool, Not a Panacea

2025-03-12

IBM CEO: Global Trade Isn't Dead, AI Is a Tool, Not a Panacea

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, speaking at SXSW, asserted that despite the Trump administration's attacks on globalism, global trade remains vital for US growth. He emphasized the importance of attracting global talent, arguing that the US should be a hub for international expertise. While acknowledging AI's potential, Krishna cautioned against overhype, predicting AI will write only 20-30% of code, boosting programmer productivity rather than replacing them. He compared AI to calculators and Photoshop, highlighting its role in improving quality and predicting significant energy efficiency improvements. However, Krishna expressed greater optimism for quantum computing's role in scientific discovery, believing AI is limited to learning from existing knowledge and incapable of generating truly novel insights. His views contrast with those of OpenAI's Sam Altman, who anticipates a more transformative impact from AI.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech Global Trade

FDA Issues Urgent Alert: High-Risk Issue with Baxter Infusion Pumps

2025-03-12

FDA Issues Urgent Alert: High-Risk Issue with Baxter Infusion Pumps

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an early alert regarding a potentially high-risk issue with Baxter Sigma Spectrum and Spectrum IQ infusion pumps. Baxter is recalling affected pumps due to missing motor mounting screws, which could lead to insufficient or excessive therapy, interruptions, or delays, resulting in serious health consequences. The FDA has requested a user-level recall of affected products. This alert is part of the FDA's pilot program to expedite communication about high-risk medical device recalls. Baxter has faced multiple FDA alerts in recent years, including recalls of its AK 98 hemodialysis machines and Life2000 ventilators in 2024.

(www.medicaldevice-network.com)

Tech medical device recall

The Curious History of JavaScript Comments: Why `` Work

2025-03-12

This article unravels the curious history behind the use of `` as comment characters in JavaScript. Initially, to ensure compatibility with older browsers, developers would wrap their JavaScript code within HTML comments inside `` tags. Surprisingly, modern browsers still support this syntax due to historical browser compatibility burdens and the standardization committee's commitment to 'not breaking the web'. The article explains how this syntax works and why `-->` must appear at the beginning of a line.

(www.hillelwayne.com)

Development

AudioNimbus: A Rust Wrapper for Immersive Spatial Audio with Steam Audio

2025-03-12

AudioNimbus: A Rust Wrapper for Immersive Spatial Audio with Steam Audio

AudioNimbus is a Rust library providing a safe and easy-to-use wrapper around Valve's powerful Steam Audio spatial audio toolkit. It simplifies integration of immersive 3D audio into Rust projects, supporting features like HRTF, Ambisonics, realistic sound propagation (including distance attenuation and reflections), and more. The library consists of two crates: `audionimbus` (high-level safe wrapper) and `audionimbus-sys` (auto-generated bindings to the Steam Audio C API). Check out the demo for a quick start!

(github.com)

Development Spatial Audio

Google DeepMind Unveils Gemini Robotics: Powering the Next Generation of Robots

2025-03-12

Google DeepMind Unveils Gemini Robotics: Powering the Next Generation of Robots

Google DeepMind has released two new AI models based on Gemini 2.0: Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, enabling robots to perform a wider range of real-world tasks. Gemini Robotics is an advanced vision-language-action model that directly controls robots; Gemini Robotics-ER features advanced spatial understanding, allowing roboticists to run their programs using Gemini's embodied reasoning capabilities. Both models boast generality, interactivity, and dexterity, handling diverse tasks and environments, and collaborating better with humans. DeepMind also released a new dataset, ASIMOV, to evaluate and improve semantic safety in embodied AI and robotics, and is partnering with companies like Apptronik to develop the next generation of humanoid robots.

(deepmind.google)

AI AI Robotics Embodied AI

Slushies: A Warning for Parents of Young Children

2025-03-12

Slushies: A Warning for Parents of Young Children

New research suggests children under eight should avoid slushies due to the potential for glycerol intoxication syndrome. The brightly colored icy drinks contain high levels of glycerol, a sugar substitute that prevents freezing. This can lead to symptoms including loss of consciousness, low blood sugar, lactic acidosis, and hypokalaemia. While glycerol is present in some foods, the concentration in slushies is significantly higher. A study examined 21 children (ages 2-7) who experienced symptoms like those described above after consuming slushies, requiring emergency treatment. Although all recovered, researchers urge caution, particularly as there's a lack of transparency regarding glycerol levels in slushies, making it difficult to determine a safe dose. The Food Standards Agency already advises against slushies for children under four and limits consumption for those aged five to ten. This new research reinforces the need for parents to avoid giving slushies to children under eight.

(news.sky.com)

Misc children's health glycerol

Symbolic Differentiation in Prolog: Elegant DCGs and Efficient Tabling

2025-03-12

This article demonstrates symbolic differentiation using Prolog and its powerful definite clause grammars (DCGs). It begins by explaining fundamental calculus concepts, particularly the definition and rules of differentiation. A mathematical expression parser is then constructed using DCGs, transforming string-based expressions into abstract syntax trees (ASTs). To address left recursion, tabling is employed for efficiency. Finally, simplification rules refine the derivative results. The process highlights Prolog's strengths in symbolic computation, showcasing its elegance and efficiency.

(bitsandtheorems.com)

Development Symbolic Differentiation

DuckDB Now Has a Built-in Local UI!

2025-03-12

DuckDB Now Has a Built-in Local UI!

The DuckDB team and MotherDuck are thrilled to announce a built-in local UI for DuckDB! This powerful web interface runs locally, eliminating the need for extra software. It features interactive notebooks, database browsing, table data preview, and data analysis tools, making interacting with DuckDB significantly easier. All queries are processed locally for enhanced data security. The UI also offers optional connection to MotherDuck cloud services for seamless data sharing and collaboration.

(duckdb.org)

Development Local UI

Allstate Sued for Exposing 190K New Yorkers' Driver's License Numbers

2025-03-12

Allstate Sued for Exposing 190K New Yorkers' Driver's License Numbers

New York State is suing Allstate Insurance for poorly designed websites that exposed the personal information of nearly 190,000 New Yorkers. The vulnerability, residing in Allstate's National General unit's quote-generating websites, allowed attackers to easily obtain driver's license numbers, used subsequently for fraudulent claims. The lawsuit alleges that Allstate prioritized profit over security, failing to implement adequate safeguards and neglecting to notify affected individuals. The state is seeking penalties and an injunction to prevent future violations.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Neuroscience's Theoretical Bottleneck: Can Spatial Dynamics Unlock the Brain's Secrets?

2025-03-12

While the cellular biology of brains is relatively well-understood, neuroscientists haven't yet generated a theory explaining how brains work. This article explores major obstacles in neuroscience, identifying them as largely conceptual. Neuroscience lacks models rooted in experimental results explaining how neurons interact at all scales. Brains aren't solely driven by external and internal stimuli; their autonomy is significant. Furthermore, the traditional assumption of time as an independent variable clashes with experimental findings; spatial dynamics may offer a more suitable framework. The paper proposes several conceptual frontiers needing breakthroughs, emphasizing the importance of single-trial designs and analyses, and the need for improved experimental methods to reveal the brain's spatial dynamics.

(pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Tech brain mechanisms spatial dynamics

Dissecting Space Invaders: A Deep Dive into the Code

2025-03-12

This article delves into the assembly code of the classic arcade game Space Invaders, revealing its ingenious hardware design and software implementation. It meticulously analyzes aspects like the display system, sound generation, collision detection, game object management, and a hidden Easter egg, highlighting interesting quirks and hidden bugs within the code. The author also explores design trade-offs such as memory usage and performance optimization.

(www.computerarcheology.com)

Game

A Year of Daily Coding: Lessons Learned

2025-03-12

A Year of Daily Coding: Lessons Learned

This post recounts a year-long commitment to daily coding and publishing to Github, resulting in approximately 100,000 lines of code. The author details the challenges and triumphs, highlighting key takeaways: software development is hard but perseverance pays off; iteration is crucial; confidence builds over time; rest is essential; asking for help is a valuable skill; challenging yourself leads to growth; and failure is part of the process. Looking ahead, the author plans to continue the daily practice, improve their project Vewrite, and explore new ideas.

(www.ramijames.com)

Development consistent learning

Saying Goodbye to Traditional Tiling Window Managers: Embracing the Infinite Space of Niri

2025-03-12

Saying Goodbye to Traditional Tiling Window Managers: Embracing the Infinite Space of Niri

The author, a long-time user of tiling window managers (Sway and i3), recently switched to the innovative Niri window manager due to a bug in Sway. Niri uses a scrollable tiling design, solving the space limitations of traditional tiling managers. The author details comparisons between Niri and Sway, highlighting Niri's superior screen sharing, screenshot capabilities, battery life, and ease of hacking. He argues that Niri breaks the artificial space constraints of traditional tiling managers, boosting productivity, and highly recommends it to others.

(ersei.net)

Development

Serverless P2P Browser File Transfer: FilePizza v2 Arrives

2025-03-12

Serverless P2P Browser File Transfer: FilePizza v2 Arrives

FilePizza v2 is a WebRTC-based peer-to-peer file transfer tool for browsers. It eliminates the need for intermediary servers, transferring files directly between browsers for speed, privacy, and security. New features include a modern UI, dark mode, mobile support, multi-file uploads (zipped), upload progress monitoring, password protection, and Redis-based server state storage. End-to-end encryption ensures secure transfers. Conceived while eating pizza at UC Berkeley, it's now open-source and available at file.pizza.

(github.com)

Development File Transfer

CryptPad Enterprise: Secure Collaboration in 2025

2025-03-12

CryptPad Enterprise: Secure Collaboration in 2025

In 2025, data privacy is paramount. Governments are increasing surveillance, and file-hosting companies lack transparency and regulation. Your files, ideas, and conversations are stored on their servers, potentially accessible to third parties. Traditional collaboration suites are convenient, but they control your data. CryptPad Enterprise solves this with end-to-end encryption, ensuring only you and your team can access your data. Hosted in the EU, it guarantees GDPR compliance and offers a full collaboration suite in a secure environment, allowing confidential teamwork without security compromises.

(xwiki.com)

Tech enterprise collaboration

Ammonia-Fueled Ship Viking Energy Delayed Until 2026

2025-03-12

Ammonia-Fueled Ship Viking Energy Delayed Until 2026

The world's first full-time ammonia-fueled ship, Viking Energy, originally slated for launch in 2024, has been delayed until 2026 due to the complexities of building the necessary ammonia infrastructure. Ammonia's toxicity, explosiveness, and corrosive nature require specialized piping, storage, and transport. Furthermore, ammonia combustion produces nitrogen oxides, necessitating emission control technologies. Despite challenges, experts believe ammonia will eventually become a mainstream marine fuel. They suggest seaports become energy hubs producing, storing, and trading alternative fuels to solve the chicken-and-egg problem of fuel supply and ship construction.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Tech Ammonia fuel Shipping Decarbonization

Modernizing Web UI Controls: The Open UI Community Group's Mission

2025-03-12

Modernizing Web UI Controls: The Open UI Community Group's Mission

Web interactivity stems from HTML's form and UI controls. However, since HTML5, complex web projects require more powerful UI control capabilities, leading developers to rely on JavaScript frameworks. This results in poor accessibility, slow page speeds, and other issues. The Open UI Community Group aims to improve HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web APIs to empower developers to build modern custom user interfaces. Their goal is to make web UIs more flexible, efficient, and accessible.

(github.com)

Development

AI Deepfakes Trick Startup into Nearly Hiring Fake Candidates

2025-03-12

AI Deepfakes Trick Startup into Nearly Hiring Fake Candidates

Vidoc Security, a startup, narrowly avoided hiring two AI-generated imposters. These sophisticated deepfakes passed technical interviews with impressive coding skills, using fabricated resumes and AI-filtered video interviews to mask their true identities. The startup ultimately uncovered the deception and shared preventative measures, including requiring candidates to disable video filters, recording interviews, and verifying identities. This incident highlights the emerging security risks posed by AI and underscores the need for enhanced precautions in remote hiring processes.

(newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com)

Tech hiring risks

From Common Lisp to KC3: A Programmer's Decade-Long Journey

2025-03-12

A seasoned programmer with 20 years of experience, after learning Common Lisp, deeply understood the limitations of garbage collection and the security issues of container technology. To pursue performance and portability, he abandoned all previous projects and dedicated himself to developing a new C dialect, KC3, and used it to rewrite previous projects such as the graph database. This article recounts his journey from Common Lisp to C, and the design philosophy and main features of the KC3 language, showcasing his in-depth thinking about programming languages and system design.

(www.kmx.io)

Development system development

My Two-Year Noise-Cancelling Odyssey: From Self-Delusion to 'Ah-ha!' Moment

2025-03-12

My Two-Year Noise-Cancelling Odyssey: From Self-Delusion to 'Ah-ha!' Moment

Driven mad by noisy upstairs neighbors and a perpetually loud park, the author spent two years experimenting with bizarre noise-reduction methods: from industrial-strength earmuffs and silicone earplugs to researching earwax genes and the physics of sound, even attempting to build a soundproof chamber. All failed miserably. The ultimate solution? A simple pair of noise-canceling headphones. This article reflects on how over-reliance on theoretical analysis, neglecting simple solutions, and a fixation on cleverness led to wasted time and suffering.

(dynomight.net)

Misc noise cancellation life hacks self-reflection

Critical Azure API Connection Vulnerability Allows Privilege Escalation and Secret Exfiltration

2025-03-12

Binary Security researchers discovered undocumented APIs in Azure API Connections, enabling privilege escalation and secret exfiltration from backend resources like Key Vaults, Storage Blobs, Defender ATP, and even enterprise Jira and Salesforce servers. The vulnerability stems from the ability of any user with read access to an API connection to invoke any defined GET request, bypassing security controls and accessing sensitive data. Microsoft has acknowledged and patched the vulnerability.

(binarysecurity.no)

Tech API Vulnerability Privilege Escalation

Coherence in Type Classes: A Comparison of Swift, Rust, Scala, and Haskell

2025-03-12

Type classes are a popular mechanism for generic programming, used in languages like Haskell, Swift, Rust, and Scala. However, implicit programming, while convenient, can lead to ambiguity in type inference, jeopardizing coherence (the property that a program has exactly one meaning). The research community is divided: some favor context-sensitive resolution; others advocate for globally unique instances to prevent ambiguity. This paper compares how these four languages address type class coherence, revealing that despite syntactic differences, their strategies for circumventing limitations of unique instances are strikingly similar.

(programming-journal.org)

Development type classes implicit programming coherence

Cursor: AI Coding Assistant – Hype vs. Reality

2025-03-12

Cursor: AI Coding Assistant – Hype vs. Reality

AI coding tools like Cursor are generating mixed reactions, with some claiming to build entire SaaS applications in three days, while others deem them useless. This author, an AI skeptic, shares tips for maximizing Cursor's efficiency. Key strategies include creating a `.cursorrules` file and iteratively refining its rules to avoid excessive input; clearly specifying code locations and relevant context; using Composer (Agent) for simple changes and Chat (Ask) for complex ones; carefully reviewing and refactoring AI-generated code; and thoroughly communicating with the AI before tackling complex tasks. The author concludes that AI coding tools are useful when mentally fatigued, but caution is advised against over-reliance, acknowledging potential skill atrophy.

(www.nickcraux.com)

Development

Google's Gemma: A Lightweight Multimodal Model Family

2025-03-12

Google's Gemma: A Lightweight Multimodal Model Family

Google unveiled Gemma, a lightweight family of multimodal models built on Gemini technology. Gemma 3 models process text and images, boast a 128K context window, and support over 140 languages. Available in 1B, 4B, 12B, and 27B parameter sizes, they excel at question answering, summarization, and reasoning, while their compact design enables deployment on resource-constrained devices. Benchmark results demonstrate strong performance across various tasks, particularly in multilingual and multimodal capabilities.

(ollama.com)

AI Lightweight Model

The Open Source Dilemma: Balancing Free and Sustainable

2025-03-12

The open-source world faces a dilemma: high-quality end-user software, like office suites and video conferencing tools, often struggles to thrive under a purely open-source model, hindering its development. The article uses the 'lumber and chairs' analogy to illustrate the difference between open-source software (lumber) and commercial software (chairs), highlighting that maintaining open-source software requires continuous investment, which a purely free model struggles to support. It also touches on the issue of European software sovereignty, emphasizing the importance of reducing dependence on American tech giants, and calls for a new model that balances open-source freedoms with commercial sustainability to ensure the long-term development of high-quality open-source software.

(mill.plainopen.com)

Development software sovereignty

LLVM Fortran Compiler Flang: A Decade in the Making, Officially Released

2025-03-12

After nearly a decade of development, the LLVM Fortran compiler, Flang, has finally been officially renamed from "flang-new" to "flang." This article recounts Flang's journey, from its initial development by the US National Labs and NVIDIA, to its adoption of LLVM's Multi-Level Intermediate Representation (MLIR), and its eventual integration into the LLVM project. Flang's creation aimed to provide a long-term, non-proprietary Fortran compiler, mitigating risks associated with single-point failures, and fostering growth within the Fortran community. Flang's journey also showcases advancements in compiler technology, such as the use of MLIR for optimizing Fortran code. Now mature and stable, with support from vendors like AMD, Flang stands as a powerful tool for Fortran developers.

(blog.llvm.org)

Development

SpaceX Starship V2 Test Failure: Design Flaws Cause Delay

2025-03-12

Anonymous sources suggest that parts of SpaceX's Starship will require a major redesign after its break-up shortly after stage separation on its last two test flights. The issues stem from fundamental miscalculations in the design of Starship V2, specifically within the fuel lines, engine wiring, and power unit, requiring urgent rework. The fate of S35 and S36 is unclear, with potential for revision or scrapping. Production of subsequent ships may be paused until design issues are resolved. Leaks suggest the next test flight is delayed until after June. However, the author believes the situation may not be as dire, as the issues seem localized and fixable. Furthermore, the FAA is no longer an obstacle, allowing SpaceX to lead the investigation and implement fixes.

(behindtheblack.com)

Tech Test Failure

Critical Vulnerability Found in FreeSWITCH: Open Source Telecom Software Security Risks

2025-03-12

Critical Vulnerability Found in FreeSWITCH: Open Source Telecom Software Security Risks

A security researcher discovered a buffer overflow vulnerability in the open-source telecommunications software FreeSWITCH, potentially leading to remote code execution. While SignalWire (FreeSWITCH's developer) has patched the vulnerability, they won't release a new version with the fix until summer, leaving potentially thousands of vulnerable systems at risk. This highlights the shortcomings in security management of open-source telecom software and how security issues are often neglected in the absence of financial incentives.

(soatok.blog)

Tech

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