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A Night at a Secret North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai

2025-02-16

A Night at a Secret North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai

A visit to a clandestine North Korean state-owned restaurant in Shanghai offers a unique time warp experience. The restaurant's retro decor and waitresses' 70s and 80s attire create a nostalgic ambiance. These highly educated young women from elite North Korean families speak fluent Mandarin, providing impeccable service. The dinner includes a captivating show blending traditional Korean folk songs with classic Chinese tunes. While the food is traditionally prepared, the service is exceptional. This immersive experience provides a rare glimpse into the secretive world of North Korea.

(simplyfabulicious.wordpress.com)

Misc North Korean culture state-owned restaurant Shanghai

Remco: A Lightweight Configuration Management Tool

2025-02-16

Remco: A Lightweight Configuration Management Tool

Remco is a lightweight configuration management tool inspired by confd. It keeps local configuration files up-to-date using data from key/value stores like etcd or Consul, processing template resources and reloading applications automatically. Unlike confd, Remco supports multiple source/destination pairs and backends per template resource, uses the Pongo2 template engine, and includes features like zombie reaping, plugin support for additional backends, and easy custom template filter creation with JavaScript. Installation is straightforward, with options for building from source or downloading pre-built binaries.

(github.com)

Development configuration management

Apple's Siri Overhaul Hit by Bugs, Facing Potential Delays

2025-02-16

Apple's Siri Overhaul Hit by Bugs, Facing Potential Delays

Apple's long-awaited Siri update is encountering significant engineering challenges and software bugs, jeopardizing its timely release. The update, a key component of Apple's AI strategy to compete with rivals, is facing delays. Features initially slated for April may be pushed back to May or later. Internal testing reveals inconsistencies, leading Apple to consider delaying the launch or disabling some features by default. This could impact other Apple products, including the upcoming smart home hub. Apple's AI team is under pressure to meet deadlines and Wall Street's AI expectations, yet their platform lags behind competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Meta. iPhone 16 sales haven't seen a significant boost from AI features. Apple is restructuring its AI and machine learning team and planning a more conversational Siri for 2026.

(finance.yahoo.com)

Tech

Gixy: A Powerful Nginx Configuration Security Auditor

2025-02-16

Gixy: A Powerful Nginx Configuration Security Auditor

Gixy is a tool for analyzing Nginx configurations to prevent security misconfigurations and automate flaw detection. Supporting Python 3.6-3.13, it's primarily tested on GNU/Linux. Gixy detects various Nginx configuration issues, such as HTTP splitting vulnerabilities. Installation is flexible, supporting pip, yum, and Docker. Users can specify config paths, use piped input, and skip tests. Gixy is actively maintained and welcomes code contributions and documentation improvements.

(github.com)

Development Auditing

Three Years, 18 Million Views, and a YouTube Channel Shutdown

2025-02-16

Three Years, 18 Million Views, and a YouTube Channel Shutdown

A food blogger details the bittersweet journey of running a YouTube cooking channel for three years. Despite achieving 18 million views and 231,000 subscribers, the channel ultimately proved unsustainable. The author reveals the high production costs ($3500 per video) significantly outweighed ad revenue, even with brand deals. The post offers a candid look at the financial realities of YouTube, highlighting the challenges creators face in balancing creative passion with economic viability. The blogger is moving on to focus on book writing and podcasting.

(carlalallimusic.substack.com)

Startup food blogger

Run LLMs Locally on Your Mac with Ollama

2025-02-16

Apple announced Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024, promising "AI for the rest of us," but its arrival feels distant. Meanwhile, Ollama lets you run large language models (LLMs) like llama3.2 locally on your Mac. Think of it as 'Docker for LLMs' – easy to pull, run, and manage models. Powered by llama.cpp, Ollama uses Modelfiles for configuration and the OCI standard for distribution. Running models locally offers advantages in privacy, cost, latency, and reliability. Ollama exposes an HTTP API for easy integration into apps, as demonstrated by Nominate.app, which uses it for intelligent PDF renaming. The article encourages developers to build the next generation of AI-powered apps now with Ollama, instead of waiting for Apple's promises.

(nshipster.com)

Development

Ale, Coal, and the Unexpected Origins of the British Industrial Revolution

2025-02-16

Ale, Coal, and the Unexpected Origins of the British Industrial Revolution

This article unravels a little-known origin story of the British Industrial Revolution: German fuel-saving technology. In the mid-16th century, Germany, facing wood shortages, invented the 'wood-saving art,' an indirect heating process that dramatically reduced fuel consumption. This technology, through a series of patents and technological transfers, eventually reached England. Initially adopted by breweries for its cost-effectiveness, it unexpectedly spurred the large-scale use of coal. London's breweries spearheaded this adoption, leading to a surge in coal demand, which in turn propelled coal mining and related industries, ultimately transforming Britain's energy landscape and laying the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution.

(www.ageofinvention.xyz)

Tech Industrial Revolution technology transfer energy revolution

Predictable Crowd Behavior: Insights from Pamplona's Running of the Bulls

2025-02-16

Predictable Crowd Behavior: Insights from Pamplona's Running of the Bulls

A study published in Nature reveals that the collective movement of large crowds becomes predictable above a certain density. Researchers tracked approximately 5,000 people at Spain's San Fermín festival for four years, using cameras and a mathematical model. They found that at a density of 9 people per square meter, the crowd spontaneously oscillated like a fluid with an 18-second period. This predictable behavior, also observed in data from the 2010 Duisburg Love Parade tragedy, offers valuable insights for anticipating and mitigating dangerous crowd dynamics in confined spaces.

(phys.org)

Tech collective motion safety management

Leaked: Massive Directory of The Sims Design Documents

2025-02-16

A massive directory of what appears to be internal The Sims design documents has surfaced online. Hundreds of files detail nearly every aspect of the game's development, from character modeling and animation to game mechanics and software architecture. The sheer volume and size of the files offer a rare glimpse into the complexity and scale of a large-scale game development project. This leak provides fascinating insight into the design and development processes of The Sims, sparking interest in game development workflows and documentation management.

(donhopkins.com)

Game The Sims Document Leak

Ken Thompson's Sneaky C Compiler Backdoor: A Reflection on Trust

2025-02-16

In his paper "Reflections on Trusting Trust," Ken Thompson, co-creator of UNIX, recounts a chilling tale of a self-replicating backdoor he inserted into the C compiler. This backdoor would automatically inject itself into the login program during compilation, granting him unauthorized access. The insidious part? Even removing the backdoor from the source code wouldn't stop the compiler from re-inserting it during compilation. This story serves as a stark reminder of the limitations of trusting software and the inherent difficulty in ensuring complete security, even with source code review.

(aeb.win.tue.nl)

Development C compiler backdoor

The Quest for the Perfect Pancreas Phone: A Child's Health Journey

2025-02-16

The Quest for the Perfect Pancreas Phone: A Child's Health Journey

This post details the author's journey in finding the right phone for their child, Sam, who needs continuous blood glucose monitoring. They initially used the Pixel 4a 5G for its large screen, but as Sam became more mobile, a smaller, more rugged phone was needed. For over two years, the Cubot King Kong Mini 3 served as Sam's dedicated "pancreas phone," but its discontinuation necessitates a replacement. A temporary, inexpensive Smart E25 was purchased in an emergency, highlighting its poor quality. The author seeks recommendations for a durable replacement, sharing their experience in finding the right technology for their child's healthcare needs.

(maori.geek.nz)

Misc medical device rugged phone child health

Gulf of Mexico: A Programming Language That Breaks the Rules

2025-02-16

Gulf of Mexico: A Programming Language That Breaks the Rules

DreamBerd has been renamed to Gulf of Mexico, a quirky programming language with unusual features. Statements end in exclamation marks, the semicolon is the 'not' operator, there are four declaration types (const const, const var, var const, var var), arrays start at index -1, float indices are supported, the `when` keyword checks variable mutations, there's a garbage collector, variable lifecycles are customizable (including negative lifecycles for hoisting), and there are no loops. Installation is complex, booleans can be true, false, or maybe, whitespace determines arithmetic operation precedence, fractions and number names are supported, indentation is rigidly 3 spaces, multiple comparison operators exist, function declaration is flexible, division by zero returns undefined, strings can be declared in various ways, regional currency interpolation is supported, type annotations are optional, regular expression types are supported, and `previous`, `next`, and `current` keywords access variable history. Code can be split into multiple files using five or more equals signs. It supports code reversal, global variables, and automatic insertion of exclamation marks, brackets, and quotes. Gulf of Mexico also supports rich text and a turn-based execution mechanism for asynchronous functions.

(github.com)

Development quirky design

Reddit's DAU Growth Stalls: Dependence on Google Traffic and the Risks of AI Partnerships

2025-02-16

Reddit's DAU Growth Stalls: Dependence on Google Traffic and the Risks of AI Partnerships

For seven consecutive quarters, Reddit boasted more logged-in than logged-out US users, showcasing strong user loyalty. However, starting in Q4 2023, logged-out users surpassed logged-in users, with growth heavily reliant on traffic driven by Google search. Reddit's CEO acknowledged this dependence on Google's algorithm and user search habits. While Reddit pursues AI partnerships, this reliance also poses risks; its latest quarterly earnings missed expectations, causing a stock price drop. Reddit believes that in the AI era, people value authentic content more, giving it a long-term advantage.

(finance.yahoo.com)

Tech Google Traffic

Beyond Two-Week Sprints: Exploring ShapeUp, Plan>Build>Ship, and GSD

2025-02-16

Beyond Two-Week Sprints: Exploring ShapeUp, Plan>Build>Ship, and GSD

Tired of the traditional two-week Scrum sprint? This article explores three alternatives: ShapeUp, Plan>Build>Ship, and GSD. ShapeUp emphasizes a six-week development cycle, starting with a thorough 'Shaping' phase, followed by a 'Betting table' decision-making process, and finally the 'Building' phase, avoiding the rush of short sprint cycles. Plan>Build>Ship is a simplified waterfall model where each feature is handled by a dedicated team from planning to delivery. GSD (Get Shit Done), popularized by Shopify, emphasizes efficient execution, using the internal tool Vault to track project progress, focusing on projects rather than tasks, and promoting team collaboration. These three methods each have unique characteristics, offering product teams more choices and helping them find the development process best suited to their circumstances.

(www.departmentofproduct.com)

Development product development

GPU Passthrough Gaming on Qubes OS: A Debugging Odyssey

2025-02-15

GPU Passthrough Gaming on Qubes OS: A Debugging Odyssey

This guide details the complex process of setting up GPU passthrough for gaming within the Qubes OS virtual machine manager. It requires a strong understanding of Linux, GRUB, IOMMU, and Xen virtualization. The guide covers hardware prerequisites, identifying IOMMU groups, modifying GRUB to hide the GPU, resolving the `max-ram-below-4g` parameter issue, and installing/configuring GPU drivers within the VM. For Nvidia GPUs, `nvidia-open` drivers are recommended. Differences between Linux and Windows VM setups are discussed, along with solutions using VirtualGL and Vulkan for potential issues. Automation scripts are provided, and common problems and fixes are listed. Be prepared for a debugging odyssey requiring significant patience and time.

(forum.qubes-os.org)

Development GPU Passthrough

Jellyfin: Open Source Media Server, Free, Privacy-Focused, and Community-Driven

2025-02-15

Jellyfin: Open Source Media Server, Free, Privacy-Focused, and Community-Driven

Jellyfin is a completely open-source media server software, licensed under the GNU GPL, meaning you can use, study, modify, build, and distribute it for free. The project relies entirely on volunteer contributions and is completely free to use, with no tracking, phone-home features, or central servers collecting your data. Jellyfin's server and official clients are free to download, now and always, with all operational costs covered by user donations.

(jellyfin.org)

Development media server

Salt Typhoon Continues Telecom Attacks Despite US Sanctions

2025-02-15

Salt Typhoon Continues Telecom Attacks Despite US Sanctions

Despite US sanctions, the Chinese government-linked hacking group Salt Typhoon continues its attacks on telecommunication providers, according to Recorded Future. Five telecom firms were breached between December 2024 and January 2025, including a US affiliate of a major UK provider, and companies in Italy, South Africa, and Thailand. Salt Typhoon exploited vulnerabilities in Cisco devices and conducted reconnaissance on Myanmar's Mytel. Universities were also targeted, possibly for research access. While the US Treasury sanctioned Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology, linked to Salt Typhoon, Recorded Future expects the attacks to persist.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech

Edgware Tube Station's Centennial: A Century of Suburban Boom Fueled by Transit

2025-02-15

Edgware Tube Station's Centennial: A Century of Suburban Boom Fueled by Transit

One hundred years ago, the opening of Edgware Underground station marked the completion of a tube extension, sparking a suburban building boom. The improved transport links enabled easier commutes, leading to speculative housing developments in diverse architectural styles, from Art Deco gems to Neo-Georgian pubs. The story of Edgware's transformation from farming village to modern town illustrates the profound impact of transit on urban planning and social change.

(www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk)

Misc London Underground

3DBenchy Goes Public Domain: The End of a Licensing Saga

2025-02-15

3DBenchy Goes Public Domain: The End of a Licensing Saga

The popular 3D printing model, 3DBenchy, has been released into the public domain! Following a controversy where Prusa Printables purged derived models due to a third-party report, copyright holder NTI Group, along with original creator Daniel Norée and former Creative Tools CEO Paulo Kiefe, has transitioned 3DBenchy and its website to the public domain. This allows for free download and modification, resolving the licensing issues and preventing further disputes. The community can now freely use and adapt this iconic model.

(hackaday.com)

Development

The Coming AI Revolution in Software Engineering

2025-02-15

Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly improving their ability to write code, leading to the exploration of pure-AI software engineers. In the short term, software engineers should learn AI, improve their status, and leverage AI tools. Mid-term, expertise in maintaining and improving large legacy codebases will become increasingly valuable, as LLMs still struggle with complex, hard-to-verify projects involving massive amounts of code. Long-term, the core competency of software engineers will shift towards accountability and trustworthiness—qualities LLMs find difficult to replicate. Ultimately, those engineers who can oversee AI systems and ensure the reliability of their outputs will be the last to go.

(www.seangoedecke.com)

Development

Firefox and the Silent Audio Killer: How Websites Waste Your CPU and Battery

2025-02-15

The author discovered annoying white noise in Firefox, stemming from websites inefficiently using the WebAudio API's AudioContext. Many sites create and leave AudioContexts active even without playing audio, leading to excessive CPU and battery drain. While Chrome automatically suspends unused AudioContexts, Firefox doesn't, prompting the author to create a browser extension to mitigate the issue. This extension automatically suspends AudioContexts and attempts to resume them when sound is needed, saving resources.

(h.43z.one)

Development browser performance

Sharing a ChatGPT Account: How AI Transformed Our Lives

2025-02-15

Sharing a ChatGPT Account: How AI Transformed Our Lives

The author and his wife share a ChatGPT Pro account and utilize AI in distinct ways. His wife, in education and social work, employs AI for drafting addiction prevention materials, writing yoga studio contracts, and researching health information. The author primarily uses it for coding, software development, market research, and task automation. They discovered AI's applications extend beyond technical tasks, serving as a tool to enhance efficiency, aiding in planning and executing tasks, ultimately freeing up more time for family.

(startupbaniya.com)

Misc efficiency improvement

Unit Testing Reimagined: Beyond the Dogma

2025-02-15

Traditional unit testing often falls into dogma, leading to wasted time and ineffective tests. This article challenges the very definition of a 'unit', advocating for user-centric integration and end-to-end tests instead of rigidly testing every class or method. The author suggests reducing reliance on code isolation and mocks, leveraging real databases and tools like Docker for increased efficiency and meaningful tests. TDD is presented as not a silver bullet, with software architecture design prioritizing non-functional requirements. Ultimately, the key decision in choosing a testing strategy is balancing quality assurance, refactoring resilience, and speed of feedback; often, modern tools make fast e2e or integration tests feasible.

(linkedrecords.com)

Development unit testing

Trump's 'Reciprocal' Tariffs: A Misunderstanding of VAT and its Impact

2025-02-15

Trump's 'Reciprocal' Tariffs: A Misunderstanding of VAT and its Impact

The Trump administration is again floating the idea of "reciprocal" tariffs on foreign countries. This plan, ostensibly a response to foreign tariffs and non-tariff barriers, fundamentally misunderstands the Value Added Tax (VAT). The article argues that equating VAT with tariffs is wrong; VAT is border-adjusted, rebating taxes on exports and imposing them on imports, resulting in a neutral economic effect. The real impediment to US competitiveness is the complex US state sales tax system, with its cascading taxes leading to "tax pyramiding" that increases costs for US businesses. Instead of raising tariffs, the article suggests reforming the US federal tax system, such as implementing full and immediate investment deductions, to boost US manufacturing competitiveness.

(taxfoundation.org)

Tech VAT

Saying Goodbye to DevTools: A Swift and Xcode Development Journey

2025-02-15

Saying Goodbye to DevTools: A Swift and Xcode Development Journey

The author recounts their experience developing an iOS app in Swift and Xcode, contrasting it with web development. While praising Xcode's power, they lament the lack of readily accessible debugging and prototyping tools comparable to browser DevTools. Swift and Xcode integrate seamlessly, but the steep learning curve and lack of clear guidance present significant challenges. The author compares and contrasts Swift with web frameworks, highlighting Swift's conciseness versus the lack of HTML's default styling, and its animation advantages. Ultimately, the author expresses their love for independent development, allowing focus on creativity and learning, free from corporate red tape and pointless meetings.

(robinrendle.com)

Development

OmniParser V2: Screen Parsing Tool for Pure Vision-Based GUI Agents

2025-02-15

OmniParser V2: Screen Parsing Tool for Pure Vision-Based GUI Agents

OmniParser is a comprehensive method for parsing UI screenshots into structured, understandable elements, significantly boosting GPT-4V's ability to generate actions accurately grounded in interface regions. The recently released OmniParser V2 achieves state-of-the-art results (39.5% on Screen Spot Pro) and introduces OmniTool, enabling control of a Windows 11 VM using your vision model of choice. Detailed installation instructions and demos are provided, with model weights available on Hugging Face.

(github.com)

AI Vision AI GUI Parsing

Upspin Shutting Down: Community Too Small to Sustain

2025-02-15

Upspin, a distributed storage system designed to foster data sharing, is shutting down its central infrastructure—the keyserver—on May 6th due to insufficient community engagement. While Upspin offered strong end-to-end encryption and ease of use, along with a backlog of valuable improvements, the maintenance effort outweighs the current community size. The developers thank all contributors and leave the door open for future possibilities.

(groups.google.com)

Development distributed storage project shutdown

Basketball's Data-Driven Revolution: From All-Arounders to Specialists

2025-02-15

Basketball is undergoing a data-driven revolution. Decision-making has shifted from intuition to precise data analysis, transforming the game from a reliance on points, assists, and rebounds to leveraging thousands of data points to optimize every aspect. The three-point shot reigns supreme, and the '3-and-D' player (three-point shooting and defense) is highly sought after. Technology, including motion capture and analytics systems, allows coaches to meticulously analyze player movement, maximizing possession efficiency. While this data-driven approach has made the game more predictable, it raises questions about the future of basketball.

(nabraj.com)

Game basketball analytics player specialization basketball technology

A Lifetime in Milestones: 1976-2075

2025-02-15

This blog post visually chronicles the author's life from birth in 1976 to their 100th birthday in 2075. It's a rich tapestry woven with childhood memories, educational milestones, career highlights, marriage, parenthood, and significant historical events like Reagan's inauguration, the first personal computer, the dawn of the World Wide Web, 9/11, and the iPhone's release. It's a deeply personal and engaging journey through time.

(weeks.ginatrapani.org)

Misc personal memoir life journey timeline

Online Job Applications: A Waste of Time?

2025-02-15

Online Job Applications: A Waste of Time?

After a pandemic-induced break, the author tried online job applications for the first time, only to be met with overwhelming disappointment. Nearly 1000 applications yielded almost no responses. This led him to conclude that online job platforms are largely ineffective, filled with scams and dead ends. He contrasts this with the far superior approach of networking, building a public profile, and directly contacting target companies. The author likens online applications to throwing a letter into the ocean; ultimately, he found his current job through his network.

(www.hottakes.space)

Misc networking

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