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Rust's Long War for the Linux Kernel

2025-02-09
Rust's Long War for the Linux Kernel

Rust is making inroads into the Linux kernel, but the transition will be a long and contentious one. While Rust offers significant advantages in memory safety and is backed by companies like Google, its adoption faces strong resistance within the kernel community. Concerns about its steep learning curve and integration challenges with existing C code have sparked heated debates, even described as a “religious war.” However, proponents argue that Rust improves kernel stability and security, attracting more developers. Ultimately, Rust's complete replacement of C depends on technological maturity and community consensus.

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(thenewstack.io)
Development

Heat Pump Sales Surge: A Closer Look at the Reality

2025-02-09
Heat Pump Sales Surge: A Closer Look at the Reality

While heat pump shipments have surpassed gas furnaces, data reveals this hasn't significantly altered US home heating practices. Many installations are in new constructions or non-furnace systems, not replacements for existing gas furnaces. Analyzing AHRI shipment data and EIA's Residential Energy Consumption Survey, the author argues that heat pump retrofits in existing homes remain minimal, and large-scale transformation is far from achieved. Positive headlines may mask slow progress; sustained effort and policy support are crucial.

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(www.heatpumped.org)
Tech energy transition

arXivLabs: Experimental Projects with Community Collaboration

2025-02-09
arXivLabs: Experimental Projects with Community Collaboration

arXivLabs is a framework enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Individuals and organizations involved uphold arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who share them. Have an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

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(arxiv.org)
Tech

Conquering Steam Deck's Immutable Filesystem with Nix and Home Manager

2025-02-09
Conquering Steam Deck's Immutable Filesystem with Nix and Home Manager

The Steam Deck's immutable filesystem makes installing packages that persist across system upgrades tricky. This guide shows how to use Nix and Home Manager to elegantly solve this. Nix is a declarative package manager; simply list your desired packages in a configuration file, and it handles the installation. Home Manager simplifies using Nix. The guide details installing Nix and Home Manager on your Steam Deck, managing packages (installation, removal), and offers tips like creating desktop shortcuts and running garbage collection.

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(chrastecky.dev)
Development

UnitedHealth's Aggressive PR Counteroffensive After CEO Murder

2025-02-09
UnitedHealth's Aggressive PR Counteroffensive After CEO Murder

Following the shockwave of its CEO's murder, UnitedHealth Group is aggressively defending its image. They've sued a plastic surgeon for criticizing their claims process on social media and are blocking shareholder proposals for third-party audits of claim denials. They also reported billionaire investor Bill Ackman to the SEC for short-selling speculation. UnitedHealth's actions show a firm stance in managing its PR crisis and protecting its interests, highlighting the complexities and controversies within the US healthcare insurance industry.

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(www.rollingstone.com)
Tech healthcare insurance PR crisis

arXivLabs: Building New arXiv Features with Community Collaborators

2025-02-09
arXivLabs: Building New arXiv Features with Community Collaborators

arXivLabs is a framework that enables developers to collaborate with the arXiv community to build and share new features directly on the arXiv website. Participants must adhere to arXiv's core values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. If you have an idea for a project that will add value to the arXiv community, learn more about arXivLabs.

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(arxiv.org)
Development

Insane! Wingsuit Pilot Hooks Onto a Plane Mid-Air

2025-02-09
Insane! Wingsuit Pilot Hooks Onto a Plane Mid-Air

German wingsuit pilot Max Manow has achieved a world first: a mid-air plane hook maneuver. He jumped from a helicopter, flew through Hell Hole Bend in Arizona's Grand Canyon, and grabbed onto a specially modified Cessna piloted by aerobatic pilot Luke Aikins, being towed upwards before safely deploying his parachute. This incredible feat required precise calculations and immense skill, showcasing the limitless possibilities of extreme sports. Manow calls it the beginning of 'endless skydiving', opening new avenues for wingsuit flying.

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(newatlas.com)
Misc extreme sports wingsuit flying stunt

Google's Super Bowl Ad: A Gemini AI Fabrication?

2025-02-09
Google's Super Bowl Ad: A Gemini AI Fabrication?

Google's Super Bowl commercial showcased Gemini AI generating a website description, but evidence reveals this text was on the business's site since at least August 2020, predating Gemini's launch. The ad also initially contained factually incorrect information generated by Gemini, which Google subsequently removed. Despite Google's insistence that Gemini wrote the description, evidence points to potential fabrication, raising concerns about the accuracy of its AI claims and the integrity of its advertising. This incident highlights potential exaggeration and misrepresentation by tech companies promoting AI capabilities.

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(www.theverge.com)
Tech AI fabrication Super Bowl ad

API Request Signing: Pitfalls and Best Practices

2025-02-09

This article delves into the security challenges of API request signing, particularly the difficulties of signing JSON objects. The author points out that while simple HMAC signing is secure, signing directly within the JSON object can lead to various issues, such as multiple equivalent representations of JSON resulting in signature validation failures. The article compares and analyzes various signing methods, including canonicalizing JSON, adding redundant signature data, and using alternative formats. Examples from AWS and Flickr's signing schemes illustrate the security risks of flawed implementations. Ultimately, the author recommends prioritizing TLS and avoiding inline JSON signing, opting instead for external signing to ensure API request security.

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(www.latacora.com)
Development API Security JSON Signing

Scaling PostgreSQL: Weird Issues and Solutions for High-Growth Startups

2025-02-09
Scaling PostgreSQL: Weird Issues and Solutions for High-Growth Startups

This post tackles common PostgreSQL scaling challenges faced by high-growth startups. It covers issues like lock contention, index bloat, TOAST storage inefficiencies, and the complexities of vertical vs. horizontal scaling, append-only vs. update-heavy tables, and multi-tenancy. For each problem, practical solutions are offered, ranging from database parameter adjustments and concurrency tools to rethinking data access patterns and utilizing features like advisory locks. The author also explores advanced topics such as schema migrations under load, zero-downtime upgrades, and efficient COUNT query strategies. This is a valuable resource for engineers striving to optimize PostgreSQL performance in demanding environments.

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(www.shayon.dev)
Development Database Scaling

Kanata: Cross-Platform Keyboard Remapper for Enhanced Comfort

2025-02-09
Kanata: Cross-Platform Keyboard Remapper for Enhanced Comfort

Kanata is a cross-platform keyboard remapper for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It allows for multiple layers of key functionality and advanced customization (tap-hold, macros, Unicode). Inspired by kmonad but built with Rust, Kanata offers broader platform support and a more user-friendly interface. It aims to bring the powerful customization of QMK to any keyboard, regardless of hardware, enhancing comfort and productivity.

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(github.com)
Development

Used Seagate Drives Masquerading as New: A Global Hard Drive Scam

2025-02-09
Used Seagate Drives Masquerading as New: A Global Hard Drive Scam

Online retailers are unknowingly selling used Seagate hard drives as new. Fraudsters have reset the SMART values of drives, often with an average runtime of 25,000 hours, and reintroduced them into the supply chain. While SMART values can be manipulated, the FARM values (Field Accessible Reliability Metrics) remain, revealing the drives' true age. The issue is global, affecting official dealers and impacting customers worldwide. Suspicion points to decommissioned Chia cryptocurrency farms as the source of these drives. Many drives are sold as OEM, lacking manufacturer warranties, making consumer recourse difficult. Buyers are urged to verify warranty status immediately upon receiving drives.

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(www.heise.de)
Hardware hard drive scam Chia farms

Bitcoin: The Double-Edged Sword of Defi

2025-02-09
Bitcoin: The Double-Edged Sword of Defi

This article explores Bitcoin's dual impact on the financial system. On one hand, Bitcoin, as a currency immune to arbitrary devaluation, solves the problem of fiat inflation, allowing for true savings instead of forced investment. On the other hand, the cryptocurrency space has seen a phenomenon of 'hyper-financialization,' where various assets are rapidly financialized, from meme coins to NFTs—everything is tradeable. The author argues that these two phenomena are not contradictory but rather two manifestations of the flaws in the fiat system: people are forced to invest to combat inflation, and cryptocurrencies amplify this speculative behavior. Ultimately, the author believes Bitcoin's value proposition will prevail, leading to true decentralized finance.

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(mylessnider.com)
Tech financialization

Error-Tolerant Qubits Built Using Antimony Atoms

2025-02-09
Error-Tolerant Qubits Built Using Antimony Atoms

Researchers from UNSW Sydney and the University of Melbourne have developed a novel qubit using an antimony atom embedded in a silicon chip. Unlike standard qubits, the antimony atom's eight nuclear spin states allow for six ancillary states, significantly mitigating error accumulation. Two states encode information (0 and 1), while errors push the qubit to the ancillary states, delaying information loss – akin to a 'cat with seven extra lives'. This approach offers a new path towards fault-tolerant quantum computing, with the results published in Nature Physics.

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(spectrum.ieee.org)
Tech qubits fault tolerance

The Puzzling Performance of Generational Garbage Collection

2025-02-09

The author conducted experiments to verify the performance benefits of generational garbage collection. Surprisingly, the results showed that generational garbage collection took longer than whole-heap garbage collection in various benchmarks. The article explores several potential causes, including write barrier overhead, nursery size selection, benchmark representativeness, and collection frequency. The author concludes that further investigation is needed to determine the root cause.

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(wingolog.org)
Development

Image Acquisition, Density, and Velocity Measurements in Dense Crowds: The Chupinazo Case Study

2025-02-09
Image Acquisition, Density, and Velocity Measurements in Dense Crowds: The Chupinazo Case Study

Researchers quantified crowd density and velocity at the Chupinazo festival in Pamplona by analyzing crowd footage. They used machine learning algorithms (like P2PNet and YOLOv8) for crowd detection and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) for velocity field measurement, overcoming challenges like perspective distortion and shadows. High-density crowds exhibited high-amplitude motions akin to 'crowd quakes,' and a model was developed to describe the unusual frictional forces causing spontaneous chiral oscillations.

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(www.nature.com)
Tech crowd dynamics

Rwandan Scientists Develop Local Yeast for Banana Winemakers

2025-02-09
Rwandan Scientists Develop Local Yeast for Banana Winemakers

Banana wine production in Rwanda has long faced challenges with yeast selection, impacting both quality and regulatory approval. Scientists have developed a new yeast strain derived from local raw materials, preserving the traditional flavor of banana wine while withstanding high temperatures and alcohol concentrations. This breakthrough promises to standardize banana wine production, reduce costs, and boost Rwanda's burgeoning banana wine industry.

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(phys.org)
Tech Food Technology African Tech

VP Vance's Apple Watch: A National Security Risk?

2025-02-09
VP Vance's Apple Watch: A National Security Risk?

An open letter from a former CIA case officer warns Vice President Vance about the significant national security risks posed by his Apple Watch. The letter highlights how the watch's microphone, GPS tracking, and biometric data collection features could be exploited by hostile intelligence agencies to steal secrets and even manipulate him. The author recommends safer alternatives such as the Sangin Instruments Neptune, Marathon 41mm Diver's Automatic (GSAR), or a Breitling “White House” Aerospace. This article offers a unique perspective on the potential national security implications of seemingly innocuous tech devices, prompting reflection on personal privacy and information security.

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(www.watchesofespionage.com)
Tech intelligence smartwatch

Understanding Cell-Based Architectures Through a Zombie Apocalypse

2025-02-09
Understanding Cell-Based Architectures Through a Zombie Apocalypse

This article uses a vivid zombie siege scenario to explain cell-based architectures. The author likens a city to a system, with each neighborhood acting as an independent 'cell'. Even if one neighborhood falls, the entire city doesn't collapse. This isolation strategy, mirroring the design principles of cell-based architectures, effectively reduces the impact of single points of failure, ensuring system stability. Through this analogy, the article clearly explains the advantages and importance of cell-based architectures.

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(bencane.com)
Development cell-based architecture zombie apocalypse system design

GPU Conditional Branching: Myth vs. Reality

2025-02-09

This article debunks a long-standing misconception in computer graphics: ternary operators in GPUs are not conditional branches. The author uses code examples and assembly code analysis to show that ternary operators or if statements in GPUs implement conditional move instructions, not branch jumps that alter the instruction pointer. These conditional moves are more efficient, and the supposed 'optimization' using the `step()` function actually reduces performance. The article calls for correcting this 20-year-old misunderstanding.

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(iquilezles.org)
Development Optimization

Tenochtitlan: A Lake-Based Metropolis in 1518

2025-02-09
Tenochtitlan: A Lake-Based Metropolis in 1518

In 1518, Tenochtitlan, once a humble settlement on Lake Texcoco, had blossomed into a sprawling metropolis, the capital of an empire ruling over 5 million people. Home to 200,000 farmers, artisans, merchants, soldiers, priests, and aristocrats, it was one of the world's largest cities. Today, we know it as Mexico City. This article uses historical and archaeological sources to vividly recreate this iconic city built on a lake.

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(tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl)
Misc ancient city Mexican history Tenochtitlan

Nintendo's Game & Watch: A Retrospect of Handheld Gaming History

2025-02-09
Nintendo's Game & Watch: A Retrospect of Handheld Gaming History

This article chronicles the history of Nintendo's Game & Watch series of handheld electronic games, from the Silver Series in 1980 to various iterations throughout the late 1980s, including the Gold, Wide Screen, and Multi Screen series. Known for innovative designs, classic games, and elegant aesthetics—features like metallic faceplates, dual screens, and colored LCDs—the Game & Watch series represents a pivotal moment in Nintendo's history and the handheld gaming market.

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(itizso.itch.io)
Game

The Mundane Magic of Tech: Embracing the Grind

2025-02-09
The Mundane Magic of Tech: Embracing the Grind

This article uses a card trick as a metaphor for success in the tech industry: embracing tedious work. A magician spends countless hours preparing dozens of tea boxes, placing a specific card in each tea bag, to perform a seemingly impossible feat. This mirrors seemingly intractable problems in tech. The author recounts personally tackling two thousand untagged bug reports, turning around a stalled project. Spending weeks meticulously organizing, categorizing, and prioritizing these reports enabled the team to efficiently resolve issues. The article emphasizes that sometimes seemingly impossible tasks yield magical results simply by being willing to do the boring, repetitive work.

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(jacobian.org)
Development repetitive work problem solving

Remote Access to Home Assistant Without a Public IP: The ZeroTier Solution

2025-02-09

This article details how to remotely access your Home Assistant server using the free ZeroTier service, even without a public IP address. The author explains why many home users with wireless internet lack direct remote access, then walks through the ZeroTier configuration: account creation, virtual network setup, Home Assistant add-on configuration, and mobile device connection. The author concludes by cautioning that ZeroTier relies on third-party infrastructure, recommending obtaining a public IP and setting up a standard VPN for long-term security.

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(blog.tomaszdunia.pl)
Development

Bezos's 10,000-Year Clock: A Monument to Long-Term Thinking or a Tech Billionaire's Ego Project?

2025-02-09

Jeff Bezos funded the construction of a massive mechanical clock designed to run for 10,000 years, nestled in the Texas mountains. This article delves into the story behind this ambitious project, exploring its design, construction, symbolism, and societal implications. Danny Hillis, the clock's creator, envisioned it as a symbol to inspire long-term thinking, while the Long Now Foundation aims to preserve human knowledge to mitigate the risks of technological singularity. However, Bezos's involvement has sparked debate, questioning whether the project has deviated from its original idealistic goals. The article ultimately explores the tension between technological advancement and long-term planning, and how to balance progress with the sustainable future of humanity.

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(asteriskmag.com)
Tech Technological Singularity Long-term planning Technology and Society

Crafting Stunning Post-Processing Effects with Shaders

2025-02-09
Crafting Stunning Post-Processing Effects with Shaders

This article details the author's 2024 journey learning shader techniques and applying them to post-processing. Inspired by artists like @samdape and @hahajohnx, they created intricate pixel patterns, trompe l'oeil effects, and interactive post-processing. The article dives deep into the techniques behind pixelation, creating patterns using SDFs and threshold matrices, and achieving effects like LED panels, woven fabric, Lego bricks, and frosted glass. Code snippets and demos are provided.

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(blog.maximeheckel.com)
Design shaders pixel art

Boeing Starliner: Safety Concerns and Future Uncertainties

2025-02-09
Boeing Starliner: Safety Concerns and Future Uncertainties

NASA's annual safety review commended the agency's prioritization of astronaut safety in handling Boeing's troubled Starliner mission, but also highlighted multiple thruster failures and helium leaks during launch and re-entry. A new thruster failure was even discovered during the return trip. The report criticized ambiguous roles and responsibilities between NASA and Boeing, potentially leading to contractors making risk management decisions. Furthermore, the report questioned the future need for Starliner after the ISS decommissioning (post-2030), citing numerous certification challenges including battery redesign, airbag reinforcement, and schedule/budget concerns. In contrast, SpaceX's Crew Dragon has successfully flown numerous missions. Two astronauts stranded on the ISS due to Starliner issues will return aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.

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(www.orlandosentinel.com)
Tech Boeing Starliner commercial human spaceflight

Google's OpenTitan: Open-Source Security Chip Enters Production

2025-02-09
Google's OpenTitan: Open-Source Security Chip Enters Production

Google announced that its open-source security chip, OpenTitan, has entered production. This marks the first commercially available open-source silicon Root of Trust (RoT), designed to enhance device security by offering transparency and open collaboration to address the "black box" nature of proprietary solutions. OpenTitan will be used in Chromebooks and Google's cloud infrastructure, and is expected to drive broader industry adoption of open designs and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) secure boot.

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(opensource.googleblog.com)
Tech security chip

LLMs: A Double-Edged Sword?

2025-02-09
LLMs: A Double-Edged Sword?

Technologists and publicists are raving about how Large Language Models (LLMs) will revolutionize how we work, learn, play, communicate, create, and connect. They're right that AI will impact nearly every facet of our lives and that LLMs represent a giant leap forward in making computing accessible to everyone. However, alongside the benefits, AI will also flood our information environment with unprecedented levels of misinformation.

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(thebullshitmachines.com)
AI Information Overload
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