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Handmade Cities and Handmade Network Part Ways

2025-02-04

Handmade Cities and Handmade Network Part Ways

Handmade Cities (HMC) and Handmade Network (HMN) have officially parted ways, though both sides report an amicable split. Fundamental disagreements over brand direction led to the separation. HMC will focus on improving programming skills, with future conferences featuring 80% classic engineering presentations and 20% dedicated to tech worker rights. The author also announced the launch of the native desktop terminal software, Terminal Click, and updated his personal website to abner.page.

(handmadecities.com)

Development

Google Deletes AI Pledge Against Weapons and Surveillance

2025-02-04

Google Deletes AI Pledge Against Weapons and Surveillance

Google quietly removed a pledge from its website this week promising not to develop AI for weapons or surveillance. The change, first reported by Bloomberg, sparked controversy. While Google now emphasizes responsible AI development aligned with international law and human rights, its contracts with the US and Israeli militaries, coupled with Pentagon claims that Google's AI is accelerating the military's 'kill chain,' raise concerns about the gap between its stated principles and actions. Internal employee protests and public scrutiny highlight the ethical dilemmas surrounding AI development and deployment.

(techcrunch.com)

AI military applications

Oracle's Shady JavaScript Trademark Maneuvering

2025-02-04

Oracle's Shady JavaScript Trademark Maneuvering

Deno filed a petition to cancel Oracle's "JavaScript" trademark, alleging fraud in their renewal application. Oracle used a Node.js website screenshot as proof of use despite having no connection to the project. Oracle's defense claims a second specimen justifies the Node.js screenshot, ignoring the core issue of whether "JavaScript" is a generic term. This tactic is viewed as a deliberate delay, avoiding a discussion on the trademark's validity. The incident raises concerns about corporate trademark abuse and the fairness of the trademark system itself.

(deno.com)

Development

Framework Launches RISC-V Mainboard for Laptop 13: Open-Source Hardware Takes a Leap

2025-02-04

Framework Launches RISC-V Mainboard for Laptop 13: Open-Source Hardware Takes a Leap

Framework has released its highly anticipated RISC-V mainboard for $199. This drop-in replacement for the Framework Laptop 13's Intel or AMD motherboard features the StarFive JH7110 processor, 8GB of RAM, and supports Ubuntu and Fedora. While performance is comparable to a quad-core ARM Cortex-A55, its significance lies in its open-source nature, aiming to accelerate the RISC-V ecosystem. Kits with a case, storage, and accessories are also available, along with pre-built laptops featuring the RISC-V mainboard.

(liliputing.com)

Hardware

Dating App Deep Dive: The Untold Story of User Behavior and Retention

2025-02-04

An engineer who spent months working inside a dating app reveals its inner workings. The article details user ranking algorithms (based on like-to-pass ratio, with significant gender differences), user behavior (men prioritize looks, women prioritize personality, but both lean towards entertainment rather than serious dating), recommendation algorithms (personalization over simple recommendations), retention (tied to likes and matches, harder to improve for men), monetization (men pay for more likes), and user demographics (younger users prioritize looks, older users prioritize personality). The author argues that a dating app's success lies in precise personalization and effective retention strategies, not complex algorithms or features.

(blog.luap.info)

Misc

Czech Beavers Outperform 7-Year Government Plan, Saving $1.2 Million

2025-02-04

Czech Beavers Outperform 7-Year Government Plan, Saving $1.2 Million

In the Czech Republic, beavers built a dam in just two days, a project that had taken local authorities seven years to plan. This industrious rodent workforce saved the administration a cool $1.2 million. A water restoration project in Brdy nature park, initiated in 2018, finally secured all necessary permits and was poised to begin construction. However, beavers inhabiting the park since 2020 beat the government to the punch, constructing dams in the same locations. The head of the nature reserve administration stated, "The beavers saved us 30 million Czech crowns. They built the dams without any project documentation and for free." This unexpected feat highlights the remarkable engineering capabilities of beavers and provides a cost-effective, environmentally friendly solution.

(www.voxnews.al)

Misc beavers dam environmental engineering

The Brutal Truth About Dating Apps: An Insider's Perspective

2025-02-04

An insider who spent months working at a dating app reveals industry secrets. The article details user ranking mechanisms, user behavior, retention rates, monetization models, and technological challenges. For instance, male users have significantly lower match rates than females, and users heavily rely on profile pictures; retention is significantly impacted by user behavior, but not all improvements boost retention; monetization primarily relies on male users paying for extra likes. The author argues that the core problem with dating apps lies in user expectations, not the product itself.

(blog.luap.info)

Misc dating apps user behavior retention

Cruz's Telecom Director to Lead US Broadband Deployment Program

2025-02-04

Cruz's Telecom Director to Lead US Broadband Deployment Program

US Senator Ted Cruz has been pushing for an overhaul of a $42.45 billion broadband deployment program, and now his telecom policy director, Arielle Roth, has been nominated to lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the agency responsible for distributing the funds. Roth's nomination is pending Senate approval. Cruz previously criticized the NTIA's implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, accusing it of 'technology bias' for prioritizing fiber. Roth herself criticized the program for adding extra-legal requirements and a 'woke social agenda,' increasing costs and deterring participation. Her appointment could lead to less emphasis on fiber and more funding for cable, fixed wireless, and satellite services, potentially impacting municipal broadband and fiber networks.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech government

TrailBase: A Blazing Fast Lightweight Database

2025-02-04

TrailBase, a lightweight database, combines a low-overhead language, a fast HTTP server, and a lightweight relational SQL database. Benchmarks show TrailBase inserting 100k records over 20 times faster than SupaBase, 10 times faster than PocketBase, and even slightly faster than in-process vanilla SQLite. While SupaBase offers more features, its memory footprint is roughly 50 times larger than TrailBase's. TrailBase boasts sub-millisecond read latencies, comparable to Redis, but operates on primary data, not a cache. Its JavaScript performance is also exceptional, with its V8 engine outperforming PocketBase's goja engine by a factor of 40. In short, TrailBase is incredibly fast and resource-efficient, but real-world testing is crucial.

(trailbase.io)

Development

Colorado's Wolves: Ecological Restoration vs. Economic Conflict

2025-02-04

Colorado's Wolves: Ecological Restoration vs. Economic Conflict

Colorado's reintroduction of gray wolves for ecological restoration has created conflict with the state's traditional ranching industry. Ranchers face financial losses and stress from wolf attacks, including livestock deaths and decreased productivity. Urban residents, however, celebrate the wolves' return, citing ecological benefits and expressing willingness to pay for their existence. This uneven distribution of economic benefits exacerbates the urban-rural divide. Efforts are underway to bridge this gap, with initiatives providing financial aid, technical support, and dialogue to balance ecological preservation and economic development.

(thehustle.co)

Misc ecological restoration human-wildlife conflict economic disparity

How I Use LLMs to Supercharge My Engineering Workflow

2025-02-04

A senior software engineer shares his practical applications of large language models (LLMs) in his daily workflow. He leverages LLMs for code completion, writing throwaway code, learning new domains, last-resort debugging, and proofreading documents. He stresses LLMs are not a replacement for core logic or formal writing but a powerful aid, particularly effective for tackling unfamiliar codebases or learning new technologies. The key is using them strategically, not expecting miracles.

(www.seangoedecke.com)

Development

Roame: Seeking Founding AI Full-Stack Engineer to Revolutionize Travel

2025-02-04

Roame: Seeking Founding AI Full-Stack Engineer to Revolutionize Travel

Roame, a Y Combinator Summer 2023 company, is revolutionizing travel booking with credit card points and miles. They're hiring their first AI full-stack engineer, requiring 3+ years of experience and expertise in NextJS, Firebase, Go, and mobile development, with a strong understanding of AI pipelines. The role demands ownership, rapid iteration, and a strong work ethic. Roame offers excellent benefits, including free lunch and business-class travel. If you're passionate about travel, points, and building impactful products in a fast-paced startup, this is your chance to make a difference.

(www.ycombinator.com)

Development AI Full-Stack Engineer Travel

Musk's DOGE Accesses US Payment System: A Catastrophe Unfolds

2025-02-04

Musk's DOGE Accesses US Payment System: A Catastrophe Unfolds

A bombshell article exposes Elon Musk and his DOGE team's clandestine access to the US Treasury's payment system. A 25-year-old former SpaceX employee working for DOGE possesses read and write access to critical systems, raising serious national security and economic risks. Insiders confirm the event's veracity and express extreme concern. The author names this the "Trump-Musk Treasury Payments Crisis of 2025" and calls for urgent action to prevent potentially catastrophic consequences.

(www.crisesnotes.com)

Tech financial crisis government security

WHO Recommends Potassium-Enriched Salt to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease

2025-02-04

WHO Recommends Potassium-Enriched Salt to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued new guidelines recommending the replacement of regular table salt with lower-sodium alternatives, primarily potassium-enriched salt, to reduce the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Potassium-enriched salt replaces some sodium chloride with potassium chloride, lowering sodium intake while boosting potassium levels, thus helping to lower blood pressure. While studies show significant benefits, widespread adoption faces challenges including higher costs and contraindications for individuals with kidney disease. Success hinges on collaboration between the food industry and governments.

(theconversation.com)

Tech salt

3000-Year-Old Pyramid and Geoglyph Unearthed at Peru's Caral Site

2025-02-04

3000-Year-Old Pyramid and Geoglyph Unearthed at Peru's Caral Site

Peru's Ministry of Culture announced the discovery of a pyramid and a large geoglyph at the Caral archaeological site. Hidden beneath vegetation, the pyramid features at least three overlapping platforms and characteristic Caral architectural elements like vertical stones and a central staircase. A nearby geoglyph depicting a profile head, reminiscent of the Sechín culture, suggests early cultural exchange between Caral and other Andean civilizations. This discovery enhances understanding of Caral's urban planning and offers new tourism potential, further illustrating the complexity and peaceful development of the oldest civilization in the Americas.

(omniletters.com)

Tech Peru Caral

The Alchemy of Efficient LLM Training: Beyond Compute Limits

2025-02-04

This article delves into the efficient training of large language models (LLMs) at massive scale. The author argues that even with tens of thousands of accelerators, relatively simple principles can significantly improve model performance. Topics covered include model performance assessment, choosing parallelism schemes at different scales, estimating the cost and time of training large Transformer models, and designing algorithms that leverage specific hardware advantages. Through in-depth explanations of TPU and GPU architectures, and a detailed analysis of the Transformer architecture, readers will gain a better understanding of scaling bottlenecks and design more efficient models and algorithms.

(jax-ml.github.io)

AI Efficient Training

Cruise Axes Nearly Half Its Workforce, Pivots to Personal Autonomous Vehicles

2025-02-04

Cruise Axes Nearly Half Its Workforce, Pivots to Personal Autonomous Vehicles

Self-driving car company Cruise announced it's laying off nearly 50% of its workforce, including the CEO and other top executives, and shutting down its robotaxi operations. The remaining parts of Cruise will be integrated into parent company General Motors (GM), which will focus its resources on improving its hands-free driver assistance system, Super Cruise, and eventually rolling out personal autonomous vehicles. The layoffs follow a December strategy shift by GM to cut costs and focus on personal autonomous vehicle development. Affected employees will receive severance packages and career support.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech

Musk-Linked Engineer Gains Full Control Over US Payment Systems: Treasury Officials in Panic

2025-02-04

Musk-Linked Engineer Gains Full Control Over US Payment Systems: Treasury Officials in Panic

A 25-year-old engineer with ties to Elon Musk has been granted full read-and-write access to the US Treasury Department's payment systems, sparking alarm among insiders. This access encompasses nearly all government payments, including Social Security and tax refunds, raising concerns about potential for irreversible changes or security breaches. Sources express worry about data leaks to Musk allies within the General Services Administration (GSA) and a lack of reporting channels. The incident highlights critical vulnerabilities in government IT systems and potential threats to crucial infrastructure.

(www.rawstory.com)

Tech Government IT

Roc Compiler's Rewriting Journey: From Rust to Zig

2025-02-04

Roc Compiler's Rewriting Journey: From Rust to Zig

The Roc programming language compiler team has embarked on a significant undertaking: rewriting their 300K-line Rust compiler in Zig. This isn't a simple language port; it's a strategic move to address Rust's slow compilation times and accumulated technical debt. The rewrite will improve the parser, formatter, canonicalization, documentation generation, type inference, and LLVM code generation, among other modules. They also plan to use an interpreter for the development backend, significantly speeding up the development loop. The ultimate goal is to improve compilation speed, enhance maintainability, and release Roc 0.1.0.

(gist.github.com)

Development rewrite

WWII's Secret Weapon: Japan's Failed Balloon Bomb Attack

2025-02-04

WWII's Secret Weapon: Japan's Failed Balloon Bomb Attack

In 1944, Japan launched thousands of balloon bombs across the Pacific, aiming to sow chaos and destruction in the continental US. These massive paper balloons, carrying incendiaries and explosives, utilized the jet stream for transpacific travel. While ultimately resulting in only six American civilian deaths and minimal military impact, the operation remains a fascinating, obscure chapter of WWII, highlighting Japan's desperate wartime resourcefulness and the complexities of wartime information control. The project's failure underscores the limitations of unconventional warfare tactics.

(ahf.nuclearmuseum.org)

Tech Japan Balloon Bombs

Conquering Database Counter Lock Contention: The Slotted Counter Pattern

2025-02-04

Conquering Database Counter Lock Contention: The Slotted Counter Pattern

Updating database counters in high-concurrency scenarios often leads to lock contention, causing performance degradation and even deadlocks. This article introduces a pattern called "slotted counters" that effectively mitigates lock contention by distributing counters across multiple slots. This pattern distributes update operations across multiple rows, eliminating the bottleneck of single-row updates and improving concurrency performance. GitHub used a similar solution to address counting issues; the core idea is to distribute update operations across multiple rows and then aggregate them to get the final count.

(planetscale.com)

Development

TikTok's Algorithm Showed Pro-Republican Bias During the 2024 US Election: A Study

2025-02-04

TikTok's Algorithm Showed Pro-Republican Bias During the 2024 US Election: A Study

A new study reveals a pro-Republican bias in TikTok's recommendation algorithm during the 2024 US presidential election. Researchers used simulated accounts to show that Republican-leaning accounts received significantly more aligned content than Democratic-leaning accounts, which were exposed to more opposing viewpoints. This bias wasn't explained by video popularity, but rather by an overrepresentation of negative partisan content – criticizing the opposing party. The findings raise concerns about TikTok's algorithm neutrality and its potential influence on political discourse.

(www.psypost.org)

Tech Political Influence

LoFi's Fight for Survival Against the AI Tide

2025-02-04

LoFi's Fight for Survival Against the AI Tide

LoFi hip hop, a genre that organically exploded online in the mid-2010s, is facing a battle for survival against the onslaught of AI-generated music and cheap royalty-free tracks. Initially, LoFi offered unprecedented opportunities for bedroom musicians and independent artists. However, its commercialization has led platforms like Spotify to replace real artists with AI-generated and royalty-free music, diluting the royalty pool. Yet, Los Angeles-based musician Wish on the Beat has carved a new path, transforming her LoFi beats into ambient tracks, demonstrating the enduring value of authentic artistry. This highlights the importance of supporting independent musicians and resisting the tide of low-quality AI-generated music to preserve the diversity of the music ecosystem.

(gamechops.substack.com)

Game independent artists

Rust SQLite Parser: Adding CREATE TABLE Support

2025-02-04

Rust SQLite Parser: Adding CREATE TABLE Support

This post details extending a Rust-based SQLite parser to handle CREATE TABLE statements. By parsing the database schema table, the program extracts table names, root page numbers, and column names and types. The article explains lexical analysis, parsing, and abstract syntax tree (AST) construction, showing how extracted metadata is stored in the database structure, resulting in a more complete SQLite parser.

(blog.sylver.dev)

Development

TracepointArgs: Unlocking Linux Kernel Tracepoints

2025-02-04

Tired of hunting through Linux kernel source code for tracepoint metadata and struct layouts? Meet tracepointargs, a new command-line tool that lists all available Linux kernel tracepoints, their arguments, datatypes, and related structs. It even parses kernel struct layouts, allowing you to understand tracepoint details without digging through source files. Combined with bpftool to generate a vmlinux.h file, you can easily inspect the internals of structures, even recursively expanding nested ones. A must-have for eBPF developers and kernel explorers!

(tanelpoder.com)

Development

Radxa Orion O6: Ambitious Open-Source Arm V9 Motherboard, But Needs Refinement

2025-02-04

Radxa's Orion O6 motherboard boasts being the world's first open-source Arm V9 motherboard, promising high performance, low power consumption, and enhanced security. However, real-world testing reveals performance doesn't quite match the marketing hype of rivalling Apple's M1 chip. While outperforming some competitors in certain benchmarks, results are mixed elsewhere. Furthermore, the open-source hardware claim is questionable, with full schematics and OSHWA certification currently absent. Software-wise, the pre-installed OS presents issues like a default device tree configuration and unusual CPU core load distribution. In short, the hardware shows promise, but software and driver support require significant improvement. Proceed with caution and temper expectations.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware

arXivLabs: Experimental Projects with Community Collaboration

2025-02-04

arXivLabs is a framework enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Individuals and organizations working with arXivLabs embrace arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value to arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

(arxiv.org)

Development Experimental Projects

OmniHuman-1: Rethinking the Scaling-Up of One-Stage Conditioned Human Animation Models

2025-02-04

OmniHuman-1 is an AI model capable of generating realistic human videos. It supports various visual and audio styles, generating videos at any aspect ratio and body proportion (portrait, half-body, full-body). Realism stems from comprehensive motion, lighting, and texture detail. The model handles diverse inputs, including singing, talking, and various poses, even from cartoons or challenging viewpoints. It leverages audio and video driving signals for precise control. Ethical considerations are addressed, with images and audio sourced from public domains or generated models.

(omnihuman-lab.github.io)

AI video generation human animation

Jujutsu: A Rust-Based VCS That Reimagines Git's Workflow

2025-02-04

Jujutsu: A Rust-Based VCS That Reimagines Git's Workflow

Jujutsu, a novel version control system written in Rust, offers a streamlined and powerful alternative to Git. This article explores Jujutsu's core concept: mutable changes, showcasing how this feature simplifies workflows. It explains how to easily undo operations, seamlessly handle conflicts, and efficiently manage large changes. Jujutsu integrates seamlessly with Git, acting as a powerful frontend while retaining compatibility. The article details efficient work patterns, such as using `jj new` and `jj edit` for change management, and employing revset expressions for flexible version history manipulation. Jujutsu provides a more elegant and efficient version control experience.

(kubamartin.com)

Development

Microsoft Cracks Down on Windows 11 TPM 2.0 Bypass Tools

2025-02-04

Microsoft Cracks Down on Windows 11 TPM 2.0 Bypass Tools

Microsoft has removed documentation on bypassing Windows 11's TPM 2.0 requirement and flagged the popular bypass tool Flyby11 as potential malware in its Defender antivirus. This move aims to prevent users from installing Windows 11 on incompatible hardware. With Windows 10's support ending soon, Microsoft is pushing users to upgrade or buy new PCs, but Flyby11's developer is working to resolve the issue.

(www.xda-developers.com)

Tech

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