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Programmer's Nostalgia: A $30 Custom Voice Recording from the AOL Voice

2025-01-15
Programmer's Nostalgia: A $30 Custom Voice Recording from the AOL Voice

Blogger John Graham-Cumming recounts his 2002 experience commissioning custom voice recordings from Elwood Edwards, the iconic voice of AOL. For $30, he ordered two phrases, "Mail classified by POPFile" and "Use the source, Luke!" for his machine learning email filtering program, POPFile. Edwards even included a bonus "You've got mail, John!" This charming anecdote reveals a personalized touch of the early internet and the humor of tech pioneers.

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(blog.jgc.org)
Development personalized service

TikTok Ban Looms, US Users Flock to Xiaohongshu

2025-01-15
TikTok Ban Looms, US Users Flock to Xiaohongshu

With a potential TikTok ban looming in the US, users are migrating en masse to the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, propelling it to the top of the US app download charts. Calling themselves "TikTok refugees," some users are joining Xiaohongshu as an act of protest against the impending ban. The US Supreme Court is set to rule on a law mandating TikTok divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, by January 19th or face a US ban over national security concerns. After hints the court may uphold the law, a wave of TikTok users created Xiaohongshu accounts, using hashtags like #tiktokrefugee. Xiaohongshu, meaning "Little Red Book," combines e-commerce, short videos, and social media features. Popular in China and among Chinese diaspora communities, it boasts 300 million monthly active users, mainly young women using it as a search engine for product, travel, and restaurant recommendations, as well as beauty tutorials. Many American users openly stated their move to Xiaohongshu was a protest against the potential TikTok ban. Chinese users have generally welcomed the influx of Americans, offering help and advice. Despite Xiaohongshu's surge in popularity, it remains uncertain if it can fully replace TikTok's established ecosystem of e-commerce and advertising.

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(apnews.com)
Tech Xiaohongshu US-China Tech

Kokoro: 82M Parameter TTS Model Turns Ebooks into High-Quality Audiobooks

2025-01-15

Claudio Santini created Audiblez, a tool leveraging the lightweight 82M parameter text-to-speech model Kokoro to convert ebooks into high-quality audiobooks. Audiblez supports multiple languages and voices, converting large ebooks in a few hours. The Python-based tool requires installing necessary libraries and model files. While chapter detection is still a bit rough, it works well overall, with future improvements planned for chapter detection and added features.

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(claudio.uk)
Development text-to-speech

Parallels Desktop Now Runs x86 Windows and Linux on Apple Silicon Macs

2025-01-15
Parallels Desktop Now Runs x86 Windows and Linux on Apple Silicon Macs

Parallels Desktop 20.2 adds early support for running 64-bit x86 Windows and Linux operating systems on Apple Silicon Macs. This allows users of M1, M2, and later Macs to run a wider range of operating systems, although performance will be slower than native ARM versions due to emulation. Limitations include USB device support, nested virtualization, and slower boot times, but it's a significant step for developers and users needing x86 compatibility on Apple Silicon.

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(www.howtogeek.com)
Development

My Failed Attempt to Ditch Google Calendar for Proton

2025-01-15
My Failed Attempt to Ditch Google Calendar for Proton

The author attempted to migrate from Google Calendar to Proton as part of a larger effort to de-Google their digital life. While browser, email, and drive migrations were successful, the calendar proved a significant hurdle. Proton Calendar's 'Easy Switch' feature, while seemingly simple, only allowed read-only calendar exports, preventing edits from other apps like the iPhone's default calendar. Attempts to sync via iCalendar also failed due to the inability to export a private work calendar link. Ultimately, the author returned to Google, reflecting on the lack of standardization in cross-platform calendar sharing.

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(shilin.ca)
Misc Calendar Sync

Transformer²: Self-Adaptive LLMs Break New Ground

2025-01-15
Transformer²: Self-Adaptive LLMs Break New Ground

Transformer² is a novel machine learning system that dynamically adjusts its weights for various tasks. Inspired by nature's adaptive mechanisms, like an octopus changing color or the brain rewiring itself, it enables Large Language Models (LLMs) to adapt to new tasks in real-time. Using Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and Reinforcement Learning (RL), Transformer² decomposes model weights into independent components and learns how to combine them optimally for diverse tasks, including math, coding, reasoning, and visual understanding. Results show Transformer² outperforms traditional static approaches like LoRA in efficiency and task-specific performance, requiring far fewer parameters. This work paves the way for building 'living intelligence' AI systems that continuously learn and evolve.

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(sakana.ai)
AI

The Apathy Epidemic: Why Doesn't Anyone Care Anymore?

2025-01-15
The Apathy Epidemic: Why Doesn't Anyone Care Anymore?

This rant explores the pervasive apathy in modern society. From malfunctioning software and poorly designed public infrastructure to everyday inconsiderateness, the author argues that a lack of care is rampant. While not necessarily malicious, this indifference stems from a failure to exert even minimal effort to improve things. The author laments this state of affairs and yearns for a community where caring is the norm, reflecting on their own attempts to inspire positive change and the challenges of living among those who seem unconcerned.

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(grantslatton.com)
Misc apathy

Customasm: An Assembler for Your Own Instruction Sets

2025-01-15
Customasm: An Assembler for Your Own Instruction Sets

Customasm is an assembler that lets you define your own custom instruction sets, perfect for testing the bytecode of a new virtual machine or writing programs for that new microprocessor architecture you just implemented on an FPGA chip! Try it online in your browser, check out an example project targeting the NES, and install the VSCode syntax highlighting extension. Install via `cargo install customasm`, download pre-built executables from Releases, or compile from source. Documentation and a how-to-start guide are available in the wiki.

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(github.com)
Development assembler custom instruction set

Microsoft Code Change Nearly Breaks Linux 6.13 Release

2025-01-15
Microsoft Code Change Nearly Breaks Linux 6.13 Release

A code change contributed by a Microsoft engineer nearly caused a major disruption to the upcoming stable release of Linux kernel 6.13. Intended as a performance improvement, the change introduced issues on certain systems, especially those with Control Flow Integrity (CFI) enabled, such as machines with Intel Alder Lake processors. An urgent patch from Intel engineer Peter Zijlstra disabled the problematic code, preventing a delay in the 6.13 release. This incident highlights the critical importance of code review and thorough testing before merging code into large, open-source projects.

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(www.theregister.com)
Development

Free Music Archive: A Haven for Creative Commons Music

2025-01-15

The Free Music Archive (FMA) is a non-profit platform offering a vast library of original music available for free download and use under Creative Commons licenses. It's a win-win: artists gain exposure and build an audience, while users find royalty-free music for their projects, from YouTube videos to podcasts. FMA champions artist rights and recently launched a podcast series, "Music Insiders," showcasing the platform's talented creators and their musical journeys.

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(freemusicarchive.org)
Misc music platform creative commons royalty-free music

77 Days, 3877 Miles: A Cyclist's Epic Journey Down the Eastern Divide Trail

2025-01-15

In the fall of 2024, zygomorph completed an epic 77-day bicycle journey covering 3,877 miles (6,239 km) along the US portion of the Eastern Divide Trail. From Maine to Florida, this detailed journal chronicles his adventure, filled with stunning scenery, challenging terrain, and unforgettable experiences. Each day is meticulously documented, rich with vibrant descriptions and photos, making for a compelling tale of outdoor exploration.

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(www.crazyguyonabike.com)
Misc bikepacking long-distance cycling outdoor adventure bicycle touring

Digital Resource Helps Wildfire Survivors Recover

2025-01-15
Digital Resource Helps Wildfire Survivors Recover

The Home Loss File System, created by California wildfire survivors, is a digital resource designed to support individuals navigating the challenging process of disaster recovery. This comprehensive tool provides checklists, organizational tools, and essential resources to help manage insurance claims, document losses, and track expenses. It features multiple sheets covering immediate actions, insurance details, inventory management, mental health resources, and more. Physical boxes are also available upon request.

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(docs.google.com)
Misc resource management

Apple's iOS 18 Uses Homomorphic Encryption for Private Photo Search

2025-01-15

Apple's iOS 18 utilizes homomorphic encryption to enhance its photo search functionality, enabling cloud-based searches without revealing the content of users' photos. The article explains the underlying principles of homomorphic encryption, allowing computations on encrypted data with the decrypted result matching computations on unencrypted data. Apple's implementation isn't fully homomorphic, trading some privacy for performance and combining it with differential privacy and anonymization networks to bolster privacy. While not perfect, it represents a significant step towards balancing privacy and usability.

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(boehs.org)
Tech homomorphic encryption

Pyper: Concurrent Python Made Simple

2025-01-15
Pyper: Concurrent Python Made Simple

Pyper is a flexible framework for concurrent and parallel data processing, built on functional programming patterns. It seamlessly integrates threaded, multiprocessed, and asynchronous operations, simplifying the creation of ETL systems, data microservices, and data collection pipelines. With a clean API and efficient queueing, Pyper offers a lightweight, pure Python solution (zero dependencies) that prioritizes ease of use, safety, and efficiency. Developers can focus on building logic rather than managing low-level concurrency details.

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(github.com)
Development

Decentralized Instagram Alternative Pixelfed Launches iOS and Android Apps

2025-01-15
Decentralized Instagram Alternative Pixelfed Launches iOS and Android Apps

Pixelfed, a decentralized image-sharing platform, has launched official iOS and Android apps, offering a privacy-focused alternative to Instagram. Built on the ActivityPub protocol, Pixelfed interoperates with other decentralized social networks like Mastodon. Previously only available via web and third-party clients since its 2018 launch, the mobile apps represent a significant step towards broader adoption. Recent changes to Instagram's policies, including the removal of third-party fact-checking and adjustments to its hate speech policies, have driven many users to seek alternatives like Pixelfed.

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(www.engadget.com)
Tech decentralized social network

SimplexDocsPlaygroundRequest API: Code Execution Preview

2025-01-15

The SimplexDocsPlaygroundRequest API provides code execution and preview functionality. Users submit code to the server via this API, which executes the code and returns the results, along with a preview of the execution process. This is useful for developers debugging code, testing APIs, and rapidly prototyping. The API is currently loading; results will be available after code execution.

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(www.simplex.sh)
Development Code Execution Preview

MIT's All-Optical AI Chip Achieves 58x Speedup

2025-01-15
MIT's All-Optical AI Chip Achieves 58x Speedup

Researchers at MIT have developed an all-optical AI chip that processes information directly using photons, bypassing the digitization step for a massive speed boost. Achieving a latency of 410 picoseconds, it's 58 times faster than a standard CPU. This breakthrough involves implementing a complete deep neural network on a photonic chip, including both linear matrix operations and non-linear thresholding functions – a challenge previously faced by photonic computing. While currently limited in parameter count, this technology promises applications in low-latency fields like autonomous driving and advanced automotive vision systems.

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(arstechnica.com)
AI photonic computing AI chip

Bling Your Server Rack: A Nostalgic Retro Project with 128 LEDs

2025-01-15

Driven by nostalgia for the blinking lights of old mainframes, the author designed a project to add 128 LEDs to a server rack. Using readily available and inexpensive PIC16F1782 microcontrollers and 74HC595 shift registers, the project uses serial communication to control the LEDs, allowing for custom displays and a random pattern mode. The author shares the PCB design files and C code, encouraging others to build their own or contact him for custom orders. This project is a fun blend of practicality and nostalgia, showcasing the author's electronics and programming skills.

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(rodyne.com)
Hardware Retro

US Bans Chinese Vehicles, Impacting Polestar and Others

2025-01-15
US Bans Chinese Vehicles, Impacting Polestar and Others

The US finalized a rule effectively banning the import of Chinese-made connected vehicles, even those manufactured in the US, citing national security concerns. This impacts major automakers like Ford and GM, smaller companies like Polestar, and even Waymo. The ban covers technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, aiming to prevent data collection by China. It takes effect in 2027 for software and 2030 for hardware, with exceptions for vehicles over 10,000 pounds. The auto industry strongly opposes the ban; Polestar stated it would prevent the company from selling cars in the US. This represents an escalation in US-China trade tensions and highlights growing concerns about data security and national security.

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(www.theverge.com)
Tech US ban Chinese vehicles

From SvelteKit to Plain HTML: A Website Rewrite

2025-01-15

Frustrated with the complexities of SvelteKit's build system, the author decided to rewrite their personal website using plain HTML and CSS. The process involved using Pandoc to convert Markdown to HTML and Python with uv for a lightweight build pipeline. Despite the small scale of the site, the rewrite resulted in a reduction in size from 356kb to 88kb and simpler, easier-to-understand code. The author notes remaining issues like code duplication and lack of live reloading, intending to address them in future improvements. The project serves as a simple template for building static sites with Markdown blogs.

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(www.vijayp.dev)
Development

Luxury Everest Ascent: Banned Xenon Gas Fuels Controversy

2025-01-15
Luxury Everest Ascent: Banned Xenon Gas Fuels Controversy

An expedition company is offering a one-week Everest ascent using banned xenon gas, for a hefty $154,000. Clients inhale a xenon mixture in Kathmandu, then summit within two days, bypassing acclimatization. Xenon boosts EPO production, enhancing oxygen transport, but is banned in sports. The company argues mountaineering isn't a regulated sport, thus avoiding doping rules. This raises ethical questions about the pursuit of extreme experiences by the wealthy.

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(gripped.com)
Misc Mount Everest Xenon Gas Doping

Benchmark: Bitwise vs. Modulo for Even Number Check

2025-01-14
Benchmark: Bitwise vs. Modulo for Even Number Check

This post benchmarks two methods for checking if a number is even in Pascal and C: modulo operation and bitwise operation. The bitwise approach (using the bitwise AND operator) proves significantly faster. A Pascal test iterating from 0 to MaxInt showed bitwise operations were nearly 15 times quicker than modulo. In C, while compiler optimization might translate modulo 2 to bitwise AND, the bitwise method still slightly outperformed modulo. This highlights the efficiency advantage of bitwise operations for even number checks in performance-critical scenarios.

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(ubuntuincident.wordpress.com)
Development bitwise operation modulo operation

Don't Use Cosine Similarity Carelessly!

2025-01-14
Don't Use Cosine Similarity Carelessly!

This article explores the risks of over-relying on cosine similarity for vector comparisons in data science. The author argues that while computationally simple, cosine similarity often fails to capture semantic similarity and can be easily misled by superficial patterns like writing style and typos. The article uses examples to illustrate this problem and proposes several improved methods, including: directly using LLMs for comparison, fine-tuning or transfer learning to create task-specific embeddings, pre-prompt engineering, and text preprocessing. The author emphasizes the importance of choosing appropriate similarity metrics based on specific needs, rather than blindly using cosine similarity.

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(p.migdal.pl)
AI cosine similarity vector comparison

Racing Simulator Built From a Wrecked Corvette

2025-01-14
Racing Simulator Built From a Wrecked Corvette

A father and son team transformed a wrecked Chevrolet Corvette (C3 generation) into an incredible racing simulator. Using the car's existing driver's compartment as a base, they ingeniously integrated custom electronics, gaming components, and a meticulously crafted interior. The project showcases creativity and clever engineering, resulting in a final product that retains the classic Corvette aesthetic while delivering a modern gaming experience.

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(www.instructables.com)
Game racing simulator Corvette

Cold War Relic: The 'Maintain Top Safe Speed' Sign You Probably Never Knew Existed

2025-01-14
Cold War Relic: The 'Maintain Top Safe Speed' Sign You Probably Never Knew Existed

This article discusses a fascinating Cold War-era highway sign: 'MAINTAIN TOP SAFE SPEED'. Designed for a post-nuclear attack scenario, this sign instructed drivers to speed through radiation-contaminated areas to minimize exposure. The article explores other Civil Defense signs from the MUTCD manual, including fallout shelter and decontamination center markers. While largely forgotten today, these signs offer a chilling glimpse into the anxieties of the Cold War and the government's preparations for unthinkable events.

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(www.theautopian.com)
Misc Civil Defense Highway Signs

Texas Sues Allstate for Secretly Collecting Driver Data

2025-01-14
Texas Sues Allstate for Secretly Collecting Driver Data

Texas has sued Allstate, alleging the insurance giant violated state privacy laws by secretly collecting detailed location data from millions of drivers to justify premium hikes. The lawsuit claims Allstate paid app developers to embed tracking code in their apps (including GasBuddy, Fuel Rewards, and Life360), sending sensitive data back to Allstate. This marks the first enforcement action by a state Attorney General under a data privacy law. Allstate failed to properly inform users about data collection and use in its privacy policies, and didn't utilize a 30-day cure period to avoid the lawsuit. Texas is seeking hefty fines, data deletion, and restitution for affected consumers.

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(gizmodo.com)
Tech Allstate lawsuit Texas

The Credibility Crisis in Academia: How Metrics Are Killing Research Quality

2025-01-14
The Credibility Crisis in Academia: How Metrics Are Killing Research Quality

Academia is facing a credibility crisis, with a record number of retracted papers and the rise of AI-generated content. The article argues that the over-reliance on metrics like publication counts and impact factors has led to 'indicatorism' – a focus on manipulating metrics rather than pursuing genuine research quality. This has resulted in unethical practices like citation cartels and fabricated data. While metrics have their uses, the author advocates for a more nuanced approach, incorporating qualitative assessments alongside quantitative data to gain a more holistic understanding of research quality and credibility. The current system, he warns, risks sacrificing long-term scientific progress for short-term performance gains.

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(www.socialsciencespace.com)
Misc research metrics indicatorism

Post-Wildfire Home Loss File System: A Digital Resource

2025-01-14
Post-Wildfire Home Loss File System: A Digital Resource

This digital resource is a Home Loss File System created by California wildfire survivors to support those navigating the challenging process of disaster recovery. It provides essential resources, checklists, and organizational tools to efficiently manage insurance claims, document losses, and track expenses. The system includes multiple sheets covering everything from immediate post-fire steps to mental health resources and rebuilding information, along with summaries of California insurance claim rules and links to additional helpful resources.

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(docs.google.com)
Misc disaster recovery insurance claims property loss

Auto-Braking Systems Fail to Detect Pedestrians in Reflective Gear

2025-01-14
Auto-Braking Systems Fail to Detect Pedestrians in Reflective Gear

A new IIHS report reveals that automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems in Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5 vehicles failed to detect pedestrians wearing reflective strips, even under various lighting conditions. The systems consistently failed to brake, while a Subaru Forester performed better. Researchers urge automakers to improve AEB technology, recommending pedestrians continue to wear reflective gear for increased visibility at night, while acknowledging the limitations of current AEB in some vehicles.

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(usa.streetsblog.org)
Tech Automatic Emergency Braking Pedestrian Safety Vehicle Safety
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