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Florida Appeals Court Rejects Clean Water Rights Initiative

2024-12-30

Florida Appeals Court Rejects Clean Water Rights Initiative

A Florida appeals court has ruled against a Titusville initiative to establish the right to clean water, despite 83% voter approval. The court cited a 2020 state law prohibiting local governments from granting rights to bodies of water, effectively preempting the local measure. This decision highlights the ongoing tension between state and local governments on environmental protection in Florida and underscores the limitations on local action in the face of conflicting state legislation.

(floridaphoenix.com)

Tech legal battle local government

AI Solves Factorio's Belt Balancer Conundrum

2024-12-30

AI Solves Factorio's Belt Balancer Conundrum

This blog post details the author's journey in automating the design of Factorio's belt balancers, a notoriously complex problem. Using Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) and Constraint Programming SAT (CP-SAT) solvers, the author tackled the challenge. While the MIP model struggled with numerical instability for larger balancers, the CP-SAT approach, employing discretization of flows and incorporating Banes networks and memory optimization, successfully solved the design for a 16x16 balancer—a feat practically impossible by hand. The process highlights the crucial role of modeling techniques, algorithm selection, and optimization strategies in achieving efficient solutions.

(gianlucaventurini.com)

AI Optimization Algorithms

Bypassing BitLocker Encryption on Windows 11 via Memory Dump

2024-12-30

This article demonstrates bypassing BitLocker encryption on Windows 11 by extracting the Full Volume Encryption Key (FVEK) from memory. By physically accessing the device and abruptly restarting it, an attacker can capture RAM contents, which may contain the FVEK. The author utilizes a UEFI application, Memory-Dump-UEFI, to achieve this. The process involves creating a bootable USB, forcefully restarting the system, booting from the USB, analyzing the memory dump, and using pool tags to locate the FVEK. The article details these steps and emphasizes the use of tools like dislocker to unlock the BitLocker-protected partition. The method is not foolproof and relies on several factors such as speed of memory dump and the timing of the restart.

(noinitrd.github.io)

Tech Memory Dump Windows Security

Troubled Accounting Startup Bench Acquired After Sudden Shutdown

2024-12-30

Troubled Accounting Startup Bench Acquired After Sudden Shutdown

Bench, the VC-backed accounting startup that abruptly shut down last week, locking thousands of customers out of their accounts, has been acquired by Employer.com for an undisclosed price. Employer.com, a San Francisco-based HR tech company focusing on payroll and onboarding, will revive Bench's platform. Customers will be able to transfer their data or continue service under the new ownership. The previous recommendation for customers to file for a six-month extension with the IRS is no longer necessary if they choose to stay with the service.

(techcrunch.com)

Startup startup acquisition accounting HR tech

Hacker Remotely Revives Dormant Satellite: Beesat-1 Back Online

2024-12-30

Hacker Remotely Revives Dormant Satellite: Beesat-1 Back Online

The TU Berlin's Beesat-1 test satellite, launched in 2009, fell silent in 2013. However, at the 38C3 conference, hacker PistonMiner revealed how they remotely resurrected the satellite. Identifying a software bug, not hardware failure, as the culprit, PistonMiner used a 'Frankenstein-Beesat' ground test model for debugging. A software update restored functionality, even reactivating a presumed-broken onboard camera. This feat not only brought the small satellite back to life but also offers a potential model for reviving other defunct satellites.

(www.heise.de)

Tech satellite repair software bug

ts_zip: Text Compression with Large Language Models

2024-12-30

Fabrice Bellard's new tool, ts_zip, leverages the RWKV 169M v4 language model to achieve significantly higher text compression ratios than traditional methods. While requiring a GPU and 4GB RAM, and slower than conventional compressors (up to 1 MB/s on an RTX 4090), ts_zip demonstrates impressive compression on English and other languages, including source code. Compression ratio is measured in bits per byte (bpb), with results showing superior performance to xz on datasets like enwik8 and enwik9. Deterministic model evaluation ensures consistent decompression across different hardware and software configurations.

(bellard.org)

Development text compression

Breakthrough in Evaluating Large Language Models for Unit Test Generation

2024-12-30

Researchers conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) in automating unit test generation. They compared the performance of five open-source LLMs against the closed-source GPT-4 and the traditional tool Evosuite across 17 Java projects, investigating the impact of different prompting strategies. The study found that open-source LLMs offer advantages in data privacy and outperform in certain tasks, but also revealed limitations in LLM-based unit test generation. This research provides valuable insights to guide future applications of LLMs in this area.

(arxiv.org)

Development Unit Testing

Nvidia Open-Sources Run:ai After $700M Acquisition

2024-12-30

Nvidia Open-Sources Run:ai After $700M Acquisition

Nvidia completed its $700 million acquisition of Run:ai, a software company simplifying GPU cloud orchestration for AI, and immediately open-sourced the software. This move is likely a strategic response to antitrust concerns, allowing wider access to the technology and mitigating potential regulatory issues stemming from Nvidia's market dominance. Run:ai's software will help companies efficiently manage GPU resources for AI development, fostering growth within the broader AI ecosystem.

(venturebeat.com)

AI

YouTuber Wins DMCA Battle Against Fake Nintendo Lawyer

2024-12-30

YouTuber Wins DMCA Battle Against Fake Nintendo Lawyer

German YouTuber Domtendo faced DMCA takedown requests from a fraudulent Nintendo lawyer, threatening his 17-year-old channel. By noticing the lawyer's use of a ProtonMail address and contacting Nintendo directly, Domtendo exposed the fraud. Nintendo confirmed the email's illegitimacy, leading to the retraction of the claims. This incident highlights flaws in YouTube's DMCA system and the prevalence of copyright abuse, prompting calls for policy reform.

(arstechnica.com)

Game Copyright Infringement

Diaspora* Internal Team Communication Notice

2024-12-30

Diaspora* Internal Team Communication Notice

This excerpt is from an internal Diaspora* team communication. It states that the website requires JavaScript to function correctly and provides instructions on how to report content, including the reporting criteria. It also links to Diaspora* project discussions and support, along with website information such as code version, pod statistics, terms of service, contact information, and a touch-optimized mode switch.

(pod.geraspora.de)

Development Website Maintenance

SQLite: The Unbelievable Database Legend

2024-12-30

SQLite, the world's most widely deployed database, is maintained by a three-person team, rejecting external contributions, yet conquering the world with its exceptional performance and stability. Born on a US warship to solve server downtime issues, it has become the cornerstone of trillions of databases. SQLite is not open source, but rather public domain software, with fewer restrictions than any open source license. Its rigorous testing process, even simulating extreme situations like operating system crashes, ensures its incredibly high reliability. However, its unique business model—generating revenue through paid support and memberships—is also noteworthy. The legend of SQLite lies not only in its technical prowess but also in the persistence and innovation behind it.

(avi.im)

Development legend

New Short Message Compression Tool: ts_sms

2024-12-30

ts_sms is a new tool for short message compression using large language models. It employs lossless compression, reducing bits by identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy without information loss. Compared to tools like brotli, ts_sms shows advantages in compressing small messages. Both Linux and Windows versions are available. Its core technology is similar to ts_zip, utilizing a specific padding system compatible with arithmetic coding, eliminating the need to explicitly encode message length.

(bellard.org)

Development

Rite Aid's 'Zombie' Stores: A Ghost of Retail Past?

2024-12-30

Rite Aid's 'Zombie' Stores: A Ghost of Retail Past?

Once a dominant player in the US drugstore market, Rite Aid is now a shadow of its former self, facing bankruptcy and fierce competition. Hundreds of stores have closed, leaving empty shelves and earning them the moniker "zombie" stores. Consumers are forced to seek alternatives at competitors like Walmart and Amazon. Rite Aid's struggles reflect broader challenges in the pharmacy sector, including intense competition, rising costs, and staffing shortages. While some vacant locations are being repurposed by other retailers, Rite Aid's future remains uncertain, with its "zombie" stores potentially marking the end of an era.

(qz.com)

Startup pharmacy industry market competition pharmacy sector retail decline Retail Bankruptcy Competition

Jimmy Carter: America's Greatest Environmental President

2024-12-30

Jimmy Carter: America's Greatest Environmental President

This article examines the significant environmental achievements of former US President Jimmy Carter. Despite low approval ratings, Carter, as early as 1979, foresaw the severity of the climate crisis and aggressively promoted renewable energy. The article highlights numerous environmental legislations signed during his presidency and his efforts to protect American wilderness areas. While some of Carter's energy policies remain controversial, his understanding and response to climate change solidify his place as one of America's greatest environmental presidents.

(www.rollingstone.com)

Misc Jimmy Carter environmental protection

Human Civilization at a Crossroads: Authoritarian Collapse or Superabundance?

2024-12-30

Human Civilization at a Crossroads: Authoritarian Collapse or Superabundance?

Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, a renowned systems theorist, argues in a new study published in Foresight that human civilization is on the verge of a 'giant leap' in evolution towards a 'networked superabundance' powered by distributed clean energy. However, this progress is threatened by rising authoritarianism and nationalist populism. Ahmed, who accurately predicted the 2008 financial crisis and the rise of clean energy, posits that industrial civilization is in decline, but emerging technologies like clean energy, cellular agriculture, and AI could create unprecedented prosperity. The success of this transition hinges on responsibly governing these new capabilities.

(www.eurekalert.org)

AI civilizational transformation authoritarianism

Reverse Engineering the TI SimpleLink RF MCU Black Box

2024-12-30

Reverse Engineering the TI SimpleLink RF MCU Black Box

Despite the popularity of low-cost RF microcontrollers, their internal RF hardware workings remain largely undocumented. This talk delves into the Texas Instruments SimpleLink family of BLE and Sub-GHz RF MCUs. While the reference manual is comprehensive, the radio section is surprisingly sparse. The presenters reverse-engineered the SimpleLink MCU's RF subsystem, explaining its operation from stack to antenna. They also reverse-engineered TI's proprietary RF patch format and investigated the hidden DSP modem cores, potentially opening the door for a cheap single-chip SDR.

(media.ccc.de)

Hardware RF microcontroller

Execution Units are Often Pipelined

2024-12-30

This blog post explores the pipelining of execution units in out-of-order microarchitectures. The author initially assumed execution units remain occupied until µop completion, but using the Firestorm microarchitecture (A14 and M1) as an example, demonstrates that two integer execution units can handle multiple multiplications concurrently, each taking three cycles. By comparing dependent and independent instruction sequences, the author reveals that many execution unit/µop combinations are heavily pipelined, allowing a µop to be issued while the unit processes others. This reduces execution time for independent instructions from a predicted 6 cycles to 4. Finally, the author explains why instruction latency and bandwidth tables specify reciprocal throughput – it's equivalent to cycles/instruction.

(blog.xoria.org)

Development microarchitecture pipelining execution units

Panel Graphic Walker: Interactive Data Exploration with HoloViz Panel

2024-12-30

Panel Graphic Walker: Interactive Data Exploration with HoloViz Panel

Panel Graphic Walker is a Python library that integrates the power of Graphic Walker into HoloViz Panel for interactive data exploration within Jupyter Notebooks and Panel applications. It offers a Tableau-like interface, allowing users to quickly create dynamic visualizations and tables with minimal code. It supports various data backends and renderers, and can handle large datasets using server-side computation. The project is in its early stages; pinning a specific version is recommended.

(github.com)

Development interactive data exploration

New Class of Virus-like Entities Found in Human Gut

2024-12-30

New Class of Virus-like Entities Found in Human Gut

Researchers have discovered a completely new class of virus-like objects in the human digestive system, dubbed 'Obelisks'. These RNA structures, approximately 1,000 nucleotides long, are unlike any known viruses and may represent an entirely new biological entity, potentially bridging the evolutionary gap between simple genetic molecules and complex viruses. Found in human microbiomes, Obelisks code for a novel protein called 'Oblins', but their impact on host cells and their transmission mechanism remain unknown. This discovery opens up exciting new avenues for life science research.

(www.sciencealert.com)

AI virus microbiome

Chess Champion Carlsen Returns to Tournament After Jeans Controversy

2024-12-30

Chess Champion Carlsen Returns to Tournament After Jeans Controversy

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen rejoined a major tournament after initially quitting over a dress code dispute. He was asked to change out of his jeans at the Fide World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) subsequently relaxed its dress code to allow "elegant minor deviations," including appropriate jeans. Carlsen criticized the event's handling of the situation but ultimately returned, stating his love for the tournament. The incident sparked debate about dress code rules in professional chess.

(news.sky.com)

Game Chess Dress Code

Bench Accounting Welcomes Back Clients

2024-12-30

Bench Accounting has announced that more information on how to resume services will be available soon.

(www.bench.co)

Misc Bench Accounting service resumption announcement

Philosopher Challenges Convention: Do Thermostats Have Consciousness?

2024-12-30

Philosopher Challenges Convention: Do Thermostats Have Consciousness?

Philosopher David Chalmers, in his book *The Conscious Mind*, proposes a radical idea: even simple thermostats might possess conscious experience. He argues that consciousness isn't exclusive to complex systems but a fundamental property linked to information processing. From humans to mice to thermostats, the complexity of consciousness might decrease with decreasing information processing capabilities, but it doesn't necessarily vanish. While a thermostat only has simple information states, its corresponding experience might be as simple and primitive as black, white, and gray. This view challenges traditional understandings of consciousness, prompting a re-evaluation of its fundamental nature.

(annakaharris.com)

AI

Zig: Safer and Faster Than Unsafe Rust?

2024-12-30

Zig: Safer and Faster Than Unsafe Rust?

This blog post compares Rust and Zig by implementing a garbage-collected bytecode interpreter. The author found unsafe Rust incredibly challenging, citing complex aliasing rules and undefined behavior as major obstacles. In contrast, Zig offered a more developer-friendly experience for memory-unsafe operations, including built-in memory leak detection and improved pointer ergonomics. The Zig implementation ultimately proved safer, faster, and easier to develop than its Rust counterpart.

(zackoverflow.dev)

Development Memory Safety

Boeing and FAA Whistleblower System Fails, Leaving Reporters in Limbo

2024-12-30

Boeing and FAA Whistleblower System Fails, Leaving Reporters in Limbo

This article exposes the critical flaws in the whistleblower system at Boeing, its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Numerous whistleblowers report safety concerns at great personal and professional risk, yet the FAA finds no violations in over 90% of cases. This leaves whistleblowers facing retaliation, unemployment, and emotional distress; some have even died as a result. The article uses several whistleblowers' experiences to highlight the system's lack of independence and inadequate protection, calling for reform to ensure aviation safety and protect whistleblower rights.

(www.seattletimes.com)

Tech whistleblower protection Boeing

Passkeys: Elegant, but Not Yet Usable Security

2024-12-30

Passkeys: Elegant, but Not Yet Usable Security

Passkeys, touted as a password alternative, aim for enhanced security and easier logins. However, this article reveals significant usability issues. While technically elegant, the lack of standardization across platforms (operating systems, browsers, apps) leads to a confusing user experience, with varying prompts and workflows. Password managers can alleviate some problems, but this hinges on user adoption. Many websites still allow password logins, undermining Passkey's security. Currently, Passkeys are more of a transitional solution than a fully mature technology.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Wi-Fi and Radar Interference: The Challenges of DFS

2024-12-30

Wi-Fi and Radar Interference: The Challenges of DFS

This article explores the interference issues between Wi-Fi networks and radar systems in the 5GHz band. Since Wi-Fi operates on unlicensed spectrum, proximity to airports or other radar-using facilities can lead to interference, causing device dropouts. Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) aims to mitigate this, but its implementation isn't seamless. DFS can cause brief Wi-Fi access point outages, impacting user experience. The article suggests avoiding UNI II band DFS channels near radar facilities or using newer APs and the UNI II extended band to minimize problems.

(blog.iptel.com.au)

Tech Radar Interference

Apple and Meta Clash Over Interoperability and Privacy

2024-12-30

Apple and Meta Clash Over Interoperability and Privacy

Apple and Meta are locked in a battle in Europe over the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA mandates interoperability, requiring designated gatekeepers like Apple and Meta to allow competitors access to core platform services. Meta has submitted 15 interoperability requests to Apple, prompting Apple to warn of significant privacy and security risks if granted, potentially exposing user data extensively. Meta counters that Apple's privacy concerns are unfounded and a pretext to stifle competition. This conflict highlights the tension between interoperability and user privacy, and the challenges faced by EU regulators in enforcing the DMA.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech

Pincites Hiring AI and Frontend Engineers

2024-12-30

Pincites Hiring AI and Frontend Engineers

Pincites, a YC S23 AI startup, is hiring experienced Backend & Applied AI Engineers and Frontend Engineers. Pincites has built an AI contract negotiation assistant embedded in Microsoft Word, helping legal teams review and redline contracts faster. The company is experiencing rapid growth, doubling revenue in the first three months of 2024 and is at an inflection point. Founders have backgrounds in big law, big tech, and high-growth startups.

(www.ycombinator.com)

AI

curl Gets a Major Update: Partial File Reading Support

2024-12-30

curl Gets a Major Update: Partial File Reading Support

The upcoming curl 8.12.0 release introduces exciting new functionality: partial file reading. Users can now leverage a new variable system to extract specific byte ranges from files and use them within curl command lines. This adds significant flexibility to how curl handles files, allowing for tasks like extracting the beginning of a file as a username or a section in the middle for a POST body. This significantly expands curl's capabilities, empowering users with a more robust command-line tool.

(daniel.haxx.se)

Development file handling

curl-impersonate Updated: Enhanced Browser Impersonation Capabilities

2024-12-30

curl-impersonate Updated: Enhanced Browser Impersonation Capabilities

lexiforest/curl-impersonate is an active fork of curl-impersonate, enhancing browser impersonation capabilities and supporting more versions and build targets. This project modifies curl to mimic the behavior of major browsers (Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox) during TLS and HTTP handshakes, bypassing website restrictions based on fingerprinting. Updates include support for ECH, ZSTD compression, X25519Kyber768 curves, and more browser versions, offering improved command-line tools and library functions.

(github.com)

Development browser impersonation

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