New Sponsor Announcement from MonoGame Foundation (Dec 30, 2025)

• Support Options: You can support MonoGame through various financial options on GitHub, PayPal, and Patreon. There is also a MonoGame Store for branded merchandise.

• Get Involved:

  • Contribute code by submitting Pull Requests.
  • Join the community on Discord and share blog posts.
  • Take on bounties to fix bugs and add features, and get paid for your contributions.

• Looking Ahead: The MonoGame Foundation team is excited for future growth.

The University of Helsinki's website offers various sections for easy navigation. Key areas include:

1. News: Updates on university events, press releases, and relevant topics like the war in Ukraine.
2. Admissions and Education: Information on applying to different programs (bachelor's, master's, doctoral), resources for international students, and options for continuous learning.
3. Research: Details about research units, services for researchers, and opportunities in strategic and top research.
4. Innovations and Cooperation: Focus on collaborations with businesses, alumni, and international partners, along with support for entrepreneurial efforts.
5. About Us: Insights into the university's strategy, sustainability efforts, career opportunities, and visitor information.
6. Faculties and Units: List of various academic faculties covering a range of disciplines from agriculture to social sciences.

Overall, the website serves as a comprehensive guide for current and prospective students, researchers, and the public.

Summary of Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design

1. Engineering Requires Numbers: Engineering must be based on measurable data; claims need quantifiable backing (e.g., speed, cost, simplicity).

2. Design for Imperfection: Spacecraft should be able to function even if not everything is perfect. Aiming for 100% reliability can lead to failures.

3. Iterative Design Process: Good designs are never truly finished; expect to go through many iterations to improve.

4. Disappointment in Design: Often, the best design ideas won’t make it to the final product. Success in the market doesn’t always correlate with the best technical design.

5. Data Patterns: Patterns can be found in data, but ensure they are due to real phenomena, not just noise.

6. Caution with Data: Don’t overly rely on mathematical tools or fit data too closely; keep it realistic.

7. Leadership and Team Dynamics: The most eager person often lacks the skills to lead a design team. Leadership skills need to be developed, not assumed.

8. Optimum Solutions: The best solutions usually lie in the middle ground, not at extremes.

9. Start Without Complete Information: Don’t wait for all the information to begin your analysis; identify key values to make your analysis more complete.

Summary: Scaffolding to Superhuman: How Curriculum Learning Solved 2048 and Tetris

This article discusses how curriculum learning helped train AI agents to excel in the games 2048 and Tetris using a framework called PufferLib. The author shares their journey from average performance to achieving superhuman results.

Key Points:

1. Fast Training: PufferLib allows rapid training of AI agents, running at over 1 million steps per second. This speed enables systematic experimentation with hyperparameters, significantly reducing training time.

2. Training Strategy:

   • Observation Design: The agents are given detailed information about the game state.
   • Reward System: Rewards and penalties are carefully adjusted to guide learning.
   • Curriculum Learning: The training experience is structured so agents progressively face more challenging scenarios.

3. 2048 Achievements:

   • The author trained a 15MB policy that outperformed previous solutions, achieving a higher success rate in reaching high tile values compared to older methods that relied on large databases.

4. Tetris Insights:

   • A bug during training, which caused noise in the observations, unexpectedly improved the agents' ability to handle chaotic situations. This revelation led to incorporating random challenges in training to make agents more robust.

5. Lessons Learned:

   • Speed and efficient training methods are crucial for success.
   • Hyperparameter tuning can significantly enhance performance.
   • Curriculum learning is essential for exposing agents to critical experiences.
   • Iterative testing and adjustments lead to better results than relying on a single clever approach.

6. Future Directions: The author plans to explore deeper networks and automated curriculum learning to achieve even higher scores in 2048.

Overall, the article emphasizes that with careful design and systematic training, even a single person with a gaming computer can achieve remarkable results in AI gaming.

Summary: Zero-Code Instrumentation of Envoy TCP Proxy Using eBPF

The author faced challenges debugging an Envoy Network Load Balancer due to HTTP 499 errors caused by latency issues in the cloud. Existing Envoy tools were insufficient for identifying the bottleneck, leading to the need for additional instrumentation by each team.

After exploring Envoy’s documentation, the author found that access logs did not provide the necessary details. OpenTelemetry tracing was only available for Application Load Balancers, complicating the problem. To address this, the author decided to experiment with OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation (OBI), which allows automatic instrumentation of Linux services without writing code.

Using tools like Docker Compose, EnvoyProxy, Go, and OBI, the author set up a basic TCP proxy with Envoy. This setup enabled detailed tracing of HTTP requests, showing response times, source and destination addresses, and content sizes. The author successfully tested this with multiple Envoys to track requests across services.

For a more production-like environment, the author proposed a new setup using additional tools like Jaeger, Prometheus, and Grafana to visualize metrics and traces. The goal was to instrument only one HTTP server while filtering out unnecessary telemetry data from others.

Ultimately, the author discovered that a network orchestration service was causing latency due to a bug in its configuration. The OBI proved effective in providing insights to debug and resolve the issue.

Key Points:

1. Faced latency issues with Envoy causing HTTP 499 errors.
2. Existing Envoy tools did not provide adequate debugging information.
3. Experimented with OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation for automatic, code-free tracing.
4. Set up a TCP proxy with Envoy to track and analyze HTTP requests.
5. Developed a production-like setup with visual tools for better observability.
6. Discovered and resolved a network orchestration bug causing the latency.

No summary available.

Winnie-the-Pooh is celebrating 100 years of fame, with his first story published on December 24, 1925. Created by A.A. Milne, Pooh quickly became a beloved character, along with friends like Tigger and Christopher Robin, in the fictional setting of 100 Aker Wood, inspired by Ashdown Forest in East Sussex.

Milne wrote the original stories in 1926 and 1928, and Pooh's popularity skyrocketed after Disney acquired the rights in 1961. The character continues to attract visitors, generating significant income for the local area, including £450,000 for anniversary events.

Pooh Corner, a shop and tea room in Hartfield, celebrates this legacy by sharing the stories with visitors from around the world. Special events planned for the anniversary include a life-sized pop-up book installation at the forest's visitor center and new walking trails. The Pooh Sticks Bridge, where the game was invented, is also part of this history.

You can use Claude Code to access a powerful SQL and vector database that includes information from sites like Hacker News and arXiv. Claude helps you create complex SQL queries to answer detailed questions. There's also an Alerts feature that emails you when specific search criteria are met, such as posts about "estrogen" in a psychoactive context.

Currently, the database has 1.4 million posts and 15.6 million comments. With advanced search capabilities, you can perform nuanced searches, like finding writings on the FTX crisis that avoid guilty tones. The author wants to expand the database access but lacks the funds.

The text discusses the issue of video aspect ratios when embedding videos on web pages. When specifying a video’s size, it’s important to consider both the storage aspect ratio (SAR) and the pixel aspect ratio (PAR). SAR is the raw pixel resolution, while PAR describes the shape of each pixel, affecting how the video is displayed.

The author realized that some videos were not fitting their designated spaces correctly due to a bug in their code that only accounted for SAR, ignoring PAR. This caused videos to appear distorted or improperly sized on the page, leading to layout shifts.

The correct display size of a video is determined by the display aspect ratio (DAR), calculated using the formula: DAR = SAR × PAR. The author provides an example of using a video analysis tool called ffprobe to accurately extract the display aspect ratio.

In conclusion, to ensure videos fit properly on a web page, it's essential to use the display aspect ratio rather than just the storage dimensions. By making this adjustment, the author successfully eliminated issues with video rendering on their site.

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The article discusses testing the performance of Django LiveView by running a version of DOOM within it. It highlights that Django LiveView is very efficient, handling dynamic content at a high speed of 600,000 divs (divisions in HTML) per second.

The testing setup involves the game ViZDoom generating a frame, which Django then converts into 10,000 divs, rendering them for users in real time. The experiment shows that Django LiveView can manage demanding tasks effectively.

In conclusion, the author finds that Django LiveView successfully withstands the stress of this experiment, proving its robustness. The source code for this project is available on GitHub.

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The NES Emulator lets you play Donkey Kong on your computer. Use the arrow keys to move and the Z/X keys for actions. It is created by Carimbo, and you can find the source code on GitHub.

TiXL (Tooll3) - A Real-Time Animation Toolkit

Overview: TiXL is an open-source software designed for creating real-time motion graphics. It combines real-time rendering, procedural content generation, and keyframe animation, allowing artists to:

• Create audio-reactive visual content.
• Use advanced interfaces to explore different parameters.
• Combine keyframe animation with automated features.

Technical artists can also utilize TiXL for developing complex shaders and integrating inputs from various sources like MIDI controllers and sensors.

The software prioritizes usability and has a beautiful interface. Currently, TiXL version 4 is in development and is stable enough to produce high-quality visuals, support industry-standard features (like color correction), and export small standalone applications.

TiXL aims to build a community of artists and developers to contribute to its growth as a free open-source project.

Installation: Refer to the installation guide.

Get Help: To start, check the documentation or watch tutorial videos. For questions or feedback, join the Discord community: https://discord.gg/YmSyQdeH3S.

F-Droid has upgraded its core server thanks to donations from its community, which are essential for its independence and reliability. The new server improves the speed of building and publishing apps in the F-Droid repository. The upgrade took longer than expected due to difficulties in sourcing reliable parts caused by global trade issues.

The new server is hosted securely by a long-time contributor, ensuring transparency and trust, which aligns with F-Droid’s values. The previous server was 12 years old and had become slow and costly to maintain. The new system is already showing significant speed improvements, allowing for more frequent updates, which benefits both developers and users.

This upgrade highlights the importance of community support, as every donation helps keep F-Droid running efficiently and aligned with free software principles. Thank you to all who contributed!

I am making animations and instructional videos about neural networks. You can find my content on Patreon and YouTube.

Key topics covered include:

1. Convolution: An overview is available in the YouTube video about the fundamental algorithm of convolution in neural networks.

2. Padding: This concept is explained in the video on convolution padding. There are two types:

   • No Padding (also called "Valid")
   • Padding (called "Same")

3. Stride: The stride affects how the convolution moves across the input. The video on stride covers:

   • Stride of 1 with no padding
   • Stride of 2 with no padding
   • Stride of 1 with padding
   • Stride of 2 with padding

4. Groups, Depthwise, and Depthwise-Separable Convolution: Explained in a dedicated video, these techniques involve different ways to process data in groups.

5. Pixel Shuffle: This technique for changing resolution is detailed in the video on pixel shuffle, covering block sizes of 2x2 and 3x3.

All content is licensed under the MIT License.

France is planning to introduce a ban on social media for children under 15, following Australia's lead. This ban is set to take effect at the start of the 2026 academic year. French President Emmanuel Macron supports this initiative, emphasizing the need to protect children from the dangers of excessive screen time and harmful online content.

The proposed legislation includes two main measures: banning social media for those under 15 and restricting mobile phone use in high schools. The bill will undergo legal checks before being debated in parliament early next year. Macron highlighted the negative impacts of screen time on education and mental health, using a driving analogy to illustrate his concerns.

Other countries, including Denmark, Norway, and Malaysia, are also considering similar bans. The French government aims for the new law to comply with European regulations on digital services. Recent reports have raised alarms about the psychological effects of platforms like TikTok on children, prompting calls for stricter regulations.

This text announces the creation of an offline archive of Hacker News (HN) that you can access through your browser. The creator developed a way to store all the Hacker News data using SQLite and WebAssembly, allowing users to download the entire dataset. You can find and download it from a provided GitHub link. The project aims to preserve 20 years of discussions and contributions from HN, ensuring that it remains accessible forever. The creator presents this as a year-end gift, wishing everyone a happy 2026 and encouraging them to make use of the archive.

Summary of FediMeteo: A Global Weather Service from a Small VPS

FediMeteo is a weather service created by Stefano Marinelli, inspired by his grandfather's passion for weather forecasting. The project began when Marinelli wanted regular weather updates for his city. He set up a simple and low-cost VPS (Virtual Private Server) running FreeBSD, which costs just €4 a month.

Key Features:

• Separation by Country: Each country has its own instance in the VPS for better management and security.
• Reliable Weather Data: FediMeteo uses trustworthy, open-source data sources like wttr.in and Open-Meteo to provide accurate forecasts.
• Accessibility: Weather updates are available in local languages and can be accessed without JavaScript, using emojis for clarity.

Technical Implementation:

• The service operates using a Python application that fetches weather data based on city names and country codes.
• Updates are scheduled every six hours, and the system can handle multiple cities simultaneously without storing data locally.

Growth and Popularity:

• The project quickly gained popularity, receiving requests to add more cities and countries. FediMeteo now covers 38 countries and nearly 3,000 cities.
• The service has around 7,700 direct followers and is continuously expanding.

Challenges and Solutions:

• Marinelli faced issues like API key leaks and geographical data retrieval failures, which he resolved by improving the program’s structure and implementing caching for coordinates.

Infrastructure Efficiency:

• The VPS is efficient, handling a low average load even during updates. It uses FreeBSD jails to manage individual instances for each country, ensuring smooth performance.

Conclusion: FediMeteo showcases how a simple, low-cost solution can provide valuable services without relying on complex systems or third-party data management. It highlights the universal interest in weather forecasts and the social connections they foster.

A unique alignment of true, magnetic, and grid north in Great Britain, known as the "three norths" alignment, is set to end on December 13, 2025. This alignment started in November 2022 in Dorset and has been slowly moving northward. Data from the British Geological Survey shows that it will cross from England into the North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed.

After this, the alignment is expected to reappear in Scotland in October 2026 and will leave Scotland in December 2026, continuing its journey north. The shifting magnetic field is responsible for these changes, with significant variations noted since 2014.

Experts highlight that while this alignment is historically significant, it won't affect navigation, as navigators will still need to account for differences between magnetic north and true north. The next occurrence of this alignment may not happen for several centuries.

The text discusses the transformation of software production due to advancements in AI coding, which is making it faster and cheaper, reducing the need for skilled human labor. This shift is likened to an industrial revolution, leading to the creation of "disposable software" – low-cost, low-quality products that are easily reproduced and lack long-term value.

As software becomes more automated, we may see a surge in demand, similar to how efficiency in coal consumption led to increased overall use in the past. This could result in an abundance of low-quality software, paralleling trends seen in other industrial sectors where mass production often sacrifices quality for quantity.

However, just as there is a market for sustainable and high-quality food, there could be a demand for "organic software," which emphasizes human craftsmanship and quality. While software has a history of reuse and innovation, the text suggests that the future will involve both industrialization and innovation working together to drive progress.

Ultimately, as software becomes more automated, the challenge will be maintaining and managing the growing complexity and technical debt of these systems, raising questions about who will take responsibility for software that lacks ownership or long-term support.

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Summary of the Libsodium Vulnerability

Libsodium, a cryptography library, is now 13 years old. It was created to simplify cryptography, focusing on high-level functions and easy-to-use APIs. The library has maintained a strong security record with no reported vulnerabilities over its lifetime.

Recently, a bug was discovered in the function that checks if a point on an elliptic curve is valid. This function incorrectly accepted some invalid points due to a missing condition in the code. Specifically, it only checked one aspect of the point instead of ensuring all necessary conditions were met.

This bug is significant because it could allow invalid points to pass validation, affecting users who rely on low-level functions from Libsodium. However, most high-level APIs remain unaffected, so the majority of users should not worry.

To address the issue, a fix has been implemented, and new packages with this fix have been released. Users are encouraged to update to the latest version. Additionally, it’s recommended to use Ristretto255 for custom cryptographic implementations, as it simplifies operations and avoids related issues.

Overall, Libsodium continues to be a valuable tool, and support through sponsorship is appreciated to help maintain and improve the project.

Summary of Changes to Odin's core:os Package

Odin is evolving its core:os package, which is crucial for the language's functionality. Here are the key points:

• Improvement Goals: The redesign aims to create a more stable and consistent API across different platforms, addressing past inconsistencies and technical debt.

• Transition Timeline: The new core:os design is expected to launch in Q1 2026. Notice is being given in advance of the breaking changes that will occur.

• Major Changes:

  • Procedures that allocate memory will now require an explicit allocator argument.
  • File handling will utilize a new type, ^os.File, instead of raw file handles, allowing for more flexibility in file operations.
  • Many functions will return os.Error instead of simple boolean values for error handling.
  • There will be new APIs for handling paths, processes, and improved directory walking.
  • The overall API will be more consistent across all platforms.

• Rationale for Changes:

  • The use of ^os.File provides a more streamlined interface for file handling, enabling better control and interception of file operations.
  • Explicit allocators clarify the distinction between user-level and OS-level memory allocation, enhancing memory management.

• Examples of Changes:

  • The way files are read and errors are handled will change, moving from simpler forms to more structured and informative types.

These updates aim to enhance the usability and stability of the Odin programming language.

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Investors in the stock market are concerned about the high valuations of generative AI companies. However, the venture capital (VC) market seems to be thriving, investing $150 billion into major AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic in 2025. OpenAI is so confident that it plans to raise up to $100 billion from private investors in 2026, which would be nearly four times the largest amount ever raised in a stock market listing.

Summary of cURL and libcurl Changes

On December 29, 2025, Daniel Stenberg discussed updates to the cURL code. The team removed all instances of the strncpy() function due to its confusing behavior, which can lead to mistakes. Instead, they now ensure that strings are either fully copied or an error is returned, using memcpy() for better control over string copying.

While strcpy() still has valid uses, it poses risks since it does not require size specifications for buffers. Over time, as code is maintained by different developers, the necessary size checks may become disconnected from the copy operation, increasing the risk of errors.

To address this, a new string copy function was introduced that takes the destination buffer, its size, the source buffer, and the source string's length as arguments. This ensures that checks are in place before any copying occurs, effectively banning strcpy() from the codebase, similar to the ban on strncpy().

This change may also reduce misleading reports about strcpy() being insecure, although it won't eliminate all potential issues with AI-generated claims about vulnerabilities in the code. The team aims to monitor the impact of these changes over time.

Summary of DIATONE D-160 Speaker

The DIATONE D-160 is a high-end, custom-made speaker launched in 1985, priced at approximately ¥30,000,000, with a delivery time of four months.

Key Features:

• Woofer: It features a large 160 cm cone-type woofer (PW 1600) made with a lightweight honeycomb diaphragm, combining aluminum alloy and carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) to keep the weight down to 3 kg.
• Magnetic Circuit: Instead of heavy permanent magnets, it uses a field coil to reduce weight, which alone weighs 400 kg.
• Design: The speaker frame consists of four assembled parts, and the entire unit weighs 600 kg.
• Enclosure: It has a bass-reflex design made from a steel frame covered with wood.

Testing Challenges:

• Initial testing caused vibrations that damaged the test facility, prompting outdoor tests that affected nearby areas with vibrations felt as far as 2 km away.
• The speaker was first publicly displayed at the Kobe Portpia Mitsubishi Miraikan in March 1981.

Specifications:

• Type: 1-way, 1-speaker bass-reflex floor type.
• Frequency Response: 8 Hz to 500 Hz.
• Sound Pressure Level: 98 dB/W/m.
• Maximum Input: 3,000 W.
• Dimensions: 2,372 mm wide, 2,312 mm high, and 1,375 mm deep.
• Weight: 1,500 kg.

Overall, the DIATONE D-160 is notable for its innovative design and significant impact on sound and vibration testing, even breaking glass during demonstrations.

No summary available.

Summary of "Sabotaging Bitcoin" by David Rosenthal

In this blog post, David Rosenthal discusses the potential vulnerabilities of Bitcoin, particularly in the context of an attack using derivatives like options and futures. He reluctantly defends Bitcoin against critics, highlighting a study by Farokhnia and Goharshady that suggests these financial instruments could incentivize attacks on the network's security.

Key points include:

1. Attack Feasibility: The study shows that a successful attack on Bitcoin could occur without needing a majority of hash power. However, Rosenthal believes practical difficulties would hinder such attacks.

2. Types of Attackers: There are two types of attackers:

   • Outsiders: They would need to acquire significant mining hardware and power, which is highly challenging and costly.
   • Insiders: Existing miners with a large portion of hash power could attempt attacks but risk damaging their own business by causing Bitcoin's price to plummet.

3. Cost Analysis: Outsiders face enormous costs in acquiring hardware and power, while insiders would incur losses from decreased mining income. Both face significant operational challenges and risks of detection.

4. Market Dynamics: The growing derivatives market complicates the situation, as attackers could potentially profit from shorting Bitcoin before executing an attack. However, the liquidity and scale of the market may not support such large positions without causing market disruptions.

5. Countermeasures: There are practical challenges to implementing effective countermeasures against attacks, as the Bitcoin community's confidence in its security protocols could be shaken.

Overall, Rosenthal concludes that while attacks on Bitcoin are theoretically possible, the practical challenges make them highly unlikely to succeed.

No summary available.

Summary of "Five Years of tinygrad"

• tinygrad started on October 17, 2020, and has grown to a team of 6 people.
• The codebase has 18,935 lines of code, and the project is expected to continue for about 5 more years.
• To compete with NVIDIA, it's crucial to have a complete software stack before creating hardware. Only Google and NVIDIA have successfully trained models using their chips because they have strong software support.
• tinygrad is working on removing dependencies, aiming for a version that relies only on Python to support AMD GPUs. It now has essential components like a frontend, graph compiler, runtimes, and drivers, and outperforms PyTorch in many tasks.
• The project aims to simplify software by eliminating unnecessary complexities. Most software code is bloated due to compatibility requirements with other systems. tinygrad's code is much smaller and more focused.
• The tiny corp operates transparently, mainly through Discord and GitHub, and generates about $2 million annually from computer sales.
• The company has a contract with AMD for training models and hires contributors through their work on the tinygrad repository.
• Their goal is to make high-performance computing more accessible, or "commoditize the petaflop."

Summary of zpdf Library

• Overview: zpdf is a PDF text extraction library written in the Zig programming language, currently in its early version (alpha stage).

• Key Features:

  • Efficient handling of large files using memory-mapped file reading.
  • Supports streaming text extraction and multiple decompression filters (FlateDecode, ASCII85, LZW, etc.).
  • Font encoding support for WinAnsi, MacRoman, and ToUnicode CMap.
  • Can parse XRef tables and streams from PDF 1.5 and later.
  • Configurable error handling options.
  • Supports multi-threaded extraction of pages.

• Performance Benchmark:

  • zpdf demonstrates competitive text extraction speed on various documents compared to other libraries like pdfium and MuPDF. For example, it extracts text from a 5,252-page document in 227ms, significantly faster than the others.
  • All tools achieve around 99% character accuracy, with zpdf achieving 99.3-99.9%.

• Requirements: Requires Zig version 0.15.2 or later.

• Building the Library:

  • Use zig build to compile the library and command-line interface (CLI).
  • Use zig build test to run tests.

• Usage:

  • The library can be used in Zig or Python. In Zig, users can extract text from a PDF by opening a document and iterating through its pages.
  • The CLI allows for various commands, including extracting pages to stdout or a file.

• Comparison with Other Libraries:

  • zpdf supports features like stream order extraction and multi-threading but lacks some features found in pdfium and MuPDF, such as support for encrypted PDFs and rendering.

• License: The library is released under the WTFPL license, allowing for unrestricted use.

This summary provides a clear and concise overview of the zpdf library, its features, performance, and usage instructions.

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Summary of Toro Unikernel

Introduction: Toro is a unikernel designed to deploy applications as microVMs, using a simple architecture with virtio-fs and virtio-vsocket.

Key Features:

• Supports x86-64 architecture and up to 512GB of RAM.
• Compatible with QEMU-KVM microVM and Firecracker.
• Includes a cooperative and I/O bound threading scheduler.
• Fast boot time and small image size.
• Built-in gdbstub for debugging.

Trying Toro: To try Toro, you can run the HelloWorld example using a Docker image. First, ensure KVM and Docker are installed, then execute the following commands:

1. Download the Dockerfile: wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/torokernel/torokernel/master/ci/Dockerfile
2. Build the Docker image: sudo docker build -t torokernel-dev .
3. Run the Docker container: sudo docker run --privileged --rm -it torokernel-dev
4. Navigate to the HelloWorld example directory and run: python3 ../CloudIt.py -a HelloWorld

Alternatively, you can pull the image from Docker Hub.

Building Toro Locally: To build Toro locally, follow the instructions in the Dockerfile to install necessary components. Edit the CloudIt.py file to set correct paths for QEMU and virtio-fs.

Running Examples:

• HelloWorld Example: Navigate to the HelloWorld directory and run: python3 ../CloudIt.py -a HelloWorld.
• StaticWebServer Example: Requires virtiofsd and socat. Compile socat, set the path in CloudIt.py, and run the server with: python3 ../CloudIt.py -a StaticWebServer -r -d /path-to-directory/ -f 4000:80.
• Intercore Communication Example: Shows communication between cores. Run with: python3 ../CloudIt.py -a InterCoreComm.

Contributing: You can contribute to Toro by joining the Google Group or finding more information online.

License: Toro is licensed under GPLv3.

The article discusses a recent decision by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to change the default font for State Department documents back to Times New Roman, a serif typeface, from Calibri, a sans-serif typeface. This decision, outlined in a memo titled "Return to Tradition," reflects a broader political agenda to move away from diversity and inclusion initiatives associated with the previous administration.

Rubio argues that serif fonts like Times New Roman convey professionalism and authority and align with historical practices of the State Department. However, the article points out that Times New Roman, while a standard typeface, lacks the gravitas Rubio claims. It was originally designed for newspapers and is more practical than prestigious. Critics argue that the change is more about political signaling than aesthetic merit, as many other serif fonts could better convey formality.

The article also critiques Calibri, noting that it was chosen for its legibility on screens rather than formal documents. While the previous switch to Calibri aimed to promote accessibility, the choice was seen as poorly matched to the goal. In the end, while Times New Roman may be a recognizable choice, it does not genuinely enhance the quality of official documents and serves more as a political statement than a thoughtful design decision.

The British Empire had mostly finished its Red Line telegraph cable network by 1902. This network enabled fast communication, allowing messages to be sent within minutes or hours. It created a global ring system, so if one part was disrupted, messages could still be routed in the opposite direction. Dr. Michael Delaunay noted that this made the network very resilient. Multiple cables connected each pair of locations, ensuring that communications would remain intact even if some cables were cut. The British military believed that it would take shutting down a significant number of cables—57 for the British Isles, 15 for Canada, and 7 for South Africa—to fully disrupt communications. The Empire was also self-sufficient in making and repairing these cables, supported by a powerful navy.

No summary available.

Summary of Swift Concurrency

Overview: Swift Concurrency simplifies how developers handle asynchronous code using async/await, Tasks, and data isolation. It helps manage waiting for responses without complicated callbacks.

Key Concepts:

1. Async/Await:

   • Asynchronous functions can pause execution using async and await.
   • Code with await suspends until the function completes, making it easier to read and write than traditional callbacks.

2. Tasks:

   • A Task represents a unit of asynchronous work.
   • You can create tasks directly from synchronous code, manage their results, and cancel them.
   • Use .task modifier in SwiftUI to load data when views appear and manage changes with .task(id:).

3. Task Groups:

   • Allow multiple asynchronous tasks to run in parallel.
   • Use withThrowingTaskGroup to handle multiple tasks efficiently, managing errors and cancellations.

4. Isolation Domains:

   • Swift enforces data safety by isolating access to mutable state using actors and the @MainActor for UI-related code.
   • Actors provide exclusive access to their data, ensuring thread safety.

5. Sendable:

   • A protocol that marks types safe for passing between isolation boundaries.
   • Value types and actors are typically Sendable, while mutable classes need special handling to avoid data races.

6. Approachable Concurrency:

   • New Xcode settings simplify the concurrency model, defaulting to @MainActor for all code unless specified otherwise.
   • Encourages a focus on clear, safe concurrency practices.

Common Mistakes to Avoid:

• Confusing async with background execution.
• Overusing actors or making everything Sendable unnecessarily.
• Blocking the cooperative thread pool can lead to deadlocks.
• Creating unnecessary Tasks instead of using structured concurrency.

Conclusion: Start with basic concurrency patterns like async/await and @MainActor for most apps. Use advanced features like Task Groups and custom actors only when necessary. The compiler will guide you for more complex scenarios.

The rise of AI agents is changing how software is developed, allowing developers to write code faster and manage multiple tasks. However, it's still unclear how these agents fit into professional software development. This study looks at how experienced developers use AI agents, focusing on their motivations, strategies, and feelings about the process.

Through observations of 13 developers and surveys of 99, the study finds that while developers appreciate the productivity boost from agents, they still want to maintain control over software design to ensure quality. They use their expertise to guide how agents work and feel positive about using them, recognizing their limitations. The findings highlight best practices for using agents effectively, suggest suitable tasks for them, and indicate opportunities for improving how agents can be used in the future.

No summary available.

In 2025, C++ and Rust are the fastest-growing programming languages due to the increasing demand for software that outpaces hardware capabilities. The main constraints on computing growth are power and chips, with power being the top limitation. As companies strive to improve performance, languages like C++, which emphasize efficient use of power and resources, continue to thrive.

The global developer population has grown significantly, with C++ seeing notable increases in its developer base, outpacing even the most popular languages. The upcoming C++26 standard introduces important security features and enhancements for modern hardware, addressing concerns about safety and vulnerabilities, which have been overstated in the media.

Despite fears that AI will replace programming jobs, the demand for skilled programmers is actually increasing. AI is viewed as a tool to enhance productivity rather than a replacement for human workers. Overall, C++ is positioned for a bright future as it adapts to the evolving tech landscape and continues to meet the needs of developers.

Summary: Enabling PowerVR GPU on RISC-V

Michał Wilczyński details the process of enabling the PowerVR GPU on the TH1520 System on Chip (SoC), marking it as the first RISC-V SoC to support mainline, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics.

Key Points:

1. Background: PowerVR GPUs previously relied on vendor-specific drivers that were not integrated into the mainline Linux kernel. Imagination Technologies began developing an open-source driver that was functional for various platforms but not for RISC-V.

2. Milestone Achievement: Wilczyński's work allowed the TH1520 to feature full 3D graphics support, which involved significant development efforts, community interest, and culminated in the integration of the driver into Linux 6.18.

3. Driver Dependencies: Enabling the GPU required creating several platform drivers to manage power, clock, and reset controls, as well as implementing a power sequencing mechanism to control the GPU's power states precisely.

4. Power Sequencing: A new generic Power Sequencing subsystem was utilized to manage the GPU's power-up sequence effectively, ensuring correct order and timing.

5. Display Integration: A separate display controller was integrated to manage output to screens, requiring collaboration with another engineer, Icenowy Zheng, who developed the display driver needed for the TH1520.

6. Userspace Stack: Instead of traditional OpenGL drivers, a Vulkan-native approach was adopted using Zink, streamlining the graphics rendering process.

7. Final Results: After compiling the necessary kernel and user space components, the system was able to run accelerated 3D applications, showcasing its capabilities.

8. Acknowledgments: The project involved contributions and feedback from various developers and maintainers in the open-source community, emphasizing the collaborative nature of such technical endeavors.

This work transforms previously unused silicon into a fully functional graphics platform, demonstrating the potential for open-source contributions in advanced hardware support.

Abit, a well-known motherboard manufacturer, went out of business in 2008 due to several issues. Founded in 1989, Abit gained popularity for innovative products like the IT5H and BP6 motherboards, which appealed to enthusiasts with features like overclocking capabilities and dual CPU support.

However, Abit faced declining quality, particularly because they used lower-quality capacitors compared to competitors like Asus. This problem worsened as consumers began to expect longer-lasting products. Additionally, the company outsourced production to a cost-cutting manufacturer, which affected its reputation.

A significant blow came in 2003 when a key engineer left for a rival company, and in 2004, Abit was involved in questionable accounting practices that led to its stock being delisted. In 2006, Abit sold itself to Universal Scientific Industrial, but this new venture failed, leading to the brand's closure in 2008.

Today, Abit motherboards are collectible, but they often need capacitor replacements to function properly. Despite their decline, Abit is remembered for its contributions to PC hardware during its peak years.

I'm creating a Unicode reference that features individual pages for each symbol, designed for developers. Each page will include important information such as Unicode, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UTF-8/16 bytes, URL encoding, and examples of how to use the symbol.

This resource covers thousands of symbols, including math symbols, arrows, currency signs, tech/UI icons, and punctuation. I started this project because current references are scattered and incomplete. Feedback is appreciated.

Summary of pgvectorscale

pgvectorscale is an enhanced version of pgvector, designed for better performance in embedding searches and cost-effective storage for AI applications. Key features include:

1. New Index Type: Introduces the StreamingDiskANN index, inspired by Microsoft’s DiskANN algorithm for efficient searches.
2. Statistical Binary Quantization: A compression method that improves data storage efficiency.
3. Label-based Filtering: Allows users to filter vector searches by labels for more accurate results using a technique developed by Microsoft.

Performance: On a test with 50 million embeddings, pgvectorscale showed significantly improved performance: 28 times lower latency and 16 times higher throughput than Pinecone, while being 75% cheaper when self-hosted on AWS EC2.

Development: Unlike pgvector (written in C), pgvectorscale is developed in Rust, offering new contributions to the PostgreSQL community. It can be easily installed via Docker, from source, or on Timescale Cloud.

Installation Steps:

• Use a Docker container or install from source.
• Create the pgvectorscale extension in your PostgreSQL database.

Usage:

• Supports creating tables with embedding columns, indexing them for fast searches, and combining vector searches with metadata filtering.
• Allows for optimized queries using label-based filtering for better performance.

Tuning and Optimization:

• Users can adjust various parameters to manage memory usage and control the balance between accuracy and performance during searches.

Community Involvement: The project is open for contributions, and users can participate in discussions to shape future features.

About Timescale: Timescale offers a cloud platform for PostgreSQL, focusing on high-performance services for AI, analytics, and time-series applications.

In his New Year’s Eve speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping asserted that the reunification of China and Taiwan is "unstoppable." He made these comments following significant military drills around Taiwan, where China simulated a blockade. Xi emphasized China's claim over Taiwan, viewing it as part of its territory, and expressed concerns from the US about China's military capabilities.

Xi also highlighted China's willingness to engage with the world, noting multilateral conferences held in 2025, and showcased China's military strength during a recent large parade. He introduced "Taiwan Retrocession Day," commemorating the end of Japanese rule in Taiwan, and mentioned Taiwan's new law recognizing this date as a national holiday. Xi praised China's technological advancements and cultural exports, while stating that the country is on track to achieve its economic growth target of 5%.

The Rain research project reveals how a harmful virtual machine can exploit vulnerabilities in cloud computing to steal data from both the host system and other virtual machines. The project includes the "L1TF Reloaded" exploit, which combines two well-known vulnerabilities: L1TF and (Half-)Spectre. By doing so, it can bypass common security measures intended to protect against these vulnerabilities.

The exploit has been successfully tested on cloud services from AWS and Google, demonstrating its ability to leak sensitive information, such as private TLS keys from other virtual machines.

The project provides a repository with various resources, including:

• Dependencies for the exploit
• Header files
• Utility scripts
• Instructions to reproduce the exploit
• Source code

Reproduction guidance is available for both Google Cloud Engine and local servers.

To mitigate the risks associated with this exploit, updates to KVM have patched specific vulnerabilities, but older Intel CPUs remain at risk unless they are updated. The underlying vulnerabilities still exist, so additional protective measures against such attacks are recommended.

Summary of "A SOLID Load of Bull"

The text critiques the SOLID principles of software design, popularized by Robert C. Martin. Here's a simplified breakdown of the key points:

1. SOLID Principles: These principles are meant to guide object-oriented programming but are seen by the author as flawed or outdated.

2. Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP): This principle states that derived classes should be substitutable for their base classes without causing issues. The author agrees it is useful, especially in languages that support strong typing.

3. Open-Closed Principle (OCP): This principle suggests software entities should be open for extension but closed for modification. The author believes this principle is outdated, as modern programming languages handle changes more gracefully, making the strict adherence to OCP unnecessary.

4. Single Responsibility Principle (SRP): The principle states that a class should have one reason to change. The author argues this focus is misguided and suggests instead that modules should have a single purpose, emphasizing depth over strict separations.

5. Interface Segregation Principle (ISP): This principle claims that no code should depend on methods it does not use. The author critiques this by stating that dependencies are often misinterpreted and that a focus on module depth is more beneficial.

6. Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP): This principle advocates for high-level modules to depend on abstractions rather than low-level modules. The author believes this leads to unnecessary complexity and that concrete dependencies are often acceptable.

Conclusion:

The author ultimately recommends practical approaches over strict adherence to the SOLID principles, suggesting that focusing on the simplicity and depth of modules is more effective in software development.

No summary available.

Summary: What an Unprocessed Photo Looks Like

An unprocessed photo, like a Christmas tree picture taken by a camera, appears very gray and lacks color because the camera sensor measures light, not color.

1. Camera Data: The camera's sensor provides raw data that doesn’t fully utilize its range, resulting in a monochromatic image.

2. Color Filters: Color cameras use filters that only allow certain colors through. Each pixel captures limited RGB data, leading to dull colors.

3. Demosaicing: To enhance color, the values of each pixel are averaged with nearby pixels. This makes the image more colorful but still dark.

4. Brightness Issues: Monitors can’t display the full range of brightness like the human eye or camera. This can make images appear darker than they really are.

5. Non-Linear Perception: Our eyes perceive brightness non-linearly, leading to inefficient use of brightness values. This can be adjusted by applying a non-linear curve to brighten the image.

6. Color Balance: Sometimes, certain colors (like green) can dominate due to the camera's sensitivity. Adjusting the white balance helps equalize the color channels.

7. Final Adjustments: After various adjustments, the photo can look decent but may still need more refinement, like noise reduction and color calibration.

8. Camera vs. Editing: The processed photo might look very different from the original raw data, but both are interpretations of the same scene. Editing can correct automated errors made by the camera.

In essence, creating a photo that accurately represents reality involves a lot of adjustments, and it’s perfectly fine to edit images to achieve the desired look.

DAZN will keep broadcasting the Belgian league games following a recent arbitration decision.

Bubbletea is a framework for creating terminal user interfaces (TUIs) using the Elm Architecture. It allows you to manage keyboard, mouse, and window events easily, and execute commands for side effects. You can find it on GitHub and install it using RubyGems with the command gem "bubbletea".

The GOG Team has announced that Michał Kiciński, co-founder of CD PROJEKT and GOG, has acquired GOG from CD PROJEKT. The goal is to ensure that classic games remain accessible, easy to find, and playable forever. GOG emphasizes freedom, independence, and ownership of games, maintaining its commitment to DRM-free access.

Under Kiciński’s leadership, GOG will focus on preserving classic games, celebrating current standout titles, and supporting new games with retro elements. The platform will continue to operate independently, with ongoing support for CD PROJEKT RED games.

Key points include:

• GOG's mission remains unchanged: to make games live forever.
• Your GOG account and library will stay the same, ensuring continued access to your games.
• Donations to GOG will support its preservation efforts and will not be shared with other parties.
• GOG aims to strengthen its community and support indie developers, with new initiatives planned for 2026.

In summary, GOG is committed to preserving the legacy of games while providing a user-friendly, independent platform.

The article discusses various designs for concurrent hash maps, which are data structures that can be safely accessed by multiple threads at the same time. It emphasizes the importance of performance and correctness in multi-threaded environments, contrasting them with single-threaded performance.

Key points include:

1. Global Lock Approach: The simplest method for thread safety is to use a single global lock that controls access to the entire hash map. This guarantees that only one thread can modify or read the map at a time, ensuring correctness. However, this can severely limit performance, especially in read-heavy scenarios, as all operations must wait for the lock.

2. Java's Synchronized Keyword: In Java, the synchronized keyword creates a lock around code blocks. This is managed by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which uses a lightweight locking mechanism called "thin locks" for low contention scenarios. If contention increases, the lock can be upgraded to a more heavyweight structure ("inflated lock"), which can manage more complex thread interactions but is also more costly in terms of performance.

3. Lock Management: The article explains how thin locks work by using a small amount of memory in the object header to track ownership without heavy overhead. When contention rises, the JVM switches to a more complex locking mechanism that involves queuing threads and may require blocking them until the lock is available.

Overall, the article highlights the trade-offs in designing thread-safe hash maps, balancing simplicity, performance, and scalability. It encourages understanding existing implementations to avoid common pitfalls in concurrent programming.

The text reflects on significant events in the piracy landscape over the past 20 years, focusing on key moments from 2005 to 2025.

2005-2009: Formative Years

• eXeem Failure: An adware-laden successor to Suprnova fails due to technical issues.
• The Pirate Bay (TPB): Reaches 100,000 torrents and survives a police raid, becoming a symbol of resistance against copyright enforcement.
• Legal Changes: Mininova is forced to remove infringing content, and the Pirate Party gains political traction after the TPB trial.

2010-2014: Legal Battles

• Mass Lawsuits: The U.S. sees a wave of lawsuits against BitTorrent users.
• Shutdowns: LimeWire and BTJunkie shut down under legal pressure, while MegaUpload is raided.
• Protests: Public backlash leads to the defeat of SOPA/PIPA in 2012.

2015-2019: Decline of Major Sites

• Shutdowns: Major torrent sites like YTS/YIFY, KickassTorrents, and ExtraTorrent close down.
• Legislation: The European Parliament enacts the Copyright Directive, requiring upload filters.
• Streaming Impact: New streaming services lead to an increase in BitTorrent piracy.

2020-2025: Modern Piracy and AI

• Pandemic Effects: COVID-19 leads to a 40% increase in piracy.
• Legal Actions: The RIAA takes down YouTube-dl; authorities seize Z-Library.
• Site Blockings: Efforts to block piracy sites expand to DNS providers, and new U.S. legislation is proposed to revive site-blocking measures.

Overall, the text highlights the evolving nature of piracy, the legal challenges surrounding it, and the impact of technological advancements over the past two decades.

Summary:

Kasava operates its entire platform within a single repository, known as a monorepo. This setup allows for seamless updates across all components—backend, frontend, marketing, and documentation—ensuring consistency and speed. For example, when pricing limits are changed in one JSON file, the updates are instantly reflected everywhere without synchronization issues.

Key benefits of this approach include:

1. Single Source of Truth: All changes are made in one place, reducing the chances of version mismatches and ensuring AI tools can effectively validate and update related content.

2. Faster Development: Documentation, website, and blog updates can occur simultaneously with code changes, as AI tools can access the relevant code directly.

3. Streamlined Shipping Process: All updates—whether they involve code, content, or marketing—are handled with the same Git process, making the deployment uniform and simplifying team collaboration.

4. Atomic Changes: Changes to one part of the system can automatically trigger updates in related areas, ensuring everything remains in sync.

5. Efficiency in Refactoring: Modifications, such as renaming functions, can be done across all related files in one go.

The monorepo also facilitates marketing teams to update content independently, with changes tracked through Git, and allows for quick rollbacks if needed. Overall, this structure enhances collaboration, reduces friction, and supports rapid development in a fast-changing environment.

Scientists in Japan are working on a groundbreaking treatment that could allow humans to grow new teeth. Currently, people who lose teeth face significant challenges since teeth cannot regrow like bones can. A new drug, developed from research on an antibody called USAG-1 that inhibits tooth growth, is now in human trials that began in September 2024.

The study involves 30 adult males aged 30 to 64 who are missing teeth. If successful, the treatment could be available to children aged 2 to 7 with congenital tooth deficiencies by 2030, with hopes of expanding to anyone who has lost a tooth in the future. The researchers aim to help those suffering from tooth loss, as there has been no permanent solution until now.

The creator of Stranger Things, Ross Duffer, has advised fans to adjust their TV settings before watching the season 5 premiere. He recommends turning off features like dynamic contrast, super resolution, edge enhancer, and color filters, which he calls "garbage." These settings can distort the original look of the show. Duffer emphasizes the importance of preserving the filmmaker's vision by avoiding settings that create the "soap opera effect." He suggests using advanced viewing presets like Dolby Vision but advises viewers to manually check each setting. The first part of season 5 is now streaming on Netflix, with the second part set for release on December 25, 2025.

The author shares their experience of migrating their digital life to European-hosted tech solutions, aiming for better privacy and lower costs. They highlight that it is now possible to find user-friendly tools that don’t compromise on usability for the sake of privacy.

Key points include:

• Proton Ecosystem: The author uses Proton for email, storage, a password manager, and more, noting that it offers superior privacy and usability compared to US-based services.
• AI Tools: They use Lumo AI for privacy-focused tasks and Mammouth for powerful AI capabilities, finding both tools beneficial for different needs.
• Browsers and Search: They switched to Vivaldi for browsing and Ecosia for search, appreciating their privacy features.
• Task Management: The author moved from Todoist to Superlist, finding it more efficient.
• Cost Savings: Their new setup costs around €39 per month, compared to €83 previously, saving over €500 annually while ensuring better data ownership.
• Challenges: They acknowledge some difficulties, like adapting to new office software and missing features like one-click logins.

Overall, the author recommends migrating to EU-hosted solutions for a better, more cost-effective tech experience.

The article discusses how to transform an old Amazon Kindle into a development platform using e-ink technology. The author initially purchased a small e-ink screen but decided to repurpose a cheap Kindle instead. After acquiring a Kindle 4 for £7, they found it was stuck in a demo mode, which did not deter them since they didn't want to use the original Kindle software.

To gain access, the author opened the Kindle, accessed a debug serial port, and soldered wires to it for connection to a computer. After successfully booting into the Kindle's Linux system, they managed to gain root access by generating the login password from the device's serial number.

The author then dumped the system's disk for analysis, discovering its partition structure and important files. They explored the built-in Wi-Fi management system and made it possible to manage Wi-Fi profiles via command line.

To improve usability, the author installed the Dropbear SSH daemon, enabling remote access. They customized the Kindle's startup scripts to display information on the screen, connect to Wi-Fi automatically, and allow SSH connections.

The project resulted in a functional, Wi-Fi-enabled Linux development system with e-ink display capabilities, which can be further enhanced with additional libraries for better integration. The author plans to use the Kindle for future projects.

No summary available.

Elon Musk made five predictions about Tesla for the year 2025, but none of them came true. The article by Fred Lambert discusses these unmet expectations and highlights how they did not materialize as anticipated.

The proposed LLVM AI contribution policy has been revised based on feedback from meetings. The key points include:

1. Human Oversight Required: Contributors must personally review and understand their contributions before submitting them for review. They cannot rely on automated tools alone and should be able to answer questions about their work.

2. Transparency: Contributions that involve significant AI-generated content must be labeled to aid in the review process. Contributors should indicate AI tool usage in their pull request descriptions.

3. Extractive Contributions: Contributions that require more review effort than their potential benefit to the project are considered "extractive." The policy aims to ensure that contributions are valuable and do not waste maintainers' time.

4. Support for New Contributors: The policy encourages new contributors to start small and gradually build their confidence. The community aims to be welcoming and supportive.

5. Handling Violations: If a contribution is deemed extractive, maintainers can request changes and label it as such. If the contributor does not address the issue, the conversation may be locked by moderators.

6. Copyright Responsibility: Contributors must ensure they have rights to the code they submit, including content generated by AI tools. Violations may lead to removal of contributions.

Overall, the policy seeks to balance the use of AI tools with the need for quality contributions and effective use of maintainer time.

MongoDB prioritizes customer data protection and recently identified a security vulnerability (CVE-2025-14847), informally called "Mongobleed," which affects MongoDB Server. This issue is not a breach of MongoDB systems. To ensure security, customers are urged to update to the latest software versions.

The vulnerability was discovered by MongoDB's Security Engineering team as part of their ongoing security efforts. They have invested in enhancing their security practices over the years. The timeline of their response includes:

• December 12: Issue detected.
• December 12-14: Validation and development of a fix.
• December 15-17: Testing and patching of the MongoDB Atlas fleet.
• December 18: Completion of patching for all Atlas instances.
• December 19: Public disclosure of the vulnerability.
• December 23: Update shared on the community forum.

MongoDB quickly patched tens of thousands of Atlas customers and also provided updates for those using MongoDB Enterprise and Community editions. They aim to continuously improve their security measures and maintain customer trust. Jim Scharf, the CTO, emphasized their commitment to protecting customer data and enhancing their security practices.

Tidy Baby is a new game created by the author and Wyna Liu, inspired by the card game SET. In Tidy Baby, players work with three dimensions: word length (3, 4, or 5 letters), part of speech (noun, verb, or adjective), and style (bold, underline, or italic). The goal is to form sets of three cards where each dimension is either all the same or all different.

Players start with two game cards and select the correct card from a grid of up to nine candidates to complete a valid set before time runs out. Unlike SET, points can be earned for partial sets that are valid in one or two dimensions.

The game includes three difficulty levels: Steady, Strenuous, and Grueling. The developers found it challenging to ensure all words clearly fit one part of speech. They welcome feedback on the game.

No summary available.

No summary available.

A recent study by Northwestern Medicine reveals that gestational diabetes rates in the U.S. have risen every year since 2016, increasing by 36% from 2016 to 2024. The analysis, which looked at over 12 million births, found that this condition affects both mothers and babies and has become more common among all racial and ethnic groups, particularly among American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander women.

Key findings include:

• The rate of gestational diabetes increased from 58 to 79 cases per 1,000 births over the nine years.
• The highest rates in 2024 were 137 per 1,000 for American Indian/Alaska Native women, followed by 131 for Asian women and 126 for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander women.
• The study suggests a decline in young Americans' overall health, attributed to poor diets, lack of exercise, and rising obesity.

Researchers emphasize the need for better health support for young women, advocating for public health initiatives to improve access to healthcare and promote healthier lifestyles. The full study is published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The text outlines the author's journey in building a homelab, starting from hosting a personal website at age 15. Initially, they used a web hosting service and later moved to using a Raspberry Pi to host their website and other services like FTP. After high school, they built their first home server and experimented with different software setups, encountering challenges along the way.

As their knowledge grew, they transitioned to more powerful hardware, including a Lenovo P330 and later a Dell PowerEdge R740, which they are currently using. They explored various technologies such as Proxmox for virtualization, Docker for application containers, and Kubernetes for container orchestration. They also adopted GitOps practices for managing deployments and learned about Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform to automate server provisioning.

Their homelab has expanded to include advanced networking setups and local AI experiments, showing continuous growth and learning. The author expresses excitement about the journey and mentions ongoing projects, such as migrating services to the new server and learning about IPv6. Overall, their experiences illustrate a hands-on approach to mastering home server technologies.

French judge Nicolas Guillou at the International Criminal Court (ICC) was sanctioned by the United States on August 20 under a decision made by former President Donald Trump. The US Treasury stated that Guillou was sanctioned for allowing the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who are accused of war crimes in Gaza.

In total, the US has sanctioned six ICC judges and three prosecutors, including Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. In a recent interview, Guillou discussed how these sanctions affect his work and daily life, urging European authorities to take action to mitigate the impact of US restrictions.

The US sanctions mechanism was originally intended to address human rights violations, combat terrorism, and tackle drug trafficking. Currently, about 15,000 individuals are on the US sanctions list, including nine ICC judges.

A developer has created a tool to bridge the communication gap between different generations online. It translates "Boomer" English (standard corporate language) into "Brainrot" slang used by Gen Alpha, and the other way around. There's also a feature that describes uploaded images in slang. While it's mainly for fun, it can help understand what younger relatives are saying. The creator is seeking feedback on the tool.

No summary available.

A UK company called Space Forge has launched a small factory into space that can produce high-quality semiconductors. This factory, which is about the size of a microwave, has successfully demonstrated its ability to reach temperatures of around 1,000 degrees Celsius.

Space Forge's CEO, Josh Western, explains that making semiconductors in space can result in materials that are up to 4,000 times purer than those made on Earth. This is because the weightless environment and vacuum of space allow atoms to align perfectly, free from contaminants. The semiconductors produced could be used in various technologies, including 5G towers and electric vehicle chargers.

The factory was launched on a SpaceX rocket and is currently being tested from mission control in Cardiff. The team plans to develop a larger factory capable of producing enough material for 10,000 chips and will also test a heat shield to safely return materials to Earth.

In-space manufacturing is an emerging field, with potential applications ranging from pharmaceuticals to artificial tissues. Experts believe that successful technology demonstrations like this one could lead to economically viable products made in space that benefit people on Earth.

The author, a computer programmer with 43 years of experience, argues that fears of technology replacing programmers are unfounded. Throughout history, various technologies—like WYSIWYG editors, No-Code platforms, and now AI—were predicted to eliminate the need for programmers, but these predictions have consistently proven wrong. Instead of reducing the number of programmers, these advancements have led to more software and a greater demand for skilled developers.

The author emphasizes that the real challenge in programming is not just writing code but transforming complex human thoughts into precise computational instructions. While AI tools can assist with coding, they cannot fully replicate the understanding and reasoning that human programmers possess. The author believes that programming will continue to require human insight and creativity, despite advancements in AI.

Moreover, the author expresses skepticism about the long-term viability of large AI models, suggesting that smaller, more practical AI tools may be used in the future for minor coding tasks. Ultimately, they encourage employers to start hiring and training developers now to prepare for the future, as the demand for skilled programmers will likely increase.

The author redesigned their website during Christmas, giving it a theme of an evil Sith Lord running the Galactic Cookie Empire. They created a new cookie consent game featured only on the welcome page. The site includes a series of articles detailing the development process, including challenges faced.

The website is designed to work on modern browsers and offers the best experience on larger screens. A secret boss fight can be unlocked by using developer tools.

Currently, the author is working on improving avatar animations and timing phonemes more accurately. They aim to use new methods for phoneme detection and are hand-coding everything without using large language models, allowing visitors to learn from the code. Enjoy the Cookie Consent Game!

Netflix is exploring ways to enhance the quality of its content by developing open source test titles in various formats like documentary, live action, and animation. These titles are designed to promote experimentation and learning in the entertainment industry while ensuring the security of original content. Many titles are available for streaming on Netflix and can be downloaded, with guidance provided for different file sizes and formats.

Key open source projects include:

1. Sol Levante (2020): The first 4K HDR anime short, created with Production I.G, focusing on HDR workflows.
2. Nocturne (2018): A live-action piece shot at 120fps, it tests complex scenes and codecs.
3. Sparks (2017): Captured at 4K HFR, it showcases contrast in lighting using advanced recording equipment.
4. Meridian (2016): The first narrative test title, featuring high dynamic range and Dolby Atmos sound.
5. Cosmos Laundromat (2016): An animated short film re-graded to HDR, produced using Blender.
6. Chimera (2014): A test piece using real-world scenes to challenge codecs.
7. El Fuente (2013): A documentary shot in 4K to meet increasing resolution demands.

Assets from these projects are available under the Creative Commons license and can be accessed through a dedicated download link provided by Netflix. Users can download files directly or use command line tools for larger files.

No summary available.

libgodc - Go Runtime for Sega Dreamcast

libgodc is a special Go runtime created for the Sega Dreamcast, which has limited resources (16MB RAM, single-core CPU, no operating system). It includes essential features like garbage collection, goroutines, and channels.

Quick Start:

1. Requirements: You need Go 1.25.3+, make, and git installed.
2. Installation: Run go install github.com/drpaneas/godc@latest.
3. Setup: Execute godc setup and optionally check with godc doctor.
4. Create a Project:
   • Make a new directory: mkdir myproject && cd myproject.
   • Initialize: godc init.
   • Write your Go files.
   • Build: godc build.
   • Run: godc run.

Documentation Includes:

• Installation and setup instructions.
• Quick start guide for your first program.
• Runtime architecture details.
• Best practices for using Go on Dreamcast.
• Information on calling C from Go.
• Limitations of the runtime.

Performance Metrics:

• Gosched yield: ~120 ns
• Allocation: ~186 ns
• Buffered channel: ~1.8 μs
• Context switch: ~6.4 μs
• Unbuffered channel: ~13 μs
• Goroutine spawn: ~31 μs
• GC pause: 72 μs - 6 ms

Examples Provided:

• Minimal programs and graphics applications.
• Games like Breakout and Pong.
• Features like controller input and animation.

License: BSD 3-Clause License. Check the LICENSE for details.

The text discusses the three main areas found in many RPG and adventure video games: Outside, Dungeon, and Town.

1. Outside: This area is expansive and includes various environments like fields and mountains. It usually has fewer enemies and activities.

2. Dungeon: Dungeons are packed with monsters and treasure and typically culminate in a boss fight. They have less interaction with NPCs or shops.

3. Town: Towns are busy with NPCs and various activities like shops and quests, and players are generally safe here without combat.

The author appreciates these categories but suggests that game design could benefit from blending these areas. They desire more complex connections, such as dungeons beneath houses or town areas that feel more like dungeons. The author argues that current games often make these distinctions too clear, which can diminish the sense of discovery. They hope to incorporate more fluidity between these spaces in their own game, Free Tiya Bannet, to enhance the player's sense of wonder. Overall, the text advocates for a balance between clear design and creative complexity in video games.

Summary of "Parsing Advances" (Dec 28, 2025)

The author discusses their experience creating a parser during the Christmas break, inspired by a tutorial on resilient LL parsing. They prefer this method for building syntax trees and providing error diagnostics instead of stopping at the first error.

A key challenge they faced was preventing infinite loops or recursion in the parser when it fails to consume tokens. This can happen if a parsing function encounters an error without moving past the problematic token, leading to difficult debugging situations.

To avoid this, the author traditionally used two techniques:

1. Fuel System: A counter that tracks how many tokens have been consumed, which helps prevent the parser from running indefinitely.
2. Mental Mapping: Keeping track of which functions always consume tokens versus those that might not, ensuring that loops or recursive calls always consume at least one token.

They propose a new idea to improve the parser: using assertions to ensure that the parser advances when expected. This makes the code self-documenting and reduces the reliance on memory for tracking functions.

The author presents a revised parser API that includes methods for tracking token consumption. They illustrate the difference between the old and new approaches with examples of parsing functions, showing how assertions can help catch errors more effectively.

In conclusion, the new method allows for immediate error messages when the parser fails to advance, making debugging easier and improving overall parser reliability.

David Lattimore discusses various approaches to implementing parallelism in the Wild linker, focusing on challenges with unknown workloads during graph exploration. Here are the key points:

1. Rayon for Parallelism: The linker utilizes the Rayon library for parallel processing, particularly with par_iter, but encounters difficulties when the amount of work isn't predetermined.

2. Spawn Broadcast Approach: The initial method involved spawning tasks for each thread and managing job control manually. This was complex and limited the use of Rayon’s features, as threads could become idle and unavailable for further tasks.

3. Scoped Spawning: A second method uses Rayon’s scoped spawning, where tasks are created within a defined scope. This approach is more resource-intensive due to heap allocations but allows tasks to spawn additional tasks.

4. Channel + par_bridge: A newer approach aims to reduce heap allocations by using a crossbeam channel for work items. Each work item can enqueue more tasks, but this method can lead to deadlocks and compatibility issues with Rayon’s par_iter.

5. Complexity with Work Items: The work item system struggles with Rust's borrow checker, making it difficult to manage dependencies and combine tasks effectively.

6. Potential of Async/Await: Lattimore suggests that using async/await might solve some issues, allowing tasks to run independently of specific threads, which could improve efficiency in parallel computations.

7. Future Directions: He considers returning to scoped spawning for its composability, while also exploring options to reduce heap allocations in Rayon’s task spawning.

In summary, Lattimore evaluates different strategies for parallel graph exploration, highlighting the trade-offs between complexity, performance, and resource management, while expressing interest in exploring async programming in the future.

The author was frustrated that Claude Code kept forgetting important settings and context every time a new session started. To solve this, they created a shared memory layer called "ensue-memory" that can be added as a skill in Claude Code. This memory system remembers session details and allows for better search capabilities.

To install it in Claude Code, follow these steps:

1. Add the plugin from the marketplace.
2. Install the ensue-memory skill.
3. Restart Claude Code.

Key features of this memory layer include:

1. Keeping context between sessions.
2. Enhanced search functionality.

However, it doesn't have mind-reading capabilities and is still in an experimental phase, meaning it may have bugs. Users are encouraged to provide feedback to improve it. For more information, visit the GitHub repository.

No summary available.

The author faced challenges while working on their PhD and submitting academic articles due to the scale of issues they encountered in large software systems, particularly at companies like Google. They noted a significant problem with "massive binaries," which can exceed 25 GiB because of the static building approach used in large codebases.

A critical limit in this context is the "2 GiB Relocation Barrier." This barrier restricts how far code can jump within a binary, as it relies on 32-bit signed offsets, which can only reach about 2 GiB. If a function is located beyond this distance, a "relocation overflow" occurs, leading to errors during linking.

To address this issue, one solution is to use the -mcmodel=large option when compiling, which allows for absolute addressing instead of relative jumps. However, this approach increases the size of the binary and uses more CPU registers, leading to inefficiencies.

In summary, while there are methods to handle large binaries and overcome the relocation barrier, they can introduce additional challenges that need to be managed. The author plans to explore more strategies in future writings.

No summary available.

License Checker Evergreen Overview

License Checker Evergreen is a tool designed to scan and validate licenses of NPM packages in Node.js projects. It's an updated version of the original license-checker, featuring improvements in speed and functionality.

Key Improvements:

• Active Maintenance: Unlike the original, which hasn't been updated since January 2019, this version is regularly updated with no open issues.
• Performance: It operates 2-4 times faster due to parallel scanning, allowing up to 50 concurrent file operations.

Comparison with Original License Checker:

| Feature | Original (license-checker) | Evergreen (license-checker-evergreen) | |-----------------------|----------------------------|---------------------------------------| | Last Updated | Jan 2019 | Active | | Open Issues | 96 | 0 | | TypeScript Support | No | Yes | | ES Modules Support | No | Yes | | Node.js Compatibility | Untested | Optimized for Node.js 18+ | | Parallel Scanning | No | Yes |

Migration: Switching to Evergreen is simple:

1. Uninstall the original: npm uninstall license-checker
2. Install Evergreen: npm install license-checker-evergreen
3. Update scripts to use license-checker-evergreen.

Features:

• Supports various output formats like JSON, CSV, and Markdown.
• Offers multiple command-line options for filtering dependencies and licenses.
• Provides a simple and clear tree view of license information.

Installation and Usage:

• Recommended to install globally: npm install -g license-checker-evergreen.
• Basic command to scan a project: license-checker-evergreen.

Common Commands:

• Export to JSON: license-checker-evergreen --json --out licenses.json
• Find packages with unknown licenses: license-checker-evergreen --onlyunknown
• Check production dependencies: license-checker-evergreen --production
• Fail builds on specific licenses: license-checker-evergreen --failOn 'GPL;AGPL'

Contributing: The project welcomes contributions. You can report issues, submit pull requests, or improve documentation.

In summary, License Checker Evergreen is a modern, efficient tool for managing package licenses in Node.js projects, making it a superior choice over the outdated original version.

Die von der CUII gesperrten Domains sind Webseiten, die aufgrund von bestimmten Regeln oder Richtlinien blockiert wurden. Diese Sperrung kann aus verschiedenen Gründen erfolgen, wie zum Beispiel Sicherheitsbedenken oder rechtlichen Vorgaben.

Summary of "WHY_NOW Inflection" by LocalGhost.ai

The document discusses the urgent need to develop local-first personal AI technology before major companies release their products. Key points include:

1. Technological Shift: We are at a critical moment where personal AI is becoming feasible with affordable hardware. By mid-2026, local inference hardware could cost under $200.

2. Major Players' Response: Companies like Apple, Google, and Meta are preparing to launch their own AI products that will rely on cloud services, which compromise user privacy. These products will be convenient but create dependency.

3. Data Extraction: Personal AI represents the next level of data collection, revealing not just user preferences but also cognitive processes. This data, if sent to central servers, can be exploited for manipulation.

4. Business Model: Users are treated as inventory, with their attention and behavior sold to advertisers. The more companies know about users, the more they can influence their decisions.

5. Timeline for Action: The opportunity to create credible alternatives is limited to the next few months. Once dominant products are established, it will be challenging for alternatives to gain traction.

6. Strategic Importance: Building local-first AI is not just about competing with giants; it’s about ensuring a viable option exists to prevent monopolistic behaviors.

7. Current Status: LocalGhost is still in the conceptual phase, with no working software yet. The aim is to inspire others to create local-first software that prioritizes user privacy and control.

8. Call to Action: To create credible alternatives, contributions are needed in development, self-hosting, funding, and documentation of privacy-respecting software.

9. Importance of Privacy: Privacy allows individuals to think and express themselves freely. The future of personal AI will significantly impact how personal data is handled and influence individual autonomy.

In conclusion, there is a brief window to build alternatives to mainstream AI products before they dominate the market. Immediate action is crucial to ensure user privacy and choice.

No summary available.

Manus is joining Meta, marking an important step in the development of General AI Agents. The company has been creating an AI agent designed to assist users with research, automation, and complex tasks. In just a few months, their agent has processed over 147 trillion tokens and helped create more than 80 million virtual computers.

Manus aims to ensure that this partnership will not disrupt its existing customers. They will continue to operate from Singapore and offer their services through their app and website. CEO Xiao Hong expressed excitement about the collaboration, emphasizing that Manus will maintain its operations and decision-making processes while benefiting from Meta's support. The goal is to expand their subscription service to serve millions of businesses and users on Meta's platforms in the future.

Summary of Lecture Notes

These lecture notes cover Richard Feynman's lectures from 1966 to 1971. They are based on the author's personal notes and recollections from the lectures attended, with no audio recordings made.

Volume 1: Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology (224 pages)

• Feynman focused on new discoveries in these fields during the 1966-67 series.
• He engaged with colleagues to prepare, often using just a few index cards to guide his two-hour lectures.
• The material is somewhat dated but showcases Feynman's unique ability to explain complex topics like black holes and general relativity.

Volume 2: Relativity, Electrostatics, Electrodynamics, Matter-Wave Interaction (209 pages)

• Feynman aimed to improve his teaching from previous lectures, catering to an audience of advanced researchers.
• This volume laid the groundwork for Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), enhancing the original concepts taught five years earlier.

Volume 3: Advanced Quantum Mechanics and QED (314 pages)

• Feynman delved deeper into quantum mechanics, scattering theory, and introduced concepts like Lie Group theory.
• He extensively discussed Feynman diagrams, which visually represent particle interactions. He emphasized understanding these diagrams to grasp more complex ideas in physics.

Volume 4: Molecular Biology (65 pages)

• These lectures had limited content due to Feynman's struggle with the material, which eventually led to the series being cut short.
• Despite this, the notes reflect Feynman's curiosity and thought processes, which could be valuable to educators in the field.

Volume 5: Mathematical Methods in Physics and Engineering (163 pages)

• This volume is considered "missing lectures" for Feynman’s earlier series, where he emphasized that understanding math is essential for grasping physics.
• Feynman shared anecdotes illustrating his unique approach to math and physics, focusing on intuitive understanding over strict mathematical rigor.

Additional Notes:

• The lectures feature side topics and philosophical insights, showcasing Feynman's engaging and spontaneous teaching style.

Overall, these notes provide a glimpse into Feynman's thinking and teaching methods across various scientific subjects.

No summary available.