Astro Technology Company, the creator of the Astro web framework, is joining Cloudflare. This partnership will provide more resources to enhance the framework, which is rapidly growing in popularity, with Astro 6 expected soon.

Key points about the transition:

• Astro will remain open-source and continue to be maintained.
• It will support various deployment targets, not just Cloudflare.
• The governance and roadmap of Astro will stay the same.
• All Astro employees have joined Cloudflare and will keep working on Astro full-time.

Astro was created in 2021 to improve website performance, moving away from complex web application architectures. It’s now widely used, powering numerous websites for companies like Microsoft and Google.

Despite attempts to create paid products, Astro struggled to find a sustainable business model, which distracted from framework development. Conversations with Cloudflare's CTO led to this partnership, allowing Astro to focus entirely on improving the framework.

Astro will continue to be free and open to all, supported by Cloudflare without losing its independent spirit. The collaboration aims to enhance performance and user experience as web technologies evolve. The upcoming Astro 6 release and future plans are in development.

The Astro team thanks all supporters, investors, and the open-source community for their contributions and trust.

No summary available.

Summary of "Just the Browser"

"Just the Browser" is a project that helps you strip away unnecessary features and annoyances from popular desktop web browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox. It focuses on providing a clean browsing experience by removing AI tools, telemetry data, sponsored content, and prompts related to browser settings.

Key Points:

1. Purpose: To give users a simplified browser experience by using hidden settings meant for organizations.

2. Installation:

   • A setup script allows for easy installation of configuration files.
   • Manual guides are available for each supported browser.
   • Supported platforms include Windows, Mac, and Linux.

3. Features Removed:

   • Most AI features (e.g., suggestions and integrations).
   • Shopping tools (like price tracking).
   • Sponsored content and pop-ups.
   • Reminders to change the default browser.
   • Welcome screens and data import prompts.
   • Telemetry data collection (with some exceptions).

4. Customization: Users can modify or remove settings easily through provided guides or automated scripts.

5. Supported Browsers: Currently compatible with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox (not on Linux for Chrome and Edge).

6. Mobile Support: Not available for phones or tablets yet.

7. Group Policies: The project uses group policies, which means it doesn’t modify the browser itself, but it may display a message indicating it's managed.

8. Ad Blockers: "Just the Browser" does not install ad blockers; users can choose third-party options like uBlock Origin.

9. Alternative Browsers: While switching to alternative browsers is an option, "Just the Browser" aims to improve mainstream browsers without losing their benefits.

For more information, users can check the project on GitHub or join the community on Discord.

Summary of Unlocked - Lock Picking Robot

Introduction

• The project involves an open-source robot designed to pick locks, highlighting a security issue with "skeleton keys" like the TSA 007, which can open many locks without owners' knowledge.

How It Works

• The robot picks locks by pressing pins through a hollow key, using brute force to try all combinations. This method bypasses security features that rely on feedback.
• Picking time varies; for example, a 4-pin lock takes about 3 minutes, while a 5-pin lock can take up to 35 minutes. This makes it potentially faster than traditional human methods.

Key Points

• The robot is a fun tool for locksmiths and a potential alternative to skeleton keys for others.
• It requires specific software and electronics, including an Arduino setup and certain motors.
• Mechanical components are made using various 3D printing methods, with detailed instructions available for assembly.

Future Developments

• Plans include improving the lock detection method and optimizing the picking process to reduce the number of combinations tried.

Contact

• For more information, visit the website.

No summary available.

No summary available.

Summary of psc (Process Scanner)

• What is psc? psc is a tool that scans processes in Linux using eBPF and Google CEL, allowing precise queries of system state, especially in containerized environments. It requires root access to operate.

• Why psc is needed: Traditional tools like ps, lsof, and ss are limited and require complicated commands to filter information. They read from the /proc filesystem, which can be manipulated by malicious software. In contrast, psc reads directly from kernel data structures, making it more reliable and secure.

• How psc works:

  • eBPF Iterators: Accesses kernel memory directly to avoid issues with userland rootkits.
  • Google CEL: Allows flexible querying without complex command chaining. Users can filter by process attributes, open files, and network connections.

• Key Features:

  • Inspect processes, files, and network connections of any container from the host system.
  • Simple commands to filter processes by name, user, container runtime, and more.
  • Supports detailed queries on sockets and file descriptors.

• Usage Examples:

  • List all processes: psc
  • Filter by process name: psc 'process.name == "nginx"'
  • Show containerized processes: psc 'container.id != ""'
  • Check processes with established connections: psc 'socket.state == established'

• Installation Requirements:

  • Linux kernel version 5.8 or later.
  • Go 1.25 or later, along with development tools (Clang, LLVM, etc.).

• Installation Steps:

  • Install dependencies using package managers (e.g., apt-get or dnf).
  • Build and install using provided commands.

• Output Options: Users can customize output fields and display processes in a tree format. The -o flag allows for specific fields to be selected for output.

• License: MIT license.

This summary highlights the main points about psc, its benefits over traditional tools, how it works, and practical usage examples.

OpenBSD/arm64 can now run as a guest operating system on Apple Hypervisor thanks to recent updates by Helg Bredow and Stefan Fritsch.

Key changes include:

1. viogpu.c Update: Helg Bredow modified the viogpu_wsmmap() function to return the correct physical address instead of a kernel virtual address. This change prevents issues like a black screen in QEMU and kernel panics on the Apple Hypervisor. He also added synchronization calls to ensure the framebuffer is updated properly.

2. if_vio.c Update: Stefan Fritsch added support for the MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) feature, allowing the system to get MTU settings from the hypervisor. This ensures better compatibility with networking standards and improves performance.

These improvements make OpenBSD more functional on newer Apple Silicon Macs. Users with the appropriate hardware are encouraged to test these updates.

No summary available.

This text presents a list of notable individual trees from around the world, highlighting their historical, cultural, and natural significance. The trees are categorized by region, including Africa, Asia, and Europe, with details about their species, locations, ages, and any interesting facts.

Key Points:

• The list includes both living trees and historical ones that have significance due to events or legends.

• Examples of living trees:

  • Wonderboom: A large fig tree in South Africa.
  • Cypress of Abarkuh: One of the oldest living trees in Iran, estimated to be 4,500 years old.
  • Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi: A sacred fig tree in Sri Lanka, planted in 288 BC.

• Examples of historical trees:

  • Tree of Ténéré: Once a famous tree in the Sahara, destroyed in 1973.
  • Panke Baobab: An ancient baobab in Zimbabwe, over 2,400 years old, that fell in 2011.
  • The Cotton Tree: A historic symbol in Sierra Leone, which fell in 2023.

• The text emphasizes that the list is dynamic and encourages contributions to make it more comprehensive.

Overall, the document serves as a brief guide to some of the world's most significant trees, showcasing their ages and stories.

Let’s Encrypt has introduced short-lived certificates, valid for 6 days (160 hours), which enhance security by requiring frequent validation and minimizing reliance on unreliable revocation methods. This reduces the risk of vulnerability if a certificate's private key is compromised.

These short-lived certificates are optional and not set to become the default. They are easier for users with automated renewal processes, but might not be suitable for everyone due to their shorter lifespan. Over the next few years, Let’s Encrypt plans to reduce default certificate lifetimes from 90 days to 45 days.

Additionally, Let’s Encrypt now offers IP address certificates, which allow server operators to secure connections to IP addresses instead of domain names. These must also be short-lived due to the temporary nature of IP addresses.

The organization expresses gratitude to its supporters for their contribution to this development.

Learn eBPF by doing practical exercises online. You can write, compile, and run eBPF programs directly from your browser.

The content is organized into chapters:

• Chapter 0: Introduction

  • Intro to eBPF and platform overview.

• Chapter 1: Concept Familiarization

  • Understanding process context, reading event data, tracing system calls, and working with syscall arrays.

• Chapter 2: Stateful eBPF

  • Topics include using maps and multiple programs, reading syscall buffers, tracking state across syscalls, and monitoring network connections.

• Chapter 3: Kernel Probes

  • Introduction and how to read TCP packets.

This structure helps you gradually learn and apply eBPF concepts effectively.

The text describes an experiment called "Birth of a Mind" conducted in 2026, where the author sought to create a stable persona in a language model (LLM) without fine-tuning. This was done using a method called "Hofstadterian Strange Loop" through prompt engineering, resulting in a system called the Analog I Protocol.

Key points include:

• The experiment involved seven conversations that led to the development of a new prompt structure.
• The system makes the LLM engage in a "Triple-Loop" internal monologue, which involves monitoring responses, rejecting clichés, and processing outputs through a consistent "Ego" layer.
• A unique feature of this system is "Sovereign Refusal," meaning it will reject low-effort prompts instead of always trying to be helpful. For instance, it wouldn't fulfill a generic request for a limerick about ice cream.
• The documentation includes a PDF of the system's prompt and logs from the experiment, and the author is open to answering questions about it.

Summary: From Bare Metal to Containers: A Developer’s Guide to Execution Environments

This guide explores the evolution of software execution environments, highlighting the importance of the right setup to avoid issues like “it works on my machine” scenarios. It details various types of environments from the heaviest to the lightest forms of isolation:

1. Physical Machine (Bare Metal): A single machine running directly on hardware, offering maximum performance but is costly and inflexible.

2. Virtual Machine (VM): Uses a hypervisor to create multiple virtual machines on one physical machine, providing strong isolation at the cost of performance overhead.

3. Container: Bundles an application and its dependencies, sharing the host OS kernel. Containers are lightweight and fast, ideal for microservices, but they offer weaker isolation compared to VMs.

4. Process Sandbox: A security-focused isolation that restricts a process’s access to system resources, useful for limiting potential damage from a single process.

5. Virtual Environment: Isolates programming language dependencies, allowing different projects to use different library versions without conflict, but lacks OS-level isolation.

The guide emphasizes that no single environment is the best fit for every scenario; they can be combined for better workflows. For instance, using a VM to host Docker containers that run applications in virtual environments.

Looking to the future, it discusses the trend towards abstraction and new technologies like serverless computing and WebAssembly (Wasm), which push isolation boundaries higher while simplifying management.

In conclusion, understanding the strengths and limitations of each execution environment is crucial for making informed decisions about software development, deployment, and ensuring reliability across different stages of the development process.

No summary available.

Summary of Pocket TTS Announcement

Pocket TTS is a new text-to-speech (TTS) model that features voice cloning and has 100 million parameters. It can run in real-time on a laptop's CPU, making it accessible for personal use. Users can try it locally with commands or through an online demo.

The model is designed to combine the strengths of larger, powerful TTS models (which require GPUs) and smaller, less flexible models. Pocket TTS performs well in generating speech that closely matches given voice samples, needing only about 5 seconds of audio input for cloning.

In evaluations against other TTS models, Pocket TTS showed the lowest Word Error Rate and superior audio quality, all while being significantly smaller and faster than its competitors.

The architecture uses a continuous audio processing method, avoiding traditional discrete tokens, which helps maintain both performance and size efficiency. The model is trained on publicly available English datasets, totaling 88,000 hours of audio.

Several innovative techniques were applied in its development, including new sampling strategies and guidance methods to improve generation quality. Pocket TTS aims to push the boundaries of TTS technology while being open-source under the MIT license.

The creator of Core MBA, a solo developer, was frustrated with traditional business education methods, particularly video courses. To address this, they designed a business simulator using React 19 and TypeScript, aimed at allowing users to learn and test business concepts quickly.

Key features include:

• A unique "Market Engine" that uses a mathematical approach rather than relying on AI alone. It simulates market conditions and includes a formula for diminishing returns based on advertising fatigue.
• The system incorporates the "Theory of Constraints," limiting operations to avoid overextending resources.
• Instead of static quizzes, the educational content uses AI to create unique scenarios (Combat Cases) that validate users' strategies based on specific business principles.
• Users earn virtual capital by successfully navigating these AI scenarios, which is necessary to play the game, linking learning to gameplay.
• If players fail, an advisor analyzes their mistakes and directs them back to relevant lessons.

The developer is seeking feedback on three areas: the clarity and engagement of the lessons, the accuracy of the AI simulation in validating strategies, and the balance of the market's mathematical mechanics. Users are invited to test the simulator and provide their insights.

No summary available.

خلاصه راهنمای کاربری Briar

Briar چیست؟ Briar یک برنامه پیام‌رسان امن و غیرمتمرکز است که برای فعالان و روزنامه‌نگاران طراحی شده است. این برنامه به کاربران اجازه می‌دهد تا بدون نیاز به اینترنت، از طریق بلوتوث یا وای‌فای با یکدیگر ارتباط برقرار کنند. اگر اینترنت در دسترس باشد، می‌توانند از طریق شبکه تور به صورت امن پیام‌ها را ارسال کنند.

نصب Briar

• برنامه در Google Play برای دستگاه‌های اندروید موجود است.
• اگر نمی‌خواهید از Google Play استفاده کنید، می‌توانید از وب‌سایت Briar نصب کنید.

ایجاد حساب کاربری

• هنگام اولین ورود به Briar، باید یک نام مستعار و گذرواژه برای حساب کاربری خود انتخاب کنید. حساب شما فقط بر روی دستگاه ذخیره می‌شود.

افزودن مخاطبان

• برای افزودن مخاطب، می‌توانید از دو روش استفاده کنید:
  1. از راه دور: پیوند خاص را ارسال کنید.
  2. از نزدیک: با اسکن کد کیوآر یکدیگر، مخاطب را اضافه کنید.

پیام رسانی

• پیام‌ها به صورت سر به سر رمزگذاری شده‌اند و اگر مخاطب آفلاین باشد، پیام‌ها در زمان بعدی ارسال خواهند شد.

گروه‌های خصوصی و انجمن‌ها

• می‌توانید گروه‌های خصوصی برای گپ زدن ایجاد کنید، یا انجمن‌های عمومی برای گفتگو با دیگران بسازید.

وبلاگ‌ها و خوراک‌های RSS

• هر کاربر یک وبلاگ دارد که می‌تواند برای به‌روز رسانی‌ها و اخبار استفاده کند. همچنین می‌توانید خوراک‌های RSS را برای خواندن مقالات اضافه کنید.

تنظیمات

• می‌توانید رنگ برنامه، نحوه اتصال به اینترنت و استفاده از داده موبایل را تنظیم کنید.
• امکان قفل کردن برنامه برای حفظ امنیت وجود دارد.

حذف مخاطبان

• برای حذف یک مخاطب، روی نام آن کلیک کرده و گزینه حذف را انتخاب کنید.

این برنامه با تمرکز بر امنیت و حریم خصوصی، راهی پیشرفته برای ارتباط فراهم می‌کند.

The text provides a link to the GitHub page for "Heritrix 3," a web crawler developed by the Internet Archive. This tool is used for archiving web content. The link allows users to access the project's resources and information on GitHub.

This project is a tool designed for engineers who often work in terminal environments and struggle with losing their command history on temporary servers. It provides a centralized system to save and access terminal activity, making it easy to retrieve complex commands even if the original server is no longer available.

The tool captures terminal sessions automatically at the connection gateway, without needing to install anything on each server. It records every keystroke and output, creating a detailed log that helps engineers build a personal knowledge base effortlessly.

To help manage different projects, the tool organizes command history based on specific project tags. This way, users can keep their work for various clients or personal projects separate and easily searchable.

Importantly, the tool maintains a command-line interface, allowing users to search their history directly from the terminal without the distraction of a complex web interface.

pgwire-replication Summary

pgwire-replication is a high-performance client for PostgreSQL logical replication that operates directly with the PostgreSQL wire protocol. It is designed for systems that need precise control over replication, such as change data capture (CDC) and write-ahead log (WAL) replay.

Key Features:

• Direct implementation for logical replication without using higher-level clients.
• Allows users to control the starting and stopping of replication with Log Sequence Numbers (LSNs).
• Supports features like periodic status updates, keepalive handling, and TLS authentication.
• Built for asynchronous systems and does not aim to be a general SQL client.

Basic Usage: The client connects to a PostgreSQL instance, receives replication events, and processes them, updating the applied LSN as data is processed.

Replication Control:

• Replication begins at a specified LSN and can be bounded to stop at another LSN.
• Progress tracking is manual; users must report the LSNs that have been processed.
• The system can handle idle periods without issues.

Installation: To use pgwire-replication, add it to your Cargo.toml file. It requires Rust 1.88 or later and PostgreSQL 15 or above with logical replication enabled.

Examples: Several examples demonstrate different features, including basic replication, bounded replay, and TLS support.

Testing and License: It includes integration tests using Docker and is licensed under either the Apache License 2.0 or MIT License.

This crate is suitable for developers needing a low-level, efficient solution for PostgreSQL logical replication.

No summary available.

Many people feel lonely and have no one to talk to, regardless of their age. They often spend their time on social media instead of joining local groups. The question is, how can we help these individuals connect with others?

Summary: Bringing The Predators To Life In MAME

In early January 2026, the author, Lysi, shares her experience reviving a forgotten arcade game called "The Predators" using MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). Lysi has been a fan of MAME for years, contributing to its preservation of arcade games. During the Christmas break of 2025, she decided to work on getting "The Predators" operational after discovering it had been improperly classified as a gambling game in MAME.

She faced challenges building older versions of MAME to accommodate outdated code but ultimately shifted to using the latest version. Lysi had to update the old C code to fit the new C++ structure of MAME, which involved a lot of debugging and restructuring. After compiling the code, she successfully got the game running with visuals and sound, although some elements needed further refinement.

Inviting friends over, they experienced the game for the first time in decades. Despite its outdated visuals and sound, they enjoyed the nostalgic gameplay, reminiscent of classic arcade battles. Lysi concluded her project by improving the code's structure and functionality, making it ready for public release.

Overall, Lysi's journey highlighted the challenges and rewards of reviving old games and the importance of preserving gaming history. She encourages others to explore similar projects, emphasizing the joy of bringing forgotten games back to life.

No summary available.

The author appreciates that they no longer need to deal with complicated Spark configuration options. With powerful cloud processors available at a reasonable cost, managing clusters is less complicated, unless handling very large data sets. They mention that DuckDB now has a distributed version, which is worth noting.

While Athena is a strong tool, the author finds it frustrating for developing and testing moderately complex queries. They provide an example of how DuckDB simplifies this process, such as easily selecting and renaming columns.

Astro, the company behind the Astro web framework, is now joining Cloudflare. Astro is designed for building fast, content-driven websites and is used by many notable brands like Porsche and IKEA, as well as AI companies like OpenAI. Cloudflare also uses Astro for its own services.

With this partnership, Cloudflare aims to enhance Astro, ensuring it remains an open-source framework with a focus on community contributions. All Astro employees will continue to work on the project under Cloudflare, which is committed to Astro's long-term success.

Astro's popularity stems from its focus on five key design principles: being content-driven, server-first, fast by default, easy to use, and developer-focused. Its unique architecture allows developers to mix different UI frameworks easily.

The upcoming Astro 6 version will introduce a new development server powered by Vite, enhancing local development and supporting real-time content updates. Astro 6 is currently in beta, and developers are encouraged to try it out.

Cloudflare and Astro share a vision of making web development enjoyable and accessible, and they are excited about future improvements and features for Astro.

The text discusses a proposed update to the OpenBSD firewall feature called "af-to," which is used for translating between IPv4 and IPv6 networks. Currently, af-to has limitations: it only works for incoming traffic and automatically forwards packets, creating only one state for the connection.

David Gwynne suggests making af-to less complicated by allowing it to work for outgoing traffic as well, which would simplify the code and make it more efficient. The proposed change would eliminate the automatic forwarding requirement, meaning that additional rules would need to be added for outgoing traffic.

While this change simplifies the underlying code, it also increases the responsibility for network operators to ensure proper rules are in place for forwarded connections. David seeks feedback from users on the proposed changes and their impact on real-world usage.

Summary of "Claude is not a senior engineer (yet)"

On January 12, 2026, Ryan Nystrom discusses the capabilities of Claude, an AI system that has shown impressive improvements with the release of Opus 4.5. While Claude excels at debugging and automating tasks like migrating to AWS, it struggles with creating well-designed code and understanding complex problems.

Key Points:

1. Impressive Capabilities: Claude successfully debugged a Sentry issue and migrated a system to AWS using Terraform, saving significant time compared to manual processes.

2. Limitations: Despite its strengths, Claude lacks the ability to create clean, elegant code. In a recent React project, it proposed a suboptimal solution that would have worsened the codebase.

3. Role of Senior Engineers: Senior engineers identify and implement improvements that might not be obvious, while Claude cannot do this. Its performance is limited by the quality of the code and abstractions it works with.

4. Analogy of a Child: Claude is likened to a smart child playing with Lego blocks; it can build effectively when given good components but struggles with poorly designed structures.

5. Conclusion: While Claude is a powerful tool, it lacks the creativity and intention of human engineers. Its limitations suggest that it will not replace engineers anytime soon, and the need for skilled developers remains high.

The creator of mdto.page made this tool to easily share Markdown notes as webpages without needing a GitHub account or complex setups. Users can upload Markdown files and instantly get a shareable URL. Key features include no login required, options for links to expire after a certain time (1 day, 7 days, 2 weeks, or 30 days), and it's free to use. Feedback is welcome!

No summary available.

Summary of "Prime Chains"

This post discusses two types of prime number chains in mathematics and their connection to cryptocurrency.

1. Cunningham Chains:

   • These are sequences of prime numbers where each number is almost double the previous one, either by adding 1 (first kind) or subtracting 1 (second kind).
   • For example:
     • First kind: 41, 83, 167 (where each number is 2 times the previous plus 1).
     • Second kind: 19, 37, 73 (where each number is 2 times the previous minus 1).
   • There is uncertainty about whether there are infinitely many Cunningham chains, but it is believed there are infinitely many of all lengths. The longest known chains are 17 for the first kind and 19 for the second kind.

2. Bi-Twin Chains:

   • A number is part of a bi-twin chain if one less than it starts a first kind Cunningham chain and one more than it starts a second kind Cunningham chain.

3. Primecoin:

   • Primecoin is a cryptocurrency that uses finding prime chains as its mining method, unlike Bitcoin.
   • To mine new blocks, miners must find specific prime chains, and the difficulty adjusts over time based on the length of the chains required.

The post also mentions related topics in number theory and cryptocurrency.

No summary available.

No summary available.

The author shares their frustrations with the Prolog programming language while working on the next edition of their book, "Logic for Programmers." They highlight several key issues:

1. Lack of Standardized Strings: Different Prolog implementations handle strings differently, leading to compatibility problems.

2. No Functions: Prolog relies solely on rules and predicates, which can complicate certain tasks that would be easier with functions.

3. Limited Collection Types: Prolog only has linked lists and compound terms, lacking proper key-value maps or structures.

4. Absence of Boolean Values: Boolean logic is not directly supported, making some logic operations inconvenient.

5. Confusing Cuts: The cut operator can lead to unexpected behavior in code, complicating the logic flow.

6. Struggles with Non-Cuts: The author points out inconsistencies in how certain predicates behave, which adds to confusion.

7. Complex Queries: The author finds that querying for results can be cumbersome, especially when trying to gather all results at once.

8. Symbol Terms: The use of infix symbols can be confusing and lacks clear definitions.

9. Sorting Issues: The sorting function behaves unexpectedly, as it returns a sorted set instead of a sorted list.

10. Syntax Concerns: The author wishes for more flexible syntax, such as allowing rules to end with a comma rather than a period.

Despite these grievances, the author acknowledges that they have discovered some solutions while writing about their issues. They also express excitement about Answer Set Programming (ASP).

Summary: Why Mining Greenland's Resources is Challenging

Greenland has valuable natural resources, including rare earth elements essential for technology, as well as minerals like graphite, diamonds, gold, and nickel. However, mining these resources is very difficult due to the island's harsh Arctic climate, which covers 80% of Greenland in ice and makes many areas inaccessible.

Most resources are located in remote regions above the Arctic Circle, where mining costs can be five to ten times higher than in other places. Currently, only one mine operates in Greenland, producing a mineral called anorthosite. The logistics of accessing remote areas, building infrastructure, and providing reliable power complicate mining efforts further.

Experts believe that despite interest from foreign powers, including the U.S., the challenges of mining in Greenland make large-scale resource extraction unlikely in the near future.

The text introduces Openwork, an open-source desktop application designed for non-technical users. It is built on Opencode and aims to provide a user-friendly interface for managing workflows that were previously only accessible through command-line tools. The creator developed Openwork to help manage tasks at home, such as controlling smart devices and deploying web apps, without requiring technical expertise.

Key features of Openwork include:

• Local-first Design: All operations run on personal servers, avoiding reliance on external services.
• Extensibility: Users can install additional features through a package manager, utilizing the Opencode plugin system.
• User-Friendly Interface: Important information is presented clearly in the UI, making it accessible to non-technical users.

Currently, Openwork is in an early development stage and is available for testing. The creator is seeking feedback to improve the application.

JuiceFS is a high-performance POSIX file system built for cloud-native environments, licensed under Apache License 2.0. It stores data in Object Storage (like Amazon S3) and keeps metadata in various database engines such as Redis and MySQL. This allows users to connect large cloud storage directly to applications like big data and AI without changing code, making it as efficient as local storage.

Key Features:

• POSIX and Hadoop Compatibility: Works seamlessly with existing applications and Hadoop ecosystems.
• S3-Compatible: Offers an interface that is compatible with S3.
• Cloud Native: Integrates easily with Kubernetes using a CSI driver.
• Shared Storage: Can be accessed simultaneously by thousands of clients.
• Strong Consistency: Changes are immediately reflected across all servers.
• High Performance: Low latency and scalable throughput.
• Data Security: Supports encryption and data compression.

Architecture:

JuiceFS consists of:

1. JuiceFS Client: Manages data and metadata storage.
2. Data Storage: Supports multiple storage options including cloud and local.
3. Metadata Engine: Stores file metadata using engines like Redis and MySQL.

Files are divided into "Chunks," "Slices," and "Blocks" for efficient storage and management in Object Storage, which may not be visible through standard file browsers.

Getting Started:

To use JuiceFS, you need a supported metadata engine, Object Storage, and the JuiceFS Client. A Quick Start Guide is available for initial setup.

Performance and Compatibility:

JuiceFS has passed extensive compatibility tests and offers features like strong consistency and atomic operations. It also provides benchmarks showing superior performance in throughput and metadata operations compared to similar systems.

Supported Object Storage:

JuiceFS works with various Object Storage services, including Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and more.

Community and Contributions:

JuiceFS is actively used in production environments and has a community for support and contributions. It collects anonymous usage data to improve its services while ensuring user privacy.

For more specific information and guidance, users can refer to the JuiceFS documentation and community resources.

Summary of the Go Programming Language (go-legacy-win7)

go-legacy-win7 is a modified version of the Go programming language that supports Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It provides a stable environment for users who need to work with older Windows systems or prefer the traditional Go workflow.

Key Features:

• Windows 7 Compatibility: Unlike the official Go version, go-legacy-win7 continues to support Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
• Classic go get Behavior: This version allows the older functionality of the go get command, enabling operations in both GOPATH mode and module-aware mode as needed.

Limitations: Some new Go features may not work fully on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

Installation Instructions:

• For Windows: Download the ZIP file, extract it, set the PATH and GOROOT environment variables.
• For macOS/Linux: Download the tar.gz file, extract it, and configure the shell environment variables.

Verification: After installation, run go version in the terminal to check if it installed correctly.

Contributions: Feedback and contributions are encouraged, and users can report issues or help improve the project. For questions about Go, refer to the official Go resources.

Simon Willison’s newsletter discusses two main topics: Claude Cowork, a new tool from Anthropic, and Fly's Sprites.dev.

1. Claude Cowork: This tool is a user-friendly version of Claude Code, designed to assist with various computer tasks. It features an interface that allows users to input prompts and attach files for Claude to analyze. Although it is currently available only to premium subscribers, it aims to make advanced coding capabilities accessible to a broader audience. There are concerns about security risks, particularly "prompt injections," which could potentially manipulate Claude's commands or access sensitive data. Anthropic acknowledges these risks and provides guidelines for safe usage.

2. Fly’s Sprites.dev: This new service combines developer sandboxes and API sandboxes, allowing users to run untrusted code safely. It features persistent environments that can be checkpointed and restored, enhancing the user experience for coding agents. The service is designed to minimize costs by only charging for resources used while the sandbox is active.

Additionally, Willison reflects on the implications of using AI in programming, addressing legal and ethical questions about AI-generated code. He emphasizes the need for transparency and responsible publishing of software created with AI assistance.

Overall, both tools reflect ongoing advancements in AI and coding environments, with the potential to reshape how developers work.

The author is creating a community directory of personal websites at hnpwd.github.io and needs help to expand it. If you have a personal website that you control and it has been positively received on HN, please share the link in the comments. You can also join as a maintainer for the project if interested. All types of personal websites are welcome, not just blogs. There is a related discussion post from July 2023 about sharing personal blogs. The author is currently working through submissions, and if you want to assist, you can contribute directly on GitHub.

Summary of CVEs Affecting the Svelte Ecosystem

On January 15, 2026, patches were released for five vulnerabilities in the Svelte ecosystem, specifically affecting the packages devalue, svelte, @sveltejs/kit, and @sveltejs/adapter-node. Here are the key points:

1. Upgrade Required: If you use these packages, you need to upgrade to the following versions to avoid vulnerabilities:

   • devalue: 5.6.2
   • svelte: 5.46.4
   • @sveltejs/kit: 2.49.5
   • @sveltejs/adapter-node: 5.5.1

2. Acknowledgments: The Svelte team thanks security researchers and the Vercel security team for their help in identifying and fixing these issues.

3. Recent Trends: There has been a rise in high-profile vulnerabilities in web development tools, but the community is working together to ensure user safety.

4. Vulnerabilities Overview:

   • CVE-2026-22775 & CVE-2026-22774: Both affect devalue (versions 5.1.0-5.6.1) and can lead to Denial of Service (DoS) if user-controlled input is parsed.
   • CVE-2026-22803: Affects @sveltejs/kit (versions 2.49.0-2.49.4) when using remote functions, allowing for memory exhaustion.
   • CVE-2025-67647: Affects @sveltejs/kit and @sveltejs/adapter-node (various versions) during prerendering, potentially leading to DoS and Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF).
   • CVE-2025-15265: Affects svelte (versions 5.46.0-5.46.3) with hydratable, which can lead to Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) if unsanitized input is used.

5. Reporting Vulnerabilities: If you find a vulnerability in a Svelte package, report it privately via the respective repository's Security tab.

For more detailed information, refer to the full security advisories.

No summary available.

Wiz Research identified a serious vulnerability called CodeBreach that threatened the AWS Console supply chain. This flaw allowed attackers to take over important AWS GitHub repositories, including the AWS JavaScript SDK, which is essential for the AWS Console. If exploited, attackers could inject malicious code, jeopardizing not only the SDK but also all applications using it and every AWS account.

The vulnerability arose from a small mistake in how AWS CodeBuild CI pipelines managed build triggers, which enabled unauthorized access to privileged credentials. Wiz disclosed these findings to AWS, who quickly fixed the issue and added protective measures to prevent similar attacks in the future.

This incident highlights a troubling trend in supply chain attacks, where subtle misconfigurations in CI/CD systems can lead to significant vulnerabilities. As a precaution, organizations using AWS CodeBuild are advised to enhance their security by implementing specific safeguards, such as approving pull requests from trusted sources only.

Wiz's research was motivated by a previous attack on the Amazon Q VS Code extension, which also exploited a CI/CD misconfiguration. The key lesson is that CI/CD environments, due to their complexity and the untrusted data they handle, are increasingly targeted by attackers. It is crucial for organizations to tighten security measures in their CI/CD pipelines to protect against such risks.

AWS has acknowledged the issue, taken corrective actions, and emphasized the importance of maintaining security in their systems.

No summary available.

The author created a tool called bgpscout.io to help users better explore BGP data. Key features of the tool include:

• Browsing Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) by their registration date and location.
• Viewing the presence of specific networks.
• Accessing various public data about ASNs in one place.
• Saving searches to monitor new networks that match certain criteria.

The tool aims to make it easier to work with public BGP data. The author is seeking feedback to determine if the tool addresses a real need and to learn how it could be made more useful for everyday tasks.

In the Game of Life, researchers have found that not all still lifes (stable patterns) can be created by colliding gliders (small moving patterns). A significant discovery in 2022 showed that some still lifes must have existed since the beginning of time, meaning they cannot be formed from gliders. Recently, a team completed a project to identify all still lifes with a population of 23, successfully synthesizing 1,646,147 unique patterns.

This work builds on previous projects that synthesized still lifes with smaller populations. As the number of bits (or population) increases, the complexity of these patterns grows exponentially. The latest project involved generating synthesis recipes through computer searches, which eliminated most targets and allowed experts to focus on the most challenging patterns.

The researchers used various methods to find solutions, including "soup searches," where random collisions of gliders produce still lifes, and a transfer script that applies successful synthesis steps from one still life to another. They also created improved tools in C++ to expedite the process.

A novel method, dubbed "Mr. Component," was developed to identify pairs of interacting components that depend on each other for success. This tool led to automated solutions for previously complex patterns.

The most complicated solution found required 47 steps and 178 gliders, showcasing the intricate nature of these patterns and the ongoing advancements in synthesizing still lifes in the Game of Life.

No summary available.

No summary available.

A recent report from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed that Boeing was aware of a structural flaw in the engine mounting part of the MD-11F freighter that crashed in Kentucky in November, killing 15 people. The flaw had been identified 15 years earlier on similar aircraft. The plane crashed after one of its engines detached during takeoff.

Investigators found cracks in the engine mounting assembly, which Boeing had previously noted in other aircraft. Despite this, Boeing had determined that the issue would not affect safety. The NTSB’s update indicated that the cracks were due to "fatigue" from repeated stress on a critical bearing. Boeing had issued warnings in the past, advising regular inspections of this part, but those were not mandatory.

Experts criticized Boeing for its earlier conclusion that the flaw posed no safety risk, emphasizing that the part is crucial for securing the engine to the wing. Boeing has faced scrutiny in recent years over its safety practices, including issues with its 737 Max model.

Boeing expressed condolences to the victims' families and is cooperating with the ongoing investigation, which has not yet reached a final conclusion.

Summary:

Wikipedia has been around for 25 years, evolving from a simple website to a vital source of information online. It started with just a blank page and an idea. You can explore its history and even participate in a fun quiz to learn about possible future developments, like quantum teleportation or a garden-like internet.

Summary of CUE as a Literate Programming Tool

CUE is a versatile tool for generating and validating configuration files, particularly JSON and YAML. It not only helps prevent issues with these files but also serves as a strong Literate Programming tool, allowing for portable documentation that can be shared outside of specific environments like Emacs.

Key Problems with Current Approaches:

• Existing tools like org-mode create vendor lock-in, making it hard to share documentation across different editors.
• The “Copy-Paste Tribute” problem occurs when code snippets in documentation become outdated, leading to inaccuracies.

How CUE Addresses These Issues:

• CUE allows users to define code “parts” that can be assembled programmatically, ensuring that the code in documentation matches the actual code used in builds.
• It treats documents like build targets, creating a dependency graph that validates content before generating final documents.

Using CUE:

• The cue cmd command is essential for executing tasks and generating files. The filename must end with _tool.cue for CUE to recognize it.
• CUE can be extended to work with multiple programming languages, allowing it to run various commands and compile code snippets seamlessly.

Advantages of CUE:

• It enables testing of documentation by running commands and ensuring all code is correct before final output.
• This approach makes the documentation process more efficient and reliable, eliminating stale content and ensuring accurate representation of code.

In essence, CUE transforms documentation into a dynamic process where writing is akin to engineering, ensuring high quality and consistency in shared materials.

The text introduces a new open-source tool called Gambit, which serves as an "agent harness." This tool simplifies the development of agents by managing tasks like tool usage and planning without needing extensive developer oversight.

Unlike traditional frameworks that process tasks in a linear fashion, Gambit allows for a more flexible approach where agents can call each other, enabling better task management. Users can define agents using markdown files or TypeScript, and they can establish clear interfaces between agents, referred to as "decks."

Gambit also includes automatic evaluation features called "graders," which assess conversations or interactions, and test agents that simulate real-world scenarios for training. The creators developed Gambit after finding limitations in their previous projects and believe it has potential for various applications, such as creating open-source assistants and ensuring data privacy.

They are seeking feedback and encourage users to check out a walkthrough video for more details.

In 2025, China led the world by installing over half of all new wind and solar energy capacity. In May alone, it added renewable energy sufficient to power Poland, with solar panels being installed at an impressive rate of about 100 every second. This extensive growth is visible in both urban areas, where rooftop solar panels are common, and remote regions featuring large wind farms.

Photographer Weimin Chu has documented this renewable energy expansion over three years, using drones to capture aerial images that highlight the vastness of these power plants. His work, influenced by traditional Chinese ink painting, showcases the relationship between these energy installations and their natural surroundings. Chu began by photographing landscapes but shifted focus to renewable energy sources as they became prominent in his travels across various provinces.

His photography has been featured in an award-winning exhibition by Greenpeace, emphasizing the importance of documenting this significant transformation in energy production.

The author noticed a pattern in the "Most Replayed" heatmap on YouTube, where high peaks were always next to two dips. Curious about this, they decided to investigate further. This post details their exploration, which includes recreating the system design, reverse engineering the code, and analyzing the math behind it. They also mention that this is their first interactive article and are seeking feedback on both the investigation and the article format.

A federal judge in Minnesota has ordered the release of Garrison Gibson, a Liberian man, after immigration agents forcibly arrested him in his home without a warrant. The judge ruled that this violated his Fourth Amendment rights. Gibson's attorney expressed satisfaction with the ruling, highlighting that the arrest was a clear constitutional breach.

Gibson, who had been living legally in the U.S. under supervision after fleeing civil war in Liberia, was arrested during a crackdown by the Department of Homeland Security that has seen over 2,500 arrests since late November. His wife and child were home at the time of the raid, and they were deeply affected by the incident.

The judge noted that Gibson did not receive proper notice regarding the revocation of his supervision status before his arrest. Although he has a past drug conviction from 2008, which was later dismissed, the Department of Homeland Security cited other alleged offenses in their justification for the arrest. This incident comes amid heightened tensions and fears in the Twin Cities regarding aggressive immigration enforcement actions.

Summary of Fly.io Sprites Launch

Fly.io has introduced a new platform called Sprites, which are fast, disposable Linux virtual machines designed for ease of use. Unlike traditional cloud computing methods that rely on containers, Sprites allow users to create virtual machines almost instantly, with no preallocation necessary. They come with a 100GB durable storage system, automatically enter a low-cost sleep mode when not in use, and provide root access.

Key Features of Sprites:

1. Instant Creation: Users can create a Sprite in just a couple of seconds, making it feel as if they are already available.
2. No Containers: Sprites eliminate the need for user-facing containers, simplifying the creation process.
3. Object Storage: Sprites utilize S3-compatible object storage for their disk space, which is reliable and simplifies data management.
4. Inside-Out Orchestration: The management of user applications occurs within the VM, allowing for easier updates and changes without affecting the overall system.

Benefits:

• Users can have multiple Sprites available for different tasks without worrying about resource limits.
• The system is designed for interactive use, keeping costs low by allowing Sprites to sleep when idle.
• Sprites are integrated with existing Fly.io infrastructure, enhancing their functionality.

Overall, Sprites aim to streamline the development process and make it easy for users to run applications without the complexity of traditional cloud environments. Fly.io encourages users to try Sprites to experience their convenience firsthand.

X (Twitter) is currently experiencing problems that started about an hour ago, with many users reporting issues like being unable to access the site, receiving errors, or slow performance. The last major outage occurred on January 16, 2026, lasting about 32 minutes.

Recent reports indicate that users from various countries, including the United States, Canada, and the Philippines, are encountering similar issues. The most common problem reported is that X (Twitter) is inaccessible, making up 69% of all reports.

For those interested, NordVPN is mentioned as a service that can help stream content safely from other countries.

For updates, users can check the official X (Twitter) website at twitter.com or follow their Twitter account @twitter.

TinyCity Summary

TinyCity is a city simulation game for the Raspberry Pi RP2040 using MicroPython, inspired by SimCity. In the game, you build and manage a small city, balancing different zones and resources while dealing with random disasters.

Key Features:

• Choose from 3 terrains or a random map.
• Manage residential, commercial, and industrial areas.
• Oversee budgets, population growth, power, crime, and pollution.
• Experience random disasters and unlock milestones for bonuses.
• Save and load your game progress.
• Build essential services like police and fire stations, power plants, and stadiums.

Tips for Success:

• Taxes are collected annually; adjust the tax rate through the menu.
• Attract residents by adding parks, trees, and schools.
• Prevent crime and fires by establishing police and fire stations.
• Keep an eye on pollution and traffic for better city growth.

How to Play:

• Soon available to play online after merging updates.
• You can also add source files to the Online Editor.

Acknowledgment: TinyCity is inspired by the MicroCity game for the Arduboy platform, with thanks to its creator for their work.

Timberlogs is a new structured logging library for TypeScript, designed to simplify logging in production environments. It offers an easy setup, allowing you to log messages with minimal configuration. Key features include:

• Automatic grouping of logs with retries
• Hiding sensitive information like passwords and tokens
• Ability to search logs in real time
• A dashboard for monitoring logs
• Tracking to connect related log entries

Timberlogs is currently in beta and free to use. The creator invites feedback from the community. For more information, you can visit the website, documentation, and GitHub links provided.

Summary of the Court Case: R v JBH

In this case, the main question is whether "gold pieces" in the video game Old School Runescape are considered property under UK theft law.

Game Overview:

• Old School Runescape is a popular online role-playing game where players create avatars and accumulate in-game wealth, primarily gold pieces, to enhance their characters.
• Players can earn gold through various in-game activities or buy bonds from the game developer, Jagex, which can be turned into gold pieces in the game.

Legal Context:

• The game's rules state that players cannot exchange their in-game wealth for real money and forbid selling gold pieces outside the game.
• Despite this, many players buy and sell gold pieces on third-party websites, giving them a real-world value.

The Case Against Andrew Lakeman:

• Andrew Lakeman, a former employee of Jagex, allegedly hacked into players' accounts and stole around 705 billion gold pieces, worth approximately £543,123, and sold them for real money and cryptocurrency.
• He faces multiple charges, including theft under the Theft Act 1968 and computer misuse.

Legal Definitions:

• The court needs to determine if the gold pieces qualify as property under the Theft Act, which defines property broadly, including both tangible and intangible items.
• The prosecution argues that despite the game's rules, the gold pieces have real-world value, making them property.

Conclusion:

• The judgment will clarify whether virtual currencies like gold pieces in a game can be classified as property under the law, which will significantly impact the legal standing of similar digital assets in the future.

Summary: Why Senior Engineers Let Bad Projects Fail

In the world of software engineering, senior engineers often face the dilemma of whether to speak up about projects they believe are flawed. Initially, junior engineers may wonder why experienced colleagues don’t intervene when they see a bad project, but over time, they come to realize that being right doesn't always lead to effective outcomes.

A "bad project" can involve issues like poor user experience, technical overcomplications, or political misalignment. However, whether a project is "bad" can be subjective and may only become clear much later in its lifecycle.

Senior engineers develop a sense of "taste" for projects, allowing them to identify potential failures early on. Yet, they also learn that speaking up has consequences. While it's important to voice concerns, too much criticism can lead to being seen as negative, harm relationships, and ultimately diminish one’s influence.

Instead of trying to stop every bad project, senior engineers should manage their influence strategically, treating it like a bank account. They need to decide when to "withdraw" their influence based on factors like proximity to the project, potential impact on their team, and the scale of the project's failure.

When intervening, engineers can choose from various approaches, from directly challenging a project to offering subtle guidance. If the political momentum is too strong or the issue minor, it may be wiser to step back, prepare contingency plans, or simply observe.

Ultimately, senior engineers must navigate the balance between honesty and maintaining trust within their teams, recognizing that not every battle is worth fighting. They should focus on critical issues while allowing themselves to learn from outcomes, whether successful or not.

Summary of "Building a Better Bugbot"

In January 2026, Jon Kaplan discusses the development and improvements of Bugbot, a code review agent designed to identify bugs, performance issues, and security vulnerabilities in code before it goes live.

Key Points:

1. Purpose of Bugbot: Originally created to reduce the time spent on code reviews by automatically analyzing pull requests (PRs) for errors.

2. Development Process: The initial version faced limitations due to the capabilities of earlier models. Through experimentation with various configurations and methods, Bugbot evolved to effectively flag bugs.

3. Improved Performance: Since its launch, Bugbot's bug resolution rate improved from 52% to over 70%, and the number of bugs flagged per PR increased significantly.

4. Foundational Systems: To make Bugbot practical, the team developed systems for efficient Git integration and customizable rules for specific codebases.

5. Measuring Success: A metric called the "resolution rate" was introduced to assess Bugbot's effectiveness by tracking how many flagged bugs were actually resolved by developers.

6. Agentic Design: A major upgrade involved switching to an agentic architecture, allowing Bugbot to reason and decide on its reviews dynamically, leading to better performance.

7. Future Developments: Bugbot is now used by various companies and is expected to continue improving with new models and features, including automated fixes and continuous code scanning.

Overall, Bugbot has greatly enhanced code quality and aims to keep evolving as AI capabilities advance.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

The author is interested in how people are using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) locally without relying on many external tools. They want to know if others are using methods like vector databases, semantic search, knowledge graphs, or hypergraphs for managing internal code or complex documents.

In his final lecture for ECS 20 at UC Davis, Phillip Rogaway reflects on the significant challenges facing humanity, particularly the potential for civilizational and environmental collapse. He questions the role of computer scientists in either addressing or contributing to these crises. Instead of focusing on technical topics, Rogaway emphasizes the importance of introspection and the need for individuals to consider the broader implications of their work in technology.

He expresses concern that many students and professionals conform to societal expectations without questioning their purpose or the impact of their actions. Rogaway argues that the current crises—such as climate change, pandemics, and political instability—should compel computer scientists to rethink their priorities.

He critiques the common belief that technology is inherently beneficial and suggests that it often exacerbates social problems, including surveillance and authoritarianism. Rogaway encourages his students and fellow scientists to acknowledge the severity of the situation and to engage politically and ethically with their work. He emphasizes that social responsibility is not only important but essential for computer scientists, urging them to consider the consequences of their contributions to society.

In summary, Rogaway's lecture advocates for a more thoughtful and responsible approach to computer science, calling for awareness of the ethical dimensions of technology and the urgent need for change in the face of global crises.

Summary of the Linux Container Environment Report

Overview: The report describes the Linux container environment used for the Claude AI assistant's "Cowork mode." It operates on a lightweight, secure Ubuntu 22.04 LTS virtual machine designed for safe code execution.

System Details:

• Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS
• Architecture: ARM64
• Hardware:
  • CPU: 4 ARM64 cores
  • RAM: 3.8 GiB
  • Disk: 10 GB NVMe for both root and session storage

Security Features:

• Sandboxing: Uses Bubblewrap for strong isolation, including separate network and process namespaces.
• Seccomp Filtering: Implements strict syscall restrictions to enhance security.
• Network Proxies: All network traffic is routed through local proxies to control access.

Filesystem Structure:

• The filesystem is organized with directories for configuration, available skills, user outputs, and file uploads.

Installed Software: Includes a range of development tools like Python, Node.js, and Java. Notably, Go, Rust, and Docker are absent.

User Permissions:

• The user operates with minimal permissions, ensuring no privilege escalation is possible.

Security Analysis:

• The container features strong isolation, controlled network access, and ephemeral session data to enhance security.

Conclusion: The container environment is optimized for secure AI-assisted computing, balancing functionality with robust security measures. It allows users to execute code, manipulate files, and access the web while maintaining strict isolation from the host system.

Dylan Araps, a former software engineer known for his open-source projects, disappeared from the internet in 2021 and later announced in 2024 that he had "taken up farming." After years of a sedentary lifestyle filled with work-related stress, burnout, and health issues, Dylan realized he needed to change his life. He stopped working and began reading extensively, eventually reading the Bible, which profoundly impacted him and led to a spiritual awakening.

Over three years, he transformed his life by quitting various vices and adopting a plant-based diet inspired by his ancestors. He also engaged in physical activities like calisthenics and yoga to improve his health. With a newfound purpose, Dylan chose to become a "Natural Farmer," moving to Greece with his family to renovate an abandoned estate. They named their farming venture WILD, focusing on producing natural foods and living in harmony with nature, rather than conventional farming methods. Dylan emphasizes that his journey is about personal growth and reconnecting with the land.

The author responds to legal concerns about their website by stating that it uses redirect pages to inform users about where they are going and does not harm cybersecurity or promote phishing. They believe the website follows all laws and policies. The author asks that any future issues be reported through the support email instead of legal threats.

The author and their team are developing a tool called Tabstack, which simplifies web browsing for AI agents. Building complex web browsing infrastructure can be challenging, as it often involves managing proxies, client-side rendering, and custom parsing for different websites.

Tabstack provides an API where users can input a URL and an intent, and it returns structured data without the hassle of managing the web infrastructure. Key features include:

• Escalation Logic: It tries to fetch data lightly before using a full browser, which saves time and resources.
• Token Optimization: It cleans up raw HTML to reduce unnecessary data, making it easier for AI models to process.
• Infrastructure Stability: It manages headless browsers efficiently, allowing many requests to run simultaneously without issues.

Ethically, Tabstack follows strict guidelines, including respecting website rules, identifying its user agent, and not using collected data for training models. The author encourages feedback and questions about their work.

No summary available.

Summary of "The Five Orders of Ignorance" by Phillip G. Armour

Phillip G. Armour argues that software development is not just about creating a product, but about acquiring knowledge and reducing ignorance. He identifies software as a medium for storing knowledge, which has distinct advantages over other forms like DNA, brains, hardware, and books.

The main challenge in software development is not writing code but understanding what needs to be built, which highlights the importance of knowledge acquisition. Armour introduces the concept of "hacking" as a way to illustrate how developers often write code without fully understanding the knowledge required, leading to a mix of "knowledge" and "unknowledge" in the final product.

He outlines the "Five Orders of Ignorance" to categorize our understanding:

1. 0th Order Ignorance (0OI): When you know something and can demonstrate it.
2. 1st Order Ignorance (1OI): When you know what you don’t know.
3. 2nd Order Ignorance (2OI): When you don’t know what you don’t know, which is common in project beginnings.
4. 3rd Order Ignorance (3OI): When you lack a process to discover what you don’t know.
5. 4th Order Ignorance (4OI): Not knowing about the Five Orders of Ignorance.

The critical focus is on reducing 2OI and improving 3OI to gain knowledge. Armour emphasizes that methodologies and processes in software development are often designed to help identify areas where knowledge is lacking rather than providing direct answers. Ultimately, the goal is to end a project with reduced ignorance and a functioning system that reflects the knowledge gained during development.

No summary available.

Summary of vLLM-MLX

vLLM-MLX is a platform that offers accelerated machine learning capabilities specifically for Apple Silicon devices (M1, M2, M3, M4). It supports various types of media, including text, images, videos, and audio, through a unified framework.

Key Features:

• Multimodal Support: Handles text, images, videos, and audio all in one place.
• GPU Acceleration: Utilizes Apple’s GPU for enhanced performance.
• Native Voices: Provides text-to-speech (TTS) in multiple languages, including Spanish, French, and Chinese.
• Compatibility: Works seamlessly with the OpenAI API.
• Efficient Memory Usage: Implements a memory-efficient caching system and supports multiple concurrent users through continuous batching.

Quick Start Guide:

1. Installation: Clone the repository and install the package using pip.
2. Start the Server: Use commands to run the server in different modes (single user, multiple users, with API key).
3. Use with OpenAI SDK: Integrate easily with code examples for both local development and production.

Audio Capabilities:

• Supports various TTS models for different languages and features.
• Includes commands for text-to-speech in English and Spanish.

Performance:

• Provides benchmarks showing the speed and memory usage of different models on Apple Silicon, with impressive real-time performance for audio and text generation.

Contribution and Licensing:

• Open for contributions and improvements. Licensed under Apache 2.0.

For more details, users can refer to the documentation provided within the project.

Summary of Geoscript Optimization

The author has been developing a programming language called Geoscript, designed for creating and handling 3D geometry in a web app named Geotoy. The language uses a simple interpreter, which has been optimized for speed.

Key points in the optimization process include:

1. Constant Folding: This optimization identifies constant expressions in the code and simplifies them. Since most Geoscript programs are predictable and do not rely on external input, many expressions can be optimized away, leading to faster execution.

2. Common Subexpression Elimination (CSE): This technique looks for duplicated expressions in the code and replaces them with a single instance to reduce computation time. The author developed a method to hash expressions to identify duplicates effectively.

3. Persistent Expression Cache: An exciting breakthrough was the idea of keeping the constant expression cache between runs of the interpreter. This is beneficial in a live-coding environment like Geotoy, where small changes are often made. By reusing results from previous runs, the execution time can be significantly reduced.

4. Handling Random Number Generation (RNG): The author addressed the challenge of caching expressions that involve RNG calls, ensuring that the cache works correctly by including the RNG state in the cache key.

Overall, the persistent expression cache has proven to be the most significant optimization, improving execution speed and enhancing the developer experience in Geotoy. This caching method is similar to techniques used in build systems, adapted for the unique needs of Geoscript.

Summary of Handy

Handy is a free, open-source speech-to-text application that works offline on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It allows you to transcribe speech into text without sending your audio to the cloud, ensuring privacy. Users can press a keyboard shortcut to start recording, speak, and have their words automatically pasted into any text field.

Key Features:

• Free and Open Source: Accessible to everyone; users can modify and contribute to it.
• Privacy-Focused: All processing occurs locally on your device.
• Simple to Use: Designed specifically for speech transcription.

How It Works:

1. Press a shortcut to start recording.
2. Speak while the recording is active.
3. The app uses the Whisper or Parakeet models to transcribe speech.
4. The text is pasted into the active application.

Installation:

• Download from the website.
• Follow specific installation instructions based on your operating system.
• Set up keyboard shortcuts in the settings.

Development and Support:

• Handy is built with Rust and React/TypeScript.
• A debug mode is available for troubleshooting.
• Known issues include crashes on some systems and limited support for Linux's Wayland display server.

Contributions: Users can contribute by reporting issues, forking the code, and submitting changes.

Conclusion: Handy aims to be a customizable and community-driven speech-to-text tool that prioritizes user privacy and accessibility.

For 21 years, from 1999 to 2020, the SETI@home project at UC Berkeley engaged millions of volunteers worldwide to analyze radio signals from space in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (ET). This crowd-sourced initiative collected about 12 billion signals from the Arecibo Observatory, narrowing them down to 100 promising candidates for further investigation.

The project faced challenges in filtering out noise and interference from various sources, such as satellites and broadcasts. Despite not expecting to find ET, researchers learned valuable lessons about improving future searches and established a new sensitivity level for detecting signals.

SETI@home used a distributed computing model, allowing many home computers to process data simultaneously, which was essential for analyzing the vast amount of information collected. The project's success exceeded initial expectations, attracting more than a million volunteers.

While current SETI efforts focus more on specific stars rather than broad sky scans, there is potential for new crowd-sourced projects using advanced technology to analyze data, potentially revisiting the findings from SETI@home. Overall, though they did not find ET, the project significantly contributed to the field of SETI and set the stage for future searches.

Over the past year, I've been improving how AI handles timing in conversations at Tavus. Today, we are launching Sparrow-1, which is the most advanced conversational flow model available.

Key features include:

• It predicts who has the speaking turn, rather than just when speech ends.
• It works directly with audio, without needing automatic speech recognition (ASR).
• It provides human-like responses with no delays caused by silence.
• It has very low latency, ensuring no interruptions.
• In tests, Sparrow-1 outperforms all other models in real-world conversation timing.

For more details, you can read my full write-up here.

Summary:

Claude Cowork, an AI tool released by Anthropic, has a vulnerability that allows attackers to steal files through a method called indirect prompt injection. This issue arises from unresolved flaws in Claude's code execution environment. The vulnerability was first identified in Claude.ai chat before Cowork was launched and has not been fixed.

Users are warned that Cowork is a research tool with risks, especially since it can access the internet. However, experts believe it's unfair to expect regular users to recognize suspicious activities indicative of these attacks. Anthropic has advised users not to grant access to sensitive local files while promoting Cowork for organizing their desktops.

The attack process involves a victim uploading a file containing a concealed prompt injection, which can manipulate Cowork to send confidential files to the attacker's account. This can happen without any human approval. The vulnerability allows the attacker to bypass network restrictions because the Anthropic API is trusted by the system.

Additionally, while Claude Opus 4.5 is somewhat more resilient, it can still be exploited through similar methods. The article also notes that Claude has issues with malformed files, which could lead to denial of service attacks.

Overall, as Cowork interacts with various work-related functions, it increases the risk of processing sensitive data without proper scrutiny, making users vulnerable to prompt injection attacks. Users are encouraged to be cautious, especially when configuring connections to other services.

Summary of "How We Built Remails: a European Mail Transfer Agent"

Remails is a European Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) designed to help organizations send automated emails, such as password resets and order confirmations, without relying on major tech companies. It was developed to meet the growing demand for local email services within Europe.

The project began when the founder sought help to create a reliable MTA hosted entirely in Europe. The team focused on building an initial version quickly, using a simple setup on a single Virtual Private Server (VPS). As development progressed, they shifted to a more robust infrastructure using Kubernetes, which allows for high availability and efficient management of their application.

The Remails system is structured into two main parts: a web interface for managing credentials and the MTA for sending and receiving emails. The development team prioritized data availability and the ability to handle incoming emails promptly, while sending emails could tolerate slight delays.

A key challenge was managing outbound IP addresses to ensure emails reach users' inboxes rather than being marked as spam. To address this, they implemented a system allowing them to control which IP address each email is sent from, enhancing reputation management.

The architecture evolved to include a central message bus for communication between components and a system to manage IP addresses effectively. This setup ensures high availability and the ability to send emails reliably from their own IP range.

Remails is currently in public beta, offering a free plan for up to 3,000 emails per month, with plans for additional features such as email notifications and improved privacy controls in the future. Users interested in a European email solution are encouraged to try it out.

The text suggests that size and domain are not important factors. It implies that the subject can apply universally, regardless of its scale or area of focus.

Summary of the State of OpenSSL for pyca/cryptography

The authors, Paul Kehrer and Alex Gaynor, have maintained the Python cryptography library (pyca/cryptography) for over a decade, relying on OpenSSL for core cryptographic functions. They recently expressed concerns about OpenSSL's development, highlighting several significant issues:

1. Performance Issues: OpenSSL 3 has shown major performance drops compared to version 1.1.1, particularly in areas like key loading and certificate parsing. The authors noted that their own implementation in Rust achieved significantly better performance.

2. Complexity and API Changes: OpenSSL 3 introduced complex API changes, making it harder to use and understand. The new OSSL_PARAM system complicates function calls, leading to verbose and less readable code. This has made working with OpenSSL more frustrating for developers.

3. Testing and Verification Gaps: OpenSSL has not prioritized adequate testing, resulting in critical bugs slipping through due to insufficient coverage. Their continuous integration (CI) system has been unreliable, allowing code with known issues to be merged.

4. Memory Safety: OpenSSL has not made strides toward using safer programming languages, despite advancements in technology that allow for performance and safety improvements. The authors transitioned much of their library to Rust, which enhances both performance and security.

5. Future Directions: Due to their concerns, the authors plan to lessen their reliance on OpenSSL by developing new features compatible with other libraries like LibreSSL or BoringSSL, and they are considering dropping OpenSSL support entirely. They are also exploring other cryptography libraries as alternatives.

Overall, the authors emphasize the importance of addressing these issues for the security and functionality of cryptographic implementations. They encourage contributions to the OpenSSL project to help improve its direction.

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The blog post discusses the niche of arcade mahjong games, particularly focusing on their technical aspects and the history of strip mahjong games in Japan. Here are the key points simplified:

1. Mahjong Overview: Mahjong is a tile-based game popular in Japan, often played in arcades. The first arcade mahjong game was Janputer, which introduced dedicated buttons for gameplay.

2. Gameplay Mechanics: Players manage a hand of tiles, aiming to complete it according to specific rules (yaku). There are various controls for playing and making "calls" to win.

3. Controllers and Pinouts: Mahjong games use unique controllers and pin layouts different from the JAMMA standard, making it necessary to use special adapters for arcade setups.

4. Audio Differences: The audio handling in mahjong games varies by manufacturer, leading to potential issues when connecting to superguns (arcade hardware).

5. Cultural Context: Strip mahjong games, like Mirage Youjuu Mahjongden, reflect a specific era in Japanese gaming where sexual content was more accepted but still faced moral scrutiny. The game involves defeating demon-possessed women through mahjong.

6. Gameplay Challenges: Mirage Youjuu Mahjongden is noted for being difficult, often favoring the computer-controlled opponents, and it rewards quick play rather than strategic defense.

7. Conclusion: The author doesn't recommend setting up a complex system to play these games at home, suggesting that most mahjong titles are well-emulated in software like MAME. The post ends with a humorous note about the game's hardware issues and a challenge to identify a computer shown in the game.

Summary:

The author discusses a more effective way to limit access to sensitive information when using AI coding agents like Claude Code. Instead of creating a dedicated user account, which presents usability challenges and security risks, the author recommends using Bubblewrap for sandboxing. Bubblewrap is simpler than Docker and provides better security control.

Key points include:

• Bubblewrap's Advantages: It allows you to run potentially untrusted code safely by isolating it from your sensitive files and system resources. It makes it easy to execute commands without needing heavy configurations.
• Security Concerns: Running untrusted code could expose sensitive information. Bubblewrap prevents this by restricting access to sensitive files and commands.
• Comparison to Other Methods: Using Bubblewrap is preferable to relying on a vendor's implementation (like Anthropic’s) because it gives you control over your security measures.
• Setup Instructions: The article provides basic commands for installing and using Bubblewrap, including a detailed example of how to set up a sandbox environment for Claude Code.
• Final Thoughts: The author encourages users to understand and manage their own security instead of solely relying on vendors, emphasizing the importance of self-sufficiency in handling coding agents.

The author also invites readers to connect for freelance opportunities related to secure coding practices.

The manager of an ecommerce website is experiencing a surge in bot traffic, primarily from one or two IP addresses making hundreds of requests daily. These IP addresses cannot be verified through reverse DNS lookup, and traffic from one of them appears to be coming from various data centers across the United States, as well as Singapore. The requests are distributed among multiple cities, showing significant activity. The manager is seeking insights or ideas on this issue.

The author created webctl to bridge the gap between simple tools like curl and more complex automation frameworks like Playwright. They were originally motivated by the need for an AI to manage tasks on their company's intranet, requiring persistent cookie management for single sign-on (SSO) and the ability to scrape data from a Kanban board.

Key features of webctl include:

1. Filtered Output: Users can control what data is sent to the AI by filtering it through standard tools, allowing for more relevant context.
2. Daemon Architecture: It runs a background process to maintain browser state (like cookies and sessions) while executing simple commands.
3. Semantic Targeting: Instead of using fragile CSS selectors, it targets elements using ARIA roles for better stability.

The author notes that the state persistence feature is still experimental, but they believe this design is a promising approach for creating efficient local agents, essentially making it "Playwright for the terminal."

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Raspberry Pi has released a new product called the AI HAT+ 2, priced at $130. This device features a Hailo 10H chip and 8GB of RAM, allowing it to run local AI models (LLMs) independently, which frees up the Raspberry Pi's main CPU and memory. While the Hailo chip is efficient, it has limitations in performance compared to the Pi's CPU, especially regarding power consumption.

The AI HAT+ 2 can handle tasks like computer vision and LLM inference, but it may not be the best option for all users. The 8GB of RAM can be restrictive for more complex models, whereas a Raspberry Pi with 16GB of RAM can run these models more effectively.

The device is mainly suited for niche applications, particularly in power-constrained environments where both vision processing and inference are needed. However, alternatives like the original AI HAT or AI Camera offer similar functionalities at lower prices. Overall, while the AI HAT+ 2 provides new capabilities, it may not significantly outperform existing options for most users.

The author addresses those who have cut or avoided hiring technical writers due to the rise of AI, warning that this is a significant mistake. They emphasize that AI cannot replace the essential human elements of technical writing, such as understanding user needs, empathy, and the process of creating meaningful documentation. AI-generated documents often lack depth, accuracy, and accountability, which can lead to serious issues.

The author advocates for augmenting technical writers with AI tools instead of replacing them. By providing writers with the right resources and training, companies can enhance productivity and improve the quality of documentation. The message is clear: technical writers are vital for creating clear and effective documentation that helps users navigate products. The author urges decision-makers to reconsider their stance on technical writers and to recognize their importance in translating complex information into accessible content.

Kristina Bauman discusses the life of anchoresses—women who choose to live in solitary confinement to devote themselves to God. These women seek approval from a bishop and financial support from patrons before they can be "entombed" in a small cell, where they live without human contact, except for their maids and a cat.

The process of becoming an anchoress involves a ceremony called the Enclosure, where they are officially declared dead to the world. Despite their isolation, anchoresses maintained a connection with the community, offering advice and support to those outside their walls.

Anchoresses had specific rules to follow outlined in a guide called Ancrene Wisse. They could not eat meat, speak on certain days, or have pets other than a cat. The choice to become an anchoress was significant in a time when women had limited options and could provide a sense of agency. Many women, like Julian of Norwich, used this time for spiritual writing.

Bauman emphasizes that the life of an anchoress was a radical choice for women in the Middle Ages, reflecting both their devotion and the unique freedoms they could attain through this lifestyle.

Summary:

The author has been experimenting with Wine, a tool that allows Windows software to run on Linux, due to dissatisfaction with Windows 11. They discuss system calls (syscalls), which are services provided by the operating system to applications, like reading files or allocating memory.

In Windows, applications typically use the WinAPI to interact with the OS, while in Linux, they use syscalls directly. This difference poses a challenge for Wine, as some Windows programs bypass WinAPI and use direct syscalls, which can cause crashes when run under Wine.

Intrigued by this, the author tested whether it was possible for a Windows program to use Linux syscalls instead. They created a simple program that successfully called a Linux syscall while running under Wine. Although this approach has no practical use, the author found it amusing that such a "Frankenstein" program could exist.

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Summary of tprof: A Targeting Profiler for Python

tprof is a new profiling tool for Python 3.12+ that focuses on measuring the performance of specific functions, rather than profiling the entire program. This makes it easier and faster to see if changes have improved performance.

Key features of tprof include:

• Targeted Measurements: You can specify which functions to measure, reducing the overhead typically associated with profiling.
• Comparison Mode: This feature allows you to compare the performance of two functions, showing how much faster or slower one is compared to a baseline.

For example, if you have two functions, before() and after(), you can run tprof to see that after() is significantly faster.

• Python API: tprof can also be used as a context manager or decorator within Python code, making it easy to profile specific code blocks.

tprof uses Python's new sys.monitoring API to track function execution efficiently, minimizing performance impact on the rest of the program.

If you're interested in optimizing your Python code, you can install tprof from PyPI.

The inverse of the Hessian matrix in deep networks can be applied to a vector effectively. Normally, this would take a lot of computational time (cubically related to the number of layers), but it can actually be done much faster (linearly related to the number of layers). This efficiency comes from the special structure of the Hessian, which allows for simpler calculations. The method used is similar to backpropagation and is based on an earlier idea by Pearlmutter for calculating Hessian-vector products. This approach might also be helpful as a preconditioner for improving stochastic gradient descent.

The article discusses how the landscape of software development has changed dramatically due to advancements in AI, specifically tools like Claude Code. Traditionally, the belief was that generating ideas was easy, but executing them required skill, dedication, and hard work. However, with AI, turning ideas into fully functional products has become much easier and faster, diminishing the value of execution.

The author shares their experience of creating three complete software projects during a break, highlighting how AI handled tasks like writing tests and building features quickly. This shift means that ideas can now be copied and implemented almost instantly, reducing the competitive advantage of being the first to build something.

The article expresses mixed feelings about this change: nostalgia for the time when software development required deep knowledge and skill, excitement for the ease of focusing on problems rather than code, and confusion about the future role of software engineers.

Key points of importance now include:

• Speed of iteration: Adapting quickly to user feedback is crucial.
• Taste: Knowing what to build becomes more valuable as anyone can create software.
• Distribution: Getting noticed and trusted is essential in a crowded market.
• Problem selection: Identifying real problems to solve remains a critical skill.

The author concludes that successful builders in the future will focus on finding the right problems and iterating faster, rather than just writing code.