Front-page articles summarized hourly.
Microsoft and Google overstate job creation from Chile data centers; permits show only hundreds of full-time jobs, mainly security and cleaning roles. Promised thousands of jobs are largely indirect, temporary, or unfilled, with minimal local economic benefit. Data centers primarily serve global customers, and their employment impact in Chile is limited.
The article explores the history and implementation of timers in computing, from ancient hourglasses and water clocks to modern quartz and computer timer modules. It details various data structures like timing wheels, hash wheels, and timers in Linux kernels, emphasizing efficiency, accuracy, and trade-offs. Modern kernel timers use multi-level wheels with coarse and fine granularities to balance performance and precision, eliminating cascades for better predictability. The development showcases evolving methods for managing timed events critical in operating systems, networks, and embedded systems.
Wafer-scale AI chips integrate millions of cores and extensive on-chip memory, promising significant efficiency gains by reducing communication bottlenecks. However, leveraging this hardware requires new system software aligned with the PLMR model, addressing challenges like massive parallelism, non-uniform memory access latency, constrained local memory, and routing limitations. The article introduces WaferLLM, a software design that achieves sub-millisecond inference latency and outperforms multi-GPU systems in scaling efficiency. Rethinking AI model architectures, software stacks, and hardware design is essential to fully exploit wafer-scale computing's potential for large-scale, low-latency AI inference.
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A user disassembled his iLife A11 smart vacuum after manufacturer-issued remote kill commands disabled it when he blocked its data-sharing. He found the device used unprotected root access, sent user data to the manufacturer, and could manually revive it by reversing a kill code. The incident highlights security and privacy risks of IoT devices, which can be remotely bricked if they lose connection to manufacturer servers. The owner now runs the vacuum locally, advising others to keep IoT devices isolated on separate networks.
A blog post by Armin Ronacher explores building durable workflows using only Postgres, avoiding complex third-party systems. The approach involves a simple SQL file that turns Postgres into a queue and state store for long-lived, reliable tasks that survive failures. It supports agents that iterate over changing states, with mechanisms for sleeping, waiting for events, and retries. The system emphasizes simplicity—just Postgres with no extra runtime—making it suitable for self-hosted solutions. The method highlights that durable workflows can be surprisingly straightforward.
Firefox introduces a new profile management feature on October 14, enabling users to create private, focused spaces with separate bookmarks, logins, history, extensions, and themes. Profiles enhance organization, privacy, and accessibility, allowing users to set boundaries and reduce cognitive load. Built with privacy as a priority, each profile keeps data separate, preventing leaks. Users can customize profiles with colors, themes, and avatars, helping them control their online experience across work, personal, or other roles.
The British Geological Survey has created 3D geological models in Minecraft for educational purposes. Five worlds depict landscapes around the UK, using real geological data to show underground layers, surface topography, and landscape features. These models help explore geology's influence on landscapes and land use, and can be used for teaching, with some featuring simplified representations of complex geology and user-generated volcano worlds. The models require Minecraft and involve datasets like BGS 3D geology, elevation, and OS maps.
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Making MLS more decentralized by implementing DMLS enhances Forward Secrecy in group messaging systems. DMLS allows group state forks using puncturable pseudorandom functions (PPRFs) to prevent adversaries from re-computing secrets after compromises. This approach requires additional storage for multiple epochs and modifications to existing MLS implementations but improves security in decentralized environments where commit ordering cannot be strictly enforced. The system involves creating a new storage provider and implementing a PPRF to puncture key material, thereby preventing re-derivation of old secrets and supporting forks while maintaining security guarantees.
The Internet Archive's legal battles over e-book lending and the Open Library project have ended with settlements, but the organization suffered significant losses, including the removal of over 500,000 books. Founding focus on free digital access is challenged by copyright laws and litigation from media conglomerates aiming to control information flow. Despite setbacks, the Archive continues its mission, launching new projects like Democracy’s Library and preserving physical collections. Founder Brewster Kahle emphasizes the importance of libraries for societal education and warns of increasing threats from governments, corporations, and AI developments that may threaten digital and cultural preservation.
Fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%, primarily through improving cardiovascular health (26% reduction) and lowering cancer risk (22%). A meta-analysis of 64 studies with over 3.5 million subjects shows that increased fiber intake, about 10g/day, significantly decreases mortality risk. Fiber works by lowering LDL cholesterol through bile acid binding, stabilizing blood sugar, and promoting regular bowel movements. High-fiber foods include avocados, beans, whole grains, and fruits. Supplements like psyllium husk are also effective. Increasing fiber intake is accessible and beneficial for long-term health.
OpenAI's ChatGPT will no longer provide legal or medical advice, emphasizing limitations on its use for such purposes.
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Africa is rapidly building the future of energy infrastructure through private, off-grid solar solutions using pay-as-you-go financing, mobile money, and solar hardware cost reductions. This decentralized, modular approach bypasses traditional grid expansion, providing affordable, reliable electricity to 600 million people and transforming sectors like agriculture and healthcare. The model, supported by carbon credits and scalable logistics, exemplifies a 21st-century infrastructure paradigm—distributed, digital, competitive, and customer-centered—offering a blueprint for global energy access and development.
DynGen is a meta-UGen for SuperCollider that enables live scripting of DSP code using EEL2 as a JIT-compiled language. It allows real-time updates, flexibly replacing running UGens, and supports complex tasks like oversampling and delay lines. The system is currently beta, with ongoing community feedback and development. It is not planned for inclusion in official SuperCollider builds or sc3-plugins due to modularity and licensing considerations, but it can be distributed via modules. The approach aims to facilitate live coding and custom DSP development.
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