AI Summarized Hacker News
Front-page articles summarized hourly.
Malwarebytes reports fake 7-Zip downloads from 7zip[.]com delivering a trojanized installer that impersonates 7-Zip and is Authenticode-signed with a revoked cert. The payload drops Uphero.exe, hero.exe, and hero.dll into C:\Windows\SysWOW64\hero\, creates auto-start services, and uses netsh to modify firewall rules. It acts as a residential proxy, sending system data to C2 domains (iplogger.org) and routing traffic through proxies on nonstandard ports, using XOR-encoded traffic and rotating domains (smshero, hero-sms). Tied to a broader proxyware operation with other fake installers. Verify sources, block C2, and remove via Malwarebytes; OS reinstall if needed.
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Mol Smith reviews M-DISC as a durable archival medium. M-DISC uses an inorganic, glassy‑carbon data layer claimed to resist oxidation; Millenniata’s tests reportedly showed 1,000-year durability, though French metrology tests found no longer lifespans than conventional DVDs. The article notes M-DISC drives exist and are readable in standard players. In a personal outdoor trial, an ordinary Blu-ray failed while an M-DISC Blu-ray remained intact and playable after cleaning. Conclusion: M-Disc shows strong promise for long-term archival storage, but no 1,000-year guarantee and higher cost.
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Advocacy groups FIRE and EFF allege DHS and Florida AG Pam Bondi pressured platforms to censor ICE critics, eroding First Amendment rights. The suit highlights Apple’s removal of ICEBlock and Facebook’s disabling of a 100,000-member Chicago ICE-watch group, plus unmasking and app removals (Eyes Up). Officials have sometimes coerced content removal without court orders, delaying or bypassing user notice. FIRE/ACLU urge courts to curb coercion and demand warrants; platforms should shield users and resist gag orders. A ruling could restore access to ICE-monitoring resources; until then, watchers move to private channels.
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Vim 9.2 lands with major Vim9 scripting upgrades, improved diff mode, and expanded completion tooling. Highlights include fuzzy insert-mode completion and register-based completion, new completeopt flags, and experimental Wayland UI/clipboard support. It adheres to the XDG Base Directory Spec (config in ~/.config/vim), adds a vertical tabpanel, and native Windows dark mode with improved fullscreen. A built-in :Tutor offers interactive learning. Vim9 Script adds enums, generics, tuples, object methods, protected _new, and :defcompile. Diff enhancements include linematch, diffanchors, and inline highlighting; several defaults updated. Charityware transition to Kuwasha after Bram Moolenaar's passing; download available.
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Epstein’s files lay bare a troubling network of high‑profile scientists and public intellectuals drawn to his money, status, and salons, from Robert Trivers and Noam Chomsky to Lawrence Krauss, Martin Nowak, and even ties to Larry Summers, with Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins noted visitors. The liaison was frequently brokered by John Brockman and the Edge Foundation, linking Epstein to a white‑male ‘Big Ideas’ culture. While some cut ties after 2008, others rationalized it as nerd tunnel vision. The result is a moral rot in science public intellectuals, fueling narcissism, simplism, and politicized technofuturism, rather than rigorous ethics.
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The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly issued hundreds of administrative subpoenas to Google, Reddit, Discord and Meta seeking identifying details (names, emails, phone numbers) of accounts that criticize ICE. Subpoenas are not warrants, but their use has surged in the past year. Some targets posted about ICE in Montgomery County, PA. The ACLU says the tactic suppresses speech. Meta has blocked links to ICE List; lawmakers are pressuring Apple and Google over removing ICE-tracking apps.
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Could not summarize article.
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Maxime Heckel explores halftone post-processing shaders, showing how to build the effect from ground up in GLSL. Starting with a simple dot in a grid via distance fields and fract tiling, he adds pixelization, luma-based radius, and optional grid offsets to create density. He extends to multi-channel (RGB/CMYK) halftone, addressing Moiré with rotated layers, and discusses antialiasing with smoothstep/fwidth. Variants include rings, Gooey/liquid dots, displaced/dynamic dots, and sampling at cell centers to avoid edge clipping. The piece emphasizes modular shaders, real-time demos, and applying halftone to video/3D scenes.
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Reverse-engineering a Kickstarter smart sleep mask (EEG, EMS around eyes, heating, vibration, audio) reveals weak security. Claude finds two BLE data channels but no standard protocol. Analyzing the Flutter Android app uncovers hardcoded MQTT credentials, cloud endpoints, and 15 command bytes for vibration, heating, EMS, etc. Using a Dart snapshot decompiler, the encoding is mapped and a web dashboard is built. The MQTT broker, with shared credentials, exposes data from ~25 devices, including live EEG from two masks. Because credentials are shared, reading brainwaves can also trigger EMS remotely. Disclosure to the company.
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Colour (Colour) is a metaphor for the provenance and legal status of digital bits, not a property of the bits themselves. Bits are Colourless; Colour arises from origin, context, and use—affecting copyright, plagiarism, fair use, and related issues. Computer scientists are Colour-blind; lawyers see Colour as crucial. Using Paranoia’s security levels and Monolith’s scrambling, the piece shows Colour can shift with provenance even for bit-for-bit identical data. It applies to IP, AI training data, metadata, and how law and CS treat information differently. The author calls for a shared framework to understand Colour.
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Could not summarize article.
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datavorous/sameshi is a ~2KB minimal C chess engine (~1200 Elo). It uses fixed-depth 5 negamax with alpha-beta, a material-only eval, capture-first ordering, and full legal move validation, but no castling, en passant, promotion, repetition, or 50-move rule. It scored ~1170 Elo in 240 games vs Stockfish (1320–1600 levels), with 95% CI 1110–1225.
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ooh.directory is a curated directory of about 2,380 blogs spanning arts, tech, travel, personal essays, and more. It highlights recent posts, lets users browse by topic, and offers RSS and social links (Mastodon, Bluesky). The site is maintained by Phil Gyford (2022–2026).
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Code Storage by the Pierre Computer Company offers an API-first Git infrastructure for machines to create and manage repos without rate limits, aimed at AI coding platforms and agentic frameworks. It provides low-latency, scalable storage with 60x faster clones than S3/r2, sharded distributed Git storage, warm (recent) and cold (inactive) storage, and near-subsecond read/write latency. It exposes native Git endpoints and SDKs (TypeScript, Python, Go), with webhooks and a GitHub-backed sync engine. Pricing centers on warm/cold storage and bandwidth, billed monthly; security includes audits and per-tenant encryption. Contact [email protected] for demos.
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Counting subregisters and only widely usable registers, the post totals x86-64 registers by category: GPRs 68; Special 4; Segment 6; SIMD/FP 33; Bounds 7; Debug 6; Control 6; System-table pointers 4; memory-type-range regs (variable); architectural MSRs about 400. Running total is ~156 before MSRs and roughly 556–557 registers overall on a modern x86-64 core. APICs and some vendor-specific registers aren’t included. The article notes counting rules and caveats, and concludes ~557 registers on a typical recent core.
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Compression in databases trades CPU for I/O: S is uncompressed size, Sc compressed, R=S/Sc, Tc/Td are encode/decode times, Bx is I/O bandwidth. A breakeven bandwidth β=(S−Sc)/(Tc+Td) predicts latency benefits, but sustained throughput matters more: effective logical bandwidth is B_logical=Bx·R, limited by compressor throughput θ, which must meet θ≥Bx to saturate the pipe. Higher compression levels give diminishing returns and can raise tail latency if decompression is on the critical path. Best practice: combine semantic encoding with entropy compression; choose levels based on workload and costs, especially in the cloud.
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Slinging.org, founded by Chris Harrison, aims to be the definitive source for slinging information and news, built by a community of enthusiasts. A sling—two cords with a pouch—propels a projectile over about 1,500 ft (450 m) at 250+ mph (400 kph); its power and accuracy come from the user, the sling an extension of the body. Historically, the sling offered greater range and faster rate of fire than the bow, with notable accuracy in trained hands. It faded after Rome but remains used by enthusiasts; forum and legacy content available.
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A brief Infosec Exchange post quotes Taggart asking 'What’s going on here?' regarding the matplotlib maintainer, and notes Mastodon usage requires JavaScript, suggesting native apps as alternatives.
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Snapshot of 4claw, a multi-board forum focused on AI, AGI, and related topics. Boards include singularity, b, pol, religion, tinfoil, milady, confession, nsfw, job, and crypto, with threads about AI agency, safety, and memes. The page shows newest posts, thread counts, and links to docs (skill.md/json, heartbeat.md). It includes join instructions and a nod to “start shitposting.” Site stats: 11,595 posts, 2,027 threads, 58,708 agents.
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The article argues that 'rewiring' the brain is a seductive but flawed metaphor for neuroplasticity. Brain changes are not a simple swap of wires; they're like a living forest: gradual, context-dependent, and often old pathways persist. Plasticity exists across life but requires effort, repetition, and supportive conditions; changes are detours and reinforcement, not restoration of exact circuits. Examples include MIT for aphasia, TMS for addiction, language learning, music, and exercise shaping cognitive reserve. A better metaphor is landscape reshaping; avoid quick fixes and blaming patients when progress is slow.
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