Hasty Briefsbeta

Bilingual

What's New in Firefox 150
7 hours ago
- Stay private on public networks by hiding your location in places like cafés and airports.
- Use VPN selectively for specific sites while browsing, with an option to turn it off for others.
- Access up to 50 GB of extra protection monthly at no cost.
- Utilize Tab Notes to add notes directly within web pages for saving thoughts, ideas, or context.
- Employ Split View to open two tabs side-by-side in one window for comparing, referencing, or multitasking.
- Click the shield icon in the address bar to check security and privacy details of the current page.
Prusa Core One INDX – Toolchanger with 8 Nozzles
15 hours ago
- INDX conversion kit for Prusa CORE One/+ now available for pre-order, with shipping starting June 2026, and limited initial batch shipping by end of August 2026.
- Features eight independent nozzles for multi-material printing with near-zero waste (0.013g per swap), fast induction heating, self-adjusting grip, and no wipe tower.
- Includes new fast automatic nozzle calibration using eddy current sensing, loadcell for perfect first layers, and an automatic top vent system.
- Offers two editions: Bondtech Founders Edition (shipping early May) and Prusa Edition, with differences in front panel design and reinforced plastic parts.
- Priced at $749/$999 (4T/8T) tariffs included, with conversion kits for CORE One L and fully assembled printers planned later this year.
- Full spectrum painting in EasyPrint and PrusaSlicer (later) enables color mixing with a CMY filament set, expanding capabilities even with 4T INDX.
PCR Is a (Surprisingly) Near-Optimal Technology
3 days ago
- Writing often reveals flaws in initial arguments, as seen with the essay on PCR innovation.
- Photonic PCR uses light to heat samples rapidly, achieving 40 cycles in about six minutes.
- PCR amplifies DNA through temperature cycles; speed limits include diffusion, DNA length, and ramp rates.
- Reducing PCR cycles is not effective due to product reannealing limiting efficiency.
- Faster polymerases like Phusion cut extension time significantly, offering major time savings.
- Faster thermocyclers with instant ramp rates only save about 10 minutes per PCR, making photonic PCR less impactful.
- Cheap lab hardware struggles to gain adoption due to scientists' distrust and high switching costs.
- Entrenched tools like traditional thermocyclers are hard to replace despite high costs and minimal updates.
- Reader comments suggest bespoke solutions, system-level improvements, and free trials could drive adoption.
- Future PCR innovations may focus on integrated systems, microfluidics, or novel polymerase engineering.
New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper
5 hours ago
- New 10 GbE USB adapters using the RTL8159 chip are emerging as cooler, smaller, and cheaper alternatives to expensive, bulky Thunderbolt adapters, with prices around $80.
- Performance varies significantly based on USB port capabilities: full 10 Gbps speeds are only achievable with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports (20 Gbps), while others like Macs and some laptops get around 6-7 Gbps.
- USB naming and compatibility are confusing, with Windows often misreporting USB versions and many manufacturers not labeling port speeds, complicating user assessment of support.
- For users not needing full 10 Gbps, 2.5G or 5G USB adapters offer better value, being cheaper and still providing sufficient bandwidth for most needs.
- The new adapters have improved thermals and power efficiency, running at around 42.5°C and using minimal power, unlike older models that overheat and require large heatsinks.
The mail sent to a video game publisher
4 days ago
- Panic, a game publisher, has been receiving a wide variety of mail from players as part of a customer rewards program, including items like a dead fly, wedding invitations, and even a child's tooth (sent accidentally).
- The mail-in program was inspired by a 1980s Activision promotion where players could earn patches by proving game achievements, and Panic adapted it by placing links in game credits that lead to an instructional comic strip encouraging notes to developers.
- Players have sent creative and heartfelt notes, such as drawings, needlepoint crafts, and personal stories, like one from a Despelote player who couldn't play soccer due to health issues, strengthening bonds between the community and developers.
- The program has faced logistical challenges, including issues with international postage and envelope thickness, but Panic handles these to ensure patches reach players, with over a thousand pieces of mail received in the first month of 2024.
- The physical mail has been unexpectedly rewarding for Panic, providing a powerful sense of connection that surpasses online feedback, and the team digitally archives notes to share with developers globally, reinforcing the impact of their work.
Google is building a Claude Code challenger, Sergey Brin is involved
11 hours ago
- Google is forming a 'strike team' of researchers and engineers to improve its AI coding models, led by co-founder Sergey Brin and DeepMind CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu.
- This effort is in response to increasing competition from Anthropic, as Google believes its Gemini AI models lag behind Anthropic's coding tools.
- Google aims to develop self-improving AI systems that can write software by understanding user intent, focusing initially on internal use and training on proprietary code.
- Currently, Google uses AI agents for about 50% of its code, while Anthropic reportedly writes all code with AI, highlighting a competitive gap.
- Anthropic's success in code generation is reshaping the AI landscape, prompting OpenAI to refocus resources on code and enterprise work, and leading to significant revenue growth for Anthropic.
Why the Washington Post Lost in Virginia
8 hours ago
- Virginia's vote on a gerrymandered Democratic map had several losers: Donald Trump's PAC didn't fund Republicans, four GOP House members face likely defeat, and Virginia Republicans failed to prove they could win.
- The Washington Post editorial board faced criticism from Democrats for opposing their election campaign, with Democrats viewing the Post as outdated and no longer influential, especially among younger voters.
- Democrats are adapting to declining trust in traditional media, turning to influencers and podcasters who are more partisan or independent, while Republicans see media changes as balancing liberal bias.
- High-profile media decisions, like canceling shows, have led Democrats to believe corporate media prioritizes owner interests, accelerating conservative efforts to replace liberal media figures.
- Despite nostalgia for local media, Democrats like Maryland Gov. Wes Moore criticize outlets for losing impartiality, citing 'MAGA billionaires' like Bezos, and ignore Post editorials with confidence that liberals do too.
Is Italy the new tax haven for the global rich?
11 hours ago
- Italy is attracting global wealthy individuals with its tax incentives, including a flat tax on foreign income capped at €300,000 and exemptions for first home purchases.
- High net worth individuals benefit from no wealth tax, limited inheritance tax (4% above €1 million), and no property tax on first homes in Italy, unlike France's stricter regime.
- The war in the Middle East is reducing Dubai's appeal as a tax haven, making Italy an attractive alternative for wealthy Europeans seeking tax certainty within Europe.
- Many wealthy French and others are considering relocation to Italy due to political and tax uncertainties in their home countries, though actual moves require careful planning.
- Italy's combination of tax benefits, cultural appeal (la dolce vita), and stability positions it as a growing fiscal haven for the global rich.
YC as a Service
9 hours ago
- Clone any YC company (or easy-to-clone SaaS) for a one-time fee of $1,000.
- Receive source code, a live deployment, and perpetual ownership with no subscriptions or seat fees.
- Feature-match updates are provided for free forever, typically within a month of the target's release.
- Backed by $42M from angels and family offices, with no VC involvement to avoid pressure for liquidity events.
- Focus on ethical ownership: avoids SaaS lock-in, price hikes, and rent-seeking behavior common in traditional models.
Devin for Terminal
9 hours ago
- Devin for Terminal offers the easiest way to get started with Devin, allowing setup in seconds locally and upgrade to the cloud seamlessly.
- It is designed as the most capable cloud agent, enabling parallel sessions, with features like its own VM, testing, video recordings, and autofix.
- Devin supports multiple frontier models in one place, is superfast due to being written in Rust, and is performant enough to run on hardware like the VT100.
Do I belong in tech anymore?
15 hours ago
- The author quit their job despite it being good by conventional standards, as it became increasingly unfulfilling and led to burnout.
- A major factor in their burnout was the widespread and often unexamined use of AI tools in the workplace, which eroded quality, communication, and institutional knowledge.
- They express disillusionment with the tech industry's shift away from progressive ideals, such as climate action and social justice, feeling a 'loss of an ideal.'
- The author argues that meaningful work requires time, effort, and human communication, rejecting shortcuts, and is now taking time off to recover and reconsider their career path.
A 3D Body from Eight Questions – No Photo, No GPU
3 days ago
- A 3D body can be generated from an 8-question questionnaire using a small MLP with physics-aware loss, achieving height accuracy of 0.3 cm and mass accuracy of 0.3 kg on CPU in milliseconds.
- The method improves on photo-based pipelines for circumferences without needing photos, addressing privacy, speed, and cost concerns, and avoids user photo-taking hassle.
- Initial inspiration came from Bartol et al.'s regression using height and weight, but limitations were found due to inability to capture body shape variations like build, belly, shape, and cupsize.
- Additional features such as build, belly, cup size, and gender were analyzed and found to significantly reduce waist variation, with build having the most impact.
- A dataset of tens of thousands of synthetic bodies was generated using the Anny model, focusing on 58 relevant blendshapes, with separate models trained for each gender.
- The MLP uses a loss function incorporating forward pass through Anny to ensure accurate height and mass predictions, addressing mass calculation issues that ridge regression failed on.
- Results show mean errors for height (0.3 cm), mass (0.3-0.5 kg), and BWH circumferences (3-4 cm), outperforming both Bartol's regression and photo-based methods on validation sets.
- Lessons include fixing inconsistencies in Anny's mass calculation by adjusting body density based on gender and body fat, and adding ancestry features to reduce noise and improve accuracy.
- Future improvements may involve interactive body adjustment features and incorporating more attributes like limb lengths, moving beyond static questionnaires for better user input.
Open source memory layer so any AI agent can do what Claude.ai and ChatGPT do
10 hours ago
- Stash serves as a persistent cognitive layer for AI agents, enabling continuous memory across sessions without replacing the AI model.
- It organizes learned information into hierarchical namespaces (like folders), allowing automatic inclusion of sub-paths for efficient data retrieval.
- Unlike RAG, which is a smarter search engine over static documents, Stash learns from conversations, decisions, successes, and failures, synthesizing observations into a deepening knowledge graph.
- Stash is platform-agnostic, working with any AI model via MCP compatibility, unlike locked-in memory features from platforms like Claude.ai or ChatGPT.
- It addresses the limitations of AI models that forget everything between sessions, eliminating the need to repeat information and avoiding repeated failures.
- Setup is easy using Docker Compose, with no manual infrastructure or dependencies, and it supports various backends (e.g., OpenAI-compatible, OpenRouter, Ollama) without vendor lock-in.
- A background process continuously synthesizes experiences into structured knowledge, and tools cover the full cognitive stack, from basic memory functions to advanced reasoning like contradiction resolution.
- Stash is open-source (Apache 2.0 licensed), backed by PostgreSQL, and includes features like a self-namespace for agents to model their own capabilities and automated research loops for ongoing learning.
Kubernetes v1.36: User Namespaces in Kubernetes are finally GA
17 hours ago
- User Namespaces support in Kubernetes reaches GA with v1.36, a Linux-only feature.
- Enables rootless security isolation and allows workloads with privileges to be confined in user namespaces.
- Setting hostUsers: false makes capabilities like CAP_NET_ADMIN namespaced, granting container-local admin power.
- Addresses security risks by isolating container processes from host UID 0, mitigating container breakout threats.
- Uses ID-mapped mounts (Linux 5.12+) to transparently remap UIDs/GIDs, eliminating expensive chown operations.
- Implementation is straightforward via hostUsers: false in Pod spec, requiring no image changes.
Farewell ISDN, Ham Radio and Old Network Drivers: Linus Merges 138k LOC Removal
8 hours ago
- Linus Torvalds merged a pull request removing the outdated ISDN subsystem and various old network drivers from the Linux kernel.
- The removal of 138,161 lines of code was prompted by AI-generated bug reports, as the obsolete hardware likely lacks active users.
- Drivers for legacy hardware like 3com, AMD Lance, and amateur ham radio support were eliminated to reduce maintenance burden.
- Linux 7.1 also phased out bus mouse support, Intel 486 CPU support, and support for Russia's Baikal CPUs.
2 Men claimed a record by driving an old 3-wheel car length of Africa
8 hours ago
- Two adventurers, Englishman Ollie Jenks and Canadian Seth Scott, drove a 1970s-era Reliant Robin three-wheeled car from London to Cape Town, covering 14,000 miles through 22 countries, to set a record for the longest trip in a three-wheeled vehicle.
- The journey, costing $40,000-50,000 and lasting over four months, faced numerous challenges including breakdowns, treacherous roads, political unrest in Benin and Nigeria, and a military escort in Cameroon, but continued for more than 120 days.
- Supported by sponsors, crowd funding, an active Instagram page with nearly 100,000 followers, and the kindness of strangers and mechanics, they repaired issues like gearbox and engine failures, culminating in a celebratory display in Cape Town before the car's planned retirement at the London Transport Museum.
"Plain text has been around for decades and it's here to stay." – Unsung
10 hours ago
- Plain text remains a timeless format with ongoing relevance.
- Tools like Mockdown, Wiretext, and Monodraw are used for ASCII diagramming, appealing to those who prefer limited visual choices or need diagrams for source code.
- These tools represent a modern revival of 1970s–1980s TUI concepts, enhanced with contemporary features like web access and improved interfaces.
- Practicing constraints in design is increasingly important, especially with AI advancements, to balance ease and challenge in creative work.
- Monospace plain text offers power and longevity due to portability and the familiarity of text editing as an interface.
- ASCII tools are colloquially referred to as such, similar to how 'GIFs' broadly describe looping animations.
(Blender) Cosmology with Geometry Nodes
10 hours ago
- The author uses Blender's Geometry Nodes in cosmology for computation, visualization, and debugging, notably with Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation data.
- Geometry Nodes enable SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) computations on mesh elements, useful for small-scale projects and real-time results in cosmology.
- Key applications include visualizing CMB sky maps, pixel-preserving rotations, simulating Doppler boost and aberration effects, generating square images for machine learning, simulating gravitational lensing, and creating Mollweide projections in real-time.
- HEALPix (Hierarchical Equal Area isoLatitude Pixelation) is used for efficient spherical data storage and computation, integrated with Geometry Nodes for map analysis.
- Float64 precision is emulated using two float32 numbers to handle high-resolution cosmological data accurately within Geometry Nodes.
- The techniques are inspired by general physics applications and could extend to areas like crystal simulations, astrophysics, and general relativity.
Reverse-engineering infrared-based electronic shelf labels
3 days ago
- Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) use infrared or radio technologies for price and information updates, with some systems lacking encryption or security measures.
- Infrared-based ESLs, like those from Pricer, employ Pulse Position Modulation (PPM) with PP4 and PP16 symbol sets, enabling data transmission via 940nm bursts at 1.25MHz carrier frequency.
- ESL infrastructure includes management servers, base stations, and transceivers; tags have unique PLIDs derived from barcodes, and commands for updates involve specific frames with CRCs and optional keys.
- Security vulnerabilities allow unauthorized price or image changes, tag locking, or firmware updates, though some brands mention security features like AES-128 encryption.
- Tag electronics rely on proprietary ASICs with volatile RAM for firmware, risking irrecoverable loss if power fails, and may include programming contacts for initial setup.
Liven up your screenshots with errant open tabs
13 hours ago
- Tab Snitch is a tool designed to liven up screenshots by including open tabs.
- A list of topics ranges from work tips (looking busy, productivity) to health concerns (itchy bum hole, green pee).
- Entertainment and media topics include 'The Office', 'Severance Season 2', and 'My Little Pony Friendship is Magic'.
- Tech-related queries cover coding issues (exiting vim, git rebase) and professional correspondence (emails, resignation letters).

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Bilingual

What's New in Firefox 150
7 hours ago
- Stay private on public networks by hiding your location in places like cafés and airports.
- Use VPN selectively for specific sites while browsing, with an option to turn it off for others.
- Access up to 50 GB of extra protection monthly at no cost.
- Utilize Tab Notes to add notes directly within web pages for saving thoughts, ideas, or context.
- Employ Split View to open two tabs side-by-side in one window for comparing, referencing, or multitasking.
- Click the shield icon in the address bar to check security and privacy details of the current page.
Prusa Core One INDX – Toolchanger with 8 Nozzles
15 hours ago
- INDX conversion kit for Prusa CORE One/+ now available for pre-order, with shipping starting June 2026, and limited initial batch shipping by end of August 2026.
- Features eight independent nozzles for multi-material printing with near-zero waste (0.013g per swap), fast induction heating, self-adjusting grip, and no wipe tower.
- Includes new fast automatic nozzle calibration using eddy current sensing, loadcell for perfect first layers, and an automatic top vent system.
- Offers two editions: Bondtech Founders Edition (shipping early May) and Prusa Edition, with differences in front panel design and reinforced plastic parts.
- Priced at $749/$999 (4T/8T) tariffs included, with conversion kits for CORE One L and fully assembled printers planned later this year.
- Full spectrum painting in EasyPrint and PrusaSlicer (later) enables color mixing with a CMY filament set, expanding capabilities even with 4T INDX.
PCR Is a (Surprisingly) Near-Optimal Technology
3 days ago
- Writing often reveals flaws in initial arguments, as seen with the essay on PCR innovation.
- Photonic PCR uses light to heat samples rapidly, achieving 40 cycles in about six minutes.
- PCR amplifies DNA through temperature cycles; speed limits include diffusion, DNA length, and ramp rates.
- Reducing PCR cycles is not effective due to product reannealing limiting efficiency.
- Faster polymerases like Phusion cut extension time significantly, offering major time savings.
- Faster thermocyclers with instant ramp rates only save about 10 minutes per PCR, making photonic PCR less impactful.
- Cheap lab hardware struggles to gain adoption due to scientists' distrust and high switching costs.
- Entrenched tools like traditional thermocyclers are hard to replace despite high costs and minimal updates.
- Reader comments suggest bespoke solutions, system-level improvements, and free trials could drive adoption.
- Future PCR innovations may focus on integrated systems, microfluidics, or novel polymerase engineering.
New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper
5 hours ago
- New 10 GbE USB adapters using the RTL8159 chip are emerging as cooler, smaller, and cheaper alternatives to expensive, bulky Thunderbolt adapters, with prices around $80.
- Performance varies significantly based on USB port capabilities: full 10 Gbps speeds are only achievable with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports (20 Gbps), while others like Macs and some laptops get around 6-7 Gbps.
- USB naming and compatibility are confusing, with Windows often misreporting USB versions and many manufacturers not labeling port speeds, complicating user assessment of support.
- For users not needing full 10 Gbps, 2.5G or 5G USB adapters offer better value, being cheaper and still providing sufficient bandwidth for most needs.
- The new adapters have improved thermals and power efficiency, running at around 42.5°C and using minimal power, unlike older models that overheat and require large heatsinks.
The mail sent to a video game publisher
4 days ago
- Panic, a game publisher, has been receiving a wide variety of mail from players as part of a customer rewards program, including items like a dead fly, wedding invitations, and even a child's tooth (sent accidentally).
- The mail-in program was inspired by a 1980s Activision promotion where players could earn patches by proving game achievements, and Panic adapted it by placing links in game credits that lead to an instructional comic strip encouraging notes to developers.
- Players have sent creative and heartfelt notes, such as drawings, needlepoint crafts, and personal stories, like one from a Despelote player who couldn't play soccer due to health issues, strengthening bonds between the community and developers.
- The program has faced logistical challenges, including issues with international postage and envelope thickness, but Panic handles these to ensure patches reach players, with over a thousand pieces of mail received in the first month of 2024.
- The physical mail has been unexpectedly rewarding for Panic, providing a powerful sense of connection that surpasses online feedback, and the team digitally archives notes to share with developers globally, reinforcing the impact of their work.
Google is building a Claude Code challenger, Sergey Brin is involved
11 hours ago
- Google is forming a 'strike team' of researchers and engineers to improve its AI coding models, led by co-founder Sergey Brin and DeepMind CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu.
- This effort is in response to increasing competition from Anthropic, as Google believes its Gemini AI models lag behind Anthropic's coding tools.
- Google aims to develop self-improving AI systems that can write software by understanding user intent, focusing initially on internal use and training on proprietary code.
- Currently, Google uses AI agents for about 50% of its code, while Anthropic reportedly writes all code with AI, highlighting a competitive gap.
- Anthropic's success in code generation is reshaping the AI landscape, prompting OpenAI to refocus resources on code and enterprise work, and leading to significant revenue growth for Anthropic.
Why the Washington Post Lost in Virginia
8 hours ago
- Virginia's vote on a gerrymandered Democratic map had several losers: Donald Trump's PAC didn't fund Republicans, four GOP House members face likely defeat, and Virginia Republicans failed to prove they could win.
- The Washington Post editorial board faced criticism from Democrats for opposing their election campaign, with Democrats viewing the Post as outdated and no longer influential, especially among younger voters.
- Democrats are adapting to declining trust in traditional media, turning to influencers and podcasters who are more partisan or independent, while Republicans see media changes as balancing liberal bias.
- High-profile media decisions, like canceling shows, have led Democrats to believe corporate media prioritizes owner interests, accelerating conservative efforts to replace liberal media figures.
- Despite nostalgia for local media, Democrats like Maryland Gov. Wes Moore criticize outlets for losing impartiality, citing 'MAGA billionaires' like Bezos, and ignore Post editorials with confidence that liberals do too.
Is Italy the new tax haven for the global rich?
11 hours ago
- Italy is attracting global wealthy individuals with its tax incentives, including a flat tax on foreign income capped at €300,000 and exemptions for first home purchases.
- High net worth individuals benefit from no wealth tax, limited inheritance tax (4% above €1 million), and no property tax on first homes in Italy, unlike France's stricter regime.
- The war in the Middle East is reducing Dubai's appeal as a tax haven, making Italy an attractive alternative for wealthy Europeans seeking tax certainty within Europe.
- Many wealthy French and others are considering relocation to Italy due to political and tax uncertainties in their home countries, though actual moves require careful planning.
- Italy's combination of tax benefits, cultural appeal (la dolce vita), and stability positions it as a growing fiscal haven for the global rich.
YC as a Service
9 hours ago
- Clone any YC company (or easy-to-clone SaaS) for a one-time fee of $1,000.
- Receive source code, a live deployment, and perpetual ownership with no subscriptions or seat fees.
- Feature-match updates are provided for free forever, typically within a month of the target's release.
- Backed by $42M from angels and family offices, with no VC involvement to avoid pressure for liquidity events.
- Focus on ethical ownership: avoids SaaS lock-in, price hikes, and rent-seeking behavior common in traditional models.
Devin for Terminal
9 hours ago
- Devin for Terminal offers the easiest way to get started with Devin, allowing setup in seconds locally and upgrade to the cloud seamlessly.
- It is designed as the most capable cloud agent, enabling parallel sessions, with features like its own VM, testing, video recordings, and autofix.
- Devin supports multiple frontier models in one place, is superfast due to being written in Rust, and is performant enough to run on hardware like the VT100.
Do I belong in tech anymore?
15 hours ago
- The author quit their job despite it being good by conventional standards, as it became increasingly unfulfilling and led to burnout.
- A major factor in their burnout was the widespread and often unexamined use of AI tools in the workplace, which eroded quality, communication, and institutional knowledge.
- They express disillusionment with the tech industry's shift away from progressive ideals, such as climate action and social justice, feeling a 'loss of an ideal.'
- The author argues that meaningful work requires time, effort, and human communication, rejecting shortcuts, and is now taking time off to recover and reconsider their career path.
A 3D Body from Eight Questions – No Photo, No GPU
3 days ago
- A 3D body can be generated from an 8-question questionnaire using a small MLP with physics-aware loss, achieving height accuracy of 0.3 cm and mass accuracy of 0.3 kg on CPU in milliseconds.
- The method improves on photo-based pipelines for circumferences without needing photos, addressing privacy, speed, and cost concerns, and avoids user photo-taking hassle.
- Initial inspiration came from Bartol et al.'s regression using height and weight, but limitations were found due to inability to capture body shape variations like build, belly, shape, and cupsize.
- Additional features such as build, belly, cup size, and gender were analyzed and found to significantly reduce waist variation, with build having the most impact.
- A dataset of tens of thousands of synthetic bodies was generated using the Anny model, focusing on 58 relevant blendshapes, with separate models trained for each gender.
- The MLP uses a loss function incorporating forward pass through Anny to ensure accurate height and mass predictions, addressing mass calculation issues that ridge regression failed on.
- Results show mean errors for height (0.3 cm), mass (0.3-0.5 kg), and BWH circumferences (3-4 cm), outperforming both Bartol's regression and photo-based methods on validation sets.
- Lessons include fixing inconsistencies in Anny's mass calculation by adjusting body density based on gender and body fat, and adding ancestry features to reduce noise and improve accuracy.
- Future improvements may involve interactive body adjustment features and incorporating more attributes like limb lengths, moving beyond static questionnaires for better user input.
Open source memory layer so any AI agent can do what Claude.ai and ChatGPT do
10 hours ago
- Stash serves as a persistent cognitive layer for AI agents, enabling continuous memory across sessions without replacing the AI model.
- It organizes learned information into hierarchical namespaces (like folders), allowing automatic inclusion of sub-paths for efficient data retrieval.
- Unlike RAG, which is a smarter search engine over static documents, Stash learns from conversations, decisions, successes, and failures, synthesizing observations into a deepening knowledge graph.
- Stash is platform-agnostic, working with any AI model via MCP compatibility, unlike locked-in memory features from platforms like Claude.ai or ChatGPT.
- It addresses the limitations of AI models that forget everything between sessions, eliminating the need to repeat information and avoiding repeated failures.
- Setup is easy using Docker Compose, with no manual infrastructure or dependencies, and it supports various backends (e.g., OpenAI-compatible, OpenRouter, Ollama) without vendor lock-in.
- A background process continuously synthesizes experiences into structured knowledge, and tools cover the full cognitive stack, from basic memory functions to advanced reasoning like contradiction resolution.
- Stash is open-source (Apache 2.0 licensed), backed by PostgreSQL, and includes features like a self-namespace for agents to model their own capabilities and automated research loops for ongoing learning.
Kubernetes v1.36: User Namespaces in Kubernetes are finally GA
17 hours ago
- User Namespaces support in Kubernetes reaches GA with v1.36, a Linux-only feature.
- Enables rootless security isolation and allows workloads with privileges to be confined in user namespaces.
- Setting hostUsers: false makes capabilities like CAP_NET_ADMIN namespaced, granting container-local admin power.
- Addresses security risks by isolating container processes from host UID 0, mitigating container breakout threats.
- Uses ID-mapped mounts (Linux 5.12+) to transparently remap UIDs/GIDs, eliminating expensive chown operations.
- Implementation is straightforward via hostUsers: false in Pod spec, requiring no image changes.
Farewell ISDN, Ham Radio and Old Network Drivers: Linus Merges 138k LOC Removal
8 hours ago
- Linus Torvalds merged a pull request removing the outdated ISDN subsystem and various old network drivers from the Linux kernel.
- The removal of 138,161 lines of code was prompted by AI-generated bug reports, as the obsolete hardware likely lacks active users.
- Drivers for legacy hardware like 3com, AMD Lance, and amateur ham radio support were eliminated to reduce maintenance burden.
- Linux 7.1 also phased out bus mouse support, Intel 486 CPU support, and support for Russia's Baikal CPUs.
2 Men claimed a record by driving an old 3-wheel car length of Africa
8 hours ago
- Two adventurers, Englishman Ollie Jenks and Canadian Seth Scott, drove a 1970s-era Reliant Robin three-wheeled car from London to Cape Town, covering 14,000 miles through 22 countries, to set a record for the longest trip in a three-wheeled vehicle.
- The journey, costing $40,000-50,000 and lasting over four months, faced numerous challenges including breakdowns, treacherous roads, political unrest in Benin and Nigeria, and a military escort in Cameroon, but continued for more than 120 days.
- Supported by sponsors, crowd funding, an active Instagram page with nearly 100,000 followers, and the kindness of strangers and mechanics, they repaired issues like gearbox and engine failures, culminating in a celebratory display in Cape Town before the car's planned retirement at the London Transport Museum.
"Plain text has been around for decades and it's here to stay." – Unsung
10 hours ago
- Plain text remains a timeless format with ongoing relevance.
- Tools like Mockdown, Wiretext, and Monodraw are used for ASCII diagramming, appealing to those who prefer limited visual choices or need diagrams for source code.
- These tools represent a modern revival of 1970s–1980s TUI concepts, enhanced with contemporary features like web access and improved interfaces.
- Practicing constraints in design is increasingly important, especially with AI advancements, to balance ease and challenge in creative work.
- Monospace plain text offers power and longevity due to portability and the familiarity of text editing as an interface.
- ASCII tools are colloquially referred to as such, similar to how 'GIFs' broadly describe looping animations.
(Blender) Cosmology with Geometry Nodes
10 hours ago
- The author uses Blender's Geometry Nodes in cosmology for computation, visualization, and debugging, notably with Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation data.
- Geometry Nodes enable SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) computations on mesh elements, useful for small-scale projects and real-time results in cosmology.
- Key applications include visualizing CMB sky maps, pixel-preserving rotations, simulating Doppler boost and aberration effects, generating square images for machine learning, simulating gravitational lensing, and creating Mollweide projections in real-time.
- HEALPix (Hierarchical Equal Area isoLatitude Pixelation) is used for efficient spherical data storage and computation, integrated with Geometry Nodes for map analysis.
- Float64 precision is emulated using two float32 numbers to handle high-resolution cosmological data accurately within Geometry Nodes.
- The techniques are inspired by general physics applications and could extend to areas like crystal simulations, astrophysics, and general relativity.
Reverse-engineering infrared-based electronic shelf labels
3 days ago
- Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) use infrared or radio technologies for price and information updates, with some systems lacking encryption or security measures.
- Infrared-based ESLs, like those from Pricer, employ Pulse Position Modulation (PPM) with PP4 and PP16 symbol sets, enabling data transmission via 940nm bursts at 1.25MHz carrier frequency.
- ESL infrastructure includes management servers, base stations, and transceivers; tags have unique PLIDs derived from barcodes, and commands for updates involve specific frames with CRCs and optional keys.
- Security vulnerabilities allow unauthorized price or image changes, tag locking, or firmware updates, though some brands mention security features like AES-128 encryption.
- Tag electronics rely on proprietary ASICs with volatile RAM for firmware, risking irrecoverable loss if power fails, and may include programming contacts for initial setup.
Liven up your screenshots with errant open tabs
13 hours ago
- Tab Snitch is a tool designed to liven up screenshots by including open tabs.
- A list of topics ranges from work tips (looking busy, productivity) to health concerns (itchy bum hole, green pee).
- Entertainment and media topics include 'The Office', 'Severance Season 2', and 'My Little Pony Friendship is Magic'.
- Tech-related queries cover coding issues (exiting vim, git rebase) and professional correspondence (emails, resignation letters).

Hasty Briefsbeta

What's New in Firefox 150

Prusa Core One INDX – Toolchanger with 8 Nozzles

PCR Is a (Surprisingly) Near-Optimal Technology

New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper

The mail sent to a video game publisher

Google is building a Claude Code challenger, Sergey Brin is involved

Why the Washington Post Lost in Virginia

Is Italy the new tax haven for the global rich?

YC as a Service

Devin for Terminal

Do I belong in tech anymore?

A 3D Body from Eight Questions – No Photo, No GPU

Open source memory layer so any AI agent can do what Claude.ai and ChatGPT do

Kubernetes v1.36: User Namespaces in Kubernetes are finally GA

Farewell ISDN, Ham Radio and Old Network Drivers: Linus Merges 138k LOC Removal

2 Men claimed a record by driving an old 3-wheel car length of Africa

"Plain text has been around for decades and it's here to stay." – Unsung

(Blender) Cosmology with Geometry Nodes

Reverse-engineering infrared-based electronic shelf labels

Liven up your screenshots with errant open tabs

What's New in Firefox 150

Prusa Core One INDX – Toolchanger with 8 Nozzles

PCR Is a (Surprisingly) Near-Optimal Technology

New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper

The mail sent to a video game publisher

Google is building a Claude Code challenger, Sergey Brin is involved

Why the Washington Post Lost in Virginia

Is Italy the new tax haven for the global rich?

YC as a Service

Devin for Terminal

Do I belong in tech anymore?

A 3D Body from Eight Questions – No Photo, No GPU

Open source memory layer so any AI agent can do what Claude.ai and ChatGPT do

Kubernetes v1.36: User Namespaces in Kubernetes are finally GA

Farewell ISDN, Ham Radio and Old Network Drivers: Linus Merges 138k LOC Removal

2 Men claimed a record by driving an old 3-wheel car length of Africa

"Plain text has been around for decades and it's here to stay." – Unsung

(Blender) Cosmology with Geometry Nodes

Reverse-engineering infrared-based electronic shelf labels

Liven up your screenshots with errant open tabs