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AI inference is obviously profitable
a day ago
- AI inference is profitable despite claims of unprofitability.
- Estimates show AI inference costs around $1 per million tokens, while API prices are much higher, leading to high gross margins.
- Open LLMs like DeepSeek demonstrate profitable inference with lower pricing, confirming cost-effectiveness.
- AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic use high inference margins to subsidize expensive training costs.
- Even if AI labs fail, inference providers can profit from selling model access, ensuring the inference business survives.
The food science behind designing an ice cream
a day ago
- The article explores the challenge of ice cream melting quickly in the Indian summer, tracing efforts from historical methods like Mughal kulfi to modern innovations.
- Ice cream is described as a multi-phase material consisting of ice crystals, sugar syrup, air, and fat, all contributing to its texture and stability.
- Different cultures have developed heat-resistant ice cream variants, such as Turkish dondurma with salep and mastic, and Thai rolled ice cream.
- India's ice cream market is growing rapidly, with regional variations in formulations—dairy-based in the North/West and vegetable fat-based in the South/East for better heat stability.
- Cold-chain logistics in India are improving with IoT and better packaging, but temperature fluctuations remain a problem during distribution.
- Brands like Hocco and NOTO are innovating with denser compositions, high-protein formulas, and robust packaging to withstand heat.
- Soft serve ice cream, stored as ambient-temperature liquid mix and frozen at point of sale, bypasses cold-chain issues entirely.
- Research into heat-stable ice cream includes using strawberry polyphenols, bacterial proteins like BslA, and antifreeze proteins to slow melting.
- Unilever has patented reformulations for warmer freezer temperatures and made some patents freely available to encourage innovation.
- The article concludes that solutions for melt-resistant ice cream exist but need broader implementation to improve the everyday ice cream experience in India.
Europe's extreme heat is shutting down power plants
6 hours ago
- Europe faces a record-breaking heat wave, increasing electricity demand for cooling.
- High temperatures cause river water to warm, forcing nuclear plants in France to shut down or reduce output.
- French regulations limit the temperature of water returned to rivers after cooling, leading to plant shutdowns.
- Extreme heat previously caused significant nuclear energy shutdowns in France during July 2025.
- Hydropower supplies in Europe have dropped by 13% due to high temperatures and low water conditions.
- Natural-gas and coal plants in the UK report output reductions due to heat-stressed equipment.
- Cooling demand is rising globally, especially in countries like the UK where air-conditioning use has doubled since 2022.
- Global energy use for cooling is projected to double by 2050, increasing strain on power grids.
- Adaptations like grid reinforcement and climate-proofing cooling systems could be costly, with EDF estimating €600 million per year for upgrades.
An "infovore" shares his chats
3 hours ago
- Tyler Cowen uses ChatGPT to pursue his endless curiosity as an 'infovore,' aiming to be an information trillionaire.
- He employs ChatGPT for diverse tasks: critiquing economics papers, understanding complex topics like baseball training, planning travel itineraries, checking local safety via media, refining art appreciation, analyzing chess games, getting art appraisals, finding concerts, and learning to listen to symphonies.
- Cowen views AI tools as the best human invention for 'cracking cultural codes' and sees ChatGPT Pro as reliable, with AI knowing him better than most humans due to his extensive online presence.
- His interest in AI dates back to chess computers in the 1970s, and he believes AI can be intuitive and creative, not just calculative.
- ChatGPT has reduced his need for web searches and provides efficient, valuable insights across his multidisciplinary pursuits.
A peek into Reddit's anti-spam internals
2 hours ago
- In 2021, a Reddit moderator accidentally saw internal anti-spam removal reasons due to a temporary Reddit error, revealing details of Reddit's spam detection systems.
- The observed systems include domain removals (banned domains like Tumblr), 'spammit' (percentage-based spam scoring), shadowbans (silent bans), and 'spamurai' (rules and ML-based system).
- Spamurai uses extensive data: Perspective API spam scores, account age, karma, reports, ISP, email domain, user agent, fingerprinting hashes (RHS, TLS), language headers, and referrer info.
- Reddit's anti-spam evolved from older systems (CRM114, Python-based) to newer ones like REV1/spamurai (Lua rules) and REV2/snooron (Flink, image OCR, Python3).
- The Perspective API (Google's spam/toxic detection) was used by Reddit but is shutting down; its spam score is sensitive to minor text changes, allowing potential bypass.
- Some removals target specific strings (e.g., regex bans on 'UA-' Google Analytics IDs) or inspect linked content, and bans can be triggered by suspicious accounts.
- The info is shared in 2026 as it's less risky: Perspective API is ending, and LLMs have changed spam, likely forcing Reddit to overhaul systems.
- The author also notes personal updates (x86css blog post, talks, x3ctf event) and the blog's handmade, minimal web design (46kB gzipped).
One man, two kernels, and a lot of RISC-V
a day ago
- Yuri Zaporozhets develops innovative computing projects, frequently announcing new achievements.
- He created the GateMate PC, a RISC-V-based system inspired by early IBM PCs, using an FPGA board.
- He also built the GateMate System/359, a small mainframe on FPGA as a tribute to IBM System/360.
- Zaporozhets ported QNX 6.4 to RISC-V, resulting in the QRV operating system after a substantial rewrite.
- Due to QNX's licensing restrictions, he developed QSOE, an OS with variants using Skimmer or seL4 kernels.
- QSOE is open source under Apache 2.0 and draws from his long experience, including earlier RadiOS project.
- He acknowledges using Claude LLM for assistance but has been working on these ideas for decades.
Tmux 3.7 Terminal Multiplexer Released with Initial Floating Pane Support
4 hours ago
- Tmux 3.7 introduces floating panes, which appear above tiled layouts and function like regular panes without being modal, though features like swapping or converting them are not yet supported.
- Line number support is added in copy mode with modes such as off, absolute, relative, and hybrid, and clipboard handling is improved with the get-clipboard option.
- Enhancements include the focus-follows-mouse option for pane focus, new mouse controls, better list-keys command with sorting and formatting, improved SIXEL image handling, and stricter security sanitization of titles and names.
Zuckerberg's Increasingly Bizarre War on Whistleblowers
3 hours ago
- Mark Zuckerberg and Meta are aggressively pursuing legal action against whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, author of the book 'Careless People', which exposes misconduct at Facebook.
- Meta has used nondisclosure, nondisparagement, and binding arbitration clauses to silence Wynn-Williams, leading to an arbitrator ordering her to pay over $11 million and refrain from promoting her book.
- Despite compliance, including remaining silent during public appearances, Meta claims further breaches and seeks more damages, prompting Wynn-Williams to sue to invalidate her contract.
- The article compares Zuckerberg's actions to Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenka's repression, suggesting both use heavy-handed tactics to intimidate critics and maintain control.
- Meta's motivation may include hiding worse misconduct since Wynn-Williams' departure, financial pressures from AI investments, and deterring other ex-employees from speaking out.
- The text includes various links and sections on topics like AI criticism, unionization, surveillance, and upcoming author appearances, reflecting a broader commentary on tech and society.
Suspicious Discontinuities
4 hours ago
- Discontinuities in systems such as voting on link aggregators create sharp differences in traffic based on hitting thresholds like front-page status.
- Pell Grants intended to aid low-income students led to adverse outcomes, with higher-income qualifiers benefiting more and lower-income non-qualifiers being disproportionately harmed.
- Spikes in election results at round numbers (e.g., 95%) suggest election fraud, as seen in Russian elections and supported by Benford's law.
- Discontinuities in auction bids, like those in Japanese procurement, indicate potential collusion when bidders maintain ranks across rounds.
- Psychology papers show a spike in p-values just below 0.05, reflecting incentives to achieve statistical significance, prompting calls to abolish such thresholds.
- Cocaine possession charges spiked at 280g after the Fair Sentencing Act, highlighting prosecutorial discretion in meeting mandatory minimum thresholds.
- Polish high school exit exams exhibit a discontinuity at the passing score of 30, with teachers inflating grades in subjective subjects to avoid failures.
- Birth month affects youth sports participation, with older-within-year players having advantages due to age cutoffs, persisting despite known inefficiencies.
- Restaurant health inspection grades show discontinuities at grade boundaries (e.g., between A and B), suggesting inspectors may nudge scores.
- Marathon finishing times cluster at round numbers (e.g., half-hours), as runners adjust pace to hit these targets.
- Discontinuities can be detected via histograms, scatterplots, and CDFs, and smoothed using randomization or queue management techniques.
Post-Mythos Cybersecurity: Keep calm and carry on
3 hours ago
- Cybersecurity concerns are rising due to AI models like Claude Mythos, but the core response remains unchanged.
- Mythos offers advanced capabilities like automated zero-day exploitation, but its impact is gradual and limited by high costs.
- Claims about Mythos finding old vulnerabilities are often exaggerated; AI-assisted discovery increases prevalence but not necessarily difficulty.
- Mythos reduces false positives and proves exploitability, giving it an edge over earlier models.
- Access to Mythos is restricted by governments and companies, creating artificial scarcity while competitors like OpenAI develop similar tools.
- Organizations should focus on existing AI tools, vulnerability management, attack surface reduction, defense-in-depth, and zero-trust principles.
- Mythos raises the stakes but does not invalidate traditional cybersecurity priorities.
Russian citizens told "switch to Android" after Apple blocks key Russian apps
4 hours ago
- Russia led globally in 2025 by requesting Apple to remove 1,213 apps, many of which were VPNs to bypass internet censorship.
- Russia aims to create a closed, surveillance-friendly internet, favoring state-approved apps like VKontakte and Max, while seeking bans on others.
- Apple recently blocked VKontakte and Max in Russia, disabling push notifications, leading to Kremlin demands for an explanation.
It's Official: F-35s Are Now Being Delivered Without Radars
6 hours ago
- The U.S. Marine Corps has accepted at least six F-35B jets without radars due to delays in the new AN/APG-85 radar development, with first production expected in 2028.
- F-35 readiness rates are a concern: GAO reports a drop in full mission capable (FMC) rates from 38% to 25% (FY 2020-2025), while the F-35 JPO claims a 56% rate, highlighting methodological disputes.
- The AN/APG-85 is part of the Block 4 upgrade, facing delays and cost overruns; integration requires enhanced cooling (62-80 kilowatts), but current systems only provide 32 kilowatts, risking performance without a power upgrade.
- Radarless F-35s have limited capabilities but can share data via MADL if flying with radar-equipped jets; however, they lack electronic warfare functions and are not considered fully mission capable.
- The F-35 program's total lifecycle cost is estimated at $2.1 trillion, including acquisition and inflation; spare parts shortages and maintenance challenges contribute to low readiness rates across all variants.
Asian AI startups launch Mythos-like models
4 hours ago
- 360 launched Tulongfeng, an AI tool for cybersecurity to rival Anthropic's Mythos.
- Sakana AI released Fugu, a frontier AI model for agents, positioning it as an alternative amidst U.S. export bans on Anthropic's models.
- Both Asian models aim to reduce reliance on U.S. AI, with Fugu focusing on orchestration and local optimization, while Tulongfeng emphasizes national security and vulnerability detection.
- Sakana co-founders highlighted the importance of collective intelligence and preserving access to AI, rather than a permanent shift away from U.S. models.
- The export controls have created opportunities for local alternatives in Asia, trained to better understand regional languages and nuances.
How Many Elementary Particles Are There, Really?
5 hours ago
- The Standard Model of particle physics includes 17 particles: 12 matter fermions, 4 force bosons, and 1 Higgs boson.
- Antiparticles double the count to 30, including 24 matter particles and 6 force particles.
- Eight gluons and color/anticolor variants of quarks further increase the total to 61.
- Chirality and polarization states expand the count to 118 distinct particle types.
- Degrees of freedom vary with energy scale, with theoretical calculations suggesting 995.5 in total.
Streaming services' obnoxiously loud ads become illegal on July 1 in California
5 hours ago
- California's SB 576 law, effective July 1, bans streaming platforms from playing ads louder than the accompanying video content, aligning with existing broadcast TV regulations under the CALM Act.
- The law, signed in October 2025, mirrors rules for broadcast, cable, and satellite TV providers, which already restrict commercial volume to match program levels.
- Streaming services have not detailed compliance plans or whether volume adjustments will apply outside California, but similar requirements are set for Illinois by July 1, 2027.
I owe my life to a 1913 road rage incident
9 hours ago
- In 1913, great-grandfather Dominus Andor (originally Dominusz Andor) was involved in a road rage incident in Vienna, where he fired a pistol after a confrontation with local youths.
- Andor was tried for assault and sentenced to a week in prison, but had already served more time. A civil suit from the injured victim prompted his move to the USA within four months.
- Andor's family joined him in Brooklyn in 1913, where they settled, changed names to sound more American (e.g., Sándor to Samuel), and he was naturalized in 1920, ensuring the family lineage continued.
Task Failed Successfully: Saturating NIC and Disk Bandwidth
4 days ago
- AI agent successfully optimized system performance but provided incorrect explanations, leading to a deeper analysis.
- Initial demo showed bottleneck at half NIC bandwidth due to CPU cost from per-I/O buffer handling with Direct I/O.
- Using io_uring registered buffers (READ_FIXED) eliminated per-I/O page-table walks and pinning, allowing NIC saturation.
- Scaling to a larger deployment revealed new bottleneck, with throughput only half of theoretical maximum.
- Ruled out iou-wrk overhead, fget costs, and CRC computation as primary bottlenecks through experiments.
- Identified TLB misses as the real bottleneck due to 4 KiB page translations during data scanning.
- Using hugepages reduced dTLB misses and resolved the bottleneck, enabling near-NIC saturation.
If You Can't Hold It, You Don't Own It
6 hours ago
- Digital purchases are typically revocable licenses, not ownership of the files, and can be removed or altered by the store or publisher.
- Physical media (e.g., discs, cartridges, books) cannot be remotely erased, and offer resale, lending, and archival benefits.
- Digital stores and streaming services can shut down, remove content, or change policies, causing loss of access to purchased or subscribed media.
- Digital content often suffers from lower quality (e.g., compressed video/audio), censorship, or post-release edits compared to physical versions.
- Cloud services and digital accounts can be terminated or scanned, risking data loss, privacy invasion, or account bans without recourse.
- Many digital games and services require online connections or servers, which can be shut down, rendering purchases unplayable.
- Physical media preserves art, culture, and history with tangible value, collectibility, and sensory experiences, unlike ephemeral digital files.
OpenRA
5 hours ago
- New random map generators for Red Alert, Tiberian Dawn, and Dune 2000.
- Dune 2000 visual effects upgrade and skirmish balance overhaul.
- C&C Remastered Collection asset support in Tiberian Dawn HD mod.
- Enhanced map editor UI and tools leveraging random generation.
- New features include 'Other RTS' mouse input and timed auto-save.
- Bots now build expansion bases, plus new missions and bug fixes.
ICC judges sue convicted criminal Trump after US attempt to intimidate the court
7 hours ago
- Three ICC judges from Canada, Uganda, and Benin sued Donald Trump and his administration in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, arguing that U.S. sanctions against them are unlawful and unconstitutional.
- The sanctions were imposed in response to the judges' roles in ICC decisions, including authorizing an investigation into alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials over Gaza war crimes.
- The lawsuit claims the sanctions, described as a 'financial death penalty,' freeze assets, block accounts, and coerce judges, violating due process and exceeding authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
- The sanctions have caused personal financial harm to the judges, including frozen credit cards and accounts, and have a chilling effect globally, with companies outside the U.S. complying to avoid penalties.
- The U.S. administration justifies the sanctions as a response to the ICC's jurisdiction over non-member states like the U.S. and Israel, calling the court a 'national security threat' and politicized.
- The lawsuit argues that sanctioning judges for their rulings undermines judicial independence and sets a dangerous precedent, allowing powerful states to intimidate international courts and avoid accountability.
- International reactions include condemnation from the ICC's Assembly of States Parties and human rights organizations, while Canada's response has been more cautious despite Judge Prost being a Canadian citizen.
- The case raises broader questions about the abuse of economic power to pressure international institutions and whether U.S. law will permit such intimidation of independent judges.

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Hasty Briefsbeta

AI inference is obviously profitable

The food science behind designing an ice cream

Europe's extreme heat is shutting down power plants

An "infovore" shares his chats

A peek into Reddit's anti-spam internals

One man, two kernels, and a lot of RISC-V

Tmux 3.7 Terminal Multiplexer Released with Initial Floating Pane Support

Zuckerberg's Increasingly Bizarre War on Whistleblowers

Suspicious Discontinuities

Post-Mythos Cybersecurity: Keep calm and carry on

Russian citizens told "switch to Android" after Apple blocks key Russian apps

It's Official: F-35s Are Now Being Delivered Without Radars

Asian AI startups launch Mythos-like models

How Many Elementary Particles Are There, Really?

Streaming services' obnoxiously loud ads become illegal on July 1 in California

I owe my life to a 1913 road rage incident

Task Failed Successfully: Saturating NIC and Disk Bandwidth

If You Can't Hold It, You Don't Own It

OpenRA

ICC judges sue convicted criminal Trump after US attempt to intimidate the court