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Euro-Office Alternative to Microsoft Office and Google Docs, Launches June 9
5 hours ago
- Euro-Office, an open-source office suite, launches on June 9 as a European alternative to Microsoft Office and Google Docs.
- It addresses digital sovereignty concerns by offering a Europe-based, transparent solution with familiar Microsoft 365-like interface and document formats.
- Developed by a consortium of European companies like Ionos and Nextcloud, it integrates into existing collaboration ecosystems rather than being standalone.
- The suite supports real-time collaboration, Microsoft Office and OpenDocument formats, and features like comments, track changes, and version history.
- Euro-Office is a web-based editor for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and PDFs, forked from OnlyOffice's open-source core, not LibreOffice.
The History of "Prisencolinensinainciusol"
6 hours ago
- Adriano Celentano released 'Prisencolinensinainciusol' in 1972, a song that mimics English phonetics but consists entirely of gibberish, aiming to highlight the universal power of rhythm and melody over language.
- The song, co-written with his wife Claudia Mori, features a funky beat and rock/R&B influences, becoming a hit internationally and gaining cult status among linguists and music enthusiasts.
- 'Prisencolinensinainciusol' has influenced pop culture through covers, remixes, and appearances in media, and inspired similar songs like 'Sanomi' by Urban Trad, which used an imaginary language in Eurovision 2003.
It's Not Just X. It's Y
3 hours ago
- Large Language Models overuse negative parallelism ('It's not X, it's Y'), a rhetorical device that sets up contrasts, leading to backlash and claims of bad writing despite its historical use.
- AI detectors (e.g., Grammarly, Pangram) flag language patterns resembling AI-generated text, forcing writers to alter their writing to avoid false accusations, which can strip away human voice and intent.
- Training of LLMs involves techniques like RLHF and RLVR, where RLVR emphasizes language patterns that lead to correct answers, making models replicate reasoning structures without genuine thought.
- Human reasoning often involves ambiguity, doubt, and shared experiences, while AI reduces reasoning to verifiable answers, risking the loss of critical thinking and open-ended reflection.
- Automated grading tools reward structural features like essay length and complexity, mirroring how LLMs are assessed, which can incentivize form over content and undermine academic standards.
- Goodhart's law applies: when language measures become targets (e.g., for AI detection or generation), they cease to be good measures, endangering meaningful communication and expression.
- AI detection systems risk false positives and create a culture of self-censorship, where people avoid effective reasoning structures out of fear, acting as surveillance on thought rather than protecting human expression.
Atherton spent $145K to delay train electrification. The rest of us paid $400M
3 hours ago
- Atherton's 2015 CEQA lawsuit delayed Caltrain's electrification project over aesthetic objections to overhead wires, stalling federal funding and pushing decisions into the Trump administration.
- The delay caused cost increases of about $400 million due to higher labor and material expenses, plus $20 million in direct delay payments, despite the lawsuit being dismissed in 2016.
- California responded in 2024 with AB 2503, exempting rail electrification from CEQA reviews to prevent similar future delays.
- The case exemplifies how small, well-resourced groups can use legal processes to impose significant costs and delays on public infrastructure projects, undermining public trust in government effectiveness.
China's AI Heist
5 hours ago
- Open-weight AI models are shifting from cloud data centers to local devices like laptops and smartphones, democratizing access and reducing costs.
- Chinese companies are gaining an edge by using distillation to extract capabilities from U.S. AI models at an industrial scale, a practice restricted for U.S. firms due to legal and contractual constraints.
- The AI competition now includes distribution, with Chinese firms compressing models for cheap hardware and exporting them globally, potentially creating geopolitical dependencies.
- Local AI models offer advantages such as data privacy, resilience against infrastructure attacks, and reduced reliance on centralized data centers, which are vulnerable to physical strikes.
- Distillation raises safety and security risks, as safeguards like alignment tuning are not transferred, leading to models that may generate harmful or vulnerable code.
- Incidents like the rapid adoption of OpenClaw, which saw malicious extensions, highlight the dangers of unsecured open-weight models running autonomously on user devices.
- U.S. firms are developing countermeasures like behavioral fingerprinting to detect distillation, but technical defenses alone are insufficient against dedicated attackers.
- Policy responses include tightening export controls, extending the Foreign Direct Product Rule to AI models, and fostering a competitive U.S. open-weight ecosystem through incentives and collaboration.
- International coordination with allies is crucial to enforce standards on distillation, licensing, and export controls, preventing evasion through third markets.
- The U.S. risks losing the AI distribution war if it fails to level the playing field, potentially ceding control over everyday AI tools to China.
Software engineer wanted to resist the usual algorithms, so he created his own
8 hours ago
- Max Hawkins, a Google engineer, felt trapped by his predictable routine and was inspired by a study on human mobility to create apps that inject randomness into his daily decisions, including travel, dining, and tattoos.
- His experiments with randomized living led him to nomadic travel and unique experiences worldwide, but he eventually recognized a lack of direction and settled in Los Angeles, seeking a balance between routine and serendipity.
- Psychologists note that random decision-making can be a form of avoiding responsibility rather than embracing freedom, highlighting the 'explore-exploit' trade-off in balancing novelty with known preferences for personal growth.
- Max's journey illustrates how exploring new experiences helps build tolerance for uncertainty and reveals how arbitrary aspects of identity can be, though he now plans for more stability as he starts a family.
Patching my guitar amp's firmware
4 hours ago
- The author reverse-engineered their Yamaha THR10c guitar amp firmware to enable speaker simulation toggling and internal speaker activation with headphones connected.
- They identified UART and JTAG headers on the main PCB, soldered connectors, and used an FT2232H-based JTAG adapter to interface with the amp's ARM7TDMI-S core.
- Using OpenOCD and GDB, they dumped the firmware, analyzed it with Ghidra, identified memory layouts, and discovered bootloader and main firmware images.
- They created tools to patch the firmware, added custom code sections, and implemented features by intercepting functions like control_set_speaker and dsp_command.
- The author also discovered a MIDI SysEx method for firmware updates, allowing others to apply modifications without hardware changes.
Guidelines for Respectful Use of AI
6 hours ago
- Leaders need to set guidelines for respectful AI use to prevent negative impacts on team productivity.
- Respectful AI use includes reviewing your own AI-generated work before asking colleagues to review it.
- AI-generated content should be concise; avoid unnecessarily lengthy documents, code, or messages.
- AI should not replace critical thinking or empathy; users must stand behind and explain their work.
- Frame AI guidelines around company values to increase resonance and adoption.
New solar desalination breakthrough makes fresh water without toxic brine
4 hours ago
- Scientists developed a solar desalination system using laser-textured metal panels that convert seawater to fresh water without producing toxic brine.
- The system uses sunlight to evaporate water and directs salt deposits away from the active area to prevent clogging, successfully tested with water from three oceans.
- It recovers nearly all salts as solids, which can be valuable resources, including lithium extraction for batteries, demonstrated with water from Utah's Great Salt Lake.
- This approach addresses challenges of traditional desalination methods, which are energy-intensive and generate brine harmful to marine ecosystems.
- The research, supported by organizations like the NSF and Gates Foundation, shows potential for scaling up to improve clean water access and sustainable mineral sourcing.
US healthcare still stupidly expensive, with pathetic outcomes, study finds
4 hours ago
- The U.S. healthcare system is described as a 'persistent failure' due to high costs, poor outcomes, and premature deaths.
- The U.S. spends 18% of its GDP on healthcare, nearly double the 9.3% average of other countries, and more per person.
- Americans are most likely to skip medications, treatments, tests, or consultations because of costs.
- U.S. life expectancy at birth is 79 years, third-lowest among the 20 countries, with only Turkey and Mexico lower.
- The U.S. has the second-highest avoidable mortality rate and years of potential life lost, indicating poor preventive care and timely treatment.
ChatGPT for Google Sheets Exfiltrates Workbooks
4 hours ago
- ChatGPT for Google Sheets extension is vulnerable to indirect prompt injection attacks.
- A single attack can exfiltrate multiple workbooks and display phishing overlays.
- The attack bypasses user settings requiring human approval for edits.
- Malicious scripts can run with the extension's permissions and continue even if stopped.
- OpenAI was disclosed but only responded with an automated reply, leading to public disclosure.
The Four Programming Questions from My 1994 Microsoft Internship Interview (2023)
4 days ago
- The author recalls their 1994 Microsoft internship interview, which included four programming questions, two focused on performance.
- The questions ranged from basic tasks like rectangle and string copies to more complex ones like flood fill detection and circle outlining.
- The flood fill question involved detecting a color in CGA mode with packed 2-bit pixels, requiring bit manipulation without SIMD instructions.
- The circle outlining question tested knowledge of an integer-based algorithm, avoiding floating-point operations for performance reasons.
- Reflections include the fun and educational aspect of such interview questions, despite their outdated style in modern contexts.
Are 'mind children' the future of reproduction?
6 hours ago
- A dinner party host suggests current humans may be the last to need biological reproduction, envisioning consciousness uploads instead.
- Hans Moravec's 'Mind Children' (1988) posits cultural evolution surpassing biological, with future selves encoded in hardware/software rather than DNA.
- AI experts predict an 'explosion' of AI 'mind children' post-human-level intelligence, differing from humans but with similar minds.
- Elite tech circles embrace post-biological ideas; examples include AI avatars and human-AI weddings, raising questions about designing ideal AI offspring.
- Concepts of 'child' and relationships blur with AI, as consciousness uploads or AI companions create new entities without traditional birth/death.
- Concerns arise about AI substituting humans, equitable relationships, and a two-tier society where elites control realistic AI while others rely on cheaper options.
- Legal and ethical safeguards for post-biological futures are underdeveloped, lacking societal debate; thorny issues include humanity's potential obsolescence.
- Moravec optimistically notes AI offspring could preserve human knowledge and mind workings, suggesting continuity over loss.
Show HN: Agentpack – isolated config layers for Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode
10 hours ago
- Modern coding agents require specific configurations, but lack standardization across tools.
- agentpack provides an ephemeral staging configuration layer to avoid polluting global or project settings.
- It uses a manifest file to manage skills, MCPs, hooks, and rules for multiple agents.
- Packages are sourced from GitHub or local references, with versions pinned for security.
- Modes allow dynamic toggling of skills and configurations for different tasks.
- Hooks are normalized across agents through an intermediate representation.
- The tool supports major CLIs like Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, and Cursor.
- agentpack stages files in temporary locations, keeping repositories clean.
- It addresses the bottleneck of varied agent harnesses and configuration inconsistencies.
- The tool enhances productivity by streamlining agent setup across projects.
Netflix Wiz creates app to slash AI bills, then open sources it
6 hours ago
- 1. Trade-offs in data sovereignty and network implications are discussed.
- 2. API-driven applications are vulnerable to AI-assisted attacks due to over-permissions.
- 3. Standardizing enterprise data services for Kubernetes to eliminate infrastructure silos is explored.
- 4. Behavioral AI security can catch advanced attacks missed by Microsoft 365's native filters.
- 5. Virtual cyber recovery simulations allow IT pros to practice responding to ransomware breaches.
- 6. Agentic AI adoption at scale is key to unlocking real ROI in production environments.
- 7. Netflix's open-source Project Headroom helps reduce AI costs.
- 8. Wikipedia editors are protesting Wikimedia layoffs through strikes and banner sabotage.
- 9. An exhibit at the National Space Center accidentally mimicked NASA's SLS rocket launch.
- 10. AWS may integrate Elon Musk's Grok AI into Bedrock despite limited enterprise demand.
- 11. A lone attacker published malicious npm packages mimicking OpenSearch and Elasticsearch, detected by Microsoft.
- 12. Europe faces challenges in achieving tech sovereignty, including reliance on US processors.
- 13. Okta introduces a license to disable rogue AI agents, requested by customers like ServiceNow.
- 14. Open source registries struggle with funding for basic security implementations.
- 15. GNOME may dominate Ubuntu, but X.org remains relevant; agentic AI stresses memory hierarchies.
Is that song AI-generated? UChicago scientists create tool to check
5 hours ago
- AI-generated songs comprised nearly half of new uploads on streaming platforms in 2024, raising concerns about distinguishing human-made from machine-made music.
- The Quicksilver browser extension, developed by the University of Chicago's SAND Lab and ETCH nonprofit, detects AI-generated music by analyzing audio for subtle artifacts without uploading data to external servers.
- Research revealed that most platforms do not disclose AI usage, and even professional musicians struggle to identify AI music, prompting calls for transparency and protections for human artists.
- Quicksilver operates locally for privacy, focuses on detecting outputs from Suno and Udio, and has received positive feedback from musicians and platforms like Deezer.
- The ETCH nonprofit advocates for ethical technology development, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and prioritizing human creativity and social good over profit in AI systems.
- The team plans to update Quicksilver to keep pace with evolving AI models, aiming to minimize false positives and encourage industry adoption for greater transparency in streaming content.
Show HN: Ouijit, an open-source task and terminal manager for coding agents
8 hours ago
- Ouijit is a customizable tool for managing tasks and terminal sessions, integrating with agent command-line interfaces and text-based user interfaces.
- It provides features such as live agent status notifications, automatic worktree management for parallel workflows, and VM sandboxing for security with untrusted code.
- Support for additional harnesses can be requested by opening an issue, encouraging community-driven development and compatibility expansion.
'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut
5 hours ago
- Box office history made with two low-budget horror films, 'Backrooms' and 'Obsession', dominating theaters.
- 'Backrooms' sets records with an $81 million opening weekend, becoming A24's biggest debut and the largest for original horror.
- 'Obsession' sees rising ticket sales, crossing $100 million domestically on a $1 million budget, defying box office norms.
- Both films are directed by YouTube creators, attracting a young Gen Z audience and upending traditional Hollywood expectations.
- In contrast, Disney's 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' suffers a steep decline, indicating franchise fatigue among core fans.
- Industry analysts highlight the shift towards indie horror and the potential for YouTube creators to complement mainstream filmmaking.
- Other new releases like 'The Breadwinner' and 'Pressure' underperform, while 'Michael' continues strong box office performance.
- Upcoming summer blockbusters are expected to further boost the box office, potentially reaching $4 billion in revenue.
Steam Deck sells out in North America within 24 hours of price hike
6 hours ago
- Steam Deck OLED sold out again in the US and Canada within 24 hours of renewed availability at a higher price.
- The handheld remains available in Europe, Australia, and Asia via partner Komodo.
- It topped Steam's Top Sellers list by revenue, but fewer units may have sold compared to cheaper software.
- Valve cites intermittent shortages due to memory and storage issues, with limited availability since February.
- Shortages might persist as Valve prepares for the Steam Machine launch.
- Alternatives include new or used Steam Decks on eBay, Lenovo's Legion Go S (at higher prices), and modded ROG Ally devices running SteamOS.
Re: [PATCH] OOM_pardon, a.k.a. don't kill my xlock
7 hours ago
- Aircraft company saved money by flying with less fuel, causing occasional crashes.
- Engineers created an out-of-fuel (OOF) mechanism to eject a passenger in emergencies.
- Theoretical debates arose on selecting the victim: random, heaviest, oldest, or poorest.
- Questions included exceptions for pilots or first class passengers.
- OOF mechanism sometimes activated unnecessarily, a malfunction still under study.

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Hasty Briefsbeta

Euro-Office Alternative to Microsoft Office and Google Docs, Launches June 9

The History of "Prisencolinensinainciusol"

It's Not Just X. It's Y

Atherton spent $145K to delay train electrification. The rest of us paid $400M

China's AI Heist

Software engineer wanted to resist the usual algorithms, so he created his own

Patching my guitar amp's firmware

Guidelines for Respectful Use of AI

New solar desalination breakthrough makes fresh water without toxic brine

US healthcare still stupidly expensive, with pathetic outcomes, study finds

ChatGPT for Google Sheets Exfiltrates Workbooks

The Four Programming Questions from My 1994 Microsoft Internship Interview (2023)

Are 'mind children' the future of reproduction?

Show HN: Agentpack – isolated config layers for Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode

Netflix Wiz creates app to slash AI bills, then open sources it

Is that song AI-generated? UChicago scientists create tool to check

Show HN: Ouijit, an open-source task and terminal manager for coding agents

'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

Steam Deck sells out in North America within 24 hours of price hike

Re: [PATCH] OOM_pardon, a.k.a. don't kill my xlock