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When life gives you lemons, write better error messages
2 days ago
- Wix embarked on a project named 'Errorgate 2021' to improve thousands of error messages in just one month.
- Defined bad error messages as those with inappropriate tone, technical jargon, blame-shifting, or being unnecessarily generic.
- Defined good error messages by requiring clarity on what happened and why, reassurance, empathy, actionable fixes, and always providing a way out, such as contacting Customer Care.
- Reviewed over 7,643 error-related content pieces, involving developers to map triggers and prioritize based on frequency and user blockage.
- Lessons learned: distinction between generic and unclear messages; errors are often a broader product issue, not just content; need for proactive questioning; missed learning opportunities; and aligning with user empathy values.
- Process changes include forming a cross-functional error-handling team, viewing errors as a shared responsibility, post-launch error reviews, ongoing optimization, and empowering UX writers to challenge generic errors.
My writing students were using AI. Their confessions led to a teaching moment
4 hours ago
- The author teaches fiction writing at MIT and emphasizes peer review guidelines: read stories twice, provide detailed feedback, and offer signed letters.
- AI-generated prose is described as 'perfectly mediocre,' lacking authentic human experience and emotional depth, unlike flawed student writing that reveals growth.
- Studies suggest AI use may reduce cognitive effort and neural connectivity, posing risks to students' intellectual development and writing skills.
- During a workshop, two students submitted AI-written stories, prompting discussions about fear of criticism, creativity, and the value of authentic writing.
- The author argues that writing involves sustained attention and personal transformation, not just producing text; AI cannot replicate this human process.
- The new policy prohibits AI use in writing assignments to preserve the workshop's integrity and encourage students' direct engagement with language and thought.
Al-Khwarizmi didn't in any way originate, invent or create the algorithm
3 hours ago
- The text critiques claims that al-Khwarizmi's book is the foundation for every line of code today, calling this false.
- It disputes the idea that al-Khwarizmi was Persian, noting he was from Khwarazm (now Uzbekistan) and his name means 'native of Khwarezm'.
- The text challenges the historical significance of the House of Wisdom, citing sources that it is a myth.
- It clarifies that al-Khwarizmi's algebra was rhetorical (using words, not symbols), not symbolic, and he didn't invent algebraic thinking.
- The text notes that algebra existed before al-Khwarizmi, with Babylonians and others solving equations algebraically.
- It explains that al-Khwarizmi's work was important as the first book to treat algebra as a discipline, not for inventing it.
- The text corrects claims about Hindu-Arabic numerals, noting al-Khwarizmi's version wasn't refined and zero existed earlier.
- It refutes that al-Khwarizmi invented algorithms, stating algorithmic methods predated him in other cultures.
- The text disputes claims about Alan Turing and John von Neumann, noting Turing didn't create the first computation model and von Neumann didn't design the first stored-program computer.
- It mentions Indian contributions like Panini's grammar, but notes no direct Indian role in symbolic algebra's development.
Chris Hohn's hedge fund slashes $8B MS stake in warning over AI disruption
2 hours ago
- Chris Hohn's hedge fund, TCI Fund Management, reduced its stake in Microsoft by approximately $8 billion.
- The move serves as a warning regarding potential disruption caused by artificial intelligence (AI) to Microsoft's business model.
- The article is behind a paywall on the Financial Times, with various subscription plans offered for access.
Decoding raw digital photos in Linux (1997)
3 days ago
- dcraw is an ANSI C program for decoding raw digital camera images on any operating system.
- The program supports 731 cameras, is portable, free, and can produce better output than vendor tools.
- dcraw works with raw photo formats like CRW, CR2, MRW, NEF, RAF, but not JPEG which is lossy.
- Common issues include green tints from missing color matrices, dark 16-bit output, and memory limits on Windows Vista.
- It includes utilities like clean_crw.c for Canon CRW files, and supports plugins for GIMP.
- The software can be compiled with dependencies or standalone, and multilingual versions are available.
- Users can send raw photos for support, especially with color charts to improve color accuracy.
- Alternatives for specific cameras include CHDK for Canon and DIAG RAW for Nikon hacks.
- dcraw outputs in various formats via piping, and includes interpolation methods like bilinear, VNG, PPG, and AHD.
- The FAQ addresses auto-exposure, edge artifacts, and library design decisions.
YC's Biggest Scandals
5 hours ago
- Delve was expelled from YC in 2026 for fabricating over 493 audit reports using AI-generated passing reports without client data.
- Central stole a playbook from YC company Warp, cloning their business and marketing, and was later acqui-hired by Mercury.
- Naive raised $2M+ selling 'autonomous AI employees,' but their platform was a rebranded open-source framework without proper attribution.
- Wuri, an AI-generated visual novel platform, pivoted to enterprise AI before shutting down due to commoditization by foundation models.
- Double Finance, a robo-advisor with $10M AUM, shut down and repurposed its YC slug for the founder's next venture with Garry Tan.
- PearAI forked an open-source code editor, rebranded it, and used a fake AI-generated license, leading to public correction by YC.
- Pickle faced controversy for stealing GPL code and launching AR glasses with dubious CGI demos.
- Optifye.ai built AI surveillance for garment factories, dubbed 'sweatshops-as-a-service,' leading to backlash and deleted demo videos.
- Rezi burned $200M in debt with a rental model paying landlords upfront, leading to foreclosure suits after interest rate spikes.
- CapWay, a fintech for banking deserts, failed due to the Synapse collapse and increased capital reserve requirements.
- Medobed was expelled from YC S23 for faking founder credentials and inflating growth metrics.
- Embark Trucks SPAC'd at $5.2B with zero revenue, dropping 99% in stock value before being sold for parts.
- Convoy raised over $1B and reached a $3.8B valuation, then shut down and sold assets for $16M.
- CodeParrot pivoted multiple times in an oversaturated AI market, peaking at $1.5K MRR before shutting down.
- Fast raised $120M for a checkout button but generated only $600K in revenue, leading to rapid shutdown.
- StableGains promised 15% yields but lost $42M of customer funds by concentrating investments in Terra/Luna.
- LendUp was shut down by the CFPB for deceiving subprime borrowers and violating the Military Lending Act.
- Soham Parekh worked at over 10 YC startups simultaneously, exposing flaws in YC's due diligence.
- Atrium burned $75M trying to disrupt law with AI before shutting down.
- DreamWorld raised funds for an 'infinite MMO' using stolen assets and a security-broken demo.
- uBiome was raided by the FBI for $300M in fraudulent insurance claims; founders became fugitives.
- Bik (Bikayi) faced scandal for forged customer signatures on contracts, leading to layoffs from 600 to 244.
- Standard AI raised $86M for autonomous checkout but pivoted to generic AI analytics, abandoning its core product.
- Momentus faced SEC fraud charges over fabricated propulsion tests and concealed national security risks.
- Bloom Institute of Technology (Lambda School) had its founder banned from student lending by the CFPB for predatory practices.
- Thrive Agric defaulted on investor returns in Nigeria, contributing to a sector-wide collapse.
- Rippling sued competitor Deel for planting a spy to steal trade secrets, leading to a DOJ investigation.
- Pebble rejected a $740M acquisition, sold for $23M, and left Kickstarter backers without refunds.
- Flutterwave faced harassment allegations, phantom co-founder fraud, and a $52M account freeze.
- Homejoy shut down after misclassification lawsuits and unsustainable subsidized growth.
- Iron Ox (Inevitable Tech) raised $98M+ for robotic farming but is now inactive after layoffs.
- Cruise's robotaxis dragged a pedestrian and covered it up, leading to license revocation and massive losses.
- Flexport experienced CEO turmoil and layoffs after a board coup and strategy pivot.
- Zenefits built software to cheat on insurance exams, leading to fines and CEO resignation.
- Instacart lost 75% of its peak valuation post-IPO, with gig workers lacking benefits.
- MixRank's co-founder pleaded guilty to the Bitfinex hack, laundering billions in stolen Bitcoin.
- Kiko, YC's first batch calendar app, was made obsolete by Google Calendar and sold on eBay.
- Reddit took 20 years to IPO, facing controversies over content moderation and CEO interference.
Local AI needs to be the norm
4 hours ago
- Using cloud-hosted AI models for app features creates fragile, privacy-invasive, and broken software.
- Local devices have powerful hardware (like Neural Engines) that remains underutilized, making server-dependent AI unnecessary for many tasks.
- Streaming user data to third-party AI providers introduces data retention issues, compliance burdens, and added complexity (network, uptime, billing).
- Local AI, as demonstrated by Brutalist Report's on-device summaries, offers privacy, speed, and reliability without external dependencies.
- Tooling in the Apple ecosystem enables local AI with structured outputs (typed data like Swift structs), improving engineering and trust.
- Local models excel at data transformation tasks (summarize, classify, extract) and don't need superhuman intelligence for many use cases.
- Prioritize useful software over 'AI everywhere,' using cloud models only when necessary and keeping user data on-device.
'Dirty Frag' Linux flaw one-ups CopyFail with no patches and public root exploit
6 hours ago
- AI is transforming software development and security, requiring new strategies for safe agentic environments.
- Hardware supply chain challenges are rising due to AI demand, prompting changes in IT infrastructure approaches.
- Identity resilience and recovery are critical in modern cybersecurity to combat targeted attacks.
- Technology advancements include memory solutions like Compute Express Link to address AI-driven memory demands.
- Open-source software faces issues like funding shortages and community disputes, but innovations continue.
Disgraced US gov software contractor found guilty of database destruction
6 hours ago
- Event: Securing the Untrusted Agentic Development Layer focuses on architecting secure development environments for builders and AI agents.
- Event: Toxic Flows discusses the risks of AI agent skills becoming supply chain attacks when installed by developers.
- Article: The Hardware Crunch explores infrastructure challenges due to AI-driven demand, extended lead times, and rising costs.
- Event: Identity Resilience covers building an identity-first recovery strategy in the current threat landscape.
- Article: Unfriendly Followers reveals how attackers exploit identity profiles and ways to enhance personal security.
- AI Article: AI Found the Problem highlights AI's role in identifying and fixing vulnerabilities in software development.
- Systems Article: Memory godboxes and Compute Express Link could address the AI-fueled memory shortage.
- OSes Article: Fedora and Ubuntu are set to receive AI support soon, sparking forum discussions.
- Personal Tech Article: HP's keyboard PC is reviewed, questioning its target audience compared to laptops.
- AI and ML Article: Google updates Chrome's AI privacy wording, emphasizing on-device processing amid concerns.
- Software Article: macOS 27 may end Time Capsule support, but NetBSD offers a potential workaround.
- FOSS Articles: Cover memory solutions, AI in Linux distros, Google Chrome privacy, and legacy software fixes.
- Feature: London's BT Tower plans a rooftop swimming pool 177 meters above the city.
- Features include GNOME in Ubuntu, open-source security funding issues, Windows apps on Linux, and AI-related developments like agentic AI strains and Claude AI use cases.
- Observations note a lack of public discussion about potential datacenter projects as a possible indicator.
Axboe Hacking on New Linux Patches for 60% Increase to Per-Core I/O Performance
5 hours ago
- Jens Axboe developed patches for a 60% increase in per-core I/O performance after a presentation at LSFMM.
- The patches improve IO_uring, NVMe PCI driver, and block code by prepping struct bio and DMA mapping upfront.
- Proof-of-concept patches are available in the 'io_uring-io-slots' Git branch and aim for upstream integration.
A decade of flying Spirit Airlines
4 hours ago
- A family's first Spirit Airlines flight left a lasting negative impression due to no free water, turning it into a joke about nickel-and-diming.
- In early adulthood, financial necessity led to flying Spirit for its low prices, including a memorable $26 flight to Chicago.
- Over ten years, the author grew to appreciate Spirit's quirks like non-reclining seats, fast boarding, and a credit card offering free flights and cheap upgrades.
- Spirit's impact on the airline industry is noted, as its low prices pressured competitors and popularized a pay-for-what-you-use model, despite a poor brand reputation.
- Challenges of targeting the budget market are highlighted, with examples of difficult passenger behavior and staff having understandably short fuses.
- The author's final reflection acknowledges Spirit's role in enabling affordable travel for a decade, despite occasional frustrating experiences.
Nayuta Space Is Building Bellyflopping Rocket Boosters
7 hours ago
- Nayuta Space has completed Pre-A1 to Pre-A3 funding rounds to support development of the partially reusable Black Bird-R launch vehicle.
- The company will use funds for static fire tests of the second-stage engine, wind tunnel tests, and first-stage 'bellyflop' landing profile tests.
- First-stage recovery involves unpowered descent controlled by four aerodynamic surfaces, followed by a main landing burn and 'bellyflop' touchdown.
- A pathfinder for Black Bird-R has been equipped with movable aerodynamic control surfaces for pitch, yaw, roll, and refined control tests.
- Nayuta Space has signed a cooperation agreement for electrical systems and placed a significant order for cabling.
- Production of Black Bird-R began in October 2025, with segments, propellant tanks, and structures already revealed.
- Black Bird-R is planned to be 70 meters tall, use methane/oxygen propulsion, and feature a reusable first-stage with thirteen engines.
- The first flight date is not mentioned, but enabling tests are expected to be completed in 2026.
BLAS, Lapack and OpenMP
8 hours ago
- BLAS and LAPACK are key libraries for linear algebra in scientific computing, with optimized implementations like OpenBLAS and MKL offering 10x-100x performance improvements.
- OpenMP provides shared-memory parallel programming primitives, with common implementations including libgomp, libomp, and libiomp, often vendored in Python packages.
- Python packages such as NumPy, SciPy, and scikit-learn vendor BLAS/LAPACK and OpenMP libraries, leading to issues like multiple library copies, version conflicts, and threading problems.
- Challenges include API/ABI incompatibilities between BLAS/LAPACK implementations, mixing pthreads and OpenMP causing oversubscription, and difficulties in building from source or expressing dependencies.
- Demuxing libraries like FlexiBLAS, libblastrampoline, and SciPy's cython interfaces help manage multiple BLAS/LAPACK implementations by providing uniform APIs.
- Potential solutions include creating separate PyPI wheels for OpenBLAS/OpenMP, improving dependency metadata, and addressing packaging limitations to align with system package managers.
Stop MitM on the first SSH connection, on any VPS or cloud provider
2 days ago
- A script prevents attacks on the first SSH connection to new VMs on providers like Hetzner Cloud using cloud-init.
- It injects a temporary SSH host key via cloud-init, trusting it briefly to generate and retrieve real long-term SSH host keys.
- This technique protects the first connection, unlike Trust On First Use, which is vulnerable to rerouting or proxy attacks.
- It avoids leaking valuable private key material in cloud-init userdata, reducing risks from SSRF or other attacks.
- The script keeps the temporary SSH host key in a temporary directory and never stores it in ~/.ssh/known_hosts.
- It relies on OpenSSH key rotation for long-term host keys and assumes SSH security, with safeguards against accidental use.
- Attacks might fail if the administrator detects wrong connections, avoids passwords, or doesn't forward agent or X11 connections.
Incident Report: CVE-2024-YIKES
3 hours ago
- A compromised JavaScript dependency led to a major supply chain attack affecting around 4 million developers, starting with a stolen transit pass and laptop leading to credential theft.
- Attackers published malicious updates to 'left-justify' and 'vulpine-lz4', which were vendored into the Python tool 'snekpack', spreading malware that added SSH keys and changed shells.
- The incident was accidentally resolved by an unrelated cryptocurrency mining worm that updated 'snekpack' to a clean version during its propagation, neutralizing the threat.
- Contributing factors included weak authentication practices, AI linking to phishing sites, over-reliance on small transitive dependencies, and poor CI/CD hygiene.
Wall Street lawyers aided insider trading ring, say US prosecutors
4 hours ago
- US prosecutors allege Wall Street lawyers helped illegal insider trading ring
- Lawyers allegedly aided client access secret info from other firms
- Charges ongoing; just 3 defendants recently pleaded guilty
The Locals Don't Know
5 hours ago
- Travel advice suggests avoiding doing what locals do, as their daily routines may not be exciting or authentic.
- Locals often engage in mundane activities like watching TV, ordering food delivery, or sports betting, even in places considered happy or vibrant.
- Tourists have the freedom to explore and enjoy experiences without the jaded perspective of locals, making their trips more memorable and enjoyable.
- Tourist activities, often labeled as 'tourist traps,' can provide genuine enjoyment and memorable experiences, unlike the routine lives of locals.
- The author encourages both tourists and locals to embrace exploration and avoid dismissive attitudes toward tourist-oriented activities.
5x perf increase on writes with FPW disabled in Postgres
2 days ago
- Lakebase architecture decouples compute and storage, enabling performance optimizations impossible in monolithic Postgres.
- Traditional Postgres uses Full Page Writes (FPW) to prevent data corruption from torn pages during crashes, but this inflates WAL volume by up to 15x.
- In lakebase, compute is stateless with no local disk, eliminating the torn-page risk FPW addresses.
- Disabling FPW naively could cause unbounded delta chains in storage, increasing read latency and resource use.
- Image generation pushdown moves FPW-like image creation to the storage layer, generating full page images based on delta thresholds rather than checkpoints.
- Benchmarks show throughput gains scaling with compute size: up to 4.5x+ on 32 vCPU instances and a 94% reduction in WAL traffic.
- Production benefits include reduced WAL generation (e.g., from 30 MB/s to 1 MB/s), improved read latencies (p99 down by 30-50%), and higher ingestion throughput (e.g., 3x increase for one customer).
- The optimization was rolled out globally without downtime using Postgres's XLOG_FPW_CHANGE mechanism, enhancing scalability and stability.
- This is part of a broader effort to offload heavy tasks to scalable storage, eliminating Postgres write bottlenecks and improving performance.
Tracesofhumanity.org by Joanna Rutkowska
4 hours ago
- The author is describing the struggle between rational thinking / humanism and other values like pragmatism, beauty, formalism, intuition, freedom, love, individualism, privacy vs. egalitarianism, sharing, community.
- They mention a period of 7 years when they were silent, and now are trying to resurface with this new blog.
- They had previous work on Qubes OS, a paranoid-security OS, and were focused on computer systems security / virtualization security for about ৯ years.
- They now find their value system more complex, wrestling with these competing philosophical ideas.
- The blog is intended as a reportage of their struggles between these values, and they wish their younger self could read it.
- They state that life might have been more fulfilling if they had found answers to human happiness earlier, but suspect this might be self-defeating.
- They believe the struggle with uncertainty and incompleteness might be the central theme of humanism or even its essence.
- They invite readers to get in touch to share perspectives or point out flaws in their reasoning, provide contact info in an 'About section.
A History of IDEs at Google
a day ago
- Google historically allowed engineers to choose their own IDEs, leading to fragmentation, with senior figures like Jeff Dean initially believing a uniform IDE was unnecessary.
- Internal tooling projects emerged to integrate Google-specific tools (like Bazel) into various IDEs, with some projects becoming officially staffed, such as the IntelliJ integration team formed around 2015.
- In 2016, a cloud-based IDE named Cider was developed, initially popular for quick edits by technical writers but later gaining features like code completion via language-server protocol, appealing to engineers for its speed and backend indexing.
- In 2020, the Cider team shifted to using VSCode as the frontend, creating Cider V, which leveraged VSCode's mature ecosystem and extensibility, though it required significant integration work over a couple of years.
- By 2023, Cider V was used for 80% of development in Google's main codebase, offering strong integrations (e.g., version control, code review) and enabling internal extensions, with AI features enhancing productivity and highlighting the benefits of a standardized IDE platform.

Hasty Briefsbeta

When life gives you lemons, write better error messages

My writing students were using AI. Their confessions led to a teaching moment

Al-Khwarizmi didn't in any way originate, invent or create the algorithm

Chris Hohn's hedge fund slashes $8B MS stake in warning over AI disruption

Decoding raw digital photos in Linux (1997)

YC's Biggest Scandals

Local AI needs to be the norm

'Dirty Frag' Linux flaw one-ups CopyFail with no patches and public root exploit

Disgraced US gov software contractor found guilty of database destruction

Axboe Hacking on New Linux Patches for 60% Increase to Per-Core I/O Performance

A decade of flying Spirit Airlines

Nayuta Space Is Building Bellyflopping Rocket Boosters

BLAS, Lapack and OpenMP

Stop MitM on the first SSH connection, on any VPS or cloud provider

Incident Report: CVE-2024-YIKES

Wall Street lawyers aided insider trading ring, say US prosecutors

The Locals Don't Know

5x perf increase on writes with FPW disabled in Postgres

Tracesofhumanity.org by Joanna Rutkowska

A History of IDEs at Google