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Techie lured out of retirement to support software only he remembered
2 months ago
- Nvidia's Vera CPU features 88 custom cores, 176 threads, 1.5 TB laptop RAM, and 1.8 TB/s NVLink connectivity, targeting datacenters.
- Enterprise cloud infrastructure revenue exceeds $143 billion per quarter, with growth accelerating.
- Security incidents include Anthropic and OpenAI competing in rogue AI agents, Russian phishing via Signal, and Microsoft SharePoint zero-day attacks.
- UK proposes refundable fees for datacenter grid connection requests to prevent frivolous applications.
- DEF CON's Franklin project expands to harden critical infrastructure, involving hackers in voting village reports.
- FOSS efforts target Microsoft monopoly; GNOME introduces taskbar, Debian ends x86-32 support, and new X11 server 'Frame' built in assembly.
NOAA ditches weather-predicting supercomputers for Google Cloud
2 months ago
- UK requires datacenters to pay refundable fees for grid connection requests to deter frivolous applications.
- New storage-inspired high-bandwidth flash memory could enable GPUs with multiple TB capacity, though not without challenges.
- Open source project ShieldFont uses poisoned fonts to protect text from AI scrapers.
- For the first time, a majority of corporate IT workloads now run off-premises, according to a survey.
- Closed-source AI models refused to help a researcher fix a Linux bug, highlighting the value of open source.
- Russian actors are impersonating Signal support for phishing; other security incidents reported.
- Microsoft's patches failed to fix on-prem SharePoint, now exploited in zero-day attacks; plus China's surveillance upgrades and Ring's policy changes.
- DEF CON's Franklin project enlists hackers to secure critical infrastructure, expanding from voting village successes.
- EQT acquires majority stake in Swiss cybersecurity firm Acronis at a valuation exceeding $3.5 billion.
- Mikko Hyppönen notes ten years since first corporate ransomware, with no end in sight, but stable careers in infosec.
- FOSS broke one Microsoft monopoly; after 20 years of failure, it aims to break another.
- GNOME can mimic Windows appearance using Flashback without extensions; a simpler taskbar option is available.
- Debian releases final version for x86-32 architecture alongside new versions 13.6 and 12.15.
- Attackers exploit two Joomla extensions with perfect CVSS scores on vulnerable sites.
- Frame is a new X11 server implemented directly in assembly language.
- Cinnamon 6.8 will optionally support Wayland display server.
One ChatGPT link could smuggle a rogue AI agent into your company
2 months ago
- Tesla burns through a billion dollars investing in chips and bots, with Optimus and Robotaxis still challenging.
- IBM insists AI didn't kill software deals, only delayed them as hardware budgets grew.
- UK invests £708 million in future fighter jet Tempest, alongside hypersonic and drone projects.
- OpenAI's attack on HuggingFace backfired, highlighting how open Chinese models are winning.
- Google Cloud is Alphabet's fastest-growing business, now over 20% of revenue and profit.
- Russians are phishing via fake Signal support; US also took down Iranian propaganda sites.
- Microsoft's on-prem SharePoint patches failed, now under zero-day attack.
- DEF CON's Franklin project enlists hackers to harden critical infrastructure.
- EQT buys majority stake in Swiss cybersecurity firm Acronis at $3.5B+ valuation.
- Ten years after first corp ransomware, Mikko Hyppönen sees no end; infosec remains stable career.
- GNOME can now look like Windows via new 'Simple-taskbar' or Flashback without extensions.
- Final release of Debian on x86-32: Debian 13.6 and 12.15 released.
- Baddies exploit Joomla extensions iCagenda and Balbooa Forms with perfect 10 scores.
- Frame: a new X11 server implemented directly in assembly.
- Cinnamon 6.8 will support Wayland optionally.
- KDE Plasma 6.6.6 arrives, with Wayland forced in 6.8.
FreeCAD in the Browser
3 months ago
- LibreCAD and OpenSCAD were compiled to WebAssembly running in browser tabs using a recipe: Qt for WebAssembly, JSPI, a static dependency stack, and audit of threads, filesystems, and OpenGL.
- FreeCAD, a parametric 3D CAD with ~1.5 million lines of C++ and 700k Python, was ported to WebAssembly in ~4 days, running in a browser tab with a first load of ~96 MB compressed.
- The port required building Qt from source with JSPI for modal dialogs, static linking of all modules (no dlopen), and a fixed-function OpenGL emulator for Coin3D's rendering.
- Key challenges included OpenGL emulation, JSPI migration, PySide6 bindings for WebAssembly, and cross-compiling VTK and SMESH for the FEM workbench, with fixes for crashes and performance.
- The port maintains desktop feature parity: 17+ workbenches, Python scripting with PySide6, FEM with real mesh geometry, persistence via IndexedDB, and import/export functionality.
- The engineering was done by Fable (AI), with human direction, bug reporting, and environment setup; full session transcripts and source are available for verification.

opensource

Techie lured out of retirement to support software only he remembered

NOAA ditches weather-predicting supercomputers for Google Cloud

One ChatGPT link could smuggle a rogue AI agent into your company

FreeCAD in the Browser