1. The boiling frog of digital freedom
Total comment counts : 53
Summary
The article discusses the use of defaultdict in Python to sort objects into different buckets based on criteria. It also provides an update on the GANdam project and shares some Python tips for sorting lists into buckets with defaultdict.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the availability of alternatives to popular tech services and platforms. It emphasizes the increasing usability of Linux on desktops, the presence of open-source office suites as alternatives to Microsoft Office, and the progress of FreeBSD as a desktop option. The article also mentions the availability of alternatives to Google services, such as ProtonMail and Tutanota for email, and mentions open-source alternatives to Google Android, like Iodè and e/OS. The author also highlights the improvements in Linux for mobile phones and mentions the existence of decentralized and censorship-resistant messaging apps. The article concludes by suggesting the use of open-source alternatives, avoiding big tech company services, and opting for decentralized solutions whenever possible.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author expresses concerns about the proposed timeline in the article, stating that it is not plausible. They argue that while Windows 10 S has been largely unsuccessful, the ideas presented are not fully implemented, such as Web Environment Integrity in Chrome. The author suggests that including other Apple-related changes, such as Apple blocking unsigned apps by default on Mac and the rollout of System Integrity Protection, would strengthen the argument. They conclude that although they are not against these changes individually, they are part of the pattern the author is highlighting. The author recommends focusing on presenting accurate facts to make the article more impactful.
2. Hacking the Timex m851
Total comment counts : 20
Summary
The article is written by Tavis Ormandy, who is on a quest to find the perfect watch. He introduces the Timex m851 watch, which he believes is the best ultra-low power consumer digital watch ever produced. The watch uses an 8-bit Seiko SC188 CPU and has 48KB of ROM, 2KB of RAM, and a 42x11 dot matrix main display. It can last 3 years on a single battery. The watch has an SDK and a USB port for synchronization. The author praises the SDK and shares a “hello world” code example. The author explains that applications for the watch need to be split into states because of limited RAM. The watch supports modes, background tasks, and periodic tasks. The watch has various features and APIs provided by the kernel, including timers, generating tones, scrolling the display, and accessing database records. The author also mentions a simulator available for Windows that helps in development. The article concludes by mentioning that the Timex m851 watch is no longer in production and is difficult to find.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the Epson System-on-a-Chip (SoC), which has a low-power mode that consumes only 9 microamps when running at 32kHz. In addition to this, the SoC also includes 48K ROM and 2K RAM, along with 3 timers, a UART, and an A/D converter.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author had a watch 15 years ago that had various useful features. It allowed them to track their next class, store bus schedules, and even check the phase of the moon. They mention that checking the bus schedule on their watch before smartphones was impressive. The author expresses a desire for watches with similar capabilities to be made again, noting that with low power consumption, they could be charged indefinitely with solar power.
3. How to type “blimpy” in Emacs [video]
Total comment counts : 21
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article suggests that those who found the given content amusing may also find entertainment in watching a video titled “Vim Exit% Speedrun [WR - 2.50:13].” The link to the video is provided.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article suggests that people should give Emacs a try and provides a link to an interview about Emacs for those who are interested.
4. Transformers as Support Vector Machines
Total comment counts : 14
Summary
The user does not currently have permission to access the specified link on arXiv.org. If they believe this is a mistake, they can refer to the provided link for more information on how to regain access.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article explains that the transformer model is a different type of support vector machine (SVM) that separates “good” tokens from “bad” tokens within input sequences. This SVM acts as a good-token-selector and differs from traditional SVMs that assign a 0-1 label to inputs. The article also discusses how attention induces sparsity through softmax. “Bad” tokens that fall on the wrong side of the SVM decision boundary are suppressed by the softmax function, while “good” tokens have non-zero probabilities. The exponential nature of the softmax gives rise to this SVM. The title of the paper does not clearly indicate this information.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article wonders if a single Support Vector Machine (SVM) layer can be as effective as the multiple steps in a transformer layer. They speculate that while it may not reduce computations significantly, it could lead to a simpler and easier-to-implement architecture.
5. UPI Payments: 10B transactions a month done, next stop 100B
Total comment counts : 27
Summary
The article discusses the growing popularity of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in India. UPI, a payment system that allows users to make instant transfers between bank accounts, has recently surpassed 10 billion monthly transactions for the first time. The value of these transactions exceeds Rs 15 trillion per month. Experts predict that UPI transactions could reach 20 billion per month within the next 18-24 months. UPI’s use-cases have expanded beyond peer-to-peer and merchant transactions to include payments for initial public offerings and UPI credit. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is also working on expanding UPI’s international presence. Currently, the majority of UPI transactions are carried out through mobile applications like PhonePe and Google Pay, which account for 80-90% of all UPI transactions. However, efforts are being made to encourage more payment applications and banks to adopt UPI and support merchant acquisition. Policy decisions are needed to lower entry barriers for new payments businesses and make UPI payments viable for larger merchants. Despite its success, there are concerns about the dominance of a few key players in the UPI market. The NPCI is exploring ways to expand the merchant acceptance space and prevent monopolies.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author has been using UPI (Unified Payments Interface) since its early days in India, but is now cautious and trying to limit its use to known people or established institutions. They express a wish for an additional layer of tokenization in UPI transactions to obfuscate phone numbers and UPI IDs. The author shares an experience of receiving unsolicited phone calls from people they paid via UPI, trying to sell or scam them. They also mention a scam involving random females calling on WhatsApp Video and threatening to make explicit screenshots viral to extort money. The author expresses discomfort with giving out personal information at tea stalls and random shops.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article highlights the difficulty faced by a foreigner in accessing India’s UPI system, preventing them from using cashless fast food outlets and booking intercity bus tickets. The author managed to get a bus ticket by persuading someone to use their personal UPI account in exchange for cash. The article suggests that as more communities go cashless globally, similar problems might arise for travelers.
6. Baresip – An Open Source modular SIP User-Agent with audio and video support
Total comment counts : 11
Summary
The article discusses Baresip, a modular SIP User-Agent with audio and video support. It mentions that the project is distributed under the BSD license and provides information on various call features, signaling, security, audio and video codecs, NAT traversal, networking, management, and profiles. It also provides instructions on how to build and start Baresip, generate API documentation, and send patches. Additionally, the article lists various RFCs related to Baresip.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author is asking if there is a way to make phone calls over the internet using a mobile phone that is in a remote location. They are specifically asking about a SIP to mobile phone bridge or a SIP GSM Gateway running on an Android phone. Essentially, they want to be able to initiate a call from a VoIP handset over the internet and have it ring on a remote mobile phone. They are looking for a solution that can expose the Android phone as a trunk line.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article notes that they have tried several SIP clients and finds baresip to be the most reliable. They have experienced no random issues and find that once the configuration is set up, the accounts work smoothly. They mention that baresip has a unique configuration layout, possibly due to its modular and wide scope, but overall, the author finds it wonderful to use.
7. Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows
Total comment counts : 53
Summary
The owner of the website www.bleepingcomputer.com has banned access from the IP address associated with the autonomous system number (ASN) 4134. The ban is being enforced by Cloudflare for improved performance and security.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a feature of WordPad from the Windows XP/7 era. WordPad had support for the complete OLE2/ActiveX stack, which allowed users to embed different types of controls, such as canvases, images from Paint, or Excel tables, into their documents. The user interface of WordPad would update and transform into the UI of the embedded application when that control gained focus. This feature made WordPad a useful testing application for interning at Microsoft and working on embeddable Inking surfaces for Tablet PC.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author is disappointed to see certain applications being replaced, especially if the suggested replacement is a paid software. However, they mention that one specific application, WordPad, did not work properly for them in the past. They experienced issues with page and line breaks, formatting of pictures and text boxes, and saving documents.
8. The Musaicum EU-plus 10M resolution image of Europe
Total comment counts : 6
Summary
The article introduces a new satellite image product called Musaicum EU-plus, which is a tile service for web maps. It combines satellite imagery with a classical mosaicing technique to produce high-quality visualizations of land areas. The author discusses the limitations of pixel statistics approaches and the advantages of classical mosaicing techniques. They also explain the challenges faced in processing the data and achieving homogeneity in larger areas. Despite some limitations, the Musaicum EU-plus product shows promising results with minimal cloud coverage. The article concludes by mentioning future developments and the potential use of the product beyond Europe.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article is considered good and it discusses the optimal scales for aggregating pixel stats, resulting in a valuable dataset.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The user is requesting information about the highest resolution satellite data commercially available.
9. Bézier Curves and the logic behind them
Total comment counts : 10
Summary
The article discusses Bézier curves and their applications in frontend engineering and web animations. Bézier curves are used to control the rate of change of properties over time in animations, and there are three types of easing functions: Linear, Step, and Cubic Bézier. Cubic Bézier is commonly used for generating smooth animations. The article also explains how Bézier curves are used to create linear and curved paths for visual elements, and how they are defined by anchor points and control points. It mentions that design tools like Photoshop and Figma offer various handle modes to manipulate Bézier curves. The article focuses on cubic Bézier curves in SVG, explaining how they can be used to draw complex shapes and how the points along the curve are derived using De Casteljau’s Algorithm. The author also shares their personal experimentation with SVG paths and cubic Bézier easing functions, and how this knowledge has sparked creativity in building interactive components.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article provides a link to a video that serves as a comprehensive introduction to Bezier Curves.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentioned is about bezier curves and can be found at the provided link: https://pomax.github.io/bezierinfo/.
10. How did Stripe come up with its name? (2015)
Total comment counts : 21
Summary
I’m sorry, but it seems there was an error and the article couldn’t be retrieved. Could you please provide a different article or topic for me to summarize?
Top 1 Comment Summary
In 2004, the author purchased the domain names Ubuntu.it and later Kubuntu.it to host their blog about Linux and Ubuntu. They decided to donate both domains to the Italian Ubuntu community when they were approached by its members. The author requested a small phrase, “kindly donated by Ubuntista,” to be displayed on the website, which was initially implemented but later removed. Despite their disappointment, the author still supports Ubuntu and has advocated for it for several years.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author had come up with the name “PayDemon” and already purchased related domain names. They found that the word “Stripe” was free of any existing brand associations and had positive connotations. However, they had to decide if a good name was worth the cost, while they had already spent money to register the PayDemon domains. Additionally, the author mentioned that paydaemon.com could be a suitable domain for a directory of BSD operating system projects in need of funding.