1. Quiet – Encrypted P2P team chat with no servers, just Tor
Total comment counts : 29
Summary
The article discusses a private, peer-to-peer (p2p) alternative to messaging platforms like Slack and Discord called Quiet. It is built on Tor and IPFS, ensuring privacy and security as messages are synced directly between devices without the need for a central server. Each community using Quiet has its own isolated network, with data never touching devices of users in other communities. Quiet uses OrbitDB for message syncing, which functions like a combination of Git, a gossip protocol, and BitTorrent. The article emphasizes the importance of building software that is not dependent on company-run infrastructure and aims to give users the power to hold software accountable. Quiet is written in TypeScript and is open to outside contributions. The ultimate goal is to create a trail that other free software teams can follow to build alternative apps without servers. The article invites interested individuals to contribute to the project.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author expresses their liking for the idea of a peer-to-peer end-to-end encrypted chat. However, they believe that without significant investment in OrbitDB and IPFS, the project will remain niche. The performance issues that arise from running OrbitDB/IPFS on machines, especially on mobile devices, are significant. The addition of Electron to the application further exacerbates the performance problems. The constant changes in IPFS libraries make development difficult, and OrbitDB is consistently behind the latest IPFS version. Integrating Tor will also be time-consuming and lead to more performance issues. The author acknowledges their appreciation for the project’s idea but believes that the aspirations are unrealistic and the outcome may be frustrating for average users.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author expresses surprise at how simple the process was to download a certain app, despite expecting it to be complex due to technical terms like “Tor”, “IPFS”, “OrbitDB”, and “P2P”. They highlight that setting up the app only involved choosing a community name and a username, which they found to be faster, easier, and more private than other platforms like Discord and Slack, which require an email address and phone number. The author questions whether there is a downside to this simplicity.
2. Chrome: Heap buffer overflow in WebP
Total comment counts : 22
Summary
The Stable and Extended Stable channels have been updated to version 116.0.5845.187 for Mac and Linux, and 116.0.5845.187/.188 for Windows. The update includes one security fix for a heap buffer overflow in WebP. The bug was reported by Apple Security Engineering and Architecture and The Citizen Lab at The University of Toronto’s Munk School. Google is aware that there is an exploit for this bug in the wild.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses how WebP images are decoded within Google Chrome and explains that any exploit in the renderer can only result in code execution within a sandbox. The renderer is quite complex, and there are numerous exploits discovered each year. However, even if someone manages to execute code within the renderer, they do not gain additional access beyond what a normal webpage would have. This means they cannot view or modify files on the user’s machine, nor access cookies from other domains.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author expresses sympathy towards browser developers who are slow to adopt new formats. They mention that WebP, although offering some advantages over JPEG (mainly in terms of transparency), hasn’t gained much success. However, the author argues that the recent discovery of multiple security vulnerabilities related to libwebp (the library that handles WebP) will now require spending significant time and resources to deploy patches across various platforms. They caution that developers tend to underestimate the cost of adopting new technologies.
3. The Power of Prolog
Total comment counts : 18
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The author shares their experience with using Prolog during their university AI classes. They mention that it was a challenging and mind-bending experience that required warming up before being able to think in Prolog again. They also note that interop with other languages was difficult at the time, but that SWI Prolog has caught up and would now be their preferred choice. The author recalls being afraid of the Prolog exam, which consisted of live coding tasks followed by an oral exam. They mention that it often took some time and reasoning before finding the solution. However, they were able to ace the exam by spending more time on the easier task and quickly solving the others. They also mention enjoying a follow-up course where they had to implement a game-playing agent. Additionally, the author mentions that they found “The Art of Prolog” and “The Craft of Prolog” to be highly recommended programming books.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article expresses their enthusiasm for Prolog and recommends learning it for the unique programming paradigm it offers. They mention that Prolog simplifies many concepts by focusing on providing information about the items in a collection rather than operating directly on the collection. The author admits that Prolog can be difficult to learn and convince others to use, and they have not found a seamless way to integrate it into other applications. They also mention that they have been searching for alternative Prolog solutions but have found them to be expensive and not integration-friendly. The author asks if anyone has successfully integrated Prolog into modern software and expresses interest in GUI solutions for Prolog. They also recommend checking out the online notebook called Swish for Prolog.
4. We built the fastest CI and it failed
Total comment counts : 49
Summary
The article discusses the challenges faced by Earthly, a startup that aimed to improve CI/CD tooling. They found that their product, Earthly CI, did not gain traction in the market despite its features and benefits. The article highlights the importance of early-stage validation and targeting a specific problem that resonates with a niche group of users. The author explains that instead of pushing forward with Earthly CI, they have decided to focus on Earthly and Earthly Satellites, which have shown more success and adoption. They emphasize the need to fail fast and pivot when necessary.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the importance of having a differentiator when using an open source model for a business. It mentions that simply offering an open source product may not be enough to entice customers, and suggests withholding certain features or services from the open source offering to make it more appealing. The article also mentions that some platforms like GitLab and Travis/CircleCI restrict certain features to paying customers, while others like Azure DevOps and ArgoCD have their own limitations. The author, a former Director of DevOps, asks what features would make them want to purchase a product instead of hosting it themselves, and suggests offering support or enterprise-level integration as a way to make the product more attractive to customers.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article criticizes a product, stating that it is a copy of existing tools such as Jenkins, Google Borg, Cloud Foundry, and Concourse Pipelines. The author also mentions the background of the product’s creators and their lack of originality. The sales process for the product is described as lengthy, requiring buy-in from multiple levels of executives. The author believes that while the product may be good, it is not unique and is facing issues caused by a combination of factors including lack of oversight and too much experience. The author suggests that selling toolchains is challenging due to the ever-changing nature of the industry and recommends using toolchains that offer flexibility and adaptability.
5. iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus
Total comment counts : 138
Summary
Apple has announced the release of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, which feature a new design with a color-infused back glass and contoured edge. The phones also boast a 48MP main camera with a 2x telephoto lens, as well as a USB-C connector and improved durability. The Dynamic Island feature allows for easy interaction with important alerts and activities, and the Super Retina XDR display offers enhanced brightness. Both models come in five new colors and will be available for pre-order starting September 15. The article also highlights the A16 Bionic chip, expanded safety capabilities, powerful connection features, and sustainability efforts in the design. iOS 17 will be the operating system of the new iPhone lineup.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article mentions ongoing threads discussing the Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as Apple’s decision to switch from the Lightning connector to USB-C after 11 years.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article highlights the author’s enthusiasm for the inclusion of USB-C in a new camera or device, as it means they can eliminate their lightning cables. The author mentions that the price of the device is not increasing, although they will need to purchase more USB-C cables. The article also notes that the device comes with one USB-C to USB-C charging cable, although it is unsure if it is a data cable. The author plans to pre-order the device on Friday and is interested in checking for carrier deals.
6. Death by a Thousand Microservices
Total comment counts : 70
Summary
The article discusses the current state of tech culture, particularly the trend of overly complicated microservices and the obsession with solving problems that don’t exist. It highlights several factors that have contributed to this state, such as the rise of full-stack JavaScript developers, the influence of FAANG veterans, and the availability of easy venture capital. The article questions the necessity of microservices and distributed systems, citing examples of successful companies that started with monolithic code bases. It also points out the pitfalls of building with microservices, including the lack of code reusability, the complexity of managing multiple services, and the challenges of integration testing and observability. The article concludes by suggesting alternative approaches, such as starting with a monolith or using a “trunk & branches” pattern for scalable loads.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article, who is a proponent of microservices, advises startups to initially build a monolith instead. They argue that starting with one codebase and one database, especially if using a key/value store like DynamoDB, is easier and can scale for some time. They also mention that a monolith can be deployed to Lambda while still benefiting from its features. The suggestion is to transition to microservices only when the system starts growing, allowing for independently scalable parts with their own data stores. The author argues that maintaining a microservices platform takes a significant amount of engineering time, making it only worthwhile if the efficiency gained can offset that cost.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article discusses the challenges of making even small changes to a large and complex software system. The author highlights that adding something as simple as a user’s birthday requires significant organizational alignment and coordination among the many contributors to the system. The process involves design iterations, reviews, sign-offs from architects, and multiple planning iterations. The actual code implementation may be straightforward, but it needs to adhere to strict testing requirements and be divided into multiple pull requests. Additionally, the feature may need to be toggled on and off in production to address any issues that arise. The article concludes by suggesting that engineers may only see recognition for their work after a long period and may quickly move on to other challenging projects.
7. Fine-tune your own Llama 2 to replace GPT-3.5/4
Total comment counts : 27
Summary
Fine-tuning is a more powerful form of prompting where instructions are encoded in the model weights. It involves training an existing model on input/output examples to teach it a specific task. Fine-tuning can be effective with as few as 50 examples, but more examples are preferred. While prompting has advantages in terms of ease and speed of iteration, as well as deployment, fine-tuning is more effective at guiding a model’s behavior, allowing for smaller models and faster responses. It can also be more cost-effective, with a fine-tuned model being significantly cheaper than GPT-3.5 on a per-token basis. Fine-tuned models can often produce results that are as good or better than larger models. The article shares information about fine-tuning, but it is not dependent on any particular startup.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author compares the translation performance and cost of Llama 2 70B with GPT-3.5. Surprisingly, GPT-3.5 was found to be 100 times cheaper than Llama 2 for a given number of input and output tokens. The author mentions that Llama 7B did not perform well in translations. They speculate that OpenAI intentionally priced GPT-3.5 aggressively cheap to make it a preferred choice over other vendors, including open-source models. The author expresses curiosity about whether others have obtained different results.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the possibility of using the outputs of language models like GPT to train internal alternative models. While selling access to the output as an API is not allowed, using it to replace GPT API calls is potentially viable. The author suggests a seamless process where user requests are initially directed to OpenAI or the existing model, but eventually a fine-tuned model could be offered based on accumulated data. If the fine-tuned model performs better in terms of cost, speed, and accuracy, it would make sense to switch to it for production scale usage. However, the complexity of switching might not be worth it for prototyping scale unless it significantly reduces API costs.
8. CHART: Completely Hackable Amateur Radio Telescope
Total comment counts : 11
Summary
The CHART project aims to make radio astronomy accessible by providing tutorials for building a radio telescope at home or in the classroom. The project focuses on keeping costs low and offers step-by-step instructions. Users are advised to start with the Telescope Design section, followed by the software section for recording data. Additionally, a GitHub page is available for accessing project code.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author is seeking suggestions for amateur radio astronomy and expresses their opinion that to do anything substantial, a significant investment in equipment and a location away from interference is necessary. They also mention difficulty finding a list of interesting projects with smaller investments. The author finds projects like Radio Jove and the Itty Bitty Telescope to be educational but not fruitful in the long-term. They feel that listening/watching the Sun and Jupiter for emission pulses may become boring after the initial learning phase. Lastly, the author believes that visible light astronomy is more interesting than radio astronomy for amateurs as it yields more fascinating results.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the use of RTL-SDR devices to build an interferometer. The author questions whether it is possible to connect the devices using software instead of physical cables. They also wonder about the accuracy of the RTL-SDR devices for this purpose.
9. Hacking the Book8088 for better accuracy
Total comment counts : 6
Summary
The article discusses the Book8088, a computer in the form of a laptop that aims to be compatible with the original IBM PC. The author ordered one to test its compatibility by running the 8088MPH demo. The Book8088 supports a real 8088 CPU and a socketed CRTC chip, which allows for accurate emulation. However, there are some differences compared to the original IBM PC, such as a different CRTC chip and a faster NEC V20 CPU. As a result, some parts of the demo don’t run properly on the Book8088.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author is impressed with the performance of an XT with a V20 CPU. They mention that all the software and games they wanted to play worked well on this system. They acknowledge that the V20 CPU is faster than the 8088 but don’t see any issue with that. The author also notes that there are supposedly games that require a 4.77 MHz system, but they personally never came across such a title.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The person is asking if it’s possible to flash a better BIOS on a certain device. They have noticed that basic games tend to hang, and they believe it could be due to inadequate emulation of something in the original PC BIOS.
10. OpenSSL 1.1.1 End of Life
Total comment counts : 9
Summary
OpenSSL 1.1.1 has reached its End of Life (EOL) and will no longer receive publicly available security fixes. It was released on September 11, 2018, as a Long Term Support (LTS) release, with LTS lasting five years. If your copy of OpenSSL 1.1.1 is from an Operating System vendor or third party, the support periods may differ. It is recommended to check with the vendor for their support details. If you downloaded OpenSSL 1.1.1 directly from the project, it is time to upgrade to a more recent version like OpenSSL 3.1 or 3.0, which have support until March 2025 and September 2026 respectively. Alternatively, you can purchase a premium support contract that provides extended support for OpenSSL 1.1.1 beyond its public EOL date. The OpenSSL Foundation intends to provide this extended support as long as it remains commercially viable. Contact osf-contact@openssl.org for further information.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the compatibility of OpenSSL 3 and the issue with client connections being broken. The author notes that while the upgrade to OpenSSL 3 is relatively easy, the problem arises when a peer closes the connection without sending close_notify, resulting in an unexpected EOF. In OpenSSL 1.1.1, this issue was ignored, but in OpenSSL 3, the error is passed to the client, requiring the client to set SSL_OP_IGNORE_UNEXPECTED_EOF to maintain the old behavior. However, this approach is only safe if the client checks for truncation attacks. The author mentions that this peer behavior is common with Google servers, which can cause problems for users of Google logins or APIs. The author finds it odd that most patches for this issue only set the flag and do not address truncation attacks. The article provides notes for administrators of old systems who have not yet addressed this issue, highlighting that the patch has been backported into some software versions, but not necessarily all. The author emphasizes the urgency of upgrading from python 3.7 and mentions the backport of OpenSSL 3 support in the openresty version.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author mentions that NixOS, a Linux distribution, flagged Sublime Text as insecure due to its dependency on an outdated version of openssl. They had to allow insecure packages to install Sublime Text on their system. The author expresses uncertainty about the potential dangers of using software with an outdated TLS library. However, they have now switched to using Emacs instead, despite Sublime Text being praised for its speed, features, and plugins.