1. Sam Altman returns as CEO, OpenAI has a new initial board
Total comment counts : 70
Summary
OpenAI has announced that CEO Sam Altman is returning to the company, with Mira Murati resuming her role as CTO. The initial board will consist of Bret Taylor as Chair, along with Larry Summers and Adam D’Angelo. Altman expressed his excitement for the future and thanked everyone for their hard work during uncertain times. He also mentioned that Ilya will no longer serve on the board but hopes to continue a working relationship with him. Altman praised Mira for her leadership and acknowledged Greg Brockman as his partner in running the company. Altman expressed confidence in the leadership team and thanked the entire team for their resilience and dedication. He also expressed gratitude to Satya, Kevin, Amy, and Brad for their support and thanked partners and users for sticking with the company. The immediate priorities for OpenAI include advancing their research plan and investing in their full-stack safety efforts.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the tense situation surrounding Sam’s firing without providing details about the reason. It mentions statements made by Sam before his dismissal, expressing excitement about a significant technological advancement and the opportunity to be involved in pushing the boundaries of discovery. Sam also mentions that next year’s announcements from the company will include a surprising leap forward in model capability, exceeding people’s expectations.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article is an interview with Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. The interview discusses the board’s assessment of Altman as “not consistently candid” and their dissatisfaction with his lack of clear answers regarding his firing. The article also mentions Altman’s attempt to set up a cryptocurrency that scans people’s eyeballs, which the author expresses skepticism about.
2. Brickception
Total comment counts : 42
Summary
The article discusses a game called Brickception, which is a variation of the classic breakout game. In Brickception, players need to enable popup windows to play the game. Two popup windows are launched - the main game window and the paddle window. However, the game cannot be played on mobile devices or other platforms that do not support popups. The paddle window also has a nested game that players need to win. Moving the paddle window affects the movement of the paddle in the main window, and the ball in the main window bounces off the top of the paddle window. The game was developed by Preet Shihn and the original concept was created by Ryo Suzuki. The source code for the game is available on GitHub, and players can track their progress with statistics such as level, balls left, score, and high score.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article describes a clever and unusual game where players have to simultaneously control two paddles in two games of breakout. The challenge arises when the two balls are briefly synchronized but cannot be hit simultaneously. Players must strategically move one paddle to hit its ball earlier and then quickly switch to hit the other smaller ball. It is a challenging task that requires skill and quick reflexes.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the challenges of using a tiling window manager.
3. Henry Kissinger Has Died
Total comment counts : 110
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article states that Michael T. Kaufman, a former correspondent and editor for The New York Times, died in 2010. He had contributed to the obituary of Henry Kissinger, who is still alive.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the death of Henry Kissinger and criticizes his actions and lack of remorse. The author believes that Kissinger was a crook who killed millions of civilians and supported dictators. They argue that no one should be complicit in carpet bombing and that the US government should be held accountable for their actions. The article also mentions the current situation in Gaza, where the US is allegedly providing support to Israel, leading to bombings of hospitals and schools. The author concludes by stating that this is not representative of who they believe the US should be.
4. CSAR: European Parliament rejects mass scanning of private messages
Total comment counts : 17
Summary
The European Parliament has rejected mass scanning of private messages in the draft ‘Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse’ (CSAR). All seven European political groups supported this decision, which is seen as a positive development for human rights. The European Digital Rights organization (EDRi) has been advocating against the CSAR’s proposed scanning and encryption-breaking measures, and is pleased that the Parliament has listened to their concerns. However, the legislative process is not yet complete, and it remains to be seen how the Council of EU Member States and the European Commission will respond. The Parliament’s rejection of rules that would force companies to scan private messages is based on the principle that limitations on rights must be necessary, effective, least intrusive possible, and proportionate. Lawyers for the Council of EU Member States have warned that the original proposal would violate the essence of the right to privacy, which the Parliament has taken into account. The EDRi-led Stop Scanning Me campaign has raised awareness about the draft measures, with scientists, researchers, journalists, activists, lawyers, and survivors’ associations expressing concerns about the potential harm and risks they pose. The Parliament’s position is now ready for closed-door negotiations, known as “trilogues”, with the Council of EU Member State governments. However, the Council does not currently have a negotiating mandate, as Member State governments have been divided on the issue. Some countries have refused to acknowledge the technological and legal reality, but others have stood against the proposal, emphasizing the importance of digital security, privacy, and anonymity. Efforts, such as protests in Germany, Sweden, and other locations, have influenced governments to take a firm stance against the mass surveillance of digital private lives. Without a Council position, the legislative process for the CSAR is currently uncertain, although the Spanish Presidency of the Council aims to push through a position before the end of December 2023.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article suggests the need for mechanisms to prevent repetitive attempts at breaking security systems, as they may succeed during a crisis or due to fatigue.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the dangers of mass surveillance, comparing it to an absolute power that corrupts the soul. The author states that they have personally experienced how it can corrupt a person. They also argue that tapping into communication systems used by the general public, whether through provider taps or client-side scanning, is pointless from a law enforcement perspective unless the goal is to monitor the entire population. The author believes that nefarious players with technical resources would not use public systems for communication, and there are numerous covert channels that would be more likely to be used for serious illegal activities.
5. Ripgrep is faster than grep, ag, Git grep, ucg, pt, sift (2016)
Total comment counts : 28
Summary
The article introduces a new command line search tool called ripgrep, which combines the usability of The Silver Searcher with the performance of GNU grep. The tool is fast, cross-platform, and written in Rust. The author provides a benchmark comparison of several popular code search tools, highlighting the performance of ripgrep. The primary reasons to use ripgrep include speed, filtering by default, fewer bugs, and Unicode support. The article also provides instructions on how to install and use ripgrep.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a Powershell function called “frg” that combines the use of ripgrep (rg) and fzf for fast and efficient fuzzy searching in files and text. The function uses rg to search for text in files, and the results are then passed to fzf for fuzzy searching. The output is displayed in the terminal with highlighted matches and context using the bat tool. The author recommends this approach for quickly finding information in a multi-repo project when the exact location or name is unknown. The article also mentions a link to the source on GitHub for further reference and ideas.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s experience using the ripgrep (rg) tool with Emacs packages project.el and dumb-jump. They mention that although their approach may not be the most popular way to use rg, they have been satisfied with the overall experience. They explain that by installing the dumb-jump package and configuring a specific hook, they are able to use Xref key sequences and commands to find definitions of identifiers in a Python project. The article also mentions that dumb-jump automatically restricts the search to the current file type within the current project directory, with the option to default to the home directory if no project directory is found. Additionally, they note that dumb-jump also supports the silver searcher tool (ag) and falls back to grep if neither ag nor rg is available.
6. Marine bacteria genus may hold mitochondria’s closest relatives
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
The article titled “Forbidden Details: cache-nrt-rjtf7700061-NRT 1701388915 3912017979 Varnish cache server” does not provide enough information for a meaningful summary.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article states that while all eukaryotes have mitochondria, there are exceptions like Monocercomonoides and Henneguya zschokkei that have lost them. These organisms have lost their mitochondria through different mechanisms. The article provides links to more information on these exceptions.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the concept of mitochondria, noting that it involves one cell absorbing another type of cell, and then every subsequent generation of that cell including the absorbed cell. The author expresses confusion about how this process works.
7. I worked in Amazon HR and was disgusted at what I was seeing with PIP plans
Total comment counts : 63
Summary
The article is based on a conversation with a former Amazon human-resources worker who participated in the company’s performance-management program called Pivot. The worker explains that there was a heavy emphasis on meeting the 6% target for Pivots and little interest in actually improving employee performance. Managers struggled to implement the program and many disliked it. The worker also describes how employees were stacked ranked into top, middle, and bottom tiers, with a large number of workers being labeled as underperforming, even when they weren’t. The worker expresses disgust with the Pivot process and its negative impact on employees, including visa-sponsored workers who had to leave the country once they were pivoted out. They also mention that some employees would transfer jobs if they sensed they were being targeted for a Pivot. Overall, the worker was deeply affected by the process and had to leave the company due to the experience.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article states that there is a problem with performance improvement programs (PIPs) at companies like FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google). It mentions that these programs have high barriers to entry during the interview process, but then treat a large portion of the company as underperforming and subject to an annual 6% cut. The author argues that if these companies have competitive hiring processes and high compensation to attract top talent, it is unlikely that they have so many underperformers. The author suggests that overhiring may be the underlying issue, and proposes that a more humane approach would be to follow the old Wall Street model of making one cut in one afternoon and providing severance. The article also mentions a person who moved from Wall Street to Amazon, describing the performance management/compensation system as rough and noting that many people were leaving and returning to reset their compensation rather than going over a compensation cliff.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a financial incentive program in an organization that is being manipulated by a hyper-rational VP to force people out just before they can receive the rewards. The author suggests that if someone is considering joining a company that aggressively uses performance management like this, they are the target of the system because they are new, not because they are bad at their job. The article highlights the negative impact of colleagues gaslighting each other about their performance for personal gains.
8. Herbie: Find and fix floating-point accuracy problems
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
Herbie, a project developed at UW PLSE, has a strong foundation in collaboration. The main contributors to the project include Pavel Panchekha, Alex Sanchez-Stern, David Thien, Zachary Tatlock, Jason Qiu, Jack Firth, and James R. Wilcox.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article mentions that they and some people in their lab work on the topic being discussed. They also mention that they have some knowledge about analyzing floating point exceptions. They invite others to ask them anything related to the topic.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author experimented with the function 1/sqrt(9x-6) for different values of x. They found that for a particular range of x values, the tool produced an alternative result of sqrt(-.16666…), which was marked as 0% accurate. The author is curious about where this alternative result came from. They also note that the tool indicated a 1.1x speedup, but none of the other, more accurate options provided a speedup. The author speculates that the tool may allow for reduced accuracy until it finds a speedup, even if it means producing incorrect results.
9. Many Tamagotchis were harmed in the making of this presentation (2012) [video]
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
The article discusses the author’s attempts to hack the latest Tamagotchi virtual pets. It explores techniques for reverse engineering a device with limited inputs, computing power, and debugging capabilities. The author starts with the IR interface and delves into the hardware to accomplish the task.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses how someone was able to obtain the code of a Tamagotchi Friends device using a technique called voltage glitching. More details can be found here: link.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses two hacks inspired by an XKCD comic: the Tamagotchi Singularity and Natalie’s technique. The Tamagotchi Singularity is a server filled with emulated tamagotchis that interact with each other in a simulator using code dumped by Natalie’s technique. The author is impressed by both hacks and highlights their combination. The information is sourced from a Hackaday article and includes links to the XKCD comic, the tamagotchi emulator, and the Hackaday article.
10. Loongson releases next-generation CPU
Total comment counts : 6
Summary
Chinese company Loongson has unveiled its new next-generation computer central processing unit (CPU) 3A6000, marking a breakthrough in China’s domestic CPU design. The Loongson 3A6000 processor features a quad-core design with a 2.5GHz operating frequency and is comparable to Intel and AMD CPUs in key functions. Multiple Chinese computer brands have already launched new computer series based on this processor. Loongson has also entered into broader cooperation with 10 companies, aiming to build a LoongArch ecosystem. This development signifies China’s progress in achieving tech self-sufficiency amid Western blockades.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s interest in MIPS machines that are comparable to the Intel Core i3 14100. Loongson, the company behind these machines, is also involved in Deepin Linux and is focused on building a Chinese-native technology stack. The author expresses some reservations about the control of technology by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) due to surveillance concerns but appreciates the competition between different technologies, such as AMD64, MIPS, RISC-V, ARM, OpenPOWER, and semi-custom variants of RISC-V and ARM. The author finds it exciting to have diverse options in the tech industry.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article finds it impressive and useful if certain CPUs can match the performance of AMD and Intel CPUs. They mention that many people are still using older processors for office work or light development and that those processors work perfectly fine for such tasks. However, the author would like to see actual benchmarks to confirm the processors’ performance.