1. LLM Visualization
Total comment counts : 1
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article refers to comments that have been moved to a different link on Hacker News. The author mentions feeling bad about the karma not being shared for the original post and manually decided to move the comments. They also mention the possibility of software handling this in the future.
2. Cicadas are so loud, fiber optic cables can ‘hear’ them
Total comment counts : 16
Summary
Scientists in Princeton, New Jersey are using distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), a technique that tracks seismic activity, to monitor earthquakes and volcanic activity. While using DAS, they stumbled upon an unexpected use of the technology: listening to the buzzing of cicadas. Through fiber optic cables, the scientists were able to pick up the distinct frequency buzzing caused by the emergence of Brood X, a population of cicadas. This discovery suggests that DAS could be a cheap and constant way for entomologists to study and monitor insect populations. The DAS system works by analyzing the light that bounces back after a laser is fired through a fiber optic cable. The speed of light allows scientists to pinpoint where along the cable a disturbance occurs. By focusing on a loop of the cable, the system becomes more sensitive to capturing sound vibrations. This accidental observation of cicada sounds could provide valuable information about the population sizes and behavior of different insect species.
Top 1 Comment Summary
Fiber cable can be used as a sensor by sensing reflections and comparing them to previous reflections to detect bends in the cable. By timing the arrival of reflections, the location of the bends can be calculated, and by sensing the intensity of reflections, the sharpness of the bend can be determined. This technology is already being used in commercial environments by a company called Luna Innovations. Examples of its use include detecting intruders in restricted areas, monitoring pipelines for drilling attempts or other vibrations, and assessing the structural integrity of bridges. The advantage of using fiber cable as a sensor is that it provides sensing coverage over a large area without the need for multiple sensors, power sources, or communication systems. The electronics used to extract data from the fiber are complex but can be safely housed at one end of the fiber.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author describes attending a party in Brazil during cicada season. The event took place at a country club surrounded by coffee farms and tall eucalyptus trees. The stage was large with thousands of people dancing under a tent and the sound system was extremely loud. However, when walking away from the tent towards the corners of the club, the sound of the cicadas gradually became louder and eventually overpowered the speakers. The author found this intriguing because they were not far from the speakers. Despite being loud, the sound of the cicadas created a pleasant and natural ambiance around the event, which was preferred over the distant sound of the speakers.
3. Clang now makes binaries an original Pi B+ can’t run
Total comment counts : 20
Summary
The author of the article discusses their experience with using Raspberry Pi systems, specifically an older model called the B+, and encountering issues when running C++ programs built with clang. They initially tried to run binaries from their faster Pi 4B on the original Pi B+, but encountered an “illegal instruction” error. They then attempted to build on the B+ itself, but still experienced the same issue. Simplifying the code to just declare “main()” and return also resulted in the same error. After researching, they found forum posts with various suggestions, but wanted a better solution. They decided to use a new SD card and installed clang on a fresh OS image. They discovered that the compiler was effectively cross-compiling for armv7 instead of armv6, which caused the incompatibility. By specifying that the program should be built for armv6, they were able to obtain a working binary. The author speculates that this issue may be due to a default change from version 11 to version 12 of the compiler, and suggests that perhaps not many people are still using these older systems.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the history of the ARM generation used in the original versions of the Raspberry Pi. It highlights that the ARM core used in the Raspberry Pi B+ was 11 years old when it was released in 2014. The article suggests that it is not surprising that an arch flag is needed to produce compatible code for different platforms. It also mentions that there may be a misconfiguration in the defaults shipped by the distribution, causing the correct arch not to be picked by default when building on the Raspberry Pi B+.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentions a bug related to LLVM, where the issue seems similar to a bug reported in 2012 but was closed. The author also highlights that explicitly passing the target parameter results in a working program, suggesting a possible configuration bug. The bug mentioned in the linked article was likely about producing incorrect code even when the target was set correctly, which is not happening currently.
4. A Personal History of APL (1982)
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
This article is a personal history of APL (A Programming Language) written by Michael S. Montalbano. The author discusses the importance of history in understanding the growth and impact of digital computer technology. He believes that a good understanding of the past is crucial in controlling and shaping future developments. Montalbano states that APL provides a set of ideas and methodologies for understanding and controlling computer technology, making it important for the development of the field. He summarizes his personal experience in computing, highlighting the significance of the stored-program idea and the efficient-notation idea in the evolution of computers and APL.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article explains that the easiest way for non-APL programmers to understand APL is by recognizing what it lacks, such as boilerplate and loops. APL focuses on the essence of the code, with the interpreter inferring the rest. This allows APL code to be highly compact, which may initially be difficult to read for those used to step-by-step instructions. However, with time, reading APL becomes easier and other languages appear unnecessarily verbose in comparison.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the programming language J, which was created by Ken Iverson, the inventor of APL. J is heavily influenced by APL but does not use its special characters. It is described as an ASCII-APL language and is known for being fast and cryptic, similar to APL. It has a strong user community and is open source. The article provides a link to the official website of J software.
5. UniFi Express
Total comment counts : 39
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a product called UniFi Express that has a limitation that may restrict its usefulness for many people. It can only support up to 5 connected UniFi Network devices, such as switches and WiFi access points. This limitation seems to be in place for market segmentation reasons, which may not appeal to those who already have multiple devices. The lack of support for Protect, along with the device limit, may make potential buyers reconsider purchasing it.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article expresses confusion regarding a product from UniFi, as it is unclear whether it is intended for home users or businesses. While the website suggests a focus on businesses, the product seems more suitable for home use. The product only runs UniFi Network, requiring additional purchases of other UniFi Network-compatible products to access their other offerings such as Protect. The author finds UniFi’s recent products to be perplexing, suggesting a lack of clarity in their product direction.
6. Not a real engineer (2019)
Total comment counts : 22
Summary
The article is sarcastically commenting on the perception of engineers. It describes an engineer as a creature with a lion’s head, wings, many eyes, and a serpent around its waist. The article goes on to say that this creature’s breath is like a storm, its voice like the wind, and its tongue brings destruction. The article concludes by saying that the creature is not considered a “real engineer” and is not suitable for a technical role.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article suggests that hiring highly skilled engineers for jobs that primarily involve building basic database operations is a waste of resources. It argues that these tasks can be adequately handled by engineers who can correctly write basic CRUD operations and call APIs, with good error handling and debugging skills. Hiring genius engineers for such tasks is unnecessary, as they may become bored and start overcomplicating things.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article has personal experience with both sides of the job-seeking process - being a candidate and an interviewer. They believe that both the tech interview process and the presence of unqualified candidates in the job market are problematic. The author suggests that these two issues are related and compares the situation to a market for lemons.
7. Brain waves usually found in sleep can protect against epileptic activity
Total comment counts : 8
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses research on slow-wave enhancement, specifically increasing synchronous firing of neurons during sleep. The author mentions their own work in this area over the past three years and expresses interest in reaching out to epilepsy researchers to explore potential benefits. They also invite anyone with more knowledge on the topic to contact them via email.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article experienced seizures as a teenager but grew out of them as they got older. However, they still have concerns and think about it. According to a doctor, this may be because the neural pathways become more set as you age, making the brain less prone to seizures. The author finds it fascinating how adaptable the human brain is.
8. The analog computer for the Nike missile system (2001)
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
The article discusses the history and functionality of the Nike analog computer, which was used for missile guidance in the Nike missile system. It explains the different sections and missions of the Nike computer, including providing predicted intercept points, missile steering commands, and missile burst commands. The article also mentions the transition from analog to digital computing technology in the 1970s.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the historical significance of Fort Hancock in New Jersey, which used to be home to a Nike base and various gun emplacements. The author mentions that there were even nuclear warheads secretly placed on Nike Atlas missiles to combat incoming bombers. The towns surrounding the area were not informed of this. Fort Hancock is now a historical place where visitors can walk around and see the batteries and the Nike station. The fortifications date back to the Civil War, and there are periodic tours of the guns and missiles available.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author mentions finding it interesting that they purchased a Nike missile control unit with mechanical gyroscopes and microwave components from someone in the Netherlands. They disassembled most of the electronics modules and repurposed pencil tubes to create a guitar amplifier, which they find cool and unique.
9. Performance: Adventures in Thread-per-Core Async with Redpanda and Seastar
Total comment counts : 6
Summary
The article discusses the challenges and trade-offs of adopting a thread-per-core architecture in building high-performance systems with C++20. It highlights the advancements in hardware, such as the increasing number of cores and faster storage and networking devices, and the implications for software developers. The author shares lessons from their adoption of C++20 and the Seastar framework, addressing the need to optimize software to fully utilize the power of modern hardware.
Top 1 Comment Summary
This article discusses the design and benefits of thread-per-core architectures. The author has experience with these architectures for 15 years and believes that they offer superior performance compared to other software architectures. However, there is a lack of libraries optimized for thread-per-core architectures, particularly in terms of storage management. The article also mentions the challenges of sharing resources across cores without sacrificing performance. It emphasizes the importance of understanding lifetimes in software development and touches on the tradeoffs of using the Seastar framework. Ultimately, the article suggests that these types of architectures can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of software systems.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the concept of distributing computation over the internet and sending work to data, which can be applied to CPUs and possibly GPUs. The author suggests that there may be shared cache or sub-caches inside modern CPU cores and discusses the efficiency of arranging data to minimize data movement. They speculate about memory-optimized computing and its potential as a new paradigm. The article also mentions the possibility of intersecting with models like Mixture of Experts in Language Models (LLMs) and the complexity of real neurons compared to artificial neural networks. The author suggests using a model to predict data needed for text generation and having a fast cache for each task. They also inquire about the existence of large open LLM or Language Model Mixtures (LMM) trained using a specific tool.
10. A new approach to domain ranking
Total comment counts : 14
Summary
The article discusses a discovery that suggests using the cosine similarity approach of explore2.marginalia.nu as a replacement for the link graph in the PageRank algorithm. The PageRank algorithm simulates the random clicking of links on websites to determine where a random visitor would end up. However, the performance of PageRank has deteriorated over time due to changes in website linking and manipulation techniques. The new approach using explore2 appears to be resistant to manipulation techniques and stays on topic well.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a service called “marginalia.nu” that allows users to explore and search for information on the web. It suggests that the web has become isolating due to commercialization, and bloggers are currently facing challenges in finding each other and connecting. The article concludes that accessible services like marginalia.nu could help revive the open web and bring people together again.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentions that the author provides access to the entire link graph on a website. They provide a link for users to download this graph, jokingly mentioning that it may cause their own website to experience a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack due to the high volume of downloads.