1. DEF CON 32 Was Canceled. We Un-Canceled it

Total comment counts : 43

Summary

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Top 1 Comment Summary

Caesar’s Entertainment may have decided to no longer host the DEF CON conference due to lower revenue from attendees. DEF CON attendees tend to gamble less and spend less on dining and drinking compared to the average Vegas conference attendee. Las Vegas has experienced a resurgence after the pandemic, suggesting that Caesar’s is doing well enough to attract higher-revenue guests for their rooms even during the traditionally slow month of August. The article also mentions another conference held in August, which attracts attendees who do not gamble or spend much at the hotel. This conference chooses August to get better discounts from a lower-end hotel, which is located away from the strip and has less dining and gambling revenue potential.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The author questions the choice of having DEFCON, an event, in August and in Las Vegas. They suggest alternative locations like Kodiak, Alaska and Portsmouth, Maine, as well as criticizing other hot places like Houston and New Orleans. The author wonders why anyone would think Vegas is a good idea in August.

2. Deno in 2023

Total comment counts : 29

Summary

The article provides an update on the developments made by Deno in 2023. Deno expanded its capabilities by incorporating built-in Node modules, bridging the gap between Deno and the Node ecosystem. It also introduced features to facilitate a smoother transition from Node to Deno. The stabilization of the Node-API eliminated the need for the –unstable flag when utilizing npm packages dependent on Node-API. Deno.serve() function was introduced to streamline web server creation. Performance improvements were achieved through targeted optimizations in core libraries and the event loop mechanism. Deno also integrated WebGPU, allowing developers to harness GPU hardware directly with JavaScript. Deno’s Language Server Protocol (LSP) integration and support for Jupyter enabled a better development experience and the ability to use JavaScript and TypeScript in data science and visualization tasks.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the author’s positive view of the Deno project and their desire for greater support in embedding Deno into a Rust host process. The author explains that they are writing a JavaScript bundler and need a Node.js runtime to execute plugins. While Deno’s executable has good Node support for their use case, embedding Deno using the deno-core crate is challenging and lacking in documentation. The author suggests that Deno could become a preferred runtime for JavaScript tooling if it had better support for embedding. Currently, they are using a Node.js child process and communicating with it from the Rust host process using stdio, but this approach has higher communication latency compared to an embedded Deno runtime.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The author is interested in the WebGPU feature and is working on a framework called Slint, which allows for creating desktop GUIs in JavaScript/TypeScript without using a browser/webview. Currently, they use binaries through napi-rs to bring in a window using the platform native API and merge event loops. They hope that if Deno supports bringing up a window directly, they can ship web assembly (wasm) instead of native binaries for all platforms, simplifying event loop integration. However, they also need additional APIs for mouse and keyboard input, accessibility, popup windows, system tray, etc. The WebGPU feature does not include the API to launch a window, so an extra library binary is still needed.

3. Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the first scroll

Total comment counts : 26

Summary

The article announces the winners of the Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize. The challenge aimed to find a way to read ancient papyrus scrolls that were buried by a volcanic eruption 2,000 years ago. After a year of competition and collaboration using computer vision and machine learning, a team of three emerged as the winners. Their submission contained the most readable text and met the criteria set by the challenge organizers. The team members were Youssef Nader, Luke Farritor, and Julian Schilliger. They each had previous success in related challenges and combined their skills to create a strong submission. The submission included results from multiple model architectures and had a strong ink detection and auto-segmentation approach. Their efforts have shed light on the thoughts of our ancestors and allowed for the reading of these long-hidden scrolls.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the author’s excitement about a recent discovery in archaeology. They mention a methodology involving digital unwrapping of scrolls, ink recognition, and the use of a model to detect it. They express confusion about the use of a TimeSFormer, a technology they believed was for video, in working with images. Overall, the author praises the achievements of the young minds involved in the discovery.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The author was initially skeptical about a certain project they came across on HN due to its difficulty and the intelligence of the people working on it. However, they are now amazed and impressed by the project’s success, offering congratulations to the winners and everyone involved.

4. Sapling: Experimental vi-inspired editor where you edit code, not text

Total comment counts : 15

Summary

The article discusses a highly experimental vi-inspired editor that prioritizes code editing. The feedback from users is taken seriously, and the available qualifiers can be found in the documentation.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the development of structured editing in various text editors. It mentions the introduction of Combobulate for emacs, Neovim’s implementation of treesitter, and Helix’s built-in commands based on treesitter. These developments have occurred after the end of a previous project called sapling. The author suggests that although the current trend is to use structured editing to extend traditional editors, it is still worth considering what an editor fully embracing structured editing could look like. The article includes links to the mentioned resources.

Top 2 Comment Summary

This article discusses the benefits of using text objects in Vim/Neovim when working with Lisp, as it allows users to edit and traverse Lisp forms. The author praises Lisp’s beauty and suggests the idea of encoding the semantics of another language, such as C++, within Lisp, while also utilizing a macro system to create a domain-specific language (DSL).

5. More misdrilled holes on 737 MAX in latest setback

Total comment counts : 27

Summary

The given text is not an article but rather a prompt asking the user to confirm their human identity by clicking a box. It also provides information regarding the importance of JavaScript, cookies, and not blocking them from loading. It further suggests reviewing their Terms of Service and Cookie Policy for more information and provides contact details for support.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article suggests that the current Boeing CEO is trying to change the company culture to one that acknowledges and solves problems, instead of denying them. However, because this change is happening after a long period of denying problems and delivering faulty products, there may be an increase in the number of apparent problems for a while. The article questions whether Boeing’s customers and shareholders will have the patience to allow the CEO to complete this transformation, considering the size of the company.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article contends that the title is misleading as Boeing did not find the fault themselves, but rather it was discovered by Spirit, who then alerted Boeing. Additionally, the problem only impacts fuselages that have yet to be delivered.

6. WebAssembly Playground

Total comment counts : 3

Summary

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Top 1 Comment Summary

The author is questioning why there is a lack of widespread adoption of WebAssembly (WASM). They mention being impressed by a WASM demo website that used a WASM version of ffmpeg to combine audio and video into a file. However, despite seeing potential in WASM, the author has not observed much usage of it. They also mention that they would prefer WASM to not become popular because it would make debugging websites and web applications difficult.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The site in question appears to have some broken sections, including one that displays the word “undefined,” a large blank section, and a section displaying the error message “Error: process exited with code 1.”

7. Gin, Television, and Social Surplus (2008)

Total comment counts : 14

Summary

The article discusses the concept of “cognitive surplus,” which refers to the free time that individuals have and how they choose to spend it. The author argues that in the 20th century, people primarily used their free time to watch TV shows, which acted as a distraction and prevented societal progress. However, the author suggests that there is now an opportunity to utilize this cognitive surplus for more productive purposes. The example of Wikipedia is given, where people contribute their time and knowledge to create and edit articles. The article emphasizes the vast amount of time spent on television watching, contrasting it with the potential for societal advancement if this time is redirected towards more meaningful activities.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the sudden and challenging transformation from rural to urban life, which led society to heavily depend on alcohol consumption as a way to cope. It suggests comparing this situation to the high vodka consumption in Russia and refers to a paper that explains the profound effect of alcohol on Russian society. Unfortunately, the article itself is not provided.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The author is questioning whether there has been a decrease in cognitive surplus over the past 50 years due to the shift from blue collar to white collar jobs. They personally feel mentally drained after a day of coding and work, and prefer physical activity over cognitive challenges.

8. I also hacked my car

Total comment counts : 15

Summary

The author of the blog post was inspired by a previous post about hacking a Hyundai car’s infotainment system and wanted to see if they could do the same with their cheaper Dacia Sandero. They discovered that a simple script on a USB drive could be run as root on the system, allowing them to make modifications. The infotainment system was a Linux-based MediaNav Evolution from Renault, built by LG. By examining firmware files, they found that a previous version had a backdoor script that had been removed in a newer version. They explored other binaries and found D-Bus functionality that would be useful for accessing vehicle information. They considered crafting an update file with a backdoor, reverse engineering the upgrade process, or using an Android phone app to gain root access.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses how the author used a Raspberry Pi in USB gadget mode to emulate an Android device connected to a head unit. By exploiting the update protocol, the author was able to modify a specific file and inject a bash script that runs as root. The summary provided highlights the key points of the author’s method.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article discusses a core operating system called GENIVI/COVESA, which is not well-known to the author. They mention that it contains open-source components that they may explore in the future. The author previously worked on GENIVI projects, which is a consortium of automotive makers and companies that establish standards for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI). They worked on proof-of-concept projects using the Automotive-Grade Linux distribution, and believed that there could be a future for standard infotainment systems. The author also notes that they perceived GENIVI as the European standards group, while AGL was driven by Asian automakers.

9. Running Open-Source AI Models Locally with Ruby

Total comment counts : 10

Summary

The article discuses the implementation of a custom AI solution using an open source AI model for a client with sensitive customer information. The author explains the need to maintain a high level of security by running the model locally on an AWS virtual machine and making API calls to it from a Rails application. The author mentions the availability of various open source AI models, such as Mistral, Mixtral, and Lama, and recommends Mistral as the best option for running locally due to its size and performance. The author further explains that these models are neural networks and describes the concept of parameters, which indicate the number of weights and biases in the model. The author suggests using Ollama, a software that allows downloading and running open source models, to set up and run the model. The process of installing and running Ollama is explained, and the article concludes by mentioning the ability to customize the base model using Ollama.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The author shares their experience with using Ollama and local models in Common Lisp, Clojure, and Racket for AI work. They have written three books on these languages with Ollama examples, all of which can be read for free online. The author has been involved with AI work since 1982, particularly with neural networks and symbolic AI, and more recently with deep learning. While they acknowledge the usefulness of commercial APIs like Anthropic, Mistral, and OpenAI, they personally prefer running smaller models locally.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article suggests that calling an HTTP API from a Ruby program does not truly qualify as running an “AI Model Locally with Ruby.” However, it suggests that one can come closer to achieving this by utilizing the llama.cpp bindings for Ruby, which can be found at https://github.com/yoshoku/llama_cpp.rb.

10. How I’m able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

Total comment counts : 33

Summary

The article discusses the author’s workflow for taking math lecture notes in LaTeX using Vim. The author explains their use of Vim, a text editor, for writing code, LaTeX, and other text-based tasks. They also discuss their use of the vimtex plugin for syntax highlighting and other features. The author highlights the use of snippets, which are reusable pieces of text that can be triggered by certain keywords, to quickly write LaTeX. They provide examples of snippets for inserting environments and starting math mode. The author concludes by emphasizing that using snippets significantly speeds up the process of writing LaTeX.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The author of this article discusses their switch to using Typst for writing math notes, particularly in the Vim text editor. They highlight several advantages of using Typst, such as its lightweight syntax that allows for fast typing and its ease of use. The author also notes that Typst does not require any preambles or includes, making it easy to start typing right away. They appreciate Typst’s incremental and live preview features, which eliminate the need for pdf synchronization and build files. Overall, the author finds Typst to be close to perfect for personal use and note-taking, but acknowledges that it may not be as suitable for serious academic use.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article discusses different approaches to taking lecture notes. The author mentions observing classmates who used LaTeX to type their notes, appearing busy and stressed. However, the author prefers using a pen and paper for note-taking. Some professors suggest preparing for the lecture beforehand, listening actively, and focusing on understanding rather than extensive note-taking.