1. Leaving LinkedIn
Total comment counts : 37
Summary
The article discusses the story of Chris Krycho, a senior staff engineer at LinkedIn who faced a dilemma due to a clash between his dedication to doing things right and the company’s fast-paced environment. His journey highlights the challenges of remote work, influencing company culture, and maintaining project health while prioritizing innovation. Chris ultimately chose to leave LinkedIn in pursuit of work that aligned with his principles. The article explores the tension between advocating for principled engineering in a world that values quick wins over long-term value.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a conversation between the author and their manager where they were told that they were too idealistic and needed to change their values. However, the author refused to do so and instead focused on building alignment across the organization. They also mention their experience working on the Facebook.com rewrite to React in 2019.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article discusses the author’s opinion on codebases and companies that resemble LinkedIn. The author suggests using “finger gun” approaches, which involve implementing codebases in a concise and efficient manner. They also emphasize the importance of having a small team of experienced engineers to develop new systems, arguing that success comes from their expertise. The main criticism is that many tech management teams often assign inexperienced individuals to build important systems. The author concludes by expressing interest in hearing from someone who has experience with finger-gun approaches.
2. YaCy, a distributed Web Search Engine, based on a peer-to-peer network
Total comment counts : 21
Summary
The article discusses YaCy, a decentralized search engine that allows users to join a community of search engines or create their own search portal. It offers three use cases: web search by the people (decentralized and shared index), creating a search portal for intranet or web pages, and running a search engine across many private devices. YaCy emphasizes privacy, as it does not collect personalized data and does not use cookies on its website. The article also mentions that YaCy is a non-profit project that relies on community support and donations.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author discusses their involvement in developing a federated search system, which involved writing a specification and two implementations. They wanted the search results to be re-rankable by peers by sharing the scores that contributed to them. The author tested the system with hundreds of peers. They also mention wanting to add a front to yacy but found it challenging. Despite the difficulties, they believe there is value in the project and would like to see the protocol explained to encourage implementation in other languages.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses multiple past discussions on Hacker News about YaCy, a decentralized and open-source search engine that aims to challenge Google. The discussions range from 2 years ago to 12 years ago, with varying numbers of comments.
3. OpenAI and Elon Musk
Total comment counts : 105
Summary
The article discusses the relationship between OpenAI and Elon Musk, as well as OpenAI’s mission to ensure the benefits of artificial general intelligence (AGI) are distributed to humanity. OpenAI originally planned to raise $100 million, but Elon Musk suggested announcing a $1 billion funding commitment. Over time, it became clear that building AGI required large amounts of funding. Elon Musk left OpenAI to create a competitor to Google/DeepMind, and later proposed merging OpenAI with Tesla. However, disagreements arose over control and mission alignment. OpenAI has made its technology accessible to the public and has collaborated with various organizations to improve people’s lives. Elon Musk understood that OpenAI’s mission did not necessarily mean open-sourcing AGI. OpenAI expresses sadness over the strained relationship with Musk but remains focused on advancing its mission.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article criticizes OpenAI’s recent announcement about limiting the sharing of AI research by labeling it as a “lame PR stunt” and suggesting it will only provoke more criticism. The author questions OpenAI’s claim to be a “great benefactor” and raises concerns about the dangers of withholding AI knowledge. They also highlight an exchange between OpenAI and Elon Musk, portraying OpenAI as depicting Musk as a failed loser seeking revenge. The author concludes that OpenAI’s arguments are weak if they rely on a single word from Musk in 2016.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article suggests that while evidence may make Elon Musk appear deceptive, it does not disprove his main claims. It argues that although there is a decent justification for the shift in focus towards profits, it does not negate the fact that their core mission was seemingly abandoned. The article agrees that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) will require significant computational power and funding, and it acknowledges the need for profitability to support expertise and resources. However, it criticizes the organization for misleading others by changing its name and mission while still benefiting from donations under the guise of a non-profit status.
4. Embedded Swift on the Raspberry Pi Pico
Total comment counts : 8
Summary
The article discusses the creation of a small “toolchain” for building pure Swift executables for the Raspberry Pi Pico. The toolchain, represented by a Makefile, is designed to work with the Pico but may also be compatible with other RP2040 boards. Unlike previous approaches, this toolchain does not use the Raspberry Pi Pico C/C++ SDK, resulting in less build system complexity. While the toolchain is still in its early stages and lacks certain functionalities, it provides a clean slate for experimentation and learning. The main application code is written in Swift, with minimal C and Assembly code involved for bootstrapping. The author hopes to integrate SwiftPM into the toolchain to make it easier to incorporate other packages. The article also discusses the potential use of Swift SDKs for embedded platforms and the benefits of creating a separate package for platform-specific functionalities. The author expresses interest in exploring the new 387 stuff (FP coprocessor support) and suggests the possibility of using the Swift linker in the future.
Top 1 Comment Summary
Micropython is addressing the “no drivers” problem by creating a port that is compatible with Zephyr. This development is aimed at providing solutions and documentation for using Micropython with Zephyr. For more information, you can visit the provided link.
Top 2 Comment Summary
There is a mention of Swift gaining traction in the Godot community, and a recommendation to watch Miguel De Icaza’s talk on the topic. The link to the video is provided.
5. Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a ’threat’ to iOS
Total comment counts : 78
Summary
Apple has terminated Epic Games’ developer account, reversing its earlier approval. Epic Games had hoped that approving its account would allow it to bring back Fortnite to iOS devices in the EU under the Digital Markets Act. Epic has called Apple’s termination a violation of the DMA and claims it shows Apple’s unwillingness to allow competition on iOS devices. Apple cited Epic’s criticism of its proposed DMA rules as one of the reasons for terminating the account. Epic has been a vocal critic of Apple, taking them to court over antitrust concerns. Apple stated that Epic’s breach of contractual obligations justified the termination.
Top 1 Comment Summary
This article suggests that Epic may have hoped for a more lenient response from Apple after their lawsuit in the US, similar to the ongoing business relationship between Apple and Samsung despite their litigation. However, Apple has decided to take a different approach and not give Epic any leeway. The author believes that this is not an emotional decision from Apple, but rather a way to demonstrate to other developers that the Digital Product License Agreement (DPLA) will be strictly enforced. Apple wants to show that they will not ignore violations of the agreement.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the termination of Epic Games’ developer account by Apple. For more information, you can visit the link provided.
6. Pg_vectorize: Vector search and RAG on Postgres
Total comment counts : 21
Summary
This article discusses a Postgres extension called pg_vectorize, which automates the transformation and orchestration of text to embeddings and provides hooks into popular language models. It enables vector search and building language model applications on existing data with just two function calls. The extension relies on pgvector for vector similarity search, pgmq for orchestration in background workers, and SentenceTransformers. The article provides instructions on how to install and use the extension, including setting up a table, creating jobs to vectorize the data, and performing vector searches. It also mentions the option to use OpenAI’s chat-completion models for chat responses.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author shares their experience with a hobby RAG (Red-Amber-Green) project. They offer the following tips:
- Ask the LLM (Language Model) to answer questions without RAG to establish a baseline.
- Smart chunking of data is important, especially for hierarchical data like a book. They suggest chunking by book section.
- Effective use of the context window is crucial, considering both the size and quality of match. Hierarchical data can further complicate this.
- The quality of input data is essential; the author spent 30 minutes copying the entire book into markdown format. The author concludes by asking for any additional thoughts or tips.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article emphasizes that the problem of coordinating between various components, such as LLMs, vector stores, query embeddings, and search relevance, is challenging. It also mentions that performing search well even without this complexity is difficult. The article suggests that Postgres is well-suited to address this multifaceted problem, as it offers more than just vector storage and retrieval capabilities.
7. Network Tunneling with QEMU
Total comment counts : 6
Summary
The article discusses how cyberattackers use legitimate tools, such as network tunneling software, to evade detection and carry out attacks. The author specifically mentions the utilities ngrok and FRP as commonly used tools. The article also describes an incident where the attackers used QEMU, a virtualizer, to connect to a compromised system and gain access to the corporate network. The author then explains how they tested this technique and provides a diagram of the network tunnel setup.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author discusses their recent use of a method to create a virtual machine (VM) service using libvirt, which does not support the QEMU socket type interface. To overcome this limitation, the author modifies the VM’s XML by adding specific code. The code includes parameters to establish a network socket and a virtio-net-pci device. Additionally, a Linux TAP tunnel daemon is mentioned as being responsible for encapsulating packets to maintain the integrity of the VM. The approach allows for the creation of a layer 2 tunnel from a remote site to the VM while keeping the VM separate from the network.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentions a type of malware that uses a virtual machine running a small operating system called TinyXP to hide itself from the main operating system. TinyXP has a small memory footprint and can evade reverse engineering techniques used to analyze malware behavior.
8. Fonts are still a Helvetica of a Problem
Total comment counts : 20
Summary
Canva, a graphic design platform, discovered vulnerabilities related to font processing tools. Fonts, which have a complex history and specifications, present a unique challenge for developers who need to interpret these specifications across multiple formats. Previous research focused on memory corruption bugs in font processing, but Canva explored other security issues that could occur when handling fonts. They found that the SVG format, commonly associated with web security problems, also appears in digital typography in two unique ways. Fonts that follow the sfnt container structure contain auxiliary tables, including poorly documented or proprietary ones, such as the SVG table. By analyzing how FontTools processes the SVG table, Canva discovered that the default XML parser used resolves entities, which can lead to an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability. An attacker could construct an XML payload to exploit this vulnerability and gain unauthorized access. Canva also discussed font compression and subsetting operations and how the implementation in FontTools version 4.28.2 added support for subsetting the SVG table. However, this feature introduced a misconfiguration that allowed the resolution of arbitrary entities, leading to potential security risks. Canva suggested the need for improved security measures and awareness when handling fonts.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article describes an incident that occurred in 2011 where a PDF file was used to jailbreak iPhones. The attack involved modifying an open source font library by removing bounds checking from one of its functions. The attacker waited for 12 months to see if the change had been noticed or fixed before creating a PDF file containing the modified font and releasing it.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a timeline graphic that is a PNG with text on it. The author mentions that when viewing the graphic on Firefox + M1 MacBook, the image is not scaled properly for high-resolution screens, causing blurry text. The article then goes on to mention the use of SVG code.
9. The Future That Never Was
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
The article discusses the release of the pre-release version of OS/2 2.0, which was a 32-bit operating system developed by Microsoft. This version was released in June 1990 and was intended to be the first mass-market 32-bit PC operating system. It was a hybrid operating system, with certain components being 16-bit and others being 32-bit. The objective of OS/2 2.0 was to run existing 16-bit OS/2 1.x applications. However, the article mentions that there was a problem with launching DOS boxes in the pre-release version due to an invalid instruction used by Microsoft. Despite this issue, OS/2 2.0 was considered a major improvement over its predecessor, OS/2 1.x.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article discusses their experience using OS/2 to develop Zortech C++. They highlight the advantage of OS/2’s protected mode, which prevented hard disk damage when encountering memory bugs. The author mentions porting their work to Rational’s 286 DOS Extender to fix compiler bugs related to the mixed 16-bit memory model. Lastly, they mention the risks of writing through a null pointer in real mode DOS and criticize the decision to locate the interrupt vector table at address 0. They suggest that this architectural mistake can lead to freezing or data loss.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author recounts their experience as a support representative for an ISP. One particular phone call stood out, where a customer selected Mac support even though they were running OS/2 Warp, as they did not want a Windows support person to try to fix their Windows operating system. The customer seemed to enjoy mentioning that they were running OS/2 Warp, possibly seeking appreciation for being an outlier. The author reflects on the camaraderie shared among those who used non-Microsoft operating systems, recalling a conversation with their girlfriend’s father, who was enthusiastic about his Amiga.
10. FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
Total comment counts : 44
Summary
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Dexcom Stelo Glucose Biosensor System, the first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor (CGM). This device is intended for individuals 18 years and older who do not use insulin, such as those with diabetes who treat their condition with oral medications or individuals without diabetes who want to monitor the impact of diet and exercise on their blood sugar levels. The system uses a wearable sensor and a smartphone application to continuously measure, record, analyze, and display glucose values. It should be noted that the device does not alert users to low blood sugar levels. The FDA’s approval of this OTC CGM aims to expand access to health information and promote health equity. Users should consult with their healthcare provider before making any medical decisions based on the device’s readings. Adverse events reported during the clinical study included local infection, skin irritation, pain, or discomfort.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article has been wearing a wearable device for the past six years, and it has had a significant positive impact on their health. They first wrote about their experience with the device in 2018. The author, who has Type 1 diabetes, considers the wearable device to be a game-changer. They even started a company focused on continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), but it didn’t succeed. However, the author is considering giving it another try.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author had a health event where they passed out, and their wife suspected it might be hypoglycemia due to the author’s high risk for diabetes. The author was put on a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) for two weeks, but did not experience hypoglycemia during that time. However, the author found the data from the CGM to be interesting and it helped them make healthier choices. The author compares using a CGM to tracking steps with a smart watch, as it encourages people to take action based on the data. The author tried to get a CGM from their family in India but the prices were high. They believe that CGMs could be beneficial for preventing pre-diabetic individuals from taking preventative steps, if it were easier to consistently measure.