1. 3D + 2D: Testing out my cross-platform WASM graphics engine

Total comment counts : 38

Summary

The article discusses the development of a portable, embeddable graphics framework called Renderlet. The author explains that they were inspired by WebAssembly (Wasm) and its ability to run anywhere and be embedded into various applications. They wanted to create a framework that was high-level enough for app developers to easily create graphics, while also taking advantage of the GPU for high performance. The author also mentions integrating the Rive Renderer library into Renderlet, allowing 3D apps to have a 2D vector backend. They provide links to examples and technical documentation, and express their desire to receive feedback on Renderlet.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article is about a talk given by the author, which includes two successful demonstrations on two platforms. The talk is an excellent introduction to the subject. The article also includes a link to a YouTube video of the talk. The author mentions that they currently work at a company in the WebAssembly space that was involved in the conference.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The author suggests skipping the “PAL step” and going directly into SetupRuntime with the arguments, as this extra step is unnecessary. They also recommend using wgpu-native or dawn for WebGPU development and suggest removing IPal as it is not used elsewhere. Overall, the article is bookmark-worthy.

2. Tips for linking shell companies to their secret owners

Total comment counts : 19

Summary

The article discusses investigative journalism techniques to uncover the actual owners of shell companies and trusts. Shell companies are used for legal tax avoidance or to hide assets by individuals involved in illegitimate or sanctioned enterprises. The article suggests starting with a keyword search in corporate registries and databases and experimenting with variations of names. It also emphasizes the importance of understanding the role of formation agents who create companies for clients and the basic information required on incorporation paperwork. The article mentions the use of tools like OpenCorporates, a searchable database of company records from government registries.

Top 1 Comment Summary

A new national law has been implemented, requiring all corporations to disclose their beneficial owners to the Department of the Treasury. Existing companies must comply with this requirement by the end of 2024, while new firms have a 30-day deadline.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The techniques and advice mentioned in the article are not useful when it comes to a Delaware LLC. The level of information available about beneficial ownership varies depending on the jurisdiction and entity type. While these tips can be helpful in many cases, a Delaware LLC is often like a mysterious entity with limited information.

3. Avoid blundering: 80% of a winning strategy

Total comment counts : 47

Summary

The article discusses the idea that success in certain activities, such as chess and tennis, is not solely based on intentional goals and strategies, but also on avoiding mistakes or blunders. The author provides examples from chess games and amateur tennis matches to support this claim. They analyze their own chess games and find that players who made more blunders or errors were more likely to lose. The author concludes that in order to succeed in chess and other sports, it is important to focus on minimizing mistakes rather than solely relying on strategic moves.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses how the player who commits more blunders in chess games tends to lose more often. While the exact definition of a chess blunder is not clearly defined, the article provides an example from the Lichess UI where a move that decreases winning probability by more than 14% compared to the best move is considered a blunder. The winning probability is dependent on stockfish centipawns, but the analysis shows that a drop of 100 centipawns when the game is equal is considered a blunder. The main point is that a move is considered a blunder if it significantly affects the winning probability. Therefore, the analysis concludes that the number of blunders is highly correlated with the player’s chances of winning.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article suggests that in activities like simracing and squash, winning is not solely dependent on being faster or stronger, but on being consistent and minimizing mistakes. The same principle applies to software development, where focusing on excellent testing, user feedback, monitoring, and rollouts can lead to more success than relying solely on brilliant engineering ideas. The article emphasizes the importance of investing in the fundamental aspects of building software rather than rewarding individual brilliance.

4. 7.4 earthquake in Taiwan, 34km depth

Total comment counts : 29

Summary

The Latest Earthquakes application requires a modern browser and enabled Javascript to view earthquake maps. If the application doesn’t load, there is a legacy version available. Alternatively, earthquake information can be accessed through USGS earthquake feeds without using javascript.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article mentions that the recent earthquake in Taipei caused some strong tremors and reports of electricity outages in the area. However, the author and their friends are fortunately unharmed.

Top 2 Comment Summary

Japan’s meteorological agency has predicted a tsunami of up to 3 meters (9.8 feet) following an earthquake in Taiwan. The forecast is based on data collected and analyzed by the agency.

5. A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Mathematics

Total comment counts : 11

Summary

GIAM (a Gentle Introduction to the Art of Mathematics) is a free, open-source textbook that covers various topics in the foundations of mathematics and introduces techniques of mathematical proof. It includes amusing quotations at the start of each chapter and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3. The current version is 3.1 and it is typeset using PDFLaTeX. GIAM is available for free download but also has hardcopy versions available for purchase. The source code for GIAM is hosted on GitHub.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The author initially had low expectations for the book due to past experiences with math introductions. However, they were pleasantly surprised by the first section, which effectively explained set notation in plain English. This type of explanation was particularly helpful to the author, who struggles with understanding complex notation.

Top 2 Comment Summary

This article is student-friendly and accessible. It covers Set Theory, Logic, and Proofs, which are the basics of Modern Mathematics. It also explains Mathematical Notations from the ground up, which is helpful for students.

6. A Brazilian special-forces unit fighting to save the Amazon

Total comment counts : 14

Summary

The article describes an encounter with armed men from a special forces unit in the Brazilian Amazon who are on a mission to dislodge illegal miners from Yanomami territory. The miners, who use destructive methods such as excavators and mercury to extract gold and cassiterite, pose a threat to the rainforest and the isolated Yanomami community. The armed men burn a miner’s supply launch and destroy a previously operated mine. The article highlights the devastating environmental impact of illegal mining in the Amazon and the ongoing efforts to combat it.

Top 1 Comment Summary

I apologize, but I am unable to access specific articles or links. Could you please provide me with the content of the article, so I can help summarize it for you?

Top 2 Comment Summary

The author, a Brazilian, expresses support for combating and arresting illegal miners, loggers, and farmers in the Amazon rainforest. However, they also acknowledge the vastness of the region, the long borders, and the shortage of personnel available for this work. Comparing the situation to the drug war, the author argues that it is even more challenging since there is no solution comparable to legalization.

7. The Rise and Fall of 3M’s Floppy Disk (2023)

Total comment counts : 25

Summary

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Top 1 Comment Summary

The author reminisces about their excitement for new storage technologies, such as the Iomega Zip Drives and Blu-Ray, in the 90s. However, they now reflect on how the current reality is that people no longer own their movie or music libraries, as streaming has become the norm. Content creators also face significantly lower earnings. The author finds solace in the fact that at least thumbsticks still exist.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article challenges the perception that 3M is primarily associated with floppy disks. The author finds it surprising that some people would think of floppy disks instead of adhesives when thinking about the company. They highlight that 3M is known for products like Post-its, and questions the notion that floppies are the company’s most famous product.

8. PyTorch Library for Running LLM on Intel CPU and GPU

Total comment counts : 8

Summary

The article discusses the importance of user feedback and highlights the availability of qualifiers in their documentation. It mentions the acceleration of local LLM inference and finetuning on Intel CPU and GPU. The article introduces the PyTorch LLM library that integrates with various platforms such as llama.cpp, HuggingFace, LangChain, LlamaIndex, DeepSpeed, vLLM, FastChat, and ModelScope. It informs that the bigdl-llm project has now become ipex-llm. The article mentions the optimized performance of certain models on Intel Core CPU and Intel Arc GPU. It states that over 50 models have been optimized on ipex-llm. However, performance may vary depending on use, configuration, and other factors, and the optimization may not be the same for non-Intel products.

Top 1 Comment Summary

This article discusses how Intel has the opportunity to redeem itself in its next consumer GPU release. It suggests that Intel can disrupt the trend of AMD and Nvidia imposing 8-16GB VRAM in their GPUs by offering a larger VRAM capacity of 32-48GB at a reasonable price. Additionally, the article mentions that Intel is making positive moves in terms of software support.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The author is interested in seeing benchmark data to assess the speed of something mentioned in the article, as it seemed to be fast based on the examples provided.

9. ReALM: Reference Resolution as Language Modeling

Total comment counts : 5

Summary

The article discusses “arXivLabs,” a framework that enables collaboration and sharing of new features on the arXiv website. It emphasizes the importance of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. It also encourages individuals and organizations to propose projects that would benefit the arXiv community. Additionally, the article mentions that users can receive operational status notifications through email or Slack.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the author’s excitement about the progress being made in a certain area. They mention that they are currently working on a product that operates in the background and has access to screen-space entities, allowing it to perform certain actions. The author describes the product as magical to use, providing a link to a video demonstration. They also mention that they are using Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.2 but are working on improving its compatibility with various local application interfaces.

Top 2 Comment Summary

Reference resolution refers to the process of identifying and clarifying entities mentioned in a text. It involves understanding the context and distinguishing between objects mentioned “on screen” and those mentioned “in the background.”

10. Intel discloses $7B operating loss for chip-making unit

Total comment counts : 13

Summary

I’m sorry, but I cannot summarize articles that require JavaScript to be enabled and ad blockers to be disabled.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article argues that it is misleading to highlight a large operating loss for a unit that was recently established. Building fabrication plants is a costly endeavor, but necessary to remain competitive. The author emphasizes the importance of having multiple players in the industry instead of a monopoly, such as TSMC at the high end and Chinese state-run fabs at the low end.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article reports that the unit had a significant revenue drop of 31% from $27.49 billion to $18.9 billion in 2023. The author is surprised by this decrease, especially since chip demand is at an all-time high.