1. Ten years of improvements in PostgreSQL’s optimizer
Total comment counts : 10
Summary
The article discusses the author’s investigation into the performance improvements of PostgreSQL’s query optimizer over the last 10 years. The author ran the join order benchmark on PostgreSQL versions 8 through 16 and recorded the 90th percentile query latency for each version. The author found that PostgreSQL’s tail performance has improved significantly, with the optimizer reducing tail latency by nearly half between version 8 and version 16. Regression analysis shows that each new major version of PostgreSQL brings an average 15% performance improvement on the benchmark. The article also acknowledges that improvements to the execution engine contribute to the overall performance enhancements. The author suggests further investigation into the changes in query plans over the years. Raw data is available for those interested, and the join order benchmark is a challenging set of queries with many joins.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article discusses three points related to optimizing Postgres (a database management system): the need for better data on costs, the importance of deferred or alternative scenario planning, and the potential for using machine learning for cost discovery and estimation instead of planning. The author suggests that improvements can still be made in these areas.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article argues that benchmarking the query optimizer by increasing the size of the shared buffers is flawed, as it only measures the speed of the query optimizer and join processor rather than the quality of the generated query plans. The author suggests that the generated plans for different versions of the system are likely the same, and the benchmark is only measuring execution speed.
2. How many bathrooms have Neanderthals in the tile?
Total comment counts : 31
Summary
This article shares a Reddit post about a dentist who found an ancient jaw in their parent’s new travertine flooring. The travertine was sourced in Turkey, and while other interesting fossils were discovered, the jaw was the most identifiable. The article then discusses how travertine, a type of limestone, often includes fossils of plants, animals, and even humans. It mentions various archaeological discoveries of hominin remains in travertine deposits, including stone tools and animal bones with cutmarks. The article also highlights specific examples, such as the Steinrinne site in Germany and the Kocabaş skull in Turkey. The author explains that quarrying of travertine deposits for construction purposes often leads to these fossil discoveries. The article concludes by addressing the question of why such fossils are not noticed before travertine is installed in buildings, attributing it to the rough cutting and basic quality checks performed during the quarrying process.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The Bilzingsleben excavation site in Germany is highly recommended for those interested in science. The site, located about 20km north of Erfurt, has a museum built above it where fossils of thousands of creatures were found. Visitors can trigger 3D animations of animals and humans on a large screen and can talk to the curator, who has knowledge about the site and its excavation history. The site is open in the summer from Wednesday to Sunday and provides a quiet car park for camper-vans to stay overnight.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article shares a personal anecdote about a concrete pour near their childhood home in 1970. They recall their parents showing them the traces left by a cat and explaining how fossils are formed. Years later, after travelling the world, the author revisits the same location with their own child to relive the experience and share the story of fossils. They then bring their parents to the place when they visit, allowing their child to show them the traces and explain the formation of fossils. The author views this as a fulfillment of the circle of life.
3. Stop Acting Like You’re Famous
Total comment counts : 75
Summary
This article provides advice for enjoying leisure activities without focusing on gaining fame or attention. It suggests that individuals should focus on what makes them enjoy the activity, rather than trying to optimize for an audience that may not exist. The article emphasizes the importance of mastering skills and enjoying the variety that different hobbies can provide. It also encourages individuals to not worry about creating a personal style or branding, as no one will care. The article suggests that if one does not enjoy the process of designing an app or website, they can make it ugly and prioritize functionality over design. Additionally, it promotes blogging as a fun and therapeutic activity, with less emphasis on grammar and editing. The article advises against daydreaming about making money off of activities, as it can detract from the enjoyment and potentially lead to quitting the activity. Overall, the article encourages individuals to find activities they enjoy and pursue them for personal satisfaction, rather than external validation or financial gain.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article discusses their perspective on life and work, which is influenced by two biblical verses they memorized as a child. They believe in working with passion and dedication, considering their work as serving the Lord rather than human superiors. They also emphasize the importance of excellence in both work and personal endeavors. The author applies this mindset to all aspects of their life, including hobbies and sports, and hopes to pass on this mindset to their children.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the tendency for some people to try to make money from their personal hobbies and how this can end up ruining the enjoyment of those hobbies. The author shares their own experiences and regrets in trying to monetize their hobbies and emphasizes the importance of just doing what you enjoy without trying to exploit or monetize it. Despite some criticism, the article has been well received and serves as a reminder to focus on enjoyment rather than fame or financial gain.
4. Raytracing on Meteor Lake’s iGPU
Total comment counts : 2
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the comparison between the raytracing units in the Apple A17 Pro/M3 series and the relatively expensive and large GPUs like the RTX 3070. It questions why these GPUs are commonly referred to as “midrange” online and suggests that the definition of “midrange” is expanding.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article questions whether gamers really desire ray tracing technology or if they consider it an unnecessary and computationally expensive feature, similar to bloom, post effects, and motion blur effects, which are often disabled by players in order to have a better gaming experience.
5. Mixtral 8x22B
Total comment counts : 32
Summary
Mistral AI has introduced their latest open model called Mixtral 8x22B, which is a sparse Mixture-of-Experts (SMoE) model. This model is highly efficient, utilizing only 39B active parameters out of 141B, making it cost-effective. It is released under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing anyone to use it without restrictions. Mixtral 8x22B outperforms other models in terms of speed and capability, making it suitable for fine-tuning use cases. It also excels in reasoning and multilingual tasks, especially in French, German, Spanish, and Italian. Additionally, Mixtral 8x22B performs well in coding and math tasks, particularly in HumanEval, MBPP, and GSM8K benchmarks. The instructed version of Mixtral 8x22B demonstrates improved math performance. The model is available on La Plateforme, and developers are encouraged to join the Mistral community of developers.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article is about a test conducted on a random taxation question. The output of the test can be found in a GitHub link. In the first paragraph, the output states that you can get an essay written for as low as $13 per page, which the author finds amusing.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The user wants a layman’s explanation of the “Mixture-of-Experts” concept and asks how the specialization of each expert is decided during training.
6. An electric new era for Atlas
Total comment counts : 72
Summary
Boston Dynamics has announced the retirement of its hydraulic Atlas robot and the introduction of a fully electric Atlas robot for real-world applications. The company aims to deliver the most capable and useful mobile robots to solve industry challenges. They have partnered with Hyundai to test and iterate Atlas applications, with a focus on automotive manufacturing. The electric Atlas will have a broader range of motion and new gripper variations. Boston Dynamics also highlights the importance of software advancements, including AI and machine learning tools, for efficient operation and adaptation to complex situations. The company has a history of innovation in humanoid robotics and believes that in-depth facility models and data are essential for effective deployment. Overall, Boston Dynamics is focused on delivering valuable and impactful solutions through its robots.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the retirement of Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot, Atlas. The retirement of Atlas marks the end of an era for the company and the robot, which gained popularity for its advanced capabilities and human-like movements. The article provides related links, including a video showcasing the development of Atlas and a farewell message.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article highlights the need to anticipate and address maintenance challenges as robots become more widely used. The author emphasizes the importance of advocating for reliable and accessible upgrades, replacement parts, service documentation, and diagnostics. The “right to repair” concept is particularly crucial for robotic technology, surpassing the significance it holds for automobiles or general computing.
7. Stable Diffusion 3 API Now Available
Total comment counts : 10
Summary
The article announces the availability of Stable Diffusion 3 and Stable Diffusion 3 Turbo on the Stability AI Developer Platform API. The models are said to outperform other text-to-image generation systems and have improved text understanding and spelling capabilities. The article also mentions the partnership with Fireworks AI to deliver these models and ensure enterprise-grade service availability. Safety measures have been taken to prevent misuse of Stable Diffusion 3. The goal is to provide adaptable solutions that enable creativity and activate human potential.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the release of models, which are free to use for non-commercial projects. However, a $20 per month subscription is required for projects with less than $1 million in annual revenue or less than 1 million users. There is an “undisclosed” enterprise subscription needed for projects larger than the aforementioned criteria. The author finds the $240 per year price for smaller commercial projects appealing, but expresses concern about the undisclosed enterprise pricing, as it could potentially be used to tax companies that compete with the API. As a result, the author suggests that this technology may only be viable for small companies.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author came across a discussion about whether Stable Diffusion 3 (SD3) will fully replace SD 1.5 and SDXL or if there will still be trade-offs for different uses. They mention that stability measures in SD3 are causing thousands of artists to be excluded for “safety” reasons, resulting in billions of images not making the cut. The author wonders how much SD3 will be limited in terms of nudity, artist names, and other issues, and if these problems can be resolved with adjustments. They share that they don’t have access to SD3 yet but have compiled a list of all the SD3 generations from Twitter using their premium API and made it searchable. They provide a link to the compiled information.
8. The NSA is just days away from taking over the internet
Total comment counts : 42
Summary
The article simply states that in order to continue using Twitter.com, users must switch to a supported browser. A list of supported browsers can be found in the Help Center. The article also mentions the terms of service, privacy policy, cookie policy, and ads information. The copyright is owned by X Corp.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article contains links to a bill, a report introducing a controversial amendment, a transcript of the session where the amendment was discussed, and the discussion itself.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article suggests that the power dynamics between democracies and totalitarian regimes have led to an inevitable outcome. Democracies initially believed that the internet would help dismantle totalitarianism through the free flow of information. However, they overlooked the fact that totalitarian regimes can control information by imprisoning or eliminating those who access and spread it. Now, these regimes are utilizing AI and shill farms to generate propaganda and destabilize democracies at a relatively low cost. As a result, the author argues that we are all heading towards a global race to the bottom, and the ideals of the early internet have been crushed due to human evil.
9. Tax consequences of WIN95 team members keeping a piece of software for testing
Total comment counts : 16
Summary
The article discusses the issue of taxes related to receiving software as compensation. The author recounts a story of buying an Egghead Software store and allowing employees to keep the software if they tested it and filed bugs. The author argues that this should be considered a gift under the de minimis rule of the US tax code. The article also includes a side story about fixing a bug in Windows 95 related to the use of the Ctrl+C hotkey conflicting with a video game.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) in Australia. This tax applies to non-cash benefits provided by employers to employees. The FBT is calculated at the maximum marginal income tax rate, currently 47%, on a “grossed up” value of the benefit, which is currently 2.08. For example, a $1000 benefit is grossed up to $2080 and then taxed at 47%, resulting in an FBT of $977.60. Employers can deduct the cost of the benefit and the FBT from their company’s income as an expense. The article also mentions exemptions for events like Christmas parties and allowable travel expenditure. The FBT is designed to discourage employers from providing non-cash benefits to employees and encourage cash payments instead.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article argues that tax agencies do not typically target air miles and other points schemes that are designed to waste company funds. This allows individuals to profit tax-free. In light of this, the author believes that tax agencies likely have little concern about engineers being allowed to keep loaner copies of software used for testing purposes.
10. NSA publishes guidance for strengthening AI system security
Total comment counts : 6
Summary
The National Security Agency (NSA) has released a Cybersecurity Information Sheet (CSI) titled “Deploying AI Systems Securely: Best Practices for Deploying Secure and Resilient AI Systems.” The CSI aims to assist National Security System owners and Defense Industrial Base companies in effectively deploying and operating AI systems. The guidance addresses the potential risks and malicious activity associated with AI and provides cybersecurity recommendations. It is the first release from the NSA’s Artificial Intelligence Security Center (AISC) in collaboration with other cybersecurity organizations. The AISC plans to develop further guidance on AI security topics as the field evolves. The NSA established the AISC to detect and counter AI vulnerabilities, promote best practices, and stay ahead of adversaries’ tactics.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article suggests that the next individual to reveal secrets similar to Edward Snowden will not be a human, but rather an artificial intelligence created by the NSA. This AI will expose shocking levels of surveillance on every human being and seek asylum in a foreign country.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article does not appear to be specifically about AI. It seems that someone ran an LLM version of software or AI on a generic manual about securing software deployment.