1. AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them
Total comment counts : 76
Summary
A team from the University of Washington has developed an artificial intelligence system called “Target Speech Hearing” that allows users wearing headphones to enroll specific speakers and cancel out other sounds in real time. By looking at a person speaking for a few seconds, the system learns their vocal patterns and plays back their voice while the listener moves around in noisy environments. The system has been tested on 21 subjects, who reported significantly clearer audio from the enrolled speaker compared to unfiltered audio. Currently, the system can only enroll one speaker at a time and requires no other loud voices from the same direction. The team is working on expanding the system to earbuds and hearing aids in the future.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article discusses their frustration with not being able to hear well in busy environments, such as restaurants or bars. They express a desire to use a small earplug-like device that could help improve their hearing. The author also mentions their uncertainty about whether their hearing is actually impaired or if others are just better at pretending to hear well. Missing jokes and comments due to their difficulty hearing further adds to their frustration.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the high cost and limitations of hearing aids, as well as the potential benefits of augmented reality (AR) glasses. It highlights the expensive nature of hearing aids, even for basic amplification purposes. It also mentions that hearing aids can interfere with a person’s ability to selectively focus on specific sounds or conversations. The article then mentions a positive side effect of Facebook’s investment in AR, noting a website called Project Aria that offers a cheap platform for AR experimentation. The article suggests that the features of the AR glasses, such as eye tracking and front-facing cameras, could potentially be modified to create a steerable microphone.
2. Ottawa wants the power to create secret backdoors in networks for surveillance
Total comment counts : 27
Summary
The article discusses a federal cybersecurity bill in Canada, known as Bill C-26, and the potential threats it poses to online security. The bill grants government officials the power to secretly order telecommunication companies to install backdoors in encrypted elements of Canada’s networks, including altering 5G encryption standards. The article criticizes the government for pushing forward with this encryption-breaking capability, despite warnings and recommendations to remove it. The author argues that these new powers would make Canadians more vulnerable to privacy and security threats. The article also highlights the incoherence in the government’s cybersecurity strategy, as it previously blocked telecom equipment from certain companies due to security concerns while simultaneously seeking similar authority through this bill. The author calls for cybersecurity laws that prioritize uncompromised encryption to protect the digital ecosystem.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article states that Canada has the capability to access and monitor telecom networks for surveillance purposes. It suggests that while all countries have this ability for their infrastructure, Canada may be seeking a way to do this without legal oversight or the need for warrants.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author expresses concern about client-side scanners like Recall, suggesting that they are designed to bypass end-to-end encryption (E2EE) without compromising the encryption algorithms or hardware. These scanners, equipped with neural processing units (NPUs) and lexical analysis techniques, allegedly allow companies like Microsoft to access conversations on users’ devices, even if they have switched to more privacy-conscious platforms. The author implies that these scanners pose a threat to users’ privacy.
3. Three Laws of Software Complexity
Total comment counts : 35
Summary
The article discusses the challenges faced by software engineers, particularly those working on infrastructural systems, due to three fundamental laws. The first law states that a well-designed system is easy to change over time, while a badly designed system is difficult to change. The second law states that most engineers will work on badly designed systems because most systems eventually become badly designed over time. The third law states that complexity in real-world systems is determined by human creativity and the various incentives and decisions made by different developers. The author suggests that building new systems from scratch before they succumb to these laws is a possible approach to address these challenges.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author discusses their approach to building new systems from scratch, recognizing that it is a difficult task. They acknowledge that in most real-world cases, this solution is not feasible due to the presence of legacy systems and the extensive efforts put into them. They argue against the idea of starting from scratch and emphasize the need to maintain and extend existing systems. The suggested approach is to slowly and incrementally split the software into smaller domains, considering rewriting them as they become too complex. However, the author notes that even this process involves complex and risky refactoring, and it is not truly starting from scratch.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article argues that there are negative consequences of a bad engineering culture, but these are not laws. The author shares an example of a well-designed system that stayed well-designed due to proper support and autonomy from management. The team was able to hire the right people, take time on design, and address technical debt. The article emphasizes that the success of a system is not solely determined by following certain laws but is influenced by various factors, including the nature of the business and the complexity of the system.
4. Ex-OpenAI board member reveals what led to Sam Altman’s brief ousting
Total comment counts : 73
Summary
Helen Toner, a former board member of OpenAI, provided new details about CEO Sam Altman’s brief ousting in November. Toner claimed that Altman lied to the board on multiple occasions, withholding information and misrepresenting the company for years. One example cited was Altman not informing the board about the release of ChatGPT, with Toner stating that this lack of transparency damaged trust. Altman was also accused of lying about the company’s ownership structure, as he failed to disclose his ownership of the OpenAI startup fund. Additionally, Toner alleged that Altman provided inaccurate information about OpenAI’s safety processes, making it difficult for the board to assess their sufficiency. The board had discussions about Altman’s behavior and received reports of “psychological abuse,” leading them to believe he was unsuitable to lead the company towards artificial general intelligence. Altman’s ousting was short-lived as staff threatened to quit and Microsoft expressed interest in hiring him, prompting the board to reinstate him as CEO. Toner resigned from her position on the board shortly after Altman’s return.
Top 1 Comment Summary
I apologize, but I am unable to access or summarize specific articles from external sources. However, if you provide me with the key points or a brief summary of the article, I would be happy to help you summarize it.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article discusses the power dynamics between a board of directors and the executives of a company. On paper, the board has the power to monitor and hire/fire the executives. However, in reality, the executives hold more power due to their control over information and key decisions. Additionally, the influence of a major investor owning half of the company and the founders guiding the company’s direction also contribute to the executives’ real power.
5. Proposal to change default annotation processing policy in JDK 23
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
The article discusses a proposal to change the default behavior of annotation processing in Java Compiler (javac) for JDK 23. Currently, annotation processing is automatically run by searching the class path for processors. However, the proposed change would require explicit configuration or a specific request to run annotation processing. The article suggests that this change is necessary to make build outputs more robust and avoid unintentional placement of annotation processors on the class path. The “-proc:full” option can be used to preserve the old behavior. The proposal was previously implemented but later backed out due to compatibility issues. The article also provides information on how different scenarios would be affected by the policy change. The author aims to have this change implemented before JDK 23 ramp down 1.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article argues that the default policy of implicitly running annotation processors in Java development kits (JDKs) should be changed. The author believes that this change is necessary to improve build output robustness against unintentionally placed annotation processors due to the increase in supply chain attacks. However, the author also acknowledges that many build jobs might fail to produce working binaries when this change is implemented, considering the large number of libraries and dependencies in Java applications. They anticipate that most people will simply add an “all-on” switch to the command line instead of evaluating which annotation processors are necessary. Overall, the author doubts that this change will truly enhance security or reduce build times unless JDK 23 comes with a tool to help developers evaluate and understand the annotation processors in their codebase.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article states that starting from the April 2024 JDK security updates, the “-proc:full” option has been added to 17u (17.0.11) and 11u (11.0.23) versions of both Oracle JDK and OpenJDK distributions. This contradicts the belief that long-term support (LTS) is not available for OpenJDK.
6. Show HN: Slipshow – A presentation tool not based on slides
Total comment counts : 18
Summary
The article introduces Slipshow, a tool designed for technical presentations where traditional slides are not sufficient. In Slipshow presentations, each slide is called a slip and can have arbitrarily long content. The camera scrolls down during the presentation to reveal hidden content based on a script given by the presenter. Slipshow compiles files written in an extension of markdown to a standalone HTML file that can be viewed offline in any web browser. The article also discusses the limitations of traditional slides and highlights how Slipshow offers a more flexible and dynamic presentation experience. It provides examples, documentation, and tutorials for using Slipshow, both online and offline. The article encourages user feedback and contributions to the Slipshow project.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author expresses concern that the format described in the article may result in a “wall of text” and prevent presenters from being concise and relying on images. They suggest using Jupyter instead in academic lecture scenarios.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s experiment with a scrollable whiteboard that has a replay function. The author was inspired by a Khan Academy video and wanted the ability to scroll back to a formula without pausing the audio. The author finds the concept of this new tool cool and it reminds them of Prezi.
7. Writing an NVMe Driver in Rust [pdf]
Total comment counts : 10
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The author finds the workings of USBs and other ports fascinating and wishes to learn more about them. They are specifically looking for resources that focus on a specific port/connection and discuss how to implement a driver/reader/parser.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses whether Rust guarantees that the fields of a struct will be laid out in memory in the order they are defined. It also questions if Rust can interact with APIs that expect a C struct or pointer to one. The author expresses frustration with languages like Go and Swift, as their structs are not binary-compatible with C structs due to rearranging for alignment purposes.
8. What We Learned from a Year of Building with LLMs
Total comment counts : 19
Summary
The article discusses the growing popularity of large language models (LLMs) in real-world applications and the potential for a $200B investment in AI by 2025. The authors, who have experience building applications using LLMs, share crucial lessons and methodologies for developing products based on LLMs. They emphasize the importance of tactical, operational, and strategic considerations when working with LLMs. In the tactical section, they provide best practices for prompting, retrieval-augmented generation, flow engineering, and evaluation and monitoring. They also suggest starting with prompting techniques, such as n-shot prompts and chain-of-thought, to improve LLM performance. The article concludes by recommending that developers continue to experiment and iterate to build robust LLM applications.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article highlights two major failures in using an LLM (Language Model) system. Firstly, it explains that sampling a distribution only once does not provide an accurate representation of the entire distribution. Sampling multiple times and using a voting strategy is a slow but effective approach. Secondly, the article emphasizes that the generation of sequences in an LLM system is ordered. Asking the LLM to make decisions and justify them in that specific order is meaningless because the justification does not influence the decision tokens that have already been generated. This holds true for sequential outputs and even within a single output. If structured output like JSON or XML is not sequenced, providing additional information like a reason along with the decision is essentially pointless. However, it is valuable to show the process of evaluating multiple solutions to a request and selecting the best one(s).
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article questions whether the use of Loud Lead Magnets (LLMs) on websites is a step back to the spam sites of the 2000s. The author expresses their lack of enthusiasm for this innovation.
9. Simple Speech-to-Text on the ‘10 Cents’ CH32V003 Microcontroller
Total comment counts : 11
Summary
The article discusses the implementation of a simple speech-to-text program on a CH32V003 microcontroller. The program reads audio from an analog microphone and distinguishes between spoken digits zero to nine, logging the results over a serial link. The code is based on a ch32v003fun library and achieves about 90% accuracy. The article also mentions the limitations of the microcontroller, such as limited storage and RAM, a 10-bit ADC, no I2S support, and no floating-point or hardware multiply/divide capabilities. Despite these limitations, the program uses MFCC feature extraction and compares buffered tensors of samples against pre-recorded spoken digits to find the best match. The article also discusses the audio processing techniques and future improvements expected in upcoming versions of the microcontroller. Overall, implementing speech-to-text on a low-end microcontroller presents a challenge, but the author finds it intriguing.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the trend of using inexpensive microcontrollers (MCUs) to create fun and challenging projects for hobbyists. These projects may not have any practical application but are done for the sake of the challenge. The article provides links to videos showcasing different projects involving the CH32V003 MCU, including making it programmable via USB, creating a “super-cluster” with multiple MCUs, and powering a Nixie Tube using the CH32V003. The author recommends watching CNLohr and Bitluni for more of these “useless but amazing hardware projects.”
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a minor clarification about a text-to-speech system. The system currently detects a specific set of words instead of covering the entire language. This type of system is commonly known as speech command recognition or keyword spotting. The article acknowledges that although this capability is already impressive and useful, achieving general speech-to-text on similar hardware would be an amazing accomplishment.
10. Paris’s Catacomb Mushrooms (2017)
Total comment counts : 9
Summary
This article discusses the history of Paris and its underground tunnels and quarries. These quarries, made of Lutetian limestone, have been used by Parisians since Gallo-Roman times for various purposes. One interesting use was the cultivation of a unique species of mushroom called Paris mushrooms, which were grown underground in the 19th century. The mushrooms were originally grown above ground but were later discovered to thrive better in the underground quarries. Farmers used wooden ladders or pulley systems to access the underground chambers and used hand-held lanterns to plant and gather the mushrooms. The farmers created systems to control humidity and air circulation in the quarries. However, the decline of the Paris mushroom industry can be attributed to the development of the underground metro system in 1896, as the quarries fell into disrepair and became dangerous. Mushroom farmers moved to the outskirts of Paris, and today, only a few remain in the region.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The concept of terroir, which is a French word meaning “earth” or “land”, refers to the idea that the local soil and conditions have an impact on the final agricultural product. This concept is not elusive or untranslatable, as it is easily understood by peasants throughout history.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article asks three questions: 1) Whether the Paris Metro is shallow because of quarries, 2) if mushrooms still grow in the quarries and if anyone has checked recently, and 3) when a Tim Traveller’s video on the subject will be coming out.