1. Hacking the largest airline and hotel rewards platform (2023)
Total comment counts : 19
Summary
Between March 2023 and May 2023, multiple security vulnerabilities were discovered in the backend provider, points.com, which manages airline and hotel rewards programs. These vulnerabilities allowed attackers to gain access to sensitive customer information, perform actions such as transferring points and accessing the global administrator website. The vulnerabilities were reported to points.com, who responded quickly, took the affected websites offline, conducted investigations, and patched the identified issues. The vulnerabilities included directory traversal, authorization bypass, leaked credentials, and weak session secret. Points.com promptly fixed all the reported vulnerabilities.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article highlights the impressive responsiveness of the counterparts mentioned in the report. They consistently responded within an hour, promptly took the affected site offline, and efficiently resolved the issue. This level of efficiency and effectiveness appears commendable.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author expresses skepticism towards rewards program portals and apps, stating that they seem more like amateur projects than reliable applications. They mention that they have not come across any such site in India that instills confidence in keeping personal data secure. The author gives an example of a popular card with a poorly designed website, and mentions that there are forums discussing ways to exploit these platforms for maximum benefits. The author concludes that even when one loophole is fixed, another one emerges.
2. Antifragility in complex dynamical systems
Total comment counts : 10
Summary
The article discusses the concept of “antifragility,” which refers to the benefit derived from the variability in environmental perturbations in a system. Antifragile systems are those that benefit from perturbations, while fragile systems respond poorly to them. The article reviews the application of antifragility theory in various technical systems, such as traffic control and robotics, as well as natural systems, including cancer therapy and antibiotics. The authors propose defining antifragility across three scales: intrinsic, inherited, and induced, and provide examples of successful applications in both natural and technical systems.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article suggests that intentionally causing abrupt but reasonable changes to hyperparameters in evolutionary spiking neural network simulations leads to more robust simulations that meet fitness criteria with less chance of getting stuck. Although simulating will take longer, it can be beneficial in terms of reducing the likelihood of resource requirements becoming unmanageable. The author’s current approach involves capping the total number of activations per candidate globally and halving this limit after three improvements in the best global fitness score. This results in aggressive selection pressure for more efficient networks and a partial restart of the training process with reduced resources. This approach often optimizes the network and helps it rebound faster after restarts.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentions that antifragility is synonymous with hormesis in living organisms. Hormesis is a concept that has been known since the 1950s, when plants were found to become stronger when exposed to low doses of herbicides.
3. The AI Scientist: Towards Automated Open-Ended Scientific Discovery
Total comment counts : 31
Summary
The article introduces The AI Scientist, a system developed by Sakana AI in collaboration with the Foerster Lab for AI Research at the University of Oxford and Jeff Clune and Cong Lu at the University of British Columbia. The AI Scientist is designed to automate the process of scientific discovery by using Foundation Models such as Large Language Models (LLMs) to perform research independently. It can generate novel research ideas, conduct literature searches, plan and run experiments, generate figures, write manuscripts, and even produce automated peer reviews. The system operates in an open-ended loop, using previous ideas and feedback to improve future generations of ideas. The AI Scientist is cost-effective, with each implemented idea and developed paper costing approximately $15. While the system is not without flaws, it demonstrates the potential to democratize research and accelerate scientific progress. The article concludes by stating that The AI Scientist represents a new era in scientific discovery, where AI agents can contribute to the entire research process.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article expresses concern about tools like the one mentioned in the article that disregard important aspects of the scientific process and its structure. They argue that research is not just about producing papers and accumulating abstract knowledge, but also about training and building hands-on institutional knowledge within the academic community. The author believes that learning in academia involves more than just reading papers; it includes building things, conducting experiments, understanding context, and discussing with colleagues. The author questions the ability of current AI models to replace these human learning processes, noting that existing models lack sophistication and struggle to extract novel ideas. Additionally, the author points out that using AI in science removes the hands-on training and experience that is essential for understanding and knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, the author criticizes the quality of the papers generated by the model, stating that they lack novelty and citations to related works. The author concludes by stating that while the project may seem interesting, they fail to see its point.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article expresses concern about the use of AI in scientific research. They believe that trust is the most important aspect of science, and that papers are based on the trust between authors and reviewers. They argue that using AI to automate code, data, and analysis would require thorough human checking, which can be time-consuming. The author is skeptical about the value of AI in the code/data/analysis aspect of research and believes it may lead to academic spam and waste valuable time for reviewers, editors, and chairs.
4. Open source laser microphone picks up laptop keystrokes
Total comment counts : 21
Summary
At the Defcon security conference in Las Vegas, hacker Samy Kamkar will demonstrate his laser-based surveillance technology. Kamkar can use an invisible infrared laser to point at a laptop through a window and detect the computer’s vibrations, allowing him to reconstruct every character typed on it. This technique works without a view of the keyboard, as long as the hacker has a line-of-sight view of a reflective area on the laptop. Kamkar has also developed a laser microphone that can bounce a laser off a window to detect vibrations and record sounds inside a room. He plans to publish the full schematics of his setup on his website and GitHub. Kamkar’s goal is to improve upon an earlier demonstration of keystroke detection with a laser, and his technology can potentially pick up everything typed or spoken in a target’s room.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the concept of using sound signatures of key strokes on a keyboard to potentially gain information in a bugged room. It mentions that recording these sound signatures requires a good quality microphone, and there have been projects attempting to achieve this. However, creating a DIY laser microphone that can capture these signatures on a non-laptop surface might be challenging. Once the recordings are obtained, the main challenge is isolating each keystroke waveform, converting it to a comparable format, and solving the resulting substitution cipher to identify the pressed keys. If the keyboard has been used for a certain period of time, it becomes easier to solve the cipher since common words and phrases would have been entered. The article suggests that training a transformer model using the audio recordings could potentially convert them into sound signatures specific to keyboard key strokes. However, the model should not be trained to solve the entire problem, as that would likely fail or lack generalization.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the possibility of wireless keyboards that do not require batteries, bluetooth, or any internal electronics. It also considers the concept of a home assistant using a laser microphone to detect speech in a room without the need to speak loudly.
5. The new PostgreSQL 17 make dist
Total comment counts : 8
Summary
The PostgreSQL project typically releases a source code tarball as the primary artifact of their releases. This tarball is then used by packagers to create binary packages. However, creating a source code tarball manually can be complicated, as it requires ensuring that the checkout is clean, excluding certain files, and maintaining consistent file permissions and ownership. Additionally, the tarball includes prebuilt files that are not part of the source code but are built during compilation for convenience. However, this system has two major problems: it is difficult to implement and maintain in the build system, and it raises concerns regarding the software supply chain and integrity. To address these issues, PostgreSQL has eliminated the inclusion of prebuilt files in their source code tarball in PostgreSQL 17. The new Meson build system also avoids writing build output into the source directory. Furthermore, there is a greater focus on the security and legal aspects of the software supply chain, with cryptographic signatures and reproducible builds being used to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the software.
Top 1 Comment Summary
This article discusses the significance of not committing generated outputs, such as vendored source trees, due to supply chain security concerns. The author highlights that these outputs cannot be easily audited as part of a code review process and are often merged without proper verification. The author personally disagrees with including generated output in repositories or tarballs, contrary to the advice given in the autotools documentation, as it creates vulnerabilities.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the potential benefits of migrating to Nix or Guix, despite acknowledging that there is a learning curve when using these tools. It mentions that while the initial learning steps may be challenging, it becomes easier to maintain and generate software packages once one has overcome this barrier. The author suggests that using Nix or Guix eliminates the need for dedicated machines and simplifies the process of generating consistent software packages.
6. Study shows that tacking the “AI” label on products may drive people away
Total comment counts : 56
Summary
A recent study published in the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management found that labeling products as using artificial intelligence (AI) actually decreases customers’ intention to buy them. The study showed that in various product categories such as vacuum cleaners, TVs, consumer services, and health services, participants were significantly less likely to buy a product if it was described as using AI. The study also examined consumers’ perception of “low-risk” products (household appliances) and “high-risk” products (self-driving cars, AI-powered investment decision-making services, and medical diagnosis services) and found that non-buyers were the majority in both groups. The study suggests that consumers’ lack of trust in AI is based on two factors: cognitive trust (expecting AI to be free from human error) and emotional trust (lack of knowledge and understanding about the technology). Additionally, concerns about privacy and the management of personal data further dampen consumers’ enthusiasm for AI-powered products. The study recommends that companies communicate the benefits of AI to alleviate consumers’ fears rather than simply using the “AI-powered” label as a buzzword.
Top 1 Comment Summary
I’m sorry, but I cannot access or summarize specific links or articles. However, if you provide me with the text content of the article, I would be happy to summarize it for you.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article criticizes the use of the “AI label” for products, as it suggests that the product is unreliable and difficult to understand. The author also argues that using “AI” often means ignoring simpler solutions to improve the product. The article gives an example of a chatbot in Confluence being less effective than a simpler search tool.
7. Mastering Osint: How to Find Information on Anyone
Total comment counts : 11
Summary
The article explains the concept of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and how it can be used to gather information about individuals. It provides a step-by-step guide on conducting OSINT investigations, including using search engines, specialized websites, tools, and techniques. The article emphasizes the importance of ethical considerations and respecting privacy and legal boundaries. It also highlights various OSINT tools that can enhance search capabilities. Overall, mastering OSINT can provide valuable insights and improve investigative capabilities in the digital age.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article recommends that readers who want to learn should sign up for Breachforum and explore its OSINT subforum. This subforum provides content and the opportunity to ask questions about online investigations. For those interested in delving into the grey area, leaked datasets from websites like BreachForum and Leakbase.io can be downloaded to simplify the task of identifying individuals online. These datasets may include leaked databases of AT&T customers and the NationalPublicData database, which can be a valuable resource for online investigations.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article talks about a person named having a relatively unique full name. On their Upwork profile, they have a military veteran status, but this is because a completely unrelated military person with the same name shows up in search results on Google/LinkedIn. The person cannot remove the status and they don’t even resemble the other individual.
8. The Webb Telescope further deepens the Hubble tension controversy in cosmology
Total comment counts : 13
Summary
The James Webb Space Telescope has provided new measurements that cast doubt on the Hubble tension, which is the disagreement among scientists about how fast the universe is expanding. Two rival teams have been studying the cosmic expansion rate, with one team consistently measuring a higher rate than predicted by current theories. However, a new analysis of the James Webb Space Telescope’s observations has once again yielded conflicting results, with some measurements aligning with the predicted rate and others matching the higher rate. This suggests that there may be some systematic error in the distance measurements used to calculate the expansion rate. The results have not yet undergone formal peer review, but they indicate that further investigation is needed to understand the Hubble tension.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article questions the prevailing belief that the universe is expanding and suggests alternative explanations for redshift, such as undiscovered phenomena in spacetime or electromagnetic waves. It compares this to the historical phlogiston theory, which was eventually replaced by a simpler explanation. The author wonders if there could be a similar discovery in this case that would challenge our current understanding of the expanding universe. The phlogiston theory referred to in the article is further described in a provided link.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article recommends reading “The Cosmic Distance Ladder” by Terence Tao of UCLA if you want to learn more about the Hubble “constant” and the human history and ingenuity behind it. The slides in the article are visually appealing and cover various topics including Earth, the moon, the sun, and beyond. Reading this material is likely to provide new and fascinating information.
9. Robert Elder’s Guide to GNU Coreutils
Total comment counts : 15
Summary
The article discusses a series of 108 YouTube videos that summarize the commands found in the Coreutils Package. These videos provide a quick reference and practical examples for each command. The Coreutils package contains essential software tools for GNU/Linux systems and many of these commands are also present in other systems like macOS and Windows. The package includes commands that are part of the POSIX specification as well as some additional ones with historical significance. The article also mentions other implementations of Coreutils, such as busybox and bsdutils. It highlights the close connection between modern Linux and early Unix, as many of the Coreutils commands can be traced back to the first version of Unix. The article further discusses the history and significance of commands like printenv, pinky, and chroot.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a book that focuses on text processing commands and includes exercises. It also provides a link to an interactive TUI app where readers can practice the exercises. Additionally, the article includes other links related to coreutils, such as decoding GNU coreutils and coreutils testing.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the usage of xxd and hexdump commands in Linux. It notes that xxd is not a part of coreutils but is associated with Vim, which could be confusing. Additionally, it mentions that hexdump is also not included in coreutils. Instead, the article suggests using od as an alternative, despite it being less commonly used due to its complex output format.
10. 0xCAFEBABE & 0xFEEDFACE (2003)
Total comment counts : 17
Summary
The article discusses the origin of the numbers 0xCAFEBABE and 0xFEEDFACE in the context of mach-o file formats and why Java also adopted 0xCAFEBABE as the .class file magic number. The author mentions that both numbers denote mach-o files and are not architecture-specific. The author speculates that the choice of the same magic number in Java was possibly due to the involvement of someone who worked at NeXT (the originators of the magic numbers) and later joined the Java team. However, another person involved in the conversation denies this and suggests that the choice of the magic numbers was coincidental. The article includes responses from various individuals involved in the discussion, including James Gosling, who claims to be the one responsible for the choice of 0xCAFEBABE in Java. According to Gosling, the term “CAFEBABE” was derived from a place called St Michael’s Alley, which was referred to as Cafe Dead.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the surprise that the Java format did not use the hexadecimal code “0xDECAFBAD”. It also mentions a Wikipedia page that provides a list of “hexspeak” words and their uses.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article recounts the author’s experience working on a real-time embedded C code project. They were instructed to write periodic assurance tests to ensure reliable communication with a host microprocessor. Instead of using common patterns, the author decided to write the word “MIKE” in ASCII format as a unique identifier. However, this decision caused a problem when the code was ported to a new generation of systems, leading to a system crash. The issue took days to resolve, and the author had to explain their decision to the team.