1. Radiology-specific foundation model
Total comment counts : 27
Summary
The article introduces Harrison.rad.1, a cutting-edge radiology-specific foundational model. This model performs exceptionally well in radiology exams and outperforms other foundational models in benchmarks. The Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists’ 2B Rapids exam, known for its difficulty, sees a pass rate of only 40-59% for human radiologists on their first attempt. In comparison, Harrison.rad.1 scored 85.67% on this exam. Other competing models scored much lower, below 30, which is statistically no better than random guessing. Harrison.rad.1 offers revolutionary capabilities and has the potential to improve clinical excellence and quality in global healthcare. The model is specialized and fine-tuned for healthcare data, ensuring accuracy and clinical usefulness. The goal is to create more capacity in radiology through this technology. The article invites collaborators to gain early access to Harrison.rad.1 and be a part of the conversation on its responsible integration into clinical practice.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author believes that the reason the general public cannot access a certain technology is due to greed and a lack of understanding. They suggest that allowing public access, with a strong disclaimer, could help many people and generate revenue through subscriptions and analysis fees. The author also suggests integrating a directory or referral service for medical professionals. They hope that non-profit organizations will recognize the potential of this model and collaborate to create an open dataset, possibly by recruiting volunteers or offering waivers and discounts to medical providers. Though challenging, the author believes it would be worthwhile.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author had an MRI on their ankle and despite having painful symptoms, the doctor initially said there was nothing wrong. The author requested the MRI images and received a CD in the mail with a formal diagnosis of a swollen retrocalcaneal bursa. The author believes that if they hadn’t requested their records, they wouldn’t have received a diagnosis. They eventually found treatments online and got better. The author wonders if an AI model would have been able to detect the issue better than the doctor.
2. Apple must pay 13B euros in back taxes, EU’s top court rules
Total comment counts : 37
Summary
The European Court of Justice has ruled against Apple in a 10-year court battle over its tax affairs in Ireland. The case began in 2016 when the European Commission ordered Ireland to recover €13 billion ($14.4 billion) in back taxes from Apple. Apple has stated that it will incur a one-time income tax charge of about $10 billion in its fourth fiscal quarter ending September 2024. The Irish government has said that it will now transfer the assets in the escrow fund to Ireland. Apple claims that it has always paid the taxes it owes and that the European Commission is retroactively changing the rules.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article explains that taxation is not within the jurisdiction of the European Union (EU), meaning that Ireland has the ability to set its own tax levels without interference. However, the issue at hand is whether Ireland applied the same tax rules to all companies, as offering special exceptions to certain companies could be seen as providing state aid, which is prohibited. Ireland argued that it did not provide such exceptions, but the current ruling contradicts this claim. It is important to note that this case pertains to tax rules from the past and that the rules have since been tightened, eliminating the previous exemption.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The reason Apple lost the tax case is not due to the profit shifting scheme itself, but because they did not set up the scheme correctly. Apple used two separate branches within a single Irish company instead of two separate Irish companies like the traditional Double Irish structure. The European Commission alleged that this “branch structure” was illegal state aid since it was not offered to other multinationals in Ireland. If Apple had set up two separate Irish companies, their tax scheme would have been legal and not considered state aid.
3. A good day to trie-hard: saving compute 1% at a time
Total comment counts : 22
Summary
Cloudflare has announced the release of a new open-source Rust crate that helps reduce CPU utilization and allows their CDN to handle more web traffic. One of the services responsible for transmitting non-cached requests needed optimization, as it was consuming over 1.7% of CPU time. By benchmarking and optimizing code, Cloudflare was able to improve the function’s runtime from 3.65µs to 1.53µs, resulting in a 2.39x speed improvement. However, further optimization is still needed. Cloudflare also explored using different data structures to store header names, with the goal of improving performance.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses how Cloudflare stores and removes internal headers. The author suggests various options that they would have considered, such as using a separate dictionary or a single header for internal metadata. However, the author finds it surprising that Cloudflare uses a scheme where headers in a particular list are considered internal. They raise concerns about potential issues with this approach, such as conflicts with other names, forgetting to sanitize, disagreements between simultaneously running programs, and slow set-difference algorithms. The author concludes by expressing their bewilderment that a company of Cloudflare’s scale would use such a tedious and error-prone mechanism internally.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the effectiveness of mapping UTF8 characters into a bitmask. It mentions that using 32 bits could accommodate lowercase letters and six special characters, while 64 bits could accommodate uppercase letters and six more special characters. This approach allows for efficient matching algorithms and is reminiscent of older optimization techniques like Bloom Filters. The author points out that computing was more resource-constrained when these techniques were developed and notes that they are still applicable in certain real-world scenarios.
4. Just for Fun (2022)
Total comment counts : 31
Summary
The article discusses the joy and value of coding for fun, independent of financial gain or practical application. It addresses various mindsets that may hinder the appreciation for coding as a creative and enjoyable endeavor. The author encourages readers to return to the fun and freedom of coding and highlights several projects that are developed purely for the pleasure of it. The article concludes by inviting readers to embrace coding as a playful and imaginative activity.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author enjoys making things and finds coding to be their preferred medium. They have been running a group where participants build things together in 6-week cohorts. This experience brings them joy and a sense of fun.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article argues that a list of “for fun” coding projects should include unfinished projects, ones that were abandoned, and those that were just a mess of ideas. The author believes that coding for fun should be about enjoying the process and stopping whenever desired.
5. Carpentopod: A Walking Table Project
Total comment counts : 18
Summary
The article discusses the creation of a wireless walking wooden coffee table called the Carpentopod. The table’s leg linkage was generated using software that evolved different leg variations based on factors such as walking speed and material use. The leg design was selected through a simulation that evolved thousands of variations, leading to optimized solutions. The chosen linkage was inspired by Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest sculptures but had different component ratios and an evolved rounded toe diameter to reduce foot slide. The article also mentions the creation of a smaller model and the use of CNC technology to design and manufacture the table’s components.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article describes a video that showcases a delightful and magical wooden structure that hides modern technology inside. The video at the end of the article is said to put a big smile on the author’s face.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article is not provided, therefore, I am unable to summarize it.
6. DOJ claims Google has “trifecta of monopolies” on Day 1 of ad tech trial
Total comment counts : 19
Summary
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has started a new trial against Google, challenging the tech giant’s ad tech dominance. The DOJ argues that Google broke competition in the ad tech space by seizing control of tools used by publishers, advertisers, and brokers. According to the DOJ, Google takes at least 30 cents of each advertising dollar, resulting in website creators earning less and advertisers paying more. The trial is expected to last four to six weeks and could potentially result in the divestment of Google’s Ad Manager suite of services. This trial is seen as more consequential than previous monopoly trials Google has faced, as the remedies sought by the DOJ in other cases were unclear. If the case goes against Google, it could potentially lead to the splitting of the company into separate search and advertising companies. The DOJ aims to restore competition by enjoining Google’s anticompetitive practices and unwinding its anticompetitive acquisitions.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a lawsuit against an adtech giant, noting that the case focuses on its monopolistic practices and harm to publishers, rather than its privacy violations and harm to society. The article criticizes the fact that the lawsuit only briefly mentions the detrimental societal effects, such as the diminishing availability of local newspapers. It argues that advertising has corrupted various forms of media and has played a significant role in the decline of journalism. The article also mentions that Google has accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of having an outdated view of the ad tech market. The author finds this claim ironic, given that adtech companies have kept their practices hidden and the general public uninformed about data collection and monetization.
Top 2 Comment Summary
Google recently published a blog post cautioning against breaking up its ad business, as it may disturb customers who find its ad technology “simple, affordable, and effective.” The writer questions the validity of this claim, stating that in past instances of monopolies being dismantled, it has generally proven beneficial for customers.
7. Sigrok – a portable, cross-platform, FOSS signal analysis software suite
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
The sigrok project is a signal analysis software suite that aims to be portable, cross-platform, and open-source. It supports various device types such as logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and more. The project is licensed under the GNU GPL and offers a wide range of features and design goals. Users can download and use sigrok on different operating systems like Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, FreeBSD, and others. The project provides support for different input/output formats, protocol decoders, and probe comparisons. Additionally, there are various tools and resources available for developers, including API documentation, a bug tracker, and a roadmap. The project also has an active community with IRC and mailing list channels for communication.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author had a negative experience as a contributor to Sigrok, a software project. They made significant improvements to a driver but faced delays and lack of feedback from the maintainer. They lost interest in the project after months of effort. Additionally, the author found the code style antiquated, but they did not have the desire to change it. Ultimately, they felt that their work on the driver was wasted.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article is waiting for their driver to be merged into the codebase. The link provided leads to a GitHub page where the driver can be found.
8. Affordable DE10-Nano compatible boards for MiSTer FPGA retro platform
Total comment counts : 11
Summary
Taki Udon has announced the upcoming release of his DE-10 Nano clone boards, with the first batch available for sale on September 6th. There will be 1000 units available in each batch, with pricing options ranging from $100 to $160. However, there are concerns about the manufacturing process based on the information provided, and some users are waiting for comparisons to other similar boards before making a purchase. Nonetheless, it is expected that the clone boards will perform well and any contradictory information may simply be due to inexperience with manufacturing.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article mentions several resources related to the MiSTer FPGA project. This includes links to the project’s GitHub page, a YouTube video guide, FPGA development videos, and recommended FPGA design books.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentions red flags regarding a project’s manufacturing process. The author, who has experience in product creation and launching, states that the information provided about the project does not align with their past manufacturing experiences.
9. Memorizing the first 100 perfect squares (2022)
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
The article discusses the benefits of memorizing perfect square numbers and provides techniques for memorizing them efficiently. The author explains that memorizing small squares can aid in mental multiplication and factoring expressions. They also highlight the structural pattern in the decimal representation of squares, which can be utilized to memorize the entire table of the first 100 squares. The article introduces various tricks, such as last digit checks and algebraic rules for calculating squares of specific number forms. The author shares their own experience of creating a poster to memorize the squares and successfully completing the challenge.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a trick for mentally calculating the square of two-digit numbers. The trick involves subtracting three from the first digit, adding three to the second digit, and then adding the square of three to the product. This makes multiplying by a multiple of ten easier for mental calculation.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the usefulness of knowing squares to perform calculations. It suggests a method to calculate the product of two numbers using the difference and sum of their squares. However, it also acknowledges that this trick does not always work and emphasizes the importance of being proficient in addition and subtraction.
10. Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion (1998)
Total comment counts : 9
Summary
The article provides a glossary of alphabetical listings for various terms and names. It briefly mentions Daffy Duck, highlighting his seniority over Bugs Bunny and his versatility as a character. It also mentions other directors and animators who contributed to Daffy Duck’s development. Additionally, the article includes information on various individuals, such as animator Cal Dalton and actress Dorothy Dandridge.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the appreciation for Web 1.0 sites and their submission to a website called “wiby.me”.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The Looney Tunes were very popular in the past, especially among children who would watch them repeatedly in reruns. Unlike today, there were fewer channels and cartoons available, so the Looney Tunes were enjoyed by many without the option of dedicated cartoon channels.