1. Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
Total comment counts : 22
Summary
The article provides an overview of various cryptocurrency hacks attributed to the Lazarus Group, a cyber threat group linked to the North Korean government. It covers significant incidents between August 2020 and October 2023, highlighting financial motivations and the group’s sophisticated use of malware.
Key incidents include:
- CoinBerry - Unauthorized withdrawals led to a loss of $370,000 due to a software bug.
- Unibright - A private key compromise resulted in a $400,000 theft.
- CoinMetro - A security breach caused a loss of $750,000 from hot wallets.
- Nexus Mutual - Founder Hugh Karp was tricked into approving a malicious transaction, resulting in a theft of $8.3 million.
The article details how stolen funds were laundered through intermediary wallets and cryptocurrency exchanges, particularly Tornado Cash and various P2P platforms like Paxful and Noones. It also discusses the broader impacts of such hacks, estimating losses linked to the DPRK to be between $3 billion to $4.1 billion since 2017.
Overall, the Lazarus Group’s activities highlight the vulnerabilities within the cryptocurrency sector and the ongoing threats posed by state-sponsored cyber criminals.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article poses a question about the feasibility of the United States unilaterally cutting North Korea off from the Internet. It notes that North Korea primarily uses the Internet for scams and illegal activities, restricting its citizens’ access. A sudden Internet shutdown could expose North Korean remote workers to the outside world, as their disappearance might alert employers unaware of their true origin. The author wonders whether such an action is logistically challenging or if there are concerns about international relations with allies, implying that this idea might not be unique.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the concept of money laundering, emphasizing that it serves to explain why money appears clean rather than obscuring its potentially illicit origins. The author suggests that understanding the laundering process provides clarity about the legitimacy of the funds, rather than simply hiding any wrongdoing.
2. Show HN: Wordllama – Things you can do with the token embeddings of an LLM
Total comment counts : 8
Summary
The article discusses WordLlama, a lightweight NLP toolkit designed for tasks such as fuzzy deduplication and similarity ranking using token embeddings from large language models (LLMs). WordLlama extracts the token embedding codebook from advanced LLMs like LLama3 and thereby creates efficient word representations, outperforming traditional models like GloVe and Word2Vec regarding MTEB benchmarks.
Key features of WordLlama include the flexibility of its models (ranging in dimension sizes), the implementation of straight-through estimators for binary embeddings, and various model sizes from 16MB to 250MB. It’s an ideal utility for light NLP tasks, allowing quick training and embedding text with minimal computational requirements. The article also details how to train binary models and load pre-trained embeddings, and it encourages proper citation if used in projects. Finally, WordLlama is licensed under the MIT License.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s appreciation for the compact size of a specific model, noting it as an advantage over smaller SBERT models. However, the author finds the model somewhat outdated in terms of technology, expressing a need for versatility in similarity types—such as semantic, natural language inference (NLI), and noun-abstract similarities. They illustrate this with examples of how “Freezing” and “Burning” should be categorized differently based on context (e.g., environmental events vs. chemistry).
The author mentions that while SBERT can handle these embedding types, the models are large and resource-intensive, requiring up to 6GB of memory to load multiple models. They advocate for a more efficient solution that allows toggling between the different similarity types without significant resource strain, emphasizing the advancements in newer embedding methods since 2019.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the use of embeddings, which capture semantic information based on their training data and objective function, for various tasks. The author shares their experience using embeddings from the CLIP model’s text encoder to enhance prompts by finding related words (e.g., “concrete” or “underground”) to substitute or append to a given word like “building.” This technique resulted in improved recall for query performance in their limited experiments.
3. One in five genetics papers contains errors thanks to Excel (2016)
Total comment counts : 49
Summary
error
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article expresses frustration with Microsoft Excel’s automatic conversion of strings in scientific notation to numbers, a feature that cannot be disabled. The author highlights issues encountered with data exports, where unique location codes are unintentionally altered by Excel. Despite the ongoing problems, Microsoft tends to disregard individual bug reports, claiming they only address issues affecting a large number of users. The author criticizes this approach and suggests that Microsoft should take responsibility for fixing these persistent issues and improving debugging, rather than dismissing user concerns.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a previous popular thread from August 2020 regarding scientists renaming human genes to prevent Microsoft Excel from incorrectly interpreting them as dates. In 2023, Microsoft updated Excel to address this long-standing issue with its automatic conversion features. Additionally, a web tool called Gene Updater has been introduced to correct mistakenly identified gene names in Excel. These changes aim to ease the frustrations faced by researchers due to Excel’s misinterpretation of gene symbols.
4. CSCI 181G PO: Game Engine Programming
Total comment counts : 4
Summary
The article provides information about the CSCI 181G PO: Game Engine Programming course. It mentions that the course covers 2-3 topics weekly, prioritizing them based on ongoing projects. Deliverables are generally due on Sundays, with a specific example being the Simulation Game due by February 4. Additionally, it references longer lecture notes from a prior course version, which serve as extra resources for implementing features and understanding concepts like the graphics pipeline, many of which can be accessed through O’Reilly’s library.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author expresses skepticism about the feasibility of learning a comprehensive game programming syllabus in a single semester, particularly focusing on rendering as a complex area of expertise. They outline the extensive topics required, including game programming fundamentals, rendering APIs, GPU concepts, and building a rendering engine. The author highlights challenges such as handling lighting and optimizing performance from both CPU and GPU perspectives. They note that rendering is just a part of game engines, which also encompass asset management, physics, UI, scripting, networking, animations, and scene editing, each with its own complexities.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article critiques the Handmade Hero series on YouTube, suggesting that while it offers a unique programming approach, many videos do not lead to a clear conclusion. It acknowledges that there is still valuable learning material, despite skepticism regarding the completion of Casey’s promise to create a complete game.
5. We’re not going to run out of new anatomy anytime soon
Total comment counts : 15
Summary
The article discusses the ongoing potential for anatomical discoveries, emphasizing that there remains an infinite amount of work to be done in understanding both human anatomy and that of other species. It reflects on the historical context of anatomical study, noting that despite advances like micron-resolution imaging and extensive fossil scanning, many anatomical structures are still unknown. The author draws on personal experiences in human anatomy, pointing out that barriers to discovery exist due to practical constraints faced by surgeons and medical students, who often lack the time or opportunity to explore and identify new anatomical features. In summary, the piece conveys a hopeful message about the endless possibilities for new discoveries in anatomy, stressing that previous assumptions about our knowledge may be overly optimistic.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses ongoing research by an NIH consortium focused on the human vagus nerve, highlighting the significant variability in its anatomical structure among individuals. The teams involved are investigating whether there are consistent patterns or “invariant rules” in the nerve’s branching and routing. Despite assumptions that the foundations of gross anatomy are fully understood, the findings reveal that more data is necessary to comprehend this variability, particularly for clinical applications. This emphasizes the need for further research to establish a clearer understanding of individual anatomical differences.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the underexploration of female anatomy, highlighting a perceived prudeness and sexism that have contributed to this gap. It references past discoveries about the clitoris and debates around the G-spot and female ejaculation, suggesting that there may still be more to discover about female anatomy compared to male anatomy.
6. USPS’ long-awaited new mail truck makes its debut
Total comment counts : 2
Summary
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is launching a new fleet of delivery vehicles to replace the aging Grumman Long Life Vehicles, which have been in service since 1987. The new Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs), mostly electric, will ultimately number around 60,000 and are part of a broader $40 billion transformation plan led by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. These new trucks are designed for comfort and safety, featuring modern amenities like air conditioning, airbags, and advanced monitoring systems, addressing significant issues with the older models, such as their high maintenance costs and fire hazards. While the appearance of the new vehicles has been criticized, postal workers have praised them for their improved functionality. The transition faced initial backlash from environmentalists concerned about the number of gas-powered vehicles, but there is growing enthusiasm among postal workers about the upgrades.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article indicates that comments have been relocated to a specific link on Hacker News, which can be found at the provided URL.
7. AT&T’s Hobbit Microprocessor (2023)
Total comment counts : 11
Summary
The article discusses the history and significance of the Hobbit microprocessor developed by AT&T, highlighting its role in the evolution of computing. AT&T, known for its computing innovations through Bell Labs, designed the Hobbit as a response to the growing popularity of the C programming language, which was created at Bell Labs in the 1970s. The intention behind the Hobbit was to optimize it for C programs, focusing on improving stack manipulation, since C heavily utilizes the stack for subroutine management.
The Hobbit processor is noted for its unique design, omitting general-purpose registers and instead incorporating specialized features to enhance stack access speed. This design choice was inspired by observations that relying on registers could slow down procedure calls, which could hinder programming efficiency. The article reflects on an alternate history where the Hobbit could have been a dominant processor, potentially used by Apple in various popular devices, similar to ARM processors today. Overall, while the Hobbit is now just a footnote in computing history, its development offers interesting insights into the relationship between programming languages and processor architecture.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the architectural differences between the Hobbit and LLVM machines. The Hobbit is characterized as a memory-to-memory machine with a stack cache, unlike the register-based LLVM machine, which can utilize an unlimited number of single-use registers. The Hobbit can execute LLVM programs without adjusting the register count, and optimizing for register reuse would only reduce stack memory traffic. Additionally, the stack cache functions similarly to a register window, and the instruction set architecture (ISA) may include shorter instructions for quick access from the stack, akin to the efficiency of register-to-register operations.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author reflects on their husband’s work at Go Corporation, mentioning a collection of EO Personal Communicator parts in their garage. They express a preference for the Psion devices, particularly appreciating the foldable design with a keyboard. Despite their fondness, they note that this format has not been successfully revived in modern products, aside from one unsuccessful attempt by Planet Computers.
8. The disunity of consciousness in everyday experience
Total comment counts : 23
Summary
The article explores the philosophical concept of the “unity of consciousness,” questioning whether experiences such as tasting beer and hearing music occur as a unified experience. The author argues that even ordinary human experiences may not be unified but rather disjointed and that perceived unity might be an illusion created by introspection.
Through an example of driving while thinking about philosophy, the author highlights that various experiences—like visual and tactile sensations—may not interact significantly. Traditional views hold that these experiences are deeply integrated, yet the author challenges this, proposing that the act of introspection can artificially create a sense of unity.
The article further critiques the reliability of retrospective assessments of one’s experiences, suggesting that attempts to remember whether experiences were unified might be flawed due to biases and memory distortions. Thus, it calls for a reevaluation of how we consider and interpret the nature of conscious experiences in a non-reflective state.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the concept of memory association, using the author’s experience with audiobooks as an example. The author notes that when listening to an audiobook in a particular location, their memories of that place and the book become intertwined, making it difficult to recall one without the other. However, the author emphasizes that most experiences are not so tightly connected; for instance, they can remember separate thoughts from a drive and the sensation of the steering wheel without strong associations. The author also speculates whether the attention mechanisms in large language models (LLMs) operate similarly, suggesting that different aspects may be associated but often remain independent.
Top 2 Comment Summary
Galen Strawson shares his perspective on self-identity, indicating that he views himself in a way that lacks a cohesive narrative. He describes his personal memory as poor and not influential in his current consciousness. While he makes future plans and acknowledges a sense of long-term continuity, he feels this is more theoretical than experiential. Strawson identifies primarily as a mental self, emphasizing that he does not perceive himself as a future entity. He also recommends his work, “Things That Bother Me: Death, Freedom, the Self, Etc.” for further exploration of these ideas.
9. Powerful, Open-Source, Programmatic CAD
Total comment counts : 8
Summary
The article discusses the growing importance of designing 3D objects due to the rise of 3D printing. It highlights the complexity involved in creating objects that not only fit together but are also parameterized for various designs, often needing collaboration. While simple designs can be managed with traditional geometric methods, more complex projects may require programming and specialized languages (DSLs) to ease the design process. The project ImplicitCAD aims to leverage math and computer science to simplify 3D object design. The article concludes by inviting readers to easily test ImplicitCAD in their web browser, emphasizing a user-friendly approach without complicated installation processes.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author apologizes for abandoning the ImplicitCAD project several years ago and advises readers to view it in that context. They express doubt about the effectiveness of the approach taken in ImplicitCAD, particularly the use of a variant of function representation (f-rep) for object representation, acknowledging that it has shortcomings. The author reflects on their changed perspective regarding the existence of the problem the project aimed to address.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article expresses disappointment regarding the inadequacy of the “API reference,” suggesting that it may be limited to only a few basic functions or features.
10. Writing a Lisp compiler (Lisp to assembly) from scratch in JavaScript (2018)
Total comment counts : 6
Summary
The article discusses creating a simple compiler in JavaScript using Node.js without third-party libraries. The main objective is to transform an input program in S-expression format, like (+ 1 (+ 2 3)), into an assembly program that produces the exit code 6.
The compiler’s structure includes:
- Parsing: The input is parsed into an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) without breaking it into separate lexing and parsing stages due to its limited complexity.
- AST Representation: For example, the expression
(+ 1 (+ 2 3))is represented as['+', 1, ['+', 2, 3]]. - Assembly Basics: It explains assembly as a low-level programming language, detailing the use of registers and the program stack while highlighting the importance of assembly instructions.
- Compilation: The article outlines the steps for compiling the AST into assembly code, emphasizing that function calls in assembly aren’t standardized, hence specific conventions must be followed.
Ultimately, the article sets the groundwork for generating assembly code from parsed expressions, aiming to convert mathematical expressions into executable commands.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author shares enthusiasm for an older post on Hacker News and suggests readers check out their favorite resources on compilers and interpreters, providing a link to the resources page.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentions an individual who enjoyed creating various compilers and interpreters that convert one programming language to another, specifically using the C language. As a result of this hobby, he became well-versed in numerous programming languages.