TL;DR summary of stories on the internet
Melange, a tool for compiling the ML family of languages into JavaScript with a focus on OCaml/ReasonML, has released Melange 1.0. This marks a major milestone and is the culmination of many months of hard work and collaboration. Melange has embraced the OCaml Platform and now has wider support for OCaml versions. It also integrates […]
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Microsoft Edge has a built-in image enhancement tool that sends image links to Microsoft for processing and enhancement, but it can be toggled off under Settings > Privacy, Search, and Services. The feature is enabled by default, which means that unaware users automatically give the browser permission to send pictures to Microsoft. Microsoft is working […]
The author has taken a break from their theme of lessons learned in a career doing general purpose robotics to play with new machine learning (ML) technologies. They have created a 2D platformer game where players can design their own levels and a generative AI will create beautiful rendered images to represent the levels. The […]
Researchers from Ruhr University Bochum have discovered five new attack vectors capable of warning real signatures in Microsoft Office documents while still appearing valid. The attack classes enable bad actors to change the content of signed documents whilst signatures remain intact. All versions of Microsoft Office were tested and found to be vulnerable. Surprisingly, researchers […]
A newly declassified report from the director of national intelligence’s panel of advisers reveals that the US government has secretly collected “sensitive and intimate information” on Americans. The experts describe how opportunities are arising to pick apart the few privacy rights Americans have left, with prosecutors largely ignoring previously imposed limits on domestic surveillance activities. […]
The AI industry’s focus on large language model (LLM) systems such as ChatGPT, owned by corporations like Microsoft, Amazon and Google, is a waste of resources and potential. Ideologically fueled by dystopian pop sci-fi like Terminator, there are alternative visions such as the DAIR Institute and Logic(s) magazine that explore other ways of thinking about […]
The author, a former Python developer, recommends using whatever language is most comfortable for scripting, but notes that Elixir has the advantage of being able to define dependencies briefly within each script using Mix.install. While Elixir may be less convenient for nested dictionary manipulation due to lack of mutability, it excels at utilizing multiple cores […]
Pixelfed has launched a new feature that makes it easy to import your Instagram content directly to Pixelfed, without losing your cherished memories or creative expressions. The Import from Instagram feature offers a seamless step-by-step process to guide you through the importation process, prioritizing user privacy and data security. The feature not only simplifies the […]
The “enshittification” of social media is inevitable with a surge of unfamiliar faces. The lack of shared values, belonging and civility creates a hostile environment that erodes the community’s sense of cohesiveness and ultimately, its sense of identity. The thirst for profit and growth drives investors to push these sites to quickly expand their membership, […]
DeepMind has made a novel discovery in the superoptimization space that could turbocharge the abstractions produced by C libraries. By applying their deep learning knowledge gained from building AlphaGo to the discipline of superoptimization, DeepMind found tinier kernels for sorting algorithms. While the company’s contribution to LLVM libcxx earned well-deserved attention, it was noted that […]