TL;DR summary of stories on the internet
Prof Kahan emphasizes the complexity of time-value of money calculations, highlighting the iconic HP-12c financial calculator. The author, initially ignorant of finance, delves into TVM calculations due to personal mortgage and political events. They describe programming their calculator, testing multiple financial calculators, and discovering a rogue variant of the HP-12c in Brazil that returns inaccurate […]
Read more »
The author is deeply engaged in the xenocog community, fascinated by how language models are being treated with intellectual respect by individuals like Janus, ampdot, and Theia Vogel. Their interest lies in exploring the mechanics of interactions among these models in group chats, focusing on how different chat models can naturally participate in conversations. The […]
The Milky Way has a complex magnetic field that has been studied through the modeling of pulsar rotation and dispersion measures. While researchers agree that the field is predominantly azimuthal, there is debate over whether it follows a spiral or circular pattern. New methods, such as Zeeman splitting of OH masers, provide insights into the […]
Concurrency and parallelism in programming are often used interchangeably, but they have subtle differences. Concurrency involves alternating between tasks, while parallelism allows multiple tasks to run simultaneously. Threads, processes, and Node.js are different ways to achieve multitasking. Node.js, for example, handles blocking tasks using worker threads. Async functions and callbacks in Node.js help prevent race […]
In a groundbreaking announcement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first over-the-counter hearing aid software device called Hearing Aid Feature. This software is designed to work with compatible Apple AirPods Pro headphones and is intended for individuals aged 18 and above with mild to moderate hearing impairment. The FDA’s decision represents a […]
Cryptographic algorithms are crucial for online security, and at Amazon Web Services (AWS), we develop cryptographic algorithms in our open-source library, AWS LibCrypto (AWS-LC), based on Google’s BoringSSL project. We recently enhanced our x25519 and Ed25519 algorithms for improved performance and security. By combining automated reasoning and optimization techniques, we made significant gains in efficiency […]
Pieter Levels shared insights on building successful micro-SaaS businesses using simple single-server setups, emphasizing product-market fit over complex infrastructure. While this approach may not work for every team, it highlights the unnecessary complexity in deployment and infrastructure management. Examples of Lambda overload and microservices chaos illustrate the benefits of simplifying setups for small dev teams. […]
Harvard Business School faced a trial after an internal investigation found a faculty member had committed research misconduct. The report, made public due to a lawsuit, was dismissed by the court, ruling that evidence-backed conclusions don’t amount to defamation. The Data Colada researchers, who identified the fabricated data, were also cleared of defamation accusations. Providing […]
On September 12, 2024, OpenAI introduced two new preview models, o1-preview and o1-mini, codenamed “strawberry.” These models focus on improved “reasoning” capabilities by honing their chain of thought through reinforcement learning. The documentation reveals that o1 models are ideal for applications requiring deep reasoning and longer response times, compared to GPT-4o models. A unique feature […]
In Australia, a team made a breakthrough in MOS-based quantum computers, with a 99 percent accurate two-qubit gate performance crucial for error correction. These computers can integrate with existing CMOS technology, making mass qubit production easier. Other companies use superconducting qubits, trapped ions, charged atoms, or photons. UNSW, Diraq, and collaborating groups trapped single electrons […]