TL;DR summary of stories on the internet
Gifski is a top-quality GIF encoder that stands out for creating animated GIFs with thousands of colors per frame. It is based on pngquant and offers efficient cross-frame palettes and temporal dithering. Although it’s primarily a CLI tool, it can be compiled as a C library for easy integration into other applications. To use Gifski, […]
Read more »
The Educator Tool Suite ’87 is a collection of BASCIA utility programs created by Mike Knox in the late 1980s to assist in managing an 8th-grade science classroom. These programs automate tasks such as grading tests, assigning seats, handling attendance, and more. The suite even includes a routine for creating cassette tape labels. The files […]
On May 21, 2024, we introduced a new open-source CAD program, but we’re seeking your help to reach the finish line. How to Build a 3D parametric CAD program? You need a 2D Constraint Solver, B-rep Kernel, History Tracker, 3D User Interface, and File Format. For the 2D Constraint Solver, there are various approaches, such […]
Interfaces are evolving with a trend towards less density, spreading out software for better user experiences in 2024 compared to the cluttered interfaces of the 2000s. Visual density, information density, and design density are key factors in determining the effectiveness of an interface. Gestalt principles help understand design decisions, and temporal density emphasizes the importance […]
Stripe is now offering Instant Payouts, allowing you to access and transfer your funds to your bank account or debit card immediately. However, starting June 1, 2024, the fee for Instant Payouts in the US will increase from 1% to 1.5% per payout. If you’re concerned about the impact of these fee changes on your […]
Jeremy Selva shares a useful workflow for handling problematic spreadsheets in R. Despite initial issues, fixes in unheadr v0.4.0 address various spreadsheet problems like date formatting and using text colors for units. By using functions like type_convert() and lubridate, the data can be properly parsed and transformed. Annotating cell color codes with unheadr’s annotate_mf functions […]
Microsoft is going all in on AI with the new Copilot+ PCs, including the Surface Pro with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite processor, pitting it against Apple’s M3 MacBook Air. Microsoft claims superior processing power and battery life, with up to 58% better performance and 22 hours of local video playback. The Surface Pro, starting at […]
In “Regular Expression Matching Can Be Simple And Fast,” Russ Cox discusses two contrasting approaches to regular expression matching. One common approach, used in languages like Perl, is slow and can take up to over sixty seconds to match a 29-character string. In contrast, the Thompson NFA implementation is much faster, taking only twenty microseconds […]
Frank Force shares an incredible 256 byte raycasting engine and city generator in a standalone HTML file. This magical program uses basic algebra, no trig functions, and impressively combines various concepts. The code creates a city with buildings, textures, shadows, and a realistic scene. Exploring the code reveals how rays are cast, textures are applied, […]
The new pg_timeseries PostgreSQL extension simplifies managing time-series data, offering a cohesive experience for creating tables, managing older data, and running analytics functions. Unlike TimescaleDB, pg_timeseries provides unrestricted features such as compression and incremental views. By leveraging existing PostgreSQL capabilities and extensions like pg_partman and pg_cron, pg_timeseries streamlines the process of handling time-series workloads. Additional […]