TL;DR summary of stories on the internet
Penguin Random House has updated its copyright pages globally to prevent the use of authors’ work in training artificial intelligence tools, including language models. The change follows concerns surrounding copyright infringement as tech companies use pirated books to train AI. While PRH aims to protect intellectual property, they also plan to use AI tools for […]
Read more »
John Graham-Cumming, CTO of Cloudflare and technology historian, shared an incredible story with elements including one-time pads, 8-bit computers, and flight attendants smuggling random numbers into South Africa. The story revolves around Tim Jenkin, a former anti-apartheid activist who created a communication system vital to the African National Congress. The system, called Operation Vula, used […]
Dr. Fukushi Katsunari is part of a fascinating legacy that revolves around preserved human tattooed skin as scientific specimens in Japan. The intricate form of body art known as irezumi, particularly full-body tattoos common among the yakuza, caught the interest of Dr. Fukushi Masaichi. He made it his life’s work to preserve these tattoos after […]
Cuba experienced a major blackout due to a power plant failure, leaving millions without electricity. The government implemented emergency measures to manage demand, including suspending classes and shutting down non-essential services. The situation has been attributed to increased demand, lack of maintenance on old plants, and fuel shortages. Changes to electricity rates for small- and […]
Since 1996, the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) has been dedicated to finding world record primes. With impressive statistics on daily accomplishments like GFLOP/s and CPU & GPU usage, GIMPS strives to discover new Mersenne primes. Recently, a new Mersenne prime was discovered, potentially the first in six years. Additionally, significant improvements in Prime95 […]
The author discusses their efforts to be intentional and organized with their digital data through the creation of static websites to browse their local archives. Each website is unique, tailored to specific file collections for efficient browsing without the need for a web server or complex technology. The author reflects on previous attempts at file […]
Donna Kalil is a sixty-two-year-old full-time python hunter in Florida, the first woman to hold this position. She has been bitten countless times by Burmese pythons, an invasive species that threatens Florida’s ecosystem. Kalil’s job involves capturing and euthanizing these snakes to protect native wildlife. Her team of hunters has removed almost nine thousand pythons […]
TL;DR: OpenStreetMap data used for bike, scooter, and wheelchair routing is subpar compared to car routing, leading to dangerous and inefficient directions. This web app visualizes the gaps in the data, particularly focusing on sidewalks, bike lanes, and pedestrian infrastructure. The goal is to improve mapping for non-car users by accurately mapping bike lanes, crosswalks, […]
JavaScript’s setTimeout function has a limitation of about 25 days due to a 32-bit signed integer representation of time. The author created setBigTimeout to overcome this issue, allowing for longer delays. The package can be found on npm, featuring the ability to chain shorter timeouts to create delays extending up to 84 years or even […]
Spliit was created a few years ago, but the current version is only one year old. With 152k visits in the last 12 months, Spliit’s bounce rate is 33%, meaning users actively engage by creating groups, adding expenses, or reading blog posts. The top countries for Spliit users are Germany, United States, and India. Spliit […]