TL;DR summary of stories on the internet
As of the end of 2024, Backblaze had 305,180 drives under management, including 301,120 data drives and 4,060 boot drives. The report focuses on Q4 2024 annualized failure rates, 2024 failure rates, and lifetime failure rates. Highlights include the introduction of 24TB Seagate drives with zero failures, decrease in quarterly failure rate, and the near […]
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The tech industry is turning its back on programmers in favor of AI, but this move may be a disastrous mistake. Aspiring programmers are no longer getting the hands-on experience they need to truly understand coding and problem-solving. Companies are laying off engineers to rely on AI-generated code, only to find themselves facing security breaches […]
The author explains why they consider NetBSD to be “boring” in a positive way, as it means the technology behaves predictably and has been well-evaluated, optimized, and understood by other users. Boring tech is reliable, less likely to have unexpected behavior, and has a strong support system in place. The author argues that sticking with […]
After a series of car troubles, the discovery of mouse tape, designed to keep rodents away from important wires, became a necessity. Honda introduced this spicy mouse tape coated in capsaicin to deter the gnawing habits of rodents. Despite the expensive cost of the tape and concerns about its composition, the author bravely tasted it […]
This guide provides a step-by-step approach to creating a basic website using HTML and CSS. Written originally for a 12-year-old, it covers essential concepts like page structure, adding content, linking pages, and styling with CSS. Surprising tips include creating a sectioned layout, naming pages “index” for default viewing, and adding descriptive alt text to images […]
Kenneth Harry Olsen, born in 1926, was a voracious reader with a hungry mind, experimenting with electronics despite budget constraints. His Navy experience during WWII led to learning electronics in various locations. He graduated from MIT and built the transistorized computer TX-0 with his team. The success of TX-0 inspired the birth of Digital Equipment […]
The author explores a new language model architecture that boosts test-time computation by reasoning implicitly in latent space. Unlike traditional models that increase token production for more compute power, this model iterates a recurrent block to scale indefinitely at test-time. This novel approach doesn’t rely on specialized training data, can operate with small context windows, […]
Indigenous researchers are racing against time to save endangered languages; 4,000 worldwide, one dies every two weeks. Michael Running Wolf’s Indigenous in AI works to prevent the loss, recognizing the urgent need for preserving Native American languages. The challenge: lack of Indigenous computer science graduates. Innovative initiatives like First Languages AI Reality, Tech Natives, and […]
In the latest macOS and iOS updates, some users found that Apple Intelligence was re-enabled without their consent. The behavior seems to depend on whether the Setup Assistant and welcome screen is displayed after the update. Those who saw the welcome screen were automatically opted into Apple Intelligence with no option to disable it. This […]
The author introduces the upgraded Floppotron 3.0, featuring 512 floppy disk drives, 4 scanners, and 16 hard disk drives arranged in a noise-making contraption. The complex device operates through custom electronic circuits and firmware, creating music by controlling the mechanical noises of the devices. Surprisingly, the floppy disk drives generate low pitch tones, while the […]