This article details the creation of a low-cost drone using ESP32, a microcontroller unit with Wi-Fi connectivity, for less than Rs.1000. The project demonstrates clever use of the PCB as the drone frame, reduction of extra components like transmitters and receivers due to ESP32’s features, and the importance of calibration for proper operation. A detailed walkthrough of the construction process, including circuit diagrams and programming instructions, is provided for enthusiasts to replicate the project.

This article discusses the cultural and ideological implications within Google, highlighted by reactions to their AI tool Gemini. Featuring insights from former employees and a detailed exploration into the company’s prioritization of diversity, equity, and inclusion over business and product efficacy, it sheds light on the systemic biases and the resultant cultural shift post-James Damore’s memo incident. The narrative unfolds through a critique of Google’s current work environment, ideological echo chamber, and its impact on product development and staff recruitment strategies.

Daytona, the Open Source Development Environment Manager, offers a streamlined process for setting up development environments with a single command. It supports various infrastructure and integrates multiple features like Git provider connections, IDE support, configurations, and security, making the setup process simpler and more efficient.

The article details the author’s journey from a nomadic lifestyle to setting up a home lab for technical experimentation and growth. It covers the importance of choosing a location, deciding on furniture to store equipment, and selecting the right hardware. Key insights include the purpose and benefits of having a home lab, considerations for selecting its location, equipment storage, and hardware selection.

Alan Kay explores a range of topics in a talk at UCLA, moving from the impact of graphical user interfaces to the implications of AI and the relationship between technology practitioners and theorists. He stresses the transformative power of GUIs, the unpredictability of AI, and calls for a more integrated approach to technology development.

Mostr bridge uptime shows the status of the bridge between ActivityPub and Nostr. This open source project is powered by Upptime.

Open-source geocoding platform Nominatim enables users to find places by name or address and look up addresses for a given location using latitude and longitude. It supports free-form queries in any language and a structured query mode for automating geocoding of extensive address lists. It also allows finding the nearest address for any latitude and longitude or any OSM object given its ID.

Research on simultaneous and heterogeneous multithreading (SHMT) proposes a way to significantly improve computer performance and reduce energy usage without hardware upgrades. Initial tests showed up to 1.95 times faster processing and a 51% reduction in energy usage. However, the technology faces challenges, including the need for rigorous quality assurance tests to ensure compatibility across processor architectures. The breakthrough was presented at the 56th annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture.

The article discusses the creation of pg-copyjit, a new JIT compiler for PostgreSQL developed by the author after being inspired by a recently proposed JIT compiler construction methodology. It explores the limitations of using LLVM for JIT compilation in PostgreSQL and introduces the advantages of the copy-and-patch methodology used by pg-copyjit. The author shares insights into the current performance of pg-copyjit, as well as future goals for optimization and expanding architecture support. Links to a research paper that inspired the project, the project’s GitHub repository, and a mentioned tool, PoWA, are also provided.

Pretzel is an open-source, offline browser-based tool for data exploration and visualization, leveraging WebAssembly-based DuckDB and PRQL for performance, with privacy-first design.

“Algorithms for Modern Hardware” is an upcoming high-performance computing book by Sergey Slotin, aimed at a wide range of readers from performance engineers to undergraduate students. The book, hosted entirely on GitHub, focuses on using modern hardware’s parallelism capabilities for practical algorithm speed improvements. It is divided into various parts, with themes ranging from performance engineering to distributed computing, and encourages community contributions and feedback.

Cerebras Systems unveils the Wafer Scale Engine 3 (WSE-3), the world’s fastest AI chip, marking a significant advancement in AI hardware technology. With 4 trillion transistors, the WSE-3 is designed for the most demanding AI computations, offering superior efficiency and seamless integration into AI supercomputers like the Cerebras CS-3. This breakthrough underscores Cerebras’ ongoing commitment to innovation in AI technology and its strategic collaborations with key industry and academic partners.

LaVague is an innovative project that automates menial, repetitive tasks on the internet by transforming natural language instructions into Selenium code, allowing users to focus on more meaningful endeavors. It leverages open-source models and advanced AI techniques to ensure user control and privacy. The project is in its early stages but has the potential to democratize transparent and aligned AI models.

“The Other Side of the Deadspin Saga” written by Trevor Kraus, explores personal attachments and the implications of transitioning from old to new in both the context of sports stadiums and personal items. It delves into the story of Deadspin, focusing on its management disputes, the ousting of its staff, and the wider implications for the journalism industry. The article provides insights into the challenges of nostalgia, the impact of editorial changes, and reflects on humanity’s preferences and the nature of profitability.

Meta announces the construction of two 24k GPU clusters as a significant investment in its AI future, emphasizing its commitment to open compute, open source, and a forward-looking infrastructure roadmap aimed at expanding its compute power significantly by 2024. The clusters support current and future AI models, including Llama 3, and are built using technologies such as Grand Teton, OpenRack, and PyTorch.

Extropic, a new venture mentioned in the First Principles podcast, is developing a pioneering computing paradigm that leverages noise and thermal fluctuations for computation. Unlike traditional quantum computing, which requires extreme cooling and faces scalability issues due to quantum decoherence, Extropic’s model aims to harness these thermal effects to improve computing efficiency and scalability. This approach could prove especially beneficial for AI and machine learning applications, offering a new direction for computational technology.

The article ‘The Trouble With Johnny Depp’ by Stephen Rodrick delves into Johnny Depp’s multifaceted life comprised of multimillion-dollar lawsuits, a controversial personal life, and the trials of maintaining a lifestyle beyond his means. It chronicles Depp’s legal battle against The Management Group, allegations of abuse from his ex-wife Amber Heard, and Depp’s introspection on his personal and financial downfall.

The article presents a detailed manifesto of techno-optimism, advocating for the importance of technology and free markets in driving growth, progress, and abundance. It outlines how technology and markets together form a perpetual engine of material creation and growth. Furthermore, it argues for the potential of technology to create a world of abundant resources, elevate living standards, and ultimately expand human life across the universe.

Designing concurrent systems on the BEAM involves leveraging its concurrency model, rooted in the actor model, for process isolation and communication. A fundamental understanding that processes are not equated with code, and visualization strategies like considering processes as workers, are pivotal for system design. Key strategies include clear task allocation, flow-based structuring, and understanding process archetypes. Structuring code according to business domains further aligns technical solutions with business strategy, promoting maintainable and scalable system architecture.

Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and CEO of Social Capital, shares profound insights on money, social change, and the importance of patience in building meaningful ventures. Through his personal journey and business philosophy, he emphasizes the transformative role of capital allocation in driving societal progress. Palihapitiya critiques the negative effects of social media on society, advocating for a more contemplative, long-term approach to problem-solving and the accumulation of capital to effect positive change. He opens up about the risk of power’s corrupting influence and the ongoing challenge of maintaining integrity.

This article discusses the concept of world models - generative neural network models that allow agents to simulate and learn within their own dream environments. Agents can be trained to perform tasks within these simulations and then apply the learned policies in real-world scenarios. The study explores this approach within the context of reinforcement learning environments, highlighting its potential for efficient learning and policy transfer. The integration of iterative training procedures and evolution strategies further supports the scalability and applicability of this method to complex tasks.

Alan Kay’s talk at UCLA highlights his views on technology, society, and future research. He discusses the importance of ARPA in technological breakthroughs, the immense value that Xerox PARC’s innovations have brought to the global economy, and the challenges in today’s environment for achieving groundbreaking research. Kay emphasizes the significance of education for fostering systems thinkers and innovators and calls for a blend of diverse skills in computing for future success.

The article offers a comprehensive guide to setting up a home lab, including insights on the importance of failure in personal development, choosing the right location, and selecting appropriate hardware. Hayden James shares his journey and personal experiences in building out his home lab, covering routers, switches, servers, and more, to inspire others interested in creating their own home labs.

The Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) history outlines the evolution of UNIX from its first public presentation in 1973, through legal and technical challenges faced by AT&T and early adopters, to its spread across academia and development into a widely influential open-source operating system. This pathway highlights key moments such as the first UNIX port outside of PDP-11 to IBM 360, the creation and distribution of BSD leading to significant advancements in operating systems, and the eventual wide-reaching impact of BSD on modern computing, including the development of macOS, NetBSD, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and others.

The article discusses Iman Gadzhi’s intention to spend up to $30 million on a private jet, exploring the purchasing process through The Jet Business, a unique jet sales company. It highlights The Jet Business’s distinctive showroom and approach to building long-term customer relationships, the changing dynamics of the global airplane market, and the importance of the showroom’s strategic location in London for attracting potential buyers.