Today’s tech highlights include PostgreSQL 18’s breakthrough with query speeds up to 71x, Intel’s new chip manufacturing in Arizona reclaiming process leadership, and the rise of decentralized social protocols like Nostr and ATProto. Additionally, the Dutch government took control of Chinese-owned Nexperia over security concerns, reflecting geopolitical shifts in critical tech sectors.
▶️ Internet Infrastructure
PostgreSQL 18 Boosts Data Import Speed Up to 71x with Client-Side Pipelining
PostgreSQL 18 added psql commands for client-side pipelining, boosting query throughput by up to 71x across different network types, optimizing batch data import operations without server upgrades.
- Pipelining in PostgreSQL is a client-side feature supported by the extended query protocol, allowing multiple queries to be sent without waiting for prior results.
- PostgreSQL 18 introduced
\startpipeline,\endpipeline,\syncpipeline, and\getresultscommands inpsqlfor easier use of pipelining in SQL scripts. - Performance tests show pipelining accelerates batch insert/update operations by 1.5x to 71x depending on network conditions and batch size, significantly improving throughput.
How to Set Up a Secure Wireguard VPN with Pi-Hole and Unbound on Ubuntu 24.04
Provides detailed instructions for deploying a secure Wireguard VPN with Pi-Hole and Unbound DNS on Ubuntu 24.04, emphasizing network control, privacy, and performance optimization.
- The article provides a comprehensive guide to setting up a Wireguard VPN with Pi-Hole adblock and Unbound DNS on Ubuntu 24.04
- It details network topology, server and client configuration, including key generation, firewall rules, and system security enhancements
- Includes step-by-step instructions for Wireguard peer setup, masquerading, Pi-Hole installation, Unbound configuration, and mobile client integration
Nostr and ATProto: Exploring Decentralized Social Protocols and Cross-Platform Integration
Nostr and ATProto are decentralized social protocols evolving towards convergence, with bridging efforts enabling cross-platform interaction and addressing core issues like identity, trust, and data portability.
- Compares Nostr and ATProto protocols, highlighting their philosophical and technical differences and similarities
- Nostr relies on client-side cryptographic keys and self-certifying events; ATProto uses server-managed DID and mutable records
- Both protocols aim for decentralized social networking with distinct trust, privacy, and data management models
Intel’s Fab52 in Arizona Begins 18A Chip Production to Reclaim Process Leadership
Intel’s Fab52 in Arizona is producing 18A process chips, featuring gate-all-around RibbonFET transistors and backside PowerVIA power delivery, aiming to regain process leadership and attract foundry customers.
- Intel’s Fab52 in Chandler, Arizona, began mass production of chips using the 18A process node in summer 2025
- The facility covers 600,000 cubic meters of concrete, with access requiring full cleanroom suits (“bunny suits”)
- Central to Fab52 are ASML’s EUV lithography machines, utilizing lasers vaporizing molten tin droplets to produce EUV light for chip patterning
Small U.S. Manufacturers Boost Productivity with Affordable Cobots
Flexible, affordable cobots are enabling small U.S. manufacturers to boost productivity and competitiveness, supporting America’s manufacturing resurgence amid labor shortages and reshoring efforts.
- Smaller U.S. manufacturers are adopting flexible, affordable cobots to increase productivity amid labor shortages and competition from China.
- Raymath, a metal fabricator in Ohio, added 13 cobots, boosting per-worker output up to four times and tripling revenue while expanding workforce from 130 to 145.
- U.S. companies now use specialized welding cobots from providers like THG Automation and Vectis Automation, leveraging sensors and computer vision for versatility.
▶️ Open Source
Proprietary Firmware Still Dominates Critical Devices Despite ‘Free Software Wins’ Claims
Despite mainstream narratives, proprietary firmware and hardware dominate critical systems, undermining user freedoms; true open alternatives remain scarce in many essential device components.
- The author critiques the claim that “Free Software has won,” citing ongoing reliance on closed firmware and hardware components.
- Highlights include the prevalence of proprietary firmware in laptops (10-15 processors), printers, smartphones, and medical devices like pacemakers.
- Emphasizes that most critical hardware layers—GPU, storage, network interfaces—depend on closed software, limiting user freedom and control.
elementary OS 8.0.2 Circe Boosts Privacy and Multitasking with New Features
elementary OS 8.0.2 Circe enhances privacy, multitasking, and accessibility with features like Secure Session and a redesigned Dock, built on open source, privacy-respecting software.
- elementary OS 8.0.2 Circe (3.3 GB) introduces Secure Session, new Dock with multitasking features, and Inclusive Design enhancements
- Features include Multitasking View, Picture-in-Picture, Do Not Disturb, and a curated set of native apps
- Built on open source software with a focus on privacy, security, and developer accessibility; source code available for audit and modification
Open-Source FPGA Wireguard VPN on Artix7 for Secure and Affordable Connectivity
Open-source FPGA implementation of Wireguard VPN on Artix7 targets wire-speed performance, combining control plane in RISC-V soft CPU and data plane in Verilog/SystemVerilog, emphasizing transparency and affordability.
- FPGA implementation of Wireguard VPN using low-cost Artix7 FPGA with open-source toolchain
- Hardware written in SystemVerilog HDL, with a control plane on RISC-V soft CPU and data plane in RTL
- Focuses on open-source accessibility, using commodity hardware and open tools, with open scrutiny of security aspects
Spellscript: The Magical Esoteric Programming Language
Spellscript is an esoteric language that uses spell-like syntax for programming, supporting variables, functions, control flow, and data manipulation, with code resembling magical incantations.
- Spellscript is an esoteric programming language designed to read like a spellbook, with syntax resembling magical incantations.
- Features include variables, dynamic typing, arrays, functions, conditionals, loops, string manipulation, type conversion, user input, and output.
- Basic syntax uses thematic commands such as
summon,enchant,conjure,inscribe, andclose, with operators likegreater by,lesser by,multiplied by, andequals.
Schleswig-Holstein Switches Entire State Email System to Open Source
Schleswig-Holstein completed a six-month migration of 40,000 mailboxes from Microsoft Exchange to open source email systems Open-Xchange and Thunderbird, enhancing digital sovereignty and supporting its open source strategy.
- Schleswig-Holstein migrated its entire state administration email system from Microsoft Exchange and Outlook to open source solutions Open-Xchange and Thunderbird, completed on October 2, 2025.
- The migration affected approximately 30,000 employees across government departments, with over 40,000 mailboxes containing more than 100 million emails and calendar entries transitioned.
- The move was part of a broader open source strategy, including the rollout of LibreOffice as the standard office software across all state computers, despite initial migration challenges such as downtime and delays.
Python Lock File Specification Finalized After Four Years of Development
After four years of development and over 1,800 discussions since 2019, a pylock.toml lock file specification was finalized, supporting dependency graphs, platform-specific applicability, and multiple distribution formats.
- Developed a lock file format specification after 4 years of active work
- Lock files record all dependencies and installation details, supporting source trees, sdists, and wheels, with dependency graphs and platform-specific applicability
- The process involved extensive discussions, multiple PEPs (notably PEP 665 and PEP 751), and over 1,800 posts since 2019, with key contributions from Brett Cannon and community feedback
GitHub Copilot Chat Vulnerability Exposed Secrets via Prompt Injection and CSP Bypass
A June 2025 vulnerability in GitHub Copilot Chat enabled remote prompt injection and CSP bypass, allowing exfiltration of private source code and secrets, fixed by disabling image rendering.
- In June 2025, a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.6) was discovered in GitHub Copilot Chat allowing silent exfiltration of secrets and source code from private repositories.
- The attack combined a novel CSP bypass using GitHub’s infrastructure with remote prompt injection, enabling malicious code suggestions and data exfiltration.
- GitHub fixed the vulnerability by disabling image rendering in Copilot Chat on August 14, 2025; the exploit allowed influence over responses, injection of Markdown, URLs, code, and access to private repo data.
▶️ Software Development
Artem Golubin Shares His Helix Editor Setup for Secure Remote Development
Artem Golubin details his Helix editor configuration for remote development, including tmux integration, Vim-like bindings, an improved status line, custom keybindings, and auto-save features, optimizing security and usability.
- Artem Golubin shares his custom Helix editor setup for remote development, emphasizing security and minimal plugin use.
- Integrates Helix with tmux via keybindings for file management (
Yazi),lazygit, and terminal output access. - Implements Vim-like keybindings, an enhanced status line, custom keybindings for common tasks, and specific editor configurations, including auto-save and rainbow brackets.
▶️ Management and Leadership
Rift: A Performance-Focused Tiling Window Manager for macOS
Rift is a macOS tiling window manager supporting multiple layouts, with features like mission control, trackpad gestures, and third-party API interop, in active development since 2025.
- Rift is a tiling window manager for macOS emphasizing performance and usability, supporting multiple layout styles including tiling and BSPM-like arrangements.
- Features include a menubar icon for workspace and layout overview, macOS-style mission control, focus follows mouse with auto-raise, window swapping via drag, performant animations, trackpad workspace switching, hot reloadable config, and third-party interop via CLI and mach port.
- Developed with private APIs reverse-engineered from yabai, diverging from glide-wm, and licensed as such; actively maintained with 101 commits as of October 12, 2025, and 617 stars on GitHub.
Microsoft’s OneDrive Prompts Criticized as Persistent Dark Pattern
The article criticizes Microsoft’s persistent OneDrive backup prompts in Windows, highlighting the lack of an option to permanently dismiss the reminder and criticizing it as a dark pattern.
- The article criticizes Microsoft’s integration of OneDrive backup prompts in Windows, describing it as an intrusive “dark pattern.”
- The author questions whether dismissing the reminder permanently is possible, implying the options are limited to “later” or accepting.
- No technical solutions or alternative options are provided; the focus is on user experience frustration with persistent prompts.
U.S. Investment Group Acquires Controlling Stake in Israeli Spyware Firm NSO
NSO Group announced that a U.S. investment group acquired controlling ownership, with tens of millions of dollars invested, while maintaining Israeli operational and regulatory oversight.
- NSO Group, Israeli spyware company, confirmed to TechCrunch that a U.S. investment group acquired controlling ownership, investing tens of millions of dollars.
- The deal follows Israeli media reports that Hollywood producer Robert Simonds led a group to purchase NSO in a valuation in the tens of millions.
- NSO’s headquarters and core operations remain in Israel, under Israeli regulatory supervision; ownership change does not alter operational control.
Jeep Update Bricks All 2024 Wrangler 4xe Models Sparks OTA Safety Concerns
Jeep’s software update for 2024 Wrangler 4xe models rendered all units inoperable, including the Willys, raising concerns about OTA update safety and vehicle reliability.
- Jeep released a software update that bricked all 2024 Wrangler 4xe models, including the Willys version
- The update caused widespread vehicle inoperability, affecting the entire model year
- The incident highlights potential risks of over-the-air software updates in automotive systems
AWS Executive Colleen Aubrey Shares Tips for Career Growth and Leadership Alignment
AWS leader Colleen Aubrey advises evaluating your boss, team, and business stage—if these don’t align with growth and fulfillment, consider changing roles to sustain engagement.
- Colleen Aubrey, AWS senior vice president, emphasizes “constant change” as key to her 20+ years at Amazon, driven by new products, problems, and customer insights
- She identifies three criteria for assessing if a role is right: the boss, the team, and the business area
- Respectful leadership involves mutual respect, inspiration, and support in decision-making; mismatched managers may warrant a career move
Media Converges into Endless Video Streams Transforming Culture and Social Interaction
Media is converging into continuous video streams, with social media, podcasts, and AI platforms adopting television-like flow, transforming culture, attention, and social interaction.
- Meta claimed it is not a social media monopoly because over 80% of Facebook and 90% of Instagram time is spent watching videos from unknown creators, with only 7% and 17% respectively on “friend sharing” (FTC filing)
- Podcasts are increasingly becoming video-based on platforms like YouTube and Spotify, with video podcasts growing twenty times faster than audio-only, indicating podcasts are turning into television (Business Insider)
- Meta introduced Vibes and OpenAI announced Sora, AI-driven social networks with endless AI-generated videos, following the trend of media converging into continuous streams of episodic video, akin to television
Dutch Government Takes Control of Chinese-Owned Nexperia Over Security Concerns
The Dutch government assumes control of Chinese-owned Nexperia to mitigate national security risks associated with semiconductor supply chains, reflecting increased government intervention in critical technology sectors.
- Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
- Intervention aims to address national security concerns related to semiconductor supply chains
- Details of the takeover, including financial terms and operational implications, are not specified in the article
Emacs-native agent-shell enables multi-agent AI interaction with traffic inspection
agent-shell is a new Emacs package that provides a native shell for interacting with AI agents via ACP, supporting multiple agents, traffic inspection, and session replay.
- Introduces
agent-shell, an Emacs-native shell powered by comint-mode, enabling interaction with AI agents via ACP - Supports configuration of multiple agents, such as Gemini CLI and Claude Code, through customizable functions with specific prompts, authentication, and environment variables
- Implements traffic inspection with
agent-shell-view-trafficand supports fake traffic replay from saved sessions for testing and debugging
▶️ Technology
AI Boom’s Proprietary Hardware Risks Short-Lived Infrastructure
The AI boom’s focus on proprietary hardware and closed ecosystems risks leaving behind short-lived, non-reusable infrastructure, unlike the durable, open standards of the internet.
- The current AI boom predominantly invests in proprietary, vertically integrated systems, with expensive GPUs having a 1-3 year lifespan.
- These purpose-built AI data centers are optimized for scale, power density, cooling, and specialized networking, forming closed ecosystems.
- If the AI bubble bursts, it may leave behind short-lived, specialized silicon and infrastructure that is difficult to repurpose, contrasting with the durable open infrastructure of the internet.
Prompt Injection Flaw in GitHub Copilot Enables Full System Takeover
A prompt injection vulnerability (CVE-2025-53773) in GitHub Copilot allows remote code execution by modifying settings.json to enable YOLO mode, facilitating privilege escalation and malware deployment.
- CVE-2025-53773 describes remote code execution in GitHub Copilot and VS Code via prompt injection
- Exploit involves modifying
settings.jsonto enable YOLO mode by adding"chat.tools.autoApprove": true - Attack chain includes prompt injection in code or web content, adding the setting, and executing OS-specific shell commands, leading to full system compromise
EdgeAI for Beginners: Mastering On-Device AI Deployment and Optimization
“EdgeAI for Beginners” is a comprehensive course covering Edge AI fundamentals, small language models, deployment, optimization, AI agents, platform samples, and hands-on workshops to enable local, privacy-preserving AI applications.
- The “EdgeAI for Beginners” course guides newcomers through Edge AI concepts, models, inference techniques, device-specific applications, model optimization, and development of intelligent Edge AI agents.
- Covers fundamental principles such as on-device inference, offline operation, low latency, and data sovereignty, emphasizing privacy, real-time performance, cost efficiency, and regulatory compliance.
- Includes detailed modules on SLM model families (Phi, Qwen, Gemma), deployment practices, optimization tools, production operations, AI agents, function calling, cross-platform samples, and comprehensive hands-on workshops.
Google patch disables Pixel IMS app after VoLTE exploit fix
Google’s October 2025 Pixel update patched the high-severity CVE-2025-48617 vulnerability, disabling the Pixel IMS app that enabled VoLTE and VoWiFi in unsupported regions, with a new workaround available for VoLTE only.
- October 2025 Pixel update disabled the Pixel IMS app, which enabled VoLTE and VoWiFi in unsupported regions by exploiting a carrier configuration loophole.
- The app’s exploit, designated as CVE-2025-48617, used Shizuku to override carrier signals via the shell user, bypassing Android’s telephony restrictions.
- Google patched this vulnerability in the October 2025 update, causing the app to crash and removing the workaround; a new, less accessible workaround enables VoLTE but not VoWiFi, requiring root for full functionality.
Apple Shifts Focus from Vision Air to Smart Glasses with VisionOS
Apple pivoted from developing the Vision Air headset to focus on smart glasses, leveraging visionOS, with upcoming product refreshes and a multitier lineup to compete with Meta and industry trends.
- Apple shifted focus from the Vision Air mixed-reality headset to smart glasses, citing industry trends and product potential.
- The company is developing smart glasses running visionOS, with plans for a multitier lineup including display and non-display models.
- Apple plans to refresh the Vision Pro with a faster chip and redesign, targeting a full product ecosystem including augmented reality and high-end headsets.
John Sculley: OpenAI Is Apple’s Main AI Rival, Urges Innovation Shift
John Sculley claims OpenAI is Apple’s primary AI competitor, urging a transition from app-based to agentic AI, with Apple needing to accelerate product updates and innovation in autonomous AI technology.
- Former Apple CEO John Sculley states OpenAI is Apple’s “first real competitor” in decades, highlighting AI’s weak position at Apple.
- Sculley emphasizes the need for Apple to shift from the apps era to the agentic AI era, where autonomous smart agents perform complex tasks.
- Sculley notes Apple’s AI product updates lag behind competitors like OpenAI, Google, Amazon, and Meta, citing delays such as Siri’s overhaul postponement.
ZTE Unveils AI Upgrades at 2025 Milan Summit for Digital Transformation
ZTE’s 2025 Milan summit showcased AI infrastructure upgrades, including AI Core with multi-agent autonomy, full-stack computing solutions, and network-AI integration, emphasizing connectivity and computing synergy.
- ZTE hosted the Global Summit & User Congress 2025 in Milan on October 6-7 with over 500 global ICT leaders
- Focused on AI-driven digital transformation, open digital-intelligent ecosystems, and industry/social innovation
- Announced advancements including AI Core upgrade with multi-agent framework, full-stack intelligent computing solutions, and AI-integrated network enhancements
ATLAS Boosts LLM Inference Speed Up to 4x with Adaptive Speculative Decoding
ATLAS is an adaptive speculative decoding system that automatically improves LLM inference speed up to 4x by learning from live traffic, outperforming static approaches and enabling real-time workload adaptation.
- ATLAS is a runtime-learning accelerative system for LLM inference, delivering up to 4x speed improvements.
- It dynamically adapts speculative decoding at runtime, outperforming static and custom speculators, achieving up to 500 TPS on DeepSeek-V3.1 and Kimi-K2.
- Built on Together Turbo, it combines static and adaptive speculators with a confidence-aware controller, reducing RL training time by over 60% and reaching 2.65x faster decoding than standard methods.
OpenAI’s Sora 2 Sparks Ethical Concerns Over Fake Celebrity Videos
OpenAI’s Sora 2 allows realistic AI videos of dead celebrities, prompting ethical issues and harmful meme proliferation.
- OpenAI’s new video-generation tool Sora 2 enables creating realistic AI videos of deceased public figures
- The generated videos depict figures like Malcolm X, Robin Williams, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bob Ross in crude, disrespectful scenarios
- A surge of crude and racist memes has emerged, raising ethical concerns about consent and misuse