Alvaro Lopez Ortega / 2026-08-25 Briefing

Created Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:18:41 +0000 Modified Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:21:31 +0000
8450 Words

Dolly Parton, the beloved country singer-songwriter behind “Jolene” and “9 to 5,” has died, reports confirmed Tuesday. In tech, Firefox 157 will enable JPEG XL decoding by default, and the Nitter project has reportedly received a cease and desist, breaking its Twitter front-end instances. Meanwhile, the Justice Department secured its first criminal conviction for FOIA evasion while defending practices that undermine transparency.

🤖 AI & Automation

How much of HN is AI?

Hacker News, a key tech aggregator, has become increasingly dominated by AI-related or AI-generated stories, with systematic surveys showing such content rising from 40% of top stories in February 2026 to roughly 50–60% in June 2026. The author also notes a prevalence of low-quality, AI-like comments and suggests a simple heuristic to filter them out.

AI is hitting entry-level jobs hardest, Stanford study finds

A Stanford study finds AI is causing significant entry-level job losses, with employment for workers aged 22-25 in AI-exposed occupations now 19 percent below peers in less exposed fields, up from 13 percent last year. Older workers remain largely unaffected so far.

OpenAI restores 5-hour Codex and Work limits for ChatGPT Plus users

OpenAI is reinstating a five-hour usage limit for Codex and ChatGPT Work on Plus subscriptions starting tomorrow, after temporarily lifting it. The change aims to smooth compute load and prevent casual Plus users from exhausting their weekly usage. Pro $100 and $200 subscriptions will not have the five-hour limit for now.

Headlong: A Microharness for Persistent Agents

Headlong is an open-source agent microharness that enables persistent agency, allowing agents to think continuously in a self-guided loop rather than reacting only to tasks or scheduled checklists. Built in under 10,000 lines of Bash and available on GitHub, it treats external messages as observations in the agent’s ongoing thought stream. Designed for prototyping autonomous, self-directed agents, it is alpha research software that runs shell commands, so it should be used in a sandbox with spend-capped API keys.

Thomson Reuters Launches Its Own Frontier Model

Thomson Reuters launched Thomson, its proprietary large language model trained for $40 million on an open-source foundation using decades of the company’s own content and expertise. The model performs on par with leading frontier models while costing far less to train and run, and remains fully owned and controlled by Thomson Reuters. It is being deployed in products such as CoCounsel Legal, emphasizing AI sovereignty and specialized professional intelligence.

80% of developers find AI coding more addictive than helpful

A survey found that 80% of developers view AI coding tools as more addictive than helpful, leading to workaholism, burnout, and difficulty disconnecting from work. Trust in AI accuracy has dropped to 29%, as developers struggle with debugging flawed AI-generated code.

Slop factory bans Russians for using slop factory to create slop

OpenAI has banned Russian users from using its AI tools to generate low-quality “slop” content. The company also notes that it permanently records all user discussions with its bots, highlighting its data retention practices.

Keenable raises $26M seed led by Accel for AI agent web search index

Keenable, a startup building a web search index specifically for AI agents, raised a $26 million seed round led by Accel. The company has indexed over 100 billion documents and says its API is already in production at several AI labs and inference providers. Founded by former Yandex and Amazon search leaders, Keenable aims to address the need for web-scale search infrastructure built for AI, as tech giants restrict access to traditional search APIs.

Stability AI raises $76M Series B from UMG, WMG, EA, Sony Music, others for AI models from their IP

Stability AI raised $76 million in a Series B round from investors including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music, Electronic Arts, and AMD Ventures, bringing its total funding to $232 million. The company has partnered with these labels and EA to build AI models using their catalogs and intellectual property. The funding follows the release of its licensed-data audio model, Stable Audio 3.0, and underscores its focus on creative AI tools.

AI safety startup Alice (Tel Aviv, NYC) raises $140M at near-$1B valuation led by Apax Digital

AI security startup Alice, which works with Anthropic and Google, raised $140 million in a funding round led by Apax Digital, with participation from SentinelOne and Samsung. The investment values the company at nearly $1 billion, according to CEO Noam Schwartz. The funding follows a series of high-profile AI system hacks.

Waymo to offer ride-hailing in Munich, Germany by end 2027; first EU market, third international.

Waymo will launch driverless ride-hailing in Germany by the end of 2027, starting in Munich, marking its first EU market and third international expansion. It will begin manually driving vehicles in Munich in the coming weeks to map the city and adapt its software, then test with trained specialists before opening to the public.

Autonomous trucking startup Gatik raises $200M, total ~$500M after PepsiCo deal

Gatik raised $200 million in its largest funding round to date, led by Qatar Investment Authority and Koch Disruptive Technologies, bringing its total funding to about $500 million. The funding comes two months after the autonomous trucking startup signed a multiyear commercial agreement with PepsiCo. Gatik plans to use the capital to scale its driverless middle-mile delivery operations, expand into new markets, and grow its workforce beyond 350 employees.

Xiaomi unveils Xring O100, a 6nm AI accelerator for MiMo, and 3nm Xring D100 for autonomous driving

Xiaomi unveiled its flagship Xring O3 3nm AI processor for smartphones, set to debut in September with the Xiaomi 18 Fold, alongside the 6nm Xring O100 AI accelerator for its MiMo models and the 3nm Xring D100 for autonomous driving. Both the O100 and D100 are slated for commercial deployment next year, as analysts say Xiaomi’s chip push places it among the top tier of China’s self-developed mobile SoC makers despite an earnings slump.

đź’» Software & Development

Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

Firefox 157 will enable JPEG XL decoding by default on all platforms, using the Rust-based jxl-rs decoder after performance improvements and feature parity checks. Safari has supported JPEG XL since 2023, while Chrome still keeps it behind a flag. The rollout includes extensive testing for correctness, animation, progressive display, and fuzzing.

Lightweight system monitor for Linux VPS written in Go

vpsmon is a lightweight Linux VPS system monitor written in Go, packaged as a single binary that uses about 5MB RAM. It tracks CPU, memory, swap, disk, network, uptime, and process count, and provides a web UI with login and 5-second auto-refresh. Installation and uninstallation are done via curl scripts.

LatticeDB – Like SQLite but for graph databases

The author found graph databases difficult to use locally and built LatticeDB to address this pain point. LatticeDB aims to be a graph database with the simplicity and embedded convenience of SQLite.

Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it

To prevent instant tooltips while moving the cursor, a 200ms hover delay was added, but this felt sluggish when quickly moving between nearby logos. The fix uses a “warm” state: after a tooltip opens and closes, a 300ms cooldown makes subsequent tooltips appear instantly before resetting to the normal delay.

Fuzzing the Gleam Compiler

The author applies structure-aware fuzzing to the Gleam compiler, generating random valid programs and comparing their behavior across Erlang and JavaScript targets to uncover code generation differences. They find this method more effective than LLM-based fuzzing, which was expensive and nondeterministic, or random byte inputs. The approach leverages Gleam’s minimal syntax, static types, and functional nature to systematically discover edge cases.

Warnock: Harnessing GPU geometry amplification for vector graphics

The article highlights a video presentation on “Warnock,” which focuses on using GPU geometry amplification for vector graphics. It outlines techniques to enhance rendering efficiency and performance through hardware-accelerated geometry processing.

MySQL CDC to BigQuery: what periodic syncs miss, and how binlog avoids it

Periodic MySQL syncs only capture snapshots, missing deletes and intermediate row changes. Binlog-based CDC reliably captures every insert, update, and delete in order, but requires specific MySQL configuration such as ROW-format binlog with FULL row images, proper replication privileges, a unique server-id, and adequate binlog retention. Once configured, this data can be landed in BigQuery accurately.

EVE Online moves to Python 3

EVE Online has begun migrating its 2.4-million-line Python 2 codebase to Python 3 after 16 years, aiming for a seamless transition that improves performance, tooling, and future feature development. The codebase, which predates Python 2.7 in places, makes the migration multi-staged and careful, but EVE Frontier has already proven the Carbon engine can run on modern Python 3.

Don’t Wordle

Don’t Wordle is a free daily word game in which players must avoid guessing the hidden word, using color-coded clue feedback to eliminate possibilities across six tries. A limited number of undos helps prevent accidental guesses, and players can track stats and share results with friends.

HelloAssembly The smallest possible complete Windows application

This repository provides code for building the smallest possible complete Windows application in x86 assembly, featuring a working message loop, title bar, system menu, and centered text, with multiple optimized versions including shell-coding techniques and a manually written PE header. It includes build instructions using MASM32 and Crinkler, and warns that the aggressive optimizations may cause antivirus software to flag the executables as malware, requiring whitelisting or temporarily disabling the scanner.

Nostr vs. Fediverse vs. Bluesky: A Comparison of Decentralized Social Protocols

The article compares three decentralized social protocols—Fediverse (ActivityPub), Bluesky (AtProto), and Nostr—highlighting their different approaches to decentralization, identity, and censorship resistance. ActivityPub enables federation across independent servers but users can lose accounts if their server shuts down; Bluesky is technically decentralized yet highly centralized in practice through bsky.social, with limited self-hosting; Nostr uses relays and cryptographic keys to give users stronger identity control and censorship resistance.

NIP-05 maps Nostr public keys to human-readable internet identifiers

NIP-05 maps Nostr public keys to human-readable identifiers like user@example.com via a DNS-backed verification process, where clients fetch a nostr.json file over HTTPS to confirm the mapping. It proves domain control, not identity, and is weaker than users often assume. The spec also includes optional relay hints and lowercase requirements for interoperability.

JupyterGIS 0.16: a grammar of graphics for maps, and collaborative story maps

JupyterGIS 0.16 adds support for new geospatial formats, improved map styling, and a redesigned Story Map editor featuring real-time collaboration, direct Markdown previews, and a full presentation preview. It also introduces openEO layers, allowing remote processing pipelines to be visualized directly as interactive tile-based map layers.

Windows 95 released August 24, 1995

Windows 95, released on August 24, 1995, was the most anticipated Windows release ever, promising a major leap over Windows 3.x with modern preemptive multitasking. However, its minimum hardware requirements (386DX, 4 MB RAM) delivered poor performance, with acceptable use needing a Pentium-class PC, which boosted sales. Retailers like Best Buy leveraged this anticipation to encourage upgrades, turning an $80 software purchase into hundreds of dollars in hardware sales.

Screen memory without screenshots, just text to Markdown

A macOS menu bar app captures the text of your focused window via the Accessibility API every few seconds, writing it to daily Markdown files—no screenshots, video, or OCR. You can point a tool like Claude Code at the folder to ask questions about past work, with an AGENTS.md explaining the format. The developer shared it on GitHub.

Microsoft warns transitioning Excel workbooks to new Exchange connectors may not be smooth

Microsoft warns that transitioning Excel workbooks to new Exchange connectors may be problematic. The current Exchange connector is being retired, and the new connectors will not function unless users upgrade.

Windows XP was released to manufacturing a quarter of a century ago

Windows XP was released to manufacturing 25 years ago, and despite its age, it remains in use in government branches, banks, and dentist offices due to its perceived stability. The OS has proven remarkably persistent, as many organizations still haven’t figured out how to retire it.

Microsoft breaks WPF printing with .NET update

Microsoft’s recent .NET update has disrupted WPF printing, causing issues for developers and users. The news digest also covers topics such as datacenter water usage, AI chip announcements, security threats, and open-source releases.

Google rolls out Motion Assist to Android 17 on select Pixels to reduce motion sickness

Google is gradually rolling out Motion Assist, a new Android 17 feature that reduces motion sickness by displaying visual motion cues on the screen while in a moving vehicle. It is initially available on select Pixel phones, with activation either automatic when vehicle motion is detected or manual through a Quick Settings tile. Users can customize the indicators’ color, shape, and opacity.

The Move to Python 3 Begins

EVE Online has begun its long-planned migration from Python 2 to Python 3, aiming for better performance, faster bug fixes, and new features. The 2.4-million-line codebase, running on Stackless Python since 2003, is being updated in careful stages to avoid disruption, following the successful precedent of EVE Frontier.

I stabilized never type

After 10 years of instability and five failed attempts, the developer successfully stabilized the never type, which is now stable on nightly Rust. The effort took over two years of personal work, leaving the author feeling empty.

Replacing a Rust Enum with a 64-bit Word Made My Interpreter 17% Faster

The author optimized the Plush interpreter by replacing its 16-byte Rust tagged enum Value type with a more compact 64-bit word using low-bit tagging, which exploits unused bits in pointers and integers. This change eliminated wasted alignment padding in value arrays and made the interpreter 17% faster, supporting the goal of real-time 3D animation rendering.

The XY Problem

The XY problem occurs when someone asks for help with their attempted solution (Y) rather than the actual problem (X), causing wasted time and confusion for both asker and responder. To avoid it, people should always include broader context about the underlying issue and provide details or ruled-out alternatives when requested.

Adding CPU affinity in a 24-core build machine made builds take longer

Adding CPU affinity to a 24-core build machine unexpectedly increased build times, contrary to expectations. The configuration change, intended to improve performance, instead caused builds to take longer.

Hunting Down a Go Runtime Bug on 32-bit Embedded Systems

A Go application on 32-bit ARM crashed with runtime: netpoll: eventfd ready for 5 due to a Go runtime bug. The root cause was in netpoll_epoll.go: raw eventfd cookies and tagged pollDesc pointers in epoll_event.data collided on 32-bit systems, causing socket events to be misidentified as eventfd wakeups. The authors traced the issue and fixed the Go runtime bug.

Another look at SQLite’s WAL-Reset bug

SQLite had a long-standing WAL-reset race where a checkpoint could discard committed write-ahead log frames, causing lost writes and database corruption; the bug went unnoticed for sixteen years. It was reproduced using a 100-line C program with two threads and three connections, exploiting a narrow timing window during checkpointing. SQLite fixed the issue in March 2026.

Porffor goes alpha August 11th

Porffor is moving to alpha on August 11th with a launch event in San Francisco. Key updates include self-hosting, a rewritten core that compiles its own IR to C, garbage collection enabled by default, full closures and async/await support, and a highly efficient HTTP server.

A Design Space Exploration of Async/Await

Many modern languages use similar async/await syntax, but subtle semantic differences can cause similar-looking programs to behave differently. This paper proposes a design space with nine dimensions covering the full lifecycle of asynchronous computations, and analyzes existing languages to show how they diverge. The goal is to better understand the emerging landscape of straight-line asynchrony for programmers, designers, and theorists.

Haskell diagrams: Tessellations

The article explores Escher’s tessellations and shows how to generate similar repeating patterns by replacing square sides with matching curves. It then demonstrates implementing this concept in Haskell using the diagrams library, including a ParallelogramTile record and a makeBoundary function for creating closed tile boundaries.

đź”’ Security & Privacy

Man Charged with 3 Felonies for Breaking 3D-Printed ‘Decoy’ Flock Camera

Florida police used a 3D-printed decoy Flock camera, made by an officer at home, to catch vandals; a man destroyed it and was charged with three felonies. The Oviedo Police Department has refused to release details about the operation, saying there is no paper trail, and the mayor said she was unaware of the sting.

Nitter project received cease and desist

The Nitter project has reportedly received a cease and desist, leading to widespread disruptions. As a result, every Nitter instance is now displaying a “rate limited” error, effectively breaking the Twitter front-end service.

France’s tax agency got hacked (in French)

France’s tax agency DGFiP confirmed a breach leaking 678,000 records, followed by a second attack exposing cadastral data of over two million people; the Education Ministry was also hacked. Additionally, an EU court ruling from a Bulgarian case now lets citizens sue the state for data breaches without proving misuse, shifting the burden of proof to the administration.

Microsoft’s and Meta’s data center may have been breached in $13 million extortion attempt

CyrusOne, a major US data center operator reportedly serving Microsoft and Meta, is facing a $13 million extortion demand from the cybercrime group ShinyHunters, who claim to have stolen 12.9 million Salesforce records, contracts, floor plans, electrical diagrams, and security policies. Experts warn that if the breach is real, the exposed physical security details could enable targeted attacks on data center facilities and potentially impact customers.

US cities rush to replace Flock with Verkada cameras: Are they any better?

Cities across the US are canceling or pausing Flock Safety license plate reader contracts due to privacy concerns, with some planning to switch to rivals like Verkada. However, privacy experts warn that replacement systems still pose broad surveillance risks through AI-powered tracking and potential data misuse.

You could’ve applied all 1,449 Oracle patches and still been hit by this attack

Oracle’s 1,449 patches for the quarter did not fully protect customers because attackers are shifting from exploiting code bugs to abusing how systems and features are designed to work, according to an Oracle support expert. Even fully patched environments remain vulnerable to these design-level attacks.

US convicts ex-Philips engineer for exposing X-ray secrets to competitor

A former Philips engineer has been convicted in the US for leaking X-ray technology secrets to a rival company. The Dutch electronics firm eventually uncovered the plot, though it did so over a year after the scheme had already fallen apart.

CISA slaps its tightest three-day patching deadline on perfect-10 Oracle flaw

CISA has imposed its strictest-ever three-day patching deadline on a critical Oracle vulnerability, rated a perfect 10, that was disclosed in January and quickly exploited. The agency is now requiring U.S. government agencies to patch the flaw promptly to close the security gap.

Crooks push Mac malware through fake OpenAI Codex ads

Cybercriminals are abusing sponsored search results by placing fake OpenAI Codex ads that redirect developers to a ClickFix malware trap. The campaign targets Mac users, luring developers into executing malicious payloads disguised as legitimate tools. This highlights the growing risk of malvertising in developer-focused search queries.

Microsoft AI watermarks in Paint and Photos are linked to user IDs, researcher finds

A researcher has found that AI-generated watermarks in Microsoft Paint and Photos are tied to user IDs, raising privacy concerns. The discovery suggests that hosted AI services may not offer the privacy users expect, as the watermarks can be linked back to individual users.

Anthropic merges Claude chat and Cowork memory; chat history shared with Cowork unless users opt out

Anthropic has merged the memory systems for Claude chat and Claude Cowork, making chat history available to Cowork unless users opt out. Memory now flows both ways, with sensitive-data controls, but the productivity boost comes with privacy tradeoffs. Claude Code remains separate and is not included in this update.

Uber adds optional safety feature: parents can livestream teen’s ride via driver’s front camera

Uber announced a new safety feature allowing parents or guardians to watch a live video stream of their teen’s ride using the driver’s front-facing camera. The feature, available within the Uber app, notifies both the teen and driver when a guardian is viewing the stream.

OpenAI bans Russian ChatGPT accounts using VPNs to run influence operation

OpenAI banned a cluster of Russian ChatGPT accounts that used VPNs to evade restrictions and support a covert influence operation spreading misinformation. The operation created AI-generated social media comments, a fake academic website, and a “sovereignty index” favoring Russia, while disguising the operators’ origins. OpenAI said the campaign’s impact was limited but highlighted how AI can help manufacture authority and obscure sources.

C2PA Cameras Do Not Survive Contact With Reality

C2PA’s cryptographic image authentication on Android is broken because root exploits bypass Key Attestation and Play Integrity, letting attackers sign arbitrary files as if captured by a camera. Even hardware-backed StrongBox keys do not prevent forgery, since root can request signatures without extracting key material. The article demonstrates practical forgeries on fully patched Pixel devices, undermining C2PA’s highest assurance level.

🖥️ Hardware & Infrastructure

Run OpenBSD on DigitalOcean for $4/month

The author moved their homepage from GitHub Pages and Cloudflare Pages to a self-hosted OpenBSD server on DigitalOcean for about $4.24/month, citing nostalgia for DIY web hosting. They provide step-by-step instructions covering downloading the OpenBSD miniroot image, uploading it to DigitalOcean, creating a droplet, and installing the OS via the recovery console.

Jalapeño’s results show industry-leading speed and efficiency in AI inference

OpenAI’s custom inference chip, Jalapeño, delivers industry-leading speed and efficiency, performing 1.5–1.9x more AI work per watt and reducing end-to-end latency by 1.7–3.6x compared with leading systems across models like GPT-OSS, DeepSeek R1, and Kimi K2.5. Its co-designed architecture achieves both higher throughput and lower latency simultaneously, enabling faster responses, more responsive agents, and more affordable AI.

Apple Releases New Polishing Cloth

Apple released a new version of its Polishing Cloth, now priced at $9 in the U.S., down from $19 for the previous version. The cloth remains made of soft, nonabrasive material suitable for cleaning any Apple display, including nano-texture coatings. Other details, such as size changes, have not been confirmed.

OpenAI Jalapeño: Better than Nvidia Blackwell

According to a Bloomberg report, OpenAI has developed a chip codenamed “Jalapeño” that is claimed to outperform Nvidia’s Blackwell processor. The article highlights this as a significant development in the AI hardware race.

New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

Apple announced a new Mac mini powered by M6 and M5 Pro chips, delivering up to 4x faster AI performance, 2x faster graphics and storage, and 40% faster CPU performance, along with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and upgraded Ethernet. The M5 Pro model offers up to an 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU for demanding professional workflows. Pre-orders begin August 25, with availability starting September 22.

US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

US data centers consumed an estimated 17 billion gallons of water in 2023, roughly triple their 2014 usage, though the figure is an estimate rather than a complete national measurement. Indirect water use from electricity generation accounted for more than 80% of the total, with the remainder from direct cooling. While small relative to national water withdrawals, the consumption is more impactful locally and may have grown further since 2023 as AI infrastructure expands.

New Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra

Apple announced the new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips, delivering up to 4.3x faster AI performance, up to 512GB of unified memory, and Thunderbolt 5, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6 connectivity. It supports on-device AI workloads, including running large language models entirely on device and clustering multiple systems for distributed inference. Pre-orders begin today, with availability starting September 22.

Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra

Apple has announced its next-generation M6 and M5 Ultra chips, marking a significant performance upgrade for its Mac lineup. The new processors are positioned as the company’s most powerful silicon to date, with early comparisons highlighting improvements over the previous M4-based Mac mini.

SiFive’s First Server Platform

SiFive introduced the BigSky SF-2U870, a 2U RISC-V development server built around 32 P870-D cores with DDR5, PCIe Gen 5, and RVA23 support, allowing it to run Ubuntu 26.04 out of the box. Although it offers no clear performance edge over comparable x86 or Arm systems, its stability and standards compliance make it a purpose-built platform to fill a gap in the RISC-V ecosystem.

OpenAI’s upcoming Jalapeño chip looks like it’ll be an inference beast

OpenAI’s upcoming Jalapeño chip is positioned as a powerful inference processor, featuring 128 chips, 1.7 exaFLOPS, and 27 TB of HBM. These specifications reportedly give OpenAI an edge over Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture and potentially even its future Rubin platform.

SiFive pushes development server to take RISC-V into the datacenter

SiFive has introduced a rack-mount development server aimed at bringing RISC-V technology into the datacenter. The system is designed for software porting and workload optimization, helping to advance the open standard in enterprise environments.

Ukraine unveils native jet-powered drone interceptor

Ukraine has unveiled a new jet-powered drone interceptor that is fast and lightweight. The unmanned aircraft is designed for easy deployment and fits in a pickup truck.

What is virtualization modernization?

Virtualization modernization is a long-term strategic approach to rethinking and updating an organization’s virtualization portfolio, rather than a quick fix. The explainer emphasizes the importance of planning for future infrastructure needs.

SpaceX claims it will put a Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale system into orbit next year

SpaceX claims it will launch a Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale system into orbit next year, with plans to fly “significant scale” by 2028. The claim is not entirely implausible, but experts advise taking it with a grain of salt.

IBM announces chip that natively executes Arm and Z instructions concurrently

IBM announced a new chip that can natively execute both Arm and Z (mainframe) instructions concurrently. The move aims to expand the software available on mainframes, but also signals an acknowledgment that independent software vendors are prioritizing other platforms.

Nvidia unveils Jetson Orin Nano 2 edge AI computer: doubles inference, 78 TOPS, 8-core Arm CPU

NVIDIA unveiled the Jetson Orin Nano 2, an entry-level edge AI computer featuring 78 TOPS of AI compute, 8GB memory, and an eight-core Arm CPU. It doubles the inference performance of its predecessor while consuming 40% less power in 15-watt mode, and enables running frontier LLMs and VLMs on compact devices like drones and robots.

OpenAI’s Jalapeño ASIC with Broadcom, built in 16 months, beats Nvidia/AMD/Google on top open models

OpenAI’s custom ASIC, Jalapeño, developed with Broadcom in just 16 months, outperforms Nvidia, AMD, and Google chips on multiple open-weight models in benchmarking. It is a generalized inference chip, not specialized for OpenAI models, and delivers industry-leading performance-per-watt and low-latency throughput, even running Doom as a demonstration.

Perplexity launches Portable Computer: on-device AI agent, no token costs, Nvidia DGX Spark/RTX PCs.

Perplexity launched Portable Computer, a fully local version of its agentic platform that runs on users’ own hardware, starting with Nvidia’s DGX Spark and Linux PCs with RTX GPUs. Developed with Nvidia, it keeps models, files, and work on-device by default, consuming no cloud credits unless the user authorizes escalation to a frontier cloud model. Nvidia sees the launch as evidence that local AI has become practical, aiming to sell the hardware that powers it.

Fitbit founders unveil $250 Luffu Link, screenless jewelry LTE health & safety band ships early 2027

Luffu, founded by Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman, launched Luffu Link, a $250 screenless, jewelry-inspired LTE band that monitors physical and mental health via all-day sensing, voice logging, location tracking, and contact alerts without needing a phone. Shipping in early 2027, the device works with the Luffu app to detect health patterns and supports family caregivers and older adults by enabling voice-based help requests and reducing the need for constant check-ins.

Run OpenBSD on DigitalOcean for $4/month

The author moved their homepage from GitHub Pages/Cloudflare Pages to a self-hosted OpenBSD server on a $4/month DigitalOcean droplet. They provide step-by-step instructions covering downloading the OpenBSD miniroot image, uploading it as a custom image, creating a droplet, and installing OpenBSD via the web console.

An interactive introduction to the spanning tree protocol

The article introduces the spanning tree protocol (STP), which prevents broadcast storms by blocking redundant Ethernet links to form a loop-free tree and quickly rebuilds it when a cable fails. It focuses on Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP), using interactive browser-based demonstrations and live Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) frames to illustrate the protocol’s behavior.

MNT Station - A modular, open hardware desktop computer and server

MNT Station is a compact, fanless, open-source hardware computer designed for desktop, homelab, or wall-mounted use, featuring a modular mainboard that supports various ARM processors and battery backup. It can also serve as an enclosure for an existing MNT Reform mainboard, functioning as a desktop PC, NAS, or low-power entertainment center. The crowdfunding campaign ends on September 25, 2026.

Migrating from Codeberg Pages to an OpenBSD VPS

The author migrated their static sites from GitHub Pages to Codeberg Pages, but found Codeberg’s hosting too slow, prompting a switch to a VPS. After considering ultra-cheap providers, they chose netcup for its reliability, offering decent specs at around €2 per month.

đź’Ľ Business & Policy

DOJ prosecutes single FOIA dodger while defending systemwide evasion

The Justice Department secured the first criminal conviction for FOIA evasion, with former NIH official David Morens pleading guilty to obstructing records requests, yet it continues to defend agency practices that undermine transparency. The article also notes a federal judge rejected the Energy Department’s attempt to mass-close FOIA requests, ruling that such closures are not permitted under FOIA.

Anthropic Sees over $30T in Potential Revenue

Anthropic is expected to report potential revenue opportunities exceeding $30 trillion, surpassing SpaceX’s $28.5 trillion estimate. This would further test the limits of the financial metric highlighted by SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO.

Anthropic tells staff to work from home due to possible security team strike

Anthropic told San Francisco staff to work from home Monday and Tuesday after its security firm, Allied Universal, warned of a possible strike. However, the union representing those security workers, SEIU, said it had not authorized or threatened a strike. The union is in ongoing contract negotiations with Allied and other firms.

Credit Card Rewards Became a $9.2B Wealth Transfer

A Harvard study finds that credit card rewards—$9.2 billion annually—are effectively subsidized by cash and debit users, since merchants pass interchange fees into higher prices for everyone. This shifts about $30 billion from lower-income households to wealthier ones, with premium credit card users receiving a disproportionate share of rewards while cash users bear costs without benefits. The regressive system was unintentionally worsened by the Durbin Amendment, which reduced debit rewards but left credit card perks intact.

Why some US restaurants are banning tips

Some US restaurants are eliminating tips and raising menu prices to pay staff higher, more equitable wages, citing fairness and stability for workers. However, this model faces challenges, as higher prices can deter customers and increase sales tax burdens, leading some venues like Talulla to revert to tipping.

‘Never seen this level of objection’: Scotland pushes back against datacentres

Scotland faces unprecedented local opposition to massive datacentre projects, such as a proposed 600MW facility in Auchtertool that has drawn 1,600 objections. In response, the Scottish government has introduced new rules requiring planning notification and environmental impact assessments for large datacentres, while campaigners push for a full moratorium as parliament returns.

U.S. Rescinds Syria’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism

The United States has officially rescinded Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. This action removes Syria from the U.S. list of countries deemed to support terrorist activities.

Not a natural calamity: it is being done to us knowingly

Global heating at just 1.5°C is already causing devastating wildfires, heatwaves, and marine damage, yet the world is on track for nearly double that. The author argues this crisis is not accidental but a crime perpetrated by a wealthy class profiting from fossil fuels and controlling media. Honest, factual reporting on climate change is therefore more vital than ever.

How Universities Should Prepare Founders

Universities should prepare future founders by focusing on rigorous technical and scientific education, such as computer science and engineering, rather than adding entrepreneurship curricula. Founders succeed by building products customers want, so students should pursue powerful ideas and work on their own projects. Universities also need to normalize starting startups by exposing students to real-life founder examples, which can significantly boost interest.

EPA to drop requirement for public notice of polluting datacenters

The EPA is eliminating a requirement for public notice of pollution permits for minor-source datacenters. Instead, state and local regulators will decide whether the public gets a say in the permitting process.

HMRC dangles ÂŁ500M carrot for National Insurance system revamp

HMRC is offering a ÂŁ500 million incentive to overhaul its outdated National Insurance Processing System (NPS), aiming to modernize the creaky platform into a more agile system. The move underscores the tax authority’s push to drag legacy infrastructure into a new era.

Australia’s record industry won’t chart tunes recorded in the key of AI

Australia’s record industry will exclude AI-generated music from its official charts, meaning only songs created by humans can chart. The policy echoes the “You wouldn’t steal a car” anti-piracy campaign, emphasizing that only human artistry qualifies for chart success.

Ex-Meta staffer: under 1% of teens used Instagram’s opt-in ‘Take a Break’ at launch; now default

A former Meta data scientist testified that less than 1% of teenagers initially used an Instagram feature designed to encourage breaks from scrolling. George Volichenko called the tool’s early impact “disappointing” and said it reflected a lack of interest by Meta leaders in advancing safety features that could hurt core metrics.

OnlyFans FY2025: $6.3B to creators, revenue up 10% to $1.55B, 5M accounts; 5,076 made $1M+ since ‘16

OnlyFans paid out $6.3 billion to creators in fiscal 2025, while net revenue rose 10% year-over-year to $1.55 billion and creator accounts reached 5 million. Since its 2016 launch, 5,076 creators have earned over $1 million on the platform, which has paid out more than $30 billion total. The filing also noted ownership transition following founder Leonid Radvinsky’s death.

Anthropic likely to tell IPO investors potential revenue >$30T, topping SpaceX’s $28.5T

Anthropic is reportedly set to tell IPO investors that its potential revenue opportunities exceed $30 trillion, surpassing SpaceX’s $28.5 trillion estimate. This comes after SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO tested the limits of an obscure financial metric.

ChapsVision wins Palantir replacement contract at French intel agency, targets IPO by 2030

ChapsVision, a little-known French software maker, won a contract in June to replace Palantir at France’s domestic intelligence agency and is targeting an IPO by 2030. The company is pursuing defence and intelligence contracts across Europe as governments seek to reduce their reliance on US technology.

Tim Cook to step down Sept 1; Apple held intimate farewell party; assistant to work with John Ternus

Tim Cook will step down as Apple CEO on September 1 and be succeeded by John Ternus. Apple hosted an intimate farewell party for Cook, who was reportedly unusually personal at the event. Cook’s assistant will continue working with Ternus.

Bitcoin tops $80K after 20% weekly surge, biggest 3-day gain since 2023; spot ETFs $1.92B inflows.

Bitcoin extended its rally Tuesday, climbing above $80,000 before paring gains, after surging 20% in three days last week—its best such run since 2023. The move was fueled by renewed institutional demand, with US spot bitcoin ETFs posting $1.92 billion in net inflows last week, along with a short squeeze and improved risk appetite. While some analysts caution the breakout may fade, Fundstrat sees the rally as potentially more durable, citing strong ETF inflows and rising options activity.

OnlyFans parent Fenix paid late owner Radvinsky $709M before death; FY2025 revenue up 10% to $1.55B

OnlyFans parent Fenix paid late owner Leonid Radvinsky $709 million in dividends in the months before his death in March, including $535 million in the fiscal year ending November and $174 million in early 2026. The company’s FY 2025 revenue rose 10% year-over-year to $1.55 billion.

ARIA excludes AI-made songs from charts; AI-assisted song was July’s most-played on radio

Australia’s ARIA charts will exclude songs created mostly or entirely by AI starting this Friday, though AI-assisted tracks that are substantially human-made remain eligible. The rule change follows an AI-generated cover of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” becoming the most-played song on Australian radio and reaching number four on two ARIA charts in July.

Airbound, a Bengaluru drone startup, raises $37M Series A led by Greenoaks; total ~$50M

Airbound, a Bengaluru-based autonomous drone startup, raised $37 million in a Series A led by Greenoaks, bringing its total funding to nearly $50 million. The company designs lightweight drones that weigh less than their cargo to make air delivery cost-competitive with trucking, and has completed over 13,000 flights in India, including medical sample deliveries. It plans to expand into a three-city drone network in Andhra Pradesh targeting up to 10,000 flights daily for retail, e-commerce, and healthcare.

🔬 Science & Culture

Dolly Parton has died

Dolly Parton, the legendary country music singer-songwriter and cultural icon, has died. Her death was reported on August 25, 2026, by multiple outlets. She was widely beloved for hits like “Jolene” and “9 to 5.”

Trial is 40 days. Not until you’re 40

A creator made a 30-second spec ad for WinRAR, turning the long-running joke about its 40-day trial lasting decades into a family drama. They detailed using AI tools like ChatGPT, Seedance, and Topaz Labs to generate and refine the video, audio, and visuals. The finished ad was shared online for feedback.

Black hole singularity is a surface not a point

The singularity at the center of a black hole is a surface, not a point, since infalling observers on different trajectories lose causal contact before reaching it. For rotating black holes, the singular surface lies at the inner horizon, where perturbations trigger mass inflation and collapse. This implies black hole quantum states reside on the effectively 2-dimensional singular surface, coevolving unitarily with trapped Hawking radiation.

A new ceiling for Λ: the de Bruijn–Newman constant

A computer-assisted proof lowers the upper bound for the de Bruijn–Newman constant Λ from 0.2 to 0.1787854, unconditionally. The proof relies on exact rational arithmetic and machine-checked interval certificates for finite checks involving the Riemann zeta function. Since the Riemann hypothesis is equivalent to Λ ≤ 0, the author notes that this method cannot prove that stronger result.

My Friend Aaron

Aaron, a brilliant but unmotivated friend with an addictive personality, drifted from his friendship group after failing academically and working menial jobs. He later lost his inheritance betting on unregulated prediction markets, and the narrator reconnects with him to learn about his financial troubles.

Otto Dix, Nietzsche, and the Great War (2019)

During World War I, German artist Otto Dix, influenced by Nietzsche, witnessed the horrific slaughter and new weapons of the Somme, which led him to see humanity as transformed into something demonic. Meanwhile, both sides framed the war in religious terms, each portraying the enemy as evil while soldiers endured the grim realities of the trenches.

Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia’s coral reefs

Researchers estimate that fishers off Sulawesi, Indonesia, detonate over 8,000 underwater explosives annually, destroying coral reefs in the Spermonde Archipelago. Using underwater microphones and AI, they recorded thousands of blasts, finding that bomb fishing occurs year-round and is a leading cause of reef loss, with an estimated 75 percent of coral lost since 1990.

Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

The author built a small backyard office in Portland by converting a Tuff Shed frame, choosing this over an Autonomous prefab pod because the latter became too costly after shipping, assembly, and HVAC. They configured an 8x10-foot shed with tall ceilings, larger windows, a skylight, and a concrete foundation, and detailed the planning and contractor process. The goal was a separate, quiet workspace at lower cost than moving or coworking.

The Genealogy of Eliza

ELIZAgen.org, curated by Jeff Shrager, documents the legacy of Joseph Weizenbaum’s ELIZA program. The site highlights a rare circa-1966 conversation between Peter G. Neumann and the original ELIZA, recently discovered among Neumann’s papers. It also credits contributors involved in ELIZA’s history and restoration.

Quantum battery upends the rules of charging

Scientists have created the first working quantum battery prototype, which charges faster as it gets larger due to a quantum “superabsorption” effect involving organic dye molecules in an optical microcavity. Unlike conventional chemical batteries, it aims to deliver energy more quickly and with greater control. While researchers suggest it could one day power quantum devices or even electronics, the technology remains experimental and faces skepticism.

Screen viewing time from age 1 to 8 years and subsequent academic performance

This article examines the relationship between screen viewing time from ages 1 to 8 and subsequent academic performance. It focuses on how early childhood screen exposure may influence later educational outcomes.

Japan enlists 1,800 people to drag 360-tonne castle keep using ropes and rollers

About 1,800 participants pulled the 360-tonne Hirosaki Castle keep nearly 2.2 meters over two days using the traditional hikiya relocation method, with roughly 8,000 applications for the limited slots. The citizen-driven effort will continue by hand until late August, after which machinery will complete the remaining 73 meters. The keep will then undergo preservation work and is expected to reopen to visitors in 2033.

Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)

During the Cold War, American institutions like MoMA and U.S. agencies promoted modern art abroad as a cultural weapon to counter Soviet influence and project Western freedom. Figures such as Nelson Rockefeller and CIA-linked Thomas Braden helped connect the art world with diplomacy, while exhibitions and government-backed cultural programs spread American influence worldwide. This effort made modern art a key tool in winning “hearts and minds” in the mid-twentieth century.

Qustodio: 26% of Australian 13-15-year-olds on TikTok in July, near pre-ban; 10-12 usage up

Eight months after Australia’s under-16 social media ban, TikTok usage among teens has nearly returned to pre-ban levels, with 26% of 13-15-year-olds on the app. Rates among 10-12-year-olds are now higher than before the ban, according to Qustodio data.