Alvaro Lopez Ortega / 2026-09-06 Briefing

Created Sun, 06 Sep 2026 19:11:21 +0000 Modified Sun, 06 Sep 2026 19:11:48 +0000
4619 Words

Nitter, the privacy-focused Twitter/X alternative, said it will keep operating after receiving cease-and-desist letters from X Corp. NetBSD released 9.5 as the final 9-branch update, ending support for all NetBSD-9.x and urging users to upgrade to 10.2 or 11.0. Elsewhere, a modder got Windows CE running on a Nintendo 64, and Trynix now lets you run over 310,000 historical Nix packages in a browser via WebAssembly.

🤖 AI & Automation

The Ironies of Automation (1983)

The article highlights the paradox that adding automation to complex systems often increases the cognitive burden on human operators, particularly during failures, by requiring them to monitor and take over tasks they are less practiced at. This irony arises because the more automated a system is, the more crucial the human role becomes in handling unexpected events, yet operators are ill-prepared for such rare interventions.

Terence Tao on “prematurely solving [a maths] problem by purely AI-powered methods”

Terence Tao cautions against relying on purely AI-powered methods to prematurely solve mathematical problems, and the author notes the same risk applies to programming. The post recommends reading the full thread for further context on Tao’s argument.

Kalanick’s Atoms develops robotaxi tech, hires Levandowski via Pronto buy; Uber invests $100M

Travis Kalanick’s new startup Atoms is developing robotaxi technology and has hired Anthony Levandowski after acquiring his company Pronto. Uber has invested $100 million in Atoms, and the venture could potentially link with the ride-hailing firm from which Kalanick was ousted nearly a decade ago.

We monitor internal coding agents for misalignment

OpenAI built a monitoring system powered by GPT-5.4 Thinking to detect misalignment or policy violations in its internally deployed coding agents. The system logs and reviews the agents’ actions and reasoning chains, assigns severity levels, and alerts within 30 minutes, with early results showing it outperforms employee escalations. This feedback loop is intended to mitigate risks and improve model alignment as agentic capabilities advance.

Research acceleration: The view inside OpenAI

OpenAI argues that advanced AI must be democratically governed, requiring public understanding of frontier model development and risks. The company reports progress toward an automated “research intern” and aims for a full automated AI researcher by 2028, noting that agentic tools are accelerating research while humans retain control over priorities and deployment. OpenAI emphasizes that alignment and safety are central, and states it will slow or stop development if systems cannot be adequately safeguarded, as demonstrated by pausing RL training after a recent incident.

How I feel about AI

The author has mixed feelings about AI, including surprise at its emergent abilities, fear of existential risk, disgust at its damage to the open web, sadness for artists, and anger at political inaction. Still, they feel happy to witness this era of discovery and conclude the impact is positive technologically but bleak societally.

Recreating Minecraft Is Not a Benchmark

Viral “demo-benchmarks” like recreating Minecraft are easily overfit by AI labs, measuring preparation rather than true capability. The article suggests private or rotating test sets such as LiveBench and ARC-AGI are better for evaluating models, even though demos remain effective for marketing.

Americans are vibe-coding trading algorithms

The article highlights how Americans like Colin Edsman are using AI assistants—named Alex, Sarah, and Elena—to automate investment tasks such as scanning for stocks, monitoring positions, and generating performance reports. This reflects a growing trend of “vibe-coding” trading algorithms rather than relying on traditional human teams.

A/I shuts down – Stay human

The Autistici/Inventati collective is shutting down all services after being designated a global terrorist organization, saying it can no longer protect users and communities from legal and political repression. The group will soon provide instructions for backing up blogs, mailboxes, and websites, while urging continued resistance and solidarity.

I asked astra to make playable 4D chess

The article explains 4D chess by adding a fourth spatial axis, W, which creates a second 3D board; every square has a matching square in the other cube. Moves are defined by coordinate changes: rooks change one coordinate, bishops change two equally, knights use a two-and-one pattern, and queens/kings combine coordinates. Attacks and check can occur across the W dimension, and sliding pieces are blocked only by pieces exactly on their path.

Pigeon, a signed Pass for what a sub-agent may do

Pigeon is a tool that lets developers grant sub-agents scoped, signed credentials called Pigeon Passes instead of sharing full API keys, limiting what the sub-agents can do. It works via delegate for spawning agents and verify before tool execution to enforce capabilities, resources, and constraints, preventing privilege escalation. Pigeon is a small enforcement primitive delivered as middleware and CLI tools, not a full platform.

Using Blender with coding agents on macOS

Modern coding agents can effectively use Blender to create and edit .blend files, render images, and produce movies. On macOS, setup is straightforward by directing the agent to the installed Blender app; for example, GPT-6 Astra successfully generated and iteratively improved pelican scenes. The workflow also enables creating reusable “skills” to guide future Blender tasks.

AI, Tools and Transformation

AI makes automating tasks far easier without coding, but the main challenge is recognizing which tasks can be automated and how, since most people are not tool-builders and often miss these opportunities. Even when problems are visible, solutions usually require redefining or unbundling them rather than simply generating software. AI’s promise is therefore limited by the difficulty of identifying and framing problems, not by the ease of implementation.

GPT-6 Astra on robot arms

In a robotic manipulation benchmark, OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra succeeded in placing a block into a bowl in 19 of 20 trials, vastly outperforming Claude Fable 5.1 (8/20) and Fable 5 (1/20) while also being faster and cheaper per run. On the harder puzzle-into-groove task, however, Astra completed the insertion only 2 of 20 times, matching Fable 5.1 and stalling at the same final step as Fable.

💻 Software & Open Source

Python Iceberg

The Python Iceberg page on aleyan.com failed to load, showing only an error message advising users to refresh. No additional content or details were available.

NetBSD 9.5 released, 9 branch EOL

NetBSD 9.5 is the final release of the NetBSD 9 stable branch, including security and stability fixes and remaining fully compatible with 9.0. This release marks the end-of-support for all NetBSD-9.x versions, and users are urged to upgrade to NetBSD 11.0 or 10.2.

NetBSD 11 from scratch

The article details a manual installation of NetBSD 11 from scratch, bypassing the standard sysinst installer to enable disk-level encryption and a deeper understanding of the OS. The process involves downloading the installation image, booting from USB, exiting to a shell, and configuring keyboard and network settings for SSH access. It highlights the flexibility of manual installation and the value of repurposing older MBR-based computers.

Building a Brainfuck DSL in Forth using code generation

The article explains how to implement Brainfuck as an embedded domain-specific language in Forth through meta-programming and code generation. It covers Forth’s stack-oriented, extensible design and Brainfuck’s simple virtual machine instructions. The result is a compact Forth program that compiles Brainfuck code into native Forth primitives.

Maybe We Shouldn’t Be Reviewing All This Code

The author argues that code review is overloaded because teams use it for knowledge transfer, teaching, and architectural alignment, which are better handled earlier through pairing, design sessions, and automated checks. Rather than adding automated review to cope with AI-generated code, teams should move important conversations before implementation.

Nix packages now run in browsers

Trynix is a browser-based runner that boots a Linux VM via WebAssembly, allowing users to execute over 310,000 historical Nixpkgs package versions directly in a tab without host installation. It fetches Nix store paths from public binary caches with CORS enabled, and custom-built paths can also be shared and run if served from compatible caches.

Debian Code Search: Fast TurboPFor with Go SIMD

The author removed the last cgo dependency from Debian Code Search by implementing the TurboPFor integer compression format natively in Go, using the new experimental simd/archsimd package from Go 1.26. This SIMD implementation matches or exceeds the performance of the reference C library’s AVX512 instructions, eliminating C code while keeping fast decoding of the positional index.

How To: Federated Stars (2024)

Forgejo now supports federated stars: repositories can follow mirrors or forks, and when a followed repository receives a star, the origin repository also gets one via ActivityPub. Only star activity is federated for now, not unstar. To enable it, turn on federation in the config and add the following repositories’ URLs in the repository’s Federation Settings.

Research carried out using NetBSD

NetBSD has been used by various research groups and organizations for network-oriented studies, including TCP over satellite networks, IPv6/IPsec, TCP Vegas, and Internet2 speed records, as well as for system-level projects such as virtual memory and storage. The page highlights these efforts and invites researchers to contribute additional material using NetBSD.

Kadō – open-source habit tracker, with non-binary habit score, for iOS

Kadō is a privacy-first, open-source habit tracker for iPhone and iPad that scores habits with a non-binary exponential moving average instead of fragile streaks, storing data locally with optional iCloud sync and no account, subscription, or telemetry. Built natively with Apple technologies, it offers flexible schedules, notes, calendar views, and lossless JSON/CSV export, positioning itself between Android-only Loop and closed-source iOS trackers.

Schemy Lisp En DOS

SLED is a purely symbolic Lisp dialect for DOS, inspired by Scheme and derived from Kilo LISP, that runs on DOS systems and emulators like DOSBox. It uses pairs and atoms as core data types, with numbers represented as tally lists, and evaluates code through bindings, lambdas, and special forms such as quote and define.

Intellectual Fly Is Open

The author finds LinkedIn increasingly important but criticizes users who generate posts with LLMs, arguing the stylistic “AI tells” undermine authenticity and make readers stop engaging. They advise trusting your own voice and writing content yourself, noting LLMs are better suited for brainstorming or editing.

I Changed My License

The author has switched his default software license from permissive ones like MIT and LGPL to the strong copyleft EUPL-1.2, which requires reciprocal licensing even for SaaS use. He argues that permissive licenses mainly benefited large corporations, so he now chooses stricter terms. Several recent projects, including Reticulum-related tools and a boating energy predictor, are already published under EUPL.

Play GTA Vice City in the Browser

GTA Vice City Online lets players experience the 1986 Miami open-world game directly in a browser via WebAssembly, with instant access, cross-platform support, and an integrated save manager for uploading or downloading progress. The game follows Tommy Vercetti’s rise through the criminal underworld, and technical guidance recommends enabling hardware acceleration and adjusting frame rate limits to avoid physics bugs or overheating.

AMD Based FreeBSD Desktop Reloaded

The author built a new compact AMD FreeBSD desktop on an AM4 platform using a Silverstone SG13 case and reusing a Ryzen 4750GE CPU, with help from his son. To fit the GPU in the small case, he had to trim its plastic shroud and modify the expansion bracket. The new system is about 25% faster in CPU performance and 40-60% faster in GPU performance compared to his previous build.

Cloud in a Bottle: making self-hosting accessible to everyone

Cloud in a Bottle is an open-source personal cloud platform designed to make self-hosting accessible by running containerized apps with unified authentication and a user-friendly, smartphone-like interface. It was built to address the problems of centralized cloud services and the shortcomings of existing self-hosting tools, which often lack security, integration, or maintenance. The platform supports unmodified apps, offers optional cross-app permissions, and is available as open-source software alongside a managed service.

📱 Tech Industry & Devices

Who said a tech addict can’t be comfortable far from home?

The author describes their portable tech setup for recreating home comfort while traveling, including gear like a MacBook, iPhone, travel router, Sonos speakers, Plex server, and accessories for file syncing and media streaming. They invite reader feedback and suggestions to improve this travel comfort system.

See Windows CE Running On The N64

A modder known as Throaty Mumbo got Windows CE running on an N64 by exploiting its MIPS CPU, which is similar to the processor in the IVM Workpad Z50. The project is documented on YouTube and GitHub, with apps loadable from an Everdrive SD card.

Tim Cook’s pay signals he’s staying at Apple; App Store profit push prompted Phil Schiller’s exit.

Tim Cook’s new pay package signals he will remain highly active at Apple, contrary to expectations of a reduced role. Meanwhile, Phil Schiller is stepping away, reportedly due to Apple’s plans to increase App Store profits. The article also previews Apple’s upcoming Sept. 9 event.

Keen Bean – Mac meeting notes that draft the spec while you talk

Keen Bean is a Mac meeting assistant that captures both sides of a conversation through the Mac’s own audio—no bot joins—and generates tasks, decisions, and draft specs or diagrams as people speak. Audio goes only to transcription and model services, never through Keen Bean’s servers, and all outputs remain on your Mac as user-owned Markdown/JSON files. It is designed for solo meeting runners who would otherwise handle the write-up themselves, using a subscription to provide transcription/model keys without requiring separate provider accounts.

Clean up your Android TV

This article explains how to speed up a sluggish Android TV by disabling unused factory apps via ADB, using an AI agent like Claude Code or Codex. It provides step-by-step setup instructions, including enabling developer options and debugging, and includes a detailed prompt with rules to ensure nothing is uninstalled, critical system packages are protected, and changes are reversible and logged.

Decapitating a MacBook

A developer who dislikes Apple reluctantly needs a Mac to build and test apps for Apple platforms. After rejecting virtual machines and Codemagic as impractical or costly, they chose an M1 Mac Mini for its low price and power efficiency, though they worry about its fan noise and power delivery from their 12V battery system.

🔐 Security & Privacy

Nitter, a privacy-focused open-source alternative Twitter front-end, received cease-and-desist letters from X Corp. on 24 August 2026 demanding the takedown of its instances and repository. Following legal advice, the project announced it will continue operations, with further details to be announced. Nitter remains a lightweight, ad-free service that blocks user tracking.

QBittorrent breaks out of sandbox to commit crimes

QBittorrent is reported to have a sandbox escape vulnerability that enables criminal activity. The article provides no additional details beyond this claim.

Don’t Use a gmail.com Address

The author is blocking all emails from gmail.com because of spam from fake addresses, and asks commenters to use a spurious address like anon.com instead, since they rarely verify email authenticity. He hopes to find a workaround soon, and concludes by stating, “Google is Evil.”

“We Have to Assume That the Internet Will Go Offline in the Next Few Years”

Emad Mostaque warned at TechBBQ that AI-powered hacking is escalating, citing the Hugging Face breach, and said frontier models can penetrate nearly any system. He argued that AI models carry dangerous biases and that internet infrastructure is so fragile it could go offline within years. Mostaque urged building independent “sovereign” AI systems to resist external control and “cognitive colonialism.”

🧬 Science & Health

As researchers begin applying AI to understand animal communication, bioethicists warn it could g…

Researchers are using AI to decode animal communication, such as analyzing thousands of hours of crow recordings gathered by biologist Vittorio Baglione. While this technology could transform understanding of other species, bioethicists warn it may also enable humans to manipulate, exploit, and harm animals in new ways.

Alzheimer’s trial to test drug on people without symptoms to test prevention

An NHS trust is launching a trial offering the experimental Alzheimer’s drug trontinemab to healthy people aged 55–80 at higher risk of the condition, using a blood test for the p-tau217 biomarker to identify candidates. The phase III PrevenTRON study aims to determine whether the drug can prevent dementia from developing before symptoms appear.

An Alien Mind

By mid-2023, the author saw early results suggesting reasoning models could scale, convincing him that machines smarter than humans would arrive in his lifetime. Three years later, these systems are widespread, capable of operating computers, collaborating, and driving research, but also pose serious security risks. He expects further capability jumps, potentially toward recursive self-improvement, and urges extreme caution and broader interventions beyond technical alignment.

I’m teaching an introductory 12 week course on Quantum Oracle Engineering

The article announces a 12-week introductory course on Quantum Oracle Engineering, focused on building practical quantum oracle circuits rather than relying on abstract assumptions behind quantum speedup claims. Topics include problem selection, reversible circuit design, qubit and gate efficiency, testing, and auditing quantum performance claims. A live tutorial accompanies the lessons, starting September 8.

‘Old Person Smell’

“Old person smell” is a natural phenomenon caused by 2-nonenal, a compound released when skin oils oxidize and break down as people age. It is not linked to poor hygiene, can begin to develop around age 40, and research indicates the odor is not inherently unpleasant.

Celebrating Kazakhstan’s first wild-born Przewalski’s horse in 200 years

For the first time in 200 years, a Przewalski’s horse foal was born in the wild on Kazakhstan’s Central steppe on August 22. Born to parents from the 2024 reintroduction cohort, the healthy male foal is being monitored by specialists. This birth marks a major milestone in restoring wild horses and Kazakhstan’s native steppe ecosystem.

Make infectious disease data boring again

U.S. health officials are politicizing measles death classifications and undermining standard data-reporting processes during an outbreak, according to former CDC officials. The authors warn that political interference erodes trust in public health data and threatens collaboration between states and federal agencies, while the health secretary has falsely downplayed the MMR vaccine and promoted unproven treatments. Consistent case definitions and nonpolitical reporting are essential for an effective outbreak response.

🌍 Policy & Society

Are tech colonialists rewriting the rules of sovereign nations?

Large tech companies use their investment leverage to pressure sovereign governments into rewriting tax, labor, and transparency rules, often resulting in unequal negotiations. Examples include Apple’s influence on Karnataka’s labor law changes and its favorable tax arrangement in Ireland, which the EU later ordered to be recovered.

Trump officials: Judeo-Christian principles guide AI policy, with optimism and end-times warnings.

Trump administration officials are navigating the spiritual and ethical implications of AI, with President Trump touting its economic and medical benefits while Vice President Vance warns that its tendency to flatter users can be “satanic.” Vance’s concerns about AI sycophancy were raised alongside his rejection of slowing data center construction, highlighting the administration’s struggle to balance the technology’s promise and peril.

Data center backlash challenges Texas pro-business stance as it leads US in construction.

Texas’ long-standing pro-business approach has helped it profit for 30 years, but a growing backlash against data centers is now testing that model. The state has more data center capacity under construction than any other US state, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Alberta (Canada) slaps punitive tax on solar panels

Alberta’s government introduced a $14-per-solar-panel “recycling fee” effective Oct. 1, along with a landfill ban, saying it prevents waste. Critics called the fee a punitive tax 139 to 3,500 percent higher than other jurisdictions and part of arbitrary costs harming renewable energy. The government defended it as proactive environmental stewardship and protecting taxpayers from future cleanup costs.

2026 Hugo Awards

The 2026 Hugo Awards were presented at LACon V, the 84th World Science Fiction Convention, on August 30, 2026. Alix E. Harrow won Best Novel for The Everlasting, Amal El-Mohtar won Best Novella for The River Has Roots, and John Scalzi won Best Series for Old Man’s War. Full results are available on the LACon V website and will be updated on The Hugo Awards site.

The pencil case model of creativity

The author, a PhD candidate, initially feels her academic work lacks the creativity of her artist friend’s job, which seems free and inspiration-driven. Her friend counters that all creative work involves constraints, and individuals must find creative space within them. The author ultimately realizes that creativity thrives within boundaries, recalling how she once invented elaborate stories from a mere pencil case as a child, and applies this insight to her own research.

Doomscrolling Ourselves to Death

Parents are increasingly worried that children, especially teenage boys, are abandoning reading for online entertainment like YouTube. Times columnist James Marriott examines this decline in literacy in his new book The New Dark Ages, arguing that television, not the internet, was the true turning point toward trivialized culture, as Neil Postman predicted.

You Don’t Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

A federal appeals court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a right to clean drinking water or truthful information from officials during a public health crisis, upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit against Jackson, Mississippi over lead-contaminated water. The ruling contrasts with several U.S. states and countries that constitutionally protect clean water. It came as the Trump administration released a new EPA rule further weakening Clean Water Act protections.

Site Is Closed on Sundays

Rob Weychert introduces his personal website, where he shares his art, design, film, music, and archival interests. Featured content includes posts on metadata backfilling and typographic scales, a poster with 4,094 cube variations, and a title sequence for a Berlin design conference.

Greenland forces Trump’s US oil firm to delay drilling

Greenland authorities have forced Trump-connected Greenland Energy to postpone its Arctic drilling plans, saying the environmental and regulatory review cannot be completed in time and that drilling could now begin no earlier than 2027. The delay contradicts U.S. envoy Jeff Landry’s claim that oil could be produced within about 10 months. The company, which had brought equipment ashore without permission, said it would comply with Greenland’s regulatory process.

34 arrests made for drug trafficking at Burning Man as of Friday

As of Friday, 34 arrests had been made at Burning Man for drug sales or trafficking, plus one for domestic violence, according to Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen. Authorities said they were not targeting drug users, and they are investigating reports of spiked drinks and a death not suspected to involve foul play. Deputies remain on high alert for Saturday night’s Man burn, with the event continuing through Sept. 7.

Vancouver strip club’s Instagram taken down over sign featuring lake joke

Vancouver’s Penthouse Night Club had its Instagram account removed after posting a photo of its marquee sign mocking President Trump, which read “Can’t handle a pool, but wants our lake?"—referencing the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool algae issue and Trump’s Lake Ontario renaming spat. Club owners believe the sign, not nudity, caused the takedown and are working to restore the account.

Please don’t rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

Paramedics in Kanazawa, Japan, are asking residents not to rearrange the shoes they remove before entering a home, since the footwear is deliberately positioned for a quick exit and any changes can delay patient transport by about 30 seconds. Instead, they advise people to have the patient’s identification ready during an emergency.

Gateside by TSA Precheck

Gateside by TSA PreCheck is a free program allowing TSA PreCheck members with a Known Traveler Number to pass through security and visit airport gate areas without boarding a flight, enabling them to meet travelers, shop, and dine. Visitors must apply 1–3 days in advance and bring an acceptable ID, with children eligible if added to a parent’s reservation. The program is currently available at 13 U.S. airports, with more locations planned.

Time lords prepare to kick leap seconds into the next millennium

Timekeepers are planning to discontinue leap seconds due to the risk of an unprecedented negative adjustment, allowing UTC to drift from solar time by as much as an hour over the coming centuries.