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Automated summaries of top Hacker News stories written by a large language model.
Nano-scale inks could lighten airliners by hundreds of kilograms
Researchers from Kobe University have developed a new "structural color ink" that is just 100-200 nanometers thick and weighs less than half a gram per square meter. Unlike regular paints and pigments, which tend to fade over time, structural colors reflect the full spectrum of light from parallel nanostructures, giving them a vibrant and long-lasting appearance. The Kobe team's method uses tiny, crystalline silicon spheres that reflect certain wavelengths more strongly than others, allowing for a range of colors. This lightweight ink could have significant applications in the aviation sector, potentially reducing the weight of paint on airliners by up to 90% and improving fuel efficiency.
Harvard Faces New Threat of State Tax on $51B Endowment
Harvard University is facing a new threat in the form of a proposed state tax on its $51 billion endowment. The state of Massachusetts is considering implementing a tax on large university endowments, which would affect Harvard the most due to its massive endowment size. This move comes as a response to the growing concern that universities with large endowments are not doing enough to support local communities and provide affordable education. While some argue that this tax would help redistribute wealth and benefit the public, others believe it would hinder the ability of universities to fund scholarships and research. The controversy surrounding this issue highlights the ongoing debate over the role and responsibilities of universities with large endowments.
OLMo: Accelerating the Science of Language Models [pdf](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39223467)
The web content discusses the release of OLMo, a state-of-the-art, truly open language model and framework for building and studying language models. The authors emphasize the importance of open access to language models for the research community to understand their biases, risks, and potential improvements. Unlike previous efforts that only released model weights and inference code, OLMo provides the entire framework, including training data, training and evaluation code, and intermediate model checkpoints. The authors hope that this release will empower the open research community and inspire innovation in the field. The OLMo framework includes multiple model variants and resources for dataset building, analysis, evaluation, and instruction-tuning. The authors plan to continue releasing larger models and variants in the future. (Summary based on 14% of story text.)
Cloudflare hacked using auth tokens stolen in Okta attack
Cloudflare has revealed that it was hacked by a suspected nation-state attacker who gained access to its internal Atlassian server. The attacker accessed Cloudflare's Confluence wiki, Jira bug database, and Bitbucket source code management system. The breach occurred in November 2023, and the attackers used stolen access tokens and service account credentials from a previous compromise linked to Okta's breach. Cloudflare detected the malicious activity and severed the hacker's access. The company has stated that no customer data or systems were impacted, but the breach was taken seriously due to the potential for the attacker to gain widespread access to Cloudflare's global network.
Show HN: Automate Variable Selection for Research on Big Datasets (Open-Source)
The Big Data Variable Selector Tool is an open-source project that automates variable selection for research on large datasets. It specifically focuses on the UK Biobank Dataset and utilizes the GPT-4 API to include/exclude and categorize the dataset's 8000+ variables. The tool analyzes 20-variable segments at a time to minimize the risk of hallucinations and provides a concise justification for the inclusion or exclusion of each variable for manual review. The tool outputs the results in a JSON formatted and organized txt file. This project differentiates itself by its use of the GPT-4 API and its focus on minimizing the risk of hallucinations during variable selection.
Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
The web content discusses the pressure for individuals, including artists and authors, to self-promote and build a personal brand in today's digital age. The author highlights the irony of this situation, as the book proposal being discussed is about the negative impact of the "personal brand" era on humanity. The content explores how the internet has made self-promotion and platform-building necessary for success, particularly in industries like publishing and music. It also touches on the challenges faced by artists and authors in a landscape dominated by big tech companies and algorithmic media distribution. The article emphasizes the discomfort and boredom associated with self-promotion and the loss of authenticity and artistic purity in the pursuit of building a personal brand. (Summary based on 47% of story text.)
A library that allows for creating autonomous AI agents in Python
uAgents is a library developed by Fetch.ai that allows for creating autonomous AI agents in Python. It provides an easy way to create and manage agents that can perform various tasks on a schedule or in response to events. One of the key features of uAgents is its integration with the Fetch.ai blockchain, which allows agents to automatically join a network and register on the Almanac smart contract. This ensures secure communication and protection of identities and assets. The project provides a quickstart guide, documentation, tutorials, and examples to help users get started with creating and running agents. Contributions are welcome, and the project is licensed under Apache License 2.0.
In a 'Dark Dimension,' Physicists Search for the Universe's Missing Matter
Physicists are exploring the concept of a "dark dimension" as they search for the missing matter in the universe. Lambda, a parameter that represents the cosmological constant, is an extremely small value that has puzzled scientists. Physicist Cumrun Vafa and his team realized that this minuscule lambda could be explained within the framework of string theory and the distance conjecture. They proposed that the presence of a larger extra dimension in string theory could lead to the emergence of lightweight particles when lambda approaches zero. These particles, known as dark gravitons, could potentially explain dark matter. While the dark dimension hypothesis is intriguing, some physicists remain skeptical.
ImageFX
ImageFX is a revolutionary tool that allows artists to transform their cluttered artist studios into beautifully lit and welcoming spaces. With just a few clicks, this innovative software uses advanced algorithms to enhance the lighting in any image, making it appear as if natural light is shining through. Say goodbye to dull and dimly lit spaces, and say hello to vibrant and inviting studios that will inspire creativity. Whether you're a professional artist or just someone who loves to dabble in art, ImageFX is a game-changer that will take your artwork to the next level.
Show HN: Shotune – Online screenshot editor and app mockup generator
Shotune is an innovative online screenshot editor and app mockup generator that allows users to customize various elements of their screenshots. With Shotune, users can easily adjust backgrounds, margins, roundings, borders, and more, giving their screenshots a professional and polished look. This tool is perfect for individuals and businesses looking to enhance their visual presentations and elevate their screenshot game. With its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options, Shotune is a must-have tool for anyone seeking to create stunning screenshots and app mockups.
Implementing a B-Tree in Go
The article on the website www.cloudcentric.dev discusses the implementation of a B-Tree in Go. The B-Tree is a self-balancing search tree data structure that is commonly used in databases and file systems to store and organize large amounts of data. The article explains the concept of B-Trees, their advantages over binary search trees, and the different variants of B-Trees. It also provides an overview of the anatomy of a B-Tree and the implementation details of the B-Tree in Go. The article aims to help readers understand how B-Trees work and how to implement them in their own projects. (Summary based on 33% of story text.)
Gitar: From the Team Behind Uber's Developer Platform
Gitar is a modern software development platform created by the team behind Uber's developer platform. The platform aims to provide developers with a magical experience by utilizing advanced code analysis and AI. The team at Gitar is passionate about building developer tools and solving problems to make code better. They have recognized that many companies face similar issues with their developer tools and aim to integrate various tools into a cohesive and efficient experience. Gitar envisions a world where all developers have access to fast and reliable tooling, great user experience, automated problem detection and fixes, fully-managed development environments, automated code maintenance, always-green repositories, built-in performance and production profiling, and observability throughout the development process. The ultimate goal of Gitar is to deliver a reliable service that provides a magical developer experience for everyone.
Make Invalid States Unrepresentable
The web content discusses the importance of representing data in a way that eliminates invalid states. It uses the example of representing a person's age in a program. Initially, the age is represented as a string, which requires validation and parsing every time it is used in numeric operations. The content suggests using an integer type for the age instead, which is easier to work with and allows for faster failure detection. Runtime constraints can be added to ensure the age falls within a valid range. The content also explores the use of refined types and newtypes to further constrain the data and prevent accidental swapping of values. It emphasizes the importance of context and making invalid states unrepresentable. The content concludes by discussing the refinement of the age concept to include a date of birth and the use of enums to limit invalid states. (Summary based on 95% of story text.)
Ask HN: With all the layoffs – how are you?
The author of this post on news.ycombinator.com is reaching out to the community to inquire about how everyone is coping with the ongoing layoffs. They express concern for those who may be struggling and ask for advice on how to avoid falling into a depressive state. The post aims to foster a supportive environment and encourage individuals to share their experiences and offer guidance to those in need.
AI2 open sources text-generating AI models – and the data used to train them
The Allen Institute for AI (AI2) is open sourcing its GenAI language models, called OLMo (Open Language Models), along with the dataset used to train them. Unlike other open source models, OLMo models were trained on a large public dataset and come with the code used to produce the training data, as well as training and evaluation metrics and logs. The most capable OLMo model, OLMo 7B, is comparable to Meta's Llama 2 in terms of performance, but has some limitations such as low-quality outputs in non-English languages and weak code-generating capabilities. AI2 plans to release larger and more capable OLMo models in the future.
Biden imposes sanctions on Israeli West Bank settlers
President Biden has signed an executive order imposing sanctions on four Israeli West Bank settlers who have committed violence against Palestinians. The order blocks the settlers from accessing any property or assets held in the United States and prevents them from receiving any funds, goods, or services that pass through the American financial system. The State Department has stated that each of the individuals sanctioned is responsible for acts of violence in the West Bank, including assault, property damage, and threats against Palestinian and Bedouin civilians. The move comes amid increased tensions in the region following Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
Unlogged (YC S22) Is Hiring a Founding Engineer
Unlogged, a startup that has developed a unique tool for replaying production traffic locally, is hiring a founding engineer. The tool helps ensure zero regressions during deployments, particularly in high-pressure situations like Black Friday. They are looking for a dedicated backend engineer with 4-8 years of Java development experience. The role involves developing and refining backend applications, collaborating with developers, creating a log scanning pipeline, integrating third-party APIs, managing cloud services, solving software performance issues, and maintaining high code quality. The company offers a competitive salary and equity, the opportunity to work on innovative projects, and a supportive work environment. The position is based in Bangalore, India, with remote work possible in exceptional cases. Interested candidates can email their resume and GitHub links to the provided email address.
Show HN: Toolkit for Reverse Engineers (indetectables-net)
The "indetectables-net" project on GitHub is a toolkit for reverse engineers and malware analysts. It aims to provide a comprehensive set of tools for both beginners and experts in the field. The project differentiates itself by offering an integrated Universal Updater, which allows for automated maintenance of the tools. It also provides an easy way to expand and modify the toolkit by updating specific files. The project includes 98 apps downloaded from their original sources, covering various aspects of reverse engineering and binary/malware analysis. Contributions are welcome through pull requests, and the tools are compressed using 7-zip.
17 year old 'serial swatter' charged after police say he made threats across US
A 17-year-old "serial swatter" from California is facing charges in Florida after being believed to be responsible for numerous swatting incidents and bomb threats across the United States. Swatting involves making a false report to the police to lure them to a location by claiming a violent crime is taking place. The trend of swatting has targeted high-profile political figures, government buildings, and celebrities. The teenager in question threatened a mass shooting at a mosque in Florida and also targeted high schools, historically Black colleges, FBI offices, and made threats to bomb military bases and the Pentagon. The teen has been charged as an adult and remains in custody.
Separation of Concerns in Cross-Compilation
The article discusses the challenges of managing complex C++ projects across multiple platforms and introduces the concept of Separation of Concerns in cross-compilation. The author explains that cross-compilation should not be difficult in theory, but it becomes challenging due to managing dependencies. The article highlights the steps involved in cross-compilation and the issues that arise, such as the need for a cross-compiler, cross-compiled variants of external libraries, and distribution challenges. The author also mentions the use of Docker and static linking as possible solutions. The article then introduces Nix as a tool that simplifies cross-compilation and provides an example of building an app using Nix. The article concludes by discussing the benefits of Nix in managing dependencies and improving project development. (Summary based on 74% of story text.)
Polyamory, the Ruling Class's Latest Fad
The article discusses the recent surge in interest in polyamory among the ruling class. It highlights the book "More: A Memoir of an Open Marriage" by Molly Roden Winter as a representation of this trend. The author argues that the obsession with authenticity and self-fulfillment has led to the popularity of polyamory, as it offers a sense of liberation from traditional monogamous marriage. However, the author criticizes the book for portraying a polyamorous life that brings more misery than happiness to the protagonist. The article also explores the concept of "therapeutic libertarianism," which emphasizes self-improvement and personal growth as the ultimate goals of life. (Summary based on 63% of story text.)
Password Hashing Package for Go
Passwap is a Go package that provides a unified implementation for different password hashing algorithms. It allows for easy swapping between algorithms using the same API. The package can be used to securely hash passwords and store them in a database. It also supports automatic updating of passwords, so if the algorithm or parameters are changed, Passwap can still verify the "outdated" hashes and return an updated hash when applicable. The package only depends on the Go standard library and golang.org/x/{sys,crypto}. It also provides secure salt generation and supports custom algorithms and encoding schemes. The author mentions that Passwap is compatible with Passlib's encoding and has been tested against reference hashes created with Passlib. (Summary based on 76% of story text.)
Show HN: New Jitsi Alternative: WebRTC, ChatGPT, File Transfer, Docker
MiroTalk SFU is a free and open-source WebRTC SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit) that allows for simple, secure, and scalable real-time video conferences. It supports up to 4k resolution and is compatible with all major browsers and platforms. The project offers a wide range of features, including unlimited conference rooms, live broadcasting streaming, room password protection, file sharing, screen sharing, chat with Emoji Picker, and integration with Slack. It also utilizes ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI, for answering questions and providing information. The project can be self-hosted and is available as a Progressive Web Application (PWA). It differentiates itself by offering a comprehensive set of features and being free, open-source, and self-hosted. (Summary based on 52% of story text.)
We need motivation (good managers)
The article discusses the importance of motivation in the workplace and how it is often the responsibility of middle managers to provide that motivation. The author presents Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which categorizes human needs into three tiers: Survive, Strive, and Thrive. The author argues that while survival needs are generally met in developed societies, motivation in the upper tiers is lacking. The decline of corporate culture and the rise of remote work are cited as factors contributing to this lack of motivation. The author emphasizes the role of middle managers in understanding and meeting the individual needs of employees to drive motivation. The article concludes by urging companies to invest in managers who can effectively motivate their teams.
Mope: An Evaluation Dataset for Professional Editing
The website Machines on Paper has released MoPE, an evaluation dataset called Mope Editing, which contains over 100 examples of copy editing errors from English-language news publications. The dataset primarily focuses on publications owned by The New York Times Company due to their high editing standards and the interest in playing grammar police for them. The goal of MoPE is to assess whether current language model technology can assist with professional-level copy editing. The site tested OpenAI's GPT-4 model on the dataset and found that it did not perform well, failing to identify the correct errors in over half of the examples. The dataset is categorized into punctuation and word problems, and the site encourages others to use the dataset and try to beat their results.
Tether Reports Record $2.85B Profit as Biggest Stablecoin Nears $100B Market Cap
Tether, the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market, has reported a record profit of $2.85 billion, bringing its market cap close to $100 billion. The company's success can be attributed to the Federal Reserve's strategy of increasing interest rates to tackle inflation, which has resulted in higher payouts from Tether's fixed-income investments. In total, Tether generated $6.2 billion in net operating profits last year, with $4 billion coming from interest earned on Treasury holdings. This achievement highlights the growing popularity and profitability of stablecoins in the crypto industry.
Show HN: BitEscrow API Beta Launch
The BitEscrow API Beta has officially launched! This exciting new platform allows developers to integrate escrow services into their applications, providing a secure and transparent way to handle transactions. With BitEscrow, users can create and manage escrow contracts, ensuring that funds are held securely until both parties are satisfied with the transaction. The API is easy to use and offers a range of features, including multi-signature support and customizable contract terms. This is a game-changer for anyone looking to build trust and security into their online transactions. Don't miss out on this innovative solution!
Apple reports first quarter results
Apple has released its first quarter results, providing information for investors on its corporate website and investor relations website. The press release includes forward-looking statements, including information about the payment of the company's quarterly dividend. The statement also highlights the risks and uncertainties that could affect the company's business, such as global economic conditions, product design and manufacturing challenges, information technology system failures, and legal proceedings. Apple is known for its innovation in personal technology, leading the world with products like the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. The company's software platforms and services provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices.
Large sequence models for software development activities
The blog post discusses a methodology called DIDACT (Dynamic Integrated Developer ACTivity) that uses the process of software development as training data for machine learning (ML) models. Unlike previous approaches that only use the finished code as training data, DIDACT exposes the model to the contexts and actions that developers encounter during the development process. The post highlights the usefulness of DIDACT for professional software developers and its potential to imbue ML models with general software development skills. The post also mentions the three DIDACT tools that have been built and deployed internally at Google, which have received positive feedback from thousands of internal developers. The post concludes by discussing the future potential of DIDACT in developing general-purpose developer-assistance agents.
Alcohol and drugs rewire your brain by changing how your genes work
The article discusses how alcohol and drugs can rewire the brain by changing how genes work. It challenges the misconception that addiction is solely a result of low willpower and highlights the strong neurobiological and genetic basis for addiction. The author, a behavioral neurogeneticist, explains that addictive substances can directly influence changes in gene expression in the brain, particularly in areas related to memory and reward responses. The article also explores how lifestyle choices, such as exercise and dietary changes, can affect gene expression in the brain. The author suggests that understanding these molecular mechanisms of addiction can lead to new approaches in treatment.