ICQ, a once-popular instant messaging service, will shut down on June 26, evoking nostalgia and sadness among users who remember its early internet communication days.
Users reflect on the evolution of digital communication, the technical aspects of early messaging services, and the sentimental value of ICQ numbers.
The discussion underscores the shift from early internet tools like ICQ to today's fragmented, corporate-driven communication platforms.
The blog post "2D Rigid Body Collision Resolution Part 1" introduces the fundamentals of handling collisions in video games, using familiar examples like Mario and racing games.
It differentiates between collision detection (identifying intersecting objects) and collision resolution (handling the aftermath), explaining how game engines update object positions based on velocities.
The post covers key concepts such as surface normals, the dot product, and relative velocity to understand movement directions and determine if objects are moving towards or away from each other.
The post "2D Rigid Body Collision Resolution" by ksassnowski aims to make rigid body physics accessible to non-game developers and those without a strong math background.
Users discuss various tools and techniques for physics simulations, including WebGL, three.js, matter.js, XPBD, and Box2D, and share personal experiences and projects.
The conversation highlights the differences between game physics and proper physics simulations, the evolution of game physics engines, and the complexities of collision detection.
Perplexica is an open-source, AI-powered search engine that aims to deliver accurate and current search results by comprehending user queries.
It employs advanced machine learning algorithms and SearxNG to ensure user privacy and up-to-date information, featuring local LLMs (Large Language Models) and multiple search modes.
Installation is recommended via Docker for ease, but other methods are available, and users can integrate it into their browsers for quick access. Community support is encouraged through GitHub stars, donations, and contributions.
Perplexica is an open-source alternative to Perplexity, aimed at enhancing privacy by enabling local use and avoiding cloud data concerns.
Users suggest integrating local ebook and PDF searches and express interest in tools like Obsidian and Logseq for better multi-device functionality, while also noting concerns about data loss and sync issues.
Trademark issues around the name "Perplexity" are debated, highlighting the balance between technical innovation and legal constraints, with some advocating for self-hosting AI technology to reduce reliance on large corporations.
Kabosu, the Shiba Inu behind the iconic 'Doge' meme, has passed away at age 18 due to leukemia and liver disease, as announced by her owner, Atsuko Sato, on May 24, 2024.
Kabosu gained internet fame in 2010 from a photo on Sato's blog, which led to the creation of the 'Doge' meme and subsequently inspired the Dogecoin cryptocurrency.
Sato adopted Kabosu in 2008 following a puppy mill closure and revealed her serious health issues in December 2022.
Daniel Schroeder introduces a custom real-time renderer using small voxels to modernize the visual style of classic 90s 3D games like Doom and Quake.
The renderer blends retro aesthetics with modern techniques, producing distinctive visuals from low-poly meshes and textures, and discusses complexities like voxel geometry and procedural generation.
Written in C++ and Vulkan, the project uses Blender for modeling and aims to integrate into existing game engines, with future plans for dynamic elements and improved lighting.
The Voxel Displacement Renderer offers a modern twist on retro 3D aesthetics, reminiscent of pixel-art and early 3D games, evoking nostalgia among users.
It is compared to Unreal Engine 5's Nanite technology, though it uses a distinct voxel-based approach, differing significantly in technique.
Despite its impressive visuals, the renderer lacks shadows and dynamic lighting, and there is a community interest in making the project open-source, inspiring further experimentation.
Google's AI-generated search results mistakenly cited satirical articles from The Onion as factual, raising concerns about AI's ability to distinguish between news and satire.
A Media Matters report highlighted how right-wing media misrepresented a standard FBI procedure as a conspiracy theory involving Biden and Trump.
Other topics include a Rolling Stone article on "Cyberpunk 2077" aiding a journalist during cancer treatment, a Guardian poll on economic misinformation, and concerns about digital decay and link rot.
Google's AI-generated search results have inaccurately cited satirical sources and made false claims, raising concerns about AI reliability and political bias.
Discussions include the impact of AI on web traffic, the integration of ads into AI answers, and the need for AI to disclose confidence levels and cite sources.
Users express frustration with AI's handling of sarcasm and misinformation, and debate the limitations of Google's search algorithm and the influence of internet data on AI training.
The author developed a Unix-like operating system named Bunnix for x86_64 targets in 27 days, supporting legacy and EFI boot but lacking USB support, requiring a PS/2 keyboard.
Bunnix's kernel, written in Hare and C, includes drivers for PCI and AHCI, supports ext4 and memfs filesystems, and features third-party software like Vim and Doom.
Despite being functional but buggy, Bunnix served as a learning experience for the author, who plans to apply these insights to their previous project, Helios, and sees potential for community-driven improvements.
A Hacker News discussion delves into the rapid development of a Unix clone, comparing it to the original Unix and discussing the complexities of Unix signals.
On Mastodon, an OS written in the new Hare programming language, available on GitHub under GPLv3, is debated for its slower code due to avoiding LLVM, highlighting a trade-off between simplicity and performance.
The debate underscores the tension between ideological purity and broader usability, with Hare's developers choosing not to support proprietary platforms, emphasizing their right to prioritize specific goals over widespread popularity.
Researchers have released a paper on interpreting large language models, focusing on Claude 3 Sonnet.
They identified "features," specific neuron combinations that activate in response to concepts like the Golden Gate Bridge, and showed that adjusting these features can change the model's behavior.
The modified model, "Golden Gate Claude," is available for public interaction, demonstrating the potential for precise internal modifications to enhance AI safety and understanding.
A Hacker News discussion humorously highlights an AI model's obsession with the Golden Gate Bridge, sparking amusement and concern about AI biases.
The conversation delves into AI model fine-tuning, safety, ethical challenges, and the potential for misuse and customization to different value systems.
Participants discuss the anthropomorphizing of language models, their struggles with contradictions, and the humorous yet concerning outcomes, including incorrect historical information and critiques of AI responses.
Lisa Martino-Taylor's 2011 Ph.D. thesis from the University of Missouri-Columbia investigates the Manhattan-Rochester Coalition and its secret aerosol studies in St. Louis during the 1950s and 1960s.
The studies, conducted by the U.S. military, targeted low-income, predominantly minority urban areas to understand the health effects of weaponized radiation.
The thesis discusses how organizations can conduct harmful activities with internal compliance and external ignorance, and suggests public policies to enhance transparency and prevent unethical covert projects.
From 1945 to 1970, the US Army conducted unethical research on radioactivity's health effects in St. Louis, despite existing data that could have rendered such experiments unnecessary.
The discussion highlights historical unethical medical experiments, such as injecting people with plutonium, and their long-term impact on public trust in medicine, including movements like Anti-Vax.
The text also addresses the ethical issues of medical experiments on marginalized groups, government secrecy, and the challenges of restoring public trust in government and private entities regarding vaccine development and administration.
Google's new AI-generated overviews in U.S. search results have led to inaccuracies and misleading information, often referred to as "hallucinations."
Despite extensive testing, the AI confuses satire with facts, citing unreliable sources like The Onion, leading to bizarre claims and incorrect statements about public figures.
Google is working on improvements, but the rush to integrate AI to compete with platforms like ChatGPT has resulted in inconsistent and unreliable search results, raising concerns among users.
Google's new AI-driven search feature, which offers summarized answers, is under scrutiny for reliability and accuracy concerns.
Critics highlight that AI-generated summaries may present a single, potentially incorrect answer, unlike traditional search results that allow for cross-checking from multiple sources.
Users are worried about the trustworthiness of AI-provided information, citing instances of misinformation and poor data sources, and some are turning to alternatives like DuckDuckGo and Kagi for better privacy and search results.
The debate centers on whether user interface actions should be triggered on button press or release, with considerations for responsiveness, error prevention, and user preferences.
"Act on release" is supported by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for better accessibility, allowing users to cancel actions by moving the pointer away.
The discussion highlights the importance of context in UI design, suggesting that critical actions should confirm on release to prevent errors, while non-critical actions can trigger on press for efficiency.
Spotify will disable all Car Thing devices on December 9, 2024, without providing refunds or trade-in options.
The Car Thing, intended for Spotify navigation in cars, was discontinued in July 2022 due to low demand and supply chain issues, yet continued to be sold at a reduced price.
Users are urging Spotify to open-source the device to prevent e-waste, but the company has not responded, leading to significant user dissatisfaction and mistrust in future Spotify hardware products.
Spotify plans to disable its Car Thing devices in December without offering refunds, sparking criticism over e-waste and consumer rights.
The discussion emphasizes the need for regulations to prevent practices like permanently locking bootloaders and bricking devices at end-of-life, advocating for security models that don't rely on manufacturer-privileged keys.
Critics highlight the importance of continuous updates for security, the EU's mandate for USB-C to reduce e-waste, and the potential benefits of making it easier to reflash devices to extend their life.
CSharpRepl is a cross-platform command-line C# REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) for interactive exploration of the C# language, libraries, and NuGet packages.
It supports quick syntax and API testing without needing to create projects, offers command-line autocompletion, and allows referencing NuGet packages and existing projects.
Features include navigating to source code with F12, viewing IL (Intermediate Language) code with F9, and it is free, open-source, and installable via dotnet tool install -g csharprepl.
The discussion centers on "CSharpRepl," a C# REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) tool that offers syntax highlighting and IntelliSense.
Users compare it with alternatives like LinqPad, which is praised for features like secure password storage and process persistence, despite its licensing costs.
Other tools mentioned include RoslynPad and polyglot notebooks in VSCode, with some users also recommending exploring F# for its unique features.