Researchers discovered a method called "Keyhole" to bypass Windows licensing checks, allowing easy licensing of any Microsoft Store app or modern Windows edition.
The exploit involves manipulating the Client Licensing Platform (CLiP) components, particularly clipup.exe, to create and install unauthorized licenses.
Cisco TALOS reported the vulnerability (CVE-2024-38184) as a "privilege escalation," leading to a patch that prevents the exploit by fixing the processing of license blocks.
A new exploit called "Keyhole" allows users to forge their own Windows Store licenses, potentially enabling free downloads of Xbox games from the Microsoft Store.
This exploit is particularly notable because it bypasses Microsoft's digital rights management (DRM) system, similar to previous hacks on other gaming consoles like the PS Vita.
The exploit's effectiveness is limited for users who have enabled auto-updates on their Xbox, as the latest system software includes a higher kernel version that patches the vulnerability.
The paper surveys research on accelerating Large Language Models (LLMs) using various hardware accelerators, such as FPGA, ASIC, In-Memory, and GPU.
It compares frameworks based on speedup, energy efficiency, performance (GOPs), and energy efficiency (GOPs/W), addressing the challenge of different process technologies.
The study extrapolates performance and energy efficiency results to the same technology for fair comparison, implementing parts of LLMs on various FPGA chips.
The paper highlights the increasing need for hardware acceleration in large language models (LLMs) due to the memory bandwidth bottleneck over CPU speed.
Technologies like Compute-in-memory (CIM) and processing-in-memory (PIM) are discussed for their ability to perform operations directly on data in memory, enhancing latency and power consumption.
The paper compares ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) and FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) hardware, using a polynomial to extrapolate performance to a common 16nm technology, but does not do so for CIM/PIM due to their performance not being solely based on process technology.
Cosmopolitan Libc enables "compile once, run everywhere" for C++ applications by detecting the host machine at runtime, simplifying cross-platform deployment.
Cristian Adam demonstrated running Qt Creator with Cosmopolitan Libc on macOS and Linux, though faced challenges on Windows, particularly with native platform integration and WebSockets support.
The Cosmopolitan Qt Creator binary is approximately 230 megabytes, and Adam encourages further contributions and issue reporting to enhance support.
QtCS2024 introduces the concept of "Compile once, Run everywhere," leveraging Cosmopolitan Libc to enable cross-platform compatibility for Qt applications.
The initiative aims to simplify software distribution by creating binaries that can run on multiple platforms without needing separate builds for each.
This approach, while innovative, raises concerns about potential security risks and the practicality of porting existing applications to this new system.
Asynchronous IO (non-blocking IO) allows applications to handle many IO operations without blocking the calling OS thread or creating multiple threads, addressing the C10K problem of handling increasing internet traffic.
Despite its benefits, asynchronous IO introduces complexity, especially for operations like file IO on Linux, which always blocks, requiring alternative strategies like io_uring.
The author questions if the focus on asynchronous IO over the past 20 years was a mistake, suggesting that improving OS thread efficiency might have been a better approach, potentially eliminating the need for complex asynchronous IO techniques.
The discussion centers on the efficiency and practicality of asynchronous I/O (Input/Output) versus improving OS (Operating System) thread performance.
Asynchronous I/O is argued to be more efficient because it minimizes the overhead associated with managing multiple threads, which each require their own stack and can lead to cache inefficiencies.
The debate highlights that while asynchronous I/O is naturally suited for networking and other inherently asynchronous operations, improving OS thread performance could theoretically handle high concurrency but faces significant technical challenges.
The Four Thieves Vinegar Collective is an anarchist group dedicated to making medicines and medical technologies accessible through DIY solutions.
Their notable projects include the MicroLab Suite (a DIY automated chemical reactor), the Emergency Room Suite (featuring lifesaving technologies like the EpiPencil autoinjector), and Tooth Seal (a DIY cavity-repair solution).
The collective has gained media attention and provides opportunities for public involvement via their contact page.
The rise of DIY and pirated medicine, highlighted on fourthievesvinegar.org, has ignited a debate about self-ownership in healthcare versus safety and regulation concerns.
The movement is compared to the "Right to Repair" but faces criticism for potentially minimizing safety issues, with discussions including personal stories and regulatory challenges.
Opinions are divided: some view it as empowering, while others believe it emphasizes the need for systemic healthcare reform.
C++26 introduces the ability to specify a reason for deleting a function, providing more informative compiler error messages.
The new placeholder variable feature allows the use of a single underscore (_) to define unnamed variables, implicitly adding the [[maybe_unused]] attribute.
Structured binding declarations can now be used as conditions in if, while, or for statements, simplifying code that handles multiple return values.
C++26 introduces new features such as specifying reasons for deleting functions and placeholder variables without names.
There is a growing concern among developers that C++ is becoming overly complex, making maintenance and understanding more difficult.
Despite the complexity, new features are added to address long-standing issues, though some developers argue that the language is becoming excessively feature-rich, complicating compilers and development.
The PERQ Computer article explores its historical significance and unique features, such as using AMD bitslice chips and microcode to support various operating systems.
Commenters provide personal anecdotes and discuss the PERQ's position between the Alto and Lisa, as well as its influence on subsequent systems.
The discussion includes debates on the PERQ's CPU and microcode, references to P-code, and the broader context of computing advancements and tech innovation's geographical spread.
The essay recounts Danny Hillis's experience working with Richard Feynman on the development of the Connection Machine, a parallel computer with a million processors.
Feynman initially dismissed the idea as "dopey" but became deeply involved, contributing significantly to the project's technical and organizational aspects.
Feynman's unique approach, including his analysis of the router and his work on algorithms, showcased his ability to simplify complex problems and make groundbreaking contributions to computer science.
Richard Feynman critiqued the technical presentations for the Connection Machine CM-1, advocating for simpler and more accessible language.
The Connection Machine CM-1, notable for its design, appeared in "Jurassic Park" and was influenced by the WOPR from "War Games."
Discussions about Feynman and the Connection Machine are popular on Hacker News, highlighting the importance of clear communication in technical fields.
A new terminal-based application, hnterm, allows users to browse Hacker News directly from the terminal, providing a minimalist and efficient interface.
The project, created by Georgi Gerganov, is gaining attention for its simplicity and potential to replace more bloated web browsers for specific tasks.
Users can install hnterm using package managers like Snap or Homebrew, making it accessible for various operating systems.
The debate between precise and conservative garbage collection (GC) centers on efficiency and performance, with conservative GC sometimes resulting in faster systems despite common beliefs favoring precise GC.
Conservative GC can avoid run-time overhead, reduce stack frame sizes, and eliminate the need for stack maps, potentially leading to better compiler performance and smaller binaries.
Anecdotal evidence, such as the Conservative Immix paper and practices by Apple’s JavaScriptCore and V8, suggests that conservative stack scanning can outperform precise scanning in certain scenarios.
Conservative garbage collection (GC) can be faster than precise GC, but it may cause memory leaks by misinterpreting data as pointers.
Go's switch from conservative to precise GC led to more allocations and potential performance hits, but optimizations have minimized latency and pauses.
Amortized GC, which frees memory incrementally, might address issues of frequent allocations and deallocations that reduce throughput in precise GC.
The post discusses the evolution and significance of various dance notation systems, highlighting their role in documenting complex dance performances.
Four major dance notation systems are detailed: Beauchamp-Feuillet, Stepanov, Labanotation, and Benesh, each with unique historical and functional attributes.
The author plans to explore dance notation computer systems and visit notable archives, indicating future insights into the preservation and study of dance.
Dance choreography notation systems, such as Labanotation, are historically significant but have become less relevant with the advent of video.
These notations are primarily used by historians or for coaching copyrighted works from deceased choreographers, and are not widely adopted in the dance community.
There is a discussion on how notation might help choreographers create copyrightable artifacts, with comparisons to other notation systems like SignWriting and gymnastics notation.
Guillermo Rauch, a notable figure in the tech community, expressed that React is a revolutionary idea with long-term potential for exploration and application.
This statement highlights the enduring relevance and impact of React, a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces, in the tech industry.
The tweet underscores the anticipation of continuous innovation and development within the React ecosystem over the coming years.
The author focuses on accessibility and functionality without JavaScript, emphasizing the importance of page load time and HTML minification.
The main challenge is reducing traffic and latency through compression, with Brotli being more efficient but slower than gzip; however, GitHub Pages does not support Brotli.
A potential solution involves using brotli-dec-wasm (200 KB) or tiny-brotli-dec-wasm (71 KiB) for client-side decompression, balancing between gzip (92 KiB) and Brotli (37 + 71 KiB).
The discussion revolves around using WebP as a web page compression format, comparing its efficiency to other methods like GZIP and Brotli.
Some users report negligible performance improvements with WebP, while others suggest alternative approaches like self-extracting HTML/WebP polyglot files to reduce latency.
The conversation includes various opinions on the practicality and impact of WebP, with some users highlighting issues like increased latency and minimal size savings.