Google has agreed to buy power from Kairos Power, a startup focused on developing small modular reactors (SMRs) with a capacity of 75 megawatts each.
The plan includes bringing the first SMR online by 2030, with more reactors potentially adding up to 500 megawatts of carbon-free power by 2035.
This initiative is part of Google's strategy to secure clean energy, though the cost-effectiveness and viability of SMRs compared to renewables and battery storage are still under discussion.
"Web Browser Engineering" by Pavel Panchekha & Chris Harrelson is a book that guides readers through building a basic web browser using Python, providing insights into how web browsers function.
The book, published by Oxford University Press, covers essential topics such as networking, JavaScript, and the workings of modern browsers, making it a valuable resource for understanding web technologies.
It includes practical sections on loading pages, viewing documents, and running applications, offering a comprehensive learning experience for those interested in web development and browser engineering.
"Web Browser Engineering" is a book that delves into the complexities of browser development, particularly focusing on CSS layout and video decoding challenges.- The book uses Python to illustrate browser concepts, making it accessible for learners and encouraging innovation in browser technology.- It emphasizes understanding browser internals and explores the potential for new user interface technologies.
A developer created an advanced "Deal With It Emoji Generator" for a job interview, which uses machine learning to position glasses on faces and offers extensive customization options.- The tool operates entirely client-side, ensuring no data leaves the user's browser, and includes features like GIF output settings.- Despite not securing the job, the developer released the tool for free on GitHub, showcasing their skills and inviting potential job opportunities as a Fullstack Developer with over 14 years of experience.
A personal project was developed to create a "Deal With It" emoji generator, utilizing machine learning to position glasses on faces and offering extensive customization options.- The tool operates entirely client-side, allows for GIF output, and includes Easter eggs, showcasing the developer's creativity and technical skills.- Released for free, the project is available on GitHub, and the developer is seeking feedback and new opportunities as a Fullstack Developer.
Users are increasingly frustrated with the current web experience, which is dominated by intrusive elements like login prompts, location requests, and ad-heavy search results, particularly from Google Chrome.
Alternatives such as Kagi and Brave are gaining popularity as they offer a less cluttered and more user-friendly browsing experience.
The web's cluttered nature, filled with pop-ups and ads, prompts discussions about paying for content to avoid ads and a longing for a simpler, cleaner web era.
The World Conker Championships is investigating allegations of cheating after the men's winner, David Jakins, was found with a steel chestnut in his pocket.
Jakins, a long-time competitor and the event's top judge, denies using the metal conker during the competition, claiming it was intended as a joke.
The Championships are taking the claims seriously, especially since Jakins was responsible for preparing the conkers, and the investigation is ongoing.
A world conker champion was discovered with a steel chestnut but was exonerated from cheating allegations.
Conkers is a traditional game in Britain and Ireland where players attempt to break each other's chestnut on a string.
The incident raised questions about the game's integrity and the preparation of conkers, yet the event continues to be a fun and traditional competition.
Experts are advocating for a reduction in routine dental X-rays, as they are not supported by evidence and can pose unnecessary risks, particularly to children.
The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends X-rays every two to three years for adults without increased risk of dental caries, emphasizing the need to minimize exposure and ensure clinical justification.
Overuse of dental X-rays is a global concern, often driven by financial incentives and lack of oversight, prompting calls for evidence-based practices and further research into their necessity and risks.
Routine dental X-rays, particularly on an annual basis, lack strong evidence for necessity, with dental schools now advocating for X-rays every 2-3 years for low-risk patients.
Some dental practices may still recommend frequent X-rays due to financial incentives or private equity ownership, highlighting the importance of patient awareness.
Patients are advised to choose dentists who adhere to updated, evidence-based guidelines and are transparent about their treatment recommendations.
Zyphra has introduced Zamba2-7B, a small language model that outperforms prominent models like Mistral, Google's Gemma, and Meta's Llama3 in quality and performance.- Zamba2-7B is optimized for on-device use and consumer GPUs, providing faster token generation and lower memory usage, thanks to architectural enhancements such as Mamba2 blocks and dual shared attention blocks.- The model is open-source under the Apache 2.0 license, encouraging the AI community to explore its features, and was trained on 128 H100 GPUs over 50 days, showcasing high performance with a small team and moderate budget.
Zamba2-7B is a newly released AI model featuring open-source weights on Hugging Face, utilizing a novel shared-attention architecture to improve performance with fewer training tokens.- The model is licensed under Apache, which some users argue is more appropriate for software than data, sparking discussions about its efficiency and potential compared to models like Phi-3.5 and Qwen2.5.- While there is excitement about its release, some users question the modest performance improvements despite the theoretical advancements.
Play 3.0 mini is a newly introduced multilingual text-to-speech model supporting over 30 languages, offering improved reliability and audio quality.
It is designed to be the fastest and most conversational model, supporting text-in and audio-out streaming via API (Application Programming Interface) or SDKs (Software Development Kits).
The model is more efficient and cost-effective, with reduced pricing for higher volume usage, making it appealing for businesses and developers.
Play 3.0 mini is a new multilingual Text-to-Speech (TTS) model praised for its speed, reliability, and cost-efficiency, with strong voice cloning capabilities.
It operates on less than 3 GB of Video RAM (VRAM) and is optimized for Chrome, though users have reported compatibility issues with Firefox.
The model is not open-source, prompting discussions about its use compared to alternatives like OpenAI, especially given its ongoing optimization for real-time applications.
Tesla's Optimus robots were showcased at a recent event, but they were remotely operated rather than fully autonomous, raising skepticism about Tesla's claims.
The event underscored the difficulties in developing fully autonomous robots and highlighted concerns about Tesla's tendency to overpromise in its marketing.
The situation sparked a broader discussion on how tech companies use hype to generate interest and influence stock prices, drawing parallels to other companies' scripted demonstrations.
Pumpkin Pumpkin is a Minecraft server developed in Rust, prioritizing speed, efficiency, and customization while preserving core game mechanics.
The server is designed for high performance and compatibility with the latest Minecraft version, offering security, flexibility, and extensibility for plugin development.
It is currently under development, with features like configuration, server status, player settings, and world management, and invites contributions and community engagement through Discord and GitHub sponsors.
Pumpkin is a Minecraft server developed in Rust, focusing on enhanced performance and efficiency compared to traditional servers.
Although it currently lacks features such as world generation and lighting, it supports basic functions like block placing and breaking.
The server is not a direct replacement for vanilla servers, as it does not support existing configurations or plugins, but it aims to be compatible with vanilla clients and game mechanics.
Bike manufacturers are increasingly using proprietary parts in e-bikes, making them less repairable and pushing consumers towards purchasing new models instead of repairing existing ones.
This trend contributes to increased electronic waste (e-waste) and challenges the sustainability of e-bikes as a transport option, similar to practices seen in the automotive and electronics industries.
Potential legislative measures and initiatives like the Infinite Battery aim to promote more repairable solutions and ensure the availability of parts for self-repair.
Bike manufacturers are increasingly using proprietary parts and designs, making e-bikes less repairable and contributing to planned obsolescence.
Gouach is innovating by developing repairable e-bike batteries that can be assembled with just a screwdriver, and they are contemplating open-sourcing part of their software.
The conversation highlights the complexity of bike repairs, including various bottom bracket standards, and the challenges of maintaining modern e-bikes.
Greptile, co-founded by Daksh, develops AI tools for understanding large codebases, aiding in AI-powered code reviews and diagnosing outages.
The team consists of four engineers, and despite the product's extensive capabilities, it experiences bugs due to the small team size.
To manage productivity, the team is divided: half focus on long-term projects, while the other half address support and bug fixes, minimizing distractions.
The article explores the concept of dividing engineering teams into "defense" and "offense" roles, where "defense" manages immediate issues and "offense" focuses on long-term projects.
This strategy is prevalent in small, high-trust teams but may encounter difficulties as the team size increases, potentially leading to poor work quality and resentment.
To maintain balance and accountability, the article recommends rotating roles and highlights the importance of proactive communication and quality assurance.
The C23 edition of Modern C is now available for free download, aligning with the new C23 standard following its ISO publication.
Major compilers support most new features, such as bit-precise types, improved enumeration types, and new C library headers.
C23 introduces concepts like nullptr (a null pointer constant), type inference, default initialization, and constexpr (constant expressions), with additional material on compound expressions, lambdas, and internationalization.
The blog discusses the C23 edition of Modern C, emphasizing the importance of not mixing C and C++ due to compatibility issues.
Users share experiences of integrating C in C++ projects, highlighting both challenges and benefits, such as Microsoft's past advice to use a C++ compiler for C code.
The conversation covers object-oriented features in C++, like Resource Acquisition Is Initialization (RAII) and namespaces, and the difficulties of using C++ in embedded systems.
A transparent acrylic square was created to form images using light and a phenomenon known as caustics, which involves directing light through surface manipulation.
The process includes creating a heightmap, morphing grid cells, and applying Snell's Law for light refraction, with manufacturing done via CNC routing and polishing.
The project is based on a 2014 paper by Yue et al., and the code is available under the MIT license, encouraging others to create their own versions.
The discussion examines the modeling of lenses using a mesh of quads and considers whether a grid with varying heights might offer a simpler alternative.
It differentiates between caustics and holograms, highlighting the lack of phase effects in the former, which are present in true holograms.
References are made to historical "magic mirrors" from Japan and China, as well as related concepts like "Pixel Window."
Platforms like Project Euler, LeetCode, and Advent of Code emphasize math, data structures, and algorithms, which may not be optimal for learning new programming languages.- There is a suggestion for a platform that focuses on practical software development tasks, such as server setup, file handling, and database queries, to better familiarize users with everyday programming.- While some platforms like Exercism.io and Rosetta Code offer language-specific challenges, the concept of a site dedicated to practical programming tasks is still considered attractive and potentially beneficial.