Valve mandates developers to disclose kernel-level anti-cheat mechanisms on Steam store pages, increasing transparency for players.- This requirement is crucial for users, particularly those on Steam Deck/Linux, as kernel-level anti-cheat can prevent games from running with Proton.- Recent Steam updates also tackle issues such as publisher banner spam and enhance Linux game support.
OpenZFS 2.3.0 introduces "Fast Dedup," an enhancement over traditional deduplication, addressing high memory usage and performance issues.
Despite improvements, deduplication is not recommended for general-purpose workloads due to overhead and infrequent duplicate blocks; block cloning from OpenZFS 2.2 is a simpler alternative.
Fast Dedup optimizes memory usage and efficiency by refining the deduplication table and adding a deduplication log, but is best for specific workloads with high data duplication.
OpenZFS deduplication has seen improvements but remains unsuitable for most users due to its high memory and processing power requirements.- Deduplication is primarily advantageous for specific scenarios, such as virtual machine storage, where data redundancy is prevalent.- Alternatives like compression or file-based block cloning are generally more efficient, and users should evaluate their needs and trade-offs before opting for deduplication.
The paper explores how Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompting, typically beneficial for large language models, can actually decrease performance in specific tasks.- It identifies tasks such as implicit statistical learning and visual recognition where verbal thinking, akin to CoT, negatively impacts both human and model performance.- The study links cognitive psychology with CoT evaluations, providing insights into when CoT should be avoided in favor of zero-shot methods, which do not rely on prior examples or reasoning steps.
Chain-of-thought (CoT) reasoning can negatively impact performance in tasks that benefit from subconscious processing, such as implicit statistical learning and visual recognition.- In both humans and AI, overthinking can disrupt mental shortcuts and slow down processes, which may not always be advantageous.- This phenomenon is observed in AI development and human activities like sports and creativity, where intuitive processing often leads to better outcomes.
ChatGPT Search is a new feature by OpenAI that integrates traditional search engines with large language models (LLMs) to enhance online information retrieval.- The feature aims to counteract the prevalence of SEO-optimized content in current search engines by prioritizing user-desired content.- Initially available to ChatGPT Plus and Team users, there are plans for broader availability, though concerns exist about potential ads and filtering SEO spam.
Zed addresses performance issues in programming with large codebases by enabling remote project access via SSH, allowing the UI to run locally while utilizing cloud hardware for language servers and tasks.
The "Remote Projects" UI in Zed simplifies setting up connections, and the platform supports collaboration over SSH, ensuring seamless synchronization across different systems.
Zed is available for macOS and Linux, and the team is actively seeking feedback and hiring new team members, indicating ongoing development and community engagement.
Zed, combined with SSH Remoting and Orbstack, provides a fast Linux development environment on macOS, offering a streamlined experience similar to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Visual Studio Code (VSCode).
Users appreciate Zed's speed and native integration, but some miss features such as debugging and note issues like text rendering and lack of certain integrations.
Zed's open-source nature and potential for collaboration are appealing, though concerns about its long-term sustainability and monetization persist, making it a promising yet uncertain alternative to traditional editors.
Independent websites are experiencing a significant decline in visibility on Google search results, despite adhering to guidelines, with Shepherd.com reporting an 86% drop in traffic over 16 months.
This trend is affecting numerous websites, leading to substantial traffic losses and financial difficulties, while other search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo are ranking independent content more favorably.
The call to action is for Google to improve its search engine algorithms and enhance communication with website owners to protect the independent web.
The indie web community expresses frustration with Google's search results, which tend to prioritize affiliate link aggregators over authentic content.
Critics claim that Google's algorithms favor large brands and ad revenue, marginalizing independent websites.
There is a call for considering alternative search engines like Kagi or DuckDuckGo and a broader shift away from Google's dominance, highlighting concerns about search quality and its impact on smaller publishers.
A new experimental proposal suggests that detecting gravitons, the theoretical particles responsible for gravity, might be more achievable than previously believed.
The approach leverages advancements in gravitational wave understanding and quantum technology, potentially enabling detection in a modest laboratory setting within a few years.
Although the experiment may not definitively prove the existence of gravitons, it represents a significant advancement in the study of quantum gravity, similar to how light was shown to be quantized into photons.
The debate on detecting gravitons centers around whether gravity is quantized, a fundamental question in physics.
Detecting gravitons would provide evidence for quantized gravity, but proving their existence is a significant challenge requiring advanced technology.
The discussion also briefly mentions cultural differences in language, such as the metaphorical use of "war" in American English.
A TikTok Influencers Database has been developed, containing 400,000 influencers, their videos, and audio subtitles, allowing for detailed analysis of promoted products using a Large Language Model (LLM).- The database enables users to query and identify influencers discussing specific products, including those of competitors, and categorizes them into over 3,000 subcategories for targeted marketing.- The creator is seeking beta testers to provide feedback and suggestions for improvements.
A TikTok Influencers Database, named topyappers.com, has been developed, featuring 400,000 influencers and analyzing video audio to identify promoted products.- The database enables users to search for influencers discussing specific products and organizes them into over 3,000 subcategories.- The creator is seeking beta testers for feedback and plans to expand the database to include other platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Generative AI Scripting enables users to create prompts for Large Language Models (LLMs) using JavaScript, aiming to cater to both non-programmers and web developers.
Some users find the documentation complex, possibly due to it being maintained by an LLM, and suggest simplification for better clarity on its purpose and functionality.
The tool integrates LLMs into scripting with a simplified JavaScript syntax, but its necessity is questioned as similar tasks can be achieved with existing tools; it does not collect data, and queries are sent to a configured provider.
Modest Proposals, an activist group, used parody to critique the environmental and human impact of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry by creating a satirical fake company, Repaer.- The parody site, which included logos of real LNG companies, faced legal threats from TotalEnergies and Equinor, leading to its temporary removal.- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) defended the site as noncommercial activism, resulting in the site being moved to a new host, with the companies remaining silent after the pushback.
Parody and satire are protected forms of expression and do not constitute copyright infringement, even if they make companies uncomfortable.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) had to engage in a complex DMCA counter-notice process with Netlify, despite the issue not being a legitimate DMCA claim, illustrating the burdensome nature of such processes.
The situation underscores the ongoing debate about free speech, the responsibilities of hosting providers, and the potential need for disclaimers to prevent confusion when using real company names and logos in activism.
DeepSeek-V2.5 is a new model that combines general and coding capabilities, offering enhanced API and web features with a 128K context length API.- It is competitively priced at $0.14-$0.28 per million tokens and excels in math, coding, and reasoning, outperforming models like GPT-4 in benchmarks such as AlignBench and MT-Bench.- With 236 billion parameters, DeepSeek-V2.5 supports open-source development and provides cost-effective API access, compatible with the OpenAI API for a seamless user experience.
DeepSeek v2.5 is an open-source language model offering a cost-effective alternative to GPT-4, being 95% cheaper.
While it performs well in some benchmarks, it falls short of GPT-4o in handling images and complex tasks, and it requires significant hardware for inference.
Despite its political neutrality, concerns about data privacy and potential Chinese government influence persist, and it struggles with certain sensitive topics.
Probability-generating functions (PGFs) encode sequences of probabilities into a single polynomial, aiding in understanding probability distributions like card draws or coin flips.
PGFs allow for the calculation of expectations and variances through derivatives and can be multiplied to find distributions of sums of independent random variables.
The article also mentions characteristic functions, related to PGFs, which involve complex numbers and have applications in probability theory, though they require advanced analysis for deeper understanding.
Probability-generating functions are essential in probability theory and are closely related to Fourier transforms, aiding in the analysis of probability distributions.- The characteristic function, a type of Fourier transform, simplifies operations such as convolution, making it a powerful tool in probability theory.- These functions have applications beyond probability, including combinatorics and physics, where they relate to concepts like Feynman diagrams, enhancing understanding in various scientific fields.
Wonder Dynamics, an Autodesk company, has introduced the beta version of Wonder Animation, an AI tool designed for animated films.- The tool utilizes Video to 3D Scene technology, converting video sequences into 3D-animated scenes while allowing artists to retain creative control.- Wonder Animation supports integration with software such as Maya, Blender, and Unreal, aiming to democratize visual effects (VFX) work for creators.
Wonder Animation by Autodesk is a tool that converts video to 3D animation, requiring pre-rigged 3D models.
Users appreciate its user-friendly interface and speed, but note limitations in camera work and composition.
While it automates tasks like camera tracking, it is not yet advanced enough to replace manual tracking in complex scenarios, making it useful but not fully reliable for indie filmmakers.
The reliance on averages and p-values, particularly the 0.05 threshold, can mislead and contribute to the replication crisis in scientific fields like psychology.- Tools like JASP provide alternatives to traditional statistical methods, encouraging more thoughtful consideration and context in research.- Institutional pressures and a lack of statistical understanding among researchers can lead to biases and misapplication of the scientific method, affecting scientific progress.