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2025-01-21

0-click deanonymization attack targeting Signal, Discord, other platforms​

A 15-year-old high school student discovered a 0-click deanonymization attack using Cloudflare's caching system, which can locate users within a 250-mile radius. This vulnerability affects popular apps like Signal and Discord, enabling attackers to track users without their consent. Despite reporting the issue, only a related bug was patched by Cloudflare, leaving the core vulnerability unaddressed, highlighting the need for users, particularly journalists and activists, to be vigilant about their privacy.

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A 0-click deanonymization attack exploits Cloudflare's caching system on platforms like Signal and Discord, potentially revealing a recipient's rough location by checking cache status. The attack does not require server control, only a unique URL, and can expose important metadata, raising privacy concerns for users of these secure communication platforms. Mitigation strategies include using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or disabling auto-downloads to protect user privacy.

Startup Winter: Hacker News Lost Its Faith​

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Hacker News has transitioned from a startup-centric community to a broader tech forum, reflecting a change in user interests towards general tech topics. This shift has resulted in decreased enthusiasm for startups, with users expressing skepticism about the venture capital (VC) model and the scarcity of innovative ideas. The perceived financial benefits of working at startups are often questioned, as many employees do not experience substantial returns, indicating a shift in priorities within the tech community.

Reverse engineering Call of Duty anti-cheat​

The Treyarch Anti-Cheat (TAC) in Black Ops Cold War is a user-mode anti-cheat system, lacking the kernel-mode component found in Modern Warfare's Ricochet. TAC employs Arxan for obfuscation, which complicates reverse engineering through techniques like runtime executable decryption, executable checksums, and pointer encryption. Key anti-cheat features include detection of API hooking, debug registers, network traffic monitoring, and external overlays, alongside various anti-debugging techniques and custom syscall stubs to bypass hooks.

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Users are experiencing anti-cheat issues in games like CS:GO and Call of Duty, particularly affecting Linux users with specific hardware. The discussion highlights challenges such as false bans, ethical concerns, and the effectiveness of current anti-cheat systems, impacting fair gameplay. Personal stories emphasize the need for improved solutions to address false accusations and enhance gaming experiences.

Did Elon Musk Appear to Sieg Heil at Trump Inauguration?​

Elon Musk was observed making a gesture at Trump's inauguration that some interpreted as a Nazi salute, leading to social media controversy. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) suggested the gesture was likely an awkward moment rather than an intentional salute, with some attributing it to Musk's Asperger's syndrome. Musk responded to the controversy with a laughing emoji and expressed enthusiasm about Trump's mention of Mars, which aligns with his space exploration goals.

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Elon Musk was accused of making a Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration, leading to a debate on Hacker News about the appropriateness of discussing such topics on tech platforms. Some users argued that Musk's influence in the tech industry made the topic relevant, while others felt it was inappropriate for the forum. The discussion underscored differing opinions on censorship and the implications of Musk's actions within the tech community.

Elon Musk appears to make back-to-back fascist salutes at inauguration rally​

Elon Musk faced backlash for making a gesture resembling a fascist-style salute during Donald Trump's inauguration celebrations, which some interpreted as a Nazi salute. The Anti-Defamation League acknowledged the gesture's resemblance to a Nazi salute but later suggested it was an awkward moment of enthusiasm, drawing criticism from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Musk's actions were celebrated by some far-right figures, fueling debates about his political affiliations and intentions.

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Elon Musk's gestures at an inauguration rally, perceived by some as fascist salutes, have ignited controversy and online debate. The incident led to a flagged discussion on Hacker News, sparking a debate about the platform's moderation and censorship policies. The situation raises questions about the role of influential tech figures in political discourse and the consistency of moderation policies on platforms like Hacker News.

Meta Censoring '#Democrat' on Instagram​

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Meta is reportedly censoring the hashtag '#Democrat' on Instagram, leading to discussions about censorship and its implications on social media platforms. Users from multiple countries, such as the UK, Spain, and Germany, have experienced this issue, although some report it has been resolved. The incident highlights concerns about the influence of social media platforms and the delicate balance between content moderation and censorship, with debates on free speech and potential political bias.

Organize local communities without Facebook?​

The individual is seeking to transition local community interactions from Facebook to a self-hosted, federated platform, which allows for decentralized control and management. They are looking for off-the-shelf solutions or collaborators to facilitate this move, indicating a need for accessible and customizable options. The context involves rural areas with multiple small towns, each with a population of around 50,000, highlighting the importance of connectivity and community engagement.

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The author seeks to transition local communities from Facebook to a self-hosted, federated platform, emphasizing the need for features like event calendars and messaging. Alternatives such as Mastodon may not fully replicate Facebook's functionality, prompting consideration of other platforms like Discourse, Nextdoor, or groups.io. It's crucial to evaluate community interest in moving and ensure the new platform aligns with their needs, with options like local newspapers and email lists also being considered.

Metacognitive laziness: Effects of generative AI on learning motivation​

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A study highlights that generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, can lead to "metacognitive laziness," where users depend too much on AI, reducing self-regulated learning. This reliance on AI may decrease deep learning and critical thinking skills, as learners might not engage actively in understanding and evaluating information. While AI can enhance task efficiency, the study emphasizes the importance of learners actively participating in the learning process to develop essential cognitive skills.

Official DeepSeek R1 Now on Ollama​

DeepSeek has introduced its first-generation reasoning models, which perform on par with OpenAI-o1 in tasks involving math, code, and reasoning. The models vary significantly in size, from 1.5 billion to 671 billion parameters, indicating diverse storage needs. These models are accessible under the MIT License, allowing for broad usage and modification.

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DeepSeek R1, a new language model, is now available on Ollama, sparking discussions about its censorship, especially on sensitive political topics like Tiananmen Square. The debate centers on the balance between political correctness and historical accuracy, with comparisons drawn between Western and Chinese approaches to political bias in language models. Open-source models are suggested as a potential solution to counteract censorship, though opinions differ on the effectiveness and implications of such measures.

People are bad at reporting what they eat. That's a problem for dietary research​

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Accurately reporting food intake is challenging, with people often misjudging portion sizes by an average of 53%, even among trained professionals. Hidden ingredients like oils and fats are less problematic than portion size errors, highlighting the need for precise measurement tools like food scales. New technologies and apps, such as SnapCalorie, aim to improve diet tracking accuracy, though they often require subscriptions due to high operational costs, potentially aiding users in making more mindful dietary choices.

ROCm Device Support Wishlist​

ROCm is gathering community feedback to determine which GPUs to support in future updates, with current compatibility details available on their website. Users are advocating for broader support, particularly for older and consumer-grade GPUs, and improved integration with Windows systems. There is a strong demand for consistent support across all architectures, emphasizing the significance of VRAM for AI applications, and calls for enhancements in AMD's APU support and a development process similar to NVIDIA's CUDA.

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ROCm, AMD's software platform for GPU programming, faces criticism for its hardware-specific code compilation, resulting in inconsistent GPU support compared to Nvidia's CUDA. Users are frustrated with AMD's lack of long-term support for GPUs, with some experiencing dropped support soon after purchase, leading to calls for improved cross-platform support and better documentation. The community urges AMD to support all GPUs, akin to Nvidia, and some users have shifted their hopes to Intel for better competition in the GPU market.

Ruff: Python linter and code formatter written in Rust​

Ruff DocsPlayground is a Python linter and code formatter written in Rust, offering speeds 10-100 times faster than traditional tools like Flake8 and Black. It supports Python 3.13, integrates with editors such as VS Code, and can replace multiple tools like Flake8, Black, and isort, while being monorepo-friendly. Ruff is widely adopted in major projects like Apache Airflow, FastAPI, and Pandas, and is available for installation via pip, pipx, and other package managers, with configuration support through pyproject.toml.

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Ruff is a Python linter and code formatter developed in Rust, noted for its speed and efficiency, which simplifies Python development by integrating multiple tools into one. The tool has sparked interest and debate within the Python community, with some developers appreciating its performance and simplicity, while others remain skeptical of new tools. Ruff's development by Astral, a venture capital-backed organization, adds to its intrigue and discussion, particularly regarding its impact on Python's dynamic typing and the use of type checkers and linters in large projects.

Kimi K1.5: Scaling Reinforcement Learning with LLMs​

Kimi k1.5 is a cutting-edge multi-modal model that significantly outperforms GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet 3.5 in short-chain-of-thought (CoT) tasks, with improvements up to 550% on benchmarks such as AIME, MATH-500, and LiveCodeBench. It matches OpenAI's o1 in long-CoT performance across various modalities, utilizing reinforcement learning with long context scaling and enhanced policy optimization, while avoiding complex methods like Monte Carlo tree search. Kimi k1.5 is trained on both text and vision data, allowing for joint reasoning, and will soon be accessible via the Kimi OpenPlatform at https://kimi.ai.

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Companies, including some from China, are using GitHub to promote products by posting "research papers" and code samples without delivering actual Software Development Kits (SDKs) or libraries. This practice is considered misleading, similar to false advertising, as promised APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) or model weights often do not materialize. The trend of using GitHub repositories as promotional tools, sometimes lacking source code, raises concerns about transparency and authenticity in AI research and development.

Authors seek Meta's torrent client logs and seeding data in AI piracy probe​

Meta is facing a lawsuit for allegedly using pirated materials, specifically copyrighted books from LibGen, to train its AI models via BitTorrent. Authors, including Richard Kadrey and Sarah Silverman, accuse Meta of copyright infringement, while Meta claims its actions fall under fair use. The court has permitted new allegations about Meta's torrenting activities, with authors seeking access to Meta's torrent client logs and seeding data, underscoring the legal challenges surrounding AI training data and copyright issues.

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Authors are examining Meta's potential use of pirated content for AI training, utilizing torrent client logs and seeding data as evidence. There is a debate on whether large-scale AI training depends on pirated content due to the challenges of legally obtaining large text datasets, versus the possibility of negotiating legal access with publishers. The legal implications, including fair use and copyright infringement, are under discussion, highlighting the conflict between tech companies' data requirements and existing copyright laws.

Elon Gives Nazi Salute During Inauguration Speech​

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Elon Musk is at the center of controversy after allegedly giving a Nazi salute during an inauguration speech, leading to debates about his intentions and political affiliations. The incident has sparked discussions about Musk's associations and the tech community's response, highlighting the political dynamics within the tech industry. Critics are divided on whether the gesture was a misguided act or a deliberate move, with some referencing Musk's past actions and affiliations as potential evidence of his intentions.