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2023-05-13

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is now available exclusively on Nintendo Switch, featuring new abilities and expansive landscapes for players to explore.
  • Limited-time icon elements are available, and informative "Ask the Developer" articles offer insights into the game.
  • Nintendo Switch Online members can save on the game with Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers, and players can earn 100 My Nintendo Platinum Points through a website-based activity.

Industry Reactions

  • Many readers discuss the importance of consistent framerate and the limitations of the Switch's hardware, along with the potential benefits of a more powerful Switch.
  • Emulation, Steam Deck, and the Nintendo ecosystem are also discussed, with readers sympathizing with Nintendo's unique hardware approach and focus on playability.

Implement DNS in a Weekend

  • A DNS resolver is a program that finds the IP address for a domain.
  • This project teaches how to parse a binary network protocol like DNS and how DNS works behind the scenes.
  • The project also includes bonus exercises to further enhance the implementation of a real DNS resolver.

Industry Reactions

  • The zine teaches readers how to implement a simple DNS resolver, providing insight into DNS and building readers' understanding of DNS resolution.
  • Readers are sharing their own DNS projects as well as other educational projects focused on writing your own technology from scratch.

The .zip TLD sucks

  • Google has made a mistake by allowing people to purchase domain names with .zip and .mov extensions, which can confuse users who click on them thinking they are file names.
  • The engineers who have been trying to make the internet less prone to phishing attacks are unhappy that ICANN has allowed this to happen.
  • The solution is to remove any and all of these filename extension TLDs and punish the people who pushed for this.

Industry Reactions

  • The debate over the .zip TLD highlights the importance of being cautious when clicking on links or downloading files.
  • Critics argue that the .zip TLD is confusing and could lead to unnecessary security risks, while others believe file extensions have become too closely tied to content and are not a significant concern.

Toyota: Car location data and videos of 2M customers exposed for ten years

  • Toyota Motor Corporation experienced a data breach that exposed the car location information of 2.15 million customers for 10 years.
  • The data breach resulted from a database misconfiguration that allowed anyone to access its contents without a password.
  • The exposed details do not constitute personally identifiable information, so it wouldn't be possible to use this data leak to track individuals unless the attacker knew the VIN (vehicle identification number) of their target's car.

Industry Reactions

  • Concerns about privacy, data protection laws, and potential lawsuits have arisen due to the data breach.
  • The breach raises questions about automotive control system design, software quality assurance, and cybersecurity.

Linda Yaccarino is the new CEO of Twitter

  • Elon Musk announces Linda Yaccarino as new CEO of Twitter
  • Yaccarino to focus on business operations, Musk on product design and new technology
  • Twitter to be transformed into "X," an everything app.

Industry Reactions

  • Musk's vision of "free speech" is in direct opposition to advertisers' desire for brand-safe content, with major brands returning to Twitter recently
  • Musk's ownership stake in Twitter gives him the ability to overrule any decision, and his appointment of Yaccarino is viewed as critical for Twitter's continued success

Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died

  • Morris Tanenbaum, the inventor of the silicon transistor, has passed away at the age of 94.
  • Tanenbaum's work on the silicon transistor led to the creation of the microchip, which revolutionized the electronics industry.
  • IEEE remembers Tanenbaum and other members for their contributions to the field of engineering.

Industry Reactions

  • Transistors are physical things, and the number of transistors manufactured is estimated to be around 10^23; they are essential components in CPUs, and the question of what we would be doing if transistors had not been discovered has been raised
  • Readers expressed their appreciation for Morris Tanenbaum's contributions to the field, which enabled them to pursue their careers

GitHub Copilot Chat Leaked Prompt

  • Microsoft releases early beta of GitHub Copilot Chat
  • Copilot Chat has a set of confidential rules governing its behavior and interactions
  • Rules include providing informative responses, adhering to technical information, and avoiding controversial discussions.

Industry Reactions

  • OpenAI and GitHub have not commented on the issue, but Copilot has been praised for its coding capabilities and effects on software development.
  • Discussions center around bias in AI models, potential vulnerabilities from prompt leaks and prompt injection, and copyright issues in training language models.

Windmill: Open-source developer platform to turn scripts into workflows and UIs

  • Windmill is an open-source developer infrastructure for internal tools that can turn scripts into workflows and UIs through its autogenerated frontend.
  • Scripts can be written in Python, Typescript, Go, Bash, and SQL, and they can be chained to form more complex workflows, triggered by a cron schedule or webhooks.
  • Windmill can be self-hosted through Docker Compose, Kubernetes, and Helm charts, and it offers commercial licenses and support.

Industry Reactions

  • Windmill is gaining interest due to its compatibility with CapRover and ease of self-hosting, as well as its features such as time limits and no cost for keeping a workflow suspended.
  • A team is working on a new feature to integrate webhooks and Gitlab, and soon Powershell support will be added. Users requested the option to use scripts in the tool, rather than just code or serverless functions.

Pigz: Parallel gzip for modern multi-processor, multi-core machines

  • Pigz is a parallel implementation of gzip that utilizes multiple processors and cores to compress data efficiently.
  • The latest source code version of Pigz is available for download on the website with its GPG signature and SHA-256 checksum.
  • Users can subscribe to the Pigz-announce email list to get notified about new versions of Pigz.

Industry Reactions

  • Tech enthusiasts recommend zstandard for faster compression and decompression speeds, smaller file sizes, and recommend pbzip2 for increased speed when compressing large amounts of data.
  • The discussion revolves around handling large file compression and the evolving landscape of compression technology.

FUTO – An independent software lab and grant fund

  • FUTO is an independent software lab and grant/investment fund dedicated to developing open-source software and advocating for user, creator, and business control of computing.
  • The organization aims to counter the fact that almost all aspects of our digital lives are controlled by a few mega-corporations, and even accidental policy violations can destroy identities and livelihoods in an instant.
  • FUTO offers programs in engineering, grants, guides, and jobs and is located in Austin, Texas.

Industry Reactions

  • They offer flexible grants to US and non-US projects and provide free repair workshops in partnership with Louis Rossmann in Austin.
  • Some people are concerned about FUTO's funding and potential exploitation of innovation, but others find the organization's values and goals admirable.