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2023-12-09

Apple Cuts Off Beeper Mini's Access, Sparks Outage and Privacy Concerns

  • Beeper, a startup that provided Android users with access to iMessage, suffered an outage after Apple blocked its access, preventing users from sending texts via the Beeper Mini app.
  • Apple managed to disable the app, according to Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky, raising concerns about the future of Beeper Mini.
  • Migicovsky questioned Apple's motives, as the app had been seen as a way to enhance security for iPhone users, particularly in relation to unencrypted green bubble texts.

Reactions

  • The discussion delves into various topics including Apple's control over devices and services, encryption practices, and the influence of advertising on users.
  • Interoperability in messaging apps and the challenges faced by alternative messaging platforms are also explored.
  • Different perspectives on these issues are presented, showcasing the complexity of the tech industry.

The Israeli WhatsApp group silencing pro-Palestinian voices

  • The J-Ventures Global Kibbutz Group is an pro-Israel WhatsApp group composed of investors, tech executives, activists, and government officials that aims to shape public opinion and counter criticisms of Israel.
  • The group employs various tactics such as smearing journalists, canceling events with Palestinian voices, and attempting to send military equipment to Israel's special forces.
  • This highlights the close relationship between the tech sector, the Israeli government, and pro-Israel advocacy, which has raised concerns among civil libertarian organizations and free speech advocates.

Reactions

  • The article and discussion focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, exploring the information war and perspectives from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian sides.
  • Debates include the one-state vs. two-state solution, ethnostates, the role of Hamas and Likud, civilian casualties, historical events, and the conflict's complexity.
  • Topics such as the Arab League, Qatar and Turkey's funding of Hamas, civilian aid, targeting accuracy, Israeli politicians' statements, and treatment of Palestinian civilians are also discussed. The summary acknowledges the conflict's complexities and the challenge of finding enforceable solutions, while highlighting the importance of respectful discourse without personal attacks or inflammatory language.

Trains plagued by hidden mechanisms: Polish hackers uncover major issue

  • A Polish train manufacturer encountered a significant problem when their trains became inoperable after maintenance due to hidden mechanisms.
  • The Dragon Sector team, a group of Polish hackers, was enlisted to assist and identified the code responsible for the train malfunctions after extensive analysis and reverse engineering.
  • They developed a tool to eliminate the software locks and successfully repaired multiple trainsets, although little action has been taken by authorities to address the issue. The case has been reported to law enforcement agencies by CERT Polska.

Reactions

  • A train maintenance company in Poland installed code in train locomotives, making them inoperable if they were at competing repair facilities for too long, which is viewed as a malicious act with legal implications and conflicts of interest.
  • There is a debate about the ability to modify software in owned devices, involvement of middle managers in illegal practices, and potential legal consequences for disrupting railway operations.
  • The discussion expands to cover topics such as sabotage, interface standardization, software use in Formula 1 racing, challenges in software development for industrial machines, interoperability issues, poor software quality, cultural issues in the tech industry, software transparency and reproducibility, controversies over Apple's device repairs, accusations of sabotage, concerns about vendor lock-in, and controversy surrounding the safety lockouts on Newag trains.

Mistral AI Unveils New Mixtral-8x7B-32kseqlen System

  • Mistral AI has released a new system called mixtral-8x7b-32kseqlen.
  • The release was announced through a tweet, which included a magnet link and release code.
  • The details and features of the mixtral-8x7b-32kseqlen system were not mentioned in the given text.

Reactions

  • The discussion revolves around Mistral's Mixtral model, its features, and its possible application to GPT-4.
  • Participants analyze the performance of different language models, the significance of model size, and the limitations of using Mixture of Experts models on consumer devices.
  • The conversation also explores the relevance of benchmarks, skepticism about certain models' effectiveness, the necessity of human evaluation, hardware requirements, efficiency, and the potential capabilities of the Mistral model.

FDA Approves Casgevy: CRISPR-Based Medicine for Sickle Cell Disease Treatment

  • The FDA has granted approval to Casgevy, the first-ever medication based on CRISPR gene-editing technology, for sickle cell disease treatment.
  • Casgevy has the potential to alleviate the recurrent pain associated with sickle cell disease, representing a significant advancement in genetic medicine.
  • The FDA is also expected to evaluate Casgevy as a treatment for beta thalassemia, while another approved sickle cell treatment, Lyfgenia, exists.

Reactions

  • Topics discussed include FDA approval of CRISPR-based medicine for sickle cell disease and CRISPR technology enhancing potato nutrition.
  • The conversation also covers vegan protein sources, health effects of potatoes and sweet potatoes, and safety of aspartame vs. sugar.
  • Other topics include gene therapy and chemotherapy in cancer treatment, high cost of medical treatments, health insurance concept, and implications of gene editing technology.

JC Python package converts CLI tool output to JSON

  • The jc Python package is designed for converting CLI tool output, file types, and strings into JSON format.
  • It can be used as a library in Python or as an Ansible filter plugin.
  • The package supports multiple commands, file types, and strings and offers options for further processing the JSON output.

Reactions

  • The discussion explores various topics related to command-line tools, such as parsing tool output to JSON and the benefits of using structured output.
  • The preference for using wrappers or programming languages like Python or Ruby is also discussed, along with the potential for a Unix shell based on objects.
  • Other topics include the use of Language Learning Models (LLMs) in parsing, the importance of collaboration and maintenance of tools, challenges in modern programming, and the limitations of JSON output in command-line interfaces.

Verizon's Mistake: Stalker Gets Victim's Data

  • Verizon Wireless mistakenly provided a stalking victim's address and phone logs to her alleged stalker, who posed as a police officer and sent a fake search warrant.
  • The incident resulted in the stalker's arrest and charges of stalking and fraud.
  • Verizon claims to process legal demands confidentially and in compliance with the law, but this incident shows a failure to protect sensitive information.

Reactions

  • Verizon mistakenly shared a victim's phone data with a stalker due to falling for a fake search warrant, highlighting the risk of using paper printouts instead of digitally signed files.
  • The complexity of obtaining certificates from trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs) and the limited adoption of secure protocols like HTTPS are discussed in relation to verifying identification and authorization for legal documents.
  • Suggestions for improvement include recognizing data privacy as a right, implementing cryptographic signatures, and having courts publish warrants on their own websites to enhance transparency and accountability.

StripedHyena: The Future of Efficient Architecture Design

  • Together Research has developed open-source models called StripedHyena as alternatives to Transformers for efficient sequence modeling.
  • StripedHyena models, such as SH 7B and SH-N 7B, combine attention and gated convolutions in novel ways to achieve improved training and inference performance.
  • They outperform Transformers on short and long-context tasks, with faster training and inference speeds and reduced memory footprint, and explore techniques like hybridization and multi-head gated convolutions for better scaling.

Reactions

  • Together has released a new architecture called StripedHyena-7B, which falls between Llama 7B and Mistral 7B in terms of strength for short context tasks.
  • The article explores the advancements and limitations of AI, as well as the influence of various factors on the field.
  • It discusses the potential impact of Language Model Marketplaces (LLMs) on businesses and everyday life, with mixed opinions on their capabilities.
  • The summary provides average scores for different models and highlights the benefits of utilizing 7B models.
  • The latest version of the RWKV model, v5, has been released and is receiving praise for its performance.

American Chestnut Foundation Halts Blight-Resistant Seed Distribution

  • The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is dedicated to restoring the American chestnut tree, which has been devastated by chestnut blight fungus.
  • TACF has used various methods, including traditional breeding and biotechnology, to develop disease-resistant and genetically diverse chestnuts.
  • Their transgenic tree Darling 58 has shown poor performance and contains a lethal gene, prompting TACF to discontinue its support and explore alternative methods for increasing blight tolerance.

Reactions

  • The American Chestnut Foundation has halted the distribution of blight-resistant seeds due to genetic flaws in the Darling D58 line, which caused problems and increased metabolic costs for the trees.
  • This incident emphasizes the need for thorough verification of genetic modifications prior to conducting field trials.
  • Nevertheless, research initiatives aimed at restoring American Chestnut trees continue, and there is ongoing public interest in planting these trees. However, there are concerns about the limited diversity of available tree seeds.
  • The organization responsible for seed distribution has ceased its operations in this regard and intends to redirect its resources elsewhere.

Exploring the Limited Availability of Single-Letter Domain Names

  • Most single-letter domain names, except for q.com and z.com, do not resolve on the internet.
  • The post explores single-letter domain names under .org, .net, and .co TLDs, revealing information about their owners and purposes.
  • The limited usage and availability of single-letter domains are highlighted, leading to disappointment.

Reactions

  • The conversation involves multiple subjects such as the potential renaming of Twitter as X.com, the importance and worth of domain names, the influence of new top-level domains, viewpoints on Elon Musk and his business choices, and talks about branding and the significance of company names.
  • It also touches upon the utilization of URLs, phone numbers, and email addresses in the modern era.
  • There is a range of opinions and concerns expressed by participants in the conversation.

iA Writer Launches iAノートブック: The Ultimate Distraction-Free Writing Experience

  • iA Writer, a digital writing app, is launching a physical notebook called iAノートブック to improve the writing experience.
  • The notebook is designed to minimize distractions and features fading watermark guidelines.
  • Extensive testing and collaboration with a Japanese bookbinding partner were involved in the design process.

Reactions

  • Users are discussing IA Writer and comparing it to other writing tools like Obsidian, Scrivener, and Midori notebooks.
  • Some users express their satisfaction with IA Writer and discuss different writing environments and ink options.
  • There is speculation about an upcoming physical paper notebook called iAノートブック.