Top stories

The article discusses the development of MicroGPT, a smaller and more efficient version of the GPT language model, which aims to enable widespread deployment of AI assistants on low-power devices while maintaining high performance.

Obsidian's headless mode allows users to sync their Obsidian vaults and files across devices without the Obsidian app, providing a flexible solution for those who prefer command-line or programmatic file management.

The article explores the author's personal journey to find happiness, highlighting the importance of self-reflection, embracing change, and cultivating meaningful relationships in the pursuit of a fulfilling life.

Recently several AI labs have published experiments where they tried to get AI coding agents to complete large software projects.

- Cursor attempted to make a browser from scratch: https://cursor.com/blog/scaling-agents

- Anthropic attempted to make a C Compiler: https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/building-c-compiler

I have been wondering if there are software packages that can be easily reproduced by taking the available test suites and tasking agents to work on projects until the existing test suites pass.

After playing with this concept by having Claude Code reproduce redis and sqlite, I began looking for software packages where an agent-made reproduction might actually be useful.

I found libxml2, a widely used, open-source C language library designed for parsing, creating, and manipulating XML and HTML documents. Three months ago it became unmaintained with the update, "This project is unmaintained and has [known security issues](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/issues/346). It is foolish to use this software to process untrusted data.".

With a few days of work, I was able to create xmloxide, a memory safe rust replacement for libxml2 which passes the compatibility suite as well as the W3C XML Conformance Test Suite. Performance is similar on most parsing operations and better on serialization. It comes with a C API so that it can be a replacement for existing uses of libxml2.

- crates.io: https://crates.io/crates/xmloxide

- GitHub release: https://github.com/jonwiggins/xmloxide/releases/tag/v0.1.0

While I don't expect people to cut over to this new and unproven package, I do think there is something interesting to think about here in how coding agents like Claude Code can quickly iterate given a test suite. It's possible the legacy code problem that COBOL and other systems present will go away as rewrites become easier. The problem of ongoing maintenance to fix CVEs and update to later package versions becomes a larger percentage of software package management work.

This article discusses how to block the upgrade to Tahoe alerts and disable the system settings indicator on the Linux desktop environment. It provides step-by-step instructions on how to achieve this using a configuration file.

The article discusses the upcoming release of Gemini CLI, a command-line interface for the Gemini protocol, which is a lightweight alternative to the World Wide Web. The main points focus on the new features and improvements in the latest version of Gemini CLI.

Woxi is an open-source smart home platform that allows users to control and monitor various devices and services in their home using a simple and customizable interface. The platform supports a wide range of integrations and can be extended through plugins, providing a flexible and scalable solution for home automation.

The article describes the process of building a minimal Transformer model to perform 10-digit addition, including the model architecture, training, and evaluation. It highlights the Transformer's ability to learn and perform this task effectively, demonstrating its potential for solving simple arithmetic problems.

The article discusses the potential downsides of the rapid advancement of AI technology, highlighting concerns about job displacement, algorithmic bias, and the need for responsible development and oversight to mitigate risks and ensure AI benefits humanity.

This article explores the life and architectural achievements of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, focusing on his design of the 'H-Bomb', a unique and innovative typographic work that showcased his visionary and experimental approach to design.

Alibaba has released the open-source Qwen3-5 medium-sized language models, which offer performance comparable to Anthropic's Sonnet 4.5 model. These models are designed to provide a balance between high performance and efficient resource usage, making them suitable for a variety of natural language processing tasks.

The article explores the concept of deterministic programming, where large language models (LLMs) are used to create programs that behave in a predictable and repeatable manner. It discusses the potential benefits and challenges of this approach, including the ability to generate reliable and trustworthy software.

The article explores the views of renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog on the nature of truth and its evolution in the digital age. Herzog argues that truth is becoming increasingly elusive and subjective, posing challenges to society and journalism.

Understanding scientific articles can be tough, even in your own field. Trying to comprehend articles from others? Good luck.

Enter, Now I Get It!

I made this app for curious people. Simply upload an article and after a few minutes you'll have an interactive web page showcasing the highlights. Generated pages are stored in the cloud and can be viewed from a gallery.

Now I Get It! uses the best LLMs out there, which means the app will improve as AI improves.

Free for now - it's capped at 20 articles per day so I don't burn cash.

A few things I (and maybe you will) find interesting:

* This is a pure convenience app. I could just as well use a saved prompt in Claude, but sometimes it's nice to have a niche-focused app. It's just cognitively easier, IMO.

* The app was built for myself and colleagues in various scientific fields. It can take an hour or more to read a detailed paper so this is like an on-ramp.

* The app is a place for me to experiment with using LLMs to translate scientific articles into software. The space is pregnant with possibilities.

* Everything in the app is the result of agentic engineering, e.g. plans, specs, tasks, execution loops. I swear by Beads (https://github.com/steveyegge/beads) by Yegge and also make heavy use of Beads Viewer (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46314423) and Destructive Command Guard (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46835674) by Jeffrey Emanuel.

* I'm an AWS fan and have been impressed by Opus' ability to write good CFN. It still needs a bunch of guidance around distributed architecture but way better than last year.

The article profiles the life and work of Grigori Perelman, a Russian mathematician who solved one of the most famous unsolved problems in mathematics, the Poincaré conjecture, but declined the prestigious Fields Medal and other accolades, opting to live in seclusion and isolation.

The article discusses the author's experience with a scam involving a cryptocurrency investment opportunity that turned out to be a fraudulent scheme, highlighting the importance of thorough research and caution when considering any financial investment.

This article discusses the concept of context mode in software development, where the software adjusts its behavior based on the current context or environment. It highlights the benefits of context mode, such as improved user experience and reduced complexity, and provides examples of how it can be implemented in different types of applications.

Samsung is reportedly removing the Android recovery menu from its Galaxy smartphones, a feature that allowed users to access advanced troubleshooting options. This change is expected to affect future Samsung device updates and may impact the ability to manually install custom ROMs or perform other advanced operations on the devices.

The article explores the concept of 'engineering coding agents' to assist with complex tasks, drawing parallels between aircraft engineering and software development. It discusses the potential benefits and challenges of leveraging AI-powered agents to enhance human capabilities in various domains.

This article explores the efforts of a digital archivist to preserve and digitize floppy disks, a now-obsolete storage medium, in order to ensure that important historical data is not lost. The project aims to recover and make accessible the contents of these disks, which may contain valuable information from the early days of personal computing.

The article discusses how to run a one-trillion-parameter large language model (LLM) locally on AMD hardware, focusing on the technical details and considerations involved in this process.

The article discusses the popular video game series Ghosts 'n Goblins, exploring its challenging gameplay, iconic protagonist Arthur, and enduring legacy as a beloved classic in the gaming industry.

OpenAI has announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of War to conduct research and development related to national security and defense, while maintaining a focus on the ethical and responsible development of AI technology.

The article explores the history of software simplification, tracing its evolution from COBOL to the current AI hype. It examines how the quest for simplicity has shaped the software industry and how new technologies like AI are being marketed and perceived in this context.

The article discusses the Pentagon's efforts to partner with Ivy League and other top universities to help train officers in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and space operations. This partnership aims to equip the military with cutting-edge expertise and capabilities to address national security challenges.

This article explores the process of converting audio signals into visual representations, known as sonification. It discusses the technical aspects of this process and how it can be used to transform complex data into intuitive visual forms.