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Comment I have _never_ had colleagues ... (Score 2) 45

by Qbertino (#66123430) Attached to: The Case Against an Imminent Software Developer Apocalypse

... this competent as I do now with AI. It's like a team of premium-grade senior API and software lib experts is just sitting by in a live IRC chat with full view of the current state of the project, ready and eager to discuss every detail of software decision we make as fast and efficient as possible. I have never had this level of insightful and helpful discussions of code with any human. Mostly because that would've costed hundreds of thousands if not millions in anual salary for the same effect achieved with humans. Here an example exchange from a few weeks back (this actually happened for real):

----

ME:>>>
> Could you explain the reasoning behind implementing a Baseline service? Is this a good practice and if so, why?

AI (Codex IIRC):>>>

> Short version: Yes, itâ(TM)s good practice here because you need the same Baseline metadata (file list + meta.name/type) in multiple places (Baseline routing + Mainview). A service is the cleanest way to share that data without duplicating fetch logic or tightly coupling components.

Why it makes sense:

â Single source of truth: one place to load and cache the list of Baselines.

â Decoupling: Mainview and Baseline donâ(TM)t need to know how to fetch or parse the index.

â Less duplication: avoids copy/paste HTTP logic in every component.

â Easier to evolve: if the index format changes, you update one place.

â Easier to test: you can stub the service.

Downsides:

â Slightly more code and indirection.

â If the data is only ever used in one component, a service would be unnecessary.

Given your setup (routing + entry generation), the service is a good fit. If you want, I can keep it simpler by moving the logic into Mainview and passing data down, but that couples the components more tightly.

----

I have 5 of these exchanges at this level or higher every day. It's like there's 10 of me, well rested and in distraction free speed typing mode, and I'm a seasoned and experienced senior webdev who still loves his job.

I'm currently developing a brand new software project from scratch, complete with CI/CD and live operations on the side. Entirely on my own, 90%+ remote and I get to finish early every day. Something like this was unthinkable just 18 months ago.

What's interesting though is that this amplifies that digital cultural distance between me and ordinary non IT people even further, so I guess the article has a point. For now.

Submission + - Copy Fail exploit lets 732 bytes hijack Linux systems and quietly grab root (nerds.xyz)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: A newly disclosed Linux kernel vulnerability called Copy Fail (CVE-2026-31431) allows an unprivileged user to gain root access using a tiny 732-byte script, and it works with unsettling consistency across major distributions. Unlike older exploits that relied on race conditions or fragile timing, this one is a straight-line logic flaw in the kernelâ(TM)s crypto subsystem. It abuses AF_ALG sockets and splice to overwrite a few bytes in the page cache of a target file, such as /usr/bin/su. Because the kernel executes from the page cache, not directly from disk, the attacker can inject code into a setuid binary in memory and immediately escalate privileges.

What makes this especially concerning is how quiet it is. The file on disk remains unchanged, so standard integrity checks see nothing wrong, while the in-memory version has already been tampered with. The same primitive can also cross container boundaries since the page cache is shared, raising the stakes for multi-tenant environments and Kubernetes nodes. The underlying issue traces back to an in-place optimization added years ago, now being rolled back as part of the fix. Until patched kernels are widely deployed, this is one of those bugs that feels less like a theoretical risk and more like a practical, reliable path to full system compromise.

Submission + - Longevity Escape Velocity Achieved Within Three Years (popularmechanics.com)

Submitted by frdmfghtr
frdmfghtr writes: Popular Mechanics has a story about the rate at which lifespans are being extended by medical technology will surpass actual aging.

From the article:
"There's a controversial idea floating around the futurist community of "longevity escape velocity." It sounds super sci-fi, but it's basi-
cally the idea that as our life extension technology gets better, our life expectancy could increase by more than we age over a set period of time. For example, as medical innovations continue to move forward, we would still age a year over the span of a year. But our life expectancy would go up by, say, a year and two months, meaning we would functionally get two months of life back."

Comment This really is no big deal. (Score 1) 78

by Qbertino (#66118766) Attached to: GitHub 'No Longer a Place For Serious Work', Says Hashicorp Co-Founder

GitHub is an upstream Git host with a web interface and some automation stuff for CD/CI attached. All of this can be downloaded and installed in less than 5 minutes with any contemporary FOSS package manager for any OS that people have in use. There's absolutely nothing here you can't replace in less than 60 minutes with some cheap ass 5 Euro/Month virtual host, setup and config included.

Migrate and move along. It's Git, so you've got your backup right in your working copy too.

Comment Elon Musk has a solid case. (Score 5, Interesting) 83

by Qbertino (#66117784) Attached to: Musk Testifies OpenAI Was Created As Nonprofit To Counter Google

I clearly remember when OpenAI was inaugurated as a non-profit FOSS project and kicked off with private money by Elon Musk (IIRC a few million or so).

From where I stand Elon Musks complaints - which have been going on for quite some time now - are on solid ground and it looks to me as though Sam Altman and his camp took Musk and the rest of the initial team for a ride and turned OpenAI into a for-profit as soon as they had a useful product on their hand. Quite a few people left OpenAI when that happened, also because they were as concerned as Musk about the risks involved with building a superhuman AI.

If this all is the case - and, as I said it sure does look so to me - it's likely Altman and Co. are going to get sued for a bazillion dollars and OpenAI is going to be turned back into a pure FOSS project. ... That sure would be a good thing.

Submission + - US government ramps up mass surveillance (theconversation.com) 2

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

People have little choice when buying devices, using apps or opening accounts but to agree to lengthy terms that include consent for companies to collect and sell their personal data. This “consent” allows their data to end up in the largely unregulated commercial data market. The government claims it can lawfully purchase this data from data brokers. But in buying your data in bulk on the commercial market, the government is circumventing the Constitution, Supreme Court decisions and federal laws designed to protect your privacy from unwarranted government overreach.

Still nothing to hide?

Submission + - Tesla Admits Pre-2023 Hardware Will Never Achieve Full Autonomy 2

Submitted by DeanonymizedCoward
DeanonymizedCoward writes: According to Gizmodo, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has admitted on an earnings call that Tesla's "Hardware 3," used in most pre-2023 models, does not have the capability to support fully autonomous driving. “Unfortunately, Hardware 3, I wish it were otherwise, but Hardware 3 simply does not have the capability to achieve unsupervised FSD,” Musk said during the call. “We did think at one point it would, but relative to Hardware 4 it has only 1/8 the memory bandwidth of Hardware 4.”

All hope is not (yet) lost for owners of older Tesla vehicles, though: Musk proposes a "discounted trade-in" program, as well as the deployment of "mini-factories" to streamline the installation of new computers and cameras into older vehicles. It remains to be seen whether this will materialize.

Submission + - Little Caesars drone delivery proves even terrible pizza can fly (nerds.xyz)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: Flytrex is expanding its drone delivery ambitions with a new partnership with Little Caesars, and the hook here is scale. The companyâ(TM)s new Sky2 drone can carry up to 8.8 pounds, which is enough for two large pizzas, sides, and drinks in a single flight. That may not sound like a big leap, but most drone delivery efforts so far have been limited to small, lightweight orders. This setup stretches to about four miles and Flytrex claims roughly 4.5 minutes from takeoff to drop-off, with direct integration into restaurant ordering systems to cut down on delays. The drone itself uses an eight-motor design for redundancy, dual batteries, and high-precision navigation, plus onboard AI managing flight operations.

If you care about the tech, this is one of the more practical implementations weâ(TM)ve seen, especially with recent FAA approvals for beyond visual line of sight flights and partnerships forming across the delivery ecosystem. If you care about the food, well, thatâ(TM)s a different conversation. As someone from Long Island, Iâ(TM)m not convinced that shaving minutes off delivery time suddenly makes chain pizza desirable, even if it arrives via autonomous octocopter. Still, convenience tends to win, and if suburban customers can get dinner dropped in their yard without dealing with traffic or drivers, this kind of system might actually stick.

Comment Why not just design your own? (Score 1) 120

by Qbertino (#66108358) Attached to: AI Tool Rips Off Open Source Software Without Violating Copyright

How is this any different from any unimaginative but very elaborate software spec? VLC is arguably the best media player, but it does have some really bizarre quirks. I wouldn't ripp off VLC if I wanted to rebuild it, I would simply ask the AI to build a media player with the features I wanted. Problem solved.

My current software project is FOSS but it's built with AI. It's the same thing, just the other way around. I really don't get the hype.

This thing is just a very fringe use-case of AI-built software, that's all. I doubt it will get any wider use.

Submission + - Your phone's next speed boost may come from magnetic chips (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: A new technology has been proposed that could fundamentally solve the issue of smartphones overheating during high-spec gaming or extended video streaming. Researchers at KAIST have discovered the principle of processing signals using the minute vibrations of magnets (spin waves) instead of electrons. This method significantly reduces heat generation and power consumption while enabling instantaneous frequency switching within the several GHz range. This breakthrough is expected to pave the way for smart devices with less heat and longer battery life, as well as ultra-low-power, high-speed computing.

Submission + - Billionaire backer sues Trump family's crypto firm over alleged extortion (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Alain Williams
Alain Williams writes: The Trump family's World Liberty crypto venture is being sued by one of its billionaire backers over allegations of extortion.

Justin Sun has accused World Liberty of an "illegal scheme" to seize his WLFI tokens, a cryptocurrency issued by the company.

Sun alleges the firm, co-founded by US President Donald Trump and his son Eric Trump, has "frozen" all of his tokens and stripped him of his right to vote on governance issues.

Submission + - The Demand Destruction of Oil (theconversation.com)

Submitted by hwstar
hwstar writes: For the first time ever, more than 50 nations will gather next week in Colombia to hash out how to wind down and end their dependence on coal, oil and gas. The history-making conference was planned before the Iran war. But this year’s energy crisis has greatly raised the stakes.

Around 80% of the trapped oil was destined for the Asia-Pacific. Faced with dwindling supply, the region’s governments are implementing emergency measures such as sending workers home, banning government travel, rationing fuel and cutting school hours. The problem is especially bad in the Pacific. Many island nations use diesel for power generation. In response, leaders declared a regional emergency.

But this energy crisis is different from half a century ago in that fossil fuel alternatives are ready for prime time. Since the 1970s, the price of solar panels has fallen 99.9%, while the cost of wind has fallen 91% since 1984. Battery prices have fallen 99% since 1991.

This year’s oil shock shows signs of creating an unplanned social tipping point – a threshold for self-propelling change beyond which systems shift from one state to another. Climate scientists warn of climate tipping points which amplify feedback and accelerate warming. But social scientists also point to positive tipping points – collective action that rapidly accelerates climate action.

Comment It depends. (Score 2) 18

by Qbertino (#66104668) Attached to: 30 WordPress Plugins Turned Into Malware After Ownership Change

Why Auto-update is a trap.

If you have WP plugins from teams you can rely on that have a professional software pipeline serving the updates, then auto-update really isn't a problem. The key point here being of course "professional software pipeline". The broader WP community and it's huge 3rd-party market is a crazy bunch delivering the most ghetto-type sh*t in code under the sun. Quite a few of these guys shouldn't be let near a keyboard, that's for sure.

Likewise, if you've bloated your WP setup with 15+ plugins, half of which are in maintenance delay or offered up by the aforementioned ghetto faction of "developers" (emphasis on the quotes), you shouldn't be running that setup at all, either with or without auto-update.

The key problem is that WP these days is basically not a CMS but an platform and millions of users use it as a playground for their web-projects while barely knowing what they are doing. That's a huge upside since it does enable total n00bs and ords to dive deep into FOSS and FOSS-driven user empowerment - by and large actually a good thing - but with the downside being that most WP setups quickly get bloated beyond repair and eventually fail the most basic of security and stability standards.

As someone who has done a decade of WP development and using it as a key platform I don't really mind if this sort of thing keeps me in a job with things to do. What is frustrating is that you constantly have to convene with deciders would can't tell the difference between a client and a server.

A well implemented and managed WP-centric pipeline with disaster recovery in place however is a god-send when it comes to rapid development and pivoting some web-project on a dime within half an hour because some agency type person can't make up their mind about what they want. Truth be told, for most end-customer web projects time-to-market with WP is unbeatable.

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