PebbleOS becomes open source, new Pebble device announced
Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble, the original smartwatch maker, made a major announcement today together with Google. Pebble was originally bought by Fitbit and in turn Fitbit was then bought by Google, but Migicovsky always wanted to to go back to his original idea and create a brand new smartwatch. PebbleOS took dozens of engineers working over 4 years to build, alongside our fantastic product and QA teams. Repro … ⌘ Read more

Chinese researchers just built an open-source rival to ChatGPT in 2 months, and Silicon Valley is freaked out
Speaking of “AI”, the Chinese company DeepSeek has lobbed a grenade dead-centre into the middle of the “AI” bubble, and it’s been incredibly entertaining to watch. DeepSeek has released several new “AI” models, which seem to rival or even surpass OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT models – but with a massive twist: DeepSeek, b … ⌘ Read more

AI bots paralyze Linux news site and others
Apparently, since the beginning of the year, AI bots have been ensuring that websites can only respond to regular inquiries with a delay. The founder of Linux Weekly News (LWN-net), Jonathan Corbet, reports that the news site is therefore often slow to respond. The AI scraper bots cause a DDoS, a distributed denial-of-service attack. At times, the AI bots would clog the lines with hundreds of IP addresses simultaneously as soon as they decided … ⌘ Read more

Muons
⌘ Read more

AI achieves self-replication in new study + 2 more stories
AI self-replication demonstrated by researchers; ICC seeks warrants against Taliban leaders for women’s rights; CERN’s new Flash radiotherapy could revolutionize cancer treatment. ⌘ Read more

When a sole maintainer steps down, Linux drivers become orphans
The Linux kernel has become such an integral, core part of pretty much all aspects of the technology world, and corporate contributions to the kernel make up such a huge chunk of the kernel’s ongoing development, it’s easy to forget that some parts of the kernel are still maintained by some lone person in Jacksonville, Nebraska, or whatever. Sadly, we were reminded of this today when the sole maintainer of … ⌘ Read more

Android 16 Beta 1 has started rolling out for Pixel devices
Basically, this seems to mean applications will no longer be allowed to limit themselves to phone size when running on devices with larger screens, like tablets. Other tidbits in this first beta include predictive back support for 3-button navigation, support for the Advanced Professional Video codec from Samsung, among other things. It’s still quite early in the release process, so more is sure to come, and some … ⌘ Read more

T. Rex Evolution
⌘ Read more

Fusion reactor breaks 1,000 seconds record + 3 more stories
Chinese scientists break nuclear fusion record with 1,066 seconds at 100 million Celsius; US launches $500 billion AI infrastructure The Stargate Project; AI-designed drugs from Isomorphic Labs set for clinical trials by 2026; New AI method shows 90-100% accuracy in early breast cancer detection. ⌘ Read more

Snowdrop OS: a homebrew operating system from scratch, in x86 assembly language
Snowdrop OS was born of my childhood curiosity around what happens when a PC is turned on, the mysteries of bootable disks, and the hidden aspects of operating systems. It is a 16-bit real mode operating system for the IBM PC architecture. I designed and developed this homebrew OS from scratch, using only x86 assembly language. ↫ Snowdrop OS’ website I have created and includ … ⌘ Read more

NixBSD: an unofficial NixOS fork with a FreeBSD kernel
NixBSD is an attempt to make a reproducible and declarable BSD, based on NixOS. Although theoretically much of this work could be copied to build other BSDs, all work thus far has been focused on building a FreeBSD distribution. ↫ NixBSD GitHub page Look, it’s my job to make sure I use and am familiar with as many operating systems and related tools as possible. As much as you guys support OSNews on Patreon or Ko-Fi, it’s g … ⌘ Read more

SDL 3.2.0 released
SDL, the Simple DirectMedia Layer, has released version 3.2.0 of its development library. In case you don’t know what SDL is: Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform development library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, and graphics hardware via OpenGL and Direct3D. It is used by video playback software, emulators, and popular games including Valve‘s award winning catalog and many Humble Bundle games. ↫ SDL website This new release has a lot of impr … ⌘ Read more

Unit Circle
⌘ Read more

One-third of Arctic carbon sinks now emit + 2 more stories
Trump vows to restore trust in government during inauguration; Arctic carbon sinks now contribute to emissions; NATO deploys Norwegian F-35s to bolster defense ⌘ Read more

9front “THIS TIME DEFINITELY” released
The operating system I’m not cool enough to run has pushed out a new release: 9front “THIS TIME DEFINITELY” is now available. 9front is a fork of plan9, created after plan9 languished at Bell Labs. This release enables gefs, the new file system, in the installer, “ip/ipconfig now support dhcpv6 dynamic allocations and handles prefix expirations”, and it comes with some smaller changes, too, of course. Despite every piece of evidence to the contrary, I am s … ⌘ Read more

Right to root access
I believe consumers, as a right, should be able to install software of their choosing to any computing device that is owned outright. This should apply regardless of the computer’s form factor. In addition to traditional computing devices like PCs and laptops, this right should apply to devices like mobile phones, “smart home” appliances, and even industrial equipment like tractors. In 2025, we’re ultra-connected via a network of devices we do not have full control over. Much of this has t … ⌘ Read more

How UNIX spell ran in 64kB RAM
How do you fit a 250kB dictionary in 64kB of RAM and still perform fast lookups? For reference, even with modern compression techniques like gzip -9, you can’t compress this file below 85kB. In the 1970s, Douglas McIlroy faced this exact challenge while implementing the spell checker for Unix at AT&T. The constraints of the PDP-11 computer meant the entire dictionary needed to fit in just 64kB of RAM. A seemingly impossible task. ↫ Abhinav Upadhyay They still managed to … ⌘ Read more

Introduction to GrapheneOS
GrapheneOS (written GOS from now on) is an Android based operating system that focuses security. It is only compatible with Google Pixel devices for multiple reasons: availability of hardware security components, long term support (series 8 and 9 are supported at least 7 years after release) and the hardware has a good quality / price ratio. The goal of GOS is to provide users a lot more control about what their smartphone is doing. A main profile is used by default (the owner … ⌘ Read more

Linux 6.13 released
Linux 6.13 comes with the introduction of the AMD 3D V-Cache Optimizer driver for benefiting multi-CCD Ryzen X3D processors, the new AMD EPYC 9005 “Turin” server processors will now default to AMD P-State rather than ACPI CPUFreq for better power efficiency, the start of Intel Xe3 graphics bring-up, support for many older (pre-M1) Apple devices like numerous iPads and iPhones, NVMe 2.1 specification support, and AutoFDO and Propeller optimization support when compiling the Linux kernel with … ⌘ Read more

I haven’t read the entire specification, but I think there is a fundamental design problem. Why would someone put an encrypted message on a public feed that is completely useless to everybody other than the one recipient? This doesn’t make sense to me. It of course depends on the threat model, but wouldn’t one also want to minimize the publicly visible metadata (who is communicating with whom and when) when privately messaging? I feel there are better ways to accomplish this. Sorry, if I miss the obvious use case, please let me know. :-)

Chemical Formulas
⌘ Read more

MorphOS 3.19 released
It’s been about 18 months, but we’ve got a new release for MorphOS, the Amiga-like operating system for PowerPC Macs and some other PowerPC-based machines. Going through the list of changes, it seems MorphOS 3.19 focuses heavily on fixing bugs and addressing issues, rather than major new features or earth-shattering changes. Of note are several small but important updates, like updated versions of OpenSSL and OpenSSH, as well as a ton of new filetype definitions – and so much more. Havin … ⌘ Read more

Google begins requiring JavaScript for Google Search
Google says it has begun requiring users to turn on JavaScript, the widely used programming language to make web pages interactive, in order to use Google Search. In an email to TechCrunch, a company spokesperson claimed that the change is intended to “better protect” Google Search against malicious activity, such as bots and spam, and to improve the overall Google Search experience for users. The spokesperson noted that, with … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft reveals MatterGen AI model to transform material discovery + 2 more stories
Microsoft launches MatterGen AI model for advanced material design; OpenAI partners with Retro to extend human life; Scientists explore ocean’s oxygen production implications. ⌘ Read more

@kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz I approve! That’s how I learned HTML (version 4 at the time and XHTML shortly after) and making websites, too. Some of them are still made like this to this day. Hand-written HTML. Hardly any <div> and class nonsense. I can’t remember with which editor I started out with, but I upgraded to Webweaver (later renamed to Webcraft) quickly. Yeah, this were the times when there was just a single computer for the whole family.

Free hosting on Arcor, Freenet and I don’t know anymore how they were all called. Like this author, I uploaded everything via FTP. Oh dear, when was the last time I used that? And I had registered plenty of free .de.vu domains.

Being on Windows at the time, everything was ISO-8859-1 for me. No UTF-8, I don’t think I’ve heard about it back then.

Later, I wrote my own CMSes in PHP. Man, were they bad in retrospect. :-D Of course, MySQL databases were used as backends. I still exactly know the moment I read the first time about SQL injections. I tried it on my own CMS login and was shocked when I could just break in. The very next thing I did was to lock down everything with an .htaccess until I actually fixed my broken PHP code. Hahaha, good memories.

I swear by Atom or RSS feeds. Many of my sites offer them. I daily consume feeds, they’re just great.

damn it i got so excited because bleeding cool ran an article with a title like ‘all of DC april solicits so far’ and i did not read the ‘so far’ part and clicked it excitedly hoping to see all the april solicits but they’re out next week or something T__T

Google Begins Requiring JavaScript For Google Search
Google says it has begun requiring users to turn on JavaScript, the widely-used programming language to make web pages interactive, in order to use Google Search. From a report: In an email to TechCrunch, a company spokesperson claimed that the change is intended to “better protect” Google Search against malicious activity, such as bots and spam, and to improve the over … ⌘ Read more

Another infrastructure apocalypse day at work. Linux and Windows users were unable to reach M$ services. No Outlook, no Teams, no intranet (Sharepoint), no Azure, etc. Mac users were lucky, though. Took whoever the whole day to resolve that. Shortly before I called it quits, it worked again. I haven’t read any e-mail today, used Teams mostly on the company phone, but it’s the plague.

And as I’ve forseen the other day, we have to deliver yet another workaround hotfix, once the other team eventually gets their stuff integrated that we should rely on. Good riddance it’s the weekend now!

Human Altitude
⌘ Read more

Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire + 3 more stories
Scientists showcase new antimony atom method in quantum computing; UK leader signs treaty with Ukraine enhancing security; Israel and Hamas agree on ceasefire and hostages; SpaceX launches Falcon 9 with lunar landers for commercial missions. ⌘ Read more

@prologic@twtxt.net Those people don’t read tocs.

Uncanceled Units
⌘ Read more

@aelaraji@aelaraji.com Reading “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak

@johanbove@johanbove.info Way to go! ✊ what will you be reading? Got anything planned?

Researchers engineer bacteria that break down microplastics + 2 more stories
Qatar presents final ceasefire draft to Israel and Hamas; University of Waterloo engineers bacteria to decompose microplastics; UK government announces significant AI investment initiative. ⌘ Read more

Cancelled Mastodon because the time spent on it could have been used for reading books instead and the level of interaction is not enough to keep me interested.

Radon
⌘ Read more

@prologic@twtxt.net I say we should find a way to support mentions with only url, no nick, as per the original spec.

• For @<nick url> we already got support
  
• For @<nick> the posting client should expand it to @<nick url>, if not then the reading client should just render it as @nick with no link.
  
• For @<url> the sending client should try to expand it to @<nick url>, if not then the reading client should try to find or construct a nick base on:
  
  1. Look in twtxt.txt for a nick =
     
  2. Use (sub)domain from URL
     
  3. Use folder or file name from URL

Global temperatures surpassed 1.5C + 2 more stories
Global temperatures surpassed 1.5C this year; the World Economic Forum forecasts 170 million new jobs by 2030; Russia halts gas supplies to Europe. ⌘ Read more

Chess Zoo
⌘ Read more

Hmm, I just noticed that the feed template seems to be broken on your yarnd instance, @kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz. Looking at your raw feed file (and your mates as well), line 6 reads:

# This is hosted by a Yarn.social pod yarn running yarnd ERSION@OMMIT  go1.23.4
                                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Looks like the first letters of the version and commit got somehow chopped off. I’ve no idea what happened here, maybe @prologic@twtxt.net knows something. :-? I’m not familiar with the templating, I just recall @xuu@txt.sour.is reporting in IRC the other day that he’s also having great fun with his custom preamble from time to time.

That “broken” comment doesn’t hurt anything, it’s still a proper comment and hence ignored by clients. It’s just odd, that’s all.

Scientists extract 1.2 million-year-old ice core from Antarctica + 3 more stories
James Webb Telescope finds 44 stars in the Dragon Arc galaxy; Greenland’s importance escalates due to climate change; scientists drill 1.2 million-year-old ice core; Trump considers national economic emergency for tariffs. ⌘ Read more

@movq@www.uninformativ.de I read some of them that I thought might be kinda important. But nearly none really were. I gotta try your approach next time. :-)

Religious Leaders Experiment With AI In Sermons
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: To members of his synagogue, the voice that played over the speakers of Congregation Emanu El in Houston sounded just like Rabbi Josh Fixler’s. In the same steady rhythm his congregation had grown used to, the voice delivered a sermon about what it meant to be a neighbor in the age of artificial intelligence. Then, Rabbi Fix … ⌘ Read more

Trimix
⌘ Read more

I’m still making progress with the Emacs client. I’m proud to say that the code that is responsible for reading the feeds is almost finished, including: Twt Hash Extension, Twt Subject Extension, Multiline Extension and Metadata Extension. I’m fine-tuning some tests and will soon do the first buffer that displays the twts.

For later reading: https://macos-defaults.com/. What brought me there was https://macos-defaults.com/dock/autohide-delay.html

Thank you @bender@twtxt.net Much appreciated 🙏 and Sorry you/anyone had to read that…

I’m usually comfortable keeping my hardship to myself, most especially AWAY from the internet; an act of kindness of sorts towards others, “Everyone’s got their own problems to worry about” kind of thing.. But maaan am I starting to believe creating a twitter account would be a healthy decision 🤣🤦 Read nothin’ out there, just a one way echo chamber of sorts to let that shi_ out of my chest. It seem that’s what everyone else’s been using it for all this time.

A Bsky would be even better! 😂 I’d get to shi_ post and yap all I want, allll the way from terminal and never ever have to look back at it or whatever comes out of it. But I digress…

I FU_ing despise this … whatever this is. I wish I could just wake up in some sort of parallel universe where everything is just sunshine and rainbows, alas, life would be just as meaningless.

and sorry you had to read this if you did.

@kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz i’m reading this and i already have a gts server that i could secure with this but i’m thinking it’d be best for most of my public sites https://ovelny.sh/blog/a-complete-guide-for-your-gotosocial-server/