| 1. | Three new discoveries in mathematics, computer science, and physics(openai.com) |
| 969 points by jonluca 14 hours ago | 514 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Summary not available | |
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| 2. | The Exponential Time Hypothesis Is False [pdf](github.com) |
| 667 points by vok 14 hours ago | 250 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Summary not available | |
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| 3. | Sebastian Raschka's from-scratch video course on building reasoning models(magazine.sebastianraschka.com) |
| 739 points by sgiannopoulos 21 hours ago | 102 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Sebastian Raschka released a free 11-hour video course (8 lectures) accompanying his "Build a Reasoning Model (From Scratch)" book, walking through implementation in Python and PyTorch starting from a pre-trained Qwen3 0.6B model. The course covers evaluation with verifiers, inference-time scaling (temperature sampling, self-consistency, self-refinement), reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards (a simplified GRPO), and distillation from a stronger teacher model (DeepSeek R1). Prerequisites are Python/PyTorch familiarity; early examples run on CPU, but training sections benefit from a GPU. | |
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| 4. | Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11(blog.enlyth.com) |
| 461 points by enlyth 18 hours ago | 271 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: The author hunted for the oldest GUI app that runs natively on Windows 11, initially landing on FREECELL.EXE from Feb 1993 (via Win32s), then digging further to get CDPLAYER.EXE from Nov 1992 (an NT 3.1 pre-release build) working, using a DLL to emulate a CD-ROM drive. Earlier NT builds failed due to incompatible PE formats or cdecl-vs-stdcall calling convention mismatches, though 16-bit apps like REVERSI.EXE (1985) can still run via the otvdm compatibility layer. | |
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| 5. | Type Server Protocol(github.com) |
| 249 points by adamnemecek 18 hours ago | 169 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: The Type Server Protocol (TSP) is a JSON-RPC protocol—borrowing conventions from LSP—for querying a Python type server about snapshots, import resolution, search paths, and type information (computed, declared, and expected types). It uses snapshot IDs to version analysis state, returns tagged JSON type objects with discriminators for built-ins, functions, classes, unions, etc., and supports an optional multi-connection mode for concurrent read-only queries over IPC. The current 0.4.1 spec appears aligned with Pylance 2026.4.1, suggesting Microsoft is formalizing an interface between editors and Python type checkers. | |
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| 6. | CSS-Tricks has a new owner(css-tricks.com) |
| 497 points by edent 20 hours ago | 107 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Geoff Graham has acquired CSS-Tricks from DigitalOcean, making the site independent again after its 2022 sale by founder Chris Coyier. Graham plans to fund it through a mix of advertising, memberships, a shop, and an upcoming beginner HTML/CSS course, while reviving the newsletter and guest-writing submissions. Publishing will continue at a reduced pace (one or two articles weekly), with a focus on making the site more inclusive for beginners and giving writers a platform rather than using it as a personal soapbox. | |
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| 7. | Solar power is becoming bigger than nuclear(bbc.com) |
| 384 points by geox 21 hours ago | 554 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Solar is set to surpass nuclear as a global power source in 2026, jumping from 1% of world electricity a decade ago to roughly 10%, and supplying three-quarters of 2025's electricity demand growth. The surge is driven by collapsing panel prices (under $100), cheap batteries that solve daily storage, and rapid adoption in "sun belt" countries like Pakistan where residents buy panels out-of-pocket. Growth may slow slightly in 2026 due to China changing its subsidy regime, but the main constraints are now grids, long-term storage, and electrification pace—not panel cost or supply. | |
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| 8. | New iPad mini(apple.com) |
| 223 points by soheilpro 23 hours ago | 541 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Apple announced a new iPad mini with an 8.5-inch OLED display (optional nano-texture), the A20 Pro chip with upgraded Neural Engine for Apple Intelligence, IP67 water/dust resistance, a landscape 12MP Center Stage front camera, Wi-Fi 7, and fast charging. It starts at $699 (Wi-Fi) and $849 (Cellular) in 128/256/512GB configurations, with pre-orders October 28 and availability November 6. | |
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| 9. | Websites Should Be Printable(brennenputh.me) |
| 356 points by bagatelle 1 day ago | 204 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: The author argues that websites consisting mainly of text should be styled for print, since some readers prefer marking up physical documents. They share a short CSS snippet using `@media print` to hide/show elements, resize fonts, convert links to black, and style codeblocks, noting that making a page print-friendly took only a morning's work. They acknowledge few people print webpages, but frame it as a small kindness worth the effort. | |
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| 10. | Anthropic S-1(sec.gov) |
| 1637 points by SiNTEx 23 hours ago | 1561 comments | permalink | |
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| 11. | Blaise Pascal invented fixed route public transport (2024)(humantransit.org) |
| 296 points by skadamat 4 days ago | 151 comments | permalink | |
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| 12. | SIMD-accelerated computer vision on a $2 microcontroller(shraiwi.com) |
| 217 points by zdw 1 day ago | 61 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: A developer wrote a SIMD-accelerated FAST feature detector for the ESP32-S3's 128-bit vector instructions, roughly doubling throughput from 5.1MP/s to 11.2MP/s and processing QVGA frames in ~6ms. Key obstacles included the ISA's lack of misaligned reads, signed-only 8-bit comparisons, and saturating arithmetic — worked around with register slice extraction and an XOR-with-0x80 trick to convert unsigned pixels to signed range. The result enables real-time 30fps VGA computer vision on a $2 chip. | |
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| 13. | Microsoft offers mass buyouts for roughly a quarter of its workforce(seattletimes.com) |
| 971 points by doctorzook 20 hours ago | 953 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to roughly 60,000 employees (VP level and below in the US, Canada, India, and UK), though it expects only 3-5% to accept. The move, part of ongoing cost-cutting amid massive AI infrastructure spending, follows last year's 15,000 layoffs and an earlier retirement program. Gaming, Windows, Copilot, HR, and finance divisions are fully participating, while AI, legal, and cloud teams are partially involved; marketing and security are excluded. | |
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| 14. | GPT-6.1 Terra(openai.com) |
| 600 points by meetpateltech 18 hours ago | 380 comments | permalink | |
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| 15. | Pharo 14(pharo.org) |
| 268 points by xkriva11 1 day ago | 79 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Pharo 14, the pure object-oriented Smalltalk-descended language and live environment, has been released with 978 merged PRs and 616 closed issues since v13. Major changes include modernized dev tools (new Mission Control, Pulse replacing Spotter, reworked Method and Settings Browsers), a rebuilt refactoring/command infrastructure with expanded CLI tooling (including a command-line debugger), and significant VM work such as RISC-V JIT support, unified frame/stack management, and improved GC. The project has also shifted from a spring to a fall release cadence. | |
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| 16. | Behind the scenes at the NeXT Computer office(exhibits.stanford.edu) |
| 258 points by Austin_Conlon 1 day ago | 155 comments | permalink | |
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| 17. | The EPA Is Quietly Killing Its Web Archive(motherjones.com) |
| 286 points by robtherobber 17 hours ago | 53 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: The EPA has quietly announced it will decommission its online web archive on December 31, 2026, eliminating public access to tens of thousands of environmental documents dating back to the 1990s. The archive, which costs roughly $2 million annually to maintain, has been a critical resource for researchers, policymakers, and the public — particularly for tracking deleted climate pages from Trump's first term and documenting cases like Camp Lejeune contamination. A prior Biden-era attempt to shut it down in 2022 was reversed after public backlash, but the agency now points users to limited "snapshot collections" as a replacement. | |
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| 18. | Birdwatching rewires the brain and slows cognitive decline(bbc.com) |
| 532 points by cisc 3 days ago | 207 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Neuroscientists at Baycrest Academy found that expert birdwatchers' brains are structurally different from novices', with more activity and better-preserved organization in regions tied to attention and visual recognition — suggesting birdwatching may slow age-related cognitive decline via neuroplasticity. Separate research in German nursing homes showed that installing bird feeders improved residents' cognition, mobility, and wellbeing within weeks, prompting insurers to fund the setup in 400+ facilities. Similar therapy programs are now used for dementia patients and stroke survivors with aphasia in the US and UK. | |
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| 19. | We should be more ambitious with the software we build(danluu.com) |
| 892 points by ltratt 2 days ago | 769 comments | permalink | |
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| 20. | US designates helium as a critical material(apnews.com) |
| 217 points by rbanffy 17 hours ago | 129 comments | permalink | |
tl;dr: Summary not available | |
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