Unusual circuits in the Intel 386’s standard cell logic
I’ve been studying the standard cell circuitry in the Intel 386 processor recently. The 386, introduced in 1985, was Intel’s most complex processor at the time, containing 285,000 transistors. Intel’s existing design techniques couldn’t handle this complexity and the chip began to fall behind schedule. To meet the schedule, the 386 team started using a […]
GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End
Algol 68 Front End David Edelsohn [email protected] Sat Nov 22 20:38:25 GMT 2025 The GCC Steering Committee has agreed to include the Algol 68 Front End in trunk designated as experimental with stipulations: 1. Algol 68 is not part of all languages built by default. 2. Algol 68 is not part of the GCC release […]
An Economy of AI Agents
Abstract:In the coming decade, artificially intelligent agents with the ability to plan and execute complex tasks over long time horizons with little direct oversight from humans may be deployed across the economy. This chapter surveys recent developments and highlights open questions for economists around how AI agents might interact with humans and with each other, […]
A monopoly ISP refuses to fix upstream infrastructure
A documented case of infrastructure failure, failed escalation, and a company that refuses to investigate. Here’s the situation: I have outages. My neighbor has the same outages. Xfinity won’t fix it. I bought Xfinity internet in June 2024. Immediately, my connection started dropping. Multiple times a day. Every single day. After troubleshooting every piece of […]
NTSB report: Decryption of images from the Titan submersible camera [pdf]
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How to Spot a Counterfeit Lithium-Ion Battery
5 min read Andrew Moseman is the online communications editor at Caltech and a freelance contributor to IEEE Spectrum. Cylindrical lithium-ion batteries for small, inexpensive devices are increasingly turning up counterfeit. As an auditor of battery manufacturers around the world, University of Maryland mechanical engineer Michael Pecht frequently finds himself touring spotless production floors. They’re […]
Windows ARM64 Internals: Deconstructing Pointer Authentication
Pointer Authentication Code, or PAC, is an anti-exploit/memory-corruption feature that signs pointers so their use (as code or data) can be validated at runtime. PAC is available on Armv8.3-A and Armv9.0-A (and later) ARM architectures and leverages virtual addressing in order to store a small cryptographic signature alongside the pointer value. On a typical 64-bit […]
A Reverse Engineer’s Anatomy of the macOS Boot Chain and Security Architecture
1.0 The Silicon Root of Trust: Pre-Boot & Hardware Primitives The security of the macOS platform on Apple Silicon is not defined by the kernel; it is defined by the physics of the die. Before the first instruction of kernelcache is fetched, a complex, cryptographic ballet has already concluded within the Application Processor (AP). This […]
Show HN: Build the habit of writing meaningful commit messages
smartcommit is an intelligent, AI-powered CLI tool that helps you write semantic, Conventional Commits messages effortlessly. It analyzes your staged changes, asks clarifying questions to understand the “why” behind your code, and generates a structured commit message for you. Future you will thank you for deciding to use smartcommit! AI-Powered Analysis: Automatically analyzes your staged […]
The Mozilla Cycle, Part III: Mozilla Dies in Ignominy
I owe Mozilla a thank-you. Really, I do. Maybe an Edible Arrangement? People like those. Some lil pineapples cut into stars on sticks and chocolate strawberries might brighten their day. For the note, I’m thinking something like: Thank you for proving me exactly right. XOXO MT Eight months ago, in the fallout of Mozilla’s fumbling […]