You Can’t Fool the Optimizer
You can’t fool the optimiser Written by me, proof-read by an LLM. Details at end. Sometimes you’ll step through code in a debugger and find a complex-looking loop… that executes as a single instruction. The compiler saw through the obfuscation and generated the obvious code anyway. Consider this assortment of highly questionable unsigned addition routines […]
Zig quits GitHub, says Microsoft’s AI obsession has ruined the service
The Foundation that promotes the Zig programming language has quit GitHub due to what its leadership perceives as the code sharing site’s decline. The drama began in April 2025 when GitHub user AlekseiNikiforovIBM started a thread titled “safe_sleep.sh rarely hangs indefinitely.” GitHub addressed the problem in August, but didn’t reveal that in the thread, which […]
Accepting US car standards would risk European lives
EU officials must revisit the hastily agreed trade deal with the US, where the EU stated that it “intends to accept” lower US vehicle standards, say cities – including Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, and more than 75 civil society organisations. In a letter to European lawmakers, the signatories warn that aligning European standards with laxer […]
Quad9 DOH HTTP/1.1 Retirement, December 15, 2025
Back to Blog October 9, 2025 blog Quad9 will be discontinuing support within DNS-over-HTTPS (DOH) using HTTP/1.1 on December 15, 2025. This should have no impact on most users, but there are some older or non-compliant devices or software which may be unsupported after that time with DOH and which will have to revert to […]
Understanding ECDSA
ECDSA attack cryptography ethereum extended euclidean algorithm generating functions signature malleability Prerequisites and audience In this article, we’ll try to understand how ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) works. The version I have in mind is the one used by the Ethereum blockchain. Since my interest lies in security, we’ll also explore the signature malleability […]
Japanese game devs face font dilemma as license increases from $380 to $20k
Japanese game makers are struggling to locate affordable commercial fonts after one of the country’s leading font licensing services raised the cost of its annual plan from around $380 to $20,500 (USD). As reported by Gamemakers and GameSpark and translated by Automaton, Fontworks LETS discontinued its game licence plan at the end of November. The […]
Kohler Can Access Pictures from “End-to-End Encrypted” Toilet Camera
In October Kohler launched Dekota, a $600-plus-monthly-subscription device that attaches to the rim of your toilet and collects images and data from inside, promising to track and provide insights on gut health, hydration, and more. To allay the obvious privacy concerns, the company emphasizes the sensors are only pointed down, into the bowl, and assures […]
Id Software was Lazy – DOOM could have had PC Speaker Music
I’m guessing everyone here has played DOOM before, or at least seen someone else play the game.It would also not be of any news for most here, that DOOM has specific hard-coded sound drivers which directly talk to the sound hardware.Now, many PCs didn’t have a dedicated (let alone supported) sound card for DOOM. What […]
EmacsConf 2025
EmacsConf 2025 | Online ConferenceDecember 6 and 7, 2025 (Sat-Sun) Talks | Watch | Guidelines for Conduct EmacsConf is the conference about the joy of GNU Emacs and Emacs Lisp. We are busy putting things together for EmacsConf 2025, and we would love to have your help to make EmacsConf 2025 amazing, much like the […]
Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
While the AI race is raging, we’ve been building a better alternative. One that’s helpful, private, and optional — and that puts the planet first. AI, but thoughtful AI-powered chatbots and search tools are fast becoming the way people ask questions online. To meet this moment — and to keep using 100% of our profits […]