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Some ecologists fear their field is losing touch with nature

Published: 2026-01-08 | Origin: Hacker News

The article discusses the shift in ecological research methods, highlighting the work of Tadeo Ramirez-Parada, who utilized a machine-learning algorithm to analyze one million digitized herbarium specimens to study changes in plant flowering times due to rising temperatures. This approach has revealed that plants are adjusting their flowering times rather than evolving through natural selection. Ramirez-Parada, who conducted his research at the University of California, Santa Barbara, notes that his work has been primarily computer-based with minimal fieldwork involved. The trend

Linus Torvalds: "The AI slop issue is *NOT* going to be solved with documentation"

Published: 2026-01-08 | Origin: /r/programming

Michael Larabel is the founder and main author of Phoronix.com, established in 2004 to enhance the Linux hardware experience. He has authored over 20,000 articles on Linux hardware support, performance, graphics drivers, and more. Additionally, he is the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org. Users can follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn or contact him through MichaelLarabel.com. Phoronix Premium offers ad-free browsing

Ruby 4.0 released – but its best new features are not production ready

Published: 2026-01-08 | Origin: /r/ruby

Ruby 4.0 was released on December 25, 2023, coinciding with its 30th anniversary. Key features include an experimental isolation tool called Ruby Box, a new just-in-time compiler (ZJIT), and an improved experimental Ractor for concurrent programming. While the first public version was released in December 1995, Ruby 1.0 came out on Christmas 1996. Created by Yukihiro Matsumoto ("Matz"), Ruby is designed to be

A new worst coder has entered the chat: vibe coding without code knowledge

Published: 2026-01-08 | Origin: /r/programming

In the era of AI, creating applications and coding has become more accessible, though the quality of these outputs raises questions. The concept of "vibe coding," which emerged in early 2025, allows individuals without technical skills to build apps using platforms like Bolt, raising discussions about its effectiveness and impact on the tech industry. The author, who has no formal coding experience, shares their own experience of creating an app through vibe coding, emphasizing both its simplicity and the potential anxiety it creates for developers,

Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware

Published: 2026-01-08 | Origin: Hacker News

Project Patchouli is an open-source initiative focused on creating an electro-magnetic drawing tablet hardware implementation. It features a coil array, an RF front end using commercially available components, and digital signal processing algorithms. The design supports various commercial pens, providing ultra-low-latency input for custom hardware projects. The project also includes extensive documentation on EMR technology, detailing mechanisms, circuit implementation, signal processing, and pen protocols from different vendors. It is supported by the NLnet Foundation NGI Zero Core Fund

Go.sum is not a lockfile

Published: 2026-01-08 | Origin: Hacker News

The author emphasizes that the `go.sum` file should not be used to analyze Go dependency graphs, as it is not a lockfile and has no impact on version resolution. Instead, `go.sum` serves as a local cache for the Go Checksum Database, mapping module versions to cryptographic hashes for security purposes, ensuring consistency across module versions. The correct file to reference for dependency versions is `go.mod`, which explicitly lists the versions of all dependencies, including transitive ones since Go 1

Open Infrastructure Map

Published: 2026-01-08 | Origin: Hacker News

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Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

Published: 2026-01-08 | Origin: Hacker News

JPMorgan Chase is actively involved in community initiatives and recent milestones. The company supports Fire-Dex, which provides protective equipment to first responders in 100 countries, ensuring their safety globally. Additionally, they highlight U.S. Army veteran Ashley Wigfall's transition into a tech role, facilitated by mentorship and training at their Plano, Texas tech hub. Furthermore, JPMorgan Chase recently inaugurated its new global headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, reaffirming its commitment to New York City. In a significant

Kernel bugs hide for 2 years on average. Some hide for 20

Published: 2026-01-08 | Origin: Hacker News

The analysis of kernel bugs in the Linux operating system reveals that many bugs remain undetected for extended periods. By examining 125,183 bugs with traceable "Fixes:" tags over two decades, it was found that the average kernel bug takes 2.1 years to be discovered, with some subsystems like CAN bus drivers averaging 4.2 years. Notably, a buffer overflow bug in ethtool persisted for 20.7 years, while a refcount leak in netfilter

Play Aardwolf MUD

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: Hacker News

Aardwolf RPG is a free text-based roleplaying game set in the fantasy world of Andolor, featuring magic and countless realms to explore. Players can create characters from 28 different classes, including both fighter and magic-based options. The game allows for solo or group play, with activities such as quests, puzzles, casino games, and player-vs-player combat. Aardwolf includes a detailed in-game help system and a guiding starting area called "The Aylorian Academy" for new players

Tailscale state file encryption no longer enabled by default

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: Hacker News

The Tailscale client and service have received several updates, including new releases for the Tailscale container image, Kubernetes Operator, and tsrecorder. Users can download the Tailscale container image from Docker Hub or GitHub packages repository. The Kubernetes Operator update includes installation and update guidance as per the provided instructions. Notably, several of the recent releases contain no changes beyond library updates, and certain versions were designated for testing or internal purposes only.

A 2025 Retrospective: How Often Executives Predicted the End of Software Engineering

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: /r/programming

Linus Torvalds has expressed a cautious view on AI-assisted programming, distinguishing between its use in experimentation and production. While some developers may be using AI tools in kernel work, Torvalds himself is not testing them. He raised concerns about disruptions caused by crawlers that collect source code and create misleading vulnerability reports, which he finds particularly troubling for projects like curl. Although he supports "vibe coding" for learning and completing tasks, he believes it is unsuitable for critical systems like the Linux kernel

Devaluation of work

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: /r/programming

The author discusses the growing trend of developers receiving code generated by Large Language Models (LLMs) and raises concerns about the implications of this shift. They emphasize that the focus has become more about producing visually appealing code rather than ensuring functional, readable, and maintainable software. The use of common programming languages is important for producing understandable specifications, and unreadable machine-generated code can lead to "instant legacy software." The author observes that while developers may feel faster using LLMs, they may actually be slower

Eat Real Food

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: Hacker News

The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasize the importance of whole, nutrient-dense foods over highly processed options, which have contributed to rising chronic disease rates. The guidelines advocate for prioritizing quality protein from both animal and plant sources, along with healthy fats from whole foods. Recommended protein intake is approximately 0.54–0.73 grams per pound of body weight per day. A variety of vegetables (3 servings per day) and fruits (2 servings per day) should be consumed, with an emphasis

Why I hate WebKit: A (non) love letter from a Tauri developer

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: /r/programming

The author discusses their negative experiences with WebKit while developing Hopp, a remote pair programming app. They highlight a significant issue that many users face—browser compatibility problems, particularly with Safari, which is based on WebKit. The transition to using Tauri instead of Electron was initially seen as a way to create a lighter app that could support multiple platforms, but as Hopp evolved, the team encountered various limitations with WebKit. The app requires low-latency screensharing and efficient resource usage

Shipmap.org

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: Hacker News

Kiln, the designer of a new map visualization of global shipping routes, is now offering high-resolution versions for sale in two styles: one colored by ship type and another in a single color on a transparent background. Interested buyers can contact [email protected] for pricing details. Users are encouraged to embed the map in their articles, provided they include a link back to Kiln. The map illustrates movements of the global merchant fleet throughout 2012, presented on a bathymetric base, along

Sugar industry influenced researchers and blamed fat for CVD (2016)

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: Hacker News

A historical analysis of newly uncovered documents reveals that the sugar industry collaborated with nutrition scientists starting in the mid-1960s. Their goal was to emphasize fat and cholesterol as primary causes of coronary heart disease while downplaying the risks associated with sucrose consumption. Researchers at UC San Francisco analyzed these documents, which showed the sugar industry was aware as early as 1954 that a shift towards low-fat diets would lead to a significant increase in sugar consumption. Following a surge in media discussions about sugar's link

I got paid minimum wage to solve an impossible problem (and accidentally learned why most algorithms make life worse)

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: /r/programming

The author, a Computer Science student, humorously describes their misguided attempt to optimize the task of sweeping the Albert Heijn supermarket floor. Instead of simply sweeping, they created a grid representation of the store, developed a visual editor, and wrote a C++ path optimizer using simulated annealing. This endeavor soon revealed that while one of the proposed paths (Path A) might seem shorter in distance, it was impractical due to excessive turns, highlighting the issue of optimizing for the wrong criteria. The author

The Bank‑Clerk Riddle & How it Made Simon Peyton Jones "Invent" the Binary Number System as a Child

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: /r/programming

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Experienced software developers assumed AI would save them a chunk of time. But in one experiment, their tasks took 20% longer | Fortune

Published: 2026-01-07 | Origin: /r/programming

Sasha Rogelberg, a reporter for Fortune, discusses a study involving 16 experienced software developers who experimented with AI tools to complete their work. The developers expected that using AI would speed up their tasks, similar to the hare in the fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare." However, the study revealed that AI actually increased their task completion time by 19%, contrary to their expectation of a 24% reduction. The researchers, Joel Becker and Nate Rush from the nonprofit MET