Web Review, Week 2024-39
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2024-39.
We have lift-off! Element X, Call and Server Suite are ready!
Tags: tech, matrix, ux
Definitely a big announcement for Matrix. Could it be the beginning of going mainstream? I suspect it’ll be now or never. I’m slightly concerned about the desktop support being apparently ignored, the UX there is far from great still.
https://element.io/blog/we-have-lift-off-element-x-call-and-server-suite-are-ready/
Firefox tracks you with “privacy preserving” feature
Tags: tech, mozilla, privacy, surveillance, gdpr
It was to be expected that complaints against Mozilla could happen in Europe. They’ve been asking for it lately…
https://noyb.eu/en/firefox-tracks-you-privacy-preserving-feature
No Data Lasts Forever
Tags: tech, data, culture, history, ecology
Excellent piece, we’re a civilisation whose culture is built on shifting sands and… toy plastics. Guess what will survive us?
https://lilysthings.org/blog/no-data-lasts-forever/
They stole my voice with AI | Jeff Geerling
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, criticism, law
This is clearly less high profile than the Scarlett Johanssen vs OpenAI one. Still this shows it has the potential to become a widespread (even though shady) practice. This might need some regulation fairly soon.
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/they-stole-my-voice-ai
Forget ChatGPT: why researchers now run small AIs on their laptops
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, science
This is indeed important to be able to run such models locally. Will still require more optimization but it’s slowly getting there. The reproducibility it brings is especially necessary for science.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02998-y
OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, security, safety
People are putting LLM related feature out there too hastily for my taste. At least they should keep in mind the security and safety implications.
https://owasp.org/www-project-top-10-for-large-language-model-applications/
Millions of Vehicles Could Be Hacked and Tracked Thanks to a Simple Website Bug
Tags: tech, automotive, security
Could we just stop connecting cars with web access for features we don’t really need? Please?
https://www.wired.com/story/kia-web-vulnerability-vehicle-hack-track/
Peering Forward: C++’s next decade
Tags: tech, c++, security, safety
Lots of good stuff definitely coming. This should definitely help make it more approachable to lots of people.
https://github.com/CppCon/CppCon2024/blob/main/Presentations/Peering_Forward_Cpps_Next_Decade.pdf
Eliminating Memory Safety Vulnerabilities at the Source
Tags: tech, c++, rust, security, safety
Excellent proof of why you don’t want to “rewrite it all in Rust”. It’s important to respect the old code and focus on applying safety practices on the new code. This is also why the upcoming changes to C++ are worth it, it might improve the interoperability factor almost for free.
https://security.googleblog.com/2024/09/eliminating-memory-safety-vulnerabilities-Android.html
Committing to Rust in the kernel
Tags: tech, linux, kernel, rust
Despite the drama, Rust is slowly making its way into the kernel.
https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/991062/b0df468b40b21f5d/
Waiting for many things at once with io_uring
Tags: tech, linux, system
Wondering what io_uring is for? This is a good explanation.
https://mazzo.li/posts/uring-multiplex.html
Overview of cross-architecture portability problems – Michał Górny
Tags: tech, cpu, portability
Nice list of common portability issues one can encounter at the machine architecture level. But don’t be fooled, this doesn’t have implications only for C and C++, those problems leak in higher level languages as well.
https://blogs.gentoo.org/mgorny/2024/09/23/overview-of-cross-architecture-portability-problems/
The Python Package Index Should Get Rid Of Its Training Wheels
Tags: tech, python
Interesting problem I didn’t realize PyPI had. Indeed I hope they start looking into reproducibility issue to reduce the bandwidth and space they use.
https://kristoff.it/blog/python-training-wheels/
Refactoring Python with Tree-sitter & Jedi
Tags: tech, python, refactoring
Interesting trick to help with project wide renames for Python codebases.
https://jackevans.bearblog.dev/refactoring-python-with-tree-sitter-jedi/
I Like Makefiles
Tags: tech, tools
What can I say? I love Makefiles as well.
https://switowski.com/blog/i-like-makefiles/
git-absorb: git commit –fixup, but automatic
Tags: tech, tools, version-control, git
Ooh! This looks like a really neat improvement. I wonder how reliable this is, I’ll definitely test it.
https://github.com/tummychow/git-absorb
similar, but different
Tags: tech, software, design
Nice short post about cohesion in software design. Also gives clue about what proxy we can use to gauge this cohesion.
https://explaining.software/archive/similar-but-different/
Resilient Microservice Applications, by Design, and without the Chaos
Tags: tech, architecture, microservices, reliability, research
I’m obviously not in love with the complexity this type of architecture brings. That being said, this thesis brings an interesting approach to better detect failure scenarios in such systems.
https://christophermeiklejohn.com/publications/cmeiklej_phd_s3d_2024.pdf
Conway’s law
Tags: tech, architecture, organization, conway
This law is unfortunately too little known. Here is a nice and short primer. Be careful though, it’s short but packed with information, might require more reading around the concepts highlighted in this article.
https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/Conway%27s+law
DORA Metrics At Work. How we doubled our team’s delivery…
Tags: tech, project-management, quality, metrics
When I read the content of this article I wonder how useful the metrics really were. I mean clearly they helped the team realize which changes to bring… but the practice changes were all somewhat conventional in a way. You go a long way when you focus on quality and create the space for it.
https://medium.com/booking-com-development/dora-metrics-at-work-46c835a86a89
Bye for now!