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Debugging Bash Like a Sire

Many engineers have a strained relationship with Bash. I love it though, but I’m very aware of it’s limitations when it comes to error handling and data structures (or lack thereof). As a result of these limitations I often see Bash scripts written very defensively that define something like: set -euxo pipefail These are bash builtin options that do more or less sensible things. e: Exit immediately when a non-zero exit status is encountered u: Undefined variables throws an error and exits t

How the 'Minecraft' Score Became Big Business for Its Composer

In 2009, in between full-time shifts at a local factory, then-19-year-old musician Daniel Rosenfeld composed a score for an independent video game. “It was just a side hustle, maybe not even that. It was a hobby, really,” explains Rosenfeld, who records under the name C418. The game, Minecraft, turned out to be successful beyond Rosenfeld’s wildest dreams. In 2014, Microsoft purchased Minecraft’s Swedish developer, Mojang Studios, for $2.5 billion, and through 2023, it had sold 300 million copi

Rethinking CLI interfaces for AI

We need to augment our command line tools and design APIs so they can be better used by LLM Agents. The designs are inadequate for LLMs as they are now – especially if you're constrained by the tiny context windows available with local models. Agent APIs Like many developers, I’ve been dipping my toes into LLM agents. I’ve done my fair share of vibe coding, but also I’ve been playing around with using LLMs to automate reverse engineering tasks mostly using mrexodia’s IDA Pro MCP , including ex

Trying Guix: A Nixer's impressions

Trying Guix: A Nixer's Impressions People occasionally ask me how I think Guix compares to Nix. Let me set the stage: I've been using Nix for many years, have large projects using Nix, used to be very active in the Nix community, and even wrote multiple Nix language interpreters, so I'd say that I'm at least fairly comfortable with Nix. I'm also one of those people who live in Emacs. I'm no stranger to Lisps (although my experience with Scheme is limited) and am very fond of them. It feels nat

ServiceNow’s acquisition of Moveworks is reportedly being reviewed over antitrust concerns

In Brief ServiceNow’s acquisition of enterprise AI startup Moveworks is reportedly drawing regulatory scrutiny. The acquisition is currently under review for antitrust by the U.S. Justice Department, according to Bloomberg, which cited sources familiar with the matter. The probe began in June, Bloomberg reported, and both companies have since received a “second request” calling for additional information that has to be provided before the deal can move forward. ServiceNow announced it was acq

Chinese hackers breached National Guard to steal network configurations

The Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as Salt Typhoon breached and remained undetected in a U.S. Army National Guard network for nine months in 2024, stealing network configuration files and administrator credentials that could be used to compromise other government networks. Salt Typhoon is a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group that is believed to be affiliated with China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) intelligence agency. The hacking group has gained notoriety over the past tw

ICE is getting unprecedented access to Medicaid data

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are getting access to the personal data of nearly 80 million people on Medicaid in order to acquire "information concerning the identification and location of aliens in the United States,” according to an information exchange agreement viewed by WIRED. The agreement, which is titled “Information Exchange Agreement Between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Disclosure of Identity and Locat

ICE Is Getting Unprecedented Access to Medicaid Data

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are getting access to the personal data of nearly 80 million people on Medicaid in order to acquire "information concerning the identification and location of aliens in the United States,” according to an information exchange agreement viewed by WIRED. The agreement, which is titled “Information Exchange Agreement Between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Disclosure of Identity and Locat

OpenAI Quietly Turns to Google to Stay Online

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has quietly added Google Cloud as one of its official service providers, meaning Google will now help power the systems that run ChatGPT and other AI products. This development was disclosed on OpenAI’s website in a list of what are called sub-processors, or companies that handle or process user data on OpenAI’s behalf. For everyday users, it may not seem like a big deal. But behind the scenes, it is a major shift. OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft, has

The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Millions of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE

This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. The Internal Revenue Service is building a computer program that would give deportation officers unprecedented access to confidential tax data. ProPublica has obtained a blueprint of the system, which would create an “on demand” process allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain the ho

A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data

Indeed, the curators of DataComp CommonPool were themselves aware it was likely that PII would appear in the data set and did take some measures to preserve privacy, including automatically detecting and blurring faces. But in their limited data set, Hong’s team found and validated over 800 faces that the algorithm had missed, and they estimated that overall, the algorithm had missed 102 million faces in the entire data set. On the other hand, they did not apply filters that could have recognize

My favorite use-case for AI is writing logs

July 17, 2025 My favorite use-case for AI is writing logs One of my favorite AI dev products today is Full Line Code Completion in PyCharm (bundled with the IDE since late 2023). It’s extremely well-thought out, unintrusive, and makes me a more effective developer. Most importantly, it still keeps me mostly in control of my code. I’ve now used it in GoLand as well. I’ve been a happy JetBrains customer for a long time now, and it’s because they ship features like this. I frequently work with c

Fanfic study challenges leading cultural evolution theory

It's widely accepted conventional wisdom that when it comes to creative works—TV shows, films, music, books—consumers crave an optimal balance between novelty and familiarity. What we choose to consume and share with others, in turn, drives cultural evolution. But what if that conventional wisdom is wrong? An analysis based on data from a massive online fan fiction (fanfic) archive contradicts this so-called "balance theory," according to a paper published in the journal Humanities and Social S

AI-Powered Smart Devices Help Older Adults Age at Home, Survey Finds

Older adults often find artificial intelligence smart home devices and voice assistants useful in helping them age in place, according to a new survey by the University of Michigan. More than half of people surveyed aged 50 and older have used generative AI tools they spoke or typed messages to, according to the National Poll on Healthy Aging, released by the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. By comparison, a June Pew Research Center poll found that 25% of US adults 50 to 64

ICE Is Getting Unprecedented Access to Medicaid Data

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are getting access to the personal data of nearly 80 million people on Medicaid in order to acquire "information concerning the identification and location of aliens in the United States,” according to an information exchange agreement viewed by WIRED. The agreement, which is titled “Information Exchange Agreement Between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Disclosure of Identity and Locat

July Mortgage Rate Forecast: Buyers Retreat as Rates Rebound

Buyers should keep an eye on the possibility of rate cuts in the next few months. Tharon Green/CNET Every time the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dips, even by a few tenths of a percentage point, prospective homebuyers jump to take advantage. As soon as rates move up again, mortgage activity goes down. The past few weeks offer a textbook example. When rates fell to around 6.7% (the lowest level in months) in early July, applications for home loans promptly ticked up, according to the Mort

7 useful things the Flipper Zero can do that still blows my mind - two years later

Flipper Zero reading an NFC security key. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET After over a year of use, I love my Flipper Zero, and I'm still finding cool things to do with it. Am I using it to steal cars, clone credit cards, or change the prices shown on gas station displays? Of course not! That's just fake trash people upload to TikTok to try to look cool, and you can't do anything like that. Also: Prime Day is over, but some of our favorite deals are still live now But that doesn't mean the Flip

Blaxel raises $7.3M seed round to build ‘AWS for AI agents’ after processing billions of agent requests

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now Blaxel, a startup building cloud infrastructure specifically designed for artificial intelligence agents, has raised $7.3 million in seed funding led by First Round Capital, the company announced Tuesday. The financing comes just three months after the six-founder team graduated from Y Combinator’s Spring 2025 batch, underscoring investor a

A US-Only TikTok Could Be Coming. What We Know So Far About the Replacement App

A US-only version of the TikTok mobile app is being developed by the vertical video social media network's owner ByteDance. It will replace the current version of TikTok being used in the US ahead of a September deadline for the Chinese company to divest ownership, according to a report this week by The Information. The new app is codenamed "M2" and would launch on Sept. 5. Users in the US would be required to switch from the existing app to the new one, the report said, citing anonymous source

Transit software startup Via confidentially files for an IPO

Via, the transit software startup that garnered attention for its consumer-facing on-demand shuttle service, said it has filed confidentially for an initial public offering. Via has been batting around plans for an IPO for years. The company filed confidentially for an IPO in 2021, but never took the next official and regulatory steps to enter the public markets. Now, the company says it’s ready. Its status as a confidential filing, however, leaves lots of missing details, including the number

Co-op boss confirms all 6.5m members had data stolen

Co-op boss confirms all 6.5m members had data stolen 3 hours ago Share Save Joe Tidy Cyber correspondent, BBC World Service Imran Rahman-Jones Technology reporter Share Save Watch: Co-op boss says immediate action was taken when the data breach was discovered The chief executive of Co-op has confirmed that all 6.5 million of its members had their data stolen in a cyber-attack on the retailer in April. "I'm devastated that information was taken. I'm also devastated by the impact that it took o

Co-op boss says sorry to 6.5m people who had data stolen in hack

Co-op boss says sorry to 6.5m people who had data stolen in hack 15 minutes ago Share Save Joe Tidy Cyber correspondent, BBC World Service Imran Rahman-Jones Technology reporter Share Save Getty Images The chief executive of Co-op has confirmed all 6.5 million of its members had their data stolen in a cyber-attack on the retailer in April. "I'm devastated that information was taken. I'm also devastated by the impact that it took on our colleagues as well as they tried to contain all of this,"

Webb spots 'Infinity Galaxy' that sheds light on black hole formation

Discoveries keep pouring out of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Researchers observed an unusual cluster, which they dubbed the Infinity Galaxy. It appears to support a leading theory on how some supermassive black holes form. Although "Infinity Galaxy" sounds like a place Thanos would hang out, it merely describes its appearance. Two compact, red nuclei, each surrounded by a ring, give the cluster the shape of an infinity symbol. What's inside is more interesting. (After all, this is a

Police disrupt “Diskstation” ransomware gang attacking NAS devices

An international law enforcement action dismantled a Romanian ransomware gang known as 'Diskstation,' which encrypted the systems of several companies in the Lombardy region, paralyzing their businesses. The law enforcement operation codenamed 'Operation Elicius' was coordinated by Europol and also involved police forces in France and Romania. Diskstation is a ransomware operation that targets Synology Network-Attached Storage (NAS) devices, which are commonly used by companies for centralized

Rivian adds Google Maps features to its navigation app

Rivian, the American EV manufacturer, is integrating Google Maps into its navigation app. The update should provide Rivian owners with more detailed information about their route, disruptions and places they're passing. These new features include updated traffic data and reroutes if another option turns out to be quicker along your journey. Drivers will also have access to real-time road disruption reports from the Google Maps community. Plus, places of interest should now be available right on

Android malware Konfety uses malformed APKs to evade detection

A new variant of the Konfety Android malware emerged with a malformed ZIP structure along with other obfuscation methods that allow it to evade analysis and detection. Konfety poses as a legitimate app, mimicking innocuous products available on Google Play, but features none of the promised functionality. The capabilities of the malware include redirecting users to malicious sites, pushing unwanted app installs, and fake browser notifications. Instead, it fetches and renders hidden ads using

Mark Zuckerberg Interview Derailed After His Audio Doesn’t Work

The debut episode of The Information’s video podcast suffered a serious setback this week after an interview with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to be paused because the podcasters couldn’t get the interviewee’s audio to work. The Information, which routinely publishes scoops involving the tech industry, launched TITV this week—an Amazon-sponsored live video program that the outlet describes as “first in tech news and analysis from the people that break and shape the story.” A key part of the fi

Android’s hidden phone info menu is finally getting organized

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority TL;DR Android Canary is showing a change to the hidden phone information menu. There’s a new entry called “Phone Information V2.” The new entry separates information that was on one page into four categories: Device Details, Data & Network, Satellite, and IMS. Did you know that Android has secret short codes you can use to gain quick access to certain features or information? You just have to enter one of the codes into the dialer to trigger an action or be

Episource is notifying millions of people that their health data was stolen

Medical billing giant Episource is notifying millions of people across the United States that their personal and health information was stolen in a cyberattack earlier this year. The breach affects more than 5.4 million people, according to a listing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, making it one of the largest healthcare breaches of the year so far. Episource, owned by health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group’s subsidiary Optum, provides billing adjustment to the doctor