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Nullable vs. Nullable in C#

Nullable vs nullable in C# One of the most unfortunate parts of the nullability narrative in C# is the reuse of the T? syntax to denote two completely separate concepts for value types and reference types. This leads to some odd and confusing behaviour. As you may know, nullable value types is a much older concept than nullable reference types. Nullable value types were introduced in C# 2.0, whereas nullable reference types came in C# 8.0. And they’re not the same. Nullable isn’t nullable. Fo

Probability of typing a wrong Bitcoin address

I heard someone say that Bitcoin is dangerous because you could easily make a typo when entering an address, sending money to the wrong person, and have no recourse. There are dangers associated with Bitcoin, such as losing a private key, but address typos are not a major concern. Checksums There are several kinds of Bitcoin addresses. Each is at least 20 bytes (160 bits) long, with at least 4 bytes (32 bits) of checksum. The chances of a typo resulting in a valid checksum are about 1 in 232.

Rupert's Property

You can cut a hole in a cube that’s big enough to slide an identical cube through that hole! Think about that for a minute—it’s kind of weird. Amazingly, nobody could prove any convex polyhedron doesn’t have this property! It’s called ‘Rupert’s property’. Until this week. This week Steininger and Yurkevich proved there is a convex polyhedron that you can’t cut a hole in big enough to slide the entire polyhedron through the hole. It has 90 vertices, and apparently 240 edges and 152 faces. To

Save $200 on the already-affordable Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority Those who want a good foldable phone that is also affordable have very few options. Right now, this is one of the best ones. The new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is $200 off, bringing the cost down to a pretty reasonable $699.99! Buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE for just $699.99 ($200 off) This offer is available from Amazon as a “limited time deal.” This discount applies to both color versions available: Black or White. We’re specifically referring to the 128

The sisters “paradox” – counter-intuitive probability

It seems simple, but it isn't There are a couple of famous counter-intuitive problems in probability theory and the sisters "paradox" is one of them. I'll tell you the problem, let you guess the solution, and then give you some of the background. Here's the problem: a family has two children. You're told that at least one of them is a girl. What's the probability both are girls? (International Film Service / American Releasing Co., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) Assume that the pr

Uncertain<T>

You know what’s wrong with people? They’re too sure of themselves. Better to be wrong and own it than be right with caveats. Hard to build a personal brand out of nuance these days. People are attracted to confidence — however misplaced. But can you blame them? (People, that is) Working in software, the most annoying part of reaching Senior level is having to say “it depends” all the time. Much more fun getting to say “let’s ship it and iterate” as Staff or “that won’t scale” as a Principal.

Colleges see significant drop in international students as fall semester begins

NPR > Education Classes began this week for students at the University at Buffalo, a public research university in western New York, but there were about 750 fewer international students on campus than expected. The new students who did make it gathered for a welcome from the school's dean of students. "We know you have had to overcome hurdles to be here – especially this summer, with visas," Tomás Aguirre told the assembled students, representing more than 100 countries. "And I just wanted yo

The Lobster Programming Language

The Lobster Programming Language Lobster is a programming language that tries to combine the advantages of static typing and compile-time memory management with a very lightweight, friendly and terse syntax, by doing most of the heavy lifting for you. While it is a general purpose language, its current implementation is biased towards games and other graphical things, with plenty of “batteries included” functionality. Lobster is Open Source (Apache v2 license) and can be found on github. Onli

Police seize VerifTools fake ID marketplace servers, domains

The FBI and the Dutch Police have shut down the VerifTools marketplace for fraudulent identity documents after seizing servers in Amsterdam that hosted the online operation. VerifTools was a prominent platform that produced and intermediated the purchase of fake documents (e.g. driver's licenses, passports) that were used to bypass various identity verification systems or to assume an identity, either stolen or fabricated. The police note that such sites are used in bank fraud, phishing, helpd

Group Borrowing: Zero-cost memory safety with fewer restrictions

Child groups That's a useful rule, and it can get us pretty far. But let's make it even more specific, so we can prove more programs memory-safe. For example, look at this snippet: rs ref hp_ref = d.hp # Ref to contents damage = a.calculate_damage(d) a_energy_cost = a.calculate_attack_cost(d) d_energy_cost = d.calculate_defend_cost(a) a.use_energy(a_energy_cost) d.use_energy(d_energy_cost) d.damage(damage) print(hp_ref) # Valid! The previous (invalid) program had a ring_ref referring to an ele

Blogging service TypePad is shutting down and taking all blog content with it

In the olden days, publishing a site on the Internet required that you figure out hosting and have at least some experience with HTML, CSS, and the other languages that make the Internet work. But the emergence of blogging and "Web 2.0" sites in the late '90s and early 2000s gave rise to a constellation of services that would offer to host all of your thoughts without requiring you to build the website part of your website. Many of those services are still around in some form—someone who really

Your Windows PC just got a big Bluetooth audio upgrade from Microsoft - hear the difference

Picture alliance / Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Microsoft's new Bluetooth standard will improve audio quality. The new standard is designed for online games and virtual meeting apps. You can chat via a Bluetooth headset with no drop in sound quality. Here's a question for those of you who enjoy online multiplayer games: Have you ever tried chatting with a fellow gamer via your Bluetooth headset, only for the sound from the game to

One-time WordPress competitor TypePad ends its slide into obscurity by shutting down

In the olden days, publishing a site on the Internet required that you figure out hosting and have at least some experience with HTML, CSS, and the other languages that make the Internet work. But the emergence of blogging and "Web 2.0" sites in the late '90s and early 2000s gave rise to a constellation of services that would offer to host all of your thoughts without requiring you to build the website part of your website. Many of those services are still around in some form—someone who really

Why China Builds Faster Than the Rest of the World

There’s never been a shortage of hot takes about what really makes the United States and China so different: Capitalism versus socialism; democracy as opposed to authoritarianism; Christianity or Confucianism; equity versus efficiency. In his highly anticipated new book, Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, Hoover Institution fellow Dan Wang proposes a fresh lens for looking at the world’s two largest superpowers: the US is a “lawyerly society,” he argues, while China is an “engineer

Elden Ring Nightreign is getting even harder in September

is an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. If FromSoftware’s multiplayer take on Elden Ring was just a little too easy for you, the developer has just the thing coming up. The studio announced “Deep of Night,” a new mode for Nightreign that is focused specifically on difficulty. Namely, it s

Apple pulls torrenting app from a third-party store in the EU

As first reported by TorrentFreak , Apple is preventing downloads of the iTorrent app on iPhones in the EU. Developer Daniil "XITRIX" Vinogradov's app was a popular BitTorrent client available from AltStore PAL , which is among the most popular third-party iOS app stores overseas. The company revoked the app developer's ability to distribute apps on such third-party marketplaces. While Apple has historically banned torrent clients from iOS devices in the United States, the EU's Digital Markets A

My favorite bone conduction headphones just got 3 major upgrades - and they've spoiled me

Suunto Wing 2 bone conduction headphones ZDNET's key takeaways The Suunto Wing 2 is available for $179 in black and coral orange. The fantastic audio quality, new voice prompts, and long battery life combine to make this a compelling headset. The lights are mounted on the top of the headset, so if you have long hair or wear a hat, they could be obscured. View now at Suunto I need music when I work out. Specifically, classic rock. It motivates me to keep going, so having a headset paired with

Unpacking Passkeys Pwned: Possibly the most specious research in decades

Don’t believe everything you read—especially when it’s part of a marketing pitch designed to sell security services. The latest example of the runaway hype that can come from such pitches is research published today by SquareX, a startup selling services for securing browsers and other client-side applications. It claims, without basis, to have found a “major passkey vulnerability” that undermines the lofty security promises made by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and thousands of other companies tha

Early blogging service Typepad is shutting down for good

Typepad, a blogging service that launched in the same year as WordPress, has announced that it's shutting down on September 30. "We have made the difficult decision to discontinue Typepad," its team said in a post. Several major publications used it as a backend for their websites in its early years, and it even released an app in 2008, but it soon fell behind WordPress in popularity. The service stopped accepting new signups sometime in 2020 but continued supporting its old customers. One user

A Ritzy L.A. Enclave Learned a Bitter Lesson About the Limits of Its Wealth

In June, after months of thwarted efforts, the City of Calabasas received a favorable ruling in its case against Los Angeles County: The Superior Court ruled that Calabasas had the right to test the fire debris deposited in the landfill. The court decision seemed to have an effect: For the next seven weeks, the county and Calabasas tried to negotiate a settlement. No agreement was reached, however, and finally, on Aug. 11, experts hired by the city took 20 samples from four trucks arriving at t

The sisters "paradox" – counter-intuitive probability

It seems simple, but it isn't There are a couple of famous counter-intuitive problems in probability theory and the sisters "paradox" is one of them. I'll tell you the problem, let you guess the solution, and then give you some of the background. Here's the problem: a family has two children. You're told that at least one of them is a girl. What's the probability both are girls? (International Film Service / American Releasing Co., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) Assume that the pr

Important machine learning equations

Motivation Machine learning (ML) is a powerful field driven by mathematics. Whether you’re building models, optimizing algorithms, or simply trying to understand how ML works under the hood, mastering the core equations is essential. This blog post is designed to be your go-to resource, covering the most critical and “mind-breaking” ML equations—enough to grasp most of the core math behind ML. Each section includes theoretical insights, the equations themselves, and practical implementations in

Group Borrowing: Zero-Cost Memory Safety with Fewer Restrictions

Child groups That's a useful rule, and it can get us pretty far. But let's make it even more specific, so we can prove more programs memory-safe. For example, look at this snippet: rs ref hp_ref = d.hp # Ref to contents damage = a.calculate_damage(d) a_energy_cost = a.calculate_attack_cost(d) d_energy_cost = d.calculate_defend_cost(a) a.use_energy(a_energy_cost) d.use_energy(d_energy_cost) d.damage(damage) print(hp_ref) # Valid! The previous (invalid) program had a ring_ref referring to an ele

DJI's much smaller Mic 3 can record four subjects at once

DJI's busy engineering team is at it again with the creation of the company's third wireless mic system in less than two years. The new flagship DJI Mic 3 has a wholesale design change from the Mic 2 plus numerous improvements in areas like sound quality, noise reduction and the number of subjects you can record at once — though there is one downgrade compared to to the last model. I've had one for over a week so I'll provide some impressions as well. The most noticeable change with the Mic 3 i

7 rules to follow for the best home security camera footage (and places to avoid setup)

Maria Diaz/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. If you're a subscriber to the Nextdoor app, you've seen plenty of footage of prowling ne'er-do-wells caught in the eye of a video doorbell or home security camera. Hopefully, you don't have your own first-hand experience with suspicious characters milling around your front porch, or far worse. Also: Unplugging these 7 common household devices helped reduce my electricity bills For good reason, security cameras continue to

The Most Important Machine Learning Equations: A Comprehensive Guide

Motivation Machine learning (ML) is a powerful field driven by mathematics. Whether you’re building models, optimizing algorithms, or simply trying to understand how ML works under the hood, mastering the core equations is essential. This blog post is designed to be your go-to resource, covering the most critical and “mind-breaking” ML equations—enough to grasp most of the core math behind ML. Each section includes theoretical insights, the equations themselves, and practical implementations in

OpenAI co-founder calls for AI labs to safety-test rival models

OpenAI and Anthropic, two of the world’s leading AI labs, briefly opened up their closely guarded AI models to allow for joint safety testing — a rare cross-lab collaboration at a time of fierce competition. The effort aimed to surface blind spots in each company’s internal evaluations and demonstrate how leading AI companies can work together on safety and alignment work in the future. In an interview with TechCrunch, OpenAI co-founder Wojciech Zaremba said this kind of collaboration is increa

Astrophysicists find no 'hair' on black holes

According to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the behavior of a black hole depends on two numbers: how heavy it is, and how fast it is rotating. And that’s it. Black holes are said to have “no hair” — no features that distinguish them from their fellows with the same mass and spin. With new data, it has started to become possible to test this no-hair conjecture. Astronomers have detected hundreds of signals from colliding black holes over the past 10 years. In these dramatic even

This Is the Group That's Been Swatting US Universities

A self-proclaimed leader of an online group linked to the violent extremist network The Com tells WIRED he is responsible for the flurry of hoax active-shooter alerts at universities across the US in recent days as students return to school. Known online as Gores, the person says he coleads a group called Purgatory, which is offering its followers a menu of services, including hoax threats against schools—known as swatting—for just $20, while faked threats against hospitals, businesses, and air

Global Salt Typhoon hacking campaigns linked to Chinese tech firms

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and partners from over a dozen countries have linked the Salt Typhoon global hacking campaigns to three China-based technology firms. According to the joint advisories [NSA, NCSC], Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co. Ltd., Beijing Huanyu Tianqiong Information Technology Co., and Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie Network Technology Co. Ltd. have provided cyber products and services to China's Ministry of State Securi