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SQLiteData: A fast, lightweight replacement for SwiftData using SQL and CloudKit

SQLiteData A fast, lightweight replacement for SwiftData, powered by SQL and supporting CloudKit synchronization. Learn more This library was motivated and designed over the course of many episodes on Point-Free, a video series exploring advanced programming topics in the Swift language, hosted by Brandon Williams and Stephen Celis. To support the continued development of this library, subscribe today. Overview SQLiteData is a fast, lightweight replacement for SwiftData, including CloudKit

PKM apps need to get better at resurfacing information

I’m a happy user of a number of apps that can be classified under the nebulous category of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) software: Obsidian (note taking) Things (task management) Drafts (quick capture) Readwise Reader (RSS and read-later) Raindrop (bookmarking and archiving) These apps allow me to work with vast amounts of digital information. They let me: Quickly capture information from my computer or physical environment Organize captured data using categories and/or tags Conne

Effective learning: Rules of formulating knowledge (1999)

Dr Piotr Wozniak, February, 1999 (updated) This article will help you overcome one of the greatest difficulties you will face when trying to accelerate learning: formulating knowledge The speed of learning will depend on the way you formulate the material. The same material can be learned many times faster if well formulated! The difference in speed can be stunning! The rules are listed in the order of importance. Those listed first are most often violated or bring most benefit if complied wi

Effective learning: Twenty rules of formulating knowledge (1999)

Dr Piotr Wozniak, February, 1999 (updated) This article will help you overcome one of the greatest difficulties you will face when trying to accelerate learning: formulating knowledge The speed of learning will depend on the way you formulate the material. The same material can be learned many times faster if well formulated! The difference in speed can be stunning! The rules are listed in the order of importance. Those listed first are most often violated or bring most benefit if complied wi

Do Novelty Menus Like Taco Bell’s Y2K Make Investors Money?

You’ve seen them before. McDonald’s brings back the McRib. Disney rolls out a limited time only specialty menu. Starbucks uses social media codes to “unlock” new drinks and combinations. And of course, there was Burger King’s Whopperito. Now, Taco Bell is once again getting back into the game, saying Friday that it will bring back a special “Y2K” menu with nostalgia-based items from the ’60s to the ’90s. That includes the Cool Ranch Doritos locos tacos, the 7-layer burrito, tostada, meximelt, a

Do Novelty Menus Like Taco Bell’s Y2K Makes Investors Money?

You’ve seen them before. McDonald’s brings back the McRib. Disney rolls out a limited time only specialty menu. Starbucks uses social media codes to “unlock” new drinks and combinations. And of course, there was Burger King’s Whopperito. Now, Taco Bell is once again getting back into the game, saying Friday that it will bring back a special “Y2K” menu with nostalgia-based items from the ’60s to the ’90s. That includes the Cool Ranch Doritos locos tacos, the 7-layer burrito, tostada, meximelt, a

Infinite Threads

Textiles account for 5% of landfill space—and clothing made with polyester can take up to 200 years to decompose. Massachusetts tackled the problem by banning disposal of clothing and fabrics in 2022. And Infinite Threads, a spinoff of the Undergraduate Association Sustainability Committee, is addressing it by collecting lightly used clothing from the MIT community and selling it for $2 to $6 per item at popup sales held several times each semester. “Our goal is simple: We want to keep clothing

OmniFocus update brings Planned Dates, mutually exclusive tags, more

Today, The Omni Group announced OmniFocus 4.7, which brings interesting new productivity and workflow features. However, an optional database migration is needed to enable some of them. Here are the details. About that new database In a blog post announcing the new features, the company explains that while it worked hard to maintain backwards compatibility between OmniFocus 3 and 4, some of the features announced today will require an update that moves the database to a new format. Still, the

Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

Temporary Suspension of Acceptance of Mail to the United States Due to Changes in U.S. Customs and Regulations On July 30, 2025, the U.S. government issued an executive order titled “Termination of De Minimis Treatment for All Countries” regarding mail to the United States. Under this executive order, starting August 29, 2025, mail containing goods imported for personal use (taxable mail) will no longer be eligible for duty-free treatment, and tariffs will be imposed. On August 15, 2025, U.S.

A visual introduction to big O notation

Big O notation is a way of describing the performance of a function without using time. Rather than timing a function from start to finish, big O describes how the time grows as the input size increases. It is used to help understand how programs will perform across a range of inputs. In this post I'm going to cover 4 frequently-used categories of big O notation: constant, logarithmic, linear, and quadratic. Don't worry if these words mean nothing to you right now. I'm going to talk about them

Japan Post to temporarily suspend mail to US over end of de minimis exemption

Temporary Suspension of Acceptance of Mail to the United States Due to Changes in U.S. Customs and Regulations On July 30, 2025, the U.S. government issued an executive order titled “Termination of De Minimis Treatment for All Countries” regarding mail to the United States. Under this executive order, starting August 29, 2025, mail containing goods imported for personal use (taxable mail) will no longer be eligible for duty-free treatment, and tariffs will be imposed. On August 15, 2025, U.S.

Grocery Stores Toss About 30% of Food. This App Lets You Buy It for Cheap Before They Do

CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise. Flashfood is an app that lets you shop discounted groceries that would otherwise be tossed due to packaging damage or looming expiration dates. Flashfood 9.2 / 10 SCORE Flashfood Buy at Flashfood Pros Shop for discounted groceries while you shop for other groceries Rescue food that would otherwise have to be tossed Heavily discounted items available acr

Amazon adds perishable food to same-day delivery

Amazon is expanding its same-day grocery delivery service with the addition of perishable food items in over 1,000 US cities. Shoppers can now add fresh grocery items like produce, dairy, meat, seafood and frozen foods to their orders. Grocery and non-grocery items can be combined into one order, checked out from one cart and received together on the same day. The company had trialed this service in the Phoenix area last year. Prime members continue to get free same-day delivery where available

Tax-Free Back-to-School Sales 2025: You Still Have Time to Save in These 3 States

Don't miss these tax-free back-to-school sales if you want to save money on supplies. Kryssia Campos/Getty Images It's back-to-school season, and parents everywhere are on the search for the best deals to get their kids ready for the 2025 to 2026 school year. With inflation making everyday items more expensive than ever, timing your purchases during a sales tax holiday can keep more money in your wallet. These tax-free shopping events typically center on back-to-school items, offering discount

Topics: free item items sales tax

Amazon rolls out same-day delivery of perishable groceries in 1,000 US cities

Amazon is now letting shoppers in 1,000 cities across the U.S. order perishable food items through its Same-Day Delivery service, as the e-commerce giant seeks to compete more directly with Instacart and Walmart+ in the growing quick-commerce space. Amazon plans to expand the option to over 2,300 cities by the end of the year. Users can now order fresh grocery items, including produce, dairy, meat, seafood, baked goods and more, alongside everyday household products, electronics, and other item

FFmpeg 8.0 adds Whisper support

@ -7682,6 +7682,113 @@ There are 6 samples at -4 dB, 62 at -5 dB, 286 at -6 dB, etc. In other words, raising the volume by +4 dB does not cause any clipping, raising it by +5 dB causes clipping for 6 samples, etc. @anchor{whisper} @section whisper It runs automatic speech recognition using the OpenAI's Whisper model. It requires the whisper.cpp library (https://github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp) as a prerequisite. After installing the library it can be enabled using: @code{./configure --en

Journaling using Nix, Vim and coreutils

I cobbled together a journaling system with {neo,}vim, coreutils and dateutils. This system is loosely based on Ryder Caroll's Bullet Journal method. The format The journal for a given year is a directory: λ ls journal/ 2022/ 2023/ In each directory are 12 files, one for each month of the year, numbered like so: λ ls journal/2023/ 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 We can now begin writing stuff down: λ vim journal/2023/1 Every month must start with a calendar of course, fill that in wi

Topics: 12 2023 items todo week

A fast, growable array with stable pointers in C

August 5, 2025・6 minute read My last article about generic data structures in C was written to set the stage for today’s topic: A data structure that can be used in place of dynamic arrays, has stable pointers, and works well with arena allocators. It’s been independently discovered by different programmers over the years and so goes by different names. A 2001 paper called it a “levelwise-allocated pile” (bleh). Others call it an “exponential array”. In Zig’s standard library it’s “SegmentedLis

A Fast, Growable Array with Stable Pointers in C

August 5, 2025・6 minute read My last article about generic data structures in C was written to set the stage for today’s topic: A data structure that can be used in place of dynamic arrays, has stable pointers, and works well with arena allocators. It’s been independently discovered by different programmers over the years and so goes by different names. A 2001 paper called it a “levelwise-allocated pile” (bleh). Others call it an “exponential array”. I use the name “segment array”. I use C in

Tim Cook hints Apple’s product roadmap is its most exciting ever

Apple CEO Tim Cook has long been skilled at talking up the company’s products. But in new remarks made just days ago, Cook hinted that he’s never been as excited about Apple’s product roadmap as now. Cook has ‘never felt so much excitement’ about Apple’s product pipeline Last week Apple leadership held an all-hands meeting with staff that covered a wide range of subjects. AI was a major focus, including updates on Siri’s delayed upgrades. The meeting also reportedly came with some classic Tim

Another airline joins AirTag luggage tracking program, now supported by 30 carriers (list)

Introduced in iOS 18.2, the Share Item Location feature lets users share a live tracking link for AirTag or other Find My-compatible accessories, including with airlines to help locate lost luggage. Today, another airline joined the list of official partners. Here’s the full updated list. Saudi Arabia gets Share Item Location support When Apple announced the Share Location Feature for AirTag, it also started working with “more than 15 airlines” to implement a system that would let users secure

Amazon disputes report that it raised prices of popular items since Trump took office

A report in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) last week found that prices on Amazon’s low-cost essentials had risen since President Trump announced his plans for massive tariffs on international goods. Amazon responded with a lengthy blog post in response to the article, which describes the WSJ’s reporting as “fundamentally flawed.” WSJ analyzed the prices of 2,500 common Amazon items like cough drops, antibacterial wipes, and chicken broth, determining that the prices of these items increased on a

Back-to-School Sales Tax Holidays 2025: Tennessee's Tax-Free Weekend Kicks Off Today, and 9 More Start Next Week

State sales tax holidays usually run for one weekend, though some states offer longer exemptions. Zooey Liao/CNET Back-to-school shopping season is in full swing, and if you're feeling the strain on your wallet, timing your purchases with a sales tax holiday can help you snag some extra savings. These tax-free shopping events typically center on back-to-school items, offering discounts on clothing, school supplies, laptops and athletic gear. This year, 17 states are participating in a tax-fre

Topics: free item items sales tax

Tax-Free Weekends Are Happening in 17 States This Summer. Here's Where and When

State sales tax holidays usually run for one weekend, though some states offer longer exemptions. Tharon Green/CNET If you haven't already started on your back-to-school shopping, timing your purchases with a sales tax holiday can help you snag some extra savings. These tax-free shopping events typically center on back-to-school items, offering discounts on clothing, school supplies, laptops and athletic gear. This year, 17 states are participating in a tax-free event, with two happening this

Topics: free item items sales tax

Behold the Distressingly Blue Mozzarella Stick Disneyland Will Sell You to Celebrate ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’

A new movie inevitably means new tie-in food, especially at a theme park operated by a studio hoping to cash in on its latest release. The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters this week and is therefore in its prime time for this kind of marketing. We’ve all seen and/or shuddered at the blue Pop-Tarts, the questionable Little Caesars pizza, and the blue milk—but Disney Parks has just entered the chat with its own color-coordinated munchies. The top image seen here is the most startling ite

You Can Save Money on Back-to-School Shopping During Sales Tax Holidays. Is Your State Holding One?

State sales tax holidays usually run for one weekend, though some states offer longer exemptions. Tharon Green/CNET If you haven't already started buying back-to-school essentials, shopping during a sales tax holiday can offer some extra savings. These tax-free shopping events typically center on back-to-school items, offering discounts on clothing, school supplies, laptops and athletic gear. This year, 17 states are participating in a tax-free event, with two happening this weekend, and many

Topics: free item items sales tax

Quip is a smart clipboard management app for iOS and Mac

Developers of Unite, an app that offers customized web app management on Mac, on Monday released a new app called Quip, a clipboard app for the Apple ecosystem. The app includes features for organizing text clips, support for shortcuts to trigger text snippets, duplicate prevention, and code formatting, among other things. Its goal is to offer users more control and customization compared with the traditional clipboard, making it a more productive alternative. Quip is non-intrusive — on Mac, i

Sales Tax Holidays: 17 States Are Holding Tax-Free Back-to-School Shopping Events This Summer. Here's When

State sales tax holidays usually run for one weekend, though some states offer longer exemptions. Tharon Green/CNET If you haven't already started buying back-to-school essentials, shopping during a sales tax holiday can offer some extra savings. These tax-free shopping events typically center on back-to-school items, offering discounts on clothing, school supplies, laptops and athletic gear. This year, 17 states are participating in a tax-free event, with one starting this weekend, and two m

Topics: free item items sales tax

Sales Tax Holidays: Tax-Free Back-to-School Shopping Events Kick Off This Weekend

State sales tax holidays usually run for one weekend, though some states offer longer exemptions. Tharon Green/CNET If you haven't already started buying back-to-school essentials, shopping during a sales tax holiday can offer some extra savings. These tax-free shopping events typically center on back-to-school items, offering discounts on clothing, school supplies, laptops and athletic gear. This year, 17 states are participating in a tax-free event, with one starting this weekend, and two m

Topics: free item items sales tax

I finally found a Windows mini PC powerful enough to replace my desktop (and it's on sale)

ZDNET's key takeaways The Minisforum AI370 EliteMini with the Ryzen AI 9 and 64GB of RAM normally retails for $1,249, but is currently on sale for less. It's a powerful mini PC with plenty of ports, support for an 8K display, and runs cool and quiet. You'll still need to supply your own peripherals, and it's best to purchase them while on sale. $999.9 at Amazon Amazon is offering coupons for multiple Minisforum AI370 EliteMini configurations. The base model can be purchased at a $230 discount