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Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia

Two days ago, MIT Technology review published “How to run an LLM on your laptop”. It opens with an anecdote about using offline LLMs in an apocalypse scenario. “‘It’s like having a weird, condensed, faulty version of Wikipedia, so I can help reboot society with the help of my little USB stick,’ [Simon Willison] says.” This made me wonder: how do the sizes of local LLMs compare to the size of offline Wikipedia downloads? I compared some models from the Ollama library to various downloads on Kiw

Electric Cooler vs. Ice Cooler: I Camped With Anker's Solix EverFrost 2 and an RTIC Ice Box to See Which Is Better

Keeping drinks and food cold while camping can be a challenge, especially in the summer. Though a portable power station hooked up to a minifridge can help, it's not the most power-efficient option compared with either an electric cooler or a traditional icebox. I set out to test a "regular" icebox-style cooler -- specifically, RTIC's icebox -- against Anker's new Solix EverFrost 2 to see how it would fare in real-world use against the best coolers on the market. To begin testing, I picked up tw

Psilocybin decreases depression and anxiety in cancer patients (2016)

Participants with a potentially life-threatening cancer diagnosis and a DSM-IV diagnosis that included anxiety and/or mood symptoms were recruited through flyers, internet, and physician referral. Of 566 individuals who were screened by telephone, 56 were randomized. Figure 1 shows a CONSORT flow diagram. Table 1 shows demographics for the 51 participants who completed at least one session. The two randomized groups did not significantly differ demographically. All 51 participants had a potentia

Nintendo launches another Switch Online test program for 40,000 players

Nintendo has posted a call for participants for another Playtest Program, and this time, it's looking for 40,000 testers and not just 10,000 like in the first one. If you'll recall, Nintendo looked for 10,000 participants for the first Playtest event last year to test an unnamed, mysterious Switch Online feature. The new program still only welcomes active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members, but as you'd expect, it now supports both the original Switch and the Switch 2. Interested p

Psilocybin produces substantial sustained decreases in depression and anxiety

Participants with a potentially life-threatening cancer diagnosis and a DSM-IV diagnosis that included anxiety and/or mood symptoms were recruited through flyers, internet, and physician referral. Of 566 individuals who were screened by telephone, 56 were randomized. Figure 1 shows a CONSORT flow diagram. Table 1 shows demographics for the 51 participants who completed at least one session. The two randomized groups did not significantly differ demographically. All 51 participants had a potentia

Twitch starts testing vertical video streams

Livestreaming service Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, announced at its annual TwitchCon event earlier this year that it would move into the vertical video space. Now those initial alpha tests have gone live with a few streamers, according to findings from market intelligence provider Appsensa. In a recent build, the firm found references to the vertical video tests and information about what sort of features these new streams would offer. The feature, once fully rolled out, would make Twitch

There could be “dark main sequence” stars at the galactic center

For a star, its initial mass is everything. It determines how quickly it burns through its hydrogen and how it will evolve once it starts fusing heavier elements. It's so well understood that scientists have devised a "main sequence" that acts a bit like a periodic table for stars, correlating their mass and age with their properties. The main sequence, however, is based on an assumption that's almost always true: All of the energy involved comes from the gravity-driven fusion of lighter elemen

Google’s Discover feed may be getting an AI feature no one asked for

Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Google is testing AI summaries for articles in the Discover feed. Like AI overviews in Google Search, Discover feed summaries combine information from multiple sources instead of just referencing one. Google is also testing a new button to bookmark articles that can be revisited later. Of late, Google has been experimenting with multiple ways to make its AI applications more visible, especially to users who have steered clear of Gemini so far. After rolli

Dyson Reveals Its Futuristic Farming Vision

Dyson, a company best known for its vacuums and hair dryers, unveiled a new circular farm design featuring rows of strawberry plants that rotate to share sunlight, robots that do everything from harvesting to releasing helpful insects, and sensors to help farmers keep an eye on things. The company is also getting into the renewable energy game. Check out the video in this article to find out how it all connects and what it could mean for the future of food.

Dyson Reveals Futuristic Farming Vision

Dyson, a company best known for its vacuums and hair dryers, unveiled a new circular farm design featuring rows of strawberry plants that rotate to share sunlight, robots that do everything from harvesting to releasing helpful insects, and sensors to help farmers keep an eye on things. The company is also getting into the renewable energy game. Check out the video in this article to find out how it all connects and what it could mean for the future of food.

Empowering Disabled Students Through Teaching Tech: The TechAble Training Initiative at KNUST

What Is TechAble? The TechAble training initiative at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana began in February 2025 and ran for eight weeks. Aimed at supporting students with disabilities, TechAble provided mentorship and high-quality instruction for three courses: web development, graphic design, and digital marketing. The teaching and mentorship demystified commonly used programs and tools in the three course topics, allowing students to complement what they l

Using MPC for Anonymous and Private DNA Analysis

Earlier this year, Monadic DNA kicked off an experiment to demonstrate that people can access and analyze their genetic data with anonymity and privacy. Monadic DNA collected saliva samples from thirty encrypted genomics pioneers at an event in Denver. These participants later used a Web app to claim their genotyping results using a unique kit ID and a self-selected PIN. The app guided users through uploading their data to encrypted storage powered by Nillion’s multi-party compute (MPC) techno

Scientists Discover Secret Weapon That Allows Pythons to Digest Bones

Pythons are notorious for their eating habits. After suffocating their prey with their lithe bodies, these large snakes swallow the animal whole. Now, researchers have shed new light on the cellular mechanisms that allow them to digest entire skeletons. The study, presented July 9 at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Belgium and published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, investigated the intestinal cells of Burmese pythons. Adult males can grow to be 10 to 16 feet

Particle Lenia Deluxe Edition

Particle Lenia Deluxe Edition. Lenia is a family of cellular automata that produces lifelike behaviors and patterns, first described in the seminal paper by Bert Wang-Chak Chan. This project is heavily inspired by the original Particle Lenia research by Alexander Mordvintsev et al., which implemented a particle-based version of Lenia in Python and JAX. Recognizing the importance of scale (number of particles) for simulation dynamics and iteration times for rapid pattern exploration, I ported th

I used o3 to profile myself from my saved Pocket links

Welp, Pocket shuts down tomorrow despite our pleas for it to stay. While migrating all of my saved articles, I noticed that I’ve got almost 900 saved articles spanning nearly 7 years. That’s a goldmine of stuff-I-like data! Some quick analysis using xsv: 𝄢 unzip pocket.zip && xsv headers part_000000.csv 1 title 2 url 3 time_added 4 tags 5 status 𝄢 xsv sample 1 part_000000.csv | xsv flatten title The Uncertain Future of American Libraries url https://mek.fyi/posts/the-uncertain-future-of-america

New study offers clues about what makes someone cool

Is there a secret sauce that helps explain why people as different as David Bowie, Samuel L. Jackson and Charli XCX all seem so self-assured and, well, cool? A new study suggests that there are six specific traits that these people tend to have in common: Cool people are largely perceived to be extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous. The study, which was published on Monday in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, surveyed nearly 6,000 participants from

Refurb weekend: Gremlin Blasto arcade board

My general vintage computing projects, mostly microcomputers, 6502, PalmOS, 68K/Power Mac and Unix workstations, but that's not all you'll see. While over the decades I've written for publications likeand, these articles are all original and just for you. My promise: No AI-generated article text, ever. Be kind, REWIND and PLAY.Old VCR is advertisement- and donation-funded, and what I get goes to maintaining the hardware here at Floodgap. I don't drink coffee, but the Mr Pibb doesn't buy itself.

'Sticky thinking' hampers decisions in depression

Though low mood is the best-known symptom of depression, indecisiveness and biased thinking are also common. But these problems, which can lead to delays in making important choices — and being more likely to make poor ones — receive less attention, write the authors of a recent paper in Emotion. Many of the theories that have been put forward to explain difficulties with decision-making are based on work suggesting that depressed people are not as responsive to rewards, or punishments, as thos

Study shows gaming can reduce stress, even the violent kind

Editor's take: Violent video games have long been blamed as the source of many societal problems. However, an increasing number of studies continue to show that gaming poses no significant threat to society or human health, and the latest adds an interesting new perspective to the ongoing debate. A recently published study aims to dispel yet another myth about video games, showing that both violent and non-violent gaming sessions can effectively reduce stress levels. The research centers on A P

Sourcehut Moving to Europe

Just received this: Hello! I'm writing to let you know that, as part of our work to move our business operations from the United States to Europe, we are rolling out changes to our terms of service and privacy policy. As promised, we are giving you two weeks notice and a chance to participate in the discussion about the proposed changes. You can review the diff of the proposed changes on the sr.ht-dev mailing list: https://lists.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/sr.ht-dev/patches/60282 The changes will take

Cancer-targeting nanoparticles are moving closer to human trials

In the original production technique, layers with different properties can be laid down by alternately exposing a particle to positively and negatively charged polymers, with extensive purification to remove excess polymer after each application. Each layer can carry therapeutics as well as molecules that help the particles find and enter cancer cells. But the process is time-consuming and would be difficult to scale up. In the new work, the researchers used a microfluidic mixing device that al

Verlet Integration and Cloth Physics Simulation (2022)

Physics simulation in games (or simply game physics) is a vast topic, and in this post we'll cover only a tiny part of it; yet certainly an interesting one! Let's understand what Verlet integration is by implementing a simple 2D cloth simulation with C++. Physics in games is always fun, isn't it? Have you ever ditched the main quest of a level just to blow something up? I know I have. But even more fun than watching objects bounce around the screen is to understand how we can use simple concep

You'll Be Flabbergasted to Learn Which Contains More Microplastics: Plastic Bottles or Glass Bottles

You'll Be Flabbergasted to Learn Which Contains More Microplastics: Plastic Bottles or Glass Bottles "We expected the opposite result." Bottom of the Bottle French government scientists have discovered something startling about the microplastic content in glass and plastic bottles. As the Agence France-Presse reports, scientists at the country's food safety regulator found that glass-bottled drinks contained about 100 microplastic particles per liter, which amounts to roughly 25 particles pe

Drinks in glass bottles contain more microplastics than those in other container

The aim of the ANSES study was to determine the level of microplastic contamination in drinks such as water, soda, iced tea, wine and beer; it also sought to establish the impact of their containers on this level. For most of the drinks studied, the level of microplastics was found to be higher in glass bottles than in other containers. For example, on average, in glass bottles of cola, lemonade, iced tea and beer, there were around 100 microplastic particles per litre. This number was five to 5

An analysis of recent multithreading improvements for a smoother game

UNIT: Dedmen, Programmer, Programming TO: Arma 3 Users OPSUM: An analysis of recent multithreading improvements for a smoother game experience SITREP Welcome to this technical deep dive into Arma 3's performance optimizations in update 2.20. Before handing you over to this blog's actual author, I wanted to share a few words on the state of Live Ops. Yes, REPception is now a thing. Some 12 years since its initial release, we still find ourselves releasing free platform updates to the game. T

Print. Fold. Share. Download WIRED's How to Win a Fight Zine Here

This week, WIRED has been helping readers (that’s you!) learn how to win a fight, from understanding the tactics of the Tesla Takedown movement to knowing how to out-troll a troll. We also put together a zine that collects some of the most helpful tidbits in a handy format you can print, fold, and share with friends and family. The zine, which you can download below, condenses crucial advice from multiple articles in a single sheet of printer paper. The adapted articles include tips from WIRED

MIT brain scans suggest that using GenAI tools reduces cognitive activity

Why it matters: As the use of generative AI becomes increasingly common in education, law, politics, media, and other fields, many worry that reliance on the technology may reduce cognitive independence. A recent study from MIT strongly supports this concern, indicating that the use of digital tools significantly alters brain activity. The newly published paper explains that as participants in an experiment wrote a series of essays, electronic brain monitoring revealed substantially weaker conn

How you breathe is like a fingerprint that can identify you

Every breath you take ... could add to a breathing pattern that is unique to you, a study finds.Credit: Anusak Laowilas/NurPhoto via Getty Like the swirls in fingerprints, a person’s breathing pattern might be unique to them — offering a way not only to identify individuals, but also to identify some of their physical and mental traits. A team of researchers measured the breathing of 97 healthy people for 24 hours, and found that they could identify participants with relatively high accuracy f