A technical blog post (originally from 2018) revisits a classic question about neural network training: why does the backpropagation algorithm invented by Rumelhart et al. in 1986 compute gradients by propagating errors backward through the network rather than forward, given that both directions are mathematically valid applications of the chain rule. The author walks through the notation and structure of a neural network node to set up an explanation of why forward-mode differentiation is computationally suboptimal compared to the standard backward approach.
gregorygundersen.com
· 2026-09-21
A developer inspired by Jonty Hurwitz's anamorphic sculptures built a custom application that arranges arbitrary 3D meshes—like cars, pigs, and pigeons—so their combined silhouette forms a target image when viewed from one specific camera angle. The system starts with randomly placed objects and uses gradient descent with a differentiable renderer to iteratively adjust each mesh's position, size, and rotation until the projected outline matches the target picture.
tncardoso.com
· 2026-09-11
GOG expanded its Preservation Program with five classic titles—Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, Armikrog, Descent, Hitman: Codename 47, and Myst—each paired with interactive 3D box scans in GLB format. Through a new partnership with Big Box Collection, GOG is also offering printable, foldable templates so users can assemble physical replicas of the original packaging at home.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-10
GOG has launched a 'Printable Big Box' collection offering downloadable 3D models and print-ready templates of retro PC game packaging for five titles: Armikrog, Descent, Hitman: Codename 47, Myst, and Star Trek: 25th Anniversary. Owners can download files in GLB, PDF, SVG, and Illustrator formats to build their own foldable box replicas, made possible through a partnership with collector Benjamin Wimmer's Big Box Collection archive.
hardware.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-09
GOG has launched a 'Printable Big Box' collection offering downloadable 3D models and print-ready templates recreating classic big-box packaging for five titles: Armikrog, Descent, Hitman: Codename 47, Myst, and Star Trek: 25th Anniversary. Owners of these games can grab a ZIP file with an animated GLB 3D model and flat templates in PDF, SVG, and Illustrator formats to build their own papercraft replicas.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-08
Austin Z. Henley, a Microsoft engineer, built a minimalist Python interpreter written in C that fits within 1024 bytes of code, after an initial attempt at 512 bytes proved too small. The interpreter supports a limited subset of Python syntax—including def, colons, indentation, and parenthesis-free if statements—enough to run a FizzBuzz program, but skips CPython's full tokenizing, AST, and bytecode pipeline in favor of global variables and a fixed-length array.
austinhenley.com
· 2026-09-06
GoKawiil