Vibe HN: Sunday Jun 15th

0 hours ago – 24 hours to update.

← Previous   

News

AMD's AI Future Is Rack Scale 'Helios' (morethanmoore.substack.com | comments) AMD has announced the launch of 'Helios', a rack-scale AI system designed to enhance computational efficiency for complex AI tasks and applications. This initiative marks a significant step in advancing AMD's capabilities in artificial intelligence and aims to position the company as a leader in AI solutions for 2025.

Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway (techcrunch.com | comments) A new analysis from ride-hailing aggregator Obi reveals that rides from Waymo, the autonomous taxi service, cost more than those from Uber or Lyft, especially for shorter trips, where passengers experience longer wait times. Despite higher costs, consumers continue to choose Waymo’s services.

Saab achieves AI milestone with Gripen E (saab.com | comments) Saab, in partnership with Helsing, has completed three test flights integrating the AI agent 'Centaur' into its Gripen E fighter jet. This achievement enhances the aircraft's operational capabilities.

Google Cloud Incident Report – 2025-06-13 (cloud.google.com | comments) On June 13, 2025, Google Cloud reported multiple service issues affecting various Google Cloud Platform (GCP) products. The status report includes information for users about service availability, disruption, and outages, encouraging users to check current service status or contact support if they encounter unlisted issues.

Culture

The Many Sides of Erik Satie (mitpress.mit.edu | comments) Erik Satie's life and music present a complex tapestry that intertwines clarity with intrigue. His compositions, famously paradoxical, are celebrated for their freshness and profound elegance, contrasting with the murkier elements of his personal life. His innovative approach has influenced various musical genres and continues to resonate with audiences today.

Opinion

Wrong ways to use the databases, when the pendulum swung too far (luu.io | comments) The narrative recounts a junior developer's experiences with a critical database system fraught with performance issues, stemming from an over-reliance on stored procedures and a resultant rewrite attempting to simplify architecture by using key-value stores. This transition created its own challenges, including inefficient data handling and increased latency due to a lack of atomic operations and transaction management.

Cray versus Raspberry Pi (aardvark.co.nz | comments) The author contrasts the Cray 1 supercomputer, an icon of 1970s computing with its 160 MFLOPS performance and high price tag, against the modern Raspberry Pi 5 (RPi5), which delivers up to 30 GFLOPS at a fraction of the cost and power consumption. The piece reflects on the evolution of computing hardware over the past few decades.

Debunking HDR [video] (yedlin.net | comments) A video titled 'Debunking HDR' by Steve Yedlin addresses common misconceptions about High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology in visuals. The content includes sections on color spaces and conversion issues between Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) and HDR, outlining how perception impacts tonal representations and practical challenges for filmmakers.

Seven replies to the viral Apple reasoning paper and why they fall short (garymarcus.substack.com | comments) The discussion critiques a recent Apple reasoning paper, addressing seven specific responses that lack critical points, diminishing their effectiveness in challenging the original paper's claims. This highlights deeper issues within the debate on the topic.

Me an' Algernon – grappling with (temporary) cognitive decline (tidyfirst.substack.com | comments) In 'Me an' Algernon', Kent Beck reflects on his experiences with cognitive decline, drawing parallels to the story of 'Flowers for Algernon'. He explores the emotional and practical challenges of temporarily losing mental clarity, while considering the societal impacts of cognitive changes. Beck's insights touch on fear, identity, and the value placed on intelligence.

"The Illusion of Thinking" – Thoughts on This Important Paper (learningbyshipping.com | comments) A paper argues that AI should not be anthropomorphized, as this misconception hinders its development. It draws a line from historical examples like Clippy to current large language models (LLMs) and chatbots, suggesting this viewpoint is crucial for understanding AI capabilities. The author expresses strong appreciation for the paper's insights.

Products

How to Bring Back Oddly Shaped App Icons in macOS 26 Tahoe (simonbs.dev | comments) macOS 26 Tahoe replaces unique app icons with uniform squircle icons, sacrificing the distinct personality of the Mac. Users can restore custom icon shapes through Finder, while developers can utilize the NSDockTile API to display unique designs. Step-by-step instructions are provided for both users and developers.

TimeGuessr (timeguessr.com | comments) TimeGuessr is an interactive game that challenges players' knowledge of geography and history by asking them to identify the locations and dates where historical photos were taken. The platform offers features like daily challenges and user accounts, creating an engaging learning experience.

Science

Have a damaged painting? Restore it in just hours with an AI-generated “mask” (news.mit.edu | comments) A new restoration technique harnesses artificial intelligence to repair damaged paintings in hours, employing a removable digital 'mask' made of thin film that adheres to the artwork. This method significantly accelerates traditional restoration processes and enhances the precision of repairs.

Infinite Grid of Resistors (mathpages.com | comments) The puzzle of an infinite grid of resistors involves analyzing the effective resistance between adjacent nodes connected by a resistance R. Through symmetry and flow field analysis, it's concluded that this resistance equals R/2. The reasoning relies on some contentious assumptions about current flow at infinity, which complicates its proof.

We investigated Amsterdam's attempt to build a 'fair' fraud detection model (lighthousereports.com | comments) Amsterdam's efforts to develop an unbiased welfare fraud detection algorithm faced significant challenges over the years. This investigation analyses the city's initiative and the findings related to the fairness and effectiveness of the model it aimed to implement.

Last fifty years of integer linear programming: Recent practical advances (hal.science | comments) Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) has emerged as a crucial area in operations research over the past fifty years, driven by advances in solvers that can solve complex problems efficiently. This article reviews key developments, focusing on computational improvements and practical applications across various industries, while also addressing ongoing challenges in MILP research.

Model Once, Represent Everywhere: UDA (Unified Data Architecture) at Netflix (netflixtechblog.com | comments) Netflix introduces the Unified Data Architecture (UDA), a knowledge-graph-based framework that transforms conceptual domain models into standardized schemas and data pipelines, aiming to enhance data consistency and accessibility across various platforms. This approach facilitates seamless data integration and management.