Vibe HN: Tuesday Jul 8th

3 days ago.

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News

Anthropic downloaded over 7M pirated books to train Claude, a judge said (businessinsider.com | comments) A judge has determined that Anthropic's use of copyrighted material to train its AI model, Claude, qualifies as fair use, while the company's downloading of over 7 million pirated books does not. This ruling highlights the legal complexities surrounding artificial intelligence and copyright issues.

Fictional K-pop bands zoom to top of US music charts (bbc.com | comments) Songs from the animated film 'KPop Demon Hunter' have outperformed popular real-life K-pop groups BTS and Blackpink on US music charts. This unexpected rise showcases the influence of fictional music narratives in mainstream pop culture, challenging traditional successes in the industry and attracting diverse audiences.

Culture

Trying to find meaning in owning an old Mac (decryption.net.au | comments) The author parallels their father’s passion for classic cars with their own interest in restoring a vintage Apple Macintosh SE/30 computer, reflecting on how these artifacts embody nostalgia and the impact of technology on lifestyle. This restoration process serves as a personal exploration of their generation's computing legacy, akin to their father's affinity for classic vehicles.

Opinion

You Should Run a Certificate Transparency Log (filippo.io | comments) Running a Certificate Transparency (CT) log has become more accessible and economically viable, providing critical support for web security by ensuring Certificate Authorities are accountable. New implementations allow logs to operate with minimal infrastructure, potentially requiring just a single server. This enables organizations to contribute significantly to web security while enhancing their credibility.

So you wanna build an aging company (librariesforthefuture.bio | comments) Building a company that ages gracefully involves strategic decision-making to ensure long-term sustainability, resilience in the face of market changes, and effective succession planning. The approach requires an understanding of brand longevity, customer loyalty, and adapting business models over time for continuous relevance.

Why are there no good dinosaur films? (briannazigler.substack.com | comments) The article critiques the portrayal of dinosaurs in films, noting a lack of originality since the success of 'Jurassic Park'. It examines common themes and failures in storytelling related to dinosaurs while questioning Hollywood's creativity and potential for producing quality dinosaur films that engage audiences and explore deeper narratives.

Adding a feature because ChatGPT incorrectly thinks it exists (holovaty.com | comments) At Soundslice, the digitization service for sheet music, an unexpected influx of screenshots featuring ASCII tablature arose from ChatGPT incorrectly suggesting users could import this format. Confounded by the surge, the team decided to develop an ASCII tab importer to meet user demand despite it being a misinformation-driven request.

Dyson, techno-centric design and social consumption (2earth.github.io | comments) The piece reflects on the design philosophy of Dyson, emphasizing how their technology-first approach often sacrifices user comfort and functionality. Examples of design flaws in Dyson products are discussed, comparing them to competitors like Bosch. The author also critiques Dyson's branding strategy, which turns appliances into status symbols, potentially compromising design quality.

I used o3 to profile myself from my saved Pocket links (noperator.dev | comments) With Pocket shutting down, the author reflects on their nearly 900 saved articles over seven years, extracting valuable insights about their preferences. Using the AI tool o3, they analyze this data to infer personal demographics, interests, and professional background, suggesting they are a likely male software engineer in their mid-30s to early-40s with a family.

When Figma starts designing us (designsystems.international | comments) The piece analyzes how design tools like Figma influence not only the aesthetic but also the cognitive processes behind design work. It delves into the implications of these tools on creativity and user experience, suggesting that the technology may start to shape the designer's approach and outcomes.

Thesis: Interesting work is less amenable to the use of AI (remark.ing | comments) The thesis argues that interesting work—tasks that are engaging and valuable—tends to resist automation through artificial intelligence (AI) more than mundane tasks do. This suggests that AI is more suited for repetitive or less engaging jobs, while creative and insightful tasks remain challenging for AI to replicate effectively.

Products

Tuning the Prusa Core One (arachnoid.com | comments) This article provides an in-depth guide to optimizing the Prusa Core One 3D printer, covering essential alignments for enhanced performance. It offers step-by-step instructions for print bed leveling, essential for users assembling the printer. Additional resources include a custom camera mount and useful tips applicable to other Prusa models.

Show HN: Piano Trainer – Learn piano scales, chords and more using MIDI (github.com/zaneh | comments) Piano Trainer offers an interactive platform for learning piano scales, chords, and more using MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) technology. This tool simplifies music practice and enhances the learning experience by allowing users to engage directly with their instruments through digital means.

Backlog.md – Markdown‑native Task Manager and Kanban visualizer for any Git repo (github.com/mrlesk | comments) Backlog.md is a task management tool that integrates with Git repositories, utilizing Markdown for easy note-taking and task tracking. It features a Kanban visualizer that allows users to organize projects efficiently, combining the simplicity of Markdown with a visual workflow approach that aids in project management.

Intel's Lion Cove P-Core and Gaming Workloads (chipsandcheese.com | comments) Intel's Lion Cove P-Core architecture is designed for high performance, particularly enhancing gaming workloads. This advancement aims to improve processing capabilities, allowing for more efficient execution of graphics-intensive applications. The announcement highlights Intel's continued innovation in CPU technology.

Science

Lightfastness Testing of Colored Pencils (sarahrenaeclark.com | comments) This article evaluates the lightfastness of over 50 colored pencil brands, providing insights into which materials resist fading over time. The findings can help artists choose the right tools to maintain vibrant artwork, as it highlights both high and low performers in lightfastness testing.

The chemical secrets that help keep honey fresh for so long (bbc.com | comments) Honey, a natural sweetener, resists spoilage due to its unique composition, including low water content and acidity, which inhibit microbial growth. This makes it a long-lasting food source.

New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source (quantamagazine.org | comments) A newcomer to sphere packing, without prior experience, has recently achieved a significant breakthrough by solving a long-standing problem in the field. This accomplishment comes just a few months after they began their exploration into the complexities of sphere packing, which involves arranging spheres in the most efficient way possible.

My first verified imperative program (markushimmel.de | comments) The upcoming Lean 4.22 release introduces a verification infrastructure for proving properties of imperative programs. This article outlines a simple example that checks if any two distinct integers in a list sum to zero, demonstrating the use of data structures like sets for optimized solutions in Lean's functional programming environment.

François Chollet: The Arc Prize and How We Get to AGI [video] (youtube.com | comments) François Chollet discusses the Arc Prize and its implications for achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) in a recent video. He delves into the importance of collaborative contributions and innovation within the AI community as key factors for advancing towards AGI, highlighting interdisciplinary approaches as essential.

Hymn to Babylon, missing for a millennium, has been discovered (phys.org | comments) Enrique Jiménez from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, collaborating with the University of Baghdad, has rediscovered an ancient text, 'Hymn to Babylon,' lost for a millennium. This significant finding adds to historical knowledge and is documented in a paper published in the journal Iraq.

Mercury: Ultra-Fast Language Models Based on Diffusion (arxiv.org | comments) The paper presents Mercury, a generation of large language models (LLMs) based on diffusion techniques. These models, utilizing Transformer architecture, achieve high token prediction speeds of 1109 and 737 tokens per second for Mini and Small versions on NVIDIA H100 GPUs, outperforming similar models by up to 10 times. Real-world performance was validated through developer feedback on Copilot Arena, where Mercury ranks second in quality.

Building the Rust Compiler with GCC (fractalfir.github.io | comments) This article details the process of bootstrapping the Rust compiler using GCC instead of the typical LLVM, explaining the three-stage build process. The author navigates through several bugs encountered, employing debugging techniques, and highlights the nuances of Rust's inlining attributes and their implications on compiler behavior.

Neanderthals operated prehistoric “fat factory” on German lakeshore (archaeologymag.com | comments) Recent findings suggest that Neanderthals in Germany operated an ancient 'fat factory,' where they processed animal fat for various uses. Archaeological evidence reveals that they created a kind of early oil from the remains of aquatic creatures and plants, pointing to sophisticated resource management and culinary practices among these prehistoric humans.