A stream of links that I share without comment. They may be things I intend to read later, things I've read, things I find interesting, etc. My blog with actual writing is at: https://stuff.interfree.ca and you can find me on the fediverse @fastfinge@interfree.ca.
How an XKCD comic led to teaching myself graph theory — a journey through NP-hard problems, PQ-trees, and layered graph algorithms.
NASA offers free e-books on its history, aeronautics research, and the International Space Station.
Crystal-based pastebin application with live syntax highlighting preview and extensive theme support - ralsina/pasto
I recently released JustHTML, a python-based HTML5 parser. It passes 100% of the html5lib test suite, has zero dependencies, and includes a CSS selector...
Arcade Girls: An Unconventional Romance eBook : Quill, Jim: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store
Accessibility is not a purely technical problem that can be solved with code. It is about people and their varying needs, contexts, and expectations. While claiming something is “accessible” is not inherently bad, it is more honest to explain the specific accessibility features it offers.
Kohler’s Dekoda smart camera, which analyzes toilet bowl images for gut health advice, uses TLS encryption for data in transit, not end-to-end encryption as the company claims. This distinction is important for user privacy, as it implies Kohler can access the images. Kohler states that user data is encrypted at rest and in transit, and that algorithms are trained on de-identified data.
Micron is exiting the Crucial consumer business to focus on the more profitable AI-driven data centre market. While Crucial will close by February 2026, Micron will continue to support products under warranty.
Two methods are provided to activate Windows, Office, and Extended Updates (ESU): using PowerShell or a traditional script (MAS_AIO.cmd). The PowerShell method involves downloading and executing a script, while the traditional method requires downloading and running the MAS_AIO.cmd file. Both methods offer various activation options and troubleshooting features.
New global research from Disability:IN and LinkedIn reveals a powerful workforce trend: professionals with disabilities are advancing- but often by switching firms to do so. Explore the research that will shape your workforce strategy for years to come.
Jim, a reader, recounts a time in the early 1990s when he worked for an online bookstore. While testing the new platform, Jim forgot to disable a site crawler’s ability to add items to the shopping cart, resulting in a cart worth over $50,000. This caused a major disruption for the bookstore, but Jim was able to fix the issue and keep his job.
Wear headphones, listen for beeps, and click FIRE when the sound is centred.
Portable file server with accelerated resumable uploads, dedup, WebDAV, FTP, TFTP, zeroconf, media indexer, thumbnails all in one file, no deps - 9001/copyparty
On the space of minds and the optimizations that give rise to them.
Legend of Mana Land: Four Golden Rings: A GameLit Fantasy Adventure eBook : Scott, Landon, Sage, Adam: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store
Download Paylino by Subsspot GmbH on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more games like Paylino.
A highly customizable chatbot/waifu for Discord featuring smart agentic AI features such as memory, personas, tool usage, and more! - Bredrumb/TomoriBot
1801 - Joseph Marie Jacquard uses punch cards to instruct a loom to weave "hello, world" into a tapestry. Redditers of the time are not imp...
AI large language models have been heralded as revolutionary in the world of accessibility. But in order to create a more accessible internet, those with disabilities need to be included in the process of training the technology, advocates say.
Welcome to watchTowr vs the Internet, part 68.
That feeling you’re experiencing? Dread. You should be used to it by now.
As is fast becoming an unofficial and, apparently, frowned upon tradition - we identified incredible amounts of publicly exposed passwords, secrets, keys and more for very sensitive environments
How about this for a truism: a book is a book, and something that is not a book is not a book. This post will knock your socks off if you are inclined to affirm this statement, because in medieval …
Three weeks of network monitoring revealed the truth: 73% of funded AI startups are running $33M valuations on $1,200/month in OpenAI…
Grab yours while supplies last. Apple has launched a limited edition iPhone grip and stand, designed by Bailey Hikawa "through an extensive interview...
Welcome to Chart It, the accessible tool allowing screen-reader users to create mind maps, ERD's, flowcharts and more.
Two years ago, I wrote: Microsoft-the-company does not care about Infocom. But a lot of people in Microsoft must care. Microsoft is heavily populated by greying GenX nerds just like me. Folks who grew up with the first home computers and fondly ...
After reading the book The AWK Programming Language (recommended!), I was planning to try AWK out on this year’s Advent of Code. Having some time off from work this week, I tried to implement one of the problems in it to get some practice, set up my tooling, see how hard AWK would be, and… I found I’m FP-pilled.
Baltimore, MD (November 18, 2025): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is proud to announce a partnership with ElevenLabs, bringing the innovative ElevenReader platform to blind readers across the United States.
Download Art of Fauna: Cozy Puzzles by Klemens Strasser on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more games like Art of Fauna:…
Cloudflare suffered a service outage on November 18, 2025. The outage was triggered by a bug in generation logic for a Bot Management feature file causing many Cloudflare services to be affected.
Our new flagship Olmo 3 model family empowers the open source community with not only state-of-the-art open models, but the entire model flow and full traceability back to training data.
Lightning-fast, on-device TTS — running natively via ONNX. - supertone-inc/supertonic
A Better World Company is hiring! We’re looking for a skilled new recruit to alter the past and reshape the future! Use our Computer to travel back in time, and make game-changing choices to make the world a better place! You decide what to do… as long as you follow our internal policies.
Timbran - Building collaborative online environments
All web developers know, at some level, that accessibility is important. But when push comes to shove, it can be hard to prioritize it above a bazillion other concerns when you’re trying to c…
According to a recent Google leak, we’re all to blame for poor quality search results. Summary and thoughts on Rand Fishkin's and Mike King's dropped dual reports on a large-scale leak of Google Search internal documentation for Content API Warehouse.
Greta works with a legacy tech stack, including a deprecated IDE from a defunct vendor, a dialect of C with limited compiler support, and a Pascal library with no source code. The code itself is problematic, with a monolithic main form, global state, and confusing file structures. Despite the challenges, Greta is happy with the team culture and is actively working on a .NET replacement.
Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for Windows now use generative AI to generate alt text for images. This new feature provides higher-quality, context-rich descriptions and gives users more control over when and how alt text is added. The update is available to Microsoft 365 users with Version 2510 or later.
Reflections on my time leading Mastodon and what's to come next.
PHP 8.5, releasing on November 20, 2025, introduces several new features. These include the pipe operator for easier function chaining, the ability to assign new values to cloned objects, and the #[NoDiscard] attribute to indicate required function return values. Other notable additions are closure improvements, backtraces for fatal errors, and built-in array_first() and array_last() functions.
DeepClause Desktop App. Contribute to deepclause/deepclause-desktop development by creating an account on GitHub.
A highly optimized engine for maya-1 tts model to generate minutes of audio in seconds. - ysharma3501/FastMaya
Lane Defender is a minimalist arcade game designed for both blind and sighted players. It uses haptic feedback to indicate enemy approach in three lanes, with optional voice announcements for hits, lives, and game over. The game features adaptive difficulty, new mechanics as players improve, and high score tracking.
Chase, a developer, accidentally left a box unchecked while updating an Amazon Machine Image, causing hundreds of 100 GB storage volumes to persist after instances terminated. This mistake resulted in a $40,000 AWS bill, which was partially forgiven. Chase advises setting alarms for unexpected cost increases.
Baidu unveiled ERNIE 5.0, a proprietary multimodal foundation model designed to process and generate content across text, images, audio, and video. The model, positioned as a global contender in the enterprise AI market, boasts competitive performance against OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, particularly in structured document understanding and visual chart reasoning. Alongside ERNIE 5.0, Baidu introduced major updates to its digital human platform, no-code tools, and general-purpose AI agents, aiming to expand its AI footprint beyond China.
The story captivates with a well-paced plot, clear character growth, and a unique perspective on reincarnation. The protagonist’s past experiences, exceptional abilities, and evolving personality contribute to the depth and unpredictability of the narrative. The writing style is praised for its clarity, engaging word choices, and seamless flow.
Edit ~/.ssh/config and add “ConnectionAttempts 120” to automatically retry SSH connections for two minutes after a reboot.
Keyboard, Numpad, and Macropad firmware updates are now available. Update BIOS to 4.01 or newer for 7040 Series and 3.00 or newer for 300 Series. Follow the provided guide to update firmware based on your operating system.
UK charity launches new digital archive that champions the legacy of disability arts and activism for public access
Julia Evans offers programming zines, including free black and white ones and purchasable colour ones. The Wizard Zines Collection, featuring 15 zines, is available for $145, and the Secret Rules of the Terminal zine is new. Free resources include experiments, playgrounds, and posters.
Shoot is an instant messenger for the fediverse, allowing users to connect with friends on Shoot and other federated services. It offers features like direct messaging, group chats, guilds, voice chat, and URL previews. While the project is a work in progress, contributions are welcome.
The author reflects on their journey with Ruby, from discovering it in university to building a career around Ruby on Rails. They highlight the vibrant Ruby community, the influence of key figures like Matz and _why, and the impact of Rails on web development. The author emphasizes how Rails’ ease of use and rich ecosystem made it a game-changer, allowing for rapid prototyping and experimentation.
The Ruby on Rails community, once a welcoming space, has become increasingly hostile. The author, a trans woman, reflects on the community’s decline, highlighting the negative impact of David Hamburger Helper, a figure who embodies the community’s shift towards toxicity. The author also discusses the broader societal issues impacting the trans community, emphasizing the need for awareness and action.
The author expresses concern about the influence of wealthy individuals and corporations on the Ruby community, specifically highlighting Shopify’s financial influence on Rubygems. The author also criticizes David Hamburger Helper, a prominent Ruby community leader, for his controversial and divisive statements, particularly those targeting the transgender community. The author argues that such behaviour is harmful and contributes to a toxic environment within the community.
The author reflects on the negative impact of David’s actions on the Ruby and Rails communities, highlighting his domineering behaviour and the resulting decline of Ruby’s popularity. The author expresses disappointment in the current state of the tech industry, where creativity and programmer happiness are overshadowed by efficiency and conformity. They hope to influence those in David’s orbit to reconsider their support for him and to encourage the Ruby community to prioritize its core values.
The author criticizes the toxic behaviour of David Hamburger Helper, arguing that it is harming the Ruby community and pushing out marginalized groups. They call on Ruby maintainers to take action, suggesting a fork of the project if necessary, and urge the broader community to stand up against abuse and support a more inclusive future for Ruby. The author also highlights the importance of democratic governance in open-source projects, citing the Python Software Foundation’s recent decision to prioritize their values over funding.
The author reflects on their experience with the Ruby on Rails community, highlighting its fun and inclusive culture, while acknowledging its flaws and the presence of bad actors. They express disappointment with Ruby Central’s handling of a recent situation and criticize the far-right movement’s influence on trans rights. The author also shares their personal journey of growth and change, emphasizing the importance of kindness and vulnerability.
The non-alcoholic beverage market in Canada is growing, but prices remain high. This is due to the complex and costly production process, similar to alcoholic beverages, and the need to maintain a premium price point to ensure perceived quality. As the market matures, prices may decrease slightly, but non-alcoholic drinks are likely to remain premium products.
Cognixion is using Apple Vision Pro in a clinical study to explore how people with conditions like ALS and spinal cord injuries can communicate using brain signals, eye tracking, and AI. The study, which runs through April 2026, leverages Vision Pro’s high-resolution video passthrough and accessibility features like Eye Tracking and AssistiveTouch. This collaboration highlights how Apple’s accessibility framework, while not designed for medical use, is enabling significant advancements in healthcare technology.
A study of over 130,000 adults with insomnia found that long-term melatonin use (over a year) was associated with a higher risk of heart failure, hospitalization, and death. The study, presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025, raises concerns about the safety of melatonin, a widely used sleep aid. Researchers emphasize the need for further research to assess melatonin’s cardiovascular safety.
A study of 130,828 adults with insomnia found a potential link between melatonin use and heart failure. The study, using data from the TriNetX network, compared 65,414 participants prescribed melatonin for at least a year to a control group. While the study raises safety concerns, it cannot prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship, highlighting the need for further research.
Contact 1-800-AHA-USA1 for public inquiries.