Web Review, Week 2023-40 06.10.23 14:35
Autor: Kevin Ottens
Let's go for my web review for the week 2023-40.
BBC Gives Up On Threads (By Instagram), Sticks With Mastodon --- Darnell (Seize The Day)
Tags: tech, fediverse
This is an interesting move from the BBC. We can only theorize on the reasons but that's a positive example of a successful fediverse presence so far.
https://darnell.day/bbc-gives-up-on-threads-by-instagram-sticks-with-mastodon
AI from a legal perspective [LWN.net]
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, law, copyright
Looks like it was a very interesting talk. Situation still needs to be monitored in any case, it's uncertain how those cases will be ruled.
https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/945504/ee1f1db87dae56b1/
Predictive Policing Software Terrible At Predicting Crimes -- The Markup
Tags: tech, politics, bias
A bad solution in search of a problem basically. Let's look at the alternatives and fund proper solutions to why people are victimized, shall we?
https://themarkup.org/prediction-bias/2023/10/02/predictive-policing-software-terrible-at-predicting-crimes
Lazarus luring employees with trojanized coding challenges: The case of a Spanish aerospace company
Tags: tech, security
Very refined attack including the social engineering side of things. Catching developers with coding challenges, it's definitely cunning.
https://www.welivesecurity.com/en/eset-research/lazarus-luring-employees-trojanized-coding-challenges-case-spanish-aerospace-company/
Google Doc injects tracking redirects in documents
Tags: tech, google, surveillance
Why you can't trust this kind of proprietary software...
https://fosstodon.org/@Joe_0237/111145684757912952
Compromised Microsoft Key: More Impactful Than We Thought Wiz Blog
Tags: tech, microsoft, cloud, security
Totally missed this over the summer... this is a huge breach. It will have a long lasting impact. The scope might be larger than we expect.
https://www.wiz.io/blog/storm-0558-compromised-microsoft-key-enables-authentication-of-countless-micr
Microsoft comes under blistering criticism for “grossly irresponsible” security Ars Technica
Tags: tech, microsoft, cloud, security
Really a bad summer for Microsoft security wise. Trust should be low among Azure customers now. Who was paying attention though?
https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/08/microsoft-cloud-security-blasted-for-its-culture-of-toxic-obfuscation/
The Marvin Attack
Tags: tech, security
An attack which doesn't want to die. Time to retire RSA use with TLS, this is really overdue.
https://people.redhat.com/~hkario/marvin/
Python 3.12: what didn't make the headlines - Bite code!
Tags: tech, python, programming
A few good things went unnoticed. The performances are still not there.
https://www.bitecode.dev/p/python-312-what-didnt-make-the-headlines
Open Sourcing Ferrocene - Ferrous Systems
Tags: tech, rust, safety
This is a big deal for the places where Rust could shine.
https://ferrous-systems.com/blog/ferrocene-open-source/
The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Must Know About Unicode in 2023 (Still No Excuses!) @ tonsky.me
Tags: tech, unicode, encodings
Very nice primer on how Unicode works. Definitely a must read and a good starting point. Definitely highlights properly some of the difficulties we need to deal with now and talks about the normalization forms.
https://tonsky.me/blog/unicode/
Lessons From Debugging
Tags: tech, programming, debugging
List of strategies to keep in mind when debugging.
https://matt-rickard.com/lessons-from-debugging
Concurrency Freaks: 50 years later, is Two-Phase Locking the best we can do?
Tags: tech, multithreading, databases
Good way to understand two phase locking better, its tradeoffs, variants and how it's been improved.
https://concurrencyfreaks.blogspot.com/2023/09/50-years-later-is-two-phase-locking.html?m=1
Database Migrations
Tags: tech, architecture, databases
Interesting primer of the intricacies of database migrations. It can get complex fairly quickly.
https://vadimkravcenko.com/shorts/database-migrations/
Goodbye to sequential integers, hello UUIDv7!
Tags: tech, uuid, databases
Interesting property of the newer UUIDv7 spec.
https://buildkite.com/blog/goodbye-integers-hello-uuids
mimic.css
Tags: tech, web, css, frontend, funny
Nice and fun little demo of what can be done with CSS animations.
https://erictreacy.github.io/mimic.css/
Flexbox Froggy - A game for learning CSS flexbox
Tags: tech, web, css, frontend, funny
Fun way to understand better the CSS layouting using flexboxes.
https://flexboxfroggy.com/
OCuLink as an eGPU and cheap PCIe connectivity solution for laptops and mobile devices
Tags: tech, 3d, gpu
Interesting connector, I didn't know about this one.
https://rkblog.dev/posts/pc-hardware/gpd-win-max2/oculink-as-egpu-solution/
Optimization Techniques for GPU Programming - 3570638.pdf
Tags: tech, gpu, computation, performance, optimization
Very thorough paper on optimization techniques when dealing with GPUs. Can be a useful reference or starting point to then dig deeper. Should also help to pick the right technique for your particular problem.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.^{1145}⁄_{3570638}
Diora Devlog
Tags: tech, 3d
Very clever tricks for a performant little engine.
https://dioragame.com/devlog/?log=3
pkgx --- Run Anything
Tags: tech, command-line, tools, developer-experience
Looks like an interesting tool to manage developer environments.
https://pkgx.sh/
bruno
Tags: tech, http, tools
Looks like an interesting alternative to things like postman or insomnia. To test when I get the chance.
https://www.usebruno.com/
Dependency Whac-A-Mole
Tags: tech, architecture, dependencies, complexity
Mind how you pick your dependencies and how they fare over time. You might need to reevaluate and let go some of them.
https://blog.ploeh.dk/2023/10/02/dependency-whac-a-mole/
Cloud Costs Every Programmer Should Know
Tags: tech, cloud, business, cost
Interesting approximations to get a feel of how much a cloud project will cost.
https://www.vantage.sh/blog/cloud-costs-every-programmer-should-know
Conventional Comments
Tags: tech, codereview, communication
We see this kind of comments in some reviews, this would benefit from being more widespread.
https://conventionalcomments.org/
What Predicts Software Developers' Productivity?
Tags: tech, management, organization, productivity
Interestingly (or maybe unsurprisingly) most of the factors this research found impactful are not technical. So mind the social constructs of your organization.
https://newsletter.getdx.com/p/factors-of-developer-productivity
Seniority and self-management: you don't have to do this alone - Jacob Kaplan-Moss
Tags: tech, coaching, management
Definitely this, I too often see people trying to just power through. Being responsible of something doesn't mean you do it all alone, on the contrary. If you're struggling with it look for help, it can take many forms including coaching.
https://jacobian.org/2023/oct/4/seniority-and-self-management/
Bye for now!