Drone Reformation

"Air Weapons: The Drone Reformation"

Browser Tab Pong

"What do you do with your unclosed browser tabs? I find that they take up a lot of screen space. So this week I figured out how to run pong inside mine.

Klein On Imminent AGI

Ezra Klein in New York Times: "The Government Knows A.G.I. Is Coming"

For the last couple of months, I have had this strange experience: Person after person -- from artificial intelligence labs, from government -- has been coming to me saying: It's really about to happen. We're about to get to artificial general intelligence. 

What they mean is that they have believed, for a long time, that we are on a path to creating transformational artificial intelligence capable of doing basically anything a human being could do behind a computer -- but better. They thought it would take somewhere from five to 15 years to develop. But now they believe it's coming in two to three years, during Donald Trump’s second term. 

They believe it because of the products they're releasing right now and what they're seeing inside the places they work. And I think they're right...

Full interview by Ezra Klein with Ben Buchanan, the former special adviser for artificial intelligence in the Biden White House here.

AI And Drug Discovery

Derek Lowe: "Claims of an AI revolution in drug discovery are missing the biggest problem"

Adcock On Humanoid Robots

Video: "Brett Adcock: Humanoid Robots, Trillions of Dollars & The Future of Humanity"

I think his company FigureAI is very exciting, and could be a household name in a few years.  

Key quote (at 12:47 minutes), "The world of the future is going to be crazy and in such a good way!"

Bye Bye Skype

"Microsoft will end Skype in May, leaving some users upset"

Hsieh Forbes Column: When Medical AI Performs Better Than Human Doctors

My latest Forbes column is now out: "When Medical AI Performs Better Than Human Doctors"

Hub Motor Update

"Donut Lab and the electric motors everyone has been talking about". (Via H.R.)

Whale Language

"Whales communicate with a 'language-like' structure similar to humans"

US Gold

"What to know about Fort Knox's gold depository that Musk wants audited"

Young People Taking Classes To Learn How To Make Phone Calls

"Gen Z battling with phone anxiety are taking telephobia courses to learn the lost art of a call"

"They’ve [Gen Z] just simply not had the opportunity for making and receiving telephone calls. It is not the main function of their phones these days, they can do anything on the phone, but we automatically default to texting, voice notes, and anything except actually using a telephone for its original intended purpose, and so people have lost that skill," she explained...

The session involves practicing a series of scenarios where you have to make a phone call, for example, calling the doctors to make an appointment, calling in sick to work, and other everyday scenarios. The pupils are expected to sit back to back to mimic a regular phone call where they can’t see the person on the other end and practice by using scripts. 

Baxter said attending just one session boosts pupils’ confidence because it demystifies how phone calls really work.

Burning In Legs

Ars Technica: "Burning in woman's legs turned out to be slug parasites migrating to her brain". (Via Gus Van Horn.)

Asteroid Danger Lessened

"Additional Observations Continue to Reduce Chance of Asteroid Impact in 2032"

Observations made overnight on Feb. 19 - 20 of asteroid 2024 YR4 have further decreased its chance of Earth impact on Dec. 22, 2032, to 0.28%. NASA’s planetary defense teams will continue to monitor the asteroid to improve our predictions of the asteroid’s trajectory. With this new data, the chance of an impact with the Moon increased slightly to 1%.

Intergalatic X-Ray Flash

"Strange X-ray flash from beyond the Milky Way perplexes scientists"

Math Prodigy

"India's 'Human Calculator Kid' Shatters 6 World Records in a Single Day". (Via H.R.)

Apple Vs. UK Update

"Apple pulls encryption feature from UK over government spying demands"

Dune Chronological Reading Order

"How to Read All 23 'Dune' Books in Chronological Order"

Developing The Calculator App

"What I'm about to tell you is the greatest calculator app development story ever told."

AI Vs. Human Mistakes

"AI Mistakes Are Very Different From Human Mistakes"

Meta Cable

"Meta plans globe-spanning sub-sea internet cable". 

According to the company's press release: 

Once complete, the project will reach five major continents and span over 50,000 km (longer than the Earth’s circumference), making it the world’s longest subsea cable project using the highest-capacity technology available.

 

Unappreciated Progress

"We Live Like Royalty and Don't Know It". (Via J.C.)

Self-Driving Tesla Coast-To-Coast Experience

"Tesla FSD Cannonball Run 002: v13 Better, But Hardware Has Limits"

UK Demands Apple Break Own Encryption

"UK orders Apple to let it spy on users' encrypted accounts"

Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies. Its application would mark a significant defeat for tech companies in their decades-long battle to avoid being wielded as government tools against their users, the people said, speaking under the condition of anonymity to discuss legally and politically sensitive issues...

The law, known by critics as the Snoopers’ Charter, makes it a criminal offense to reveal that the government has even made such a demand. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

 

Hash Table Search Breakthrough

"Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture". (Via D.J.)

AIs Doing Better Without Human Doctors?

"When Doctors With AI Are Outperformed by AI Alone". (Via G.F.)

Noether's Theorem Explained

"How Noether's Theorem Revolutionized Physics"

US, China, And AI

Video: "Can America Win the AI War with China?"

Ancient Polynesian Navigators

"Sail with ancient Polynesian navigators"

Chemical Laws

"Chemical laws"

Cleaner Air

"The world has probably passed 'peak air pollution'"

More Known About Unknowability

"New Proofs Probe the Limits of Mathematical Truth"

WikiTok

"Developer creates endless Wikipedia feed to fight algorithm addiction". Direct link to Wikitok.

Optimal Egg

"The best way to cook an egg -- in 32 minutes". 

Original Nature paper: "Periodic cooking of eggs".

Nuclear Fusor

"A Young Man Used AI to Build A Nuclear Fusor and Now I Must Weep". (Via G.F.)

Spine Stimulator

"Spinal cord electrical stimulation restores neural function in clinical trial". (Via H.R.)

Coffee Marketing

Not sure if this is brilliant or clueless marketing!

 

Everett On Expertise

Dr. Peter Everett: "On Professional Expertise"

Navy Lasers

"US Navy evaluates laser weapon aboard destroyer":

HELIOS represents a major step forward in naval warfare, providing a cost-effective countermeasure against drones, small boats, and other asymmetric threats. The U.S. Navy has been expanding its directed energy arsenal, and the HELIOS-equipped USS Preble joins a growing number of Navy ships fielding high-energy laser weapons. 

The successful testing of HELIOS underscores the U.S. Navy’s commitment to integrating laser weapons into its fleet to counter evolving threats. Unlike conventional missile-based defense systems, directed energy weapons like HELIOS offer a virtually unlimited magazine, rapid engagement capabilities, and lower per-engagement costs.

 

AI Tutor

"Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says everyone should get an AI tutor right away". (Via D.F.)

Miniature Roman Lock

"Metal Detectorist Unearths Miniature 1,600-Year-Old Roman Lock". (Via H.R.)

Why Ice Doesn't Stick To Polar Bear Fur

"How polar bears stop ice from freezing on their fur". (Via H.R.)

Silver On Preparing For AI

Nate Silver: "How should you prepare for an AI future?"

Navy AI

"The Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) became the first warship to deploy with a program-of-record artificial intelligence (AI) platform.

Car Battery Update

"A variety of new batteries are coming to power EVs"

Apple, Starlink, And SpaceX

"Apple and SpaceX just added Starlink connectivity for select iPhone users"

Tesla Autonomous Taxi Service Coming To TX

"Tesla will launch an 'unsupervised, no one in the car' robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June [2025]"

OpenAI Claim Against Deepseek

"OpenAI says it has evidence China's DeepSeek used its model to train competitor". 

If true, this would artificially lower Deepseek's training costs. And could be a violation of OpenAI's terms of service and/or violation of intellectual property rights. (The article also notes that OpenAI has been accused of violating others' IP rights to train its own models.)

In-Flight Screen Restriction

"Why United Does Not Allow You To Use In-Flight Screen As Extended Display"

Quoting The Points Guy:

As more travelers bring their own tablets and laptops on board, I've always wondered why airlines don't offer a screencasting feature on the entertainment screens. After all, it's a lot easier to get work done with some additional screen real estate.

Turns out, United can already technically enable screencasting today, Green said, but a major issue will likely mean that flyers will never see this functionality.

"We've had a lot of pushback from our corporate partners that say they don't necessarily want their staff using publicly available screens," Green said.

It's not that United would have access to any data; it's that they don't want nosy passengerssnooping in on their neighbors.

Gift Card Fraud

"Chinese Organized Crime's Latest U.S. Target: Gift Cards" 

Card draining is when criminals remove gift cards from a store display, open them in a separate location, and either record the card numbers and PINs or replace them with a new barcode. The crooks then repair the packaging, return to a store and place the cards back on a rack. When a customer unwittingly selects and loads money onto a tampered card, the criminal is able to access the card online and steal the balance.

Good Jobs

US News & World Report: "100 Best Jobs of 2025". 

FWIW, "Radiologist" comes in at #77.

Quantum Computing Glossary

"Quantum computing could go big this year. Here's a glossary to get you started"

AI Protein Design Update

"Researchers use AI to design proteins that block snake venom toxins". (Via H.R.)

Translation Update

"Meta takes us a step closer to Star Trek's universal translator". (Via H.R.)

Light Posting

Admin note: Posting will be light for the next 1-2 weeks due to external obligations.

The First Password On The Internet

"First password on the internet"

Igloo Science

"How Do Igloos Keep People Warm?"

Apollo Wrist Computer

"Want to Wear a Tiny Apollo Guidance Computer on Your Wrist?"

 

Meteor Strike Video

"Homeowner captures sound and video of meteorite strike on camera, and scientists believe it's a first"

Costco Clothes

"Costco's $9B clothes business, explained". (Via Rand Simberg.)

Best Space Photo?

"A NASA astronaut may have just taken the best photo from space -- ever"

Young Violinist

When you're playing Vivaldi on the piano at the airport, and a shy 10-year old girl asks if she can play her violin along with you. 

(I love the expression on her face as she plays!)

Caplan On Men And Women

Bryan Caplan: "The Typical Man Disgusts the Typical Woman"

Coffee Good

"We knew morning coffee was good for us... and science has finally proved it"

Nvidia AI Computer

"Nvidia's tiny $3,000 computer for AI developers steals the show at CES"

What To Do If You Accidentally Glue Your Eye

News you can use: "Accidentally put eyelash glue in your eye? Tips to avoid painful mistakes."

AI Detection Of Ovarian Cancer

"AI detects ovarian cancer better than human experts in new study". 

Academic paper in Nature Medicine: "International multicenter validation of AI-driven ultrasound detection of ovarian cancer"

iPhone Security

"Get to Know iPhone Privacy and Security Settings"

Ants > Humans

"Ants best humans at test of collective intelligence"

Altman On AGI

Very bold claim from Sam Altman on 5 Jan 2025: 

We are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it. We believe that, in 2025, we may see the first AI agents "join the workforce" and materially change the output of companies. We continue to believe that iteratively putting great tools in the hands of people leads to great, broadly-distributed outcomes.

We are beginning to turn our aim beyond that, to superintelligence in the true sense of the word. We love our current products, but we are here for the glorious future. With superintelligence, we can do anything else. Superintelligent tools could massively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation well beyond what we are capable of doing on our own, and in turn massively increase abundance and prosperity...

Self-Driving In Switzerland

"Switzerland greenlights use of self-driving cars on motorways from March 2025"

Quantum Computing Update

"IonQ and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Unveil Novel Approach to Scalable Quantum Computing"

VW Data Breach

"Massive VW Data Leak Exposed 800,000 EV Owners’ Movements, From Homes To Private Spaces"

Holiday Hiatus

Admin note: GeekPress will be taking a short holiday break for the rest of the week. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Batteries On Planes

"Battery fires are now happening on planes at least once a week"

Leslie Groves

"General Leslie Groves, Bringer of the Bomb"

AI "Granny" to Tie Up Phone Scammers

"A phone company developed an AI 'granny' to beat scammers at their own game"

Knots And Fractals

"Teen Mathematicians Tie Knots Through a Mind-Blowing Fractal"

Hidden Street

"The forgotten street found behind a hidden library door"

Use End-To-End Encryption

"Why the U.S. government is saying all citizens should use end-to-end encrypted messaging"

Confused Waymo

"Empty Waymo Robotaxi Loops Roundabout 37 Times As If It Was Stuck In Logic Loop"

Are AI Chatbot Promises Legally Binding?

Eugene Volokh: "Can You Sue Over Assurances Made by Company's Customer Service AI Chatbot?"

New Robot Learning

"Robots can learn new actions faster thanks to AI techniques"

Beware "Total App Reliance"

"'Nightmare' Zipcar outage is a warning against complete app dependency"

Math Update: Moving Sofa Problem

"The open problem -- the 'moving sofa problem' -- has possibly just been solved!"

The open problem -- the "moving sofa problem" -- has possibly just been solved!

This mathematical problem basically asks "what is the largest area of a 'sofa' that can be maneuvered through a right-angled corner in a hallway of width 1?"

Short thread 🧵 pic.twitter.com/eLQHX78Z37

— Inquisitive Bird (@Scientific_Bird) December 6, 2024

Jailbreaking AI For Fun And Profit

"Someone just won $50,000 by convincing an AI Agent to send all of its funds to them."

Google AI Glasses

"Google's Prototype Glasses Put An AI Agent On Your Face"

Redaction Failure

"Avoid Super-Embarrassing Redaction Failures"

I have often run across documents written by lawyers that looked redacted—but all the supposedly secret information in them could be extracted with literally three keystrokes (ctrl-A, ctrl-C, ctrl-V). One was a court filing that was filed pursuant to a court order authorizing the redaction; but the material so carefully marked secret proved not to be secret at all.

AI Jesus Is Popular

"'AI Jesus' avatar tests man's faith in machines and the divine"

“What was really interesting (was) to see that the people really talked with him in a serious way. They didn’t come to make jokes,” said chapel theologian Marco Schmid, who spearheaded the project. Most visitors were aged 40 to 70, and more Catholics respondents found the experience stimulating than did Protestants, the report showed.

Schmid was quick to point out that the “AI Jesus” – billed as a “Jesus-like” persona – was an artistic experiment to get people thinking about the intersection between the digital and the divine, not substitute for human interaction or sacramental confessions with a priest, nor was it intended to save pastoral resources.

“For the people it was clear that it was a computer ... It was clear it was not a confession,” Schmid said. “He wasn’t programmed to give absolutions or prayers. At the end, it was more summary of the conversation.”

 

Aaronson On Willow

Scott Aaronson: "The Google Willow thing"

WaPo Panel On The Future Of AI

"The Futurist: The Age of AI"

Today you'll hear from tech executives and AI experts who are studying these trends. First, Shyam Sankar, the chief technology officer and executive vice president of Palantir, will discuss America's technological edge on the battlefield. Then Kweilin Ellingrud, the director of the McKinsey Global Institute, and Conor Grennan, the chief AI Architect at the NY Stern School of Business, will discuss how artificial intelligence is already impacting productivity and the economy. And finally, Cristóbal Valenzuela, the co-founder and CEO of Runway, will talk about how generative AI is reshaping the media and entertainment industry today...

Palantir, AI, And Warfare

Fast Company: "How Alex Karp helped turn Palantir into the West's AI arms dealer". 

One eye-opening quote: "A targeting operation that required 2,000 people in 2003 now needs just 20."

I believe AI will be the next "Revolution in Military Affairs" (RMA).

Notre Dame Restored

"A peek inside the restoration of the iconic Notre Dame cathedral". (Via H.R.)

New NASA Head

"How did the CEO of an online payments firm become the nominee to lead NASA?" (Via H.R.)

Tough Orcas

"An Orca Pod Off Mexico Has Learned to Kill Enormous Whale Sharks". (Via H.R.)

Lego Car Design

Awesome video: "Making Lego Car CROSS Narrow Bridges"

Great example of iterative design refinement for solving successively harder problems. #TheJoyOfEngineering

Lime Burns

"Man suffers chemical burn that lasted months after squeezing limes". (Via H.R.)

Nukes For FB

"Meta turns to nuclear energy for its AI ambitions"

Fatal Names For AI

"Certain names make ChatGPT grind to a halt, and we know why"

Robots With Facial Expressions

"Honda's 12-inch robot talks to people with facial expressions, speeds up tasks by 900%". (Via H.R.)

Fano And Huffman

A fun historical tidbit on information theory.

In 1951, Robert M. Fano, a professor at MIT, assigned his information theory students a deceptively simple-sounding problem as a final term paper: find the most efficient way to represent numbers, letters, or symbols using binary code.

What he didn't reveal was that this was an… pic.twitter.com/xYiQP41wzc

— Fermat's Library (@fermatslibrary) November 27, 2024

More information on Huffman's breakthrough here.