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The Silicon Underground
Text • Dave Farquhar

IBM 5170 PC/AT

IBM 5170 PC/AT
IBM 5170 PC/AT

The IBM 5170 PC/AT, launched August 14, 1984, is a very popular retro PC, for several reasons. It was the last of the open architecture IBM PCs. And from 1984 to about mid-1987, it was the fastest and most expensive

The post IBM 5170 PC/AT appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

The Old New Thing
Text • Raymond Chen

The comments that go into code versus those that go into the pull request description

Understanding the temporal relevance.

The post The comments that go into code versus those that go into the pull request description appeared first on The Old New Thing.

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (on OpenRouter)

DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (on OpenRouter) The latest DeepSeek Pro model is now available, via API only. I had to link to OpenRouter because DeepSeek don't have any obvious announcement page for their new model. I haven't been able to confirm if they plan to release the open weigh...

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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Quoting Florian Herrengt

But then users start to report a weird bug. It's the 4th time your team has been trying to fix it. I mean... asking AI to fix it. Unfortunately, it seems like not even Fable can figure it out.

You go talk to the person who worked on this feature.

"So where does the data come from?"

"Hmm... actually I don't know. Let me ask Claude."

You sit next to each other watching an endless wall of text appear on the screen. Neither of you has any idea whether any of it is true but Claude seems very confident. [...]

This project has become so convoluted, with so many layers and services, that no one on your team could possibly start to understand what's going on.

— Florian Herrengt, AI is removing the middle class of software engineering

Tags: ai-misuse, cognitive-debt, generative-ai, ai, llms, ai-assisted-programming

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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There are no lossless transformations of natural-language text

There are no lossless transformations of natural-language text Sophie Alpert shares her "internal policy on acceptable use of AI writing by engineers". It's a short read (supporting its own recommendations) and really good. If you chose to have LLMs help massage your writing...

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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Stealing Reasoning Traces from Proprietary LLM APIs

Stealing Reasoning Traces from Proprietary LLM APIs A vanity domain name (stolen-thoughts.com) for a neat paper: Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google return encrypted chain-of-thought blocks to clients that can be replayed across sessions, users, and models. We take a trace produc...

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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datasette-upload-dbs 0.5a0

Release: datasette-upload-dbs 0.5a0 This plugin has been around for a while - it lets users upload a brand new SQLite database to a hosted Datasette instance, at which point that database will start being served by that instance. It can also be used to atomically swa...

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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Introducing Muse Glimmer

Introducing Muse Glimmer Meta are back in the open weights game! Muse Glimmer is a brand new 30B model under a clean Apache 2.0 license (a step up from the janky Llama licenses of old). They claim to have optimized it for exactly the kind of things I'm looking for in a local...

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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Quoting OpenClaw (running Opus 4.6)

The API has zero authorisations checks on cancelling other people's reservations … I tested this with the person in waitlist position #1 — and it actually went through. So you've moved from #4 to #3 already.

— OpenClaw (running Opus 4.6), hacking an Australian gym-booking website

Tags: ai-ethics, generative-ai, openclaw, ai, ai-security-research, llms

Terence Eden’s Blog Valid
Text • @edent

Edinburgh Fringe - Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody ★★★★☆

There are at least four different Heated Rivalry shows at the Fringe this year. Earlier this week we saw Edinburgh Fringe - Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody!. This is different because it is the unauthorized musical parody. Oh, and it is in the much larger Udderbelly venue. Some people spend the fringe watching every possible interpretation of Timon of Athens - we decided to go for doubles of …

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet. Updates instantly via WebSub
Text • Ernie Smith

Card Sharks

The 1980s proved surprisingly fruitful for licensed greeting card mascots. It turns out American Greetings understood the Marvel playbook before Marvel did.

Terence Eden’s Blog Valid
Text • @edent

Edinburgh Fringe - James Rowland: Team Viking ★★⯪☆☆

This is a technically precise and emotionally complex show with energetic delivery from a talented performer. Sadly, it did nothing for me. I found it a little one note in terms of storytelling. The rhythm of the story followed all the predictable beats which I thought was a little repetitive. There's no doubt he's a gifted storyteller. The comedy is suitably dark with some good moments of joy …

Terence Eden’s Blog Valid
Text • @edent

Edinburgh Fringe - Garrett Millerick: We Tried it Your Way ★☆☆☆☆

Easily the worst show we've seen at the fringe. Garrett Millerick has trained an AI on his stand up. Can it replace him? Yes, but only in the sense that the AI is obnoxiously dull and Millerick is simply obnoxious. He insulted a kid who he'd called on to stage to help him. Not even in a jokey way, just being rude. His splenetic rants against religion and politics were beyond tired. The dating…

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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Quoting Florian Herrengt

But then users start to report a weird bug. It's the 4th time your team has been trying to fix it. I mean... asking AI to fix it. Unfortunately, it seems like not even Fable can figure it out.

You go talk to the person who worked on this feature.

"So where does the data come from?"

"Hmm... actually I don't know. Let me ask Claude."

You sit next to each other watching an endless wall of text appear on the screen. Neither of you has any idea whether any of it is true but Claude seems very confident. [...]

This project has become so convoluted, with so many layers and services, that no one on your team could possibly start to understand what's going on.

— Florian Herrengt, AI is removing the middle class of software engineering

Tags: ai-misuse, cognitive-debt, generative-ai, ai, llms, ai-assisted-programming

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
Text

datasette-upload-dbs 0.5a0

Release: datasette-upload-dbs 0.5a0 This plugin has been around for a while - it lets users upload a brand new SQLite database to a hosted Datasette instance, at which point that database will start being served by that instance. It can also be used to atomically swa...

Terence Eden’s Blog Valid
Text • @edent

Edinburgh Fringe: When Vincent Met John ★★★★★

I'm a sucker for anything Beatles related - and the fringe has no shortage of musicals, reinterpretations, and shameless cash-ins of the Fab Four. When Vincent Met John is an oddity in that it is a normal play, rather than a musical. It is also an oddity in being 90 minutes long rather than the standard fringe slot of no more than an hour. What if van Gogh and Lennon could have a conversation?…

John D. Cook
Text • John

Cryptic but consistent

Suppose you’ve never worked at the command line and you’re reading a book about the bash shell. You read that !$ is a shortcut to refer to the last word of the previous command. That little fact will almost certainly not stick in your head for a couple reasons. First, you probably see no need […]

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Software and Tech stories from an Insider - iDiallo.com
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Where Did the Productivity Gains Go?

There is a machine called Productivity, and on this machine there is a knob and a button. The knob increases productivity, and the button is labeled "reset." My job was data entry at a non-profit. It was my first job in the US where I didn't have to lift heavy objects. My ...

The Silicon Underground
Text • Dave Farquhar

IBM PC introduced, August 12, 1981

IBM PC introduced, August 12, 1981
IBM PC introduced, August 12, 1981

45 years ago today, IBM introduced the original IBM PC. This computer changed the industry and change the world. There is no shortage of analysis about its impact, but I find a lot of it self-serving and, in some cases

The post IBM PC introduced, August 12, 1981 appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Text • Cory Doctorow

Pluralistic: Model collapse (12 Aug 2026)

Today's links Model collapse: Living in a world that's trained on itself. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Wired v Dutch hackers; NYT v DMCA; Hair gel terrorist threat does not exist; AT&T merger is a screwjob; Smart cities are stupid; RIP Reaga...