This records the weekly technology content worth sharing, released every Friday.
This magazine is open source , and we welcome submissions . There is also the service "Who is Hiring" , which posts programmer job listings. For collaborations, please contact us via email （[email protected]).
Cover image
at the bus stop "Yuetai Jiangwan" in Chongqing, composed of several large stones, symbolizing the pebbles by the local river.via)
random number, this is an issue
we'll discuss today, how to generate true random numbers.
This problem is extremely difficult, but there's some interesting content.
First, the random numbers provided by programming languages are pseudo-random numbers.
The V8 engine's official website has an article (below), which specifically reminds everyone of this point. The built-in random number in it is not a true random number but a pseudo-random number.
A pseudo-random number is not truly random but is generated by an algorithm. As long as the initial seed value is the same, the algorithm will produce the same result.
JavaScript and many other languages have this issue. Therefore, in situations where randomness is particularly emphasized, built-in language random number generators should not be used.
True random numbers need to meet three conditions.
(1) Unpredictable. The random number cannot be guessed, so it must be very large, otherwise it will be brute-forced.
(2) Non-repetitive. Each generated random number must be different.
(3) Uniformly distributed. The random number must be evenly distributed across all intervals, not concentrated in certain intervals.
Generally speaking, true random numbers can only be obtained through hardware , simple software algorithms cannot achieve this.
Scientists have exhausted their efforts, coming up with various methods to generate random numbers through hardware.
The famous Random.org is a website dedicated to generating random numbers.
It has deployed multiple radio receivers worldwide, specifically to listen to atmospheric radio waves (i.e., atmospheric noise, which can be understood as atmospheric Brownian motion), generating random numbers through random radio signals. The image below shows its early hardware equipment.
Due to hardware expenses, using its random numbers requires payment. Therefore, as you can see, true random numbers come at a cost and cannot simply be generated by running a program.
Cloudflare, the world's largest CDN provider, has gone even further to obtain true random numbers.
Its three offices each have different random number generation devices.
(1) San Francisco headquarters . As soon as you enter, there is a wall filled with dozens of lava lamps.
The inside of the lava lamp is molten wax, constantly changing shape.
When a random number is needed, take a photo of this wall. Each photo is different, then calculate the hash of the photo and use it as a seed value to generate a random number.
(2) London office. There is a "pendulum wall" there, filled with various pendulum devices.
The pendulums and their shadows are always swinging. The hash of each photo is also different, which can be used as a seed value for the random number.
(3) Austin office. The ceiling there hangs many colorful reflective sheets.
These reflective sheets are very sensitive to air flow; opening or closing doors, air conditioning, temperature, and humidity will all make them rotate, reflecting different colored lights. Therefore, they can also be used as seed values for random numbers.
This Friday, the Rare Earth Developers Conference.
Over the past month, the weekly has been building anticipation for this year's "Rare Earth Developers Conference."
Its opening time is next Friday (June 28th).
As this year's major event, all the schedule arrangements are now available. Below is the list of more than 70 speech topics for the main forum and 10 sub-forums . .
Click to see the full image , covering technical hotspots and cutting-edge fields. The speakers are technology experts and frontline engineers from around the world.
Additionally, the conference features an outdoor AI event with a total of 4 themed exhibition areas, where you can visit booths from top domestic AI companies, participate in various interactive games, and win souvenirs. This part is free of charge.
For more details about the event, you can click on this link. or scan the QR code on the poster above to purchase indoor speaker tickets, or pick up free outdoor tickets, and book a live stream.
Technology News
NASA recently encountered an embarrassing situation.
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft (below), after sending two astronauts to the International Space Station, couldn't return.
After launch, there were helium leaks and thruster malfunctions. Unable to find the cause, NASA was reluctant to use it to bring the astronauts back.
The mission was originally scheduled for 8 days, but it has now been 20 days. The return is currently scheduled for June 26, but it may be postponed again.
Fortunately, the International Space Station has a 4-month food supply, so there won't be a shortage of supplies.
This flight was the first mission for the Starliner spacecraft, and it ended up like this. If it doesn't work out, we can only send another spacecraft to pick up the people.
Australia is isolated from other continents, with many unique animals.
Scientists have known for a long time that Australia once had a giant goose (rightmost in the image below), similar in size to an ostrich, standing over 2 meters tall, weighing 240 kilograms, but it went extinct 45,000 years ago.
That was exactly when the first humans arrived in Australia, so scientists suspect its extinction is related to humans. Humans may have hunted this goose on a large scale, after all, it couldn't fly and was slow-moving.
Previously, only scattered fossils of this goose had been unearthed, but recently, the first complete skull was found.
Scientists have drawn a reconstruction of it. Everyone take a look, what this giant goose from Earth looked like.
A foreign netizen posted an image on Twitter.
He was watching a YouTube video on his phone when this prompt popped up.
It means the system detected that his eyes were not focused on the ad, so it replayed the ad.
This image is likely fake, but the technology is quite simple. Just activate the camera while playing the ad to identify if there's a person in the frame and where their eyes are looking.
I suspect this scenario will become reality. In the future, paid users will use it normally, while free users will have to undergo eye tracking to ensure they are watching the ad.
Due to the war, internet services have been completely cut off in the Gaza Strip.
An international organization came up with a solution to help the people there get online.
They first purchased a batch of eSIM cards in other countries and transmitted the parameters to the locals. Since eSIM is a virtual card, as long as the parameters are entered, it can be activated, relatively easily.
Then, the locals connected their phones to a power bank, placed them in a basket, and took them to the border area, hanging them at a high place.
Through the eSIM card, the phone can connect to the 4G network of the neighboring country. At this point, if the phone hotspot is turned on, then the people under the basket can all go online.
Article
1、The future of AI chips may not be GPUs （Chinese）
This article argues that accelerated computing may not only be achieved through GPUs; FPGA or ASIC might be better underlying computing devices.
2、I Developed My Own Blog Engine for 10 Years（英文）
The author developed a blog engine for himself and stuck with it for 10 years. He shares what he learned and experienced in the process.
3、3D Folding Effect of CSS（英文）
This article introduces how to use CSS to achieve a 3D page folding animation effect (see the image above).
4、Algorithm for Random Playlists（英文）
This article explains Spotify's algorithm for generating random playlists, which requires that songs by the same artist are not played consecutively.
5、Visit to the Headquarters of ASML（English）
The author visits the headquarters of ASML in the suburbs of Eindhoven, where he shares his observations.
6、Implementing Virtual DOM with 200 Lines of JavaScript Code（English）
Virtual DOM is the foundation of many JavaScript frameworks. This article demonstrates how to implement it from scratch.
Tools
PostgreSQL client for Node.js and Deno, similar software includesShoes。
An OpenCC-based Simplified and Traditional Chinese conversion tool, supporting editor and command line interface.（@hddhyq Submitted）
A Flutter-based desktop Bilibili video downloader, open source code.（@kangpeiqin Submitted）
4、AQChat
an anonymous online chat software where users can freely log in, create rooms, have conversations, and transfer files, experiencing demo. The link is the backend code, with additional Web and mobile versions. (@howcodes submission)
5、Voicer
a Chrome browser extension for reading web page text aloud. (@wang-jianliang) Submitted)
an online barcode generator. (Submitted by @FZliweiliang)
7、ScienHub
LaTex Online Editor, offering many practical templates. (Submitted by @tc1989tc)
8、trash.sh
a simple alternative to the rm command, providing a recycle bin for deleting files.@qqAys Submission)
9、My Font
An online tool for creating personal handwritten fonts. ( @harbor2009 Submission)
10、lingo link
An open-source browser extension that supports word translation, AI translation, and new word marking. ( @chengfengfengwang Submission)
AI Related
Luma AI Video Generator is available for free online use. (Submitted by @sunnyjingliu)
2、Stable Diffusion 3 AI Image Generator
Available for free use of Stable Diffusion 3, generate images from text without registration. (Submitted by @ddewfrefref)
A text-to-speech service that supports Chinese, with free accounts allowing 10,000 characters per month (approximately 10 minutes of audio).
4、BrainyAI
An open-source Chrome extension that loads AI models into the sidebar, serving as a free alternative to similar products like Sider AI, Monica, Merlin, and MaxAI。（@luyu0279 Submission)
5、Rock AI
This website hosts some open-source AI models that can be called for free. (Submitted by @hellokidder)
A local chat tool built using the built-in AI model in Chrome. (Submitted by @zengkan0703)
7、Local text summarization for Mac computers (English)
This article introduces how to set up a local Ollama model on a Mac computer, use it to create a shortcut, and automatically summarize the content of open web pages.
Resources
1、Unicode Knowledge Developers Must Understand（2023 Edition）
This long article covers the latest Unicode knowledge.
This website allows you to customize pure CSS page loading animations (loaders).
3、Modern C++ Programming（Modern C++ Programming）
An open-source English tutorial for C++.
Image
In the UK, there is a peculiar roundabout divided into an inner and an outer circle, with five smaller roundabouts scattered between them.
The inner circle is counterclockwise, while the outer circle is clockwise.
To enter the inner circle from the outer circle, or vice versa, one must pass through the five smaller roundabouts.
The following image shows the local traffic sign.
This roundabout was built in 1972 and has not experienced any major traffic accidents for many years.
2、Elbe Tunnel )
The Elbe River flows through the center of Hamburg, Germany.
In 1911, the Hamburg city government dug a 426-meter tunnel beneath the river to facilitate traffic between the two banks.
The unique feature of this tunnel is that it has no access ramps. Pedestrians and vehicles must use elevators to enter and exit the tunnel. The yellow vertical passages on both sides of the image below are the elevators.
The image below shows the entrance to the vehicle elevator.
This tunnel is still in use today and has even hosted concerts inside. The image below shows a view from the bottom of the elevator looking up at the exit.
Excerpt
1. How big should a programming language be?
Programming languages vary in size.
Some languages provide only the most core functionalities, while others are comprehensive.
There are also some languages that started small and gradually added features, becoming larger and even so large that they become difficult to use.
The initial version of the Python language was small, and the first few versions deliberately maintained this characteristic, with suggestions to add features being explicitly rejected on the grounds that they would make the language too large.
At some point (perhaps between Python 1.6 and Python 2.0), things changed: feature proposals would not be rejected because they made the language bigger, only if they didn't solve important problems.
From then on, Python embarked on the path of becoming a major programming language.
In my opinion, once the designers of a language no longer worry about its size, the unlimited growth of this language is inevitable.
Many languages are like this. Although Java has never been a small language, its changes were quite small before generics were added to Java 1.5. Generics seem to be the starting point of Java's journey as a large language.
JavaScript was originally designed as a small language for weekends, but it has now become a rather large language.
Rust is already a very large language, but it is considering adding more features to become even larger.
Why do so many languages take the path of becoming larger?
My view is that no programming language is perfect, and there are always use cases that it doesn't support well. In many cases, adding new features helps better support these use cases.
Since potential use cases are infinite, we always add new designs to make the language "better," the side effect being that the language becomes a little larger each time.
言论
1、
Las Vegas is holding its annual Excel World Championship for spreadsheets, and it has a feature that no other competition has—boredom.
2、
Hubble Telescope confirms, the accurate age of the universe is 13.8 billion years. That is the origin of our world, what came before that, no one knows.
--《New Clues from the James Webb Telescope》
3、
Farming is too busy.
-- @dylanaraps, founder of Kiss Linux, only left this sentence on his GitHub profile, the project hasn't been updated in over two years.
4、
I don't remember the books I've read, just like I don't remember the meals I've eaten; despite that, they still shaped me.
-- Emerson
5、
In the early days, the cockpit of commercial aircraft had up to five crew members. Due to the automation of navigation and communication, navigators and radio operators were the first to be eliminated. Then, flight engineers were also phased out, leaving only two pilots.
As pilot costs soared, airlines began to demand single-pilot narrow-body aircraft, and the elimination of co-pilots was only a matter of time.
Ultimately, the last remaining pilot would also be eliminated, with future aircraft relying mainly on autonomous driving, supplemented by a ground operator capable of limited aircraft control.
Yearly Review
2023:Carmack's Cats
2022: Issues with the Promotion System
2021: Devaluation of Content Channels
2020: Guerrilla Warfare and Surprise Attacks
(End)