This article discusses a new AI model, called InkSight, that aims to bridge the gap between digital and handwritten note-taking by converting photos of handwritten notes into digital ink, recreating the original strokes. Unlike traditional methods that rely on specialized equipment, InkSight uses a vision-language model that learns to “read” handwritten text and then “write” it digitally, enabling it to accurately capture stroke details without the need for smart pens or special paper.

The article highlights two key challenges in this area: limited availability of paired data with both images and digital ink representations for training and scalability to large images with varying resolutions. To address these challenges, InkSight uses a multi-task training approach combining recognition and derendering tasks. This allows the model to learn from a combination of real images and synthetically generated data, which enables it to generalize well across different styles and conditions.

The authors demonstrate that InkSight produces results that closely resemble the input handwriting, including intricate details, and performs better than existing methods in handling occlusions and diverse image styles. They also highlight the model's ability to generalize to out-of-domain sketches, showcasing its potential for broader applications beyond note-taking.

Matt Levine is a well-known financial newslettrist who has been writing since 2011. His commentary is influential, and he often covers arcane financial instruments in a way that is accessible to a wide audience, even those outside the financial industry.

Many people wonder why there aren't more writers like Levine who popularize other complex industries, such as chemistry or drug development. The answer lies in the difficulty of finding both the right subject matter and the right person to write about it.

Levine's success can be attributed to his ability to provide clear, first-principles explanations of complicated financial concepts. He does this by using numerous examples, often from lawsuits and prosecutions, which have known outcomes and can be used to illustrate the underlying principles. Furthermore, Levine's newsletter format provides a natural framework for spaced repetition, allowing readers to gradually learn and retain the information over time.

A common narrative claims that Microsoft was failing under Steve Ballmer before Satya Nadella saved the company, but this article argues that this narrative underestimates Ballmer's contributions. Ballmer's leadership led to Microsoft's financial success and saw the company make key strategic bets, such as Bing, Azure, and Office 365, that set the stage for future growth. Although some of these bets failed, their successes, like Azure, have been significant enough to compensate for any losses.

Critics often point to Ballmer's lack of technical expertise and his perceived focus on sales and profits as evidence of his poor leadership. However, Ballmer's focus on enterprise sales built a highly effective team that generated significant revenue for Microsoft. The article argues that Microsoft's success under Nadella is a direct result of the solid foundation Ballmer built, including a strong salesforce and successful investments in future technologies.

Ballmer faced challenges from both internal and external factors. Microsoft's internal politics hampered innovation and led to the loss of promising products, and the company's past antitrust issues made it difficult to compete effectively with new competitors like Google. Despite these challenges, Ballmer managed to guide Microsoft through its most difficult period and set up his successor for success. Ultimately, the article argues that Ballmer was a very effective CEO who successfully navigated Microsoft through its most challenging years and positioned the company for future growth.

HTML forms come with built-in validation features, but they aren't used often. Most people don't even know about them. Is this because of design flaws? Let's investigate.

You can easily prevent empty input fields by adding a "required" attribute. Beyond that, there are multiple ways to add constraints to your inputs, including specific attribute values, additional attribute constraints, and the "setCustomValidity" method. The last one is the most powerful, allowing for complex custom validation logic.

However, the "setCustomValidity" method is only available as a method, not as an attribute, leading to awkward syntax and boilerplate code. This imperative approach, coupled with the lack of a declarative alternative, is likely the biggest reason for the lack of widespread use of native form validation.

Marmite is a new static site generator written in Rust that aims to simplify website creation. It allows users to create a full website or blog by simply running the `marmite` command on a folder containing Markdown files. This eliminates the need for extensive setup, making it easier for users to quickly get started with their projects. Marmite has been praised for its zero-configuration approach, with one user stating that they find it useful for having a directory of Markdown files and running a single command to generate a website.

The project has gained attention on Hacker News, where it has been met with a mix of positive and negative reactions. Some commenters are intrigued by the idea of a simple, zero-config static site generator, while others poke fun at the mention of Rust in the project description. This highlights the potential for Marmite to be a useful tool for some users, while others may prefer more established or feature-rich alternatives.

The name “Marmite” is a reference to the British spread that is known for its strong, divisive flavor, often described as “love it or hate it”. This choice of name reflects the potential for the project to be either widely embraced or met with resistance. The project's success will likely depend on how well it caters to the needs of users and its ability to stand out from the growing number of static site generators available.

One of the quickest ways to determine whether a specific application uses Xwayland is to resize one of its windows and observe its behavior. While this can be helpful for debugging, it often makes the Plasma Wayland session appear less polished. To address this issue, one of the goals of version 6.3 was to fix this visual glitch.

This article delves into the cause of the glitch and explains how it was addressed. It highlights the X11 frame synchronization protocol, which coordinates window repaints during interactive resize, preventing visual glitches. This protocol is typically used with X11 windows but doesn't apply directly to Xwayland, which utilizes a different approach for rendering X11 windows within a Wayland environment.

The article explains that the Wayland compositor relies on Xwayland to attach graphics buffers to wl_surface objects, which can lead to inconsistencies between the compositor receiving XSync acknowledgements and the availability of graphics buffers for the resized window. The article describes a refined frame synchronization procedure implemented in KWin, which addresses this issue by temporarily blocking surface commits until both the XSync acknowledgement is received and Xwayland provides a new graphics buffer for the resized window. This ensures a smoother resizing experience for X11 applications running within a Wayland session.

The Shenzhou-18 crew, currently aboard China's space station, has released a video showcasing their daily life and work in space. The video offers a glimpse into the living quarters, exercise equipment, and the scientific experiments being conducted. It contrasts the Chinese space station with the International Space Station (ISS), suggesting a cleaner and more organized environment.

Commenters on Hacker News discuss the video's visuals, highlighting the apparent emphasis on cleanliness and the potential for maintenance challenges in the future. One commenter notes the presence of plants, raising concerns about waste containment in a zero-gravity environment. Another commenter compares the bunks to those on the ISS, suggesting a more 'space-y' feel.

The video has sparked discussion about a possible 'space race' between China and the United States. The release comes at a time of increasing competition in space exploration, with both countries investing heavily in technological advancements and human spaceflight programs.

The Invincible is a sci-fi game based on a novel by Stanisław Lem. The player takes on the role of Yasna, a scientist who wakes up on an unexplored planet, Regis III, with no memory of how she got there. The game is set in a retro-futuristic, atompunk art style with a distinctive score.

The player must investigate the planet and its secrets, facing danger and unraveling the mysteries of this unfamiliar world. The game's aesthetic is inspired by retro-futurism and atompunk, creating a unique and immersive experience. The soundtrack, composed by Brunon Lubas, adds to the atmosphere.

The Invincible is now available on PC and consoles. Players can watch the trailer and read the comics to learn more about the game's story and characters. The game is set on the planet Regis III, which is a barren and dangerous world. The player must use their skills and knowledge to survive and uncover the secrets of the planet.

The article discusses the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the future of work. AI is expected to automate many jobs currently performed by humans, leading to both opportunities and challenges. While some jobs may be lost due to automation, new opportunities are expected to arise in fields related to AI development, maintenance, and management.

The article also highlights the importance of human skills such as creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence, which are less likely to be automated by AI. The authors argue that focusing on developing these skills is crucial for individuals to thrive in the future workforce.

The authors suggest that policymakers and educators should play a significant role in preparing individuals for the future of work by investing in education and training programs that focus on developing essential human skills. They also emphasize the need for social safety nets to support those who may be displaced by AI-driven automation.

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) has released a new definition of what constitutes open-source artificial intelligence. This definition requires that AI systems provide access to details about their training data, as well as the code and settings used to build and run them. This definition directly challenges Meta’s Llama, which has been promoted as the largest open-source AI model, as it does not provide access to its training data.

Meta disagrees with this definition, arguing that it does not capture the complexities of today’s rapidly advancing AI models. They have stated that they will continue to work with OSI and other industry groups to make AI more accessible and free responsibly, regardless of technical definitions.

However, critics argue that Meta’s reluctance to share its training data stems from a desire to minimize legal liability and maintain a competitive advantage. They suggest that many AI models are likely trained on copyrighted material, and that Meta is trying to avoid potential lawsuits by not revealing its training data.