JRepin

joined 2 years ago
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/31246361

Vcc - the Vulkan Clang Compiler, is a proof-of-concept C and C++ compiler for Vulkan leveraging Clang as a front-end, and Shady our own research IR and compiler. Unlike other shading languages, Vcc aims to stick closely to standard C/C++ languages and merely adds a few new intrinsics to cover GPU features. Vcc is similar to CUDA or Metal in this regard, and aims to bring the advantages of standard host languages to Vulkan shaders.

Key Features

Vcc supports advanced C/C++ features usually left out of shading languages such as HLSL or GLSL, in particular raising the bar when it comes to pointer support and control-flow:

  • Unrestricted pointers
    • Arithmetic is legal, they can be bitcasted to and from integers
  • Generic pointers
    • Generic pointers do not have an address space in their type, rather they carry the address space as a tag in the upper bits.
  • True function calls
    • Including recursion, a stack is implemented to handle this in the general case
  • Function pointers
    • Lets you write code in a functional style on the GPU without limitations
  • Arbitrary goto statements - code does not need to be strictly structured !

Many of these capabilities are present in compute APIs, but are not supported in most graphics APIs such as DirectX or Vulkan. We aim to address this gap by proving these features can and should be implemented. More on why we think that’s important.

 

Vcc - the Vulkan Clang Compiler, is a proof-of-concept C and C++ compiler for Vulkan leveraging Clang as a front-end, and Shady our own research IR and compiler. Unlike other shading languages, Vcc aims to stick closely to standard C/C++ languages and merely adds a few new intrinsics to cover GPU features. Vcc is similar to CUDA or Metal in this regard, and aims to bring the advantages of standard host languages to Vulkan shaders.

Key Features

Vcc supports advanced C/C++ features usually left out of shading languages such as HLSL or GLSL, in particular raising the bar when it comes to pointer support and control-flow:

  • Unrestricted pointers
    • Arithmetic is legal, they can be bitcasted to and from integers
  • Generic pointers
    • Generic pointers do not have an address space in their type, rather they carry the address space as a tag in the upper bits.
  • True function calls
    • Including recursion, a stack is implemented to handle this in the general case
  • Function pointers
    • Lets you write code in a functional style on the GPU without limitations
  • Arbitrary goto statements - code does not need to be strictly structured !

Many of these capabilities are present in compute APIs, but are not supported in most graphics APIs such as DirectX or Vulkan. We aim to address this gap by proving these features can and should be implemented. More on why we think that’s important.

 

Industry committee of the European Parliament shows necessity and benefits of “open-source first” policy but report lacks concrete measures.

 

In April, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale got into a brawl with former Coinbase chief technology officer and Network State advocate Balaji Srinivasan. It wasn’t on a prominent stage or even Twitter/X; it happened in a Signal group chat that’s become a virtual gathering place for influential tech figures. Srinivasan wasn’t going along with the tech right’s aggressive anti-China rhetoric, so Lonsdale accused him of “insane CCP thinking.” “Not sure what leaders hang out w you in Singapore but on this you have been taken over by a crazy China mind virus,” he wrote.

Before Semafor published its story on the Signal chats that led with the billionaire spat, both Lonsdale and Srinivasan dismissed any notion their exchange was anything but a friendly disagreement. Surely, such wealthy people have much more in common than they do separating them. But the exchange does expose an ideological rift that will likely only grow in the coming years as more of the tech industry openly aligns itself with the security state to pursue lucrative military contracts.

Lonsdale and Srinivasan are arguably on either side of that divide. Palantir is part of the vanguard of defense tech companies openly championing collaboration with the US government. It claims to want to defend American power in the twenty-first century, positioning China as a civilizational threat — in part to mask the commercial threat Shenzhen poses to Silicon Valley. Lonsdale was even helping staff the Trump administration. The Network State movement, on the other hand, wants to escape the authority of the United States — or any other government — entirely, and doesn’t feel it’s part of that fight.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/31142642

There are more than a billion PCs in use and, according to StatCounter, only 71 percent of them run Windows. Among the rest, about 4 percent run Linux. That's tens of millions of people with Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, etc as their desktop operating system. I envy them.

Windows 11 has become more annoying lately as it shoves ads for XBox Game Pass in my face, pushes AI features no one asked for and demands that I reconsider the choices I made during installation on a regular basis. Plus, it just isn't that attractive.

I'm ready to try joining that industrious four percent and installing Linux on my computers to use as my main OS, at least for a week. I'll blog about the experience here.

It's hard to give up Windows forever because so many applications only run in Microsoft's OS. For example, the peripheral software that runs with many keyboards and mice isn't available for Linux. Lots of games will not run under Linux. So I think it's likely I'll be using Windows again, at least some of the time, after this week is through.

However, for now, I'm going to give Linux a very serious audition and document the experience.

 

There are more than a billion PCs in use and, according to StatCounter, only 71 percent of them run Windows. Among the rest, about 4 percent run Linux. That's tens of millions of people with Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, etc as their desktop operating system. I envy them.

Windows 11 has become more annoying lately as it shoves ads for XBox Game Pass in my face, pushes AI features no one asked for and demands that I reconsider the choices I made during installation on a regular basis. Plus, it just isn't that attractive.

I'm ready to try joining that industrious four percent and installing Linux on my computers to use as my main OS, at least for a week. I'll blog about the experience here.

It's hard to give up Windows forever because so many applications only run in Microsoft's OS. For example, the peripheral software that runs with many keyboards and mice isn't available for Linux. Lots of games will not run under Linux. So I think it's likely I'll be using Windows again, at least some of the time, after this week is through.

However, for now, I'm going to give Linux a very serious audition and document the experience.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30862067

Germany has been one of the worst Western countries for whitewashing Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Now it wants to do it with AI.

Becker was consulted by the Tagesspiegel because of his affiliation with the Decoding Antisemitism project at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University Berlin, which he led from 2019 until 2025. With the help of a large language computing model, the project aims to create “an [AI] algorithm that will automatically recognize antisemitic statements in web comments . . . so that antisemitic posts can be removed more efficiently and accurately” by online platforms.

The dataset is divided into labels of differing forms of supposed antisemitisms such as “analogies with Nazism,” fascism, apartheid, or colonialism; calling Israel a racist or terrorist state; accusing it of genocide; referencing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS); giving Israel the sole blame for the plight of the Palestinians; applying double standards; and denying Israel’s right to exist.

On the topic of Palestine and Israel, the glossary seems to operate within a logic that sees emotional responses to a live-streamed genocide not as a human reaction but as an indicator of antisemitic beliefs.

In an interview with Israeli news outlet Mako, Becker suggests that social media providers are opening their doors and hearing concerns like his. This strongly suggests hopes to commercialize and implement its findings with online platforms. Five years after its inception, it appears that its conceptual framework and glossary have been overtaken by reality.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30862067

Germany has been one of the worst Western countries for whitewashing Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Now it wants to do it with AI.

Becker was consulted by the Tagesspiegel because of his affiliation with the Decoding Antisemitism project at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University Berlin, which he led from 2019 until 2025. With the help of a large language computing model, the project aims to create “an [AI] algorithm that will automatically recognize antisemitic statements in web comments . . . so that antisemitic posts can be removed more efficiently and accurately” by online platforms.

The dataset is divided into labels of differing forms of supposed antisemitisms such as “analogies with Nazism,” fascism, apartheid, or colonialism; calling Israel a racist or terrorist state; accusing it of genocide; referencing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS); giving Israel the sole blame for the plight of the Palestinians; applying double standards; and denying Israel’s right to exist.

On the topic of Palestine and Israel, the glossary seems to operate within a logic that sees emotional responses to a live-streamed genocide not as a human reaction but as an indicator of antisemitic beliefs.

In an interview with Israeli news outlet Mako, Becker suggests that social media providers are opening their doors and hearing concerns like his. This strongly suggests hopes to commercialize and implement its findings with online platforms. Five years after its inception, it appears that its conceptual framework and glossary have been overtaken by reality.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30862067

Germany has been one of the worst Western countries for whitewashing Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Now it wants to do it with AI.

Becker was consulted by the Tagesspiegel because of his affiliation with the Decoding Antisemitism project at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University Berlin, which he led from 2019 until 2025. With the help of a large language computing model, the project aims to create “an [AI] algorithm that will automatically recognize antisemitic statements in web comments . . . so that antisemitic posts can be removed more efficiently and accurately” by online platforms.

The dataset is divided into labels of differing forms of supposed antisemitisms such as “analogies with Nazism,” fascism, apartheid, or colonialism; calling Israel a racist or terrorist state; accusing it of genocide; referencing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS); giving Israel the sole blame for the plight of the Palestinians; applying double standards; and denying Israel’s right to exist.

On the topic of Palestine and Israel, the glossary seems to operate within a logic that sees emotional responses to a live-streamed genocide not as a human reaction but as an indicator of antisemitic beliefs.

In an interview with Israeli news outlet Mako, Becker suggests that social media providers are opening their doors and hearing concerns like his. This strongly suggests hopes to commercialize and implement its findings with online platforms. Five years after its inception, it appears that its conceptual framework and glossary have been overtaken by reality.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30792652

Support for Windows 10 ends on October 14, 2025. Microsoft wants you to buy a new computer. But what if you could make your current one fast and secure again?

If you bought your computer after 2010, there's most likely no reason to throw it out. By just installing an up-to-date Linux operating system you can keep using it for years to come.

Installing an operating system may sound difficult, but you don't have to do it alone. With any luck, there are people in your area ready to help!

5 Reasons to upgrade your old computer to Linux:

  1. No New Hardware, No Licensing Costs
  2. Enhanced Privacy
  3. Good For The Planet
  4. Community & Professional Support
  5. Better User Control
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