UK Still Wants to Backdoor Apple's Encryption

First off, the UK is still at it, trying to force Apple to put backdoors into their encryption. The article from EFF said they're pushing for it again. People in the comments were pointing out that "security services" aren't just a tool, they're a power center themselves. And someone else mentioned that countries like France already have laws where you can go to jail if you don't give cops your phone password. Super creepy stuff, man.

Flock's Gunshot Mics Now Listening to Voices

You know those Flock microphones that detect gunshots? Well, now they're going to start listening for human voices too. The article from EFF was pretty clear about it. The comments were going wild, with people saying this is exactly how surveillance creeps in – under the guise of "safety and security" for kids. Someone even brought up wiretapping laws and how they apply differently in public places. Big privacy concern, right?

How a Staff Engineer Influences Tech Politics

There was a cool post from a staff software engineer talking about how they influence company politics. It's not always about being a manager, apparently. The comments had some interesting takes, like how most software engineers are actually pretty bad at "scheming" because they don't have the practice or power. And one manager said it's actually super easy to spot lower-level employees trying to play politics. Good read if you're trying to move up without being a total suck-up.

AI Reasoning with Z3 Theorem Proving

Saw a project called "ProofOfThought" that's trying to make LLMs smarter by using Z3 theorem proving for reasoning. Basically, helping AI think logically. The comments were a mix – some people are skeptical, saying corporations are just pushing AI everywhere it doesn't belong. Others were discussing how LLMs do more "abductive reasoning" (like, guessing the best explanation) rather than true human judgment. Sounds like they're trying to give AI a brain, not just a fancy mouth.

Alibaba's $200 FPGA Board

Apparently, Alibaba Cloud has a Kintex UltraScale+ FPGA board for just $200. That's pretty cheap for that kind of hardware! The article was a deep dive into it. The comments were pretty technical, with folks talking about hardware drivers and JTAG, and comparing it to other retro computing stuff. If you're into hardware and FPGAs, this sounds like a sweet deal.

Self-Hosting Email Like It's 1984

Someone wrote a blog post about self-hosting email in 2025 like it's 1984. The gist is, it's still a huge pain. The comments section was full of people agreeing, sharing war stories about getting their IPs blacklisted by Gmail or other big providers, even with perfect SPF/DKIM/DMARC setups. One person said the people who successfully self-host are the ones you never hear from because they're not complaining. Makes me glad I just use Gmail, honestly.

Discord Customer Service Data Breach

And finally, Discord had a data breach from their customer service system. It leaked user info and even scanned photo IDs! Yikes. People in the comments were speculating that Discord's official statement downplayed the number of photo IDs leaked. Someone who got an email about it said they only ever used support once years ago, and still got hit. That's a pretty big screw-up, especially with photo IDs floating around.

Alright, gotta run! Talk later!