13 May 2025

34 links · Tuesday

Admin day — Sergey Kaplich

When I feel stuck or have too much on my plate, I plan some time just to think about everything I need to do. Usually, I work with post-it notes or simply write everything down in my notebook. I try to unload everything that’s sitting in my head.

The Server That Wasn't Meant to Exist

A story from 16 years ago - trust, tech, and a server that had to disappear. They offered me a blank check. I said no.

What is HDR, anyway?

It's not you. HDR confuses tons of people. In this post, we finally explain what HDR actually means, the problem it presents, and three ways to solve it.

oAuth scope for your life

As someone who uses AI for nearly everything — from brainstorming to coding — I decided to take it a step further and asked ChatGPT to do my performance appraisal. Here's what it came up with:✅ Str...

Why VC and software have PE envy

Gone are the days of minority investments in high-growth, asset-light, software-led startups. Why do so many VCs and VC-backed companies seem to be acting like PE firms these days?

Confessions of a vibe coder

A personal journey through the evolving landscape of AI coding tools in 2025, exploring how these technologies reshape our creative process and professional identity as developers.

A Not So Gentle Introduction to PPO & GRPO

If you’re reading this, I’m stuck on a 9-hour SFO-LHR flight with nothing else to do but munch on some high-calorie snacks and endure a mediocre movie selection. Since I have nothing better to do and have been putting it off for quite some time, I figured now’…

Stephen Kotkin's Hopeful Future for the West - Rik's Weblog

In 2017, Stephen Kotkin gave a 5 hour long talk about Spheres of Influence at the IWM Vienna. The talk is long not because he repeats the same ideas, but because he doesn't give conclusions. As I see it, his talks clearly step through both sides of an argument…

Exploiting Branch Predictor Race Conditions – Computer Security Group

Branch Privilege Injection (CVE-2024-45332) brings back the full might of branch target injection attacks (Spectre-BTI) on Intel. Intel’s hardware mitigations against these types of attacks have held their ground for almost 6 years. In our work, we demonstrate…

Coffee and Open Source Conversation - Paul Stack

Paul Stack is an infrastructure coder and has spoken at various events throughout the world about his passion for continuous integration, continuous delivery and good operational procedures and why they should be part of what developers and system administrato…

Coffee and Open Source Conversation - Paul Stack

Paul Stack is an infrastructure coder and has spoken at various events throughout the world about his passion for continuous integration, continuous delivery and good operational procedures and why they should be part of what developers and system administrato…

Add Google & GitHub Login in 60 Seconds – No Code Needed!

Need user login fast? Get Google & GitHub auth set up in under a minute! No code, no stress. Watch this snippet to see how it’s done! Ful video: https://www.youtube.com/live/B-by0zWgVI0?si=rbjoe9OGS2CQP6m1 #nocode #googlelogin #GitHubLogin #oauth #devtoo…

I Removed MediatR – Building Your Own CQRS Handlers in .NET

Get the free Clean Architecture template: https://dub.sh/ca-template Want to master Clean Architecture? Go here: https://bit.ly/3PupkOJ Want to unlock Modular Monoliths? Go here: https://bit.ly/3SXlzSt You've probably heard—MediatR is going commercial. If yo…