Original title: I was laid off from Meta, created a game, and it sold 200,000 units in 10 weeks. AMA!
After being laid off from Meta in spring 2023, a former employee turned to game development, launching a roguelike pachinko game called Ballionaire in December 2024. The game, inspired by Luck Be A Landlord, quickly gained traction, selling approximately 200,000 units within its first ten weeks on Steam. The developer engaged with publishers early in the process, which provided essential support, including marketing and artistic resources. The decision to launch fully rather than through Early Access was strategic, aiming for a polished product from the outset. The developer's previous experience in tech and game development played a crucial role in navigating the complexities of game creation, including balancing work and personal life. The success of Ballionaire has sparked interest in potential expansions and further projects, with the developer reflecting on the lessons learned throughout the journey.
A developer named Dimitri has achieved the remarkable feat of running the game Doom entirely within TypeScript's type system, a project that took a year of intense work involving 18-hour days. This accomplishment, while seemingly frivolous to some, is celebrated for its demonstration of TypeScript's Turing completeness and the dedication required to realize such a complex task. The project began as an exploration of why Doom couldn't run in TypeScript types, ultimately proving that it could. The achievement has sparked discussions about the potential of TypeScript and its type system, with many praising the persistence and creativity involved. However, some critics question the practicality of such an endeavor, suggesting that the time could have been better spent on more useful software development projects. Despite mixed opinions, the project has garnered significant admiration within the programming community for its technical complexity and the innovative spirit it embodies.
Original title: DeepSeek-V3 Technical Report
DualPipe is a novel bidirectional pipeline parallelism algorithm introduced in the DeepSeek-V3 Technical Report, designed to achieve full overlap of forward and backward computation-communication phases while minimizing pipeline bubbles. It utilizes a unique scheduling method for micro-batches, allowing for symmetric processing in both forward and reverse directions. The algorithm's performance is compared with existing methods like 1F1B and ZB1P, showcasing its efficiency in reducing execution time through optimized overlapping of tasks. Users are encouraged to implement a custom method for real-world applications, particularly with PyTorch 2.0 and above. The algorithm was developed by Jiashi Li, Chengqi Deng, and Wenfeng Liang, highlighting the collaborative effort behind its creation.
Original title: Profiling Data Release for Communication-Computation Overlap Strategies
Profiling data has been released to assist the community in understanding communication-computation overlap strategies and implementation details. The data, captured using the PyTorch Profiler, showcases a balanced Mixture of Experts (MoE) routing strategy. The training profile illustrates overlapping strategies for forward and backward chunks in DualPipe, each containing four MoE layers, aligned with DeepSeek-V3 pretraining settings. For prefilling, the profile uses a configuration of EP32 and TP1 with a prompt length of 4K and a batch size of 16K tokens per GPU, employing two micro-batches to balance computation and communication. In decoding, the profile utilizes EP128, TP1, and a prompt length of 4K, with a batch size of 128 requests per GPU, also leveraging two micro-batches. However, during decoding, all-to-all communication does not occupy GPU SMs, allowing for efficient resource management.
Original title: iMac G4(K)
A user attempted to upgrade a non-functional iMac G4 by installing a Juicy Crumb DockLite G4, which replaces the logic board and turns the built-in LCD into an HDMI monitor. After acquiring a 17" iMac G4, the user faced issues such as color banding, low resolution, and exposed ports. The DockLite did not support screen blanking, leading to concerns about potential damage from leaving the display on. To improve the experience, the user decided to replace the DockLite with a custom 4K LCD screen, which offered better resolution and color quality. The installation process involved creating a new flange for the USB-C cable to fit through the iMac's neck and designing a mounting solution for the Mac Mini inside the dome. Despite some challenges, including the need for a rear port bracket and a blue screen issue when the display sleeps, the user successfully upgraded the iMac G4 for enhanced functionality.
Original title: Winners of the $10,000 ISBN visualization bounty
A $10,000 bounty was offered for the best visualization of ISBN data, focusing on archived books and library holdings. The response was overwhelming, showcasing creativity and enthusiasm from participants. The first-place winner, phiresky, received $6,000 for a highly flexible and fast visualization tool. Second place went to hypha, which excelled in macro-level visualization despite being less flexible. Four submissions were awarded third place, each receiving $500, with notable features such as comparison views and unique simplicity. Additional ideas and implementations were highlighted, emphasizing the variety of perspectives in UI and functionality. The organization plans to incorporate the winning submission into their main website and is considering how to archive rare books effectively.
Original title: The Efficiency of Vim
The article discusses the author's journey in learning Vim, a modal text editor that emphasizes keyboard efficiency over mouse usage. Initially accustomed to traditional IDEs like VS Code, the author found that Vim's design allows for faster text manipulation by reducing hand movement. Despite its advantages, Vim presents a steep learning curve, making it challenging for new users. The history of text editors is briefly explored, highlighting the evolution from early Unix editors to modern tools. The author notes that while Vim has transformed their programming experience, it may not be suitable for everyone, especially beginners. Other editors like Helix and Neovim are mentioned, showcasing different approaches to text editing. Ultimately, the author believes Vim's contributions to text editing are significant, even if it may not be the best fit for all programmers.
Original title: The Vector
Geometric Algebra (GA) provides a framework for understanding vectors and their interactions, including scalars, bivectors, and n-vectors. It describes how two parallel vectors multiply to form a scalar, while perpendicular vectors anti-commute. The algebra encompasses various dimensions, with the 2D and 3D geometric algebras incorporating complex numbers and quaternions, respectively. Additionally, the Projective Geometric Algebra (PGA) introduces elements like points, lines, and planes, facilitating transformations in 2D and 3D. The Conformal Geometric Algebra (CGA) further expands this by including points, circles, and spheres, allowing for conformal transformations. Each algebraic structure offers unique properties and applications, particularly in rotations and translations.
Original title: Gambling on papal conclaves
Gambling on papal conclaves dates back at least 500 years, with the first documented betting occurring during the 1503 papal election. Initially, the Republic of Venice prohibited betting on the pope's life, while life insurance policies on popes were common. By the 16th century, betting on papal elections became widespread, often facilitated by Roman bankers and insiders. Pope Gregory XIV later excommunicated those who wagered on papal elections, a ban that persisted until reforms in the 20th century. The practice saw a resurgence in the 19th and 20th centuries, with significant betting during the elections of Popes John Paul I and II. In the 21st century, bookmakers like Paddy Power began taking bets on papal successors, with substantial amounts wagered, particularly during the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI. Following Benedict's resignation in 2013, betting resumed with odds on his successor, Pope Francis. While gambling on papal conclaves is largely internet-based today, legal ambiguities remain regarding its status in the United States.
Original title: Improved Simulation of Multitape Turing Machines
The research demonstrates that any multitape Turing machine operating within a time function t(n) that is at least n can be simulated using only O(√(t log t)) space, marking a significant advancement over previous methods that required O(t/log t) space. This new simulation technique is based on a series of Tree Evaluation instances with favorable parameters, utilizing a recently developed space-efficient algorithm by Cook and Mertz. The implications of this work extend to bounded fan-in circuits, which can now be evaluated in √s · poly(log s) space, and it also contributes to the ongoing discourse surrounding the P versus PSPACE problem by identifying explicit problems solvable in O(n) space that necessitate n^(2-ε) time on multitape Turing machines for any ε > 0. The findings are set to be presented at the STOC 2025 conference, indicating their acceptance through peer review.
Original title: Hey HN, we’re Justin and Jason, co-founders of Maritime Fusion (https://maritimefusion.com/). We’re working on putting fusion reactors on ships—specifically, large container ships and defence applications. Should be easy!
Maritime Fusion, co-founded by Justin and Jason, is focused on developing fusion reactors for large container ships and military vessels, aiming to provide a decarbonized energy source for the shipping industry. They believe advancements in high-temperature superconductors will enable them to achieve breakeven (Q > 1) within three years, although they acknowledge that making these reactors cost-competitive poses a significant challenge. The company is targeting the maritime sector due to its urgent need for decarbonization and the lack of viable alternatives like hydrogen and ammonia. Unlike fission, which faces regulatory and public perception hurdles, fusion is seen as a more feasible option for maritime applications. The reactors will be smaller, designed for ship propulsion, and will allow for planned maintenance, making them more forgiving than grid power plants. The founders, with backgrounds in engineering and nuclear physics, are optimistic about their approach but recognize the difficulties ahead. They plan to pivot to grid applications in the future as technology matures.
Tach is a Python tool designed to enforce dependencies and interfaces, inspired by modular monolith architecture. It ensures that imports only come from declared dependencies, cross-module calls utilize public interfaces, and prevents cycles in the dependency graph. Tach is open source, can be installed via pip, and allows for incremental adoption without runtime impact. Users can initialize their project setup interactively and validate module boundaries using the command line interface. The tool also generates a visual dependency graph and provides reports on dependencies and usages for specific paths. Additional features include support for public interfaces, deprecating dependencies, and integration with CI/CD systems. Tach logs anonymized usage statistics, which can be opted out of, and encourages user feedback through Discord or GitHub.
Original title: The Decipherment of Linear Elamite
François Desset and his team published a paper claiming to have deciphered Linear Elamite, an ancient writing system from Iran, which had remained elusive since its discovery in 1903. The decipherment was facilitated by access to silver vessels with inscriptions, previously thought to be forgeries, which provided more examples of the script. Desset's breakthrough came when he identified a sequence of signs that led to recognizing names of gods and rulers. The decipherment suggests that Linear Elamite is a phonographic writing system, differing from logogrammatic systems like cuneiform. Desset's findings challenge existing narratives about the history of writing, proposing that Linear Elamite predates other phonetic systems and that it evolved from Proto-Elamite writing. However, his theories have sparked controversy within the scholarly community, with critics questioning the validity of his claims and the ethical implications of using artifacts from questionable excavations. Despite the challenges, Desset continues to work on deciphering Proto-Elamite, hoping to further illuminate the history of writing in ancient Iran.
Original title: The Last Days of the Beverly Hills Hotel
Irving V. Link spent 42 years at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool, establishing a daily routine that included breakfast, sunbathing, and gin rummy, becoming a beloved figure among hotel staff and Hollywood elites. His life intertwined with the hotel's history, reflecting the glamour of old Hollywood and the changing dynamics of its clientele. The hotel's closure by the Sultan of Brunei for renovations disrupted Link's routine, marking the end of an era. Despite the closure, Link maintained a positive outlook, reminiscing about his experiences and the friendships he formed over the years. His narrative highlights the intersection of personal history, luxury, and the inevitable changes that come with time, ultimately serving as a meditation on tradition and transformation in Los Angeles.
Original title: Building a Bot to Play Pokémon FireRed Autonomously
A developer created a bot to autonomously play Pokémon FireRed, integrating various technologies to enhance gameplay. The bot utilizes RetroArch for emulation but faced challenges with programmatic input control, resorting to OSA Script for keyboard events, which limited multitasking. Game state is managed in a database, allowing the AI to learn from past actions and avoid mistakes. Navigation is achieved through map data extraction and pathfinding algorithms, while game text is parsed using OCR from screenshots. The AI employs OpenAI’s GPT-4o for decision-making, with structured prompts to guide its actions. However, the battle handling remains basic, primarily pressing 'A' during encounters. The developer noted that sending inputs to the emulator was the biggest hurdle, and expressed optimism about future advancements in LLMs simplifying such projects.