Tootfinder

A Simple but Accurate Approximation for Multivariate Gaussian Rate-Distortion Function and Its Application in Maximal Coding Rate Reduction
Zhenglin Huang, Qifa Yan, Bin Dai, Xiaohu Tang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18613

A Simple but Accurate Approximation for Multivariate Gaussian Rate-Distortion Function and Its Application in Maximal Coding Rate Reduction
The multivariate Gaussian rate-distortion (RD) function is crucial in various applications, such as digital communications, data storage, or neural networks. However, the complex form of the multivariate Gaussian RD function prevents its application in many neural network-based scenarios that rely on its analytical properties, for example, white-box neural networks, multi-device task-oriented communication, and semantic communication. This paper proposes a simple but accurate approximation for …

Too many inconvenient truths coming from that.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/nasas-acting-chie…

NASA’s acting chief calls for the end of Earth science at the space agency
NASA’s charter clearly states the agency should study planet Earth, however.

Je viens de donner 30 € pour une seconde saison de l'émission "Argent Magique"
https://www.ulule.com/argentmagique/

ARGENT MAGIQUE
Argent Magique, c’est quoi ?Une série qui décortique les discours économiques et la manière dont ils sont mis en scène dans les médias. 

Ahhhh! Our #BattleOfTarot prototype demo we're building for Gamescom is coming along so nicely!
Absolutely killer programming work by the one and only @…
and fantastic writing by our narrative designer Len Cunningham as well (

LenCunningham.com
Storytelling for Games

ADHO (adho.org) updates at the opening of #DH2025 from Diane and Michael - the Italian Digital Humanities association officially joins ADHO, and announces awards including the Zampoli prize to Stylo software, the conference bursaries winners and Fortier prize nominees. Also note the Code of Conduct!

CBS News Digital's WGA East members reach a deal with management on their first collective bargaining agreement, a week before Skydance is set to take over (Todd Spangler/Variety)
https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/cbs-news-digital-wga-east-u…

CBS News Digital WGA East Union Members Reach Three-Year Contract Deal
WGA East members at CBS News Digital reached a deal on their first collective-bargaining agreement, coming a week before Skydance-Paramount deal closes.

GazeDETR: Gaze Detection using Disentangled Head and Gaze Representations
Ryan Anthony Jalova de Belen, Gelareh Mohammadi, Arcot Sowmya
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.12966 https://…

GazeDETR: Gaze Detection using Disentangled Head and Gaze Representations
Gaze communication plays a crucial role in daily social interactions. Quantifying this behavior can help in human-computer interaction and digital phenotyping. While end-to-end models exist for gaze target detection, they only utilize a single decoder to simultaneously localize human heads and predict their corresponding gaze (e.g., 2D points or heatmap) in a scene. This multitask learning approach generates a unified and entangled representation for human head localization and gaze location pr…

To add a single example here (feel free to chime in with your own):
Problem: editing code is sometimes tedious because external APIs require boilerplate.
Solutions:
- Use LLM-generated code. Downsides: energy use, code theft, potential for legal liability, makes mistakes, etc. Upsides: popular among some peers, seems easy to use.
- Pick a better library (not always possible).
- Build internal functions to centralize boilerplate code, then use those (benefits: you get a better understanding of the external API, and a more-unit-testable internal code surface; probably less amortized effort).
- Develop a non-LLM system that actually reasons about code at something like the formal semantics level and suggests boilerplate fill-ins based on rules, while foregrounding which rules it's applying so you can see the logic behind the suggestions (needs research).
Obviously LLM use in coding goes beyond this single issue, but there are similar analyses for each potential use of LLMs in coding. I'm all cases there are:
1. Existing practical solutions that require more effort (or in many cases just seem to but are less-effort when amortized).
2. Near-term researchable solutions that directly address the problem and which would be much more desirable in the long term.
Thus in addition to disastrous LLM effects on the climate, on data laborers, and on the digital commons, they tend to suck us into cheap-seeming but ultimately costly design practices while also crowding out better long-term solutions. Next time someone suggests how useful LLMs are for some task, try asking yourself (or them) what an ideal solution for that task would look like, and whether LLM use moves us closer to or father from a world in which that solution exists.

Erg eens:
"Zij zegt te betwijfelen of je de beveiliging van gevoelige mails en bestanden van Nederlandse burgers wel moet overlaten aan de markt.
‘En als je vindt dat dat kan, moeten we dat dan overlaten aan niet-Europese partijen waar we geen grip op hebben? Ik vind dat we veel strategischer moeten nadenken over onze digitale infrastructuur en dit soort zaken veel beter moeten reguleren, bijvoorbeeld door encryptiediensten aan te merken als vitale infrastructuur.’"
…

‘Strategische blunder’: vertrouwelijke data van Nederlanders in handen van Amerikanen
Met de overname van een Amsterdams databeveiligingsbedrijf kwam vertrouwelijke communicatie over veel Nederlanders in Amerikaans-Israëlische handen. Een strategische blunder, zeggen experts. De gegevensbeveiliging van het bedrijf blijkt te rammelen en de overnemende partij wordt geleid door voormalige elite-spionnen van het Israëlische leger.

Maximising Energy Efficiency in Large-Scale Open RAN: Hybrid xApps and Digital Twin Integration
Ahmed Al-Tahmeesschi, Yi Chu, Gurdeep Singh, Charles Turyagyenda, Dritan Kaleshi, David Grace, Hamed Ahmadi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10097

Maximising Energy Efficiency in Large-Scale Open RAN: Hybrid xApps and Digital Twin Integration
The growing demand for high-speed, ultra-reliable, and low-latency communications in 5G and beyond networks has significantly driven up power consumption, particularly within the Radio Access Network (RAN). This surge in energy demand poses critical operational and sustainability challenges for mobile network operators, necessitating innovative solutions that enhance energy efficiency without compromising Quality of Service (QoS). Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN), spearheaded by the O-RAN Alli…