Tootfinder

Just switched from Spotify to YouTube Music Premium after their latest price hike. After being a Spotify Premium user for over 13 years! YT family plan is quite affordable, and I can find pretty much any music without ads for podcasts/audiobooks.
I supplement with #SoundCloud for sets, @…

Kayak launches a ChatGPT-powered chatbot on its desktop and mobile website that lets users ask travel questions and compare flights, hotels, and car rentals (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/kayak-launches-an-ai-m…

Kayak launches an 'AI Mode' for travel questions, search, and bookings | TechCrunch
Kayak is bringing AI directly to its main platform with a new “AI Mode” that lets travelers research, plan, and book trips through a built-in chatbot.

Defining a Strategic Action Plan for AI in Higher Education
Nikolaos Avouris
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03343 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.03343

Defining a Strategic Action Plan for AI in Higher Education
This paper discusses key challenges of Artificial Intelligence in Education, with main focus on higher education institutions. We start with reviewing normative actions of international organizations and concerns expressed about the current technical landscape. Then we proceed with proposing a framework that comprises five key dimensions relating to the main challenges relating to AI in higher education institutions, followed by five key strategic actions that the main stakeholders need to take…

AQORA: A Learned Adaptive Query Optimizer for Spark SQL
Jiahao He, Yutao Cui, Cuiping Li, Jikang Jiang, Yuheng Hou, Hong Chen
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.10580 https://

AQORA: A Learned Adaptive Query Optimizer for Spark SQL
Recent studies have identified two main approaches to improve query optimization: learned query optimization (LQO), which generates or selects better query plans before execution based on models trained in advance, and adaptive query processing (AQP), which adapts the query plan during execution based on statistical feedback collected at runtime. Although both approaches have shown promise, they also face critical limitations. LQO must commit to a fixed plan without access to actual cardinaliti…

I’ve gotta run a TDD workshop next week, remotely. Any advice for how to do this successfully over a video call?
My plan is to pair people up, put them in breakout rooms, and hop between them, calling them back into the main room every 20 minutes or so.
For my sins, I am going to be using Microsoft Teams. If you have any particular advice with this contraption, please send it my way too.

Did you know potus may plan to use Great Lakes Naval Base north of the city as a staging area to illegally occupy the City of Chicago?
Did you know there are 2 main expressway intersections immediately South of that base (on the way to the city) that, say, National Guard could secure for the defense of the state? Or protestors.
🧵1/3
cc @…

Magnetic measurements of Fermilab rapid-cycling Booster gradient magnets
J. DiMarco, D. Assell, T. Cummings, D. Johnson, V. Kashikhin, M. Kifarkis, J. Kuharik, J. Larson, M. Mubarak, S. Poopathi, K. Triplett
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.13465

Magnetic measurements of Fermilab rapid-cycling Booster gradient magnets
Fermilab is upgrading its Booster synchrotron to increase ramp rate and intensity. This is part of the Proton Improvement Plan (PIP-II) that will allow the Main Injector to achieve proton beam power of 1.2 MW within the next few years. This upgrade includes running the 55-year-old Booster magnets at 20 Hz instead of the usual 15 Hz, and construction of some shorter and wider aperture versions of these combined-function gradient magnets. Magnetic measurements were performed to characterize the p…

An assessment of estimation models and investment gaps for the deployment of high-speed broadband networks in NUTS3 regions to meet the objectives of the European Gigabit Society
Ferrandis Jesus (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid), Ramos Sergio (Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia), Feijoo Claudio (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid)
https://

An assessment of estimation models and investment gaps for the deployment of high-speed broadband networks in NUTS3 regions to meet the objectives of the European Gigabit Society
This paper analyses the deployment of high speed broadband networks in the European Union (EU). Its aim is to assess the investment required to meet the targets set by the European Commission (EC) for 2025, within the framework of the European Gigabit Society (EGS). This plan aims to ensure the availability and take up of very high capacity fixed and wireless networks, in both urban and rural areas, among households and the main socioeconomic drivers. The estimation model presented here uses a …