**PE-AV - Audiovisual Perception with Code** * Meta's perception encoder for audio-visual understanding with open code release. * Processes both visual and audio information to isolate sound sources. * [Paper](https://go.meta.me/e541b6) | [Code](https://go.meta.me/7fbef0) https://preview.redd.it/k6lp7cgbou8g1.png?width=1456&format=png&auto=webp&s=f928bbd8d184e9094e7130cb36adff5f51830a80 **T5Gemma 2 - Open Encoder-Decoder** * Next generation encoder-decoder model with full open-source weights. * Combines bidirectional understanding with flexible text generation. * [Blog](https://blog.google/technology/developers/t5gemma-2/) | [Mode](https://huggingface.co/google/t5gemma-2-270m-270m)l **Qwen-Image-Layered - Open Image Decomposition** * Decomposes images into editable RGBA layers with full model release. * Each layer can be independently manipulated for precise editing. * [Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co/QwenLM/Qwen-Image-Layered) | [Paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16776) | [Demo](https://huggingface.co/spaces/Qwen/Qwen-Image-Layered-Demo) https://reddit.com/link/1ptg2x9/video/72skjufkou8g1/player **N3D-VLM - Open 3D Vision-Language Model** * Native 3D spatial reasoning with open weights and code. * Understands depth and spatial relationships without 2D distortions. * [GitHub](https://github.com/W-Ted/N3D-VLM) | [Model](https://huggingface.co/yuxinhk/N3D-VLM) https://reddit.com/link/1ptg2x9/video/h1npuq1mou8g1/player **Generative Refocusing - Open Depth Control** * Controls depth of field in images with full code release. * Simulates camera focus changes through 3D scene inference. * [Website](https://generative-refocusing.github.io/) | [Demo](https://huggingface.co/spaces/nycu-cplab/Genfocus-Demo) | [Paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16923) | [GitHub](https://github.com/rayray9999/Genfocus) **StereoPilot - Open 2D to 3D Conversion** * Converts 2D videos to stereo 3D with open model and code. * Full source release for VR content creation. * [Website](https://hit-perfect.github.io/StereoPilot/) | [Model](https://huggingface.co/KlingTeam/StereoPilot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/KlingTeam/StereoPilot) | [Paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16915) https://reddit.com/link/1ptg2x9/video/homrv9tmou8g1/player **Chatterbox Turbo - MIT Licensed TTS** * State-of-the-art text-to-speech under permissive MIT license. * No commercial restrictions or cloud dependencies. * [Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co/p1/Chatterbox-Turbo) https://reddit.com/link/1ptg2x9/video/iceqr03jou8g1/player **FunctionGemma - Open Function Calling** * Lightweight 270M parameter model for function calling with full weights. * Creates specialized function calling models without commercial restrictions. * [Model](https://huggingface.co/google/functiongemma-270m-it) **FoundationMotion - Open Motion Analysis** * Labels spatial movement in videos with full code and dataset release. * Automatic motion pattern identification without manual annotation. * [Paper](http://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10927) | [GitHub](https://github.com/Wolfv0/FoundationMotion/tree/main) | [Demo](https://huggingface.co/spaces/yulu2/FoundationMotion) | [Dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/WoWolf/v2-dev/tree/main) **DeContext - Open Image Protection** * Protects images from unwanted AI edits with open-source implementation. * Adds imperceptible perturbations that block manipulation while preserving quality. * [Website](https://linghuiishen.github.io/decontext_project_page/) | [Paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16625) | [GitHub](https://github.com/LinghuiiShen/DeContext) **EgoX - Open Perspective Transformation** * Transforms third-person videos to first-person with full code release. * Maintains spatial coherence during viewpoint conversion. * [Website](https://keh0t0.github.io/EgoX/) | [Paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.08269) | [GitHub](https://github.com/DAVIAN-Robotics/EgoX) https://reddit.com/link/1ptg2x9/video/2h8x59qpou8g1/player **Step-GUI - Open GUI Automation** * SOTA GUI automation with self-evolving pipeline and open weights. * Full code and model release for interface control. * [Paper](https://huggingface.co/papers/2512.15431) | [GitHub](https://github.com/stepfun-ai/gelab-zero) | [Model](https://huggingface.co/stepfun-ai/GELab-Zero-4B-preview) **IC-Effect - Open Video Effects** * Applies video effects through in-context learning with code release. * Learns effect patterns from examples without fine-tuning. * [Website](https://cuc-mipg.github.io/IC-Effect/) | [GitHub](https://github.com/CUC-MIPG/IC-Effect) | [Paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.15635)

Here's the corresponding youtube video by Benn Jordan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1-uiUlHTo

A tape-based piece of unique Unix history may have been lying quietly in storage at the University of Utah for 50+ years. The question is whether researchers will be able to take this piece of middle-aged media and rewind it back to the 1970s to get the data off. See also https://archive.org/details/utah_unix_v4_raw TAR file http://squoze.net/UNIX/v4/

https://archive.vn/VJhKr

https://archive.is/vPzSf

I have an old QNAP and I hate it. It's full of proprietary software that can't be removed, and is *slow*, probably because it doesn't have SSDs. It's, I think, RAID1. Basically just need something to back up my data on my local network that has encryption. Open source is always nice as well. Simple and fast!

The approvals were required under Israel’s Land Law because Nvidia is a foreign-controlled company. The deal will allow the global technology giant to establish a new development campus on state land, allocated without a public tender and at a 51% discount. The proposed 51% land discount is valued at tens of millions of shekels. Officials cited the significant economic impact on northern Israel, noting that thousands of employees would work directly at the campus and that hundreds of additional businesses are expected to benefit from providing services to the site. According to the plan, Nvidia will build a unique, large-scale campus unlike any previously seen in Israel, modeled in part on the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The project is expected to span approximately 160,000 square meters and employ about 8,000 workers.

Companies tend to be rather picky about who gets to poke around inside their products. Manufacturers sometimes even take steps that prevent consumers from repairing their device when it breaks, or modifying it with third-party products. But those unsanctioned device modifications have become the raison d'être of a bounty program set up by a nonprofit called Fulu, or Freedom from Unethical Limitations on Users. The group tries to spotlight the ways companies can slip consumer-unfriendly features into their products, and it offers cash rewards in the thousands of dollars to anyone who can figure out how to disable unpopular features or bring discontinued products back to life. “We want to be able to show lawmakers, look at all these things that could be out in the world,” says right-to-repair advocate and Fulu cofounder Kevin O’Reilly. “Look at the ways we could be giving device owners control over their stuff.” Fulu has already awarded bounties for two fixes. One revives an older generation of Nest Thermostats no longer supported by Google. And just yesterday, Fulu announced a fix that circumvents restrictive digital-rights-management software on Molekule air purifiers. Fulu is run by O’Reilly and fellow repair advocate and YouTuber Louis Rossmann, who announced the effort in a video on his channel in June. The basic concept of Fulu is that it works like a bug bounty, the long running practice in software development where devs will offer prize money to people who find and fix a bug in the operating system. Fulu adopts that model, but the bounty it offers is usually meant to “fix” something the manufacturer considers an intended feature but turns out to be detrimental to the user experience. That can mean a device where the manufacturer has put in restrictions to prevent users from repairing their device, blocked the use of third-party replacement parts, or ended software support entirely. “Innovation used to mean going from black-and-white to color,” Rossmann says. “Now innovation means we have the ability to put DRM in an air filter.” Fulu offers up a bounty of $10,000 to the first person to prove they have a fix for the offending feature of a device. Donors can also pool money to help incentivize tinkerers to fix a particular product, which Fulu will match up to another $10,000. The pot grows as donations roll in. Bounties are set on devices that Rossmann and O’Reilly have deemed deliberately hostile to the owners that have already paid for them, like some GE refrigerators that have DRM-locked water filters, and the Molekule air purifiers with DRM software that blocks customers from using third-party air filters. A bounty on the XBox Series X seeks a workaround to software encryption on the disk drive that prevents replacing the part without manufacturer approval. Thanks to donations, the prize for the Xbox fix has climbed to more than $30,000. Sounds like a sweet payout for sure, but there is risk involved. Fixing devices, even ones disabled and discontinued by the manufacturer, is often in direct violation of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the 1998 US law that prevents bypassing passwords and encryption or selling equipment that could do so without manufacturer permission. Break into a device, futz with the software inside to keep it functional, or go around DRM restrictions, and you risk running afoul of the likes of Google's gargantuan legal arm. Fulu warns potential bounty hunters they must tackle this goal knowing full well they're doing so in open violation of Section 1201. “The dampening effect on innovation and control and ownership are so massive,” O’Reilly says. “We want to prove that these kinds of things can exist.” Empty Nest In October, Google ended software support for its first- and second-generation Nest thermostats. For lots of users, the devices still worked but couldn’t be controlled anymore, because the software was no longer supported. Users lamented that their fancy thermostats had now become hunks of e-waste on their walls. Fulu set up a bounty that called for a software fix to restore functionality to the affected Nest devices. Cody Kociemba, a longtime follower of Rossmann’s YouTube channel and a Nest user himself, was eager to take the bounty on. (He has “beef with Google,” he says on his website.) After a few days of tinkering with the Nest software, Kociemba had a solution. He made his fix publicly available on GitHub so users could download it and restore their thermostats. Kociemba also started No Longer Evil, a site devoted to his workaround of Nest thermostats and perhaps hacks of future Google products to come. “My moral belief is that this should be accessible to people,” Kociemba says. Kociemba submitted his fix to Fulu, but discovered that another developer, calling themselves Team Dinosaur, had just submitted a fix slightly before Kociemba did. Still, Fulu paid out the full amount to both, roughly $14,000 apiece. Kociemba was surprised by that, as he thought he had lost the race or that he might have to split the prize money. O’Reilly says that while they probably won't do double payouts again, both fixes worked, so it was important for Fulu’s first payout to show support for the people willing to take the risk of sharing their fixes. “Folks like Cody who are willing to put it out there, make the calculated risk that Google isn't going to sue them, and maybe save some thermostats from the junk heap and keep consumers from having to pay $700 or whatever after installation to get something new,” O’Reilly says. “It's been cool to watch.” This week, Fulu announced it had paid out its second-ever bounty. It was for a Molekule Air Pro and Air Mini, air purifier systems that used an NFC chip in its filters to ensure the replacement filters were made by Molekule and not a third-party manufacturer. The goal was to disable the DRM and let the machine use any filter that fit. Lorenzo Rizzotti, an Italian student and coder who had gone from playing Minecraft as a kid to reverse engineering and hacking, submitted proof that he had solved the problem, and was awarded the Fulu bounty. “Once you buy a device, it's your hardware, it's no longer theirs,” Rizzotti says. “You should be able to do whatever. I find it absurd that it's illegal.” But unlike Kociemba, he wasn’t about to share the fix. Though he was able to fix the problem, he doesn’t feel safe weathering the potential legal ramifications that he might face if he released the solution publicly. “I proved that I can do it,” he says. “And that was it.” Still, Fulu awarded him the bounty. O’Reilly says the goal of the project is less about getting actual fixes out in the world, and more about calling attention to the lengths companies are allowed to go to wrest control from their users under the auspices of Section 1201. “We need to show how ridiculous it is that this 27-year-old law is preventing these solutions from seeing the light of day,” O’Reilly says. “It's time for the laws to catch up with technology.”

I pirate like crazy, but I never understand how these sites can exist with how costly they must be

https://archive.ph/2025.12.17-154356/https://www.reuters.com/world/china/how-china-built-its-manhattan-project-rival-west-ai-chips-2025-12-17/

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/37155283 > ::: spoiler Comments > - [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45183560). > :::

The tool, called Nightshade, messes up training data in ways that could cause serious damage to image-generating AI models. Is intended as a way to fight back against AI companies that use artists’ work to train their models without the creator’s permission. [ARTICLE](https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/23/1082189/data-poisoning-artists-fight-generative-ai/) - Technology Review [ARTICLE](https://mashable.com/article/ai-image-generation-artist-sabotage-nightshade) - Mashable [ARTICLE](https://gizmodo.com/nightshade-poisons-ai-art-generators-dall-e-1850951218) - Gizmodo > The researchers tested the attack on Stable Diffusion’s latest models and on an AI model they trained themselves from scratch. When they fed Stable Diffusion just 50 poisoned images of dogs and then prompted it to create images of dogs itself, the output started looking weird—creatures with too many limbs and cartoonish faces. With 300 poisoned samples, an attacker can manipulate Stable Diffusion to generate images of dogs to look like cats. 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/3232301 --- ### Status & Download Links: | [Firefox v1.2.4](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/addon/lemmy-instance-assistant/) | [Chrome v1.2.4](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/instance-assistant-for-le/mbblbalkjcikhpladidpimlfiapdffdh) | [Edge v1.2.3](https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/instance-assistant-for-le/hnlndgeokcaocdklkbfjbfjplfnedehb) | | ---------|---------|-------| Download from source: [release v1.2.4 (github.com)](https://github.com/cynber/lemmy-instance-assistant/releases/tag/v1.2.4) * While Edge and Opera are awaiting approval, you can install v1.2.4 from here, or through the Chrome store ---  Hi everyone! On the surface, this update brings a handful of features integrating the extension with other tools and services. We have the first of many features from the LemmyTools userscript, as well as the support for Alexandrite and Photon frontends. You can also directly search for communities through Lemmyverse.net and for posts through search-lemmy.com, among other small changes. The biggest change was behind the scenes. I've completely refactored the code throughout the extension. Now that we have a clearer plan for the extension, I simplified all around, such as consolidating most functions to a central `utils.js` file. I also reworked the settings, and **unfortunately this means you may have to add your home instance again**. Moving forwards, it should be a lot easier to maintain the extension and for people to collaborate, which brings me to: #### Want to help? ::: spoiler Get started: I've put together [some notes on how the extension is structured](https://github.com/cynber/lemmy-instance-assistant/wiki/Development-Process) for those that want to help. The extension itself is fairly simple, and it doesn't use any particular framework or anything. It should a great first project to work on, even if you are just learning or new to web development. Having more people add to one place would make it easier for users that are juggling many extensions and userscripts. That's why I've been focussed on having a more intuitive structure for the project and leaving detailed notes and comments. I'm also likely not going to have as much time starting next month so I'm trying to do what I can now to get everything rolling. If you don't know where to start or just have an idea, let me know and I'll see what I can do :) As always, you can add new ideas and issues here: https://github.com/cynber/lemmy-instance-assistant/issues ::: --- ### All new improvements with v1.2.4 ::: spoiler New Changes - search for communities through Lemmyverse.net or for posts through lemmy-search directly from the popup or sidebar - You now have the option to hide the default Lemmy sidebar (more LemmyTools features to come!) - Replaced non-functional 'subscribe' button on foreign `/communities` pages (only when no account is signed in, so not to replace something functional) - Support for Alexandrite & Photon frontends. Test them here: - Alexandrite: https://a.lemdro.id/c/lemdroid - Photon: https://nu.lemdro.id/c/lemdroid - New 'communityNotFound' button to account for alternate frontends: https://lemmy.ca/c/[email protected] - Fix for generated link on CommunityNotFound pages - Completely refactored the code to move repetitive functions to a utils.js file ::: ::: spoiler Future Plans: - Exploring a 'Reddit migrator' tool, similar to the mobile tool in Voyager, powered by lemmyverse.net - Adding more features from [LemmyTools Userscript](https://github.com/howdy-tsc/LemmyTools), with help from /u/[email protected] - Prepping for Firefox Mobile app, now that they are [opening mobile up to all extensions](https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2023/08/10/prepare-your-firefox-desktop-extension-for-the-upcoming-android-release/)! - Keyboard hotkeys, possibly collaborating with someone that already implemented something similar - Adding icons and simplifying the design, as the menus are getting very wordy - settings to limit onboarding / help instructions - Ability to have multiple 'home instances' - Finishing the setup so that people can contribute translations / other languages to the extension. :::