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RHABDOMANCER

Rhabdomancer is a blazing fast IDA Pro headless plugin that locates calls to potentially insecure API functions in a binary file.

MTR

MTR is a network diagnostic tool that combines ping and traceroute.

LEAKED FILES TIE CHINESE CYBERSECURITY FIRM TO GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP

Over 7,000 documents were leaked from TopSec, a prominent Chinese cybersecurity firm. SentinelLABS analyzed leaked DevOps work logs and source code and discovered a trove of hardcoded credentials as well as lists of customers. It also discovered evidence of ties between TopSec and the Chinese government including projects that show that TopSec aided in censorship efforts.

GITVENOM MALWARE STEALS $456K IN BITCOIN USING FAKE GITHUB PROJECTS TO HIJACK WALLETS

The GitVenom campaign, which targets gamers and crypto investors through fake GitHub repositories that steal cryptocurrency and personal data, has stolen 5 bitcoins ($456,600). The malware deploys info stealers and RATs, swapping wallet addresses to divert funds.

SKYBOX SECURITY SHUTS DOWN, LAYS OFF ENTIRE WORKFORCE

Cybersecurity firm Skybox Security has suddenly closed down, laying off all 300 employees across Israel and the US despite raising $335 million in funding including $50 million just two years ago. Rival Israeli firm Tufin has purchased Skybox's technology and business assets and is creating a transition program to support Skybox's former customers during this disruption.

LOCKBIT TAUNTS FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL WITH ALLEGED “CLASSIFIED” LEAK THREAT

The LockBit ransomware gang has threatened to leak classified information to FBI Director Kash Patel, claiming it could harm the agency.

FIREFOX CONTINUES MANIFEST V2 SUPPORT AS CHROME DISABLES MV2 AD-BLOCKERS

Mozilla has announced that Firefox will support Manifest V2 extensions alongside Manifest V3, ensuring users can choose their preferred browser extensions.

HACKERS EXPLOIT FAKE GITHUB REPOSITORIES TO SPREAD GITVENOM MALWARE

Kaspersky found a campaign called GitVenom using fake GitHub repos to spread malware.

AIC: CREATORS TRAILBLAZING TO THE TOP LIST

This list features 34 influencers from the "creator middle class" with followings between 1,000 and 500,000. The list recognizes creators who are shaping the economy by diversifying opportunities beyond top-tier influencers. The honorees were evaluated based on engagement, content quality, brand advocacy, and brand mentions. AIC's research highlights that creators rely on brand deals for income and face challenges like short-term collaborations and misconceptions about compensation.

ECONOMIC BLACKOUT: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE FEBRUARY 28 BOYCOTT TAKING OFF ON SOCIAL MEDIA

The "Feb 28 Economic Blackout," led by The People's Union, is a 24-hour boycott urging Americans to stop spending in protest of rising prices and corporate greed. Participants are asked to avoid shopping at major retailers, using credit cards for non-essentials, and buying gas or fast food. The movement, which is gaining traction on social media, highlights frustration over inflation and corporate profits, and will run from midnight February 27 to February 28.

HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO LIKE YOUR CHATBOT

Customers are generally less satisfied when interacting with chatbots instead of human agents, even when the service quality is the same. Research found that chatbot interactions led to an 8.8% decrease in satisfaction at a coffee shop and an 8.46% drop in an online experiment. However, satisfaction levels were restored when customers received a 20% discount or when the chatbot provided faster and more effective service than a human. In cases where chatbots performed better, customers were 75% more likely to stay with the brand, 166% more likely to sign up for newsletters, and 110% more willing to join loyalty programs. Companies should highlight chatbot benefits, such as speed and availability, or offer discounts to improve customer satisfaction.

MEME MARKETING: HOW HUMOR SELLS, EVEN IN B2B

Memes are gaining traction in B2B marketing as brands use humor to simplify complex topics, boost engagement, and humanize their messaging. Successful brands like Mailchimp, Zendesk, and Gong tailor memes to industry pain points, making them relatable while staying professional. The key is to align humor with brand identity, track engagement beyond vanity metrics, and avoid forced or off-brand attempts at virality.

50 UNIQUE WAYS YOU CAN USE AI DEEP RESEARCH FOR MARKETING

OpenAI's new Deep Research mode generates in-depth reports by analyzing multiple sources and providing detailed citations. Marketers can use it for market analysis, SEO, digital strategy, and customer engagement, saving significant time on these research-heavy tasks. The tool can comb through and focus on specific areas of interest, allowing targeted research on specific trade publications, competitors' websites, and customer feedback.

WHY YOU SUCK AT PROMPT ENGINEERING (AND HOW TO FIX IT) (56 MINUTE VIDEO)

Start by assigning a clear "role" to the AI, such as making it a subject-matter expert. Then, define the "task" you want to accomplish and provide "specifics" that clarify goals, constraints, and preferences. Share relevant "context" to give background on the mission or priorities, and use "examples" to guide the AI toward the desired output style. Structure your prompts with techniques like markdown formatting for better clarity.

INSTAGRAM EXPLAINS HOW ITS ALGORITHM WEIGHS TIME SPENT WATCHING LONGER CLIPS

Instagram's algorithm measures watch time as a percentage of the video but also considers the total seconds watched, ensuring longer videos aren't penalized. Watching a portion of a longer video counts the same as watching that portion of a shorter video. This approach prevents creators from being disadvantaged by longer clips, even if they don't achieve high completion rates. Instagram encourages longer content to boost engagement, especially with the recent expansion of Reels to 3 minutes.

WHATNOT WANTS TO BE A HOME FOR UNCERTAIN TIKTOK LIVESTREAMERS

Whatnot used TikTok's temporary outage to promote itself with a nationwide newspaper ad, leading to its highest-ever seller sign-ups. It offers live shopping across niches like collectibles and fashion, streaming over 175,000 hours weekly—800 times more than QVC. The U.S. live-commerce market is growing at a 32% annual rate, but it remains much smaller than the international market, which was valued at $1.3 billion in 2024. Whatnot surpassed $3 billion in sales volume in 2024 and plans to expand its categories, brand presence, and fashion offerings.

THE PRICING DILEMMA: FREEMIUM, FREE TRIAL, OR REVERSE TRIAL?

Different pricing models have trade-offs between acquisition, conversion, and retention, with Freemium driving user volume, Free Trial maximizing monetization, and Reverse Trial offering a hybrid approach. The right model depends on specific business goals, industry norms, cost structure, and product complexity. To effectively test pricing models, companies need to track total monetized users, long-term revenue impact, and user behavior across the full funnel. Poorly designed tests can mislead, so experiments should start small, leverage cohort analysis, and measure effects beyond initial conversion rates.

THERE GOES WEBMD - FALLING VICTIM TO THE AI OVERLORDS

WebMD is heavily reliant on ad-driven traffic and is losing relevance as AI delivers more contextual and complete health information, signaling a Product-Market Fit collapse.

YOUTUBE IS WORKING TO MAKE AD SLOTS LESS INTERRUPTIVE

YouTube will reduce interruptive mid-roll ads and instead place them at natural pauses to improve viewer retention and creator revenue.

LINKEDIN ADDS ANALYTICS FOR COMMENTS YOU LEAVE ON POSTS

LinkedIn is introducing comment analytics, allowing users to see how many times their comment has been viewed.

HOW CORE GIT DEVELOPERS CONFIGURE GIT

The series of Git configuration settings in this article are categorized into "Clearly Makes Git Better," "Why the Hell Not?" and "A Matter of Taste" - explanations and code snippets are provided to enable each of them. Examples include improving branch and tag listing, setting a default branch name, using a better diff algorithm, and enhancing push/fetch behavior. There are also settings for autocorrect prompting, committing with diffs, reusing recorded resolutions, and nicer rebase configurations.

HOW WE MIGRATED 160,000 LINES OF JAVASCRIPT TO TYPESCRIPT—WITH ZERO DOWNTIME

WorkMade successfully migrated a 160,000-line JavaScript banking application to TypeScript with zero downtime over six weeks by using a separate migration branch, periodic rebasing, and incremental typing. It tested the TypeScript version in a staging environment with uptime monitoring and mirrored the production environment before pushing the changes to production.

WHY YOU SHOULD NOT PARSE LOCALIZED STRINGS

Parsing localized strings is problematic because the interpretation of numbers and dates varies a lot across locales, leading to ambiguity and errors. User device language may not reflect their intended input, and multiple valid string formats can represent the same data. Locale data also changes over time, leading to inconsistent results. Instead of parsing, use dedicated input mechanisms or standard interchange formats to handle user input and data exchange, respectively.

IF IT IS WORTH KEEPING, SAVE IT IN MARKDOWN

Digital content is prone to loss due to link rot, platform changes, and even self-hosting failures. Valuable content should be preserved in durable, easily accessible formats like plaintext Markdown so it can last forever.

FREELANCING: HOW I GOT CLIENTS, PART 1

This developer became a successful freelancer by creating a well-structured and quantified resume, preparing a quick verbal presentation, understanding optimal timing for job searching based on fiscal years, and using tools like Calendly and Briskine for scheduling and efficient communication. In the resume, he addressed the needs of potential clients and emphasized relevant experience for those needs.

REACT NATIVE BOOST

React Native Boost is a Babel plugin to automatically optimize React Native applications through source code analysis. It identifies and implements safe micro-optimizations by replacing React Native's View and Text implementations with their native versions.

GOATDB

GoatDB is a real-time, version-controlled NoDB designed for Deno and React ideal for prototyping and lightweight deployments without complex backends. It has features like client-side operation, resilience, real-time collaboration, and edge-native processing. GoatDB uses React hooks for state management and provides easy server setup with automatic sync.

XONSH

Xonsh is a cross-platform, Python-powered shell that blends Python 3.6+ syntax with familiar shell commands.

I WENT TO SQL INJECTION COURT

A bill (SB0226) is being considered by the Illinois General Assembly to address whether public bodies can hide information from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by storing it in databases. This bill was prompted by Matt Chapman's FOIA request for the City of Chicago's parking ticket database (CANVAS) schema, which was denied due to security concerns. Chapman sued, bringing in the author of this article as an expert witness to argue that releasing the schema wouldn't jeopardize the system, but despite winning at trial and appellate court, the Illinois Supreme Court ultimately sided with the city, defining a schema as a file layout, which is exempt.

THE DEEP RESEARCH PROBLEM

OpenAI's Deep Research is designed to make research and analysis easier, but it often falls short of expectations due to inaccuracies and unreliable data sourcing. For example, a sample report on smartphone adoption rates contained flawed data from sources like Statcounter and Statista, leading to incorrect conclusions. The core issue lies in asking a probabilistic model a question that requires deterministic accuracy.

A PEEK INTO A POSSIBLE FUTURE OF PYTHON IN THE BROWSER

Python-like code will be able to be run efficiently in web browsers. SPy is a research project that aims to create a "Python-friendly" language that compiles to native binaries or WebAssembly. It was used to accelerate a generative art demo in PyScript by pre-compiling code, achieving a 100x performance improvement.

HARD PROBLEMS THAT REDUCE TO DOCUMENT RANKING

Complex problems, particularly in offensive security such as N-day vulnerability analysis, can be solved by reframing them as document ranking problems and using LLMs for listwise document ranking.

CHICORY

Chicory is a pure Java, easy-to-integrate, secure JVM-native WebAssembly runtime that allows applications to use plugins within a sandboxed environment.

BOOST YOUR WEBSITE SPEED

A slow-loading website can hurt user experience, reduce search engine rankings, and decrease conversions.

ASK HN: FORMER DEVS WHO CAN'T GET A JOB, WHAT DID YOU END UP DOING FOR WORK? (HACKER NEWS THREAD)

Former developers talk about what they're up to now, from working as electricians to retiring.

EMULATORS—all in 100% PARALLEL with ZERO FLAKES.

✅ QA cycles reduced to just 15 minutes

SCHEDULE A DEMO TO LEARN MORE

ANTHROPIC LAUNCHES A NEW AI MODEL THAT ‘THINKS' AS LONG AS YOU WANT

Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet model is designed to 'think' about questions for as long as users want it to. It can give both real-time answers and more considered, thought-out answers to questions. The model is rolling out to all users and developers, but only premium users will have access to its reasoning features. It will cost $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens, making it more expensive than OpenAI's o3-mini and DeepSeek's R1.

PERPLEXITY TEASES A WEB BROWSER CALLED COMET

Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine company, has launched a sign-up list for its upcoming browser, Comet. There are few details on what the browser will do or what it looks like, but the company calls it 'a browser for agentic search'. Perplexity's product portfolio is growing at a rapid pace - it recently released a 'deep research' product, an AI-powered assistant for Android, and an API for AI search. It has reportedly raised over $500 million in capital from VCs and is said to be valued at $9 billion.

SPACE MISSION AIMS TO MAP WATER ON SURFACE OF THE MOON

Lunar Trailblazer is set to begin its two year mission when it is blasted into space on a SpaceX Falcon rocket on Thursday. The probe's goal is to seek out water on the lunar surface. Scientists have recently uncovered strong hints that there are significant quantities of water on the surface of the moon. This water could potentially be turned into hydrogen to be used as fuel and oxygen for humans to breathe.

SPACEX TARGETING FRIDAY FOR NEXT TEST OF STARSHIP MEGAROCKET

SpaceX is targeting a launch window that opens at 5:30 PM on Friday for its next Starship megarocket test flight, pending regulatory approval. The previous test flight ended with Starship's upper stage disintegrating, prompting cleanup and recovery efforts for fallen debris. SpaceX has implemented numerous upgrades to the upper stage for the upcoming flight to enhance reliability and performance. The mission is expected to last just over an hour and will include another attempt to catch the booster stage using the launch tower.

CLAUDE CODE RESEARCH PREVIEW

Claude Code is an agentic coding tool that lives inside the terminal. It understands code bases and helps developers code faster by executing routine tasks, explaining complex code, and handling git workflows, all through natural language commands. Claude Code can edit files, fix bugs, execute and fix tests, search through git history, resolve merge conflicts, create commits and PRs, and more.

JSON HAS BECOME TODAY'S MACHINE-READABLE OUTPUT FORMAT ON UNIX

JSON has a bunch of pragmatic virtues in a modern UNIX system. It provides a clear and basically unambiguous way to represent text and most numeric data, and it's also generally extensible. There are increasingly more tools to deal with and process JSON and it can generally be transformed to various other formats if needed. Designing a machine-readable output format is somewhat more complicated than it looks - using JSON means that people writing programs don't have to design their own formats.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM AMAZON'S BIG ALEXA EVENT THIS WEEK

Amazon is holding a press event this week where it will launch its new generative AI-infused Alexa. The event, which will be hosted by Amazon's new devices and service chief, Panos Panay, is scheduled for 10 AM on Wednesday in New York City. There will likely be new hardware launched at the event, including an updated Amazon Echo speaker and possibly even smart glasses. This article provides an overview of the rumors so readers know what to expect and what not to expect from the event.

APPLE EXEC PHIL SCHILLER TESTIFIES THAT HE RAISED CONCERNS OVER APP STORE COMMISSIONS ON WEB-BASED SALES

Phil Schiller, the executive in charge of leading Apple's App Store, testified in court that he had originally raised concerns about the 27% commission that Apple planned to charge app developers on purchases made outside the App Store. He had claimed that it would be a potential compliance risk and that the fee would create an antagonistic relationship between Apple and developers. It would also require Apple to have audit rights to check whether companies owe Apple money for transactions that took place outside the App Store. Apple's pricing committee ultimately decided to charge the commission despite Schiller's concerns.