tal

I think that it's fine technically

the ML family of languages have extensive static typing functionality that I like

but Rust has enough overlap in functionality and has greater uptake. (I say this not having spent enough time to really come up to speed on Rust myself.) A quarter century back, ocaml was the language that I was most impressed with for strong static typing functionality. In 2026, I think I'd probably look at Rust and only go to ocaml if Rust doesn't suit your needs.

As to whether it can be a "daily driver"...I mean, you can use any language daily. I do think that it's hard to appreciate how helpful it is to have all the examples and library support and tools until you move from a popular language to a less-used one and suddenly discover that you want something that isn't there.

So can you use it? Sure. Is it the first option I'd recommend to someone who

and I assume that this is why you're looking at it, if your alternative is Python

wants to move to a statically-typed language? No. Is it a terrible choice? No, it'd also be a long way from the bottom of the list that I'd recommend.

Similar to HBM, HBF relies on multiple memory dies that have been stacked together, but instead of DRAM, it utilizes NAND flash to increase storage capacity.

What's the lifetime on the flash memory in such a setup? I mean, if you're constantly shoveling 3TB/sec into said flash memory, even if you have a lot of memory behind that interface, I'd think that it'd have a limited life.

thinks

Maybe if the stuff is rarely-written? Like, say you use HBF for static data that you mostly just read, like the model edge weights, and HBM-accessed DRAM just for the dynamic stuff?

reads more

Oh. Maybe this is really more a replacement for M.2 or whatever is currently used for flash on compute servers, not as an HBM alternative:

Its primary role will be to complement capacity limits rather than outright replace HBM. LLMs can be processed through HBM, which is immediately required for computing, with HBF storing data in a larger capacity.

Might eliminate the need to load a model from flash to DRAM, if it can just be used directly from flash.

considers

That might legitimately reduce demand for DRAM. Like, a lot of AI DRAM usage is (presently, though might change for more-advances AI) for data that doesn't change much. Like, you're only putting it in DRAM so that the parallel compute hardware has fast access to it, not because it needs to be written to much.

EDIT: It also might provide parallel compute manufacturers a way to price-discriminate between more-price-sensitive GPU (gaming) users and AI (often much less price-sensitive) users via a route other than capping on-card DRAM for gaming users. It'd kind of suck for gaming users if texture memory gets capped because GPU makers don't want to cannibalize their AI market. If you make your parallel compute cards have a ton of onboard flash, that's something that gaming users don't care about

they need their memory to be mutable

but AI users do.

Honestly, GNU/Linux isn't better today from a user standpoint. I mean, Linux has the technical subsystems to sandbox software, yes

like, the move to Wayland makes isolating graphical software possible, where X11 imposed major limitations on one's ability to do that. Various containerizing systems exist. But the typical software package distributed via Steam, say, in 2026, can see the filesystem as a whole.

Like, I can hack something up with something like firejail using that functionality that may-or-may-not work for a given game on a given system, but that's not a real, universal solution for users. My mother is not going to do that.

Mobile OSes at least isolate most apps from most of the filesystem and some sensors, and provide some level of reasonably-accessible transparency into what apps can do. They still have their own issues that annoy me, like software normally being able to phone home with what information it does get. But that's still way more isolation than a user who is playing a video game on GNU/Linux is getting.

Global, always-generally-available connectivity brought us a lot of nice things, but it's also come with a lot of not-so-great things, and some of the not-so-great things is a loss of privacy and a loss of control over the things that we own. :-(

If you've already played Ace Combat 7, and are not yet familiar with it, you might look into Project Wingman.

I am not particularly sympathetic, but there is a group that takes this quite seriously:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Human_Extinction_Movement

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT[A]) is an environmental movement that calls for all people to abstain from reproduction in order to cause the gradual voluntary extinction of humankind. VHEMT supports human extinction primarily because it would prevent environmental degradation.

I mean, that's really true of products in general.

I think that there are some real consumer law issues to answer where someone buys a product and then a manufacturer can control the product subsequent to the purchase. Like, say I buy a BMW with the expectation that I am not going to be seeing ads, based on the way it acts at the time that I bought it. At that point, I'm locked into owning that BMW. Then the manufacturer degrades my experience, maybe to the point where I no longer consider the vehicle to be the one I wanted.

Like, what is my remedy here? If the vehicle has OTA updates, I can never know what it's going to be doing down the line, so I can't make an informed decision. Having informed consumers is one of the basic requirements for markets to be efficient.

Maybe I could say "Well, that's just a case of let the buyer beware. We'll rely on reputation...some auto manufacturers will piss off consumers and those will be avoided". But...if someone doesn't buy cars that frequently, that's a long iteration cycle.

I'm actually more concerned about video games. Like, if I'm a publisher, once I sell a video game, I don't normally have more revenue coming in from it. But if I do have the ability to update that video game down the line. And I can update it to go harvesting user data, which turns it into a revenue stream. A lot of video game publishers go defunct on a regular basis or sell IP or whatnot, so there, even the "rely on reputation" route is more questionable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Xbox_360-only_games

This isn't a list of "on XBox 360, but not PC" games, since there could be games that came out on multiple consoles but not on the PC, but it's probably a reasonable approximation to get a list of what games might be involved.

I picked up a pack of UHD Blu-Rays of Alfred Hitchcock's older movies

I've been buying some UHD Blu-Rays of these of various things that I'd like to watch, as I think that they'll probably be the last physical media video format, and I understand presently also tend to beat streaming from a quality standpoint due to streaming bitrates generally being more limited. Watched Frenzy, which I'd never seen before. I was grinning at a number of times

Hitchcock keeps throwing the viewer's expectations around for what's going to happen over the course of the movie. Oh, and it has quite a bit of humor for a thriller.

I mean, that Walmart already is going to have had cameras all over the ceiling for a long time.

I'm a little annoyed by a local sandwich shop having their ordering kiosk

which had a camera added

recognize me and start recommending things based on my prior purchases there.

Now when I order at a kiosk, if I see something that looks like a camera, I put my hand over it.

The governors of Osaka, Fukuoka and Aichi have expressed interest. “Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya possess all the functions necessary to serve as a second capital. I’m the first in the nation to make a bid,” Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura said. Fukuoka Governor Seitaro Hattori added Friday: “We will aim for the designation as ‘all Fukuoka’ by working with municipalities and the local business community.”

For purely historical value, I gotta say Kyoto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto

Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu. ...The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869....The capital was relocated from Kyoto to Tokyo after the Meiji Restoration.

searches

Aw yeah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_of_Japan

As of 2007, there is a movement to transfer the government functions of the capital from Tokyo while retaining Tokyo as the de facto capital, with the Gifu-Aichi region, the Mie-Kio region and other regions submitting bids for a de jure capital. Officially, the relocation is referred to as "capital functions relocation" instead of "capital relocation", or as "relocation of the Diet and other organizations".[19][20]

In 2023, the Government of Japan moved the Agency for Cultural Affairs to Kyoto. This was the first time that a central government office has been relocated outside Tokyo since Tokyo was designated as the capital.[21][22]

Based on past history of various VR HMD makers, for at least Linux users, I'd bet yes.

But...that's assuming that the user is going to get an HMD in the first place. Like, one "option" is to just not use an HMD, just use a traditional monitor and forego VR-only titles.

Diamonds are made under pressure

You can also do it with chemical vapor deposition!