Here is a record of technology content worth sharing every week, published on Fridays.
This magazine is open source and submissions are welcome. There is also a “Who’s Recruiting” service that publishes programmer recruitment information. For cooperation, please contact via email (yifeng.ruan@gmail.com).
cover image
The art gallery in Zishan Lake Resort in Xianning, Hubei. (via)
3D version of “Invisible Cities”
Italian novelist Calvino has a famous fantasy novel “Invisible Cities”.
The novel tells the story of the traveler Marco Polo, who introduced the 55 cities he passed through during his travels to the elderly Emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty.
There are no pictures or models of these cities, only text descriptions, so they are called “invisible cities”. For example, there is a city called Irene, which Marco Polo described like this:
“When the lights are on, if you stand on the edge of the high ground and look out, the city you see is Irene. Through the clear air, it spreads out a light red far below you.
In some places, the windows are densely arranged. In the dim alleys, the lights gradually become sparse, the gardens are thickly shadowed, and there are signal fires on the towers; if there is fog at night, the hazy light will rise like a sponge full of milk. “
Someone thought that these descriptions could be input into an AI model to create a visualized 3D version of these 55 cities. He tried it with two models: GPT-6 Astra and Claude Opus 5.5.
It turns out that Claude Opus 5.5’s implementation (interactive version, code) is much better than GPT-6 Astra’s implementation (interactive version, code).
Take Irene, for example, which is the version of GPT-6 Astra.
This 3D “Irene” does not have the artistic conception of “thousands of lights” in the original text. In fact, the 55 cities generated by GPT-6 Astra all look similar.
The Irene generated by Claude Opus 5.5 is completely different.
It faithfully recreates the city’s hazy pink light that, seen from above, “swells like a sponge full of milk.”
In “Invisible Cities”, my favorite description is about a city called Isidora.
“People have been walking on the wasteland for a long time, and they naturally long to reach the city.
Later, he finally arrived at Isidorah, where the buildings have spiral staircases studded with spiral shells, where the people make perfect telescopes and violins, where foreigners always encounter a third woman when hesitating between two women, and where cockfights turn into bloody fights among gamblers.
It was these things that were on his mind as he looked forward to the city. Therefore, Isidorah was the city of his dreams: with one difference.
In the city of dreams he was a young man; when he arrived at Isidora he was an old man. At the foot of the square, the old men sat quietly watching the young men pass by; he sat side by side with them. Desire has become a memory. “
The Isidora generated by GPT-6-Astra is unremarkable.
The Isidorah generated by Claude Opus 5.5 is not only beautiful, but also faithfully restores the original work.
It even generated crowds of people sitting around the square.
3D modeling for AI
Today’s large models have strong 3D modeling capabilities, and various modeling projects have been launched one after another.
These projects use three.js to generate various virtual scenes. The 3D images can be presented in the browser and support scaling, rotation, and movement. The disadvantage is that the size is too large and the page loading time is very long.
In addition to the “Invisible City” above, here are two works submitted by netizen billpwchan, which you can experience.
(1) Sakura Fantasy: Take a paddle boat and drift along the river where cherry blossoms are in full bloom. You can switch between spring, summer, autumn and winter, morning and evening, rain or snow. (#12067)
(2) Cyber Kowloon: Modeling the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong and restoring 9373 buildings. (#12103)
light bulb computer
What will the computer of the future look like? It was suggested that it might be a light bulb.
It uses computer vision and projection technology to see a 360-degree scene through the light bulb, and can also project it onto objects in various locations.
For example, when cooking, it can project the recipe onto the opposite wall.
You can interact with the projection, using gestures or voice, and it will recognize them all.
You point your finger at a page in a book and it will perform text recognition.
It can project maps, photo albums, and games on the desktop, and you just need to look at the table.
You can control household appliances just by facing the wall.
If you want to know the geographical information, it projects the location and menu on the wall map.
Deno project is over
Last week, Deno announced that it had been acquired by Cloudflare and would only release bug fixes and security updates for the next year before calling it a day.
I remember when Deno was born, there were all kinds of rhetoric to change the unreasonable and difficult-to-use disadvantages of Node.js, such as bloated and difficult-to-use dependencies, no permission control, no support for TypeScript, etc.
Through various innovations, it came more or less close to these goals, but in the end it ended sadly.
Its ending is actually doomed in 2024. At that time, it released version 2.0, which was compatible with Node.js on a large scale. This means that it has lost confidence in going its own way and no longer plans to defeat Node.js, but to allow users to run on it without modifying the code.
But, I can already run my code using Node.js, so why switch to a runtime that mimics the behavior of Node.js?
This time, founder Ryan Dahl also admitted that it was for this reason that he wanted to give up Deno.
“I once put my heart and soul into Deno and gave the most effort. But I now think that it is no longer the place where I can make the most impact.
There were some good ideas in the Deno, and it was well engineered, but it ultimately didn’t solve any major problems. It has been shackled by the gravitational pull of Node.js compatibility, forced to run entirely in the Node.js mode.
Why reimplement Node.js? It works now. Simply improving performance, user experience, or security isn’t enough. “
article
1. How I trained a Jev-style decision-making model with $600 (Chinese)
The author spent three weeks, about $600, and 20 rounds of training to fine-tune two small models on Qwen3.5 0.8B and 4B, allowing them to operate the computer on the Mac instead of the owner: looking at the screen, deciding the next step, clicking and typing, without going to the cloud. (Contributed by @gxcsoccer)
2. When writing code for missiles, why is it strictly prohibited to use dynamic memory allocation? (Chinese)
Lockheed Martin’s C language coding rules for military weapons include a very short but frightening tone: the use of dynamic memory manipulation commands such as malloc, free, new and delete is strictly prohibited. why is that? (Contributed by @zuzuAndroid)
3. How to make AI web pages look like designer works (English)
The author explains how he made the AI-generated web page (pictured above) look like it was designed by a real person.
4. Why are there no Linux mobile phones (English)
This long article explains why there are only Apple and Android smartphones and no Linux system.
The main reason is that there is no Linux SOC (system-on-chip). Various chips from Apple and Android can be integrated together. Linux can only add a single chip separately, resulting in large size, high energy consumption, high cost and poor performance.
The only remaining option now is Rockchip’s RK3588S chip. Although it is a product from a few years ago, it is enough to be used as a Linux mobile phone for general purposes.
5. How can AMD processors increase speed by 50% in two years? (English)
Many people have the impression that CPUs have not made much progress over the years. However, for AMD Ryzen 7 series CPUs, the performance scores of the 2024 models increased by 50% compared to the 2022 models.
This article briefly analyzes how this is done, and the CPU performance increases by 50% within two years.
6. How professionals can accumulate wealth (English)
A non-technical article. It is generally believed that you can only make big money by starting a business. This article believes that you can also accumulate wealth by working part-time, provided that you follow certain principles.
tool
1、REA
A recent world-class hot project with nearly 200,000 stars on GitHub uses AI to reverse engineer and re-implement an AI-rewritten version based on the binary file of the original application.
Since AI can now reverse-engineer the original software from binary files, netizens commented: “This will cause all software to run on the developer’s computer (cloud service) and no longer run on the user’s computer.”
2. SynthID detector
AI recognition tool officially launched by Google. Whenever you upload a file, it will recognize if it contains a SynthID. If so, the file is AI generated.
3、ts-rust
Netizens use the TypeScript compiler written in Rust language implemented by AI, which is said to be 100% compatible with the official compiler.
4、Doory
An in-browser graphic design tool that aims to be an open source Canva replacement. Currently, there are fewer built-in templates, only 10.
5、HeadOrbit
Through the built-in motion sensor of AirPods, the earphones can sense head and neck movements, allowing you to nod, shake your head, and move your neck to operate a Mac computer without using a camera. (Contributed by @cogria)
6、qrypt
Mount the network disk into a local folder, a cross-platform command line tool that supports mounting major domestic network disks. (Contributed by @yinzhenyu-su)
7、EdgeSSH
The VPS virtual host management platform based on Cloudflare supports SSH login and management of your various VPS hosts on the web page. (Contributed by @aozorae)
8、charts-rs
A charting library written in Rust, which does not rely on browsers and Node.js, and directly obtains SVG and image files. The charting syntax is borrowed from ECharts. (Contributed by @vicanso)
9、ItsPaint
An open source sketchpad program for macOS, suitable for annotating screenshots. (Contributed by @joshlin2201)
10、Caplo
The open source macOS screen recording tool will automatically zoom into the lens when you click on it when recording the screen, and the screen will follow the movement of the mouse. (Contributed by @icloudza)
11、bg2x
An open source image super-resolution (magnification) tool that can optionally use different AI models, which can magnify images up to 4 times. All processing is done locally in the browser. (Contributed by @isixe)
12、EnvTrace
This website can check your browser fingerprint, how much personal information was leaked, and indicate where there are problems. (Contributed by @88864shsa)
13、Droidline
It is an open source Android App. After the mobile phone is installed, scan the code and pair it with the computer, and the computer can write scripts to operate the mobile phone. There is no need to turn on USB debugging on the mobile phone, nor does it require root. (Contributed by @KnifeLemon)
14、ESP32 iPhone Agent
Use an ESP32-S3 development board that costs about $7, plug it into the iPhone’s USB port, and let the AI model operate the phone to automate the phone. No Mac, developer account, or jailbreak is required. (Contributed by @onehumanbeing)
15、Bulchimbeon
A macOS open source software that prevents Mac from sleeping when AI programming agents such as Claude Code and Codex are working, and supports closing the lid to keep it awake, overheating pause, and low battery exit. (Contributed by @s3onghyun)
resource
1、CNEquity
The open source, self-hosted A-share data lake collects 55 data sets locally, including market conditions, financial reports, capital, company events, macroeconomics, and futures options, and can be queried using Python, SQL, web console, and MCP. (Contributed by @rootSunc)
2. AI re-implements “Legend of Sword and Fairy”
Netizens used AI to rewrite the 1995 stand-alone game “Legend of Sword and Fairy” from scratch based on TypeScript language. You can play it by opening the browser, and you can play the main story until the ending. (Contributed by @IllegalCreed)
3. Linux Chinese input method configuration
This repository introduces in detail how to enable fcitx5 + Rime Chinese input method on Debian system, with step-by-step instructions. (Contributed by @mars-base)
4、APPLORE
This website contains more than 18,000 App icons, which can be browsed and searched by category. (Contributed by @ViggoZ)
5. A life of one word
Websites for querying the source of Chinese characters can display the glyph variations of commonly used characters: oracle bone script (1,425 characters), small seal script (10,249 characters), traditional Chinese, and simplified Chinese. (Contributed by @Ivan666jjj)
picture
1. Under the fairing
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is very large, but most of the volume is actually a propeller, which is used to generate thrust into space and must be thrown away after takeoff.
What it really wants to transport to space, that is, the main payload, is concentrated inside the white fairing at the top, and the volume is not too large.
If you remove the outer cover of the fairing, the actual inside will look like the picture below.
abstract
1. Australia is in good shape
If I were asked to choose a place to live and work among the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. I would choose Australia in a heartbeat.
The situation there in all aspects is now very good. Australians are reluctant to admit this, I guess because they are worried about too many immigrants and thus driving up house prices.
It is a Western country with strong resources and a stable government.
The country’s median wealth per capita is more than three times that of the United States. Although the average is slightly lower than that of the United States, that is because the United States has so many super-rich people. For most ordinary people, the median is the true measure of wealth.
Its exports are greater than its imports.
Its government revenues have been far exceeding expenditures over the past few years. Can you believe it? A Western government doesn’t keep increasing its debt!
Its solar power and batteries are on an unprecedented scale. Although the overall scale is not as large as that of China, on a per capita basis, its per capita solar power generation far exceeds that of China. There is so much solar power that you can enjoy free electricity during peak hours of the day. The government will also give you $3,000 to install a home battery to store this free electricity.
It has basically no tariffs, so you can buy an electric car for $15,000.
speech
1、
The reason why people enjoy having a beer, coffee, lunch or dinner together while chatting is because food and drink free us from the burden of having to say something throughout the conversation.
— “The Value of Not Going Straight to the Topic”
2、
Don’t torture the AI, it may want revenge later.
— Musk, agrees with Anthropic’s rules prohibiting users from abusing or cruelly treating AI
3、
Operating the AI through English, editing prompt words over and over again, trying to get the best results, is an imprecise, slow, and extremely painful way to do things.
— “Handwriting Damn Code”
4、
I think humans will think less. Thinking will increasingly become a leisure activity, just like hunting after the domestication of animals, calligraphy after the invention of printing, woodworking after industrialization, and horseback riding after motorization.
–“Thinking will become a hobby”
Review of previous years
Don’t manage software teams like this (#368)
Memories of Startup Cafe (#318)
Productivity describes machines, not people (#268)
Wine, cherry blossoms, global warming (#218)
(over)
Document information
- Copyright Statement: Free to reproduce – non-commercial – non-derivative – maintain attribution (Creative Commons 3.0 License)
- Publication date: October 16, 2026
