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Unusual circuits in the Intel 386’s standard cell logic

unusual-circuits-in-the-intel-386’s-standard-cell-logic

I’ve been studying the standard cell circuitry in the Intel 386 processor recently. The 386, introduced in 1985, was Intel’s most complex processor at the time, containing 285,000 transistors. Intel’s existing design techniques couldn’t handle this complexity and the chip began to fall behind schedule. To meet the schedule, the 386 team started using a […]

A Fast 64-Bit Date Algorithm (30–40% faster by counting dates backwards)

a-fast-64-bit-date-algorithm-(30–40%-faster-by-counting-dates-backwards)

Other Date/Time Articles: Counting years backwards unlocks faster speed.The first date algorithm to use only 4 multiplications, instead of 7+. 23 November 2025 In this article I present my final very fast date conversion algorithm. It represents a significant speed gain — being similar in magnitude to the speed gains achieved by the previous fastest […]

GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

Algol 68 Front End David Edelsohn [email protected] Sat Nov 22 20:38:25 GMT 2025 The GCC Steering Committee has agreed to include the Algol 68 Front End in trunk designated as experimental with stipulations: 1. Algol 68 is not part of all languages built by default. 2. Algol 68 is not part of the GCC release […]

An Economy of AI Agents

an-economy-of-ai-agents

Abstract:In the coming decade, artificially intelligent agents with the ability to plan and execute complex tasks over long time horizons with little direct oversight from humans may be deployed across the economy. This chapter surveys recent developments and highlights open questions for economists around how AI agents might interact with humans and with each other, […]

Three Years from GPT-3 to Gemini 3

three-years-from-gpt-3-to-gemini-3

I’ve been testing Google’s new Gemini 3 model. It is very good. But rather than give you benchmark numbers, I’m going to show you how far AI has come in three years by asking the AI to demonstrate it. It has been slightly less than three years since the release of ChatGPT. A few days […]

A monopoly ISP refuses to fix upstream infrastructure

a-monopoly-isp-refuses-to-fix-upstream-infrastructure

A documented case of infrastructure failure, failed escalation, and a company that refuses to investigate. Here’s the situation: I have outages. My neighbor has the same outages. Xfinity won’t fix it. I bought Xfinity internet in June 2024. Immediately, my connection started dropping. Multiple times a day. Every single day. After troubleshooting every piece of […]

How to Spot a Counterfeit Lithium-Ion Battery

how-to-spot-a-counterfeit-lithium-ion-battery

5 min read Andrew Moseman is the online communications editor at Caltech and a freelance contributor to IEEE Spectrum. Cylindrical lithium-ion batteries for small, inexpensive devices are increasingly turning up counterfeit. As an auditor of battery manufacturers around the world, University of Maryland mechanical engineer Michael Pecht frequently finds himself touring spotless production floors. They’re […]

Windows ARM64 Internals: Deconstructing Pointer Authentication

windows-arm64-internals:-deconstructing-pointer-authentication

Pointer Authentication Code, or PAC, is an anti-exploit/memory-corruption feature that signs pointers so their use (as code or data) can be validated at runtime. PAC is available on Armv8.3-A and Armv9.0-A (and later) ARM architectures and leverages virtual addressing in order to store a small cryptographic signature alongside the pointer value. On a typical 64-bit […]