Algorithms
The final part of the image deconvolution trilogy explores Total Variation prior methods that outperform the classic Wiener filter, with an open-source implementation in SmartDeblur achieving commercial-grade quality.
Legislation
A Russian man scanned a bank's credit card agreement, modified the terms in his favor using Photoshop, and when the bank signed without reading, he successfully defended the modified terms in court.
Information Security
A fascinating case study of how attackers chained together Amazon, Apple, Gmail, and Twitter vulnerabilities using only publicly available information to hijack all accounts and remotely wipe all devices.
Linux
A comprehensive guide to advanced OpenSSH features: key management, file copying, SSHFS, remote execution, aliases, X-server forwarding, SOCKS proxy, port forwarding, nested tunnels, reverse SOCKS proxy, L2/L3 tunneling, and agent forwarding through untrusted servers.
Unicode
A flowchart for identifying garbled text (mojibake) — which encoding was the source and which one was it misinterpreted as.
Algorithms
A practical guide to image deconvolution using the Wiener filter, covering PSF acquisition, bokeh analysis, edge effects, and the open-source SmartDeblur tool that rivals commercial solutions.
Project Management
A translated list of 20 life lessons covering self-education, communication, financial wisdom, and personal growth that the author wishes he had understood at age 20.
Assembler
A true story from 1990s Russia about how engineers used Assembly language to bypass an electronic fuel dispensing system during a gasoline shortage — while still paying for every drop.
Professional Literature
A satirical short story about corporate absurdity in IT, where a team is tasked with building an energy-independent software module for a country with no electricity — and delivers exactly what was asked for.
IT Education
A sharp, ironic critique of the IT industry's misplaced priorities — from investing in ping-pong tables instead of communities, to creating 23-year-old 'seniors' who still don't know the difference between an abstract class and an interface.
Algorithms
Why simple upvote-minus-downvote and average rating approaches fail, and how the Wilson score confidence interval provides the statistically correct way to rank user-rated content.
IT Companies
James Whittaker explains his departure from Google, describing how the company transformed from an innovation factory empowering employees to create the future into an advertising company obsessed with competing against Facebook through Google+.