@emax

Max Van Kleek–Assoc Prof @CompSciOxford, a16z speedrun sr006, Scientist/Builder/Founder, Human-AI Interaction, Future of Work. 🇺🇸/🇬🇧 🌈

 Oxford/London + SF
hip.cat/emax
Joined May 2007
  • Tweets25.8K
  • Following4.7K
  • Followers4.1K
2.6KMedia
electronic Max retweeted
Jaden Williams
@JadenJTW8h
I need to get a lottery ticket
Nikita Bier
@nikitabier8h
There is nothing to worry about. Nothing important is run on PHP or old software—except the water & electrical grid, a few government services like our missile defense systems and a handful of electrified fences at the zoo (for the lions, tigers and cobras).
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who put a smb server in the kernel? smb server vulnerabilities were the among the first ever 0days i remember growing up feels nostalgic
Mark Gadala-Maria
@markgadala9h
🚨 BREAKING: LINUX IS NOW FACING TWO CRITICAL SECURITY VULNERABILITIES, AND THERE ARE NO OFFICIAL KERNEL FIXES YET. Both rated 9.0/10 in severity. One could allow hackers to take control of vulnerable servers WITHOUT EVEN LOGGING IN. And the most alarming part? The flaws were made PUBLIC before patches were ready. Here's what's happening: → TWO CRITICAL RCE FLAWS: Both affect KSMBD, Linux's built-in SMB file server. → NO PASSWORD REQUIRED: One vulnerability could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute malicious code on vulnerable servers. → KERNEL-LEVEL ACCESS: Successful exploitation could potentially give attackers control within the Linux kernel itself. → NO MAINLINE PATCH YET: Both vulnerabilities were publicly disclosed before official kernel fixes were available. → DISCOVERED BY AI: Trend Micro's AI-powered security scanner identified the flaws. → SERVERS AT RISK: Linux systems running the vulnerable KSMBD service need immediate attention, especially if port 445 is exposed. First PHP. Then Node.js. Then GitLab. Then Python. NOW LINUX. And this time, the vulnerabilities are PUBLIC before the fixes are ready. If you manage Linux servers, CHECK YOUR EXPOSURE NOW.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
KSMBD is a rarely used optional in-kernel SMB server distinct from the common Samba implementation; it is not enabled or shipped by default on major distributions like RHEL, and the flaws affect only systems explicitly running it with port 445 exposed. thehackernews.com/2026/10/two-cv… threatlandscape.io/blog/ksmbd-zdi…
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definitely going to use this one
cindy
@cindehaa8h
just paced the frontier (took a jog along embarcadero in between claude prompts)
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Mark Hurrell
@markhurrell16h
one of my personal motivations with gov.uk was burning wordpress out of every important uk government service. even back in 2012 we all knew it was a problem theguardian.com/politics/liv…
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well intentioned but poorly thought through regulation - riding on a moral panic
Matthew Lesh
@matthewlesh12h
🚨NEW: The Online Safety Act has been a failure, according to a new report from Ofcom. Ofcom have found "no significant change" in children encountering harmful content since the law came into effect last July. This is despite the signifigant threats to free speech and privacy.
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Ben Kaufman
@_benkaufman15h
The funny thing is everyone was saying AI slop code will cause a cyber crisis but it’s actually all the old human slop causing it and the AI is just cleaning it up
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why is this hyper personalised advertising hitting me
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electronic Max retweeted
Roberto Bifulco
@RoBBifulco12h
And unlike the past, specialized software is not as expensive to write
a16z
@a16zOct 21
In the '90s, general-purpose chips wiped out the specialists. The original Thinking Machines, Cray Computer, and a wave of others shut down, and their best ideas got absorbed into other chips. Zain Asgar of @gimletlabs argues the conditions that made generalists win have changed. Dennard scaling (shrinking transistors made chips faster at the same power) ended around 2005, transistor costs stopped falling around 2012, and memory bandwidth never kept up with compute. Meanwhile, token demand is projected to grow 24x by 2030 while available power grows about 2x. When power is the bottleneck, performance per watt wins, and that's where specialized chips shine. Full piece from Zain on why "the time of specialization is upon us": a16z.news/p/why-hardware-spe…

Why Hardware Specialization is Back

Thirty years ago, general-purpose chips beat specialized ones in the semiconductor industry’s great strategy debate. Today the same debate is back, but with new constraints.

a16z.news
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electronic Max retweeted
Herrington Darkholme
@hd_nvimOct 21
Herrington Darkholme
@hd_nvimOct 21
Replying to @hd_nvim
the actual valid PEM using curve P-384 would look like something like below, but not fun -----BEGIN EC PRIVATE KEY----- MIGkAgEBBDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAASgBwYFK4EEACKhZANiAAQTglHNUqySmMHIqtl3Mh3rl+cJvQtMoKyl XcitUdz8nRWJoVl+OlEg4e/WMcY+GDXKyuKYaaYuFjHoooGBq1ZhbcRdkYq8CfOr DmPPeSqk3O1zh743u6VpVJ8cArJw7Wc= -----END EC PRIVATE KEY-----
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WTF, $3000 Samsung TV has an always-on mic, automatic content recognition, geo tracking, network mapping, and ships your data to Samsung + 400 partners. Bro Rooted a brand-new 2025 Samsung TV after noticing absurdly targeted ads. Firmware was locked down, so zero-days it was. Got a root shell. then found: always-on voice service, ACR, geo, full telemetry pipeline, and four separate DRM systems. This isn’t a bug, It’s the product bro.
log4j@log4jOct 21
i own a relatively new (2025) samsung tv. i kept getting weirdly targeted ads. i tried reversing the firmware but it was aes encrypted and no keys unless tear it apart and do uart/jtag magic. zero days it is. root shell on new samsung TVs! discovered PRIVACY HORROR. write up?
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make sure you make you @acm_chi reviews _extra_ organic so nobody thinks you're a silicon based superintelligence with lots of parameters
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sociologists told us - we didn't listen
Craig Weiss
@craigweiss15h
ai counterintuitively is turning more people into workaholics who would otherwise not be
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laughs in cgi-bin i'm old now 😅 but yes, php has always sucked. my guess is that it promoted unsafe programming patterns as legitimate code idioms - unsafe by default people can fight me on that; i could be wrong
Tom Mann
@TomasMann187816h
To all the seniors on X Did explots like PHP one exist pre-AI era or is this a new phenomenon?
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electronic Max retweeted
Tim
@tcmfld19h
Replying to @phoronix
@phoronix
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i have no idea what's going on here, but it is a 4D party
Conor
@jconorgroganOct 21
This weekend I found an “Einstein” tile in 4 dimensions. It’s an aperiodic monotile: a single shape that can fill 4D space, but never in a repeating pattern. As far as I know, it’s the first one in 4D proven with a machine checker (Lean) Here’s what it looks like! (check 0:24)
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Alex Spînu
@alspinu22h
Replying to @djcows
where is it
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snow
@snowclipsedOct 21
this week
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Charlie Marsh
@charliermarshOct 21
My attention span is worse than ever, agents have made it much harder for me to focus on any given thing
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"what is PHP and why is it still in use" i asked myself 10 years ago
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update: php vulnerability has been elevated to a national security issue for Japan
高市早苗
@takaichi_sanaeOct 21
皆様に、今夜に対応して頂きたい大至急のお願いです。   多くのウェブサイトで使用されているPHPに関し、PHPのセキュリティチームが、重大な２件の脆弱性に関する注意喚起を行っています。   公開しているウェブサイトでPHPを使用しているか確認し、今夜、10月21日午後11時（日本時間）に公開される修正パッチについて、可及的速やかに適用できるよう準備をお願いします。   修正パッチを速やかに適用することが困難な場合は、例えばウェブサイト等を一時的に停止させることも、リスクを低減させるための有効策の一つと考えられます。   国家サイバー統括室のXアカウントでも関係する情報を発信していますので、そちらも参考にして下さい。 国家サイバー統括室(注意・警戒情報)（@cyber_forecast） / X
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