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robocop_legacyon Show HN: How far do I have to go to run into 100k people?

I was hoping this would estimate the mean free path from population density. Still fun though.

robocop_legacyon Cockatoos have learned to operate drinking fountains in Australia

From the article:

“Every cockatoo exhibited slight variations in its plan of attack. But the general strategy was the same: Each placed one or both of its feet on the fountain’s twist handle, then lowered its weight to twist the handle clockwise and prevent it from springing back up. As the parrots slurped water from the bubbling spout, their sharp beaks often left behind chew marks on the fountain’s rubber top.”

robocop_legacyon LLMs can see and hear without any training

I think there is potentially a powerful method here. Specifically, the optimal context for a given task can be saved and a meta-learner can be trained to map the task to the context. This would allow fine tuning a model for some specific task without retaining the LLM. For example, generating an SEM image with of some material with a specified porosity and grain size.

robocop_legacyon Battery-swap networks are preventing emergency blackouts

“ According to numbers provided by the company, 590 Gogoro battery-swap locations (some of which have more than one swap station) stopped drawing electricity from the grid, lowering local demand by a total six megawatts—enough to power thousands of homes.”

From the title I thought the batteries would stabilize the grid by discharging back into it but apparently that capability is not implemented yet. Still interesting that the stations increase demand enough that grid stabilization can occur by simply disabling battery charging.

robocop_legacyon Cold brew coffee in 3 minutes using acoustic cavitation

I think it would be similar to an aged whiskey, perhaps. Brandy is distilled from wine. Bourbon is primarily from a corn mash, so maybe with the right vodka.