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1. Do Deep Research for Free – Open-Source Alternative to OpenAI’s Tool (Video, 13 min)
INFO: You’ve probably seen reviews of OpenAI’s research tool in recent weeks. It’s impressive, but at $200 per month, it’s out of reach for most employees. However, you can build a similar solution—and it’s not difficult! A ready-made open-source project offers the same capabilities. Watch this video to learn how to set it up and compare it to the commercial version.
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2. How to Quickly Identify Countries from Photos? – A Guide for GeoGuessr
INFO: You see a photo of a public place. Was it taken in Poland, France, or maybe Malta? Figuring out the location can be tricky unless there are iconic landmarks or visible text. This guide provides useful tips to help you recognize where a photo was taken—perfect for GeoGuessr players and OSINT investigations. Some of the insights are truly surprising! Check it out!
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3. Best AI Image Generators of 2025
INFO: AI-generated images have become an everyday tool, but which generators stand out? This in-depth comparison reviews leading solutions, showcasing the results each one produces. You'll learn which tool creates the most advanced graphics, which offers the best customization, and which falls short with amateur-looking results. It is a great read for anyone looking to choose the right AI tool for their daily work.
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4. Why Does Your Team Avoid Taking Initiative?
INFO: Even well-intentioned managers can unintentionally create an environment where responsibility becomes diluted, leading to disengaged team members. This article explores common mistakes undermining accountability and offers practical advice on resolving the trend - a must-read for managers looking to foster a more proactive and motivated team.
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5. Home VPN Without a Public IP – ZeroTier in Action
INFO: Do you need remote access to your home server or NAS but don’t have a public IP? This guide explains use ZeroTier, a free service that allows secure connections to your home devices. It also covers integration with Home Assistant. While the solution has some limitations, it’s easy to set up and completely free. A step-by-step tutorial walks you through the entire configuration process.
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6. Scroll-Based Animations in CSS – How to Achieve Them?
INFO: Modern web apps often feature elements that react to scrolling — a reading progress bar, an image carousel indicator, or a shrinking header. While these effects seem simple, can they be implemented purely with CSS, without JavaScript? This guide showcases several popular scroll-based animations, with demos available in both CSS-only and JavaScript-assisted versions. Click the "i" button on each demo to explore how the effect was created. Some of the solutions are surprisingly clever!
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7. Did Yellow Dots Expose Scammers Selling Pokémon Cards?
INFO: The market is flooded with collectible cards marketed as historic prototypes that supposedly never made it to official release. However, these "historic prototypes" may all have been printed in 2024. The proof? Many home printers secretly add yellow tracking dots. This article explains how to identify such fakes and examines the impact of this discovery on the collector’s market.
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8. Anchoreum – A Game to Master CSS Positioning
INFO: Learn how to position elements on a webpage using anchors. Each level challenges you to place the lower element within a gray box, with increasing difficulty as you progress. If you're a front-end developer, this might be a breeze. But if you’re a full-stack developer who "knows CSS," this exercise will be invaluable in understanding the mechanics of positioning.
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9. Over 2,000 Vulnerable Mobile Apps Are Tracking You
INFO: A recent data leak from Gravy Analytics revealed that over 2,000 apps from the App Store and Google Play collect users’ geolocation data without consent. Even with location services turned off, these apps still gather information such as battery level, mobile network operator, and screen brightness. Some even track users based on their unique device ID. The author of this article decided to test firsthand what data is collected and sent to third parties, using a proxy server to monitor outgoing smartphone traffic - an eye-opening analysis.
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10. Hiding Data in Emojis – Steganography in Practice
INFO: An interesting method of embedding data in a single emoji using Unicode standard properties (specifically, variant selectors). This can be a clever way to send a secret message unnoticed by others. Sharing this out of curiosity.
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11. Why Does Google Provide reCAPTCHA for Free? – When You Don’t Know What It’s About…
INFO: Researchers from the University of California found that CAPTCHA mechanisms (like identifying traffic lights, storefronts, etc.) can help train AI to recognize images, just as Google claims. However, their primary purpose is... making money, and lots of it. How does artificial intelligence bypass Google’s security measures, how much time do people waste on this, and how does it profit the company? You’ll find out in the article.
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12. Building a Home Computer for Playing with LLM Models
INFO: Modern LLM models can run on most hardware (as you choose the right size), ranging from Raspberry Pi and smartphones to home PCs. Unfortunately, the selection of practical models for low-end hardware is quite limited, as are their capabilities. This guide will show you how to build a home lab for running medium-sized models and working with them freely. While you won’t be able to run the largest DeepSeek variants on this setup, it should work for models up to 70b in size. Unfortunately, this isn’t a “cheap kit” – the cost is closer to that of a MacBook than a Raspberry Pi.
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13. How Canva Automates Image Replacement – Mechanism Description
INFO: Canva is one of the most popular graphic design tools, featuring tens of thousands of pre-made templates. When modifying one of these templates, you receive suggestions to replace default images with alternatives that match your needs. But how does the system know which photos/illustrations from the massive image database to show you? What algorithms and processes are behind this? Of course, some AI is involved here (specifically, machine learning, not GenAI).
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14. GPT-5 Is On the Way, but First GPT-4.5? – Changes Are Coming
INFO: Sam Altman announced that OpenAI plans to simplify its LLM model offerings. Choosing the right model for a specific task will no longer be a hassle for ChatGPT users. Now, there will be just one model, and will be free for everyone.
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15. Ransomware Earnings Drop by 35% – Causes and Effects
INFO: Ransomware operators' earnings have significantly decreased in 2024, which is attributed to effective law enforcement actions, improved international cooperation, and increasing reluctance from victims to pay ransom. How have cybercriminals adapted to the new market conditions, and how are they earning now, if not from ransoms?
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16. How and Whether Attackers Use Artificial Intelligence in Their Attacks
INFO: The article analyzes how cybercriminal groups use artificial intelligence to carry out various attacks. Generative AI is not a groundbreaking revolution in cyberattacks. While it is widely used for finding security vulnerabilities and creating phishing content, it is not being used on the scale one might expect. Researchers from Google analyzed AI usage for these purposes and shared insights on how attempts to use the Gemini model to create malicious content look. The report also reveals which countries are most intensively trying to use Gemini for harmful purposes.
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17. Architecture Diagrams – Seven Common Mistakes
INFO: Creating diagrams representing an application's architecture isn’t too complicated... as long as you create them yourself. Problems arise when others need to extract knowledge from them and understand your intentions. This article discusses seven common mistakes that can occur when designing such diagrams. Learn what pitfalls are most frequently made and how to avoid them.
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18. Convert Wikipedia Articles into Interactive Timelines
INFO: Choose a few articles as input, and generate an interactive timeline to compare key moments related to the selected events. It is a useful tool for history enthusiasts and anyone researching any topic.
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19. What Frustrates Experienced Users When Working in the Terminal?
INFO: A survey of over 1,600 people who use the Linux terminal daily reveals what can be frustrating even for those with 20+ years of experience with CLI tools. What hinders smooth workflow, what slows it down, and what is the most irritating? Find out in the article.
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20. Atari 2600+ vs. 7800+ – Retro Console Comparison
INFO: If you're a fan of vintage technology and looking to buy your first Atari computer to run original games and applications, the question is—which refreshed version should you choose and why? The author analyzes the two models mentioned in the title, comparing their practical differences - a great read for enthusiasts of classic technology in a modern form.
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21. LightPanda – Ultra-Lightweight Headless Browser for AI and Automation
INFO: Chrome in headless mode is the standard for web automation, but it consumes a huge amount of RAM and heavily loads the system. LightPanda, an open-source browser, is designed to run up to 11 times faster than Chrome while using up to 9 times less memory. This makes it perfect for automation tasks, such as AI agents or executing simple web actions. It supports JavaScript and selected Web APIs.
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22. The Origin and Surprising Evolution of the Word "Mainframe" in IT
INFO: If you ask veteran IT professionals what a mainframe is, you’ll get fairly consistent answers. However, the history of this word is quite different and has evolved over the years. How did a term that once referred to a completely non-electronic part of a computer transform into a synonym for the central unit and later become a term for a specific type of computer? Where did this sudden shift come from? Find out in the article.
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23. Why Don’t Emoji Flags Work on Your Website in Chrome on Windows?
INFO: The flag emojis on your website are displayed as text instead of images. Interestingly, this only happens in the Windows version of the browser. What’s going on here, and did Microsoft have anything to do with it? Is it some form of censorship, political correctness, or just a software bug? Find out in the article.
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24. Visualizing the Global ISBN Number Space – What Does It Look Like?
INFO: The 13-digit ISBN space contains about 2 billion unique identifiers assigned to books. ISBNs have a hierarchical structure and are not random. They reveal information such as the publisher's country of origin and identifier. The author designed a method for visualizing these codes, helping to understand how they are distributed. It’s an interesting experiment, representing massive data on a flat graphic.
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25. Reading Years of Webcomic Archives – How to Do It Using RSS
INFO: Found a webcomic you love that’s been published for many years? The problem is, if it’s been running for, say, 10 years, you’ve got thousands of comic strips to catch up on. Clicking through the web interface can be incredibly time-consuming. The author shares a method to speed up this process using a custom RSS feed generated with Python. See how it works in practice.
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26. NanoKVM – IoT Security Analysis and Critical Vulnerabilities (Video, 56m)
INFO: This video focuses on the Sipeed NanoKVM, a remote computer management device that, according to the author, poses a serious data security risk. They explain why NanoKVM may not be the best choice for security-conscious users and explore alternative solutions. It’s also worth checking out the manufacturer’s response to the video, included in this newsletter edition.
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27. NanoKVM – A Security Threat or Not? Manufacturer’s Response
INFO: Recently, reviews of the latest device called NanoKVM have been circulating online (I linked to one in the last newsletter). However, a video emerged suggesting that the device is unsafe and poses a security threat to its users. But is that the case? The manufacturer responds to these and many other concerns about the device’s design, which I’ve linked. They’ve also announced a software update to address some of the discussed issues.
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28. Novu – Open-Source Platform for Notification Management
INFO: Novu is a universal open-source platform allowing development teams to integrate notifications into their applications through a unified API. It supports multiple communication channels, including email, SMS, push notifications, chat, and more. Novu is available in an Open Core model, where basic features are open-source, while Enterprise extensions require a commercial license.
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29. RepoJacking Attack – A Security Threat to Code on GitHub
INFO: In 2024, GitLab developers discovered two critical vulnerabilities allowing user account takeover. A similar analysis on GitHub identified 1,300 potentially vulnerable repositories at risk of such attacks. This article explains how this type of attack works, how it's carried out, and the real threat it poses to modern IT projects.
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We hope that you like this episode of Weekbytes. If you would like to find us online, feel free to reach us via:
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