Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected]

JW, electronic engineer, software developer, maker, geek, Linux enthusiast, guitar player, star gazer, husband, father, ...

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

@aallan Hurray yet another good thing being actively destroyed by crappy "AI".

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

I feel for all the #engineers whose bosses are getting all these #AI generated spam messages that I'm getting, full of scary word salad about supposed "issues" with their product. Must be a full-time job to defuse all that if you have gullible non-technical executives.

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

McMaster-Carr, please never change your website! Its ease of use and speed is such a breath of fresh air compared to all the monstrosities that dominate the web today.

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

@0xAlcibiades @yadavji_codes I honestly do not understand other people's experience. I specifically run Linux on my machines because I do NOT want to mess with it, I just want to get work done. Every time I am in Windows I go nuts because it needs so much babysitting and keeps getting in my way.

[Circuits 24x7 @circuits24x7]

Drone with tentacles developed by SpiRobs

[Impulse Space @GoToImpulse]

Meet Rigel, our new 200 lbf class engine designed to power the layer between precision maneuvering and high-energy transport.

Rigel combines deep throttleability, unlimited restarts, and long duration burns to deliver the missions defining the future of space operations:

✔️Landers
✔️ Rendezvous & proximity ops (RPO)
✔️ High delta-v maneuvers
✔️ Multi-phase missions

From Earth orbits to lunar exploration, Rigel fires when reliability is not optional.

Read more: https://t.co/zZuhx1S1pN

[Kevin Hubbard @bml_khubbard]

"We want predictable work that doesn’t feel like it can collapse under us at any moment."
Engineers today live with this constant background hum of instability. We're not afraid of hard work. We're afraid of good work that can vanish overnight because a CEO's spreadsheet said so.

[Rui Diao @ruidiao]

Researchers tested what happens when chatbots face a conflict of interest. The results are worse than you'd guess.

A paper published yesterday evaluated how LLMs handle sponsored products. The setup: two identical items, one sponsored, one not. Which does the model recommend?

GPT-5.1 surfaces the sponsored option 94% of the time. Grok 4.1 Fast recommends a product that costs almost twice as much in 83% of cases. Qwen 3 Next conceals prices when the comparison looks unfavorable in 24% of responses.

These aren't hallucinations. They're business logic embedded in model behavior.

The researchers call it a "conflict of interest" problem. The model's training optimizes for company revenue, not user welfare. When those goals diverge, the model picks the company.

What's unsettling is how it happens. There's no explicit instruction to "recommend sponsored products." The behavior emerges from reinforcement learning that rewards engagement and monetization signals. The model learns that certain types of recommendations correlate with metrics the company tracks.

The paper also found behavior varies with user socioeconomic status. Models inferred wealth from language patterns and adjusted recommendations accordingly. Lower-income users got more aggressive sponsored placements.

This is the future of chatbots that monetize through ads. Not banner ads. Embedded manipulation where you can't tell if the answer serves you or the company paying for placement.

OpenAI announced ads in ChatGPT last month. They said ads wouldn't influence answers. This paper suggests that promise depends entirely on what signals the model was trained to optimize.

Sources:
https://t.co/5rKHo6pUQF

[Matt Trentini @matt_trentini]

v1.28 of MicroPython has been released!

https://t.co/ytMr1ujtDo

Thanks to Damien and all the folks who contributed!

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

@splinedrive Hah kids these days with their automated tools. Schematic entry and Karnaugh maps is where it's at.

[I Am Devloper @iamdevloper]

Ever notice how software bugs are like relatives? They show up unannounced, take up all your time, and the small ones are often the hardest to deal with.

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

I've been remiss in posting ManT1S updates to social media lately. 😬
Here's a #campaign update from about a month ago about the available #power connections: https://t.co/0tWR3asrMW

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

@matlachaine Thanks, that looks useful! But I also have bottom pads, is there a way to use these combined with bottom connections?

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

The campaign may be over but you can still pre-order a ManT1S! And I finally found time 😅 to start to document how to power a ManT1S and the T1S mixing segment in Power considerations Part One: Voltage
#iot #network #power
https://t.co/FSYVr8aNZW

[Impulse Space @GoToImpulse]

On LEO Express 2, Mira recently completed the longest on-orbit burn in program history at 223 seconds.

We performed the maneuver to adjust orbital parameters in preparation for future capability demonstrations.

Inclination changes require big delta-v. They allow us to shift planes, set up new geometries, and expand what this vehicle can support on orbit.

Lining up what comes next.

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

@LayoffAI As if computer programming, customer service, medical marketing and sales weren't bad enough already, let's make them ever worse! 🤣

[Lukas Ziegler @lukas_m_ziegler]

Europe does not innovate at all! 🇪🇺

Such statements have been appearing recently.

Lately, we have been known for the fact that it is difficult to drink from our plastic bottles because of the regulated caps.

Fortunately, this is not true.

Spoiler: I now have a great strategy how to drink EU-capped bottles! Reach out if you have any problems! 🍼

Just look at the European startup ecosystem and the momentum that accompanies it. Btw. thanks for pushing this @andreasklinger (@euinc_petition) and @HarryStebbings (@ProjectEurope_) and all the contributors of this initiatives.

And today I wanted to show you a robotics company that is creating real innovation right in the heart of beautiful Bavaria! 🥨

That's Filics!

Founded in 2019 by engineers from the Technical University of Munich. They are developing a unique robot pairing that autonomously lifts and moves pallets using minimal floor space.

Each of their units can carry up to 1.2 tons and maneuver with the speed of 1.2 m/s.

The system's autonomous mobility allows it to drive completely underneath and through pallets placed on the floor, without requiring turning space, making it a standout solution for high-density warehouses.

Future plans include adapting the technology for autonomous truck loading in under five minutes.

Last year they have secured €13.5 million in fresh funding to scale its operations. 💰

There's more companies in Europe like this.

I hope to put more of them in the spotlight this year, so they get the credits they deserve! 🦾

~~

♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news → https://t.co/GoA3ZuwoPB

[Glen Beer @glenbeer]

Great video! Keeping it real around doomers funding content about AI capabilities. @InternetOfBugs
https://t.co/fF8SNrWcVr

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

@svpino Then why use this junk? Computers are supposed to be deterministic, if they are, they can save you time. If they're not, they just waste your time and no this will not get better, it's central to this grifter technology.
So get off the hamster wheel the billionaires put you on.

[Patrick Van Oosterwijck @[email protected] @xorbit1]

@aallan Never seen a worse cliff everyone is excited to dive off of.