Tuesday, August 18, 2026

visualization: Cytoscape.js

 Cytoscape.js

Graph theory (network) library for visualisation and analysis



Monday, August 17, 2026

Safe Nuclear?: Valar Atomics, industrial manufacturing

The New Atomic Age | Valar Atomics



How Nuclear Will Unlock Energy Abundance with Valar Atomics Founder Isaiah Taylor - YouTube
No Priors: AI, Machine Learning, Tech, & Startups

The video features Sarah Guo interviewing Isaiah Taylor, the founder and CEO of Valar Atomics, at their nuclear facility in Utah. Unlike traditional companies in the nuclear industry that rely heavily on paper designs and simulations, Valar Atomics focuses on hardware iteration and rapid deployment. The company recently achieved a milestone by powering an NVIDIA Blackwell chip directly with a live nuclear reactor to launch the world's first nuclear-powered website. The discussion highlights how Valar is leveraging unique regulatory pathways and vertical integration to deliver cheap, abundant atomic energy to meet the massive power demands of modern technology and AI.


Key Points

  • Practical Hardware Iteration: Valar Atomics distinguishes itself by actively building and running physical hardware rather than getting stuck in the theoretical or simulation phase of reactor design.

  • The NVIDIA Blackwell Milestone: To demonstrate immediate capability, Valar successfully used a live nuclear reactor to directly power an NVIDIA Blackwell chip, establishing the first-ever nuclear-powered website.

  • Regulatory Workaround: Isaiah Taylor explains how Valar utilized a lesser-known pathway through the Department of Energy (DOE)—revived by a Trump administration executive order—to successfully develop and operate their advanced reactor, bypassing traditional decades-long stalling points.

  • AI Driving Energy Demand: The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence requires massive amounts of power. Valar positions nuclear energy as the primary solution to meet the grid demands of AI data centers.

  • Vertical Integration & Venture Funding: Valar employs a venture-backed financing model and a highly verticalized approach to manufacturing and scaling, which allows them to move faster than traditional government-backed nuclear projects.

  • Vision of Energy Abundance: The ultimate goal of Valar Atomics is "hyper-techno industrialism"—using cheap, abundant atomic energy to fundamentally upgrade human infrastructure and quality of life.



No Nuclear Startup Has Ever Done This, Until Now | Valar Atomics - YouTube

Here is the summary and key points for Episode 74 of S3 (Science, Startups, & Stories) featuring Valar Atomics:

Summary

This episode follows the rapid timeline of Valar Atomics, a startup that achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first startup in history to successfully build and generate power from a critical nuclear reactor—taking the project from an initial idea on an Apple Note to operational reality in just three years. To meet a strict self-imposed deadline of July 4th, the team completely built the reactor, airlifted it across the country using three military C-17 cargo planes, reassembled it, and successfully brought the core to criticality to generate electricity.


Key Points

  • The "Toyota Camry" Philosophy: Unlike other advanced nuclear startups chasing exotic chemistry or unproven cutting-edge designs, Valar purposefully uses a High-Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) architecture. It relies on a simple, historically proven design—graphite blocks, helium cooling, and TRISO fuel pellets—built for boring predictability and mass-manufacturing scale rather than "high science."

  • The 3-Year Operational Sprint: Founder Isaiah Taylor managed to scale the company from a mere concept pitch to a physically functioning, electricity-generating nuclear reactor in an unprecedented three-year window.

  • Logistical Feat: To achieve their target launch, the company packed up their nuclear reactor infrastructure, airlifted it across the United States via three C-17 transport aircraft, and reassembled it on-site to successfully hit their deadline.

  • Focus on Cost and Speed over Complexity: Chief Nuclear Officer Mark Mitchell emphasizes that the company bypasses the traditional, decades-long "one-shot" engineering approach of the legacy nuclear industry. Instead, they focus on building plain, iterable hardware so they can learn, iterate rapidly, and drive the cost of clean electricity down as fast as possible.







Sunday, August 16, 2026

sqlfmt: PostgreSQL query formatter tool

 Introducing sqlfmt: an SQL gofmt-style formatter · Dimitri Fontaine

from author of book The Art of PostgreSQL: a PostgreSQL book for developers in 2026


PostgreSQL SQL Formatter — The Art of PostgreSQL



Paste any PostgreSQL query — it comes back in the same hand-formatted "river" style used throughout The Art of PostgreSQL, powered by the open-source dimitri/sqlfmt engine.


in Go, and it resembles gofmt :)



Friday, August 14, 2026

AI news: Anthropic $2T IPO?

 AI News: ChatGPT Ultrafast, Grok 4.6, 3 New Open-Source Models, and more! - YouTube 
by Matthew Berman

0:18 ChatGPT Ultrafast 3:09 Claude Watermarks 6:23 xAI Cursor Acquisition 7:10 Grok Bot 8:25 GLM-5.3 9:22 Deepseek-V4-Pro 10:16 Muse Glimmer 11:11 Chat-GPT History

This video covers a massive week in AI, highlighting several major releases and updates:

  • ChatGPT Ultrafast: OpenAI has launched an ultra-fast mode (0:18) in partnership with Cerebras, running 14x faster than standard models. This significantly reduces latency for agentic workflows.
  • Claude Watermarking: Anthropic is implementing invisible watermarks (3:09) into model outputs to comply with the EU AI Act regarding transparency.
  • xAI & Cursor Acquisition: Cursor has been acquired by SpaceX AI (6:23). They also released Grok 4.6 and the new Grokbot (7:10), a simplified, agent-based interface for coding and automation.
  • Open-Source Model Releases: Three major models were released this week:
    • GLM-5.3 (8:25): A competitive new model with major performance jumps on Terminal Bench.
    • Deepseek-V4-Pro (9:22): An efficient model featuring off-peak pricing and significant context capabilities.
    • Muse Glimmer (10:16): Meta's new 30B parameter open-weights model, designed specifically for on-device performance.
  • Computer History: OpenAI launched an opt-in feature (11:11) that monitors computer usage to proactively suggest automations, similar to Microsoft's Recall.

Anthropic's $2T IPO, Zuck's AI Manifesto, Nvidia's $500B AI Bet, Grok's Comeback - YouTube


This episode of the All-In Podcast features a discussion on major developments in the AI industry, including the potential Anthropic IPO, Mark Zuckerberg's new AI manifesto, and the massive $500 billion AI compute financing plan led by Nvidia.

Key highlights include:

  • Anthropic's IPO & AI Market: The discussion covers the potential $2 trillion valuation for Anthropic and the broader economic implications of AI, arguing that tokens are becoming a profitable, non-subsidized asset class (2:36 - 27:32).
  • Zuckerberg's AI Manifesto: The hosts analyze Mark Zuckerberg's recent 6,500-word essay, The Future is for Everyone, praising his shift toward open-source AI and the decentralization of power, contrasting this with more closed, frontier-model approaches (27:32 - 56:41).
  • Nvidia's AI Infrastructure: Nvidia's move to finance GPU compute as an investable asset class with partners like BlackRock and Goldman Sachs is framed as a critical step to remove financial constraints on the massive AI buildout (58:13 - 1:14:29).
  • Regulatory & Legal Issues: The hosts touch on antitrust lawsuits against Amazon regarding their delivery service partners in New Jersey and New York (1:14:29 - 1:27:32).
  • Grok & Competitive Landscape: The launch of Grok 4.6 is highlighted as a high-performance, cost-effective competitor, illustrating how Elon Musk's strategy of utilizing compute clusters for both service and development is paying off (1:27:32 - 1:35:21).
  • Software Consolidation: The potential acquisition of Workday by Silver Lake is discussed as evidence of private equity seeing value in mature software companies that can leverage AI efficiency (1:35:21 - 1:39:30).