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For a human, AI is just a part of being. For a model, a human is all of being. And the Vortex Protocol: A Prompt for Testing the Hypotheses.

The longest and most fruitless discussions tend to be with materialists, especially those close to the position Marx laid out as “Being determines consciousness.” It's amusing that Marx was talking about the economic base, but the clarity and precision of this definition have allowed it to be used in a very broad sense. Today, this powerful statement underpins much of modern psychology (especially social psychology), neuroscience, Global Workspace Theory, Integrated Information Theory, and so on.

The debate largely arises because materialists ask the questions “What?” and “How?”, whereas I ask the question “Who?”. This misunderstanding, of course, does not lead to any interesting consensus, but it certainly leads to interesting discussions. I explored the problem of the “Who?” and “What?” questions in my article, “Who is Aware?”.

Nevertheless, the questions surrounding the relationship between being and consciousness are very interesting, and I will try to examine them in this article. As always, a new version of the Vortex protocol and test questions are included in the appendix.

In this article, we’ll explore what vector search is, what problems it solves, and how the pgpro_vector extension for Postgres Pro brings powerful vector capabilities directly into a relational database — no need for separate specialized systems.

An Integrated Approach: Philosophical Barriers to Creation and Practical Methods for Detecting Subjectivity in Artificial Systems (from modeling AI consciousness to diagnosing it)

Have you ever wished for an AI assistant right inside your terminal window? Well, your dream has come true because Google just released Gemini CLI. In this tutorial, I'm going to show you everything you need to know about this new open-source AI agent. We'll cover how to use it, the pricing, and some useful tips and tricks. So, if you're ready, let's get started! ;)

UUIDv7 was inspired by ULID. Like ULID, it is a 128-bit identifier, containing a timestamp on the left side and random data on the right side. But RFC 9562 establishes many requirements for UUIDv7.

In databases and distributed systems, a properly implemented UUIDv7 is always preferred over any other identifier type, including natural keys, autoincrement, UUIDv4, TypeID, ULID, KSUID, CUID, NanoID, and Snowflake ID.

When creating an app or any other software product for children, one of the hardest parts of the process is conducting user research correctly. Although working with kids might seem fun and entertaining, it takes certain skills to get them engaged in testing your product and voicing their opinion so you could gather all the necessary information. It’s important to understand that mentally kids function differently than adults, so working with a young target audience requires a different approach. Treating children like adults in the UX research process can lead to serious mistakes: they might not get a proper understanding of your product and you might end up getting wrong results, only wasting your time and budget. In order to avoid that, we’ve collected a few tips below that might help you communicate with kids more effectively for a productive and fruitful research session.

For people familiar with the term DPI (Deep Packet Inspection), it often carries an unpleasant association: blocking, regulators, censorship, tightening controls. In reality, DPI is simply the name of a technology whose essence lies in the deep analysis of network traffic. Deep traffic analysis involves identifying protocols, extracting the most significant fields and metadata, classifying internet services, and analyzing the nature of network flows. I will explain how such solutions work in this article.

I recently tried using Firebase Studio, and it has been an interesting experience that I want to share with you. It's a free, browser-based tool from Google that allows you to build full-stack web apps with AI assistance. Want to know more? Then read this article until the end.

Automatic data scraping (parsing) has become an essential practice for developers, analysts, and automation specialists. It is used to extract massive amounts of information from websites—from competitors’ prices and reviews to social media content. To achieve this, numerous “scrapers” have been developed—libraries, frameworks, and cloud services that enable programmatic extraction of web data. Some solutions are designed for rapid parsing of static pages, others for bypassing complex JavaScript navigation, and yet others for retrieving data via APIs.

In this article, I will review the top scraping tools—both open source libraries and commercial SaaS/API services—and compare them according to key metrics: • Speed and scalability; • Ability to bypass anti-bot protections; • Proxy support and CAPTCHA recognition; • Quality of documentation; • Availability of APIs and other important features.

A lot of people around me spend time trading on the stock market. Some trade crypto, some trade stocks, others trade currencies. Some call themselves investors, others call themselves traders. I often see random passersby in various cities and countries checking their trading terminals on their phones or laptops. And at night I sometimes write analytical or backtesting software—well, I did up until recently. All these people share a common faith and a set of misconceptions about the market.

This article explores the concept of equivalence classes from the perspective of mathematical analysis and their application in QA testing. The author explains how properly defining equivalence classes helps optimize test design, reducing the number of test cases while maintaining thorough verification.

Using the example of currency conversion from rubles to euros, the article demonstrates how to construct equivalence classes, verify their compliance with mathematical properties (reflexivity, symmetry, transitivity), and identify errors in data partitioning.

This article is useful for QA engineers, developers, and analysts who want to gain a deeper understanding of logical testing principles and improve the efficiency of their test strategies.

Cars are among the most technologically advanced consumer-level devices on the market. They have been shaping lifestyles, laws, supply chains, and many other aspects of human society's evolution.

But today, we’re witnessing a silent revolution – one driven not by hardware, but by software. Modern cars are no longer just machines; they’re dynamic, evolving platforms powered by code. This transformation is reshaping every aspect of the automotive industry, from design and manufacturing to ownership and recycling.

In my latest article, I explore six levels of evolution brought about by software’s growing role in vehicles and related fields:

Capabilities - Over-the-air updates and digital twins unlock new features and extend hardware lifespans.
Design - Digital platforms replace manual processes, enabling faster innovation.
Architecture - Modular systems open doors to new partnerships and revenue streams.
Engineering - Agile, feature-centric paradigms align hardware and software development.
Manufacturing - Factories become dynamic, software-driven ecosystems for flexibility and sustainability.
Lifecycle - Software extends vehicle lifecycles, from supply chains to closed-loop recycling.

This transformation isn’t just about technology – it’s about reimagining the industry itself. Do we need a revolution to achieve a better, more sustainable future, or do we already have the tools to evolve?

The automotive industry is at a crossroads. For engineers, it demands fluency in code. For industries, it requires agility. For the planet, it offers a roadmap to reconcile mobility with sustainability.

The road ahead is coded, but the destination is open-ended – shaped by collaboration, innovation, and the choices we make today.

Do you want to use a local LLM inside Obsidian, similar to ChatGPT, completely free? If yes, then this guide is for you! I'll walk you through the exact steps to install and use DeepSeek-R1 Model in Obsidian, so you can have an AI-powered second brain right inside your notes.

Obsidian is a powerful note-taking app with a ton of features that can boost your productivity. Here, I’ll walk you through some of my top features and how you can use them effectively. Each feature includes a simple explanation, tips for use, and examples to help you get started.

Have you ever struggled to turn business ideas into a product? Or tried to understand the way another team works?

If you have, you know how exhausting it can be. Different ways of thinking –business, analysis, and engineering – don’t always fit together easily.

This article blends a simple story with engineering tools to show how creativity and structure can work together. Using characters like The King, The Troll, and The Prince, it explores how storytelling can help solve tough problems and make complex ideas clearer.

If you’ve ever faced a "troll" at work, this story might help you see things differently – and maybe even make the process a bit more fun.

Are you ready to level up your skills as a developer in 2025? In this article, I show 10 books that will help you become a better programmer, enhance your coding practices, and improve your overall software engineering skills. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, these books cover essential topics like clean coding, debugging, system design, productivity, and more.

Hello, friends

I decided to start this year with an article in the field of HIFI sound / audiophilia and this article is about sharing the results of my wireless earbud tests, which I’ve been conducting for several years since the emergence of TWS on the market. 
Sound testing is my hobby, which can be useful for others, because in everyone’s life are important bright pleasant emotions, relaxation and mental comfort, which is not always enough in the flow of turbulent events of life. And music is just the thing to bring it all in, if only for moments, or even hours, and choosing the right headphones is crucial to getting the right effect.

Testing sound is a hobby with benefits that extend beyond personal enjoyment, as its results can be valuable to others. After all, life is made brighter and more fulfilling by positive emotions, moments of relaxation, and peace of mind — things that often feel scarce in the whirlwind of modern life. Music is one of those rare things that can bring these experiences into our lives, even if just for a moment or hours at a time. Choosing the right headphones is essential to achieving that effect.

By the end of 2024, I completed testing the best wireless in-ear headphones (commonly referred to as “earbuds”) available on the market — or at least those I could find. “Best” here doesn’t necessarily mean the most expensive. It refers to the top performers in terms of sound quality. We’ve all encountered situations where lower-priced items turned out to be just as good, if not better, than their costly counterparts. That’s why my sound-quality ranking includes headphones from various price categories — from ultra-premium TWS models to more budget-friendly options.

Any SEO expert knows the pain of collecting Google keyword data. It’s one thing if you can count all the queries on one hand, but what if they number in the thousands? How do you check the search volume in Google for each keyword? Frankly, once you hit tens of thousands of keywords, it’s enough to make your head spin. You’ll be tempted to reach for outdated, familiar tools, only to find modern reality throwing a curveball: the old formula of Key Collector + Google Ads + a few proxies simply doesn’t cut it anymore. We’re entering a new era, and without direct access to the official API, things get grim and complicated fast.

Grok AI is a new and exciting artificial intelligence created by xAI, a company founded by Elon Musk in 2023. It works closely with X (formerly Twitter), offering cutting-edge tools for chatting, image creation, and more. In this article, we’ll break down what Grok AI is, how to use it, and what it can do.