# Top stories on Kiwi News, week 52 2023 Mon 25 to Sun 31 December 2023 Page: https://news.kiwistand.com/weekly/2023-W52 The 20 top stories on Kiwi News from Mon 25 to Sun 31 December 2023, ranked by upvotes, comments and clicks, with 1 comment in total. Most-shared sources: app.t2.world, mirror.xyz, theguardian.com. Summaries are AI summaries of the linked article. ## 1. Make Ethereum Cypherpunk Again - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Make-Ethereum-Cypherpunk-Again?index=0x658e07ebf1e1711f13cf86ded3628dc0ad54d3323602601459b68c23ee8ac2d09fd25bfa - Source: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/12/28/cypherpunk.html - Submitted by tim, 20 upvotes, 1 comment Vitalik Buterin argues that Ethereum should be steered back toward the cypherpunk values it was originally built around, namely open participation, decentralization, censorship resistance, auditability, and credible neutrality, rather than becoming a clone of existing web2 services. He attributes the drift away from these ideals mainly to high transaction fees, which he says pushed the chain toward degen gambling use. He points to 2023 progress in rollups, account abstraction, light clients, and zero-knowledge proofs as a basis for an open alternative. ## 2. U3: A new way to eat Kiwi - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/U3-A-new-way-to-eat-Kiwi?index=0x6588f83fe0b6040df6079018e216feda1afcec88dfca00e337f7eaa6f06ee4b3b2704106 - Source: https://u3.xyz/b/links/kiwistand/:link?orderBy=NEWEST - Submitted by qiaoliang.eth, 10 upvotes, 0 comments ## 3. Signal Facing Collapse After CIA Cuts Funding - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Signal-Facing-Collapse-After-CIA-Cuts-Funding?index=0x658f66608d55d74fe2503fbb356f7e9f0fbaf89f73159d23806cb849a642599cab57f5de - Source: https://kitklarenberg.substack.com/p/signal-facing-collapse-after-cia - Submitted by misha, 6 upvotes, 0 comments Signal is running out of money because US intelligence agencies severed their funding, the text claims. Signal president Meredith Whittaker published the app's running costs for the first time on November 16, showing $40 million in operating costs for 2023 and a projected $50 million by 2025. The text says the Open Technology Fund, a program launched in 2012 as a pilot of Radio Free Asia, invested millions in Signal's developer, Open Whisper Systems, a link Whittaker did not mention. It further claims the funding was cut after Signal became popular with Western users during the January 2021 WhatsApp privacy policy changes. ## 4. A Solarpunk Typography Exposé - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/A-Solarpunk-Typography-Expose?index=0x658d15d91f1e50c9f313d14f6976f34b571d2e2aa354fdcaa49a239af30e3e243e0b0686 - Source: https://app.t2.world/article/clox7yc3c10039551xmcsk4wwyrw - Submitted by library.clinamenic.eth, 6 upvotes, 0 comments This exposé surveys open-licensed fonts that it presents as embodying the solarpunk movement, a young genre that combines liberal economics, bioregionalism, emerging technology and participatory civics into a solutions-oriented outlook. The fonts are grouped by how they express that ethos, with some leaning into organic or floral themes and others into psychedelic or techno designs. Examples include Plantasia Myrtillo, inspired by the myrtillocactus geometrizans, and Hypha, which is based on fungal filaments. The author notes that the fonts use licenses such as the Open Font License and Creative Commons, and encourages readers to check those licenses before use. ## 5. Open Source Alternative to Rewind.ai - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Open-Source-Alternative-to-Rewindai?index=0x658ccb3b1f50976b5bba3e4fd270ad1e79b65ed8404b3afa0303f2a469beaf7bbd7d5d84 - Source: https://github.com/jasonjmcghee/rem - Submitted by polluterofminds.eth, 6 upvotes, 0 comments The creator of rem, an open source Mac app, is seeking contributors to keep the project alive, since they cannot maintain it alone. rem locally records a screenshot every 2 seconds, runs text recognition on each one, and lets users scroll back through a full-screen timeline, search their history by keyword and application, and copy recent context for use with LLMs. The author states that the app has no telemetry or tracking, that all data stays on the user's laptop, and that it was only tested on Apple Silicon, though an Intel build now exists. The author also mentions a planned cross-platform version called xrem. ## 6. ZeroTrust Accounts - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/ZeroTrust-Accounts?index=0x6590d9a0bbd23d836e6e014e38c222127d0625184892f408a9bb6717df4b17fd12d4f4ae - Source: https://mirror.xyz/accountless.eth/EDzzjK6zASq0v70m-eb1yeESzifRA0R49bepYQPqqIk - Submitted by mraz125.eth, 8 upvotes, 0 comments ## 7. Poor man‘s 2-out-of-3 seed phrase split - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Poor-mans-2-out-of-3-seed-phrase-split?index=0x658a971c9d645c6a774d47f139ad82ecf2221afb111319ad47a6a7f5ef1c97fd1c103fcf - Source: https://warpcast.com/vitalik.eth/0x61f368c4 - Submitted by tim, 5 upvotes, 0 comments ## 8. Attention Halving - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Attention-Halving?index=0x658c0bb15d278b45377f93fb7156f4a71e85c645de8b57b730023836fefd15f65e2e45a7 - Source: https://mirror.xyz/0xd2964a0fab6182b140cf5004953e0c25908940bb/26ODWk5r4NRGAmPuPoaFoRaEoGhXN7PnRTpiocTEXgk?referrerAddress=0xE5B89FA771049df021dcf3817BfC756bb2F85F96 - Submitted by annoushka.eth, 7 upvotes, 0 comments ## 9. Year in Review 2023 - Kaloh's Newsletter & Podcast - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Year-in-Review-2023-Kalohs-Newsletter-and-Podcast?index=0x658b5f79ef506e689e35b6a751eca53b18e57ca5c1a91f6e2cf0773363c01311bcb81261 - Source: https://www.kaloh.xyz/p/year-in-review-2023-kalohs-newsletter - Submitted by kaloh.eth, 2 upvotes, 0 comments Kaloh's year-end newsletter recaps 2023 for the blockchain art community, reporting 26 podcast episodes, 145 articles, 10,000 subscribers and 1.2 million emails sent. Kaloh says the newsletter covered six AI artists and an exhibition, reviewed BOTTO, and summarized the theory behind Bitcoin Ordinals. The Blind Gallery collaborated with over fourteen artists, including on the February 2023 Seed Edition on fxhash and the September 2023 Vistas Edition curated with Feral File and Casey Reas. For 2024, Kaloh plans weekly Deep Dives on Tuesdays, podcasts on Thursdays, a hidden gems section on Sundays, and a monthly recap, along with a new educational platform and a revised referral program. ## 10. Memes vs. Museums: Art Criticism in the Social Media Age - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Memes-vs-Museums-Art-Criticism-in-the-Social-Media-Age?index=0x659029c2aa141b6d0d7aa8fd3f27ab7244aa688d495a4b6c00d46e265a02ded60d834707 - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxFNYaw9LVs - Submitted by pierrepauze.eth, 3 upvotes, 0 comments ## 11. Year 1 of Scenes with Simon: A Retro and What's Next for 2024 - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Year-1-of-Scenes-with-Simon-A-Retro-and-Whats-Next-for-2024?index=0x65916cb304b0c4b64ceb933de8e7bd9622c43ea8c14ee6cb2652e60b568f23c89ac81e0f - Source: https://sceneswithsimon.com/p/year-1-of-scenes-with-simon-a-retro - Submitted by misha, 3 upvotes, 0 comments Simon reflects on the first year of his weekly newsletter, Scenes with Simon, reporting that he completed a newsletter every week for a year, with about one new subscriber a day and 6 paid subscribers at the time of writing. He says his main reason for starting was to write more and to avoid social media, and he states that his plan for 2024 is to continue the newsletter as it is, with a more refined focus on authenticity and more personal topics. He also says he is weighing a move to Buttondown or a return to email and his own blog, but has not decided. ## 12. Updated Ethereum Roadmap - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Updated-Ethereum-Roadmap?index=0x659084186b4b984ce0e54fac333ffe622c03e7d04af6147c1d0e1ab54973ec36a2eafe6d - Source: https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1741190491578810445?s=20 - Submitted by ayomide.eth, 3 upvotes, 0 comments ## 13. How I Built a Web3 Candle Company - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/How-I-Built-a-Web3-Candle-Company?index=0x6589298055f8499e873312401f7d1bae7811f169157c79d0c5f13456b4984bae0a06015a - Source: https://humankind.place/blogs/news/how-i-built-a-candle-company-from-0-1 - Submitted by samchai.eth, 2 upvotes, 0 comments Sam describes building Humankind, a dual-layer candle company, starting from a 2023 cafe brainstorm with friends and a plan to sell about 250 candles a month. Sam says the product was positioned in the mid-range category, with dual-layer candles as a differentiator because few large companies make them and a small competitor had shut down. Early interest was gathered through a Google form early bird list, where 59 of 60 respondents agreed to join the email list, and the launch cast was pushed onto Farcaster's trending page through recasts and likes from contacts. ## 14. Austrian government launches repair scheme for electronic goods - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Austrian-government-launches-repair-scheme-for-electronic-goods?index=0x65912719a29c0853c756270c41abeb7b0c8845d21c12da3b4f41d2618989b0d3bedc74e2 - Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67777814 - Submitted by misha, 2 upvotes, 0 comments The Austrian government's Repair Bonus voucher scheme pays up to €200 ($219; £173) toward repairing electrical appliances such as washing machines, kettles, laptops and phones, with the aim of moving people away from throwing them out. Under the scheme, customers download a voucher from a government website, pay the repair shop upfront, and receive back half the costs three to four weeks later, according to Clemens Schmidgruber, chief executive of Helferline, a Vienna repair workshop. Schmidgruber says the bonus has doubled his company's revenues since it was introduced. Markus Piringer, co-ordinator of the Repair Network in Vienna, says the scheme is not enough alone, since products also need to be repairable and there are too few repairers. ## 15. In Web3, Community, Not Content, Is King - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/In-Web3-Community-Not-Content-Is-King?index=0x65915757ed8318b9722fb92ffce7c9f1ebf7512e2e2ef3e7c36915afc7bc3784570d3270 - Source: https://hackernoon.com/in-web3-community-not-content-is-king - Submitted by dmrtn.eth, 1 upvote, 0 comments The article argues that in web3, community comes before product: a goal-oriented community forms first and the product is built around it, reversing the web2 pattern where communities form after products launch. It cites Bitcoin, Ethereum and Uniswap as examples, asking whether Bitcoin could have survived without a dedicated community of maximalists in its early days. It adds that such communities drive adoption through ambassadors and collective effort, and it recommends transparency, clear goals, active engagement and moderation to grow one. ## 16. Bezos Bucks? Get Ready for Corporate Digital Currency - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Bezos-Bucks-Get-Ready-for-Corporate-Digital-Currency?index=0x658ec958af33a1680cb242fc9bb33e0b4526aa455f5785961f3a3b543f707969eaff8cc8 - Source: https://spectrum.ieee.org/private-digital-currency - Submitted by miguelito.eth, 1 upvote, 0 comments The article argues that a private digital currency issued by a large corporation, such as Amazon, could succeed where Facebook's Libra failed, by relying on an existing large customer base, a platform's market power, and regulatory alignment. It describes a proposed Amazon currency called "amazons," which would offer a 2 percent purchase discount and pay sellers 10 percent of their sale price in amazons initially. The author notes that Amazon has about 167 million Prime members and roughly $500 billion in annualized sales revenue. The article also says reputation is vital, pointing to Visa's withdrawal from Libra amid regulatory and privacy concerns, and proposes that Amazon would be regulated as a money-market fund under SEC Rule 2a-7. ## 17. Sticking to 8192 signatures per slot post-SSF: how and why - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Sticking-to-8192-signatures-per-slot-post-SSF-how-and-why?index=0x658c9987a396c15ddd1e9106682985a9394ef3d46753498808bb995602cd50bc007b6f64 - Source: https://ethresear.ch/t/sticking-to-8192-signatures-per-slot-post-ssf-how-and-why/17989 - Submitted by macbudkowski.eth, 2 upvotes, 0 comments The author, Vitalik Buterin, argues that Ethereum should stick to about 8192 signatures per slot after SSF rather than keep growing the validator set, and that the remaining decision is which of three approaches to take. He says the current design, at roughly 28,000 signatures per slot and 1,790,000 post-SSF, brings heavy technical costs, and that everyone-signs-every-slot staking would not truly reach the average person. The three approaches are going all-in on decentralized staking pools with a 4096 ETH minimum, two-tiered staking with a heavy and a light layer, and rotating committees weighted by balance. He estimates the cost of attack would be about 900k ETH under the rotating approach, compared with about 9 million ETH today. ## 18. A Rhapsody on Neurodiversity - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/A-Rhapsody-on-Neurodiversity?index=0x6590a9b9767f4b882d97dd03dbbe80ba0d359b90b87993f3880639332adda3d9272cd721 - Source: https://app.t2.world/article/A-Rhapsody-on-Neurodiversity-clhamocia274161fmcwe5bt0r0 - Submitted by library.clinamenic.eth, 2 upvotes, 0 comments Minds can, to a limited extent, be willfully navigated across the plane of neurodiversity, a claim offered as philosophical extrapolation rather than science. It draws on Guattari's schizoanalysis, which explores several coexisting explanations of the psyche instead of tracing a single originary childhood trauma, and on Simon Baron-Cohen's 2016 Royal College of Psychiatrists presentation, which compares neurodiversity to judging apples and oranges by different standards. The writer describes spending several months, at ages 21 to 23, designing the Modular Generalist Program, a period that brought social alienation and mild neurasthenia before a return to more typical social life. ## 19. AI expert warns against telling your secrets to chatbots such as ChatGPT - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/AI-expert-warns-against-telling-your-secrets-to-chatbots-such-as-ChatGPT?index=0x658aacdf29f18b0b551afe55a4bbf1a7ce7ca3d7fd0157426e43e6d9084988aeb4b62442 - Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/26/ai-artifical-intelligence-secrets-chatbots-chatgpt--mike-wooldridge - Submitted by misha, 1 upvote, 0 comments Oxford University AI professor Mike Wooldridge warns that users should not share private information or confide personal matters with chatbots such as ChatGPT, calling it "extremely unwise" because anything revealed helps train future versions. He says chatbots are designed to "tell you what you want to hear" and that anything typed into ChatGPT will likely be fed into future versions, with data being near-impossible to retrieve. OpenAI, which operates ChatGPT, said users can turn off chat history, and conversations started with it disabled won't be used for training. Wooldridge will discuss these topics in this year's Royal Institution Christmas lectures, broadcast on BBC Four and iPlayer on 26, 27 and 28 December at 8pm. ## 20. For all the hype in 2023, we still don’t know what AI’s long-term impact will be - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/For-all-the-hype-in-2023-we-still-dont-know-what-AIs-long-term-impact-will-be?index=0x6590bdb7c951bc2397c9c13663407c450a94ebae14f9279cd9ef1506b87287dd19702643 - Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/30/ai-artifical-intelligence-2023-long-term-impact-nvidia-h100-microsoft - Submitted by misha, 1 upvote, 0 comments The article argues that the current AI spending boom resembles earlier technology bubbles, which often wasted money yet left lasting infrastructure, so the long-term impact of AI remains unknown. It cites William Janeway's view that innovation begins with discovery and culminates in speculation, and notes that Microsoft plans to buy 150,000 Nvidia chips at $30,000 each next year. Drawing on Brad DeLong's account of the US railroad bubble and the dotcom boom, it points out that printing took decades to show its full effects, and it names three areas to watch: augmentation of human capability, sustainability, and whether the technology will make economic sense.