Pinned Tweet
Replying to @pbanavara @jsensarma
MIT, Stanford, IITs, RECs, YCombinator, SFO, HSR Layout are all doing well because of the extremely good peer groups.
I took a midnight Uber Shared ride in BLR and bumped to a startup CTO who later made it to a multimillion acquire. Improbable outside. youtube.com/clip/UgkxucrdwTQ…
MSFT is layingoff 60,000 people and going by the reports even resident Indians are affected.
Not a word from @nsitharaman about tax exempting layoff settlement amount.
If Cockroach Party @neha_aisa @SauravDassss etc. pick up this issue, we will get more resonating protestors.
> எப்டி Permission குடுக்கறாங்க
இந்தியச் சமூகம் ஒற்றை வரியில்
இந்த போட்டோஸ்ல இருக்கற யாருக்குமே அவங்க அவங்கள முன்ன பின்ன தெரியாது 😳
ஆனா ஒன்னா Tour போயிருக்காங்க எப்டினா இன்ஸ்டாகிராம் மூலமா Strangers Meet நடந்தறாங்க அதுல Group form பண்ணி Meet பண்றாங்க..
இதான் இப்ப நடக்கற புதுவகை scam.. ஒன்னா கூத்தடிச்சிட்டு வரது இதுக்கெல்லாம் எப்டி Permission குடுக்கறாங்க.. வரவங்க லாம் பொய் சொல்லிட்டு தான் வரோம்னு அவங்களே வீடியோல சொல்றாங்க..
“who should we lay off first”
CEOs:
BREAKING: Microsoft, $MSFT, is offering buyouts to 60,000 workers as part of the company’s efforts to cut costs amid AI adoption, per Bloomberg.
Personnel on select teams in the US, Canada, India, and the UK at a vice president level and below will be eligible.
This reflects ~27% of Microsoft's total workforce.
imho there is only one point that would have had a substantial impact than everything else combined. It is:
> Landed at DockYard. Moved to the US.
Be like @poteto 😎
> Grew up in Singapore with no CS background.
> Taught herself design as a teen.
> Studied finance at Monash.
> First program was an Excel VBA macro.
> Failed a startup.
> Started blogging and tweeting while learning to code.
> EmberConf organizers found her tweets.
> Invited her to speak in 2015.
> She was a nobody in Melbourne.
> Shaking through her first talk.
> That one talk changed everything.
> Landed at DockYard. Moved to the US.
> Another talk got her into Netflix.
> Built studio tools. Became a tech lead.
> Then an engineering manager.
> Missed building. Went back to IC work.
> Open-sourced hiring-without-whiteboards.
> Dan Abramov invited her to React at Meta.
> Imposter syndrome. Said yes anyway.
> Six years on the @reactjs team.
> Sole author of the React Compiler Beta post.
> Co-author of React Compiler 1.0.
> Burned out. Took time off.
> Started building agent tools for herself.
> Joined @cursor_ai in 2026.
> Taught agents to verify their own work.
> That became pstack.
> Cursor got acquired into @SpaceXSI.
> Rebuilt Grok Bot.
> Now ships 2,000–2,500 PRs a month.
> Went from 31K to 200K+ followers.
> @elonmusk keeps reposting her.
She didn’t start with a degree or confidence.
She started by writing in public.
Every major job came from people finding her posts.
Now she’s building Grok Bot and still on the React Compiler core team.
She is truly an inspiration. ✨✨
psankar retweeted
If you've ever wondered why smart TVs are so cheap, this is why.
@log4j rooted his Samsung and found an always-on hot mic, automatic content recognition, geolocation, network mapping, ad targeting and user profiling, shared with Samsung's "400 partners".
A lot of it can be blocked in <15 min, wrote a basic guide below.
What your TV is doing
The main culprit is ACR (automatic content recognition). Your TV screenshots what's on screen, fingerprints it, and sends it home to build your ad profile. Samsung does it every 500ms, LG every 10ms [1].
What is insane: it happens on connected devices too.
Plug in your laptop, your console, your work machine, and your TV can fingerprint that via HDMI [1].
He also found that if your Samsung doesn't have a mic, it'll look for one from a connected soundbar or bluetooth device.
xitter.cf/log4j/status/211376224…
It's on by default, and you likely agreed to it on the setup screen you clicked through in 10 seconds.
Step 1: Turn off ACR
Samsung: Terms & Privacy → Viewing Information Services
LG: Live Plus
Vizio: Viewing Data
Roku: "Use info from TV inputs"
Sony/Google TV: Samba Interactive TV
Menus vary by model, but those are the names to look for. While you're in there, opt out of interest-based ads, reset your advertising ID, decline every optional privacy agreement, turn off voice recognition, and delete apps you never open.
Step 2: Give smart devices their own network
Put the TV, cameras, speakers and vacuum on your router's guest/IoT network. The logic is simple: these devices rarely get patched. If one gets compromised (getting drastically more frequent with AI), it shouldn't be able to see your other devices or home network.
Step 3: Block trackers for the whole house with DNS-level filtering
NextDNS (cloud-based) is easy and has a solid free plan. Pi-hole is a little bit more work if you prefer self hosting. For simplicity we'll focus on the former.
1. Sign up at nextdns.io (free tier is plenty)
2. Privacy tab: add a blocklist (OISD is a good bet) and turn on Native Tracking Protection for Samsung, LG, Roku, Amazon (see attached image)
3. Setup tab: copy your endpoint
4. Paste it into your router's DNS settings as DNS-over-HTTPS/TLS (or use the IPs + "Link IP" if your router only does plain DNS)
5. Bonus: block outbound port 53 except to your router. Some devices hardcode their own DNS to get around you
Then open the NextDNS logs and watch how often your TV phones home. It's eye-opening. If an app or update breaks, find the domain in the logs and allowlist it.
Why they do this
TV prices are down 97% since 2000 [2]. Most of that is better manufacturing and brutal competition. But once margins on the hardware hit zero, the cost moved to you.
In Q3 2024, Vizio lost $6.7M selling TVs and made $115.8M in gross profit from ads and viewing data [3]. They've said on earnings calls that they keep TV prices low to grow the audience they sell to advertisers. Walmart bought them in 2024.
This isn't a conspiracy theory either. Vizio paid $2.2M to the FTC in 2017 for tracking 11 million TVs without consent. Last December, Texas sued Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense and TCL over ACR. Samsung and LG have since agreed to stop collecting that data without explicit consent [4].
TL;DR
1. ACR off
2. Ads + voice off
3. Smart devices on their own network
4. NextDNS filtering on the router
Sources:
[1] ACR study: arxiv.org/abs/2409.06203
[2] Cost of US consumer goods: aei.org/economics/chart-of-t…
[3] Vizio Q3 2024: sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/…
[4] Texas v. Samsung: texasattorneygeneral.gov/new…
psankar retweeted
Man uses Astra to find a C.IA backdoor into Samsung televisions.
Gets banned by OpenAI within 24 hours.
aiengineeringfromscratch.com… Seems interesting. Reminds a bit of "kubernetes the hard way" at a shallow glance.
@sriramhere @bag_of_ideas @bsubra Perhaps for some future episode !?
What is the procedure to become a Tamil teacher ? The best option for me perhaps.
AI after effects.
Cannot learn plumbing or carpentry at this age. Not good with any of the performing arts. Too inflexible and self-respected to join politics. Do not have generational wealth.
psankar retweeted
"Nata" has to be delivered majestically like this & what a power packed performance, especially the Pallavi (0.40-1.20) singing by .@KSChithra ma ❤️.
As .@psankar anna mentioned, இன்னும் நிறைய கொண்டாடி இருக்கணும்யா :-( #Deva 🙏
youtu.be/dEEy-KUKIGI?si=udxf…
When reading such news earlier, I will thing may be @/TRBRajaa will bring these to TN and may even tag him
Now I'm thinking, If I tag Keerthana, she will bring these to the NCBN gaaru's state
Won't complain if I get cheap EV cars in India, irrespective of where they are made
Incredible tour of the Xiaomi factory in Beijing. 91% of the construction of their new cars is automated. Unbelievable precision and quality. From first car in 2024 to doing 1,000 cars/day now. Thank you @shujishcn!
I expected more opposition from some quarters for this. Strategic silence perhaps.
In 2011, then Gujarat Chief Minister Thiru @narendramodi avl said that if his hands were not tied, he would have gone to Delhi and waged war against the central government. Thiru Narendra Modi avl made this statement in response to the police crackdown on the peaceful anti-corruption campaign led at Ramlila Maidan, Delhi. In my opinion, what the Hon PM said then was absolutely right, and there is nothing wrong about it.
Today, you could be jailed indefinitely; your surety bonds could be rejected; and, surprisingly, a Special Executive Magistrate will play circles around you when he/ she is empowered to deal with preventive bond cases.
If you question the violation of due process of law in a democracy, you would be called names, and a barrage of attacks would follow, including being labelled a Foreign Agent.
Ever since I asked the Central Government to speak with the protestors during the NEET exam protests, I have faced constant attacks, but I let them pass because I felt it was important to focus on the issues on the ground in Tamil Nadu. I also, in a way, enjoyed this as it would quickly remove the tag of me being a BJP B Team and sent to TN as a Dhurandhar 😍
Yesterday during a press meeting, I questioned the Delhi Police’s methods of detaining protestors of CJP.
Since yesterday, the attacks have resumed, as expected. For some in the BJP, let me make this categorically clear, in case you have selective amnesia: I left the BJP on June 5, 2026.
As I mentioned yesterday, I might not agree with the tactics of the CJP, and I think many of theirs are misguided. But if you ask me whether they have a right to oppose/argue/protest on an issue that they think is important?
I would categorically say - YES.
So, I would like people to ask the questions again, even if it makes some of them uncomfortable, and I wish the Central Government would answer them instead of resorting to whataboutism.
1.How was Jantar Mantar denotified as a protest site as per a standing order of the Ministry of Home Affairs after a letter was handed over by CJP seeking permission to conduct a protest?
2.How long can we have a system that gives powers to an Asst Commissioner of Police as a Special Executive Magistrate who rules over whether to keep someone in preventive detention? The ACP of Delhi Police stands over the trial where Delhi Police is the complainant against the accused CJP. Now you know which way the wind will blow.
3.On October 19th, why did the Special Executive Magistrate, aka ACP of Delhi Police, deliberately arrive late for the bail hearing of those who were arrested from Jantar Mantar on October 13th and recuse himself, saying there is a threat to his life? Is this some kind of a joke?
4.Why were 8 sureties rejected, and why was the person who came for surety subjected to cross-examination by the Special Executive Magistrate?
5. Any action taken on pellet gun usage by the Delhi police or other actions on Delhi police who have violated the standard operating procedures against the protesters during the NEET fiasco stir?
Has no BJP karyakarta in Delhi violated any bond conditions during the previous Congress and AAP governments. I trust the same Delhi police were then also when barricades were jumped and orders disobeyed? How were they dealt with then? Like this?
Definitely - NO.
Now I hear that the detained functionaries of CJP were released by SEM after the case reached the High Court.
I also recently saw a cockroach effigy burned as part of the Dusshera celebrations. Out of curiosity, I tried to find out who is giving this free publicity at a National level. No surprises here. It was led by a BJP MLA, Ashok Goel.
My question again is: is the BJP opposing the CJP or giving it free publicity? Does it want the opposition votes to split by making CJP a bigger player? At this rate, the CJP couldn’t have asked for a better PR team, even if it had paid for one! (1/2)
Despite my criticisms on Chinmaya, Narayana type schools for excessive workload, thankful that they do not put such fiscalburden/pressure on parents.
My son’s school (National Public School) is taking them on a tour to Malaysia 🇲🇾. They are staying at Marriot and exploring KL and Langkawi. It’s good to see that travel is being normalised at a school level in the current generation.
My school ( Vidya Mandir Adayar) took us in summer holidays to Himalayan treks and it opened me up to speaking with people and understanding places and customs.
Travelling by second class sleeper, staying at temporary lodges in Delhi, Mandi and tents in Bara Bangal range (Manali Area). I think we stayed overnight in tents and mostly did night travel by trains/buses. It opened up the love for places and travel for me. Nothing was more therapeutic than putting my face on the window seat grill and staring at places pass by on the Tamil Nadu express.
I have tried taking my son on quite a few trips. I am curious to see how he adjusts to a trip with a larger group of a similar age group.


























