absorb.md

Evan Williams

Chronological feed of everything captured from Evan Williams.

Google's Sparse and Inconsistent Use of Search Warning Banners Reveals Limited Data Void Moderation

Google deploys warning banners for low-quality, low-relevance, or rapidly-changing search results, detected in ~1% of 1.4M social media queries across three waves from Oct 2023 to Sept 2024. Low-quality banners, linked to poor domains and conspiracy keywords, showed high churn and short-term inconsistency, disappearing entirely by Aug 2024 without quality shifts. Deep learning models identified 29-58x more low-quality data voids than banners, underscoring opaque moderation practices needing transparency, particularly for elections.

Evan Williams Launches Mozi as Medium's Post-X Pivot

Evan Williams, Medium's founder, is launching Mozi, a new social platform, following his exit from Twitter/X. This move represents a strategic shift after selling Twitter and building Medium as an alternative to traditional media. The NYT reports details Mozi's development amid evolving social media dynamics.

BEND Framework Extended with Quantitative Metrics for Detecting SEO Manipulation in Webgraphs

The BEND framework is adapted to analyze webgraph manipulation, introducing quantitative metrics for community maneuvers to characterize SEO tactics. These metrics are validated on small webgraphs featuring SEO-boosted Kremlin-aligned sites, showing improved BEND scores over prior methods. The approach standardizes measurement of information environment manipulation via common SEO strategies.

Open-Source PyTorch-to-SystemVerilog Compiler Rivals Vitis HLS for FPGA ML Acceleration

This toolchain compiles PyTorch ML models to synthesizable SystemVerilog via Allo, Calyx IR, and CIRCT under LLVM. It includes compiler passes for memory partitioning to enable parallelism in memory-intensive workloads. Experiments show it generates optimized FPGA hardware competitive with Vitis HLS.

Deterministic Coupling of Pre-Selected hBN Emitters to Matched Bragg Grating Cavities

Researchers developed a fabrication protocol using etched alignment markers and prefabrication confocal mapping to locate hBN single-photon emitters with sub-micron accuracy. Cavities are designed to match the emitters' zero-phonon line wavelengths, enabling precise, deterministic integration. Resulting devices exhibit enhanced emission and reliable spectral alignment, establishing a scalable scheme for hBN-based quantum photonics.

Twist Angle Mechanically Tunes Quantum Emitters in hBN Bilayers by Over 30 nm

Researchers demonstrate twist-angle control of single quantum emitters in hBN van der Waals homobilayers at room temperature via interlayer coupling. DFT calculations reveal strong dependence of emitter properties on twist angle and top-layer stacking. Experimentally, in-situ mechanical twisting of the top layer achieves >30 nm (~100 meV) emission tunability, enabling programmable quantum circuitry.