Kissaki

Intel ME and AMD PSP: The silicon layer nobody certifies

About cloud sovereignty and the often-ignored and unknown on-CPU management engine running below the OS and BIOS.

The article is quite long; it explains how CPUs run firmware that can include remote management over the network, and can be running even when the OS is not. They can be vulnerable to supply chain attacks and firmware replacements. Because it's on hardware, the firmware with open security vulnerabilities is often not updated.

Regarding cloud, the French SecNumCloud is a framework for cloud infrastructure security requirements. It doesn't cover these hardware attack vectors specifically but may mitigate risks through surrounding practices and isolation.

In conclusion, even a cloud provider that meets SecNumCloud must be asked whether and how they manage CPU management engine attack vectors.

s&box, from the creator of the popular Source Engine sandbox Garry's Mod, released three days ago. s&box is based on the Source 2 engine, and not only a sandbox but a game development and publishing platform, including publishing on Steam.

The news post one day after release openly covers the mixed ratings, public finances, doubling their play fund that pays creators, and public roadmap.

I was surprised to see they openly and transparently publish day-by-day finances.

The public performance stats are interesting too.

Refreshing. I wish more publishers would do these kinds of things with deliberate open communication and transparency.

The platformer Unless became free on April 12th. They felt it was not successful enough with the 5 USD price tag. They made it free, hoping that many more players would get to experience the game.

It's an excellent platformer, especially for a free title.

If you like platformers, I wholeheartedly recommend playing it!

My review:

Unless is an exceptional free platformer.

+ Great, colorful, varied, discernible pixel graphics
+ Great platforming, control, environment and gameplay variance, progression
+ Very good tech; snappy loading, resets, navigation, platforming
+ Good story characters (just two; they add character and meaning)
+ A lot of optional and bonus content, speedrun mode, challenges, leaderboards
+ A lot of settings to customize control, difficulty, game behavior, accessibility
* ~70/100 min playthrough (all levels/all levels+bonus levels+10 As)
* Non-voiced text story dialogues
* Limited character mechanics; there's only jumping, with height control; all variance comes through the environment, which I consider a good, well-implemented design

If you like platformers or jump-and-run games, play Unless!

• CorridorKey-Engine on GitHub
• EZ-CorridorKey on GitHub
• CorridorKey-Runtime on GitHub, DaVinci Resolve plugin

Corridor Digital released an open-source greenscreen keyer/extractor, powered by AI, usable on consumer GPUs.

The video covers what happened after their initial release, community and professional responses, interviews with professionals about what can be improved, and finally a practical test/example in Davinci (Video Editor).

This is a personal reflection on growing up and establishing a career in China, and how that experience shaped how I think.

Based on my own journey through school, university, and the tech industry, I explore a paradox: how a system that limits certain kinds of questioning can still produce innovation at scale.

It’s not just about China — it’s a philosophical look at what critical thinking really means, and what happens when it becomes optimised for answers rather than questions.

(emphasis mine)

• 0:00 - Intro
• 0:39 - 2D Animation
• 6:34 - Pixel Animation
• 11:49 - The Hybrids
• 17:08 - Boycott acknowledgment
• 18:03 - Naturalistic 3D Animation
• 28:32 - Stylized 3D Animation
• 42:08 - Condolences (again)
• 42:36 - Wrapping Up

About 'ambience', 'atmosphere', and 'immersion' in games.

Mattel Electronics Auto Race was released in 1976 by Mattel Electronics as the first handheld electronic game to use only solid-state electronics; it has no mechanical elements except the controls and on/off switch. - Wikipedia