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Alasdair Allan

@alasdairallan.com
1.5K followers 157 following 375 posts

Scientist, author, hacker, maker, and journalist. Writes, speaks, and builds. An accidental privacy advocate.

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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 12/06/2026
Vera now has a language (LSP) server, so it gets the same editor support as any other language. A normal one checks whether your code parses. Vera's also checks whether it still proves, every contract re-verified by Z3 as you type. veralang.dev #AI #LLM
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 09/04/2026
Expanded the Vera benchmark to 6 models, 3 providers. Kimi K2.5 got every Vera problem right while only managing 86% in Python and 91% in TypeScript. Flagship average Vera and Python level at 93%. Yet there is no Vera in their training data, no examples on GitHub or Stack Overflow. veralang.dev #AI
VeraBench v0.0.7 benchmark results across four panels. Flagship tier: Kimi K2.5 scores 100% run_correct on Vera versus 86% Python and 91% TypeScript; Claude Opus 4 scores 88% Vera, 96% Python, 96% TypeScript; GPT-4.1 scores 91% Vera, 96% Python, 96% TypeScript. Sonnet tier: Kimi K2 Turbo scores 83% Vera, 83% Python, 79% TypeScript; Claude Sonnet 4 scores 79% Vera, 96% Python, 88% TypeScript; GPT-4o scores 78% Vera, 93% Python, 83% TypeScript. A horizontal bar chart shows Kimi K2.5 is the only flagship model where Vera beats both Python (+14pp) and TypeScript (+9pp). A fourth panel breaks out all four modes including Vera spec-from-NL, showing GPT-4.1's spec-from-NL score dropping to 50% while Kimi K2.5 holds at 100% across both Vera modes.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 29/03/2026
That's been a productive morning! github.com/aallan/vera/...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 28/03/2026
The #Vera v0.0.101 release makes LLM calls first-class algebraic effects. An agent calling another model declares <Inference> in its type signature. Type-checked, contract-verified, every side effect explicit. As far as I know, no other language can do this! veralang.dev #AI #LLM #Programming
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 28/01/2025
Pretty much what Jenson said during his #CES2025 keynote, although I'm guessing they were expecting a bit more lead time before we saw something like #DeepSeek. Whatever nutty thing the stock market is doing, this doesn't hurt #NVIDIA.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 07/01/2025
The arrival of open sourced world foundation models, that’s “physics grounded” models, giving AI an understanding of the world around it is probably tonight’s biggest announcement from NVIDIA at #CES2025.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 07/01/2025
Entry level RTX 5070 is just $549! Whoa! #CES2025
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 07/01/2025
I’ve never seen a #CES keynote like this, we’re packed into a 12,000 person arena and it’s full. Most years they have to herd the press into these things, instead this reminds me more and more of the heyday of Jobs reign at Apple. #CES2025
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 06/01/2025
One of my favourite demos from CES Unveiled last night at #CES2025 was the Holobox by Holoconnects, www.holoconnects.com. Using a live video feed that is projected onto a transparent screen and a light box, giving the illusion that the person in the feed is three dimensional.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 18/12/2024
You have to love the architecture of downtown Chicago.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 30/11/2024
Dwarf Fortress should be an entire course at undergrad level teaching new programmers how new code can interact with old code in unintended ways. It wouldn’t even be hard to fill a semester with this stuff, and plenty of analysis has been done around it already.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 22/10/2024
In today's mailbag, the COLMI R02 Smart Ring, www.colmi.info/products/col.... A smart ring that'll monitor you heart rate, blood oxygen, and sleep, for just $15. The best bit? Open source firmware, github.com/atc1441/ATC_..., and client, tahnok.github.io/colmi_r02_cl....
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 21/10/2024
I'll be speaking next month on the 7th November at Cyber News Group's Future of Cyber Security event in London at Prospero House. I'll be talking about. I'll be talking about the new attack surfaces opened up by Machine Learning modes and AI at the edge. cybereurope.events/vip-registra...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 21/10/2024
I'll be speaking next week on the 23rd October at Particle's Spectra 2024 conference. I'll be talking about wearable AI, the Humane Ai Pin, the Rabbit R1, hype, and technological readiness. spectra.particle.io
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 09/10/2024
Shooting video ahead of my talk at #ParticleSpectra in a couple of weeks time. #IoT #TinyML #AI spectra.particle.io?utm_campaign...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 25/09/2024
Big changes in the sort of things and companies here at #TheThingsConference from previous years. Far fewer bare circuit boards on show — although there is plenty of silicon — more white boxes. Solutions have overtaken products, and it looks like LoRaWAN has moved past the platform problem.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 25/09/2024
This week I'm at #TheThingsConference in Amsterdam for the first time since the before times. A lot has changed in the LPWAN space in the last few years, and there looks like there may be some interesting announcements coming out of the conference this year.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 24/08/2024
Wheels up! #LHR ✈️ #EWR
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 19/07/2024
Oh for goodness sakes! The Google Short Link service has been killedbygoogle.com.🫠developers.googleblog.com/en/google-ur...e/
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 24/06/2024
Hacking the #IKEA #VINDRIKTING also solves the granularity problem. The sensor itself is accurate enough considering the cost, but "green", "yellow", and "red" don't really give you enough to go on when it comes to air quality. www.airgradient.com/blog/ikea-vi...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 22/06/2024
There is a real argument that what open source licensing meant changed with the cloud, aallan.medium.com/data-portabi.... What "open" means now for the new #AI models, or whether it even matters anymore, is really unclear, www.nature.com/articles/d41.... (original paper: dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...)
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 21/06/2024
This is a fascinating one. A first step towards active debris removal. Close approach to a uncontrolled 3-ton rocket the size of a school bus by Astroscale's ADRAS-J. astroscale.com/historic-app...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 26/02/2024
In today's mailbag a #FlipperZero video game module, powered by the #RaspberryPi #RP2040, www.raspberrypi.com/news/flipper....
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 05/02/2024
In today's mailbag, "Just Stab Me Now," by Jill Bearup, amzn.to/3OsgnEr. A genuinely clever adaption of her popular YouTube fantasy heroine shorts series, www.youtube.com/playlist?lis....
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 30/01/2024
In today's mailbag, "The High Frontier" by Gerard K. O'Neill, amzn.to/3SEgvUa. This is a modern day reprint of the 1989 second edition published by the Space Studies Institute, with a foreword from O'Neill who says the text is mostly unchanged from the original in 1976.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 21/01/2024
Let’s try that again shall we? Almost time to fly! #PVD ✈️ #EWR ✈️ #LHR
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 20/01/2024
Almost time to fly! #PVD ✈️ #IAD ✈️ #LHR
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 13/01/2024
Wheels up out of #EWR.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 13/01/2024
On the climb out of #LHR. Broke through the thin low level cloud into a beautiful morning.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 13/01/2024
Almost time to fly! #LHR ✈️ #EWR ✈️ #PVD
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 04/01/2024
In today's mailbag, a #Pimoroni NVMe Base for #RaspberryPi 5, shop.pimoroni.com/products/nvm.... #Pi5 #NVMe #PCIe
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 30/12/2023
If you want a #Pi5 for the new year? Go buy one. There is plenty in stock. There are no shortages. rpilocator.com?cat=PI5&inst...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 11/12/2023
In today's mailbag, the second edition of the "TinyML Cookbook," by Gian Marco Iodice, amzn.to/47X6hTV. #TinyML
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 28/11/2023
In this month's #TheMagPi magazine, two articles by me. One on the changes on #Python works under @raspberrypi.bsky.social #Bookworm, and the other on heating and cooling #Pi5. magpi.raspberrypi.com/issues/136
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 02/11/2023
In today's mailbag, "How infrastructure works," by @debcha.bsky.social. amzn.to/3Snq6yG
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 23/10/2023
To support the release of the latest version of Raspberry Pi Imager, that'd be version 1.8.1, which comes with much better support for configuring your installation, we've totally rewritten our Getting Started documentation. Enjoy your new #Pi5! www.raspberrypi.com/documentatio...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 23/10/2023
…and if you can't wait, and you can make it to our store in Cambridge, they have lots of #Pi5 in stock. www.raspberrypi.com/raspberry-pi...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 20/10/2023
I can't stop looking at the weather. I would not want to be in the North Atlantic right now! 😱 🌧️🌬️ www.windy.com?53.148,-14.7...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 10/10/2023
In today's mailbag, an SPI camera for #RaspberryPiPico, thepihut.com/products/qvg....
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 04/10/2023
For anyone looking for #RaspberryPi #Zero2W there is plenty of availability, rpilocator.com?cat=PIZERO2. Yes, that includes the United States!
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 04/10/2023
Overclocking and underclocking the #Pi5. Looks like I don't have to write that post now, thanks @jeffgeerling.com! www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2023/ov...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 02/10/2023
In today's mailbag, "How to build a low-tech internet?" by Kris De Decker, from the Low-tech Magazine. www.lulu.com/shop/roel-ro...
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 28/09/2023
Good morning, and say "Hello!" to Raspberry Pi 5! The #Pi5 is ×2–3 faster, has PCIe support, a new RTC, and our own silicon designed in‑house here in Cambridge The everything computer. Optimised, raspberrypi.com/5. More at www.raspberrypi.com/news/introdu.... #RaspberryPi #RaspberryPi5
The new Raspberry Pi 5 board.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 25/09/2023
Almost time to fly. #DEN ✈️ #LHR
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 21/09/2023
Almost time to fly! #LHR ✈️ #DEN
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 21/09/2023
When you ask #midjourney for a mad scientist. It delivers.
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 31/08/2023
I'll be kicking off today's festival programme at here in Copenhagen at #cphdevfest a 6pm today, cphdevfest.com/agenda/keyno.... I'll be talking about #AI, #PromptEngineering, #Security, #Privacy, tooling, and layers of abstraction. Come listen?
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 30/08/2023
Evening keynote by Christer Fuglesang kicking of the festival programme here at #NDC Conferences #cphdevfest, cphdevfest.com/agenda/the-r....
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 30/08/2023
Listening to Scott Helme telling the story of the great crypto heist here at #cphdevfest, cphdevfest.com/agenda/crypt.... #cryptojacking
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Alasdair Allan @alasdairallan.com · 29/08/2023
Almost time to fly! #LHR ✈️ #CPH
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