📰 AI Blog Daily Digest — 2026-02-20

AI-curated Top 10 from 92 leading tech blogs

Today’s Highlights

Today’s tech highlights spotlight the rapid evolution of AI and security landscapes. AI innovation dominates with breakthroughs like Taalas’ high-speed hardware for Llama 3.1 and ggml.ai joining Hugging Face to push local AI development. Meanwhile, in cybersecurity, the rise of phishing-as-a-service platforms like ‘Starkiller’ underscores the growing sophistication of cyber threats. Additionally, tools like ActivityPub and the revival of CloudPebble signal a continued focus on decentralized and niche development platforms.

Editor’s Top Picks

🥇 ‘Starkiller’ Phishing Service Proxies Real Login Pages, MFA

‘Starkiller’ Phishing Service Proxies Real Login Pages, MFA — krebsonsecurity.com · 3d ago · 🔒 Security

The ‘Starkiller’ phishing-as-a-service platform enables attackers to bypass traditional anti-phishing defenses by proxying real login pages, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) workflows. Unlike static phishing sites, it dynamically loads the legitimate website, capturing credentials and MFA codes in real-time. This approach makes detection and takedown significantly harder, posing a severe threat to online security. The article highlights the increasing sophistication of phishing attacks and the need for enhanced security measures.

💡 Why read this: Understand the advanced techniques used in modern phishing attacks and their implications for cybersecurity.

🏷️ phishing, MFA, cybersecurity

🥈 Taalas serves Llama 3.1 8B at 17,000 tokens/second

Taalas serves Llama 3.1 8B at 17,000 tokens/second — simonwillison.net · 3d ago · 🤖 AI / ML

Taalas, a Canadian hardware startup, has unveiled a custom hardware implementation for the Llama 3.1 8B model, achieving an impressive processing speed of 17,000 tokens per second. The system uses ‘Silicon Llama,’ which employs aggressive quantization with 3-bit and 6-bit parameters to optimize performance. This breakthrough allows for ultra-fast inference speeds, making it a significant advancement in AI hardware. The product is accessible for testing at chatjimmy.ai.

💡 Why read this: Explore cutting-edge AI hardware innovations that dramatically enhance model performance and speed.

🏷️ Llama 3.1, hardware, tokens per second

🥉 Premium: The Hater’s Guide to Anthropic

Premium: The Hater’s Guide to Anthropic — wheresyoured.at · 3d ago · 🤖 AI / ML

Anthropic, founded in 2021 by ex-OpenAI researchers including Dario Amodei, aims to create the safest large language models but has drawn criticism for its approach. The article critiques the company’s branding, business practices, and its positioning in the competitive AI landscape. It provides a satirical yet insightful look into Anthropic’s operations and its claims of prioritizing safety in AI development. The piece concludes with a skeptical view of the company’s stated mission.

💡 Why read this: Gain a critical perspective on Anthropic’s role in the AI industry and its claims of safety-first development.

🏷️ Anthropic, LLM, OpenAI

Data Overview

Category Distribution

Top Keywords

🤖 AI / ML

1. Taalas serves Llama 3.1 8B at 17,000 tokens/second

Taalas serves Llama 3.1 8B at 17,000 tokens/second — simonwillison.net · 3d ago · ⭐ 26/30

Taalas, a Canadian hardware startup, has unveiled a custom hardware implementation for the Llama 3.1 8B model, achieving an impressive processing speed of 17,000 tokens per second. The system uses ‘Silicon Llama,’ which employs aggressive quantization with 3-bit and 6-bit parameters to optimize performance. This breakthrough allows for ultra-fast inference speeds, making it a significant advancement in AI hardware. The product is accessible for testing at chatjimmy.ai.

🏷️ Llama 3.1, hardware, tokens per second

2. Premium: The Hater’s Guide to Anthropic

Premium: The Hater’s Guide to Anthropic — wheresyoured.at · 3d ago · ⭐ 25/30

Anthropic, founded in 2021 by ex-OpenAI researchers including Dario Amodei, aims to create the safest large language models but has drawn criticism for its approach. The article critiques the company’s branding, business practices, and its positioning in the competitive AI landscape. It provides a satirical yet insightful look into Anthropic’s operations and its claims of prioritizing safety in AI development. The piece concludes with a skeptical view of the company’s stated mission.

🏷️ Anthropic, LLM, OpenAI

3. ggml.ai joins Hugging Face to ensure the long-term progress of Local AI

ggml.ai joins Hugging Face to ensure the long-term progress of Local AI — simonwillison.net · 3d ago · ⭐ 24/30

ggml.ai, the team behind llama.cpp, has joined Hugging Face to advance the development of local AI models. Llama.cpp, released in 2023, enabled running large language models on consumer hardware with 4-bit quantization, revolutionizing local AI accessibility. This acquisition aims to ensure sustained innovation and support for local AI tools, benefiting developers and researchers. The collaboration emphasizes Hugging Face’s commitment to open-source AI and decentralized model development.

🏷️ local AI, Hugging Face, llama.cpp

4. Quoting Thariq Shihipar

Quoting Thariq Shihipar — simonwillison.net · 4d ago · ⭐ 21/30

Thariq Shihipar highlights the importance of prompt caching in reducing latency and costs for long-running AI products like Claude Code. By reusing computation from previous interactions, prompt caching enhances efficiency and allows for more generous rate limits in subscription models. The system’s effectiveness is monitored through hit rate alerts, ensuring optimal performance. This approach demonstrates how infrastructure optimizations can significantly improve AI product scalability.

🏷️ prompt caching, Claude Code, latency

🛠 Tools / OSS

5. ActivityPub

ActivityPub — nesbitt.io · 4d ago · ⭐ 22/30

ActivityPub, a federated protocol standardized in 1714, continues to support over 46,000 active instances today. It enables decentralized communication and content sharing across platforms, fostering interoperability and user control. The protocol’s enduring relevance highlights its robust design and adaptability. Its widespread adoption underscores the growing importance of federated systems in modern digital communication.

🏷️ ActivityPub, federation, protocol

6. CloudPebble Returns! Plus New Pure JavaScript and Round 2 SDK

CloudPebble Returns! Plus New Pure JavaScript and Round 2 SDK — ericmigi.com · 4d ago · ⭐ 18/30

CloudPebble, the development platform for Pebble smartwatches, has been revived with significant updates, including a pure JavaScript implementation and a new Round 2 SDK. These enhancements aim to simplify development and expand the platform’s capabilities. The roadmap outlines further improvements to support the developer community. This revival underscores the enduring appeal of Pebble’s ecosystem and its commitment to innovation.

🏷️ Pebble SDK, JavaScript, developer tools

🔒 Security

7. ‘Starkiller’ Phishing Service Proxies Real Login Pages, MFA

‘Starkiller’ Phishing Service Proxies Real Login Pages, MFA — krebsonsecurity.com · 3d ago · ⭐ 27/30

The ‘Starkiller’ phishing-as-a-service platform enables attackers to bypass traditional anti-phishing defenses by proxying real login pages, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) workflows. Unlike static phishing sites, it dynamically loads the legitimate website, capturing credentials and MFA codes in real-time. This approach makes detection and takedown significantly harder, posing a severe threat to online security. The article highlights the increasing sophistication of phishing attacks and the need for enhanced security measures.

🏷️ phishing, MFA, cybersecurity

⚙️ Engineering

8. Customizing the ways the dialog manager dismisses itself: Detecting the ESC key, first (failed) attempt

Customizing the ways the dialog manager dismisses itself: Detecting the ESC key, first (failed) attempt — devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing · 3d ago · ⭐ 19/30

This article examines an initial attempt to customize dialog dismissal in Windows by detecting the ESC key using asynchronous keyboard state sniffing. The approach, while innovative, fails due to timing issues and the limitations of asynchronous input handling. The author explains the technical challenges encountered and sets the stage for exploring alternative solutions. This iterative process highlights the complexities of low-level UI customization.

🏷️ dialog manager, ESC key, keyboard state

💡 Opinion

9. Teleoperation is Always the Butt of the Joke

Teleoperation is Always the Butt of the Joke — idiallo.com · 4d ago · ⭐ 18/30

The article humorously critiques the rebranding of teleoperation as ‘AI,’ highlighting instances like Amazon’s cashierless stores where human operators remotely manage systems. It explores the gap between marketing claims and the reality of AI implementations, emphasizing the reliance on human intervention. This perspective sheds light on the broader trend of overhyping AI capabilities. The author concludes by questioning the ethical and practical implications of such practices.

🏷️ teleoperation, AI, automation

📝 Other

10. Adding TILs, releases, museums, tools and research to my blog

Adding TILs, releases, museums, tools and research to my blog — simonwillison.net · 3d ago · ⭐ 16/30

The author introduces ‘beats,’ a new feature on their blog that aggregates various types of content, including TILs (Today I Learned), releases, and research. These inline links with badges provide a structured way to showcase diverse online activities. The feature integrates seamlessly into the blog’s timeline views, enhancing content discoverability. This update reflects a thoughtful approach to organizing and sharing knowledge.

🏷️ blogging, content, tools

Generated at 2026-02-20 12:00 | 92 sources → 17 articles → 10 articles TechBytes — The Signal in the Noise 💡