Vijay Tank — Tech, Code & Game Dev

The 18th BRICS Summit wrapped up in New Delhi on September 13, 2026, and if you only skimmed the headlines, you probably missed how much actually got negotiated behind closed doors. India hosted the two-day meeting at Bharat Mandapam, the convention center at Pragati Maidan that's become the country's go-to venue for events of this scale, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the moment to mark his fourth turn chairing the bloc. Here's a rundown of what happened, who showed up, and what actually got agreed on — without the usual copy-paste errors that tend to circulate around these events. Who Was Actually There BRICS isn't the five-country club it used to be. It now has 11 full members — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, plus Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Indonesia — and the guest list in Delhi reflected that expansion. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping both attended in person, as expected. South Afric...

Overview This guide walks through setting up a self-hosted LiteLLM proxy that unifies multiple free-tier LLM providers (NVIDIA NIM and OpenRouter) behind a single OpenAI-compatible API endpoint. It also covers automated model-availability probing and integrating the resulting gateway with an AI coding CLI. No API keys, account names, personal identifiers, or real secrets are included anywhere in this guide. All example values are placeholders — replace them with your own credentials. Why build this Free-tier LLM providers often enforce low per-minute rate limits (e.g., 20-40 requests/minute). Model catalogs change frequently — models get added, deprecated, or temporarily rate-limited. A single unified gateway lets any OpenAI-compatible client (coding CLIs, IDE extensions, custom scripts) fail over automatically across multiple providers/models without code changes. Part 1: Probing Model Availability Before wiring a provider into a gateway, verify which models are actually ...

OpenAI just dropped GPT-6 Astra on September 3, 2026, and it's already turning heads in the developer community. If you're building AI agents, automating workflows, or running local LLM stacks, here's why Astra matters—and why it might be the better choice over Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.1, especially when you factor in real-world cost and performance. What Is GPT-6 Astra? GPT-6 Astra is OpenAI's first "Critical"-rated model under its Preparedness Framework, meaning it meets the highest cybersecurity capability threshold with stronger safeguards for release. [cite:52][cite:57] It's designed to operate computers, browse the web, work across large file collections, write and execute code, and continue complex tasks with minimal human guidance. [cite:60] Key specs: Context window: 1,050,000 tokens Max output: 128,000 tokens Knowledge cutoff: April 30, 2026 Input modalities: Text and images Output: Text only (no audio or video) Reasoning...

AI Adoption Is Accelerating, but Governance Is Lagging AI adoption is spreading quickly through government offices, schools, media companies, and ordinary business operations. The harder question is whether the rules and responsibilities around that adoption are keeping up. One report says the Pentagon is giving more than 3 million military and civilian personnel access to ChatGPT and Grok through a secure AI platform. If accurate, the scale is striking. It shows that AI is no longer being treated only as an experimental tool for small innovation teams. Large deployments also raise practical questions. Who approves sensitive uses? Which information can be entered into a system? How are inaccurate answers caught? And who is accountable when an AI-generated recommendation causes harm? Schools are taking different paths Education is becoming one of the clearest examples of this uncertainty. Some institutions are introducing AI literacy, teaching students how to check outputs and use assis...

The AI Infrastructure Race Gets More Expensive The AI boom is no longer just a competition between model makers. It’s also a race to secure the chips, servers, data centers, and money needed to run those models at scale. This week’s reports point to Nvidia considering an investment of more than $30 billion in Perplexity. The claim has not been treated here as a confirmed transaction, but even the possibility shows how closely model companies, search products, and chip suppliers are becoming linked. Nvidia’s position remains central because advanced AI systems need enormous computing capacity. As companies add assistants, agents, image tools, cybersecurity products, and enterprise automation, demand shifts from training experiments to permanent production infrastructure. Servers are becoming strategic Dell and other technology companies are reportedly seeing stronger orders for AI-ready servers. These machines are built around powerful accelerators, fast networking, and large memory poo...

AI Moves From Chatbots to Real-World Work The most interesting AI stories this week aren’t all about a new chatbot. They’re about software and machines being asked to do useful, physical work. Reported examples include drones transporting diagnostic samples, driverless Frito-Lay trucks, and AI-guided flight paths. In repair departments, copilots are helping technicians find procedures and diagnose problems. Rugged laptops equipped with GPUs are also being used in demanding environments, including Ukraine. These examples look unrelated at first. A medical drone, a delivery truck, an aircraft route, and a repair assistant don’t share the same hardware or workflow. What they do share is a shift in expectations: AI is increasingly being judged by the job it completes, not by how impressive its conversation sounds. From answering to acting Chat interfaces made AI visible to everyone, but many businesses need something more specific. They want a system that can inspect a document, identify a...

If you've ever worked with an AI coding agent like Antigravity across a real project, you've probably run into the same repeated problem: you keep re-typing the same instructions in every single prompt. "Don't hardcode values." "Cite the actual file and line." "Don't break existing tests." "Give me a table, not a wall of text." Eventually you realize these aren't one-off preferences — they're rules that should apply to every task, every time, without you having to restate them. Here's a practical set of global rules that came out of exactly that realization, refined across several real review and refactor tasks on a production codebase. Set these once as your agent's standing context, and your day-to-day prompts can shrink down to just the task itself. Why Global Rules Matter More Than Clever Prompts A single well-written prompt only helps once. The moment you start a new session, or hand off a task to a teammate u...

DigiPIN Explained: What India’s 10-Character Digital Address Really Means India’s traditional six-digit PIN code was designed mainly for postal sorting. DigiPIN adds a precise geospatial layer: a deterministic, machine-readable code identifying an approximately 3.8-metre-by-3.8-metre grid cell across India and relevant maritime areas. What Is DigiPIN? DigiPIN stands for Digital Postal Index Number. It is a 10-character alphanumeric code derived mathematically from latitude and longitude. The code identifies a location, not a person, owner, property record, or postal address. The official symbol set contains 16 characters: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, C, J, K, L, M, P, F, and T. Confusing characters such as 0, 1, I, and O are avoided. How the Grid Works The official bounding box extends from 63.5°E to 99.5°E longitude and 2.5°N to 38.5°N latitude, using EPSG:4326/WGS84. The box is repeatedly divided into 4×4 regions. Each division contributes one character to the final code. After ten divisi...

DigiPIN for Citizens: How to Find, Share, and Use Your Digital Location DigiPIN gives people a compact way to share a precise physical location. It is especially useful when a normal address is incomplete, a landmark is confusing, or a visitor needs to reach a specific gate or entrance. What Citizens Should Know A DigiPIN is a 10-character code generated from latitude and longitude. It identifies an approximately 3.8-metre-by-3.8-metre grid cell. It does not contain your name, phone number, Aadhaar details, ownership information, or postal address. How to Get Your DigiPIN Open the official India Post Know Your DIGIPIN portal. Allow location access when prompted. Wait for the phone or browser to determine your location. Check the displayed location and accuracy. Copy, save, or share the code. The official portal is available at dac.indiapost.gov.in/mydigipin/home . It can use your current location to calculate the code. Depending on the portal version, users may also enter coordinates m...

DigiPIN for Businesses: Deliveries, KYC, Emergency Response, and Logistics DigiPIN can give businesses a standardized location reference that works alongside a customer’s name, phone number, conventional address, and postal PIN code. Its value is greatest where descriptive addresses are ambiguous or where a precise operational point must be recorded. Why Businesses Need Better Location Data Companies often collect addresses in different formats. A customer may write a landmark-based address, a delivery agent may save a map pin, and a finance team may store a postal address. These records can refer to the same place without being interoperable. DigiPIN provides a common geographic attribute that can be validated and reused across systems. E-Commerce and Last-Mile Delivery Reduce calls asking customers for directions. Identify a specific gate, warehouse, loading point, or reception area. Improve delivery planning in rural and peri-urban areas. Support temporary addresses such as events a...

DigiPIN for Developers: Algorithm, Offline Encoding, APIs, and Integration DigiPIN is useful to developers because its core operation is deterministic. A coordinate can be converted into a 10-character code, and a valid code can be decoded into the centre of its grid cell without a central lookup database. Official Parameters Bounding box longitude: 63.5°E to 99.5°E. Bounding box latitude: 2.5°N to 38.5°N. Coordinate reference system: EPSG:4326/WGS84. Partitioning: 4×4 at every level. Levels: 10. Alphabet: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, C, J, K, L, M, P, F, T. Labelling Matrix F C 9 8 J 3 2 7 K 4 5 6 L M P T Rows are selected from north to south and columns from west to east. At each level, the current latitude-longitude rectangle is divided into sixteen smaller cells. The symbol in the selected row and column is appended to the code. Coordinate-to-Code Process Validate latitude and longitude against the official bounding box. Calculate the current latitude and longitude step sizes. Determine...

DigiPIN, DHRUVA, and Privacy: The Future and Limits of India’s Addressing System India is building a new digital layer for address information. DigiPIN identifies a precise physical location, while DHRUVA is designed to provide a broader, consent-based ecosystem for representing and sharing addresses. In one sentence: DigiPIN answers “Where is this location?”; DHRUVA is intended to help answer “How can this address be represented and shared safely?” DigiPIN and DHRUVA Are Different Layers DigiPIN is a deterministic 10-character alphanumeric code generated from latitude and longitude. It identifies an approximately 3.8-metre-by-3.8-metre grid cell within India’s defined geographic and maritime extent. DHRUVA, or Digital Hub for Reference & Unique Virtual Address , is the broader proposed digital public infrastructure for creating, managing, sharing, and using address information. Layer Primary role DigiPIN Represents the physical geographic location. DHRUVA Digital Address Pr...

If you have ever wanted a VS Code copilot that you fully control — one that talks to your local Ollama or llama.cpp models just as easily as it talks to OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Perplexity, or NVIDIA NIM — that is exactly the itch VSLLama was built to scratch. VSLLama is a VS Code extension that turns your editor into a multi-provider AI coding assistant, with local-first inference treated as a first-class citizen rather than an afterthought. It is not tied to a single vendor, a single model, or a single API key. It brings together a chat panel, inline code completions, the ability to actually execute actions in your workspace, and support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), all inside VS Code. Why build another AI coding extension? Most AI coding tools force a choice: use a cloud model and give up control, or run local models and lose the polished in-editor experience. VSLLama refuses that trade-off. Underneath, it uses a clean provider abstraction, so switching between a l...

Can you outthink an adaptive artificial intelligence in a pure contest of spatial strategy? Today marks the global release of my new indie strategy game, Cypher Grid , now available on Android. What is Cypher Grid? Cypher Grid is a fast-paced board game of strategic positioning and tactical blocking. The objective is clear: navigate your pawn across the grid to reach the opponent's side before they reach yours. Every Turn is a Tactical Choice Move: Advance your pawn toward the goal line. Place a Wall: Deploy a barrier to obstruct your opponent's shortest path. With a limited reserve of walls and an AI opponent that learns your movement habits, every move requires careful foresight. Deploy your barriers too early, and you will be left defenceless in the endgame; hoard them too long, and the machine will slip past you. Key Game Features Pure Logic Gameplay: Zero randomness or luck — every victory is earned through strategy. Retro Synthwave Visuals: High-contrast n...

The 2023 G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi demonstrated the complex art of multilateral diplomacy, achieving a unanimous joint declaration amid deep geopolitical fractures over regional conflicts and economic rivalries. Securing the New Delhi Declaration Against expectations of diplomatic deadlock, Indian negotiators achieved 100 percent consensus across 83 paragraphs in the G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration. The communique struck a carefully calibrated balance on the Ukraine conflict while advancing commitments on multilateral development bank reform and climate action. Championing the Global Biofuels Alliance India also leveraged the summit to launch the Global Biofuels Alliance alongside Brazil and the United States, promoting sustainable biofuel adoption to accelerate global decarbonisation efforts across transportation and industrial sectors.

India's presidency of the G20 in 2023 positioned the world's most populous nation as a vital diplomatic bridge between established Western economies and the emerging priorities of the Global South. Key Multilateral Agendas Climate finance and renewable energy transitions occupied a central role in summit negotiations. India championed actionable frameworks for climate adaptation funding for developing nations, accelerated adoption of solar and green hydrogen technologies, and the institutional integration of the African Union as a permanent G20 member. Digital Public Infrastructure as a Global Model Beyond traditional geopolitics, India showcased its digital public infrastructure — notably the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar identity stack — demonstrating how open, scalable technology architectures can accelerate financial inclusion in developing economies.

The accelerating impacts of climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity loss highlight the urgent necessity for systemic environmental stewardship across global industries, governments, and communities. The Scale of Ecological Challenges From rising ocean temperatures and extreme meteorological events to severe urban particulate pollution across developing cities, ecological stresses directly impact public health, agricultural resilience, and economic stability worldwide. The Role of Technology and Policy Addressing these challenges requires a combined approach: ambitious governmental clean energy policies, international climate finance commitments, and technological innovations in renewable energy storage, carbon capture, and circular manufacturing. Protecting our shared environment is a vital collective responsibility for our planetary future.

In mid-January 2024, the Epic Games ecosystem featured a compelling lineup of game updates alongside high-value free titles distributed through the Epic Games Store's weekly promotion program. Featured Game Updates Hunt: Showdown (Update 2.6.1): Crytek's extraction shooter introduced the Scrapbeak boss, adding intense new boss encounters to the atmospheric Louisiana bayou. Dauntless: Echoes of Reality: Phoenix Labs' free-to-play action RPG expanded with cosmic Behemoth battles and new Aether realms. Satisfactory (Update 7): Coffee Stain Studios introduced programmable splitters, conveyor lifts, and new blueprint tools for factory building enthusiasts. Spotlight Free Games Epic's rotating weekly giveaway featured Warhorse Studios' critically acclaimed historical RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance , Squad's physics-driven aerospace simulator Kerbal Space Program , and the narrative drama Adios , continuing Epic's strategy of user acquisition through prem...

Comparing the baseline iPhone 15, iPhone 14, and iPhone 13 reveals how Apple iterated on its core smartphone formula across three product generations, balancing incremental upgrades against meaningful hardware shifts. Generational Comparison Feature iPhone 13 (2021) iPhone 14 (2022) iPhone 15 (2023) Display Design Standard Notch (1200 nits peak) Standard Notch (1200 nits peak) Dynamic Island (2000 nits peak) Main Camera 12 MP (f/1.6) 12 MP (f/1.5) 48 MP with 2x optical-quality crop Processor A15 Bionic (4-core GPU) A15 Bionic (5-core GPU) A16 Bionic (5-core GPU) Port Lightning Lightning USB-C Safety Features Emergency SOS Crash Detection & Satellite SOS Crash Detection & Satellite SOS Key Buying Takeaways While the jump from iPhone 13 to iPhone 14 was relatively modest, the iPhone 15 delivered substantial generational upgrades with the introduction of USB-C, the interactive Dynamic Island interface, and a 48 MP primary sensor that effectively added a 2x telephoto sho...

At its Unpacked event in San Jose in January 2024, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S24 lineup (Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra), establishing two industry-defining standards for the Android ecosystem: seven full years of OS upgrades and deeply integrated on-device AI tools. Matching Apple's Software Longevity Samsung committed to providing seven generations of Android OS upgrades and seven years of security patches for the Galaxy S24 family, ensuring software support through 2031. This landmark policy dramatically improved hardware longevity and value retention for Android consumers. Galaxy AI Capabilities Circle to Search: Seamless Google gesture search from any screen. Live Two-Way Translation: Real-time voice translation during cellular calls. Generative Photo Editing: Intelligent object removal, repositioning, and background filling. Chat & Note Assist: Automatic tone adjustment, summarization, and transcription.