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Destructive Testing of a 3D-Printed Nylon Suppressor

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Additive Manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D Printing, is becoming increasingly mainstream in the production of firearms components and accessories. We’ve already seen commercial attempts at manufacturing polymer 3D-printed suppressors and now, thanks to Forerunner 3D Printing, we can see how 3D-printed nylon survives a couple of hundreds of rimfire rounds. More 3D Printed Silencers […]

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Announcing Laravel Pulse – A New Performance Monitoring Tool for Laravel Apps

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Announcing Laravel Pulse - A New Performance Monitoring Tool for Laravel Apps

Laravel Pulse is a brand new free and open source performance monitoring and insights tool for Laravel applications. It was announced at Laracon AU 2023 by Jess Archer from the Laravel core team.

What is Laravel Pulse?

Laravel Pulse gives you an aggregate view of performance data for your Laravel app. It tracks metrics like:

  • System stats (CPU, memory, storage usage)
  • Application usage (requests, slow routes, jobs, etc)
  • Queue throughput
  • Slow jobs
  • Slow queries
  • Exceptions
  • Cache hits/misses
  • Outgoing request times

Pulse was designed specifically for Laravel and knows about all the core components like queues, events, mail, notifications, caching, and more.


It collects the minimal amount of data needed to display helpful insights. The data is saved locally so you maintain full control.

Laravel Pulse is self-hosted and works anywhere Laravel runs – VPS, Laravel Forge, Vapor, etc. It has a responsive UI with light and dark modes.

And best of all, it’s completely free and open source! Big thanks to Taylor Otwell for making this possible.

How Pulse Compares to Telescope

Some may be wondering how Pulse compares to Laravel Telescope, another debugging tool for Laravel.

Telescope is great for local development as it records extensive request data like all queries and events. But this high level of detail makes it less ideal for production.

Laravel Pulse provides high level aggregate data so it’s lean and production-ready. It won’t replace error trackers, but augments them nicely.

Interactive Live Demo

At Laracon AU, Jess Archer did an interactive live demo of Laravel Pulse using the audience’s phones!

The audience acted as flight admins for a fictional Acme Airlines app. They could perform actions like:

  • Sell tickets
  • Raise prices
  • Delay flights
  • Cancel flights

Meanwhile, Jess showed how Laravel Pulse tracked these actions in real-time on a dashboard.

Here’s a recap of some highlights:

Application Usage

The Application Usage card shows:

  • Top users by requests
  • Top users by slow endpoints
  • Top users queuing jobs

This gives insight into who is using your app and any performance issues they face.

Slow Routes

The Slow Routes card shows any application routes that exceed a configured threshold (1 second default).

It displays the route name and action method so you can pinpoint the slow code.

Slow Jobs

The Slow Jobs card is similar, displaying queued jobs exceeding a threshold. It shows the job class name and location.

Failed jobs that retry will increment the count each time so you can spot problem jobs.

Slow Queries

The Slow Queries card reveals queries over a threshold. It only shows the SQL without bindings so it:

  • Obfuscates PII
  • Aggregates identical queries into one result
  • Shows file location the query occurred

You can optionally disable locations to further aggregate results.

Exceptions

The Exceptions card tracks exceptions thrown including location, count, and last occurrence.

You can also sort by most recent exceptions.

Cache

The Cache card tracks cache key usage, along with hits and misses to the cache.

It will make no assumptions about your keys, but allows regrouping and rolling-up of collected data if you need a more generalised view of the data.

Outgoing Requests

Laravel’s HTTP client usage is tracked in Outgoing Requests. You can see slow external requests your app makes.

The demo used a regex in the config file to condense unique URLs into a generalised domain name, similar toe cache data.

Customizing Your Dashboard

The Pulse blade file can be published and customized. For example, you can:

  • Toggle full width mode
  • Adjust number of columns
  • Set card span and position
  • Break cards into individual sections

You can also create your own custom cards to display business-specific metrics. The demo included a "Flights" card showing tickets sold, revenue, delays, and top sellers.

Performance Considerations

Pulse collects minimal data and can handle heavy production workloads. Larave Forge runs it for 2 million requests/day with no sampling needed.

By default, Pulse saves request data to your database after the response is sent. Some options to scale:

  • Use a dedicated Pulse database
  • Redis ingest to queue and saved outside request cycle
  • Run Pulse on a separate server
  • Enable sampling for high traffic
  • Create custom data drivers

When Can We Use Pulse?

Laravel Pulse is expected to launch in the next week or so. It will be a composer require away. Stay tuned for the official release!

Conclusion

Laravel Pulse provides easy insights into your Laravel app’s performance and usage. Its customizability and minimal overhead makes it a great open source addition for any Laravel project.

Big thanks to the entire Laravel team for another amazing free tool for the community!

The post Announcing Laravel Pulse – A New Performance Monitoring Tool for Laravel Apps appeared first on Laravel News.

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Full-text search with Laravel and Meilisearch

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In this guide, we will see how to use the search functionality in Laravel 10. We’ll start with by introducing the benefits of full-text search. Then, we’ll walk you through setting up full-text search in your Laravel application.

Why use full-text search?

In traditional SQL or NoSQL databases, queries find results exactly matching given criteria. Conversely, full-text search queries can match some or all of a text query with the database’s content. So essentially, full-text search can provide results even in case of partial matches.

When building user-facing search interfaces, full-text search is empowering for users. Tolerance to typos, prefix search, and synonyms help them get results more quickly. It improves discoverability when users do not know what they’re looking for.

How to use search functionality in Laravel 10?

Installing Laravel Scout

Laravel comes with out-of-the-box full-text search capabilities via Laravel Scout.

To enable it, navigate to your Laravel application directory and install Scout via the Composer package manager:

composer require laravel/scout

After installing Scout, you should publish the Scout configuration file. You can do this by running the following artisan command:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Laravel\Scout\ScoutServiceProvider"

This command should create a new configuration file in your application directory: config/scout.php.

Configuring the Laravel Scout driver

Let’s configure Laravel Scout to use the Meilisearch driver. Meilisearch is an open-source search engine built in Rust. This will allow to get the best full-text search performance. Indeed, the database driver comes with limitations inherent to SQL databases.

First, install the dependencies required to use Scout with Meilisearch via Composer:

composer require meilisearch/meilisearch-php http-interop/http-factory-guzzle

Then, update the environment variables in your .env file:

SCOUT_DRIVER=meilisearch
# Use the host below if you're running Meilisearch via Laravel Sail
MEILISEARCH_HOST=http://meilisearch:7700
MEILISEARCH_KEY=masterKey

Laravel’s official Docker development environment, Laravel Sail, comes with a Meilisearch service out-of-the-box. Please note that when running Meilisearch via Sail, Meilisearch’s host is http://meilisearch:7700.

For production use cases, we recommend using a managed Meilisearch via Meilisearch Cloud. On Meilisearch Cloud, you can find your host URL in your project settings.

Making Eloquent models searchable

With Scout installed and configured, just add the Laravel\Scout\Searchable trait to your Eloquent models to make them searchable. This trait will use Laravel’s model observers to keep the data in your model in sync with Meilisearch.

Here’s an example model:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Laravel\Scout\Searchable;

class Contact extends Model
{
	use Searchable;
}

You can use the toSearchableArray method to configure which fields to store in Meilisearch. This notably enables storing a model and its relationships’ data in the same document.

The example below shows how to store a model’s relationships data in Meilisearch:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use App\Models\Company;
use Laravel\Scout\Searchable;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsTo;

class Contact extends Model
{
    use Searchable;

    public function company(): BelongsTo
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(Company::class);
    }

    public function toSearchableArray(): array
    {
	    // All model attributes are made searchable
        $array = $this->toArray();

		// Then we add some additional fields
        $array['organization_id'] = $this->company->organization->id;
        $array['company_name'] = $this->company->name;
        $array['company_url'] = $this->company->url;

        return $array;
    }
}

Configuring filterable and sortable attributes

Meilisearch allows you to perform advanced filtering and sorting on your search results. Choose which attributes are filterable and sortable via your Meilisearch index settings.

Configure your Meilisearch index settings via the config/scout.php file:

<?php

use App\Models\Contact;

return [
	// additional configuration...
	
    'meilisearch' => [
        'host' => env('MEILISEARCH_HOST', 'http://localhost:7700'),
        'key' => env('MEILISEARCH_KEY'),
        'index-settings' => [
            Contact::class => [
                'filterableAttributes' => ['organization_id'],
                'sortableAttributes' => ['name', 'company_name']
            ],
        ],
    ],

The example above updates Meilisearch index settings for the Contact model:

  • it makes the organization_id field filterable
  • it makes the name and company_name fields sortable

Update your Meilisearch index settings by running the following Artisan command:

php artisan scout:sync-index-settings

Laravel full-text search example

We built a demo application to give you a feel of what full-text search looks like in a Laravel application. This demo showcases an app-wide search in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) application.

CRM demo application build with Laravel
Laravel SaaS search demo

This demo application uses the following search features:

The code is open-sourced on Github. ????

???? Check out the repository: https://github.com/meilisearch/saas-demo

We hope this guide helped to understand the importance of full-text search and how to implement it with Laravel. For more information, read the Laravel Scout and Meilisearch docs.

Meilisearch is an open-source search engine with intuitive developer experience to build user-facing search. You can self-host it or get a premium experience with Meilisearch Cloud.

For more things Meilisearch, you can join the community on Discord or subscribe to the newsletter. You can learn more about the product by checking out the roadmap and participating in product discussions.

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Chicken McNuggets Training Video

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Chicken McNuggets Training Video

Link

There was lots to love about the 1980s, like Max Headroom, VHS tape boxes, and this McDonald’s training video, created to familiarize the crew with Chicken McNuggets and their sauces. What we got was a hilariously surreal short film with googly-eyed Big Macs and french fries welcoming their new friends to the menu. Brought to you by Tony Pepperoni.

The Awesomer

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Smith & Wesson Releases New Performance Center M&P9 Metal M2.0 Spec Series

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Smith & Wesson Releases New Performance Center M&P9 Metal M2.0 Spec Series
Smith & Wesson Releases New Performance Center M&P9 Metal M2.0 Spec Series

Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc.(NASDAQ Global Select: SWBI), a leader in firearm manufacturing and design, today announces the release of its latest Spec Series Kit with the new Performance Center M&P9 Metal M2.0.

True to its design, this pistol not only sets a new benchmark for the Spec Series line but also places a heightened focus on performance, ensuring users encounter the pinnacle of what Smith & Wesson’s Performance Center models have to offer.

Upgraded features integrated into this Spec Series pistol include a built-in Faxon compensator to mitigate felt recoil and muzzle rise, custom lightening cuts in the slide to reduce weight and improve reliability while being compensated, an enhanced sear for a lighter, crisp trigger let-off, suppressor height sights, and a sharp OD Green Cerakote© finish. Within its sleek new look lies a testament to durability – a robust all-metal frame that can withstand the elements while still maintaining a well-balanced feel in the hand.

“Our M&P polymer handguns have long been recognized for their reliability and ergonomic design. By combining these trusted attributes with the durability of the Metal M2.0 platform and adding modern performance upgrades, we were able to elevate the Spec Series to next level. This design is a bridge between tradition and progress, and offers a distinct edge across today’s dynamic shooting environments,” said Corey Beaudreau, Product Manager.

The PC M&P9 Metal M2.0 Spec Series ships in a custom hardcase and includes two 23-round magazines, two 17-round magazines, C.O.R.ETM plate system for mounting optics, a karambit style knife, and custom M&P Spec Series Challenge Coin. The MSRP for this kit is $999.

For more information on the Performance Center M&P9 Metal M2.0 Spec Series, visit https://www.smith-wesson.com/.

Smith & Wesson Releases New Performance Center M&P9 Metal M2.0 Spec Series by AmmoLand Shooting Sports News on Scribd

About Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc.

Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ Global Select: SWBI) is a U.S.-based leader in firearm manufacturing and design, delivering a broad portfolio of quality handgun, long gun, and suppressor products to the global consumer and professional markets under the iconic Smith & Wesson® and Gemtech® brands. The company also provides manufacturing services including forging, machining, and precision plastic injection molding services. For more information call (844) 363-5386 or visit smithwesson.com.

Smith and Wesson

AmmoLand Shooting Sports News

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This ‘Little Mac’ Is a Pint-Sized Windows Version of Apple’s Famed PC

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How best can you display the advances in technology over the years? Let’s take a PC like the landmark original 1984 Apple Macintosh—later rebranded the Macintosh 128K—and shrink it by more than half. Then, boost its processing capability and memory by a factor of thousands or even tens of thousands—AKA modern mobile gaming standards. That’s what Ayaneo is doing with its upcoming Mini PC AM01, a pint-sized homage to the all-in-one computing system that weighs a little more than a pound.

Like It or Not, Your Doctor Will Use AI | AI Unlocked

Ayaneo first shared images and a few scant details of its Mini PC earlier this month, but the company launched its funding campaign Retro Mini PC Tuesday and shared full PC specs on its Indiegogo page.

It seems the “Little Mac,” as we at Gizmodo have taken to calling it, is pretty powerful for its size. The Mini PC will come with either an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U at 3.5 GHz or a Ryzen 7 5700U at 4.3 GHz. The “U” signifies they’re the low-power versions of the CPU, but it is plenty powerful to run most web-based applications. It will also sport up to 64GB of DDR4 memory, plus an integrated Vega or RDNA2 video card. It means the Mini PC might have a good deal of function for its petite size. The 3200U version will start at a $149 baseline for those going in early on the crowdfunding campaign, while the 5700U will shoot upwards of $219. The retail price will be $199 and $259 for the less and more powerful CPUs at base.

Novelty is surely a factor, but it only weighs less than 466 grams, or a little more than 1 pound. The box itself measures 5.2 by 5.2 inches and is a little more than 2 inches deep, meaning it is plenty portable even though you’re going to be missing out on any sort of display. The Mini PC supports Wi-Fi 6 or 5, and it contains three USB 3.2 ports, a USB-C (only for data transfer), and an HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 to connect to other displays.

The big sticking point may be memory or, more, the lack of it. The bare system does not contain HDD or SSD, so you’ll have to pay more for 256 GB, 512 GB, or 2 TB of internal storage. It has a PCIe 3.0 slot to support a VMe or SATA SSD, plus a SATA 3.0 interface without the bracket.

The system comes pre-installed with Windows 11, and as a handheld console maker, Ayaneo is trying to share how it could be used for gaming. However, you can also install Linux, Ubuntu, and Debian and gaming-based operating systems like Steam OS. Videocardz also offered a nice rundown of the specs and compared them to the original $2,495 Macintosh released back in ‘84.

When the company first revealed the Mini PC, it displayed it next to a few small, extremely cute game cartridges, but the company confirmed with Gizmodo all that was just set dressing. In effect, the PC is much akin to the new wave of portable gaming consoles, though the starting price on a Mini PC is far, far lower than even the $399 LCD Steam Deck with 256 GB of storage, let alone the newer OLED Steam Decks. Without a screen, the Mini PC offers a different kind of portability, so long as you have controls and a monitor to hook it up to.

So no, it’s not a device meant to play physical media, and the slot on the original Macintosh is instead just a bar to house the power button. There’s also no in-built monochrome screen like the Macintosh 128K, but there is a cheeky nod on the black bar to Apple’s original Finder logo.

It’s a shame nobody outside Ayaneo has had the chance to test out the Mini PC, and we can’t advise anybody to drop money on a crowdfunding campaign when nobody has had the chance to put it through its paces. That doesn’t stop the retro throwback from looking absolutely adorable.

Ayaneo, the China-based handheld PC brand that’s been making waves since 2020, has a penchant for crafting devices that not-so-gently scratch at tech nostalgia. The company is also gearing up to release the Ayaneo Slide, a portable PC that resembles the Nokia Sidekick thanks to the slideout screen hiding a keyboard underneath.

Gizmodo

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Building a Working Star Wars Plasma Blaster

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Building a Working Star Wars Plasma Blaster

Link

The blasters in Star Wars supposedly fire bolts of plasma energy held together with a magnetic field. This sounds like pure science fiction, but Jake Makes wanted to see if he could create the same effect with a real-world weapon. While he came up with an approach that looks pretty accurate, it’s not technically the same idea at all.

The Awesomer

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Ted Lasso returns to promote Hannah Waddingham’s special

https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/57420-116906-000-lead-Waddingham-promo-xl.jpgTed Lasso — or at least star Jason Sudeikis — is back in a new role as taxi driver to Hannah Waddingham, ahead of her Apple TV+ Christmas special.

Jason Sudeikis (left) and Hannah Waddingham (right)Jason Sudeikis (left) and Hannah Waddingham (right)

"Ted Lasso" was the first breakout hit for Apple TV+, and when it officially concluded after three seasons, its stars including co-creator Jason Sudeikis have both hoped and hinted at a future return for the character.

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