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Navigating the Future: Embracing Earth’s Magnetic Field as a GPS Alternative | January 10 2026, 17:41

I learned today that there is and is actively used a technology for navigation using the Earth’s magnetic field. It is used as a replacement or an extension of GPS.

For example, there is the Scandinavian ferry Express 5 of Bornholmslinjen, which insures against GPS problems (which do happen) by using MagNav navigation. Unlike GPS, the Earth’s magnetic field cannot be jammed or spoofed—it simply exists. The ferry follows the same route, and generally, navigation could even be achieved through household fishing sonars.

But there are a few startups that use this technology for indoor navigation, where GPS signals cannot reach. It’s claimed that the navigation accuracy is within 1 meter. That’s more interesting.

GiPStech, Oriient, Mapsted.

The basis of this technology is a process called magnetic fingerprinting. Engineers or mapping robots walk through a building with a smartphone, recording unique distortions of the magnetic field at every point. These distortions are created by the steel frame of the building, rebar in the walls, and large electrical equipment. A database is formed where each coordinate (x, y, z) corresponds to its unique magnetic field vector (intensity, inclination, deviation).

The collected data is uploaded to the cloud platform of the provider company. There, they undergo noise cleaning and are “stitched” together with the digital floor plan. When a user walks through a shopping center, their smartphone reads data from the built-in magnetometer in real-time. Special software (SDK) compares the current readings with those stored in the database. For accuracy to be within 1–2 meters, the system relies not only on magnets. It uses sensor fusion—combining data from the magnetic field with inertial sensors (accelerometer counts steps, gyroscope determines turns) and sometimes Wi-Fi/Bluetooth signals for rough localization.

This technology is certainly being actively implemented for drones. The main technical difficulty there is dealing with their own interference and considering that the magnetic field changes, requiring constant map updates. Electrics, engines create strong magnetic fields, which “drown out” the natural background of the Earth. However, various filtering algorithms (including neural networks) are used, which in real-time “subtract” motor interference from the overall sensor readings. From what I understand, at high altitudes (kilometers), the magnetic field is more “smooth”, therefore the accuracy is lower (about 1–5 km). But if several drones fly together and exchange signals, overall they can provide very good accuracy each. Additionally, a group of drones can measure the gradient (rate of change) of the magnetic field in space, tying location not to absolute values, but to relative ones. Essentially, using a group of drones turns the navigation system from a set of individual receivers into a distributed phased array antenna, capable of filtering global interferences and working with much weaker useful signals. Considering that small drones capable of staying airborne for long periods can be released into the air by the hundreds (and cost pennies), this is a quite promising area for military.

There’s an interesting startup, Zerokey. They release QUANTUM RTLS 2.0. This device provides spatial accuracy to 1.5mm. It’s used in production, for example. Their video shows a “watch” on a worker’s hand that monitors the correctness of assembling something on a table. Here, the principle is ultrasonic, and it’s understandable that these “watches” are paired with stationary sensors and further multilateration.

Cinema Meets Culture: The Indian Diaspora and Their Movie Rituals | January 09 2026, 06:09

I noticed that there is a huge gathering of Indians in our cinema, and it turns out it’s because the cinemas and the local Indian diaspora have found common ground. Today there were 13 showings of The Raja Saab in three languages – Tamil (in which the film was originally made), Telugu, and Hindi. The genre is fantasy horror comedy. There were also two showings today of Parasakthi in Tamil and two of Sarvam Maya in Malayalam.

And it was men only. I googled why. Superstars like Prabhas (The Raja Saab) have huge organized fan clubs. In Indian culture, “premiere night” and the first morning sessions are the territory of hardcore fans – and they are predominantly young men. They come to make noise, whistle, dance in front of the screen, and shout various things during the show. Many Indian families and women prefer to avoid this “crazy” atmosphere of the first sessions, opting for calmer showings on Saturday or Sunday.

Exploring the Delights of Origin Thai Spa: More Than Just Massage | January 08 2026, 23:48

We bought all this at our Thai massage salon Origin Thai Spa today for $20 — slices of matum tea, Bael Fruit Tea. To the left of it — pandan tea. Also, before buying we tried some hand-made cakes (delicious!).

The salon is staffed by Thai women, all of them elderly, many speak English poorly, but they all know their massage craft very well. We are regular customers there with a membership, and I highly recommend the salon to locals. Thai massage is not for everyone, though, because when done correctly, it is quite painful during the process (but beneficial, and feels like it recharges all your internal batteries).

Exploring Identity and Survival in “Avatar 3: A Journey of Relocation” | January 06 2026, 17:34

After watching Avatar 3, we decided to rewatch the first and second movies. Watched it like it was the first time, but here’s what I thought.

For the family, relocation was an urgent rescue from physical annihilation or forced participation in a war. Moving, they encountered the necessity to “learn to swim” in a new legal, linguistic, and social environment, starting from scratch and losing their former social weight. The feeling of “we are strangers here” is the central emotion. Severance of ties with friends and colleagues, only the “nuclear family” remains as the sole island of identity. Essentially, Jake’s decision to flee to save his children is the fundamental dilemma of any parent in a conflict zone: fight to the end on their own land or leave to preserve the life of the next generation.

Upon arrival, they hardly receive a visa, and permanent residency isn’t promised. But eventually, it becomes clear that it’s impossible to hide from a global conflict geographically. Sooner or later one has to participate in protecting their new “reef.”

Jake’s children and he himself have five fingers, whereas purebred Na’vi have four. Plus, the accent. This is a constant visual reminder of their origin. Even if you are fully integrated, there is always a detail that marks you as an outsider. Your children may become “one of them” faster, but they still carry the mark of “hybridity.”

By the way, in the third part, all the blues already speak English. The Na’vi language was completely displaced by them.

P. S. By the way, it’s interesting that Jake didn’t bring any of humanity’s achievements to the new culture of Pandora at all. I don’t know, the wheel, fire, medicine, some mechanical stuff. Nothing.

A Decade at EPAM: Thriving Through Change and Challenge | January 05 2026, 13:43

10 years at EPAM.

I would have never thought that I would enjoy working in the same place for an entire decade. What’s the secret? At EPAM, I am always evolving: projects change one after another, never letting me get bored.

I am currently on a project at a giant company: over 100 thousand employees and revenue of 30 billion dollars. Before this, it was the automotive industry — a behemoth with a staff of 175 thousand and a turnover of 150 billion. Somewhere around, there was a contract with a company of 80 thousand employees and 35 billion in revenue. True scale and genuinely serious challenges. And earlier, there were cosmetics brands, biotech, and the oil sector. In total, more than 20 projects of various calibers. Despite having over 100% workload every single day. And it seems that this year, I had more vacation than usual, yet still less than I could have taken. I traveled to Costa Rica, Mexico, Seattle, Antalya.

The point is, at each new place you learn something, sometimes from scratch. And that’s freaking awesome. It gives much more energy than if I had been “rooted” in any of these corporations for all 10 years. Perhaps, from a purely financial standpoint, people who stayed in one place at these companies earned more than me, but money isn’t the priority if it means sacrificing interest and enthusiasm. Living life at a job from which you are utterly exhausted is a questionable pleasure.

Last year at EPAM was maximally intense, and I sincerely hope that 2026 will not slow down.

Arbitrage Adventures: A Glimpse into Venezuela’s Currency Chaos | January 04 2026, 17:10

I first looked at a map of Venezuela around 15 years ago when you could fly there from Russia for a couple hundred dollars. I studied the map but never used it (though perhaps I should have).

At that time, it was the era of wild currency arbitrage, where the difference between the official bolivar rate “from the TV” and the real price on the black market reached astronomical proportions.

The scheme was simply brilliant: within the country, all airlines were required to sell tickets for local currency at the government rate. If an international flight cost a thousand dollars, it was converted into bolivars at the “pretty” official rate. But if you came off the street with a stack of real dollars and exchanged them at a money changer, the sum in bolivars needed to purchase the same ticket cost just a real hundred dollars, and sometimes even fifty.

The real fun began when intermediaries or acquaintances within the country got involved. You could book a ticket online through a local office, pay for it in bolivars through someone in Caracas, and then simply give them cash dollars when meeting, or transfer to a foreign account. The savings were so absurd that people flew business class simply because it was cheaper than lunch at Miami airport.

But cheap tickets were just the tip of the iceberg, because there was also something known as “raspao”. The state gave every traveler the right to buy a couple of thousand dollars at the cheap official rate on a credit card for spending abroad. Eventually, people bought cheap tickets, flew to the nearest islands, cashed in their currency quota, and returned home virtually rich, having sold these dollars on the black market for many times more.

Of course, this bonanza could not last forever and very quickly ended with a loud crash. Airlines quickly realized that their accounts were filled with millions of worthless-bolivars, which the government flatly refused to exchange for real currency. Planes flew half-empty, although all seats were officially bought out for currency quotas, and the government’s debts to carriers grew to billions of dollars, after which global giants simply began to massively leave the market.

But it worked for a while. I don’t remember exactly, somewhere between 2011 and 2014.

How such a breakdown between the official and unofficial rates lasted so long is beyond comprehension. The government could not quickly abolish the official rate because it supported imports of food and medicine. As soon as they acknowledged the real dollar rate, prices in stores would have skyrocketed immediately (which later happened). Flight tickets merely became a “collateral hole” in the system that everyone used while it was possible.