@GitHub | AI, agents & developer platforms | 3 exits to public companies | Applied & Computational Mathematics @JohnsHopkins
United States
Joined May 2012
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I’m happy to share that a research paper I contributed to has been published.
Over several years, our team combined observations from small telescopes, NASA’s TESS mission, and previously published data to improve measurements of three exoplanets orbiting distant stars.
One of the things I find most inspiring about astronomy is that meaningful scientific contributions don’t always require a giant observatory. This project brought together professional researchers, students, and citizen scientists working toward a common goal.
Grateful to everyone who helped make it happen.
@ASU @NASAJPL @CenterForAstro @SESEASU @AAVSO
apps.aavso.org/jaavso/articl…
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Ira Bell retweeted
🚀✨ GitHub Copilot App v1.1.35 released!
395 features & enhancements in this release
Top features:
• Added /new slash command to start a fresh conversation, similar to /clear 🆕
• Personal instructions for Assisted approval added in Sessions settings to guide tool request judgments
• Pull request sidebar shows review and check progress counts, with ability to jump to oldest unresolved comment per reviewer
• Added Autofix option for individual failed checks in the pull request sidebar
• Selecting text in any pull request or issue comment opens a menu with Copy, Quote reply, and Side chat; Quote reply inserts selected text
• Context-limit errors now offer Compact conversation or Review context usage buttons
• Pull request Commits tab shows compact single-line commits with author avatars and hover names, plus copy actions
• Terminal option available for chats or agents running on remote hosts from side panel
Enhancements:
• Expanded folders in the Files panel load about twice as fast ⚡
• Library list view thumbnails now show scaled-down tile previews grouped by Source labels
• View options menu in library has more even spacing around controls for improved UX
• Opening a pull request's merge panel immediately refreshes checks, review comments, and merge status
• Repository trust prompt now names the repository requiring trust, including in review dialogs
• Can save more than ten custom views in My Work
• On Linux, Graphics compatibility mode setting added under Themes and graphics with a one-time prompt if app renders slowly
• Patch edits on same file across multiple sections now show as a single edit
• Dynamic Workflow agents now always show composer pill even if run update event is missed
• Child Agent opened from its project now shows Background entry with running background tasks
• Local session turn ends as interrupted if Copilot CLI process exits during running tool call, offering resume
• Removed brief 'No checks' flash while loading checks in pull request sidebar
Bug fixes:
• Fixed Add GitHub repository to update suggestions immediately after adding or removing account
• @-mentioning files with backslash in name on Linux/macOS now attaches correct file path
• Branch workspace with branch not checked out no longer switches incorrectly to conflicts view or shows wrong merge conflicts
• Chat or session delegating work to child session is notified when app interrupts child's turn, preventing indefinite wait
• Removing repository or folder warns that sessions and history are permanently deleted
• Private plugin marketplace pinned to branch or tag fixes usage with GitHub account tokens
• Chat terminal option restored for sessions without repository context
• Fixed issue where some patches counted same file twice on multiple edits
• Fixed session sometimes stuck in working state when Copilot CLI process exits unexpectedly
Misc:
• Updated terminology: session files labeled 'Sessions' instead of 'Posted'
• Various UI spacing and grouping improvements in library and views
• Improved composer usage popover can compact conversation context
• Added warnings about session and history deletion when removing repos or folders
github.com/github/app/releas…
#GitHubCopilotApp
Ira Bell retweeted
Please join us at Microsoft Ignite, our biggest customer and partner event of the year, from November 17-20 in San Francisco.
Last year, we shared a vision for Frontier Transformation as a wholesale reinvention of business by leading with human ambition and focusing on outcomes first. We explained that the two most important elements of any AI solution are intelligence and trust.
Since then, we have become more emboldened by these convictions, and have hardened a platform approach across Copilot, Microsoft IQ, and Agent 365. This year, we will unveil our latest innovations, with our customers and partners joining us on stage to share examples of how these platforms have composed to put AI to work in meaningful ways, enabling pragmatic paths to become Frontier.
We believe their stories will inspire you like they have inspired all of us at Microsoft and help you to imagine what is possible for your organization.
Register for Ignite today, and I cannot wait to see you there! ignite.microsoft.com/en-US/h…
Ira Bell retweeted
How should you use GitHub Copilot?
At Universe last week, we showed our favorite ways to work with Copilot, from editor to app to collaboration software like @Slack!
~30 mins of demos from our team: youtube.com/watch?v=VJBTPepf…
Ira Bell retweeted
Rest easy, Captain. We have the helm. ✨
This is Webb’s look at Westerlund 1, a super star cluster. Because our galaxy is past its peak of star formation, and because stars live relatively short lives, only a few of these clusters exist to give us clues to that past era.
ALT Image description: A quote by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart. "I've come to believe that the stars have always been in my favor." - Jean-Luc Picard. The image shows a dense cluster of bright stars, each with six large and two small diffraction spikes, due to the telescope’s optics. They have a variety of sizes depending on their brightness and distance from us in the cluster, and different colors reflecting different types of star. Patches of billowing red gas can be seen in and around the cluster, lit up by the stars. Small stars in the cluster blend into a background of distant stars and galaxies on black.
Ira Bell retweeted
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to:
Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund
alzresearch.org/giving/
Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources
alzfdn.org/donate/
Photo Credit: Tommy Garcia
Ira Bell retweeted
Today, the calendar makes a right triangle, for the last time this century.
This Saturday is October 24, 2026.
Write it as 10/24/26 or 24/10/26, and the same beautiful relationship appears:
10² + 24² = 26²
100 + 576 = 676
But here’s what makes today special.
There are infinitely many Pythagorean triples. Only a handful fit our calendar.
Using the rule
month² + day² = (last two digits of the year)²,
the month cannot exceed 12, and the day cannot exceed 31. Those small limits leave exactly 12 qualifying dates in this century.
Today is the last.
The next will be March 4, 2105:
3² + 4² = 5²
That is a wait of more than 78 years.
An infinite family of triangles. Just twelve appearances on a century’s calendar.
Happy Pythagorean Triple Day.
Ira Bell retweeted
Effective Immediately, all organizations using PHP for their systems are advised to be prepared for an update addressing two critical vulnerabilities. PHP is widely used for web applications. These vulnerabilities often provide a direct path to the server's file system or database. If an immediate update is not feasible, it is recommend that organizations take the system offline until it can be fully mitigated. NSA will follow up shortly with more specific guidance.
Ira Bell retweeted
We still want to find a way to bring the community together. If you planned to be in California for the Grace Hopper Celebration, I invite you to join us this year for GitHub Universe, Oct 28-29. 🌉
We've set aside 75 complimentary passes for folks with cancelled registrations. While this doesn't replace the conference and Universe has far fewer attendees than GHC, my hope is that it does give folks an opportunity to connect with each other. 📷 DM the GitHub team on LinkedIn or email me at kdaigle+ghc@github.com (first come first serve).
Ira Bell retweeted
Introducing Microsoft-Decision-1, our new model for fast decision-making.
It delivers top performance on structured decision tasks, outperforming both LLMs and other decision models in latency and quality.
We’re already testing it across Microsoft for everything from incident response and quality control to scientific discovery.
Ira Bell retweeted
We’ve lost an icon. Margaret Hamilton, a computer science pioneer best known for her work at MIT leading development of the flight software for the Apollo missions to the moon, has died at 90. Read about her legacy via MIT News: news.mit.edu/2026/margaret-h…
ALT Margaret Hamilton is reclined inside a NASA spacecraft module, surrounded by control panels and switches.
Ira Bell retweeted
Really proud of the work that the team has been doing. We’re rearchitecting our core Git infra to stay ahead of growth and support the future of software development.
gh.io/building-git-infrastru…
Ira Bell retweeted
➡️ Coming soon: Let's Learn GitHub Copilot SDK
Starting September 24, we'll host beginner-friendly livestreams on how to build agentic applications with the GitHub Copilot SDK, without implementing the agent loop yourself. Includes sessions specifically for .NET and Java development.
Sign up for English, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, or Korean.
gh.io/letslearn
ALT Let's Learn GitHub Copilot SDK. Live sessions begin September 24.
Ira Bell retweeted
The GitHub Copilot app now supports OpenTelemetry configuration through enterprise-managed settings!
github.blog/changelog/2026-0…
Everyone posting nostalgic WoW memories and I’m over here reminiscing about the BBS MUD era with Merc/Diku/Envy.
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Ira Bell retweeted
The hydrogen in your body and present in every molecule of water came from the Big Bang. There are no other appreciable sources of hydrogen in the universe. The carbon in your body was made by nuclear fusion in the interior of stars, as was the oxygen. Much of the iron in your body was made during supernovas of stars that occurred long ago and far away. The gold in your jewelry was likely made from neutron stars during collisions that may have been visible as short-duration gamma-ray bursts or gravitational wave events. Elements like phosphorus and copper are present in our bodies in only small amounts but are essential to the functioning of all known life. The featured periodic table is color coded to indicate humanity's best guess as to the nuclear origin of all known elements. The sites of nuclear creation of some elements, such as copper, are not really well known and are continuing topics of observational and computational research.
Image Credit: NASA's GSFC, SVS
Ira Bell retweeted
It's been 60 years in the making and it's all thanks to you the fans! Happy Birthday @StarTrek! My best, Bill
Ira Bell retweeted
🌌 GPT-6 Astra from @OpenAIDevs is now generally available in GitHub Copilot.
This new model is designed for long-horizon, autonomous coding and agentic tasks.
Our internal testing shows it plans and validates as it goes, batches diagnosis with verification, and independently confirms its results before declaring a task done. That translated into stronger performance on extensive coding jobs with fewer steps than prior OpenAI models.
Try it out in the GitHub Copilot app, CLI, or @code. 🚀
github.blog/changelog/2026-0…