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Twitch is reportedly blocked in China | Last month Twitch was the third most popular free app in China's App Store as users downloaded the app to watch the Asian Games (a video game tournament). Now residents in China are finding that Twitch is no longer accessible and that the Twitch app has been removed from the country's App Store. It appears that the app has been banned. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Learnings from 5 years of tech startup code audits | This article contains a list of 16 lessons learned, ordered from most general to most security-specific, from someone who performed upwards of 20 code audits for startups that were around their Series A or B, when they had the cash to take a deeper look at their security. The security issues discovered during the audits ranged from catastrophic to just plain interesting. Some of the audits were performed up to eight years ago, so the lessons include insights on what factors have helped startups do well. | 4Miscellaneous
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Arecibo Observatory: Media Resources (Website) | The Arecibo Observatory was completed in 1963 and it contributed to many important scientific discoveries. On November 19, a review of engineering assessments found that some damage to the observatory couldn't be fixed, so the US National Science Foundation began plans to decommission the structure. The observatory was collapsed on December 3. Footage of the collapse is available. | 4Miscellaneous
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Pepper the robot set to appear before U.K. Parliament as witness | The UK Parliament will be questioning Pepper, a robot capable of recognizing human emotions and mood, as part of its inquiry into robots and artificial intelligence. Pepper was originally designed to care for the elderly, and while the particular lines of questioning are unknown, the chair of the committee doing the questioning expressed concern about robot and AI driven job losses, saying "The fourth industrial revolution is possibly the most important challenge facing our nation over the next 10, 20 to 30 years. This is not about someone bringing an electronic toy robot and doing a demonstration, it's about showing the potential of robotics and artificial intelligence and the impact it has on skills." | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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navi (GitHub Repo) | navi is an interactive cheatsheet tool for the command line. Users can browse through cheatsheets and execute commands, with prompts for argument values. The project aims to improve terminal usage as a whole by making commands easier to find, run, and share. Users can create custom cheatsheets. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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After losing $38676+ as an Indie Hacker. I can't do it anymore. I quit. | Not all companies work out. While we hear stories about developers becoming successful after creating a product from home, many more fail. It can sound easy to create something, find 10-20 clients, and then grow a business from there, but the reality can be much harder than that, especially when dealing with anxiety. Many developers will sacrifice a lifestyle or income for their startups, which can add to the losses when they decide to finally give up. | 4Miscellaneous
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Google is facing an imminent antitrust investigation from the US Justice Department | Google may soon be facing an antitrust investigation from the US Department of Justice regarding its search business and potentially other aspects of the company’s software and services empire. This follows the investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, who had investigated Google in 2013 for antitrust violations without any results. The European Union has already fined Google billions of dollars for three breaches of antitrust law. Google has gone largely unscathed in the US, but there have been controversies over its practices. It is unclear what the DOJ will focus on in its investigation. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Elon Musk Reveals Release Date and Price for Boring Company's Eco Bricks | Elon Musk's Boring Company, a company that digs tunnels, will be selling bricks made from the dirt excavated from the tunnels they are digging. The bricks will be available in 2 months, and will cost 10 cents per brick. Bricks will be free for affordable housing projects. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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BrainNet is The World's First Non-Invasive Brain-to-Brain Interface | Researchers have created the world's first non-invasive brain-to-brain interface called BrainNet. It uses EEG to record brain signals and transcranial magnetic stimulation to deliver information to the brain. In an experiment, one person sees a game of Tetris and decides whether to keep or rotate the block. They then send this information through BrainNet to a second person who can't see the game screen, who must then decide whether to turn the block or keep it in position. The players were able to play the game with 81.3% accuracy. The researchers believe that this technology could eventually be used to create a '"social network" of connected brains.' | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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You can now buy NFTs on eBay, and ‘blockchain-driven collectibles’ are coming soon | eBay is allowing NFTs in certain categories to be sold on its platform. NFTs are unique digital items whose ownership is tracked on a blockchain. eBay will allow trusted sellers to list trading cards, music, entertainment, and art. It will expand to more categories after it has gathered feedback about the current offering of NFTs. eBay is open to accepting cryptocurrencies in the future, but it currently only accepts standard payments. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Elizabeth Holmes verdict: Former Theranos CEO is found guilty on 4 counts | Elizabeth Holmes, the former chief executive of biotech startup Theranos, was found guilty on four of 11 charges of defrauding the company's investors and not guilty on four counts of committing fraud against patients. Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison. Her trial took nearly four months and involved testimonies from over 30 witnesses. Three charges are still yet to be resolved as the jury couldn't reach a decision. | 4Miscellaneous
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Reddit is adding new real-time features, including a live upvote count | Reddit is rolling out new real-time features. Users will soon be able to see the number of upvotes, downvotes, and comments go up or down as they happen. The number of users reading a post will be shown when five or more people are viewing it and an indicator will pop up when two or more users are typing a comment. A pill-shaped notification will now appear when a new top-level comment is made. The changes will be available for mobile and users of the new desktop Reddit design. Old Reddit users will not have access to the new features. A GIF showing what the new features look like on mobile is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Scientists Create the World’s Toughest Self-Healing Material | Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research have developed a transparent material that is hard and self-heals when cracked. It is based on a piezoelectric organic material that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy and vice versa. The arrangement of the material results in a strong attractive force that can heal fractures when they occur. It may still be some time before the material appears on any smartphones. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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JuiceFS (GitHub Repo) | JuiceFS is a POSIX file system built on top of Redis and object storage. It serves as a stateless middleware that enables many applications to share data easily. JuiceFS is fully POSIX-compatible and cloud-native. It features outstanding performance, file sharing, global file locks, and data compression. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Scientists Create Record-Breaking Laser With Mind Blowing Power | A Korean research team has created a laser with an intensity equal to the combined power of all the sunlight across the entire planet focused in an area roughly the size of a speck of dust. The technology will enable scientists to study cosmic phenomena in the lab instead of just through simulations and theories. It also has applications in cancer treatment, potentially dropping the costs of Proton therapy and making it available for more patients. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Spaces try to make it easier to get apps ready for augmented reality | Qualcomm revealed its Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform at the Augmented World Expo. Snapdragon Spaces features hardware-agnostic APIs that software developers can use to develop on many different types of platforms, from AR glasses to full headsets. Lenovo’s ThinkReality A3 glasses will be the first to commercialize Snapdragon Spaces. Snapdragon Spaces is now available for select developers, with general availability coming Spring 2022. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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1K Projects (Directory) | So this is a marketplace that allows you to buy old abandoned side projects from other developers for under $1000, or you can also sell your own abandoned side projects. It's essentially a side project yard sale (lots of junk but a few gems!). Every project includes a helpful questionnaire that the owner fills out, with questions like "What is the technological stack?" and "How can the future owner turn your project into a business?" | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Putin could decide for the world on CRISPR babies | A secret summit has been held in Moscow between government health officials to debate a bid by a scientist to create genetically modified babies. The first genetically modified humans were born in China last year as a part of a project to create HIV-resistant humans. Putin's eldest daughter, Maria Vorontsova, was present at the secret summit. Scientists want official rules to be set for gene editing, but it is undecided who should control the genetically modified future. The costs of gene editing are dropping and is currently around $15,500, the cost of a car. There is plenty of potential in the technology, but it can be easily abused. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Vitalik Buterin proposes calldata limit per block to lower ETH gas costs | Vitalik Buterin has proposed a new limit on the total transaction calldata in a block to decrease the overall gas cost over the Ethereum network. Decreasing the calldata gas cost could create a security risk, but Buterin's proposal aims to balance that risk. If accepted, the network will require a scheduled network upgrade and miners will need to comply with the new rules. The community is discussing other options to combat the rise of gas fees. The increase in fees has resulted in users switching to lower-cost Ethereum Virtual-Machine compatible networks. | 4Miscellaneous
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MediaPipe (GitHub Repo) | MediaPipe is a framework for building multimodal machine learning pipelines. Using MediaPipe, a machine learning pipeline can be visualized as a graph of modular components. It is mainly used for rapid prototyping of applied machine learning pipelines with inference models and other reusable components. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Netflix Picks France to Test First Linear Offering | France will be the first country to receive Netflix's first channel offering. Direct will be a linear channel that airs shows in real-time. It will only be available via web browser. France was chosen as the testing country for this feature due to its consumption of traditional TV. Many people in France prefer a laid back experience where they don't have to choose shows. The feature may also appeal to older demographics, which make up a significant portion of households in France. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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China's brightest children are being recruited to develop AI 'killer bots' | 31 of China's top students have been recruited straight from high school to begin training as AI weapons researchers. Each student will be mentored by two senior weapons scientists, one from academia and one from the defense industry. After four years, the students will enter Phd programs and eventually lead China's AI weapons program. One instructor says "We are looking for other qualities such as creative thinking, willingness to fight, a persistence when facing challenges. A passion for developing new weapons is a must...and they must also be patriots." Berkeley CS professor Stuart Russell expresses his concern at the program, saying "Machines should never be allowed to decide to kill humans. I hope all these students will begin their course by watching the movie Slaughterbots." | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Could life exist deep underground on Mars? | Scientists may have figured out how to determine if life exists deep beneath the surface of Mars or other rocky objects in the universe. The absence of surface water doesn't mean that life doesn't exist deep inside a planet's subsurface biosphere. Both the Moon and Mars lack an atmosphere where liquid water can exist on the surface, but the warmer and pressurized regions under the surface could sustain life. Extremophilic organisms are capable of growth and reproduction in extreme environments on Earth, which can be similar to environments on other planets. Searching for life will require machinery that doesn't exist on other planets yet, but it may be possible once a base is established on the Moon after the Artemis program in 2024. | 4Miscellaneous
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Dropbox is adding folders that will automatically organize for you | Automated Folders is a new feature from Dropbox that can automatically rename files in folders, group items into subfolders, and more. It can be configured with various rules, which are currently predefined, but Dropbox is working on making the system more customizable. Dropbox has also added a new tagging system, a feature called Naming Conventions that can batch rename files, and a Multi-file organization feature that can sort files into subfolders based on how often people make changes to them. The new features are available now for Dropbox for Teams users and will be available for people with individual or family plans soon. | 4Miscellaneous
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Facebook is reportedly working on a Clubhouse copy | Facebook is in the early stages of developing a Clubhouse clone. The news comes just days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on a Clubhouse event as a guest. Facebook has cloned functionality from other social media sites before, so it is not surprising that it is now copying Clubhouse. Twitter is also working on its own version of the app. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Air Force lab demonstrates key element for beaming solar power from space | The Air Force and Northrop Grumman have announced that they are one step closer to collecting solar power in space and beaming it to Earth using radio frequency (RF). Their technology involves a 'sandwich tile' that converts solar energy to RF. The power can then be beamed to a receiving station on the ground and collected using a rectifying antenna that will convert it into usable power. A test of the technology is predicted to launch in 2025. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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More Start-Ups Have an Unfamiliar Message for Venture Capitalists: Get Lost | The VC model is simple: raise enough capital to grow faster than competitors and regulators can catch up. Founders are now beginning to question whether buying into the boom or bust VC game is a good idea. Some companies like Wistia (video hosting) and Buffer (social media posting) have bought back their investors' shares to pursue more sustainable growth. New small VC funds like indie.vc and Earnest Capital are now giving funding with buyback clauses to allow companies to buy out investors with profits down the line. Bootstrapped startups like collaboration tool Notion believe they can achieve ambitious goals like challenging Microsoft without any venture capital backing. Entrepreneur Mara Zepeda says "The tool of venture capital is so specific to a tiny, tiny fraction of companies. We can't let ourselves be fooled into thinking that's the story of the future of American entrepreneurship." | 4Miscellaneous
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How a Half-Dozen Raspberry Pis Help Keep This Maine Oyster Farm Afloat | Running Tide Technologies is an oyster farm that grows kelp. It employs 30 people including software developers, instrumentation engineers, fabricators, and a data scientist. The system that Running Tide users receives feedback from the oysters and adjusts water conditions accordingly. It uses six Raspberry Pis that feed data to the cloud. The sensors will hopefully be able to enable Running Tide to forecast harmful algae blooms and detect a change in acidity levels. Kelp can store up to 20 times more carbon per acre than forests, so part of Running Tide's operations involves using its kelp farm to remove carbon from the atmosphere. | 4Miscellaneous
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Netflix plans real-life Squid Game reality TV show with $4.56m prize | Netflix is recruiting for a reality TV show inspired by Squid Game. 456 recruits from around the world will play games with a $4.56 million prize at stake. The 10-episode series will be filmed over four weeks in early 2023. Participants need to be over 21 years old and speak English. Netflix has confirmed that Squid Game will be renewed for a second season. | 4Miscellaneous
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How I've Attracted The First 500 Paid Users For My SaaS That Costs $5/mo | This is the story of how former freelance developer Takuya Matsuyama created a SAAS that makes $3200 a month and allowed him to quit freelancing! Since he includes a TLDR in this excellent article that you should definitely read, it would seem a bit rude of me to write a separate one. So from the article, his TLDR/bullet points: you don't have to get covered in large blogs, why churn rate is surprisingly low, spend a lot of time in user forums, publish roadmaps, treat paid users as special, tell your strategy, ignore all competitors, and accept your incompleteness. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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CookLang (Website) | CookLang is a recipe markup language that simplifies recipe management, streamlines shopping routines, and makes cooking more fun. It creates human-readable text files with simple, focused, and efficient tools. CookLang can be used to automate cooking and shopping routines with existing UNIX command-line and scripting tools. An iOS app is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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How the Canadian cannabis company Tilray became worth more than American Airlines | Canadian startup Tilray became the first marijuana company to go public on the Nasdaq in July, and now the company is worth over $20 billion after the US Drug Enforcement Administration signed off on Tilray's plan to import marijuana from Canada to the US for medical research. A large part of the reason for the large spike in valuation is that most of the shares are held by Privateer Holdings, a private equity firm backed by investor Peter Thiel, meaning the publicly traded portion is a relatively small fraction of the total number of shares. Spending on cannabis worldwide is expected to reach $57 billion by 2027 and Tilray is well positioned to be a major player in this market. The stock is extremely volatile, and dropped from $230 to $180 in just one hour Wednesday morning. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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SpaceX Starship event live: Every major announcement from Elon Musk's update | Elon Musk just updated the world on all things SpaceX Starship on a livestream from the Starbase facility in Texas. During the presentation, Musk talked about Starship's future plans and the current state of SpaceX's technology. SpaceX is expecting FAA approval in March. It is confident that Starship will reach orbit by the end of the year. This page contains all the details from the presentation. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Live workshop: Build an IoT app in 2 hours (Sponsor) | Open source time series platform InfluxDB is running this free, hands-on virtual workshop on how to build an IoT application. It will go over data ingestion, collection, storage, and visualization. Learn more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The U.S. Army is building a giant VR battlefield to train soldiers virtually | The Synthetic Training Environment is an initiative to create a unified training environment that will allow soldiers to practice combat scenarios before being deployed into a battle zone. It will use cloud computing and the latest VR technology to simulate terrain from all over the planet in a massively multiplayer training simulation. The STE will allow soldiers to train in well-equipped training centers, at home stations, or even during deployment. Data can be gathered during training to fine tune soldiers’ performance and problems can be identified and rectified before they are encountered in the real world. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Mysterious Clouds on Mars Formed by ‘Meteoric Smoke,’ Study Says | A new type of cloud has been discovered on Mars that is created from debris that burns up in the planet’s atmosphere. This ‘meteoric smoke’ stimulates cloud formation at altitudes between 30 and 60 kilometers. The clouds form best during cold weather when ice vapor can build around the interplanetary dust particles in the middle atmosphere. A similar process can also happen in Earth’s skies when meteoric dust falls into our atmosphere. Three to four tons of alien dust enters Mars’ atmosphere every sol, but only a fraction ever reaches lower altitudes. This process may explain cloud formation during Mars’ early years, and a similar process may be happening on any number of other planets outside our solar system as well. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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React Preview (Website) | React Preview can preview any React component in a codebase. It can provide instant feedback inside the IDE without writing any extra code. GIF examples are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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A Complete Guide to Custom Properties (19 minute read) | Custom properties are used as variables in CSS. They can make code easier to maintain, and using them can unlock interesting possibilities. This is a complete guide to using Custom Properties. It contains plenty of examples and additional resources. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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T-Mobile, Sprint consider dropping Huawei, expect US security clearance for deal | The US national security panel has been conducting a review of the T-Mobile and Sprint merger that was announced in April. It looks like the merger will be approved as early as next week, as both companies have agreed to consider curbing their use of Huawei equipment. US officials say Huawei is controlled by the Chinese state and might have back doors built into their networking equipment. Huawei says these claims are unfounded. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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How the U.S. Military Buys Location Data from Ordinary Apps (11 minute read) | The US military is buying movement data harvested from innocuous-seeming apps. Examples of these apps include a Muslim prayer and Quran app, a Craigslist app, and an app for following storms. X-Mode is a company that obtains data directly from apps and then sells it to contractors like the military. It encourages app developers to incorporate its SDK into their apps in exchange for a fee based on how many users the app has. Some app developers did not know who was purchasing their users' location data. While the data is anonymized, it could easily be deanonymized. Other state actors have the same access to purchase the same data. | 4Miscellaneous
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Web Tools Weekly (Newsletter) | This is a handy weekly roundup of apps, scripts, plugins, and other tools that front end designers will be interested in. It's curated by Louis Lazaris of Impressive Webs. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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A Facebook engineer abused access to user data to track down a woman who had left their hotel room after they fought on vacation, new book says | A new book has been released that details how Facebook fired 52 employees between January 2014 and August 2015 for exploiting user data for personal means. Most of the employees who were fired were men who took advantage of their data access to find profiles of women they were interested in. Facebook has a zero-tolerance policy for abuse and has fired every employee ever found to be improperly accessing data. An employee was found to have abused access nearly every month, but Facebook still resists limiting internal access to private data. | 4Miscellaneous
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Acme (GitHub Repo) | Acme is a library of reinforcement learning agents and agent building blocks. It is designed to be simple while still being flexible enough for more complex implementations. Acme supports both single-actor and distributed training paradigms, providing a variety of agent baselines with state-of-the-art performance. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Pyramid lenses catch light from any angle to boost solar cell efficiency | Engineers from Stanford have developed a pyramid-shaped lens that can focus sunlight from any angle onto a solar cell. The Axially Graded Index Lenses (AGILE) can capture more than 90% of the light that hits its surface, focusing it to be three times brighter. Each layer of the lens bends light to a different degree, allowing light to enter from any angle while still remaining focused. The technology could allow solar energy to be used in more places. Pictures of AGILE prototypes are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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NASA calls Voyager 2, and the spacecraft answers from interstellar space | Voyager 2 has been in space for 43 years and it is now 125 astronomical units away from Earth. In 1989, scientists ordered Voyager 2 to fly in a trajectory that resulted in it only being able to communicate with a radio antenna facility in Canberra, Australia. The facility had to be refurbished in March, with work completing in February next year. To test the new hardware at the facility, Voyager mission managers sent a series of signals to Voyager 2, which it responded to. It was the first time since March that NASA has been able to communicate with the spacecraft. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Google’s hybrid cloud platform is coming to AWS and Azure | Google’s Cloud Services Platform for managing hybrid clouds, renamed Anthos, has come out of beta and will support third-party clouds, including AWS and Azure. Companies will be able to manage and deploy workloads across clouds without having to worry about different environments and APIs. Anthos is based on the Google Kubernetes Engine as well as other open source projects. It can run on any hardware, so companies do not have to invest in new servers. Google has launched Anthos with more than 30 major hardware and software partners. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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El Salvador is giving away free Bitcoin to its citizens | El Salvador will give $30 worth of Bitcoin to each adult citizen that downloads and registers on its new cryptocurrency app. President Nayib Bukele has introduced legislation that will make Bitcoin legal tender on September 7. The law is intended to generate employment and investments in the country. The app will be compatible with both US dollars and Bitcoin. Users can choose what currency they want to use on the app, but the gift will be in Bitcoin to promote its use. Bitcoin will not replace the dollar as the only legal tender in El Salvador. | 4Miscellaneous
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Meta is opening its first retail store next month | Meta is opening its first hardware retail store on its campus at Burlingame, California on May 9. The store will have areas for visitors to demo Portal devices, Quest virtual reality headsets, and Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. It will open from 11 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday. The store will allow Meta to experiment with its in-store customer experience and help define its future retail strategy. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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AIDungeon2 (GitHub Repo) | AIDungeon2 is a text-based adventure game that is generated using a deep learning model. Users can enter any action they want and the model will continue generating a story based on the action. Players can choose from several possible settings and characters. The game is available to play online. Code for the game is available but the model for AIDungeon2 is temporarily unavailable to download due to cost. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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'It's going to be a revolution': driverless cars in new London trial | UK tech firm Oxbotica has completed its first demonstration of an autonomous fleet driving in a complex urban environment in London. Ford Mondeos fitted with autonomous technology operated on public roads around the former Olympic Park in Stratford this week. The first passenger trials could start in June 2020. During the demonstration, the cars operated with a safety driver and were prompted by the technology to decide whether to intervene in difficult situations. One of the main focuses in developing autonomous driving technology is security, as there are potential problems around hackers and communications technologies. Oxbotica's driverless cars do not rely on GPS or maps, as they aim to develop technology that can move people and goods anywhere and everywhere. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Huawei Revs Up Its U.S. Lawsuit, With the Media in Mind | Huawei is fighting back against the US blocking their business from dealing with American companies through the courts and media. A motion to accelerate the lawsuit against the White House was filed on Tuesday. If successful, Huawei may have the opportunity to receive a summary judgment, allowing the company to avoid the time and costs of a full trial and handing over sensitive information. Huawei maintains that they are not a security threat and that banning Huawei would not make US networks more secure. They also claim that the ban was unconstitutional as the company was never given a chance to appeal. The ban may set a dangerous precedent, as it demonstrates the US government’s power and willingness to punish other countries and companies. | 4Miscellaneous
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Scientists connect a human brain and 'rat cyborg' brain together | A Chinese research team has developed a wireless brain-to-brain system that allowed a human to control and move a ‘rat cyborg’ through a maze. Researchers were able to translate signals from an electroencephalogram attached to humans into instructions that stimulated a rat’s brain to move in a certain direction. While scientists have previously been successful in creating other brain-to-brain control systems, this is the first time it has been used to solve a complex navigation task. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China releases videos of its Zhurong Mars rover | The China National Space Agency has released footage of its Zhurong rover on the surface of Mars. There are three videos available. The videos were taken with a wireless camera that was on the ground away from the robot. One of the videos has sound and the robot's locomotion system can be heard, although it is muffled due to the nature of Mars' atmosphere. Scientists are hoping that the robot survives for at least 90 Martian days. It has so far driven 236m since it was deployed on May 21. | 4Miscellaneous
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Tesla partners with Samsung on new 5nm chip for full self-driving, report says | A report from Korea says that Tesla is partnering with Samsung to develop a 5-nanometer chip for self-driving. Samsung is already producing Tesla's current self-driving chips in its Hardware 3.0 computers, but that chip is based on 14-nm technology. The new chips will begin mass production in late 2021, so they likely won't be inside Tesla production vehicles until 2022. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Blue Origin will run an “astronaut rehearsal” during a launch this week to prep for human spaceflight | Blue Origin is planning an astronaut rehearsal during its launch on April 14. The rehearsal will include boarding, preflight operations, and then returning to a staged version of an exit capsule. It will be similar to the procedure that private astronauts will perform during a real launch. The flight will have a test dummy on board to measure data about what the launch would be like for people. Blue Origin will launch at 8 AM CDT from West Texas. A live feed will be available an hour before launch. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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horcrux (GitHub Repo) | horcrux splits up files into encrypted fragments that can later be put back together without a password. Users can files up into as many horcruxes as they want and they will be able to decrypt the file as long as they have three pieces. The horcruxes can be dispersed and stored on various USBs or online locations. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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XLite (GitHub Repo) | XLite is an SQLite extension written in Rust. It allows users to query spreadsheets as SQLite virtual tables. INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements are currently not supported. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Wirelessly Rechargeable Soft Brain Implant Could Cure Brain Diseases | Researchers from Korea have invented a smartphone-controlled soft brain implant that can be wirelessly charged after being fitted into a user's brain. It enables long-term neural circuit manipulation without the need for periodic surgeries to replace the implant's battery. The device uses micrometer-sized LEDs to wirelessly manipulate target neurons via light. It uses a circuit that integrates a wireless energy harvester with a coil antenna and a Bluetooth low-energy chip to generate electricity inside the device for charging. The technology used in the implant could be applied to a variety of other implants to reduce the burden on patients for long-term use within the body. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Suspected Russian hackers spied on U.S. Treasury emails | According to people familiar with the matter, Russian hackers have been monitoring internal emails at the US Treasury and Commerce departments. The incident led to a National Security Council meeting at the White House on Saturday. US officials have not released many details beyond confirming that there was a breach at one of its agencies. The Russian foreign ministry has denied the allegations. SolarWinds, an IT company that serves several US government departments, released a statement late Sunday saying that its software may have been subverted by a supply chain attack by a nation-state earlier this year. The diversity of SolarWinds’ customer base may mean other government agencies may be at risk. | 4Miscellaneous
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In a world-first, Chinese scientists clone pigs by only using AI | Researchers from China have developed a fully automated method to create pig clones. Creating clones using human labor often results in damaged cells. Robotic pig cloning has a much higher success rate. The technology could help significantly increase China's pig population and help the country become self-sufficient in pork production. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Amazon One lets you pay with your palm | Amazon Go stores in Seattle will soon use Amazon's palm recognition technology called Amazon One. The technology uses the human palm as identification, linking the details of the palm to the person's account. Amazon plans to offer the service to third parties such as retailers, stadiums, and office buildings. Palm identification was chosen over other biometric alternatives as a person's identity can't be determined by just looking at an image of their palm and it requires someone to make an intentional gesture to hold over the device to use it. Anyone can use the service as long as they have a phone number, a credit card, and a palm. Customers can delete their biometric data from the company's online portal if they no longer want to use the service. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Flickr-Faces-HQ Dataset (GitHub Repo) | Flickr-Faces-HQ (FFHQ) is a high-quality image data set of human faces. It contains 70,000 PNG files at 1024x1024 resolution with a large variation in age, ethnicity, and image backgrounds. Photos also have people wearing glasses, hats, or other accessories. The images are able to be used under a Creative Commons license by NVIDIA Corporation. All files contain original metadata to acknowledge the original content creators. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Elon Musk says the Boring Company's first tunnel under LA will open December 10th | Elon Musk says that the tunnel his Boring Company has been digging under Los Angeles is almost done and will be open to the public on December 10th. The tunnel is two miles long, and will transport passengers and vehicles on autonomously driven electric platforms called skates at speeds up to 155 mph (250 km/h). This tunnel is just a proof of concept, the company is already digging tunnels between downtown Chicago and Chicago's O'Hare airport and between Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium and East Hollywood. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Awesome System Design (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains a list of system design resources. It contains articles, books, videos, and tools. Topics include distributed computing, microservices, case studies, and more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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A New Humanoid Robot Has the Most Advanced and Realistic Facial Expressions Yet | Ameca is a humanoid robot that can display human-like expressions. The robot was developed by UK-based company Engineered Arts initially as a platform for testing robotic technologies. It can be rented out by other companies to test or demonstrate artificial intelligence or machine learning technologies. It can't walk yet, but its modular architecture will allow for upgrades in the future. A video showing the robot displaying a range of expressions is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is about to fire bullets into an asteroid | Japan aims to land its Hayabusa 2 spacecraft on the Ryugu asteroid on February 22. The mission was supposed to happen last October, however, it was discovered that the surface of the asteroid was covered in much larger gravel than expected. The Hayabusa 2 will fire three bullets into the surface of the planet to create dust in order to collect samples, two upon landing and one later in the year. The spaceship is scheduled to return to Earth with the samples in late 2020. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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What Silicon Valley "Gets" about Software Engineers that Traditional Companies Do Not (12 minute read) | Silicon Valley companies consistently understand a few things that their traditional counterparts either fail to understand or implement into practice. These practices result in faster innovation, better professional growth, and better utilization. SV-like companies think of engineers as value generators and creative problem solvers, while traditional companies think of them as factory workers. Engineers at SV-like companies are given more autonomy, tools, and information, which allows them to add value when they see an opportunity. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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iPhones will be required to use USB-C charging by 2024 under EU policy | The European Union has reached an agreement to make USB-C charging a requirement for all consumer electronics using wired charging by the fall of 2024. Laptops will have 40 months to comply with the new rules after the policy takes effect. The policy also standardizes fast-charging speeds. Apple has previously shown its disapproval of the policy, saying that it would stifle innovation and harm consumers. The EU Parliament and Council still need to formally approve the agreement before the legislation becomes law. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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India bans TikTok, dozens of other Chinese apps | The Indian government has banned 59 apps developed by Chinese firms due to concerns that the apps threaten national security. The apps include TikTok, Community and Video Call apps from Xiaomi, two of Alibaba Group's Apps, ES File Explorer, and more. A list of the apps is available in the article. 27 of the banned apps were among the top 1,000 Android apps in India in the last month. The apps have been accused of stealing and transmitting users' data in an unauthorized manner. Google and Apple have not yet removed the apps from their stores, but they have complied with such app removal requests in the past. | 4Miscellaneous
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Gmail’s redesigned interface including Chat and Meet is now the new default | Gmail's new user interface will show Chat and Meet sections in the side pane by default. Users can still use classic Gmail by opting out in the settings menu. The change will roll out to all Gmail users except for Google Workspace Essentials customers and Workspace customers that only have access to Gmail. Google is also introducing a Material You redesign and new features for Meet. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Here’s everything Apple just announced: New AirPods, MacBook Pros, colorful HomePod Minis and more | Apple has announced new MacBook Pro laptops with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, a MagSafe connector, a notch cutout on the top of the screen, and 3 USB-C ports. The 14-inch MacBook Pro will start at $1,999 and the 16-inch model will start at $2,499. Third-generation AirPods were also announced, with a new design, 6 hours of battery life, and MagSafe charging. The HomePod Mini will launch in a variety of new colors. A $4.99 Voice Plan is now available for Apple Music that will allow users to access music through Siri. More details on the new products are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Rocket Lab prepares its chopper to catch a returning booster in midair | Rocket Lab plans to catch the first stage of its Electron booster midair with a customized helicopter later this month. The first stage will deploy a parachute and slow down to 10 meters per second before the helicopter will make its attempt. Previous tests of the procedure with replica models have been successful. A 14-day launch window for the test will open up on April 19. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Flatmap (GitHub Repo) | Flatmap is a tool that generates Mapbox Vector Tiles from geographic data sources like OpenStreetMap. It packages tiles into files that can be served using tools like TileServer GL or even queried directly from the browser. A live demo is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Fortnite splits into two different games tomorrow because of Epic and Apple’s fight | Fortnite players on iOS or macOS won't be able to play the new season when it arrives as the game is still banned from Apple's App Store. A judge has allowed Apple to leave Fortnite off the App Store but has prevented Apple from removing all of Epic's developer accounts, including the account linked with Epic's Unreal Engine. Any Apple device with Fortnite already installed can continue to run the app but won't be able to receive any updates for it. A court hearing on September 28 will make more permanent decisions on the case. Apple has said that it will bring Fortnite back to the App Store if Epic complies with the App Store guidelines. | 4Miscellaneous
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Elizabeth Warren Proposes Breaking Up Tech Giants Like Amazon and Facebook | As tech giants become bigger and richer, they have started acting more like governments rather than companies, bullying cities and states into showering them with taxpayer handouts in return for doing business. Senator Elizabeth Warren is proposing a new law that will create two tiers of companies - companies that have a global annual revenue of over $25 billion, and those who have annual revenue of between $90 million and $25 billion. Those companies in the first category will be required to structurally separate their products in the marketplace, while those in the second category will have stricter regulations, but not be required to separate themselves. The goal of the proposed bill is to make the marketplace more competitive and to prevent municipalities from being manipulated by large companies. | 4Miscellaneous
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Apple search engine efforts ‘stepping up’ as Google deal under threat | Apple has been working on its Applebot crawler since before 2015, and with Google under investigation for antitrust practices, it may have to put it to use. Google currently pays Apple an estimated $8-12 billion a year to be the default search engine on iOS. Antitrust regulators claim that the deal is anti-competitive, so Apple may be forced to choose a different default search engine. Applebot's crawl rate has increased substantially in recent months, but Apple could just be trying to improve Siri. Apple's strong stance on privacy may prevent it from entering into the search engine business. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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NASA helicopter to take a spin on harsh, cold Mars | Ingenuity is a four-pound drone that NASA hopes to fly on Mars when it lands on Thursday. The atmosphere on the surface of the planet is about one percent the density of Earth's, with temperatures of -130 degrees Fahrenheit. It can take up to 45 minutes for instructions to reach Mars from Earth, so everything that Ingenuity does will be programmed in advance. The Ingenuity mission will start slow, beginning with a testing routine. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Real Dev (Website) | Real Dev provides real-world projects so that developers can practice and develop their CS skills. Projects involve real technical problems like building HTTP server endpoints, writing scripts, or building webpage frontends. Completed projects can be submitted at any time and will be assessed instantly. A leaderboard for high scores is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Amazon jumps into the pharmacy business with online prescription fulfillment, free delivery for Prime members | Amazon Pharmacy has launched in the US. The service will allow customers to order prescription medications for home delivery, with free delivery for Amazon Prime members. Amazon has been trying to enter into the $300 billion pharmacy market for several years, acquiring PillPack in 2018 for its pharmacy software, fulfillment centers, and relationship with health plans. Amazon Pharmacy will accept most forms of insurance and it has tools to verify physician orders to detect fraud. Some personal information will be collected as it is required by law to provide pharmacy care. Amazon will not deliver Schedule II controlled medications and it won't be offering vitamins and supplements through the service. Pharmacy data will be kept separate from other data that Amazon collects. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Nerve transfer surgery restores hand mobility in tetraplegic patients (3 second video) | Doctors performed a series of nerve transfers, sometimes combined with tendon transfers, to attempt to restore mobility in the upper limbs of patients who had recently suffered from cervical spinal cord injury. This video shows a patient moving their arm and picking up a water bottle from a high position and moving it towards their mouth. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Introduction to Git In 16 Minutes | Git is a system that allows developers to track changes to project files over time. It allows developers to record project changes and go back to specific versions of files at any given point. Git can be used to collaborate on team projects. Knowing how to use Git is one of the most important skills for any developer. This article provides a basic introduction on how to use Git and resources for further learning. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Samsung’s new partnership offers another glimpse of a drone delivery future — in only one Irish town | Samsung has partnered with Irish drone delivery company Manna to bring drone delivery of small electronics like phones and smartwatches to a small town in Ireland. Residents of the town will receive their devices within three minutes if they order from Samsung's Irish online store. Manna's drones can travel at speeds of over 60 kilometers per hour, and they will only operate within a two-kilometer radius from their dispatch center. People in the town have already been able to order groceries and medicines to be delivered by drone since last year, thanks to a deal Manna has with Tesco. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Can lab-grown brains become conscious? (13 minute read) | Brain organoids, miniature human brains grown from human stem cells, have become common in labs that study the properties of the brain. An experiment in 2019 reported coordinated waves of activity in some brain organoids that resembled the kind of brain activity seen in premature babies. It is unknown whether this is an indication that the brain organoids were conscious. Researchers are calling for a set of guidelines to guide the humane use of brain organoids and other experiments that could achieve consciousness. To develop these guidelines, scientists need to first define what consciousness is. | 4Miscellaneous
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Zipline (GitHub Repo) | Zipline is a Pythonic algorithmic trading library. It is currently used in Quantopian, a free platform for building and executing trading strategies. Zipline allows users to focus on algorithm development by providing easy access to analysis tools through the use of standard libraries. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Docuowl (GitHub Repo) | Docuowl is a documentation generator. It takes directories of markdown files as input and compiles them into a single HTML file. A demo is available in the repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Tesla’s chief designer is selling new interiors for Tesla cars through Unplugged Performance | Unplugged Performance, a well-known Tesla tuner, has partnered with Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen to bring aftermarket luxury interiors to Tesla vehicles. | 4Miscellaneous
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dos-like (GitHub Repo) | dos-like is a library for writing games and programs that attempts to recreate the look, feel, and sound of old DOS programs on modern platforms like Windows, Mac, and Linux. It includes examples of classic DOS techniques and effects. Screenshots are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Doctors transplant neurons made from brain cells to treat Parkinson's | In 2009, a Harvard University stem cell biologist published a paper on turning patients' own skin cells into stem cells, but they later lost a majority of their funding and the future of the research was looking grim. The researcher then received a grant from a stranger who had Parkinson's disease. In 2017, the benefactor had dopamine-producing neurons made from his skin injected into his brain. Eighteen months after the procedure, the patient regained some motor function. Brain scans showed that the neurons in his brain seem to be producing dopamine and the patient was able to tie his laces and swim again. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Huawei will help build Britain’s 5G network, despite security concerns | The UK National Security Council has approved Huawei’s bid to help build non-core parts of Britain’s 5G network. Critics are concerned with Huawei’s alleged ties to the Chinese government and claim that the deal would leave British citizens vulnerable to cyber attacks and espionage. Huawei denies any connection with the Chinese government. The company has been accused of helping China steal trade secrets and intellectual property as a state-directed telecom company. Security experts acknowledge the possibility that Huawei may be a threat. However, the threat is minimal as the agreement only involves the manufacturing of non-core parts of the network. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The Internet Encyclopedia of Memes (26 minute read) | Know Your Meme is an online encyclopedia dedicated to cataloging internet memes. Its deep catalog of memes makes it one of the most important sites on the internet. The site has been running for 15 years. This article features an interview with Don Caldwell, Know Your Meme’s Editor-in-Chief, who has made nearly 100,000 contributions to the site. The interview discusses what constitutes a meme, the process of uncovering the origins of a meme, meme eras, how technology evolves with memes, and much more. | 4Miscellaneous
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Scientists Use CRISPR to Delete Fearful Memories in Rats | Researchers at Peking University have used CRISPR gene editing to remove fearful memories from rats. The new technique could be used to treat pathological memories and memory-related conditions such as PTSD, drug addiction, chronic pain, and chronic stress. While negative memories could be essential for survival, too much focus on them can cause psychological and physical disorders. The study isn't clear on how memories are targeted and what safety measures are used to ensure other memories aren't accidentally removed. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Scientists build wireless pacemaker that dissolves in body | Researchers have developed a battery-free pacemaker that can be implanted directly onto the surface of the heart and absorbed by the body when no longer needed. It is inexpensive and can be remotely controlled and programmed from outside the body. The device is powered by wireless technology similar to that used in the wireless charging of smartphones. It hasn't been tested in humans yet, but animal tests show that it can generate the necessary power to be used in adult humans. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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What I loved about Paul Allen by Bill Gates | A touching eulogy by Bill Gates for his late friend and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who he met when he was in 7th grade. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Manipulating photons for microseconds tops 9,000 years on a supercomputer | An optical quantum computer built by Canadian startup Xanadu is able to sometimes perform operations with more than 200 qubits. Simulating one of the operations, which only takes a few-dozen milliseconds on the optical quantum computer, would take 9,000 years on a supercomputer. Xanadu's hardware uses a chip to put photons in a specific quantum state then it forces photon pairs to interact in ways that entangle them. More details about the technology are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Plaiceholder (GitHub Repo) | Plaiceholder is a suite of Node.js functions for creating low-quality image placeholders. It can generate images in CSS, SVG, Base64, and Blurhash. A basic demo is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Why the [expletive] can’t we travel back in time? (15 minute read) | As far as we know, we can't reverse the flow of time. It is theoretically possible, but only in very special circumstances that are probably impossible to create. Time seems to only be able to flow in one direction. While fundamental physics doesn't seem to care about time, the concept of entropy may be related to our experience of time. Scientists still don't know how these concepts are connected, as entropy has not been deeply researched. Time travel may still be possible, but it will require the discovery of new physics. | 4Miscellaneous
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Announcing TensorFlow Quantum: An Open Source Library for Quantum Machine Learning | Machine Learning has shown that it has the potential to solve science's most challenging problems. Quantum computing is set to accelerate the pace of machine learning and make new breakthroughs in science. The University of Waterloo, X, and Volkswagen have released TensorFlow Quantum to provide the tools necessary for bringing quantum computing and machine learning research communities together to control and model natural or artificial quantum systems. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Walmart to launch a $98/year Amazon Prime competitor for grocery delivery and other perks | Walmart is launching a new membership service for $98 a year. Walmart+ offers same-day delivery of groceries and general merchandise, along with other perks such as fuel discounts. Amazon Prime is currently $119 a year and has 150 million Prime members worldwide. It offers 2-day shipping, grocery delivery, access to Prime Video content, and more. Walmart reported a 37% increase in overall annual revenue in 2019, with online sales spiking 74% in the fiscal first quarter this year. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Byte flight | People have protested against tech workers in Silicon Valley in the past. Now that many tech workers are no longer required to head into offices for work, a lot of them are choosing to leave the area. Some companies have plans to reopen offices in 2021, so it is too early to tell how large the impact the switch to remote work is yet. Tech workers feel unwelcome in the area and it is expensive to live there. Leaked audio from a recent all-hands meeting at Google suggested that the company might be considering taking a similar approach to Facebook and becoming more flexible about remote work over the next 10 years. | 4Miscellaneous
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Tim Berners-Lee unveils global plan to save the web | Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has launched a global action plan to save the web from political manipulation, fake news, privacy violations, and other forces that threaten to turn the world into a digital dystopia. The Contract for the Web outlines nine central principles to safeguard the web from abuse and ensure it benefits humanity. It has the backing of more than 150 organizations, including Microsoft, Twitter, Google, and Facebook. The contract requires governments to ensure that people have access to the internet and have their privacy respected, including having access to personal data and the right to object or withdraw from having that data processed. Companies are required to make internet access affordable, accessible, and to allow customers to control their privacy. They are also required to diversify workforces, consult broad communities regarding their products, and assess the risk of their technology's potential to hurt people or spread misinformation. Individuals are requested to create rich and relevant content, provide strong online communities, and to fight for the web. | 4Miscellaneous
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