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Signal CEO Hacks Cellebrite iPhone Hacking Device Used By Cops | Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike recently published details of exploits for Cellebrite devices, noting that the software was missing many industry-standard exploit mitigation defenses. Cellebrite devices are used by law enforcement to gather evidence from encrypted devices. Future versions of Signal will include files that Marlinspike has implied were designed to tamper with Cellebrite devices. Signal's research into Cellebrite's software may have also uncovered some copyright violations. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Loom: Async Video Messaging For Work (Sponsor) | Loom: Async Video Messaging For Work . Instead of spending your day in back-to-back meetings, try a new kind of face time where you never need to repeat yourself and it's easy to be yourself. A 3 minute Loom could replace your next 30 minute meeting. Get Loom For Free. | 0Sponsor
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The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations | A recent study on our galaxy has concluded that it is likely full of dead civilizations. The study used modern astronomy and statistical modeling to map the emergence and death of intelligent life across the Milky Way. According to the study, intelligent creatures tend towards self-annihilation. Many older civilizations were likely clustered in a band around 13,000 light-years away from the center of the galaxy, where there are the most sunlike stars. Civilizations that exist today are likely young. | 4Miscellaneous
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Facebook Parent Meta Is Opening Its First Store. Here's What It's Like Inside | Meta has opened its first store at its campus in Burlingame, California. The store allows customers to demo several of the company's devices, such as the Portal Go, Oculus Quest 2 headset, and Ray-Ban smart glasses. It is open Monday to Friday from 11 AM to 6 PM. A gallery of images showing what it is like inside the store is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The only time you'll hear ppl cheer for a rocket to explode (Twitter Video) | SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday, and about 84 seconds after liftoff, it ejected itself from the rocket to simulate emergency procedures. Bad weather had delayed the test, which was planned for Saturday. With the test's success, the first astronaut mission could happen as soon as April. A 17-second video is available that shows the Falcon 9 rocket exploding during the test. | 4Miscellaneous
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The human skin replacement that got experts buzzing | Elastagen is an Australian company that has perfected a technique for producing elastin, a protein that can stretch to eight times its length. Elastin occurs anywhere in the body that requires stretching and recoil and accounts for the elastic properties of many of the body's tissues. Elastagen produces tropoelastin, a precursor of elastin, by putting the genetic instructions for human tropoelastin into a bacterium. The resulting protein can be developed into topical gels, surgical glue, and could also potentially be used for other applications in stem cell and regenerative medicine research. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Python libraries to make your code readable, reliable, and maintainable | Writing quality code means that it will be easier for you when you will have to go over again. This article contains a list of tools to help write quality Python code. It covers testing frameworks, test runners, GUI/frontend testing, fake data, and more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Coinbase Multi-Factor Authentication Hack Affects at Least 6,000 Customers | Between March and May this year, hackers used a flaw in Coinbase's account recovery process to bypass SMS multi-factor authentication and transfer funds out of at least 6,000 customers' accounts. The attackers likely stole login information through a phishing scheme as there is no evidence that the information was obtained from Coinbase. Coinbase will be compensating customers for the stolen funds. Customers are advised to switch to more secure versions of multi-factor authentication. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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SpaceX capsule swarmed by boaters after successful splashdown | SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule was surrounded by dozens of private boats after it splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, creating chaos for recovery crews trying to get to the spacecraft. Crew Dragon recently completed a two-month mission to the International Space Station. It is unknown why private boats were in the area at the time. The situation was potentially dangerous due to the possibility of toxic propellant fumes from the spacecraft thrusters and the boats possibly getting in the way of an emergency recovery operation. A 14-second video showing the splashdown is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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How to Recreate the Ripple Effect of Material Design Buttons | Material Design's button component uses a ripple effect to give users feedback, with the animation changing position depending on where each button is clicked. An example of this is at the beginning of the article. This article explains how to build the button component using JavaScript. Other approaches to build the component are discussed. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Bird flu: Russia detects first case of H5N8 bird flu in humans | Seven workers at a poultry plant in Russia were infected with a bird flu strain in December. All seven people are now feeling well and adequate measures were taken to stop the spread of infection. There was no sign of transmission between humans. This is the first report of the H5N8 strain being passed on. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Facebook will host a paid movie premiere this month | Facebook will host the premiere of The Outsider, a documentary about the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City. The film will be available for 12 hours from August 19 at 8 PM ET. There will be a Facebook Live panel discussion after the premiere. Virtual tickets will cost $4. Facebook won't be taking a cut of ticket sales as it is waiving commissions on creators' revenue until 2023. The Outsider will hit theaters and other streaming platforms in September. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Watch as Royal Marines Test Out a Flying Jet Suit | The Royal Marines are testing a jet suit for use as a way to fly and land on ships quickly and with precision. Gravity Industries developed the suit to provide rapid access and exit to and from target areas while retaining the ability to handle a weapon. An earlier version of the suit featured a helmet-controlled shoulder-mounted pellet rifle. A 3-minute video showing the jet suits in action is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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How to use undocumented web APIs | The information browsers send to the backend are just HTTP requests. There's no way for the backend to tell that a request isn't sent by a browser unless too many headers are removed. This article shows how anyone can access undocumented APIs by sending requests to endpoints authenticated with cookies. It uses Google Hangouts as an example and then points out some of the issues with the technique. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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NASA to Study a $700 Quintillion ‘Goldmine’ Asteroid | Psyche 16 is an asteroid that could be worth $700 quintillion. Scientists have recently confirmed that the asteroid is at least 20 percent metal by studying the polarized light bouncing off its surface. Psyche 16 doesn't emit the kind of polarized light that a highly metallic body should. NASA plans to send a probe to the asteroid in 2022 to collect measurements of its gravity and potential electromagnetic fields, as well as determine whether the asteroid is the core of a planet-sized object. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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World's Largest Nuclear Fusion Experiment Clears Milestone | The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project is an experiment that aims to reach the next stage in the development of nuclear energy by generating emissions-free electricity. Located in southern France, ITER is now 6.5 years away from 'First Plasma'. A recently installed cryostat base and lower cylinder pave the way for the installation of the tokamak, the housing for the powerful magnetic field that will encase the ultra-hot plasma fusion core. After ITER becomes operational, it will still take 10 years until it is fully powered up. 35 nations have cooperated together on the project. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Simple Search is a browser extension that gives you Google circa 2010 | Simple Search is a browser extension that removes all the widgets that Google has been building into its search results over the last 10 years. Google now attempts to show users the most important information from websites in infoboxes. This plugin is an attempt to recreate an older version of the search service. The extension works for Bing as well and it is available for both Firefox and Chrome. | 4Miscellaneous
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How browsers work (47 minute read) | Web browsers are probably the most widely used software in the world. Their main function is to present web resources by requesting them from a server and displaying them on the browser window. This article explains how web browsers work behind the scenes. It explores what happens from when a user types an address into the address bar to when the browser renders a page on the screen. The article uses examples from Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Meet Kryptology: Coinbase’s Open Source Cryptography Library | Kryptology is a cryptographic library from Coinbase that enables developers to create novel crypto innovations with state-of-the-art cryptography. Crypto was founded on cryptographic innovation and cryptography is a driver for innovation in crypto. Kryptology contains a toolbox of secure, audited, and easy-to-use APIs that are designed to be misuse-resistant. It is now open source. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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What is Deno and will it Replace NodeJS? | Deno was created by Ryan Dahl, the creator of Node.js, as an answer to the things that he thought were wrong with Node.js. It has a brand new JavaScript runtime for the backend, is written in Rust, is based on the Tokio platform, and runs on Google's V8 engine. Deno uses command-line arguments to enable or disable access to different security features, bringing in security controls similar to industry standards. It has a more complete standard library compared to Node.js and integrated TypeScript. Deno handles dependencies by allowing importing of models from anywhere. It is still new in the industry so it will be a few years before it has a chance of replacing Node.js. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Amid scandal, Pornhub hires “biometric technology” firm for user verification | Pornhub has announced new security features and policies to ensure that the videos on its platform do not contain potentially illegal material. The company received criticism last year after it was accused of profiting from illegal material. It responded by suspending activity from unverified users and deleting nearly 80 percent of its hosted content. Pornhub has partnered with Yoti, a London-based company that acts as a middle-man for biometric verification. This will allow Pornhub to verify users without ever seeing their private information. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Spotify will soon let you mute and block artists | Spotify is rolling out a new feature that lets you mute artists you don't want to hear from. This way, the artist's music will never be played from any library, playlist, or radio station on Spotify. The feature will be in the next iOS app release, no word on when it will come to Android. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The GitHub Student Developer Pack is back | Verified students on GitHub can apply for the GitHub Student Developer Pack, a program which represents almost $45,000 in savings for students. Students will receive GitHub Pro at no charge during their time in school, as well as receive special offers from the many GitHub Education partners who contribute to the program. The list of partners includes companies such as DigitalOcean, Microsoft, Amazon, JetBrains, and Stripe. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Developer Burnout: Why It Happens and What We Can Do About It (11 minute read) | This article discusses burnout and ways to deal with it as a developer and as a manager looking after a team. Burnout can cause people to experience feelings of exhaustion, increased mental distance, demotivation, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy. Being able to identify and name the factors that lead to burnout can help people find solutions to manage stress and avoid burnout. The article covers the definition of burnout, the internal and external factors that cause it, the different stages of burnout, how to measure burnout, and much more. | 4Miscellaneous
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Scooter startup Lime is laying off 14 percent of its workers and exiting 12 markets | Lime, an electric scooter-sharing company, will be leaving 12 cities and firing 100 workers as part of its goals to reach financial independence in 2020. Scooter sharing companies have struggled to become profitable. Most experts agree that the market is oversaturated and needs to consolidate. Lime lost approximately $300 million in 2019, likely due to the depreciation of its electric scooters and the cost of repairs. Joe Kraus, Lime's president, claims that Lime is close to being profitable, and he denied rumors that Lime was seeking a new round of venture capital investment. Other scooter-share companies have also laid off employees in recent months. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Hyundai latest concept 'car' walks to places it can't drive | Hyundai's Tiger X-1 is a vehicle that has long, bendable legs that it can use if its wheels can't get it to where it needs to go. It can drive in any direction, using either its wheels or legs. The legs can bend as the vehicle goes over uneven terrain, keeping the cargo area level. Hyundai designed the vehicle to be used for difficult rescue operations following natural disasters. It can be connected to an aerial drone to be flown to any location. Hyundai estimates that it needs at least another five years before the Tiger will be ready for the real world. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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We tested the claims that the iPhone XS selfie camera makes faces look too smooth | The iPhone XS's automatic image processing makes people's faces noticeably smoother than the iPhone X's. Some people are complaining that it's making their faces too smooth (there's no option to turn off this processing feature). Some journalists from Business Insider tested the two phones and put the images side by side, I gotta say I think the iPhone XS pictures look much better. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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‘Closing borders is ridiculous’: the epidemiologist behind Sweden’s controversial coronavirus strategy | Sweden didn't go into lockdown or impose social-distancing policies but instead opted for a trust-based measure which only advised its citizens to adhere to some guidelines. It has resulted in a higher number of coronavirus deaths in Sweden compared to its neighbors. The system relies on individuals understanding that they have a responsibility not to spread a disease. Sweden doesn't have laws that allow it to lock down a geographical area. It will not close borders. The Swedish government will focus on care for at-risk individuals. It believes that the evidence around asymptomatic carriers being infectious is weak and that the country should aim for herd immunity through infections rather than waiting for a vaccine as there has been little evidence for re-infection globally. 💻 | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Sony announces the world’s first QD-OLED 4K TV, coming later this year | Sony's new Bravia XR A95K TV will include a QD-OLED panel manufactured by Samsung Display. It will be the world's first consumer TV with a Quantum Dot Organic Light Emitting Diode display. QD-OLED screens emit blue light through quantum dots to convert some of the blues into red and green without the need for a color filter. This results in greater light energy efficiency and vivid color reproduction even at peak brightness levels. Pictures of the TV are available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Folio (GitHub Repo) | Folio is a customizable test framework for building test frameworks. It runs tests in isolation by default, making it fast, reliable, and adaptable. It can leverage TypeScript power with minimal effort, run tests in multiple configurations, annotate tests, generate comprehensive reports, and run multiple test types differently. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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How I operated as a Staff engineer at Heroku (12 minute read) | Amy Unger worked effectively as a Staff engineer at Salesforce for five years. During this time, she worked on the Heroku Add-ons project and the Heroku API team. This article discusses her role in the company, the daily operations of a Staff-plus engineer, sponsoring other engineers, and networking at a remote company. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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In a first, chimpanzees seen smashing and eating tortoises | Chimpanzees have been observed smashing tortoises against trees to break through their shells for a meal. It is the first time that any chimpanzee has been documented eating any kind of reptile. Percussive acts have been seen in chimpanzees previously, such as when they eat walnuts. Studying chimps is difficult due to the habitat that they live in as well as the fact that it takes over five years for a population to become habituated to human presence. Researchers are constantly making new discoveries, as each individual group of chimpanzees has their own unique behaviors and culture. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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The world finally has an approved vaccine against Ebola | Europe has granted approval for the world's first Ebola vaccine. Ervebo was developed in 2014 and has been used during the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo based on a compassionate use protocol. The current outbreak in the DRC is the second-largest recorded, with nearly 3,300 cases and 2,200 deaths. Preliminary vaccine data shows that Ervebo is 97.5 percent effective at preventing Ebola. It protects against one of the four species of Ebola known to infect humans. The vaccine is expected to be approved in the US in the first half of 2020. Ervebo has been prequalified by the World Health Organization, which means that it meets WHO standards for safety, quality, and effectiveness. Five years ago, there was no vaccine or therapeutics for Ebola. The disease is now preventable and treatable. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Emu (GitHub Repo) | Emu is a high-level programming language for GPUs that is designed for embedding in Rust. A single procedural macro is provided for writing functions, which then translates the functions into low-level code to be run on the GPU when compiled. Other features such as built-in mathematical and physical constants, unit annotation, and implicit conversion are also available to make programming GPUs more accessible. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Swiss region to take cryptocurrency for tax payments in 2021 | Switzerland's Zug canton has said that it plans to accept cryptocurrencies for tax payments starting next year. The canton will accept tax payments of up to 100,000 Swiss francs starting in February. A pilot program is expected to launch in the next few weeks. Taxpayers who want to pay in cryptocurrency will receive a QR code for payments after notifying tax authorities. An attempt by Ohio to accept cryptocurrencies for tax payments was ruled illegal by the state's attorney general last year. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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New details and images emerge of SpaceX’s Starlink user antennas and planned beta testing | Images of Starlink's user terminals were found on SpaceX's Starlink website. They look like a 'UFO on a stick', just as Elon Musk had once described. Musk noted that the design had slightly changed since the images were produced. The terminals have motors to self-orient for optimal view angle and won't require an expert installer. Private beta testing for the network is expected to begin later this summer, with a public beta following soon. Beta testers will receive a Starlink kit, Wi-Fi router, power supply, and mounts for the system. They will be required to test the system between 30 minutes to an hour each day and provide feedback to SpaceX. Beta testers won't be charged for their terminals, but they will have to pay $1 to test out SpaceX's billing system. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Astronomers have spotted the universe’s first molecule | Helium Hydride (HeH) is thought to be the first molecule that would have formed following the Big Bang. Using a special telescope that is built into a converted 747 jet, scientists were able to detect a light signal emitted by HeH molecules some 3000 light-years away from Earth. Helium is a typically non-reactive molecule, which means the conditions needed to create HeH would be extreme, and this discovery proves that the molecule has been created and exists in space. HeH has been synthesized in human laboratories before and it is theorized that it may still be created by dying stars. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Mutiny at HQ Trivia fails to oust CEO | Internal struggles within HQ Trivia have seen the third most popular game on the App Store in 2018 drop out of the top 1,500 games within a year. The management of the company had always been questionable, with many controversies over the various CEOs’ behaviors. While the company had been successfully funded multiple times, it has been spending the money at an extremely fast and unsustainable rate. Investors are now reluctant to continue funding, despite HQ trying out new apps and formats. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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GitHub Actions by Example (Website) | This site contains examples of how to use GitHub Actions, a CI/CD service provided by GitHub. Each example contains code and comments explaining the code. Topics include event triggers, actions, environment variables, parallel jobs, context expressions, and more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Scientists Just Observed Warm Matter Emanating From a Black Hole | Warm gas has been observed emitting from an active black hole for the first time. The structures look like the smoke streams seen on Earth during volcanic eruptions. They were observed through the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) frequency radio telescope, the largest of its kind in the world. The activity in the supermassive black hole at the center of every galaxy directly determines the evolution of that galaxy. These expanding heat bubbles have a heavy influence on the intergalactic medium and the rate of star formation. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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The Iodide notebook (GitHub Repo) | While sharing scientific results is easier than ever, sharing results, or even allowing others to look at the data and manipulate it themselves, can be a complicated problem. Iodide aims to solve this problem by providing an interactive programming environment to allow scientists to work flexibly and collaboratively with minimal friction. The browser-based platform allows you to tell the story that you want while having the live, editable code only one click away. Users can review papers and the code/data that the papers are based on inside their browsers, without having to use multiple sources and files or having to install any extra software. Many example notebooks are available, along with a detailed tutorial on how to use Iodide effectively. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Uncontrolled reentry: Why China “just not caring” is a huge problem for space | China's Long March 5B rocket is expected to make an uncontrolled reentry in the next few days. It is not the first time the China National Space Administration has opted for an uncontrolled reentry. Uncontrolled re-entries are dangerous as pieces of debris can cause damage. It is unknown where the rocket might reenter, but its erratic trajectory places it in the path of several populated areas. There are no international regulations that require controlled reentries, but it is best practice by space agencies around the world. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Have a protein you want inhibited? New software can design a blocker | Researchers have created software that can design inhibitors for target proteins to block their activity. The software designs proteins that are later encoded into DNA and inserted into yeast cells for production. The resulting proteins are easy to make and extremely stable even at high temperatures. Proteins generally have to be injected to be effective and there is no guarantee that they will go where they are needed. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Lyft's monthly subscription plan is now available nationwide | Lyft now has a monthly subscription, for $299 a month you can get 30 free rides valued at $15 or less. If any of these rides goes over $15, you just pay the difference. You can use this for single passenger or carpool rides, and for a limited time subscribers will get an additional 5% off additional rides. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries and that doesn't bode well for humanity | IQ scores have started to decline in many leading nations. While the debate is still ongoing regarding the relationship between IQ scores and intelligence, studies have shown that IQ scores correlate to education levels, longevity, economic growth, and scientific innovation. In general, IQ scores have been trending upwards since the measure was invented, and has only recently started trending downwards. It is unknown why IQ scores are now dropping, but there are many theories ranging from changing societal norms to the effects of global warming on the nutrition of foods. | 4Miscellaneous
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A Long-Lost Legendary Roman Fruit Tree Has Been Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds | An ancient species has been brought back to life from 2,000-year-old seeds found in ancient ruins and caves. The Judean date palm has been lost for centuries, and the feat confirms the long-term viability of the seed kernels. By studying the saplings, scientists were able to determine that the palm was cross-cultivated with a blend of eastern and western date palm varieties. The findings helped shed some light on ancient cultivation practices. They show that humans in ancient civilizations deliberately introduced desirable traits into cultivated species. The scientists are trying to determine how the date seeds retained their viability for so long, as this could have important implications for agriculture. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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World's largest plant: 112-mile-long seagrass found off Australian coast | Researchers from Australia have discovered a plant that covers a total area of 200km2. The researchers took samples of seagrass shoots from the area and examined genetic markers and found that it was all a single plant. It is estimated to be around 4,500 years old. The giant seagrass meadow appears to be extremely resilient. It can survive in an environment that would be typically highly stressful for most plants. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Zero (GitHub Repo) | Zero is a graphics pipeline implemented in JavaScript and rendered to the terminal. It uses JavaScript to replicate the functionality of a GPU, so no GPU is required. Zero is available for Windows, OSX, and Linux terminals. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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150 mph without a driver: Indy autonomous cars gear up for race | Nine autonomous vehicles took part in the Indy Autonomous Challenge recently. The vehicles raced separately with a $1 million prize on the line. Each team, made up of students from around the world, was given the same model car and equipment. The teams programmed the code to control the vehicles, pushing them to their limits. The aim of the challenge was to increase trust in autonomous technology by proving that it can work in extreme conditions. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Watch: Klein Vision’s Flying Car Prototype Takes to the Skies After Driving the Road | Most flying cars are just small airplanes, but the Klein Vision AirCar is an aircraft that looks and functions like a car. A video is linked in the article that shows the AirCar successfully completing a flight and driving around. It is a road-ready car that can transform into a plane with a touch of a few buttons. The vehicle is powered by a 1.6-liter BMW engine and the startup claims that it has a flying range of 620 miles and can reach a top flying speed of 124 mph. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Easily segment and activate customer data to improve data governance and orchestration (Sponsor) | Lytics Cloud Connect lets you query customer data (using SQL) to instantly build segments from data in your data warehouse. Empower your organization to activate that data and push it to leading ad platforms — without custom connectors. Learn more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The Raspberry Pi 400 is a compact keyboard with a built-in computer | The Raspberry Pi 400 is a compact keyboard with an ARM-based computer built-in and it is available now as a standalone machine for $70. It has two micro HDMI ports, a microSD card slot, two USB 3.0 ports, and a single USB 2.0 port. There is a USB-C port for power and a GPIO header for attaching a variety of niche devices. Inside, it features a quad-core 1.8GHz ARM Cortex-A72 CPU, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 5.0, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. It can be purchased in a bundle including a mouse, power supply, microSD card, HDMI cable, and beginner's guide for $100. | 4Miscellaneous
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WeWork CEO Adam Neumann to step down and retain chairman role | WeWork CEO Adam Neumann has announced that he will step down after issues with governance and valuation prevented the company from going public. Neumann will remain a non-executive chairman and the CEO role will be split between Sebastian Gunningham and Artie Minson. WeWork still plans to go public this year. Neumann will no longer have majority voting control. SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son led the charge to remove Neumann due to long term disagreements. WeWork executives have been considering cost reduction measures which may include laying off a third of WeWork's employees as well as closing ancillary businesses. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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WeWork CEO Adam Neumann has reportedly made millions of dollars by leasing office space to his own company | WeWork has been renting buildings that its CEO Adam Neumann partially owns, paying $12 million between 2016 and 2017 and on the hook for $110 million over the lifetime of the leases. There is an internal review process for related party transactions, but Neumann has majority voting rights over the board. A spokesperson says that only 4 of the 400 properties rented by WeWork are partially owned by Neumann. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Watershed Moment (11 minute read) | Genki balls are mud balls that contain a microbial solution that promotes vigorous plant growth. They have been used to transform areas of environmental blight into healthy soil and clean water in one hundred countries. The canals of Waikīkī have become muddy due to urbanization and pollution. The Genki Ala Wai Project is a collaboration between schools to throw Genki balls into the canals. Three months after it started, much of the sludge has disappeared in parts of the canal and water quality has remarkably improved. The Genki Ala Wai Project plans to expand and teach the public how to make Genki balls. | 4Miscellaneous
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k0s - Zero Friction Kubernetes (GitHub Repo) | k0s is a single binary Kubernetes distribution that can make building a Kubernetes cluster just a matter of copying an executable to every host and running it. It provides a robust and versatile base for running Kubernetes in various setups, while attempting to minimize the number of add-ons bundled in. k0s is not yet 100% stable, with the team aiming for a 1.0.0 release out in early 2021. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Microsoft Office now available on Apple's Mac App Store | Microsoft's full Office suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive are all available in the Mac App Store. The big benefit here is that the apps will be automatically updated through the App Store. It costs $7/month for the personal version. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Netflix’s Big Wake-Up Call: The Power Clash Behind the Crash | Netflix's recent earning calls revealed lower than expected subscriber growth. Some are blaming the company culture for its troubles. Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of the company, pushed for quantity of content at the expense of quality. Cindy Holland, who played a key role in launching some of the service's originals, fought to increase the quality of shows but was criticized for spending too freely. The company culture changed profoundly after Holland's departure. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Slidev (GitHub Repo) | Slidev creates presentation slides for developers. It is markdown-based, themable, interactive, fast, and customizable. Slidev has built-in recording and the ability to export into PDF, PNG, or to a hostable SPA. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Unity’s impressive new ‘Enemies’ short shows off a remarkably realistic digital human | Unity has released a tech demo that demonstrates what its game engine is capable of. 'Enemies' is a 2-minute long video that shows a detailed room and an almost realistic human being, all rendered by the popular game development engine. It shows how Unity can compete with Epic Games' Unreal Engine. The video is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Reddit is raising a huge round near a $3 billion valuation | Reddit is raising up to $300 million in its next ‘Series D’ round of funding, rumored to be lead by Chinese giant, Tencent. The funding could put the valuation of Reddit at nearly $3 billion. Reddit has recently been making a big deal out of selling their new cost-per-click ads, which helped push the yearly revenue of the site to over $100 million in 2018. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Uber drivers are contractors, not employees, U.S. labor agency says | The general counsel of a US labor agency has concluded that Uber drivers are contractors, not employees. Drivers set their own hours, own their own vehicles, and are free to work for Uber’s competitors, which makes them unable to be considered employees under federal labor law. A final ruling by the National Labor Relations Board will decide whether Uber drivers are employees and can form unions. Uber continues to deny any wrongdoing, but they have stated in a filing with the SEC that they would pay up to $170 million to settle tens of thousands of arbitration cases across the country with drivers who claim they have been misclassified as independent contractors. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google’s ARCore Depth API is now available for developers to make realistic AR experiences | ARCore Depth API improves immersion for devices with a single camera, using Google's depth-from-motion algorithms to generate a depth map from a single RGB camera. It is now ready for a public launch for developers on Android and Unity. One of its key features is the ability to accurately place digital objects behind real-world objects. Depth-API also enables realistic physics, interaction with real-world surfaces, environmental transversal, and more. It has been used extensively by Snap for its products, as well as in several AR games. A 47-second introductory video to ARCore Depth API is available at the end of the article. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Tesla launches new virtual power plant that pays Powerwall owners to help end brownouts | Tesla and PG&E have launched a virtual power plant in California. A virtual power plant uses distributed energy storage systems to provide grid services. The new system will allow Tesla Powerwall owners to receive $2 per kWh when the grid needs emergency support. There are about 50,000 eligible Powerwalls, which adds up to 500 MWh of energy capacity. The move could turn Tesla into a major decentralized electric utility company. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Read Elon Musk’s memo to employees explaining that Tesla will not close all its stores as it previously said | When Elon Musk announced the release of the $35,000 Model 3, he also announced the closing down of Tesla’s retail stores. In an email on March 10, this decision was reversed. The email said that the 10% of stores that have already closed down were due to be shut down anyway and that only another 20% of stores were under review. As a result of the new decision, the prices of most vehicles will rise 3% after March 18, but the base Model 3 will remain at the $35,000 price mark. Sales will continue to be online only, which means that Tesla sales staff will guide customers on how to order their cars online if they wish to purchase in a store. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Prisons Across the US Are Quietly Building Databases of Incarcerated People's Voice Prints (10 minute read) | Prisons are building databases of their inmate’s voice prints. The methods used to collect this data include taking away privileges until the prisoner complies. Voice recognition data is being used to identify parties in a phone call and the technology is able to identify ‘suspicious’ phone calls. The data is not erased when prisoners are released and is being used to identify calls involving past inmates. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Uber's big new update lets you book party buses, electric vehicles and more — here's what's new | Uber announced a big new update during its Go/Get virtual event on Monday. The update includes new features such as an option for booking buses or passenger vans, a trip itinerary feature for booking rides through an extended trip, voice ordering through Google Assistant, UberEats at stadiums, an electric vehicle hub and charging map, and more. Uber will add trains, buses, planes, and car rentals to its UK app this summer. Details about the new features are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Nine-year-old kids are launching DDoS attacks against schools | A study by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed that the number of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks launched against school networks and websites more than doubled from 2019 to 2020. Many of the culprits were secondary school children, with the youngest being just nine. The NCA has launched a new initiative to educate kids on the consequences of launching DDoS attacks. Students who search for terms associated with cybercrime will see a page with information about the Computer Misuse Act and some encouragement to use their technical prowess in an ethical career. A video from the campaign by the NCA is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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about SwiftUI (GitHub Repo) | There are many docs, examples, videos, and tutorials on SwiftUI and this repository aims to gather all of the material to create a central source of information for SwiftUI. SwiftUI allows developers to easily build user interfaces across all of Apple’s devices using a simple set of tools and APIs. Developers are welcome to contribute to the list. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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How we built a $1M ARR open source SaaS (20 minute read) | Plausible Analytics is a privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics. It is completely independent and self-funded, with four staff and 7,000 paying subscribers. The startup is actively counting stats on more than 50,000 websites without ever paying to advertise. This article discusses how Plausible Analytics started and how it developed into a $1 million annual recurring revenue business. | 4Miscellaneous
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Resilience engineering notes (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains a list of people who have contributed significantly to the field of resilience engineering. People from related fields such as cognitive systems engineering and naturalistic decision-making have also been included. Each listing contains a summary of the person’s work, a list of their publications, and links to information about the concepts they introduced into the field. The readings in this repository are ones that the author has read or is planning to read so it may not be comprehensive. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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This Fake Travis Scott Song Created By Artificial Intelligence Sounds Almost Like The Real Thing | A digital agency created an entirely AI-generated song, complete with lyrics and melodies, modeled after Travis Scott's music. The result was a track titled 'Jack Park Canny Dope Man' - the music video is linked in the article. It features heavily auto-tuned vocals with nonsensical rhymes. During its training phases, the AI kept generating lyrics about food. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Apple is telling retail store workers to expect a limited supply of replacement iPhones for the next several weeks | Apple has warned its retail staff that the company is facing a shortage of replacement iPhones. Some stores are also running low on individual replacement parts. During the shortage, employees are instructed to offer customers loaner devices or to mail out replacement devices when they become available. Apple has closed all of its retail locations in China, and many of its suppliers' factories have been forced to close down temporarily. Like many companies, Apple has restricted employee travel and implemented additional hygiene measures. The coronavirus outbreak made a major impact on the stock market recently as businesses face disruptions. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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How to Make an NFT in 14 Lines of Code (14 minute read) | This tutorial will teach you how to mint your own NFTs. It is beginner-friendly and does not require any prior knowledge of the Ethereum network or smart contracts. The tutorial is part of a series that teaches readers how to build fully functional web apps for selling their own NFTs. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Airbus to build 'first interplanetary cargo ship' | After the first Martian rock samples are mined by NASA's Perseverance rover, they will be blasted into orbit by a rocket, where an Airbus satellite will grab them and then ship them home. The joint American-European project will cost billions and take over a decade to complete. A physical sample will allow scientists to use tools only found in Earth laboratories for analysis. The Earth Return Orbiter will weigh 6.5 tonnes and launch in 2026. It will use an ion engine powered by immense solar arrays, giving the satellite a wingspan of more than 120ft. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China hacked HPE, IBM and then attacked clients (2 minute) | Hackers from China's Ministry of State Security breached the networks of Hewlett Packard and IBM, then used that access to hack clients of both firms. This was part of a widespread Chinese cyber attack that spanned 12 countries and began in 2014. Two Chinese nationals have been detained and indicted. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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CPython on WASM (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains build scripts and configurations for building CPython for Emscripten. Emscripten can compile code into WebAssembly and run it on the web, Node.js, or other WASM runtimes. It has been used to convert many real-world codebases to WebAssembly, including Unreal Engine 4 and the Unity engine. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Scientists: We kept pig brains alive 10 hours after death. Bioethicists: “Holy shit.” | The line between life and death has been blurred by recent research, where scientists were able to revive the cells in dead pig’s brains and keep them alive hours after death. Brain death was thought to occur 15 minutes after the organ stops receiving oxygen, but the scientists saw signs of life in brains that had been ‘dead’ for more than four hours, after hooking them up to a special system called BrainEx. BrainEx supplied the brains with oxygen, nutrients, and protective chemicals. While the cells showed signs of life, brain monitors showed no signs of activity, indicating that there was no consciousness. As the lack of consciousness was chemically induced, it may be possible that the brain activity could have been restored, but researchers did not want to cross that line. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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3 crashes, 3 deaths raise questions about Tesla's Autopilot | Three recent crashes have caused increase scrutiny of Tesla's Autopilot driving system just months before fully self-driving Tesla cars were planned to be deployed on the streets. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is looking into some of these incidents but has yet to determine whether Tesla's Autopilot system was being used during the accidents. Tesla says that its Autopilot system is only designed to assist drivers, and still requires drivers to pay attention and be ready to intervene. While the system may make driving safer, it does not mitigate all risks. The NHTSA has yet to issue any regulations on advanced driver assist systems. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Open Source Insights (Website) | Open Source Insights is a service that helps developers better understand the structure, construction, and security of open-source software packages. It constructs a full, detailed graph of a package's dependencies and properties to provide data on how the software is put together and what effects its dependencies have. Open Source Insights has scanned millions of open-source packages and updates the data regularly. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Lexical (GitHub Repo) | Lexical is a JavaScript web text-editor framework. It was designed to be highly extensible, reliable, and accessible. Examples of apps created with Lexical are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Lab-Grown Heart Muscles Have Been Transplanted Into a Human For The First Time | Researchers in Japan have performed the first lab-grown muscle transplant. Degradable sheets containing lab-grown heart muscle cells were placed on areas with damaged heart muscle cells in a patient. The heart muscle cells were grown from induced pluripotent stem cells. If the patient from the study responds well to the treatment, the researchers plan to perform the same procedure on nine other people within the next three years. All of these patients suffer from a condition that requires a heart transplant in severe cases. This technique could be the much-needed alternative to heart transplants as finding suitable heart donors is difficult and transplanted organs have a much higher risk of rejection by the patient's immune system. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Adobe Photoshop's 'Super Resolution' Made My Jaw Hit the Floor | Super Resolution is a new feature in Adobe Camera Raw that uses machine learning to upsize images to four times their original size. It works better with higher resolution images, but it still does an amazing job on smaller files. Anyone with lower resolution cameras can now output large image files for prints. Examples of Super Resolution-enhanced images are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Amazon is using algorithms with little human intervention to fire Flex workers | Amazon Flex hirings and firings are all handled by software, with minimal intervention by humans. Many workers are reporting that they are being fired for reasons outside of their control. The reasons that Amazon gives for the firings often don't match the true reason for the termination. Executives at Amazon are apparently aware of the faults in the system but they are unconcerned as long as there are sufficient numbers of replacements for those who are mistakenly terminated. The Flex app was downloaded 200,000 times in May. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Using CRISPR to resurrect the dead (18 minute read) | Humans have had a severe impact on Earth’s biodiversity. One million species are threatened with extinction within the next decade. Scientists have been using CRISPR to edit DNA, and the technology may have the potential to bring back extinct species. However, some there are some opponents of de-extinction who argue that more effort should be put into preventing the extinction of existing animals and that extinct animals may not be suited to the current climate. It is already possible to recreate the Wooly Mammoth. The Asian Elephant shares around 99.96 percent of its DNA with the Wooly Mammoth and scientists have already experimented with combining the DNA of the two species. Reintroducing some species may have a significant positive impact on the ecosystem. The technology can also be used to modify existing species to adapt to different climates. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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DocumentDB (Announcement) | AWS has released a new hosted database called DocumentDB, it's an auto-scaling MongoDB compatible database. Basically, MongoDB is licensed so that Amazon is not allowed to offer its own hosted MongoDB, so Amazon has written its own MongoDB clone. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Why is the Migration to Python 3 Taking So Long? | Python 2 is finally at end of life. Its drop-dead date for support is on January 1, 2020. Despite this, many companies are still heavily utilizing the language and have not migrated to Python 3. Python 3 was developed to remove a legacy problem in Python which rendered all strings as Unicode behind the scenes. It isn't backward compatible with Python 2. When it first came out, many people did not see the changes in Python 3 as a significant improvement. A lot of large organizations move very slowly. Migrating codebases takes a long time and a lot of effort. Instagram's move took 10 months, and Dropbox's migration is still ongoing after three years. Many companies that aren't focused on cutting-edge technology may find it even more difficult to migrate their code. Company security policies may also hinder the migration process. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Meta introduces Instagram Reels APIs for developers | Meta is releasing its Reels API to developers starting tomorrow. The API will be able to schedule Reels and get social interaction metrics. It will also allow developers to reply, delete, hide/unhide, and disable/enable comments on Reels. The API will be available for the current version and all previous versions of the Instagram Graph API. Developers with access to applicable APIs will not have to put their apps through additional App Reviews. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Ticketmaster will pay $10 million for hacking rival ticket seller | Live Nation, parent company to Ticketmaster, hired a former employee from rival ticket seller CrowdSurge and used their knowledge of old usernames and passwords to infiltrate the company's computers. They used this access to interfere with CrowdSurge's operations. Live Nation lost access to the system when CrowdSurge merged with Songkick in 2015. Songkick sued Ticketmaster for violating antitrust laws, but it accepted a $110 million settlement after shutting down its business and selling its remaining assets to Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster was fined $10 million for the incident. | 4Miscellaneous
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Products I Wish Existed, 2020 Edition (10 minute read) | The new technologies that we have today have opened up new niches for startups to fill. Remote work is becoming more common, and ways of hiring these workers will need to evolve. New forms of social media will need to adapt to social trends. Companies have opportunities to provide governments with networking and surveillance technology, and there is a lot of opportunity for companies looking to help the planet. War is changing, and defense will need to start relying on software-based defense contractors. New discoveries in biotech will mean that new types of fertility and longevity treatments will soon be available. Different new types of healthcare services will be possible. | 4Miscellaneous
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Hotwire (Website) | Hotwire is an approach to building web applications by sending HTML over the wire. This approach makes for fast first-load pages, keeps template rendering on the server, and allows for a better development experience without sacrificing responsiveness. Hotwire uses Turbo, a set of techniques for delivering efficient apps without writing any JavaScript. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Three people with inherited diseases successfully treated with CRISPR | Two people with beta-thalassemia and one with sickle cell disease will no longer need regular blood transfusions after their bone marrow stem cells were gene-edited with CRISPR. The treatment involved killing bone marrow cells with chemotherapy and replacing them with edited cells. While the chemotherapy caused adverse side effects, it appears that the CRISPR gene editing was safe. There were five people in the trial altogether. The patients will need to be monitored for the rest of their lives to observe the long-term effects of the treatment. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Disaster ‘prepping’ was once an American pastime. Today, it’s mainstream again | The disaster-prepping industry has boomed since the start of the pandemic. Many people found themselves woefully unprepared in March. As the government has stepped in to help its citizens throughout the decades, individuals have become more unprepared for the unexpected. However, as trust in the government has lessened in recent years, more people have taken matters into their own hands by prepping. This has resulted in an industry that provides prepping services ranging from kits to armored bunkers. The trend is likely to continue as prepping has now overcome its stigma and become mainstream. | 4Miscellaneous
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Gene-edited cattle have a major screwup in their DNA (11 minute read) | A flaw has been discovered in the genetically modified cattle made by Recombinetics. Recombinetics created modified bovine which do not grow horns, but in the process, bacterial DNA was mixed up with the cows' DNA, resulting in antibiotic resistance within the cows. While it is probably safe to eat the cattle, scientists are worried that the genes may be passed onto the bacteria inside their guts, leading to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Bacterial DNA present in their genome means that the cows will not receive regulatory approval as food. This is an example of how DNA editing can go wrong. Independent scientists still haven't had a chance to confirm whether the genetically modified Chinese twins born last year have any unintended mistakes in their DNA. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Harvard scientists create gene-editing tool that could rival CRISPR | Retron Library Recombineering is a new gene-editing tool that enables scientists to perform millions of genetic experiments simultaneously. It uses segments of bacterial DNA called retrons which can make fragments of single-stranded DNA. Retrons can introduce mutant DNA into a replicating cell so that it becomes incorporated into the daughter cells' DNA. They can also be used as markers to allow scientists to track individuals in a pool of bacteria. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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age (GitHub Repo) | age is an encryption tool and Go library with small explicit keys, no config options, and UNIX-style composability. An alternative Rust implementation is available. age can encrypt files to multiple recipients using keys or passphrases. It can also encrypt/decrypt using SSH keys. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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I attended a virtual conference with an AI version of Deepak Chopra. It was bizarre and transfixing | The AI Foundation creates avatars with artificial intelligence that look and sound like the people they are meant to represent. Each avatar is trained by the person they emulate in order to learn to become digital extensions that can communicate on behalf of their real selves. If an AI doesn't know the answer to a question, it will ask its human about it at another time. Instead of replacing people, the idea is to use the digital personas to allow one person to do more work. The article describes a scenario where five of the digital personas are put together into a simulated meditation session. | 4Miscellaneous
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A first look at Microsoft’s new Windows 10X operating system for dual screens | Windows has released its first emulator for Windows 10X, its operating system designed exclusively for foldable and dual-screen hardware. Developers will have a chance to start optimizing apps before devices launch later this year. It feels like a slightly more modern version of Windows 10 with a simplified look. The Start Menu behaves like a task launcher where you can search for apps, documents, and web content. Cortana is missing from the operating system. The biggest changes can be found in the way Windows 10X handles multitasking. Apps will open by default on a single screen and can be stretched across dual-screen devices. The old Windows desktop and File Explorer have both been replaced. A new Wonder Bar, designed to sit above or below a hardware keyboard, will allow similar functionality as Apple's Touch Bar. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google announces Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL | The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4XL have been officially announced at an event in New York City. It is now available for preorder and will ship on October 24th. There will be three new colors: white, black, and a limited-edition orange option. The Pixel 4 will have a 5.7-inch display at 1080p and start at $799, and the Pixel 4 XL will have a 6.3-inch Quad HD display and start at $899. Both devices will have a 90Hz max refresh rate, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 processor, and will come in either 64GB or 128GB storage with 6GB RAM. Google has developed its own face unlock system and an interaction method called Motion Sense, which allows the Pixel 4 to be controlled with hand gestures. The camera now has a telephoto portrait lens beside the standard primary rear camera. New software has also been added to improve photography features, and there is a new Recorder app that can transcribe text that can be searched. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Uber launches rider loyalty Rewards like credits & upgrades 9 cities | Uber is launching a loyalty program called Uber Rewards in 9 cities today before rolling it out to the entire US in the next few months. There are four tiers of rewards (Blue, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond) with Blue you basically just get 1 penny in Uber credits for every dollar you spend on Uber (you earn 2 points for UberX, Uber XL and Uber Select, and 3 points for Uber Black cars). As you get more points you get bumped up tiers, Gold makes it easier for you to cancel trips, Platinum lets you avoid surge pricing and gets priority pickup at airports, and Diamond gives you dedicated 24/7 phone support and complimentary surprise upgrades to Uber Black cars. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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