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New robots patrolling for 'anti-social behaviour' causing unease in Singapore streets | Singapore has started to employ robots to patrol its streets to detect undesirable social behavior. The robots patrolled a housing estate and shopping center as part of a three-week trial during September. Singapore is frequently criticized for its tight controls. The country is set to increase its use of intrusive surveillance technologies. Its government says that the use of patrolling robots is a response to an impending labor shortage as the population ages. Using robots reduces the number of officers needed for foot patrols. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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The Justice Department has filed its antitrust lawsuit against Google | The Justice Department has finally issued its antitrust lawsuit against Google. It seeks to restrain Google and to seek remedies for the effects of the company's conduct so far. The suit alleges that Google has a monopoly over the search market in the United States. 11 states have signed on to the suit alongside the DoJ. It will be the first significant legal challenge that Google has faced from US regulators. Google claims that people use their services because they choose to, and not because they are forced to, as there are alternatives. More details about the case, as well as a link to the full suit, are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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NYPD using VR to train for active shootings and real-life scenarios (YouTube) | In this five minute video, New York City policemen are seen using VR to train in different scenarios. Police officers are equipped with special sensors and weapons that provide recoil so that the scenarios are as close to reality as possible. They can be monitored from various angles and all movement can be assessed for training. Officers can be trained in different scenarios quickly and effectively. The software used can generate new scenarios easily, so the training can be flexible and evolve as required. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Swiss robots use UV light to zap viruses aboard passenger planes | UVeya is conducting trials of UV-light-wielding robots on jets from Helvetic Airways, in a partnership with Dubai-based airport services company Dnata. UV light technology has been used for over 50 years to kill viruses and bacteria in hospitals and laboratories. It is efficient and it doesn't leave any trace or residue. A single robot can disinfect a single-aisle plane in 13 minutes. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Gorse (GitHub Repo) | Gorse is a recommendation system written in Go. It can be easily introduced into a wide variety of online services. Gorse features AutoML, distributed recommendations, RESTful APIs, and a dashboard for data import and export, monitoring, and cluster status checking. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Node.js CLI Apps Best Practices (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains a guide on best practices for building Node.js Command Line Interface applications. The guide covers the command line experience, interoperability, accessibility, testing, and errors. Each section includes the best practice, the reason for why the best practice should be implemented, and a more detailed discussion of the topic. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Google Open-Sources Trillion-Parameter AI Language Model Switch Transformer | Researchers at Google Brain have open-sourced the Switch Transformer natural-language processing AI model. While the pre-trained model weights for the Switch Transformer have not been released, the implementation code is available on GitHub. The Google Brain team has not compared the model's performance to GPT-3, likely due to a lack of information on OpenAI's published results. | 4Miscellaneous
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PlotJuggler 3.0 (GitHub Repo) | PlotJuggler is a tool for visualizing time series data. It features a simple Drag & Drop user interface, the ability to connect to live streams of data, fast OpenGL visualization, plugins, and more. GIF examples are available in the repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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State-sponsored hackers have breached the US' nuclear weapons agency | The networks of the US Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration were breached by foreign hackers. Three states were also hacked in connection to the cybersecurity attack. Federal investigators are still assessing the damage and it is currently unknown what was accessed. The hackers likely gained access to the networks through SolarWinds' software. Microsoft may have been a victim of the attack as well. Russia has denied any involvement in the attack. Russian hackers have been highly active over the last month and were linked to recent attacks on the Treasury Department and NTIA. | 4Miscellaneous
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U.S. Eyes Building Nuclear Power Plants on the Moon, Mars | The US Department of Energy has put out a formal request to the private sector for ideas on how to build nuclear power plants that will work on the moon and Mars. The resulting reactor must be able to generate an uninterrupted electricity output of at least 10 kilowatts, cannot weigh more than 7,700 pounds, and must be able to operate mostly autonomously in space for at least 10 years. The reactors will likely need highly enriched uranium. The project aims to have a reactor, flight system, and lander ready by the end of 2026. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Google AR app lets you place prehistoric creatures, Apollo 11 in your room | Google has partnered with museums and institutes around the world to add new virtual exhibits to its Art & Culture app for Android and iOS. The app allows users to place augmented reality assets in real space viewed through a mobile device. These assets include the Apollo 11 capsule, a prehistoric crustacean called a Cambropachycope, and much more. Both Google and Apple have invested heavily in AR for mobile devices. Google's plans for its AR development are unclear, but it is widely known that Apple has been developing some form of AR glasses. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Surface Laptop Studio is Microsoft’s new powerful flagship laptop | Microsoft has announced the Surface Laptop Studio, a totally redesigned flagship laptop with a display that pulls forward to transform it into a tablet. The 14.4-inch display supports up to 120Hz and Dolby Vision. It sits on a flexible hinge that allows the laptop to transition between three modes: laptop, stage, and studio. The Surface Laptop Studio will ship on October 5 with prices starting at $1,599.99. More details about the device are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Wails (GitHub Repo) | Wails is a Go web development framework that allows developers to wrap both Go code and a web frontend into a single binary. It provides tools for handling project creation, compilation, and bundling. Wails is multiplatform and features pre-built templates, auto-generated TypeScript definitions for Go structs and methods, a unified eventing system, and much more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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CyberDog is a new ominous-looking robot from Xiaomi | Xiaomi has unveiled a quadrupedal robot called CyberDog. The open-source robot can respond to voice commands and navigate semi-autonomously. It can perform backflips and trot along at speeds of 3.2m/s. Xiaomi will first release 1,000 units to Xiaomi Fans, engineers, and robotic enthusiasts for 9,999 Yuan, or roughly $1,540. It is unclear if the price will remain the same for subsequent releases. The release of CyberDog signals how accessible robotics technology has become. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Google launches a slew of Search updates | Google has released several improvements that use AI to enhance its search engine, Google Lens, and other Search-related tools. Users can now hum songs for Google Assistant to find the name of songs. The 'did you mean' feature has been improved, now using a deep neural net with 680 million parameters to better understand context. Search is now integrated with various data sources, so users can generate graphs with certain data straight from the search bar. The system now points to specific paragraphs in articles that answers users' questions. Advanced search is available for videos as well. Google Lens can now read text out loud and solve equations. Maps can now display crowd information in AR. More details are in the article, along with a 36-minute long presentation from Google about the updates. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Work in the Time of Corona (10 minute read) | Many employees will be working from home in the coming months because of the coronavirus outbreak. During this period of change, it is normal to feel bad. The switch from working in an environment with co-workers to one where you are alone all day can be tough for many people. There is also the stress of dealing with the outbreak itself. If you are feeling bad, try to reconnect with the world with a few small interactions. In our technological world, there are many ways we can still interact without requiring a physical presence. Get dressed for work, and remember to maintain a routine. Designating a special work area will help you keep focused. Remember that as you are working from home, you will need to have systems in place to monitor yourself. Improve your video setup so you can communicate better with others. Finally, don't fall into the trap of overworking. Working from home means you need to set clear boundaries on when you are working so you don't burn out. | 4Miscellaneous
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Single-Chip Processors Have Reached Their Limits | Manufacturers are moving to multi-chip designs as the miniaturization of transistors slows down. Multi-chip designs allow manufacturers to increase transistor counts and create designs with better power efficiency and performance. While many manufacturers agree that the technology is here to stay, they are still using their own interconnect designs that are incompatible with each other. Universal Chiplet Interconnection Express is a new open standard that hopes to bring the industry together. It was only recently introduced, but a number of major organizations have not yet joined. | 4Miscellaneous
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In the deep sea, scientists discover one of the blackest materials ever known | Scientists have discovered 16 species of deep-sea fish that camouflage themselves with skin that reflects less than 0.5 percent of the light that hits it. Their darkness is caused by a distinct arrangement of melanin, a pigment also found in human skin, creating a structural light trap. Capturing these fish has proven difficult due to their low visibility and the depths that they live in. The darkest material known to man is still a material created by engineers from MIT which absorbs more than 99.96 percent of light. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Relativity Space's massive 3D printers are reinventing rockets, and building the factory of the future | Relativity Space is a company that uses 3D printing to build rockets. The company has the world's largest 3D printers, capable of printing metal pieces up to 32-feet tall. 95 percent of the parts for its Terran 1 rocket are 3D-printed, making the rocket many times less complex compared to traditional rockets. The company aims to eventually be able to turn raw materials into a rocket on the launchpad in under 60 days. A video with footage of the printing process is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Analysis of compensation, level, and experience details of 19k tech workers (10 minute read) | Data from levels.fyi was analyzed to find out how long it takes on average to become a senior or principal engineer, how much money do tech workers make, whether women get paid less than men in tech, and whether the tech industry favors the young or not. The data for the analysis came from 18.8k tech workers. On average, it takes about 18 years to become a distinguished engineer, and about four years to become a senior software engineer. There are fewer women as the level of career progression increases. Many women leave tech before they are promoted, at more than double the rate of men. The median yearly compensation for tech workers is $195,000 while the mean is $225,000, with very little difference between men and women. Stock grants are a common way to increase total compensation. Tech companies tend to favor younger employees, with older engineers' salaries having no correlation with their years of experience. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The World Is a Mess. We Need Fully Automated Luxury Communism | Lab-grown food is starting to become a reality, but at the moment, it is far too expensive. The first ‘cultured beef’ burgers are set to hit the market next year at $50 each. While lab-grown food uses fewer resources, produces negligible greenhouse gasses, and doesn’t require animals to die, companies that own these technologies charge for their products. With automation technology taking away manual labor jobs, people are able to afford less and may miss out on being able to purchase goods such as lab-grown food. The article argues that in order for society to progress, companies should aim to better the worldwide community rather than only seeking profits. | 4Miscellaneous
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Introducing Service Level Management with New Relic (Sponsor) | Manage service level objectives and service level indicators in New Relic with an easy, one-click setup and personalized views. Get started quickly and use the powerful recommendations engine to take the complexity and manual legwork away from establishing SLOs and SLIs. Learn more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Amazon acquires podcast network Wondery | Podcast network Wondery will soon become part of Amazon Music. Its podcasts will still be available from a variety of providers. Many companies are making big bets on podcasting, including Spotify, SiriusXM, and The New York Times. The terms of the sale were not public, but estimates value Wondery at around $300 million. Wondery was the fourth largest podcast publisher in November, with more than 9 million unique listeners in the US. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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As Facebook Raised a Privacy Wall, It Carved an Opening for Tech Giants (10 minute read) | The New York Times has released another Facebook privacy scandal. They've been sharing tons of data with other tech giants. They allowed Spotify, Netflix and the Royal Bank of Canada to read, write and delete users' private messages. They let Apple hide all indicators that its devices were asking for data. Even Russian search engine Yandex had special access to Facebook's unique user IDs after Facebook stopped sharing them publicly, citing privacy risks. All of these special partnerships were in effect as of 2017 according to documents the NYT got. Facebook claims that it did not violate the FTC rules requiring them to secure users' consent before sharing data because Facebook considered the partners to be extensions of itself. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Gryphon (GitHub Repo) | Gryphon is an open source platform for building and running algorithmic trading strategies in cryptocurrency markets. It is both a software library that can be integrated into other projects and an application suite for running trading strategies. Users can easily build custom strategies and trade automatically using Gryphon. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Digitizing Burning Man (14 minute read) | Burning Man is usually held in late August inside Nevada's Black Rock Desert, but this year, the organization is looking to create a virtual experience using a network of small indie teams willing to donate their own time. The event will involve eight projects, or experiences, each taking a different approach to recreating the virtual festival. Each experience will be accessible on both mobile and desktop. It is unclear how the event will be monetized as each virtual experience will use different technology. | 4Miscellaneous
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Microsoft Teams’ Walkie Talkie feature now available to everyone | Walkie-Talkie, a feature that lets Microsoft Teams users turn their mobile and tablet devices into a walkie-talkie that works over cellular data or Wi-Fi, is now available for all users. The feature is designed for frontline workers who deal with customers and run day-to-day operations. Microsoft has teamed up with Zebra Technologies to add a dedicated push-to-talk button on a range of Zebra mobile devices. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Shortcut puts the "can" in Kanban and the agile in Agile (Sponsor) | Imagine how much more you could get done if your project management tools didn't make you sigh. Shortcut (formerly Clubhouse.io) is the ideal solution for task management, bug tracking, iteration planning, and reporting. Sign up for free. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Tesla is now selling a $45 'bulletproof' t-shirt that pokes fun at the surprising moment when its Cybertruck launch event went off the rails | Tesla has released a t-shirt for sale that has an image of shattered glass on the front and the Cybertruck logo on the back, referencing the mishap during the reveal of the Cybertruck in November. The t-shirt costs $45 and is expected to ship within two weeks. While Elon Musk has tweeted that the t-shirt is bulletproof, according to Tesla's website, it is 100% cotton and not made of any bulletproof material. Telsa received 250,000 preorders for the Cybertruck just days after the November reveal. | 4Miscellaneous
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Disney's new Netflix rival will be called Disney+ and launch late 2019 | Disney will launch a Netflix competitor called Disney+ in late 2019. They have already announced that they will pull all of their movies from Netflix in 2019. The service will feature shows set in the Star Wars and Marvel universes as well as a reboot of High School Musical. They've put up a landing page with the logos Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers? (Hacker News Thread) | Last Friday I posted this story on "productivity multipliers" with a broken link, here is the correct link. | 4Miscellaneous
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pack - Buildpack CLI (GitHub Repo) | pack is a command-line interface that makes it easy to use, develop, and package buildpacks for distribution and application maintenance. It is a CLI implementation of the Platform Interface Specification for Cloud Native Buildpacks. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Disney’s Star Wars hotel is just like Westworld: only for the wealthy | Disney's Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel will feature a two-day interactive Star Wars adventure including a Star Wars-themed room, Star Wars-themed food, and actors that will help on quests throughout the experience. Guests will be allowed to dress in Star Wars outfits during the experience, something that isn't usually allowed at Disney parks for adult guests. The two-night stay will start at $4,809 for an entry-level cabin. A 30-second teaser for the two-day adventure is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Report: NASA’s major projects busting budgets, schedules | NASA’s major projects are more than 27 percent over baseline costs and the average launch delay is 13 months. The James Webb Space Telescope is the main offender for these oversights, as it has delayed its launch by 14 years and its budget is around $8.6 billion above initial cost estimates. NASA’s mega-rocket, the Space Launch System, has also run over cost due to production challenges and likely faces more delays. The Parker Solar Probe launched on time and came millions of dollars under budget, however. Currently, NASA plans to invest $63 billion into 24 major projects. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Here’s how the FBI managed to get into the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone | After the San Bernardino shooting, the FBI asked Apple to help unlock the shooter's phone. Apple attempted to help but refused to create a tool to bypass the passcode system as that would permanently decrease the security of its phones. The FBI then partnered with an Australian IT firm, who exploited a flaw in some code written by Mozilla to gain full control over the main processor and run their own code. They then ran software that allowed them to guess every passcode combination. In the end, the FBI didn't get any useful information from the phone. | 4Miscellaneous
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Break down inefficient silos between DevOps teams (Sponsor) | Avoid monitoring tool sprawl. Unify metrics, traces, and logs in a single platform with instant context without switching tools. Monitor everything with Datadog. Learn more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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SpaceX gets $300 million from Defense Department | The Department of Defense has announced a series of contracts totaling $738 million, including a $297 million contract for SpaceX. While the specifics of the 3 missions in the contract are classified, it is likely they will involve sending satellites into orbit for information purposes. The first mission is expected to be completed in February 2021, while the rest are scheduled to be completed in December 2021. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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A visual guide on troubleshooting Kubernetes deployments (12 minute read) | A flowchart for debugging deployments in Kubernetes is provided. When deploying an application in Kubernetes, a developer usually defines three components: a Deployment, a Service, and an Ingress. When troubleshooting Kubernetes deployments, one should check that the Pods are running, then focus on getting the Service to route traffic to the Pods, and finally, check that the Ingress is correctly configured. It is important to remember to approach the problem bottom-up, starting with the Pods and moving up the stack with Service and Ingress. The same debugging technique can be applied to other objects. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Car design is about to change forever. This video encapsulates how | A one-minute video from an Israeli startup shows electric vehicles that are basically just giant skateboards. Any sort of seating or storage arrangement can be installed onto the flat base to create almost any form imaginable. Traditional car manufacturing fixes a vehicle's floor plan from its earliest moments on the assembly line, whereas these vehicles can be altered at any time. The video is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Twitter to start testing voice DMs | Twitter is now experimenting with letting people record and send voice messages through direct messages. Brazil will be the first country to test the feature. Voice messages will have a 20-second time limit. Twitter received significant criticism over its audio tweets feature due to the company's failure to factor in accessibility into its design. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Bake data privacy into your app from day one by avoiding these common mistakes (Sponsor) | Bake data privacy into your app from day one by avoiding these common mistakes . Your business needs to move fast, but not at the expense of data privacy. As you aim to balance speed and security, don’t lose sight of the most common privacy pitfalls and how you can avoid them. Learn more about data privacy and what your company should avoid doing with the free white paper: Avoiding the Five Cardinal Sins of Data Security and Privacy. | 0Sponsor
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Google launches Ripple, an open standard that could bring tiny radars to Ford cars and more | Google has launched an open-source API standard called Ripple. Ripple brings Google's Project Soli tiny radar technology to devices outside of Google. Project Soli can monitor sleep quality, control smartwatches, count sheets of paper, and more. Ripple was released by the Consumer Technology Association, but it is clear that Google is behind the project. Ford is planning to use the technology as an interior radar to enhance its driver-assist technologies. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Tiler (GitHub Repo) | Tiler is a tool that can create images using smaller images without being limited to squares. An image can be created from circles, lines, waves, cross stitches, legos, and more. A gallery of examples is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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How Andrea Ghez Won the Nobel for an Experiment Nobody Thought Would Work | Andrea Ghez was the winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. For the last 25 years, she has focused almost exclusively on Sagittarius A, a supermassive black hole with the mass of four million suns that resides at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Ghez accomplished her research by modifying and using existing equipment in novel ways. The rapid turnaround from the engineers who modified the tools for her research was one of the main reasons for Ghez's success. In addition to her research, Ghez created the UCLA Galactic Center Group to coordinate research and technical developments. Her work has inspired scientists everywhere, and she serves as a role model for what ability, grit, and commitment can accomplish. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce | Dropbox is letting go of 315 employees, about 11% of the company. Its chief operating officer will leave the company on February 5. Dropbox shifted to remote work in October and plans to continue to do so after the pandemic ends. It will open Dropbox Studios in San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, and Dublin for its employees to work together in person when it is safe to do so. Dropbox's stocks have dropped by more than 6% since Wednesday. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Apple announces the new $399 iPhone SE for 2020 | Apple has revealed the new iPhone SE at a starting price of $399 for a 64GB version. The new phone has the same shape and design as the iPhone 8, an A13 Bionic chip, a 12-megapixel back lens, improved camera software, Qi wireless charging, and more. As the phone is running the same processor that is currently in Apple's most expensive phones, the device is likely to receive software updates for many years to come. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Apple in talks with Chinese battery makers for Apple Car | Apple is allegedly talking to two major Chinese battery makers about supplying batteries for its electric vehicle. One of Apple's conditions for the potential suppliers is that they will need to build manufacturing sites in the US. The manufacturers are reluctant to build a US factory due to tensions between China and the US. Apple has lost several top managers in its EV project. It is still actively recruiting new hires. Apple is apparently aiming to release the Apple Car in 2024. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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EA takes a big step into mobile with acquisition of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood developer Glu | EA has acquired Glu Mobile, a developer best known for its celebrity-focused titles. The deal values Glu at $2.1 billion. Mobile is still growing as the biggest gaming platform in the world. EA currently has more than 100 million active monthly players, and it is expecting to double this with the addition of Glu's portfolio. | 4Miscellaneous
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Elon Musk activates Starlink satellite service in Ukraine after Vice PM calls upon him | Elon Musk activated Starlink's satellite internet service in Ukraine after Mykhailo Fedorov, the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, tweeted at Musk asking for help. Musk replied 10 hours after the plea for help stating that the service was now active and that more terminals were en route. Starlink now has more than 1,500 satellites in operation providing service around the globe. The original tweet from Fedorov and Musk's response is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google Lens Announces New 'Homework' Filter, Solves Math Problems With Photo | Google Lens is integrating a feature from Socratic that will enable the app to solve equations from a picture. The app will be able to return a step-by-step guide with explanations for how to solve problems. There is no announcement date for when the feature will go live in Lens, but it is already available in Socratic. Google added 3D models to Search in May this year, allowing users to see anatomy models and cellular structures in augmented reality. The feature now has almost 100 STEM-related 3D objects available. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Meet the robot that will almost certainly steal your data entry job | Ripcord has developed a machine for scanning documents at record-breaking speeds. The machine is able to detect and remove staples, adjust to different document sizes, and make the scanned documents searchable. Using this machine will help many companies remove the need for physical document archives and also help companies work faster. Currently, most companies have to wait for days or weeks to access paper data. Ripcord has received $65 million in funding from investors, and while it may replace some jobs, manual document searching and data entry is usually a task that not many people want to do. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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AT&T Jacks Up TV Prices Again After Merger, Despite Promising That Wouldn’t Happen | AT&T will discontinue their $40 per month DirecTV Now streaming video plan and replace it with two new options, a $50 per month and a $70 per month plan. These new options will include an HBO subscription, which was previously a $5 add-on to the old plan. The Department of Justice had previously sued to prevent the merger between AT&T and Time Warner, claiming that it would create price increases, but AT&T repeatedly denied these claims. AT&T has fallen into a lot of debt due to the merger, and the price increases are an attempt to alleviate some of the pressure. Experts say the strategy will not work as they were losing subscribers due to previous price increases already, and the new hikes will only encourage subscribers to use other, cheaper services. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google will reportedly use its own chip in the Pixel 6 | Google may debut its first System on a Chip (SoC) in its Pixel phones slated to launch this fall. It has been working with Samsung to develop its Whitechapel chipset, which is reported to be an SoC for phones and Chromebooks. Other phone producers have already made or are appearing to shift to their own chipsets. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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NASA considers selling seats on the spacecraft used for International Space Station | NASA is considering selling seats on the shuttles used to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station as an additional revenue source. Russia already does something like this, selling seats on its spacecraft to wealthy individuals for millions of dollars. The agency is also considering boosting its brand in other ways by allowing its logo to be used commercially and its astronauts to appear in commercials. The White House is considering ending direct funding of the International Space Station by 2025, so selling seats could be one way of turning the station into a self-funding commercial entity. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says "NASA has the best brand in the world, and it is important for us to make sure that we're using it in a way that helps people perceive the United States of America in a different way all around the world." | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Openstacks (Website) | Openstacks helps developers discover tech stacks from companies that are leading the way in transparency and openness. Each listing has a link to the company website, as well as a list of the technologies that they use. Users can easily contribute to the list, as well as receive updates when new tech stacks are added. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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As internet forums die off, finding community can be harder than ever | Before social networks, message boards were an essential way for people to gather and discuss topics. Many formerly prominent forums are closing down as social media becomes more ubiquitous. Forums were where people used to find their communities, and while Facebook Groups is thriving, there are still many differences. Social media isn't as effective for keeping up with multiple discussions over extended time frames. Moderation was a feature that kept many forums civil, and this is likely what will keep people returning to niche discussion forums. | 4Miscellaneous
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Spice.ai (GitHub Repo) | Spice.ai is a portable runtime for training and using deep learning on time series data. It runs as a container, with applications calling a simple HTTP API. Spice.ai includes a library of components for streaming and processing time series data. A 60-second video demo is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Facebook gets into the meme-making biz with experimental Whale app | Facebook has quietly launched a meme-making app called Whale on the Canadian App Store. It was developed by Facebook's New Product Experimentation team. The NPE was set up so Facebook could set the expectation that these apps could change quickly or be shut down. Facebook's app experiments come during the meteoric rise of TikTok. TikTok is on its way to having 1.5 billion users in total. It has been criticized for censoring criticism of the Chinese government. Bytedance, TikTok's parent company, is being investigated by US lawmakers for its links to Beijing. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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GitHub Copilot (Website) | GitHub Copilot is a Visual Studio Code extension that suggests whole lines or entire functions for code. It is trained on billions of lines of public code and understands dozens of languages. Copilot is fast enough to use as you type. Examples are available on the website. Copilot is still in its testing phase, so access is limited. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Harvard breakthrough shows stem cells can be genetically edited in the body | Scientists at Harvard have successfully demonstrated that the DNA in stem cells can be edited while still in the body. Current procedures to edit stem cells required the cells to be removed from the body, which causes many complications. In the study, the scientists loaded different types of adeno-associated viruses to get CRISPR gene editing systems into different types of skin, blood, and muscle stem cells. To test whether the system worked, they used a ‘reporter’ gene, which made the edited cells glow red. Follow up research also found that the changes to these stem cells were being passed onto new stem cells down the line. This breakthrough could lead to new treatments for genetic diseases, particularly those like muscular dystrophy, which involve tissue regeneration. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Scientists produce renewable jet fuel from common soil bacteria | Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory successfully harvested alternative jet fuel from bacteria commonly found in soil. | 4Miscellaneous
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Sheetson (Website) | Sheetson turns any Google sheet into a JSON API. Users only need to share their document with the service, and then they will be able to access their information through the API. There are currently no restrictions on its use. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Steve Wozniak is starting another company, 45 years after co-founding Apple with Steve Jobs | Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, is starting a business in the green tech and blockchain space. Efforce is a marketplace for corporate or industrial building owners to have green projects funded. The platform will allow anyone to financially benefit from worldwide energy efficiency projects. WOZX, the company's cryptocurrency token, is trading on HBTC and will launch on Bithumb Global next week. Companies who register their energy upgrade projects on Efforce's site will have the opportunity to receive funding from investors around the world. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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5 ways to prevent code injection in JavaScript and Node.js (Sponsor) | Code injection is a specific form of broad injection attacks, in which an attacker can send JavaScript or Node.js code that is interpreted by the browser or the Node.js runtime. Check out this comprehensive guide on how to prevent code injection. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Natural Language Processing for Web Developers | OpenAI, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and Salesforce all released natural language processing models in 2019. Some examples of applications of this technology include a service that can recommend films, text autocomplete programs, customer support chat, content summarizers, and more. This article discusses examples of different applications of natural language processing and makes recommendations on the architecture and models that should be used for each application. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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New study finds 20% of people have a genetic mutation that provides resilience to the cold | One in five people lacks a protein in their fast-twitch muscle fibers, which results in those individuals having better resilience to the cold. Those who lack the protein are better at keeping warm and at enduring a tougher climate. When warming up after cold-water immersion, people who lack the protein increase the activation of slow-twitch fibers rather than fast-twitch fibers. People who lack the protein rarely succeed in sports that require strength and explosiveness, but they tend to have a greater capacity for endurance sports. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Facebook's Infinite Office is a virtual office space for the WFH crowd | Facebook Connect is introducing a new virtual office experience called Infinite Office. Infinite Office makes the work-from-home experience more immersive, transporting the user to a virtual customizable office space. Using the Passthrough mode, users can toggle between a fully immersive experience or one mixed with the real world. Infinite Office will be rolled out as an experimental release for Quest 2 later this winter. Two short demo videos from Facebook showing Infinite Office and Passthrough mode are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Questions | This is a list of questions from the personal blog of Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe. A lot of interesting food for thought here, questions include "How do we help more experimental cities get started?", "What's the successor to the book? And how could books be improved?", "Why are programming environments still so primitive?" and more like that. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Scientists discover complex bacteria bigger than a fruit fly | A bacterium that can grow up to 0.78 inches long has been discovered by scientists. The string-shaped organism is single-celled and can be categorized somewhere between a prokaryote and a eukaryote. It carries its genetic material inside a membranous pouch, making it different from most other bacteria. Genetic analysis revealed that the bacteria likely belongs to the genus Thiomargarita. A picture of a specimen taken with a scanning electron microscope is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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On the Road to Full Autonomy With Elon Musk (Podcast) | Elon Musk discusses the market for electric vehicles, the development of autonomous driving, and Bitcoin. Regulations and safety of autonomous vehicles are discussed and Musk discusses why Tesla will be able to solve the complex problem of autonomous driving. Tesla has an advantage when it comes to data collection and their methods are continually improving. The podcast runs for 29 minutes and can be downloaded or played directly from the site. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Amazon tests having drivers make deliveries from local malls | Amazon is testing a program that will have its contracted Flex drivers pick up and deliver packages from malls. It involves the drivers collecting packages within local shopping centers rather than the post office. The program has been running since last year, but it is unclear where Amazon has been running its tests. Amazon has also been testing a similar service with rural mom-and-pop shops that pays them to deliver packages for the company. Allowing local stores to help with the final leg of deliveries lessens Amazon's reliance on the USPS or UPS. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Samsung’s top executive gets 30 months in prison for bribery | Samsung's leader, Lee Jae-yong, has returned to prison after his case was retried. The new ruling reduces Lee’s sentence from 5 years to 30 months in prison. As he has already served one year, he only has a year and a half left to serve. Lee was accused of bribing a government official for favorable rulings related to the merger of two Samsung affiliates. Samsung makes anywhere from 10 to 20 percent of South Korea's GDP, and Samsung executives have received reduced sentences or presidential pardons for their crimes for years. The company is currently going through a major transition after its chairman, Lee Kun-hee, passed away in October. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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PySlowFast (GitHub Repo) | PySlowFast is an open-source codebase that provides state-of-the-art video backbones for video understanding research. It supports rapid implementation and evaluation of novel video research ideas. PySlowFast includes the implementations of five different backbone network architectures - SlowFast, SlowOnly, C2D, I3D, and Non-local Network. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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A wide range of routers are under attack by new, unusually sophisticated malware | A hacking group has spent almost two years infecting a wide range of routers with malware that takes full control of connected devices. | 4Miscellaneous
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U.S. Births Fell To A 32-Year Low In 2018; CDC Says Birthrate Is In Record Slump | The US birth-rate fell by 2 percent in 2018 to 3,788,235 births, the lowest number of births in over 32 years. It has been the fourth consecutive year of birth declines. Research suggests that the current political climate and future outlook for the planet are significant factors that affect people’s decisions to have children. High childcare and insurance costs are also cited as reasons for the low birth-rate. Many people do not have a stable income or job security, and while the cost of living has risen, income levels have not. There has been an increase in the average age for women giving birth, as people are opting to have children later in life when they gain more stability. | 4Miscellaneous
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AgnosticUI (Website) | AgnosticUI is a set of UI primitives that work in React, Vue 3, Svelte, and vanilla JavaScript. The components use clean, semantic, and accessible HTML and decoupled standards-based CSS. They can be customized using CSS custom properties. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Republican mega-donor buys stake in Twitter and seeks to oust Jack Dorsey – report | A major Republican donor has bought a stake in Twitter in order to oust its CEO, Jack Dorsey. The founder of Elliott Management, Paul Singer, opposed Donald Trump during his run for president but has since changed sides. Trump communicates with the public via Twitter, which has recently announced a ban on political advertising. Dorsey plans to work and live in Africa for part of each year, and Singer is using this information to push Dorsey out of his position. Elliott Management is an activist investor and it regularly pushes for change in companies in which it buys shares. It also works with countries, taking on partial repayment of debts by Argentina in 2016. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Massive outage brought down most Apple services, including iCloud and iMessage | Apple experienced far-reaching network outages yesterday that affected many of its services. The outage affected both services used by customers and internal tools. Apple Store employees had to use pen and paper to keep the stores running during the outage. All services have been restored. A list of the affected services is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand (20 minute read) | In 2019 alone, Google has shut down or partially shut down 11 services. Removing all these services may be damaging Google's reputation. More importantly, these actions may damage trust from people who use Google's services. Many people and companies depend on Google's platforms, and their business decisions can have severely disruptive effects. However, these product shutdowns are unlikely to stop, as Google enjoys developing new products and testing them in the market. | 4Miscellaneous
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Inside the Social Media Cult That Convinces Young People to Give Up Everything (1 hour read) | In 2013, an aspiring musician was contacted by strangers on Twitter who seemed extremely interested in his music and career. They eventually met, and the strangers presented the musician with business ideas, conversations about spirituality, and a bag full of white designer clothes. The strangers were part of Tumple, a magic sex cult that recruited from Facebook meme pages. It targeted young artists and musicians, getting members to generate content to receive PayPal donations, which were then delivered to the cult leaders. Cult members were required to make posts for rewards and were discouraged from continuing their artistic pursuits once they joined. Tumple eventually rebranded to the DayLife Army. The DayLife army is still operating, but their numbers are starting to dwindle, with members openly announcing their departures on social media. | 4Miscellaneous
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Galaxy-Size Bubbles Discovered Towering Over the Milky Way | The North Polar Spur is a radio wave-emitting arc hanging above the galactic plane. Astronomers have suggested different theories on what it is since its discovery in the 1950s, but it has been difficult to confirm due to the lack of depth perception in space. A Japanese astronomer published simulations in 1977 that suggested that the spur was a pair of bubbles above the galaxy disk. Data collected since then suggests that the theory was correct. A map released in 2019 shows gigantic X-ray bubbles created from gas that measures 3 to 4 million degrees Kelvin, expanding outwards at 300 to 400 kilometers per second. Images of these galaxy-sized bubbles are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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imgsquash (GitHub Repo) | imgsquash is a full stack website code for image compression. It contains a full-service API and front-end written in node, react, and next.js framework. Users can choose between lossy or lossless JPEG or PNG compression. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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These Foldable Houses Cost $50k and Go Up In a Day | Boxabl is a company that makes affordable foldable homes. The homes are made of steel, concrete, and EPS foam, and they are resistant to bugs, water, fire, wind, and mold. They are about the size of a studio apartment and come with items like the refrigerator, toilet, and sinks built-in. The homes can be hauled by a pickup truck or SUV and set up in less than a day. More than 1,000 people have already reserved a home at $49,500. Boxabl plans to open a new factory that will be able to produce 3,600 houses annually. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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The Pizza Chain That Became an AI Front-Runner | Domino's adoption of AI has been quite remarkable, considering that it is in the category of companies least likely to adopt AI. It has implemented the technology without replacing old processes entirely. Customers can now make orders through automated chatbots. The pizza is cooked through a human-AI collaboration, where the AI can ensure the quality of the food. Some stores now offer automated delivery, where an AI-driven vehicle delivers food to a customer, who can retrieve the food from the vehicle using a PIN code. Domino's approach to implementing AI in its business can be a helpful guide to other businesses wanting to do the same. | 4Miscellaneous
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Recommenders (GitHub Repository) | This repository provides examples and best practices for building recommendation systems. It focuses on five key tasks: preparing data, building models, evaluating algorithms, optimizing models, and operationalizing models in a production environment. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Amazon’s cashierless tech is coming to Whole Foods next year | Amazon will bring its Just Walk Out technology to two new Whole Foods locations next year. Customers at the new stores will have the choice to pay using a self-checkout, customer service booth, or by having the new technology automatically bill them. The stores will still have comparable numbers of workers to similar-sized stores. Customers will need an Amazon account to use Just Walk Out. The technology will support all of Whole Foods' selection without customers needing to adjust any shopping habits. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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They remember: Communities of microbes found to have working memory | Scientists have discovered that collectives of bacteria feature a robust capacity for memory. The scientists stimulated the bacterial cells with light. Hours later, the bacteria were still able to remember the exposure, and the process was able to be manipulated so that memory patterns emerged. The study might give clues to how neurons in brains work, and the results open up the possibility of creating basic computer systems with living organisms. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Tesla launches 'TeslaMic,' a microphone for in-car karaoke | Tesla has launched a microphone designed for its in-car karaoke system. The TeslaMic costs around $188 and is only available in China. The in-car karaoke system was bundled in as part of a Chinese New Year software update. It is a newer, more complete karaoke system and not just an update to the Caraoke feature released in 2019. Tesla has expanded its US trademark to include audio products, so it may launch the TeslaMic in more markets. A video from Tesla (in Chinese) showing the new features of the Chinese New Year update with footage of the TeslaMic is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Spiders are much smarter than you think (16 minute read) | Behaviors that could be described as 'cognitive' as opposed to automatic responses are likely fairly common among spiders. Jumping spiders with tiny brains that could literally fit on the head of a pin display capabilities that would easily be seen as signs of intelligence in larger animals. They have sharp vision, which allows them to see things from afar and make decisions before approaching them. Spiders can play mind games and make plans when hunting each other, assess risk, and count. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Scientists 3D Print Living Brain Cells | Scientists have managed to 3D print living, functioning mouse brain cells using a new laser technique. Most of the neurons survived for over two days, making them viable tools for preclinical research. The team hopes that the technique can help improve medical research once it is able to print human neurons. Using 3D-printed human neurons would reduce the number of animals killed while also making research more accurate, as treatments that work on one species don't always perform as well in others. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Scientists Can Now Print Metal Objects That Are Only 25 Nanometers Long | A new 3D printing technique developed by an international group of researchers can print objects out of copper just 25 nanometers in diameter. The electrochemical 3D printing technology could have potential applications in battery technology, microelectronics, and sensor technology. It is based on the familiar process of electroplating. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Boston Dynamics prepares to launch its first commercial robot: Spot | Boston Dynamics has announced that its first commercial robot will be on the market in the next few months. Spot is a quadrupedal robot that can be controlled with a gaming tablet. A robot arm that is mounted on Spot is able to grab and move objects. The arm allows the robot to be used in many different scenarios, as its controls are completely customizable. A video in the article shows Spot picking up a soft toy and giving the toy to a police dog. It is unknown how much Spot will cost to buy, but Boston Dynamics revealed that they already have paying customers, mainly construction companies in Japan, who want to use the robots to oversee the progress of work on sites. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Amazon Zoox unveils self-driving robotaxi | Zoox recently unveiled an electric, fully driverless car built for ride-hailing. It can sit up to four passengers. There is no space for a driver or steering wheel. As it is a 'carriage-style' car, passengers will sit facing each other. Amazon acquired Zoox in June, but it gave few details about how it planned to use Zoox's technology. The robotaxi features bidirectional capabilities and four-wheel steering. It can drive up to 75 miles per hour and run for 16 hours on a single charge. Zoox plans to launch an app-based ridesharing service, with the first target markets in San Francisco and Las Vegas. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Bill Gates is obsessed with redesigning the world's toilets | Bad sanitation kills 525,000 children per year and costs over $223 billion per year in lost wages and extra healthcare. Bill Gates has invested $200 million into developing a toilet that doesn't require a central sewage system to operate, and the first prototypes are here. One developed at Caltech extracts clean water from human waste and reuses it for future flushing. The University of South Florida's NEWgenerator uses feces-digesting anaerobic bacteria. Cranfield University's toilet burns waste in the toilet's combustor to create energy. None of the toilets are cheap enough for widespread use, but Bill Gates wants to spend another $200 million developing the second generation of toilets, and eventually hopes to get these toilets into 4.5 billion homes around the world. Gates said, "A decade ago, I didn't think I would be able to tell you so much about poop." | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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New grad vs senior dev | When first starting out as a new developer, you might find existing code that is significantly more inefficient than what you have been taught to use. A new meme pokes fun at new graduates screaming at senior developers for using nested for loops. Eric Lippert reminisces to when he was a CS summer intern and he complained to Tim Paterson, the creator of QDOS which later became MS-DOS, about code that Lippert thought was inefficient. Paterson was patient in his answer to Lippert's complaint, showing why the chosen method was the most efficient method for its purpose and teaching Lippert a lesson about practicality in coding. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Trump gives "blessing" to U.S. TikTok partnership with Oracle and Walmart | President Donald Trump has endorsed a proposed deal for TikTok to partner with Oracle and Walmart to form a US company. The new company will likely be based in Texas and will be hiring at least 25,000 people. Part of the deal is that the company must make a $5 billion contribution to a fund dedicated to education for Americans. Oracle will be responsible for hosting TikTok's US data and securing its systems. Walmart will provide e-commerce, fulfillment, payments, and other services. WeChat is set to be blocked in the US on Sunday at 11.59 pm. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google launches a new medical app—outside the United States | Google is launching an app that will use image recognition algorithms to find possible skin conditions in uploaded photos. Machines have matched or outperformed expert doctors in spotting skin conditions in studies, but there are no AI analysis tools approved for use in the US. Google's new app hasn't been clinically validated yet. However, it has been approved as a Class I medical device in the EU and will be released in the region by the end of the year. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Stripe launches App Marketplace, scripts and tools incorporating third-party SaaS apps that work alongside Stripe | Stripe has launched an App Marketplace that will provide access to third-party apps and scripts. The Marketplace is launching with 35 apps related to marketing, payments, and business development, with more to be added over time. Incorporating apps with Stripe will be free, but some apps are part of paid services. There is an app review process that requires apps to have real business functionality. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Average Software Engineering Salaries by Country in 2022 (17 minute read) | This article discusses and compares average software engineering salaries in over 20 countries. The US, Switzerland, and Israel have the highest developer salaries. Those who work in major cities tend to get paid better than workers living outside of urban areas. The lowest paying countries are Nigeria, India, and the Philippines. The countries with the highest demand for software engineers are Canada, Australia, and Russia. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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