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Hide likes? Facebook and Instagram will leave that decision up to you | Facebook and Instagram will soon let users decide if they want to hide the number of likes in posts. The concept is currently in testing but it will likely roll out to everyone in the next few weeks. Giving users more control over seeing likes is part of an effort to reduce comparison on social media. Facebook has been hiding like tallies since 2019, but the change was not popular with everyone, especially those who rely on likes to track what's popular. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Tom Cruise and Elon Musk's SpaceX are making a movie in space, report says | Tom Cruise and SpaceX are working on a project with NASA to shoot an action film in outer space. No studios are involved with the project at this stage. SpaceX is planning its first-ever launch of astronauts to the International Space Station on May 27. Cruise is known for taking risks while making his films and Elon Musk has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows. | 4Miscellaneous
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A transistor made using two atomically thin materials sets size record | A new record for the smallest transistor gate length has been achieved. The gate was only a single carbon atom across. The design of the whole transistor is easy to make and relatively compact. While the transistor will need more work to improve its performance, the techniques used to create it are significant as they do not require extremely precise positioning of the atomically thin materials. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Meta goes into lockdown (10 minute read) | Meta has started pulling talks at its summits due to risks of leaks. The company had always adhered to an open culture, but leaks have become an increasing problem in recent years. Meta recently rolled out a new Integrity Umbrella system designed to thwart leakers by limiting access to private Workplace groups. Employees who need access to a group can request it through a specific form. Employees at Meta claim that isolating company discussions will harm users in the long run. | 4Miscellaneous
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Newly-developed lensless camera uses neural network and transformer to produce sharper images faster | Lensless cameras encode light and use algorithms to process blurry, out-of-focus images into something useful. A group of researchers at Tokyo Tech have created a new reconstruction technique that improves image quality with significantly faster processing. The technique uses a novel machine-learning algorithm based on a method called Vision Transformer. It can be used for real-time capture of high-quality images, something previously not possible with lensless cameras. Examples of images produced with the technique are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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SpaceX Starlink public beta begins | SpaceX has started to send email invitations to Starlink's public beta. The service will cost users $99 per month plus a one-time fee of $499 for the user terminal, mounting tripod, and router. The "Better Than Nothing" beta will feature speeds of between 50Mbps to 150Mbps and latency from 20ms to 40ms. SpaceX expects that the service will improve dramatically as more satellites are launched. There are no data caps. A mobile app is available to help users set up and manage their service. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Reddit is bringing back r/Place, its April Fools’ Day art experiment | Reddit is bringing back r/Place for four days beginning on April 1 at 9 AM ET. r/Place launched on April 1, 2017, as an April Fools' Day experience. It featured a large white grid on which Reddit users could place colored pixels one at a time every five minutes. The project attracted more than one million users who put down some 16 million tiles. An image of the original r/Place artwork is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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3D-printed ‘bionic corals’ mimic a reef’s powers of photosynthesis | Corals are a highly evolved symbiosis between coral organisms and the algae that live inside them. The algae provide energy for their host and the coral provides a safe living environment. A team at Cambridge has successfully imitated the coral micro-ecosystem by replicating the way coral captures and diffuses sunlight within it for use by resident algae. The artificial corals they created are able to grow algae at many times the speed of an ordinary medium. While the technology likely won't be able to restore coral reefs, its ability to grow algae at fast speeds has commercial appeal. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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SpaceX successfully launches cargo mission to the International Space Station | On Saturday, SpaceX launched a Dragon cargo capsule to deliver supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station. Two weeks ago, a passenger version of the Dragon spaceship exploded during tests due to a failure in one of the eight SuperDraco engines on the spacecraft. The SuperDraco engines are designed to propel the spaceship away from a dangerous rocket in case of emergencies. As the cargo version of the spacecraft was not fitted with the SuperDraco engines, both SpaceX and NASA were confident in the success of the mission. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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NASA wants to send nuclear rockets to the Moon and Mars | A nuclear rocket engine would be twice as efficient as the chemical engines powering rockets today. Chemical propulsion to the moon and to Mars is possible, but it is much better to use nuclear propulsion if we want to go further than that. A spaceship that uses nuclear propulsion will first use regular chemically propelled rockets to launch into orbit before switching to using a nuclear reactor in space. The power obtained from the nuclear reactor can be used to sustain human outposts on other worlds. One of the biggest hurdles in building a nuclear rocket is making sure that the parts can withstand the heat required. Before a nuclear engine will be able to fly, NASA needs to change its regulations for launching nuclear materials. The first flight of a nuclear engine may be as soon as 2024. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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McDonald's confirms creation of McPlant plant-based burger, unveils new Crispy Chicken Sandwich will debut in 2021 | McDonald's announced a new plant-based burger and a new Crispy Chicken Sandwich during its virtual investor update on Monday. It also released its quarterly earnings, beating analysts' projections. However, shares dropped by more than 1.5% after the announcement. Other fast-food chains have already released plant-based burgers. McDonald's will be using Beyond Meat's non-meat patties for its McPlant platform. The company has also announced a new loyalty program called "MyMcDonald's" that will award customers based on spending. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Due to coronavirus, Pokémon Go just got easier to play inside | Pokémon Go is now easier to play inside as Niantic tweaks the game in response to the pandemic. Niantic is prioritizing updates for features that make it easier to play alone. The game is usually designed to be a social experience that requires players to go outside and seek out specific locations. Niantic's updates will increase habitats and pokéstops will drop gifts at a higher frequency. Certain items are also on sale. | 4Miscellaneous
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elfshaker (GitHub Repo) | elfshaker is a version control system fine-tuned for binaries. It stores snapshots of directories into highly-compressed pack files and provides fast on-demand access to the stored files. elfshaker is good for storing lots of similar files and can achieve a compression ratio of close to 0.01%. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley | Tim Cook won't let his nephew join social networks. Bill Gates banned cellphones for his kids until they were teenagers, and Melinda wished they had waited even longer. Steve Jobs wouldn't let his young children near iPads. Former editor of Wired, now CEO of a robotics company Chris Anderson says "On the scale between candy and crack cocaine, it’s closer to crack cocaine...This is going straight to the pleasure centers of the developing brain. This is beyond our capacity as regular parents to understand." The sentiment is pervasive enough that one Google engineer that lets his 3-year-old play with an iPad says that he feels there's a "stigma" against it. In one interesting case, an executive only lets his daughter watch Italian language videos in order to help her learn the language. In any case, it seems like there is a reckoning in Silicon Valley as executives and engineers caution their kids against using the addictive and manipulative products that they have created. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Five Ideas a Day (Newsletter) | There's this service called five ideas a day, which sends out five startup ideas a day. This is a signup link for their newsletter which contains a roundup of the week's best ideas. If you're ever looking for good side project/startup ideas, this is a great starting point! | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Researchers Linked Dead Locust's Ear to Robot and It Works | Researchers from Israel connected a dead locust's ear to a robot, replacing the robot's electronic microphone with the ear. The robot was then programmed to respond to the signals it received from the ear. Using biological systems requires less energy than electronic systems. The blend of biology and technology could dramatically alter both technological and biological industries. It might be possible to use other animals' sensory organs for various applications, such as bomb or disease detection. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro? (Hacker News Thread) | While the Macbook Pro has amazing specs, Apple has demonstrated its inability to be reliable. The original poster has had to repair their MBP three times since they purchased it in January 2019 and they are worried about being charged for repairs after the warranty runs out. Top recommendations are for the Dell XPS series. Most of the discussion centers around an analogy between macOS and Linux, comparing it to living in a hotel vs living at home. On the Mac ecosystem, everything is stylish and cared for, but there is little freedom to change things. However, on Linux, you need to do many things yourself, but it is completely yours. | 4Miscellaneous
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Huawei overtakes Apple in annual race to Samsung’s smartphone crown | Huawei overtook Apple to become the world's second best selling smartphone manufacturer in 2019. Samsung remained in the lead, with Xiaomi and Oppo making up the rest of the top five. Huawei is still on the USA's entity list, which means that it can't install Google's apps and services on its new devices. 60 percent of Huawei phone sales were in China. While Apple ended up as third for the year, it beat out Samsung in the last quarter due to its iPhone 11 sales. Samsung will be launching its flagship Galaxy S20 series next month, and Apple is set to launch its successor to the iPhone SE soon. Overall, the industry sold fewer phones in 2019 than it did in 2018. | 4Miscellaneous
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Life Has Been Found in a Low-Oxygen, Super-Salty, Sub-Zero Arctic Spring | Scientists have discovered life in the extremely cold and salty waters of the Lost Hammer Spring in the Canadian Arctic. The microbes had adaptations that allowed them to thrive in water with temperatures of around minus five degrees Celsius, less than one part per million of dissolved oxygen, and around 24% salinity. They don't depend on organic material or oxygen to survive. Similar environments may exist on ocean worlds like Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus. | 4Miscellaneous
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Venmo’s new crypto service lets you buy and sell bitcoin, ether, and litecoin | Venmo will soon let its users buy, sell, and hold bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. The feature will roll out for all customers in the next few weeks. There will be a minimum purchase fee of 50 cents. Users will be limited to $20,000 in cryptocurrency purchases each week, with a total limit of $50,000 during each 12-month period. Venmo will not support peer-to-peer transactions, so users will have to convert their funds back to USD to transfer elsewhere. PayPal and Venmo use the Paxos crypto brokerage service. | 4Miscellaneous
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Artificial photosynthesis devices that improve themselves with use | An artificial photosynthesis device invented by a University of Michigan professor uses nanowires of gallium nitride to convert carbon dioxide into clean chemicals and fuels. Usually, the efficiency of artificial photosynthesis devices falls steeply after just a few hours of use, but the device instead becomes more efficient as it is used. A team of scientists determined that this effect was due to the gallium nitride absorbing oxygen, creating more sites for hydrogen production on the material's surface. Future studies will investigate how nitrides contribute to stability in artificial photosynthesis devices. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Machine Learning Attack Series: Image Scaling Attacks | An image scaling attack involves hiding a smaller image inside a larger image so that an image is completely different when it is resized. This can be used to poison training data or to make machine learning models recognize different objects, as most models will resize images before processing them. The machine learning model will process the resized image rather than the original image, even though the two images are completely different. An example is available in the article. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service, launches in 2019 | Google announced its new cloud gaming service, Stadia, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The service will launch in the UK, US, Canada, and Europe in 2019, and will be able to stream games to the Chrome browser, Chromecast, and Pixel devices. Stadia will be closely integrated with YouTube, with features such as a ‘play now’ button on game videos, the ability to share gameplay clips, and also by letting viewers play games alongside content creators. Along with Stadia, Google will also be releasing a new game controller and launch their own game studio, Stadia Games and Entertainment. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google Play Pass bundles 350 Android games and apps for $4.99 per month | Google Play Pass will launch at $4.99 and give customers access to over 350 games and apps served ad-free and without any in-app purchases. There will be a 10 day free trial, and the first year will be priced at $1.99 a month. Apple launched its Apple Arcade last week at $4.99, but it is different from Play Pass as it doesn't include apps and Apple is directly funding development for games on its service. Play Pass subscriptions can be shared with up to five family members. Developers will be paid depending on user engagement with the apps. While the program is currently invite-only, developers can apply to show interest in participating in the program via a web form. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Apple says it’ll lower iPhone prices in certain countries | As Apple's iPhone profits dropped 15% in a year. One reason is the price of devices in certain countries increased as their currency decreased in value relative to the US Dollar. Apple plans to identify these countries and reprice their devices to more accurately match their prices to what they were a year ago. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Samsung unveils Apple Card competitor dubbed 'Samsung Money by SoFi' | Samsung has launched Samsung Money in a partnership with fintech company SoFi. The service will act similar to a bank account or credit union. Samsung Money accounts are FDIC insured for up to $1.5 million. Users will be able to check their balance, pause or restart spending, freeze or unfreeze their card, and change their pin from the Samsung Pay app. Samsung Money will be available to Samsung Galaxy users in the US later this summer. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Elon Musk breaks ground on Tesla's Shanghai factory | Tesla has started construction on a $140 million Shanghai factory. In October, they said that they were operating at a 55-60% cost disadvantage in China due to transport costs, tariffs, and Chinese cash incentives. This new factory will help them close that gap, and it is expected to start producing cars in the second half of 2019, starting at 3,000 Model 3's per week and eventually producing 500,000 vehicles per year. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Up (Github Repo) | Up is an open source commandline tool that lets you write Linux pipes and preview the results in real time. This makes it a lot easier to write scripts using grep, awk, wc, etc. by providing instant scrollable feedback. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Markdoc (GitHub Repo) | Markdoc is a Markdown-based syntax and toolchain for creating custom documentation sites and experiences. It was created to power Stripe's public docs. Examples are available on Markdoc's website. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Tesla gets the go-ahead to build cars in China | Tesla is building a $2 billion factory in Shanghai which will manufacture at least 1,000 Model 3s each week. The factory could be up and running within weeks. Tesla will now be able to avoid the high import tariffs that are imposed on cars made in the US in the world's biggest car market. The Gigafactory 3 will be the first fully-foreign owned car plant in China. Shanghai authorities have offered help to speed up construction of the plant. China has excluded Tesla vehicles from its 10% tax on cars. The plant may be a sign that China is looking to open up its car market. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Go read this report on a fake company that tricked real people into working for it | Madbird is a fake design company led by a social media influencer. It had dozens of real employees around the world, but most of the company consisted of people working there for free in hopes of eventually making money after landing big projects. Madbird listed people who had no association with the company as senior members on its website and filled up its Zoom calls with fake employees. It used a fake address in London as its office. Links to a write-up and a documentary about the story of Madbird are available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Stork (GitHub Repo) | Stork creates an index file of your content and provides a frontend for searching through the file. It is designed to display the best search results immediately to users as they type. A GIF example is provided. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Company of NASA Stars Building Orbital Space Hotel With Artificial Gravity | The Orbital Assembly Corporation is a large-scale space construction firm that plans to build a habitable space hotel in low-Earth orbit. Investors can now co-own the project at $0.25 per share. The space station will generate artificial gravity by spinning. It will be built in stages, with some assembly in space using robots. The station will have 24 habitation modules and space hotel guests may go on spacewalks. A one hour video from the First Assembly virtual event is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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For the first time, scientists find X-rays coming from Uranus | Scientists discovered X-rays emitting from Uranus after analyzing two visuals of the planet taken by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2002 and 2017. Most of the X-rays come from the sun, but there are hints of at least one other source present. Figuring out the source could reveal insights into how other objects in space emit X-rays, including black holes and neutron stars. Uranus is particularly interesting to scientists because of its side rotation and magnetic field. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Amazon announces Halo, a fitness band and app that scans your body and voice (11 minute read) | Amazon has unveiled the Halo Band, a fitness band that doesn't have a screen. It pairs with an app that provides standard fitness tracking features, along with the ability to create 3D scans for body fat and listen for emotions in users' voices. The Halo Band will cost $99.99 plus a subscription service of $3.99 per month for Halo's more advanced features. Invitees to Amazon's early access program will be able to purchase the device for $64.99 with a six-month subscription included. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Meet the Guy Selling Wireless Tech to Steal Luxury Cars in Seconds | New luxury cars now use keyless entry technologies to enter and start vehicles. As with all other technologies, some people have developed methods of breaking through the security used in car technologies in order to break into or steal cars. Devices that can perform these hacks sell for thousands of dollars each. Police departments have seen an increase in vehicle robberies which involve a variety of electronic tools. These devices use different techniques and they can work on many vehicles as long as they have the same vulnerability. The devices can be very cheap to make as long as you have the knowhow. It is not illegal to buy or sell them in the US. | 4Miscellaneous
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FDA official: Booster announcements coming Wednesday | US regulators will rule on Wednesday on authorizing booster doses of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. Some announcements later today may include the allowing of the mixing and matching of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 booster doses. Several million Americans have already received a third dose to boost Pfizer's vaccine. The booster recommendations won’t become official until after the CDC’s director affirms who should get them and when. | 4Miscellaneous
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Self-driving semi makes first cross-country trip, thanks to Plus.ai tech | Residents in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, will soon have their food delivered to grocery stores via a self-driving semi-truck. Plus.ai recently announced that it completed a cross-country trip from Tulare, California, to Pennsylvania. The trip took less than three days and was the first time a Level 4 self-driving system handled a commercial freight trip. Plus.ai's self-driving system was able to handle the 2,800 mile trip primarily in autonomous mode. A human driver had to take over for federally mandated breaks and refueling. The trucked operated throughout the day and night, was unfazed by elevation changes and road construction, and was able to handle rain and snow. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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GPT Neo (GitHub Repo) | GPT Neo is an implementation of model parallel GPT2 & GPT3-like models. It can scale up to and above GPT3 sizes using the mesh-tensorflow library. Pretrained models are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The Embedded YouTube Player Told Me What You Were Watching (and more) | There was a bug in the embedded YouTube player that allowed hackers to view anyone's YouTube watch history, the links to their unlisted videos, their Watch Later playlist, the list of videos they've liked, and more. YouTube creates internal playlists for all users, which can be accessed by replacing some characters in the URL. You can't just view other people's private videos just with this knowledge, but the embedded player had a bug that could be exploited to do so. The bug was reported, but Google's response showed that they might not have seen the severity of the issue. It has now been fixed. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Kickstarter will not voluntarily recognize its employee union | Kickstarter will not voluntarily recognize Kickstarter United, its employee-created union, but are opting instead for a National Labor Relations Board election. CEO Aziz Hasan wrote in an email that a union would hurt the company and that the company recognizes the needs of its employees. A union would significantly change the way the company operates, and Hasan was concerned that employees were being pressured by their managers to form opinions regarding the union effort. | 4Miscellaneous
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Talk like an Egyptian: mummy's voice heard 3,000 years after death | Nesayamun was an ancient Egyptian priest that was in his 50s when he died from an allergic reaction. Researchers have created a 3D-printed reproduction of Nesyamun's over 3,000-year-old vocal tract to hear what his voice would have sounded like. A team from the University of London took a series of CT scans of Nesyamun's mummified body to create the 3D model. Some parts, such as the tongue that had shriveled, were virtually filled in. The model was attached to an electronic larynx and loudspeaker. Using this method, the team recreated the sound of Nesayamun's voice. The team is working on a way to move the vocal tract to form different sounds. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Meet the new generation of puzzle-makers bringing mystery to your door (18 minute read) | A new type of puzzle game gives players experiences where they need to delve into the history and reality of the world. Tale of Ord was an adventure puzzle that came in four separate packages which culminated into a final exam puzzle that required putting everything the players learned from the previous experiences to unlock a real wooden box. The industry has flourished in recent years, and the demand for puzzles has increased significantly due to the pandemic. This article discusses various new ideas for bringing the live puzzle experience to people in their homes. It includes several galleries of different puzzle packages. | 4Miscellaneous
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catj (GitHub Repo) | catj displays JSON files in a flat format. This makes it easier to understand the structure of JSON files. The output is valid JavaScript which can be used directly in code. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Technical Writing Courses (Website) | This site is a collection of courses and learning resources aimed to improve technical documentation skills for engineers. It also shows what it is like to be a technical writer for Google. The courses are designed for professional software engineers, computer science students, and people in engineering-adjacent roles, such as product managers. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Japanese flu drug 'clearly effective' in treating coronavirus, says China | A Japanese drug used to treat new strains of influenza has been shown to be effective in coronavirus patients. Favipiravir has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment, with those who were treated with the drug turning negative for the virus after a median of four days of becoming positive. X-rays showed a 91% improvement in lung condition after treatment. The drug appeared to be less effective in those with more severe symptoms. Favipiravir was used in 2016 as an emergency aid to counter the Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea. Governmental approval is still needed for full-scale use on COVID-19 patients, but health officials say that the drug could be approved as early as May. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Japan's 60-Foot-Tall Gundam Robot Is Now Walking and Wreaking Havoc | The giant Gundam at Japan's Port of Yokohama is nearing completion. At 60-feet tall, the giant robot can walk, kneel, make hand gestures, and more. The robot weighs about 25 tons. It was supposed to debut on October 1, but the opening date has been pushed back due to the pandemic. There are a few photos and videos in the article showing footage of the giant Gundam. | 4Miscellaneous
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Apple, Google ban use of location tracking in contact tracing apps | Apple and Google have announced a ban on the use of location tracking in contact tracing apps. The companies are working together to create a contact tracing system that public health authorities will have access to use. Privacy and preventing governments from using the system to compile data on its citizens is a primary goal of the project. Apple and Google's contact tracing system uses Bluetooth signals from phones to detect encounters and doesn't use or store GPS location data. If public health authorities want to continue using GPS data they will need to use unstable and battery draining workarounds. Apple and Google will only allow one app per country to use the system but will support countries that opt for a state or regional approach. | 4Miscellaneous
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Live Footage Shows Bright Meteor Breaking Up Over Tasmania | A bright green meteor was filmed crossing the sky and breaking up in front of a CSIRO research vessel on November 18. The 19-second video is available in the article. At the time of the capture, the ship was approximately 10km south of the Tasmanian coast. It was carrying out several activities, including seafloor mapping, oceanographic studies, and running sea trials for a variety of marine equipment. A camera on the ship streams 24-hours a day. While other people report seeing the meteor, no other footage of it has emerged. | 4Miscellaneous
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TensorTrade (GitHub Repo) | TensorTrade is an open-source Python framework for building, training, evaluating, and deploying robust trading algorithms using reinforcement learning. It is designed with user-friendliness in mind and functionality can be easily extended through modules. One of the main goals of TensorTrade is to be able to enable fast experimentation with algorithmic trading strategies. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Verbum (GitHub Repo) | Verbum is a flexible text editor for React. | 4Miscellaneous
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Rolls-Royce plans 16 mini-nuclear plants for UK | Rolls-Royce is planning to build up to 16 mini-nuclear plants in the UK. The project will create 6,000 new jobs over the next five years. It is expected to receive at least £200m funding from the government as part of a long-delayed green plan for economic recovery. Nuclear is essential if the UK is to meet its target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, but all of the UK's seven nuclear reactor sites are due to go offline by 2035. Small Modular Reactors can be assembled into larger plants, lowering the costs of building a nuclear power station. As well as providing the country with low-carbon electricity, the concept may become an export industry. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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"He's full of shit": How Elon Musk fooled investors, bilked taxpayers, and gambled Tesla to save Solarcity (18 minute read) | In 2016, Tesla bought SolarCity for almost $5 billion as a high-stakes move to dominate America's growing market for solar energy. Tesla planned to build 10,000 solar panels per day and install them in homes, creating 5,000 jobs along the way. While Tesla received a large subsidy from New York State, its solar panel business has yet to fulfill these promises. Walmart has recently sued Tesla for breach of contract due to gross negligence which resulted in fires at seven of its stores. SolarCity's business model involved fronting up costs of installation, which meant that it was constantly in need of cash and that profits would not be realized for years. Its acquisition by Tesla included nearly $3 billion of debt. Tesla wasn't able to fulfill its promises even after quietly renegotiating its factory lease terms with New York state officials. Payments on SolarCity debts are due soon, and Tesla will pay an annual fine of $41.2 million if it fails to employ enough people at its factory by April. | 4Miscellaneous
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Free eBook: Understanding Databases -- Deploy High-Performance Database Clusters in Modern Applications (Sponsor) | Free eBook: Understanding Databases -- Deploy High-Performance Database Clusters in Modern Applications . Develop a high-level understanding of industry-standard databases, the design of database architectures, and different deployment methods in the cloud. This eBook is available as instant download -- no registration required, download here. | 0Sponsor
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Google designed an envelope you can use to hide your phone from yourself | Google has released three apps that are designed to help you manage your time on your phone. These experimental apps are part of its Digital Wellbeing initiative. Envelope transforms users' phones so that they can only perform simple, specific functions. For example, users can choose to only be able to make and receive calls through a basic keypad interface, or to only be able to take photos or record video. Users can print out specially designed paper cases that help limit the function of their phones. Envelope is open-sourced on GitHub, so developers can alter the app if they want. Envelope is currently only designed for use with Pixel 3A devices. Activity Bubbles and Stopwatch are both apps that change users' home screens so that they can monitor their usage. Activity Bubbles creates bubbles on the phone background, with bigger bubbles indicating more time spent on the phone, and Stopwatch displays a timer for how long a phone has been unlocked. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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FDA approves genetically engineered pigs | The FDA has approved genetically engineered pigs developed by Revivicor, a medical company, for use in food and medical products. The pigs can now be used in the production of drugs, to provide organs and tissues for transplants, and to produce meat that is safe to eat. It is the first-ever approval of an animal biotechnology product for both food consumption and medical use. The pigs lack a molecule called alpha-gal sugar, which can trigger allergic reactions. Removing the molecule means products developed from these pigs can be used by people who are allergic to it. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Tiny Triboelectric Nanogenerator Can Harvest Energy From the Breeze You Make When You Walk | Researchers in China have designed a type of tiny wind turbine that can scavenge wind energy from small breezes, like those generated by walking. It is made of two plastic strips in a tube that flutter or clap together when there is airflow. It generates electricity through a phenomenon called the triboelectric effect. The device can generate power using a breeze as gentle as 1.6 m/s. It performs best when the wind velocity is between 4 to 8 m/s. With a high wind-to-energy conversion efficiency of 3.23%, the team hopes the device can bring wind power to areas where traditional wind turbines can't reach. Videos of the device are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Walmart sues Tesla over solar panels it says caused multiple fires | Walmart has sued Tesla, claiming that Tesla's solar panels caused fires in seven of its stores, destroying merchandise and property and resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. According to Walmart, Tesla failed to produce solar tiles that lived up to industry standards. Walmart has installed Tesla's solar panels on the roofs of around 240 of its stores. Tesla paid $2.6 billion in 2016 to buy SolarCity before producing its own solar tiles. Last year, Tesla reported a $408 million loss in its second quarter, despite selling more cars than ever. It is currently facing a field investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board after several Model X and Model S owners claimed that their cars burst into flames. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Earth is whipping around quicker than it has in a half-century | The 28 fastest days since 1960 all occurred in 2020. Earth completed its revolutions around its axis milliseconds quicker than average on these days, causing problems for international timekeepers. Timekeepers use ultra-accurate atomic clocks to measure Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC is adjusted when the time it takes the Earth to make one full rotation deviates by more than 0.4 seconds. Usually, a 'leap second' is added to correct for Earth's rotation speed, but this time, scientists are talking about a negative leap second. | 4Miscellaneous
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Grid studio (GitHub Repo) | Grid is a cloud-based data science tool that combines a spreadsheet view with a Python scripting environment, allowing users to explore, manipulate, and analyze data directly in the browser. It is possible to define your own spreadsheet functions. Cells can be defined as variables and manipulated easily using Python code. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Alleged leaked video shows off Samsung’s folding Galaxy Z Flip | Samsung is likely to announce its next folding phone this month. The phone is rumored to be called the Galaxy Z Flip, and it will probably be revealed at Samsung's Unpacked event on February 11th, along with the Galaxy S20 flagship smartphone. Video of the Galaxy Z Flip has been leaked on Twitter. A 19-second video is available that shows the phone being opened and closed. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Luckysheet (GitHub Repo) | Luckysheet is an open-source online spreadsheet with features like Excel. It features styling, conditional formatting, data types, plugins, and much more. An online demo is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The Google Pixel 6 Pro may have been leaked in a brief hands-on video | A video of what looks to be a pre-production version of the Pixel 6 Pro has been posted on Twitter. The device looks similar to the dummy units Google has installed in its NYC store, except with a different logo on its back. The logo indicates that the device is an early production test unit. Google is expected to reveal the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro sometime in November. The video is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Made By Google (Youtube Live Stream) | Google is having its big annual event tomorrow where it will announce the new Google Pixel, Google Home, and more. This Youtube live stream will start at 11am ET, 5 hours after you receive this email. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Ex-SpaceX Engineers Are Building a Cheap, Portable Nuclear Reactor | Radiant is a startup made up of a team of former SpaceX engineers that is developing portable nuclear microreactors aimed at commercial and military applications. The microreactors will each be able to power approximately 1,000 homes for up to eight years. They will use an advanced particle fuel that does not melt down and is capable of withstanding higher temperatures than traditional nuclear fuels. The technology will allow people in remote locations to use clean energy without needing constant shipments of fuel. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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How to watch the debut of Tesla Model S Plaid, the ‘quickest production car ever made’ | Tesla revealed a new high-performance Plaid version of the Model S on Thursday on a livestream. The event and delivery of the Model S were delayed as the vehicle needed more tweaking. It is expected to begin shipping to customers in March. The new Plaid has an estimated range of 390 miles, a top speed of 200mph, and can reach 0-60mph in 1.99 seconds. It features a simple interior, a landscape touchscreen, a stalkless U-shaped butterfly steering wheel, and an added screen for rear-seat passengers. A recording of the livestream is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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FedEx to end ground delivery business with Amazon | FedEx has announced that it will no longer make ground deliveries for Amazon, two months after it terminated its air delivery contract with Amazon. In a regulatory filing in February, Amazon stated that its competitors included transportation companies such as FedEx, and it appears that FedEx is treating Amazon like any other competitor by terminating services. Amazon has been growing its own fleet of air and ground transportation and reducing its reliance on FedEx, UPS, and the US Postal Service. Its plans to switch from two-day delivery to one-day delivery have proved to be more difficult than originally planned, with costs going higher than the estimated $800 million required for the transition. FedEx will continue to complete some deliveries for Amazon, and both companies released amicable statements regarding the separation. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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UK's air-breathing rocket engine set for key tests | A rocket engine that could take a plane from London to Sydney in about four hours will begin a new phase of testing in the next month in Colorado. The Sabre engine is designed to work like an air-breathing engine from standstill to Mach 5.5, and then in a rocket mode that reaches 25 times the speed of sound when it reaches a high altitude. This means the engine will need to be able to manage extreme temperatures. The part that is being tested is a pre-cooler heat-exchanger that will take an incoming airstream of up to 1000 degrees Celcius and cool it to -150 degrees Celsius in under 1/100th of a second. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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YouTube Automatically Deletes Some Terms Critical of Chinese Regime | YouTube will automatically delete comments that contain specific Chinese phrases commonly used to criticize the Chinese Communist Party. The comments are deleted within seconds of being posted. A link to a video showing the comment deletion is available. Examples of banned phrases are also available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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pure bash bible (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains a collection of pure bash alternatives to external processes. Its goal is to document methods for doing various tasks using only built-in bash features. There are many code snippets available that can help remove dependencies on scripts. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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mml-book.github.io (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains the companion webpage to the book "Mathematics For Machine Learning". The book focuses on the mathematical concepts used in machine learning and is not intended to cover advanced machine learning techniques. It contains two parts, mathematical foundations, and example machine learning algorithms that use these mathematical foundations. Exercises are provided. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Nreal's Light mixed reality glasses arrive in the US November 30th | Nreal's Light mixed reality glasses will be available at 20 Verizon stores in the US on November 30. The glasses will be available online starting on December 2. Wearers will be able to access Android apps without taking the glasses off. The glasses can be used as VR glasses, but the field of view will be limited compared to a dedicated headset. Verizon will be selling the glasses for $599. They are compatible with both Android and iOS devices, but Nreal recommends using a OnePlus 8 or recent Samsung Galaxy phone. | 4Miscellaneous
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Hackers stuck a 2-inch strip of tape on a 35-mph speed sign and successfully tricked 2 Teslas into accelerating to 85 mph | Security researchers at McAfee were able to trick Tesla vehicles into speeding up by 50 mph by using tape to modify speed signs. The researchers stuck two inches of tape on a 35-mph speed sign, making it appear to look like an 85-mph speed sign. When the Tesla vehicles approached the speed sign, it read the incorrect speed limit and accelerated. MobilEye EyeQ3, the company that provides the Tesla 2016 models with their camera systems, dismissed the research, saying that the modified signs could have been misread by humans. Tesla's newer models use proprietary cameras and were not fooled by the modified sign. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Why Salesforce is sending its employees to the forest | Salesforce is sending its employees to the Trailblazer Ranch, a forested location in the Santa Cruz mountains. An employee survey found that the change most wished for in the company was more connection with colleagues. The company has onboarded tens of thousands of employees since the beginning of the pandemic who have never met their manager or teams in person. The ranch will have several activities and group experiences for the employees. Salesforce is planning to make the ranch a permanent location. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google and Dell team up to take on Microsoft with Chromebook Enterprise laptops | Google will be launching new Chromebook Enterprise devices with Dell in an effort to start challenging Windows in the enterprise computing market. Dell will be offering both a 14-inch clamshell and a 13-inch 2-in-1 option for its Chrome OS Latitude laptops, which have been modified to ensure that the devices are ready for IT needs. The laptops will have a range of Dell's cloud-based support services and will be able to integrate easily into existing Windows environments. Both devices will have LTE options and USB-C docking and will be able to be configured with up to Intel's 8th Gen Core i7 processors, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. Google's deal with Dell is not exclusive, and it will be making similar deals with other OEMs. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead? (Hacker News Thread) | When you become a tech lead, your role becomes all about creating your team, nurturing your team, training them, and teaching them how to think critically. As a tech lead, your aim is for your team to create a good product - which means having to push against the company sometimes in order to maintain quality. Good communication between the team is key to making sure everything is running smoothly. The role involves a lot of social ability, not just tech expertise, as it is more about being a good leader than a good developer. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Kickstarter loses nearly 40 percent of its workforce after layoffs and buyouts | Kickstarter has laid off 25 employees and had a further 30 employees voluntarily resign. The platform has seen a 35 percent drop in new projects and it doesn't look like business will be picking up. Kickstarter had warned employees of potential layoffs last month. It is one of the few tech companies that has unionized. The union was involved in negotiating severance packages for employees. | 4Miscellaneous
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PyText (Github Repo) | PyText is an open soruce natural language processing library built on top of PyTorch. It was created by Facebook Research, the goal is to make a library that can be used for rapid prototyping while also being flexible enough to extend and run at scale. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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A CRISPR first produces squid as clear as glass | Researchers have used CRISPR-Cas9 on cephalopods for the first time, making some longfin inshore squid transparent by deleting a gene called TDO. TDO encodes a protein that adds pigment to the squid's eyes and chromatophores. The squids were treated as embryos and the treatment successfully affected more than 90% of the cells in the squid, suggesting that the technique could be used to modify genes involved in cephalopod brain function. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Domino’s Now Using AI and Cameras to Make 'Perfect' Pizzas | According to the CEO of Domino’s Pizza, the number one complaint that they receive from customers is that the pizza doesn’t look the same as in the advertisements. In order to combat this, Domino’s has introduced the DOM Pizza Checker, a ceiling mounted device that will scan pizzas and determine whether they are customer ready. The device will detect the type of pizza and analyze the distribution of toppings and cheese. If the pizza does not pass the test, the pizza will be remade. At the moment the DOM Pizza Checker is only available in Australia and New Zealand. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Researchers identify neurons that control hibernation-like behaviors in mice (10 minute read) | Neuroscientists from Harvard Medical School have discovered neurons in mice that control hibernation-like behavior. When the neurons are stimulated, mice enter a state of torpor that can last for days. When the activity of these neurons is blocked, the mice wake up. A better understanding of this mechanism in mice and other animal models could eventually lead to inducing torpor in humans. If this is achieved, it may have a wide arrange of applications in medicine and space travel. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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The coronavirus test that might exempt you from social distancing—if you pass | Antibody tests are being developed to see if people develop immunity to COVID-19. These tests may one day have a significant impact on travel and freedom. There is not enough data at the moment to determine whether humans develop immunity to the coronavirus. People who eventually develop immunity may be more suited to roles where they could be exposed to the virus. Antibody tests are fast and cheap. Some companies are already trying to sell them. However, we still don't know enough about the disease to know if the presence of antibodies means that a person is immune to the virus or that they won't be an asymptomatic carrier. Even if humans develop immunity, it is unknown how long that immunity will last. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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My Wonderful HTML Email Workflow (10 minute read) | Building an HTML email from scratch can be a gnarly adventure as email clients don't support modern luxuries like CSS, Grid, or Flexbox. This article describes a system for creating HTML emails. The system converts Markdown and custom React components into HTML that can be pasted into a newsletter tool. An example email made using the system is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Tired of Stack Overflow (10 minute read) | Stack Overflow was created to help developers easily search for answers. It has an upvote/downvote system put in place to let users decide what questions are appropriate for the platform. Some questions, even if well-written, on-topic, and helpful for other developers, are being downvoted for unknown reasons by other users, sometimes resulting in a lot of negative feedback. Many people downvote already downvoted questions just because these questions had negative feedback and they felt like they had to contribute. This can discourage users from contributing, especially if they are new. If the negative culture continues, it may be that the site will eventually just become new users who don't have experience asking questions and older users complaining about the lack of quality on the site. | 4Miscellaneous
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CES 2022 Liveblog: The Gadgets Keep Coming at Tech’s Big Show (45 minute read) | CES 2022 is the first in-person CES in two years, but many attendees have still decided to stay home this year. This page contains live coverage of CES news, with photos, videos, and reports on many of the technologies introduced at the event. The page will be constantly updated during the event, so refresh it to see the latest news. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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School of SRE (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains the curriculum that Linkedin uses for onboarding non-traditional hires and new college grads into the Site Reliability Engineer role. The course covers topics such as Linux Basics, Python and Web, Data, Systems Design, and Security. Every module has additional references for further learning. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service | The US Postal Service started a two-week test transporting mail across three states using self-driving trucks. A safety driver and an engineer will ride with each vehicle to ensure that the test drives run smoothly. The test will involve five round trips that will take about 45 hours each to complete. It is unclear whether mail delivery will continue with the self-driving trucks after the test. No tax dollars were spent on the project. The US is currently facing a driver shortage as the current workforce ages and new drivers are becoming more difficult to recruit. Self-driving trucks would reduce costs while solving the driver shortage issue. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Gift Card Gang Extracts Cash From 100k Inboxes Daily | A cybercrime group has been observed compromising up to 100,000 email inboxes per day to siphon gift card and customer loyalty program data to be resold online. The group is exploiting the lack of security in the IMAP protocol to check credentials and search for data. It is well known that email isn't very secure. The group will help victims earn loyalty points in order to cash out larger rewards. Most of the attacks could be prevented using multi-factor authentication. A file containing the top inbox search terms used by the group is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Sidekick Browser wants to be a productivity-honed ‘work OS’ on Chromium | Sidekick Browser is taking aim at the productivity market by adding a productivity-focused layer on top of Chromium to create a 'work OS'. It features in-browser apps, restorable browsing sessions, a cross-app search function, AI-based tab suspension, and more. Sidekick comes with its own privacy tech, and the company promises to never sell user data. Chrome extensions are supported. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Amazon has a smash hit on its hands — a new computer game with hundreds of thousands of players | Amazon Game Studios has released a new game called New World. The game lets thousands of players explore and build a virtual colony. It has averaged hundreds of thousands of concurrent players on Steam since its launch on Tuesday. The game peaked at more than 700,000 concurrent players on launch day. The early success of New World marks a significant step for Amazon. Very few companies have had success breaking into the game industry. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Mozilla is laying off 250 people and planning a ‘new focus’ on making money | Mozilla is laying off around a quarter of its workforce and will refocus its teams on more profitable projects as its plans before the pandemic are no longer workable. The company makes money through companies paying to make their search engines default, royalties, subscriptions, and advertising. Its revenue has been significantly impacted by the pandemic. Mozilla will now focus on its VPN service, VR chat room, and security and privacy tools. It will reduce investments in some areas, such as in building out developer tools. | 4Miscellaneous
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How AI is fighting, and could enable, ransomware attacks on cities | Modern infrastructure is based on computers and technology, and many parts of society would stop functioning in the event of a ransomware attack. Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts or controls computer systems until the victim pays the criminal a ransom. Increasingly, cities, public utilities, and public-facing institutions are being targeted. Security experts are using AI to improve the effectiveness of malware attack defenses, but criminals might also begin using AI to improve ransomware and plot more efficient attacks. It is likely that ransomware won't be seen in the wild for another one to three years, but AI can already be used to find vulnerable targets in an organization. Scientists have created in-house AI malware, so it is a real possibility. The upcoming elections may be a potential target for attacks by nation-state actors. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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An Amazon Programmer's Perspective (11 minute read) | Working with one of the FAANG companies is a dream for many devs. The first few months at working for Amazon are standard in the industry as a developer learns the ropes, but eventually devs are put onto an on-call rotation. Being on-call means that a dev is required to respond to emergencies within 15 minutes for 24 hours a day 7 days a week when on the roster. Developers are occasionally 'loaned' to other teams, which is usually a negative experience. Amazon has a moving and signing bonus that must be paid back to the company if the developer leaves the company or is fired within two years, so many younger developers can not leave their roles as it represents a large amount of their income. This can have negative mental health consequences for employees. Amazon does provide many perks to employees and working there can be a rewarding experience, but developers need to learn to balance out their lives in order not to burn out. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Theia (GitHub Repo) | Theia is an extensible platform for developing full-fledged multi-language Cloud & Desktop IDE-like products with state-of-the-art web technologies. It provides a highly flexible architecture and supports VS Code Extension protocol. Guide and examples of common scenarios are provided. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Programming-Idioms (Website) | Programming-Idioms contains a collection of standard methods for coding standard things in several popular programming languages. Developers are encouraged to contribute by submitting implementations in their favorite language. All the information is crowdsourced and free, so there is no guarantee regarding the quality of the implementations as well as the identity of contributors. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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First Private Passenger on Lunar BFR Mission (Live Stream) | SpaceX has signed the world's first private passenger to fly around the Moon. The identity of the passenger and announcement about the flight will be live streamed on Youtube (link to the live stream above) at 9pm EST, 15 hours after you receive this email. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Large Hadron Collider Creates Matter From Light | Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider observed photons merging and transforming into W bosons. W bosons are particles that carry the weak force which governs nuclear decay. The research illustrates the concept that energy and matter are two sides of the same coin. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Amazon Fresh grocery store in Los Angeles opens to the public | Amazon Fresh at Woodland Hills, Los Angeles is now open to the public from 7 AM to 10 PM PT daily. It features Amazon's new Dash Cart, which calculates shopping totals, displays shopping lists, and does other tasks to make the shopping experience more automated. Customers can skip a visit to the cashier if the Dash Cart detects less than two bags of groceries in the cart. When a customer leaves the store, the amount owing is automatically deducted from the credit card they have associated with their Amazon account. Echo Show stations are placed throughout the store to help point customers towards specific products. Customers can pick up same-day Amazon Prime deliveries from the store. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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One of the World's Tiniest Nuclear Plants Is Coming to Idaho | Oklo is planning to build an experimental nuclear reactor in Idaho that will generate power through nuclear waste. It could potentially power about 1,000 homes and run autonomously for 20 years. Nuclear power would be a large step towards reducing the planet's greenhouse gas levels to pre-industrial levels. The small nuclear reactor will be safer, generate power through waste, use a lot less fuel, and produce less toxic waste. Oklo plans to open the reactor between 2022 and 2025. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Google announces the Pixel 5 for $699 | The Google Pixel 5 will be available in eight countries on October 15th, then in the US on October 29th for $699. Preorders are available now. The device features a Snapdragon 765G processor with Qualcomm's integrated X52 modem for 5G support, IPx8 water resistance, reverse wireless charging, 8GB ram, and more. Its display is a 6-inch 2340 x 1080 OLED panel with a full edge-to-edge display and a hole-punch selfie camera. There are two rear cameras, a 12.2-megapixel main camera with a 77-degree field of view and a 16-megapixel ultrawide that shoots at 107 degrees. More details, including a link for preorders, are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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