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Iran nuclear: 'Terrorist act' at underground Natanz facility | A nuclear facility in Iran was hit by a terrorist attack after new centrifuges used for enriching uranium were inaugurated at the site. The centrifuges represent a breach of Iran's part in a deal made in 2015 with the US, which only allows Iran to produce and store limited quantities of uranium enriched up to 3.67%. Trump’s administration had abandoned the deal in 2018, but Biden’s administration is currently in the process of reviving it. There were no casualties or leaks due to the incident. Some sources have blamed Israel for the attacks. | 4Miscellaneous
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Amazon starts making its own TVs with new Fire TV Omni and 4-Series | Amazon has announced its Omni and 4-Series Amazon-branded 4K Fire TVs. The Omni series is a higher-end option with better picture quality and Alexa hands-free voice control. Voice commands will always be available, even when the TV is off. The commands can be used to adjust the TV's brightness, volume, to find something to watch, and more. The Omni also has a picture-in-picture mode for checking smart home cameras. Both the Omni and 4-Series can be wirelessly linked to Echo speakers. Pricing for a range of display sizes is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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‘Biological age’ startups: why do people want to know how close they are to death? | Biotechs are now offering test kits that claim to be able to measure the biological age of the user. Biological age aims to quantify the aging of the body's functions and predict mortality. It is a better predictor of morbidity risk than chronological age. None of the test kits available have been approved by the FDA and there are no treatments for improving biological age. For now, the tests should be treated as entertainment rather than an accurate diagnosis method. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Responsively App (GitHub Repo) | Responsively App is a modified browser that helps in responsive web development. It can mirror user interactions and displays for multiple devices, allowing developers to view multiple versions of their sites at once. A GIF preview is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The New iPad Pro’s LiDAR Sensor Changes the Augmented Reality Game | The new iPad Pro's LiDAR scanner makes augmented reality a lot more accurate and stable. It allows the iPad to obtain a precise map of its surroundings, enabling developers to create immersive AR experiences. Developers who use ARKit will automatically get the benefits of the newly improved hardware. Hopefully, innovative apps that take advantage of this technology will be created as more developers learn how to use the technology. The iPad Pro also has new sensors, cameras, and processors, making it a powerful multi-purpose device. | 4Miscellaneous
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iOS 16 will reportedly include an always-on display feature for future iPhones | Apple's WWDC 2022 is next week. The company will likely announce many changes to iOS 16, including enhancements to the lock screen and wallpapers with widget-like capabilities. iOS 16 will include support for an always-on display for the next iPhone Pro models. It will also change how the operating system handles multitasking and windowing. Users will be able to resize app windows. There will be new social network-like features in Messages. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Say Goodbye to Manual Compliance and Hello to Automation (Sponsor) | Say Goodbye to Manual Compliance and Hello to Automation . Your organization is growing at an impressive rate, but is your security & compliance stack set up to scale with you? Drata is the simplest way to achieve continuous SOC 2, ISO 2700, PCI DSS, & HIPAA compliance. Through a suite of 50+ integration - from AWS, to Github, to Cloudflare - Drata puts your security compliance on autopilot.TLDR subscribers: save 10% and get your free compliance assessment. | 0Sponsor
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Google Maps updates help you cope with the pandemic | Google has announced changes to Google Maps, including updates to its COVID overlay, takeout ordering features, real-time crowdedness information for public transport, and Google Assistant driving mode. Google Assistant driving mode offers voice control for phone calls, media playback, messaging, and more. The COVID-19 overlay will now show information about the number of cases in an area as well as links to information provided by local authorities. Users in some countries have been able to order food directly from Google Maps since last year, but now they will be able to see predicted delivery or pickup times. Google has added almost 250 new features to Maps this year. | 4Miscellaneous
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Altos bursts out of stealth with $3B, a dream team C-suite and a wildly ambitious plan to reverse disease | Altos Labs is a biotech company that is developing technology that could revitalize cells and reverse disease, ultimately prolonging human life. It has raised $3 billion in capital from multiple investors, including Jeff Bezos. The Altos team consists of some of the biggest names in the life sciences. Altos is setting up sites in San Francisco and San Diego in the US and Cambridge in the UK. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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China Claims To Have A Real-Deal Laser Gun That Inflicts 'Instant Carbonisation' Of Human Skin | China's new ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle is able to burn through human skin and ignite flammable targets from a kilometer away. The US military has recently developed large laser-firing cannons designed for ships or trucks, but laser rifles are still out of reach. China says that the Chinese police will use the weapon in its anti-terrorism operations. The weapon weighs about three kilograms and is powerful enough to burn through a gas tank and ignite the fuel inside. It is entirely silent and the beam is invisible. At around $20,452 per rifle, the weapon is relatively inexpensive, considering that it will not need additional ammunition as it runs on batteries. The United Nations' Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons bans weapons specifically designed to cause permanent blindness, but there are no mechanisms for enforcement. A promotional document on a Chinese government website discusses the weapon's potential use against protestors. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Building Secure and Reliable Systems (Website) | Site Reliability Engineers protect, provide for, and progress the software and systems behind all of Google's public services. Their role is to keep important, revenue-critical systems up despite acts of God, outages, and configuration errors. The team hires from both systems and software backgrounds. This site contains three books on Site Reliability Engineering that can be accessed online for free, as well as links and information on how to join the Google SRE team. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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NvChad (GitHub Repo) | NvChad makes neovim cli as functional as an IDE. It features themes, tabs, autosave, file previews, distraction-free modes, and much more. There are many plug-ins available for NvChad. Screenshots are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Blockly (GitHub Repo) | Blockly is a library that adds a visual code editor to web and mobile apps. The editor uses graphical blocks to represent code concepts, allowing users to apply programming principles without having to worry about syntax. A live demo is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The Engineer’s Guide to Career Growth — Advice from My Time at Stripe and Facebook (27 minute read) | Raylene Yung was an engineering manager at Facebook in 2011, starting from a team of three. She left in 2015 as the youngest engineering director at a public company with over 10,000 employees and joined Stripe where she built the product management team, defined career growth and recruiting frameworks, ran the core Payments business, and created the company’s global engineering hub. In this interview, Yung discusses career growth for engineers. She shares a collection of career lessons, discusses career tracks, and talks about specific career roadblocks. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Ask HN: Which tech stack is the most fun? (Hacker News thread) | The developer experience can affect how much you enjoy your job. In this thread, the original poster asks what tech stacks are currently most enjoyable for developers to work with. The thread has plenty of recommendations for tech stacks for all areas of development, as well as advice on how to set up projects so that they are more enjoyable to work with, regardless of the language or stack used. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Firefox rolls out Total Cookie Protection by default to all users worldwide | Firefox is rolling out Total Cookie Protection by default to all Firefox users worldwide. Total Cookie Protection confines cookies to the site where they were created, preventing companies from using the cookies to track users across sites. It allows users to have a great browsing experience while maintaining their privacy. | 4Miscellaneous
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Microsoft Teams enters the metaverse race with 3D avatars and immersive meetings | Microsoft is integrating Mesh directly into Microsoft Teams. Mesh is a collaborative platform for virtual experiences that allows people to participate in meetings using 3D avatars. The software can listen to what is said and animate the avatars accordingly. Mesh integration will be most useful in immersive spaces using AR or VR headsets. Microsoft Teams will be able to start using these virtual spaces and avatars in early 2022. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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shdoc (GitHub Repo) | shdoc converts comments to produce markdown documentation. Developers can write markdown code in comments using function tags. An example of the function tags and output is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The ambitious Android tablet option Google tossed away | While Android is the world's most popular operating system, Android tablets have failed to gain popularity. Chromebooks are almost always better purchases as they are updated much more often than tablets, so users are supported with the latest privacy, security, and performance standards. 12 years ago, Google bought a company called BumpTop that created a computing interface that made desktops look and act like a physical desk. This article tells the story of the acquisition and how the software could have changed the way people interact with touchscreen devices. | 4Miscellaneous
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ISS successfully dodges 'unknown piece of space debris' | On Tuesday at 2:19 PM PT, the International Space Station had to perform a last-minute avoidance maneuver to dodge an unknown piece of space debris. The Russian Progress resupply spacecraft docked to the ISS was used to help move the station out of harm's way. NASA estimates that avoidance maneuvers are performed about once a year on average. More space debris has been detected recently, with three avoidance maneuvers performed in 2020. NASA Chief Jim Bridenstine has called for the government to fund efforts to remove orbital junk. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Psychedelics Without the Trip Could Be ‘Healing Magic’ for Mental Health | While psychedelics are starting to be seen by doctors as a tool for treating mental illness, their mind-altering effects can be a serious detriment to patients. Treatment using traditional psychedelics requires the drugs to be administered and monitored inside clinics instead of the patient taking a pill at home like for many other conditions. A team of scientists recently engineered several synthetic cousins of LSD that could quell depressive symptoms in mice without getting them high. It will take a long time before the drug can be tested in humans, but the research could result in an entirely new treatment regime for mental health issues. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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SpaceX, NASA make history with first launch of astronauts from US soil in years | SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully launched on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida on Saturday. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are the first astronauts to launch from US soil since the end of the shuttle era in 2011. The astronauts have now docked at the International Space Station. Footage of the launch is available in the article. The Falcon 9 rocket successfully returned and landed on SpaceX's 'Of Course I Still Love You' droneship. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Rubbery Chicken? Scientists Say Cook It With Lasers Instead | Scientists from Columbia University and Applied Science's Creative Machines Lab used different types of lasers to cook 3D-printed chicken. The researchers pureed raw chicken and used a 3D food printer to create square samples, after which they cooked it using pulses of blue or near-infrared laser light with different wavelengths. An infrared camera monitored the surface of the chicken at all times along with eight thermistors. The laser-cooked chicken was preferred in blind taste tests. A video of the process is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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0x Launch Kit (Website) | The 0x Launch Kit allows developers to launch their own Ethereum-based token exchange or marketplace in minutes. The kit deploys a fully featured exchange which is secure, open source, and can be customized to the developer’s needs. Users can view a live demo, and there is detailed documentation on how to install and customize the kit. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Exclusive: Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs | Amazon has begun to roll out machines that are able to pack customer orders. The machines scan products coming down from a conveyor belt and then packs each item into custom sized boxes. Installing these machines may mean more than 1,300 jobs would be cut across 55 Amazon fulfillment centers. At $1 million per machine, Amazon expects to recover the costs in under two years. The machines are able to work four to five times faster than human workers. While the goal is to eventually have a completely automated warehouse, Amazon plans to replace workers through attrition, opting to stop hiring new workers and letting current employees either train into different roles or leave the company on their own terms. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Learn-Natural-Language-Processing-Curriculum (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains the curriculum from the ‘Learn Natural Language Processing’ video on YouTube by Siraj Raval. The curriculum consists of video lectures, reading assignments, and projects. It is designed to be eight weeks long, assuming two to three hours of study per day. Students should have knowledge in python, statistics, probability, calculus, and linear algebra before beginning the course. Links to resources for prerequisite knowledge are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Learn Javascript (Web App) | This is an introduction to modern Javascript with very small lessons and an online code editor where you can immediately apply those lessons. It requires a GitHub account to get started, but the design is nice and the exercises are really easy to follow. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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MistQL (GitHub Repo) | MistQL is a miniature embeddable query language for JSON-like structures. It uses a simple syntax that can chain together complicated expressions in an easy-to-read manner. MistQL has no dependencies and a small footprint, making it suitable for size-sensitive frontends. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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DS Cheatsheets (GitHub Repo) | This is a set of open source cheatsheets for topics in data science including deep learning, machine learning, data visualization, Python, R, SQL, and more. They're all in PDF form so if you want to print them out and tape them somewhere you could probably do that too. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Life of a Netflix Partner Engineer — The case of the extra 40 ms | The role of a Partner Engineer at Netflix is to help device manufacturers launch the Netflix application on their devices. At the end of 2017, Netflix was implementing its app on a new Android TV device which experienced a serious stuttering issue. This article follows a Netflix Partner Engineer as they track down the bug, figure out the real root cause, and then work towards a fix. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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User Inyerface (Website) | Bad websites featuring spammy pop-ups, misleading patterns, or just plain poorly thought-out interfaces are probably one of the worst experiences to encounter on the internet. User Inyerface is a game that is designed to highlight bad practices when designing forms for websites. Users are asked to fill in forms full of frustrating, yet not unrealistic, design quirks. Once completed, users are rewarded with a link to Bagaar’s career page. | 4Miscellaneous
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Lancet (GitHub Repo) | Lancet is a comprehensive, efficient, and reusable go util function library. It features over 140 common go util functions, including utils for type conversions, data encryption and decryption, parsing and formatting date time, and more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Manage Your Next Project With Basecamp (Sponsor) | Basecamp is the all-in-one toolkit for working remotely. Organize teams, projects, schedules, files, and everything else your team needs. Try managing your next project with Basecamp. We’ll even give you one free month to try it.Try Basecamp Today | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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3D-printed 'living ink' could lead to self-repairing buildings | A team of scientists have genetically engineered microbes to create living nanofibers as part of a process to produce an ink that can be used in a standard 3D printer. The material can be tailored to certain tasks, such as producing anti-cancer drugs or removing toxins from the environment. It can manufacture itself, so only a few basic resources would be needed to produce whatever is needed. While the ink is not yet ready for practical use, it could one day produce buildings that can repair themselves or self-assembling materials for building on the Moon or other planets. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China is testing "emotion recognition" systems in Xinjiang | China has been testing surveillance systems aimed at detecting people's emotions. The goal is to eventually be able to predict crimes using machine learning. Companies that have jumped at the opportunity to join the effort were promptly added to the US trade blacklist. Emotion recognition technology has been deployed in Xinjiang, a region known to be home to over one million Muslims that are being held in internment camps. Experts say that current emotion recognition technology doesn't work and that creating a working emotion recognition system would be difficult, if not impossible. Companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon openly admit to the rudimentary abilities of their facial recognition systems. China has also been testing gait-recognition systems, a social credit system, and an app that maps and publicly shames 'deadbeat debtors'. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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A New Factory in France Will Mass-Produce Bugs as Food | A facility in northern France is growing bugs for fish feed, fertilizer, and pet food. Farmed fish are fed smaller fish and crops that are grown on land, which can be costly. Ÿnsect's facilities grow beetle larvae in vertical farms 130 feet high. It aims to produce 20,000 tons of insect protein each year. Ÿnsect is already working with the biggest fish feed company in the world. It plans to start production in 2022. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Static Site Boilerplate (GitHub Repo) | This is an easy boilerplate setup for static sites, it includes a local dev server with hot reloading, automatic bundling and minification of CSS and JS, deployment via FTP or Netlify, and more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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What It’s Like to Work Inside Apple’s ‘Black Site’ | While Apple’s main campus in Cupertino is widely known for its large, well-designed, and employee focused facilities, its lesser-known ‘Black Site’ offices 6 miles away show a completely different side of the tech giant. The office, which mainly houses contractors, is much smaller, with under-stocked vending machines and insufficient facilities. A past employee who worked at the facility shares their experience working on the site, documenting a side of Apple that most people who aspire to work for the company do not know. | 4Miscellaneous
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Twitter to ban all political advertising, raising pressure on Facebook | Twitter will ban all political advertising on its platform starting from November 22. The ban is global and will apply to all electioneering ads as well as ads related to political issues. It is an attempt to stop people from using social media to spread misleading information. Facebook has recently decided to exempt ads purchased by politicians from third-party fact-checking. Political ads will also be exempt from a policy that bans false statements in paid advertisements. While Facebook claims to be committed to reducing misinformation, these exemptions allow politicians and political candidates to lie in paid campaign ads. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey calls for more political ad regulation as current laws are not enough. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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We Tested OpenPilot, the $1,199 Device That Adds Entry-Level Autonomy to Your Car | OpenPilot's Comma Two is a device that adds basic autonomy to vehicles. It consists of a device that is mounted to the windshield and a vehicle harness that connects to the vehicle to send gas, braking, and steering controls to the vehicle's various computers. The device enhances a car's radar cruise and lane-watch systems to make minor corrections, keeping drivers in their lanes and handling low-stakes highway driving. OpenPilot is supported by a strong community, with active users and staff ready to help solve problems. Videos of the Comma Two on the road are available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Xiaomi's remote wireless charging powers up your phone from across the room | Xiaomi has unveiled a 'true' wireless charger that can recharge devices from several meters away. Mi Air Charge Technology is a 5W charging system that sends millimeter wide waves to devices using the 144 antennas in its base station. Devices receive the waves using a 14-antenna array. Xiaomi says that it will eventually be able to charge multiple devices at once. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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FDA Approves Anti-Malarial Drugs Chloroquine And Hydroxychloroquine For Emergency Coronavirus Treatment | Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have been praised in daily press briefings as potential coronavirus cures. There is no proven cure or vaccine for the coronavirus. The drugs are normally used to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. Early studies have provided mixed evidence for the effectiveness of the drugs and they carry risks such as vision problems or cardiac arrest. Some doctors have hoarded the drugs by writing prescriptions for themselves or for their families. Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, North Carolina, and other states have issued rules limiting prescriptions. The FDA has now approved the drugs for hospitalized patients. Non-pharmaceutical forms of the drugs can cause serious health consequences, including death. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Sunshine Contacts is an invite-only address book app from Marissa Mayer’s new startup | Sunshine Contacts is a new contact management application for iOS devices by former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. It combines data from Apple's contacts app and Gmail with data from public sources to help organize and clean contacts, fill in missing information, and delete duplicate entries. Sunshine will launch as a free, invite-only service. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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What Is Going To Happen In 2021 | By the second half of 2021, we will see people returning to normal life. However, this will likely not change the behaviors people have adopted during the pandemic and people will continue to do many things from home. Many sectors of the economy will never be the same. The pandemic and the climate crisis will drive people to move to areas less affected by climate change. This will be a huge investible trend for years to come. Cryptocurrency and decentralized organizations will be more common, with the approach expanding into areas beyond the financial sector. | 4Miscellaneous
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Fact check: Did the Warren Buffett-backed Chinese automaker overtake Tesla in sales? | BYD included sales from hybrid vehicles in its company filings, making Tesla still the biggest electric vehicle seller. | 4Miscellaneous
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Lightyear One debuts as the first long-range solar-powered electric car | The Lightyear One is a prototype vehicle designed to collect the power it requires from the sun. It boasts a range of 450 miles on a single charge, which is definitely a first for a car powered by solar power. Over 100 vehicles have already been sold, even though the car has yet to be released. Production will begin in 2021, and up to 500 reservations will be made available as long as customers prepay around $136,000 for their vehicle. The Lightyear One will be able to recharge through a wall socket. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Command Line Interface Guidelines (Website) | This is a guide for writing better command-line programs. It is written for those who are looking for principles and best practices for CLI UI design. The guide covers the philosophy of CLI UI design first before delving into design guidelines. Further resources are offered at the end of the guide. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Anyone can fingerprint unlock a Galaxy S10—just grab a clear phone case | Samsung's Galaxy S10's fingerprint reader can be fooled with a piece of transparent plastic. A user's wife discovered that she could unlock her husband's phone by putting a screen protector between her finger and the fingerprint sensor. Samsung is aware of the malfunctioning fingerprint recognition and will soon issue a software patch. The exploit also works on the Galaxy Note 10, which uses the same fingerprint technology. The phones use Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint reader technology, which was supposed to be more secure as it used sonic waves to take a 3D scan of your finger as well as to detect blood flow within the finger. The fingerprint reader was previously fooled with a $450 3D printer. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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New wearable device turns the body into a battery | Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have created a wearable device that transforms the human body into a battery. It can be worn like a ring, bracelet, or any other accessory that touches the skin. The device converts body heat into electricity using thermoelectric generators. It generates about 1 volt of energy per square centimeter of skin space, enough to power devices like watches or fitness trackers. The device can heal itself when damaged and it is fully recyclable. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Firefox and Chrome are squaring off over ad-blocker extensions | Google is working to cut out a feature commonly used in ad blockers from its most recent extension standard. Web Request is a feature that blocks off domains. Google wants to replace it with a more restrictive API that specifies how certain types of traffic are handled. Ad blocker developers are concerned with the impacts of the change as Chromium is used as the base for many popular browsers. Firefox will continue to support Web Request. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Pacific volcano: New Zealand sends flight to assess Tonga damage | An underwater volcano erupted near Tonga on Saturday, sending a plume of ash into the sky and triggering tsunami warnings in several countries. The eruption coated Tonga in volcanic ash and cut off internet and phone lines. Power and service is being restored to some parts of the island, but many people are still uncontactable. New Zealand has sent a plane to assess the damage. Satellite images suggest that some of the outlying islands have been completely submerged. | 4Miscellaneous
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Apple promises third-party payment options in iOS for South Korean users | Apple is introducing third-party payment options for iOS in South Korea. South Korea recently passed new legislation to open up the perceived monopolies of Google and Apple's app stores. Apple will charge developers a reduced fee to implement third-party payment options. The exact details, such as how much Apple will charge developers or when the new changes will begin, have yet to be announced. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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‘Deep Nostalgia’ Can Now Make Old Photos of Your Relatives Dance and Blow Kisses | MyHeritage has doubled the number of movements that can be applied to still photos in Deep Nostalgia. Deep Nostalgia has created over 72 million photo animations since its launch five weeks ago. The 10 new options include expressions like kisses, an approving nod, and even a dance. Examples of animations generated by Deep Nostalgia are available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Ira Design (Website) | Ira is a tool for creating illustrations using gradients and hand-drawn sketch components. It features more than 200 individually designed components and a mix of five gradient colors. The illustrations can be scaled to any size. Examples of websites built using Ira are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Amazon just got Fakespot booted off Apple’s iOS App Store | Fakespot, an app that removes fake product reviews from Amazon, has been removed from the Apple App Store due to a takedown request from Amazon. Amazon says that the app could theoretically be exploited to steal customer data. The app requires users to enter their Amazon logins in order to browse the website through a custom overlay. Apple claims that the removal was due to a dispute over intellectual property rights and that it had warned Fakespot about the issue weeks before the app's removal. The Android version of the app hasn't been updated since 2019. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Some potential things likely to happen in next 3-18 months for tech startup world | This Twitter thread contains a list of eight things that are likely to happen within the next 18 months in the tech startup world. The market is likely to continue to drop and layoffs are just beginning. Companies will start focusing more on customers, business building, and their core missions, and a number of great companies will be built during this period. | 4Miscellaneous
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Google just put a photo of the Pixel 4A on its store | An image of Google's Pixel 4A was mistakenly published on its Canadian store. The image is available in the article. It features the 4A in a matte black finish with a light blue power button. The phone has one camera and a headphone jack. It supposedly passed FCC approval last month, suggesting it might be released soon. The screen inside the image has a date of May 12th, indicating that Google had originally planned to launch the phone during its annual developer's conference before it was canceled. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote? (HackerNews Thread) | Many people dream of working remotely, ditching the office and working from home or while traveling. The thread creator asks for tips on convincing their company to let them work remotely, and the replies are full of personal anecdotes on how people were able to achieve their remote working goals. There is also some good advice in the thread regarding work culture and working remotely, because if one is not present in the office in a non-remote working culture, they are usually seen as an outsider. While it is possible to transition to working remotely, the general advice given is that it is better to find a position which is already remote-friendly. | 4Miscellaneous
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Google and India’s Jio Platforms announce budget Android smartphone JioPhone Next | The JioPhone Next is a new affordable Android smartphone from one of India's telecom providers and Google. Jio Platforms received $20 billion in funding from Google, Facebook, and others last year to work on the low-cost smartphone. It is aimed at the roughly 300 million users in India who are still on 2G devices. The phone will launch in September. It will eventually be released outside of the country. A picture of the phone is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Estonia to Empower AI-Based Judge in Small Claims Court | An AI-based judge will be used in Estonia to settle small claims cases. The AI will take case submissions from both parties in a trial and determine the outcome without an actual human judge making the decision. If the parties disagree with the decision made, then they can further appeal to a human judge and a full case. The government is planning up to 50 different applications for AI in the public sector by 2020. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Apple’s new Mac update is out, and iTunes is finally dead | macOS Catalina has been released and can now be downloaded from the Mac App Store or via the software update option in System Preferences. iPads that support the Apple Pencil can now be used as a second display on Mac using Sidecar. iTunes has been replaced by three separate apps, Apple TV, Apple Music, and Podcasts. Apple Arcade is now available on Mac. Catalyst is a feature that lets developers port their iPad apps to Mac. Other new features include new accessibility options to control your Mac by voice, Screen Time controls that can limit how long certain apps can be used, and improved security. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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H2 Clipper Will Resurrect Hydrogen Airships to Haul Green Fuel Across the Planet | H2 Clipper is a startup that plans to build airships that will use hydrogen to provide buoyancy and hydrogen fuel cells to power their engines. The project is still in its concept stage, but the startup plans to build airships that are faster, safer, and more efficient than its predecessors. The airships will cruise at about 175 mph for distances up to 6,000 miles. They will have a cargo volume of 265,000 cubic feet and will be able to carry up to 340,000 pounds of payload. There are still many hurdles to overcome before the airships will become a reality, one being that the US currently bans the use of hydrogen as a lift gas in airships. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Solito (GitHub Repo) | Solito is a library dedicated to unifying React Native with Next.js. It allows for sharing navigation code across platforms. Solito also contains a set of patterns and examples for building cross-platform apps with React Native and Next.js. Examples are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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New Patent For Apple Glass Can Detect Sound And Automatically Clean The Lens | Two new Apple Glass patents were recently revealed. One patent shows multiple microphones located at different positions on the Apple Glass that can capture and process sounds from different directions. The purpose of the design is not mentioned in the patent, but it could be used to pinpoint the locations of sounds. The other patent features an automatic cleaning function that removes dust and other particles from the lens and glasses frame through vibration. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Qwik (GitHub Repo) | Qwik is a framework that delivers fast load times with pure HTML and less than 1kb of JavaScript. It can be used to create complex and interactive sites. Several blog posts explaining how Qwik works are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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AWS launches Amazon Honeycode, a no-code mobile and web app builder | Amazon Honeycode is a fully managed low-code/no-code development tool with a web-based, drag-and-drop interface builder. Developers can build applications for up to 20 users for free. Honeycode provides a set of templates for common use cases, for example, to-do list applications, customer trackers, survey schedules, and inventory management. It provides users with a spreadsheet view as its core data interface and users work with standard spreadsheet-style formulas. The service currently only runs in the AWS US West region but it will be rolled out to other regions soon. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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NASA InSight Mission (Livestream) | NASA is trying to land the InSight spacecraft on Mars at 3pm Eastern Time, the livestream starts at 2pm Eastern Time (8 hours after you receive this email). The landing sequence will take 7 minutes, with the landing probe hurtling through the Martian atmosphere at 12,300 mph. The probe will be used to deploy a seismometer to listen for earthquakes, dig below the planet's surface to inspect the interior, and emit radio waves that we can monitor from Earth. This link is to NASA's official website, they have links for the stream on Youtube, Facebook, Twitch, etc. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Don’t let your issue tracker be a four-letter word. Use Shortcut. (Sponsor) | Frustrated with your project management software? Shortcut is a goldilocks solution for software engineers, product managers, and designers, providing the ease of use of a simple tool with the power and flexibility of an overly complex one. Learn more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Amazon Is Making a Rival to Apple’s AirPods as Its First Alexa Wearable | Amazon is looking to release wireless earbuds in the second half of 2019. The earbuds will have Alexa access, which means that users will be able to use their voice to order goods, play music, and access information on the go. There will also be physical gesture controls. Amazon's earbuds will require pairing with a phone for Alexa access. Earbuds are the fastest growing wearable market, with Apple's AirPods generating $17.4 billion in revenue last financial year. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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How an anti ad-blocker works: Reverse-engineering BlockAdBlock (15 minute read) | BlockAdBlock is a script that detects ad-blockers and disables website access until the ad-blocker is disabled. By searching through its version history using the Wayback Machine, it is possible to figure out how it was developed and how it works. BlockAdBlock's basic architecture consisted of a bait, a check to see if the ad-blocker blocked the bait, and then a function that created the overlay. Improvements in the code implemented different strategies of detecting ads, such as checking the page to see if target ads had loaded. As BlockAdBlock improved, ad-blockers also improved, creating a need for BlockAdBlock to be more creative in its methods. In the end, it is much harder to block ad-blockers than it is to block ads due to how web technologies work. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Facebook to launch officially licensed music videos in the US next month | Facebook will launch officially licensed music videos on its social network in the US next month. Artists will be able to toggle a new setting to add music videos to their pages ahead of an August 1st deadline. Facebook will automatically create a page of the artist's videos if no action is taken. By toggling the setting, artists will give Facebook permission to add their music videos, and they will not have to upload the videos themselves. Facebook will automatically share music videos through an artist's page as soon as it receives a new release from a music label. Artists will have control over the material after it is posted. Before the change, many artists were not able to share full videos due to licensing rights. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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On rebooting: the unreasonable effectiveness of turning computers off and on again | Rebooting works because it resets the system to its initial stable state. The initialization sequence is generally reliable, so it can transition into other well-behaved states. When the system reaches a defect, it enters a broken state, which makes any attempt to bring it back into a working state improvisational. While this is true for most cases, there are other nuances to consider. This article discusses rebooting systems and the reasoning behind developing crash-only software. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Why nobody hires junior developers and what happens next (10 minute read) | This article looks at the reasons why junior developers are having a hard time landing jobs. It makes some suggestions on what to do to help improve the market. While the number of job opportunities and salaries skyrockets for software developers around the world, fresh grads and junior developers struggle to even get invited for interviews. Companies are reluctant to hire junior developers as they require training and the investment is lost if the developer gets another job once they're trained. | 4Miscellaneous
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‘Your Cock Is Mine Now:’ Hacker Locks Internet-Connected Chastity Cage, Demands Ransom | A hacker took control of people's Internet of Things chastity cages and demanded a ransom to unlock them. Security researchers found a vulnerability in the sex toys last October. The victims were asked to pay 0.02 Bitcoin each to unlock their devices. This case highlights the need for better security practices. | 4Miscellaneous
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How to safely open-source internal software - Some best practices | Before open-sourcing a piece of internal software, it is important to make sure that the code is ready to be seen by the public. The code should be scanned for company secrets and internal contacts, the repository should be set up with clear guidelines and processes, and there should be a project introduction, at the very least. This article provides a checklist and guide for properly setting up an open-source repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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My Second Year as a Solo Developer (12 minute read) | After leaving Google as a software developer two years ago, Michael Lynch set out to build his own software business. In the second year, the business was still not profitable, but it had improved significantly. Lynch worked on several projects, with his 'Is It Keto' both bringing in the most revenue and having the highest running costs. During this time, he learned that higher prices could actually bring in more customers, ideas need to be screened and dumped when appropriate, having higher goals can result in bigger wins, and that life is much more enjoyable as a founder. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Reddit to reportedly tokenize karma points and onboard 500M new users | Reddit is planning to convert its users' karma points into Ethereum-based tokens. The platform has already launched its own layer-2 rollup using Arbitrum technology for its Community Points system. Reddit communities will be able to fork blockchains through community-based decisions. The change will onboard 500 million users onto crypto and web3. Other social media platforms have also started allowing NFT exposure to their users, a sign of crypto's mainstream adoption. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance (12 minute read) | Last week, Boston Dynamics released a video of its robots dancing. The company worked with dancers and a choreographer to create the dance, using simulations to iterate through movement concepts and adjusting the human dance moves so that they could be performed by the robot. Eventually, the team had a toolchain to quickly create new dance moves. The exercise helped engineers push the limits of their creations, as well as learn more about the robustness of their hardware. While the development of the dance moves took months, the actual sequence in the video was filmed over two days. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Physicists Discover Exotic, New 'Tetraquark' Particle We've Never Seen Before | A new type of particle called a tetraquark has been discovered using data from CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The new particle is made up of four heavy quarks of the same type. It is likely to be the first in a previously undiscovered class of particles. The tetraquark was discovered by combing over the data collected and retained from the Large Hadron Collider's two operational runs. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Japanese Railroad Builds Giant Gundam-Style Robot to Fix Power Lines | West Japan Rail Company is using a giant Gundam-style robot to fix remote railway power lines. The robot is piloted by a human wearing a virtual reality setup. The robot is still just a prototype and won't be put to work widely until 2024. A video of the robot doing its job is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Researchers create neurons that can be integrated into human brain tissue | Scientists have successfully generated human neurons from skin cells using cellular reprogramming technology. Using a combination of cutting-edge technologies, the researchers demonstrated that grafted cells were able to receive inputs and establish synaptic contacts with the already established neuronal network in a slice of brain cortex. As the cells used for treatment are harvested from the patient, there is no risk of graft rejection and also no ethical concerns regarding the source of the cells. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Take a look at this delicious lickable screen to see the future we knew was coming | The TTTV is a device that can print flavors onto a screen. It is designed to let people experience things like far-away world-class restaurants without leaving their homes. The device sprays chemicals onto a rolling plastic sheet in combinations that recreate the desired flavor. It was trained by blending up various foods and using sensors to taste them. The creator of the TTTV believes that they can create a commercial version of the device for $875. A 2-minute video showing the device and its potential applications is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Tesla promises ‘one million robo-taxis’ in 2020 | Tesla held an event with shareholders to discuss their autonomous driving technology two days before their first-quarter earnings disclosure. A new neural network chip which Tesla built from the ground up specifically for self-driving cars was announced. Elon Musk confirmed that all Tesla vehicles already have the necessary technology for self-driving and that all is needed is a software fix. Musk stated that using LiDAR technology for autonomous driving was ‘a fool’s errand’ as it was expensive and unnecessary. Tesla aims to have completely self-driving vehicles by the end of this year, and robo-taxis on the road in 2020. In another two years, Tesla hopes to manufacture cars that won’t have a steering wheel or pedals at all. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Solid.js (Website) | Solid is a declarative JavaScript library for creating user interfaces. It compiles templates down to real DOM nodes and wraps updates in fine-grained reactions. Solid follows the same philosophy as React without using Virtual DOM. It works in serverless environments and supports modern features like JSX, Fragments, Context, Portals, and Concurrent Rendering. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Moving stuff with your mind? That superpower may finally be here | Scientists from China have developed a Bluetooth brain-computer interface that can wirelessly control metasurfaces using brainwaves. The device provided better control and was far more advanced than any existing product currently on the market. It can still be tweaked to be more efficient and accurate. The technology has potential applications in communications, the health sector, and smart sensors. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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After 15 Years, The Pirate Bay Still Can’t Be Killed (14 minute read) | The Pirate Bay was born in 2003, and despite many attempts at closing down the website, it still remains an internet giant today. It uses torrents, a system which decentralizes the location of files so that users are downloading from their peers rather than a website. Many countries have attempted to block the site, and the Swedish government attempted to charge the creators of the website for copyright infringements, resulting in a year of prison and a $3.5 million fine for the four defendants. While piracy has dropped over the years due to streaming services like Netflix, which made content conveniently available and affordable, the piracy rate has raised recently due to the splitting of streaming services. Consumers are finding it more convenient to pirate again, rather than pay for multiple streaming services. | 4Miscellaneous
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Sheety (Web Tool) | Sheety allows you to quickly and easily convert any Google Sheets spreadsheet into an API in 3 easy steps. This tool allows developers to prototype quickly and easily, without having to worry about building a back-end system. While the creator states that it is a personal project that shouldn’t be used for anything critical, it is a great tool for quickly developing and testing ideas before progressing into further development. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The Navy May Use Robo-Ships to Hunt and Kill Enemy Subs, Terminator-Style | The US Navy has plans to use a fleet of uncrewed warships to hunt and destroy submarines. It is in the process of issuing contracts for up to 40 medium unmanned surface vehicles (MUSVs). MUSVs are significantly cheaper to build and maintain while still being deadly effective at their jobs. Anti-submarine warfare can involve long periods of drudgery, as it is a process that involves sometimes waiting for months for possible enemy submarine contact. Freeing up manned cruisers, destroyers, and submarines from anti-submarine warfare and assigning the task to MUSVs would free up billions of dollars worth of warships to do other tasks. While it sounds like a good idea, the results could be disappointing. Previous attempts at automating sea mine-hunting took nearly a decade to produce results, and moving targets will be much more challenging. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Starship (GitHub Repo) | Starship is a minimal, fast, customizable prompt for any shell. It displays important information in a sleek and unintrusive manner. A quick GIF demo is available showing the prompt in action. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Spider uses film of air to hide underwater for over half an hour | Scientists at Binghamton University have observed a land-living spider fleeing from humans by going underwater and remaining there for over 30 minutes. The spider was enveloped in a layer of air held in place by its hydrophobic hairs. It is unclear if the spider was using the air to breathe. The air kept the spider's respiratory openings away from water and may have helped to minimize thermal loss to the water that it was submerged in. | 4Miscellaneous
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When your next door neighbor is a glittering spaceport | Spaceport America is a $220 million facility based in the deserts of New Mexico. If everything goes to plan, it may launch its first spaceships in 2020. Spaceport America's primary tenant is Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic sells seats for its spaceplane at $250,000 a ticket, and around 600 people have paid a deposit so far. Passengers will spend a few days at the spaceport to train before their trip. A nearby town approved a tax in the last decade to help build the spaceport as it promises to bring an influx of business to the area. Virgin Galactic has taken longer to get into space than originally expected, with a fatal in-flight accident in 2014 causing more delays to the program. It has since flown its spaceplane to the edge of space and back twice. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Humanity Is Sending 3 New Rovers to Mars in 2020 to Look for Signs of Life | Three new rovers are scheduled to launch to Mars in the summer of 2020, including NASA's Mars 2020 rover, Europe and Russia's Rosalind Franklin, and China's Huoxing-1. They are scheduled to land on Mars in 2021. NASA's Mars 2020 rover will be officially named next year, and it will carry components such as the Mars Helicopter Scout, the first human aircraft to fly on another planet. It will land in the Jezero Crater and build on Curiosity's findings. Europe and Russia's Rosalind Franklin rover is about a third of the size of Curiosity, and it will also focus on looking for signs of past life on Mars. Its target is likely a crater in a region called Oxia Planum. China's Huoxing-1 rover will be the nation's first mission outside the Earth-Moon system. The rover will probably be renamed before launch. It is the smallest of the three new-generation rovers, but its purpose is similar. Huoxing-1 will also be looking for biosignatures and signs of life on the Martian surface. China has not yet announced a final site for the rover. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Google Is Forcing Me to Dump a Perfectly Good Phone | Google has stopped providing software updates to the Pixel 3, its flagship phone from just three years ago. The company claims that the three years of security and OS updates provided customers with a great experience. Lack of support for older devices has been a problem with Android since it was introduced. The planned obsolescence forces customers to either spend money on a new device or risk running a device without security updates. It also creates electronic waste. The most recent version of iOS can be installed on the iPhone 6s, making iPhones a more sustainable option. | 4Miscellaneous
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NASA’s ‘Armageddon’-style asteroid deflection mission takes off in November | The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will be a practical test of our ability to change the trajectory of an asteroid. It involves sending a pair of satellites out to a pair of asteroids known as the Didymos binary. One satellite will crash into an asteroid at nearly 15,000 miles per hour to change its speed by a fraction of a percent, enough to affect its orbit measurably. The other satellite will attempt to fly by and capture the moment of impact. DART is scheduled to launch on November 23 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. | 4Miscellaneous
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Google Maps “immersive view” turns Maps into a 3D, SimCity-like simulation | Google Maps' new Immersive View turns Google Maps into a 3D version of SimCity with AAA video game graphics. It can simulate traffic and weather using real-world data. Users will be able to see 3D layouts from some businesses. Immersive View will start rolling out in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo later this year. It will work on almost all phones and devices. A video that shows what the feature looks like is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Snapchat’s new feature lets creators build AR experiences for landmarks in their communities | Snapchat's new Custom Landmarkers feature lets creators build unique AR experiences for local places. It is now accessible in Lens Studio after first being teased at an event in December. Custom landmarkers are discoverable through physical Snapcodes or through creator profiles. Snapchat has a community of 250,000 Lens creators building experiences for its platform. Some creators received early access to the feature and have already launched AR experiences in their communities. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Blitz.js (Website) | Blitz is a full-stack React framework that features a "Zero-API" data layer abstraction that lets you import server code directly into React components. New Blitz apps have basic components like user sign up, log in, and password reset already built in. Blitz was designed for tiny to large database-backed applications with one or more graphical user interfaces. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Test Each (GitHub Repo) | Test Each allows developers to test code repeatedly with different inputs. It loops over every combination of inputs, can use random functions, and is snapshot testing friendly. An in-browser demo is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Apple CEO Tim Cook in Leaked Memo: 'We Are Doing Everything in Our Power' to Identify Leakers | A recently leaked memo from Apple CEO Tim Cook warned employees about leaking company information. It states that the company is doing everything in its power to identify the leakers and that people who leak confidential information don't belong in the company. Apple has served various leakers with stern warnings from lawyers in recent months. A copy of the leaked memo is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Facebook and Twitter uncover Chinese trolls spreading doubts about Hong Kong protests | Facebook and Twitter have discovered a network of accounts believed to have been operated by the Chinese government. The accounts were created to sow political discord around the protests taking place in Hong Kong and have now been suspended. There were 936 accounts on Twitter and seven pages, three groups, and five accounts on Facebook. One of the pages had 15,500 followers and at least one of the groups had 2,200 members. Facebook and Twitter are forbidden in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong. Protests broke out in Hong Kong earlier this summer as citizens opposed a Chinese bill that would allow people living in the special administrative region to be extradited to China for trial. The protests have escalated in recent weeks. Twitter has been criticized for accepting ads from Chinese state media, but it has now stated that it will no longer accept advertising from state-controlled media entities. State-backed media accounts will still be free to continue to use Twitter without advertising abilities. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Subsets and Splits