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First vaccine to fully immunize against malaria builds on pandemic-driven RNA tech . Malaria researchers have invented a promising blueprint for a vaccine with properties similar to the novel RNA-based vaccine for Covid-19. Making a vaccine for the disease has been challenging due to a protein produced by its associated parasite. The new vaccine design allows the body to produce T-cells even when the protein is present. It has not been tested yet on humans, but studies have demonstrated high levels of protection in mice. |
Use third-party data to simplify mobile app personalization (Sponsor). In highly competitive sectors, it’s not enough to build user-friendly applications. As end-user savvy increases, so does the expectation for immediate and effortless personalization. Join this webinar to hear how industry thought leaders are successfully deploying Foursquare data with AWS solutions to stay up to date with customer demand and maintain the best app experiences. |
A New Type Of COVID-19 Vaccine Could Debut Soon . Protein subunit vaccines have been used for a while for diseases like hepatitis and pertussis. Novavax is looking to become the first company to release a protein subunit vaccine for Covid-19. The vaccine will contain the spike protein with an adjuvant that enhances the immune system's response. The spike protein can be grown using vats of cells or with genetically modified plants. There are currently at least three types of Covid-19 protein subunit vaccines in development. |
Exclusive: This is our first look at Android 13 “Tiramisu” and some of its upcoming features . A source with access to a very early Android 13 build has shared screenshots showing several upcoming features and changes. Users will be able to set languages on a per-app basis and notifications could become an opt-in feature rather than turned on by default. A new setting has been added to settings for users to toggle the layout of the clock on the lock screen. Android 13 will lay the foundations of a feature called TARE (The Android Resource Economy) that focuses on energy-use management. |
Walmart is piloting a pricier 2-hour ‘Express’ grocery delivery service . Walmart has introduced a new service that allows customers to receive grocery deliveries in two hours or less for an extra $10 on top of the usual delivery fee. The service has been tested across 100 stores since mid-April and will be expanded to up to 2,000 stores in the next few months. During the pilot, customers received deliveries within 55 minutes. To ensure stock levels for physical shoppers, Walmart will remove stock from the online grocery service when stock becomes limited. |
Disney CEO Bob Iger has resigned from Apple’s board . Disney CEO Bob Iger resigned from Apple's board on September 10, the same day that Apple unveiled the launch date and subscription price for the Apple TV Plus. The introduction of the Apple TV Plus service officially makes Apple and Disney competitors, with Disney launching Disney+ on November 12. Iger's departure from Apple's board is similar to when Google CEO Eric Schmidt left after Android became a competitor to the iPhone. Apple TV Plus will launch on November 1 with nine titles for $4.99 a month. |
Twitter Is Finally Doing Stories . Twitter has started testing a feature called Fleets that allows users to post photos, videos, and text that disappear after a short period of time, similar to 'stories' from other social media platforms. Snapchat first invented stories in 2013 and the feature has since been copied by Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, Tinder, and LinkedIn. People are more willing to share casual, everyday thoughts through stories as the messages disappear. Users will not be able to retweet or like Fleets. |
Mastercard is phasing out magnetic stripes on its cards starting in 2024 . MasterCard will phase out the use of magnetic stripes on its cards over the next decade. The transition will start in 2024 in regions like Europe where chip cards are already widely used. Magnetic stripes will be completely gone from MasterCard cards by 2033. The technology dates back to the 1960s and it was a huge improvement to how cashiers used to record card details. The global EMV chip standard was introduced in the 1990s, but the US hasn't adopted the technology to the same extent as the rest of the world. Contactless payments have exploded in popularity during the pandemic. |
Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for all users in the United States . Apple has released a new version of Maps with faster and more accurate navigation and comprehensive views of landmarks. The update will be rolled out to Europe in the coming months. Maps was rebuilt from the ground up with privacy at its core. The new version of Maps allows users to view interactive street-level imagery, favorite and share locations, view real-time transit information, share estimated time of arrival, and more. Maps is not connected to users' Apple ID in any way. Personalized features are created using on-device intelligence. Any data that is transmitted by the app is associated with random identifiers that continually reset. |
Learning COBOL: A Journey For The Modern Programmer (12 minute read). This article is an introduction to learning COmmon Business Oriented Language (COBOL). COBOL is a domain-specific language for business. It excels in managing and manipulating heterogeneous data in record structures, using true fixed point decimal arithmetic, and fast access to externally stored record structures. COBOL is different from what most programmers are used to as it is mostly used to operate on records. Working with COBOL likely means that the developer will need to learn how to operate a mainframe. |
Samsung and LG preview the future of weird phone displays . Samsung and LG showed off new folding screen technologies during the annual Display Week conference this week. LG Display had an 8-inch foldable touchscreen that can fold both inwards and outwards. The 360-degree Foldable OLED can survive being folded over 200,000 times. Samsung Display showed off a display that can fold twice in the same direction and another that can fold once inwards and once outwards. It also had displays that can unfurl horizontally or vertically. Videos showing what the displays look like are available in the article. |
Google is letting some users test its AR navigation feature for Google Maps . Google is testing a new feature on their Google Maps app that will allow users to receive directions though their phone camera in real time. The feature will create an augmented reality overlay over the camera so that directions will be visible alongside real world objects. The idea is still in early testing stages, as Google is still coming up with ways to keep users from focusing too much on the screen instead of what is in the real world, as well as other practical use issues. |
Scooter startup Lime is laying off 14 percent of its workers and exiting 12 markets . Lime, an electric scooter-sharing company, will be leaving 12 cities and firing 100 workers as part of its goals to reach financial independence in 2020. Scooter sharing companies have struggled to become profitable. Most experts agree that the market is oversaturated and needs to consolidate. Lime lost approximately $300 million in 2019, likely due to the depreciation of its electric scooters and the cost of repairs. Joe Kraus, Lime's president, claims that Lime is close to being profitable, and he denied rumors that Lime was seeking a new round of venture capital investment. Other scooter-share companies have also laid off employees in recent months. |
Pinterest is talking to bankers and has hired a key exec as it readies itself for a 2019 IPO . Pinterest is preparing for IPO as early as April. It's expected to IPO for $12 billion, which is the valuation they last raised money at. They made $1 billion in revenue this year, and announced in September that they had 250 million monthly users. |
The 7 biggest announcements from Apple’s Peek Performance event . Apple announced a new version of the iPhone SE, a new desktop Mac, an external monitor, and more at its Peek Performance event. The new iPhone SE, which will launch on March 18, has 5G and will start at $429. Apple's new 27-inch 5K Studio Display costs $1,599 and can reach up to 600 nits of brightness. The display will support P3 wide color and work with macOS's TrueTone feature. The Mac Studio is similar to a Mac Mini but aimed at creative professionals. Customers will be able to choose between an M1 Max version starting at $1,999 or an M1 Ultra version starting at $3,999. More details about the announcements from the event are available in the article. |
Evidently (GitHub Repo). Evidently generates interactive reports for analyzing machine learning models during validation or production monitoring. It can currently produce six types of reports. Screenshots and examples are available. |
3D Printing Bone Directly Into the Body . Bones are a mixture of living and inorganic compounds in a highly structured mineral matrix, which presents a huge challenge for bioengineers trying to 3D print the material. A team in Australia has developed a ceramic ink that could eventually be used to print bone directly inside a patient's body. The technology has many medical and research applications. The team is currently working on printing larger samples and it has begun to start animal testing. |
The Canadian innovation that pulls drinking water out of thin air . A Canadian invention uses technology inspired by a cactus and thorny devil lizards to pull drinking water from the air. The species that inspired the Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG) come from Malta, where water is scarce and the land is surrounded by the salt water of the sea. On the island, the cactus uses tiny hairs to collect water from the air and the thorny devil lizard's skin has a texture that pulls moisture from the air into the lizard's mouth. The AWG uses a special material that is able to absorb moisture from the air using principles learned from nature and it uses 20 to 70 times less energy than other current AWGs. |
A Huge Alien World Is Forcing Astronomers to Rethink How Planets Form . A new planet with a mass greater than 10 Jupiters combined has been discovered in an area that theoretically shouldn't have any planets. The planet was found in the b Centauri binary system, a solar system with a mass of nearly 10 suns. Every other planet discovered so far was found in solar systems that weighed less than three solar masses. The discovery implies an astounding diversity of exoplanets and will require scientists to reconsider what conditions allow the formation of planets. |
Loki (Github Repo). Loki is a horizontally-scalable, highly-available, multi-tenant log aggregation system (similar to Prometheus for analytics if you're familiar with that). Because it only indexes metadata and not the actual contents of logs, it's really lightweight. |
iOS 14 is available today . iOS 14 is now available as a free software update. The update brings major changes to the Home Screen, with Widgets and a new App Library. Incoming calls and Siri interactions have a new compact design. FaceTime now has Picture-in-Picture support, so users can watch videos while on a call. App Clips are features of apps designed to be discovered when they are needed. They can be discovered and accessed through App Clip codes, NFC tags, QR codes, and links. Messages received an update that allows users to better organize their chats. Maps now has new cycling directions, electric vehicle routing, and curated Guides. Users will have more access and control to their privacy settings. There are many other changes in the update. A list of additional iOS 14 features is available in the article. |
Amazon offers to help U.S. with vaccine in letter to President Biden . Amazon has offered to help with the US efforts involving the COVID-19 vaccine in a letter addressed to President Joe Biden. The retailer has an agreement with a healthcare provider to administer vaccines at its facilities. It is prepared to leverage its resources to assist the Biden administration's vaccination efforts. |
Summer camps use facial recognition so parents can watch from home (11 minute read). Facial recognition software is a concern for privacy advocates due to its ability to identify people from a distance without their knowledge or consent, a power which has the potential to be abused by authorities. Some cities have banned the use of the technology by public officials and police. However, many citizens enjoy the benefits of facial recognition technology in their daily lives. Many summer camps are now using the technology to help parents keep an eye on their children when the children themselves don't have access to their phones. The children are usually unaware that they are being monitored. This technology has helped relieve separation anxiety from parents and also allows them to feel like they are not missing out on an important time in their children's lives. There are currently no laws to regulate facial recognition software, but the Federal Trade Commission is considering rules that would designate kids' faces as personal information, protected under federal law. |
Memray (GitHub Repo). Memray is a memory profiler for Python. It can help developers discover the cause of high memory usage, find memory leaks, and find hotspots in code that cause a lot of allocations. Memray can be used both as a command-line tool or as a library. |
Google introduces a new way to search that combines images and text into one query . Google Lens will soon be upgraded with the ability to add text to visual searches in order to allow users to ask questions about what they see. It will use Multitask Unified Model (MUM), a new AI technology that can understand information across a wide range of formats and draw insights and connections between topics, concepts, and ideas. MUM is also being used across Google Search and video searches. Examples of how the feature would work are available in the article. |
Startup Aims to Drill 12 Miles Into Earth’s Crust to Tap the Boundless Energy Below . Quaise Energy, a startup that spun out of MIT in 2018, recently secured $40 million in funding for their deep-drilling energy project. The startup plans to drill holes as deep as 12 miles into the Earth's crust where it reaches temperatures of over 700 degrees Fahrenheit. It plans to use the holes to convert water into supercritical steam to drive turbines and produce electricity. If successful, the technique could be used anywhere in the world to produce nearly 100 percent renewable energy at terawatt levels. |
Bill Gates played secret Santa for a lucky person on the internet — here's everything she got in her 81-pound package . Users on the SecretSanta subreddit organize a gift exchange every year, and this year, a woman named Shelby was the lucky recipient of a package from Bill Gates. Shelby received an 81-pound box on December 18 along with a donation to the American Heart Association to honor her late mother. Gates has been participating in Reddit's Secret Santa gift exchange for more than five years. He makes it a point to find personal gifts for each recipient based on the questionnaire they fill out when signing up for the exchange. Shelby's mother had died unexpectedly in March, so Gates' donation to the AHA was the most meaningful gift to her. Inside the 81-pound box, Shelby found a personal placard with a written message from Gates and a collection of gifts based on her interests. |
Controversial ‘Gene Drives’ Just Worked in Mammals for the First Time . Gene Drives are customized snippets of genetic code that can be inserted into an organism in order to create a certain trait. It had previously only been used in insects, such as mosquitoes, due to ethical and technological issues. However, a team of scientists in California has successfully inserted a gene drive into mice, opening up new possibilities with the technology. |
The world's first operational 'sand battery' can store energy for months . Polar Night Energy has set up the world's first commercial-scale sand battery in a town in western Finland. Sand batteries are towers of sand that store and discharge heat energy. Sand is a relatively inexpensive alternative to other battery materials and it can store heat for months. Polar Night Energy's battery currently powers the central heating system for the town. |
Burger King unveils design for future restaurants, including touchless features, outdoor dining . Burger King has unveiled updated restaurant designs that feature dedicated mobile order and curbside pick-up areas, drive-in and walk-up order areas, an enhanced drive-thru experience, exterior dining spaces, and sustainable design elements. The new stores will have a physical footprint 60% smaller than traditional Burger King buildings and sites. A one-minute video that shows off the design is available at the end of the article. |
MASSCAN (GitHub Repo). MASSCAN is a TCP port scanner that can scan the entire Internet in under 5 minutes from a single machine. It uses parameters similar to nmap. MASSCAN can send 300,000 packets per second on Windows and 1.6 million packets per second on Linux. It randomizes target IP addresses, so it shouldn't overwhelm any distant networks. |
Huawei has been building a Play Store alternative in plain sight . Huawei’s App Gallery has been available on Huawei devices for a while now as an alternative to Google’s Play Store. It appears that Huawei had plans for the likely scenario that they had to stop doing business with Google, as is the situation at the moment. While the US ban on companies dealing with Huawei will damage the business, it will not completely stop developers from distributing apps to Huawei users. Using Huawei’s App Gallery, developers now have a marketplace targeted to Huawei users, with 50 million users in Europe alone. |
Eleventy (Website). Eleventy is a simple static site generator. It can transform a directory of templates of varying types into HTML. Eleventy works with HTML, Markdown, JavaScript, Liquid, Nunjucks, Handlebars, Mustache, EJS, Haml, and Pug. Examples of sites built with Eleventy are available. |
Hotjar - See Like Your Users (Sponsor). At Hotjar, we’re building product experience insights tools for the world's leading product teams, including Microsoft, Nintendo, and HubSpot.We go beyond product analytics so product teams can empathize with and understand their users, connecting the dots between what's happening and why it happens. Sign up today to see how users actually experience your site! |
Asynchronous Communication: The Real Reason Remote Workers Are More Productive (13 minute read). Studies have shown that remote workers are more productive than office-bound workers. Remote workers are able to avoid commutes, have more control over their workdays, and are able to dedicate more time to family, friends, and hobbies. Asynchronous communication may be a large factor in productivity and it can be applied to office work. Being able to respond to messages at your own pace means that workers have more control over their workday, communications are more thought out, employees are able to plan better, and people are able to focus more on deep work rather than constantly be on the lookout for communications. Synchronous communication is still necessary for some tasks, but in general, asynchronous communication is better for a more productive, happier work environment. |
Scoop: Facebook establishing a venture arm to invest in startups . Facebook is starting a new multimillion-dollar investment fund aimed at startups. It recently filled the position of 'head of investments' in its New Product Experimentation team. Investing in startups could help the company catch the next big social app before it becomes big. Acquiring small startups before they become successful would help Facebook avoid being accused of buying out rivals. It is unknown how large the fund will be. |
Deep Learning Enables Real-Time 3D Holograms On a Smartphone . Researchers from MIT have developed a way to produce holograms nearly instantly using a deep-learning based method. Holograms require an extraordinary amount of data to create the illusion of depth in an image. The new convolutional neural network learns shortcuts to generating holograms, which reduces total operations by orders of magnitude. It can produce new holograms from images with depth information, which can be provided from a multi-camera setup or with lidar sensors. The system uses less than 620 kilobytes of memory. It can generate 60 1920x1080 color holograms per second on a single consumer-grade GPU. The system can run on an iPhone 11 Pro at the rate of 1.1 holograms per second. |
Surgeons at Duke University First to Implant New Total Artificial Heart Into Patient . Surgeons at Duke University were the first to implant a new generation of Total Artificial Heart (TAH) after receiving FDA approval for human trials. The TAH has a variable heart rate that adjusts based on patient activity and can be used as a complete replacement for living donor hearts. Each device costs around $190,000, plus the costs of critical care staff and other medications. The device could solve long waitlists and high costs so that a heart will always be available for any patient in need. |
Crypto enthusiasts want to buy an NBA team, after failing to purchase US Constitution . Krause House DAO is a new decentralized autonomous organization that aims to purchase an NBA franchise. The group of around 2,000 members raised the equivalent of $4 million in six days. While the funds are currently nowhere near what they will need to buy even the least-valuable NBA team, the organization has plans to invest the funds into future projects so that it can become a serious bidder one day. The group offers an NFT that comes with voting power in the community, but it does not guarantee future ownership of a team. |
Hello IPv6: a minimal tutorial for IPv4 users (24 minute read). IPv6 was published in 1998 and ratified as a standard in 2017. It does more than just provide for a larger address space than IPv4. Many of the terms and protocols in IPv4 either radically changed or disappeared in IPv6. This article explains how IPv4 concepts work in IPv6, with a focus on home and small office networks. It aims for a practical understanding and is not a complete description of IPv6. |
Rich CLI (GitHub Repo). Rich CLI is a command-line toolbox for fancy output in the terminal. It can highlight file types, highlight syntax in files, render Markdown and JSON files, and markup and format text from the command line. Many file formats are supported. Screenshots and examples are available. |
Elon Musk Confirms SpaceX Ocean Spaceport Deimos Under Construction for Starship Launch Next Year . SpaceX's Ocean Spaceport Deimos is under construction and its first launch will take place next year. The site is intended for Starship and its Super Heavy rocket booster. SpaceX has finally landed a Starship, so its next step is to land one with the Super Heavy. There is no set date for SpaceX's Mars mission, but it aims to launch by 2030. |
Growing gold nanoparticles inside tumors can help kill cancer . Researchers have found a way to grow gold nanoparticles directly inside cancer cells. The particles can help with imaging and can be heated up to kill the tumors. Scientists have previously tried to use gold to fight cancer, but it is a challenge to get the material inside tumors. The new method uses polyethylene glycol as a delivery vector for ionic gold. The acidic cellular microenvironment in cancer converts the gold from its ionic form into plasmonic gold nanoparticles. After the initial tests, the scientists in the study used an existing technique to heat the gold nanoparticles up with lasers to kill the cancer cells. |
Amazon to pay $500 million in bonuses to workers most exposed to coronavirus . Amazon recently announced that it will pay out a one-time bonus to its front-line employees who worked for the company through June. The company had cut its $2-an-hour hazard pay for workers at the start of June. Front line workers will get between $150 to $3,000 depending on hours worked and their position in the company. The e-commerce giant has been criticized heavily for its health and safety response to the virus. While it has instituted a variety of safety measures to protect employees, it has also eliminated programs designed to support workers during the pandemic. |
Ask HN: Tesla is making us move or quit. Would I get severance? (Hacker News Thread). Tesla has told its employees to return to the office or leave the company. The announcement could be intended to make workers quit so that the company doesn't have to pay severance. Employees affected by the new rules should seek legal advice. They should also not quit their jobs and continue to work while documenting any interactions with management. |
nbdev (GitHub Repo). nbdev allows developers to fully develop a library in Jupyter Notebooks. It is a true literate programming environment where you can put all your code, tests, and documentation in one place. Developers can easily debug and refactor code. |
Watch Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin test fly the latest upgrades to its space tourism rocket New Shepard . Blue Origin launched the fourteenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket booster and capsule on January 14. There were no passengers on board, but the capsule can carry up to six people. The mission aimed to test a number of astronaut communication and safety alert systems. New Shepard is designed to carry people to an altitude of more than 340,000 feet and spend as much as 10 minutes in zero gravity before returning to Earth. Jeff Bezos personally funds Blue Origin's development, selling Amazon stock to fund the space company. |
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. |
Waymo to Start First Driverless Car Service Next Month . Waymo (Google's self-driving car division) is launching the world's first driverless car service in early December. It will use a separate name and will compete directly with Uber and Lyft. The service will launch only in the suburbs of Phoenix at first, but it shows how far ahead of the competition Waymo is. GM (who acquired self-driving startup Cruise) is probably in second place and analysts believe they're at least a year away from launching something like this. When the program launches there will be backup drivers in the cars to ease customers in, but they will be phased out eventually. The pricing will be competitive with Uber and Lyft. |
TikTok Has a Cult Leader; Meet the Mother Hen . Melissa Ong started the 'Step Chickens Cult' in early May after announcing on TikTok that she wanted to start a cult and asking for suggestions for names. Ong now has almost two million followers, with celebrities and organizations joining the 'cult'. 'Step Chickens' members have been changing their profile pictures to the same picture of Ong, also known as 'Mother Hen'. Ong has monetized her newfound following by selling merchandise, releasing a song, and also releasing an app. |
Research Opens the Door to Fully Light-Based Quantum Computing . A team of researchers have announced the development of a fully photonics-based approach to quantum computing. The team's approach could lead to the development of rack-sized, mostly maintenance-free large-scale quantum computing systems. Photonics-based quantum computing takes advantage of emerging quantum properties in light. The new design allows for a reduction in required raw materials without the complexity of controlling multiple quantum computing units. |
TLDR's Crypto Newsletter (Signup Form). Here is a sign up form for TLDR Crypto, a new newsletter by TLDR dedicated to following tech and innovation in the crypto ecosystem. Please let me know if you have any feedback, ideas, or requests in terms of content, I'm still in the very early stages of putting this together! |
China Building “Artificial Moon” Facility That Simulates Low Gravity With Magnets . Chinese researchers are developing a facility to simulate the gravity of the lunar surface. The artificial Moon will be built in only a few months. It will create low gravity environments using a vacuum chamber and a powerful magnetic field. The chamber will only be 60 centimeters in diameter, but that will be big enough for researchers to test certain equipment and tools to see how they react to the Moon's low-gravity environment. The artificial Moon was inspired by an experiment that earned a Russian physicist an Ig Nobel Prize in Physics. |
Apple will stop selling some iPhone models in its stores in Germany following ruling in Qualcomm patent case . Germany has granted Qualcomm an injunction against Apple in a patent case, forcing Apple to stop selling the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in its stores in Germany. Qualcomm was already successful in getting several iPhone models banned in China earlier this month. The iPhones will still be available through third party stores. Apple says "Qualcomm's campaign is a desperate attempt to distract from the real issues between our companies...Their tactics, in the courts and in their everyday business, are harming innovation and harming consumers. We are of course disappointed by this verdict and we plan to appeal." |
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. |
A Rare Deep-Sea Fish With a Transparent Head Can See Through Its Forehead . Researchers with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) recently captured footage of the super-rare barreleye fish. These fish live thousands of feet beneath the surface and not much is known about them. Their large set of eyes are thought to be used to spot shadows of their prey above them, with the green pigment in their eyes filtering out sunlight reflecting from the ocean surface. The species has only been spotted by the team at MBARI nine times out of more than 5,600 dives. A minute-long video of the fish captured by the researchers is available in the article. |
Buzzfeed to take over online news site HuffPost . Buzzfeed is taking over HuffPost, with seller Verizon Media becoming a minority shareholder in Buzzfeed as part of the deal. The two companies will create new revenue opportunities by joining together for advertising and sharing content. HuffPost, formerly Huffington Post, was founded in 2005 as a site for liberal bloggers. Digital firms have been struggling against tech giants such as Facebook and Google. In recent years, Buzzfeed has shed staff, closed some of its newsrooms, and slashed staff pay. HuffPost is expected to remain a standalone brand, but Buzzfeed has declined to comment on the possibility of job losses. |
Basque (GitHub Repo). Basque is a game engine for top-down 2D games. It features map editing, sprite sheet animations, the ability to add background music, collision detection, and some frame-rate limiting. There are two GIFs that show quick snippets of Basque in action. |
Scientists Grow Bigger Monkey Brains Using Human Genes, Replicating Evolution . Scientists from Germany and Japan recently published a study detailing an experiment where they inserted a specific human gene into monkey fetuses to make their brains bigger. The insertion of the gene resulted in folding of the brain, an increase in the size of the monkeys' neocortex, an increase in the number of cells that produce neurons, and an increase in the number of upper-layer neurons. Due to ethical reasons, the fetuses were removed through C-section after 100 days of growth. |
AI Expert Roadmap (GitHub Repo). This repository contains a set of flow charts showing different career paths and the technologies required to enter into those fields. The charts were designed for people interested in becoming experts in data science, machine learning, or artificial intelligence. A link to an interactive version with additional resources is available. |
A Single Shot Restored Vision to a Blind Child for an Entire Year . Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is an eye disorder that affects the retina, causing severe visual impairment from infancy. It has a genetic component, and the associated mutation has been identified. A team of scientists recently injected a short RNA molecule into a group of LCA patients' eyes, which reversed the effects of the mutation and improved their retinal function and perception in daylight. Some improvements in visual acuity remained for more than 15 months. The method is a major step towards developing ways to improve vision in people who are genetically predisposed to suffer from eye-related diseases. |
Realtime Face Movement Tracking (GitHub Repo). This repository contains code for basic face movement tracking that can convert face movement into keyboard commands. Two demo games are available. |
DeepFaceLab (GitHub Repo). DeepFaceLab is a tool that uses machine learning to replace faces in videos. It includes a working standalone Windows binary. A gallery of examples is available, as well as a series of links with materials and examples of deepfakes, both SFW and NSFW. |
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. |
Samsung's Galaxy S10 and S10+ leaked yet again in new pictures . Samsung will be releasing the Galaxy S10 and S10+ in less than a month. Detailed pictures of the front, back, and sides are now available which show the dual-lens, hole-punch camera, sim card slot, USB-C port, headphone jack, and a new UI. |
Dashcam video shows Tesla steering toward lane divider—again . A bug in Tesla's Autopilot driving program would sometimes pull cars towards lane dividers in specific spots on a Reddit user's commute. Despite reporting the issue to Tesla many times, he received no response. There have been several software updates since the user started reporting the issue, with some updates fixing the issue temporarily, but dashcam footage confirms that it still occurs. Tesla owner Walter Huang died in a crash at a site similar to the one where this bug occurs last year, and there is evidence that the vehicle veered towards a lane divider and sped up while on autopilot prior to the crash. Tesla maintains that Autopilot is meant to assist drivers and that drivers must still be attentive while using the program. |
MIT Scientists Develop New Regenerative Drug That Reverses Hearing Loss . Frequency Therapeutics is seeking to reverse hearing loss by regrowing hair cells in the inner ear. It has developed a drug candidate that can be injected into the ear to regrow hair within the cochlea. The treatment has improved people's speech perception in clinical trials. Some participants saw significant improvements after a single injection, with the effect lasting up to two years. Frequency is now recruiting for a new trial from which the results should be available early next year. |
Researchers Say Newly-Discovered Particle Could Help Create “Exercise in a Pill” . A team of researchers from Australia has identified a molecular signal that is sent to our brains and eyes immediately after exercise. The signals travel via lipid particles to the central nervous system. The team originally set out to discover the effects of exercise on the retina, as exercise seems to keep eyesight healthy. It may be possible to use these molecules to create a pill that can provide the benefits of exercise to those who can't exercise normally. |
Valve’s gaming handheld is called the Steam Deck and it’s shipping in December . Valve's Steam Deck is a Switch-like handheld gaming device that will start shipping in December. There will be three storage tiers, and customers will be able to insert a microSD card for more storage. The Steam Deck has a huge number of control options, and it will be able to provide several hours of playtime for most games. It will be a full-fledged Linux computer, so users will be able to run software on the desktop if they want. The article contains many more details, as well as pictures and a video of the device. |
Elon Musk says Twitter deal ‘on hold’ after spam / fake account report . Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter has been put temporarily on hold while Musk waits for the company to show how it calculated the number of false or spam accounts on its platform. Musk is still committed to the acquisition and it will proceed after Twitter provides satisfactory information on its numbers. Twitter has miscalculated the number of daily users on its platform in past reports. The number of false or spam accounts could be higher than estimated. Cutting down on false and bot accounts is a key part of Musk's pitch for improving the business. |
The State of Ruby 3 Typing . Ruby 3 will ship with the ability to write type signatures for Ruby programs and will have built-in type signatures for the Ruby standard libraries. This will make type definitions in Ruby code portable between type checkers. The language and the library for type signatures for Ruby 3 will be called RBS. It features duck typing and non-uniformity. RBS will help developers by finding more bugs, giving IDEs a better understanding of the Ruby code, guided tuck typing, and more. |
With Big Stars and Paid Subscriptions, Luminary Aims to Be the Netflix of Podcasts . Luminary is a platform for podcasts that will be launching in June. The new podcast app will focus on subscriptions and will be ad-free. Many big names have already signed up to the platform, with more than 40 exclusive shows already in the works. The subscription will be $8 a month and content creators will be paid upfront for their work, receiving a bonus if their audience numbers reach a certain threshold. |
Microdiff (GitHub Repo). Microdiff is a zero-dependency object and array comparison library. It is fast, extremely lightweight, and easy to use. Microdiff features support for Deno, Node, the web, service workers, TypeScript, and more. |
Self-driving homes could be the future of affordable housing . Honda recently announced the IeMobi Concept, an autonomous mobile living room that attaches and detaches from your house. When parked, the vehicle becomes a 50-square-foot living or workspace. Volvo just unveiled its 360c concept vehicle that serves as either a living room or mobile office. These self-driving mobile homes could offer an unlikely solution the housing crisis, allow new modes of nomadic living, and completely change the way we organize society. In Los Angeles alone, it is estimated that 15,000 people are already living in their cars and in most countries you are allowed to live in your vehicle. |
Zero-gravity space fridge could keep astronaut food fresh for years . Refrigerators aren't able to work in space as they rely on gravity to distribute oil through the compressor system that regulates temperature. Purdue University researchers and Air Squared are creating an oil-free version of the traditional fridge that can work independent of gravity. The project was funded by NASA and it tested its first flight-ready prototype last month. The prototype worked in simulated microgravity on a parabolic plane flight. While the test was limited, it was able to help work out an issue with the device. The next test could be a longer-term installation aboard the ISS. |
Fleet (GitHub Repo). Fleet is a build tool for Rust. It can compile up to five times faster than cargo. Fleet works by optimizing builds using existing tooling available in the Rust ecosystem. It is still in beta. |
'Twitter Blue' is the company's upcoming subscription service . Twitter Blue is a subscription service that Twitter is working on that features a new function called Collections and an Undo Tweet button. Collections will let users save and organize their favorite tweets. The Undo Tweet button will let users cancel tweets up to a few seconds after sending the message. Twitter may bundle Scroll with Twitter Blue, which would remove ads from the subscriber's feed. The service is still in development, so details may change before launch. |
Google’s auto-complete for speech can cover up glitches in video calls . Google's video-calling app Duo uses an artificial intelligence called WaveNetEQ to mimic speech in order to fill up gaps caused by connection issues. Almost all Duo calls have to deal with jumbled or lost packets, causing a tenth of calls to lose more than 8% of their audio. WaveNetEQ was developed by DeepMind. It was trained in 48 different languages and it can auto-complete short sections of speech based on common patterns in the way people talk. As Duo is end-to-end encrypted, the AI runs on the device. For now, WaveNetEQ can only generate syllables rather than whole words or phrases. Samples are linked in the article. |
HQ Trivia is back less than two months after the app was shut down . HQ Trivia has returned two months after the app was shut down. The company was acquired by a private investor. Episodes will start to air more regularly in the future, but the schedule is still being figured out. HQ Trivia was a live interactive quiz app that gave out cash prizes. It was very popular, but it faced a series of incidents that led to its demise. Co-founder Rus Yusupov negotiated a deal to bring the app back that involved paying severance to the 25 employees at HQ and paying out players who still had cash winnings pending. |
Searching the web for < $1000 / month . QuickWit was founded with the aim of creating a new type of full-text search engine that would be 10 times more cost-efficient on very large data sets. This article follows the QuickWit team as they create a solution that is entirely stateless, cost-efficient, and easy to operate. The resulting engine costs less than $1,000 per month to run, with room to lower costs even further. The engine will be open-sourced in the next few months. |
The Psychological Trap of Freelancing . Freelancing may provide freedom from having to go to a workplace every day for a certain amount of hours in exchange for a paycheck, but this freedom may come with some unforeseen problems. One of those problems is that once you start freelancing, your livelihood is completely dependent on your own effort and your time becomes significantly more valuable than if you just got a steady paycheck. This results in freelancers becoming increasingly more anxious as they monitor their time more closely. In the end, the article suggests that freelancers need to have stronger boundaries with themselves and their time in order to have a healthy work-life balance. |
Scientists: We kept pig brains alive 10 hours after death. Bioethicists: “Holy shit.” . The line between life and death has been blurred by recent research, where scientists were able to revive the cells in dead pig’s brains and keep them alive hours after death. Brain death was thought to occur 15 minutes after the organ stops receiving oxygen, but the scientists saw signs of life in brains that had been ‘dead’ for more than four hours, after hooking them up to a special system called BrainEx. BrainEx supplied the brains with oxygen, nutrients, and protective chemicals. While the cells showed signs of life, brain monitors showed no signs of activity, indicating that there was no consciousness. As the lack of consciousness was chemically induced, it may be possible that the brain activity could have been restored, but researchers did not want to cross that line. |
Copii. Ready to use fully functional copy button for GitHub README files . Copii is a button you can add to your README files in GitHub to easily copy code to the clipboard. An example is available on the page. |
Scientists Discover the Long-Lost Continent ‘Balkanatolia’ . Balkanatolia is a landmass that existed 40 million years ago between the Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas. Fossil records suggest that it helped Asian mammals migrate into Europe. The temporary land bridge paved the way for an extinction event known as the Grande Coupure that reshaped the fauna of Europe around 34 million years ago. Scientists are still uncovering fossils to understand the wildlife and geographic significance of Balkanatolia. |
‘Infinite leverage’ — some Robinhood users have been trading with unlimited borrowed money . A bug in the Robinhood stock-trading app has allowed users to trade with 'infinite leverage'. Using Robinhood Gold, users can borrow money to buy stocks. The glitch allowed users to overstate the amount of money users had in their accounts to borrow against. One user claimed they were able to take a $1,000,000 position in stock using only a $4,000 deposit. Robinhood is aware of the issue and is communicating directly with customers. The company has a $7.6 billion valuation with 6 million users. |
Disney Made a Skinless Robot That Can Realistically Stare Directly Into Your Soul . A team of researchers at Disney has created a robot that uses subtle head motions and eye movements to seem more lifelike, despite it lacking skin. The robot consists of a static torso and a highly animated and articulated head. Humans make a lot of subtle movements when engaging with other people that aren't always immediately obvious. Robots and animatronic characters tend to freeze, causing an uncanny valley effect. Disney's new robot can identify when someone is trying to engage with it and it can also react to other stimuli. A one-minute video of the robot is available in the article. |
Unmasking China's invisible fleet (11 minute read). An investigation based on satellite data collected over two years has found that China's armada of illegal industrial fishing boats has displaced smaller North Korean boats and caused a sharp decline in the squid population. The Chinese vessels appear to violate UN sanctions imposed in 2017. Chinese Captains who were investigated by South Korean Coast Guard authorities have presented fishing permits signed by North Korean authorities. China has denied allegations of illegal fishing. |
Facebook exposed up to 6.8 million users' private photos to developers in latest leak . Facebook accidentally exposed the private photos of 6.8 million users to 1500 apps using their API between the dates of September 12th to September 25th. Users affected by the breach should get a notification telling them that their data has been breached. They are working with the developers to get these photos removed. |
This is my new favorite (free). GitHub Actions is a continuous integration tool that also works as a general-purpose code execution platform. It is built into a website that people use to manage their everyday projects. Projects can be deployed and run using GitHub Actions. This tutorial will show you how to build a weather bot and deploy it using GitHub Actions. It will show you how to securely store environment variables, configure details within repositories, and more. |
A New Hurricane-Resistant Floating Solar Farm Could Help Replace Fossil Fuels . The Demonstrator is a solar platform from SolarDuck that can withstand the hurricane forces experienced in and around Bermuda and Florida. It is optimized for natural harbors, estuaries, and other near-shore regions. These types of platforms could help power many significant communities around the equator, where there is constant sun but low wind, making wind power impractical. SolarDuck aims to eventually build a plant that can generate 10-MW, which will require 100 platforms connected together. |
FortuneSheet (GitHub Repo). FortuneSheet is a drop-in JavaScript spreadsheet library based on Luckysheet. It uses a data structure that is compatible with Luckysheet and has features that make it comparable to Excel and Google Sheets. An online demo is available. |
NASA Is Going to Test Drive an Alien-Hunting Robot in Antarctica . NASA will test drive a robot underneath Antarctica’s sea ice in preparation for a mission in the subsurface oceans of Jupiter's moon, Europa. Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration, or BRUIE, is a two-wheeled robot that uses buoyancy to anchor itself upside-down on the bottom edge of ice in order to study the zone where ice crusts and the ocean environment interact. Life is often found at interfaces, for example, where the ice meets water. Europa likely contains more water than all of Earth's oceans combined, and it might have the potential for life. There are still many challenges to overcome before a mission to Europa will be possible. |
Node.js Developer Roadmap (GitHub Repo). This repository contains a roadmap to becoming a Node.js developer. There are linked resources for most topics. |
Slack launches Huddles, Discord-like audio calls you can hop in and out of . Huddles is a new feature in Slack that allows team members to jump in and out of a persistent call freely at all hours. The feature is designed to replace the informal office conversations that colleagues used to have across their desks. There is a screen-sharing feature, so teams can use it for spontaneous meetings. Huddles can be created in any channel or DM, including between companies. Slack will introduce voice, video, and screen recordings in the coming months. |
Thammasat University – the largest urban rooftop farm in Asia . Thammasat University, situated a short trip away from Bangkok, features the largest rooftop farm in Asia. It incorporates modern landscape architecture with agricultural ingenuity, a green roof, urban farming, solar roof, and green public space. The roof of the building mimics traditional rice terraces, forming cascading farm levels that absorb and store rainwater while using it to grow food. This article talks about the rooftop farm at Thammasat University and describes the technologies used in the project. It includes many photos of the farm and diagrams explaining how parts of the farm function. |
Vultr's New Plans are Truly EPYC (Sponsor). Vultr's New Plans are Truly EPYC . Tired of Big Tech's unpredictable and convoluted pricing models? You're not alone. Vultr now offers Optimized Cloud Compute plans, powered by 3rd Gen AMD EPYC processors, for as low as $28.00/mo. Get started with $200 toward your first 30 days with this TLDR-exclusive offer. |
Japanese scientists produce first 3D-bioprinted, marbled Wagyu beef . Scientists from Japan's Osaka University have produced lab-grown Wagyu beef. The team used two types of stem cells harvested from Wagyu cows, coaxing them to become the required types of cells and then arranging them into a 3D stack to resemble marbled beef. The process is highly customizable and can produce cultured meat with highly controllable amounts of fat. A picture of the meat with a diagram showing how the different fibers are stacked is available in the article. |
CS106A - Code in Place (Website). CS106A - Code in Place is the first half of CS106A, a popular course at Stanford University that teaches the fundamentals of computer programming through Python. It assumes no previous background in programming and is open to everyone.The course will run for free (subject to availability) between April 13th and May 22nd. Students should expect to spend around 15 to 20 hours per week on the course. There will be a videoconferencing component for students to meet up in small discussion groups once a week with someone on the teaching team. There is no grade or university credit for completing the course. |
Google makes emails more dynamic with AMP for Email . Today marks Google’s official launch for AMP support for email, more than a year after they first announced their intentions of supporting the format. AMP will allow emails to become more interactive, so instead of having to complete work in a separate window, users can complete forms and questionnaires, RSVP to events, browse through a store’s inventory, or respond to comments right from a web-based email client itself. Many companies already support AMP emails, so users can expect to start seeing these kinds of emails in the coming weeks. |
Jack Dorsey leaves Twitter's board of directors . Jack Dorsey has left the board of Twitter. Dorsey resigned from his CEO position last fall. He is friendly with Elon Musk and has discussed rolling over his 2.4% ownership stake in Twitter into Musk's takeover deal. Dorsey's next move remains unclear. |