text
stringlengths 65
1.91k
|
|---|
duf (GitHub Repo). duf is a utility to monitor disk usage on Linux, BSD, and macOS. It features a colorful output, auto-adjusting width, sorted results, groups and filters for devices, and JSON output. A screenshot is available in the repository. |
Modified cotton could be human food source after U.S. green light . US regulators are now allowing farmers to grow a genetically modified edible version of cottonseed. Because cotton is grown so widely around the world, this could be very useful for cotton growers in poor countries who lack access to food. Researcher Keerti Rathore says "To me, personally, it tastes somewhat like chickpea and it could easily be used to make a tasty hummus". |
Scientists Succeed in Creating Northern White Rhino Embryos . There are currently only two northern white rhinos left in the world, both of them female. Scientists have successfully created embryos using eggs from the females and frozen sperm from dead males. These embryos will soon be transferred into a surrogate mother. It is hoped that this will help save the species. The Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife research aims to create a herd of at least five animals, a project that could take decades. Northern white rhinos were almost wiped out due to poachers killing them for their horns, which are a prized item in traditional Chinese medicine for their supposed healing properties. The last male northern white rhino was euthanized in 2018 due to age-related ills. |
Google search will now give you feedback on your pronunciation . Google search has a new feature that will help users check their pronunciation of unfamiliar words. After a user searches for a pronunciation guide, they will be able to speak the word and Google's AI will analyze how the word was pronounced. It will then provide feedback on how each syllable matches Google's expected pronunciation. The feature currently only works for American English, but Spanish pronunciations will be released soon. Google will also start to include images with its translations so that users will be less confused with definitions. |
China Is Developing an 'Ultra-Large' $2.3 Million Megaship That Is Miles Long . The National Natural Science Foundation of China has called for an analysis of the mechanics of constructing an ultra-large spacecraft spanning kilometers. The spacecraft would be modular, requiring multiple launches and space-based assembly to construct. China has doubled down on its space program since May, after it landed a rover on Mars. It started assembling its Tiangong space station in April. Tiangong's core, which will be the primary housing unit, should be complete sometime next year. |
Engineers Sprint Ahead, but Don’t Underestimate the Poets . The advantages of choosing a STEM major fades after the first job, and by age 40, the earnings of people who majored in fields like social science or history have caught up. This may be because older workers in STEM areas have to learn on the job, whereas their younger counterparts learn skills in school, making them more competitive when entering the job market. Those who major in other fields usually develop stronger soft skills, which have long-run value in a wide variety of careers. With technology changing all the time, those who learned skills that were in demand would receive a short-run salary premium, but when the technology changes, these workers will have to compete with people who graduated while learning the new technology. People who took non-STEM majors were more likely to develop skills that eventually put them into high-paying management positions. |
Meta brings 3D avatars to Instagram, rolls out new options for Facebook and Messenger . Meta is bringing its 3D avatars to Instagram and rolling out an update to Facebook and Messenger avatars. The update adds Cochlear implants, over-the-ear hearing aids, wheelchairs, and more facial shapes. Users can use the same avatar across all Meta platforms. Meta has partnered with the NFL to allow fans' avatars to wear shirts supporting their favorite team in the Super Bowl until February 28. Meta is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings on February 2. |
Here Is a Link to the App that Blew Up the Iowa Caucus . The Democratic party has delayed the announcement of the winner of the Iowa caucus due to a failed app that caused vote numbers to be reported incorrectly. Prior to the election, the party had kept the app developer's identity secret for security purposes. It has now been revealed that the app was developed by a startup called Shadow, which has also previously provided services to the Texas Democratic Party, Kirsten Gillibrand's primary bid, and Pete Buttigieg's campaign. Shadow's parent company, Acronym, has stated that they only invested in the company and that they don't know the specifics of the app failure. The app was never vetted by major cybersecurity agencies or the wider cybersecurity community. Many of the specifics of the app are still kept secret, which is a cause for concern according to security experts. |
Neuropod (GitHub Repo). Neuropod makes it easy to run deep learning models from multiple frameworks by providing a uniform interface. It currently supports TensorFlow, PyTorch, TorchScript, and Keras. Researchers can use Neuropod to build models and optimize code that will run on multiple platforms, four or five versions of each supported framework, and five versions of Python. |
Google Earth captures photo of Air Force’s $2 billion stealth bomber in flight . A user on Reddit recently posted an image of a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber on Google Earth flying over a farmer's house in Missouri. The area is near the only B-2 base in the world. The B-2 was made to defeat the world's most advanced air-defense systems. Each stealth bomber costs $44.27 million a year to maintain, making it the most expensive aircraft to maintain in Air Force history. The Air Force plans to buy at least 100 B-21s, a new stealth bomber designed to replace the B-2, for around $639 million each. |
Audi created an autonomous off-roader that uses flying drones to illuminate the road instead of headlights . Audi recently revealed its concept AI:TRAIL Quattro which uses five LED drones instead of headlights. Its cabin is mostly glass and it uses a smartphone as the display and control center screen for the car's functions and navigation. The designers aimed to give those inside the car the best view of nature and their surroundings. It can hit a top speed of 81 mph and has a range between 248 and 310 miles on easy terrain, 155 miles on rougher paths. The vehicle is optimized for trail-traveling, with removable seats that can be used as portable outdoor seating. A gallery of photos showing the concept car is available. |
Real-world photos confirm Samsung’s next flagship phone is called the Galaxy S20 . The next Samsung flagship phone will be the Galaxy S20. XDA Developers published pictures of the new Galaxy S20 Plus, with the startup screen confirming the new name. The new screen has a hole-punch cutout similar to the selfie camera hole in the Galaxy Note 10, and the screen is flatter and less curved on the sides. Samsung's newest device is rumored to contain a regular wide lens, an ultra-wide lens, a macro lens, and a portrait camera. The entire line of Galaxy S20 devices will be announced at Samsung's Unpacked event on February 11. |
DockerSlim (GitHub Repo). DockerSlim optimizes and secures Docker containers by using analysis techniques to understand the needs of an application. It removes unnecessary clutter, so containers become smaller and more secure. There are options to retain packages if required. DockerSlim works with Node.js. Python, Ruby, Java, Golang, Ubuntu, and more. A short screencast is available to show how an application image is minified by more than 30x. |
Facebook is researching AI systems that see, hear, and remember everything you do . Ego4D is a research project at Facebook that is using first-person video data to train AI to develop skills such as episodic memory, forecasting, and audio-visual diarization. It could result in AI systems that can remember who said what when and answer questions such as 'where did I leave my keys?'. Facebook stresses that this is a research project rather than a commercial development. It partnered with 13 universities to record 3,205 hours of first-person footage for researchers to use to train AI systems. A 5-minute video from Facebook explaining Ego4D is available in the article. |
Change your MAC address with a shell script . When you spoof your MAC address, previous access points that you have connected to will think that you are on a new and unique device. This article shows how to change a MAC address on macOS, and wraps up the steps into a shell script. A link to an article with the steps for changing MAC address on Windows is available. |
Amazon sues former AWS marketing VP Brian Hall after he takes Google Cloud job . Amazon is suing its former Amazon Web Services vice president of product marketing Brian Hall as it claims that his new role at Google Cloud violates a non-compete agreement. Hall's lawyers claim that Amazon executives had led Hall to believe that the non-competition provision of his agreement would not be enforced. Hall has asked the court to rule the non-compete clause to be overbroad, unreasonable, and unenforceable. This suit is notable as it involves a marketing leader rather than an engineering executive. Hall is knowledgeable on Amazon's cloud product roadmap for the next year. Washington state does not restrict non-compete agreements where an employee earns more than $100,000 a year, an amount which Hall was earning well in excess of. Full copies of Amazon's complaint and Hall's response are available at the end of the article. |
The sacking of a crypto mecca (17 minute read). New Hampshire has become a magnet for cryptocurrency buffs, with more than 20 businesses accepting some form of cryptocurrency payment. In March, authorities raided the offices of a group that was involved in a Bitcoin dispenser business. Six people were held in custody and charged with wire fraud. Prosecutors have been treating the unregulated Bitcoin system as a loosely organized criminal conspiracy and have targeted projects that try to keep coins anonymous. This article tells the story of the raid and looks into the background of some of the people involved. |
Lyft's monthly subscription plan is now available nationwide . Lyft now has a monthly subscription, for $299 a month you can get 30 free rides valued at $15 or less. If any of these rides goes over $15, you just pay the difference. You can use this for single passenger or carpool rides, and for a limited time subscribers will get an additional 5% off additional rides. |
Universal Data Tool (GitHub Repo). Universal Data Tool is a web app for editing and annotating images, text, audio, and documents. Users can collaborate with others in real-time, scale to tens of thousands of data points per dataset, use CSV or JSON, integrate UDT into a React application, and more. Screenshots of usage and GIF demos are available. |
Google Earth Reverse Engineering (GitHub Repo). Some guy reverse engineered Google Earth's API so you can extract 3D images from Google Earth. He's still pushing commits pretty fast but it's already usable. |
Whole Foods cuts workers' hours after Amazon introduces minimum wage . A $15 an hour minimum wage for Whole Foods employees was enacted by Amazon on November 1. Team members who were being paid less than the $15 an hour saw a raise to at least that figure, while other employees received a $1 an hour raise and team leaders received a $2 an hour raise. Since the wage increase, many employees have seen their hours cut significantly, with part-time employees seeing their hours cut from around 30 hours a week to 20 hours a week, and full-time employees seeing a 3-4 hour a week decrease in their rosters. Amazon has also cut stock vesting plans and bonuses. These cuts have drawn complaints from employees, who say that there are not enough staff on the floor to properly serve customers and that some employees have had to take up second jobs to make ends meet. Many team members are now claiming their current compensation is lower than before the wage increase. |
Allstar (GitHub Repo). Allstar is a GitHub App for setting and enforcing security policies. It can continuously monitor and detect settings and files in repositories to find items that may be risky or do not follow security best practices. When it finds something that is out of compliance, it can take actions such as creating an issue or restoring security settings. |
Five takeaways from looking for a new senior role in tech (16 minute read). Senior roles are usually not evergreen, as they mostly open up when someone needs a replacement, if there is a leadership vacuum, when a company reaches a new growth stage, or when a company starts a new strategic initiative and needs a new leader. They are also usually not publicized, so it can be difficult to find positions. This article discusses Phil Calçado's experiences in finding a new senior role in tech. It talks about the hurdles in finding open positions and how to get over them and offers tips on the interview process. |
Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires . Uber has been losing over $1 billion per quarter, reporting losses of $5.4 billion in the second quarter. More than $4 billion was from one-time charges related to Uber's initial public offering. However, excluding these charges still leaves around $1.2 billion in operating losses. Uber recently laid off 400 marketing workers and has now stopped hiring for software engineers and product managers, except for its autonomous vehicle and freight-shipping divisions. With $13.7 billion in the bank after its IPO, Uber still has plenty of cash. However, the company faces pressure from Wall Street to stem the losses well before it becomes a problem. |
Inside the Pentagon's Secret UFO Program (21 minute read). An investigation into what the US government knows about UFOs has confirmed that UFOs are undoubtedly real. The US Navy has captured footage of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, and the Pentagon has secretly funded research into UFOs. A report in 2009 covered plans for studying UAPs and any biological organisms recovered from one, plans to create a medical physiological UAP effects program, a possible UAP landing report, sighting and witness reports, and much more. One of the difficulties in finding information about the government's UAP programs is that each department is wrapped in layers of secrecy. There are many mysterious companies with large government research contracts. A quick summary timeline of publicly known UFO programs in the US is available. |
China to start building 5G satellite network to challenge Elon Musk’s Starlink . China is building a network of satellites to provide 5G coverage. Its first satellites have already been produced, tested, and launched. The network will compete with Starlink in the market for high-speed internet services in remote areas. China's constellation will have 1,000 satellites and offer download speeds of more than 500 megabits per second with low latency. China has identified the Starlink network as a threat to its national security. |
Mary Meeker’s most important trends on the internet . Mary Meeker, a general partner at venture capital firm Bond Capital, has released a 333-page slideshow that delves into every important internet trend in the last year. The report revealed that 51 percent of people in the world were internet users last year, up from 49 percent in 2017. Seven out of the top 10 companies in the world are now tech companies, and e-commerce represents 15 percent of all retail sales. Ad spending has increased, and customer acquisition costs have also increased. Americans are spending more time on digital media than ever before, with an average of 6.3 hours per day in 2018. Privacy is becoming a larger selling point for many companies, and 87 percent of global web traffic now being encrypted. The full 333-page slideshow is available at the end of the article. |
SpaceX and Tesla are ‘working on’ ventilators, Elon Musk says . Tesla and SpaceX employees are working on ventilators just in case they are needed. The announcement comes after a direct plea by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for Musk's companies to help hospitals in the fight against COVID-19. It is unclear what Musk's exact plans are at the moment. The project will require certified medical personnel to be involved and the resulting product must be approved by the FDA, which could delay production. Other automakers are also in talks with the White House to produce ventilators. |
I Just Hit $100k/yr On GitHub Sponsors (14 minute read). GitHub Sponsors is a way for developers to get funding from sponsors. It is available to developers in 32 regions, but there is currently a waitlist. GitHub takes zero fees, so developers get 100% of the funds. Caleb Porzio was accepted into the GitHub Sponsors program on December 12th, 2019, and has since grown his revenue to an estimated over $100,000 per year. Porzio developed a 'sponsorware' concept where sponsors would receive early access to software until a certain number of sponsors was reached, at which point the project would then be open-sourced to the world. He then created a series of educational products with exclusive bonuses for sponsors, which eventually accounted for most of his sponsor income. Developers should be comfortable with accepting money for their work especially if it adds value to other people's lives. |
SpaceX's Giant Starship Booster Tower Is Rising in Texas . SpaceX is building two skyscraper-high Starship launch towers in southern Texas. The towers will one day catch Super Heavy boosters from the sky. SpaceX plans to launch its first Super Heavy and Starship as early as July of this year. New aerial photos of the towers being built are available in the article. |
PandasGUI (GitHub Repo). PandasGUI is a GUI for analyzing Pandas DataFrames. It features interactive plotting, filtering, drag & drop import, and more. A video demo is available in the repository. |
fuite (GitHub Repo). fuite is a command-line tool for finding memory leaks in web apps. It runs scenarios against web pages through Puppeteer and looks for objects that leak. fuite can also be used via a JavaScript API. A 7-minute long tutorial video is available. |
SpaceX will have to demonstrate Starlink internet’s low latency within the next month to qualify for up to $16B in federal funding . Companies that want to participate in the FCC's $16 billion federal funding auction for rural broadband access must demonstrate latency under 100 milliseconds within the next month. The Phase 1 auction for the funding will be on October 29. SpaceX is aiming for latency times under the 20-millisecond mark. It has 418 satellites so far in its Starlink network, which is more satellites than any other private satellite operation has currently working. SpaceX aims to begin service in the US and Canada sometime this year. |
Tangle-free magnetic USB cables are here . Many no-name brands are now selling tangle-free magnetic USB cables on Amazon and Alibaba. The cables feature magnetic beads that allow them to coil up or be attached to metal surfaces. Unfortunately, while the design is great, the quality of the cables is not. There are still many issues with charging and data transfer to be fixed before the cables are worth using. Pictures of the cables are available in the article. |
Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series - Episode I - Official Teaser (53 seconds of pure bliss). This is the trailer for part 1 of a 3-part virtual reality Star Wars series that will launch on Oculus Quest in 2019. |
US Military to Have 3D-Printing Factories in Shipping Containers . The US Department of Defense has contracted ExOne, the global leader in industrial sand and metal 3D printers, to develop a self-contained 3D-printing factory that operates from a shipping container. These portable 3D-printing facilities would be deployed whenever needed for a wide variety of military-focused purposes. The regular-sized shipping containers will be quick to deploy, and won't require a lot of technical knowledge to maneuver. ExOne's printers will be able to print using over 20 different metal, ceramic, or composite materials. |
Playwright (GitHub Repo). Playwright is a Node library that automates Chromium, Firefox, and Webkit. It enables cross-browser web automation that is ever-green, capable, reliable, and fast. Playwright is supported on all platforms. |
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. |
Niantic moves beyond games with Lightship AR platform and a social network . Niantic is creating a platform for other developers to build location-aware AR apps. It has released the Visual Position System (VPS), a technology that grounds AR experiences to physical locations, for its Lightship SDK. VPS will be free during its public beta period, after which it will switch to a tiered billing system based on an app's number of monthly users. Niantic is also releasing Campfire, a location-based social network for apps that use Lightship. Campfire is a way for developers to have their Lightship-powered apps discovered by users. More details on the new releases are available in the article. |
Charts.css (Website). Charts.css is a CSS data visualization framework that uses CSS utility classes to style HTML elements as charts. It supports many different chart types and effects. Examples are available in the quick start guide. |
World’s largest nuclear fusion project begins assembly in France . The world's largest nuclear fusion project has begun in France. It will weigh 23,000 tonnes, with 200km of superconducting cables connecting 3,000 tonnes of superconducting magnets. All the components will be kept at -269C inside the cryogenic plant. The Iter project will cost €20bn and promises clean, unlimited power. It is intended to be a proof-of-concept of large-scale fusion rather than a design for a commercial reactor. |
Carbonated Ice Cream Is a Feat of Physics—and It Actually Tastes Good . Ice cream manufacturers often have to race against time to put their products on shelves, an expensive task that produces massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. A pair of researchers at Cornell University have created a system that uses pressurized carbon dioxide to create instant ice cream. When fluids expand from high pressure to low pressure, it can cause a cooling effect under the right conditions. The scientist's ice cream machine uses this principle with pressurized carbon dioxide to produce a scoop of ice cream every three seconds. With the machine, shop owners can potentially keep shelf-stable mixtures on hand and produce ice cream as required. The system can also be potentially used to create instant soda slushies. |
Electron whirlpools: Scientists witness electricity behaving like water . Researchers at MIT have observed electron whirlpools for the first time in crystals of tungsten ditelluride. Electricity is made up of discrete particles, and it can flow with the viscosity of honey under the right conditions. Tungsten ditelluride is a new quantum material that allows electrons to strongly interact and behave as quantum waves rather than particles. The study confirmed a long-standing prediction and it could lead to more efficient electronics designs. |
Quicklink (Github Repo). This is an open source project by the Google Chrome team that prefetches pages as soon as a link enters the viewport. Basically this means that instead of loading data when a user clicks a link, the browser will load the data when the link enters the user's view, so if the user clicks on the link it will load instantly because the data has already been loaded. I'm a big fan of this idea, and it looks like they've handled a lot of the details well (it doesn't prefetch if the internet connection is slow, it doesn't prefetch if the page is still loading, it automatically detects when links are in view, etc.). |
Trump Surprises G20 With Huawei Concession: U.S. Companies Can Sell To Huawei . President Trump has announced that the rules against US companies trading with Huawei have been relaxed and that US companies may continue to sell products to the Chinese manufacturer. The restrictions on Huawei trading back to the US are still in place. This may change at the end of the trade talks, but Trump has not indicated which way the decision will fall. Huawei has recently announced that its latest handsets will have access to Android Q, the next version of the operating system. |
Netflix has created a TikTok clone that lets people scroll through funny clips . Fast Laughs is a new mobile feature from Netflix that plays short clips from shows directly inside the Netflix app. It is currently only available for iOS device owners in select countries. Users who like what they see can add the show to their saved list to watch later. Netflix has a lot of content on its platform and this feature could help subscribers see things they may have missed. |
This giant glowing orb is the world’s first floating Apple Store . Apple has built a new retail location at Singapore's Marina Bay Sands. It is the third Apple Store in Singapore and the 512th shop globally. The store features a unique design, with images available in the article. It was designed as an evening fixture best viewed in the dark. A teaser video for the store is also available. The opening date for the store is still yet unknown. |
Baby Shark is the most-viewed YouTube video of all time, and there’s no end in sight . Baby Shark has crossed 7.043 billion views, making it the most-watched YouTube video ever. Despacito was the previous record holder, gaining the title over three years ago. Baby Shark only had 2.5 billion views last April. The trend will likely continue. |
Japanese construction giant to build massive dam almost entirely with robots . The Obayashi Corporation is building a giant dam in the south-east corner of Japan's main island. Almost every stage of the construction involves some sort of automation technology. The robots, while automated, are directly overseen by human workers for safety reasons. Productivity on the site has increased by about 10 percent, with the company aiming to eventually cut building time by 30 percent. |
Kombucha was just the beginning. This designer wants to create a bacteria-based food industry . Plurality Now is a conceptual restaurant that offers a menu of food derived from bacterial cultures. Its food is made solely through fermentation and molding techniques. Marek Głogowski created the restaurant to introduce new foods to people to shift them away from a reliance on industrial agriculture and to bring awareness to how bacteria within people can affect the nutrients and calories they absorb from food. Probiotics such as yogurt, and more recently, kombucha have already helped spread awareness of these ideas. The global probiotics market is expected to grow to $78.3 billion in 2026 from $47.1 billion in 2018. |
Netflix was the best-performing stock of the decade, delivering a more than 4,000% return (10 minute read). Netflix had just over 12 million subscribers paying $9 a month at the beginning of the 2010s. Today, the company has a market cap of close to $148 billion, making it one of the most valuable US companies. The stock has risen 4,181% since it was listed. Netflix runs on a thin operating margin as it is expensive to buy and invest in entertainment, and competitors are forcing Netflix to spend more to stop customers from moving to other services. It projected that it would spend $15 billion on content in 2019. Netflix has borrowed close to $10 billion in the past two years, more than doubling its debt. Some shareholders are concerned as competitors, such as Disney+, are introduced to the market. Netflix is projecting that its cash burn will drop off starting next year. |
American Cyber Command hamstrung Iran’s paramilitary force . The Iranian military is still recovering from a US cyberattack that was launched earlier this summer. A key database used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, Iran's paramilitary forces, was wiped out. The database reportedly contained information that was used to plan attacks in the Persian Gulf. No action has been taken against oil tankers in the Gulf since the cyberattack. The US has become more active in cyberattacks in the last few years, with the head of the US Cyber Command stating that he was using a 'persistent engagement' strategy against adversaries. |
Uber lays off another ~350 across Eats, self-driving and other departments . In what it says is its third and final phase of layoffs, Uber has let go of around another 350 employees. This includes employees from Eats, performance marketing, Advanced Technologies Group, and recruiting, as well as various teams within the global rides and platform departments. Some employees were asked to relocate. The layoffs represented about one percent of the company's workforce. More than 70 percent of the layoffs were staff in the US and Canada. |
The S in IOT is for Security . Many IOT devices require you to use proprietary apps that can't be audited for security. Sometimes, the only way to ensure privacy on a device is to hack it. This article follows a developer as they hack a lava lamp so that it could be used securely without the manufacturer's software. |
DocumentDB (Announcement). AWS has released a new hosted database called DocumentDB, it's an auto-scaling MongoDB compatible database. Basically, MongoDB is licensed so that Amazon is not allowed to offer its own hosted MongoDB, so Amazon has written its own MongoDB clone. |
Apple plans to announce ARM transition for all Macs at WWDC 2020 . Apple will be announcing the beginning of its transition from Intel-based Macs to ARM-based ones at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 22. Developers will likely have ample time to adjust to the change, similar to when Apple transitioned from PowerPC processors to Intel ones in 2006. ARM Macs will continue to run macOS. The new chips are more power-efficient and show sizable improvements compared to Intel chips in graphics and AI performance. All Macs will eventually transition to the new chips, but it will likely take some time. The move will probably not drastically affect Intel's bottom line. |
Apple eyes new streaming strategy after Tom Hanks drama breaks records . Apple is considering releasing a dozen new movies a year on Apple TV Plus. They will include blockbuster-type titles as well as tentpole-like feature films. When Apple launched Apple TV Plus, its focus was on TV. It found success in movies with Greyhound, which was a hit even though Apple hasn't divulged numbers. Keeping subscribers with a low fee and a steady release of theatre-quality films will help Apple grow its service and keep it competitive. |
Signal Private Messenger team here, we support an app used by everyone from Elon to the Hong Kong protestors to our Grandpa’s weekly group chat, AMA! (Reddit Thread). Signal is a private messaging app that doesn't track or store data on its users. In this thread, the Signal development team answers questions by Redditors. The team plans to implement a user ID system in the future so users can add each other without knowing their phone numbers. Signal was built from the ground up to not know anything about its users, and it is owned by a non-profit entity, so it is unlikely that the app will end up like WhatsApp. A chat backup feature is in the works. The Signal team is hiring people within US time zones. |
Introducing Cloudflare Pages: the best way to build JAMstack websites . Cloudflare Pages is a fast, secure, and free way to build and host JAMstack sites. It simplifies the process by tying deployment to your existing development workflow. Developers only have to select their repo and identify which framework they are using, and Pages handles CI on their behalf. Pages features unique preview URLs, infinite staging, collaboration, and modern standards. Cloudflare Workers is a global serverless platform that allows frontend developers to write scalable backends in JavaScript. It will be integrated with Pages over the coming months. |
sqlite3 in ur indexeddb (GitHub Repo). This project implements a backend for sql.js that treats IndexedDB like a disk and stores data in blocks there. It makes the sqlite3 database persistent in a way where it can read and write to the database in small chunks. A demo is available. |
The State of Developer Ecosystem 2019 . JetBrains polled almost 7,000 developers at the beginning of 2019 to identify the State of Developer Ecosystem. The poll found that while Java was the most popular programming language, JavaScript was the most used language, and Python was the most studied programming language. Windows is still the most popular development environment. Web back-end development was most common for people who write code for a living and as a hobby. Android development was far more popular than iOS development, but many developers preferred to use cross-platform mobile frameworks such as React Native. More detailed information is available on the site, as well as some extra data on the demographics of the survey respondents. |
Nreal's Light mixed reality glasses arrive in the US November 30th . Nreal's Light mixed reality glasses will be available at 20 Verizon stores in the US on November 30. The glasses will be available online starting on December 2. Wearers will be able to access Android apps without taking the glasses off. The glasses can be used as VR glasses, but the field of view will be limited compared to a dedicated headset. Verizon will be selling the glasses for $599. They are compatible with both Android and iOS devices, but Nreal recommends using a OnePlus 8 or recent Samsung Galaxy phone. |
Apple announces AirPods Pro with noise cancellation, coming October 30th . Apple has launched the AirPods Pro, a premium version of its wireless earbuds featuring noise-canceling. The earbuds only come in white. Noise-canceling is adjusted up to 200 times per second using a system that is very similar to the noise cancellation system in the new Beats Solo Pro headphones. A transparency mode is available that will allow users to hear their surroundings. The AirPods Pro has a force sensor that is used to control music playback and toggle between noise-canceling and transparency mode. It comes with flexible ear tips. A software audio test is available that can tell the user if they have chosen the right-sized tips by measuring the sound level in the ear and comparing it to what is coming from the speaker driver. The AirPods Pro has around 4.5 hours of continuous listening battery life and is sweat and water-resistant. It is available for pre-order now and will be released on October 30th for $249. |
Tesla says Justice Department requested documents on CEO Musk's take-private tweet . Tesla's stock dropped 7.1% after news broke that federal prosecutors had opened a criminal probe into Elon Musk's tweet claiming that he had "funding secured" to take the company private at $420 a share. The Justice Department is running the criminal investigation in tandem with a civil fraud probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Musk's comments. The SEC's rule 14e-8 basically prohibits publicly traded companies from announcing plans to buy or sell securities if executives don't intend to follow through, don't have the means to complete the deal or are flat out trying to manipulate the stock price. This is the law that Elon Musk may have broken with his "funding secured" tweet on August 7th. |
FDA clears Synchron's brain-computer interface device for human trials . The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Synchron's Stentrode implantable brain-computer interface in clinical trials with human patients. Stentrode is currently being tested in clinical trials in Australia. Two of the four patients in the Australian trials were able to control the computer with their thoughts, completing work-related tasks, sending messages, and going online banking and shopping. It takes around two hours to implant the device in a minimally invasive procedure. The device will be available to buy within five years. |
Yelp is Screwing Over Restaurants By Quietly Replacing Their Phone Numbers . Yelp has been redirecting customer calls through Grubhub owned numbers before connecting with the restaurant in order to enforce a referral fee of between 15 and 20 percent of the order total. Restaurants may not be aware of the routing until they try to call themselves through the app. Grubhub offers marketing and delivery services to restaurants, and it claims that restaurants would not have received orders if the restaurant was not listed in its directory. It has also created thousands of websites in restaurants' names in order to drive more online orders and commissions for itself. Restaurants have complained that Grubhub's tracking systems were inaccurate as sometimes customers called without placing orders. Employees are also unaware that they are being recorded. In response to the backlash from restaurants, Grubhub has extended the window in which restaurants can dispute charges from 60 days to 120 days. |
Environmental DNA: study provides first evidence that human DNA can be collected from the air . Animal DNA, including human DNA, can be collected from the air. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has been used to monitor fish populations in water, but a new study has found that it appears in the air as well. The finding could open up some interesting applications in archaeology, medicine, criminal forensics, and many other industries. Scientists are still determining how far eDNA can travel and how much needs to be in the air for it to be detectable. |
The search to make a perfect condom . Condoms offer 80% or greater protection against most sexually transmitted diseases, even accounting for incorrect or inconsistent use. Nearly 30 billion condoms are sold around the world each year, but getting people to use them correctly is still a big challenge. This article reviews several projects that focus on developing better condoms, including graphene-based condoms, condoms with better lubricant properties, condoms that have anti-STD medication built into their structure, and more. |
Texas Instruments makes it harder to run programs on its calculators . Texas Instruments' graphing calculators are known for their ability to run assembly and C-based programs, but the latest firmware update for the TI-84 Plus CE and TI-83 Premium CE models will disable the feature. Users who install OS 5.6 or OS 5.5 on their devices will lose access to any apps that depend on the feature and they will not be able to roll back the firmware. Texas Instruments states that the change was implemented to reduce cheating. This change reduces the amount of control programmers have over their calculator apps on the device. |
Useful sed (GitHub Repo). This repository contains useful sed scripts, patterns, tips, techniques, and tricks for daily usage. sed is a utility that parses and transforms text. A list of recommended books for learning sed is available. |
Cirrus (GitHub Repo). Cirrus is an SCSS framework for the modern web. It doesn't require JavaScript for interaction or functionality and all components are configurable. Cirrus' design system uses utility functions, which allows developers to create consistent user interfaces. Examples are available. |
Agile Lite: Agile without all the burnout (GitHub Repo). Agile development is an approach to software development where requirements and solutions evolve as feedback is received from the development team and end users. It can get complicated, with many books or workshops dedicated to teaching the approach. Agile Lite simplifies the situation by providing a simple and concise explanation of the concept. An explanation in the style of Agile Lite is also available for developers and managers. |
Microsoft planning ‘sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows’ . Microsoft recently posted a job listing for a software engineering role in the Windows Core User Experiences team. The listing suggested that the company could be planning big user interface changes for Windows. These changes would include overhauls to the Start menu, File Explorer, and built-in apps. Microsoft is also working on improving its tablet mode experience. |
Quick SQL Cheatsheet (Github). This is a handy SQL cheatsheet, great for anyone like me who can never remember which JOINs are which. It's short, sweet, and to the point. |
DeOldify (GitHub Repo). DeOldify uses NoGAN, a new type of GAN training which provides the benefits of GAN training while spending minimal time doing direct GAN training, to recreate old black and white images and video in color. There are many images and GIF examples in the repository, as well as details on NoGAN and how it works. |
Elon Musk says SpaceX is developing a 'bleeding' heavy-metal rocket ship. Making it work may be 100 times as hard as NASA's most difficult Mars mission, one expert says (10 minute read). Elon Musk has recently announced changes to SpaceX’s Starship, which include giving the spacecraft a-steel body and changing the way the rocket ship will cool down on entry to a planet. The steel body will lower the cost of the design significantly and allow for faster prototyping, while also increasing the spaceship’s ability to withstand heat. The new cooling system imitates sweating by pushing liquid through pores in the metal so that it can evaporate and dissipate heat. Engineers have explored the idea of cooling rockets this way for decades but have run into problems with pores being blocked. Despite the fact that this idea has never been successfully realized, experts believe that it is not implausible. |
A Cure for Ebola? Two New Treatments Prove Highly Effective in Congo . Two experimental treatments for Ebola have proved so effective that they are being offered to all patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The treatments have a 90 percent success rate, giving hope that the epidemic in the eastern Congo can soon be stopped. A recent epidemic that started last month has infected around 2,800 known patients, killing more than 1,800 of them. People are distrustful of health workers and underreport occurrences of the disease or hide sick family members. Both REGN-EB3 and mAb-114 are cocktails of synthetic monoclonal antibodies that are infused intravenously into the blood. When treated, less than 11 percent of patients died, compared to an over 70 percent mortality rate when untreated. The epidemic has been made worse due to violence and political turmoil in the area. |
China has done human testing to create biologically enhanced super soldiers, says top U.S. official . China has conducted human testing on members of the People's Liberation Army, according to a top US intelligence official. Western scientists consider it unethical to manipulate genes to boost the performance of healthy people, but there are indications that Chinese military researchers are starting to explore its potential. On top of the military consequences, tampering with the human genome may have unintended effects. |
3-D Printing inside the Body Could Patch Stomach Ulcers . Stomach ulcers and other gastric wounds affect one in eight people worldwide. Scientists have developed a new treatment that involves depositing living cells directly into the body. It involves a microrobot that is 30 millimeters wide and 43 millimeters long. The robot can unfold to become 59 millimeters long and can 3D print cells. In their experiments, researchers used the robot to print gels loaded with human stomach lining and stomach muscle cells onto a model of a stomach. The cells remained viable and grew over the course of 10 days. There are still challenges to overcome but the technology could eventually be used to augment standard surgeries. |
New UK Army 'Bug' Drones Can Spy on Targets 1.25 Miles Away . The UK army has acquired 30 small drones capable of spying on targets 2 km (1.25 miles) away. Called "Bugs", the drones weigh 196 grams and have a 40-minute battery life. The Bugs can fly in strong winds, delivering vital tactical intelligence even in the toughest weather. The information from drone surveillance can sometimes be misleading, with many cases in the past where the ground situation has been very different from what was reported, resulting in civilian casualties. |
Deepkit Framework (GitHub Repo). Deepkit Framework is a high-performance TypeScript framework for enterprise applications. It is currently in an alpha state but it is already being used in production. Some public APIs are subject to change. |
The World’s Most Powerful Camera Took 3,200-Megapixel Photos . The Legacy Survey of Space and Time Camera works by converting visible light reflected by objects into electrical signals, but at an enormous scale, with a high level of detail. It is designed to collect images of far-away galaxies. In tests to assess the functioning of the sensing array, the LSST Camera was able to produce images of 3,200 megapixels. The full LSST Camera will be deployed in 2021. Two of the photos taken by the LSST Camera during testing are available in the article. |
TeaVM (Website). TeaVM is a compiler for Java bytecode that outputs JavaScript and WebAssembly that runs in a browser. It doesn't require source code, only compiled class files. TeaVM can compile Kotlin and Scala. |
How Egypt is growing forests in middle of the desert . The Serapium Forest is a 200-hectare forest that was planted in northeast Egypt as part of a project to support Egypt's economy and fight environmental and climate changes. Egypt used treated wastewater to plant the trees in the desert. The Serapium Forest project started in 1998. In 2019, 21 African countries (including Egypt) created the Great Green Wall, a tree-planting project. The Great Green Wall will extend over 100 million hectares and cost around $8 billion. It is expected to provide many benefits to the continent, including more jobs, lower temperatures, cleaner air, increased soil quality, and more. |
Google workers in 10 countries just formed a global union to keep Alphabet in check . Google workers from 10 countries have united to form the Alpha Global coalition. The coalition's focus is on getting Google to change some of its ethically questionable business practices. It also aims to strengthen the workplace rights of Google employees. Alpha Global acknowledges the many things that Google has brought to the tech industry, but says that it also created many inequalities. Worker action has forced Google to change in the past. The union does not have a legal agreement with Google yet, so the tech giant is not bound to any of its demands. This can change if the union gains political support or if Google voluntarily chooses to acknowledge it. |
Meta introduces Slack-like shortcuts to Messenger . Meta has introduced new shortcuts to its Messenger platform. Users on iOS and Android can use @everyone and @silent from today. @everyone will notify everyone in a group chat and @silent will let users send messages without sending a notification. Meta is planning to add many more shortcuts later this year. |
The former Apple lawyer who was supposed to keep employees from insider trading has been charged with insider trading . Gene Levoff, the previous senior director of law and corporate security at Apple until September last year, has been charged with securities fraud and is set to appear in court on February 20. Levoff was responsible for making sure employees of Apple were aware of insider trading laws, including announcing ‘blackout’ periods in which employees were not allowed to trade stocks. The SEC complaint against Levoff alleges that the lawyer had traded based on insider information about 3 times between 2015 and 2016, resulting in a profit (and loss avoidance) of approximately $382,000. |
Microsoft is bringing Android apps to Windows 11 with Amazon’s Appstore . Windows 11 will be able to run Android apps natively. Users will be able to download apps from Amazon's Appstore via the new Windows store. Microsoft will be using Intel Bridge technology to bring Android apps to Windows, but it will still work with AMD and Arm-based systems. A seven-minute video covering new features from the Windows 11 event is available in the article. |
Tim Berners-Lee unveils global plan to save the web . Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has launched a global action plan to save the web from political manipulation, fake news, privacy violations, and other forces that threaten to turn the world into a digital dystopia. The Contract for the Web outlines nine central principles to safeguard the web from abuse and ensure it benefits humanity. It has the backing of more than 150 organizations, including Microsoft, Twitter, Google, and Facebook. The contract requires governments to ensure that people have access to the internet and have their privacy respected, including having access to personal data and the right to object or withdraw from having that data processed. Companies are required to make internet access affordable, accessible, and to allow customers to control their privacy. They are also required to diversify workforces, consult broad communities regarding their products, and assess the risk of their technology's potential to hurt people or spread misinformation. Individuals are requested to create rich and relevant content, provide strong online communities, and to fight for the web. |
Speed up your website in 15 minutes (Sponsor). DebugBear monitors your website performance and provides actionable insights to improve it. Includes in-depth technical reports built for developers. |
AutoGluon: AutoML Toolkit for Deep Learning (GitHub Repo). AutoGluon can train and deploy high-accuracy deep learning models for image, text, and tabular data with just a few lines of code. It automates machine learning tasks so data scientists can easily create strong predictive models. An example of a basic implementation of AutoGluon is available, and more specific instructions and advanced topics are linked. |
Elevator.js (Website). Elevator.js is a script for a 'back to the top' button that adds elevator music to create a soothing effect when being scrolled to the top of the screen. The webpage is a demo of the script in action. A link to the repository is available. |
Strategies I Used to 5x My Income As a Software Developer . Increasing your rate as a developer will not only make you happier, you'll also produce better work. This document contains a high-level outline of a book on how to improve your career as a software developer. The book covers how to increase your charging rate, how to market yourself, how to optimize your resume, and more. An example resume is provided. |
Apple plans to let you pay for gas using CarPlay . Apple has begun working with partners to let users pay for gas directly inside the CarPlay infotainment platform. |
Apple now allows unlisted apps on the App Store . Apple is now allowing unlisted apps on its App Store. Unlisted apps will only show up when users get a direct link to it or access it through Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager. The feature is not available for apps in beta or a pre-release state. There is an approval procedure that will look at whether the app was designed for a limited audience or not. A link to the documentation page on the topic is available in the article. |
Google AI Social Impact Challenge (Announcement). Google is looking for people who want to use AI to change the world. They have a total of $25 million dollars they'll give out to applicants, as well as cloud computing credits, coaching from Google's AI experts, and consulting from Google Cloud. The applications will be judged on impact, feasibility, use of AI, scalability, and responsible use of AI. |
A man who got the 1st pig heart transplant has died after 2 months . The first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig has died two months after the operation. No exact cause of death has been announced. The patient survived significantly longer than other patients in previous attempts at xenotransplantation. The experiment provided doctors with invaluable insights, adding to other research involving gene-edited pig organs. |
Researchers Fix Cholesterol in Monkeys Through CRISPR Gene Editing . Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is the bad kind of cholesterol that results in a greater risk of cardiovascular disease. Scientists have successfully used CRISPR base editors to turn off the gene that produces LDL in monkeys. It will still be a while before the treatment can be tested in humans. If successful, this could result in a single treatment approach for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. |
Vulnerability in Bumble dating app reveals any user's exact location (23 minute read). A vulnerability in the Bumble dating app made it possible to track a person's location. While the app tried to hide user locations by rounding their distances from the server, a dedicated attacker could still determine a user's location by spoofing a location and pinging the app's servers for the victim's location. The server's responses could be collected and analyzed to determine the user's real location. This article describes how the attack was developed and tested. The vulnerability has since been patched, with the finder being awarded a $2,000 bounty. |
Omicron possibly more infectious because it shares genetic code with common cold coronavirus, study says . A new preliminary study suggests that the omicron variant likely picked up genetic material from another virus that causes the common cold in humans. A snippet of genetic material found in omicron is also present in a common cold virus but not in other coronavirus variants. This could explain how the virus has greater transmissibility. Cells in lungs and gastrointestinal systems can host both types of viruses, possibly leading to an exchange in genetic material. While there has been a rapid increase in South Africa's caseload, it has not been followed by a surge in hospitalizations. |