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NocoDB (GitHub Repo). NocoDB turns any MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, SQLite, or MariaDB into a smart spreadsheet. It features a gallery view, rich spreadsheets, workflow automations, collaboration tools, programmatic access with APIs, and more. Screenshots are available in the repository. |
Finally, useful engineering metrics you define. Meet Code Insights (Sponsor). Finally, useful engineering metrics you define. Meet Code Insights . Transform your code into a queryable database to create customizable, visual dashboards in seconds. You can track everything in your codebase, from migrations to code smells, in a seamless and precise way based on the power and accuracy of Sourcegraph Code Search. Learn more. |
Amazon wants to take Sidewalk beyond the neighborhood . Amazon has launched the Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro, a device designed to extend the Sidewalk network into public spaces. Sidewalk is a network that connects devices together so they can share bandwidth and be controlled or tracked. The Sidewalk Bridge Pro has a range of five miles in ideal scenarios. Amazon aims to connect billions of third-party devices to the Sidewalk network. It plans to work with businesses and municipalities to deploy the bridges. |
Facebook Pay lets you buy goods and send money inside Facebook's apps . Facebook Pay will start rolling out to the Facebook and Messenger apps for US users this week. It will eventually be available on all apps across Facebook's ecosystems in more countries. Facebook is aware of potential security and privacy issues. However, while payment data is encrypted and monitored for fraud, customers' shopping history will be used to influence ads. Facebook Pay is separate from the Calibra wallet that will be used to handle the Libra cryptocurrency. The payment system is similar to services like Venmo or Apple Pay. However, Facebook's large ecosystem may make the payment system more convenient for users. |
DirecTV races to decommission broken Boeing satellite before it explodes . DirecTV has asked the Federal Communications Commission for a rules waiver so it can move a broken Boeing satellite out of its standard orbit in order to limit the risk of an accidental explosion. The 15-year-old Spaceway-1 satellite is at risk of explosion due to damage to its batteries. DirecTV has already disabled the satellite's primary function. The satellite can still operate on power reserves from its solar panels, but not during the upcoming eclipse season starting at the end of February. Satellites usually discharge all of its fuel prior to being taken out of their normal orbits, but this isn't possible due to the explosion risk. Spaceway-1 will be moved to a graveyard orbit 300km above the geostationary arc. |
Why It’s Great To Be A Consultant . Working as a consultant is great because you are working outside the company hierarchy, which means you can avoid all the baggage that comes with being a permanent employee. You will be continually thrown into new environments, which will force you to keep learning to remain competitive. Working with multiple organizations will expose you to more technology, organizational structures, and cultures. This will help develop a deeper perspective on your work and what's possible. Consulting will also mean you will meet lots of people, which can be beneficial in many ways. |
Digitizing Burning Man (14 minute read). Burning Man is usually held in late August inside Nevada's Black Rock Desert, but this year, the organization is looking to create a virtual experience using a network of small indie teams willing to donate their own time. The event will involve eight projects, or experiences, each taking a different approach to recreating the virtual festival. Each experience will be accessible on both mobile and desktop. It is unclear how the event will be monetized as each virtual experience will use different technology. |
Amazon is introducing private investors to high-risk start-ups in a new pilot program . Amazon has started a new program called Pro-Rata to connect high-risk start-ups with private investors. The program is purely for introductions and does not involve any funding from Amazon itself. Amazon contacts private investors and offers them an opportunity to invest in these companies, however, just because these investors have been invited into the program, it does not guarantee them access to the investment. Investors will need to fulfill several criteria, including minimum investment amounts ranging from $20,000 to $500,000. It is unknown whether Amazon is making any money from this venture. |
The Best Imitation-Meat Burgers . The success of Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods has led to other plant-based meat replacements appearing in the market. 18 vegetable-based burgers, seven black bean burgers, and eight meat-analogue burgers were rated for their taste, texture, and appearance. The Impossible burger outperformed every other contender in every category, with tasters commenting on how all aspects of the plant-based meat was similar to a real meat burger. Beyond Meats burger came second, losing points on appearance. The Grillers Original Burger from MorningStar Farms was third place. Tasters thought that the flavor was bland, its appearance was unappealing, and said that the patty felt dry. Generally speaking, tasters were unenthusiastic about burgers that were not produced by Impossible or Beyond. |
Apple’s M2 chip has entered production and will ship as soon as July . Apple's custom-designed M2 chips entered production this month. The chips will be introduced with new Macs in the second half of 2021. They are being manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. |
BMW's Vision iNext concept car is the ultimate self-driving machine . BMW's Vision iNext is an autonomous electric SUV concept car. BMW has completely rethought the inside of the car, drawing inspiration from boutique hotels. The dashboard has been replaced by 2 widescreen LCD televisions. The seating has touch-sensitive areas that recognize gestures such as swipes. The arm rests have been replaced by a wooden surface that acts as a coffee table of sorts. The front seats are bendable so passengers can easily converse with people sitting in the back. The steering wheel and pedals are still there in case you feel like driving, but they retract when not in use. There's a sketch of the interior design inside. |
Tesla dissolves its PR department — a new first in the industry . Tesla has dissolved its PR department, becoming the first automaker who doesn't talk to the press. The company hasn't responded to press inquiries in months. Tesla's PR team dissolved after Keely Sulprizio, the person in charge of PR/communications at Tesla, left Tesla to join Impossible Foods last December. There are still PR managers working in Tesla's European and Asian markets and test-drive promotions for YouTubers. No official reason has been given for the move, despite CEO Elon Musk's past complaints about unfair treatment by the press. |
Hands on with Apple's first public beta of macOS 10.15 Catalina (52 minute read). Apple has released its first public beta of Catalina. This update starts to merge iOS features with Mac OS, combining many of the functionalities of the mobile platform into the desktop environment. Apple has been developing custom hardware for its devices, and the end result of cross-platform compatibility is now being realized. iOS apps are now able to run on Mac OS through Catalyst. Catalina also introduces new augmented reality tools, machine learning abilities, a suite of apps to replace iTunes, and more. Most of the visual elements remain unchanged from Mojave. Older Macs that don’t support Metal (introduced in some models in 2012) will not be able to run Catalina. Users should keep in mind that Catalina is still in its testing phase, so there may still be issues with running the new operating system. |
Researchers turned fat cells into stem cells to repair injuries . Stem cells have the potential to treat many conditions. The source of these cells has been a topic of controversy ever since they were discovered, so scientists have been trying to find new ways of producing them without using embryos. A team from Australia has created a method of turning fat cells into stem cells that can then be used to repair wounds. The research has only been conducted on mice so far. Using this method of making stem cells reduces the chance of tumors compared to other methods. Since they use cells from the patient's own body, there is far less chance of rejection. There is still a lot of research to conduct before the technique can be used in clinical settings. |
The 5G iPhone is coming in 2020, says analyst Ming-Chi Kuo . Ming-Chi Kuo, the most trusted source when it comes to Apple rumors, has revealed that Apple plans to release 5G smartphones in 2020. After Apple cut its ties with Intel, it was unsure whether the company would be able to produce a 5G smartphone. However, sources claim that the development of the new phones is right on schedule. Both a new, smaller 5.4-inch iPhone and a larger 6.7-inch device will be released in 2020. A 6.1-inch iPhone XR successor will also be released but will stay on LTE for now. All of the new iPhones will have OLED display panels. |
Psychedelics Without the Trip Could Be ‘Healing Magic’ for Mental Health . While psychedelics are starting to be seen by doctors as a tool for treating mental illness, their mind-altering effects can be a serious detriment to patients. Treatment using traditional psychedelics requires the drugs to be administered and monitored inside clinics instead of the patient taking a pill at home like for many other conditions. A team of scientists recently engineered several synthetic cousins of LSD that could quell depressive symptoms in mice without getting them high. It will take a long time before the drug can be tested in humans, but the research could result in an entirely new treatment regime for mental health issues. |
Froala Design Blocks (Bootstrap Components). Froala has put out v2 of their popular Design Blocks library. It's a bunch of components built on Bootstrap that makes it really easy to make commonly used elements like login/signup forms, headers, pricing tables, testimonials, calls to action etc. It also comes with a simple website builder, that lets you build a quick site with the components and download the html (no signup required!). It's all open source, and there are Sketch/PSD files included for designers. |
How I Keep up with technology as a software developer with a chronic health condition . Keeping up with tech while dealing with health issues can be difficult, but not impossible. Scheduling your time for learning, practice, or working on projects, and being strict about the schedule, will help keep health a priority while encouraging learning. It is important to remember to take small steps as the goal is to try to create a habit. As health should be a priority, taking frequent breaks is important as is being mindful of your mental health. If you have a desire to continue learning and development while dealing with other problems, the most important thing to do is to start taking action. |
The Inside Story of How Signal Became the Private Messaging App for an Age of Fear and Distrust (15 minute read). Signal is an end-to-end encrypted messaging service owned and operated by a non-profit foundation. It has wide-ranging security protections and it is endorsed by figures like Edward Snowden, who uses the app every day. People have been increasingly using Signal as trust in the authorities continues to decline. It has been used extensively during the recent US protests and in Hong Kong after China imposed a controversial national security law. Signal's privacy features include tools to blur people's faces out of photos, servers that don't store user information, encrypted phone calls, and more. The app has not been popular with the authorities, who aren't able to demand that the service turn over information as the service doesn't retain any. This article follows Signal's story so far, exploring how the app was developed with privacy in mind and how it continues to maintain its stance despite governmental pressure. |
Amazon’s new physical retail analytics service gives brands insights about product and ad performance . Amazon is launching a new physical retail store analytics service that will give brands anonymized insights about their products in stores that use Just Walk Out and Dash Cart technologies. Brands will have access to information about how their products are discovered, considered, and purchased, as well as data on how their products rank and perform. The data is aggregated and anonymized, and it doesn't contain any personal information. Shoppers can opt-out of data collection while using Just Walk Out or Dash Cart through Amazon's Store Analytics website. |
Now’s the time to get your name on NASA’s next mission to Mars . The public will again have the chance to have their name sent into space as part of a NASA mission. NASA will be sending the next Mars Rover in 2020 in order to discover clues as to whether the planet has ever hosted alien life. It will also be preparing dirt samples for collection by a future mission. People can submit their names to be engraved onto a silicon chip which will be installed in the Rover. |
The highest paid workers in Silicon Valley are not software engineers . According to online hiring platform Hired, who analyzed 30000+ interview requests across 1800+ Silicon Valley firms, product managers on average make $133,000, while software engineers make $123,000 and designers make $115,000. The gap between product managers and engineers has only widened over the past couple of years, and exists even after controlling for experience (product managers are paid more to start and more after 6 years of experience). Data scientists were briefly paid more than product managers in 2015, but supply began increasing faster than demand, so now product managers are back on top. |
What will a Chromium-only Web look like? . There are three major browser engines, and they're all open source. Many in the Chromium community are arguing for a Chromium-only web. A Chromium-only web would make interoperability on things like parsing HTML perfect while still allowing people to choose the browser with the features that they want. However, this would affect governance over web standards, especially in a future where the web is regulated by multiple governments. |
Las Vegas takes a chance on having Elon Musk’s Boring Company build transit tunnel . An underground express tunnel that connects downtown Las Vegas, the city’s convention center, airport, and other points of interest will be built by the Boring Company at an estimated cost of between $35 to $55 million, depending on the final plans. The Las Vegas Convention Center’s expansion is planned to be completed in 2021. When it is complete, attendees would have to walk around 2 miles to get from one end to another, which explains the need for a rapid transit route. Elon Musk estimates that the tunnel will be complete and operational by the end of the year, however, past projects have not gone as smoothly as predicted. |
Apple Reportedly in Talks With Toyota About Apple Car Production Starting 2024 . Apple is rumored to be visiting several car manufacturers in Asia to mass-produce a branded car by 2024. The company will likely make its EV batteries in the US, but it might seek partnerships with established vehicle makers to do so. Apple is developing a new battery design to reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle's range. While Apple aims to begin production in 2024, the ongoing global health crisis and current chip shortage could cause delays. |
Halley Game Engine (GitHub Repo). Halley is a lightweight game engine written in C++ designed to create high performance, easy to maintain, cross-platform games. It has been tested on Windows 10 Professional 64-bit, Mac OS 10.9.6, and Ubuntu 16.04. Full documentation is not yet available for the engine. |
The Great Resignation is here. What does that mean for developers? . 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs at the end of November 2021. Resignation rates were highest among those who worked in fields that experienced extreme increases in demand due to the pandemic. Many developers feel burnt out due to an increased workload. The demand for developers has increased as more industries start relying on software. Many people have changed how they see their lives due to the pandemic. This article explores how these factors, among many others, have resulted in the Great Resignation, and how this will affect the labor market. |
Samsung confirms hackers stole Galaxy source code . Samsung has confirmed that hackers successfully stole internal company data and source code. Hacking group Lapsus$, who recently stole data from Nvidia, has claimed responsibility for the attack on Samsung. No personal data belonging to either customers or employees was stolen. It is unclear if any threats have been made to Samsung to try to extort specific concessions. |
Ocean Battery stores renewable energy at the bottom of the sea . Ocean Battery is an energy storage system developed by Dutch startup Ocean Grazer. It is designed to be installed on the seafloor near offshore renewable energy generators. The system is made to function on a principle similar to that of a hydroelectric dam. Excess electricity from renewable sources can be used to pump water into a bladder, and when energy is required, the bladder can squeeze the water back through spinning turbines to generate power. A 3-minute video with animations showing how the Ocean Battery will work is available in the article. |
BerylDB (GitHub Repo). BerylDB is a data structure server that provides access to structures via a wide range of commands. It gives users access to lists, maps, keys, and channel subscriptions for their clients. BerylDB allows developers to use fewer lines of code to store, retrieve, and manage data in their apps. The server is currently available for GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, and macOS. |
Zoom is releasing a new tool to let paid users charge for admission to online events like conferences or fitness classes . OnZoom is Zoom's new online event hosting platform. Hosts can organize free and paid events on OnZoom, with PayPal integration for ticket sales. It will only be available to paid subscribers in the US at launch. There are no additional fees for paid users to use OnZoom, but Zoom may take a cut of ticket sales next year. A new feature called Zapp allows Zoom users to open apps like Dropbox, Slack, and Asana directly inside a Zoom meeting. Zoom is also focusing on integrating online education tools. |
Campus is closed, so college students are rebuilding their schools in Minecraft . University of Pennsylvania students recreated their campus in Minecraft after being told that their college commencement would be held online. Students report it being a rewarding experience to be able to recreate the campus they are graduating from, allowing them a chance to properly finish out their experience. Minecraft servers and creations are now being shared on Discord, Facebook, and Reddit. Minecraft has become a place where students can log in and process the sudden loss of an on-campus community. In May, there will be in-game graduations on a server specifically created to host Class of 2020 graduations for students from hundreds of different universities. At least 278 institutions have signed up so far. |
Colossal marine skull reveals Earth's earliest known giant animal . Cymbospondylus youngorum may have been the first giant animal that ever lived on Earth. The new type of ichthyosaur was discovered in the Augusta Mountains of Nevada with a skull measuring 2 meters long. It existed around 246 million years ago. Ichthyosaurs dominated the oceans for about 150 million years, with some species stretching over 20 meters long. The new ichthyosaur was not the largest of its family, but it may have been the largest animal Earth had seen up until that point. A picture of the skull, with a researcher for scale, is available in the article. |
GoDaddy Employees Used in Attacks on Multiple Cryptocurrency Services . A recent attack on several cryptocurrency trading platforms involved scams that targeted employees at GoDaddy. The fraudsters tricked employees into allowing them to assume control over at least half a dozen domain names. This allowed the attackers to change DNS records and take control of internal email accounts. GoDaddy has not disclosed how its employees were tricked into making unauthorized changes. There has been an increase in large corporations being targeted in voice phishing scams as more employees have been working remotely due to the pandemic. A list of security recommendations from the FBI/CISA advisory to mitigate the threat from voice phishing attacks is provided at the end of the article. |
Rulex (Website). Rulex is a portable regular expression language. It transpiles Rulex expressions into normal regular expressions. Rulex supports Unicode, number ranges, and variables. It provides error messages that are informative. Examples are available. |
How to build your own TinyPilot . TinyPilot is a device for controlling computers remotely. It works before the operating system boots, so it can be used to install new OSes and debug boot failures. It can be created for under $100 using a Raspberry Pi. A complete walkthrough is provided in the article. |
Architects are planning a beautiful Martian city in the Dubai desert . A group of architects in Dubai were commissioned to design an experimental Martian city that covers 176,000 square meters of desert. The United Arab Emirates government budgeted $135 million for the Mars Science City project. It will help engineers and scientists understand how we can best mitigate risks associated with living on Mars. Renders of the design are available in the article. |
Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion . Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard in a deal valued at $68.7 billion. Many of Activision's games will be added to Xbox Game Pass once the deal closes in the fiscal year 2023. It will take a long time for the deal to close as Activision Blizzard operates in many markets, making receiving regulatory approval more complicated for Microsoft. Activision Blizzard was recently sued for promoting a culture of constant sexual harassment. Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard until the deal is fully closed. |
Avoid These Common Data Privacy Pitfalls in 2022 (Sponsor). Avoid These Common Data Privacy Pitfalls in 2022 . Innovating and delivering products quickly is essential to any company’s survival, but taking shortcuts on data security and privacy is very costly in the long run. As you aim to balance speed and security, don’t lose sight of the most common privacy pitfalls and how you can avoid them. Download the free white paper today. |
Ripple Takes $50 Million Stake in MoneyGram in Push to Deploy XRP . Cryptocurrency company Ripple has announced a major partnership with MoneyGram. MoneyGram will start using Ripple’s cryptocurrency, XRP, as part of its day-to-day operations. Ripple has long argued that banks should use XRP for transferring money across borders, rather than having cash reserves tied up as collateral in foreign accounts. Last year, Western Union trialed the use of XRP but claimed that it did not produce significant savings. The cryptocurrency is currently the third most valuable in the world, after Bitcoin and Ethereum. Ripple will not immediately receive a seat on MoneyGram’s board, but will instead have observer status. |
100 most asked JavaScript Interview Questions and Answers (23 minute read). JavaScript is a scripting language that can pretty much create anything. It can be inserted into HTML pages to be executed by web browsers, so it is used in many environments. This article contains 21 commonly asked JavaScript interview questions and answers, with more coming soon. |
Meta Reveals VR Headset Prototypes Designed to Make VR ‘Indistinguishable From Reality’ (11 minute read). Meta recently unveiled a collection of VR headset prototypes. The company is aiming to develop a headset that can completely convince the visual system that what's inside is actually real. It has identified four key visual challenges that VR headsets need to solve before the visual Turing Test can be passed. The prototype headsets function as proof-of-concept for potential solutions to these challenges. Details about the challenges and the prototype headsets are available in the article. |
Apple plans to give away original content for free to device owners as part of new digital TV strategy . Apple is planning on spending over $1 billion on video content this year for its upcoming video streaming service. They currently have 24 shows in production and development. This content will be free for all iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV owners through a yet-to-be-named pre-installed app due out next year. |
BlurHash (GitHub Repo). BlurHash is able to create placeholders for images so a website can still retain its look and feel as it loads. It takes an image and returns a short string that represents the placeholder for the image. When the page is loaded, the string is loaded first while the real image loads in the background. There are implementations for C, TypeScript, Python, Java, and many more languages. |
T-Mobile launches long-promised 5G home internet service . T-Mobile's 5G home internet service is now available for 30 million homes in the US, 10 million of which are in rural areas. There will be no data caps, hardware rental fees, or annual contracts. Customers will be able to self-install the equipment. While there are no data limits, customers are still subject to data slowdowns during times of network congestion. |
Scientists Made a Biohybrid Nose Using Cells From Mosquitoes . Scientists at the University of Tokyo have created an artificial nose using mosquito odor receptors. The team placed the mosquito receptors on a chip and monitored the setup with a computer. Using the sensors, the scientists could detect odors with unprecedented sensitivity. The technology was able to detect a chemical often found in cancer patients' breath with over 90 percent accuracy. The team hopes to eventually use their bionic nose as a way to detect the early stages of diseases. |
A new plant-based material can replace plastic food packaging for keeps . A team of scientists has developed a biodegradable and antimicrobial food packaging solution that could finally put an end to the need for plastic-made food packaging items. |
bun (GitHub Repo). bun is an all-in-one tool for JavaScript development. |
Amazon is opening a new store that sells items from its website rated 4 stars and above . A new store called Amazon 4-star will open today in New York's SoHo neighborhood. The store is permanent (not a pop-up store) and will only sell items that have 4 star ratings or above on Amazon. Amazon Prime members will pay "the Amazon.com price" when they shop there. The store will have digital price tags, presumably to keep prices consistent with the Amazon.com website. |
NASA's Astrobees used to test feasibility of satellites capturing tumbling space junk . Space junk is becoming more of a problem as satellite technology becomes more affordable and more objects are being sent out to space. TumbleDock/ROAM have just finished a series of tests on using robots called Astrobees to find and retrieve space debris. Astrobees are cube-shaped robots that move through space by using compressed-air thrusters. As the tumbling motion of a satellite can be quite complex, the robots need to be able to autonomously close in on a satellite on their own. The Astrobees are able to chase down targets in a lab setting, but now the scientists need to figure out how to grapple them. |
Amplication (GitHub Repo). Amplication is a development tool that helps Node.js developers create quality applications without having to spend time on repetitive coding tasks. It auto-generates fully functional apps based on TypeScript and Node.js. Amplication helps developers build applications with visually managed data models, role-based access control, auto-generated source code, and more. |
The cinemas now hiring out their screens to gamers . South Korea's largest cinema chain, CGV, has begun hiring out its screens to gamers. CGV came up with the idea as a way to bring in new revenue as it deals with the effects of the pandemic. It costs $90 to hire the screen for two hours before 6 pm and $135 after. Up to four people can join a session, but they have to bring their own consoles, games, and controllers with them. CGV has booked more than 130 sessions since the start of the year, with the majority of customers being men in their 30s or 40s. Customers can order cinema food to be delivered. |
DeepMind is developing one algorithm to rule them all (10 minute read). DeepMind is trying to create a deep learning model that can learn how to emulate any algorithm to generate an algorithm-equivalent model that can work with real-world data. Algorithms possess fundamentally different qualities to deep learning methods. If deep learning methods could better mimic algorithms, the type of generalization seen with algorithms might become possible with deep learning. A network that could learn algorithms would be able to plug those algorithms together to form complex pipelines and programs. |
Samsung’s ‘artificial human’ project definitely looks like a digital avatar . Neon is Samsung's mysterious artificial human project. It appears that the company is building realistic human avatars that can be used for entertainment and business purposes. The Core R3 technology used in Neon can autonomously create new expressions, movements, and dialog, all of which can be completely different from the original captured data. A video was leaked that shows lifelike human figures that may have been generated with Core R3. It is still unclear to what extent the avatars in the videos were computer-generated. A big claim with Neon is that the avatars can be mistaken for real humans. The leaked footage can be viewed in the article. |
Scientists Are Getting Better and Better at Levitating Objects With Sound Waves . A new video shows researchers making polystyrene beads and water particles levitate inside a special enclosure using hundreds of small speakers. The team was able to develop a system that could handle interference, resulting in 3D displays that can exist outside of a vacuum. The technology opens up the possibility for fully immersive virtual reality experiences and interactive holograms. A video demonstrating the technology is available in the article. |
toolbox (GitHub Repo). This repository contains a curated list of libraries for a faster machine learning workflow. The list is divided into the different phases of machine learning development, and then further broken down into different steps, methods, and categories. |
Dev Degree (Website). Dev Degree is a learning program that combines hands-on developer experience at Shopify with an accredited Computer Science degree. Students will take three university courses on campus each term and spend around 25 hours a week at Shopify over four years. Applicants can choose to attend either Carleton University or York University. The program teaches students development skills and technologies through real-world problems and mentorship from industry leaders. |
YouTube’s new AR Beauty Try-On lets viewers virtually try on makeup while watching video reviews . YouTube has a new feature that will allow viewers to try on makeup products while watching video reviews. AR Beauty Try-On will show a stream of the viewer’s face below the video that they are watching and allow the viewer to test out different products using augmented reality. During testing, YouTube found that while only 30 percent of viewers tried the feature, these users were engaged and spent more than 80 seconds trying out different products. Other apps also offer features for users to try on virtual makeup. YouTube’s AR Beauty Try-On is one of the first types of AR-powered ad campaigns. Google has also recently introduced Swirl, allowing users to view products in a 360 format. These new tools will be open to all brands and advertisers this Summer. |
Unprofessional Landing Pages: How To Make Your Pages Look Like a Design Team Was Behind It . First impressions matter for professional pages. It only takes a very short amount of time for someone to form an opinion about a website. Clarity is important because there isn't much time to get a message across, so it is important not to add clutter. This article discusses how to make more professional-looking pages with above-the-fold design patterns, some UX open secrets, and tips on how to improve the scan-ability of pages. |
Manipulating photons for microseconds tops 9,000 years on a supercomputer . An optical quantum computer built by Canadian startup Xanadu is able to sometimes perform operations with more than 200 qubits. Simulating one of the operations, which only takes a few-dozen milliseconds on the optical quantum computer, would take 9,000 years on a supercomputer. Xanadu's hardware uses a chip to put photons in a specific quantum state then it forces photon pairs to interact in ways that entangle them. More details about the technology are available in the article. |
Rocket Lab unveils details of new reusable Neutron launcher . Rocket Lab has unveiled details about its Neutron rocket. The rocket will be made out of a special carbon composite and will be mostly reusable. It will have its second stage inside of the first one, so the first stage remains with the rocket after its fuel is spent. The second stage will be attached to the payload and stay housed inside the body of the rocket. The top of the rocket will open up once in space to release the second stage and payload. The payload will then be released through a hinged fairing. A video featuring Rocket Lab's CEO Peter Beck eating a hat and then explaining the design is available in the article. |
System Design Interview Tutorial – The Beginner's Guide to System Design (12 minute read). System Design is an important topic for software engineers, so it is a good idea to get a head start on learning about it. System design interviews are open-ended and the lack of structure can be intimidating. This article aims to provide a roadmap for navigating system design interviews. It covers what system design interviews are and why they are used, the main stages of a system design interview, and an example interview problem. An 18-minute video version of the article is available. |
A CRISPR first produces squid as clear as glass . Researchers have used CRISPR-Cas9 on cephalopods for the first time, making some longfin inshore squid transparent by deleting a gene called TDO. TDO encodes a protein that adds pigment to the squid's eyes and chromatophores. The squids were treated as embryos and the treatment successfully affected more than 90% of the cells in the squid, suggesting that the technique could be used to modify genes involved in cephalopod brain function. |
1 in 5 corporations say China has stolen their IP within the last year: CNBC CFO survey . In a survey of North American-based corporations on the CNBC Global CFO Council, seven out of the 23 companies surveyed say that Chinese firms have stolen from them in the past decade. The council represents nearly $5 trillion in market value across a variety of sectors. Businesses are unhappy with current US-China trade negotiations as the terms against IP theft are too relaxed. China has recently issued a memo that detailed punishments for IP violators. Trade policies are now the biggest issue in Europe, as many European businesses say that US trade policies were the biggest risk to their businesses. |
Reddit is raising a huge round near a $3 billion valuation . Reddit is raising up to $300 million in its next ‘Series D’ round of funding, rumored to be lead by Chinese giant, Tencent. The funding could put the valuation of Reddit at nearly $3 billion. Reddit has recently been making a big deal out of selling their new cost-per-click ads, which helped push the yearly revenue of the site to over $100 million in 2018. |
Anti-viral drugs can successfully make old human eggs young again . Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have, and the quality of chromosomes and DNA within each egg declines with age, resulting in less chance of pregnancy with older age. A team of researchers from Israel have shown that treating mouse eggs with an antiviral medicine can reverse the age of older eggs. The reverse-aged eggs haven't been tested yet against fertilization, but they may provide hope for women over 40 who want to be mothers. The researchers hope that the technology will be available for human use within the next 10 years. |
Byte, Vine’s successor, has been purchased by another TikTok clone . Clash, a TikTok competitor, has purchased Byte, another TikTok competitor. The details of the purchase are still vague, but Clash's website now directs visitors to download Byte and the app is no longer available on the iOS App Store. Clash's co-founder says that the two apps will be released together as one product within a few months. The market for short-form video apps has become extremely saturated, and Clash will face a lot of competition. Byte was created to be a successor to Vine, but TikTok had blown up by the time it finally launched. |
Bitcoin plunges 26%, its sharpest selloff in 7 years . Bitcoin has plummeted by 26% in its worst daily selloff in seven years. The digital currency has lost nearly a third of its value in the past five days. While many people believed that crypto investments were immune to the current stock market volatility, the recent downturn is evidence that the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the markets. Bitcoin passed the $10,000 mark in early February. Despite the downturn, it is still up by over 50% over the past 12 months. |
Google is buying Fossil's smartwatch tech for $40 million . Fossil is selling its smartwatch IP to Google for $40 million. Some Fossil employees will be joining Google, and it looks like Google will be working on a smartwatch that they hope will be for Wear OS (their struggling wearable operating system) what Pixel is to Android. |
Pfizer, BioNTech say Covid vaccine is more than 90% effective . Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective at preventing COVID-19 in those without evidence of prior infection. The FDA had set a threshold of 50% effectiveness for a vaccine to merit approval. There haven't been any serious safety concerns reported yet in a trial of 43,538 participants. US stock futures skyrocketed in response to the news, with some airline and cruise company stocks jumping up as much as 30%. The vaccine requires two doses, with protection achieved 28 days after the initial vaccination. It could be available as early as late December, and widely available by the third quarter of 2021. Pfizer expects to produce up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020, and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. |
The new Flying-V substantially upgrades speed and carries passengers in its wings . The Flying-V is a novel plane design that improves fuel efficiency, speed, and passenger room. Its passenger cabin, cargo compartment, and fuel tanks are all located in its wings. The aerodynamic form of the Flying-V lowers fuel consumption by 20% compared to contemporary aircraft. A video that explains the design is available in the article. |
Ztext (Website). Ztext creates 3D typography for any website and font using HTML attributes or JavaScript. It is easy to integrate Ztext with CSS animations and transitions. Ztext works for SVG, emoji, and images. Examples are available on the website. |
Soft Serve (GitHub Repo). Soft Serve is a self-hosted Git server for the command line. It allows users to browse repos with an SSH-accessible TUI. Soft Serve features easy access controls and the ability to create repos on demand. A GIF demo is available. |
Meta's acquisition of Giphy is set to be blocked by an antitrust regulator . The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is expected to reverse Meta's acquisition of Giphy by December 1. Facebook announced the deal in May 2020, but antitrust regulators stopped the sale to investigate whether the merger would harm competition. Provisional findings said that the sale would give Meta an unfair advantage over rival platforms. While both companies are from the US, the CMA has jurisdiction over any acquisition where the combined parties control over 25% of a particular good or service supplied in the UK. |
Redditors Aim to 'Free Science' From For-Profit Publishers . Sci-Hub is a site that gives free access to a huge database of scientific papers that would otherwise be locked behind a paywall. It has been the target of multiple lawsuits. Members of the subreddit DataHoarder have come together to archive the 77TB of data that is on the site. They aim to have approximately 8,500 people torrenting the papers and to create a new uncensorable website. The subreddit community has previously completed a similar mission by archiving 33TB of data from Library Genesis. Much of the science published in these articles is publicly funded. |
Ever wondered what happens when you type in a URL in an address bar in a browser? . This diagram gives a brief overview of what happens when a user types a URL into an address bar in a browser. It gives a simplified, high-level view of the process. A higher resolution version of the diagram is available in the comments. |
Zillow, Other Tech Firms Are in an ‘Arms Race’ To Buy Up American Homes . The high-tech house flipping market, otherwise known as the iBuyer industry, is in a race to buy up as much inventory as possible. Companies are trying to gain inventory and market share rather than focusing on profits. The companies buy mid-level homes for cash, make a few repairs, and put them back on the market, making the process quick and convenient for buyers and sellers. The scale of these operations makes them very profitable. While homeowners may do better on the open market, the convenience that iBuyers offer is worth it for some sellers. |
Russia Plans to Cut Off Some Internet Access Next Week . Russia planned a test of its RuNet program on December 23. The test temporarily shut off many of its citizens' internet access. RuNet aims to help the government better control internal digital traffic, launch cyber and information attacks against other nations, and track and censor dissidents. The test evaluated RuNet's ability to intercept subscriber traffic, reveal information about subscribers, and block communication services. Results from the test will help the government assess its ability to control key internet nodes should a crisis develop. Experts are concerned that other countries may attempt to create isolated domestic internets to control citizens. Some countries already suspend internet access as a means of control, but Russia's solution will allow communication and business to continue on the Kremlin's terms. |
NASA's Curiosity rover kicks off epic 'summer road trip' across Mars . NASA's Mars Curiosity rover will soon make its way across the Gale Crater and begin to explore the next section of Mount Sharp. The sulfate-bearing unit is an area that might give clues to how the climate and prospects for life changed on the planet three billion years ago. Curiosity should reach the region later this year. A mosaic image of the area that Curiosity will be traveling across is available at the beginning of the article. |
The race for coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide . There are more than 90 vaccines being developed against SARS-CoV-2, with at least six already in human trials. Virus vaccines use a weakened or inactivated form of the virus, similar to those used against measles and polio. Viral-vector vaccines use a genetically engineered virus to produce coronavirus proteins in the body. Nucleic-acid vaccines inject DNA or RNA for producing a coronavirus protein that prompts and immune response into human cells. Protein-based vaccines inject coronavirus proteins directly into the body. With accelerated steps, researchers are hoping to have a vaccine ready in 18 months. |
Annual Smart Speaker IQ Test . These guys tested four smart speakers, Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana, with 800 questions each. Google Asssistant won with 88% of questions correctly answered vs. Siri at 75%, Alexa at 73%, and Cortana at 63%. The questions were in 5 categories: local, commerce, navigation, information, and command. Google Assistant was the best at every one except for commands (where Siri was the best). Siri and Google were head and shoulders above the rest in Local and Navigation in particular, due to their proprietary maps data. Siri has greatly improved over the past year, where it answered only 52% of questions correctly. |
Apple announces a new… iPod touch . The new iPod touch has been announced. It will use the A10 Fusion chip, which was introduced with the iPhone 7, and comes in many new colors. The device will look similar to older versions, with a four-inch display and a classic home button. It will not support Touch ID or Face ID but it notably has a headphone jack at the bottom of the device. The new iPod is $199 for a 32GB model, $299 for 128GB, and $399 for 256GB of storage. |
Jony Ive leaving Apple after nearly 30 years to start new design firm . Jony Ive, Apple's chief design officer since 1996, will leave Apple later this year to form an independent design company. LoveFrom will count Apple as one of its primary clients. Ive has worked on all major Apple products, including the design of Apple retail stores. He had a close working and personal relationship with Steve Jobs and has largely maintained a private life despite his high profile. |
Why Pebble failed (15 minute read). This article tells the story of Pebble and why it failed. Pebble was a company that made a smartwatch that raised over $10 million on Kickstarter in 2012. The company sold 2 million watches over the next few years and did well over $230 million in sales. Pebble failed to create a sustainable business and sold parts of its business to Fitbit at the end of 2016. |
Google's Sidewalk Labs Plans to Package and Sell Location Data on Millions of Cellphones (10 min read). A program known as ‘Replica’ allows companies to simulate real traffic data using real-time mobile location data. While vendors like Sidewalk Labs attempt to obfuscate their data before selling it to companies such as Replica, there are still concerns about the de-anonymization of data and the regulation of data collection. Data is gathered without our knowledge or consent from devices that we carry all the time and depend on, and business models are being built to exploit this information. |
Musk's SpaceX, Bezos' Blue Origin land contracts to build NASA's astronaut moon lander . SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics were selected on Thursday by NASA to build lunar landing systems capable of carrying astronauts to the moon by 2024. The contract, worth $967 million, will be split between the three companies. Boeing proposed a concept for the project last year but was not selected. It lost another contract to SpaceX last month, with NASA noting that Boeing’s proposal was the most expensive and lowest-rated under the Mission Suitability factor. |
Illustrations (Website). This website features over 120 completely free illustrations. 100 of the designs were made during a 100-day illustration challenge. |
Today’s Firefox Blocks Third-Party Tracking Cookies and Cryptomining by Default . A new update for Firefox on desktop and Android will block third-party tracking cookies and crypto miners by default. Enhanced Tracking Protection will be turned on by default for users as part of the 'Standard' setting in Firefox. Currently, only 20 percent of Firefox users use Enhanced Tracking Protection. The feature stops companies from forming a user profile based on tracking behavior across websites, which is often done without peoples' knowledge or consent. A view of the companies which have been blocked from tracking is available in the settings. Some websites have built-in crypto miners that mine cryptocurrencies for the site while the user is browsing. Firefox's new update will include a default option to block these scripts from working. |
Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel stepping down . Elon Musk announced during a conference call on Wednesday that Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel will be stepping down as an executive at Tesla. Drew Baglino, vice president of technology, will take over his duties. Straubel was responsible for some of Tesla's most important technology, especially around batteries. Unlike other high-profile executives who left Tesla this year to join Apple, Straubel will be involved with a company called Redwood Materials, which focuses on recycling technology. |
What’s next for the popular programming language R? . Languages evolve over time, and programming languages are not exempt from this rule. R has changed significantly in the last few years. Older users would barely recognize how the language is typically used today. Hadley Wickham is R's most important developer. He built 'tidyverse', a set of popular data analysis and visualization libraries which has become the standard for new learners. Wickham has seen many changes in R in the last decade, for example, the R community has grown more welcoming, and the introduction of R Markdown has allowed code to be presented more easily. He sees Python and R as having separate use cases and both being powerful in their own areas. Wickham hopes that R and Python will continue to grow together and for R to fit more seamlessly into the data science workflow. R will continue to be developed so that it can handle cutting edge data science, with a focus on its visualization capabilities. |
Meta Tags (Web Tool). Here's a nifty tool that lets you check the meta tags on your website. When I make a new site, I always check these tags one by one on Twitter's card validator, Facebook's graph debugger tool etc. but this tool basically lets you check that your meta tags are being set correctly on Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Slack all at once just by typing in the URL. |
GitHub is done depositing its open source codes in the Arctic . GitHub has completed archiving its data into an Arctic vault after delays caused by the pandemic. 21TB of repository data was written onto 186 reels of piqlFilm, a type of archival film that can be read by a computer or a human with a magnifying glass. The goal of the Archive Program was to ensure that future generations will have access to existing code. GitHub originally planned for the project to be completed in February but it had to wait for Svalbard to reopen its borders. Every developer who contributed to the Arctic Vault will receive a special badge to be displayed in the highlights section of their profile. |
French inventor makes 'beautiful' flight across Channel on hoverboard . Franky Zapata, a French inventor, has successfully crossed the Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard, taking off from Sangatte in northern France and landing in St. Margarets Bay in England. The journey took just over 20 minutes. Last month, Zapata failed an attempt as he missed a platform mounted on a boat to refuel the hoverboard. Uninjured from the incident, he has since worked 15 to 16 hours a day to rebuild the machine. Zapata has plans for a flying car and has signed contracts for the project. The French military has invested $1.4 million to pay for the testing of Zapata's hoverboard as it may have several military applications. |
Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds . A report by the World Wildlife Foundation involving 59 scientists has found that humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970. Other studies have shown that humans have wiped out about 83% of mammals, and even if we stop now the natural world will take 5 to 7 million years to recover. Many scientists believe that this is the sixth mass extinction, the first to be caused by a single species. The biggest causes of death are the destruction of natural habitats, followed by killing for food (300 mammals are being eaten into extinction). Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF, says "We need a new global deal for nature and people and we have this narrow window of less than two years to get it. This really is the last chance. We have to get it right this time." |
Deno.js in production. Key takeaways . Deno.js is a new JavaScript runtime that is basically a rewrite of the Node.js JavaScript engine. It can transition a codebase from JavaScript to TypeScript without transpilation or magicware. Teams considering switching to Golang may be interested in Deno.js as it provides a lot of overlap in terms of use cases. |
London scientists build 'ultra broadband nearly three million times faster' than UK home fibre optic internet connections . Scientists in London have achieved a record download speed of 178 terabits per second by transmitting data in a greater range of colors than normally used in optical fibre. A 25-mile fibre optic loop was used for the speed test. Customized amplifiers were used to boost signal power. If deployed commercially, an amplifier will need to be installed for at least every 25 miles of cable. |
Go Beyond Issue Tracking with Shortcut (Sponsor). The best issue tracking software is one that software developers are actually happy to use. Shortcut provides the ease of use of a simple project management tool with the power of an overly complex one that you wish you weren’t being forced to use. Learn more. |
NVIDIA wants to make video calls better with AI . NVIDIA Maxine is an AI-powered suite of tools for video chat that features camera adjustment, resolution upscaling, background noise removal, facial reorientation, avatars, real-time closed captioning and translation, and more. Developers can use the suite to add features to their apps. Maxine's video compression can reduce the bandwidth required by 90 percent compared to H.264. It uses NVIDIA Tensor Core CPU acceleration on cloud servers so apps can still use these features without advanced hardware. Developers can now apply for early access. |
hck (GitHub Repo). hck is a cut clone that can use a regex delimiter instead of a fixed string. It makes common things, such as reordering output fields or splitting records on a weird delimiter, easy. hck is fast, and benchmarking results are available. |
Toyota’s robot butler prototype hangs from the ceiling like a bat . Toyota has unveiled some of the prototypes it has been testing in mock-up home environments. The aim of Toyota's robotics division is to develop mechanical helpers for the home to keep older generations healthy and happy. One of the robots hangs from the ceiling so it can complete tasks without adding to the limited floor space in many homes. Another robot that was demoed had a 'soft bubble gripper' that was able to grab a variety of objects using air-filled cushions. Toyota uses virtual reality to train the machines, getting a human to perform actions and then programming the movements into the robots. At the moment, these robots are still prototypes and Toyota has no plans to commercialize them. A 37-minute long 360-degree virtual presentation showing Toyota's machines is available at the end of the article. |