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Galaxy Watch 3 app reveals new gestures for calls, taking photos

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 app has arrived at the Play Store. Two new smartwatch gestures are available. Users will be able to silence calls and alarms with a simple twist of the wrist. The second gesture allows users to answer incoming calls or take pictures by clenching their fist and then releasing. Samsung has implemented more accessibility features into its watch software. There will be new watch faces and users will be able to automatically shuffle through watch faces.

1Big Tech & Startups

Setting up Starlink, SpaceX's Satellite Internet

This article follows a Starlink user as they set up their new service. The antenna needs to be mounted in a location that has a 100° view of the northern sky. While the provided cables felt rugged, the router design is impractical. The satellite dish uses two internal motors to orientate itself to get the best signal. User locations are assigned, and the system can detect if the dish is too far from its expected location.

1Big Tech & Startups

WWDC 2019 Session Notes (GitHub Repo)

This repository contains a set of notes regarding Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference 2019. It is usually faster to read through a list than to watch the whole presentation. A link to several interesting articles appears before the list of contents. Each topic also has a link to the relevant part of the WWDC presentation.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Rite Aid deployed facial recognition systems in hundreds of U.S. stores (18 minute read)

Rite Aid Corp quietly added facial recognition systems to 200 of its stores in the US over the last eight years. In some cities, the technology was deployed in largely lower-income, non-white neighborhoods. The technology used was from a company with links to China and its government. Rite Aid claims that it has stopped using the software and that all its cameras have been turned off due to industry efforts to scale back facial recognition technology. It said that it deployed the cameras based on stores' theft histories, local and national crime data, and site infrastructure. The program resulted in less violence and organized crime in the company's stores.

4Miscellaneous

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.

4Miscellaneous

WeWork reveals massive $900 million loss in filing to go public

WeWork, which has rebranded as the We Company, release its IPO prospectus on Wednesday, revealing a $900 million loss in six months. It was recently valued at $47 billion. With 527,000 members, WeWork currently has 528 locations, with plans to open another 169 new locations. Membership has grown by over 100 percent every year since 2014. WeWork wants to differentiate its losses from the losses of other money-losing businesses such as Uber and Lyft, saying that the losses should be viewed as investments and that renting out workspace is a proven business model.

1Big Tech & Startups

Twitter acquires newsletter platform Revue

Twitter has acquired Revue, a Dutch startup that lets users publish and monetize email newsletters. Revue serves major publishers like Vox Media and The Markup. While newsletters might not be an obvious fit for Twitter's platform, it would make it easier for writers to connect to subscribers while giving them a way to receive additional income. Revue already supports paid subscriptions. It will continue to operate as a standalone product. Revue's pro features are now free for all users and the fee for paid newsletters has been lowered to 5%.

1Big Tech & Startups

Apple acquires talking Barbie voicetech startup PullString

Apple’s Siri has been lagging behind in its utility and developer ecosystem, especially since the ability to create Skills is available on both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. In order to keep up, Apple has acquired PullString, the company behind creating talking toys for kids, such as the talking Barbie. PullString’s voiceover design tools allow developers to visually map out conversations and is currently used to develop Skills for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. It is unknown whether the tool will continue to be available for non-Apple developers.

1Big Tech & Startups

Visualize Critical IT Data End-to-End (Sponsor)

Single monitoring platform with easy to use out-of-the-box dashboards to correlate metrics, traces and logs. Start a free Datadog trial.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Slack launches Huddles, Discord-like audio calls you can hop in and out of

Huddles is a new feature in Slack that allows team members to jump in and out of a persistent call freely at all hours. The feature is designed to replace the informal office conversations that colleagues used to have across their desks. There is a screen-sharing feature, so teams can use it for spontaneous meetings. Huddles can be created in any channel or DM, including between companies. Slack will introduce voice, video, and screen recordings in the coming months.

1Big Tech & Startups

Amazon warehouse workers walk out in rising tide of COVID-19 protests

Amazon workers at a fulfillment center in New York have gone on strike to protest the company's response to COVID-19 infections among its warehouse employees. There is officially one confirmed case at the warehouse, but workers claim there have been at least 10 and that the company has failed to notify workers or properly clean the warehouse. They want Amazon to shut down the facility for two weeks for deep cleaning. So far, Amazon has only closed its facilities when forced to do so by government order or worker protest. The company has failed to report confirmed cases at its facilities several times. Amazon claims that it has taken appropriate measures, but employees believe it is not enough because the facilities are designed for people to work closely together. One of the organizers of the walkout has been fired for violating a 14-day quarantine after coming in contact with an employee diagnosed with COVID-19.

1Big Tech & Startups

Semgrep: Fast Code Scanning to Find Bugs and Enforce Code Standards (Sponsor)

Semgrep: Fast Code Scanning to Find Bugs and Enforce Code Standards . Semgrep is a fast, open-source tool that supports 20+ languages. Its 1,500+ rules and simple syntax mean you don’t have to deal with unwieldy regexes or a thorny domain-specific language. Code is analyzed on your computer or build environment, and never sent elsewhere. And with Semgrep App you can enforce and monitor security across your organization. Learn more.

0Sponsor

Cruise, GM partner with Microsoft to commercialize self-driving vehicles

Cruise and General Motors will partner with Microsoft to commercialize driverless autonomous vehicles. Cruise is now valued at around $30 billion. The company will use Azure for its self-driving vehicles. GM will work with Microsoft to develop its digitization initiatives and to explore opportunities to streamline operations.

1Big Tech & Startups

Twitter is now letting developers add labels to bot accounts

Twitter is now letting developers add labels to their bot accounts. The feature has been in testing since September and was meant to be rolled out by the end of 2022. Automated account owners can now opt in to have the label applied to their account. Twitter won't be auditing the accounts that apply for the new label. The company is also working on implementing a label to memorialize people who have died.

4Miscellaneous

Reaching Challenger Deep, American Businessman Completes Deepest Submarine Dive in History

Victor Vescovo, a retired US Navy officer, made a record-setting solo dive to the bottom of the ‘Eastern Pool’ of the Challenger deep, reaching a depth of 10,928 meters. A world record was set for the longest time spent at the bottom of the ocean by an individual after Vescovo spent four hours exploring the basin. It took around 3.5 hours to reach the bottom of the ocean, and about 3.5 hours to return to the surface. The goal of the mission was to test a submersible that was built to withstand multiple dives to any depths. During the mission, the submersible transversed over 110 vertical kilometers.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight by Light

The Planetary Society's crowdfunded LightSail 2 spacecraft is successfully raising its orbit solely using the power of sunlight. In the past four days, the spacecraft has raised its orbit by about two kilometers. The mission team has confirmed the increase can only be attributed to solar sailing. An image from the LightSail 2 captured by its camera during solar sail deployment is available. The LightSail 2 will continue to raise its orbit for roughly a month, after which it will begin to deorbit, eventually reentering the atmosphere. Around 50,000 people contributed to the mission, donating the $7 million required for it to be successful. The results of the mission will be shared with other organizations so that solar sail technology can be applied to future space exploration missions.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

regular expressions 101 (Website)

Regex101 allows you to write regular expressions and test them on strings. It is able to generate an explanation of your regex as you type. There is a quick reference guide, with tokens sorted into categories such as Anchors, Meta Sequences, Quantifiers, Group Constructs, and more.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

European Union Wants All Smartphones To Have A Standard Charging Port

The European Union is again pushing for the development of a common charging port for all smartphones available on the market. A large amount of electronic waste is generated from smartphones requiring different charging ports, and the change to a standardized port would make users' lives easier. The Radio Equipment Directive demanded the change in 2014, but the initiative was turned down. Apple has stated that changing to a common charger for all smartphones would be bad for the environment and freeze innovation. Around a billion Apple devices are using the lightning port, and the introduction of a common charger will result in an immediate increase in electronic waste, defeating the motive behind the directive. Apple may adopt a Type-C USB port in the next iPhone since it has already been introduced in the iPad and MacBook.

4Miscellaneous

Amazon built an Alexa cuckoo clock and wants your help backing new projects like this one

Amazon's 'Built It' program is a Kickstarter-like effort where customers can choose to back a product, and if there is enough support within 30 days, Amazon will build it. Customers will only be charged if the product is developed and ships. Prices are raised once the product has been released. There are currently three concepts available, and more ideas are coming.

1Big Tech & Startups

Reddit bought a five-second Super Bowl spot celebrating GameStock

Reddit aired a five-second long ad during the Super Bowl. The ad consisted of a long text message that hinted at the GameStop stocks saga. A screenshot of the ad is available in the article.

1Big Tech & Startups

I Think I Know Why You Can't Hire Engineers Right Now (13 minute read)

It has been harder to hire engineers in recent months, despite all the media about how hot the hiring market is. Attracting engineers to a position requires them to have cool stuff to work on, smart people to work with, and repeatability in the work environment. This article explores these factors and why they are important for engineers when thinking about their careers. It hypothesizes that many engineers would rather stay in their current positions as these factors would be at risk at a new company, and provides suggestions on how to handle these concerns.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

The Simplest of Slumbers (13 minute read)

This article describes several sleep studies in animals to explore the nature of sleep. There is a lot of variation in how different animals sleep. Animals with brains consolidate memories, flush out toxic waste, and strengthen connections between nerve cells during sleep. Animals without brains seem to also need sleep, suggesting that sleep plays a deeper role in preserving basic physiological processes. The study of sleep in brainless creatures is controversial, but new data shows that even the earliest lifeforms show signs of sleep.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

A group of big banks plans to launch its own digital currency within a year

UBS and 13 other large financial firms around the world have joined together to create their own blockchain-based digital currency. They have partnered with a blockchain startup called Clearmatics, who will create the utility coin. Very few details have been revealed about the token, and it is unclear what the banks mean by the coin being ‘blockchain-based’, as a network controlled by and open only to banks is not really a blockchain, according to purists. The Financial Times describes the collaboration as more of a market infrastructure project.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Blush (Website)

Blush is a tool that allows developers to use and customize illustrations from artists around the world. It is currently available as a plugin on Figma and as a web app. Additional integrations are coming soon. There are 13 collections of images with categories such as Fancy Plants, Cityscapes, Squiggles, and more. Blush's high-quality PNG images are free to use for personal and commercial purposes.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Google’s Project Starline is a ‘magic window’ for 3D telepresence

Google's Project Starline uses a combination of specialized hardware and computer vision technology to create life-sized 3D images of people. It appears to require an elaborate set up including a photo booth with lights, sensors, and a large display. Google claims it creates an immersive video chat experience that makes users feel as if they are actually with the people they are speaking with. It is planning trial deployments with enterprise customers later this year.

1Big Tech & Startups

A new heat engine with no moving parts is as efficient as a steam turbine

Engineers at MIT and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have designed a heat engine with no moving parts. The engine can convert heat to electricity with over 40% efficiency. The researchers plan to create a system that stores excess renewable energy into heavily insulated banks of hot graphite that will use the new engine to convert the heat to energy when needed. The battery can operate at high temperatures with low maintenance costs as it has no moving parts. It could enable a fully decarbonized power grid.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Google opens Stadia Makers program for indie game developers

Google launched its Stadia Makers program at the virtual Google Games Developer Summit. The program targets experienced independent game developers and is done in partnership with Unity. It provides technical assistance from Unity, free development hardware, and funding. A link to apply for the Stadia Makers program is available at the end of the article.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Apple’s WWDC Highlights: Death of iTunes and $6,000 Macs

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is over, and as expected, iTunes is no longer. It has been split into separate apps that will focus on each of its core functions. New features that demonstrate the iPhone’s focus on privacy were demonstrated at WWDC, showing how the operating system restricts apps from collecting user data. The Apple Watch will have its own store, suggesting that in the future the Apple Watch may be able to function without an iPhone. iPad OS was also announced, with improvements aimed at capturing a larger laptop user market. Users will now be able to multitask the same app in two windows, as well as plug in external hard drives.

1Big Tech & Startups

The US is building a $500m ‘exascale’ computer that will be the world’s most powerful

Intel will build the world’s most powerful supercomputer at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago. The Aurora supercomputer will be the first US computer to reach exascale performance and will be capable of more than a quintillion calculations per second, which is seven times faster than Summit, the world’s current most powerful supercomputer. Aurora is scheduled to be ready in 2021.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Soccer superstar Messi is being partly paid in crypto by PSG

Lionel Messi's financial package at Paris Saint Germain includes $PSG Fan Tokens. The two-year deal, with an option for a third, includes an annual salary of $41 million plus bonuses, and a $30 million signing-on fee. It is expected to bring a windfall of commercial revenues, such as through jersey sales. Messi joined PSG as a free agent after Barcelona acknowledged that they could no longer afford him. The $PSG token was designed to help PSG build a new fan community.

4Miscellaneous

Bolt (GitHub Repo)

Bolt is an algorithm for compressing vectors of real-valued data and running mathematical operations directly on the compressed representations. It can help save significantly on compute time for large collections of mostly-dense vectors. Bolt currently only supports x86 machines from fall 2013 or later. Benchmarks are available.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Belgium’s government network goes down after massive DDoS attack

Belgium's government IT network was targeted by a massive distributed denial of service attack, knocking most of its internal systems and public-facing websites offline. The attack, which focused on Belnet, a government-funded ISP, impacted the activities of more than 200 Belgian government organizations. Parliament and other government activities were also disrupted. The attack started around the same time that a committee was supposed to hear testimony from a survivor of China's Uyghur forced labor camps. No one has attributed the ongoing attack to any particular entity yet.

4Miscellaneous

Lark (GitHub Repo)

Lark is a parsing toolkit for Python that can parse all context-free languages. It can automatically build annotated parse-trees and it provides first-rate performance in terms of both Big-O complexity and measured run-time. Examples and performance comparisons are available.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

This is Sony’s Spatial Reality Display, and you can buy one for $5,000 in November

Sony's Spatial Reality Display is a holographic display that features a 15.6-inch 4K screen, a camera, a speaker system, and the ability to place digital objects and designs into a 3D space. It uses a combination of a high-speed face- and eye-tracking camera, real-time algorithms, and lenticular lenses that provide a clearer image than any previous holographic display. Sony has released an SDK for both Unreal and Unity. A 3-minute video is available that shows the display, but it is difficult to see the effect on a screen.

1Big Tech & Startups

Audible comes to the Apple Watch

Audible is coming to Apple Watch on watchOS 5, users can use the watch to play/pause, jump forward/back, set a sleep timer, skip, and control narration speed. Audible also has fitness programs that guide you through meditation, 5K runs and indoor cycling. Audible costs $15 a month, the app is free for no additional charge.

1Big Tech & Startups

Lab-grown wood could let us grow furniture in a lab instead of in a forest

MIT researchers are developing a technique to grow wood inside a lab, similar to how some meats are now cultivated. They have successfully grown wood-like plant tissue from cells extracted from leaves, without soil or sunlight. Lab-grown wood would be grown in whatever shape is required, making the growing process more efficient and less wasteful. It would also potentially let land currently used for logging to be instead be preserved as forest. The work is still in its very early stages.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Boston Dynamics’ robots are preparing to leave the lab - is the world ready? (11 minute read)

Boston Dynamics has been showing off advanced robots for years, gaining a large following for their machines. After decades of developing robots, Boston Dynamics is finally set to launch its first commercial bot later this year, a quadrupedal robot called 'Spot'. Robot development is difficult and requires significant funding, resources, and highly skilled staff. Boston Dynamics' robots are different in that they are legged and able to handle unexpected interference, such as being kicked. Spot will be able to be customized, with the ability to add attachments such as robotic arms, cameras, radios, sensors, and more. It is designed to be able to replace a human in current warehouse working environments. Other companies have also been developing legged robots for different environments.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

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.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Ikea and Sonos made the ultimate speaker lamp

Ikea and Sonos have been working for years to design and produce a pair of speakers, and they will be available this August. The Symfonisk is a speaker combined with a table lamp, and the bookshelf speaker is the smallest speaker that Sonos has ever made. Both speakers are fully compatible with the rest of Sonos’ range, and Ikea will integrate controls for the speakers into their smart home app. Ikea and Sonos will each handle a different part of the manufacturing process. Sonos will create the speaker parts and ship them to Ikea, who will then further assemble the parts and enclosure.

1Big Tech & Startups

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.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

This Secretive Surveillance Company Is Selling Cops Cameras Hidden in Gravestones

Special Services Group (SSG) is a surveillance vendor that works with US government agencies. It is currently marketing to local police departments. The devices it offers include cameras hidden inside items including tombstones, baby car seats, and vacuum cleaners. Surveillance technology is improving, and devices are becoming cheaper, smaller, and more capable all the time. It is unlikely that law enforcement will be the only actors using these types of devices. SSG is an extremely secretive company that does not advertise publicly. It has threatened several media outlets over the publishing of a leaked catalog. The catalog contains many unusual items, including a hidden microphone designed to be worn on a user's teeth and tools for gaining entry into buildings. SSG has relationships with a wide range of US agencies. A link to the catalog is available in the article.

4Miscellaneous

A Birth Control Pill for Men Could Start Human Trials This Year

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a non-hormonal form of male birth control and plans to start early human trials by the end of the year. The contraceptive kept lab mice sterile for up to six weeks with seemingly no side effects. It works by targeting how the body interacts with vitamin A. The treatment is estimated to be 99% effective and the effects appear to be completely reversible.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

GM's Cruise partners with DoorDash to test autonomous food delivery

GM's Cruise self-driving division will team up with DoorDash to test autonomous food delivery in San Francisco, starting in early 2019. Cruise has 180 vehicles and over 400 safety drivers, and will be using the service to start experimenting with commercial uses of its self-driving technology as it doesn't yet have a license from the state to operate as a ride-sharing company.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Eva Design System (Website)

The Eva Design System is a free and open source customizable design system that easily adapts to your brand. It is available for Sketch with mobile and web component libraries. Eva makes sure that designs stay consistent across all applications and platforms without the need to spend thousands of hours on implementation, testing, or maintenance.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Self-driving homes could be the future of affordable housing

Honda recently announced the IeMobi Concept, an autonomous mobile living room that attaches and detaches from your house. When parked, the vehicle becomes a 50-square-foot living or workspace. Volvo just unveiled its 360c concept vehicle that serves as either a living room or mobile office. These self-driving mobile homes could offer an unlikely solution the housing crisis, allow new modes of nomadic living, and completely change the way we organize society. In Los Angeles alone, it is estimated that 15,000 people are already living in their cars and in most countries you are allowed to live in your vehicle.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Facebook is opening its experimental predictions app to all users

Forecast, Facebook's community for crowdsourced predictions and collective insights, is now available for people in the US and Canada to participate in. Anyone can view the website, but people in other countries are not able to participate yet. The platform presents questions that people can answer and provide short responses. Facebook's tests found that requiring people to explain how they arrived at their answers encouraged measured, respectful conversation. A link to the Forecast website is available in the article. It is also available as an iOS app.

1Big Tech & Startups

Google Workers Demand Company Cut Contracts With Oil Industry

More than 1,100 Google employees joined together to publish an open letter to Googles chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, to demand that the company create a stronger plan to address climate change. The letter urges Google to put its users first, and that it should stop offering cloud computing services to oil-related companies. Google's services include using AI-powered algorithms to help these companies identify new oil extraction sites. The letter also demands that Google stop funding conservative trade groups, that it should aim to generate zero carbon emissions by 2030, and that it should stop any collaborations that involve the mistreatment of refugees. Google has declined to comment on the letter. It has previously made statements about its efforts to achieve environmental sustainability. Amazon employees have also recently called on Amazon to phase out fossil fuel use and cut out all cloud computing contracts with the oil and gas industry. The company has responded by purchasing more electric vehicles in order to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 but has declined to cut its cloud computing contracts.

4Miscellaneous

European Space Agency probe to intercept a comet

Comet Interceptor is a new space venture that will launch in 2028, aiming to catch and study an object from the outer reaches of the Solar System. The probe will consist of three components, the main mothership and two smaller spacecraft that will separate near a comet to conduct different but complementary studies. It is estimated that the total cost of the operation will be about €150 million. The Comet Interceptor will wait in space until an optimal target is identified, and then it will set off to meet it. This is necessary as comets usually give short notice to their existence. New facilities will soon be able to detect celestial bodies with more accuracy.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Netflix to charge global members sharing their accounts an additional fee, following tests

Netflix is expanding its test to charge members for sharing accounts with people outside their household to include global markets. The company will iterate on the feature over the next year to create a balance for customers. Subscribers can now add sub-accounts to their service, each with its own profile and login details. Sub-accounts will retain their recommendations, history, and watch list if they choose to move to their own accounts. Netflix will use IP address and other device information to identify household members.

1Big Tech & Startups

Amazon is acquiring home Wi-Fi start-up Eero

Amazon has announced plans to acquire Eero, a company that develops internet routers. Smart home devices have been a focus for Amazon, with its recent acquisition of Ring, a video doorbell maker, and Amazon’s own Echo smart speaker device. Eero devices currently cost $199 and are able to reach a range of 1,500 feet with a single device. Booster devices are available at $149 to extend the range.

1Big Tech & Startups

Tesla Cybertruck To Join Dubai Police Fleet In 2020

Tesla's Cybertruck will be joining Dubai's police fleet in 2020. A photo of a modified Cybertruck with the official livery of the Dubai police force was posted on the organization's Twitter account. Dubai's police fleet includes models like the Bugatti Veyron, Aston Martin One-77, BMW i8, Ferrari LaFerrari, Lamborghini Aventador, Lykan HyperSport, and many others. The Cybertruck is a purpose-built pickup truck with off-road capability, a futuristic design, seating for 6, and an electric powertrain that offers a maximum range of over 800 km. Its cabin has a 17-inch touchscreen interface, and its cargo bay is 6.5 feet long with a storage space of about 100 cubic feet. The pickup has a maximum towing capacity of 6,350 kg and a 0-100 km per hour sprint time of about three seconds.

1Big Tech & Startups

pdoc (Website)

pdoc auto-generates API documentation from a project's Python module hierarchy. It supports type annotations, cross-links between identifiers, customizable HTML templates, numpydoc and Google-style docstrings, and more. It comes with an integrated live-reloading web server. An example is available.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Reddit adds a new way to post with launch of ‘Predictions’ feature

Reddit is introducing a new on-platform feature called Predictions that will allow users to make predictions on current events. Subreddit moderators can create Prediction Tournaments, a series of questions that users can predict the answers to. Users will be able to bet on questions using tokens that they receive when they join the Predictions Tournament. There is no monetization model for Predictions and the tokens have no value outside of Predictions Tournaments. Users can compete for high scores on a community leaderboard. The feature will roll out to all safe-for-work communities with at least 10,000 members.

4Miscellaneous

Broot (Software Tool)

Broot is a tool for navigating directories. It can provide overviews of large directories, locate and access folders, manipulate files, create shortcuts, view file sizes, and more. The current version of broot works on Linux, Mac, and Windows 10.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

A scannable QR code advertisement created by drones above the skies of Shanghai (Twitter Thread)

A Twitter user recently captured a photo of a synchronized drone swarm in China creating a scannable QR code in the sky. The code was part of an anniversary show for a mobile game. It linked to the game's download page. A video of the full drone performance is available in the thread.

4Miscellaneous

Samsung’s official Galaxy S21, 21 Plus, and 21 Ultra teasers have leaked, and the camera squircle is gone

The Samsung Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra are expected to arrive in January. Three brief teaser videos from Samsung have leaked, previewing the new phones' designs. The videos show a new camera bump with three cameras on the S21 and S21 Plus and five cameras on the S21 Ultra. It appears that the S21 Ultra has a curved screen, instead of the flat panels on the S21 and S21 Plus. All three phones will support 5G. The leaked clips are available in the article.

1Big Tech & Startups

MLGO: A Machine Learning Framework for Compiler Optimization

MLGO is the first industrial-grade general framework for integrating ML techniques systematically in LLVM.

4Miscellaneous

Ex-Googler's Startup Comes Out of Stealth With Beautifully Simple, Clever Robot Design (14 minute read)

Stretch is a robot mobile manipulator that is small, lightweight, capable, and affordable. Designed by Hello Robot, Stretch weighs 23kg and has a 34 cm square footprint. It costs $17,950 per unit, a fraction of what other mobile manipulators sell for. Stretch was designed to bring mobile manipulation into a home or workplace environment. It has an arm that is made from custom carbon fiber, driven by a single motor attached to the robot's vertical pole. The arm can extend over half a meter and hold up to 1.5kg. Stretch can both be teleoperated and autonomous. Several videos of Stretch are available in the article.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Linux has been bitten by its most high-severity vulnerability in years

Dirty Pipe is a high-severity Linux vulnerability that allows untrusted users to add an SSH key to root user accounts to remotely access servers with full root privileges. The vulnerability can also be used to create root shells and overwrite data in read-only files. Dirty Pipe is similar to another exploit discovered in 2016 called Dirty Cow, which could root any Android phone regardless of the mobile OS version. Dirty Cow was found in 1,200 apps in third-party markets 11 months after its release. Dirty Pipe can be exploited on any release of Android based on one of the vulnerable Linux kernel versions.

4Miscellaneous

Tianwen1 probe sends back its first picture of Mars

China's Tianwen-1 probe has sent back its first pictures of Mars. The mission launched in July last year and is expected to enter Mars orbit around February 10. It is China's second attempt to reach Mars. The image, which is available in the article, was taken from 1.4 million miles away from the planet. It shows geological features including the Schiaparelli crater and the Valles Marineris.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Nvidia’s AI-powered scaling makes old games look better without a huge performance hit

Nvidia's latest game-ready driver includes a tool called Deep Learning Dynamic Super Resolution (DLDSR) that can make most games look sharper. The technology works by rendering a game at a higher resolution than the monitor can handle and then downscaling it to fit the monitor. It uses AI to increase image quality, lowering the amount of processing required. DLDSR can be accessed now by updating to the latest driver and choosing the option in settings. A screenshot showing a comparison of DLDSR with DSR and native processing is available in the article.

1Big Tech & Startups

Scientists Discover Psychedelic-Like Drug That Doesn't Cause Hallucinations

Scientists have discovered a psychedelic-like drug that can produce rapid, long-lasting antidepressant effects in mice without causing hallucinations. It acts on the same serotonin receptors in the brain as antipsychotic drugs and psychedelics. The drug produces antidepressant-like effects within 30 minutes, and its benefits last over a week. Far more research is required before the drug can be tested in humans, but this research could lead to safe and practical treatments at home.

4Miscellaneous

Facebook just published an update on its futuristic brain-typing project

Facebook's brain-reading computer interface is able to look for patterns in activity in the brain and match them with specific words and phrases in real-time. In experiments, participants answered multiple-choice questions with their thoughts, which were then translated into words by the brain-computer interface. The system was able to detect when the participant was being asked a question, understand the content of the question asked, and translate the thought answer into words. The patients in the study were using highly invasive implants, and the system was very limited. It was only able to understand nine questions and 24 total answer options with between 61 to 76 percent accuracy. Even a very basic level of thought control could make huge differences in how we interact with VR systems. The technology could help improve the lives of people who can't speak due to paralysis or other issues.

1Big Tech & Startups

Google raises its GSuite Prices

Google is raising the prices for GSuite from $5 and $10 per user per month for its basic and business plans to $6 and $12 per user per month respectively. The Enterprise plan will stay at $25 per user per month. The new pricing will go into effect on April 2. There are now 4 million businesses on GSuite.

1Big Tech & Startups

Kubernetes YAML Generator (Website)

This page generates a YAML script based on an editable configuration. Users can specify resource types, DNS policies, containers, and other settings and easily export them.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Google announces grab bag of new Android features for the end of 2021

Google has announced several updates coming to Android that include new widgets for some Google apps, new Android Auto features, and updates for Google Assistant and Google Photos. Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S21 owners can now use their phones as a car key with compatible BMW vehicles in selected countries. Google's Family Bell feature is being updated to work on mobile devices, and the permissions-reset feature will start rolling out on older phones starting next month. Videos from Google explaining the new Photos widgets and the Family Bell feature are available in the article.

1Big Tech & Startups

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.

1Big Tech & Startups

Microsoft launches a personalized news service, Microsoft Start

Microsoft Start is Microsoft's new personalized news service. It is available as a website and mobile app and it has been integrated into some Microsoft products. The feed combines content from news publishers in a way that's tailored to users' individual interests. It is not designed to replace services like MSN. Users can react to stories with emojis while scrolling through the feed. The feed is supported by advertising.

1Big Tech & Startups

Awesome Flutter (GitHub Repo)

This repository contains 98 tips and tricks for Flutter. The list includes widgets, plugins, code, and examples.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Facebook says the FTC privacy inquiry could cost as much as $5 billion

Facebook’s first quarter 2019 earnings report revealed that the company paid a $3 billion dollar fine to the Federal Trade Commission. Investigations into Facebook’s role in breaching privacy agreements is still ongoing, and the company estimated the final fine will be up to $5 billion dollars. The FTC plans to issue a record-breaking fine to Facebook, far exceeding the $22.5 million fine it imposed on Google in 2012. Facebook stocks rose by more than 3% after the earnings report was released.

1Big Tech & Startups

This 'snake robot' can fix pipelines on the ocean floor

Eelume is a six-meter-long snake-like robot that will make deep-sea oil and gas operations safer, cheaper, and less polluting. It can be kept at a docking station at depths of up to 500 meters for six months, travel up to 20 kilometers between charges, and it has parts that can be swapped out for different tasks. Eelume can work autonomously in confined spaces and send back video and data. The global underwater robotics market is expected to be worth around $7 billion in 2025. A 3-minute video that features the robot is available in the article.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Apple has cleared out its Facebook and Instagram pages for iTunes

Apple is rumored to be removing iTunes from its software lineup with its upcoming Mac OS update. iTunes will supposedly be split into different, more specific apps, for each of its functionalities. The Facebook and Instagram pages for iTunes have now been cleared out, with all the pictures, posts, and videos removed from each account. Apple will officially announce the future of iTunes at its Worldwide Developers Conference.

1Big Tech & Startups

iOS Dev Tools (Website)

A list showcasing the greatest iOS development tools, including websites, desktop, and mobile apps, and back-end services. A weekly update delivered right to your inbox. Sent once a week, every Friday. No spam, not ever. Unsubscribe at any time.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Google employees are becoming unhappy with pay, promotions and execution, survey results show

Google's annual employee survey shows that a growing number of staff are unhappy with their pay packages and their employer's ability to act quickly when needed. Employees indicated that they were pleased with Google's ability to deliver on its mission and values. Almost all employees agree that the company's products are helpful to people in their everyday lives. More details on the survey results are available in the article.

4Miscellaneous

AI and Solar Energy Powered Mayflower Sails for Ocean Exploration

ProMare, a non-profit marine research corporation, and IBM have launched an AI and solar-powered ship. In 2021, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) will sail on a route similar to its namesake Mayflower, who sailed across the Atlantic 400 years ago. It will collect data from the ocean to help scientists tackle issues such as global warming and marine mammal conservation. The onboard AI can scan the horizon for possible hazards, make informed decisions, and change its course based on live data. The MAS will carry an octopus robot named Artie, who can answer questions about the ship, the ocean, or about himself on the MAS website.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two

Many companies are starting to use computers and automation to fill and replace roles, and this is starting to have a real impact on job availability. The transition to using computers for menial jobs is similar to how the farming industry started replacing workers with machinery. There is now an upper class part of the workforce that works in information jobs that enjoy high wage growth, while the lower class working menial jobs have little hope for advancement and have had stagnant wages for decades.

4Miscellaneous

Fake Amazon reviews draw fraud charges in groundbreaking FTC case

False reviews from companies have been a problem on Amazon’s marketplace for years and Amazon has been fighting this problem by going after the companies and individuals that sell review services. In a landmark case, the FTC has successfully sued Cure Encapsulations Inc for purchasing fake reviews, as these fake reviews amounted to false advertising. The company claimed that their product worked as an effective dietary aid, however, studies showed that the ingredients actually caused acute liver failure. Cure Encapsulations Inc was fined $12.8 million, sending a clear message to other companies that producing fake reviews is an unacceptable practice.

1Big Tech & Startups

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.

4Miscellaneous

Google contractors are secretly listening to your Assistant recordings

A whistleblower working as a Google contractor has revealed that contractors have been listening to Google Home recordings as part of their roles in transcribing audio to improve speech recognition. Many of the recordings appear to have been made without owners of the device using the ‘Hey Google’ listening trigger. The contractor reports listening to recordings that reveal personal information, including addresses. Other recordings contain audio of bedroom activities, domestic violence, and even emergencies. The recordings are anonymized before being sent to contractors. There may be thousands of other contractors around the world listening to these recordings in order to transcribe the 0.2 percent of all audio clips that Google requires.

1Big Tech & Startups

Drug reverses age-related cognitive decline within days

An experimental drug called ISRIB has been shown in laboratory studies to reverse age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice. The drug has already demonstrated a variety of cognitive benefits, and the new study adds to the research by showing rapid restoration of youthful cognitive abilities in aged mice. ISRIB has extremely rapid effects, working in just days. The speed of the drug's effects suggest that age-related cognitive losses may be caused by a reversible blockage rather than permanent degradation.

4Miscellaneous

gotestfmt (GitHub Repo)

gotestfmt outputs Go test results in a beautifully formatted fashion. It can be easily installed and set up in a CI system. gotestfmt supports several CI systems, or users can add their own CI. Output examples are available through the link in the about section.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

How a 10-second video clip sold for $6.6 million

Last week, a 10-second video by artist Beeple sold for $6.6 million. The sale was made possible through a type of digital asset called non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which authenticates ownership of digital assets using blockchain technology. Each NFT is unique. OpenSea, a marketplace for NFTs, saw monthly sales grow from $8 million in January to $86.3 million in February. The NBA's Top Shot website, which allows users to trade NFTs in the form of video game highlights, has seen nearly $250 million in sales since its launch 5 months ago. NFTs could be the future of digital ownership.

4Miscellaneous

Ikea goes all in on smart home tech

Ikea has announced that it will invest heavily in a new Ikea Home smart business unit with end-to-end responsibility for its portfolio of smart devices. Ikea first started releasing smart home devices in 2015 by introducing tables and lamps that could wirelessly charge Qi-compatible phones. Since then, Ikea has released affordable smart lighting and has partnered with Sonos to launch a relatively inexpensive whole-home audio system. It plans to release its first smart blinds on October 1st. Ikea's devices are platform-agnostic, supporting Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa through its Tradfri gateway. It is predicted that about 830 million smart home devices will be sold in 2019 and that number is set to double by 2023.

1Big Tech & Startups

Kredis (GitHub Repo)

Kredis (Keyed Redis) allows developers to interact with higher-level types and data structures as coherent objects rather than as isolated procedural commands. These higher-level structures can be configured as attributes within Active Models and Active Records using declarative DSL. Examples are provided in the repository.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Twitter’s CEO and Elon Musk are beefing over bot counts

Twitter's CEO Parag Agrawal has pushed back against Elon Musk's concerns around spam and bots on the platform. He claims that the internal estimates for bots or spam accounts over the last four quarters were all well under 5%. The deal to buy Twitter is temporarily on hold pending details to support Twitter's estimate. Musk claims that he is still committed to the acquisition, but says that the estimate is fundamental to the financial health of the platform. Twitter recently admitted that it has been overcounting active users for years.

4Miscellaneous

Uber and Lyft are behind a sharp rise in US traffic deaths

According to a study from the University of Chicago and Rice University, Uber and Lyft have increased the number of traffic deaths by 2-3% since 2011, about 1,100 fatalities a year. This is because drivers spend 40-60% of their time driving aimlessly while searching for passengers. Traffic deaths hit a 60-year low in 2010, but the trend reversed as Uber and Lyft gained popularity (there is a bump whenever Uber and Lyft enter a new city). Researchers say it "may be too soon to tell whether the effect we document is a short-term adjustment or a longer-term pattern."

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Nightmare Google Photos bug sent private videos to the wrong people

Between November 21 and November 25, 2019, a bug in Google Takeout resulted in users getting other users' videos when downloading archives of their Google data. Google has sent emails to affected Takeout users alerting them of the issue. The emails were only sent to Google Takeout users who attempted to archive their data, and the unrelated users whose videos were sent to others have yet to receive notifications. Google says that the issue has now been resolved and only affected less than 0.01% of users who were using the Takeouts service.

1Big Tech & Startups

Signs of Life discovered on Venus and atmosphere (Twitter Thread)

Phosphine is a chemical that can only be produced in extreme environments, such as in the depths of Jupiter or Saturn, through organic processes, such as the decaying organic matter, or through synthesis by humans. Traces of Phosphine were discovered in the atmosphere of Venus. Scientists have investigated other possibilities for where the molecules originated but it is likely the molecules come from organisms living in the planet's atmosphere. A 2-minute video is available in the thread that explains the discovery in detail.

4Miscellaneous

Not Self-Driving, But Tele-Driving: Startup to Deploy Remote-Controlled Cars as a Step Towards Full Autonomy

Vay is a Berlin-based startup that plans to use human teledrivers to drive cars remotely. Its customers will be able to order a vehicle to drive themselves, with the teledrivers taking over between rides. Vay claims that its rides will cost a fraction of what Uber and Lyft currently charge for rides. The vehicles are being tested in Berlin. Vay aims to launch its service in Europe and the US next year. A video explaining the service is available in the article.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

Laravel Pint (GitHub Repo)

Laravel Pint is a zero-dependency PHP code style fixer for minimalists.

4Miscellaneous

React Spectrum Libraries (GitHub Repo)

React Spectrum is a collection of libraries and tools for building adaptive, accessible, and robust user experiences. It has accessible features and support for over 30 languages. React Spectrum has components that are customizable and designed to work with keyboard, mouse, and touch interactions.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Gradio (GitHub Repo)

Gradio makes it easy to create user interfaces for machine learning models in Python. It can generate shareable links and get feedback on model performance. Gradio has built-in manipulation and interpretation tools for debugging. A GIF demo is available.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Magazine Layout (GitHub Repo)

This is a nifty open source library from AirBNB that makes it really easy to display images in a grid on iOS. If you're making anything that needs a nice directory layout like AirBNB this library looks pretty cool.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

Scientists just turned plastic bottles into . . . vanilla flavoring?

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland have found a way to turn polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic into vanillin, the main flavor component of vanilla beans. Synthetic vanillin is used in many products, with the global market valued at $510 million in 2018. The process involves degrading PET plastic into its components and then using a microbial fermentation process to convert one of the components into vanillin. Further research will test if the vanillin is pure enough to be consumed and figure out how to make the process more efficient and scalable.

4Miscellaneous

Amazon debuts Showroom, a visual shopping experience for home furnishings

Amazon has launched Showroom, a visual design tool that lets you put furniture and decorations into a virtual living room. You can tweak the wall color, flooring, and any of the items in the room. When you're done you can add all of the items to your cart in one click. Amazon says "The result is a photorealistic rendering of a room that answers the question: 'How will this all look together?'"

1Big Tech & Startups

Artichoke Ruby (GitHub Repo)

Artichoke is a Ruby 2.6.3-compatible implementation of the Ruby programming language written in Rust, aiming to run Ruby source code in the same way that MRI does. It is still a work in progress. Unlike MRI, Artichoke will only support UTF-8 and binary encodings.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

China's New Space Station Will Be Powered by Ion Propulsion System

China's Tiangong space station's first module will have an ion propulsion system that will greatly improve energy efficiency and slash journey times to Mars. While ion thrusters have been used since the 1970s, this will be the first time a crewed spaceship is propelled by one. Ion drives use electricity to accelerate ions as a type of propulsion. Using ion thrusters is more efficient than using chemical propulsion, so spacecraft will be able to carry significantly less mass in fuel on missions. While ion thrusters sound good on paper, they so far haven't been used as the thrust created has not been significant enough.

2Science and Futuristic Technology

ArtLine (GitHub Repo)

ArtLine is a deep learning-based project for creating line art portraits. There are many examples available. An 8-minute explanation video is linked.

3Programming, Design & Data Science

JPMorgan Chase tests neuroscience-based video games to recruit interns

JPMorgan Chase & Co is seeking to increase the diversity of its workforce by broadening its candidate pool, and it will use neuroscience-based video games to help achieve this goal. The bank will use technology developed by Pymetrics, a start-up that develops games that help companies assess an applicant’s social, cognitive, and behavioral features, such as attention, memory, and altruism. While employment history is usually a good indicator of performance, more recent college graduates usually do not have the work experience required, and using this technology may be a better way to assess their fitness during the recruitment phase. JPMorgan has been testing the games with existing employees for the last few months and will use the technology to assess applicants for their 2020 internships in the US.

4Miscellaneous

Medical device creates temporary 'second skin' to treat wounds

Nanomedic Technologies, an Israeli startup, has created a portable device that can create a temporary and transparent skin layer that can be applied to patients without touching the wound. The device uses a patented electrospinning technology which creates nanofibers by applying a strong electric field to polymer solutions which then knit together in layers to form a nanofibrous mat that mimics skin. The polymer solution can be combined with antibacterial creams, antibiotics, collagen, silicon, hydrogel, or cannabinoids, depending on the patient’s needs. Treatment is fast, and patients can take showers after only 2 days without the need to redress the wound. The device is set to launch in the second half of 2019.

2Science and Futuristic Technology