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Acme (GitHub Repo). Acme is a library of reinforcement learning agents and agent building blocks. It is designed to be simple while still being flexible enough for more complex implementations. Acme supports both single-actor and distributed training paradigms, providing a variety of agent baselines with state-of-the-art performance.

Baby treated from inside womb for pioneering surgery to repair spinal cord . An unborn baby diagnosed with spina bifida was treated inside the womb in a groundbreaking procedure. After the baby was diagnosed with the condition, the parents were told that they could only either terminate the pregnancy or continue without intervention, but after undergoing several tests, doctors offered the possibility of surgery. The baby was at 24 weeks gestation when the procedure was performed. Spina bifida affects around 700-900 pregnancies a year in the UK, and may be a result of a folic acid deficiency in pregnant women.

PySnooper (GitHub Repo). PySnooper is a simple debugger for Python. It doesn’t require installing a debugger of any kind and will output messages to the console or a file. Users only have to import the script and place the PySnooper decorator before a function.

Hacktoberfest (Website). Hacktoberfest is a program by DigitalOcean and Dev where developers can win a t-shirt by making four pull requests to any open source project on Github during October. The goal of Hacktoberfest is to encourage contributions to the open-source ecosystem. There are also events happening globally during the month to help developers meet and collaborate. Anyone can participate in Hacktoberfest. Registration is open throughout the whole of October.

iPhones will be required to use USB-C charging by 2024 under EU policy . The European Union has reached an agreement to make USB-C charging a requirement for all consumer electronics using wired charging by the fall of 2024. Laptops will have 40 months to comply with the new rules after the policy takes effect. The policy also standardizes fast-charging speeds. Apple has previously shown its disapproval of the policy, saying that it would stifle innovation and harm consumers. The EU Parliament and Council still need to formally approve the agreement before the legislation becomes law.

Elon Musk tells SpaceX employees that Starship engine crisis is creating a 'risk of bankruptcy' . SpaceX could face bankruptcy if it cannot achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year. Starship will need as many as 39 Raptor engines per orbital launch, so SpaceX needs to ramp up engine production, but there are severe problems with the Raptor production line. SpaceX plans to launch the first orbital Starship flight early next year, pending approval by the FAA. The company needs Starship to launch the second version of its Starlink satellites, so the success of the Raptor program is critical to the long-term financial stability of SpaceX's Starlink service.

Write better commits with Gitmoji . Gitmoji allows you to use emojis on git commit messages to provide an easy way to identify the purpose or intention of a commit. A guide on how to use the emojis is available. Links to clients and extensions for using Gitmoji in the command-line or IDE are provided.

Microsoft accounts can now go fully passwordless . Microsoft has rolled out passwordless authentication for all users. Users will now be able to sign in to their Microsoft accounts using the Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, a security key, or an SMS/email verification code. Microsoft has been working on passwordless authentication for years. Passwords are often reused and can be more easily compromised. Other tech companies like Google and Apple are also working towards less reliance on passwords.

An Arizona balloon company is working on a technology to make space satellites obsolete. Here's a rare look inside their giant factory . Satellites are really expensive to launch, so now a company in Tucson, Arizona called World View Enterprises is using high-altitude balloons 20 miles above the Earth's surface in their place, carrying things like cameras, environmental sensors, location transponders, and communications equipment (the stuff satellites would normally carry). In addition, they plan on eventually taking passengers up to the stratosphere for $75,000-$100,000 per person. There are tons of pictures of the balloons, balloon factories, and more in the article.

Britain funds research into drones that decide who they kill, says report . Since 2015, the UK has declined to support UN proposals to ban fully autonomous weapons. Reporters have now discovered that the British military and defense contractors have been funding dozens of AI defense initiatives, including Taramis, an experimental supersonic stealth drone that can "hold an adversary at continuous risk of attack...penetrate deep inside hostile territory, find a target, facilitate either kinetic or non-kinetic influence upon it, assess the effect achieved, and provide intelligence back to commanders." The Ministry of Defence claims that unmanned aircraft probably won't be able to "independently locate and attack mobile targets" until close to 2030, and that there is currently no intent to develop weapons systems that "operate entirely without human input."

Facebook announces Horizon, a VR massive-multiplayer world . Facebook has unveiled its plans to build Facebook Horizon, a virtual reality sandbox universe where users can create their own environments and games, play and socialize with friends, or just explore user-generated landscapes. Based on Ready Player One's Oasis, Facebook Horizon will allow users to design their own avatars and travel between virtual locales, interacting with other players and creating new environments. Users will be able to define personal space boundaries, as well as mute, block, and report other players. A shield button will transfer users to a private space parallel to Horizon. Horizon's design means that it will improve over time as users create more things to do. It will launch in early 2020 as a closed beta. Facebook will shut down Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms on October 25 as part of the launch.

GitHub Says Hackers Breach Dozens of Organizations Using Stolen OAuth Access Tokens . GitHub has discovered evidence that hackers are using stolen OAuth user tokens to download private data from several organizations. OAuth tokens are one of the most common tools used for accessing data without having to share credentials. The stolen OAuth tokens were believed to have been obtained through a set of unspecified private NPM repositories and not through a breach of GitHub or its systems. GitHub is still assessing the extent of the attack.

They remember: Communities of microbes found to have working memory . Scientists have discovered that collectives of bacteria feature a robust capacity for memory. The scientists stimulated the bacterial cells with light. Hours later, the bacteria were still able to remember the exposure, and the process was able to be manipulated so that memory patterns emerged. The study might give clues to how neurons in brains work, and the results open up the possibility of creating basic computer systems with living organisms.

Japan Is Dropping a Gargantuan Turbine Into The Ocean to Harness 'Limitless' Energy . Japan's terrain doesn't allow for forests of wind turbines or fields of solar panels, so Japanese engineers are looking to ocean currents for renewable energy. The IHI Corporation has completed testing of a 330-ton prototype turbine that generates power from deep-water currents. The prototype was capable of generating 100 kilowatts of power in a flow of two to four knots. A scaled-up turbine could potentially generate around 2 megawatts. Most ocean energy projects end in failure due to high costs, environmental limitations, and distance from the grid.

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.

Fitbit’s new Sense smartwatch can take your skin’s temperature to help you manage stress . Fitbit has released two new smartwatches. The Sense is $329 and features detailed heart rate scans with atrial fibrillation via an electrocardiogram app and stress detection features. It measures heart rate and skin temperature to determine stress levels. The Versa 3 costs $229 and features a new strap mechanism, Google Assistant, and the ability to take phone calls. Fitbit also announced the Inspire 2 fitness tracker which will be available for $99. It features a 10-day battery life and it comes with a full year of Fitbit Premium with purchase.

Why no one really knows how many jobs automation will replace . Expert estimates about the impact of automation on jobs are all over the place (there's a chart in the article with estimates from reputable sources between 5 million and 80 million jobs destroyed in the next 20 years). This is because we don't know if a technology will actually be used due to legal or social hurdles, jobs actually include a multitude of tasks (this is why conveyor belts haven't replaced human waiters), and it's really hard to know what you don't know (always a problem when trying to predict the future!). For example, John Maynard Keynes predicted that by 2030, we would have 15 hour workweeks due to productivity gains. While the productivity gains materialized, the 15 hour workweeks unfortunately have not, even though it probably seemed intuitively obvious at the time that higher productivity would lead to less work.

My Third Year as a Solo Developer (13 minute read). In the first two years of working on his own business, Michael Lynch earned less than $10k total. His goal for the third year was to earn $20k, but he exceeded the goal by earning $63k in revenue by the end of the year. This article follows his projects throughout the third year, documenting the successes, failures, and lessons learned.

Scientists identify vast underground ecosystem containing billions of micro-organisms . Researchers at the Deep Carbon Observatory have been conducting a 10-year study of subterranean life on Earth; it turns out there is way more than previously thought. They estimate that despite extreme heat, no light, little nutrition and intense pressure, there are between 15 billion and 23 billion tons of micro-organisms living underground. No matter how deep scientists dig, they keep finding more life; they've already dug down 5 kilometers. Some micro-organisms live for thousands of years, barely moving except with shifts in tectonic plates, while others don't use any energy from the sun, relying on chemical processes to produce methane to replace or repair broken parts. One researcher says "We must ask ourselves: if life on Earth can be this different from what experience has led us to expect, then what strangeness might await as we probe for life on other worlds?"

Scientists Just Proved the Human Brain Can Support an Extra Body Part . A research team has demonstrated that humans are able to adapt to an extra robotic thumb, effectively executing complex and dexterous tasks with them. The Third Thumb is a 3D-printed device that is controlled with pressure sensors equipped on the wearer's feet. In the study, participants were trained to use the robotic thumb for five days for two to six hours every day. Eventually, the participants were able to perform tasks with the thumb even when distracted. The study shows the potential for body augmentation to allow people to gain extra abilities.

World's First Lion Cubs Born Using Artificial Insemination . Scientists have successfully used artificial insemination on lions for the first time, yielding two healthy new cubs. This is great news because the African lion is considered "vulnerable" while the West African lion subpopulation is considered critically endangered and the Asiatic lion is considered endangered. The African lion population is estimated to have decreased from 1.2 million in 1800 to 18,000 in 2018. This tool is essential to keeping the species alive, and may also be tweaked to be usable on other large endangered cats like cheetahs.

ClusterFuzz (GitHub Repo). ClusterFuzz is a scalable fuzzing infrastructure which finds security and stability issues in software. Fuzzing involves providing random inputs into software in order to test for bugs. ClusterFuzz is highly scalable (Google runs 25,000 instances to test products like Chrome Browser) and is able to automatically file bug reports. Users are able to customize fuzzing conditions to suit their needs and monitor and manage statistics through a web interface.

Airbnb plans to confidentially file for IPO this month . Airbnb is planning to submit a confidential filing with the SEC to go public this month, with shares trading by the end of the year. The company's plans to go public have been delayed due to the pandemic. It has laid off a quarter of its employees to cut costs. Airbnb's 2020 revenue will be less than half of its 2019 earnings. Its valuation has dropped to $18 billion from $31 billion in 2017. The company has raised $2 billion in funds since April to get through the crisis.

The world's first solar road has turned out to be a colossal failure that's falling apart and doesn't generate enough energy, according to a report . Normandy's solar road was the first in the world. It opened in 2016 and has since deteriorated to a state where it isn't worth repairing. Originally, it was to produce 790 kWh each day, but it only ended up producing around half of that amount. Weather and environmental factors contributed to the damage on the road, and cars were limited to a maximum of 70 km per hour due to how noisy it was. Another solar road in the US suffered a similar fate. Not all solar road projects have failed. A solar cycle lane in the Netherlands has exceeded expectations, producing more power per square meter per year than projected. Holland is planning to install more solar roads in the future.

UAE to test cloud-busting drones to boost rainfall . The UAE is testing drones that can make clouds produce rain by giving them an electric shock. Cloud-seeding technology is already used in the country, but the UAE wants to generate more rain. The country only averages 100mm of rain per year.

Researchers use nanotechnology to destroy and prevent relapse of solid tumor cancers . A team of scientists from China has formulated a novel vaccine that achieved complete clearance of solid melanoma tumors and induced long-lasting immune memory, preventing the relapse of tumor growth and providing immunity against similar tumor types. The team engineered a dendritic cell membrane to naturally stimulate the immune system and activate multi-dimensional anti-tumor immunity. This was achieved using a vaccine development platform that can quickly elicit appropriate antigen-specific immune responses in a way that traditional vaccine methods can not. The team will now focus on developing a standard operating procedure for the scaled synthesis of the vaccine.

Sat (GitHub Repo). Sat is a WebAssembly compute module designed for maximum performance with a small footprint. It has no dependencies and can be run in a Docker container. Sat can create a mesh with other instances using local network discovery and websockets.

Ask HN: What are the downsides of working at FAANG? (Hacker News Thread). Working in a big tech company can sound like a dream role, but it may not be every talented developer's goal. This Hacker News thread discusses the reasons for not working in big tech. There are many reasons developers may not want to work in a big tech company, including culture, a lack of growth opportunity, bad work-life balance, the public image of the company, and the interview process. While some aspects of working for big tech can be bad, the replies agree that the compensation can make it worth it.

Amazon releases new images of HQ2 as it ramps up hiring in Virginia . Amazon has revealed images of its second headquarters in northern Virginia. It will hire 1,900 new employees at the site. Amazon plans to create 25,000 jobs in the area over the next decade. The campus will have space for retail shops and can serve as a place for public gatherings. Amazon hopes to begin construction in 2022 and finish in 2025. Renderings of the campus design are available in the article.

Shift-Ctrl-F (GitHub Repo). Shift-Ctrl-F is a Chrome extension that allows users to search the information on a webpage using natural language instead of an exact string match. It uses MobileBERT fine-tuned on SQuAD via TensorFlowJS to search for content and highlight results. A short GIF demonstration is available.

Calculator (GitHub Repo). The Windows Calculator app ships pre-installed with Windows. It is written in C++ and provides standard, scientific, and programmer calculator functionality. Calculator is also able to do measurement and currency conversion. This repository allows users to contribute to the continual development of the calculator, as well as report any issues with the app.

Blue Origin NS-10 (Livestream). It's a big day for billionaires with rockets folks! Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin is set to launch their New Shepard 10 rocket at 9:30 AM EST (3 hours and 30 minutes after you receive this email). Blue Origin says that they may begin to sell tickets for flights on their New Shepard rockets very soon. Jeff Bezos says "I'm hopeful it will happen in 2019. I was hopeful it would happen in 2018. I keep telling the team that it’s not a race. I want this to be the safest space vehicle in history."