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Virtual Modules for Fun and Profit | Virtual modules are an amazing but underrated feature for JavaScript. Using virtual modules provides internal functionality without the boilerplate weight and without compromising extensibility. This article talks about how virtual modules were used in the development of Fastify DX. Frameworks typically bundle their internals as external npm packages, but Fastify DX packs most of its internals as virtual modules. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Juul Shipped At Least A Million Contaminated Pods, New Lawsuit Says | A former Juul executive claims that the startup shipped out one million contaminated e-cigarette pods earlier this year without telling customers or issuing a recall. The executive has filed a lawsuit against Juul, claiming that he was retaliated against for raising concerns about the contaminated shipment. He had other concerns about the actions of the company, including the company shipping out pods that were almost a year old. Juul claims that the executive was terminated due to a lack leadership qualities. The company says that that the allegations about the safety and quality of its products are meritless. A nationwide lung injury outbreak now stands at 1,604 cases and 34 deaths. These illnesses are likely linked to vaping black-market THC. However, the connection to nicotine vaping products, such as those produced by Juul, has not been fully ruled out. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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How does the brain interpret computer languages? | Researchers studying how the brain interprets code found that the multiple demand network, a part of our brain responsible for intense mental tasks, was most active when reading code. The multiple demand network is spread across the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain. Reading Python code activated both the left and right sides of the multiple demand network. The brain does not appear to process code like language or maths, but as its own thing. | 4Miscellaneous
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The Collison Brothers Built Stripe Into A $95 Billion Unicorn With Eye-Popping Financials. Inside Their Plan To Stay On Top (12 minute read) | John and Patrick Collision founded Stripe in 2010. The company's gross revenue reached nearly $12 billion in 2021. It reached a valuation of $95 billion in March 2021. This article tells the story of the Collision brothers and Stripe. It talks about how the company was built as well as its plans for the future. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Announcing Swift Algorithms | Swift Algorithms is a new open-source package of generic algorithms frequently found in other popular programming languages. It allows developers to cycle over a collection's elements, find combinations and permutations, create random samples, and more. Swift Algorithms was created to help people improve the correctness and performance of their code. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro? (Hacker News Thread) | While the Macbook Pro has amazing specs, Apple has demonstrated its inability to be reliable. The original poster has had to repair their MBP three times since they purchased it in January 2019 and they are worried about being charged for repairs after the warranty runs out. Top recommendations are for the Dell XPS series. Most of the discussion centers around an analogy between macOS and Linux, comparing it to living in a hotel vs living at home. On the Mac ecosystem, everything is stylish and cared for, but there is little freedom to change things. However, on Linux, you need to do many things yourself, but it is completely yours. | 4Miscellaneous
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Major NFT Marketplace Admits Employee Used Insider Knowledge to Profit | An employee at OpenSea, a major digital marketplace for NFTs, used insider knowledge to buy NFTs before they were promoted on the market's homepage. Traders on social media have compared the incident to insider trading. OpenSea has acknowledged the issue and is investigating the incident. It has not clarified whether the employee is still with the company. | 4Miscellaneous
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Apple is reportedly working on a foldable iPhone for 2023 | Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple plans to launch an 8-inch foldable iPhone by 2023. The phone will use QHD+ flexible OLEDs from Samsung Display, DDI display controllers from Samsung Foundry, and silver nanowire tech supplied by TPK. Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor are expected to launch new foldable phones in late 2021 or early 2022. Apple may drop the project if foldable phones don't become popular. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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GitHub Sponsors (Website) | GitHub Sponsors is a hub that connects developers and their community in order to fund projects. Raised funds up to $5,000 within the first year are matched by GitHub. There are no fees charged to the developers for funding; all raised funds will go directly to the developer. Developers can sign up to a waitlist to join the program in order to receive sponsorship. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Full Stack Observability Platform (Sponsor) | Unify metrics, traces, and logs in a single platform providing end-to-end visibility across teams. Give Datadog a try. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Two new solar cells break records, including highest efficiency ever | Two new devices have broken three records for solar cell efficiency. The six-junction III-V solar cell had a solar conversion efficiency towards the 50 percent mark when tested in conditions where light was focused to be about 143 times stronger than natural sunlight. A new type of tandem solar cell was able to reach a peak efficiency of 24.16 percent. While the tandem cells were not as efficient as other existing ones, the thinness of the technology means flexible solar modules can be produced. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Google app 10.61 preps ‘Smart Screenshots’ with Lens | The latest beta of the Google app has a new 'Smart Screenshots' feature, bookmarking for Google Podcasts, a tutorial on how to launch Assistant with gesture navigation, the ability to switch between keyboard and voice for assistant preferred input, and face unlock for verifying assistant payments. Smart Screenshots allows users to search screenshots with Google Lens. Lens integration has been implemented in many Google apps, like Chrome. Users will have to sign up for Google app's beta program to install the app. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Kamikaze Bacteria: Dying Bacteria Self-Sacrifice to Save their Colony | Bacteria have several strategies for surviving antibiotics, including developing genetic resistance, hiding in protective biofilm, or delaying their own growth. Scientists at Princeton and California State University-Northridge have found a new tactic that involves bacteria self-sacrificing themselves to save others. The scientists found that some bacteria would absorb large amounts of antibiotics so that other bacteria can survive. Identifying this behavior has potentially paved the way for research into new ways to develop antibiotics that can specifically target cells that aren't already dying. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Israel to become first in world to test oral COVID-19 vaccine | Oravax is testing an oral vaccine in preclinical trials against Covid-19 variants. The vaccine is based on an oral delivery technology that can be used to administer several protein-based therapies that would otherwise be delivered by injection. It targets three structural proteins of the novel coronavirus and should be more resistant to variants. An oral vaccine would be easier to distribute, and people would be able to self-administer it at home. Oral medications tend to have fewer side effects. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving next | Over the past two years, workers have shifted from living in traditional technology capitals like San Francisco, Seattle, or New York to other regions in the US, such as Miami. This article analyzes geographic shifts based on Stack Overflow traffic throughout the pandemic to see which regions people are moving to and which are losing their prominence. The tech industry is seeing a gradual evening out in geographic diversity. It is too soon to see if the trend is permanent. | 4Miscellaneous
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Production company aims to film space reality TV show, with the winner flying to orbit | Space Hero Inc is a production company that plans to produce a reality TV show competition where the prize is a trip to the International Space Station. It is working with aerospace company Axiom Space to help broker the trip for the winner. Contestants around the world will train for space travel and then the winner will receive a 10-day trip to the space station. The trip will be televised from launch to return. Axiom hasn't selected a launch provider for the mission yet. Both SpaceX and Boeing's vehicles are possible candidates. NASA is planning to fly Tom Cruise to the space station to film a movie. It also plans to begin filming ads on the ISS in the next few months. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Coronavirus: Tunisia deploys robots to enforce lockdown | Robots are being used to enforce lockdown in Tunisia. Citizens who are out and about are being questioned and ordered to go home by robots. The robots are manned remotely and use several infrared cameras, a laser telemetry system, and thermal cameras. Tunisia has shut schools, universities, cafes, and bars. Its borders are also closed. The military will be used to enforce restrictions. Employees at a mask factory in Tunisia have self-isolated in order to prevent the factory from closing down due to infections. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Meta employees say goodbye to perks like on-site laundry | Meta is cutting the free laundry and dry-cleaning services at its offices. It will also begin serving dinner after the last shuttle departs campus, meaning that employees will have to choose between a free meal or a free ride home. Meta will be increasing annual employee wellness stipends from $700 to $3,000 per year to account for the changes. | 4Miscellaneous
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These $26 million robotic dolphins are coming to a Chinese aquarium soon and they look exactly like the real thing | Edge Innovations, a New Zealand-based company, has developed animatronic dolphins that can be used in aquariums, hotels, cruises, malls, museums, and other places. The robots cost around $US26 million each and they are reported to be shockingly realistic, easily mistaken for the real thing. They weigh 600 pounds and can last up to ten hours on a single charge. The dolphins are controlled using a remote. Edge Innovations intends to develop great white sharks and sea dragons as other options in the future. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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I relearned typing to save my wrists | After experiencing severe wrist pain that limited their ability to type for extended periods, Gregory Witek switched to using an ergonomic keyboard and Colemak layout. Software developers mostly don't work in dangerous environments, but there are still health concerns with the profession related to being sedentary and constant exposure to screens. This article discusses issues with the ergonomics of most keyboards, how ergonomic keyboards work, the process of switching keyboard styles, and the benefits of the change. | 4Miscellaneous
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Emojifs (Web Tool) | This is a nifty tool that lets you choose a series of emojis, and a time interval (between 0 and 5 seconds), and it will create a gif toggling between the emojis you've chosen at the speed you've chosen. Fast, no signup necessary, there's a lot to like here! | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Time Magazine Sold to Salesforce Founder Marc Benioff for $190 Million | Salesforce Founder (and cousin of Game of Thrones showrunner David Benioff!) Marc Benioff bought Time Magazine for $190 miillion. It will not be part of Salesforce, it is a private acquisition by Marc and his wife Lynne Benioff. The Benioffs said they won't have a role in day-to-day operations of the magazine or journalistic decisions. In a note to staffers, Time's editor in chief said the Benioffs have already challenged the publication to think big and long term. "What will Time look like in 2040? What will it mean to people decades from now?" | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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OnlyFans bans sexually explicit content to appease banks and payment services | OnlyFans will ban sexually explicit material on its platform from October 1 to comply with the requests of its banking partners and payout providers. The company has yet to reveal its new rules, but nudity will still be allowed. OnlyFans is having trouble attracting investors due to its racy content. The company, founded in 2016, has 200 employees, 150 million registered users, and over 1.5 million content creators. It has paid out over $3 billion in creator earnings since its founding. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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mailtolink.me (Web Tool) | This is a cool web tool that lets you write an email and it will automatically generate the mailto link so you can create a hyperlink that populates the email automatically using href="mailto...". | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Theia (GitHub Repo) | Theia is an extensible platform for developing full-fledged multi-language Cloud & Desktop IDE-like products with state-of-the-art web technologies. It provides a highly flexible architecture and supports VS Code Extension protocol. Guide and examples of common scenarios are provided. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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OneFuzz (GitHub Repo) | OneFuzz is a self-hosted Fuzzing-As-A-Service platform that enables continuous developer-driven fuzzing to proactively harden software before release. Developers can launch fuzz jobs that use thousands of cores using just a single command, which can be baked into CICD. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Scaling to 100k Users | As startups grow, they will inevitably have to deal with issues of scale. This can be a good problem, but there is scarce information on how to scale web apps as the number of users grows to hundreds of thousands. Developments usually come from dealing with massive issues or identifying bottlenecks. As a web app grows, it will have different needs. Infrastructure is built and changed incrementally. Larger web apps will start needing services like load balancers and CDNs. As businesses continue to grow, developers will always need to continue to work to solve problems of scale. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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safer (GitHub Repo) | safer is a Python safe file writer that writes either a whole file or nothing. It prevents partial writes or file corruption. safer has been tested on Python 2.7 and 3.4 through to 3.8. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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US Regulators Approve Roche's New And Faster COVID-19 Test | US regulators have given emergency approval for Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche's new COVID-19 diagnosis test. The test can be run in high volumes on fully automated equipment, providing results much faster than other tests available. Widespread testing is essential in the race to control the spread of the virus. Roche will have millions of tests available each month and it is committed to pushing its production capacity in order to deliver as many tests as possible. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Parkour Atlas (30 second video) | Robotics company Boston Dynamics has now made a humanoid robot that can run and jump smoothly through a parkour course. The robot moves in a very human like way. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Jeff Bezos commits $10 billion to fight climate change | Jeff Bezos today announced the Bezos Earth Fund, a project that will help scientists, activists, NGOs, and any real effort to help preserve the earth from the impact of climate change. Bezos has committed $10 billion towards the fund. The Bezos Earth Fund will begin issuing grants in the summer. Worth about $130 billion, Bezos hasn't always been as vocal as others about his philanthropy, although he has polled Twitter for philanthropy ideas in the past. In 2018, Bezos announced that a network of free nonprofit schools would be built in low-income communities. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Police Use Fitbit Data to Charge 90-Year-Old Man in Stepdaughter's Killing | 90-year-old Anthony Aiello murdered his 67-year-old step-daughter. Unluckily for Anthony, his step-daughter was wearing her Fitbit. The police used Fitbit data to determine her exact time of death as her heart stopped, then used video surveillance from the step-daughter's security system to determine that Anthony's car had been there at the time of her death. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Facebook Messenger desktop app launches for Windows and Mac | Facebook has launched a desktop app for Messenger on the Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store. It allows users to message friends and start video calls, and it has a dark mode. A desktop app puts Facebook Messenger into the increasingly important pool of videoconferencing tools. Many people are turning to video chat apps as they practice social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Zoom has recently faced backlash for its privacy and security issues. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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gqt (GitHub Repo) | gqt is a GraphQL client that runs in the terminal. It allows developers to build and execute GraphQL queries from the terminal. A GIF demo is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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bentoctl (GitHub Repo) | bentoctl is a command-line tool built on top of BentoML for deploying machine-learning models to cloud platforms. It supports major cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. bentoctl is optimized for CI/CD workflow and it is extensible with custom operators. A list of supported cloud platforms is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Good at StarCraft? DARPA wants to train military robots with your brain waves | Engineers from the University at Buffalo, New York, have received funding from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to train machines to think like humans when playing a strategy game. Participants in the study will be connected to an electroencephalogram so that their brain activity can be recorded and then processed using machine learning algorithms. The aim of the project is to create an AI that can improve coordination between large teams of autonomous air and ground robots. Swarm intelligence is a branch of computer science that deals with collective, decentralized, and self-organized systems, both virtual and robotic. Many applications can be completed with swarms of cheaper robots rather than using single expensive robots. By using a swarm of robots that are all trained to complete different tasks, the group can coordinate and complete many different tasks. It is difficult to train many different robots in a wide range of tasks. The scientists hope that they will be able to speed up the process by studying brain activity when making decisions. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Scientists Discover "Superworms" That Can Survive on Eating Just Styrofoam | A species of worm that eats styrofoam and can grow to be more than five times the size of mealworms has been discovered. The worms can survive on a pure polystyrene diet, although they had lower pupation rates compared to worms on more normal diets. Scientists are now studying the enzymes inside the worms' guts for their polystyrene degrading capabilities. They hope to be able to use the worms to eventually develop an economically feasible way to recycle plastic. | 4Miscellaneous
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US cybersecurity firm FireEye says it was hacked, probably by 'nation-state' | One of the largest cybersecurity companies in the US, FireEye, claims it was hacked by a foreign government. Internal tools used for testing clients' defenses were stolen in the attack. FireEye has an array of business contracts across the national security space in the US and around the world. The stolen kit targets a myriad of different vulnerabilities in popular software products. All of these vulnerabilities should already be public, but FireEye has not disclosed what systems may be affected. Typically, companies will release patches for known vulnerabilities, but users do not always download these patches. | 4Miscellaneous
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Ethereum Creator, Vitalik Buterin, Donates Over $1B to India COVID Relief | Vitalik Buterin sent over $1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies to several charities. The creators of the tokens had gifted them to Buterin in the hopes that he would hold them. Some of the coins plummeted in value after Buterin gave them away. The coins were new to the Ethereum network and were attempting to mimic the rise that Dogecoin recently experienced. | 4Miscellaneous
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Adobe brings Photoshop and Illustrator to the web | Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator work can now be shared via the web for the purpose of commenting and feedback. Collaborators who do not need or want Adobe products can now view and comment on work from a browser. Adobe plans to add basic editing tools for making minor tweaks. Screenshots of the web app are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The cesspool of the internet is to be found in a village in North Holland (22 minute read) | Two men from The Hague, 75-year-old Bap K. and 34-year-old Reinier van E., ran Ecatel from a data center in a town north-west of Amsterdam. Due to Dutch law, hosting companies can't be prosecuted for the actions of those who hire their servers. Ecatel shielded its clients from the law by claiming to know nothing about its clients' actions, responding to no one, and being obstructive. The Ecatel network was known for its connections with cybercrime, malware, and child pornography. Ecatel's offices were raided in September by the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service based on suspicions that the business had avoided paying hundreds of thousands of euros in tax. | 4Miscellaneous
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Instagram Is Rushing To Roll Out A Memorial Account Feature Because Of COVID-19 Deaths | Instagram has sped up plans for a new account memorialization feature that will add a 'Remembering' banner under a username to signal that the person has died. This feature has been in the pipeline for some time, but the project has been accelerated due to the COVID-19 crisis. Currently, family members can ask for accounts to be memorialized through a form on the Instagram site. The memorialized accounts remain active and unaltered, so users can still see and message the account. Give feedback by replying here or messaging me on Twitter @tldrdan! If you don't want to receive future editions of TLDR, please click here. | 4Miscellaneous
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Exclusive: In a world first, Facebook to give data on hate speech suspects to French courts | Facebook has agreed to submit data to judges that contains information which identifies French users suspected of hate speech. The government has been working with Facebook to take a leading role globally on the regulation of hate speech and the spread of misinformation online. Facebook has previously helped the French government on terrorist investigations. By expanding their scope of aid to the government, they are sending the message that hate speech is no longer part of free speech and will be regulated in the same way as terrorism. The French government acknowledges the power that Facebook has but is reluctant to support laws to break up large, powerful companies. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Apple WWDC 2019: Mac Pro, iOS 13, Marzipan, and What Else to Expect (10 minute read) | Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be held next Monday. iOS 13 will receive a new Dark Mode option and a lot of official Apple app updates. Details for the Apple Arcade subscription service may be released, but Apple still has some time before Fall, so the announcements may be delayed. MacOS will gain the ability to run iPad apps and iTunes will finally break up into separate apps. There will be support built into MacOS to use an iPad as a second monitor. A new Mac Pro is expected to be announced as well as a 31.6 inch, 6K pro display. Updates will also be announced for WatchOS and TVOS. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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University of Wollongong uses stem cells to 3D-print human ears | Scientists at the University of Wollongong have developed a bioprinter that can replicate human ears using stem cells and 3D printing technology. The machine is nicknamed 3D Alek, and it prints a bio-ink that can be potentially made from the patient's own stem cells, which means that the printed parts would match the patient's own anatomy. Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital will be the first hospital in New South Wales to receive the printer, which will revolutionize the complex medical procedures required to treat microtia - a congenital condition where the external ear is underdeveloped. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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FoldnFly (Web Tool) | This is a tool that gives you schematics for building the paper airplane of your dreams. You can select whether you want to build one optimized for things like distance, time aloft, aesthetics, etc. and also select a difficulty. The internet is awesome. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Scientists create diamonds at room temperature in minutes | Diamonds are usually created from pressure and heat far beneath Earth's surface over billions of years. Scientists in Australia have created two types of diamond at room temperature in minutes by applying immense pressure in a twisting force to carbon. The process was able to create diamonds hard enough to be used to cut through ultra-solid materials on mining sites. A close up image showing one of the diamond rivers from the experiment is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Nreal's Light mixed reality glasses arrive in the US November 30th | Nreal's Light mixed reality glasses will be available at 20 Verizon stores in the US on November 30. The glasses will be available online starting on December 2. Wearers will be able to access Android apps without taking the glasses off. The glasses can be used as VR glasses, but the field of view will be limited compared to a dedicated headset. Verizon will be selling the glasses for $599. They are compatible with both Android and iOS devices, but Nreal recommends using a OnePlus 8 or recent Samsung Galaxy phone. | 4Miscellaneous
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Design Bonos (Website) | Design Bonos is a directory of free resources that can be used commercially. Categories include Fonts, Illustrations, Stock Photos, Design Inspirations, and more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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TikTok’s live video push continues with new features for creators and viewers | TikTok announced new live video features for both creators and viewers, including scheduled events, picture-in-picture support for mobile, and group livestreams with two users. Viewers will be able to register and receive notifications for Live Events. A countdown timer sticker will be available for creators to use to promote their upcoming streams. There is now a comment filter. Creators can designate moderators who can ban and mute misbehaving viewers. Users will be able to easily find and browse livestreams with the new dedicated Live button. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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In a world-first, scientists create eco-friendly cement from algae | A new carbon-neutral method of producing cement can drastically reduce the environmental pollution caused by construction activities. | 4Miscellaneous
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Startup that aims to 3D-print rockets says it’s fully funded for its first commercial missions | Relativity Space, a startup that aims to launch the first fully 3D-printed rocket into orbit, has announced that it has reached its funding goals and that the first commercial operations will begin in early 2021. By using 3D printing to create its rockets, Relativity Space can drastically cut down on costs by requiring fewer parts per rocket. The company hopes to replicate the 3D printing process on other planets. Its first rocket, the Terran 1, is a small-to-medium-sized vehicle that will stand about 100 feet tall and be able to carry up to 2,755 lbs. Relativity Space plans to increase its payload limits. The first Terran 1 rocket will be launched at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Company Unveils Robot Boots for VR Locomotion With Half-Life Demo | Ekto VR has unveiled a pair of robotic boots called the Ecto One. The boots allow users to move through VR environments using real steps without moving through the room. It doesn't require any wires or straps. The shoes are made from carbon-fiber material and Ekto claims they are lightweight. There are rotating plates at the bottom of the boots that can twist with the user's motion and a series of wheels to control the user's position. It is equipped with brakes to stop the boots from moving when the user is standing still. A 3-minute video is available in the article that demos the boots being used to play Half-Life: Alyx. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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NASA’s New “Metallic Glass” Gears Can Withstand Impact, Freezing Temperatures During Lunar Missions | Solar systems are cold and exploration requires hardware that can withstand extreme environments. NASA's Bulk Metallic Glass Gears team is developing a material made out of metallic glass that can function in extremely cold environments without heating. Unheated gearboxes will reduce the overall power required for operations in cold environments. Currently, gears need to be heated before they can be used in space. The material has been through rigorous testing to ensure that it will not be damaged by the stressful events that occur during a mission. Gears made from this material could enable operations during the lunar night, on ocean worlds, and in other extremely cold and dark environments. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Coinbase will shut down for four weeklong breaks this year | Nearly all of Coinbase will shut down for four separate weeks throughout the year so that employees can enjoy their downtime without work piling up. The breaks will ensure that the company's growth pace is sustainable for the long term. Coinbase has tested recharge weeks before, adding more when it was discovered that employees weren't taking enough time off. The company's flexible time-off policy will remain the same, but employees are encouraged to schedule vacations during recharge weeks when they can. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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SpaceX to build floating spaceports for rockets bound for the Moon and Mars, and for hypersonic Earth travel | SpaceX is planning to develop and build floating spaceports to provide launch sites for its Super Heavy-class launch vehicles. The larger rockets will be used to move large payload rockets to the Moon and Mars and also for point-to-point travel on Earth. SpaceX's Super Heavy rocket booster combined with its Starship spacecraft could potentially reduce the trip time for long-haul flights to only a couple of hours. In a 2017 presentation, SpaceX claimed that it could reach any city on Earth from any other city in less than an hour. The company has recently posted a job opening for Offshore Operations engineers in order to develop the project further. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Nvidia's internal systems have been compromised by cyberattack | Hackers have compromised Nvidia's email systems and developer tools. The company is still investigating the extent of the attack. It has not yet been determined if any data was stolen. Nvidia's business and commercial activities will continue uninterrupted. | 4Miscellaneous
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Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging? (Hacker News Thread) | The internet has changed a lot since Google started offering its search engine service. This thread discusses the internet search industry and why there are no significant competitors to Google Search. Google was successful in the past due to its search algorithm, but information is now centered around social media, which is making it harder to index. A competitor would need a breakthrough algorithm to sort through the noise of the current internet. | 4Miscellaneous
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Lyft lays off 17 percent of its workforce, institutes pay cuts for remaining employees | Ride-sharing companies have taken a big hit to revenue in recent months. Some companies, like Uber, have been able to counter their losses through food and grocery delivery services. Lyft hasn’t adapted its business model, and now the company has announced that it will lay off 982 employees and furlough and additional 288. Those that remain at work will see sizable salary cuts for 12 weeks, with Lyft’s leadership team receiving up to 30 percent pay cuts. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The world's first hydrogen train is now in service | The world's first two hydrogen powered trains are now running in Northern Germany. The trains are nearly silent and have a 1,000 km range. A hydrogen tank feeds a fuel cell to generate energy and push the electric train down the track. The train has a very small battery to maintain continuity and store energy from braking. While it's not currently clean, in the future companies will push towards creating H2 to power the trains with 100 percent renewables. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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DuckDuckGo surpasses 100 million daily search queries for the first time | DuckDuckGo recently recorded more than 100 million user search queries in a day. The company has seen sustained growth over the last two years. It has been seeing more than 2 billion search queries a month since August 2020. The search engine now offers mobile apps and a dedicated Chrome extension. It does not collect user data and it provides the same search results to all users. The company's lack of data makes it hard for it to estimate the size of its user base. Privacy-centric apps have recently seen major periods of growth. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Streamz (GitHub Repo) | Streamz is a Python package that helps you build pipelines to manage continuous streams of data. It can support simple use cases as well as complex pipelines that involve branching, joining, flow control, feedback, back pressure, etc. Streamz can work with Pandas and cuDF dataframes. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Five Easy to Miss PostgreSQL Query Performance Bottlenecks | Using common sense to write PostgreSQL queries can lead to performance issues. This article describes five examples of optimizing seemingly obvious queries. It covers searching by function call, searching by pattern, ordering by NULLS LAST, bloated null_indexes, and updating transaction scopes. Many issues with PostgreSQL only start emerging with a large enough dataset and traffic, so it is essential to monitor production performance to keep things running at an optimal speed. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Android is now the world’s largest earthquake detection network | The Android Earthquake Alerts System is an earthquake detection network that uses Google Play Android phones. All smartphones contain accelerometers that are sensitive enough to detect P-waves, the less damaging initial wave that comes out of an earthquake. When an Android phone detects something that could be an earthquake, it will send a signal to Google's earthquake detection center along with a general location. The server collaborates the information to detect earthquakes as they happen. The system can notify people of earthquakes up to one minute before the damaging S-wave of an earthquake arrives. It will be distributed through Google Play Services for every Android device running version 5.0 and up. Users will be able to toggle the feature through the Google Location Services switch in settings. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Next-generation spinal implants help people with severe paralysis walk, cycle, and swim | A new spinal stimulation device has enabled three men paralyzed in motorcycle accidents to stroll outside with a walker within a few months. The device stimulates nerves to send signals beyond the injury site to trigger leg movements. For now, users have to select a desired movement on a tablet, which then routes the command to a pulse generator implanted in the abdomen that activates electrodes along the spine. The process can take up to ten minutes. A clinical trial for the device with up to 100 participants is scheduled for 2024. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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iPhone 13 could feature next-gen vapor chamber cooling technology | The iPhone 13 is rumored to feature next-gen vapor chamber cooling tech. Apple is confirmed to be testing the technology, but it is not clear if it will be ready for a 2021 launch. The cooling system is a miniature version of those seen on high-end gaming computers. A liquid is evaporated by the heat generated by the device, and then the thermal energy spreads out through the whole of the casing. Improved cooling would mean less chance of over-heating and potentially faster speeds. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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GitPals (Website) | GitPals is a page where developers can connect with other developers whose projects match with their skills. The page lists projects, the development tools the project uses, and the help required on the project. Developers can apply to help with projects on the site. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Chakra UI (Website) | Chakra UI is a component library for building React applications. It features a set of components that are easily styled, flexible, composable, and accessible. Each component follows WAI-ARIA guideline specifications. Most components are dark mode compatible. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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dorking - how to find anything on the Internet | 'Dorking' is the term for using search engines to find very specific data. It can be used to find emails, webpages, files, coupons, SEO keywords, potential vulnerabilities, and more. This page contains a quick guide to dorking, with examples that can be copied and pasted directly into Google. A list of useful operators (components of a search query that narrow the results down) is available at the end of the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Facebook launches Business Suite to link messaging apps | Facebook has launched a new app called Facebook Business Suite that allows small businesses to manage their pages and profiles across Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger. It is the first product Facebook has launched that combines the backend infrastructure for its apps. It will add WhatsApp to the service next year. The Business Suite allows small businesses to post content and ads to Facebook and Instagram at the same time, as well as see the performance of ads across both platforms in one place. It will be integrated with Facebook Shop more closely in the future. The tools are designed for small businesses, but Facebook will make them available for bigger advertisers eventually. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Baldness discovery paints molecule as potent stimulator of new hair growth | A signaling molecule was found to be critical to new hair growth. | 4Miscellaneous
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Tesla starts deploying Starlink satellite internet systems at Supercharger stations | Tesla has started to deploy Starlink antennas at its Supercharger stations. The company has focused on creating a great complimentary charging experience as opposed to making its charging stations profit centers. Tesla owners can spend more than 30 minutes at charging stations, so Wi-Fi could be valuable for those without Tesla's premium connectivity. Tesla currently has over 3,100 stations. It plans to triple the size of its network within the next two years and open to non-Tesla vehicles. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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AI allows paralyzed person to ‘handwrite’ with his mind | People who have been fully paralyzed by stroke or neurological disease have trouble communicating. Efforts have been made to create technologies that assist communication, for example, patients can communicate by moving a cursor on a screen via electrodes implanted in a part of the brain involved in motion. Using this method, people have been able to communicate at a rate of 39 characters per minute. Researchers used the power of machine learning to train a neural network that can read out sentences with 95 percent accuracy at a speed of about 66 characters a minute. The patient only had to imagine the trajectory of a pen to communicate. Researchers expect speed to increase with more practice. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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New iodine-based plasma thruster tested in orbit | A commercial company called ThrustMe has demonstrated an iodine-powered ion thruster in space for the first time. The thruster is about the size of a 10-square-centimeter cube and weighs 1.2 kilograms. It takes around 10 minutes to warm up and it only outputs about 0.8 milliNewtons, but it is powerful enough to move small satellites around in orbit. ThrustMe has had the hardware on a 12-unit cubesat for around two years, using the thrusters multiple times to avoid potential collisions. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China clones 'Sherlock Holmes' police dog to cut training times | Scientists from China's Yunnan province have cloned a police dog in a programme they hope will cut the training time and costs for police dogs. Kunxun the police dog is now 3 months old and will undergo training in drug detection, crowd control, and searching for evidence. It will become a fully fledged police dog at 10 months, a process that usually takes five years and 500,000 yuan. China is not the first country to clone dogs for functionality, as South Korea has been cloning Labrador retrievers to sniff out drugs in their customs service since 2007. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Mozilla lays off 70 as it waits for new products to generate revenue | Mozilla has released an internal memo that explained that the reason behind its firing of 70 employees today was the slow rollout of the organization's new revenue-generating products. There may be further layoffs as Mozilla reassesses its France and UK operations. Mozilla had around 1,000 employees worldwide in 2018. Earnings from its new subscription products were much lower than expected in 2019. Laid-off employees will receive generous exit packages and outplacement support. Mozilla is dedicating $43 million to its innovation fund in order to develop new products. It is investing in innovation in order to become less reliant on income from search partnerships and to create new revenue channels. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Beijing approves plan for Greater Bay Area to rival San Francisco's Silicon Valley in the United States | China has greenlighted a technology-driven economic zone called the Greater Bay Area that will link Hong Kong, Macau, and nine other cities including Shenzhen and Guangzhou into a giant science and IT hub about the size of San Francisco and Tokyo combined. It's part of China's plan to integrate expertise in finance, manufacturing and technology, and to grow Hong Kong. Hong Kong's chief executive says "Our Bay Area has been described by some as combining Silicon Valley with New York City." | 4Miscellaneous
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Harvard system could store data in organic molecules for millennia | Researchers at Harvard have developed a technique to store information within organic molecules, and this technology could potentially be used to store data securely for thousands of years. While DNA can store a lot of information, it is impractical to use as a storage medium. Other molecules can be more easily manipulated and take up less physical space. The researchers used oligopeptides, small molecules made up of amino acids, which were put into an order that could be translated into binary. In the experiments, scientists were able to read and write around 400 kB of text and image data with an accuracy of 99.9 percent. The system also works with other types of molecules and can write information faster than using DNA. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Qualcomm To Launch Its Own Premium Snapdragon Branded Phones That Will Raise The Bar | Qualcomm is looking to enter into the smartphone market, partnering with ASUS to manufacture and distribute smartphones globally. It intends to create ultra-premium Snapdragon Android phones. ASUS already produces its own line of gaming smartphones. While Qualcomm chips are found in the majority of Android smartphones sold in the US, the company doesn't have direct sales channels with carriers, so it will be interesting to see how Qualcomm intends to market their devices. The official announcement is expected during the Snapdragon Tech Summit in December. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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PandasGUI (GitHub Repo) | PandasGUI is a GUI for analyzing Pandas DataFrames. It features interactive plotting, filtering, drag & drop import, and more. A video demo is available in the repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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2022 Developer Survey (Website) | Stack Overflow's annual survey explores how developers learn and level up, which tools they are using, and what they want. It provides insights into the attitudes, tools, and environments that are shaping the art and practice of software today. This site contains the results of the survey. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Quantum Sensor Opens ‘a New Window into the Underground’ | A team of physicists and engineers have successfully tested a quantum gravity gradiometer. Quantum gravity gradiometers can map out underground spaces without physically digging into them. They have the potential to assess a wide range of environments. The sensors work by manipulating the quantum properties of atoms to measure minute variations in gravitational fields. In a real-world test, the sensor was able to detect a tunnel buried three feet beneath a road. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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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. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Crypto Mystery: Quadriga's Wallets Are Empty, Putting Fate Of $137 Million In Doubt | Quadriga's CEO, Gerald Cotten, died in late December without leaving the passwords to the wallets that held millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies for the exchange. After an investigation, it was found that the six wallets that held Quadriga's funds were emptied in April 2018, many months before Cotten’s death. Additionally, more than a dozen fake accounts were discovered which were created internally and used to trade on the cryptocurrency exchange. These accounts showed significant activity, with high trade volumes and withdrawals to addresses that were not associated with Quadringa. A full copy of the report from Ernst and Young’s investigation into Quadringa is available. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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CSS.gg (Website) | This site contains over 700 CSS, SVG, and Figma UI icons available in SVG Sprite, styled-components, NPM, & API. The library is searchable and users can customize the size and color of the icons. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Elon Musk says the Boring Company's first tunnel under LA will open December 10th | Elon Musk says that the tunnel his Boring Company has been digging under Los Angeles is almost done and will be open to the public on December 10th. The tunnel is two miles long, and will transport passengers and vehicles on autonomously driven electric platforms called skates at speeds up to 155 mph (250 km/h). This tunnel is just a proof of concept, the company is already digging tunnels between downtown Chicago and Chicago's O'Hare airport and between Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium and East Hollywood. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Push Notifications, WebXR, and better PWA support coming to iOS | The iOS 15.4 beta has added icon support in the Web App Manifest, Web Push, and many APIs, such as WebXL for AR and VR. Most of the changes were unannounced. This article gives a detailed overview of the changes and what they mean for developers. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The UI Animation Newsletter (Newsletter) | This is a newsletter that's all about UI animation and motion effects. There are lots of tutorials for cool animation effects as well as design inspiration. Curated by Val Head, a design advocate at Adobe and author of Designing Interface Animation. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Google will start surfacing individual podcast episodes in search results | Individual podcast results will start showing up in search results in Google, and the feature will soon be implemented into Google Assistant as well. Google has been automatically transcribing all the podcast episodes that it finds and has indexed over 2 million shows. It uses certain signals to determine which shows will be displayed first in search results, such as how many people listen to the show or whether the show comes from a publisher with a lot of authority. Podcasts have always lacked discovery tools, but this new functionality may change how people find new shows. Shows may also start changing their formats in order to become more visible to the search engine, similar to how websites compete with search engine optimization. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google Photos launches private messaging for quickly sharing photos | Photos are as much about communications as they are a form of memory collection. Google Photos has launched a revamped share option that is effectively a private messaging feature. When users want to share photos, they can now send it in a message as long as the recipients have Google Photos. Users can use the feature to have a conversation. Group chats are enabled. Chat will add a social aspect to the Photos app, possibly drawing in more users. The feature will start rolling out over the next week and will be available on Android, iOS, and the web. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Microsoft launches business school focused on AI strategy, culture and responsibility | There is a need for business leaders to understand AI and how it can be used, as more companies start to integrate the technology into their practices. Microsoft has launched the Microsoft AI Business School, which is a free master class series to show business leaders how to lead with confidence in the age of AI. The course is non-technical and focuses on strategy, culture, and responsibility. It uses case studies of companies which have completed the transition to using AI technology to demonstrate how to successfully implement AI in their business. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Facebook is building an operating system so it can ditch Android | Facebook doesn't want its hardware to be at the mercy of Google and its Android operating system, so it has started to develop its own operating system from scratch. Using its own OS, Facebook will have more control over social features and privacy. One possibility is that a custom OS may be developed specifically for augmented reality. Facebook's previous attempts at developing its own custom OS have failed. A new office for the AR/VR team will house around 4,000 employees and allow the public to come to play with Facebook's augmented reality and virtual reality products. Facebook is considering implementing a retail space so people can also purchase devices. It has been focusing heavily on hardware, as it aims to keep up with new technologies in order to continue to data-mine. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Taking Lyft’s new e-bike for a spin | Lyft is starting its new e-bike service this month starting with San Francisco, then Chicago and New York. The 80-pound bikes are powered by a 500W motor and a battery that has a range of 60-miles. They are monitored by a system that sends out alerts when there is an issue with the battery or brakes. The bikes feature an LED ring light on the front that can change colors. Pictures of the bikes are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will tell Congress that embattled libra crypto project will ‘extend America’s financial leadership’ | Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday about the Libra cryptocurrency project, which has faced heavy opposition from the government since its announcement. The Libra Association has seen its membership reduced to 21 companies after the departures of Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, eBay, Strip, Booking, and Mercado Pago. Facebook has said it will not launch Libra until it receives regulatory approval. Zuckerberg will argue that Libra will extend America's financial leadership and democratic values around the world. He argues against the idea that Libra is an attempt to replace sovereign currency and that Libra was created only to be an alternative to existing online payment systems. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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In Finland, scientists are growing coffee in a lab | The amount of land suitable for coffee plantations is shrinking due to climate change. Researchers in Finland are experimenting with growing coffee from plant cells in bioreactors. They are using the same techniques that others are using to make lab-grown meat. It is easier to grow plants using this method compared to meat as the nutrient media for plant-cell cultures are much less complex and plant cells grow freely without attaching to surfaces. Coffee created with this technique tastes and smells like ordinary coffee. The process can be modified to generate different blends of compounds. | 4Miscellaneous
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Import-HTTP (GitHub Repo) | Import-http allows users to import JS modules using HTTP rather than via local node_modules. It is easily used in both Webpack and Rollup module bundlers. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The State of Ruby 3 Typing | Ruby 3 will ship with the ability to write type signatures for Ruby programs and will have built-in type signatures for the Ruby standard libraries. This will make type definitions in Ruby code portable between type checkers. The language and the library for type signatures for Ruby 3 will be called RBS. It features duck typing and non-uniformity. RBS will help developers by finding more bugs, giving IDEs a better understanding of the Ruby code, guided tuck typing, and more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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