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Alaska Airlines Has a New Perk: Virtual Reality | First-class passengers onboard 10 flights between Boston and Seattle and Boston and San Diego on Alaska Airlines will have the opportunity to try a new virtual reality headset from a French company called SkyLights and provide feedback about the experience. According to a spokesperson, "When paired with noise-cancelling headphones, it's easy to feel like you're at the movie theater instead of flying." | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Apple's Director of Machine Learning Resigns Due to Return to Office Work | Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, has resigned from his role due in part to Apple's plan to return to in-person work. Employees are required to work from the office at least three days per week by May 23. A group of employees sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook regarding the issue, saying that many feel that they have to choose between their families, well-being, being empowered to do their best work, or being a part of Apple. | 4Miscellaneous
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Get ready to see Spotify’s looping videos on Instagram | Spotify has recently confirmed that they are working on a new Stories feature, as well as a way for Spotify Canvas users to share their video art directly to Instagram. Canvas launched in beta last fall, resulting in mixed reviews from users. The new feature will allow Canvas users to share videos to Instagram by tapping on a Share icon. Users will see posts that look like regular Spotify shares but with the Canvas video looping as the backdrop. Canvas on Instagram views aren't counted in Canvas metrics unless users click through to Spotify. Spotify claims that adding Canvas videos increased track shares by up to 200 percent. Canvas is currently only on iOS but will be released on Android soon. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Ask HN: Cool stuff that's still completely unregulated? (Hacker News Thread) | New technologies such as drones, e-bikes, vapes, and 3d printing are beginning to receive varying amounts of regulatory attention, but many emerging technologies are still yet unregulated. Data laundering, obtaining datasets via crawling or other means and altering it to bypass copyrights, using it to clone websites/businesses, or for other purposes, is a common occurrence nowadays. Fitness devices, which are quickly developing in terms of their abilities, will soon be able to analyze blood samples. Programmers are able to write any code and run it on their personal computers. There are many more examples in this thread of unregulated technologies that may be regulated in the future as they can be dangerous or easily exploited. | 4Miscellaneous
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Dropbox’s new transfer feature lets you easily send a file to someone, WeTransfer style | Dropbox Transfer is a new way to share files. Users can share a link to the file and the recipients can either directly download the file from the transfer page or save it to their own Dropbox accounts. The system is similar to other file-sharing services like WeTransfer. Dropbox Transfer will allow users to send up to 100MB of files with a free account. Dropbox Professional subscribers will be able to transfer up to 100GB, password protect transfers, choose an expiration date for the files, and customize the background on the transfer page. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Troll Research Station: how to operate an airport in Antarctica | In 2005, the Troll Research Station in Antarctica opened a 3000-meter blue ice runway, allowing people to get to the station without weeks of travel. Construction of the runway took two years. A laser cutter was used to level the blue ice near the station. Preparing the runway for flights is a two-week process. The runway moves a few meters each year as it sits on a glacier. Fuel is sent to Troll once a year. Pictures of the airfield are available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Pig heart transplant failure: Doctors detail everything that went wrong | A recently published paper goes through everything that happened to prepare for the transplant and the weeks following. | 4Miscellaneous
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Previously unknown bacteria discovered on the space station could help grow plants | The International Space Station has become the host for unique bacteria over the last 20 years. Four strains of bacteria have been found on the space station. The bacteria are from a family that are helpful to plants, promoting their growth and fighting pathogens that affect them. Three of the strains are new. They aren't harmful to astronauts, and they could potentially help the growth of plants in space. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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I tried a $7,600 desk that lets you get horizontal at work | The Signature Altwork Station is a highly-adjustable desk that retails for $7,650. It allows the user to sit in a horizontal position, giving them a sense of relaxation and weightlessness. It comes with a magnetic keyboard and mouse setup, but no other hardware is included. A one-minute video showing off the features of the workstation is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Toyota will transform a 175-acre site in Japan into a ‘prototype city of the future’ | Toyota plans to transform a 175-acre site of a former car factory into a prototype city of the future. The city will then be a place where it can test autonomous vehicles, innovative street design, smart home technology, robotics, and new mobility products. Toyota plans to build the city at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. It will house 2,000 people, starting at the end of 2021. The city will be powered by Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell technology. It is unknown what Toyota's policies around access to data, privacy, or nondisclosure agreements will be. Google's similar Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto has faced constant criticism. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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OpenAI introduces Jukebox, a new AI model that generates genre-specific music with lyrics | Jukebox is a new generative model by OpenAI that can create music. The model is able to generate lyrics, although the lyrics need to be modified. Jukebox can generate music in different artists’ styles and genres, but the music it generates misses some familiar larger musical structures, such as choruses that repeat. A link to Jukebox’s project page, which contains samples, is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Ubuntu market-share is in a nosedive | Ubuntu came out in 2004 and became the most popular Linux distribution in less than 12 months. It has remained popular throughout the years, but its popularity has started to wane. Gamers and other users have moved to platforms like Arch and Manjaro. The drop in popularity may give the Ubuntu team the motivation it needs to make significant changes to its system to make it more appealing to the users they are losing. | 4Miscellaneous
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Japan researchers develop electric chopsticks to enhance salty taste | Japanese researchers have developed electronic chopsticks that enhance salty tastes. The chopsticks use a weak electrical current to transmit sodium ions from food to enhance the taste of salt by 1.5 times. The chopsticks could help people lower their salt intake. Excess sodium consumption is related to high blood pressure, strokes, and other diseases. The chopsticks could be on the market as early as next year. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Lyft launches a car rental service with no mileage limit | Lyft is launching a car rental service that will be available in its main smartphone app. Customers who use the service will receive a $20 ride credit to help them get to and from the rental vehicle. Renters must be over 22 and have a valid driver's license. There will be no mileage limit and users will be charged a local market rate for gas. Vehicles can be rented for up to two weeks. Prices start from $35 a day for a Volkswagen Passat sedan. All cars will feature Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Lyft will also be selling coverage options for the rentals. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Winged microchip is smallest-ever human-made flying structure | Scientists have developed winged microchips that can spin through the air like a helicopter. The microfliers can be equipped with sensors, power sources, antennas, and memory. They can be dropped from large buildings or planes to track environmental factors at different altitudes. The design is based on the maple leaf's whirling propeller seeds. The chips are created with electronics that can dissolve in water after they are no longer needed, so they will naturally degrade and disappear over time. Pictures and videos of the microfliers are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Minister in Charge of Japan's Cybersecurity Says He Has Never Used a Computer | Yoshitaka Sakurada, Japan's cybersecurity minister, says that when computer use is necessary "I order my employees or secretaries" to do it, adding "I don't type on a computer." When questioned about whether allowing USB drives in nuclear power plants was a security risk, Sakurada didn't know what a USB drive was. One Japanese lawmaker said "I can't believe that a person who never used a computer is in charge of cybersecurity measures." | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Mario on Vim (GitHub Repo) | This is an implementation of the classic Mario game in Vim. It requires the vim-game_engine plugin to work. A GIF demo is available in the repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Amsterdam tests out electric autonomous boats on its canals | The Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions and MIT are collaborating on a project to develop new ways of navigating waterways autonomously. Using autonomous systems would make highly complex port operations safer and more efficient. The Roboats project has developed a 4-meter long electric boat that is steered by a remote computer. The boat is modular, so it can be easily adapted for different purposes. It will still be two to four years before self-steering technology will be ready. | 4Miscellaneous
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React Native (GitHub repo) | React Native allows developers to create cross-platform applications using Javascript and React. Microsoft has released React Native support for the Windows 10 SDK as well as the macOS 10.12 SDK. Developers can use React Native to build native Windows apps for all devices supported by Windows 10 as well as the macOS desktop and laptop ecosystems. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Predicting Hard Drive Failure with Machine Learning (24 minute read) | What if you could predict when a hard drive would fail? This article explores the possibility of using machine learning to predict hard drive failures. While machine learning can make sense of patterns in data and use that to make predictions, it can't come up with inferences that aren't supported by the data. It's unlikely that using hard drive monitoring stats is enough to accurately predict hard drive failure. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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NASA taps SpaceX, Blue Origin and 11 more companies for Moon and Mars space tech | NASA has partnered with 13 companies on 19 new projects that will help it reach the Moon and Mars. Blue Origin will develop a navigation system for safe landing on the Moon, a fuel cell-based power system, and engine nozzles for rockets with liquid propellant suited for lunar lander vehicles. SpaceX will be working on technology to help move rocket propellant safely around during orbit and on refining its vertical landing capabilities to adapt it to conditions on the Moon. Lockheed Martin will be creating metal powder-based materials using solid-state processing that can operate better in high-temperature environments, as well as autonomous methods for growing and harvesting plants in space. A link to more details on the other projects is available. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Chemists develop a strategy for highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells | Perovskites are the leading contender to replace silicon in solar panels, but perovskite materials have chemically reactive components that result in shorter operational lifetimes. A team of scientists has created a new type of perovskite solar cell with a record-high efficiency of 25%. The material is able to run under continuous illumination for more than 1,500 hours while still maintaining more than 98% of its initial efficiency. This development means that perovskite solar cells could soon be ready for commercialization. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Fyne (GitHub Repo) | Fyne is a UI toolkit and app API written in Go. It uses OpenGL to provide cross-platform graphics. Fyne is built entirely using vector graphics, so it will scale to any size, and developers can switch between two default themes, light and dark. There are examples of Fyne available in a separate repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Facebook is testing a video speed-dating app called Sparked | Sparked is a new video speed dating app from Facebook's New Product Experimentation (NPE) Team. During events, the app cycles people through speed video dates that last four minutes. If the date goes well, the pair can schedule a longer meeting. Users have to fill in questions when signing up that indicate that kindness is a major factor when qualifying for the app. The NPE Team has launched many apps with little success, so it is unclear how committed Facebook will be to this project. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The JavaScript Developer's Reading List (GitHub Repo) | There is a lot of material out there for learning JavaScript and this can be a bit overwhelming. This repository contains a curated list of web development and JavaScript books and articles that have been recommended by developers. The owner of the repository is mainly focused on using React, GraphQL, and JavaScript, as it is the stack they are most familiar with. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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These $2,000 solar panels pull clean drinking water out of the air, and they might be a solution to the global water crisis | A startup backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos has built a solar panel that can extract water out of moisture in the air. A single $2000 panel can extract about 10 bottles worth of clean water per day. The company believes this is a solution to the global water crisis, which has left 2 billion people without clean drinking water. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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How I got access to 25+ Teslas around the world. By accident. And curiosity (18 minute read) | This article details how a security researcher managed to remotely access more than 25 Teslas around the world. While the researcher didn't have access to steering, accelerator, brakes, or other driving safety-critical features, they were able to disable Sentry Mode, unlock doors, open windows, and start Keyless Driving. The exploit involved a vulnerability in TeslaMate, a self-hosted data logger for Teslas. A patch has been released to fix the issue so Tesla owners are advised to update their software. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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cloudquery (GitHub Repo) | cloudquery transforms cloud infrastructure into queryable SQL tables. It abstracts various scattered APIs and allows developers to define security, governance, costs, and compliance policies with SQL. cloudquery is easily extensible and it comes with built-in policy packs. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The SpaceX Ax-1 Mission Has Futuristic Self-Assembling Tech to Try Out | SpaceX launched the first fully private mission, Axiom-1, to the International Space Station on Friday. The team will conduct studies involving an air filtration device, cellular biology, and a swarm of robotic tiles. The tiles are designed to self-assemble and are capable of sealing to create a pressurized environment. They could be used in the future to create habitats in space. A video showing how the tiles are designed to work is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Datafuse (GitHub Repo) | Datafuse is a real-time data processing and analytics database management system with cloud-native architecture. It was primarily designed to be stable, and it is high-performing and scalable. Benchmark results are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Neuraxle Pipelines (GitHub Repo) | Neuraxle is a Machine Learning library for building neat pipelines. It provides methods to ease research, development, and deployment of ML applications. Neuraxle can help build production-ready code that is compatible with any machine learning library. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Dementia-preventing nasal spray moves to human trials | A novel nasal spray designed to prevent the neurodegeneration associated with dementia has shown promising results in mouse studies. The spray is a combination of two pre-existing drugs. Mice with neurodegenerative diseases showed improved cognition and less accumulation of toxic proteins in the brain after the spray was intranasally administered five times a week for a month. The combination of drugs was more effective at preventing neurodegeneration than each drug by itself. Human trials will start soon in several countries, including Japan and the US. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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CalDOM (GitHub Repo) | CalDOM is a 3kb JavaScript UI library with direct access to native DOM. It can fully access the DOM directly while keeping reactivity. Benchmark results are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Chromebooks outsold Macs worldwide in 2020, cutting into Windows market share | Chromebooks outsold Macs in 2020. Windows still retained the majority market share. The growth means that app and game developers can no longer ignore Chrome OS, and businesses should start setting aside resources to ensure that the Chrome OS experience is comparable to Windows and macOS. Chrome OS's success was largely limited to US schools before the pandemic, but it looks like demand has expanded beyond that market. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Nintendo Switch Online is getting an ‘expansion pack’ with N64 and Genesis games | The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack will let Nintendo Switch Online members play Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games. There is no info on pricing, but it will launch in late October. The company will be releasing Switch versions of the Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis controllers. A list of the games playable at launch is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Chinese Scientists Create System to Care For Embryos in Artificial Womb | Scientists from China have developed an AI system that can monitor and care for embryos as they grow inside artificial wombs. It has already been used to care for a number of animal embryos. Experimentation on human embryos is forbidden under international law, but the scientists claim that the system would be safer than natural childbearing. Despite its potential ethical issues, the technology could one day help couples that are struggling to have children finally become parents. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Apple exploring AirPods that take your temperature and monitor posture | Apple is exploring new health-focused features for its AirPods, including the ability for the AirPods to take a wearers' temperature, monitor their posture, and improve their hearing. The functions aren't expected to be released any time soon, and they may never be rolled out to consumers. Integrating health features into commercial products is difficult due to medical regulatory standards. Apple has been exploring the possibility of adding monitors for blood pressure, temperature, sleep quality, blood oxygen, and blood sugar into the Apple Watch. It has increasingly focused the marketing of its products on their health and fitness applications. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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What I learned from looking at 200 machine learning tools (13 minute read) | This article looks at the history and landscape of the field of machine learning. It discusses the problems facing the field, such as data quality, the size of ML algorithms, and many others. There are now many tools and startups that provide machine learning services. While machine learning has been a hot field in the past few years, the demand for ML researchers has lessened. Engineering for ML tools will become more in demand as companies start bringing their ML into production. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Instagram tests in-app shopping with Kylie Cosmetics, Nike and Huda Beauty | A new feature is being tested on Instagram that will allow users to shop directly inside the app. Since September, users have been able to view products that feature inside posts and videos, and more than 130 million users used this feature to explore products in the month of February. In the beta, when users tap the ‘View the Product’ button, they will also see a ‘Checkout on Instagram’ option which will allow them to purchase items directly from the app. The feature will roll out over the next few weeks to users in the US, with items from only a few of the most popular brands available for purchase. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Ford Self-Driving Vans Will Use Legged Robots to Make Deliveries | Ford’s new autonomous delivery vans will carry a two-legged robot that will bring boxes from the curb to the doorstep. The company is aiming to launch a self-driving vehicle service by 2021. Digit is designed to move in a dynamic fashion and can walk over uneven terrain, climb stairs, and carry 20 kilogram packages. It may take a few years of operation before the robot is able to perform completely autonomously. A two minute video is available that shows Digit in action. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Tesla says solar roof is on its third iteration, currently installing in 8 states | Elon Musk has revealed at the Tesla annual shareholder meeting that Tesla’s solar roof product is currently being installed on properties in eight states. Tesla produces tiles that are designed to look like high-quality traditional roofing tiles, with integrated solar panels that are not easily identifiable from ground level. The tiles are now on their third version, with this version being almost at cost-parity with an entry-level cheap traditional tile, after considering the cost savings of the generated electricity. Musk is optimistic about the rollout of the new tiles, but there is currently no information on when the tiles will be released or what the installation price will be. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Moderna starts clinical trial of booster shot targeting omicron Covid variant | Moderna has started clinical trials to study the safety and effectiveness of a booster shot that specifically targets the omicron variant. The trial will have around 600 adult participants. Data on Moderna's current booster shot shows that while it weakens over time, the shot still provides some protection against the variant. Pfizer and BioNTech have also started trials on an omicron-specific vaccine with plans to have the vaccine ready by March. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Writing a "bare metal" operating system for Raspberry Pi 4 (GitHub Repo) | Operating systems help us interact with machines by drawing on screens, processing inputs, working with hardware, and much more. This repository is the beginning of a tutorial on how to write an operating system for the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, a low-cost device used by millions of people around the world. An interest in hardware is recommended. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Checklist Design (Website) | Checklist Design is a collection of the best UX and UI practices. The page lists topics regarding different types of pages and page components. Each topic has features that should appear on every page, additional options for these features, and also resources for further research into best practices. Many topics are still being written, and suggestions for the page can be tweeted directly to the page owner. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Google’s lung cancer detection AI outperforms 6 human radiologists | An AI system was able to predict lung cancer in patients five percent more accurately on average than a group of six human experts and was 11 percent more likely to reduce false positives. The model will be available through the Google Cloud Healthcare API as Google continues to test and improve it. More than 42,000 chest CT screening images from 15,000 patients were used to train the AI system. Lung cancer is one of the most common causes of death, killing roughly as many people each year as breast cancer. Google has also applied AI to other medical research, including an AI that can recommend treatment for 50 eye diseases with a 94 percent accuracy. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China hands out $1.5 million of its digital currency in one of the country's biggest public tests | The government in Shenzhen carried out a lottery last week to give out 10 million yuan worth of China's new digital currency. 50,000 people out of the 2 million people who applied won. The winners can now spend the digital yuan at over 3,000 merchants in Shenzhen using the digital renminbi app. Local supermarkets and pharmacies are included among the participating merchants. The digital yuan is unlike bitcoin as it is controlled by the People's Bank of China. It is not looking to replace services such as Alipay or WeChat Pay, but instead will likely be working with them and other banks. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Neon (GitHub Repo) | Neon is a serverless alternative to AWS Aurora Postgres. It separates storage and compute to make on-demand scalability possible. Neon adjusts the number of resources dedicated to the compute according to the workload. It is fully compatible with Postgres. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Transformers for software engineers (21 minute read) | The Transformer model architecture, originally introduced for machine translation, is now used for a wide range of domains, including text, audio, video, and more. This article reverse engineers the Transformer architecture and uses the language of software engineering to explain how these models work. It is an introduction to the details of the Transformer model for those with a software engineering background, particularly for those looking to do interpretability work. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Researchers propose AI system that reverse-engineers black box apps | Researchers at DeepMind and the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security have proposed an AI system capable of reverse-engineering the black-box functions of programs written in Karel. Karel was chosen as it uses structures that make reverse-engineering applications more difficult. Given access only to the inputs and outputs of an application, the system was able to eventually create a functionally equivalent copy of the original program with a 78% success rate. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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The World's First Carbon Concrete Building Is Under Construction | The Cube is the world's first carbon concrete building. Its concrete is reinforced with carbon fibers rather than steel rods, making it four times stronger and lighter than traditional concrete. As carbon fiber doesn't rust, the concrete is more durable over a longer period. It also allows for the same structural strength while using far less material. Carbon concrete can reduce CO2 emissions from construction by up to 50 percent. A video outlining the construction process of The Cube is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Dask (Website) | Dask is a flexible library for parallel computing in Python. It features dynamic task scheduling optimized for computation and 'Big Data' collections that extend common interfaces to larger-than-memory or distributed environments. Dask can run on a laptop or be scaled to a cluster of hundreds of machines. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Zoom introduces all-in-one home communications appliance for $599 | Zoom has unveiled the Zoom for Home - DTEN ME, an all-in-one communications appliance. It features a standalone 27-inch screen, three wide-angle cameras, and 8 microphones. The appliance is pre-loaded with Zoom software and a custom interface. It can be linked with a laptop or mobile phone through an ultrasonic pairing. Zoom is now taking pre-orders for the appliance, which costs $599 and works with an existing Zoom license. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The Turing Test is obsolete. It’s time to build a new barometer for AI | The Turing Test is now obsolete and shouldn't be used as the ultimate test for useful AI. Computers were significantly slower when Alan Turing first laid out his thesis. The goal of conversational AI, to make a machine that could converse with humans in a manner indistinguishable from other humans, doesn’t take into account how technology has improved. AI should augment human intelligence and improve our daily lives. To make an AI sound more human would require limiting it. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Despite CRISPR baby controversy, Harvard University will begin gene-editing sperm | After a Chinese scientist caused an uproar by using CRISPR to edit the genes of two twin girls' embryos last week, Harvard researcher Werner Neuhausser is now planning to use CRISPR to edit the genes of a sperm cell in order to try to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's later in life. However, in this case no embryos are involved, there will be no attempt to make a baby from these sperm cells, they just want to test if they can edit the DNA. Harvard Medical School dean George Daley delivered a speech last week saying that the technology for gene editing is rapidly getting better and safer, and it will be justified to explore use in children soon. He believes that the technology could and should be used to remove childhood cancer, cystic fibrosis, and Alzheimer's from tomorrow's kids. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Lab-Grown Edible Muscles: Researchers Take a Huge Step Forward in Fake Food | Researchers at Harvard University grew rabbit and cow muscle cells using edible gelatin scaffolds. The techniques used allowed cells to grow in a way that realistically mimicked the texture and consistency of real meat. One of the biggest challenges in creating lab-grown meats is recreating complex skeletal muscle fibers. The cells need something to hold onto as they grow. A technique called Rotary Jet-Spinning uses centrifugal force to spin long nanofibers of predetermined shapes and measurements. This technique was used to create edible gelatin fibers, which formed the scaffold material that held cell tissues together to create a more realistic texture. Using RJS, it is possible to create different meats with specific textures and consistencies that could resemble the flesh of different types of animals. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Vite (Website) | Vite is a build tool that provides a faster and leaner development experience for modern web projects. It consists of a dev server with rich feature enhancements over native ES modules and a build command that bundles code with Rollup. Vite is highly extensible via its Plugin API and JavaScript API. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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‘Every message was copied to the police’: the inside story of the most daring surveillance sting in history (18 minute read) | An0m was a special device that was supposed to have the most secure messaging service in the world. The phones sold for $1,700 with a $1,250 annual subscription. Almost 10,000 devices were sold around the world. The devices were actually created by the Australian Federal Police and the FBI, who read all the messages that were sent on the devices, resulting in more than 800 arrests worldwide. This article tells the story of how the phones were made and the details of the operation. | 4Miscellaneous
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Tesla gets the go-ahead to build cars in China | Tesla is building a $2 billion factory in Shanghai which will manufacture at least 1,000 Model 3s each week. The factory could be up and running within weeks. Tesla will now be able to avoid the high import tariffs that are imposed on cars made in the US in the world's biggest car market. The Gigafactory 3 will be the first fully-foreign owned car plant in China. Shanghai authorities have offered help to speed up construction of the plant. China has excluded Tesla vehicles from its 10% tax on cars. The plant may be a sign that China is looking to open up its car market. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Daniel Yomtobian Built An Empire On Dubious Online Advertising Traffic. It Finally Crumbled (12 minute read) | Google has been fighting to remove an extension that promised to convert pages to PDFs, but instead injected ads and generated massive amounts of invalid traffic. An investigation found that Daniel Yomtobian, the founder and CEO of Advertise.com Inc. was behind the browser extensions. Yomtobian had been running an operation targeting personal computers with adware for around 20 years. His extensions generated large amounts of false traffic, resulting in millions of false ad impressions. Last year, roughly $40 billion was stolen due to ad fraud. While it seems that Yomtobian's operation has been shut down for now, it is likely he will come back with another scheme. | 4Miscellaneous
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Miller (GitHub Repo) | Miller can edit named fields in CSV, TSV, JSON, and positionally-indexed files without needing to count positional indices. It can add, drop, and sort fields, aggregate statistically, pretty-print, and more. A screenshot is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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White Castle becomes the first fast food chain to test out the robot fry cook, Flippy, from Miso Robotics | White Castle will start trialing Miso Robotic's Flippy robot to reduce human contact with food, increase the quality of its meals, and to reduce the amount of waste produced in the kitchen. Flippy will be tested in the Chicago area starting September, and if the trial is successful, White Castle plans to bring the robot to kitchens across the country. Miso Robotics usually charges $30,000 to install each system and then another $15,000 per year, but White Castle aims to bring the costs down significantly. White Castle executives have taken pay cuts to retain staff, and there are no plans yet to replace staff with the robot. A 45-second video of Flippy in action is available. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing | The staff at Kickstarter announced their intention to unionize today, and if recognized, Kickstarter will be the first major tech company in the US with union representation. Staff are working with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), an organization that has experience in unionizing companies both domestically and internationally. Union leaders claim the aim of forming the union is to uphold Kickstarter’s values of inclusion, solidarity, transparency, and accountability, which they feel have failed to manifest. A spokesperson for Kickstarter has said that Kickstarter is open to listening to the concerns of its employees. | 4Miscellaneous
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'Care robots' for the elderly could be developed in the UK after government funding | The UK government has backed a scheme that will research how to make autonomous systems safe and trustworthy for public use. The research program will last five years and cost $43.54 million. It is hoped that care robots can be developed to be used in places such as hospitals and care homes alongside human professionals, performing tasks such as helping people up after a fall, making sure medication is taken, and delivering meals. Research will be carried out to make sure the robots are protected against cyber-attacks and able to demonstrate traits such as respect, equality, and fairness. Other sectors where a lack of public trust is a key challenge may also benefit from the deployment of robots. Assistive robots can enable people to maintain their independence for as long as possible. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Ask HN: How to come up with monetizable side project ideas? (Hacker News Thread) | A user (sunilkumarc) on Hacker News asked for ideas to come up with side projects that would generate a few hundred dollars of revenue a month. I think a lot of the advice in this thread (especially the top comment by a13n) was really informative. Definitely worth checking out if you're thinking about starting a side project to generate some passive income. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Exclusive: Apple targets car production by 2024 and eyes 'next level' battery technology | Apple's Project Titan is moving forward with its self-driving car technology. The iPhone maker plans to release a passenger vehicle by 2024. Apple has designed a new battery that could reduce the cost of batteries and increase its vehicles' range. The automotive industry is expensive to enter, and it is unclear whether Apple plans to make its own branded vehicles or partner with an established automaker. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Tesla reportedly doesn’t have enough desks after Musk threatens to fire remote employees | Employees returning to work at Tesla's Fremont facility came back to a lack of parking spots, no desk to sit at, and crappy Wi-Fi. | 4Miscellaneous
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PayPal withdraws from Facebook’s libra cryptocurrency | PayPal announced on Friday that it will withdraw from Facebook's Libra Association in order to focus on its existing mission to democratize access to financial services for underserved populations. When Libra was announced in June, many global regulators, lawmakers, and industry insiders questioned Facebook's motives and had concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection, and financial stability. Facebook will not have unilateral control of Libra. The Libra Association, which is made up of 28 corporate backers, will help govern the cryptocurrency. Other financial partners such a Visa and Mastercard may be reconsidering involvement with Libra following backlash from government officials. Lawmakers in the House Financial Services Committee are looking to bring Facebook's top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, to testify on Libra. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Sequencing your DNA with a USB dongle and open source code | New techniques have greatly reduced the time it takes to decode a genome. What used to be a 15-day process now takes three days or less. A nanopore sequencer is a tool that can read a single strand of DNA one letter at a time. It costs around a thousand dollars and can connect to any computer via USB. The software used to analyze the output of nanopore sequencers is open source. This article explains how the technology was developed and it contains animations showing how a nanopore sequencer works. | 4Miscellaneous
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Inside “Project Tinman”: Peloton’s plan to conceal rust in its exercise bikes | Staff at Peloton warehouses noticed that rust was building up on some exercise machines in September last year. The rust did not affect the product's integrity, so the company attempted to conceal the corrosion and sent the machines to customers. The issue affected at least 6,000 bikes. Rust is not covered under Peloton's warranty, so customers were denied replacements when they complained. Peloton has since stated that they will replace rusted machines. | 4Miscellaneous
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pyp (GitHub Repo) | pyp allows users to run Python code in the shell. It will automatically import any modules used. pyp can be used to analyze and process data, including dicts and iterables. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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SpaceX may spin out internet-from-space business and make it public | The president of SpaceX's Starlink business has said that the company is considering going public as it is ripe to do so. Starlink has already launched 240 satellites and plans to launch up to another 1,440 satellites this year. These satellites are designed to beam down broadband internet coverage all over the world. Elon Musk is known for hating publicly traded companies and has said in the past that SpaceX won't be going public until its Mars vehicle is complete. SpaceX has recently been valued at around $33.3 billion. The revenue from Starlink will help fund SpaceX's plans to send people to the Moon and Mars. Those in the astronomy community have criticized broadband satellite projects as the resulting constellation could obstruct their observations of the night sky. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google pulls ‘Remove China Apps’ from Play Store | 'Remove China Apps' is an app that does exactly what its name suggests. It has been pulled from the Play Store for violating Google's Deceptive Behavior Policy, which states that an app on the Play Store can't encourage or incentivize users into removing or disabling third-party apps. The app had been gaining popularity in India partly due to growing anti-China sentiment. India has recently amended its foreign direct investment policy to enforce tougher scrutiny on Chinese investors. Prime Minister Modi has aggressively promoted the idea of boycotting foreign goods, urging citizens to look for local alternatives. | 4Miscellaneous
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What China Can Teach the U.S. About Artificial Intelligence | America's freewheeling intellectual environment makes it particularly good at visionary research and moonshot projects. However, AI is now more about implementation than research, and here China's abundant data, hypercompetitive business landscape, and strong central government with great AI ambitions will give it a big advantage over the US. The US misunderstands each of these three dimensions. China's advantage in data comes not only from its larger population, but also from the amount of access companies and the government have to user data. For example, on WeChat, users can buy groceries, book doctor's appointments, manage their electricity and water utilities, and take out microloans. There are no US companies with that level of integration into users' lives. In Silicon Valley there is a sort of stigma about copying, but in China, they are much more pragmatic, with hundreds of copycats emerging the second a startup begins to find traction. Finally the Chinese government understands that AI's influence will be felt not only in the digital world but also the physical one. It is ready to embed sensors in roads, remove red tape in medical research, etc. to get ahead in the AI race. These are things that are harder to do in a two party state like the US, where any misstep can be ammo for the opposition party. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Foxglove Studio (GitHub Repo) | Foxglove Studio is a visualization and diagnosis tool for robotics. It features interactive charts, 3D visualizations, camera imaging, and diagnostic feeds to help with a wide range of common robotics tasks. The layout can be customized to accommodate any project's unique needs and workflows. It is available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company | TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has resigned from the company just months after his appointment. The role that Mayer signed up for will change significantly due to the US Administration's decision to force the company to sell off its US business. Vanessa Pappas, TikTok's US general manager, will be the interim global head at the company. TikTok must be sold by September 15 or it will be banned in the US. The company filed a lawsuit against the US Government on Monday claiming that it was deprived of due process. If the lawsuit is successful, it could delay the ban and give TikTok more time to negotiate a better deal. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Experimental US Air Force space plane breaks previous record for orbital spaceflight | The US Air Force's Boeing-built X-37B space plane has broken its previous record for time spent in space at 719 days and counting. It was launched with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on September 2017. The plane's mission is classified, but it involves spending time in space and conducting experiments that can be returned to and examined on Earth. It is completely autonomous, with no crew on board, and it can land itself horizontally on a runway. The X-37 program began at NASA in 1999, after which it was transferred to DARPA, and finally to the US Air Force in 2004. It has flown four times, with a total of 2,085 days in space. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Uptime Kuma (GitHub Repo) | Uptime Kuma is a self-hosted monitoring tool that can monitor uptime for HTTP(s), TCP, and ping. It has a fancy UI and notifications. Screenshots are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Openpilot, its model and driving in GTA | Openpilot is an open-source self-driving car software developed by common.ai. It supports 40 of the most popular cars in the world. It is possible to control a car in GTA V using openpilot. A video of the virtual self-driving car in motion, as well as a description of how to create the set-up, is available in the article. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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CRISPR injected into the blood treats a genetic disease for first time | Medical researchers injected a CRISPR drug into the bloodstream of six people suffering from a genetic disease that causes fatal nerve and heart disease. After 28 days, three of the people showed a drop in harmful proteins on par or better than compared to the usually prescribed drug treatment. It could take months before the patients all see the effects of the treatment. There were few reported short-term side effects. The study paves the way for treating other liver diseases with CRISPR. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Universal Data Tool (GitHub Repo) | Universal Data Tool is a web app for editing and annotating images, text, audio, and documents. Users can collaborate with others in real-time, scale to tens of thousands of data points per dataset, use CSV or JSON, integrate UDT into a React application, and more. Screenshots of usage and GIF demos are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Hyundai Acquires Boston Dynamics, Company Most Famous for Robot Police Dogs | Boston Dynamics has been purchased by Hyundai in a deal valued at $1.1 billion. Softbank will retain a 20 percent stake in Boston Dynamics. It is unclear what Hyundai wants from the acquisition, but it appears the company has ambitions beyond car manufacturing. Hyundai released a video celebrating the purchase that features robot dogs in various scenarios. A link to the 1-minute video is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Tesla to start offering 'Enhanced Autopilot' for roughly half the cost of FSD | Tesla is offering Enhanced Autopilot in Australia for roughly half the price of the Full Self-Driving package. Enhanced Autopilot adds automated lane changes, on- and off-ramp navigation, Smart Summon, and AutoPark. It does not include city/town navigation with navigation skills. Enhanced Autopilot still requires the driver to maintain both hands on the wheel at all times. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Watch this amazing footage of a drone flying right through an erupting volcano in Iceland | The Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland began erupting for the first time in 800 years last Friday. It was a small eruption and no one was in danger. A drone pilot captured footage of the eruption by flying a drone right through it. The footage is available in the article. A gallery of images from the erupting volcano is also available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Introducing GitHub Super Linter | The GitHub Super Linter can lint code from any language and report any errors, the location of the error, and details about the error automatically any time a pull request is opened. It is highly customizable and comes with default rule templates. A link to the repository is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Google Fined $1.7 Billion by E.U. for Unfair Advertising Rules | The EU has fined Google 1.5 billion Euros for disproportionately displaying their ads over competitor's ads when companies used Google’s search bar on their websites. These ads undercut competitors and the EU claimed that the restrictive clauses in Google's contracts only existed to keep rivals out of the market. Google stopped the practice in 2016 but had been displaying the ads since 2006. This fine is just one of many that the EU has given to Google and other tech companies, and it highlights the need for governments to look deeper into regulations in the tech sector as the effectiveness of the fines is unclear. | 4Miscellaneous
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Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is Time's 'Person of the Year' | Elon Musk has been named Time magazine's 'Person of the Year' for 2021. The title is a marker of influence, and few individuals have had more influence than Musk in reshaping life on Earth and possibly life off Earth as well. His space flight company made history in September after launching four private passengers into orbit. SpaceX is also one of the space firms building the lunar landing systems that will carry astronauts to the moon in 2024. | 4Miscellaneous
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DNA seen through the eyes of a coder (23 minute read) | DNA is like byte-compiled code for a virtual machine called 'the nucleus'. Each cell in a body carries a full set of DNA code, but only a small amount of genes are expressed. The processes that govern how DNA is read, written, and expressed are complex. This article explains how DNA works using code as an analogy. It discusses biological concepts such as RNA, mutations, and Homeobox genes and compares them with computing concepts like bootstrapping, bugs, and Makefiles. | 4Miscellaneous
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Parliament seizes cache of Facebook internal papers | Six4Three is a software company currently in a lawsuit with Facebook. They got some internal Facebook documents regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal in the suit's discovery process, including confidential emails between Zuckerberg and senior executives. After Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly refused to testify before UK Parliament, Parliament used its legal powers to detain the CEO of Six4Three, who was in London for a business trip, sending a sergeant at arms to his hotel to force him to give up the documents. Parliament member Damian Collins who is leading the inquiry into fake news says "We are in uncharted territory. This is an unprecedented move but it's an unprecedented situation. We've failed to get answers from Facebook and we believe the documents contain information of very high public interest." Richard Allan, Facebook's VP of policy will testify before Parliament in a special session that Zuckerberg declined to attend. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Hiring Without Whiteboards (GitHub Repo) | Whiteboard interviews are where job interviewees are asked a series of CS trivia questions and judged on their competence on these on-the-spot answers. As many professionals in the IT industry understand, knowing how and where to find solutions and answers for their projects is a large part of their skillset. This GitHub repository has a large list of companies which hire potential employees through pairing on a real-world problem or through take-home exercises. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Stadia lets you play people's screenshots, and it feels kinda like the future | Stadia's State Share is a feature that allows users to share links to screenshots or video clips of their games which other players can click on to play on the captured level. Some games that feature procedural generation use this feature to allow others to share the same experience. Players have been using the feature creatively to help each other. Only a few games support the feature at the moment. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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'Black neutron star' discovery changes astronomy | Black neutron stars are astronomical objects that are more massive than collapsed stars but have less mass than black holes. They were previously thought to be impossible, but an international team of scientists has recently observed one in space, meaning that ideas on how neutron stars and black holes form will need to be rethought. It was observed colliding with a black hole using gravitational wave detectors based in the US and Italy. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Apple Acquires AI Music Startup That Can Generate Dynamic Soundtracks | Apple has acquired AI Music, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to generate personalized soundtracks and adaptive music. AI Music can generate dynamic soundtracks that change based on user interaction, for example, it can adjust its tune based on a listener's heartbeat. The company previously advertised its technology as a way for advertisers to create audio to match user context and moods. There are many ways Apple could use this technology, for example, it could provide royalty-free songs for slideshows or music for Apple Fitness+. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The Next Google (12 minute read) | The next Google will have to be more than just an input box that returns links. A new generation of search engines is being developed that takes the idea of a search engine to new directions. This article looks at new search engines and shows what they offer. It talks about Kagi, Neeva, You.com, Andi, Brave, and Goggles, and explains how these companies are innovating in the space. | 4Miscellaneous
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Virgin Hyperloop selects West Virginia to test its futuristic transport system | Virgin Hyperloop One will build a $500 million certification center in West Virginia. It will act as a center for testing, developing, and validating the technology behind the hyperloop system. The hyperloop system is still theoretical and there is no fully functioning hyperloop in the world that has been tested with human passengers. Virgin Hyperloop One has reportedly sent its magnetic levitating pod through an airless tube at speeds of up to 240 mph at its test facility north of Las Vegas. The hyperloop's theoretical maximum speed is 700 mph, which the company believes can be achieved with an additional 1.2 miles of track. Virgin Hyperloop One intends to build its first hyperloop system in India. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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New domed window to give SpaceX Dragon astronauts knockout view of Earth | As SpaceX's all-civilian Inspiration4 mission isn't visiting the International Space Station, it doesn't need a docking mechanism, allowing SpaceX to install a fishbowl-like viewing window on the Crew Dragon. The cupola will allow the crew of four to see incredible views of Earth from orbit. SpaceX aims to launch Inspiration4 on September 15, with the journey set to last for three days. The mission has been dedicated to raising funds for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Pictures of the cupola are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Uber Black launches Quiet Driver Mode | Uber Black and Uber Black SUV premium rides will now have a new ‘Quiet Mode’ feature that allows users to signal their preferences to a driver in-app. Users can now select ‘Quiet preferred’, ‘Happy to chat’, or ‘No preference’ when hailing a ride. This is a feature that has been often requested, since many users would prefer to have a quiet ride, but may not want to directly request it to a driver. Other options have also been recently added, such as a ‘Bags’ option that lets the driver know that the rider has luggage that will require the driver to pull over to help with, and a ‘Temperature control’ option that allows the customer to request that the air conditioning be set to their preferred temperature. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Airbnb announces it won’t dock employees’ pay if they go remote | Airbnb will allow the vast majority of its employees to work remotely without having to take a pay cut if they move away from the company's offices. The company had its most productive period over the last two years while working remotely. Employees will be able to live and work in over 170 countries for up to 90 days a year in each location. There will be regular team gatherings for employees to meet and connect. Airbnb plans to release two major products a year. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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