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Pluto’s dark side spills its secrets — including hints of a hidden ocean (11 minute read) | Images from Pluto taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft reveal an icy and cracked landscape and what could be signs of a hidden ocean. It has cracks deeper than the Grand Canyon scar at the surface and icy volcanoes taller than Mount Everest. New images of Pluto won't be available for at least another 30-40 years, assuming a spacecraft is sent soon. A selection of the images, as well as a 2-minute video showing a virtual reconstruction of the dwarf planet, is available in the article. The article discusses the structures on Pluto, such as its icy bladed terrain and underground ocean, and how they may have formed. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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U.S. Justice Department will not appeal AT&T, Time Warner merger after court loss | AT&T and Time Warner will no longer need to defend its merger against the US Justice Department after its victory in court on Tuesday. The court ruling denied the Justice Department’s claim that the merger would result in higher consumer prices. Previously, Trump had opposed the merger as it benefitted Time Warner’s CNN unit, which he claimed broadcasted ‘fake news’. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Japan successfully tests flying car which hovers steadily for a minute | A flying car unveiled by NEC at a facility in the city of Abiko was able to hover steadily for about a minute using its four propellors during two brief demonstrations. Japan aims to be using flying cars by 2030 to connect islands in the Mie resort area. Dubai is also aggressively pursuing the technology. Flying cars are defined as aircraft which are electric, or hybrid electric, with driverless capabilities and the ability to take off and land vertically. They are also known as EVtol, electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Compared to helicopters, they are less expensive to maintain, produce less noise, and don't require trained pilots. Uber is also launching a similar technology called Uber Air, starting demonstrator flights in 2020 and commercial operations in 2023. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Using CRISPR Genetic Technology to Catch Cancer in the Act | One of the problems with cancer is its tendency to metastasize, causing it to spread throughout the body. Tracking the moment this happens is difficult as millions of divisions happen within a tumor. Researchers have found a way to monitor these events using a modified CRISPR tool. By mapping out a family tree, scientists can track a cell's lineage to find out when a single tumor cell went rogue. Using this technique, doctors can figure out how often tumors metastasize, where the metastases come from, and where the cancer has spread to. It can reveal differences in the biology of the tumor that would be otherwise invisible. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Easegress (GitHub Repo) | Easegress is a cloud-native traffic orchestration system. It features multiple protocols, rich routing rules, meaningful and readable statistics, simple integration with other systems, and much more. Examples are available in the repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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What is Rust and why is it so popular? | Rust has been StackOverflow's most loved language for four years, but many people still don't know what it is. While Rust has its downsides, it solves pain points present in many other languages, providing a solid step forward. Rust's static typing attempts to stay out of a programmer's way while encouraging long-term maintainability. It gives developers control over memory management, resulting in more efficiency for optimized applications. Rust can be used to write extremely low-level code, such as operating system kernels or microcontroller applications. Developers don't need to focus on tiny details, as Rust tries to have as many zero-cost abstractions as possible. Rust gives developers the option to write unsafe code in order to have more control over the application. It also comes with a complete ecosystem that has plenty of libraries, complete with documentation, and a community that has created many extra development tools. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Elon Musk is going to trial for calling a cave diver a pedophile on Twitter | Elon Musk will go to court on October 22 over a tweet he sent last year in which he accused Vernon Unsworth of being a pedophile. Unsworth was part of a rescue mission which helped save the lives of a soccer team who was stuck in a cave in Thailand last year. During the rescue, Musk and Unsworth got into a brief feud over Twitter. Unsworth criticized Musk’s plans for a kid-sized submarine and Musk responded by calling Unsworth a pedophile. While an insult would not qualify as defamation, Musk went on to suggest he had evidence for the claim. A copy of the court order is available to read. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Microsoft opens its Windows store up to third-party app stores | Microsoft has opened up its app store to allow third-party apps to integrate into the Microsoft Store. Third-party storefront apps will have their own product detail pages so that users can easily find and install them. Amazon and Epic Games will be available on the Microsoft Store over the next few months. Microsoft's more open app policies have resulted in many popular apps being listed in the store. Except for games, developers are allowed to keep 100 percent of revenue from apps if they use alternate payment platforms. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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14 Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Software Engineer (10 minute read) | To be a successful software engineer, you should first understand what the job entails and what skills are required to succeed. Software engineers don't just code all day. A software engineer's responsibilities also involve leading design discussions, communicating with stakeholders, and collaborating with peers. It is important to try to get as much experience as possible on real-world teams and projects. Successful engineers usually have a vision that they are able to communicate, are detail-oriented and hardworking, and are always learning. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Bacteria live despite burial in seafloor mud for 100 million years | Researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology dug up some 100 million-year-old mud from the seafloor, and after adding some food to it, they discovered ancient bacteria still living in the mud. The sample was taken from deep sediments in the middle of the South Pacific where extremely little organic matter is available for life to grow on. The mud still contained oxygen, nitrates, and phosphates due to the lack of food. Researchers believe that the bacterial communities had slowed their metabolism and have been present in the mud for over 100 million years. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Belgian-Dutch child prodigy gets bachelor’s degree in physics at age 11: “Immortality is my goal” | A child prodigy from Belgium has obtained his bachelor's degree in physics at the age of 11. It only took Laurent Simons a year to complete the three-year degree. Simons wants to replace as many of his own body parts as possible with mechanical parts in a quest for immortality. He has already mapped out a path to his goal. Simons will now obtain his master's degree in physics while working on his Ph.D. at the same time. | 4Miscellaneous
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Tesla is seeking $167 million in damages from the former employee Elon Musk accused of sabotage | Tesla is suing former employee Martin Tripp for $167 million, saying that he had illegally exported data and made false claims to reporters, materially impacting their stock price. Tripp did a bunch of interviews earlier this year saying that Tesla engaged in poor manufacturing practices, and that it may have used damaged battery modules in Model 3s. In July, he filed a complaint with the SEC alleging that Tesla made "material omissions and misstatements" to investors about its manufacturing practices. Elon Musk called him a "saboteur" in a company wide email earlier this year. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Dutch surgeon wins landmark 'right to be forgotten' case | A Dutch surgeon won a case that forced Google to remove mentions of her medical negligence from their search results. The judge said that while information about her 2014 negligence on a web forum was correct, it had her name on a blacklist suggesting she was unfit to treat people, which was not what the disciplinary panel said (she only had a minor disciplinary action). About 3 million Europeans have asked to have links removed from search engines under the EU's "right to be forgotten" law. | 4Miscellaneous
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Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin, plans to accept it as payment | Tesla announced that it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The company plans to start accepting payments in bitcoin in exchange for its products, making it the first automaker to do so. Tesla had more than $19 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2020, making the purchase a significant percentage of its cash. The move raises questions around Elon Musk's recent behavior on Twitter, where he has been posting positive messages about bitcoin and dogecoin. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Helping autonomous vehicles see around corners | A team of engineers at MIT have developed a system called ShadowCam that can sense changes in shadows to determine if there is a moving object coming around the corner. The system can be used in autonomous cars to quickly avoid potential collisions. ShadowCam was able to detect approaching vehicles and stop faster than traditional LiDAR systems by more than half a second. It has only been tested in indoor settings where speeds are limited and lighting conditions are consistent. ShadowCam works by detecting changes in light intensity over time, which may indicate object movement. Early versions of ShadowCam required the use of simplified QR codes for the camera to determine its location, but later versions used Direct Sparse Odometry, a technique that is able to plot features of an environment on a 3D point cloud. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Best Practices for Writing a Dockerfile | Docker has revolutionized the way we use Containers by allowing anyone to use Containers without dealing with any of the advanced topics related to it. This article discusses best practices for developing better Containers. It covers identifying cacheable units, reducing image size, image maintainability, and reproducibility. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The World's Coldest Inhabited Place Is Burning Because of 'Zombie Fires' | Zombie fires are burning in Russia’s Oymyakon region, the world's coldest inhabited place. Zombie fires are fires that have stayed burning underground. They are linked to climate change. Fires burned through 18.16m hectares of forest in the region in May and the area saw its warmest-ever June this year. A video from the area showing smoke coming out from under snow and ice is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Radial Menu (GitHub Repo) | Radial Menu is a highly customizable radial menu. It only requires a few lines of code to set up and every part of the menu can be changed, including the rotation, color, style, icons, and size of the buttons. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Spotify confirms it paid $56 million for Parcast, taking its total podcast acquisition value to $400 million | Spotify has confirmed the $56 million cost to acquire Parcast, a story-based podcasting studio that it purchased last month. This is the third podcasting studio that Spotify has purchased in less than two months. Spotify purchased Gimlet and Anchor earlier this year for a confirmed amount of $344 million. In the Q4 shareholder letter, Spotify had notified investors that it had budgeted $500 million for similar purchases in 2019, so there may still be more acquisitions on the way. Podcasting is a major focus for Spotify and they are developing solutions to maximize ad revenue from the platform. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Food delivery startup Wonder valued at $3.5B after $350M funding round | Wonder Distribution is a new food delivery startup that operates a network of truck-based restaurants. Users can order food using a mobile app. Wonder's trucks drive to a location near the customer's home to prepare the food to ensure fresh deliveries. The company operates at least 60 restaurants in four New Jersey towns. Wonder has raised about $900 million in debt and equity financing since its launch. It has invested heavily in making its restaurants more efficient. The startup plans to make its service available nationwide by 2035 and eventually expand into new market segments. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The UN just unveiled a design for a new floating city that can withstand Category 5 hurricanes | The UN has unveiled a design for a floating city that can withstand natural disasters. It consists of connected hexagonal platforms, each housing 300 residents, that connect into bigger villages with around 10,000 residents, an ideal number for each village to achieve full autonomy. There will be no cars, and rubbish will be collected through pneumatic tubes and sent directly to a sorting facility to be repurposed. Food will be obtained through ocean farming and the goal is for the cities to be completely self-sufficient. While the cities will be floating, they will still be moored to the ocean floor. The designers recognize that most people will continue to live on land, but the concept of living on the ocean will still appeal to many. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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SpaceX launches latest batch of internet satellites, including one with a visor | SpaceX has successfully launched and recovered its Falcon 9 rocket for the fifth time, deploying 60 satellites into orbit before landing back on the company's drone ship in the Atlantic. SpaceX has launched just over 480 Starlink satellites into orbit, a fraction of the 12,000 satellites that the company has permission to launch. The company aims to provide global internet coverage from space. One of the satellites on the launch was equipped with a visor that was designed to block light from the sun, keeping the light from reflecting off the shiniest parts of the satellite. The satellites' brightness has been a concern for the astronomy community. SpaceX is experimenting with different methods to fix the problem. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 in Two Locations
Image | According to "people familiar with the decision-making process", Amazon now plans to have its second headquarters split into two different locations with 25,000 employees each. Inside sources say that Amazon is close to deals with the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens and Crystal City, Virginia, an urban neighborhood south of downtown Washington DC. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says "I am doing everything I can...I'll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that's what it takes. Because it would be a great economic boost." | 1Big Tech & Startups
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A Bee Cloned Itself Millions of Times Over the Last 30 Years | Female worker South African Cape honeybees can clone themselves, with at least one bee being cloned many millions of times over 30 years. They can clone themselves without experiencing the changes typically seen in reproduction. Clones can sometimes develop into a type of queen, leading to increased levels of dysfunction as the workers lay eggs and do not work for the hive. When a colony dies, the cloning workers spread to the next colony. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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India approves world's first DNA Covid vaccine | ZyCoV-D, a DNA vaccine against Covid-19, has been approved for emergency use in India. DNA vaccines, similar to other vaccines, teach the immune system to fight the real virus. They give the body information to make a fragment of the spike protein to trigger an immune response. DNA vaccines are used in animals, but they have been ineffective in humans in the past. ZyCoV-D is 66 percent effective in preventing symptomatic disease after three doses. It is administered using a needle-free injector. The vaccine is stable at temperatures -2C to 8C, making it easy to store and transport. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Sony announces the world’s first QD-OLED 4K TV, coming later this year | Sony's new Bravia XR A95K TV will include a QD-OLED panel manufactured by Samsung Display. It will be the world's first consumer TV with a Quantum Dot Organic Light Emitting Diode display. QD-OLED screens emit blue light through quantum dots to convert some of the blues into red and green without the need for a color filter. This results in greater light energy efficiency and vivid color reproduction even at peak brightness levels. Pictures of the TV are available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Uber reaches tentative settlement with drivers arbitrating over employment status and expense reimbursement | Uber has tentatively agreed to pay out 11 cents per mile driven for Uber to 160,000 drivers in nine states who have been seeking to be classified as employees instead of independent contractors in order to get compensated for expenses like gas and vehicle maintenance. They also complained that Uber wouldn't allow them to take tips (Uber introduced this functionality in June of 2017, collecting $600 million in tips in just one year). The settlement is tentative based on getting enough drivers to sign the agreement. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The world finally has an approved vaccine against Ebola | Europe has granted approval for the world's first Ebola vaccine. Ervebo was developed in 2014 and has been used during the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo based on a compassionate use protocol. The current outbreak in the DRC is the second-largest recorded, with nearly 3,300 cases and 2,200 deaths. Preliminary vaccine data shows that Ervebo is 97.5 percent effective at preventing Ebola. It protects against one of the four species of Ebola known to infect humans. The vaccine is expected to be approved in the US in the first half of 2020. Ervebo has been prequalified by the World Health Organization, which means that it meets WHO standards for safety, quality, and effectiveness. Five years ago, there was no vaccine or therapeutics for Ebola. The disease is now preventable and treatable. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Reddit is adding new real-time features, including a live upvote count | Reddit is rolling out new real-time features. Users will soon be able to see the number of upvotes, downvotes, and comments go up or down as they happen. The number of users reading a post will be shown when five or more people are viewing it and an indicator will pop up when two or more users are typing a comment. A pill-shaped notification will now appear when a new top-level comment is made. The changes will be available for mobile and users of the new desktop Reddit design. Old Reddit users will not have access to the new features. A GIF showing what the new features look like on mobile is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Samsung announces the Galaxy Z Fold 2 with bigger screens and better cameras | The new Galaxy Z fold 2 handset was officially announced at Samsung's Unpacked event. It features a new camera system, a Snapdragon 865 Plus processor, a larger external display, and hole-punch cameras. The front display is now a full-size 6.2-inch screen and the main display has been increased to 7.6 inches. The folding OLED screen now runs at up to a 120Hz refresh rate. Samsung has switched from plastic for the screens to ultra-thin glass. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 will come in two colors and a limited edition. More information will be available on September 1st. Images are available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Uber will start putting ads on top of some of its vehicles | Uber has partnered with Adomni, an ad-tech company that will start placing ads on Uber vehicles from April 1. Around 1,000 vehicles will feature rooftop ads during the initial rollout. Uber's car-top ad displays will respond to both location and time of day. Drivers in Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta will receive $300 to install the roof displays and an additional $100 per week if they drive more than 20 hours. It is unknown how permanent the displays will be and whether they could potentially damage the vehicle. Lyft has recently acquired Halo cars, a startup that specializes in installing rooftop ads on cars. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Better JSON in Postgres with PostgreSQL 14 | PostgreSQL 14 introduces changes that make it easier than ever to use JSONB. JSONB compresses data and does not preserve white space, unlike JSON. It also comes with better indexing ability. Examples of how the new changes make JSONB more user-friendly are available in the article. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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minimalRL-pytorch (GitHub Repo) | minimalRL-pytorch is a collection of pytorch-based implementations of basic RL algorithms with minimal lines of code. Each algorithm is complete within a single file, contains around 100-150 lines of code, and can be trained within 30 seconds without a GPU. minimalRL-pytorch can only be run on Python 3. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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My startup failed. Then I found out I was unemployable | Moving from working on your own startup to working for a company can be a challenge, especially when a lot of your skills are self-taught. Self-educated developers may find themselves struggling with tech interviews. Many companies try to justify lower pay for their workers, but in the end, employment might not be the best solution. One option is to work on temporary contracts with clear boundaries and compensation. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine shows positive results, moves to larger studies | Moderna, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based vaccine manufacturer has completed phase 1 clinical trials on a COVID-19 vaccine candidate with encouraging early results. The trial had 45 participants, eight who developed neutralizing antibodies at levels seen in patients who had recovered from COVID-19. Phase 1 trials are designed to evaluate the safety of a drug rather than to measure its effectiveness. The only side effect of the vaccine was a redness in the area where the person was injected. Antibodies that the patients developed were effective at limiting viral replication in the lab. Moderna is using a messenger RNA vaccine approach that has never been marketed in the USA. Phase 2 trials are now underway and Moderna expects to begin a phase 3 clinical trial as early as July. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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T-Mobile launches long-promised 5G home internet service | T-Mobile's 5G home internet service is now available for 30 million homes in the US, 10 million of which are in rural areas. There will be no data caps, hardware rental fees, or annual contracts. Customers will be able to self-install the equipment. While there are no data limits, customers are still subject to data slowdowns during times of network congestion. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales top $38 billion | Alibaba reported $38.4 billion of sales during its Singles' Day event. Singles' Day is China's equivalent to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Alibaba invested in weeks of aggressive advertising and promotions prior to the event, with ads including celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian. Before the event, Alibaba had to tune its business so that it could handle the upcoming increase in sales. One of the improvements was in its logistics network. Alibaba recently announced an additional $3.3 billion investment into Cainiao, a logistics unit that Alibaba co-founded six years ago. It is currently facing competition from JD.com and Pinduoduo. Singles day is an event that falls on November 11 every year that is dedicated to people who are not in a relationship. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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A Self-Driving Bicycle Is Something To Marvel At | A YouTuber recently unveiled a self-driving bicycle that can hold itself perfectly upright even while balanced on a fence rail. It can drive itself without a rider using an onboard camera and LIDAR system. The 11-minute video showing off the bike is in the article. It is in Mandarin with no subtitles or translation. | 4Miscellaneous
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Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this? (Hacker News Thread) | A career at Google as a software engineer can cause some people to become complacent. Leaving the company would mean grinding at other startups or companies, some of which have much higher standards for work and hiring than Google. While working at Google might be less stimulating, there are many benefits, such as the pay. There is no need to hustle, so your free time can be spent however you want. It may be boring, but it is a safe and profitable option. | 4Miscellaneous
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Clay.CSS (GitHub Website) | Clay.CSS is a micro CSS util class for applying 3D claymorphism styles to elements. It is fully customizable and extensible with CSS variables. SASS mixin is supported. Examples are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Shrimp made from algae that looks and tastes like the real thing (4 minute video) | This is a cool video from a company called New Wave Foods, showing off their shrimp replacement product made from algae that definitely looks (and supposedly smells and tastes) like real shrimp! | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Baby Shark is the first YouTube video to surpass 10 billion views | Baby Shark is the first YouTube video to surpass 10 billion views. The second most-viewed video is Despacito with 7.7 billion views. Baby Shark now has a show on Nickelodeon, a movie, and NFTs. | 4Miscellaneous
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‘Zero-Click’ Hacks Are Growing in Popularity. There’s Practically No Way to Stop Them (11 minute read) | Zero-click hacks are being used more frequently by government agencies to spy on activists, journalists, and others. The technology is being sold to governments by a small number of companies and in marketplaces such as Zerodium. It is unknown how many people have been targeted by these attacks and the victims are often unaware. The spread of encryption has made it hard for governments to monitor people's conversations. Sometimes, the only way investigators can get access to encrypted communications is through hacking. | 4Miscellaneous
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Bolt (GitHub Repo) | Bolt is an algorithm for compressing vectors of real-valued data and running mathematical operations directly on the compressed representations. It can help save significantly on compute time for large collections of mostly-dense vectors. Bolt currently only supports x86 machines from fall 2013 or later. Benchmarks are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Digital Overload: Average Adult Will Spend 34 Years Of Their Life Staring At Screens | The results from a poll of 2,000 British adults found that the average person will spend 34 years looking at phones, computers, or televisions. Over half of respondents to the survey reported eye strain, but four out of 10 people said they would rarely stop to rest their vision. The average adult starts looking at a screen within 20 minutes of getting out of bed, with almost a third switching on a device within five minutes. More time is being spent in front of PCs than TVs. It is recommended that people take a break from looking at their screens every 20 minutes, look away for 20 seconds, and focus on something that is at least 20 feet away. | 4Miscellaneous
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craft.js (GitHub Repo) | Craft.js is a React framework for building drag and drop page editors. It allows you to create custom page editors without having to modify the library itself in order to change the user interface and behavior. Examples of page editors built with Craft.js are linked in the repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Sleep-streaming is the new trend on TikTok, Twitch | Sleep-streams are becoming more popular, allowing some creators to make money by filming themselves sleeping on platforms such as TikTok and Twitch. Many of these viewers might not actually be watching the streams, but are instead using the opportunity to join the live chat section to talk to each other without distraction. One of the most popular Twitch videos ever shows a user passing out during stream. A Twitch streamer recently made $5,500 from media share donations and subscriptions after posting a sleep-stream of himself. Sleep-streaming has trended in the past, for example, on YouNow back in 2015. | 4Miscellaneous
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SiriControl (GitHub Repo) | SiriControl allows developers to write custom voice modules for Siri, adding voice controlled capability to any project. It works by syncing commands with Google notes and it is able to be run on any computer with Python installed. It can be used in conjunction with Raspberry Pi to control almost any device from anywhere in the world, as long as it has an internet connection. Users do not need to install any additional hardware and minimal setup is required. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Facebook refuses to pay revenue to Australian media | The Australian government is attempting to draft legislation to force Facebook and Google to share advertising revenue they earn from news featured on their services. Leading news publishers have demanded that 10% of the revenue that these platforms make each year from news content should be given to local news organizations. Facebook has rejected calls to share its advertising revenue with the media. News sites represent a very small fraction of the content in an average user's news feed, so the impact of removing news sites from Facebook would be minimal. Google has rejected the demands, saying that it made barely $10 million a year from news-linked advertising. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Zoom Earth (Website) | This website provides near real-time satellite images. Users can adjust the time, search for locations, and view recent images of storms, wildfires, property, and more. The data is gathered from a variety of international sources. | 4Miscellaneous
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A Russian scientist has threatened to make more CRISPR babies | Russian scientist Denis Rebrikov has said in an interview that he is trying to gain approval to create gene-edited babies. He wants to create humans with natural resistance to HIV. Last year, an experiment in China attempted to create humans with genetic resistance to HIV by removing the CCR5 gene. While the CCR5 gene has been associated with HIV resistance, studies have also shown that the gene also moderates cognition and life span. Rebrikov is not known for his work on gene editing, and his name only appears on one paper where gene editing was applied to embryos. The rules for creating gene-modified babies in Russia are unclear, and Rebrikov hopes to take advantage of this to gain approval to carry out the procedure. He believes that he can improve on the experiments carried out in China. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Uber Rewards is rolling out. Here’s how the perks work | Uber's rewards program is now available in most major cities across the US. It will roll out internationally once it's nailed the user experience. Perks include Uber credits, priority support, no surge pricing, and high rollers can even get a dedicated 24/7 phone support line. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Elon Musk has a ticket to ride on Richard Branson’s spaceplane | Elon Musk bought a ticket to space from Virgin Galactic before Richard Branson's flight on Sunday. Virgin Galactic has sold around 600 tickets for SpaceShipTwo. Musk is friends with Branson. Buying the ticket was a friendly endorsement of Virgin Galactic's rocket-powered plane. SpaceX has its first astronaut mission in September. It will be a longer trip into orbit. A picture of Musk and Branson together hanging out the morning before Branson went to space is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Face to Emoji (Twitter Video) | This seven second video demonstrates a facial recognition app that converts facial expressions into emojis. In the video, a man is seen making several facial expressions with the corresponding emoji displayed below. A link to the web app is available. | 4Miscellaneous
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hacker-laws (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains a collection of laws that people discuss when talking about development. It contains an overview of each law and provides examples and reference materials for further learning. Laws discussed include the Dunning-Kruger Effect, the Premature Optimization Effect, Cunningham's Law, and much more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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‘Mind-blowing’: Ai-Da becomes first robot to paint like an artist | Ai-Da is a humanoid robot that can paint traditionally. It was created in 2019 by a team of programmers, roboticists, art experts, and psychologists. The robot can paint, sketch, and create poems. Ai-Da will premier a solo exhibition at the 2022 Venice Biennale on April 22. Pictures of Ai-Da and examples of art created by the robot are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Facebook’s redesign goes live with simplified navigation and dark mode | Facebook's redesign is finally official and will be rolling out to users this week. The redesign focuses on simplicity, taking cues from the mobile app. One of the most anticipated features of the redesign is its dark mode for desktop. The redesign makes it easier to create groups, pages, and ads. Facebook is open to receiving feedback, which can be sent via the Settings menu. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Scientists Discover Massive 'Space Hurricane' Above Earth | Space hurricanes are similar to regular hurricanes, except that they occur at a much higher altitude and rain electrons instead of water. The first observation of a space hurricane was spotted by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program in August 2014. It stretched across 1,000 kilometers above Earth's northern magnetic pole for nearly eight hours. Many more space hurricanes have been discovered since, and they are likely a universal phenomenon, occurring at other planets and their moons. | 4Miscellaneous
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World's First Underground Hotel is Set to Open Next Month Outside Shanghai | Shanghai's Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland is a five star hotel that will be almost entirely underground. The top two floors will be covered in lush green grass, while the remaining 16 floors will extend underground into a mountain quarry. The hotel will have 383 rooms and cover 49,409 square meters. There will be a cascading waterfall at the top of the quarry, and the mountain itself will allow for the hotel to provide bungee jumping and rock climbing activities for the guests. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Quantum: Handover for fully flexible satellite | Traditionally, satellites have been hardware products that can't be reconfigured after launch. Quantum is the first fully software-defined spacecraft. Instead of being built to serve one particular niche, it can be reprogrammed on the fly. The UK Space Agency says "Having assets in space that are flexible and can meet changing needs is absolutely essential, and that has underpinned the UK Space Agency's investment strategy in telecoms over the last few years." | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Jim Lanzone breaks up with Tinder, swipes right to take the CEO job at Yahoo, Renate Nyborg takes Tinder CEO role | Jim Lanzone, the current CEO of Tinder, has been appointed the new CEO for Yahoo under Apollo Global. Apollo recently acquired Yahoo for $5 billion from Verizon. Lanzone was at Tinder for 14 months. His appointment implies that Apollo may be interested in making Yahoo into a more profitable operation. Renate Nyborg will take over the role of CEO at Tinder. Nyborg met her husband on the dating app and has a very long track record in tech. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Would you be interested in a crypto version of TLDR?
I'm seeing a ton of interesting crypto stories like the SOS airdrop and this Avalanche development tutorial but I don't want the whole newsletter to be flooded with crypto content, so if you'd be interested in a separate smaller version of TLDR that is only crypto tech and programming news, could you please fill out the above form so I can see if this is something worth creating? Thanks!
) | I'm seeing a ton of interesting crypto stories like the SOS airdrop and this Avalanche development tutorial but I don't want the whole newsletter to be flooded with crypto content, so if you'd be interested in a separate smaller version of TLDR that is only crypto tech and programming news, could you please fill out the above form so I can see if this is something worth creating? Thanks! | 4Miscellaneous
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BioNTech mRNA Cancer Treatment Moved To Human Trials After Huge Success In Mice | BioNTech has been testing the use of mRNA vaccines against cancer. Animal trials have shown great promise, so the technology is now in human trials to see if they can bring the same success. Cytokines are proteins with anti-tumor effects. Research has shown that they can shrink tumors and even eradicate them, but they have a short half-life, and high levels of cytokines in the body results in adverse effects. The experimental vaccines encode cytokines directly into the tumors, creating them in large quantities without adverse effects. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Amazon's latest advertising play involves free samples delivered right to your door | As part of its push into advertising, Amazon is now sending free samples of products to customers based on their order history and profile data. Amazon's website says "Amazon surprises select customers with samples that we think will be delightful and helpful." You don't have to purchase or review anything and you can opt out of the program anytime you want. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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America’s first CRISPR trial is still nearly 100% effective 3 years on | Follow-up results from one of the longest-running human trials using CRISPR technology suggest that the treatment is both safe and effective up to three years after treatment. The trial, which started in 2019, focused on treating two rare blood diseases. It demonstrated 100% success. The treatment has been given a Fast Track designation by the FDA and could be authorized for public use in early 2023. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China Breeds Polar Bear-Sized Pigs as Pork Prices Surge | African Swine Fever has taken a major toll on China's pork supply over the past 14 months. Farmers are now breeding pigs for their size, aiming to make them as big as possible. A farmer in Nanning is breeding pigs the size of polar bears. The swine weigh approximately 500 kilograms and can sell for more than RMB10,000 each. Farmers in China are encouraged to produce more pigs in order to ensure stable market supply. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Tesla Cybertruck To Join Dubai Police Fleet In 2020 | Tesla's Cybertruck will be joining Dubai's police fleet in 2020. A photo of a modified Cybertruck with the official livery of the Dubai police force was posted on the organization's Twitter account. Dubai's police fleet includes models like the Bugatti Veyron, Aston Martin One-77, BMW i8, Ferrari LaFerrari, Lamborghini Aventador, Lykan HyperSport, and many others. The Cybertruck is a purpose-built pickup truck with off-road capability, a futuristic design, seating for 6, and an electric powertrain that offers a maximum range of over 800 km. Its cabin has a 17-inch touchscreen interface, and its cargo bay is 6.5 feet long with a storage space of about 100 cubic feet. The pickup has a maximum towing capacity of 6,350 kg and a 0-100 km per hour sprint time of about three seconds. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Twitter is now letting developers add labels to bot accounts | Twitter is now letting developers add labels to their bot accounts. The feature has been in testing since September and was meant to be rolled out by the end of 2022. Automated account owners can now opt in to have the label applied to their account. Twitter won't be auditing the accounts that apply for the new label. The company is also working on implementing a label to memorialize people who have died. | 4Miscellaneous
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JSONAPI.CO (Website) | JSONAPI.CO is a service that provides a range of free hosted APIs. Categories include Users, Products (Amazon), and Images (Instagram). All HTTP methods are supported and the service provides proper HTTP status codes with every API. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Google Maps tests a social networking feature with the ability to ‘follow’ Local Guides | Google Maps will soon test a new feature that allows users to follow top Local Guides. Local Guides gives the most active Maps contributors a special status and a variety of perks. If users choose to follow a Local Guide, the Guides' recommendations will be displayed when using Google Maps. The recommendations will mainly feature photos. Users will have to click through in order to see written reviews. It will be trialed in nine cities. Google's focus with Local Guides seems to be engagement and quantity of reviews, rather than review accuracy or quality. There is no set date for the launch of the feature. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Why Senior Engineers Hate Coding Interviews | The industry-standard way of interviewing software engineers is broken and works against interviewees. They take a ton of prep time, the environments that engineers are tested in are usually different from how they work most effectively, they don't usually test for the job that the candidate will do, and they send a bad message about the company's work culture. A better option for testing a software engineer's coding ability would be to give them a short take-home assignment. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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"Turbo-charged" coral to breathe new life into the Great Barrier Reef | Severe bleaching events have led to the widespread death of coral in the Great Barrier Reef. Researchers at Australia's Southern Cross University are planning to put millions of 'turbo-charged' coral babies into the reef's most degraded areas. Scientists collected millions of coral sperm and eggs during the most recent mass spawning event and co-cultured the coral larvae with a type of algae called zooxanthellae. This greatly increased the chances of the coral surviving. The algae gives the coral the potential to acquire more energy and possess higher thermal tolerance. If this technique is successful, it could serve as a blueprint for reef restoration efforts around the world. Scaling the operation will require a lot of work. The current method is only able to patch up small parts of a reef, rather than whole kilometers. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Uncanny Music Box (Web Tool) | Happy Halloween folks! This is an AI based tool by MIT's media lab trained on thousands of soundtracks from cult horror movies in order to create new spooky music. You can use sliders to add in your own sound effects as well. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Redditors Aim to 'Free Science' From For-Profit Publishers | Sci-Hub is a site that gives free access to a huge database of scientific papers that would otherwise be locked behind a paywall. It has been the target of multiple lawsuits. Members of the subreddit DataHoarder have come together to archive the 77TB of data that is on the site. They aim to have approximately 8,500 people torrenting the papers and to create a new uncensorable website. The subreddit community has previously completed a similar mission by archiving 33TB of data from Library Genesis. Much of the science published in these articles is publicly funded. | 4Miscellaneous
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Intel Core i7-12800H CPU outperforms Apple M1 Max in new benchmark | Intel’s Alder Lake Intel Core i7-12800H features 14 cores and 20 threads. Recent benchmarks show that it outperforms Apple's M1 Max chip in single-core performance, with Apple's chip showing a slight edge in multi-core runs. While Intel's processor received noteworthy scores across the board, it has a distinct core and thread advantage over the M1 Max. Intel's Alder Lake-P chips will likely outperform previous generations by over 30%. | 4Miscellaneous
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JavaScript Performance in the Wild 2020 (14 minute read) | This article analyzes the top 1 million pages on the web to find out what makes the web slow. A scripted web browser was used to browse to the root page of the top 1 million domains and log render times, request counts, repaints, JavaScript errors, libraries used, and other data. The analysis provided support for several optimization tricks, such as making as few requests as possible, using HTTP2 or greater, and avoiding render blocking requests and using async where possible. JQuery is the most popular library, but the data says it significantly slows down performance. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Build In-App Chat + Feeds, Faster (Sponsor) | Stream Chat makes it easy to add a powerful messaging experience to any dev project, with free UI kit downloads and customizable components for 5 popular use cases: livestream chat, team collaboration, social messaging, customer support, and gaming. Try for Free! | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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ConsoleMe (GitHub Repo) | ConsoleMe makes AWS easier for end-users and cloud administrators. It consolidates the management of multiple accounts into a single web interface. ConsoleMe is extensible and there is a basic set of plugins available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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How Did the Feds Seize the Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Bitcoins? | The United States Department of Justice claims to have recovered 63.7 of the 75 bitcoins paid as a ransom when Colonial Pipeline was hit with a ransomware attack in early May. While an FBI official has told reporters that the FBI can get access to anyone's bitcoin no matter where it is, that claim is impossible unless the FBI has created a usable quantum computer without anyone knowing about it. It is more likely that the coins were sent to an exchange or server within the US where they were seized. | 4Miscellaneous
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Snapchat releases rebuilt Android app | Snap has finally released a version of its Android app that has been rebuilt from scratch in order to bring it on par with its iOS counterpart. There have been almost no changes to the look and feel of the app, but it should be faster, less laggy, and have fewer bugs than the previous version. Future updates for Android will be easier to write and it is possible that the Android version may receive new features faster than iOS. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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China Claims To Have World’s Most Powerful Quantum Computer, Tops Google | A group of researchers in China have developed a quantum computer that was able to solve a problem with 56 of its 66 qubits, breaking Google's record from 2019. The computer is able to manipulate up to 66 qubits at the same time. It solved a problem in 70 minutes that would have taken the world's most powerful classical supercomputer eight years to solve. The research has yet to be peer-reviewed. | 4Miscellaneous
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Here’s What Happens When an Algorithm Determines Your Work Schedule | Rosters have always been an issue for businesses, especially those in the retail, hospitality, and foodservice industries. Employees in these industries often work long and unpredictable hours. Work rosters are being increasingly scheduled by algorithms that analyze seasonal sales patterns, customer trends, and even the weather to organize staff rosters. Workers claim that automated scheduling systems are making them miserable. The algorithms often fail to consider the needs of an employee the way that a human manager would. As the algorithms are essentially a black box, it is unknown whether any considerations are ever made in favor of workers. Trained algorithms are often biased towards the data they are trained on. If the data had been trained based on decisions made by someone who was prejudiced against a certain group, the resulting model will also tend to be prejudiced against these groups. Labor laws have not caught up yet to this development in technology. | 4Miscellaneous
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A New Hurricane-Resistant Floating Solar Farm Could Help Replace Fossil Fuels | The Demonstrator is a solar platform from SolarDuck that can withstand the hurricane forces experienced in and around Bermuda and Florida. It is optimized for natural harbors, estuaries, and other near-shore regions. These types of platforms could help power many significant communities around the equator, where there is constant sun but low wind, making wind power impractical. SolarDuck aims to eventually build a plant that can generate 10-MW, which will require 100 platforms connected together. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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URL Pages (GitHub Repo) | URL pages works by storing the entire contents of a webpage in the URL. This means that the page will exist as long as the URL is valid. The main page takes the encoded data from the URL and decodes it to be displayed for the user. The editor encodes the page into a URL format which can be shared. It is suggested that users use a link shortening service as links can get quite long. A bookmarklet is available that encodes existing pages into the URL pages format. URL pages is a proof of concept project, and not all pages will display correctly when converted. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Hello (Web Tool) | Hello is a super simple video chat tool that works without any sign up, you just go to the URL and it will give you a share link to invite any friends you want to the chat. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Chinese vlogger who used filter to look younger caught in live-stream glitch | A technical glitch has revealed that a popular Chinese vlogger is actually a middle-aged woman, rather than the young glamorous girl that she portrayed. This has sparked discussions about standards of beauty across the country's social media platforms. With more than 100,000 followers, the vlogger solicited gifts from her fans, with some fans giving her more than US $14,533. After the revelation, many fans stopped following her and withdrew their transactions. The use of face filters during live-streaming is common in China. Live-streamers in China are discouraged from broadcasting publicly and are extremely restricted in what they can say. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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First details leak on Project Iris, Google’s next AR headset | Google is developing a new augmented reality headset that it plans to ship sometime in 2024. Project Iris will be wireless and use external cameras to send an augmented image of the real world to the user. It will use cloud computing to handle graphics processing. The current prototypes resemble a pair of ski goggles. Around 300 employees are working on the project. As with all research and development projects at Google, Project Iris may not result in a mainstream product. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Ask HN: Which tech stack is the most fun? (Hacker News thread) | The developer experience can affect how much you enjoy your job. In this thread, the original poster asks what tech stacks are currently most enjoyable for developers to work with. The thread has plenty of recommendations for tech stacks for all areas of development, as well as advice on how to set up projects so that they are more enjoyable to work with, regardless of the language or stack used. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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First Look at Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta and it looks just insane | Tesla's Full Self-Driving Beta software update has gone live, and some owners who are testing it have been sharing videos. Several of the videos are in the article. The new update delivers a virtually feature-complete self-driving system. Drivers are still required to constantly monitor the vehicle or risk accidents. Only a limited number of Tesla owners have received the early access program, though more people will receive it in the coming weeks. The system is expected to improve as more people use it. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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1st person in US gets experimental coronavirus vaccine | An experimental COVID-19 vaccine has started human clinical trials in Seattle. Over the next six weeks, 45 participants will test the safety of the vaccine as well as its ability to induce an immune response. The new vaccine was fast-tracked into clinical trials without testing on animal models. Once the trial ends, it will still need to go through two more testing stages before it can be used by the public. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Huemint (Website) | Huemint is a color palette generator for brands, websites, and graphics. It uses machine learning to create unique color schemes and then applies the palette to stock product and branding images. Users can adjust the generation mode, level of creativity, colors, and other parameters. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Theoretical interview questions (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains a list of questions for data science interviews. Questions are labeled according to difficulty. Sections include Linear regression, Validation, Classification, Random forest, Gradient boosting, and more. The repository is still a work in progress and many questions have not yet been answered. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Apple removes app used in Hong Kong protests after pressure from China | Apple has removed HKmap.live from its App store, stating that it had consulted with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau and found that the app was being used to target police and commit crimes. HKmap.live is an app that crowdsources information from users and public sources to mark the locations of police and inform about street closures. It has been widely used by Hong Kong residents during the ongoing pro-democracy protests this year. The developers of HKmap.live said that there was no evidence to support the CSTCB's accusations and that the app never solicited, promoted, or encouraged criminal activity. Apps like Waze, which similarly allow users to track the locations of police checkpoints, remain available on the App Store. The web version of HKmap.live is still accessible on the iPhone. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Square Inc. Co-Founder Tristan O’Tierney Dies at 35 | Tristan O’Tierney, co-founder of Square Inc passed away on February 23 after experiencing kidney failure and cardiac arrest, most likely related to his addictions. There is no official public diagnosis. O’Tierney, a former engineer at Yahoo and Apple, was hired to develop Square’s original mobile payment app in 2009, where he stayed until 2013. O’Tierney publicly announced in 2017 that he was struggling with addiction. | 4Miscellaneous
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How Apple learned automation can't match human skill | Apple's previous attempts at automating its production lines have always ended up with the company reverting to using skilled human beings instead. The company has spent years and millions of dollars on automating its production lines. Apple's attempts to automate its processes failed as it was difficult to fix problems when they arose. The machines were not as attentive to detail as humans or able to diagnose problems to the level required by Apple. Yearly product redesigns also meant that automated factory lines would have to be updated often. As a result of these issues, Apple continues to use human labor. Other companies, such as Tesla and Boeing, have also attempted and abandoned automation for similar reasons. | 4Miscellaneous
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Fortnite’s Marshmello concert was a bizarre and exciting glimpse of the future | A concert was held in the popular game Fortnite, and it was an interesting experience for millions of users in attendance. Users were transported to a special concert location in the game, where EDM producer Marshmello played a live 10 minute set. Epic games was able to create a new virtual experience that brought together millions of players to enjoy the visually impressive event - which then turned into a killing field as soon as it ended. | 4Miscellaneous
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Is This the Hottest Market on Earth? (Sponsor) | Is This the Hottest Market on Earth? . The global wealth of billionaires has soared by $5 trillion since the pandemic and they know what they want: art. A lot more. With some works selling for 15X | 0Sponsor
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Instagram is testing a TikTok-like full-screen feed | Instagram is experimenting with full-screen vertical home feeds. The feed is designed to make video more immersive as part of the platform's response to TikTok. Instagram has changed its ranking algorithm to reward original content over reposted content. It has been investing in creator tools to bring more creators to its platform. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Magazine Layout (GitHub Repo) | This is a nifty open source library from AirBNB that makes it really easy to display images in a grid on iOS. If you're making anything that needs a nice directory layout like AirBNB this library looks pretty cool. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Darling (Website) | Darling can run macOS software directly on Linux without using a hardware emulator. It implements a complete Darwin environment and attempts to fully integrate apps so they run like native Linux apps. Darling currently only has experimental support for simple graphical applications. It does not violate Apple's EULA. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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