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App Ideas Collection (GitHub Repo)
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This repository contains a collection of ideas for projects which are designed to improve coding skills. Each project contains a clear and descriptive objective, self-reported user experiences on completing the project, a list of bonus optional features to implement, and a list of resources to help locate the information needed to complete the project. The projects are divided into three tiers based on the knowledge and experience required to complete them.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Ask HN: How to Teach Coding? (HackerNews Thread)
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A user has the opportunity to mentor a trainee for three years in coding. They ask for tips on what the best way to teach coding is. The replies are full of tips on how to teach coding and personal anecdotes about people’s experience in learning code. A common piece of advice in the thread is to guide the trainee but not to give them answers to questions. Problems should be presented and ideas on how to solve the problem should be suggested, but it is the experience of solving the problem that is most beneficial to student coders.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Pyright (GitHub Repo)
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Pyright is a static type checker for the Python language and was created to address gaps in current type checkers such as mypy. It is written in Typescript and runs within node so it does not require a Python environment, and it is typically 5x faster than other type checkers written in Python. Pyright only supports Python 3.0 and higher, and there are no plans on supporting previous versions.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Conductor (GitHub Docs)
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Conductor is a Workflow Orchestration engine that can orchestrate microservices-based process flows from the cloud. It features a distributed server ecosystem, a JSON DSL based blueprint, a simple interface to connect workers, the ability to scale to millions of concurrent running process flows, and more.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Tesla appears to defy Bay Area shutdown, plans to operate Fremont factory
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A 'shelter in place' order has been issued in the Bay area to force people to stay at home and work from home unless they provide an essential service. Tesla seems to be defying the order at its Fremont factory, with the company issuing a statement to employees telling them that it plans to remain in operation. Employees are being told they can take paid time off if they are ill, but are otherwise expected to work. Tesla had to temporarily shut down its Gigafactory in Shanghai last month in order to slow the growth of the virus, but it managed to start operations again quickly after taking measures to limit the chance of transmission.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Starfish larvae inspire vortex-powered microrobot
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Researchers from ETH Zurich have designed an economical swimming microrobot inspired by starfish larvae. Starfish larvae are covered in hundreds of thousands of tiny hairs that help the creatures move by creating vortices in the water around them. The robots' swimming direction can be controlled using ultrasound waves. The microrobots could one day be used to deliver drugs in the body and the ultrasound-activated cilia could find use in manipulating small volumes of liquid.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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borb (GitHub Repo)
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borb is a Python library for reading, writing, and manipulating PDF documents. It represents PDF documents as JSON-like data structures of nested lists, dictionaries, and primitives. borb can extract and change text and images, add annotations, change meta-information, and much more.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Acoustic Tweezers Can Pick Objects Up With Sound Waves – Without Any Physical Contact
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Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a technology that uses sound waves to pick up objects. Scientists have been using light to move microscopic objects around for many years using a technique called optical trapping. Acoustic trapping can manipulate larger, millimeter-sized objects. The new technique achieves more accuracy and control over previous attempts. An 11-second video demonstrating the acoustic trapping technique is available in the article.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Announcing Parcel CSS: A new CSS parser, compiler, and minifier written in Rust!
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Parcel CSS is a CSS parser, compiler, and minifier written in Rust. It performs significantly better than existing tooling while also improving minification quality. Parcel CSS can handle compiling CSS modules, tree shaking, automatically adding and removing vendor prefixes for browser targets, and transpiling modern CSS features. Performance benchmarks, as well as an explanation of the architecture, are available in the article.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Chernobyl Fungus Eats Nuclear Radiation Via Radiosynthesis
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A fungus found growing near Chernobyl thrives on nuclear radiation due to radiosynthesis. It uses melanin to convert gamma radiation into chemical energy. NASA scientists grew the fungus inside the ISS and found that it was able to block some incoming radiation. Earth is protected by harmful radiation by its atmosphere and magnetic field. Astronauts don't have this protection and are exposed to radiation levels 20 times higher than on Earth. It may be possible to better protect astronauts and space objects with a layer of this radiation-absorbing fungus.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Mix (Website)
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Mix is an expressive way to build design systems in Flutter. It offers primitive building blocks to help developers and designers create beautiful and consistent UIs. Mix is still in the experimental development stage, so the API is likely to change until the 1.0 release.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Ploomber (GitHub Repo)
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Ploomber helps developers quickly build data pipelines. It features tool integrations with leading data science ecosystem tools, YAML and Python APIs, shorter development cycles, and automatic pipeline generation. Video demos are available.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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This Electric Tiny Car Can Be Rented for the Price of an Electric Scooter
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Recently, electric scooters, bikes, skateboards, and other one or two-wheeled self-balancing boards have emerged as alternative forms of transportation. Cars are often inefficient, getting stuck in traffic, not to mention the high costs of storage and upkeep for an often dormant, depreciating asset. Citroën has unveiled an 8-foot mini electric car with an 8-horsepower motor and a top speed of 27.9 miles per hour. It is technically classed as a quadricycle under French law, so anyone over 14 can drive one without a license. Its travel range is 43 miles, and it takes three hours to charge. The vehicle is only $6,700, or customers can choose to lease it for $5.67 a week after a $3,000 down payment. Ami will roll out in France in June, and it will be available later in Italy, Portugal, Belgium, and Germany.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Markdown-Tag (GitHub Repo)
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Markdown-Tag adds support to any website for adding markdown anywhere with a simple tag. Users just have to include a script at the bottom of their HTML documents and then they can add markdown or markdown with GitHub styling. The GitHub-flavored markdown syntax is still not 100% correct. Examples and demos are available.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Ring’s latest security camera is a drone that flies around inside your house
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Ring's new Always Home Cam is an autonomous drone that can fly around to view any room inside a home. It can automatically return to its dock to recharge when it is done flying. The Always Home Cam will be available next year for $249.99. During its setup, users build a map with paths for the device to follow. The camera only records when it is in flight, as the charging dock blocks its view. The drone makes an audible noise when flying so people will know when it is around. An official 30-second advertisement for the Always Home Cam is available in the article.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google reportedly keeps tabs on usage of rival Android apps to develop competitors
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Google employees reportedly have access to a program known as 'Android Lockbox' that allows them to see data on how Android users interact with non-Google apps and services. The program is apparently used to keep tabs on rival services. Google is currently facing an antitrust investigation in almost every US state. The investigations are focused on the company's search and ad businesses. Google stated that it is open about its data collection activities and that users have control over the usage of their data.
| 4Miscellaneous
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In a first, researchers extract secret key used to encrypt Intel CPU code
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The secret key that encrypts updates to an assortment of Intel CPUs has been extracted, allowing third parties to decrypt the microcode updates Intel provides to fix security vulnerabilities and other types of bugs. It is possible to update Intel chips with custom microcode using the secret key. While there is no way to effectively eliminate the vulnerability, Intel has released a statement that the issue was not serious for customers. An attacker would require physical access to the machine and the key can't be used to infect CPUs in the supply chain.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Tesla’s trumpeted solar shingles are a flop
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Tesla purchased SolarCity in 2016, and announced soon after that they would be releasing a line of solar panels that were designed to look like shingles. Part of the original deal involved Tesla buying panels from Panasonic and investing in one of Panasonic’s gigafactories. In a statement by Panasonic, most of the solar panels produced at their factories were being sold overseas, rather than being used to fill orders for Tesla’s Solar Roofs. A separate source reported that only 21 Tesla solar systems had been installed in California. Overall, installations have plummeted by more than 76 percent since Tesla acquired SolarCity.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Apple, and others hacked in unprecedented Twitter attack
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Twitter accounts of some major companies and individuals were compromised in an attack that resulted in Twitter blocking new tweets from all verified users and locking all compromised accounts. The compromised accounts tweeted messages promoting a bitcoin scam. One of Twitter's own internal employee tools were compromised and used in the attack. The scammer has so far amassed over 12 bitcoins.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Huawei enters China's electric car race in competition with Tesla
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Huawei recently released details on a vehicle with specs it claims beats Tesla's Model Y. The Aito M5 will use both electricity and fuel. It will run Huawei's HarmonyOS operating system. Deliveries will begin after the Lunar New Year, with prices starting at around $39,063. A picture of the vehicle is available in the article.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Next.js 11
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The Next.js 11 update is now live. It features Conformance, improved performance, Webpack 5, the ability to code in the browser in real-time with a team, and more. The update introduces a few breaking changes for legacy features, which should not affect the majority of users.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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James Webb telescope: how it could uncover some of the universe’s best-kept secrets
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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is set to launch on December 25, if everything goes according to plan. It took more than a decade and $10 billion to build the telescope, which is now fueled and ready at Europe's spaceport in French Guiana. The JWST will be able to see much more than the Hubble Space Telescope, which has now operated for more than 30 years. Astronomers from around the world will be able to apply to use the JWST to support their research. One of the telescope's main tasks will be to study the atmospheres of exoplanets to see if they are suitable for life.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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AugLy (GitHub Repo)
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AugLy is a library for augmenting data in model training and evaluating the robustness gaps of models. It was designed to include many specific data augmentations that users perform in real life. It also contains generic data augmentations. AugLy is useful for problems like copy detection, hate speech detection, or copyright infringement.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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State-sponsored hackers have breached the US' nuclear weapons agency
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The networks of the US Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration were breached by foreign hackers. Three states were also hacked in connection to the cybersecurity attack. Federal investigators are still assessing the damage and it is currently unknown what was accessed. The hackers likely gained access to the networks through SolarWinds' software. Microsoft may have been a victim of the attack as well. Russia has denied any involvement in the attack. Russian hackers have been highly active over the last month and were linked to recent attacks on the Treasury Department and NTIA.
| 4Miscellaneous
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A Huge Step Forward in Quantum Computing Was Just Announced: The First-Ever Quantum Circuit
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A team of physicists has created a functional quantum processor. The processor was able to model a small molecule in which each atom had multiple quantum states. It was created by placing 10 quantum dots with sub-nanometer precision in an ultra-high vacuum under a scanning tunneling microscope. Quantum computers can simulate molecules, which could eventually lead to scientists being able to design things that have never been made before.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Pizzly (GitHub Repo)
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Pizzly provides a simple and fast way to integrate an API into an app. It provides developers with a dashboard, an auth service, a proxy, a JS library, and its own API to help with their API integrations. Pizzly supports more than 50 APIs out-of-the-box, including Gmail, GitHub, Google Sheets, Zoom, Trello, Reddit, and more.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Open Questions
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This is a list of thought provoking questions posed by Gwern who some of you may know from his blog on biohacking and technology. There's lots of thought-provoking stuff here like "If child abuse and emotional neglect is so harmful, why does it appear in the biographies of so many people who achieve greatness, often middle/upper-class?" and "Given the crucial role of trust and shared interests in success stories like Xerox PARC or the Apollo Project or creative collaborations in general, why are there so few extremely successful pairs of identical twins?"
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Perseverance Rover Captures Awesome Video of Helicopter Flying on Mars
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NASA has released footage of Ingenuity in flight. Two videos were taken during the rotorcraft's 13th flight. Ingenuity flew nearly 700 feet horizontally at an altitude of 26 feet during the 16-second flight. It was recorded on Perseverance's two-camera Mastcam-Z from a distance of about 1,000 feet away. The videos are available in the article.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Harvard Scientists Pinpoint ‘Ground Zero’ of Aging in Mouse Embryo Study
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Scientists from Harvard have pinpointed the time when the age of a mouse embryo cell resets. DNA builds up small chemical and structural alterations as an organism ages, even in sperm and egg cells. This led scientists to conclude that there must be some kind of rejuvenation event to reset the offspring's cells. The scientists now hope to discover the actual mechanism behind the process and whether it can be induced in normal adult cells to rejuvenate them.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China Breeds Polar Bear-Sized Pigs as Pork Prices Surge
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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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Scientists Just Proved the Human Brain Can Support an Extra Body Part
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A research team has demonstrated that humans are able to adapt to an extra robotic thumb, effectively executing complex and dexterous tasks with them. The Third Thumb is a 3D-printed device that is controlled with pressure sensors equipped on the wearer's feet. In the study, participants were trained to use the robotic thumb for five days for two to six hours every day. Eventually, the participants were able to perform tasks with the thumb even when distracted. The study shows the potential for body augmentation to allow people to gain extra abilities.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Lidar reveals hundreds of long-lost Maya and Olmec ceremonial centers
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A recent airborne lidar survey revealed 478 Maya and Olmec ceremonial sites hidden beneath vegetation or too large to recognize from the ground in southern Mexico. Lidar surveys have revealed tens of thousands of irrigation channels, causeways, and fortresses across Maya territory over the last several years. The technology is transforming archaeology. The new findings reveal more about the ancient civilizations, showing that they were more extensive and densely populated than previously realized.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Awesome Design Tools (GitHub Repo)
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This GitHub repository contains a large list of design tools, all categorized and annotated with a quick, keyword-based description of what the tools do. It is designed to be easily searchable based on the task that the user wants to do. Users can contribute to the project by submitting a pull request or contacting the owner directly through Twitter.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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35+ Free Public APIs to Improve Productivity (10 minute read)
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This is a list of free public API resources that can aid development. It includes APIs for Zoom, facial recognition, human health data, GIFs, text recognition, web scraping, and more.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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pack - Buildpack CLI (GitHub Repo)
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pack is a command-line interface that makes it easy to use, develop, and package buildpacks for distribution and application maintenance. It is a CLI implementation of the Platform Interface Specification for Cloud Native Buildpacks.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina Could Be Largest Land Animal Ever
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Paleontologists in Argentina have found a skeleton that might have come from a dinosaur that was more than 120 feet long. It may have been the largest land animal ever. The excavation started in 2012 with a hulking set of 24 vertebrae and bits of the pelvis and pectoral girdle. It is likely a type of long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur called a titanosaur. The specimen is around 98 million years old.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Apple WWDC 2022: the 16 biggest announcements
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Apple recently revealed news about macOS Ventura, iOS 16, the M2 chip, a new MacBook Air, and much more at WWDC 2022. iOS 16 will have a customizable lock screen, updated notifications, Live Activities, editable and unsendable texts in Messages, a Pay Later feature, Safety Checks, and more. watchOS 9 will come with new health-tracking features. The new MacBook Air will feature the new M2 chip, which offers an 18 percent performance upgrade when compared to the M1. macOS Ventura will feature an improved multitasking tool, Passkeys, and the ability to use an iPhone as a webcam. iPadOS 16 will have new multitasking and collaboration features. More details about the announcements are available in the article.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Netflix is testing a ‘Shuffle’ button, because you’re tired of picking what to watch
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Users might start seeing a 'Shuffle Play' button on the Netflix home screen. Netflix has been testing the feature since July. It will play a random movie or episode of a TV show. Netflix has previously tested a feature that shows a random episode of a specific TV series. The video streaming service tests features in different countries for different periods of time and only makes them broadly available if people find them useful.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Trump signs orders banning US business with TikTok owner ByteDance and Tencent’s WeChat
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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning transactions with ByteDance and WeChat. ByteDance is the parent company of popular app TikTok. The company's apps have been accused of being threats to national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the United States. Microsoft is in negotiations to buy TikTok from ByteDance. While the order bans transactions with the companies, it doesn't specifically define what transactions are, which means the effects of the order are unclear. While WeChat has been banned, Tencent's other holdings are not affected by the order. The order will take effect in 45 days.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Slack launches Huddles, Discord-like audio calls you can hop in and out of
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Huddles is a new feature in Slack that allows team members to jump in and out of a persistent call freely at all hours. The feature is designed to replace the informal office conversations that colleagues used to have across their desks. There is a screen-sharing feature, so teams can use it for spontaneous meetings. Huddles can be created in any channel or DM, including between companies. Slack will introduce voice, video, and screen recordings in the coming months.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Woman successfully treated for depression with electrical brain implant
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A woman with severe depression was successfully treated using an experimental brain implant. The implant works by detecting patterns of brain activity linked to depression and interrupting them using tiny pulses of electrical stimulation. It has only been tested on one patient. The experiment demonstrated for the first time that the brain activity underlying the symptoms of mental illness can be reliably detected and nudged back into a healthy state. While the success was significant, the device would only ever be suitable for those with severe illness.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike explains his vision for the app — and what he sees as the biggest threats to privacy
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Secure chat app Signal saw a huge spike in growth last year. People are attracted to the app as it makes private communication simple and accessible. Encryption is important as we will never be able to build secure computers, so it is the best way to protect our data. Consumers are now more aware of how technologies are not serving them anymore. The amount of data collected by companies is concerning, and governments are unlikely to try to intervene and regulate the tech industry.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Ask HN: Resources for introverted devs to learn workplace politics? (Hacker News Thread)
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Being at least somewhat aware of office politics is critical to your career success, especially in larger organizations. If you're an introvert, this is definitely worth a read.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Understanding and Decoding a JPEG Image using Python (1 hour read)
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This article breaks down the details of how the JPEG compression algorithm works. It uses Python code to help the reader decompress and analyze a JPEG image.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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electron-extensions (GitHub Repo)
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electron-extensions allows users to use Chrome extensions APIs with Electron. All that is required to use the library is to insert a short snippet of code into the main process.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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SpaceX seeks FCC approval for up to 1M Starlink satellite earth stations
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SpaceX has filed an application with the FCC to approve its Starlink service. Starlink aims to bring high-speed, reliable, and affordable broadband to consumers in the US and around the world. If everything goes according to plan, SpaceX expects the service to be launched in 2020.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Introducing OpenTelemetry Observability for Crystal (Sponsor)
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Companies are running core systems and offering products implemented with Crystal. Read on to learn how to instrument Crystal applications with New Relic and Open Telemetry. Learn more.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The Man Behind San Francisco’s Facial Recognition Ban Is Working on More. Way More
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Brian Hofer has drafted over 26 privacy laws for cities and counties in California. His work has resulted in many anti-surveillance measures being taken across the state. As technology improves, laws must be made regarding their use, as the potential for abuse is high. Hofer claims that he is not anti-technology, but that he just wants to stop authorities from abusing this technology. He had previously been targeted incorrectly by a number-plate recognition algorithm that ran off an outdated database, resulting in him being temporarily held by the Contra Costa County sheriff’s department.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Guide to Software Supply Chain Security (Sponsor)
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Guide to Software Supply Chain Security . Are you looking to eliminate security gaps in your software supply chain? Download this ebook to learn about common software supply chain attacks and how to mitigate third-party risks throughout your organization. Learn more.
| 0Sponsor
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If Management Isn’t A Promotion, Then Engineering Isn’t A Demotion (10 minute read)
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Moving into management is usually seen as a promotion. It is deeply ingrained in our culture. There are many benefits to moving to management. However, management is a support role, so it's more like a change of career. Many people are attracted to management because they are frustrated with an aspect of the organization. Management roles tend to accrue power over time, so they need to push it back out to others for balance.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Scientists Build Machine That Keeps Human Livers Functioning outside of the Body for 1 Week
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A machine built by researchers in Zurich can keep human livers alive outside of the body for an entire week. Until now, livers could only be kept alive outside of the body for 12 hours. Livers kept alive inside the machine can regenerate. In trials, six out of ten livers deemed unsuitable for transplant were able to recover to full functionality within one week of being hooked up to the machine. The ability to regenerate livers so they are suitable for transplant is a huge moment in medical history. Liver4Life was developed over four years, and it mimics body processes such as circulation, blood filtering, and movement.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Typehole (GitHub Repo)
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Typehole is a tool for Visual Studio Code that automates creating static typing. It can generate TypeScript types and interfaces for all serializable runtime values. A GIF preview that shows how Typehole works is available.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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React Spectrum Libraries (GitHub Repo)
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React Spectrum is a collection of libraries and tools for building adaptive, accessible, and robust user experiences. It has accessible features and support for over 30 languages. React Spectrum has components that are customizable and designed to work with keyboard, mouse, and touch interactions.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Elon Musk doesn’t back down after Ford challenges Tesla to an ‘apples to apples’ tug-of-war rematch
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Ford unveiled its Mustang Mach-E last week, the company's first battery-powered SUV. Elon Musk had tweeted out his congratulations, but then later in the week he tweeted a video of the Cybertruck pulling an F-150 uphill. The clip has been viewed almost 13 million times. Critics have pointed out that the F-150 is a rear-wheel drive and that there was no payload to put more weight on its rear wheels to give it more traction. Sundeep Madra, the vice president at Ford X has tweeted back at Musk, saying that Ford would complete a real comparison if Musk would send him a Cybertruck. Musk has accepted the challenge.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Apple is telling retail store workers to expect a limited supply of replacement iPhones for the next several weeks
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Apple has warned its retail staff that the company is facing a shortage of replacement iPhones. Some stores are also running low on individual replacement parts. During the shortage, employees are instructed to offer customers loaner devices or to mail out replacement devices when they become available. Apple has closed all of its retail locations in China, and many of its suppliers' factories have been forced to close down temporarily. Like many companies, Apple has restricted employee travel and implemented additional hygiene measures. The coronavirus outbreak made a major impact on the stock market recently as businesses face disruptions.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Introducing Our New Company Brand
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Facebook has introduced a new company logo that uses custom typography and capitalization in order to distinguish between the Facebook company and the Facebook app, which will keep its own branding. The company started 15 years ago and now offers a suite of products that help people, businesses, and communities connect. Facebook's products include the Facebook App, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Workplace, Portal, and Calibra. In June, it started adding 'from Facebook' within all its apps. The brand change will help the company better communicate its ownership structure to users.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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VS Code theme studio (Website)
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VS Code theme studio helps you easily design, deploy, and share VS Code themes. A marketplace with existing themes is available.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Diagrams (GitHub Repo)
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Diagrams was originally developed for prototyping new system architecture design without any design tools. It allows developers to draw new cloud system architecture or to describe and visualize existing system architecture in Python. Diagrams supports AWS, Azure, Alibaba Cloud, and other main major providers. It supports On-Premise nodes, SaaS, and major programming frameworks and languages.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Uber introduces an Amazon Prime-style monthly subscription service
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Uber is launching a $14.99/month ($24.99/month in Los Angeles only) subscription service that gives riders discounted fares on Uber rides that will also not be subject to surge pricing. The fares will be based on historical data and will reduce fares by up to 15%. The service, called Ride Pass, is available in Los Angeles, Austin, Orlando, Denver, and Miami. The Los Angeles version of Ride Pass also includes free bike and scooter access.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Square to Create a New Bitcoin Platform for Financial Services
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Square is building an open developer platform to make it easier to provide non-custodial, decentralized financial services. Its primary focus will be Bitcoin. The initiative will be open source. It will be different from Square Crypto. Square will establish Twitter and GitHub accounts to provide updates on the project.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Chinese internet users who uploaded coronavirus memories to GitHub have been arrested
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The Chinese government is targeting people who were working to prevent digital records of the coronavirus outbreak from being scrubbed by censors. Volunteers behind the project were arrested and some are missing. The project collected and preserved news stories, videos, and articles that were shared on messaging apps like WeChat. One of the journalists associated with the project that had disappeared recently resurfaced. He praised the actions of the police after stating that he had been detained and placed under quarantine for disrupting public order.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Pico.css (GitHub Repo)
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Pico.css is a minimal CSS framework for semantic HTML. It uses simple HTML tags as much as possible and requires no dependencies, package manager, external files, or JavaScript. Pico.css features elegant styles for all native HTML elements without .classes and dark mode automatically enabled. A short demo video is available.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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‘Mind-blowing’: Ai-Da becomes first robot to paint like an artist
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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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DigitalOcean is laying off staff, sources say 30-50 affected
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DigitalOcean appointed a new CEO and CFO last summer. It is looking to further reorganize, with a round of layoffs potentially affecting 30 to 50 people. The cloud infrastructure provider had around 500 total employees. DigitalOcean has $275 million in annual recurring revenue and more than 500,000 customers globally. Customers have been generally happy with the company since its change in leadership. DigitalOcean competes with some of the biggest companies in tech, including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. The layoffs may be in preparation for funding or to reserve funds in order to continue competing with other cloud providers.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Programming-Idioms (Website)
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Programming-Idioms contains a collection of standard methods for coding standard things in several popular programming languages. Developers are encouraged to contribute by submitting implementations in their favorite language. All the information is crowdsourced and free, so there is no guarantee regarding the quality of the implementations as well as the identity of contributors.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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First U.S. coronavirus death confirmed in Washington state
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The first death in the US from coronavirus was a man in his 50s with chronic underlying conditions. Two new cases in Washington state have recently been announced, with the cases linked to a long-term care facility. One of the new confirmed cases is a healthcare worker. Out of 108 residents and 180 staff at the healthcare facility, 27 residents and 25 staff members have symptoms of the virus. Testing is underway as public health officials rush to contain the outbreak. The recent patterns of cases in the US indicate that the disease is likely circulating within the population. COVID-19 has spread to 57 countries, infecting more than 85,000 people and killing more than 2,900. There have been 66 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Scientists looking for aliens investigate radio beam 'from nearby star'
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A narrow beam of radio waves appears to have come from Proxima Centauri. All other radio waves detected so far that have appeared to come from outer space have been attributed to human-made interference or natural sources, but scientists have yet to find a source for this signal. A shift in its frequency was consistent with the movement of a planet, adding to the mystery of the finding. There are at least two planets that orbit Proxima Centauri, one that is believed to be a rocky world where the temperature is right for water to flow and pool.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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California is cracking down on the gig economy
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A new bill has been passed by the state Assembly in California that will make it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors instead of employees, as is common practice for many companies that wish to skirt state and federal labor laws. Hundreds and thousands of workers, ranging from Uber and Amazon drivers to manicurists and exotic dancers, would likely become employees under the new bill. As employees, workers will gain labor protections and benefits such as unemployment insurance, health care subsidies, paid parental leave, overtime pay, workers’ compensation, and guaranteed minimum hourly rates. Many companies have fought back against the bill as it adds to the costs of running a business. The bill will still have to pass through the state Senate before it becomes law.
| 4Miscellaneous
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awesome-baremetal (GitHub Repo)
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This repository contains a list of bare-metal tools. All items on the list have been recently updated within the last 6 months or are still deemed relevant by the curator.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Parsr (GitHub Repo)
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Parsr is a document parsing and extraction tool that generates usable data for data scientists and developers. It can perform document hierarchy regression, page number detection, whitespace removal, link detection, and more. It takes an image or PDF as input and outputs JSON, Markdown, text, CSV, or PDF.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack (22 minute read)
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In 2016, North Korean hackers almost stole $1 billion from Bangladesh's national bank. This article tells the story of the heist, from when it started to the current state of the investigation. All but $81 million of the transfers were halted. The hackers used fake bank accounts, charities, casinos, and a wide network of accomplices to carry out the heist. Little is known about the North Korean hackers, who are known as the Lazarus Group.
| 4Miscellaneous
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LEX is taking buildings public – and that’s good news for your investment portfolio. (Sponsor)
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LEX is taking buildings public – and that’s good news for your investment portfolio. . LEX is taking buildings public – and that’s good news for your investment portfolio. Now you can build a real estate portfolio that opens up direct and tax-advantaged ownership in an asset class that’s been hard to access. Customize your portfolio by picking the buildings you want, buying equity shares, and watching as the distributions roll in. No accreditation, no lockups, no holds. Freely trade in and out of your positions like your other stocks. Access to commercial real estate is finally here. Learn more.
| 0Sponsor
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Robotaxis get the green light for paid rides in California
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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved two new programs that will allow autonomous vehicle operators to accept monetary compensation for rides. Companies have used California as a testing ground for autonomous vehicles in the US, but the state has previously disallowed the companies from charging for their services. The permits that allow companies to start taking advantage of the new rules will take several months to apply for. California has the strictest rules for autonomous vehicles in the US.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Hacker Roadmap (GitHub Repo)
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This repository contains a guide on becoming a pen tester from scratch. It goes through the basic concepts of information security, discusses the basic steps and tools of pen testing, and also links additional resources for further information. Students are encouraged to practice their skills on challenges, rather than real targets, and to use the information responsibly.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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China Aims for a Permanent Moon Base in the 2030s
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China and Russia are aiming to build an international moon base. All interested countries and partners are invited to cooperate in the project. China has planned a series of missions to set up infrastructure beginning in the early 2030s. This article details the plans so far to build the International Lunar Research Station. It includes diagrams of the vehicles that will be used in each mission.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Tesla is testing in-car Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity with several major internet providers
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Tesla is working with several major internet providers in North America, Europe, and Asia to allow their vehicles to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots. It is unknown when the feature will be available to customers. The company recently released an update that allows customers to use phones as hotspots for connectivity. Tesla vehicles require data connectivity for their data gathering and entertainment features.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Designing customized “brains” for robots
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Modern robots can move quickly, but computing speeds haven't caught up yet. Gathering environment data and calculating plans takes up a lot of computing power. A team of researchers has developed a system called robomorphic computing, which creates customized hardware designs to best serve a particular robot's computing needs. The custom hardware performs significantly better than off-the-shelf CPU and GPU units. The team is now working on automating the process.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Hey From The Future (Web App)
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This is a cool app that lets you select your age and see advice that older people have left for people that are your age. You can also sign up to leave and upvote advice for people younger than you.
| 4Miscellaneous
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India Shut Down Kashmir’s Internet Access. Now, ‘We Cannot Do Anything.’
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Jammu and Kashmir, an area where 12.5 million people live, is being claimed by both India and Pakistan. The tensions have now brought everyday transactions, family communications, online entertainment, and the flow of money and information to a halt. Internet and phone services have been unavailable for over 11 days, causing activity in the region to stop. Pharmacies are unable to restock supplies, vital supplies are running low in shops, cash is becoming scarce, and doctors are unable to communicate with patients. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promoted the rapid adoption of the internet in the country, the country is also the world leader in shutting down the internet. Last year, India blocked the internet 134 times, compared with 12 shutdowns in Pakistan. Many businesses are suffering and people are unable to continue with their lives. It is unknown how long the shutdown will continue, and it is rumored that the continued tensions have escalated to violence in some areas.
| 4Miscellaneous
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RefineDB (GitHub Repo)
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RefineDB is a strongly-typed document database that runs on any transactional key-value store. It currently supports FoundationDB for distributed deployment and SQLite for single-machine deployment. A Web Playground demo is available.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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IBM and Samsung say their new chip design could lead to week-long battery life on phones
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IBM and Samsung have discovered a way to stack transistors vertically on a chip, allowing for electric currents to flow up and down the stack of transistors instead of side-to-side as with current chips. As chip designers run out of ways to add more chips in one place, it only makes sense to start stacking them upwards. The new Vertical Transport Field Effect Transistors design could result in cell phones with batteries that could go for over a week without being charged. It could also mean less energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining and more powerful IoT devices.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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A Conspiracy To Kill IE6 (10 minute read)
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A bug in Internet Explorer 6 made it try to run code that it couldn’t run, causing the browser to either get stuck in a recursion loop or make it crash into the blue screen of death. This only happened in IE6 and it caused many problems for web developers as they had to make their sites compatible with the browser. A team of developers at YouTube decided that the best way to fix the issue was to threaten to drop support for the browser so that more users would upgrade, eventually making support for the browser unnecessary. Using special privileges, without YouTube’s official permission, they inserted a banner available only for IE6 users that stated that YouTube was going to stop supporting development for the browser and that users should upgrade. The tactic was successful, and eventually, upper management made the deprecation of the browser into real policy.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Practical Deep Learning for Coders (Website)
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This site covers the 2019 version of a practical deep learning course for coders. It is assumed that students have been coding for at least a year. The course recommends that beginners rent cloud machines as many have pre-installed AI setups, which means that students can focus on studying deep learning rather than figuring out how to install everything. Students can communicate with other students and AI practitioners through the course forum.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Google search will now give you feedback on your pronunciation
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Google search has a new feature that will help users check their pronunciation of unfamiliar words. After a user searches for a pronunciation guide, they will be able to speak the word and Google's AI will analyze how the word was pronounced. It will then provide feedback on how each syllable matches Google's expected pronunciation. The feature currently only works for American English, but Spanish pronunciations will be released soon. Google will also start to include images with its translations so that users will be less confused with definitions.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Taro (GitHub Repo)
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Taro is a lightweight 3D game engine for the web. It features a 3D rigid-body physics engine, an entity component system, 3D positional sounds, and the ability to script game behaviors in JavaScript. Examples are available on the Taro website.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The EU plans to test an AI lie detector at border points
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The EU has created an AI called iBorderCtrl that will analyze travelers at four border crossing points in Hungary, Latvia and Greece with countries outside the European Union. Travelers will answer questions like "What's in your suitcase?" into a webcam so the system can analyze and rate dozens of micro-gestures to determine if they're being truthful. If they are they will get a QR code to pass through, otherwise they will have their biometric information taken and will be reviewed by a human agent. This is still highly experimental, and the last version only worked 76% of the time, they are claiming the latest version works 85% of the time. In its current form, it will not have the final say in stopping anyone from crossing the border.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Elon Musk says Twitter deal ‘on hold’ after spam / fake account report
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Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter has been put temporarily on hold while Musk waits for the company to show how it calculated the number of false or spam accounts on its platform. Musk is still committed to the acquisition and it will proceed after Twitter provides satisfactory information on its numbers. Twitter has miscalculated the number of daily users on its platform in past reports. The number of false or spam accounts could be higher than estimated. Cutting down on false and bot accounts is a key part of Musk's pitch for improving the business.
| 4Miscellaneous
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How to train a machine to see 3-D in the dark
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Researchers at the Australian National University have developed a method to create perfect holograms in near darkness. Optical holograms are used in ID cards to prevent forgery, in real-time imaging of living cells, and many other applications. The new method allows holograms to perform the same tasks in low light. Forming optical holograms using extremely low light usually produces grainy results. The technique uses machine learning to restore the missing information from the holograms. This method could make imaging cells easier as many cells are sensitive to light and are easily damaged.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Byte flight
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People have protested against tech workers in Silicon Valley in the past. Now that many tech workers are no longer required to head into offices for work, a lot of them are choosing to leave the area. Some companies have plans to reopen offices in 2021, so it is too early to tell how large the impact the switch to remote work is yet. Tech workers feel unwelcome in the area and it is expensive to live there. Leaked audio from a recent all-hands meeting at Google suggested that the company might be considering taking a similar approach to Facebook and becoming more flexible about remote work over the next 10 years.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Windows code-execution zeroday is under active exploit, Microsoft warns
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Microsoft has warned users that attackers are actively exploiting a Windows zero-day vulnerability that can execute malicious code on fully updated systems. The security flaw exists in the Adobe Type Manager Library, consisting of two code-execution flaws that can be triggered by the improper handling of maliciously crafted fonts. Until a patch is available, Microsoft recommends that users disable the Preview Pane and Details Pane in Windows Explorer, disable the WebClient service, and rename ATMFD.DLL or disable it from the registry. Users should also be wary of suspicious requests to view untrusted documents and install a patch once it becomes available.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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The race to create a perfect lie detector – and the dangers of succeeding (21 minute read)
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Brain scanning technologies, merged with advancements in artificial intelligence, are expected to make lie-detection systems that are much more accurate than conventional polygraphs. People are only able to separate facts from fiction around 54 percent of the time, which is not much better than flipping a coin. Advancements in recent years include the rise in affordable computing power, brain scanning techniques, and AI. Some startups, wishing to gain investments or operate at a commercial level, want us to believe that an almost infallible lie detector is on the brink of discovery. The main technological advantage when working with AI is the ability to utilize vast amounts of data to make inferences which humans would miss. In this era of mass surveillance, with people’s personal lives existing online, it is scary to consider that entities such as governments or corporations would want to peer into one's innermost thoughts. No matter how good the technologies get, the liar that believes his/her own lies will still be protected from the technology.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Flying Car Company Boss Completes 'First Ever' Commute in $83K Space-Age Vehicle
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The trip was a momentous occasion for the electric vertical take-off and landing sector.
| 4Miscellaneous
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How the placenta evolved from an ancient virus
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The placenta is a temporary organ that serves as a baby's lung, its waste-disposal system, and its nutrition source. It allows for two human beings that are genetically different to live in one body, without one destroying the other. The organ is estimated to have evolved about 150 million to 200 million years ago. An analysis of the protein used by the placenta to fuse into the uterus shows that the DNA used to make it actually came from an ancient retrovirus. It is likely that a viral infection hundreds of millions of years ago resulted in the passing on of the DNA that eventually created placentas.
| 4Miscellaneous
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Toyota announces new capabilities for domestic robots
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The Toyota Research Institute has developed new capabilities for its line of domestic robots, including the ability to recognize and manipulate transparent objects and to wipe down counters and tables. Japanese robot manufacturers have made it clear that they plan to create robots that will serve as domestic helpers. Japan has one of the oldest populations in the world. Robots will be able to perform tasks that people find more challenging as they get older. A video from Toyota showing off the new capabilities of its robots is available in the article.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Early Decision
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Tech Incubator YCombinator has announced that it will be accepting Early Decision applicants (like colleges) where you can apply early in the fall for entrance into next summer's batch of startups. This is designed with undergrads, grad students and postdocs in mind as they commonly decide what to do next year early in the fall, but the application is open to anyone.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Meta open sources early-stage AI translation tool that works across 200 languages
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Meta has created a single AI model capable of translating across 200 different languages. It has open-sourced the project so that others can build on the work. Meta sees the universal speech translator as important for growth across its platforms. Machine translation helps the company better understand its users, and the technology could develop into a killer app for its future augmented reality glasses.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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Salary Sharing Thread for Interns (Reddit Thread)
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With summer internship offers coming out, the CS Career Questions subreddit is having a salary sharing thread. The thread is broken down by region and the comments list their school, prior experience, location, summer salary and stuff like that. Gotta say, Tesla is looking very stingy!
| 4Miscellaneous
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Why Some Memories Seem Like Movies: 'Time Cells' Discovered In Human Brains
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Episodic memories are memories that play like a movie. Scientists have identified the cells that make episodic memory possible. Time cells place a timestamp on memories as they are being formed, allowing events or experiences to be recalled in the right order. While time cells have been identified before in mouse brains, this is the first time they have been identified in human brains. The presence of time cells in humans explains why people with damage to the hippocampus have problems remembering events in the right order.
| 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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What’s the best lossless image format? Comparing PNG, WebP, AVIF, and JPEG XL
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Lossless compression makes files smaller and allows the files to be decompressed back to the same original file. It works best for things like logos, screenshots, charts, and graphics. This article compares different lossless compression techniques on speed, file size, and quality. Most modern lossless image formats provide significant gains in efficiency compared to even the most optimized PNG.
| 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Netflix's new 'Black Mirror' movie takes interactive storytelling to the next level
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Netflix has created their first interactive movie for adults, an episode of their dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror. To create this choose-your-own-adventure style movie, Netflix built their own script-writing tool that allowed their writers to come up with complex narratives with loops to guide viewers back to the main story if they strayed too far. There are five possible endings, with an average viewing time of about 90 minutes. Netflix plans on having more interactive shows and movies in the future.
| 1Big Tech & Startups
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