The Daily Index — Monday, August 14, 2023 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

SYSTEM AND MORE

Apple is reportedly planning a complete revamp of the Apple Watch for the device's tenth anniversary. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that the 'Apple Watch X', which will be released either in 2024 or 2025, will have a thinner casing and different ways for bands to attach to the device. The Apple Watch Series 9 will likely only be a minor refresh. Apple is considering switching the Apple Watch away from annual updates to offer more substantial upgrades on a less frequent cycle.

macrumors.com · 2 min

TLDR AI

SUPABASE STUDIO 3.0

Supabase Studio 3.0 is here, with some huge new features, including a brand new Supabase AI integrated right into the SQL Editor, Schema Diagrams, and new Wrappers.

supabase.com · 8 min

TLDR Web Dev

SCALING THE INSTAGRAM EXPLORE RECOMMENDATIONS SYSTEM

Explore is a recommendation system on Instagram that uses machine learning to show users content they'll like. Meta uses advanced machine learning models, like Two Towers neural networks, to help Explore be more scalable and flexible. This article goes over the techniques the Meta team uses, such as ranking and Bayesian optimization.

engineering.fb.com · 8 min

TLDR Cybersecurity

INTRODUCING THE FIRST AWS SECURITY HEROES

The AWS Heroes program recognizes community members that have combined technical expertise and a desire to help the community. AWS has now created a specialized category for Security Heroes.

aws.amazon.com · 1 min

TLDR Crypto

COINBASE

Crypto venture firms a16z and Paradigm submitted a joint brief for Coinbase, contesting the SEC’s regulatory authority over the crypto industry as too broad. They argue for a dedicated, comprehensive legislative framework for digital assets, negating the SEC's inconsistent approach, to create a predictable environment for crypto entrepreneurs. a16z and Paradigm stress that such regulations should be crafted by Congress, not the SEC. These briefs were followed by one from sitting Senator Lummis, an ardent bitcoin supporter, and 6 leading legal scholars from top-tier institutions.

twitter.com · 2 min

TLDR

ALL

Around 11% of packages from Amazon in the US will now arrive without extra packaging. Amazon is aiming to streamline its delivery process, boost sustainability, and appeal to customers who are turned off by brown boxes. Customers can choose whether they want extra packaging or not at checkout on items qualified to ship in their own containers.

entrepreneur.com · 3 min

TLDR

WITH CUSTOM AWS CHIPS

Amazon quietly started production of custom silicon in 2013. It has launched its own Arm-based server chip as a rival to x86 CPUs from AMD and Intel. Amazon launched AI-focused chips in 2018, two years before Google announced its first Tensor Processing Unit. This article takes a look at Amazon's strategy to provide the infrastructure for businesses to create generative AI applications.

cnbc.com · 8 min

TLDR

NEW FORCE OF NATURE DISCOVERED BY SCIENTISTS AT FERMILAB

Scientists at Fermilab have found evidence of muons not behaving as expected by the current physics theory. There is still some uncertainty over the results. It could be a sign of a new force of nature. Muons are fundamental particles similar to electrons but about 200 times as massive. The standard model of physics is unable to account for many phenomena observed in the universe.

interestingengineering.com · 4 min

TLDR

THE SOURCE OF READABILITY

Code that is read together should be written together. There is a lot of actionable advice that can be derived from this rule, for example, maintain high cohesion and low coupling, write less code, keep modules deep, and avoid repetition. This article takes a look at the rule and how it results in more readable code.

loup-vaillant.fr · 14 min