The Daily Index — Tuesday, August 15, 2023 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

NETFLIX FINALLY STREAMS VIDEO GAMES, TOO

Netflix has started the first public tests of its cloud-streamed games. Subscribers in Canada and the UK will soon be able to stream Netflix games to select TVs, connected TV devices, and browsers. The two games currently available are Oxenfree and a new title called Molehew's Mining Adventure, a gem-mining arcade game. Players control games on their TVs using their smartphones. A list of compatible devices is available in the article.

theverge.com · 3 min

TLDR AI

AMAZON IS ROLLING OUT AN AI FEATURE THAT SUMMARIZES PRODUCT REVIEWS

Amazon is rolling out a new generative AI feature that is designed to help shoppers determine at a glance what other customers said about a product before they spend time reading through individual reviews.

apnews.com · 2 min

TLDR Web Dev

ASK LIKE A HUMAN: IMPLEMENTING SEMANTIC SEARCH ON STACK OVERFLOW

This blog documents how Stack Overflow transitioned from traditional lexical search using matching keywords to semantic search that uses embeddings to understand queries as natural language questions. It describes the problems with lexical search that made the team transition to semantic search and the challenges with implementing semantic search, such as choosing the right tech stack and model.

stackoverflow.blog · 4 min

TLDR Crypto

STAKE

Crypto news outlet CoinDesk is reportedly planning staff cuts as it nears the close of a $125m deal led by crypto investors Matthew Roszak and Peter Vessenes. The full extent of the layoffs varies from 16% to 45% based on different reports. As a reminder, CoinDesk’s parent company, DCG, has been in search of liquidity to aid its ongoing financial woes, and this sale would provide some much-needed cash for the struggling company.

cointelegraph.com · 2 min

TLDR

APPARENT IMAGES & SPECS OF SAMSUNG HEADSET PROTOTYPE LEAK

Images and specs of a prototype Samsung headset have been leaked. The XR headset uses a new variant of Android. It will reportedly feature four tracking cameras, pancake lenses, dual RGB cameras for color passthrough, a depth sensor, OLED microdisplays, and Samsung's own Exynos 2200 chip. It doesn't have tracked controllers, using hand tracking and eye interaction instead. The headset will likely be in the $1,000-$2,000 range. The leaked images are available in the article.

uploadvr.com · 2 min

TLDR

TOWARDS A METAL-RICH ASTEROID IN OCTOBER

NASA's Psych mission is gearing up for an early October launch. The $985 million mission involves sending an orbiter to rendezvous with the 16 Psych asteroid, which is believed to hold approximately $10,000 quadrillion dollars worth of nickel and iron. It was discovered in 1852 and has a diameter of about 140 miles. If everything runs on schedule, the Psych spacecraft will arrive at the asteroid in around six years.

tesmanian.com · 3 min

TLDR

ALL

A New Zealand-based startup, Kimer Med, is trying to develop a broad-spectrum antiviral. Its current strategy involves targeting a factor in human cells to attack a wide variety of viruses. Kimer's technology triggers a process that kills targeted cells upon detection. While it has shown promise in the lab, the company still has to prove that it works in animals and humans. A broad-spectrum antiviral would save tens of millions of lives and trillions of dollars over the coming decades.

freethink.com · 12 min

TLDR

INSIDE THE DECLINE OF STACK EXCHANGE

Stack Exchange's library of knowledge is under a Creative Commons license, which means that anyone can use it in any way, even for commercial purposes. A large chunk of its programming-specific data was ingested by AI models. This article looks at Stack Exchange usage and how the introduction of generative AI to the public has affected trends.

thediff.co · 20 min

TLDR

MY EVERYDAY LLM USES

This article looks at everyday uses for large language models outside of coding or professional work. The list includes using the models for sorting grocery lists, summarizing book notes, dictionary lookup, turning tasks into subtasks, and as an editor. The article also looks at some of the things that large language models aren't as useful for - generating names, brainstorming, and writing fiction novels.

matt-rickard.com · 3 min