The Daily Index — Wednesday, September 13, 2023 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

APPLE IPHONE 15 EVENT: THE SEVEN BIGGEST ANNOUNCEMENTS

Apple announced its latest iPhone lineup, the Watch Series 9, a second-gen Apple Watch Ultra, a USB-C charging case for the AirPods Pro, and the release dates for its next round of OS updates at its Wonderlust event. The new iPhones will have USB-C and feature the Dynamic Island. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models will include a new Action button that replaces the mute toggle. Many more details about Apple's latest announcements are available in the article.

theverge.com · 5 min

TLDR AI

GOOGLE PLEDGES $20 MILLION FOR RESPONSIBLE AI FUND

Google's philanthropic arm is investing $20 million in the Digital Futures Project to promote responsible AI development. The initiative supports global institutions, addressing AI's societal impacts. Google.org stresses collaboration for AI's potential benefit.

axios.com · 2 min

TLDR Web Dev

TRAFFIC 101: PACKETS MOSTLY FLOW

Slack handles billions of inbound network requests per day, all of which traverse through its edge network and ingress load-balancing tiers. This blog talks about how a request flows — from a Slack user’s perspective — across the vast ether of the network to reach AWS and then Slack’s internal services. Slack uses websocket connections for sending and receiving messages and edge APIs for everything else.

slack.engineering · 9 min

TLDR InfoSec

WEEK

Hackers are using a massive network of fake and compromised Facebook accounts to send out millions of Messenger phishing messages to target Facebook business accounts with password-stealing malware, ultimately compromising one out of every seventy accounts targeted.

bleepingcomputer.com · 2 min

TLDR Crypto

‘HOLY GRAIL

Franklin Templeton, a leading asset manager, has entered the race for a Bitcoin spot ETF with the "Franklin Bitcoin ETF". The aim of many of these leading institutions applying for ETFs is to attract large institutional investors, which could potentially bring trillions of dollars into the crypto industry. Franklin Templeton's ETF will be based on a mix of cryptocurrency exchange Bitcoin prices to deter price manipulation.

archive.ph · 2 min

TLDR

WHATSAPP IS WORKING ON CROSS-PLATFORM MESSAGING

WhatsApp's latest Android beta update contains a new screen called Third-party chats. The screen is currently not functional and can't be accessed by users. It is a strong clue that Meta is building cross-platform compatibility for encrypted messages. Meta's communication software will need to be interoperable with third-party messaging apps by March 2024 as the company meets the definition of a gatekeeper under the EU's Digital Markets Act.

theverge.com · 1 min

TLDR

THIS STUDENT-BUILT EV JUST SET A NEW WORLD RECORD FOR 0–62 MPH

A team of students from the Academic Motorsports Club Zurich, ETH Zurich, and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts have built an electric vehicle that can accelerate from 0 to 62 miles per hour in just 0.956 seconds. The student-built EV can do this with just 326 hp over a distance of 12.3 meters. It only weighs 309 lbs. A video of the world record attempt is available in the article.

arstechnica.com · 3 min

TLDR

RESEARCHERS SEQUENCE GENOMES OF RARE PARROT TO HELP IT THRIVE

The kākāpō is a critically endangered species native to New Zealand. While its populations have risen slowly over the last decade, the limited genetic diversity in the species' population has made breeding problematic. Most kākāpō are severely inbred and susceptible to disease and infertility. Researchers are now sequencing the genomes of nearly all existing birds to discover genetic variants in the population to help preserve the species.

arstechnica.com · 6 min

TLDR

DEATH BY A THOUSAND MICROSERVICES

There is no need for every service to be 'micro'. Some startups do fine with just 'services'. Starting with a monolith is fine. Services can be branched from the monolith if they take care of a clearly-identifiable and separately-scalable load. A simple approach is often a more appropriate choice.

renegadeotter.com · 15 min