The Daily Index — Wednesday, September 27, 2023 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

MICROSOFT IS GOING NUCLEAR TO POWER ITS AI AMBITIONS

Microsoft plans to use next-generation nuclear reactors to power its data centers and AI ambitions. It has posted a job listing for a principal program manager to lead its nuclear energy strategy. Data centers use a ton of energy. Nuclear technology can provide the clean energy required for the company to hit its climate goals. Microsoft is specifically looking for someone who can roll out a plan for small modular reactors.

theverge.com · 3 min

TLDR AI

GETTY LAUNCHES COMMERCIALLY VIABLE IMAGE MODEL

Powered by Nvidia, Getty launches a commercial image generation service with strong commercial guarantees.

gettyimages.co.uk · 6 min

TLDR Web Dev

SCALING MICROSERVICES AT DOORDASH

DoorDash migrated from a Python 2 monolith to a microservices architecture in 2020. It encountered a couple of failures with microservices, many of which were related to the scalability of its distributed systems. These failures included cascading failures, retry storms, death spirals, and metastable failures. DoorDash is taking action to mitigate such failures at a global level.

blog.quastor.org · 16 min

TLDR InfoSec

DECADE OF NEWBORN CHILD DATA STOLEN

BORN Ontario, Ontario’s government-sponsored birth registry, reported a data breach affecting 3.4 million people who sought fertility, pregnancy, newborn, or child healthcare from 2010-2023. BORN reported that the hack was due to the MOVEit cyberattacks.

techcrunch.com · 2 min

TLDR Crypto

STABLECOIN ISSUERS RISK DISRUPTING FUNDING MARKETS, JPMORGAN SAYS

According to JPMorgan, the rise of stablecoin issuers in short-term funding markets may disrupt the sector, following the Federal Reserve's decision to limit access to the reverse repo facility. This could lead to stablecoins competing with the multitrillion-dollar money-market fund industry for assets, like Treasury bills, potentially driving rates down. The bank cautioned this could expose the traditional financial system to the instability found in the crypto space.

archive.ph · 3 min

TLDR

$90 BILLION

OpenAI is reportedly in discussions to sell shares. The sale could boost its valuation from $29 billion to over $80 billion. Employees will be allowed to sell existing shares. OpenAI said in late August that it expected to reach $1 billion in revenue this year.

techcrunch.com · 1 min

TLDR

FARMERS TURN TO TECH AS BEES STRUGGLE TO POLLINATE

BloomX, an Israeli tech firm, has created a plant-pollinating machine that works by dislodging pollen. The mechanism is similar to how bees pollinate plants. BloomX aims to reduce farmers' dependence on commercial honeybees. Bees are said to account for 75% of the pollination of fruits, nuts, and vegetables in the US, but their populations are under pressure due to climate change, habitat loss, and the use of pesticides.

bbc.com · 5 min

TLDR

ARRAY LABS: 3D MAPPING EARTH FROM SPACE

A real-time 3D map of the world is the Holy Grail of Earth Observation. Such a map would enable new applications and technologies and improve climate monitoring, disaster response, construction management, and urban planning. It could confer significant strategic and economic advantages to whoever possesses it. This article looks at Array Labs, a company that thinks that it is time to build the map, and the technology required to build it.

notboring.co · 78 min

TLDR

WHY ARE CLOUD DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTS SPIKING IN POPULARITY, NOW?

Cloud Development Environments (CDEs) are spiking in popularity. This article looks at why CDEs are trending and what startups should look for in the space. CDEs are gaining popularity because codebases are getting larger, monorepos are getting more popular, laptop power is plateauing, connections are improving, and due to remote work. If the industry continues on this trend, most developers at large and mid-sized tech companies may be building software on remote machines within two to three years.

blog.pragmaticengineer.com · 8 min