The Daily Index — Monday, December 4, 2023 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

CHROME’S NEXT WEAPON IN THE WAR ON AD BLOCKERS: SLOWER EXTENSION UPDATES

Manifest V3 will delay extension developers' abilities to react quickly to changes by putting up roadblocks before extension updates on Chrome's extension platform. Ad blocking is a cat-and-mouse game of updates and counter-updates, and Google is forcing one side to slow down. With Manifest V3, all updates to extensions, including filtering lists, will need to happen through a full extension update on the Chrome Web Store, which means they will be subject to the Chrome Web Store reviews process. Once it becomes mandatory in June 2024, daily updates will no longer be an option.

arstechnica.com · 3 min

TLDR AI

OPENAI’S GPT STORE DELAYED TO NEXT YEAR

OpenAI’s GPT Store will be delayed until next year due to unexpected things keeping the company busy.

theverge.com · 1 min

TLDR Web Dev

HOW GOOGLE TAKES THE PAIN OUT OF CODE REVIEWS, WITH 97% DEV SATISFACTION

Google's code review guidelines emphasize continuous improvement, maintaining or improving the codebase, following style guides, sharing knowledge, writing small code changes, and maintaining professionalism in feedback. Google's code review tool, Critique, is well-regarded by Google engineers and ex-employees, with over 97% user satisfaction. Critique has various features to increase productivity, including static analysis tools that provide actionable feedback, a focus on the latest code changes, machine learning-powered suggestions, tight integration with other Google tools, and a user-friendly interface. These are shown in the article with screenshots. The article also provides statistics on Google's code review process, such as code review frequency and efficiency at the company.

engineercodex.substack.com · 7 min

TLDR InfoSec

SECURITY FLAWS IN COURT RECORDS SYSTEMS USED IN FIVE US STATES EXPOSED SENSITIVE DOCUMENTS

Jason Parker discovered that witness lists and testimony, mental health evaluations, trade secrets, and other court records were publicly accessible in unredacted form by court records systems in five different states. Parker alleged that some of the vulnerabilities were as simple as incrementing a record number. In this article, Parker details the responses received from the various court systems that vary from open communication to refusal to fix the vulnerabilities.

techcrunch.com · 5 min

TLDR Crypto

U.S. JUDGE WARNS SEC OVER 'FALSE AND MISLEADING' REQUEST IN CRYPTO CASE

A US judge issued a warning of possible sanctions against attorneys from the SEC, accusing them of making "false and misleading" arguments to freeze the assets of a cryptocurrency firm Debt Box. The judge stated that SEC's misrepresentations caused "irreparable harm" and undermined the integrity of the case. This came after Debt Box proved it hadn't moved funds abroad.

coindesk.com · 2 min

TLDR

SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 LEAKS SUGGEST A TITANIUM BUILD, FLATTENED SCREEN, AND MORE

Samsung's S24 devices will use AI to translate messaging apps in real-time in over a dozen languages. They may also use Samsung's AI-powered Zoom Anyplace camera framing feature. The devices will use Qualcomm modems with Smart Transit functionality. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will have a new flattened screen design, a titanium frame, an upgraded 50 MP 5x telephoto camera, better vapor chamber cooling, and Wi-Fi 7. More details about the devices and official images from Samsung are available in the article.

theverge.com · 3 min

TLDR

WORLD’S BIGGEST EXPERIMENTAL NUCLEAR FUSION REACTOR LAUNCHED IN JAPAN

The world's biggest operational experimental nuclear fusion reactor has been inaugurated in Japan. The JT-60SA reactor aims to investigate the feasibility of fusion as a safe, large-scale, and carbon-free source of net energy. The six-story-high machine is a joint project between the European Union and Japan. It is the result of a collaboration between more than 500 scientists and engineers and more than 70 companies throughout Europe and Japan.

theguardian.com · 2 min

TLDR

TINY ROBOTS MADE FROM HUMAN CELLS HEAL DAMAGED TISSUE

Scientists from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, have developed tiny robots called anthrobots made of human cells capable of repairing damaged neural tissue. The technique involves synthetically controlling a range of developmental processes and could be used in the future for personalized medicine. The scientists think that anthrobots made from a person's own tissue could be used to clear arteries, break up mucus, or deliver drugs with or without genetic engineering. Anthrobots could have applications in sustainable construction and outer-space exploration.

nature.com · 3 min

TLDR

INSIDE APPLE’S CHIP LAB, HOME TO THE MOST ‘PROFOUND CHANGE’ AT THE COMPANY IN DECADES

Apple's soaring stock price over the last two decades was driven by its consumer devices powered by custom chips. The company debuted its first homegrown semiconductors in 2010. As of this year, all new Mac computers are powered by Apple's own silicon. This article takes a look at the development of Apple's custom hardware over the years and what will come next for the biggest US company by market cap.

cnbc.com · 9 min