The Daily Index — Friday, December 22, 2023 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

APPLE DEVELOPS BREAKTHROUGH METHOD FOR RUNNING LLMS ON IPHONES

Apple researchers have made a key breakthrough in deploying large language models on Apple devices with limited memory by using an innovative flash memory utilization technique. The method uses windowing and row-column bundling to minimize data transfer and maximize flash memory throughput. It allows AI models to run up to five times faster on standard processors and up to 25 times faster on graphics processors. The technology sets the stage for iPhones to run complex AI assistants on-device.

macrumors.com · 2 min

TLDR AI

RITE AID BANNED FROM USING FACIAL RECOGNITION

Rite Aid used facial recognition software that falsely identified shoplifters, leading to dramatic confrontations. The FTC is cracking down more on this technology.

techcrunch.com · 5 min

TLDR Web Dev

A CRASH COURSE ON CACHING FUNDAMENTALS

The primary reason for caching is to improve performance. Other benefits include faster loading times (users get their pages faster), improved efficiency, and reduced loads on the server. This article dives into different types of caching, such as page, content, data, instruction, browser, and query caching. It also describes the trade-offs of caching, such as how caching reduces latency but also reduces data consistency, which can make certain applications unusable.

swequiz.com · 5 min

TLDR InfoSec

1.5 BILLION RECORDS LEAKED IN REAL ESTATE WEALTH NETWORK DATA BREACH

An unprotected database belonging to Real Estate Wealth Network was accessible from the internet for an unknown period. The unprotected database was 1.16 terabytes in size, containing more than 1.5 billion records. Britney Spears, Floyd Mayweather, Dave Chappelle, Elon Musk, Dolly Parton, Mark Wahlberg, Nancy Pelosi, and others have been affected.

vpnmentor.com · 3 min

TLDR Crypto

MEME COIN MANIA HELPS PUSH SOLANA DEFI VOLUME OVER ETHEREUM FOR FIRST TIME

Solana DEX volumes surpassed Ethereum’s for the first time over the past week due in large part to meme coin activity and strong inflows of capital into the ecosystem. This stat highlights the theme that has gained traction this year of Solana being a legitimate contender with the Ethereum ecosystem, aided by lower gas fees and faster transaction speeds. Despite this growth, Ethereum’s market cap is still over 6 times larger than Solana’s.

decrypt.co · 3 min

TLDR

GOOGLE MIGHT ALREADY BE REPLACING SOME AD SALES JOBS WITH AI

Google is restructuring its Ads business because of its new AI tools. The tools remove the need for a lot of work, increasing ad revenue profit margins. A growing number of advertisers are adopting Google's AI tools, eliminating the need for employees who specialize in selling ads for particular Google services. Details about the reorganization are expected to be announced next month.

arstechnica.com · 2 min

TLDR

MEET THE PHOLED THAT IS TRANSFORMING DISPLAYS

Blue phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) materials will soon become commercially available. PHOLEDs are potentially 100% efficient and don't generate heat. Red and green PHOLEDs have been around for a while, but creating blue PHOLEDs has been a challenge. Blue PHOLEDs will mean a more balanced pixel structure for displays, which could result in higher-resolution displays in the future. A switch to blue PHOLEDs will lead to an approximate 25% gain in efficiency and the reduced heat generation should increase the lifetime of all surrounding electronics. Samsung will most likely be the first company to deploy PHOLEDs.

spectrum.ieee.org · 5 min

TLDR

CANCER-FIGHTING CAR-T CELLS COULD BE MADE INSIDE BODY WITH VIRAL INJECTION

CAR-T treatment involves removing T cells from a patient, engineering them to target cancer cells, and reintroducing them to the patient's body. It has yielded dramatic recoveries from advanced forms of some blood cancers, but the technology is out of reach for many people due to its cost and difficulty. A new study suggests that the treatment can be administered through an injection of a virus that infects T cells. There are plans to request authorization from the US FDA next year to begin human trials of the technology.

nature.com · 3 min

TLDR

MIDJOURNEY V6 IS HERE WITH IN-IMAGE TEXT AND COMPLETELY OVERHAULED PROMPTING

Midjourney V6 has been released in alpha. The update drastically improves image quality and gives the model the ability to generate legible text within images. It also comes with an entirely new prompting method that is much more sensitive and much better at understanding users. Users will likely have to relearn how to prompt if they are accustomed to Midjourney V5 prompting. Examples of images generated with the new model are available in the article.

venturebeat.com · 5 min