The Daily Index — Thursday, February 8, 2024 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

APPLE ACTIVELY DEVELOPING FOLDABLE CLAMSHELL IPHONE PROTOTYPES, FOLDING 8-INCH IPAD

Apple has been exploring foldable iPhones as early as 2018. It currently has at least two active clamshell prototypes. Apple is also developing a larger form-factor foldable iPad. The company recently discussed component orders with manufacturers in Asia. The project may still be canceled if the final product cannot meet Apple's design standards.

9to5mac.com · 2 min

TLDR AI

MICROSOFT BRINGS NEW AI IMAGE FUNCTIONALITY TO COPILOT

Microsoft announced a major update to its Copilot AI, including a new design, AI image creation, editing functionalities, and a new AI model named Deucalion.

venturebeat.com · 5 min

TLDR Web Dev

A SEARCH ENGINE IN 80 LINES OF PYTHON

This post walks through how to build a search engine from scratch using Python. The project was motivated by the desire to address the "Small Website Discoverability Crisis" and make small websites more visible. The post walks through the key components of the search engine, including the crawler, inverted index, ranker, and interface, providing both theoretical descriptions and practical implementation details. The project is helpful for deepening one’s understanding of search engine mechanisms.

alexmolas.com · 26 min

TLDR Crypto

ARK 21SHARES AMENDS SPOT ETHER ETF PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE STAKING LANGUAGE

Ark 21Shares has amended its spot ether ETF filings, hinting at the possibility of staking as a component of the fund. This is a potential milestone in the cross-over of traditional finance and digital assets. Analysts predict that if ETFs hold Ethereum and are allowed to keep staking rewards, it could trigger significant growth in the staking industry. The final decision on the ether ETFs is due from the SEC in May.

blockworks.co · 2 min

TLDR Design

APPLE MADE AN AI IMAGE TOOL THAT LETS YOU MAKE EDITS BY DESCRIBING THEM

In collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara, Apple researchers have developed the MGIE model, which enables users to describe desired photo edits through text rather than directly using photo editing software. MGIE, which stands for MLLM-Guided Image Editing, performs tasks like cropping, resizing, and adding filters based on textual prompts. It combines multimodal language models to interpret user instructions and generate corresponding image edits, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in photo editing tasks.

theverge.com · 3 min

TLDR

DISNEY INVESTS $1.5B IN EPIC GAMES, PLANS NEW “GAMES AND ENTERTAINMENT UNIVERSE”

Disney has announced plans to invest $1.5 billion into Epic Games for an equity stake. The partnership will see the companies collaborate on an all-new games and entertainment universe. Disney has attempted to enter the gaming industry several times - this is its biggest attempt yet. The announcement video is available in the article.

arstechnica.com · 3 min

TLDR

EUROPE’S DEEPEST MINE TO BECOME GIANT GRAVITY BATTERY

The Pyhäsalmi Mine, an abandoned mine in Finland, is set to be transformed into a giant gravity battery to store renewable energy. The 1,400-meter-deep mine holds the potential to store up to 2 MW of energy. Gravity batteries are charged by lifting heavy weights - these weights are then released, and energy from the drop is used to power a turbine. The technology offers a potential future for mines approaching the end of their original service lives. Studies suggest that gravity batteries in abandoned mines could store enough energy to meet global electricity demands.

independent.co.uk · 3 min

TLDR

MOMENTARY FUSION BREAKTHROUGHS FACE HARD REALITY

A new paper has confirmed the National Ignition Facility's claim that they finally achieved a breakeven fusion reaction. While there is still considerable work to be done, the achievement signals a major milestone in fusion science. It demonstrated that there is nothing fundamentally limiting scientists from being able to harness fusion in the laboratory. The team has since carried out six more experiments, four of which generated significantly more energy than in the breakthrough experiment.

spectrum.ieee.org · 4 min

TLDR

JQUERY 4.0.0 BETA!

The jQuery 4.0.0 beta features bug fixes, performance improvements, and some breaking changes, like the removal of support for IE<11. Other breaking changes include the removal of previously deprecated APIs, internal-only parameters to public functions, and support for some magic behaviors that were overly complicated. A comprehensive upgrade guide will be published before the final release. This article covers some of the highlights of the jQuery 4.0.0 beta.

blog.jquery.com · 24 min