The Daily Index — Friday, February 9, 2024 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

GOOGLE LAUNCHES GEMINI ULTRA, ITS MOST POWERFUL LLM YET

Google has retired the Bard name and rebranded it to Gemini for the launch of Gemini Ultra, its most capable large language model yet. Gemini Ultra is available through a new $20 Google One tier that also includes 2TB of storage as well as the rest of Google One's feature set. The feature will work in Google Workspace apps. More information about API access for the Ultra model will be shared in the coming weeks.

techcrunch.com · 4 min

TLDR AI

GEMINI ADVANCED AND A MOBILE APP

Google launched a new service that allows you to finally interact with Gemini Ultra 1.0 - it will charge a monthly subscription for access to the model. There is also a companion mobile app.

blog.google · 6 min

TLDR Web Dev

DOTSLASH: SIMPLIFIED EXECUTABLE DEPLOYMENT

DotSlash is an open-source tool developed by Meta that manages large executables efficiently by replacing them with small text files. These files tell DotSlash where to download and verify the actual executable for your platform. This avoids storing large binaries in source control and reduces clone times. DotSlash is used at Meta for managing internal tools and open-source projects alike and it integrates with GitHub releases for easy distribution.

engineering.fb.com · 13 min

TLDR InfoSec

SECURITY FLAW IN A POPULAR SMART HELMET ALLOWED SILENT LOCATION TRACKING

Livall fixed a flaw allowing real-time location tracking of its connected helmets. The skiing and biking helmets featured group chats and location sharing via apps. Accessing a group only required an easy-to-guess numeric ID. Anyone was able to listen in and track locations.

techcrunch.com · 3 min

TLDR Crypto

KRAKEN, OKX THE LATEST CRYPTO EXCHANGES MOVING INTO NEW MARKETS

Kraken has reportedly secured regulatory approval from the Dutch Central Bank to conduct its operations in the Netherlands. This is yet another expansion for Kraken into the EU. It follows the firm's previous registrations in Spain, Italy, and Ireland and aligns with the forthcoming implementation of the EU's MiCA regulation.

blockworks.co · 2 min

TLDR

SPACEX TESTS USING DRONE SHIPS TO SUPPORT STARLINK COVERAGE AT SEA

SpaceX is using its drone ships, designed to act as landing pads for rockets, as gateway stations to bolster Starlink's cover at sea. The company applied for a temporary FCC license last month to test operating up to 12 earth station antennas over the drone ships. SpaceX hasn't revealed details about how the drone ships will serve as backhaul without dedicated fiber connections. The FCC is still weighing the application.

pcmag.com · 2 min

TLDR

THE MOST PROMISING AI SMART GLASSES ARE FROM A BRAND YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF

Brilliant Labs' Frame smart glasses feature an integrated multimodal AI assistant. It lets users navigate and interact with the physical world with multimodal generative AI agents. The glasses use a wide range of AI models to answer questions. Frame has a front-facing sensor to capture images to answer questions, but it discards the data shortly after. It requires a smartphone with an internet connection to operate. A video introducing the device is available in the article.

zdnet.com · 4 min

TLDR

INTRODUCING SUDO FOR WINDOWS!

Sudo for Windows is a new way for users to run elevated commands directly from an unelevated console session. Microsoft has open-sourced the project and added the feature to the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26052. The feature currently supports three configuration options (In a new window, Input closed, and Inline) that can be set through a drop-down menu in the Settings page for the feature. A link to gsudom, an alternative implementation of sudo with additional functionality, is available.

devblogs.microsoft.com · 5 min

TLDR

THE ONE-PERSON BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANY

OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman recently said that a one-person billion-dollar company may soon emerge. This will supposedly be made possible with AI tools as work could be outsourced to an army of artificial intelligence agents. The size of the distribution required, coupled with the ability of anyone to make anything with the same AI tools, makes the one-person billion-dollar company incredibly challenging if not impossible. There's a significant opportunity for ambitious people to build solo businesses in the $1-10 million ARR range, but after that, it's probably best to hire people to help grow anyway.

every.to · 13 min