The Daily Index — Monday, September 16, 2024 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

SPACEX POLARIS DAWN CREW RETURNS HOME AFTER HISTORY-MAKING MISSION

SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission has returned to Earth, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday morning. The four astronauts made history as the mission reached a higher altitude than any human has traveled in five decades and also included the first spacewalk completed by a privately funded and operated mission. This was the third trip to space for the specific Crew Dragon capsule used in the mission. Besides the spacewalk, the crew carried out nearly 40 science experiments and research.

edition.cnn.com · 4 min

TLDR AI

OPENAI NON-PROFIT STRUCTURE TO CHANGE NEXT YEAR

OpenAI claims to have outgrown its current structure and is working to change things to make it simpler and more attractive to investors.

fortune.com · 4 min

TLDR Web Dev

THE STRANGE BEHAVIOR OF THE VOID TYPE IN TYPESCRIPT

In TypeScript, the `void` type signifies "nothing" and is mostly used to declare the return type of functions. While you can declare a variable as `void`, it's generally not recommended as it can only hold the value `undefined`, making it impractical. Functions declared with a `void` return type are expected to return `undefined`, either explicitly or implicitly. However, due to how TypeScript handles function type declarations and shorthand syntax, functions with a `void` return type can actually return non-`undefined` values - it's important to note that this is a special case to accommodate common usage patterns.

pixelstech.net · 6 min

TLDR InfoSec

FORTINET CONFIRMS DATA BREACH AFTER HACKER CLAIMS TO STEAL 440GB OF FILES

Last week, a threat actor posted credentials to an S3 bucket containing 440GB of files allegedly stolen from a Microsoft Sharepoint server belonging to Fortinet. Fortinet has confirmed that it experienced a breach due to an exposed third-party cloud-based file drive. It has stated that the breach only affects 0.3% of customers.

bleepingcomputer.com · 2 min

TLDR Crypto

OPTIONS MARKET SEES INTEREST IN ETH

The options market has seen a surge in Ethereum interest, with over 20,000 contracts bought aiming for a $3,000 price level by December 27. While there may be short-term volatility, QCP remains optimistic about locking in yields and preparing for a potential rate cut and bullish scenarios ahead.

threadreaderapp.com · 1 min

TLDR

TIKTOK IS ABOUT TO GET ITS DAY IN COURT

On September 16, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear oral arguments for TikTok's First Amendment challenge to legislation that it claims amounts to a ban. The US government argues that TikTok is a clear national security threat but says that revealing why would be a threat. Its claims rely on dozens of pages of redacted classified material that likely focus on the potential that the Chinese government could compel ByteDance to hand over the data of US users or push specific content onto US users. These risks are reportedly so significant that they override TikTok's First Amendment claims.

theverge.com · 11 min

TLDR

AN INJECTABLE HIV-PREVENTION DRUG IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE — BUT WILDLY EXPENSIVE

The results from a landmark pair of major clinical trials of lenacapavir, an injectable HIV-prevention drug that only requires dosing every six months, show that it is 89% more effective at preventing HIV than daily oral preventative medication among gay, bisexual, and transgender people. It could be a game changer if rolled out broadly and equitably, but the drug is extraordinarily expensive. Its current list price for use as an HIV treatment is $3,450 per month. It is unclear whether it will have a different list price for use as a preventive.

nbcnews.com · 10 min

TLDR

NASA CONFIRMS IT'S DEVELOPING THE MOON'S NEW TIME ZONE

NASA is developing a new lunar time system for the Moon. Time changes relative to speed and gravity - it moves slightly faster on the Moon because of its weaker gravity. The small difference in time could have large effects on calculations made in space. The project aims to be scalable to other celestial bodies in the future. NASA is aiming to have the standard ready by 2026.

engadget.com · 2 min

TLDR

HOW WE VERIFY THE CORRECTNESS OF A SPREADSHEET ENGINE

Spreadsheets have a ton of overlapping features, making them an interesting software domain. Spreadsheet engines ensure software quality by leaning on lightweight property-based testing. This article discusses property-based testing and how it is used to verify spreadsheets. It covers the different types of frameworks and tests, code for testing, examples, and more. Adding property tests to code can help reveal bugs. They provide immense value and are among the highest-value tests you can write.

rowzero.io · 11 min