The Daily Index — Wednesday, October 23, 2024 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

ANTHROPIC PUBLICLY RELEASES AI TOOL THAT CAN TAKE OVER THE USER'S MOUSE CURSOR

Anthropic's new Computer Use tool can take control of users' mouse cursors and perform basic tasks on their computers. It is now available exclusively with Anthropic's mid-range 3.5 Sonnet model via the API. It works by taking rapid successive screengrabs, so it can miss short-lived notifications and other changes and is incapable of some common actions like drag-and-drop. The tool is still cumbersome and error-prone at times. A video from Anthropic explaining the tool is available in the article.

arstechnica.com · 4 min

TLDR AI

STABLE DIFFUSION 3.5

Stability AI has released a new series of models with improved performance and speed. They have Diffusers support with training out of the gate.

stability.ai · 12 min

TLDR Web Dev

HOW VERCEL ADOPTED MICROFRONTENDS

Vercel, once a single large Next.js application, switched to vertical microfrontends for better build times and developer velocity. It reduced dependencies, improved preview build times, and boosted end-user performance by dividing its website into logical sections. Vercel used Turborepo and Next.js Multi-Zones to manage the migration process and implemented prefetching and prerendering techniques to optimize performance and navigation.

vercel.com · 8 min

TLDR InfoSec

HACKERS EXPLOIT ROUNDCUBE WEBMAIL FLAW TO STEAL EMAIL CREDENTIALS

Russian cybersecurity company Positive Technologies has detected an ongoing campaign that exploits a medium-severity stored XSS flaw in Roundcube webmail. The flaw lies in the improper processing of SVG elements in emails which bypass syntax checks. The threat actor sends an email with no visible text and a .doc attachment which contains a hidden payload disguised as a href that injects an unauthorized login form into the HTML message.

bleepingcomputer.com · 2 min

TLDR Crypto

GARY GENSLER'S CONTENTIOUS REIGN OVER CRYPTO APPROACHES ITS TWILIGHT

SEC Chair Gary Gensler's controversial oversight of the crypto industry is nearly over. He will likely depart following the 2024 presidential election, though he could technically remain as commissioner until 2026. His tenure has been marked by aggressive enforcement actions, including a House-passed bill for digital asset regulations, and resistance to crypto-specific rulemaking leading to court battles and congressional pushback. Gensler's remaining agenda includes potentially finalizing crypto exchange and custody rules. His successor's approach will likely depend on the election outcome.

coindesk.com · 12 min

TLDR

APPLE WORKING ON NEW APP STORE-LIKE APP DEDICATED TO GAMES

Apple is reportedly working on a new App Store-like app dedicated to games that combines functionality from the App Store and Game Center in one place. It is not expected to replace Game Center, but will integrate with users' Game Center profiles. The app will allow users to find and play games and show things like challenges, leaderboards, and achievements. It will be used to promote special gaming events and information about important updates. Apple is experimenting with some kind of integration with FaceTime and iMessage on the app.

9to5mac.com · 2 min

TLDR

DE-EXTINCTION COMPANY PROVIDES A PROGRESS REPORT ON THYLACINE EFFORTS

Colossal, a company founded to try to restore the mammoth to the Arctic tundra, released a progress report last week on the work involved in resurrecting the thylacine, which went extinct in 1936. Marsupial biology has features that may make de-extinction somewhat easier, and it appears that the technology available for working with marsupials is expanding rapidly. Colossal has a nearly complete genome sequence from a thylacine sample and it expects to complete the genome shortly. It is working on technology that will allow marsupial embryos to develop inside artificial uteruses.

arstechnica.com · 5 min

TLDR

WORLD'S 1ST DONOR CELL THERAPY HELPS 3 AUTOIMMUNE DISORDER PATIENTS IN CHINA

Three Chinese patients received treatment for autoimmune disorders using engineered immune cells made from donor cells. All three recipients reported improvements to their conditions. The treatment involved genetically engineering healthy-donor-derived CD19-targeting CAR-T cells using CRISPR-Cas9 to address issues with immune rejection. The study demonstrates the high safety and promising immune modularity effect of off-the-shelf CAR-T cells in treating severe refractory autoimmune diseases.

interestingengineering.com · 3 min

TLDR

HOW WE BUILT A NEW POWERFUL JSON DATA TYPE FOR CLICKHOUSE

JSON has become the go-to format for handling semi-structured and unstructured data in modern data systems. While it seems simple, leveraging the format effectively at scale presents unique challenges. This article explains some of the challenges ClickHouse, one of the fastest analytical databases on the market, experienced in implementing JSON support. It outlines how ClickHouse developed a new JSON type from scratch designed to address the limitations and improve the overall functionality of the now deprecated Object('json') data type.

clickhouse.com · 23 min