The Daily Index — Thursday, December 19, 2024 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

U.S. SUPREME COURT AGREES TO HEAR CHALLENGE TO TIKTOK BAN

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on a law that would effectively ban TikTok if ByteDance doesn't sell it. TikTok is arguing that the law violates the US Constitution's free speech protections. Oral arguments are scheduled for January 10, nine days before the law is set to take effect. Congress passed the law due to concerns that TikTok's Chinese ownership presented a national security risk.

cnbc.com · 3 min

TLDR AI

1-800-CHATGPT

For day 10, OpenAI has released free voice mode and texting via WhatsApp for a limited number of minutes per month. It operates globally and uses the Advanced Voice Mode API.

cnbc.com · 3 min

TLDR Web Dev

INTRODUCING TANSTACK START

TanStack Start is a new meta-framework that adds a thin server layer to TanStack Router, enabling server-side rendering without sacrificing Router's functionality. Unlike other meta-frameworks, Start avoids performance issues by using isomorphic loaders, which run on both the server (for initial load) and the client (for subsequent navigations), using client-side state and caching. This approach solves the "impedance mismatch" between server-side data loading and client-side state management, preventing unnecessary data refetches.

frontendmasters.com · 19 min

TLDR Crypto

‘NO TO CBDC, YES TO BITCOIN' — EUROPEAN MP CALLS FOR EU BTC RESERVE

European Parliament member Sarah Knafo has called for the EU to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve while opposing the European Central Bank's digital euro initiative, characterizing the CBDC project as having "totalitarian temptations." Knafo criticized Europe's predominantly regulatory and taxation-focused approach to cryptocurrencies, contrasting it with more crypto-friendly developments in other jurisdictions like El Salvador and potential shifts in US policy. The ECB continues to develop its digital euro project despite these criticisms and privacy concerns, with a final decision on implementation expected by October 2025.

cointelegraph.com · 2 min

TLDR Design

APPLE'S APP STORE IS INVITING ME TO ‘SEARCH THE WAY YOU TALK'

Apple's App Store now supports natural language search, letting users describe what they need using conversational phrases instead of specific keywords. Introduced in iOS 18.1, this feature aims to make searching more intuitive and user-friendly and improve discoverability for a broader range of apps. While early feedback highlights its effectiveness for general queries, more complex searches or niche requirements might still produce inconsistent results, indicating room for further refinement.

theverge.com · 3 min

TLDR

APPLE HALTS EFFORT TO BUILD IPHONE HARDWARE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE

Apple has halted work on a project to build an iPhone hardware subscription service. The service would have allowed customers to pay a monthly fee and receive a new phone each year. It would have competed with Apple's wireless carrier partners, who rely on installment programs to sell devices and retain customers. Apple may have canceled the program due to stricter rules by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

bloomberg.com · 6 min

TLDR

FIRST BABY CONCEIVED VIA BREAKTHROUGH FERTILITY TECH BORN

Gameto's Fertilo procedure differs from traditional IVF because it takes ovarian support cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells and co-cultures them with an immature egg to mimic the natural egg maturation process in the lab. It significantly improves egg maturation and embryo formation. The procedure avoids 80% of the hormone injections that traditional IVF requires and reduces the duration of a treatment cycle to three days. The first live human baby conceived using the technique was recently born. Gameto has partnered with Australian IVF clinic chain IVFAustralia to make the procedure available to patients at select clinics throughout the country.

newatlas.com · 5 min

TLDR

AFTER DECADES OF TALK, SEAGATE SEEMS READY TO ACTUALLY DROP THE HAMR HARD DRIVES

Seagate has been experimenting with heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) since at least 2002. The company is set to release HAMR hard drives based on its Mozaic 3+ platform in standard drive sizes. Getting from the theoretical concept of HAMR to an actual drive required countless engineering hours. Seagate has not released prices yet, but the product page for the Exos M shows 30 and 32TB capacities.

arstechnica.com · 3 min

TLDR

GITHUB LAUNCHES A FREE VERSION OF ITS COPILOT

Microsoft has launched a free version of its popular Copilot code completion/AI pair programming tool that will ship by default with VS Code. The free version is geared towards occasional users and not major work on big projects. It gives developers access to 2,000 code completions per month. Users on the free plan are restricted to Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet and OpenAI's GPT-4o. The free version of Copilot Chat is limited to 50 chat messages.

techcrunch.com · 4 min