TLDR

TLDR 2023-12-20

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01BIG TECH & STARTUPS

BLUE ORIGIN SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED AND RECOVERED ITS NEW SHEPARD BOOSTER

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket successfully took off from West Texas on Tuesday morning. Its booster and crew capsule safely separated mid-flight, with both landing back on Earth. The mission carried 33 payloads to space, more than half from NASA. It was originally scheduled for December 18 but was delayed due to cold temperatures and ground issues. A replay of the livestream is available in the article.

theverge.com2 min read

ALL THE CHANGES COMING TO GOOGLE PLAY AND SIDELOADING FOLLOWING $700M SETTLEMENT

Google will pay $700 million as part of a settlement with the US attorney general for a lawsuit over the Google Play Store. It has also agreed to implement third-party app stores, side-loading, and alternative billing on Android. Google will not be able to enter deals with phone makers to have Google Play as an exclusive app store on devices for at least five years. More details about the settlement agreement are available in the article.

techcrunch.com3 min read

02SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY

NASA VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS FIRST COMMERCIAL DELIVERY SERVICE TO THE MOON

NASA recently shared a video detailing its plan to launch a commercial delivery service to the moon. It is currently working with 14 companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface. NASA has a long-term plan to build a permanent moon base. A commercial delivery service to the moon would radically increase the amount of science that can be achieved. It could pave the way for a similar service to other destinations like Mars.

digitaltrends.com2 min read

WATCH 'WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL' HUMANOID ROBOT WITHSTAND BRUTAL KICKS

Unitree's H1 features a powertrain that provides it with the highest level of speed, power, maneuverability, and flexibility of any humanoid robot in the world. The robot can run across demanding terrains and intricate environments while dealing with disruptions. Unitree plans to initiate deliveries of the robot in the first quarter of 2024 with a price of approximately $150,000 per unit. A video of the robot dealing with disruptions, such as being kicked or pushed/pulled, is available in the article.

interestingengineering.com4 min read

03PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE

QUINT

Quint is a specification language particularly useful for distributed systems. It combines the robust theoretical basis of the Temporal Logic of Actions (TLA) with state-of-the-art type checking and development tooling. Quint features a simple and familiar syntax, an expressive type system, a novel effect system, a simulator, a symbolic model checker, and more.

github.comGitHub repository

TECHNICAL DEBT IS NOT REAL

Technical debt is a metaphor about the accumulated consequences of past decisions and shortcuts. This article examines this metaphor to see how technical debt has less to do with code and more to do with the choices and compromises that emerge from the challenges within software development. It looks at emergent technical debt, which arises from evolving system requirements, and deliberate technical debt, a strategic choice to prioritize rapid development over code quality. The article aims to refine understanding of technical debt and identify effective strategies for managing it.

foxhound.systems6 min read

04MISCELLANEOUS

THE ROAD AHEAD REACHES A TURNING POINT IN 2024

2023 signaled the start of a new era and 2023 is an opportunity to shape the world's next chapter for the better. The year gave us a glimpse of how AI will shape the future. The technology will be used to help improve many aspects of our lives and reduce inequities around the world. While these are still challenging times, the future remains bright as the speed of innovation has never been faster.

gatesnotes.com35 min read

SSH PROTECTS THE WORLD’S MOST SENSITIVE NETWORKS. IT JUST GOT A LOT WEAKER

Researchers have devised an attack with the potential to undermine cryptographic SSH protections. Terrapin is a man-in-the-middle attack that affects SSH connections secured by ChaCha20-Poly1305 or CBC with Encrypt-then-MAC. Around 57% of servers list these encryption modes as their preferred choice. Anyone using SSH should check whether they are vulnerable to the attack and make the appropriate updates. The attack invalidates proofs published in 2016 concluding that such attacks weren't possible. Details about the attack and how it works are available in the article.

arstechnica.com4 min read