TLDR 2024-02-16

MICROSOFT’S GAMING CHIEF ON XBOX GAMES COMING TO PS5, NEXT-GEN HARDWARE, AND MORE

Microsoft is bringing four Xbox-exclusive games to PS5 and Nintendo Switch. The move is part of an 'Xbox Everywhere' effort that will likely see even more games arriving on rival consoles. While there are risks to going fully multiplatform, Microsoft sees an opportunity to make more money on rival consoles to support its game creation. This article contains an interview with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer where he talks about the future of Xbox gaming, regulatory efforts against Apple that could affect the Xbox business, and next-gen Xbox hardware.

GEMINI 1.5 IS GOOGLE’S NEXT-GEN AI MODEL — AND IT’S ALREADY ALMOST READY

Google has launched Gemini 1.5, making it available to developers and enterprise users ahead of a full consumer rollout. The new Gemini is apparently on par with the high-end Gemini Ultra that Google recently launched. It was created using the Mixture of Experts technique, making the model both faster for users and more efficient for Google to run. Gemini 1.5 has a context window of 1 million tokens, equivalent to tens of thousands of lines of code. Google researchers are currently testing a 10 million context window.

LENOVO'S TRANSPARENT LAPTOP CONCEPT IS SOMETHING ELSE

Lenovo is reportedly working on a transparent laptop. The company might unveil the laptop at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which starts on February 26. Transparent display technology is a rising trend, with several companies showing off semi-transparent TVs at this year's CES. A render of Lenovo's rumored transparent laptop is available in the article.

MOON COMPANY INTUITIVE MACHINES BEGINS FIRST MISSION AFTER SPACEX LAUNCH

Intuitive Machines' inaugural moon mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Thursday morning. The company's IM-1 lander is carrying 12 government and commercial payloads to the Moon. It will spend about eight days traveling before descending to the Moon's surface on February 22. If all goes well, Intuitive Machines aims to operate the lander on the surface for up to seven days. This is the second mission under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.

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UV

uv is an extremely fast Python package installer and resolver designed as a drop-in replacement for pip and pip-compile. It is disk-space efficient and has a global cache for dependency deduplication. uv has been tested at scale against the top 10,000 PyPI packages. It supports advanced features such as dependency version overrides and alternative resolution strategies.

ARE THERE ANY GOOD REASONS TO USE C++ OVER RUST FOR NEW PROJECTS TODAY? (LOBSTERS THREAD)

This thread discusses contexts where using C++ makes more sense than using Rust, things people new to Rust should watch out for when starting new projects, and things that those considering making Rust their go-to language should be aware of. It increasingly looks like Rust can solve all of the problems that C++ can without losing performance while gaining better memory safety guarantees and better type invariance guarantees. However, there are still several reasons to stick with C++, for example, Q2 and Unreal Engine require C++ and platform support for Rust is still limited.

BLUESKY AND MASTODON USERS ARE HAVING A FIGHT THAT COULD SHAPE THE NEXT GENERATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA

A developer recently released a bridge to connect Bluesky's AT Protocol with Mastodon's ActivityPub. The networks use two different protocols, meaning that their users can't natively interact. The release appeared to be controversial - it triggered an intense debate on the project's GitHub issue page. Integrating the protocols together could mean that users' posts show up in places they didn't anticipate. The way that these protocols interact with one another could set the stage for the next era of the internet.

APPLE CONFIRMS IT’S BREAKING IPHONE WEB APPS IN THE EU ON PURPOSE

Apple says it broke progressive web apps (PWAs) in the iOS 17.4 beta due to complexities involved with the Digital Markets Act's requirement to allow different browser engines. PWAs typically allow web apps to function and feel like native iOS apps. They now open like a bookmark saved to the Home Screen. PWAs no longer have dedicated windowing, notifications, or long-term storage. The changes will apply to all users in the EU beginning in March.

OPENAI’S NEW SORA MODEL CAN GENERATE MINUTE-LONG VIDEOS FROM TEXT PROMPTS

Sora will be made available to a small group of academics and researchers who will assess its potential for harm and misuse.

WHO CAN USE THIS COLOR COMBINATION?

WhoCanUse is a tool that helps designers understand how color contrast can affect different people with visual impairments.

NGINX CORE DEVELOPER QUITS PROJECT IN SECURITY DISPUTE, STARTS “FREENGINX” FORK

freenginx will be run by developers, not corporate entities, freeing it from arbitrary corporate actions.

SAM ALTMAN OWNS OPENAI'S VENTURE CAPITAL FUND

OpenAI put the fund into Altman's name 'temporarily' to get it started quickly - it has been well over a year since the fund's launch.

APPLE DEVELOPING AI TOOL TO HELP DEVELOPERS WRITE CODE FOR APPS

Apple is working on an AI tool for Xcode similar to GitHub Copilot.

PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA IS CLOSE TO CREATING CANCER VACCINES

He did not specify which types of cancer the proposed vaccines would target.

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