TLDR Index
TLDR

TLDR 2024-07-15

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01GENERAL

02BIG TECH & STARTUPS

SPACEX ROCKET ACCIDENT LEAVES THE COMPANY'S STARLINK SATELLITES IN THE WRONG ORBIT

A SpaceX rocket has failed for the first time in nearly a decade. The upper stage engine of the Falcon 9 rocket malfunctioned several minutes into flight. It left 20 Starlink satellites in an orbit less than half of what was intended. The company is attempting to boost some of the satellites to a higher orbit using onboard ion thrusters, but it is unlikely to be successful. The satellites will likely return to the atmosphere and burn up. The Federal Aviation Administration says the problem must be fixed before SpaceX can fly its Falcon rockets again.

npr.org2 min read

03SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY

EX-META SCIENTISTS DEBUT GIGANTIC AI PROTEIN DESIGN MODEL

EvolutionaryScale, a company launched by ex-Meta scientists, applies cutting-edge machine learning models trained on language and images to biological data. It has developed a model that speaks the language of proteins called ESM3. ESM3 can be used to create proteins to specifications provided by users. It has been used to create new fluorescent molecules. A small version of the model that was trained without data from specific viruses, pathogens, and toxins has been open sourced.

nature.com7 min read

THIS IS THE FASTEST OBJECT EVER MADE BY HUMANS, AND IT'S NOT SLOWING DOWN

NASA's Parker Solar Probe was recorded traveling at 635,266 kilometers per hour on June 29. It is expected to reach a top speed of around 692,000 kph when it makes its closest approach to the Sun in 2025. The probe uses Venus' gravity to create a sort of gravity-powered slingshot to reach its incredible speeds. It will eventually get within 6.12 million kilometers of the layer of ionized gas considered to be the Sun's surface.

sciencealert.com3 min read

04PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE

PROPERTY: NEXT-GEN CSS VARIABLES NOW WITH UNIVERSAL BROWSER SUPPORT

@property extends the CSS language by providing meaning and context to CSV variables. It can be used to define a type for custom properties, preventing unexpected results and supporting new possibilities like animating gradients. The enhanced type safety opens up new opportunities for testing and validation directly within CSS.

web.dev4 min read

CAN CHATGPT DO DATA SCIENCE?

The challenges of using ChatGPT are worse for data science tasks. Data scientists often work with very large data sets that have quality issues on tasks that may require domain expertise. Using ChatGPT will mean that data scientists also have to understand the context, data, code, and assumptions in ChatGPT's responses. Data scientists are still undecided whether tasks in the field are suitable for ChatGPT or not.

austinhenley.com5 min read

05MISCELLANEOUS

OPENAI REVENUE

Sam Altman projected $3.4 billion in annual recurring revenue for OpenAI in June. This report takes a look at publicly available data to calculate whether this projection is accurate. Most of OpenAI's revenue comes from ChatGPT Plus subscribers, with around 21% coming from ChatGPT Enterprise and 15% from the API. The full report is available in the article.

futuresearch.ai6 min read

HERE'S HOW MUCH VALVE PAYS ITS STAFF — AND HOW FEW PEOPLE IT EMPLOYS

Valve employed just 336 staff in 2021. Its small number of staff across the board seems to explain why the company's product list is so limited despite its immense business. Its profitability per employee is higher than that of Google, Amazon, or Microsoft. A table containing employee pay data from Valve sorted by year and category is available in the article.

theverge.com4 min read