TLDR Index
TLDR

TLDR 2024-07-29

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01GENERAL

02BIG TECH & STARTUPS

THE $600 BILLION DIGITAL AD BUSINESS IS HANGING ON A FEW WORDS FROM GOOGLE

Google plans to introduce a prompt asking users to opt in or out of cookies in Chrome. The company's choice of wording for the prompt could have widespread implications for the industry. It could result in cookies being effectively deprecated because consumers opt out. Google still plans to develop and test its Privacy Sandbox, a suite of alternative technologies to the cookie.

links.tldrnewsletter.com6 min read

03SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY

SEVENTH PATIENT ‘CURED' OF HIV: WHY SCIENTISTS ARE EXCITED

A 60-year-old man in Germany is the seventh person with HIV to be announced free of the virus after receiving a stem-cell transplant. The patient received stem cells which only had one copy of a gene that has been suggested as the best target for an HIV cure. The findings widen the donor pool for stem-cell transplants - roughly 1% of people of European descent carry mutations in both copies of the gene, while 10% of people carry one mutated copy. The procedure, which is risky and offered to people with leukemia, is unlikely to be rolled out for most individuals with HIV.

nature.com6 min read

SOLID-STATE BATTERIES ARE FINALLY MAKING THEIR WAY OUT OF THE LAB

This article takes a look at the history of batteries, the latest breakthroughs, and the trends that suggest that solid-state batteries could soon overtake lithium-ion ones. Battery design hasn't changed much since the first battery in 1799 - solid-state batteries have been the major exception. Their development has been held back by cost, manufacturing challenges, and a tendency for them to short-circuit. Solid-state batteries seem to finally be ready to deliver on their promise, with several companies getting ready to or already releasing products containing the technology.

freethink.com10 min read

04PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE

SGREP - SEMANTIC GREP

sgrep is a command-line tool designed to find semantically similar matches, similar to grep. It performs semantic searches on text input using word embeddings, going beyond simple string matching. sgrep features a configurable similarity threshold, context display, color-coded output for matched words and line numbers, and support for reading from files or standard output. It is configurable through a JSON file and command-line arguments.

github.comGitHub repository

PATCHWORK

Patchwork automates development gruntwork like PR reviews, bug fixing, and security patching using a self-hosted CLI agent and large language models. It features customizable prompts optimized for chores like library updates, code generation, issue analysis, and vulnerability remediation. Patchflows can be run locally in a CLI or IDE or as part of a CI/CD pipeline. A short demo video is available.

github.comGitHub repository

05MISCELLANEOUS

THE NEW INTERNET

This article discusses the big vision for Tailscale. The tech industry has evolved into a mess, making things harder for developers. While almost all devices are now supercomputers compared to the standards of 20 years ago, they become useless once you turn off AWS. This centralization is caused by a lack of connectivity. Tailscale aims to increase connectivity by creating a new Internet that works how you thought the Internet worked, before you learned how the Internet works. Its network slices out layers of nonsense so that every device can connect securely and safely and be a peer without adding latency or overhead.

tailscale.com16 min read

BLOCK TO FACE ‘DISRUPTIVE' INTERNAL OVERHAUL, FOUNDER JACK DORSEY WARNS STAFF

Fintech company Block is about to reorganize its entire internal reporting structure. The company has been conducting rounds of layoffs since the end of last year. CEO Jack Dorsey says the move may feel 'big and disruptive or uncomfortable'. The company is due to report its latest quarterly earnings next week.

forbes.com.au3 min read