TLDR 2024-09-24

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THE MAN TASKED WITH REBOOTING AMAZON AI

Rohit Prasad, one of the chief architects of Amazon's Alexa, is leading the company's effort to catch up in the AI race. Prasad is leading a new team of thousands of people to develop AI products for an Alexa upgrade and other businesses. Amazon is expected to unveil a new Alexa with AI as early as next month, but company insiders say Amazon's proprietary models are still behind those of its biggest competitors. Amazon prefers to develop its own technology to have full control over its products and services, but it has increasingly leaned on partnerships as the AI race has progressed.

HOW SONOS BOTCHED AN APP AND INFURIATED ITS CUSTOMERS

Sonos' app launch in May was one of the most disastrous software releases by any consumer technology company ever. The app was released with plenty of bugs and missing core functionality. Sonos predicts that it will fall $200 million short of its annual revenue target. It has postponed two new products until the problems are fixed, which is still expected to take months. The issues were caused by the company ignoring tech debt, disregarding employee warnings, and cutting costs.

THE INTELLIGENCE AGE

People have become dramatically more capable over time - this trend is not new, but it will soon be accelerated. We are now more capable than our ancestors because we benefit from the infrastructure of society. Our ancestors contributed to the scaffolding of human progress. AI will give people tools to solve hard problems and help them add new scaffolding. Progress will continue - our children will be able to do things we can't.

SPACEX PLANS 5 UNCREWED STARSHIP MISSIONS TO MARS BY 2026, CREWED BY 2028

SpaceX plans to launch five uncrewed missions to Mars in two years, which is when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens. The success of the flights will determine the timeline for human-boarded flights to Mars, which could be as early as 2028. SpaceX is still waiting for FAA approval for Starship's fifth test flight. It is expected to be issued in late November.

CLOUDFLARE'S NEW MARKETPLACE WILL LET WEBSITES CHARGE AI BOTS FOR SCRAPING

Cloudflare plans to launch a marketplace in the next year that will allow website owners to sell access to AI model providers to scrape their site's content. It is part of the company's plan to give publishers greater control over how and when AI bots scrape their websites. The company launched free observability tools for customers on Monday as part of this plan, giving website owners a dashboard to view analytics on why, when, and how often AI models are crawling their sites for information. It is also letting customers block AI bots from their sites with a click of a button.

SWAPY

Swapy is a simple JavaScript tool that converts any layout into a drag-to-swap one with just a few lines of code. It is framework agnostic and there are examples in the repository for how to use it with React, Vue, and Svelte. Swapy can listen to swap events and layouts can be as complex as users desire. An interactive example is available on the website linked in the repository.

FOUNDER MODE VS BUREAUCRAT MODE

Bureaucrat mode is what happens when companies get big, scaled, and successful. People purposely implement best practices with good intentions, but these processes can make it hard to get anything done. Startups have a huge advantage over large companies in that they can move incredibly fast and just focus on output. As startups start to gain success and get bigger, they start to get bogged down with bureaucracy. This allows for newer, more nimble startups to emerge - then the cycle continues.

ANIME IS EATING THE WORLD

Anime has become a multi-billion dollar industry. It is driving pop culture today. The estimated total market size, accounting for anime, comics, and games, is estimated to be more than $50 billion. Anime is where the future of creation and play is happening and it will likely become one of the dominant formats through which we consume and engage with content.

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CHIP GIANTS TSMC AND SAMSUNG DISCUSS BUILDING MIDDLE EASTERN MEGAFACTORIES

The projects would be funded by the United Arab Emirates, with Abu Dhabi-based sovereign development vehicle Mubadala playing a central role.

IF AI IS HELPING PEOPLE CODE BETTER, WHY AREN'T PRODUCTS GETTING BETTER? (HACKER NEWS THREAD)

It's still early days, and productivity gains don't go directly into products getting better.

ANTHROPIC REPORTEDLY IN EARLY TALKS TO RAISE NEW FUNDING ON UP TO $40B VALUATION

The talks are still in an early stage and it is not clear whether investors will agree to the valuation.

MULLENWEG: WP ENGINE FILED LEGAL ACTION AGAINST WORDPRESS

WP Engine has initiated legal action against WordPress, Automattic, and Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic - WordPress is counter-suing.

WHAT'S THIS NEW MYSTERY NINTENDO DEVICE?

Nintendo has submitted a wireless device with a 24GHz mmWave sensor to the FCC that seems to be an entirely new product.

HOW MUCH ENERGY DOES DESALINATION USE? IS IT “ABSURDLY CHEAP”?

Farming is where the costs of desalination start to become unfeasible - it is cheap if the technology is just used to produce drinking water.