TLDR 2025-03-03

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APPLE'S ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE EFFORTS REACH A MAKE-OR-BREAK POINT

Apple's AI division now believes that a true modernized conversational version of Siri won't reach consumers until iOS 20 at best in 2027. iOS 19 will likely not include any significant consumer-facing changes to Apple Intelligence because the company is still working on getting the features announced last year out the door. The company is currently not moving fast enough internally to create the underlying AI technology that it needs to keep up with the competition, suggesting that change is required.

WITH ALEXA PLUS, AMAZON FINALLY REINVENTS ITS BEST PRODUCT

Amazon usually announces dozens of new gadgets at its event, but it spent 70 minutes at its press conference last week instead talking about Alexa Plus, its new generative AI-powered Alexa voice assistant. The company has focused on building cheap hardware for Alexa over the past decade and wasting efforts on failed ways for people to interact with the assistant rather than improving the core technology. The new Alexa was 100% rearchitected and is far more capable than its predecessor - which will remain accessible. It can order food, control smart home devices, create natural language security reports and menus, and much more.

ALPHABET'S TAARA CHIP USES LIGHT BEAMS TO PROVIDE HIGH-SPEED INTERNET

Alphabet's Taara chip could lead to low-cost, high-speed internet connectivity even in distant locations. It is about the size of a fingernail and works by using a very narrow, invisible light beam to transmit data at speeds as high as 20 gigabits per second at distances of up to 20 kilometers. The technology works similarly to traditional fiber except the light doesn't travel through cables. It only takes days to install instead of the months or years it takes to lay down fiber. The chip is expected to become available in 2026.

"WE'RE ON THE MOON": PRIVATE BLUE GHOST SPACECRAFT MAKES A HISTORIC LUNAR LANDING

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander successfully touched down on the Moon's surface early Sunday morning. The smooth touchdown makes Firefly Aerospace the first commercial company in history to achieve a fully successful soft landing on the Moon. Blue Ghost is carrying 10 NASA experiments on board. The lander will capture high-definition imagery of the March 14 total eclipse, when the Earth will pass between the Moon and the Sun.

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VIBE CODING AND THE FUTURE OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Vibe Coding is a mode of coding where the developer fully gives into the vibes and forgets that the code even exists - this is made possible by large language models (LLMs). Developers can now just talk to LLMs and write code while barely even touching the keyboard. Even looking at the code becomes unnecessary. The Vibe Coding meme is a hint at where things are headed - developers are building towards a future where AI can be harnessed to build better software products safely and efficiently.

HALLUCINATIONS IN CODE ARE THE LEAST DANGEROUS FORM OF LLM MISTAKES

Large language models (LLMs) make coding mistakes that aren't instantly caught by the language compiler or interpreter all the time. Hallucinations in LLM-generated code are usually obvious because they result in an error, but just because code looks good and runs without errors, doesn't mean it's actually doing the right thing. One of the reasons LLMs won't put software professionals out of work is because their job is to prove that code works - manually testing code is essential. Being able to read, understand, and review code written by other people is a crucial skill.

THE VANISHING MIDDLE CLASS OF TECH

The stable middle ground of tech employment - the middle-class engineer - isn't needed anymore. Product builders who can code can ship entire products in days when armed with AI. A single developer can now accomplish what once required an entire team. Companies are streamlining their operations, focusing on engineers who can use AI and demonstrate they can do the job of multiple engineers. The biggest losers in this shift may be the fresh graduates looking to enter the industry - recent graduates now have to be better than people already working.

“IT'S A LEMON”—OPENAI'S LARGEST AI MODEL EVER ARRIVES TO MIXED REVIEWS

Reviews say that OpenAI's newest AI model, GPT-4.5, is big, expensive, and slow. The model provides marginally better performance than GPT-4o at 30 times the cost for input and 15 times the cost for output. There seems to be diminishing returns in training unsupervised-learning large language models - scaling laws may have possibly met their natural end. OpenAI seems well aware of these limitations, which is why it released the model as a limited 'research preview'.

REIMAGINING FLUID TYPOGRAPHY

Users want their default font sizes to respond to changes in window sizes, but browsers (as a rule) don't make responsive typography available in user settings.

THE SURVEILLANCE TECH WAITING FOR WORKERS AS THEY RETURN TO THE OFFICE

Around 70% to 80% of large US employers now use some form of employee monitoring using all kinds of sensor data.

JAVASCRIPT FATIGUE STRIKES BACK

Choosing the right JavaScript framework is a difficult task - developers should choose boring, simple, and well-maintained technology so they aren't the first team to ever encounter a problem or the last team stuck using old technology.

ON TROUBLESHOOTING

Many features of an effective approach to troubleshooting are domain agnostic.

THE $100 TRILLION DISRUPTION: THE UNFORESEEN ECONOMIC EARTHQUAKE

The biggest economic transformation of our lifetime may come from diabetes drugs.

AI IS KILLING SOME COMPANIES, YET OTHERS ARE THRIVING - LET'S LOOK AT THE DATA

AI is upending the business models of major content sites in a phenomenon being called Product-Market Fit Collapse.