Search the archive

LET SMALL FIRES BURN

Not all bugs and issues matter - prioritize for impact.

YOU DON'T KNOW HOW BAD MOST THINGS ARE NOR PRECISELY HOW THEY'RE BAD

It takes dedicated time and attention to develop discernment in a subject - since the space of possible subjects is huge, a person's average discernment is terrible.

→ Get unlimited parallel test runs

→ Zero Flakes guarantee

Schedule a demo to learn more

WAYMO SAYS IT HAS DOUBLED ITS WEEKLY PAID ROBOTAXI TRIPS TO 100,000 SINCE MAY

Waymo is now providing more than 100,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the US. It serves the most trips in San Francisco. The company claims that its driverless vehicles have driven over 14.8 million rider-only miles. It also claims that the Waymo Driver is 3.5 times better at avoiding crashes that cause injuries and 3 times better at avoiding police-reported crashes than human drivers.

OPENAI'S MOST ADVANCED MODEL CAN NOW BE CUSTOMIZED. HERE'S HOW

OpenAI's GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini can now be fine-tuned and customized by developers for business use. Developers can now use their own datasets to enhance the model's knowledge base with proprietary information and control how the model responds to specific questions. It costs $25 for every 1 million tokens used to fine-tune GPT-4o - $3 for GPT-4o mini. 1 million tokens is roughly equivalent to 2,500 pages in a standard-size book.

WATCH THIS ROBOT QUICKLY INSTALL ROOF SHINGLES

Renovate Robotics' Rufus V1 rooftop robot can automate one of construction's most common and dangerous tasks - roofing. The robot can currently only install shingles, but future versions will be able to rip them out and perform solar installs. It is designed for large roofs and works on slopes up to 12:12, helping contractors maximize their productivity. A video showing the robot in action is available in the article.

AGAINST ALL ODDS, AN ASTEROID MINING COMPANY APPEARS TO BE MAKING HEADWAY

AstroForge recently announced that it successfully raised $40 million in Series A funding. The company aims to mine asteroids for platinum and other precious metals. It is working to launch a spacecraft in the fourth quarter of this year that will attempt to fly by a near-Earth, metallic-rich asteroid while capturing images and taking data. The company has planned a follow-up mission that involves a larger spacecraft docking with the targeted metallic asteroid using magnets.

Read the case study

EFFECTIVE CHANGELOGS

Changelogs are a vital and often overlooked method of communication. This post discusses how to write a great changelog. It covers the basics (you need to at least have a changelog file), formatting, writing style, and more. A full example is provided at the end of the post.

AN UNDERRATED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTION

The bug squash interview involves asking candidates to find a bug and maybe write code to fix it. It is very effective because it reflects everyday software development, it's easy for the candidate to self-assess their own progress, it's difficult to cheat, and candidates who are good at it are good at it because they have practiced debugging day in and day out their entire career. The bug squash interview tests a skill rarely covered by existing interview loops. It's also fun to do.

NORTH AMERICA ADDED A WHOLE SILICON VALLEY'S WORTH OF DATA CENTER INVENTORY THIS YEAR. IT'S NOT ENOUGH

The eight primary data center markets in North America added 515 megawatts (MW) of new supply in the first half of this year. All of Silicon Valley has 459 MW of data center supply. Data center space under construction is currently at a record high. The vast majority is already leased. The insane amounts of data center capacity being built are still not enough to meet the growing demands of cloud computing and artificial intelligence providers. This demand has raised national rental rates by 6.5% on average.

YOUR TV SET HAS BECOME A DIGITAL BILLBOARD. AND IT'S ONLY GETTING WORSE

Rather than selling as many TVs as possible, TV manufacturers are increasingly seeking recurring revenue from already-sold TVs via ad sales and tracking. Some brands already prioritize data collection and the ability to sell ads and most are trying to boost their appeal to advertisers. Smart TV OS providers are generating revenue by licensing their software and through revenue sharing of in-app purchases and subscriptions. Budget TVs are the leaders in this trend as companies often offset cheap hardware prices with ads and data collection.

career-focused learners. Inquire here (must be US-based)

AN UNPOPULAR PERSPECTIVE ON THE SSO TAX

Many software providers reserve single sign-on capability for their more expensive pricing tiers.

PAYPAL COULD CHALLENGE APPLE WALLET IN THE EU

PayPal has broadly hinted that it plans to develop a competing wallet on iOS now that Apple has opened up the iPhone's NFC capabilities.

CODEBASES ARE UNIQUELY HARD TO SEARCH SEMANTICALLY

Code and natural language are not semantically similar - it is easier to semantic search on code bases if the code is first translated to natural language before generating embedding vectors.

ON FINISHING THINGS

A look at what it means to 'finish' something.

JUDGE BLOCKS F.T.C.'S NONCOMPETE RULE

A federal judge has upheld a challenge to the FTC's ban on noncompete agreements, blocking it from taking effect in September as scheduled.

GUIDE TO SB 1047

California's SB 1047 applies to entities that are either training a model that requires $100 million or more in compute, or fine tuning such a model using $10 million or more in their own additional compute (or operate and rent out a very large computer cluster).

Become an investor →

TESLA IS HIRING PEOPLE TO DO THE ROBOT

Tesla is employing people to wear motion capture suits to help train its humanoid Optimus robot. The position pays up to $48 per hour and requires walking for up to over seven hours a day while carrying up to 30 pounds and wearing a VR headset for extended periods. Employees must also be between 5'7" and 5'11" tall. Optimus may require millions of hours of data before it's fully ready to work in Tesla's factories.

WAYMO IS DEVELOPING A ROOMIER ROBOTAXI WITH LESS-EXPENSIVE TECH

Waymo's new driverless technology should be able to handle a wider array of weather conditions without requiring as many cameras and sensors. The upcoming Waymo-Zeekr has an accessible interior with a low step, a high ceiling, more leg room, and other features. The car system has a 360 view of obstacles and its sensors have wipers to clear them of most dirt and precipitation. Pictures of the sixth-generation self-driving car are available in the article.

A PERSONALIZED BRAIN PACEMAKER FOR PARKINSON'S

A recent study exploring an innovative approach to deep brain stimulation found that it cut in half the time patients experienced their most bothersome symptoms. The personalized therapy, called adaptive deep brain stimulation, tailors the amount of electrical stimulation to each patient's individual symptoms. Patients note feeling the difference instantly and most say it helped improve their perceived quality of life. The study was small, but it represents a significant step in creating personalized treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders.

ROCKET LAB ENTERED “HERO MODE” TO FINISH MARS PROBES—NOW IT'S UP TO BLUE ORIGIN

Two NASA spacecraft built by Rocket Lab are beginning preparations for launch on Blue Origin's first New Glenn rocket. The two science probes will launch between late September and mid-October. They will take advantage of a planetary alignment between Earth and Mars that only happens once every 26 months to travel to Mars to help scientists learn more about the processes that drive Martian climate change. Assuming the launch is successful, the twin spacecraft will be expected to arrive in orbit around Mars in early September 2025. The next launch window is in late 2026.

disruption_

SRCBOOK

Srcbook is a tool for creating TypeScript and JavaScript notebooks (similar to Python's Jupyter notebooks) that enable developers to create, run, and share reproducible programs and ideas. It has AI features for exploring and iterating on ideas. Users can export notebooks to valid markdown.

ALGORITHMS WE DEVELOP SOFTWARE BY

Becoming a better engineer is about becoming a better pathfinder in problem space. Engineers get better at solving problems by writing more code. One way to do this is by rewriting code - rewriting code takes significantly less time than the initial implementation and the results are usually much better. Breaking assumptions can help engineers approach problems differently and result in more efficient solutions.

AMD SIGNS $4.9 BILLION DEAL TO CHALLENGE NVIDIA'S AI INFRASTRUCTURE LEAD

AMD has agreed to buy ZT Systems, an artificial intelligence infrastructure group, for $4.9 billion in cash and stocks. The acquisition will help AMD accelerate the adoption of its AI data center chips, which compete with Nvidia's popular GPUs. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval. It is expected to close in the first half of 2025.

COMPETING IN SEARCH

Google has the best results because everyone uses it. Being the default search brings in more data, making the search engine even better. It is unclear what companies will do if Google was ordered to stop paying to be the default. Companies like Apple may reinvest the money they were paying Google previously to develop their own search engines. This article takes a look at the many possible impacts the recent antitrust case against Google may have.

Request info today (US only)

HOW THE SPARKLES EMOJI BECAME THE SYMBOL OF OUR AI FUTURE

One of the earliest examples of companies using the sparkles emoji for AI was in early 2021 when AI marketing startup Jasper featured it in a content-creation tool and promotional materials.

GITHUB CEO THOMAS DOHMKE SAYS THE AI INDUSTRY NEEDS COMPETITION TO THRIVE

This is a transcript of an interview with GitHub's CEO Thomas Dohmke where he discusses how independent GitHub really is inside of Microsoft, GitHub Copilot, how much of GitHub's AI roadmap is tied to Microsoft's AI roadmap, and much more.

SOFTWARE ESTIMATES HAVE NEVER WORKED AND NEVER WILL

As soon as a type of software development becomes so routine that it would be possible to estimate, it turns into a product or service that you can just buy rather than build.

$16,000 HUMANOID ROBOT READY TO LEAP INTO MASS PRODUCTION

China's Unitree Robotics $16,000 G1 model is ready for mass production - a video of it performing several moves, climbing stairs, and dealing with obstacles is available in the article.

MARKOV CHAINS ARE FUNNIER THAN LLMS

Markov chains, which are like very small, simple, and naive large language models, produce better humor than models like ChatGPT, which have been stripped of personality.

LLM APPLICATIONS I WANT TO SEE

Large language models bring a diverse range of possibilities - some of these actually rely on new AI capabilities and others will be things that could have been done before LLMs, but it didn't occur to anyone to try.

NEW AIRPOD MODELS TO BE INCLUDED IN FALL 2024 HARDWARE LINEUP

Apple plans to update its non-Pro AirPods lineup as early as next month. There will be two versions of the fourth-gen AirPods: a lower-priced model with basic functionality and a higher-priced version with active noise cancellation. There will likely be design changes to further distinguish the two models. The new AirPods will likely have Spatial Audio features and Apple Watch charging using the case, which will have USB-C.

EPIC GAMES STORE AND FORTNITE ARRIVE ON EU IPHONES

Fortnite is now back on iOS, but only in the EU. Epic has launched its games store on iOS (EU only) and Android. It currently only has three games, but Epic is working on bringing developers into its store. Fortnite was pulled from the Apple App Store four years ago, resulting in a legal battle that loosened Apple's grip on its platform but kept the status quo for the most part.

DESIGNER BABIES ARE HERE — SO WHY AREN'T WE TALKING ABOUT IT?

While human prenatal genome editing, which involves editing the DNA of a fetus visible inside the womb, has not happened yet as far as we know, the societal implications of the technology are still vast. The technology offers a chance to address cellular disease processes early and prevent symptoms from ever appearing. However, there are many ethical issues with using the technology. This article presents a summary of the many issues surrounding human prenatal genome editing and how it may affect society in the future.

THE INVISIBLE PROBLEM WITH SENDING PEOPLE TO MARS

There are obvious challenges to getting people to Mars, but the biggest obstacle might be something that's totally invisible and often overlooked: space radiation. Scientists are just beginning to learn about the many ways that exposure to space radiation can impact human health. The effects of space radiation may also combine with other factors such as sleep deprivation and microgravity - there is not enough information yet about how these factors interact. Finding ways to mitigate these effects will determine whether people will ever be able to visit Mars safely.

Schedule a demo to learn more