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TIKTOK COMES FOR MESSAGING APPS WITH THE ADDITION OF GROUP CHATS

TikTok users can now create group chats with up to 32 people.

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SLIM IPHONE 17 MODEL IS JUST A “STEP TOWARD SOMETHING BETTER”

Apple is reportedly planning a slim iPhone model for next year. The iPhone 17 'Air' will have a smaller Dynamic Island, an aluminum chassis, a 6.6-inch display, and a lesser camera setup. It is designed to look much cooler than the standard iPhone without the performance, screen size, or cameras of a Pro model. The new slim model is expected to be a bigger hit than the iPhone 12/13 mini and the iPhone 14/15/16 Plus.

AI IS MINING THE SUM OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE FROM WIKIPEDIA. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR ITS FUTURE?

The proliferation of AI tools means there's a growing disconnect between where people are getting their information and where it comes from. This could affect contributions to Wikipedia in the long run as people are less likely to contribute if they don't visit the site directly. Wikipedia hasn't seen any decline in traffic due to AI so far. Without clear attribution and source links, AI applications risk introducing an unprecedented amount of misinformation into the world.

NOVEL IDEAS TO COOL DATA CENTERS: LIQUID IN PIPES OR A DUNKING BATH

Nvidia's upcoming GB200 server racks will be mainly cooled with liquid circulated in tubes. The company is also working on other cooling technologies, including one that involves dunking entire computers in a non-conductive liquid that absorbs and dissipates heat. Cooling accounts for a significant amount of power consumption in data centers. Liquid-cooled data centers would be able to pack much more computing power in the same space.

621-MPH MAGLEV VACUUM TRAIN "T-FLIGHT" TEST SUCCESSFUL

The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) has successfully tested its ultra-high-speed maglev train under low vacuum conditions. The test showed that all systems were nominal. CASIC plans to run the train at its full 621 mph speed in the second phase of testing, which will require an extended track. There may also be phase 3 tests targeting 2,485 mph.

WHY I BET ON DSPY

DSPy is an open source framework that helps developers compose multiple large language model (LLM) calls together in a principled manner to solve a problem. LLMs are good at pattern matching, matching distributions, and being creative. DSPy uses this to create 'reasoning systems' that can actually perform what they're supposed to. While there are issues with the framework, there is a community behind the project that is working together to improve it.

VIKING 🗺️

Viking provides developers with a simple way to manage their remote machines and SSH keys. It makes it easier to work with bare metal servers, allowing them full control to make the most of the server's resources.

WHAT GOOGLE RIVALS WANT AFTER DOJ'S ANTITRUST TRIAL WIN

While Google has been ruled as an illegal monopoly, the Department of Justice has yet to announce what remedies it will seek. It has previously indicated that any remedies would be structural, meaning break-ups rather than mandates to change certain behaviors. Google rivals have suggested changes such as choice screens that pop up periodically, a ban on dark pattern popups that push people back to the default, and barring Google from buying default status or pre-installation and self-preferencing its own content in serve results. The final decision will be at least as consequential as the Microsoft antitrust case 23 years ago, which spurred an era of unprecedented innovation that allowed promising startups to flourish - including Google.

INDIVIDUAL EFFICIENCY VS ADMINISTRATIVE EFFICIENCY

In a perfect world, everyone would be able to use their own favorite tools, but this doesn't always work out in real world settings where teams have to work and collaborate together. While individual autonomy should be the main goal, local optimization doesn't lead to global optimization, which is what organizations should be aiming for. There are many legitimate times when administrative needs should supersede the individual. This article looks at when policies should optimize for the efficiency and happiness of the individual and when they should optimize for the team or company.

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SOFTWARE INNOVATION JUST ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE, AND MOXIE MARLINSPIKE BLAMES AGILE

Agile teams work separately from each other without much visibility into what other teams are doing, preventing them from combining engineering expertise.

RISE OF THE NEW YORK TECH SCENE

New York may become a place where technology is turned into end-user-facing products for an endless array of niches.

HOW I CREATED 175 FONTS USING RUST

This article walks through the process of creating a toolchain for generating, quality testing, and deploying fonts in Rust.

INSTAGRAM IS TESTING ITS OWN TAKE ON SNAP MAPS

Instagram is testing a new feature that lets users post text and video updates to a map based on where they were taken.

PG_REPLICATE

pg_replicate is a Rust crate for quickly building replication solutions for Postgres.

PERCEIVED AGE

We perceive time differently as we age - learning new things and taking on challenging cognitive tasks can potentially slow down our internal sense of time.

AMAZON DEALS LET SHOPPERS BUY PRODUCTS ON TIKTOK, PINTEREST

Amazon has partnered with TikTok and Pinterest to let their users buy products on its platform without leaving the social media apps. The deal enables users to link their social media profiles to their Amazon accounts and buy products directly from ads. Users will see real time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details in-app. The deal follows similar arrangements with Meta and Snap.

M4 MAC MINI TO BECOME APPLE'S SMALLEST EVER COMPUTER WITH COMPLETE REDESIGN

The Mac mini is getting its first major redesign since 2010. The new Mac mini will be almost the size of an Apple TV and continue to feature an aluminum shell. There will be two versions, one with the standard M4 chip and one with an M4 Pro chip. The base model is set to begin shipping from suppliers this month while the high-end model will not be ready until October.

INSIDE SILICON VALLEY'S GRAND AMBITIONS TO CONTROL OUR PLANET'S THERMOSTAT

Private interests have pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into reversing climate change in recent years. These private investment organizations claim that they have been forced to act as governments and the academic world have been dawdling. There is little regulation to govern geoengineering. This article looks at different projects in the space and their challenges.

ARE SYNTHETIC WOMBS THE FUTURE OF CHILDBIRTH? NEW CHINESE EXPERIMENT SPARKS DEBATE

Chinese researchers recently announced a groundbreaking synthetic womb experiment without the use of extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). ECMO allows for oxygenation of fetus blood after removal from the mother's body, bypassing the heart and lungs, allowing these organs to rest and heal. It is expensive and comes with risks such as blood clots and infections. An ECMO-free artificial womb would significantly lower costs - the operating costs of ECMO are around $9,000 a day.

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ORBIT

ORBIT enables developers to create radial interfaces using only CSS. It is easy to learn and use and works with other CSS frameworks. ORBIT components can be combined to compose complex radial creations. Examples are available.

IS IT TIME TO VERSION OBSERVABILITY? (SIGNS POINT TO YES)

The observability industry has stuck to metrics, logs, and traces over the years because they describe the daily reality for engineers. While the language used to describe the problems and solutions has evolved, the solutions are still largely the same as they were a decade ago. While they have massively improved, they're structurally variations on the same pre-aggregated metrics. It's now getting harder and harder to speak clearly about different approaches and solutions - a problem semantic versioning was made to solve.

ENGINEERING THE FIRST FITBIT: THE INSIDE STORY

Inspired by the Wii, entrepreneur James Park came up with the Fitbit as a gadget to get people out of the house. The activity tracker has sold more than 136 million units since 2009. Google bought the company in 2021 for $2.1 billion and absorbed it into its hardware division. This article looks at the origins of Fitbit and the challenges it faced early in development.

WHY GOOGLE DECIDED NOW'S THE TIME TO MOVE ON FROM CHROMECAST

Google is phasing out the Chromecast in favor of the new Google TV streamer after more than a decade. The company decided to focus on a higher-end device because there is too much competition for inexpensive streaming devices. The Google TV steamer infuses Gemini AI smarts into the software and puts smart home controls on the TV screen. It is faster than the often-laggy Chromecast. The device will go on sale in September for $99.

OPENAI WORRIES PEOPLE MAY BECOME EMOTIONALLY RELIANT ON ITS NEW CHATGPT VOICE MODE

A report from OpenAI on the safety review it conducted on its new voice mode revealed a risk of users becoming too reliant on ChatGPT for companionship.

MAN VS. MACHINE: DEEPMIND'S NEW ROBOT SERVES UP A TABLE TENNIS TRIUMPH

Google DeepMind's AI-powered robotic table tennis player is capable of competing at an amateur human level.

DOJ ANTITRUST CHIEF IS ‘OVERJOYED' AFTER GOOGLE MONOPOLY VERDICT

This is a transcript of an interview with Jonathan Kanter, the assistant attorney general for antitrust at the United States Department of Justice, where he discusses the recent antitrust ruling against Google, what it means for the law, and what remedies he will seek to try to restore competition in search.

A NEW REPORT FINDS BOEING'S ROCKETS ARE BUILT WITH AN UNQUALIFIED WORK FORCE

The lack of a qualified workforce has resulted in significant program delays and increased costs.

WHY ARE SO MANY CAR YOUTUBERS QUITTING?

Many blame private equity for creators leaving the platform.

ELON MUSK CONTINUES TO SIPHON TESLA TALENT TO TRAIN XAI'S GROK

xAI has now hired over a dozen Tesla employees to train Grok.

CHATGPT'S MOBILE APP JUST HAD ITS BIGGEST MONTH YET

The launch of GPT-4o sent ChatGPT's revenue soaring - it pulled in $28 million in net revenue from the App Store and Google Play in July. The app grossed $39.9 million before paying in-app purchase fees. ChatGPT saw an estimated 2 million new paying customers last month. Growth is expected to continue in the months to come.

REDDIT CONSIDERS SEARCH ADS, PAYWALLED CONTENT FOR THE FUTURE

Reddit's plans for making more money from the platform include showing ads in more places and possibly putting some content behind a paywall. The company, which has never been profitable, lost $10.1 million during Q2 2024, down from Q2 2023's $41.1 million loss. It recently blocked all search engines besides Google, OpenAI, and approved education/research instances from showing its content in search results. Reddit seems to be trying to capitalize on how people use its name as a filter for search results.

NASA SAYS BOEING STARLINER ASTRONAUTS MAY FLY HOME ON SPACEX IN 2025

NASA has downplayed the problems experienced by Boeing's Starliner since it took two astronauts to the International Space Station in June. Officials finally admitted on Wednesday that the issues may be more serious than first thought and that the astronauts might not return on Starliner. The agency is exploring a backup option for the astronauts. The astronauts were meant to stay for around eight days, but that could be extended into next year.

WE'RE BUILDING AN ULTRASOUND HEADSET TO ENHANCE HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Nudge is building an ultrasound headset to enhance the human experience. It will allow users to push a button to shift their brain state. Research progress with ultrasound neuromodulation has accelerated in the last few years and has begun to produce promising results. The device will be able to benefit everyone, not just those with diagnosed conditions.

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PIGSTY

Pigsty is a free relational database service alternative. It features extensible Postgres, reliable infrastructure, observable graphics, a maintainable toolbox, and more. There are 280 unique extensions available for Pigsty.

WHY WE PICKED AGPL

The AGPL license permits free use, modification, and distribution of software, provided that distributed, derivative works of the software are released under the same license. It ensures that modifications remain open and discourages proprietary forks. The license allows code to be open source without companies having to worry about other vendors reselling their projects without consent, giving them the confidence to monetize without fear of predatory competition.

DON'T PIVOT INTO AI RESEARCH

Chip design used to be a high-profile role, with the most famous chip designers viewed similarly to how famous machine learning researchers are seen today. Many students flocked to the industry as the number of chip companies boomed and the field was in demand. However, as market dynamics changed, the supply of hardware engineers grew too high. The high capital costs for chip manufacturing drove the number of employers down to a handful of major chip makers. The field of AI research will likely play out the same way.

GOOGLE ANTITRUST VERDICT LEAVES APPLE WITH “INCONVENIENT ALTERNATIVES”

Apple benefited greatly from Google's monopoly. While the Department of Justice has not yet said what it will seek for a remedy to the antitrust case, Apple will likely be deeply involved. Apple could be forced to accept a much less lucrative agreement with Microsoft or may be prevented from selling search defaults at all. Mozilla may also be heavily impacted by the decision - Google's 2021 payment to the company for the default position on its browser was about 80 percent of Mozilla's operating budget.

INTEL REPORTEDLY GAVE UP A CHANCE TO BUY A STAKE IN OPENAI IN 2017

Intel and OpenAI discussed several investment options but the deal was scuttled because Intel's CEO didn't see AI models hitting the broad market anymore soon.

MAJOR SHIFTS AT OPENAI SPARK SKEPTICISM ABOUT IMPENDING AGI TIMELINES

Several prominent figures have left OpenAI, leading some to question whether the company is really that close to achieving artificial general intelligence.

YOUTUBE BEGINS TESTING A NEW FEATURE SIMILAR TO TWITTER'S COMMUNITY NOTES

Approved notes will appear directly underneath videos and can include timestamps.