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STAMP: A MINI-LANGUAGE FOR PROJECT TEMPLATES

Stamp is a mini-language that makes it as concise as possible to write, edit, share, and expand project templates.

EVOLVE BANK & TRUST HAS ALLEGEDLY BEEN THE VICTIM OF A RANSOMWARE ATTACK AND DATA BREACH

Russian hacker group LockBit released around 33 terabytes of data from Evolve's systems after its demands weren't met.

GOOGLE IS TESTING FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY FOR CAMPUS SECURITY, STARTING AT SITE NEAR SEATTLE

Google is collecting facial data from its interior security cameras at one of its sites in Kirkland, Washington, to help identify people who may pose a security risk to its people, products, or locations.

NATURE PUBLISHED TWO PAPERS ON BRIDGE EDITING, THE NEW GENOME ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

Bridge recombination allows scientists to write directly to the genome, inserting whatever they want wherever they want without making a single cut.

WINDOWS ON ARM FINALLY HAS LEGS

The Windows on Arm experience has improved dramatically since the Surface Pro X was introduced in 2019.

CONTRA ACEMOGLU ON AI

This article looks at the economic growth effects of AI and the differing views between academic economists.

Electric Vehicles.

Eli is rethinking urban transportation with their compact and affordable EVs. Their flagship vehicle, Eli ZERO, is “the Tesla of micro-EVs [4]”: 70% smaller than sedans, 2x as energy efficient as regular EVs, and a third of the cost of a car, with advanced automotive technology.

GOOGLE IS KILLING INFINITE SCROLL ON SEARCH RESULTS

Continuous scrolling on Google search results, which was originally introduced in October 2021, has been removed from desktop search results and will be removed from mobile results in the coming months. It has been replaced with Google's classic pagination bar, which allows users to jump to a specific page of search results or simply click 'Next' to see the next page. A 'More results' button will be shown at the bottom of searches on mobile. The change will allow Google to serve search results faster.

E.U. CHARGES MICROSOFT WITH ANTITRUST VIOLATIONS OVER TEAMS BUNDLING

EU regulators have charged Microsoft with breaking antitrust rules by bundling its Teams video conferencing software with a suite of other productivity tools, giving it an unfair advantage over rivals. Businesses essentially had little choice but to use Teams if they wanted other software made by Microsoft. Competitors also faced challenges in making their services work with other Microsoft software. Microsoft says it has already taken steps to resolve the dispute, having unbundled Teams from other Office products last year.

RESEARCHERS UPEND AI STATUS QUO BY ELIMINATING MATRIX MULTIPLICATION IN LLMS

Researchers claim to have developed a method of running AI models more efficiently that involves eliminating matrix multiplication from the process. A fundamental redesign of the neural network operations that are currently accelerated by GPU chips, the method could have deep implications for the environmental impact and operational costs of AI systems. It challenges the prevailing paradigm that matrix multiplication operations are indispensable for building high-performing language models. The approach may outperform traditional large language models at very large scales, but this has not been tested due to computational constraints.

RESEARCHERS INVENT 100% BIODEGRADABLE 'BARLEY PLASTIC'

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have created a biofriendly material made from barley starch blended with fiber from sugarbeet waste. The material is strong and can completely decompose within only two months if left in nature. It can be used for food packaging, among many other things. The material can be easily made in many places in the world. The researchers are now processing a patent application for the biocomposite material.

DOTENVX

dotenvx is a better dotenv, a zero-dependency module that loads environment variables from a .env file into process.env. It works the same across every language, framework, and platform. dotenvx features encrypted envs, variable expansion, multi-line values, contextual help, command substitution, and more.

NOTION SITES TAKES NOTION SITES UP A LEVEL

Notion has launched Notion Sites, a tool that turns Notion pages into publicly-facing websites. It has features like custom favicons, the ability to build navigation bars with links, and breadcrumb navigation. Notion Sites can be easily published under custom domains. It has basic SEO features and a Google Analytics integration. More details about Notion Sites are available in the article.

NEW GOOGLE AI EXPERIMENT COULD LET YOU CHAT WITH CELEBRITIES, YOUTUBE INFLUENCERS

Google is reportedly working on an AI project that lets users talk to chatbots modeled after celebrities, YouTube influencers, and other personalities. The feature will allow anyone to create chatbots by describing their personality and appearance and then converse with them. It involves fine-tuning the Gemini family of language models to mimic the response style of the described character. The project may eventually be integrated into YouTube rather than launched as a standalone product.

MY SPICIEST TAKE ON TECH HIRING

You only need to administer one technical interview and one non-technical interview, each no more than an hour long, for each candidate. Any interview process longer than that is unnecessary and counterproductive. Adding more interviews makes you less likely to gather the information you need because nobody bears the ultimate responsibility for gathering decisive information. Dragging out the process inadvertently selects for more desperate candidates. People tend to make up their minds on candidates fairly early on in the interview process - drawing out the process doesn't correct for this bias.

you complete a task together. Try it today (Mac, Linux).

ASK HN: WHAT BROUGHT BACK THE JOY OF PROGRAMMING FOR YOU? (HACKER NEWS THREAD)

Different ways developers try to stay motivated to build.

STABILITY AI STABILIZED BY INVESTMENT FROM SILICON VALLEY ROYALTY, NEW EXECUTIVE TEAM

Stability AI has secured investors including venture capital firms Greycroft and Coatue Management, former Facebook president Sean Parker, former CEO of special effects house WETA Digital Prem Akkaraju, former Google and Novell boss Eric Schmidt, and investor Robert Nelsen, who has been involved in 47 companies that achieved billion-dollar valuations.

GLASSKUBE

Glasskube is a package manager for Kubernetes that makes deploying, updating, and configuring packages on Kubernetes 20 times faster than with tools like Helm or Kustomize.

THE CLEAN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION HAS ARRIVED

This year's Breakthrough Energy Summit will share a portfolio of climate change technologies that are proven and ready for the market today.

BALL

Ball is an interactive ball that lives in the macOS dock.

WHY I ATTACK

You can have fun writing attack papers and still care about people.

RESPONSIBILITY OVER FREEDOM: HOW NETFLIX'S CULTURE HAS CHANGED

While Netflix doesn't release a lot of its numbers to the outside world, the streaming giant has long been aggressively transparent internally. Netflix trusts its employees to act in the best interest of the company. Employees are encouraged to speak about what's going well and what's not on a regular basis. Netflix has a culture of trying to systematically think about what generates long-term excellence. Many more details about Netflix's internal culture are available in the article.

APPLE IS FIRST COMPANY CHARGED WITH VIOLATING EU'S DMA RULES

The European Commission has opened an investigation into Apple's support for alternative iOS marketplaces in Europe. The investigation is focused on Apple's Core Technology Fee, the multistep process required for users to install third-party marketplaces, and Apple's eligibility requirements for developers. Regulators say that Apple's App Store 'steering' policies violate the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apple is the first company to be charged under the DMA rules - it can respond to the European Conformation's preliminary assessment ahead of its final ruling before March 2025. Apple could be fined up to 10% of its annual global revenue for infringement.

WORLD FIRST EPILEPSY DEVICE FITTED IN UK BOY'S SKULL

A boy in the UK received a neurostimulator device in his skull to control seizures. The device has reduced his daytime seizures by 80%. The patient has a treatment-resistant form of epilepsy that sometimes causes him to suffer hundreds of seizures every day. He suffers a range of seizures, some of which require emergency medication to resuscitate him. The device, which can be recharged wirelessly, emits a constant pulse of current that aims to block or disrupt abnormal signals. While the device is not a cure, it has improved the patient's life significantly.

SINGAPORE DOUBLES DOWN ON LAB-GROWN MEAT AS SILICON VALLEY BACKS OFF

Singapore is the only country where cultivated meat can be purchased in shops. The country aims to produce 30% of its nutritional needs locally by 2030. Its approval of cultivated meat has attracted companies from all over the world to develop alternative proteins. Its regulatory structure makes it the perfect spot for companies to further the technology and help drive down costs.

started here.

OPTIMIZING AI INFERENCE AT CHARACTER.AI

Making a future where large language models enhance daily life, provide business productivity and entertainment, and help people with everything requires highly efficient inference. Character.AI designs its model architecture, inference stack, and product from the ground up to enable unique opportunities to optimize inference to be more efficient, cost-effective, and scalable. The company serves more than 20,000 inference queries per second. It is able to sustainably serve models at this scale because it has developed a number of key innovations across its serving stack. This blog post shares some of the techniques and optimizations Character.AI has developed.

WHAT ARE SOME CUSTOM TOOLS YOU'VE BUILT/SEEN INTERNALLY THAT HAS HELPED YOUR TEAM SUCCEED IN AUTOMATION?

This page contains several anecdotes from developers on custom tools they either built or witnessed internally that helped teams succeed in automation. The examples include a test execution tool that performed 230 tests in 3 hours, a script that writes hundreds of tests for a single service then extracts all the variables and displays their data types and formats, a visual regression tool, and a notification system. Links to communities where people discuss software testing and automation are available.

THE FUTURE OF STREAMING

Stocks of legacy media companies are at a fraction of their former highs, while shares of their disruptors are close to record highs. Netflix commands the leading territory right now and is essentially in a position of dictating policy. Streaming services need at least 200 million subscribers, possibly more, before becoming competitive and profitable. The cost of attracting and keeping those millions of customers isn't cheap - Netflix will spend about $17 billion this year on programming. Almost no other competitor will be able to match that spending level, except maybe Amazon.

ANTHROPIC CEO DARIO AMODEI ON BEING AN UNDERDOG, AI SAFETY, AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY

Anthropic is a startup devoted to studying cutting-edge AI systems and developing new safety methods. It is a leading competitor to OpenAI with powerful tools for use by both the public and businesses. Anthropic recently released the latest version of its Claude chatbot. Claude 3.5 Sonnet sets new industry standards on reasoning, coding, and some types of math. This article contains an interview with Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei where he discusses the company's status as an underdog, yet-unreleased AI capabilities, Anthropic's culture, AI safety, open-sourced models, Big Tech vs startups in AI, funding, and more.

HOW MY WEEKEND PROJECT TURNED INTO A 3 YEARS JOURNEY

A simple note-taking tool grew into a full-fledged project way beyond what this developer could have imagined.

NEW JAVASCRIPT SET METHODS

This article discusses Set in JavaScript and covers the new JavaScript Set methods that are now available in most major browser engines.

APPLE WANTS TO REPLACE 50% OF IPHONE FINAL ASSEMBLY LINE WORKERS WITH AUTOMATION

The decision was reportedly made after the violent clashes between iPhone workers and police outside of Foxconn's primary assembly plant in November 2022.

LOCAL, FIRST, FOREVER

Local first software prefers to keep data local but still uses an internet connection occasionally to do other functions like sync with other users, fetch data, and back up.

HOW'S YOUR EXPERIENCE SO FAR USING LLMS FOR CODING (LOBSTERS THREAD)

Developers' experience with using large language models for coding tasks has been mixed - some tools are better than others, but they all have their issues.

WHY NOTHING CAN GROW ON MARS

There are many barriers, legal and physical, that may prevent the terraforming of Mars.

OPENAI'S GPT-5 PUSHED BACK TO LATE 2025, BUT PROMISES PH.D.-LEVEL ABILITIES

GPT-5 will be significantly more intelligent than GPT-4. It is still at least a year and a half from release. The model will have advanced memory and reasoning capabilities and Ph.D.-level intelligence in specific tasks. A short video of OpenAI's Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati comparing the different GPTs is available in the article.

TIKTOK CONFIRMS IT OFFERED US GOVERNMENT A 'KILL SWITCH'

TikTok offered the US government the power to shut the platform down in 2022 in an attempt to address lawmakers' data protection and national security concerns. It suggested a mechanism that would have allowed the government to suspend the platform in the US if it did not follow certain rules such as properly funding its data protection units and making sure that ByteDance did not have access to US users' data. The US government refused to engage in serious settlement talks after 2022. It ignored requests to meet for further negotiations and did not respond to TikTok's invitation for it to visit and inspect its Dedicated Transparency Center in Maryland.

RADIOACTIVE DRUGS STRIKE CANCER WITH PRECISION

Radiation therapy has come a long way since X-ray therapy was born in 1896. Targeted radiopharmaceuticals helped the field achieve a new level of molecular precision. These agents deliver their radioactive payloads directly at tumor sites. While there are only a handful of these therapies commercially available for patients, the number is poised to grow as major players in the biopharmaceutical industry start to invest heavily in the technology.

NASA INDEFINITELY DELAYS RETURN OF STARLINER TO REVIEW PROPULSION DATA

NASA has adjusted the date of the Starliner spacecraft's return to Earth to an unspecified time in July. The spacecraft was originally due to undock and return to Earth on June 14, but return opportunities have been waved off as more time is needed to review the data from the vehicle's problematic flight to the International Space Station. There were five separate leaks in the helium system that pressurizes Starliner's propulsion system and five of the vehicle's 28 reaction-control system thrusters failed as Starliner approached the station. NASA has not specified why it is not yet comfortable with releasing Starliner to fly back to Earth.

INSIDE NETFLIX'S BET ON ADVANCED VIDEO ENCODING

LLAMA.TTF

llama.ttf is a font file, large language model, and inference engine for that model. Harfbuzz, a font shaping engine, has a Wasm shaper that allows arbitrary code to be used to shape text. This code can be anything - so llama.ttf uses an entire LLM inference engine with trained parameters bundled inside. The result is a font that can generate text locally in any Wasm-enabled Harfbuzz-based application. A video demonstration is available.