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AI'S DIAL-UP ERA

The Internet in the dial-up era was slow and untrusted, and people called it a fad and bubble - this is where AI is at now.

NEW VERSION OF SIRI TO 'LEAN' ON GOOGLE GEMINI

Apple plans to roll out a revamped version of Siri around March next year. It will reportedly lean on Google Gemini and have an AI-powered web search feature. Apple is rumored to be paying Google to create a custom Gemini-based model that can run on its Private Cloud Compute servers to power Siri. The upgraded Siri will not include Google services or Gemini features.

ELON MUSK: FUTURE STARLINK SATELLITES WILL BECOME ORBITING DATA CENTERS

Elon Musk recently suggested that scaling up Starlink V3 satellites would enable the creation of a network of orbiting data centers. The V3 satellites will be able to transmit data at up to 200Gbps. SpaceX will need to complete Starship before it can launch its V3 satellites - each V3 could weigh up to 2,000 kilograms, almost four times the current mass of the V2 Mini Starlink satellites.

NASA TEST FLIGHT SEEKS TO HELP BRING COMMERCIAL SUPERSONIC TRAVEL BACK

NASA's newest experimental supersonic jet, the X-59 Quesst (Quiet SuperSonic Technology), made its first flight last Tuesday. The inaugural flight validated the jet's airworthiness and safety. The X-59 generates a lower 'sonic thump' compared to other supersonic jet designs thanks to its long, slender nose, which breaks up pressure waves that would otherwise merge on parts of the airplane. Its design limits shock waves and directs sound waves up to the sky rather than down toward the ground. The single-seat, single-engine jet can cruise at Mach 1.4 at an altitude of 55,000 feet, nearly twice as high and twice as fast as commercial airliners typically fly.

WHAT THE AIR YOU BREATHE MAY BE DOING TO YOUR BRAIN

There is increasing evidence that chronic exposure to PM2.5 is associated with dementia. These particles are among the smallest. They are easily inhaled and can travel directly from the nose to the brain. Increasing air pollution poses a big health risk for older adults.

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IMMUTABLE RELEASES ARE NOW GENERALLY AVAILABLE

GitHub releases now support immutability. Immutable releases protect assets and tags from being tampered with after publication. This ensures that the software remains secure and trustworthy. Immutable releases can be enabled at the repository or organizational level. Once enabled, all new releases will be immutable - existing releases remain mutable unless they are republished. Disabling immutability doesn't affect releases created while it was enabled.

YOUR URL IS YOUR STATE

Good URLs describe a conversation between the user and the application. They capture intent, preserve context, and enable sharing in ways that no other state management solution can match. URLs can be state containers, user interfaces, and contracts all rolled into one. State management libraries still have their place, but the best solution is just to use the URL.

AI BROKE INTERVIEWS

AI caused the entire remote-interview infrastructure to collapse by breaking the basic assumption that the person answering was the person thinking. Companies should start testing for things only real engineers can do. They need high-signal, human-centric interviews that reflect how engineering actually works. Future interviews will feel like a conversation between people who want to build something together.

PALANTIR THINKS COLLEGE MIGHT BE A WASTE. SO IT'S HIRING HIGH-SCHOOL GRADS

Palantir's 'Meritocracy Fellowship' is an experiment launched under the thesis that existing universities in the US are no longer reliable or necessary for training good workers. Palantir is a data analytics company known for its government contracts. The four-month fellowship program gives its 22 students a chance to work full-time at Palantir. This article gives readers a look inside the program to see what it is like.

NASA'S ORION SPACE CAPSULE IS FLAMING GARBAGE

The Orion Capsule, currently being developed by Lockheed Martin for the Artemis Program, is absurdly expensive, far too slow and heavy, unsafe, and unfit for its purpose.

BUILD SYSTEM TRADEOFFS

Writing build rules in a 'normal' but constrained programming language, then serializing them to a build graph, has surprisingly few tradeoffs.

THE END OF CLOUD INFERENCE

The cloud doesn't have to be the place where every single thought has to happen.

HOW I USE EVERY CLAUDE CODE FEATURE

The post covers useful Claude Code features, including the Claude.md file, custom slash commands, Subagents, Hooks, and GitHub Actions.

US DEFENSE COMPANY ANDURIL FLIES ITS UNCREWED JET DRONE FOR FIRST TIME

Anduril's drone, the YFQ-44A, can manage its own flight controls and throttle adjustment without human command.

CHINA'S BAIDU SAYS WEEKLY ROBOTAXI RIDES HIT 250,000 — SAME AS ALPHABET'S WAYMO THIS SPRING

Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxis have so far not been involved in any major accidents that involve human injury or death.

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ANDROID 17 WILL PUT FULL-SCREEN APPS ON YOUR ALWAYS-ON DISPLAY

Google plans to add a new capability called Min Mode to Android's Always-On Display (AOD) in Android 17. Min Mode will use the same low-power technology as AOD to display full-screen interfaces from apps. Developers must register a 'MinModeActivity' component in their apps for them to work with the feature. Min Mode has the potential to reshape the definition of an 'idle' phone.

TIM COOK SAYS MORE AIS ARE COMING TO APPLE INTELLIGENCE

Apple plans to embed more third-party AI tools into its operating systems. The company is on track to release an AI-upgraded Siri next year. It is open to pursuing mergers and acquisitions if it thinks it will advance its roadmap. The company recently released fourth quarter earnings results that showed it raked in a record $102.5 billion over the past few months, an 8% increase compared to the same period last year.

SPACEX AND BLUE ORIGIN BOTH SUBMITTED PLANS TO GET ASTRONAUTS BACK TO THE MOON FASTER, NASA SAYS

SpaceX has pitched NASA a 'simplified mission' to put astronauts back on the moon following criticisms over delays. The company is behind schedule on building its lunar landing system for NASA's Artemis III mission, which caused NASA to reopen the landing contract for the mission. Blue Origin also submitted a plan. It has been developing a lunar lander for NASA and plans to launch a smaller-scale version of it, known as the Blue Moon Mark 1.

WORLD'S FIRST UNDERWATER HABITAT IN DECADES TO UNLOCK SECRETS OF 95% OF OCEANS

DEEP, a UK-based subsea engineering firm, has unveiled a prototype of an underwater habitat designed to allow scientists to live and carry out research beneath the sea's surface for days at a time. The Vanguard pilot human habitat is part of an ambitious effort to make long-term underwater living possible. The prototype can support up to four crew members for up to a week. Currently, most expeditions can only allow scientists to stay submerged for a few hours at a time.

ML KIT'S PROMPT API: UNLOCK CUSTOM ON-DEVICE GEMINI NANO EXPERIENCES

AI is making it easier to create personalized app experiences. The ML Kit GenAI Prompt API for Android enables developers to send natural language and multimodal requests to Gemini Nano to support custom, app-specific GenAI use cases. It allows developers to create unique features with complex data transformation. The API uses Gemini Nano on-device to process data locally, enabling offline capability and improved user privacy.

SCALE DESIGN DECISIONS ACROSS TEAMS AND PRODUCTS

The Design Tokens W3C Community Group (DTCG) is a community of designers, developers, and tooling vendors that aims to standardize how design tokens are defined and exchanged. It stewards the Design Tokens specification so that teams can share visual language reliability across design tools, code bases, and platforms. The first stable version of the DTCG JSON format is now available. The format unlocks interoperability and theming between tools.

HUMANS NEED ENTROPY

As people get older, they tend to repeat the same patterns. The solution to preventing this is to find sources of entropy. When we were kids, everything was entropy because everything was new. As adults, we need to constantly seek out the new to maximize the entropy in our lives.

TAKING MONEY OFF THE TABLE

Employees who get compensated with shares sometimes have the opportunity to sell a portion of them, but it can be difficult to choose whether to sell or to roll the dice and risk it longer. They should take the money while it's available. The amount will likely be a life-changing amount of money, and there's never a guarantee that their startup will succeed, even if it is looking good right now. The money you take today can be invested in more steady growth.

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THE REAL PROBLEM WITH AI CODING

The problem with AI coding is comprehension debt - the more AI-generated code there is in a codebase, the harder it is for human engineers to review and truly understand it.

WHAT PALANTIR SEES

An interview with Shyam Sankar, the chief technology officer of Palantir, a company building a more efficient surveillance state.

‘IT'S CULTURE': AMAZON CEO SAYS MASSIVE CORPORATE LAYOFFS WERE ABOUT AGILITY — NOT AI OR COST-CUTTING

The recent layoffs weren't triggered by financial strain or artificial intelligence replacing workers - Amazon executives believed that the company had gotten too big and layered.

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THE AGI RACE IS AN ALL‑PAY AUCTION. THAT'S WHY “OVER‑INVESTMENT” IS RATIONAL

The imagined prize with AGI is monopoly-like profits across software, science, society, and the whole fabric of human civilization.

MOST OF WHAT WE CALL PROGRESS

Most progress in software is just motion, not real development.

BEYOND IP LISTS: A REGISTRY FORMAT FOR BOTS AND AGENTS

Cloudflare's new registry format for bots and agents ensures customers have control over the traffic they want to allow while fostering an open curation ecosystem that doesn't lock in customers or small origins.

* Unlimited parallel test runs

* 24-hour maintenance and on-demand test creation * Zero flakes, guaranteed

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EXCLUSIVE-OPENAI LAYS GROUNDWORK FOR JUGGERNAUT IPO AT UP TO $1 TRILLION VALUATION

OpenAI is considering filing for an IPO as soon as the second half of 2026. It is laying the groundwork to raise funds that could value the company at up to $1 trillion. An IPO would help finance the company's plans to pour trillions of dollars into AI infrastructure. The company's annual revenue run rate is expected to reach about $20 billion by the end of the year.

NVIDIA BECOMES FIRST $5 TRILLION COMPANY

Nvidia has hit $5 trillion in market value. The company's shares have been boosted by a recent flurry of deals and partnerships with some of the biggest companies in AI and corporate America. Nvidia is now bigger than AMD, ARM, ASML, Broadcom, Intel, Lam Research, Micron Technology, Qualcomm, and TSMC combined. Its value also exceeds entire sectors of the S&P 500.

EYE PROSTHESIS IS THE FIRST TO RESTORE SIGHT LOST TO MACULAR DEGENERATION

PRIMA is an eye prosthesis that can restore functional sight to patients with advanced macular degeneration. It gives wearers the ability to perceive shapes and patterns, with most wearers regaining the ability to read a year after receiving the device. Wearers can adjust contrast and brightness and magnify their vision up to 12 times. The device currently only provides black-and-white vision, but researchers are working to produce a full range of grayscale.

AN ALZHEIMER'S PILL APPEARS TO PROTECT SOME IN A HIGH-RISK POPULATION

An experimental drug called valiltramiprosate (ALZ-801) slowed cognitive decline by 52% in people with mild cognitive impairment in a study of more than 300 people aged 50 or older who were genetically predisposed to Alzheimer's disease. Participants who received the drug experienced about 18% less atrophy in the hippocampus compared to those who received a placebo. ALZ-801 is a twice-daily pill that can be taken at home. It works by preventing amyloid proteins from clumping and forming plaques.

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WRITER API

Chrome's Writer API helps people create content that conforms to a specified writing task. It can be used to write any kind of content, improve content, or generate ideas for more content. People looking to use the API will have to join the Writer API origin trial running in Chrome 137 to 148.

UV IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO THE PYTHON ECOSYSTEM IN A DECADE

uv revolutionizes how easy installing and using Python can be. The tool can install any Python version, install packages, manage virtual environments, and solve dependency conflicts extremely quickly. It is very fast and works on almost any operating system or platform. This post includes a quick guide on how to get started with uv.