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Facebook's Zuckerberg said he will 'go to the mat' and fight breakup in leaked audio | Facebook's CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg will fight efforts to split up the tech giant. He says that breaking up Facebook won't solve issues with spreading misinformation or with election interference. Problems with these issues are likely to increase if the tech giant was split up as the separated companies will find it more difficult to coordinate and work together. Many people and politicians have called for Facebook to be broken up as the platform has developed an unprecedented amount of power. Zuckerberg says that Facebook's intention is to work with the government and to do good things. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Fig (GitHub Repo) | Fig adds apps, shortcuts, and autocomplete to iTerm2 and the native Terminal on macOS. It pops up subcommands, options, and contextually relevant arguments as you type. A GIF demo is available in the repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Ask HN: Those who moved careers from the West to China, what's your experience? (HackerNews Thread) | A user asks for experiences of people who have moved to China for work, as there has been an increase in Chinese companies hiring from Silicon Valley. Replies mainly warn about the extra hours and the potential impact on family life, as the work culture in China is quite different to the West. An interesting point was raised that Chinese nationals who had existing US jobs should avoid returning to China until they had obtained their Green cards. Some experiences were negative, especially for those who were not ethnically Chinese. Those who were ethnically Chinese reported that the ‘bamboo ceiling’ they had experienced in Western companies no longer existed for them and they had more successful careers. | 4Miscellaneous
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Watch This Hong Kong Protester Instantly Neutralize Tear Gas | A short video shows a protestor in Hong Kong neutralizing a tear gas canister by placing it inside a thermos and shaking it. The protestor reached out and announced that the dark substance seen being poured out of the canister was mud. Tear gas canisters contain chemicals that burn to create a reaction that makes noxious fumes. The fumes work on similar chemical receptors as ones activated while eating wasabi and mustard but are more potent. An expert on tear gas has confirmed that shaking a canister inside a thermos filled with mud would be able to stop the reaction causing the canister to burn, as well as clogging up any pores to prevent it from working after it is released. | 4Miscellaneous
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Cloud Without Complexity (Sponsor) | Cloud Without Complexity . Vultr offers powerful cloud compute and simplified instance management across 22 global locations. Deploy now in 60 seconds or less with one of 12 pre-selected operating systems or bring-your-own ISO! TLDR readers can get a $100 credit just for signing up with this link! | 0Sponsor
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css-media-vars (GitHub Site) | css-media-vars is a framework for writing responsive CSS using named breakpoints and dry selectors. It doesn't require any additional scripts or builds. A guide with multiple examples and demos is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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netboot.xyz (GitHub Repo) | netboot.xyz is a network-based bootable operating system installer based on iPXE. | 4Miscellaneous
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PSA: Last chance to browse using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is this week | Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is officially retiring after 27 years on June 15. The browser reached its peak in 2003 but fell off after new browsers entered the market. Microsoft Edge features an IE mode that provides access to legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and apps. The retirement doesn't affect in-market Windows LTSC, Server Internet Explorer 11 desktop applications, or the MSHTML engine. | 4Miscellaneous
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Personal data of 533 million Facebook users leaks online | Personal data from 533 million Facebook accounts was recently leaked online. The dataset was scraped by exploiting a vulnerability that was fixed in 2019. It contains information such as phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birth dates, email addresses, and more. Portions of the dataset were available for purchase earlier this year through a Telegram bot. The leaked emails have been uploaded to Have I Been Pwned, but the owner of the site is still debating whether to make the leaked phone numbers available. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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LG Unveils OLED EX, the Next Generation of Its OLED TV Tech | LG's OLED EX is the company's next generation of its OLED display technology. It promises to boost maximum brightness, enhance picture quality, and allow for smaller display bezels. The new displays use a compound called deuterium combined with algorithmic image processing to increase brightness by up to 30% over conventional OLED displays. They will be used in every OLED TV manufactured at Samsung's Paju and Guangzhou locations in the second quarter of next year. While the global TV market declined by 12% this year, LG saw a 70% growth in OLED sales. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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I reverse engineered McDonald's internal api... (Twitter Thread) | Mcbroken is a service built by @rashiq that exploits McDonald's internal API to create a map that shows up-to-date information on which US locations have a broken ice-cream machine. No ice-cream was wasted in making the site. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Airline Pilots Landing At LAX Report "A Guy In Jetpack" Flying Alongside Them | Airline pilots landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday reported seeing 'a guy in a jetpack' flying about 300 yards off their wing while on final approach to landing. The airliner was descending through 3,000 feet when the man showed up next to them. There are a low number of known jetpack designs capable of such a feat. It is unlikely that this was one of them. | 4Miscellaneous
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A magnetic helmet shrunk a deadly tumor in world-first test | Researchers used a helmet that generates a magnetic field to shrink a deadly brain tumor by a third. The helmet features three rotating magnets and it was worn by the patient up to six hours per day. It is the first non-invasive therapy for brain cancer. The device has FDA approval for compassionate use treatment. It could one day be used to treat brain cancer without radiation or chemotherapy. A picture of the device is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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How Verizon connects the world with full observability from Pixie and New Relic (Sponsor) | How Verizon connects the world with full observability from Pixie and New Relic . Verizon and New Relic team up to deliver observability at the edge, unlocking powerful performance insights and unprecedented network intelligence transforming how developers innovate. Learn how New Relic helps Verizon get visibility into their 5G Edge Network hosted on AWS. | 0Sponsor
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inlets (GitHub Repo) | inlets combines a reverse proxy and websocket tunnels in order to expose your internal endpoints to the internet via an exit-node. It is open-source and can dynamically bind and discover local services to DNS entries and a public IP address over its websocket tunnel using automated TLS certificates. A video demo is available on the repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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VimCharm: Approximating PyCharm on vim | VimCharm is a vim configuration file that transforms vim into an approximation of PyCharm. It can be used as a command-line replacement for PyCharm on remote machines. VimCharm features autocomplete, PyCharm shortcuts, syntax and linter errors, and more. The article discusses how VimCharm was made. A link to the complete configuration file is provided. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Prisma Client Python (GitHub Repo) | Prisma Client Python is an auto-generated and fully type-safe database client. It can be used in any Python backend application. Prisma features full type safety and native support for usage with or without async, recursive and pseudo-recursive types, atomic updates, partial type generation, and more. It supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB, and SQL Server. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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CalcuLaTeX (GitHub Repo) | CalcuLaTeX is a pretty-printing calculator language. It outputs mathematical and scientific notation. Examples are available in the repository. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Exclusive: Apple in talks with potential suppliers of sensors for self-driving cars - sources | Apple has been in talks with at least four lidar sensor suppliers as it works on developing its own lidar unit for self-driving cars. It appears that Apple is trying to find the smallest, cheapest, and most easily mass produced lidar units in order to create its next-generation lidar. Current lidar units are large and expensive, making it impractical for mass-produced vehicles. It is unclear whether Apple is looking to build its own vehicles, but their interest in long-distance sensors make it clear that they intend to create a fully self-driving system, rather than an adaptive cruise control system similar to what exists in today’s autonomous vehicles. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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OnlyFans bans sexually explicit content to appease banks and payment services | OnlyFans will ban sexually explicit material on its platform from October 1 to comply with the requests of its banking partners and payout providers. The company has yet to reveal its new rules, but nudity will still be allowed. OnlyFans is having trouble attracting investors due to its racy content. The company, founded in 2016, has 200 employees, 150 million registered users, and over 1.5 million content creators. It has paid out over $3 billion in creator earnings since its founding. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Startup Says It’s About to Start Selling Lab-Grown Tiger Steaks to Restaurants | Primeval Foods plans to cultivate and sell a range of exotic meats, including zebra, lion, elephant, and tiger. The lab-grown meat company uses small samples of tissues from healthy wild animals to create its meat. The animals are not killed in the process. Primeval Foods will preview its meats at a couple of Michelin-starred restaurants in London. Other startups, like Orbillion Bio, are also trying to create more novel types of lab-grown meats. | 4Miscellaneous
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Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site | The Internet Archive created the National Emergency Library in March as a response to the shutdown of public libraries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It suspended book waitlists until the end of June, essentially allowing a single copy of a book to be downloaded an infinite number of times. This caused book publishers to file a lawsuit against the Internet Archive, accusing the service of violating the Copyright Act and facilitating digital piracy. The Internet Archive responded by closing the National Emergency Library early but the lawsuit might result in the shutdown of the service. Previous attempts at backing up the library have been unsuccessful, and now open-Internet activists are trying to figure out the best way to save the archive. | 4Miscellaneous
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CloudQuery (GitHub Repo) | This is a cool open source point and click tool to turn any website into a serverless API on AWS. There's a gif demonstrating how easy it is to create a serverless API for Hacker News with this tool, pretty nifty. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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YouTube’s homepage redesign means people will see bigger thumbnails and fewer videos | YouTube will launch a new homepage design today that includes bigger thumbnails, meaning users will see fewer videos on the homepage. Extra details about videos will be available, and creators will be able to use longer titles. The aim of the redesign is so users can view all the video information at a glance, rather than requiring them to hover their cursor over a video or click through to see more. Categories like News and Music will no longer be placed on the front page. Desktop users will now be able to tell YouTube to stop recommending channels that the user is not interested in. They can also now add videos to a queue. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Inside the Longest Atlassian Outage of All Time (17 minute read) | Atlassian is currently experiencing its longest outage ever. Almost 400 companies lost access to Atlassian Cloud services starting on April 4. The company estimates that many customers will not be able to access its services for another two weeks. This article discusses the timeline of events, the cause of the outage, the impact of the outage on customers and Atlassian's business, and lessons learned from the outage. The outage was caused by a script that accidentally deleted all customer data for anyone using a plugin that was being retired. | 4Miscellaneous
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How often do people actually copy and paste from Stack Overflow? Now we know | Stack Overflow recently analyzed how users copy data from its site. One in every four users copies something within five minutes of visiting a Stack Overflow page. A majority of copies come from users with zero reputation. Non-accepted answers are copied more, but there is higher knowledge reuse from accepted answers. Higher scored posts are copied more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The Dark Overlord Decrypts More 9/11 Insurance Files | A hacker group called "The Dark Overlord" is crowdfunding efforts to decrypt 9/11 insurance files it stole from a law firms and government agencies. Conspiracy theorists in particular are interested in these documents as they hope it will reveal a conspiracy around the attacks. The group says "We've said it before, and we'll say it again: we're financially motivated, and you (the public) has spoken to us in our language (internet money, specifically Bitcoin)." They have received about $11,000 in Bitcoin so far and say they will continue to drip release the documents as they receive more and more donations. | 4Miscellaneous
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The Scoop: Inside Fast’s Rapid Collapse (19 minute read) | Fast, a startup that launched in 2020, laid off all of its workforce on April 5. This article discusses what happened, Fast's hiring process, warning signs within the company, and the current situation with Fast. It gives some advice on how to avoid joining similar companies. Most startups are losing money, so it is important to pay attention to the path to profitability, not just growth numbers. | 4Miscellaneous
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Google promises “spectacular” city GPS improvement with 3D building data | GPS accuracy can be affected by tall buildings, but Google claims it can correct for this with its new 3D mapping aided correction module for Android. Using the massive amount of 3D building data that it has available in Google Maps, Google can calculate how a GPS signal bounces off of surrounding buildings and correct for the interference. The module improves location accuracy in cities spectacularly, reducing wrong-side-of-the-street occurrences by approximately 75%. It will be part of Google Play Services' Fused Location Provider API. The feature will work in 3,850 cities around the world. It will be rolled out in early 2021. | 4Miscellaneous
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Family Investing App UNest, Launches “Crypto for Kids” (Sponsor) | Family Investing App UNest, Launches “Crypto for Kids” . UNest just launched their waitlist for UNest Legacy, a simple and easy way to give your children the gift of crypto.By joining the waitlist you get:⌚ Early access to UNest Legacy💎 Automatically entered into UNest Legacy’s weekly Ethereum giveaway🖼️ Entered into future UNest Legacy NFT giveaways🆕 Access to UNest Legacy UpdatesJoin Waitlist | 0Sponsor
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Uber Rewards is rolling out. Here’s how the perks work | Uber's rewards program is now available in most major cities across the US. It will roll out internationally once it's nailed the user experience. Perks include Uber credits, priority support, no surge pricing, and high rollers can even get a dedicated 24/7 phone support line. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Some of the universe’s heavier elements are created by neutron star collisions | Scientists have confirmed that at least some of the heavier elements on the periodic table are created when neutron stars merge. Light elements such as hydrogen and helium were formed during the big bang. Elements up to iron are created by fusion in the cores of stars. Heavier elements such as gallium and bromine require a supernova. Gold, uranium, and other even heavier elements require a process called rapid neutron capture, where an atomic nucleus is bombarded with neutrons so quickly that it doesn't have time to split apart. Two years ago, the GW170817 neutron star merger was observed, resulting in the creation of a large amount of strontium. The observations also confirmed that neutron stars are really made of neutrons. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Netflix is launching a daily trivia series called Trivia Quest | Netflix's new interactive series Trivia Quest will launch on April 1. Similar to its other interactive series like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Trivia Quest will involve viewers in the story by allowing them to make choices. Viewers will answer game questions to help free the friends of the protagonist. A new episode will air every day throughout April, with 24 questions available in a multiple-choice format per episode. A trailer for the show is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Japanese convenience stores will use VR-controlled robots to stack shelves | FamilyMart in Japan is using robots to aid its in-store assistants to stack shelves during social distancing. The humanoid robots feature haptic sensors, stereo cameras, and binaural microphones. They are teleoperated by humans who control them using a virtual reality headset and haptic gloves. Japan has attempted other telepresence projects previously. One project involved staffing a restaurant with robots operated by people with physical disabilities. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Salesforce deal to buy Slack expected to be announced Tuesday after market close | Salesforce is expected to announce its deal to buy Slack after markets close on Tuesday. The deal is expected to be about half cash and half stock. It could be one of the largest deals ever in the software sector. Slack's market cap was more than $24 billion on Monday morning. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Encore (GitHub Repo) | Encore is a Go backend framework for creating APIs and distributed systems. It reduces the boilerplate required to set up a production-ready backend application. Encore makes it easy to monitor, provision, and secure apps. It can automatically generate documentation from source code. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Screen time: how much is too much? | In a large scale experiment based on three large data sets from the US and the UK, researchers examined the effect of digital-technology use on well-being. The effect was so small, explaining at most 0.4% of variation in well-being that it was about as negative as regularly eating potatoes. While this study relies on associations rather than potential causal relationships, it does suggest that warnings against excessive screen time are unwarranted. Thank God. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Kuo: 16-inch MacBook Pro, 31-inch 6K display, iPhones w/ upgraded Face ID & bilateral wireless charging coming in 2019 | Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released a new investor note detailing Apple’s upcoming releases for 2019. The note discusses the release of new updates to iPads, MacBook Pros, Apple Displays, iPhones, iPods, Apple Watches, and AirPods. It is expected that the first announcements for the new products will be in March. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Cirrus (GitHub Repo) | Cirrus is an SCSS framework for the modern web. It doesn't require JavaScript for interaction or functionality and all components are configurable. Cirrus' design system uses utility functions, which allows developers to create consistent user interfaces. Examples are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Coronavirus outbreak: doctors use robot to treat first known US patient | The coronavirus that originated from China has reached the US. It has killed 17 people in China so far. A man in his 30s who had recently been in central China was diagnosed in Seattle and admitted into the special pathogens unit in a hospital in Everett, Washington. The patient is in a satisfactory condition, but doctors did not say when he would be released from the hospital. A robot was used to treat the patient in order to reduce the risk of the virus spreading. More than 540 people have been hospitalized with the virus in Wuhan. Most of those who have died of the virus were 60 or older, and all have been in China. The CDC has said that the risk of the virus to the American public is low. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Scientists succeed in mapping every neuron in a worm, a breakthrough in neuroscience | Scientists have created the first connectome, a map of every neuron, and the connections between them, within an animal. The connectome maps out a small, soil-dwelling worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, which is widely researched in neuroscience due to the tiny number of neurons that it has. Each neuron on the map is linked to other connecting neurons or muscles, along with the function of the neuron and the strength of the connections. It will make it easier for scientists to track how the animal senses and reacts to the world. Despite its low number of neurons, the worms are able to learn, remember, sense fear, run away from predators, find food, and mate. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Git User Switch (GitHub Repo) | Git User Switch allows developers to switch user, email, and signingKey with ease. A GIF demo is available that shows how it works. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Bionaut Labs launches with plans to attack brain tumors with tiny, guided robots | Bionaut Labs has unveiled tiny remote-controlled devices designed to travel through the human body to deliver medicine where it is needed the most. The robots are smaller than a millimeter and have few moving parts. They can navigate through tissues and go where surgeons cannot. The Bionauts work like miniature screws, pushing their way through the body while being guided by magnetic fields generated outside the body. Once they are in the body, the Bionauts can't turn. So far, they have shown great promise as a new targeted treatment modality for severe brain disorders. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Defectors from SpaceX and Blue Origin are developing a remarkable technology called 'Stargate' to help colonize other planets | Relativity Space is a startup that is using 3D printing to make rocket parts. This will be especially crucial for missions in space colonies, where it isn't feasible to build a new factory. The goal of the company is to eventually be able to 3D print a full rocket using Stargate, the largest metal 3D printer on Earth. Stargate has cameras, sensors, and software which can help it detect errors when printing highly complex parts. Relativity Space believes that it will be able to print 95% of the parts needed to build a rocket by 2020, where current rocket companies are only 3D printing about 1% of their parts. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Amazon One’s palm-scanning tech makes first move into entertainment venues | Amazon One is launching at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheater as part of a partnership with ticketing firm AXS. It is the first time the palm reading technology has been deployed outside of Amazon and Whole Food stores. More AXS ticketed venues are expected to have the technology soon. Amazon is trying to make the technology more convenient than regular contactless cards and QR codes, but numerous privacy experts have expressed skepticism towards the technology as it gives Amazon more insight into customers' shopping habits and hobbies. Amazon is trying to encourage sign-ups by offering $10 for a palm print. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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NASA must rework planetary protection plans, panel advises | NASA's rules for preventing the spread of earthly microbes, as well as the spread of alien life on Earth, require rethinking, according to an independent agency advisory panel. Current rules are costly and some procedures do not make sense, considering the scientific knowledge we have gained since the rules were created. The Moon is classified as potentially of interest for research on the origins of life, but few scientists now see it as an important site for studying these questions, except for at its poles. Reclassifying the Moon as nonessential for biological studies would simplify exploration for space agencies. Mars has been treated as if microbes could survive on the planet, but many scientists now think that it is unlikely. Earth has been bombarded by meteorites that originated from Mars with no known biological harm in the past, so its guidelines for returning samples should be reviewed. NASA is not a regulatory agency, and commercial actors, for example, Tesla, have launched objects into space with no planetary protection evaluation in the past. Humans will eventually contaminate Mars, so research into water-rich regions should be explored as soon as possible. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Liquid-in-liquid printing method could put 3D-printed organs in reach | Replicating organs such as gastric tracts, windpipes, and blood vessels is a major challenge as they can be difficult to construct without supporting scaffolding, which can be difficult or impossible to remove after construction. Previous attempts to create support structures with liquids have failed. Researchers from China have been able to create a stable membrane using hydrophilic polymers. These liquid structures are able to hold their shape for up to 10 days. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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GitHub stars won’t pay your rent (20 minute read) | After launching a custom browser designed for developers, Kitze looked at the statistics for his software and found that while over 7,000 people were using the software every month, it had only made $93 in 2.5 years despite the donation link being clearly visible everywhere. After exploring a few options and jobs, Kitze redeveloped a paid version of the app and removed the GitHub repository. The app launch was successful and Kitze was able to build and expand a business. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Instagram is developing its own version of Twitter’s Super Follow with ‘Exclusive Stories’ | Instagram is building a feature that will allow creators to publish exclusive content to their Instagram stories that will only be available to their fans. Access to Exclusive Stories will likely come with a subscription payment of some kind. Screenshots of the feature were leaked and confirmed as authentic by Instagram, but the company has declined to share any details about it. The leaked screenshots are available in the article. Instagram has been working on more features to help creators monetize their work. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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How to create technical conceptual diagrams | Conceptual diagrams are a visual way to show how things work. They can help developers gain a better understanding of what they are doing. This article teaches front-end developers and visual learners how to create conceptual diagrams. It uses a JavaScript method as an example to show the basic steps of making a conceptual diagram that will aid in learning. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Rough.js (GitHub Repo) | Rough.js is a small graphics library that creates sketchy, hand-drawn-like images. It defines primitives to draw lines, curves, arcs, polygons, circles, and ellipses. Rough.js also supports drawing SVG paths. Detailed examples of how to draw basic and complex shapes are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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These $2,000 solar panels pull clean drinking water out of the air, and they might be a solution to the global water crisis | A startup backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos has built a solar panel that can extract water out of moisture in the air. A single $2000 panel can extract about 10 bottles worth of clean water per day. The company believes this is a solution to the global water crisis, which has left 2 billion people without clean drinking water. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China has successfully landed on Mars | China's Tianwen-1 probe has landed on Mars. Its Zhurong rover will exit the lander within the next three days and start exploring the red planet. The rover has a mass of about 240 kg, comparable to NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers. This is the first time China has sent a spacecraft to Mars. Tianwen-1 arrived into Mars orbit on February 10 and spent three months collecting images of its landing site, the large Utopia Planitia impact basin. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Lyft buys a startup that runs ads on top of ridesharing cars | Lyft has acquired Halo Cars, a startup that pays drivers to run taxi-style ads on top of their vehicles. Halo currently only operates in two cities, so it is likely that Lyft acquired the team for its media division. With Halo, full-time, highly rated drivers are able to earn up to $400 per month for carrying a connected, video-capable ad installation on their cars as they work. Marketers can choose which locations their ads would be displayed. Lyft lost $651.8 million in fiscal 2019, so it is likely they are looking at alternative revenue sources, such as advertising on cars. The move might also benefit drivers, who have long complained about low pay. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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'They're putting us all at risk': What it's like working in Amazon's warehouses during the coronavirus outbreak (13 minute read) | Many people are now staying at home and depending on online marketplaces like Amazon to get essentials like toilet paper, food, and hand sanitizer. Amazon's warehouse workers, delivery drivers, and contract employees are still working throughout the coronavirus crisis. While workers are praised for their fearlessness in continuing to go to work, many are terrified and frustrated with Amazon's response to the pandemic. Employees who feel that it is unsafe to work are given limited options, so they continue to come into work. Amazon has implemented new safety precautions and increased pay for workers, but workers are still concerned as their jobs require them to be physically close to each other and sanitizing products are in short supply. Employees have to decide whether to work or have no income. | 4Miscellaneous
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Astronomers discover vast ancient galaxies, which could shed light on dark matter | Using the combined power of multiple astronomical observatories around the world and in space, astronomers have discovered 39 previously unknown ancient massive galaxies. As the universe expands, light traveling through is stretched, causing the already weak signals from these galaxies to become harder or impossible to detect with the eyes and with telescopes. It required data from several advanced telescopes to detect these galaxies. The larger the galaxy, the larger the supermassive black hole at its center. The discovery of these galaxies may answer questions regarding the evolution of supermassive black holes, which play a role in shaping the structure and distribution of galaxies. New technology will be required to investigate the chemical composition of these galaxies as current techniques require visible wavelengths of light. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Telegram ‘Premium’ subscription is showing up in beta builds of the app | Beta testers for Telegram's iOS app have discovered new features that are only accessible through a subscription to Telegram Premium. The subscription will likely involve adding features like premium stickers, reactions, and other features for business teams or power users. It will also likely remove ads for subscribers. The free parts of Telegram will continue to be free. Telegram only needs a small percentage of its users to subscribe in order to become the break-even business it wants to be. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Elon Musk: Tesla is working to make Steam video games work in its vehicles | Elon Musk says Tesla is working to make Steam's library of games work on its onboard vehicle computers. Tesla has been building a video game platform called Tesla Arcade that will run inside its vehicles. The company has been working with video game studios to port games to the Arcade. Musk believes that entertainment will be critical when cars become autonomous. Tesla plans to offer paid packages of different video games. The company recently deployed a new entertainment computer in its Model S and Model X. | 4Miscellaneous
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Web Development In 2020 - A Practical Guide Course List (GitHub Repo) | There are tons of technologies available for web developers and the large amount of information out there can be intimidating for newcomers. This list of technologies includes links to the top Udemy courses for each topic, as well as other resources. Alternatives to Udemy are also listed. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Disney Assumes Full Control of Hulu in Deal With Comcast | Disney now has complete control over Hulu after a deal was reached with Comcast to sell the platform for at least $5.8 billion. Comcast’s NBCUniversal will continue to license content to Hulu until 2024. However, after next year the content will no longer be exclusive to Hulu, and by 2022, NBCU will be able to cancel most of its licensing agreements with Hulu. NBCU will launch a free, ad-supported streaming service in 2020. With Disney in control of Hulu, they will be able to set a new strategic map for the service, including launching it internationally. Comcast continues to hold a 33 percent share of Hulu, but in 2024 either Comcast can demand that Disney purchase this share, or Disney can require Comcast to sell its share for fair market price. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Samsung and LG preview the future of weird phone displays | Samsung and LG showed off new folding screen technologies during the annual Display Week conference this week. LG Display had an 8-inch foldable touchscreen that can fold both inwards and outwards. The 360-degree Foldable OLED can survive being folded over 200,000 times. Samsung Display showed off a display that can fold twice in the same direction and another that can fold once inwards and once outwards. It also had displays that can unfurl horizontally or vertically. Videos showing what the displays look like are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Snap’s new Spectacles let you see the world in augmented reality | Snap has unveiled its first true augmented reality glasses. The new Spectacles can superimpose AR effects over reality. Its frames have four built-in microphones, two stereo speakers, and a touchpad. The glasses use front-facing cameras to detect objects and surfaces so that graphics can interact naturally with the world. They only have a battery life of 30 minutes. Snap will not be selling Spectacles on the mass market. Instead, it will be giving them directly to select AR effects creators through an online application program. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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This website uses AI to turn your selfies into haunted classical portraits | A website developed by the researchers at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab is able to transform selfies into classical portraits. Trained on 45,000 classical portraits from a huge number of styles, covering a range of methods and artists, the website uses a generative adversarial network to generate new features from scratch. The AI might decide on certain styles of art depending on features within the selfies submitted. While apps like FaceApp have been criticized for its privacy policies, the researchers promise that the data collected won't be used for any other purposes and images are immediately deleted after use. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Facebook’s Tuned is a private messaging app made for couples | Facebook has quietly released a new iOS app called Tuned. Tuned is designed for couples. It allows any two people to send messages and media to each other, as long as they're located in the US or Canada. The app uses phone numbers, rather than Facebook accounts. As it is an NPE Team app, it might not be updated frequently and Facebook might decide to scrap it entirely if there is no market for it. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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A bot disguised as a human software developer fixes bugs | Researchers created a bot called Repairnator, and unleashed it on Github with a fake name and profile picture to find bugs and submit pull requests. On the first run (from February to December 2017), Repairnator found 11,500 failed builds, reproduced the failure in 3,000 cases, and submitted 15 patches, all of which were rejected by project maintainers. On the second run (from January to June 2018) Repairnator managed to submit 5 patches that were accepted by human maintainers. The researchers say "We believe that Repairnator prefigures a certain future of software development, where bots and humans will smoothly collaborate and even cooperate on software artifacts." | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Meet molnupiravir, Merck’s Thor-inspired pill that hammers COVID | Molnupiravir is an oral antiviral drug that appears to cut the risk of hospitalization from Covid-19 by roughly 50 percent. Global studies showed that the drug was effective against SARS-CoV-2 variants. The drug appears to be safe, with low numbers of reported drug-related adverse events. Molnupiravir has been in development for years for use against influenza. It works by inhibiting an enzyme critical for making copies of RNA viruses. The drug has yet to gain FDA authorization. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Excalidraw (GitHub Repo) | Excalidraw is a whiteboard tool that allows you to sketch diagrams that have a hand-drawn feel to them. A web version is available to use. It is built using React and Rough.js. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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hyperfine (GitHub Repo) | hyperfine is a command-line benchmarking tool. It is able to show statistical analysis across multiple runs, support arbitrary shell commands, provide constant feedback about benchmark progress, detect statistical outliers, export results to various platforms, and more. It is cross-platform and be run on Linux, macOS, and Windows systems. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window | Elon Musk fired "at least seven" senior managers at SpaceX because he was unhappy with the pace of development on Starlink, SpaceX's project to deliver internet via low orbit satellites. Elon Musk says "It would be like rebuilding the Internet in space. The goal would be to have a majority of long-distance Internet traffic go over this network." The program is struggling to hire and retain staff, and Musk is frustrated with the long development schedules. An anonymous source said "Rajeev wanted three more iterations of test satellites. Elon thinks we can do the job with cheaper and simpler satellites, sooner." The goal is to initially launch satellites in mid-2019 and have internet service available by 2020. The company is counting on revenue from this service to build rockets to go to Mars. One SpaceX employee says "There had to be a much bigger idea for generating cash to basically realize the Mars plans. What better idea than to put Comcast out of business?" | 1Big Tech & Startups
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gotify/server (GitHub Repo) | gotify/server is a self-hosted server for sending and receiving messages in real time. While there are plenty of free and commercial push services available, they are not open-source, self-hosted, or customizable. Server admins are able to manage users, clients, and applications, and create and install plugins. Users can access the server through a web-UI or Android app. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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China orders Alibaba founder Jack Ma to break up fintech empire | Authorities in Beijing have ordered Ant Group to scale back its operations after an investigation into allegations of 'monopolistic practices' by Alibaba. China's central bank had declared Ant's corporate governance as unsound and the company has been ordered to return to its origins as a payment services provider. The company must stop its credit, insurance, and wealth management financial activities. Ant Group has said that it will try to work with regulators to establish a solution. | 4Miscellaneous
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Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career? (Hacker News Thread) | This Hacker News thread discusses certifications that legitimately helped in people's careers. The top suggestions include Offensive Security's OSCP course, Microsoft's MCSE, and Amazon AWS certifications. One post is a warning about how too many certifications can have an adverse effect as hiring managers may see them as a waste of time compared to real-world projects. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Google Soli Radar sees your intentions – and it's less creepy and more helpful than you think | Google's ATAP group recently unveiled its latest Soli Radar research project. The project is focused on making the radar system aware of non-verbal interactions to understand what actions mean. Project Soli can use cues such as head orientation, distance, what the eyes are looking at, and movement speed to understand humans. The technology could make it easier for humans to communicate more effectively with devices. A video from Google demonstrating some applications of the technology is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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World’s first cloned Przewalski horse comes from DNA preserved at San Diego Zoo 40 years ago | The world's first successfully cloned Przewalski's horse was born in Texas on August 6. It is a clone of a male Przewalski's horse whose DNA was cryopreserved 40 years ago. The colt could provide an important model for future conservation efforts. Genetic diversity becomes an issue as populations become smaller. Advanced reproductive technologies could save species by restoring genetic diversity. | 4Miscellaneous
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Scientists Bemused to Find Liquid Light at Room Temperature | Liquid light is a superfluid that follows the rules of quantum physics rather than classical physics. Researchers were able to create liquid light at room temperature under ambient conditions in 2017. Liquid light at room temperature could lead to developments in the field of electronics, healthcare, data science, and many other domains. It may be possible to store liquid light and save it for later use. More information on how liquid light is made, along with videos explaining the concept, are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Joe Rogan Experience #1368 - Edward Snowden (3 hour video) | Edward Snowden was a Central Intelligence Agency employee and subcontractor. In 2013, he copied and leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency. In this interview with Joe Rogan, Snowden calls out former President Barack Obama for growing the surveillance state and enabling illegal activity from intelligence agencies. Obama had campaigned against the wiretapping of the Bush administration, yet after taking office, he expanded the programs. Snowden currently lives a relatively normal life in Russia and has stated that he would return to the US if he was able to be guaranteed a fair trial. | 4Miscellaneous
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Firm raises $15m to bring back woolly mammoth from extinction | Bioscience and genetics company Colossal recently raised $15 million to recreate the wooly mammoth. The project involves taking skin cells from Asian elephants and reprogramming them into more versatile stem cells that carry mammoth DNA, then carrying embryos to term in a surrogate mother or artificial womb. The researchers hope they have their first set of calves in six years. While reintroducing herds of elephant-mammoth hybrids to the Arctic tundra may help convert landscapes to grassland and keep the ground cool, some scientists argue that it is not the most effective way to restore the tundra. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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GrubHub+ gets you free deliveries and cashback for $10 a month | GrubHub+ is the new subscription for GrubHub that includes unlimited free delivery, 10 percent cash back on orders, and other perks. The perks will only be available with restaurants that enroll in the program. There are currently approximately 100,000 restaurants participating in the program in the US. A 14-day free trial is available, and GrubHub is offering a 30-day free trial for customers subscribed to a competing service. There is a $12 minimum for an order to qualify for free delivery. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Lip Gloss (GitHub Repo) | Lip Gloss enables style definitions for terminal layouts, built with TUIs in mind. It uses an expressive, declarative approach to terminal rendering. Lip Gloss supports inline formatting, block-level formatting, aligning text, copying styles, inheritance, and more. Users familiar with CSS will feel at home with Lip Gloss. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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ML and DS Applications in Industry (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains a curated list of applied machine learning articles, data science notebooks, and libraries across different industries. Topics are organized according to industry and each link has a short description. The repository will be deprecated in November 2019, after which new edits will appear in a private repo. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Gatorade’s new Gx Sweat Patch tests your sweat for smarter hydration | The Gx Sweat Patch is a wearable from Gatorade that tests sweat to let the wearer know when to best rehydrate after working out. They are sold in packages of two for $25. The patches offer insight into how much body fluid was lost during a workout and how much sodium needs to be replenished. The Gx app can recommend how much to drink before, during, and after each workout. Each patch can only be used once. Gatorade recommends using a single patch to create a sweat profile for each type of workout that a person does. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Harvard system could store data in organic molecules for millennia | Researchers at Harvard have developed a technique to store information within organic molecules, and this technology could potentially be used to store data securely for thousands of years. While DNA can store a lot of information, it is impractical to use as a storage medium. Other molecules can be more easily manipulated and take up less physical space. The researchers used oligopeptides, small molecules made up of amino acids, which were put into an order that could be translated into binary. In the experiments, scientists were able to read and write around 400 kB of text and image data with an accuracy of 99.9 percent. The system also works with other types of molecules and can write information faster than using DNA. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Func.Farm (Website) | Func.Farm is a browser extension to create serverless functions from code snippets. Users only need to highlight code in their browser and select ‘Create Function’ from the right-click menu to run code. It is able to run code on multiple cloud providers instantly without users needing to navigate away from the site that the code is displayed on. Func.Farm supports multiple programming languages. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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logo-ls (GitHub Repo) | logo-ls is a modern ls command with icons and Git integrations. It features over 250 icons, True Color support, Git Status integration, near-native speed, and language agnostic binaries. The project attempts to balance speed and aesthetics. Screenshots are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The race for coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide | There are more than 90 vaccines being developed against SARS-CoV-2, with at least six already in human trials. Virus vaccines use a weakened or inactivated form of the virus, similar to those used against measles and polio. Viral-vector vaccines use a genetically engineered virus to produce coronavirus proteins in the body. Nucleic-acid vaccines inject DNA or RNA for producing a coronavirus protein that prompts and immune response into human cells. Protein-based vaccines inject coronavirus proteins directly into the body. With accelerated steps, researchers are hoping to have a vaccine ready in 18 months. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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These Ants Can 'Heal' Wounded Trees in a Fascinating Symbiotic Relationship | An accidental slingshot hit on a Cecropia tree in Panama led to the discovery that the ants that live inside these trees often fix damage to their living homes. Azteca alfari ants have a well-known mutually beneficial relationship with the trees. The ants use material found within the plant stem to make the repairs. It appears that the ants mostly repair areas where the damage might put the brood at risk, but more research is needed to clarify this. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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A Cloudflare outage broke large swathes of the internet | Cloudflare experienced an outage on Tuesday morning, impacting a range of sites such as Discord, Shopify, Grindr, Fitbit, and Peloton. | 4Miscellaneous
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The Dark Side of Techno-Utopianism (24 minute read) | Prior to the printing press, books were handwritten by scribes and people who could not afford them probably would not have been able to read them, leaving a lot of space for powerful gatekeepers to exploit the common people. Many texts would have been altered while they were copied by scribes. After printed text started being distributed, the gatekeeping powers shifted toward those who printed texts, as they had the power to change the words and meanings of the text printed. The internet introduced the ability to view a wide range of information and platforms to distribute information. Now, anybody could write anything they wanted, whether it was true or not. Companies can moderate their platforms and control the narrative. Some platforms are moderated heavily, while others are almost completely free, allowing users to say whatever they want. Tech companies are starting to recognize the power they possess and some are beginning to push for regulations on what should be allowed on the internet. | 4Miscellaneous
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bun (GitHub Repo) | bun is an all-in-one tool for JavaScript development. | 4Miscellaneous
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How the Blockchain Could Break Big Tech's Hold on A.I. | The conventional wisdom surrounding AI is that the company with the most data wins. Now, startups are using blockchains to democratize data so that data remains under the user's control instead of Google's or Facebook's. Ocean Protocol is a Berlin-based startup that allows anyone to set up a data marketplace, with users of data paying for the data with digital tokens. Revel is a company that pays out tokens in exchange for training data sets, like collecting pictures of taxis. Oasis is a medical information blockchain using advanced encryption techniques such that no company, not even the one using the data, will have access to it. Researchers will be able to run the data through their machine learning algorithms and prove that calculations are done correctly all without ever having access to the underlying data. SingularityNET is a blockchain of AIs, so that if one AI cannot come up with an answer, it can pay another AI to help. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China establishes company to build satellite broadband megaconstellation | The China Satellite Network Group Co. Ltd. is a new company created by the Chinese government dedicated to creating and operating a 13,000-satellite broadband constellation. The company will exist independently from and parallel to China's main space contractors. Other state-owned enterprises and commercial sector space companies could be involved in the project. The project will contribute to economic development while enabling domestic connectivity needs. It is unknown when construction of the constellation will be complete. | 4Miscellaneous
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Rocket Lab aims to launch private Venus mission in 2023 | Rocket Lab, a Californian-based spaceflight company, is planning a robotic astrobiology mission to Venus in 2023. Venus used to be a planet with oceans, lakes, and rivers, before the planet became hot and dry. Scientists believe that there could be life in the planet's atmosphere, where potentially habitable pockets have temperatures and pressures similar to the Earth's surface environment. The Venus mission will involve deploying probes into the planet's atmosphere using Rocket Lab's Photon satellite platform. When Photon becomes available for customers, it will significantly lower the cost of doing science in space. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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AI-based traffic management gets green light | A California-based company called NoTraffic is rolling out smart traffic lights in Phoenix at a few key intersections to improve traffic flow and reduce vehicle and pedestrian delays. NoTraffic claims up to a 40% reduction in vehicle delay time once its system has been deployed. One feature of the traffic grid management system is that it can give first-responders a clear path through busy commuter corridors. NoTraffic's system tracks road assets and calculates the most optimal configuration for an intersection, taking into account safety considerations like vehicles' blind spots. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder arrested in London | Julian Assange has been arrested in London after seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy. The Ecuadorian government has recently withdrawn asylum for Assange due to his behavior, as it was clear the Assange was still interfering with the affairs of other states. Assange was found guilty of failing to surrender to court in 2012 for charges that have since been dropped and can be sentenced to jail in the UK for up to 12 months. It is still unclear whether he will be extradited to the US, where he could face up to five years in jail for conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. | 4Miscellaneous
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The First High-Yield, Sub-Penny Plastic Processor | A transatlantic team of researchers has created a simple and fully functional plastic processor that can be manufactured at sub-penny prices. A high percentage of the time, the flexible 4-bit and 8-bit processors continue to work even when bent. The needs of flexible applications tend to be computationally simple. The study shows that flexible electronics may finally be ready for the mainstream. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Uber to purchase Postmates for $2.65 billion | Uber will purchase Postmates for $2.65 billion. Postmates will be combined with Uber Eats. The deal is expected to be announced as soon as today. The combined companies will have a 37% share of food delivery sales in the US. DoorDash will still remain the largest competitor with a 45% market share. GrubHub, which has a 17% share of the food delivery market in the US, was recently sold to Just Eats for $7.3 billion. 🚀 Science & | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Gamedev Tutorial: Trigonometry Basics – Sine & Cosine (10 minute read) | Trigonometry is a large part of game math, and a solid understanding of it can go a long way in game development. It is essential for knowing how to define coordinates as points on a circle, which allows developers to program how things move in circles and spirals, as well as different types of motions. Many visual examples of movements and the math to create them are provided in this tutorial. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Doing Western students' homework is big business in Kenya | In Kenya, academic writing can earn workers as much as $1,000 a month, as long as the work gets clients good grades. Contract cheating has become a lucrative business in Kenya in recent years. Kenya is where most academic writers are based, according to researchers. People in Kenya are incredibly qualified with very high levels of English and they are able to write high quality essays quickly. Students can bypass anti-plagiarism software by contracting off their assignment work. The global contract cheating industry is worth more than $1 billion, with writers in Kenya only seeing a small share of it as businesses take most of the money. Some countries, such as Australia, and many states in the US, have implemented legislation against contract cheating, and governments have urged PayPal and Google to lock payments and advertisements for contract cheating websites. This hasn't done much to slow down the industry. It will exist as long as writers need money and students need to pass assignments to earn degrees. | 4Miscellaneous
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In a Revolutionary Medical Treatment, Man’s Lung Was Removed, Cleaned, and Replaced—No Transplant Necessary | Doctors at the Beilinson Hospital in Israel have performed an operation where a man's lung was removed, cleaned of cancerous tumors, and then placed back into the body. The patient, in his mid-40s, was hospitalized after a tumor in his left lung blocked the main artery, leading to its collapse. Using the patient's own lung means that the patient doesn't need to wait for a lung transplant or have to deal with the effects of chemotherapy. During the surgery, the man was able to breathe out of his good lung while the other was disconnected. The method can potentially be applied to other organs and other forms of cancer. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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How I hijacked the top-level domain of a sovereign state | In late December, the domain name that managed the name servers for the Democratic Republic of Congo expired. If a malicious actor had purchased the domain, they could have passively intercepted all .cd DNS traffic, made domain names out of thin air, launched remote code execution attacks on local networks, or replied to legitimate DNS queries with fake DNS responses. The domain name was purchased by an ethical hacker before anything bad could happen, and the issue has now been fixed. | 4Miscellaneous
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