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Amazon's Prime Air can officially begin drone delivery trials in the US | Amazon has officially become an air carrier, with the Federal Aviation Administration granting Amazon Prime Air approval to begin its first commercial delivery trials in the US. The FAA still needs to define regulations beyond the trial phase, so it may still be a few years before a full commercial drone delivery service is available. Amazon has not revealed when or where it will begin its trials. It will be using its hexagon-shaped next-gen hybrid drones for the project. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Electric nanoparticles can target and kill cancer cells by zapping them | One way to kill cancer cells is to zap them with a current, but the problem is that it's hard to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. Scientists have figured out a way to attach nanoparticles to cancer cells by coating them with antibodies. Then, they bombard these nanoparticles with ultrasound to generate a current, causing them to zap the cancer cells they are attached to. The researchers have demonstrated this technique on brain tumors grown in a lab, a big step forward in nanomedicine, but there's still a ways to go before it can be done in a real live person. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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How I Keep up with technology as a software developer with a chronic health condition | Keeping up with tech while dealing with health issues can be difficult, but not impossible. Scheduling your time for learning, practice, or working on projects, and being strict about the schedule, will help keep health a priority while encouraging learning. It is important to remember to take small steps as the goal is to try to create a habit. As health should be a priority, taking frequent breaks is important as is being mindful of your mental health. If you have a desire to continue learning and development while dealing with other problems, the most important thing to do is to start taking action. | 4Miscellaneous
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Spotify are reportedly working on a new karaoke feature | Spotify is working on a Karaoke Mode that will feature lyrics and adjustable vocal levels for songs. The news comes after Amazon recently announced that its Twitch Sings app will be closing in January. Karaoke mode was discovered by the same reverse engineer that recently uncovered Spotify's plans to host virtual concerts. Spotify routinely conducts tests to improve user experience but not all tests result in products for broader use. A screenshot of the feature is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Beautiful CSS 3D Transform Examples (Website) | This page contains 12 CSS 3D transform examples. All the examples have just a single div and the code can easily be copied into your own projects. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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12 Leading UI/UX Design Trends to Dominate in 2020-2021 | Digital designs are constantly changing in order to fit users' ever-evolving needs and tastes. Dark mode is one of the hottest web design trends as it looks ultra-modern, allows highlighting and popping other design elements, saves on device battery power, and reduces eye strain. Imperfect visuals are becoming more accepted as they make things look more unique and inventive. Immersive 3D elements, soft shadows, layers, and floating elements are making websites seem more futuristic and also have some practical uses in UI design. Websites are finding new ways to present information, like different methods of graphing data, combining different art mediums, and integrating computer-generated graphics into designs. Designers are making text larger and less complicated, simplifying language and using less formal tones in their communications. Color designs are a lot bolder, with frequent unusual combinations. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Google confirms new Nest smart speaker with official photo and video | Google has confirmed that it is working on a new Nest smart speaker. The new speaker can stand vertically and looks like a cross between the Nest Mini and the larger Google Home Max. A 12-second teaser video is available in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Twitter makes big changes for devs as it eyes decentralized future | Twitter's new API is ready to come out of early access. The upgrade will provide more freedom to developers to build third-party Twitter clients. Twitter has removed restrictions from its Developer Policy to make it easier for developers to compete with Twitter in ways that the company didn't allow before. The company aims to let developers drive the future of innovation on Twitter, making its platform decentralized and becoming more of a communications protocol than a social network. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Niantic launches platform to build ‘real-world metaverse’ apps | Lightship is a software toolkit for building metaverse apps by Niantic. It is free for any developer to access except for a feature that lets multiple devices access shared AR experiences. Niantic has already planned a major update to Lightship for next year that includes a system that will let glasses with displays in them understand exactly where they are in the real world. The company has focused on cross-platform compatibility as there will likely be many different platforms in the world of AR glasses. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Tokyo installed see-through public toilets in a park to let people inspect their cleanliness before using them, at which point the glass turns opaque | Tokyo has installed see-through bathroom facilities in two of the city's public parks. The bathrooms are made out of smart glass that turns opaque when the stalls are locked. The use of public toilets in Japan is limited due to negative stereotypes. The new bathrooms are part of a project to redesign Tokyo's public bathrooms so that they can be used by anyone. Video of the new bathrooms is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Amazon’s new smart shopping cart lets you check out without a cashier | Amazon has a new smart grocery store cart that is equipped with a touchscreen and other hardware to automatically detect what items are being placed inside it. Shoppers can take the Dash Cart through a special lane when they are finished shopping to digitally check out their items without a human cashier. Amazon will deploy its first Dash Carts in a grocery store in the Los Angeles area. The store is currently up and running for online orders and will open for customers later this year. Dash Carts will only be able to handle about two bags of items, so customers who want to purchase more will need to use traditional carts and standard checkout lanes. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Lambda School’s Misleading Promises | Lambda School is an online educational institution that promises an education in return for the student signing an Income Sharing Agreement. These ISAs mean that Lambda gets a percentage of the student's tech job income after graduation. Lambda has raised $48 million in venture funding in three years and has been valued at $150 million. An investigation into internal company documents revealed that Lambda was selling unprepared students an incomplete education by using misleading marketing and even fraud. Lambda had claimed that it didn't get paid until students were employed, but it was revealed that the company was selling its ISAs to get paid immediately and offload the debt. The quality of education that students received was poor, and the teachers were underpaid and rushed. | 4Miscellaneous
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Agile Lite: Agile without all the burnout (GitHub Repo) | Agile development is an approach to software development where requirements and solutions evolve as feedback is received from the development team and end users. It can get complicated, with many books or workshops dedicated to teaching the approach. Agile Lite simplifies the situation by providing a simple and concise explanation of the concept. An explanation in the style of Agile Lite is also available for developers and managers. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Awesome Developer Profile (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains a list of curated Developer GitHub Profiles. | 4Miscellaneous
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Wave (GitHub Repo) | Wave is a Software as a Service Starter Kit. It allows developers to rapidly build software with features such as authentication, user profiles, subscriptions, notifications, and more. A live demo is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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CES 2019 Liveblog | The Consumer Electronics Show started today, Hyundai debuted a concept car that "walks" like an insect, the wheels are attached to legs so it can get through extremely rocky terrain (there's a video in the article), Samsung debuted a 98-inch 8k TV available for pre-order for $15,000, Bell Helicopter debuted a prototype for a flying taxi that can fly at 150 mph for 150 miles. HTC debuted the Vive Pro Eye, a high end VR headset with built in eye tracking so you don't have to move your head as much. There was also an underwater drone, micro-LED screens (brighter and longer lasting than OLED TVs), LG's foldable TV, and even a bread-baking robot. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Amazing Developers On YouTube (GitHub Repo) | This repository contains a list of development YouTube channels. The list is split into English and non-English sections. Resources in the English section include tutorial, informational, live coding, software entertainment, competitive programming, interview preparation, up and coming, and retired channels. The non-English sections include Russian, Hindi, Turkish, and Italian channels. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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numpy-ml (GitHub Repo) | numpy-ml is a collection of machine learning algorithms implemented exclusively in numpy. It includes a range of models, data preprocessing methods, and utilities. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Here’s everything Apple announced at its iPhone 13 event | Apple has unveiled its latest line of hardware releases at its California Streaming event. The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max will feature a more capable camera system and a new Cinematic mode, as well as ProMotion display technology, a feature that allows the phones to adjust their display refresh rates up to 120Hz. The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini will have A15 Bionic chips, bigger batteries, and a redesigned TrueDepth camera array. All phones will go on sale on September 24. Apple also announced a more durable Apple Watch, an iPad mini with USB-C and second-generation Apple Pencil support, a new iPad with upgraded cameras, and software updates. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Rust Crates that do What the Go Standard library Does (13 minute read) | Rust's standard library is lacking in comparison to some other programming languages, but the community has built crates to make up for it. This article contains a list of crates that can perform many of the tasks that are built into the standard Go library. It provides examples of how to integrate the crates into your code. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Scientists Catch Jumping Genes Rewiring Genomes | Genes encoding transcription factors have the ability to amplify and silence thousands of other genes. Explanations for transcription factors have largely eluded scientists. Transposons are genetic elements that can copy themselves and insert those copies throughout the genome using a splicing enzyme they make. A recent study found that transposons had fused with other genes nearly 100 times in tetrapods over the past 300 million years, resulting in many genes likely to encode transcription factors. The study explains how these genes form, implicating transposon activity as the cause. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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China completes world’s first 5G remote surgery in test on animal (1 minute video) | Doctors in China have conducted remote surgery on a test animal, removing its liver by controlling robotic surgical arms over a 5G connection. This is possible because 5G is so fast that despite the 30 mile distance between the doctor and the patient, the lag time was only 0.1 seconds so surgery was still possible. The hope is that this technology could be used to help people in disaster areas, or for doctors at large hospitals to help colleagues in smaller institutions. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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AMC movie theaters will reopen on Aug. 20 with 15-cent tickets | More than 100 AMC cinemas across the US will open on August 20. Tickets will only be 15¢, a throwback to the price the company charged when it was founded in 1920. Theaters were closed in March due to the pandemic. AMC plans to have two-thirds of its theaters opened by September 3. It has promised to give its theaters extra cleaning and sanitizing. AMC Entertainment's shares were up 17% following this announcement. Regal plans to reopen its facilities on August 21. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Apple headset remains likely to adopt Micro OLED as Samsung develops 'hologram' competitor | Apple's upcoming headset will likely be a mixed reality headset that will feature Micro OLED displays and a Mac M1-like processor. Samsung is also planning a headset that will use its Exynos chips and an Android operating system. The company has been working with AR/XR technology company DigiLens to develop a prototype. Samsung is deciding on a release date. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Drago Anguelov (Waymo) | Waymo is a self-driving technology development company, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Self-driving technology is developed through obtaining a large amount of data, creating machine learning models from the data, and then a lot of testing. While there has been huge leaps in the last few years with the development of the technology, there is still a lot to be done, as the problems needed to be solved before a safe, reliable, self-driving car are vast and complex, requiring a lot of testing in multiple environments. Drago Anguelov presents the results of these tests and also discusses the problems that need to be solved before self-driving cars become a viable reality. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The New Super Sub Can Dive to 1,000 Feet and Move Faster Than a Bottlenose Dolphin | The Super Sub is a high-performance cruiser from U-Boat Worx that was designed to keep up with large marine life. The 17-foot submersible is equipped with a propulsion system that is capable of churning out 60 kW, allowing it to hit speeds of up to 8 knots. It is two knots faster than a bottlenose dolphin and adept at navigating the world beneath the waves. The Super Sub can dive to depths of nearly 1,000 feet at angles up to 30-degrees steep. Renders of the submersible are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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A.I. creativity is improving fast. This hilarious GPT3-generated film is proof | 'Solicitors' is a short film by a pair of student filmmakers from Chapman University. The script of the film was almost completely written using AI. GPT-3 can generate text from prompts, and this example shows how creative it can be. While it may produce amazing results, GPT-3 is still only a tool and it is unlikely to replace writers anytime soon. The four-minute film is embedded at the beginning of the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Exclusive: Valve is making a Switch-like portable gaming PC | Valve has been secretly building a Switch-like portable PC to run games on the Steam PC platform via Linux. The latest version of Steam has new hardware-related code for a device named SteamPal. Previous versions of Steam used a different codename, Neptune. Switch-like PC devices have exploded in popularity in recent years. At least one SteamPal prototype is wider than the Nintendo Switch. It will likely be able to dock to larger monitors through a USB Type-C port. Valve has a history of creating, incubating, and canceling projects, so things can change at any time. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Researchers develop a paper-thin loudspeaker | MIT engineers have developed a paper-thin loudspeaker that can turn any surface into an audio source. The speaker can produce high-quality sounds on a variety of surfaces. It can be made into any size and uses only a fraction of the power used by traditional loudspeakers. The speaker has a high enough resonance frequency to be used for ultrasound applications. A video showing off the speaker is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Tesla Model 3 zips through Boring Co. tunnel at 116 mph in latest video | A new video shared by a Tesla board member shows a Tesla Model 3 transporting two passengers between the corner of Prairie & 120th Street to the corner of Crenshaw & Rocket Rd in Hawthorne, CA. The car reached speeds of up to 116 mph and completed the trip in about one minute. At the moment, Autopilot is enabled up to 90 mph, but Tesla will soon be increasing it to 125 mph. The Boring Company built the one-mile tunnel at a cost of $10 million. Tunnels of the same type usually cost more than $500 million. Tesla has been approved to build two tunnels underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center, and a new tunnel connecting Washington DC and Baltimore is currently being considered. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Make your app enterprise-ready (Sponsor) | What do products like Slack, Zoom, and Asana all have in common? They became enterprise-ready faster than their peers.Developers use WorkOS' APIs to quickly integrate enterprise features to their app. Implement Single Sign-On (SAML), SCIM user provisioning, and more in minutes, not months. Learn more. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Self-driving Waymo trucks to haul loads between Houston and Fort Worth | Waymo and trucking company JB Hunt are working together to autonomously haul cargo between Houston and Fort Worth in Texas. A trained truck driver and Waymo technician will be on each truck to supervise and take over if necessary. Waymo has been developing autonomous technology for trucks for several years, with the first tests in Atlanta in 2018. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Some praise, some doubts as Facebook rolls out a prayer tool | Facebook has rolled out a new prayer request feature for groups. Users can post prayer requests and other members of the group can press a button to indicate that they have prayed for the person. The feature has been in testing since December in the US as part of an effort to support faith communities. Religious leaders have mostly responded positively to the feature, but there are concerns with privacy and how Facebook will use the data. Facebook says that advertisers aren't able to use prayer posts to target ads. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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This Rapid 3D-Printing Method Could Be the Secret to Developing 3D-Printed Organs | Engineers from the University of Buffalo have developed a method of 3D printing that is 10-50 times faster than the industry standard. The process uses stereolithography, a method that uses lasers to harden liquid resin and jelly-like substances called hydrogels. The method is suited for printing tiny details, which will be critical in the eventual production of 3D-printed human tissue and organs. Sped-up footage showing the 3D printer fully constructing an artificial hand in just 19 minutes is available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Social media influencer plotted to take internet domain at gunpoint. It didn't end well | A social media influencer paid his cousin to break into the home of the owner of an internet domain name in order to force them to transfer the ownership of the domain. During the assault, the victim was able to gain control of the intruder’s gun and shot him multiple times. The intruder has been sentenced to jail for 20 years. Rossi Lorathio Adams II, the social media influencer, has been found guilty of hiring the intruder and will be looking at up to two decades of prison upon sentencing. | 4Miscellaneous
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Elon Musk keeps word on Tesla's "Romance Mode" and "Toilet Humor" Easter Eggs | Tesla has rolled out its new software update that includes a "Romance Mode" where the center display turns into a fireplace (complete with crackling fire sounds) and starts playing Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye. It also has a "Toilet Humor" mode, which causes the car to fart at random. There are videos in the article of both of these new Easter Eggs in action. | 4Miscellaneous
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PyRobot (GitHub Repo) | PyRobot provides hardware independent APIs for robotic manipulation and navigation. Using PyRobot, developers can make robots that can pick up objects, navigate around a room, and even more complex tasks such as stacking objects together. Several GIFs are available showing robots operating using PyRobot. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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'Genetic Goldmine' in Earth's Harshest Desert Could Be The Key to Feeding The Future | An international team of researchers studied plant life in the Atacama desert for 10 years to identify genes that help give the plants an advantage in the desert. The Atacama desert is known for being the planet's driest non-polar desert. Identifying the mechanisms behind the plants' successes could reveal how to make food grow in a world affected by climate change. Some of the plants in the desert are closely related to staple crops, so scientists now have a better idea of how to engineer more resilient crops. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Gmail down: Google restores email service after major outage | Google’s Gmail service experienced a major outage today. Users all over the world who tried to access their email received an ‘Error 404’ message. The issue was resolved by Google after a few hours. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google’s search engine for scientists upgraded for better data scouring | Dataset Search is now out of beta, containing almost 25 million datasets on a wide range of information. Google's search engine for datasets launched in 2018 in order to unify the world of online open-access data. Institutions like universities, governments, and labs were encouraged to add metadata tags to their webpages, allowing Google to index their data. This has caused the community to start publishing metadata more seriously, with publications like Nature rolling out policies to require data sharing with proper metadata. Dataset Search's new features include the ability to filter data by its type, whether it is free to use, and the geographic areas it covers. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Facebook tests Forecast, an app for making predictions about world events | Forecast is a social polling app from Facebook's NPE Team that allows users to ask questions about what might happen in the future. The app is currently only available to invited participants in the US and Canada on iOS. Users can vote on what they think will happen, as well as explain the reasoning behind their choices. The predictions and related discussions are public on the Forecast website, which is linked in the article. Facebook was testing the app internally with a small set of employees but has now started inviting members of the health, research, and academic communities to make predictions about the pandemic and its impact on the world. Questions are moderated and sometimes edited for clarity before posted. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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A Good Place: The fake town where everybody knows your name | Tribes in the Amazon have a special relationship with dogs as they are important hunting companions and can protect people from jaguars. When dogs are injured or ill, the tribes use plants as veterinary medicines. The use of psychedelics in the region is commonplace and ingrained into the culture. Dogs are also given psychedelics in rituals which both increase the bond between the dog and its owner, as well as its ability to hunt. When humans take psychedelics, they can experience tunnel vision, time distortion, or synesthesia, and it is possible that this also happens in dogs, narrowing their visual focus and boosting their sense of smell. Research into this area can potentially change how dogs are trained, but so far no one has expressed interest. | 4Miscellaneous
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Galaxy S10, Galaxy Fold launch: 5 phones, smartwatches, new headphones and more | Samsung’s Unpacked event has finally started, unveiling its new Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus (6.1 and 6.4 inch screens, priced at $900 and $1000 respectively), Galaxy Fold (4.6 inch display, 7.3 inch unfolded, starting at $1,980), the Galaxy Smartwatch ($200), and wireless earbuds ($130) have been announced. Samsung’s new Galaxy Home will be available in April. With such a huge launch, the details of each product release are too much for one article, so this page links to other articles detailing each of Samsung’s new releases with their own demo videos etc.. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Rocky Linux (GitHub Repo) | Rocky Linux is a community-driven enterprise Operating System designed to be compatible with Enterprise Linux. It was created in response to the CentOS project's recent announcements. Rocky Linux will function as a downstream build, as CentOS had done previously. There is currently no release date. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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New York Adopts Nation's First Pay Floor for Uber, Lyft, and Other Rideshare Drivers | New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission has approved a $17.22 minimum wage for ride-share drivers. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance says the bill is "the first real attempt anywhere to stop app driver pay cuts, which is an Uber and Lyft business practice at the heart of poverty wages." Uber and Lyft warned that the bill will lead to higher fares, and disincentivize drivers from giving rides in and around Manhattan. | 4Miscellaneous
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TikTok is building its own AR development platform, TikTok Effect Studio | TikTok is building tools to allow developers to build augmented reality experiences and features on its platform. Effect Studio is currently in private beta testing. Developers can sign up for early access on TikTok's new Effect House website. Effect Studio is still an early experiment and might not make it to launch. TikTok has been increasing its investment in developer tools over the last few years, with a focus on toolkits aimed at third-party developers for better app integration. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like? (Hacker News Thread) | After spending a lot of time working in FAANG companies, it might be difficult to imagine what the environment is like on the outside. Making a lot of money usually comes at the cost of very high expectations and brutal deadlines. The tools available at FAANG companies are a great help to engineers, and developers might find it difficult to work in 'real world' companies after leaving due to the lack of support. Being previously employed at a FAANG company might help with investors and being hired, but the work itself will still be difficult. Many people who try to leave and work in startups eventually find that the minimal support and validation is not worth it and return to big tech. | 4Miscellaneous
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Spooky Action Could Help Boost Quantum Machine Learning | A quantum phenomenon known as entanglement might help remove a major roadblock to implementing quantum machine learning. The 'no free lunch' theorem suggests that machine learning algorithms are limited by the amount of data available. This could eliminate the edge quantum computing has over classical computing as the amount of training data that a quantum computer needs would increase exponentially as systems grow larger. A team of scientists has discovered that entangling extra qubits can help the quantum machine-learning circuit interact with many quantum states in the training data at the same time, resulting in a performance boost and bypassing the 'no free lunch' issue. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Google is adding augmented reality to search | Google is adding 3D augmented reality to its searches, so users can now view product models as they would appear in real life, or see animals projected into their living room. While a few demos were given at their I/O conference, it's unclear how many results will actually have this feature. Google has been adding more and more AR features into their products as part of an arms race against Facebook, as Facebook develops its Spark AR platform for mobiles. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Clean-Energy, No-Cost Skylight Makes Seawater Drinkable | The Solar Desalination Skylight stores the sun's energy during the day to light homes at night. It also distills seawater into drinking water, allowing the owners of the skylight to use a tap at the base to pour water. The leftover brine from the process is used to generate an electrical charge to power a diffused light. The design is cheap and solves two key issues faced by the inhabitants of shantytowns. It is one of six finalists of the Lexus Design Award 2021. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Apple Podcasts now supports web playback, episode pages, more | The web interface for Apple Podcasts has been completely overhauled with a cleaner design that supports web playback, individual episode details, and more. The old layout was limited, required users to use iTunes, and had no space to show any extra details regarding the podcasts. The new layout has bolded titles with full podcast descriptions and also individual episode pages with episode details. While Apple still encourages users to use iTunes, episodes will now play in the browser, just without playback controls. Apple Podcast now has a dedicated URL. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Multiple “CIA failures” led to theft of agency’s top-secret hacking tools | Details of CIA hacking tools were published on WikiLeaks in 2017 after a large number of confidential documents were stolen from the agency's networks. Up to 34 terabytes of information was stolen, the CIA's biggest data loss in history. The information stolen documented the CIA's most closely guarded secrets, including many exploits. An investigation into the hack found that the massive data loss was caused by lax security practices. | 4Miscellaneous
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Ten Years of Logging My Life | Art Chaidarun recorded all of their daily activities for over 10 years to be self-aware and create balance in their life. They started by using a spreadsheet but later went on to create their own Android app as it would be more accurate and could track geolocation data. This article details their findings from the experiment. A link to the APK for the Android app is available. | 4Miscellaneous
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Disney Made a Skinless Robot That Can Realistically Stare Directly Into Your Soul | A team of researchers at Disney has created a robot that uses subtle head motions and eye movements to seem more lifelike, despite it lacking skin. The robot consists of a static torso and a highly animated and articulated head. Humans make a lot of subtle movements when engaging with other people that aren't always immediately obvious. Robots and animatronic characters tend to freeze, causing an uncanny valley effect. Disney's new robot can identify when someone is trying to engage with it and it can also react to other stimuli. A one-minute video of the robot is available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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IdeasAI (GitHub Repo) | This page contains a collection of ideas generated by OpenAI's GPT-3. People can upvote and downvote ideas. Ideas are sorted by Top Monthly, Weekly, Yesterday, All Time, and New. Users can pay a fee to remove ideas from the website. | 4Miscellaneous
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Glassmorphism (Website) | Glassmorphism is the name for the popular Frosted Glass aesthetic based on background blur and transparency. The effect uses stacked layers to show the depth and context of the interface. This site contains resources on Glassmorphism for designers and developers. It has a generator for creating Glassmorphism-style CSS. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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LG claims its ‘Real Folding Window’ beats folding glass, will ship in 2023 | LG's Real Folding Window is a new material that is as hard as glass while being foldable. The new material can make folding screens that last longer and with a less noticeable crease than current folding devices. It should work on tablets, laptops, and rollable-screen phones. The new material could unlock a lot more phone designs as screens will be able to fold outwards. LG plans to commercialize the tech in 2023. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Samsung’s working on a rollable smartwatch with a camera | Samsung filed a patent in June for a Galaxy Watch with a rollable screen. The watch looks like an average round-faced watch except that it can extend into a pill-shaped oval that's 40 percent larger. One of the drawings in the patent suggests that the larger screen could be used to watch videos. There will be a front-facing camera in the middle of the watch. While tech companies seem to be toying with the idea of watching videos and taking photos from the wrist, these applications may not be practical in real life. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Coding for SSDs – Part 6: A Summary – What every programmer should know about solid-state drives | This article is part of a six-part series on coding for SSDs. The series covers in detail the architecture of SSDs and how they work. This part summarizes the whole series. It covers the basics of SSDs and all of the recommended access patterns on how reads and writes should be implemented to get the best performance out of solid-state drives. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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RisingWave (GitHub Repo) | RisingWave is a cloud-native streaming database that uses SQL as the interface language. It consumes streaming data, performs continuous queries, and updates results dynamically. RisingWave can collect and transform data from streams, create materialized views for data, and perform data queries. Everything in RisingWave is done via Postgres-compatible SQL. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Facebook is giving $1,000 to every employee to help them amid the coronavirus pandemic | Every Facebook employee will receive a $1,000 bonus and an 'exceeds' rating for their first six-month review of 2020 in order to help them during the coronavirus pandemic. The bonuses will be distributed throughout April. Facebook is continuing to pay some contractors while they remain home. It has committed to paying its hourly workers even if they can't work and have to be at home due to COVID-19. Seattle and Bay Area employees have been asked to work from home, and social visitors are banned from offices. Mark Zuckerberg is funding an increase in coronavirus testing in the Bay Area through his philanthropic groups. | 4Miscellaneous
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Elon Musk announces Tesla layoffs, warns about weak Q4 profits | Tesla is laying off about 7% of its workforce in order to make their "cars, batteries, and solar products cost-competitive with fossil fuels." Currently the cheapest Tesa is the Model 3, which costs $44,000, Elon Musk wants to get it down to $35,000. Earlier this month, Tesla cut the price of its cars by $2000 to offset a $3750 reduction in federal electric car tax credits. "The road ahead is very difficult" says Musk. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The US has its first case of the new Wuhan coronavirus | A case of the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, has been reported in a patient in Seattle, Washington. The patient is clinically healthy but under observation. Despite the report, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention believes that the threat to the US remains low. The virus is currently known as 2019-nCoV, and it has killed around six people. Experts are concerned about the virus’s similarities to SARS. Enhanced health screenings have been put in place at some airports for passengers who flew from or through Wuhan. Coronaviruses are common in animals and can evolve into forms that can be passed to and infect humans. The World Health Organization identified a wholesale food market in Wuhan as the possible source of the virus. China has admitted that there has been at least one confirmed case where the virus passed directly from one person to another. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Avatarify (GitHub Repo) | Avatarify creates avatars for Skype and Zoom. A one-minute video showing an Avatarify-generated Elon Musk crashing a Zoom conference call is available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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SEC charges Tesla CEO Elon Musk with fraud | The SEC is suing Elon Musk for fraud due to his "funding secured" tweet regarding taking Tesla private at a price of $420 per share in August. Among other remedies, the SEC is seeking to bar Musk from serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded company if found guilty. The SEC suit alleges, "According to Musk, he calculated the $420 price per share based on a 20% premium over that day's closing share price because he thought 20% was a 'standard premium' in going-private transaction. This calculation resulted in a price of $419, and Musk stated that he rounded the price up to $420 because he had recently learned about the number's significance in marijuana culture and thought his girlfriend 'would find it funny, which admittedly is not a great reason to pick a price.'" Tesla's board issued a statement Thursday evening saying they are standing behind Elon. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Urban Sky’s Earth-imaging stratospheric ‘microballoons’ are ready for a close-up | Colorado-based company Urban Sky is officially entering commercial operations after three years of working in partial stealth and raising funds. The company collects images and data of the Earth using small reusable stratospheric balloons that can be deployed off the back of a pickup truck and ascend into the sky in just minutes. It aims to provide imagery starting at $6 per square kilometer, around five to 10 times cheaper than the current average cost for Earth imaging and data collection. Urban Sky operates in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Nebraska, and it plans to expand throughout the US. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Here’s What It’s like to Get a COVID Antibody Test | Newly-developed COVID antibody blood tests can measure a person's immune response to the disease. This means that people can test to see if they have already had the coronavirus. The presence of antibodies might indicate resistance to the virus, but this has not been proven yet. The antibody test involves a small blood sample from a finger prick and the procedure takes about a minute. There are three outcomes to the test - negative, positive (and the antibodies are still fighting the disease), and positive (recovered). The validity of the tests is still under some debate, and there is no scientific evidence yet that immunity actually exists. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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css.gg (GitHub Repo) | css.gg is a library of minimalistic icons built entirely in CSS. It is lightweight, accessible, fast, and the icons are Retina Ready. It features an API endpoint that can return data in JSON, style, or markup code. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Spotify bans ad blockers in updated Terms of Service | Spotify updated its terms of service to specifically target users who use ad blockers or modified apps in order to bypass ads while using their free service. They have implemented tools to detect when users are actively blocking ads. Previously, users were sent warnings that the behavior was not tolerated, but now users will have their accounts terminated or suspended. The changes come into effect on the 1st of March. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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How Machine Learning Made Hops-Free Hoppy Beer (and Other SynBio Wonders) | Synthetic biology has the power to change the world. Using synthetic biology, scientists can reprogram cells to produce specific molecules, such as insulin. Due to its complexity, reprogramming a cell is far harder than rewriting software, and the process can take many years. A team of scientists has engineered a machine-learning algorithm called the Automated Recommendation Tool (ART). ART was trained with data from all proteins in a cell to build a model to predict how changes to these proteins affect the cell. It can return educated guesses on how to alter cells so they produce desired biochemicals. Using ART, the scientist bioengineered yeast to brew ethanol and also synthesize chemicals that produce a 'hoppy' flavor, resulting in a hops-free hoppy beer. | 4Miscellaneous
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Zinc (GitHub Repo) | Zinc is a full-text indexing search engine. It is a lightweight alternative to elasticsearch, running on less than 100 MB of RAM. Zinc features a single binary for installation and running, a Web UI for querying data, compatibility with elasticsearch APIs, out-of-the-box authentication, and more. Screenshots of the UI are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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A Message to GitHub (GitHub Repo) | GitHub has restricted Iranian accounts from contributing to the community due to pressure from the US government, revoking access to private repositories without warning and banning any users who have previously accessed GitHub through an Iranian IP. Iranian developers are asking GitHub to allow them to access their data, to not restrict users based on their nationality, and to apologize for their actions. This repository allows people to spread the message and show support. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Justice Department Sues Edward Snowden, Seeking Profits From His Book | The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Edward Snowden as his new book violates nondisclosure agreements he signed with the federal government. If successful, all the book profits will belong to the US. The lawsuit also claims that the government is entitled to money Snowden has earned from speeches. Snowden failed to receive pre-publication approval from the NSA and CIA. According to Snowden's lawyer, the book doesn't contain any government secrets that weren't already publicly known, and the government wouldn't have reviewed the book in good faith if Snowden had submitted it for review. Snowden has lived in Russia for the past six years as he faces criminal charges in the US over allegations of espionage and theft of government property. | 4Miscellaneous
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Netflix Releases Free VR Game, Eden Unearthed, On App Lab For Oculus Quest | Netflix has released a VR game on App Lab for Oculus Quest for free. Eden Unearthed is a game that lets players control a futuristic motorbike and explore a world set in the far future. There is very little information available about the game outside its App Lab listing. A trailer for the game is linked in the article. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Beyond Meat Details Plans for Initial Public Offering | Beyond Meat has filed for an Initial Public Offering which they hope will value the company at about $1.2 billion. Like many of the other tech companies that have been going public this year, Beyond Meat is also running at a loss, but their revenue is growing faster than losses. The market for meat replacements in the US grew around 22% last year. Beyond Meat stocks their pea and beetroot based meat alternative in supermarkets, and sales statistics show that 93% of people who purchase Beyond Meat products also purchase real meat. Ethan Brown, the founder of Beyond Meat, started the company as a way to combat the effects of the meat industry on the environment. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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The IRS Wants Help Hacking Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallets | Cryptocurrency can be stored on small physical drives securely, unconnected to the internet. The IRS is now looking for contractors to come up with solutions to hack into wallets that would be of interest to investigations. While the agency may be in possession of a hardware wallet as part of a case, they may not be able to access it without the suspect's cooperation. The IRS is looking for tools it can reliably use in multiple cases. | 4Miscellaneous
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Lazydocker (GitHub Repo) | Lazydocker is a terminal UI for docker and docker-compose, written in Go. Instead of memorizing commands and aliases while keeping track of multiple terminal windows, Lazydocker has all the information you need in one terminal with a macro for every common command. Users can also add custom commands as required. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Oxylabs - Scraper APIs for large-scale data gathering (Sponsor) | Extract public data from the most complex targets with Oxylabs Scraper APIs. Our Scraper APIs handle JavaScript-heavy websites and support large data requests using over 102 million global proxies. Receive data in JSON or CSV format and pay per successful request only. Try free for 3 weeks. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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United Airlines aims to revive Concorde spirit with supersonic planes | United Airlines has bought 15 planes capable of traveling at 1,300mph, with an option on an additional 35 planes from the manufacturer. The planes will carry between 65 to 88 passengers. Seats will be initially priced the same as business class fares. The planes will be the first large commercial aircraft to use 100% sustainable aviation fuel. Concorde currently holds the record for the fastest transatlantic flight by a civilian plane, but the airliner retired from service in 2003. | 4Miscellaneous
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Timsort — the fastest sorting algorithm you’ve never heard of | Timsort is a very fast stable sorting algorithm built for the real world. It was created for Python in 2001. Timsort works by first analyzing the list it is trying to sort and then choosing an approach based on that analysis. It is the default sorting algorithm in Python, Java, Android, and GNU Octave. It has great performance on arrays with preexisting internal structure and it is able to maintain a stable sort. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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The case for a learned sorting algorithm (10 minute read) | Machine learning has thoroughly pervaded the web giants and has begun its push into traditional enterprise. This article discusses machine learning in systems software, focusing on the classic computer science problem of sorting. It explores the possibility of using a Learned Sort model to determine the position of an item in a sorted list. Learned Sort appears to be significantly more efficient than other sorting algorithms. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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NASA's Parker Solar Probe Just 'Touched' Our Sun, in a World-First | NASA's Parker Solar Probe recently flew through the sun's upper atmosphere and took measurements of the particles and magnetic fields it encountered. The probe is scheduled to take 21 trips through the sun's corona over the course of seven years. It was subjected to temperatures of nearly 2,500 Fahrenheit during the flyby. The Parker Solar Probe uses Venus' gravity to steer. Future flybys will probably last longer as the corona is growing as part of a normal 11-year cycle. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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The hacker behind a giant cryptocurrency heist is returning stolen funds | The hacker who recently stole $611 million in cryptocurrencies from the decentralized Poly Network finance platform is ready to surrender and has started to return the funds. It is likely that the hacker has been caught and that they are trying to avoid criminal charges. While this was one of the largest thefts in DeFi history, the damage may be limited. It can be difficult to launder or cash out cryptocurrency without leaving a trail of clues, so the incident may discourage future attacks. | 4Miscellaneous
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Gimli (Website) | Gimli is a Visual Studio Code extension that enables visual tools for front-end developers. It simplifies the process of creating complex layouts. Gimli works with a range of frameworks and has been tested with React, Wordpress, Bootstrap, VueJS, Angular, and Stencil. There are videos available showing how Gimli can be used. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Rocket (GitHub Repo) | Rocket is an async web framework for Rust with a focus on usability, security, extensibility, and speed. It provides routing, pre-processing of requests, and post-processing of responses. Documentation and guides are available. | 3Programming, Design & Data Science
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Apple launches Apple Business Essentials: Device management, storage, onsite repairs, and more for one monthly price | Apple Business Essentials is a new offering from Apple that combines device management, 24/7 phone support for IT and end-users, business iCloud support, and an option for onsite repairs for some businesses. IT departments will now be able to push apps and settings onto employees' devices when they sign in with their work credentials. A free beta is now available. The full service will launch in the spring of 2022. Pricing for the service will start at $2.99 per month per user. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Google Engineer On Leave After He Claims AI Program Has Gone Sentient | A Google engineer has been placed on paid administrative leave for violating the company's confidentiality policy after he claimed that Google's LaMDA AI had become sentient. The engineer had presented his conclusions to Google's vice president and head of Responsible Innovation, but his claims were dismissed. A Google spokesperson says that there is no evidence that LaMDA is sentient and that there was a lot of evidence against the idea. Excerpts from chats that the engineer had with the AI are available in the article. | 4Miscellaneous
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Google is bringing Android games to Windows in 2022 | A Google Play Games app by Google will be available for Windows in 2022. It will allow users to play Android games on Windows devices. Users will be able to resume games on their Windows devices after playing them on an Android device. Google developed the app on its own and will distribute the app itself. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Samsung gives us a glimpse of another foldable phone and it’s pretty nice | Samsung has revealed another foldable smartphone at its annual developer conference. The phone has yet to be named. It resembles a traditional flip phone as the phone is able to be folded in half vertically. Samsung did not release many details about the device, stating only that they were exploring new form factors. A video demonstration is available showing off the design of the new device. In addition to the announcement of the new phone design, Samsung also detailed further improvements to its Bixby personal assistant. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Moderna Is About to Begin Trials for HIV Vaccine Based on COVID-19 Research | Moderna will soon begin human trials for its mRNA-based HIV/AIDS vaccine. Most vaccines have proven ineffective against HIV as the disease attacks the immune system itself. mRNA vaccines create proteins that trigger an immune response in the body, allowing the body to possibly recognize new variants of a virus. The technology has been around for decades, but its use was limited until the Covid-19 pandemic. Moderna has been criticized for its lack of peer-reviewed research and other business practices. | 4Miscellaneous
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Winged microchip is smallest-ever human-made flying structure | Scientists have developed winged microchips that can spin through the air like a helicopter. The microfliers can be equipped with sensors, power sources, antennas, and memory. They can be dropped from large buildings or planes to track environmental factors at different altitudes. The design is based on the maple leaf's whirling propeller seeds. The chips are created with electronics that can dissolve in water after they are no longer needed, so they will naturally degrade and disappear over time. Pictures and videos of the microfliers are available in the article. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Clubhouse App Offers Chinese Rare Glimpse of Censor-Free Debate | Clubhouse has gained many Chinese users recently, with thousands joining in on discussions usually censored by the Chinese government. Chinese-speaking communities from around the world discussed China-Taiwan relations and shared knowledge about the Uighur situation in Xinjiang. Clubhouse is only accessible by invite on iPhones with non-Chinese Apple accounts. Further access to the public could see the app banned. Those who are using the app could be taking on a degree of personal risk. | 4Miscellaneous
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Developers Flee Open Source Project After ‘Takeover’ By Korean Crown Prince | Freenode is a large open-source project that runs Internet Relay Chat networks. The entire network was recently purchased by Andrew Lee, the Crown Prince of Korea. A dozen Freenode staff volunteers have resigned, saying that they believe Lee took over the network under false pretenses. It is unknown what effect the changes in the Freenode network will have on developers around the world. The former Freenode staff members have launched a new chat network to continue Freenode's mission. | 4Miscellaneous
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Coronavirus: Japan to close all schools to halt spread | Japan will close all of its schools on Monday to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The closure will affect around 13 million students and continue until late March. More cases have been reported outside than inside China for the second day running, and the World Health Organization head has said that the outbreak has now reached a decisive point. Over 80,000 people in 40 countries have now been infected, with nearly 2,800 dead, mostly in China's Hubei province. The first weeks of March will be an extremely critical period for preventing virus transmission. Some patients in China and Japan may be falling ill for a second time with the virus. It is possible the virus is reinfecting patients, but it is also likely that tests have been inaccurate or are detecting the previous infection. | 4Miscellaneous
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Facebook's Portal TV video chat device was mocked — now it's completely sold out | People were quick to criticize Facebook when it first suggested the idea of putting a Facebook camera and microphone in their homes. Now, consumers have put those fears aside, and the Portal TV is completely sold out on Facebook's website and retailers such as Best Buy. Facebook Portal TV is a device that changes a TV into a big video chat screen. The other Facebook Portal gadgets are still available. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Netflix rolls out Top 10 feature to help show what people are actually watching | Netflix has introduced a Top 10 row to its homepage. It will be updated daily with the most popular titles in the subscriber's country. There will also be top 10 lists for each category. The feature was trialed in the UK and Mexico last year. Netflix's list of top shows from last year was mostly dominated by Netflix original shows as the company has lost much of its top licensed content. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Robinhood Crypto Wallet Beta to Launch in January | Robinhood will launch a beta version of its cryptocurrency wallet next month. The program will be available for tens of thousands of waitlisted users. More than 1.6 million people signed up for the waitlist. Robinhood users are currently only able to withdraw their cryptocurrency investments as cash balances, but this will change with the introduction of the crypto wallet. There is no set date for when the final version of the wallet will be available to the general public. | 1Big Tech & Startups
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Baby treated from inside womb for pioneering surgery to repair spinal cord | An unborn baby diagnosed with spina bifida was treated inside the womb in a groundbreaking procedure. After the baby was diagnosed with the condition, the parents were told that they could only either terminate the pregnancy or continue without intervention, but after undergoing several tests, doctors offered the possibility of surgery. The baby was at 24 weeks gestation when the procedure was performed. Spina bifida affects around 700-900 pregnancies a year in the UK, and may be a result of a folic acid deficiency in pregnant women. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Larry Page is quietly funding efforts to develop a universal flu vaccine | Google co-founder Larry Page has been funding flu-fighting efforts through private, for-profit companies. Flu Lab is a company that provides funding for flu vaccine development initiatives. It funds a program called Shoo The Flu that provides flu shots for school children in Oakland, California. Shoo The Flu's director is also the CEO of Flu Lab. The goal of the funding is to create a universal flu vaccine, which would mean that one shot would protect people for more than one flu season. A final product is still likely years away. As both companies are private, they are not required to file public tax returns, nor are they required to reveal what they do with the money that they receive. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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Genetically Modified Tiny Worms Can Detect Pancreatic Cancer at an Early Stage | Japanese biotech startup Hirotsu Bio Science Inc. has developed a cancer screening test using roundworms that can detect early signs of pancreatic cancer from urine. The roundworms have a gene in their olfactory receptors that make them react to the urine of pancreatic cancer patients. When the gene is turned off, the roundworms are still attracted to the urine of people with other cancers, but not pancreatic cancer. During tests, the method was 100% accurate in detecting pancreatic cancer and 91.3% accurate for other types of cancer. | 2Science and Futuristic Technology
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