TLDR 2019-10-23

Starlink tweet, Zuckerberg to testify about Libra

📱
Big Tech & Startups

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will tell Congress that embattled libra crypto project will ‘extend America’s financial leadership’ (2 minute read)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday about the Libra cryptocurrency project, which has faced heavy opposition from the government since its announcement. The Libra Association has seen its membership reduced to 21 companies after the departures of Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, eBay, Strip, Booking, and Mercado Pago. Facebook has said it will not launch Libra until it receives regulatory approval. Zuckerberg will argue that Libra will extend America's financial leadership and democratic values around the world. He argues against the idea that Libra is an attempt to replace sovereign currency and that Libra was created only to be an alternative to existing online payment systems.

Elon Musk tweets using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet (1 minute read)

Elon Musk sent a tweet through an internet connection provided by Starlink's constellation of broadband satellites. The aim of Starlink is to provide global high-speed stable broadband connectivity. Earlier this month, SpaceX applied to put up to 30,000 extra satellites into orbit, on top of the previously planned 12,000. SpaceX is preparing for strong demand for its Starlink service. There are currently around 60 operational satellites in the network.
🚀
Science & Futuristic Technology

Powered by Sunlight, ‘Artificial Leaf’ Successfully Produces Clean Gas From CO2 and Water (4 minute read)

Syngas is a gas usually created from fossil fuels that is used to produce a range of commodities, such as fuels, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and fertilizers. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have created an artificial leaf that is able to produce syngas in a sustainable and simple way. The leaf works by using a combination of two light absorbers and a cobalt-based catalyst. It is able to work in low light, even when it is rainy or overcast. The technology may be able to eventually produce a sustainable liquid fuel alternative to petrol.

Japanese hotel chain sorry that hackers may have watched guests through bedside robots (1 minute read)

A hotel chain in Japan uses robots that perform tasks that human employees usually do, for example, check-in guests, showing guests their rooms, and assist with other requirements. The hotels use facial recognition to unlock doors. A few months ago, a security researcher discovered a vulnerability on the robots that allowed easy access to stream video and audio from the robots. The researcher notified the hotel group about the vulnerability but received no reply, so he made the hack public. After the hack was revealed, the hotel group apologized for the vulnerability and patched the software.
💻
Programming, Design & Data Science

Dapr (GitHub Repo)

Dapr is a portable, event-driven runtime that can build resilient, stateless, and stateful microservices that run on the cloud and edge using any language or developer framework. It codifies best practices for building microservice applications into independent building blocks. It is highly performant and lightweight.

TensorTrade (GitHub Repo)

TensorTrade is an open-source Python framework for building, training, evaluating, and deploying robust trading algorithms using reinforcement learning. It is designed with user-friendliness in mind and functionality can be easily extended through modules. One of the main goals of TensorTrade is to be able to enable fast experimentation with algorithmic trading strategies.
🎁
Miscellaneous

Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? (Hacker News Thread)

This thread contains opinions about the next popular and profitable trend. Past trends include social networks in 2004, mobile apps in 2010, or vlogging in 2014. There are many emerging technologies that are proving to fit the description, including machine learning, security and privacy, sustainable energy, sustainable food production, and gene therapies. Many of these technologies are set to change the way the world works, for example, cryptocurrency technology has the potential to change the way we trust others.
Get the most important tech, science, & coding news in a free daily email. Read by +1,250,000 software engineers and tech workers.
Join 1,250,000 readers for