TLDR 2020-10-12

Twilio has agreed to acquire Segment for $3.2 billion, with part of the sale based on Twilio stock. Segment was founded in 2012 and works with more than 20,000 businesses. The customer data infrastructure company's services overlap with Twilio's, which also helps clients connect with their customer base. Twilio currently trades at a market capitalization of over $45 billion. It provides a communications infrastructure that allows businesses to communicate with customers through text messages, voice, and video calls.

Details about what Apple could announce at its October 13th event have been leaked. Apple will announce four new iPhones: an iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. All four phones will have 5G support, Super Retina XDR displays, and will be able to film in the Dolby Vision HDR standard. More details about each phone are available in the article. Apple will also announce new wireless MagSafe chargers and a $99 HomePod mini. While the source of the leak has a good track record, it is always best to take rumors like this with a pinch of salt.

The US Army has unveiled augmented reality goggles designed for combat dogs to let them receive orders at a distance. Soldiers usually direct their dogs using hand signals or laser pointers, which requires the handler to be close by. Using the AR goggles, the dogs can be directed via visual indicators and the handler can see what the dog sees through a remote video feed. Military dogs are already trained to wear goggles as protection. The project is still in its early research stages, but the results are extremely promising.

Andrea Ghez was the winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. For the last 25 years, she has focused almost exclusively on Sagittarius A, a supermassive black hole with the mass of four million suns that resides at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Ghez accomplished her research by modifying and using existing equipment in novel ways. The rapid turnaround from the engineers who modified the tools for her research was one of the main reasons for Ghez's success. In addition to her research, Ghez created the UCLA Galactic Center Group to coordinate research and technical developments. Her work has inspired scientists everywhere, and she serves as a role model for what ability, grit, and commitment can accomplish.

Swift Algorithms is a package of sequence and collection algorithms along with their related types. It features combinations/permutations, mutating algorithms, combining collections, subsetting operations, and other useful operations.

This repository contains a list of post-mortems. Each item has a link to the incident report as well as a description of the cause of the system error.

The Trickbot botnet is a network of at least a million hijacked computers reported to be run by Russian-speaking criminals. Using malware, the operators of the botnet stole sensitive information and infected systems with ransomware. Trickbot was used to attack a healthcare provider with ransomware in September. A recent operation mounted by the US Cyber Command interrupted the Trickbot botnet's operations several times over the last few weeks, disconnecting infected computers from the servers used to control them.

Australian researchers have concluded that humans are still evolving and have changed quickly over the last 250 years. The study was carried out by tracking the rate of retainment of different body parts throughout generations. It found that more people now have an extra artery that increases blood supply to the hands, smaller jaws, and extra bones in their legs and feet.