TLDR 2021-05-18

Amazon offers to buy MGM πŸŽ₯, fish older than dinosaurs 🐟, lab-grown caviar πŸ₯š

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Big Tech & Startups

Amazon is in talks to buy MGM for $9 billion (2 minute read)

Amazon has reportedly offered $9 billion to purchase MGM, the film giant that owns a historic catalog of films, an array of production and distribution companies, and the content network Epix. MGM has been up for sale since December 2020. It has a library of 4,000 films and 17,000 hours of TV. The James Bond franchise, one of the most valuable film franchises ever made, will be part of the deal.

The app that lets you pay to control another person's life (5 minute read)

NewNew is an app that lets its users make decisions for creators. Creators can set up accounts and then make polls for followers, who pay a fee to vote on the outcome. Followers can also pay to ask creators for extra perks. Creators are free to reject bids and refund followers. NewNew boasts some heavyweight investors such as Peter Thiel, Andreessen Horowitz, and Will Smith.
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Science & Futuristic Technology

World’s first lab-grown caviar developed as industry looks to modernise for future generations (4 minute read)

Exmoor Caviar, working with scientists from top UK universities, has produced the world's first lab-grown caviar. It is waiting for approval from the Food Standards Agency before selling it on the consumer market. The caviar is grown inside a bioreactor using proteins and lipids derived from fish. There are no animals involved in the process. The process could lower the costs of producing caviar.

Singapore Shows What Serious Urban Farming Looks Like (6 minute read)

Singapore imports almost 90 percent of its food. In 2019, Singapore launched its 30 by 30 initiative with the aim of producing 30 percent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030. When the project started, the city had 220 farms, meeting 14 percent of its demand for leafy vegetables, 26 percent for eggs, and 10 percent for fish. 30 by 30 is increasing its demand for tech-based solutions due to the limited land in Singapore. This article explores some of Singapore's farms and their solutions to increasing food production.
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Programming, Design & Data Science

stream-unzip (GitHub Repo)

stream-unzip unzips files from a ZIP archive without loading anything into memory. It uses headers and footers in ZIP files to determine the beginning and end of files.

SQLFluff (GitHub Repo)

SQLFluff is a dialect-flexible and configurable SQL linter. It automatically fixes most linting errors. SQLFluff works with jinja templating and dbt. It is still in beta, so users should expect changes as it continues development.
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Miscellaneous

Hardware hacker brings online multiplayer to the original Game Boy (2 minute read)

A hardware hacker has reverse-engineered the Game Boy's link cable to make it work over the internet. It connects to a client on a Raspberry Pi which then connects to an online game server. The Game Boy thinks it is connected to another Game Boy normally and is unaware of the server. There is a custom PCB in the works so users don't have to shred their link cables. A video showing two Game Boys playing Tetris over the internet is available in the article.

Four-Legged Fish Older Than Dinosaurs Rediscovered in Madagascar (3 minute read)

Coelacanths were thought to be extinct until one was found off the coast of South Africa in 1938. They are found in undersea canyons at depths of 330 to 1640 miles. Nets used to catch sharks can be set in deep water and are now the biggest threat to the survival of coelacanths in Madagascar. There has been a rise in accidental coelacanth captures, with a large percentage of pregnant females, who only produce 140 live babies throughout their lives. Banning the nets is not possible right now.
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