TLDR 2021-07-19

Tesla self-driving subscription πŸš—, lab-grown foie gras 🍽️, digital voice twins πŸ—£

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Big Tech & Startups

Tesla Full Self Driving subscriptions are now available for $199 a month (2 minute read)

Tesla's Full Self Driving package is now available for $199 a month, except for Tesla owners who purchased the Enhanced Autopilot package, who can get it for $99 a month. The package can be canceled at any time. Tesla owners who don't have the required hardware for the package can upgrade their vehicles for $1,500 to make them FSD-ready. The FSD software still requires active driver supervision.

Amazon just got Fakespot booted off Apple’s iOS App Store (4 minute read)

Fakespot, an app that removes fake product reviews from Amazon, has been removed from the Apple App Store due to a takedown request from Amazon. Amazon says that the app could theoretically be exploited to steal customer data. The app requires users to enter their Amazon logins in order to browse the website through a custom overlay. Apple claims that the removal was due to a dispute over intellectual property rights and that it had warned Fakespot about the issue weeks before the app's removal. The Android version of the app hasn't been updated since 2019.
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Science & Futuristic Technology

French startup promises cruelty-free foie gras, grown in a lab (6 minute read)

French startup Gourmey has produced foie gras in the lab and plans to set up a production facility in central Paris to produce it in large quantities. Farmed foie gras is controversial, with many countries banning the practice. However, it is still a prized delicacy, especially in France. There is a ready market for ethical foie gras alternatives. Gourmey plans to eventually produce a full range of lab-grown meats. It recently received $10 million in funding from a group of venture capital firms.

Holly Herndon Deepfaked Herself Into a 'Digital Twin' That Sings Any Song In Her Voice (4 minute read)

Holly+ is an AI copy of Holly Herndon's voice that can sing any song you want it to. It can convert any polyphonic song or voice recording into Herndon's voice within minutes. Holly+ recordings can be freely released, but not commercially exploited without permission. The commercial use of Holly+ creations will be governed by a decentralized autonomous organization on the Ethereum blockchain. Token holders will be able to vote on whether creations can be commercialized and make decisions about licensing agreements.
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Programming, Design & Data Science

Gorse (GitHub Repo)

Gorse is a recommendation system written in Go. It can be easily introduced into a wide variety of online services. Gorse features AutoML, distributed recommendations, RESTful APIs, and a dashboard for data import and export, monitoring, and cluster status checking.

LiveKit (GitHub Repo)

LiveKit provides scalable, multi-user conferencing over WebRTC. There are client SDKs for JavaScript, iOS, and Android. LiveKit has advanced features such as speaker detection, simulcasting, selective subscription, and moderation APIs. A live demo is available.
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Miscellaneous

This Forest School Will Be Built in India With an Infinity Cycling Track on Its Roof (2 minute read)

An architecture firm called Nudes has won a competition to build an eco-friendly school in Pune, India. Pune has seen substantial urban growth in the last decade, resulting in worsening air quality. Nudes' design is a vertical garden that cleans and purifies the air around it. It features an infinity cycling track, tennis courts, and a pool. Students will be responsible for nurturing some of the plants. Renders of the design are available in the article.

Revealed: leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon (11 minute read)

The Israeli surveillance company NSO Group sells hacking software used by authoritarian governments to target citizens around the world. Pegasus is a malware that infects mobile devices and extracts data. It can record calls and secretly activate microphones. The malware can infect phones without any user interaction. NSO sells the malware to military, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies in 40 unnamed countries.
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