TLDR 2021-09-06

Apple is rumored to be visiting several car manufacturers in Asia to mass-produce a branded car by 2024. The company will likely make its EV batteries in the US, but it might seek partnerships with established vehicle makers to do so. Apple is developing a new battery design to reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle's range. While Apple aims to begin production in 2024, the ongoing global health crisis and current chip shortage could cause delays.

As SpaceX's all-civilian Inspiration4 mission isn't visiting the International Space Station, it doesn't need a docking mechanism, allowing SpaceX to install a fishbowl-like viewing window on the Crew Dragon. The cupola will allow the crew of four to see incredible views of Earth from orbit. SpaceX aims to launch Inspiration4 on September 15, with the journey set to last for three days. The mission has been dedicated to raising funds for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Pictures of the cupola are available in the article.

Altos Labs is a biological reprogramming tech company. It has received major funding from the uber-wealthy, including Jeff Bezos. The company has hired some of the world's top scientists with big salaries and given them free rein on their anti-aging research. There are no hard goals or deadlines for Altos' researchers. The company says that its aim is to understand rejuvenation and to create 'great science'.

Dutch company ASML has developed a next-generation extreme ultraviolet lithography machine that can produce microchips with unparalleled levels of precision. ASML's machines have produced many of the latest and most advanced chips. The new machine can minimize the wavelength of UV light used, reducing the size of many microchip features while boosting performance. The US has already successfully lobbied the Dutch government to decline export licenses for shipping the machines to China, stopping the country from making leading-edge chips.

Suture is a refactoring tool for Ruby that helps in refactoring legacy code by making it safe to change code that is not confidently understood. It can be used in local development, staging environments, and even in production. A 45-minute introductory video is available.

Switching jobs in tech usually comes with either a financial or title upside, but not always both. There can be many reasons for receiving a lower title while getting an increase in compensation. This article discusses down-leveling when changing jobs, the reasons this can happen, and what to do when it happens.

Many industries have stalled as they wait for chip orders to be filled and delivered. There are many types of chips and most devices have multiple chips in them. A lot of manufacturers are only missing a few components, but this means that they can't complete products. This article features an interview with Dr. Willy Shih, a professor of management practices at Harvard Business School. It discusses the current chip shortage, how chips are made and their supply chains, the effects the pandemic had on the industry, the effects of politics on chip supplies, and more.

Loot, an NFT-based social network, is a project by Dom Hoffman, the co-creator of Vine. Hoffman's idea was to let people create NFTs based on his item generator for free minus the transaction fees required by the Ethereum network. He offered up 7,777 bags of items, which were all snapped up almost instantly. In five days, Loot bags had a market cap of $180 million. The idea for Loot is that the items will eventually be part of a game or even the metaverse, but it is up to the community on what will happen next.