TLDR 2022-01-13

Nearly all of Coinbase will shut down for four separate weeks throughout the year so that employees can enjoy their downtime without work piling up. The breaks will ensure that the company's growth pace is sustainable for the long term. Coinbase has tested recharge weeks before, adding more when it was discovered that employees weren't taking enough time off. The company's flexible time-off policy will remain the same, but employees are encouraged to schedule vacations during recharge weeks when they can.

Walkie-Talkie, a feature that lets Microsoft Teams users turn their mobile and tablet devices into a walkie-talkie that works over cellular data or Wi-Fi, is now available for all users. The feature is designed for frontline workers who deal with customers and run day-to-day operations. Microsoft has teamed up with Zebra Technologies to add a dedicated push-to-talk button on a range of Zebra mobile devices.

The Tanzanian islands of Zanzibar and Pemba will soon be a test site for a network of tethered blimp-like balloons that will provide near-blanket internet coverage across the islands. Only 20% of Tanzanians use the internet due to limited coverage, high data costs, and low digital literacy. The helium-filled balloons will float 300 meters high and have a broadcast range of around 700 kilometers. They will be able to stay airborne for 2 weeks before needing to be refueled. A ground network will be constructed to provide Wi-Fi. The first balloon will launch in June.

Chinese researchers are developing a facility to simulate the gravity of the lunar surface. The artificial Moon will be built in only a few months. It will create low gravity environments using a vacuum chamber and a powerful magnetic field. The chamber will only be 60 centimeters in diameter, but that will be big enough for researchers to test certain equipment and tools to see how they react to the Moon's low-gravity environment. The artificial Moon was inspired by an experiment that earned a Russian physicist an Ig Nobel Prize in Physics.

Clay.CSS is a micro CSS util class for applying 3D claymorphism styles to elements. It is fully customizable and extensible with CSS variables. SASS mixin is supported. Examples are available.

Parcel CSS is a CSS parser, compiler, and minifier written in Rust. It performs significantly better than existing tooling while also improving minification quality. Parcel CSS can handle compiling CSS modules, tree shaking, automatically adding and removing vendor prefixes for browser targets, and transpiling modern CSS features. Performance benchmarks, as well as an explanation of the architecture, are available in the article.

More and more job applications are now requiring a LinkedIn account. This thread discusses people's experiences with LinkedIn and how it affects their chances at employment. Most replies do not credit LinkedIn for getting them hired, and many comment about how spammy the site is. Several replies note that Meta approaches potential hires through LinkedIn.

Building consumer social apps can be a grind. This Twitter thread contains advice from a developer who has been making social apps for a decade. It includes tips on how to test apps, how to increase retention, how to target an audience, and much more.