TLDR 2022-01-31

Tesla has launched a microphone designed for its in-car karaoke system. The TeslaMic costs around $188 and is only available in China. The in-car karaoke system was bundled in as part of a Chinese New Year software update. It is a newer, more complete karaoke system and not just an update to the Caraoke feature released in 2019. Tesla has expanded its US trademark to include audio products, so it may launch the TeslaMic in more markets. A video from Tesla (in Chinese) showing the new features of the Chinese New Year update with footage of the TeslaMic is available in the article.

Apple is now allowing unlisted apps on its App Store. Unlisted apps will only show up when users get a direct link to it or access it through Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager. The feature is not available for apps in beta or a pre-release state. There is an approval procedure that will look at whether the app was designed for a limited audience or not. A link to the documentation page on the topic is available in the article.

Shijian-21, or SJ-21, is a Chinese satellite designed to test and verify space debris mitigation technologies. It was recently observed pulling a dead satellite out of its normal orbit and placing it a few hundred miles away in a graveyard orbit. The maneuver was performed during daylight hours when observations would be more difficult. Military experts are concerned that the capabilities demonstrated by SJ-21 could be used to attack working satellites. SJ-21 has made news headlines before for other questionable operations.

A new study has found that approximately two-thirds of all fish species probably use sound to communicate. The study looked at fish that shared anatomical features similar to fish that can vocalize, such as sound-specific muscles, an air bladder, and distinctive bones. The majority of communication is centered around attracting mates, guarding food sources and territories, and announcing their location. A link to a recording of a longspine squirrelfish making sounds is available at the end of the article.

Microsoft dropped support for Internet Explorer in 2021. After this, many other companies started dropping support for the browser. For years, Internet Explorer was the support baseline for many tools. Now that it is gone, the new baseline is low-spec Android devices for performance, Safari for Web Standards, and 4G for networks. This article discusses the support baseline for modern web development, exploring the state of technology to find the best way to optimize website performance.

Reshape is a zero-downtime schema migration tool for Postgres. It automatically handles complex migrations that would normally require downtime or manual multi-step changes by ensuring both old and new schemas are available at the same time during a migration. Reshape is still experimental and should not be used in production.

This article talks about the benefits of becoming technically literate and gives the reader tips on how to become more technically literate. Being technically literate means being comfortable with the basics of how technology works and having a deeper understanding of the area you work in. Becoming more technically literate can help you work better with engineers, identify chances to automate or improve your workflows, and understand the tools that you use every day. It can be achieved through study, mentorship and networking, and by learning refined search skills.

The demand for tech talent is making it difficult for Latin American tech companies to find developers. Many developers are being hired by US companies for much more than local companies can afford. Workers are more interested in working for large US companies than local startups, despite the boom in the Latin American startup ecosystem last year. Local startups have to hire non-English speakers or find other incentives, such as stock options, to attract employees. Some have even started hiring from other countries.