TLDR 2022-05-24

Google Research has published a paper on a text-to-image AI called Imagen. The model takes a text input to generate a small image, then it does two super-resolution passes to enlarge the image up to 1024x1024 pixels. It creates new details using the original as a basis while it upscales the image. Google's tests show that people rated the images generated by Imagen better in terms of accuracy and fidelity than images generated by OpenAI's DALL-E 2. Imagen was trained using large datasets known to include inappropriate material. The model is still in an experimental phase and is not available to the public.

TikTok has announced a program that lets viewers pay to subscribe to specific live streamers they want to support. Live Subscription will give fans access to perks such as a subscriber-only chat, creator-specific emotes, and badges. It will give TikTok creators a predictable monthly income. Users will have to be 18 or over to either offer or purchase a paid subscription. Live Subscription will launch in beta on May 26 on an invite-only basis for creators with over 1,000 followers.

Human trials for an experimental cancer-killing virus have begun. Vaxinia is a genetically modified virus designed to selectively infect and kill cancer cells while sparing healthy ones. It works by entering cells and duplicating itself until the cell bursts, which results in the immune system being stimulated to attack nearby cancer cells. Vaxinia was effective in preclinical trials and could be a game-changer if it is proven to work in humans. The trial is expected to take two years, so it will be some time before the results are released.

Researchers from Japan's National Institute for Materials Science have developed a lithium-air battery with nearly double the energy density of the battery used in a Tesla Model 3. The battery can be charged and discharged at room temperature, making it suitable for use in mobile phones, electric cars, and electric passenger planes. Lithium-air batteries are difficult to manufacture as a considerable fraction of the batteries are comprised of heavy inactive components that do not directly participate in the battery process. The technology has now reached a level where it could make regional electric passenger aircraft feasible.

This article contains a collection of @decorators that may be useful for Data Scientists. It shows the code for each decorator and its output and then explains how the decorator can help data scientists. A link to the ipython notebook is available.

Markdown-Tag adds support to any website for adding markdown anywhere with a simple tag. Users just have to include a script at the bottom of their HTML documents and then they can add markdown or markdown with GitHub styling. The GitHub-flavored markdown syntax is still not 100% correct. Examples and demos are available.

SpaceX now offers Starlink for RVs, campers, and other large vehicles. The antenna is too big for cars to use. The service will provide high-speed, low latency internet in areas marked 'available' on Starlink's map. Regions on the waitlist will experience notably slower speeds during peak hours. The service is not designed for use while in motion. It will be available for most of the US and some areas of Canada, South America, the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Nvidia has announced a plan for reducing the energy use of data centers by using liquid-cooled graphics cards. Its liquid-cooled version of its A100 compute card consumes 30% less power than the air-cooled version. The company plans to support liquid cooling in its high-performance data center GPUs for the foreseeable future. Liquid-cooling lowers power consumption while also taking up significantly less room. Nvidia's liquid-cooled cards will be incorporated into data center servers later this year.