TLDR 2022-06-14

Amazon drone delivery 🚁, Elon Musk Twitter all-hands 🐦, Internet Explorer shut down 🌎

📱
Big Tech & Startups

Microsoft Teams now uses AI to improve echo, interruptions, and acoustics (3 minute read)

Microsoft is using machine learning to improve Teams audio. Machine learning models are being used to reduce echo and improve call quality. The elimination of echo allows multiple people to speak at the same time. All processing is done locally on client devices. A video demonstrating the new improved call quality feature is available in the article.

Amazon starting drone deliveries in California town later this year (2 minute read)

Amazon's Prime Air drone delivery service will start later this year, pending FAA permission. Lockeford, California will be among the first locations in the US to access the service. The drones will be able to carry five pounds of payload at speeds of up to 50 miles an hour. They are able to detect static and moving objects and automatically change course to safely avoid them. Pictures of Amazon's drones are available in the article.
🚀
Science & Futuristic Technology

‘Biological age’ startups: why do people want to know how close they are to death? (7 minute read)

Biotechs are now offering test kits that claim to be able to measure the biological age of the user. Biological age aims to quantify the aging of the body's functions and predict mortality. It is a better predictor of morbidity risk than chronological age. None of the test kits available have been approved by the FDA and there are no treatments for improving biological age. For now, the tests should be treated as entertainment rather than an accurate diagnosis method.

Moving stuff with your mind? That superpower may finally be here (3 minute read)

Scientists from China have developed a Bluetooth brain-computer interface that can wirelessly control metasurfaces using brainwaves. The device provided better control and was far more advanced than any existing product currently on the market. It can still be tweaked to be more efficient and accurate. The technology has potential applications in communications, the health sector, and smart sensors.
💻
Programming, Design & Data Science

Fresh (Website)

Fresh is a web framework built for speed, reliability, and simplicity. It features just-in-time rendering, island based client hydration, zero runtime overhead, no build step or configuration, and TypeScript support. The framework is still undergoing frequent core functionality changes so it shouldn't be used for production yet.

tuc (GitHub Repo)

tuc is a tool for cutting and manipulating text. It has more features than cut, such as being able to use negative indexes, format fields, and cut on lines. Examples are available.
🎁
Miscellaneous

PSA: Last chance to browse using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is this week (2 minute read)

Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is officially retiring after 27 years on June 15. The browser reached its peak in 2003 but fell off after new browsers entered the market. Microsoft Edge features an IE mode that provides access to legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and apps. The retirement doesn't affect in-market Windows LTSC, Server Internet Explorer 11 desktop applications, or the MSHTML engine.

Elon Musk to answer questions from Twitter staff this week (2 minute read)

Elon Musk is attending an all-hands meeting at Twitter on Thursday this week. He will answer pre-submitted questions from employees during the meeting. Musk recently challenged Twitter over the number of bots on its service, so Twitter said last week that it would provide him with a firehose of internal data on bots and spam accounts. Many Twitter employees have been on edge since Musk launched his bid to buy the social media company. Musk recently told his employees to return to the office full-time, while Twitter employees are allowed to work from home or wherever they feel most productive.
Get the most important tech, science, & coding news in a free daily email. Read by +1,250,000 software engineers and tech workers.
Join 1,250,000 readers for