TLDR 2022-07-29

TikTok's Spotify competitor 🎵, Google's in-house Linux 👨‍💻, DeepMind finds structure of all proteins 🧬

📱
Big Tech & Startups

After putting a dent in Facebook and Instagram, TikTok has Spotify in its sights next (3 minute read)

ByteDance has filed a trademark application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for TikTok Music. The trademark will apply to a mobile and tablet app where users can purchase, play, share, and download music and create, recommend, and share playlists. Users will be able to comment on music, songs, and albums. TikTok is already a hub for discovering music, and a dedicated music app could pull its user base directly from the main app.

Tesla deploys cube lounges at Supercharger station with automated coffee, food, and more (3 minute read)

Tesla and bk World have deployed a large cube lounge at a Supercharger station in Germany. The lounge features vending machines, bathroom facilities, gaming consoles, and areas for people to work or charge their devices. bk World’s lounges are easily deployable and can be moved quickly. They can be expanded to meet the requirements of the site. bk World plans to open 300 locations across Europe, but it is unclear how many of those will be in partnership with Tesla.
🚀
Science & Futuristic Technology

DeepMind found the structure of nearly every protein known to science (2 minute read)

DeepMind is releasing a free database with its predictions of the structure of nearly every protein known to science. The information will help scientists treat diseases and develop medications. The database contains over 200 million structures and covers almost every organism that has had its genome sequenced. It was created with DeepMind's AlphaFold AI software, which may be the most significant contribution AI has made to advancing scientific knowledge to date.

Study Suggests That Pill Can Cut Hereditary Cancer Risk by 60 Percent (2 minute read)

A double-blind longitudinal study of nearly 1,000 patients with a genetic condition that increases their individual risk of several cancers found that resistant starch has the ability to help prevent a range of cancers. Resistant starch resists acidic digestive bile, so it settles and ferments in the large intestine. This feeds gut-supporting friendly bacteria and may change the bacterial metabolism of bile acids, keeping them from damaging DNA.
💻
Programming, Design & Data Science

Engineering Ladders (GitHub Repo)

This repository contains a framework for software engineering managers to have meaningful conversations with their direct reports around the expectations of each position and how to plan for the next level in their career ladder. It uses radar charts to show the different perspectives and expectations of each position. The framework should be used as a way to guide meaningful career conversations and not as a checklist for promoting people.

Gum (GitHub Repo)

Gum is a tool for making shell scripts. It allows developers to leverage the power of Bubbles and Lip Gloss without writing any Go code. Gum is highly configurable and can build useful scripts with just a few lines of code. Examples are available.
🎁
Miscellaneous

TikTok begins pilot testing HTML5 mini-games with a handful of partners (4 minute read)

TikTok has launched a new gaming pilot with mini-games that can be played inside its app. The games can be found inside the TikTok app when posting a video to the platform. Creators can add the games through TikTok jump, a third-party integration tool. The feature is now being tested in various global markets. None of the games are currently monetized. A list of game titles on the platform is available in the article.

The story behind Google’s in-house desktop Linux (4 minute read)

Google has its own Linux desktop distribution called gLinux. The first version of the OS was called Goobuntu, based on Ubuntu. Google changed to a Debian-based OS in 2018 as upgrading the Ubuntu-based OS would take too long and cost too much. gLinux rolls out the latest updates and patches as they are created and deemed ready for production and changes can easily be rolled back if something goes wrong. The entire gLinux development team consists of a single on-duty release engineer that rotates among team members.
Quick Links

The different ways to handle errors in C (30 minute read)

This post goes through different approaches to handling errors in a C function that parses natural numbers from a string.

Spanish researchers develop tech to produce hydrogen from tap water (2 minute read)

The system is able to generate and store hydrogen from tap water without electrolysis.

Netflix Is Letting Directors Retroactively Edit Shows Now (2 minute read)

The directors of Stranger Things admitted that they have retroactively edited a number of scenes in the show.

Spartan Schema (GitHub Repo)

Spartan Schema is an ultra-minimal Typescript-compatible alternative to JSON Schema.

How to create a Python package in 2022 (29 minute read)

This article teaches readers how to create a Python package, how to set up automated testing and code coverage, and how to publish packages.

Innovative “Nano-Robot” Built Entirely From DNA To Explore Microscopic Biological Processes (4 minute read)

The nano-robot will enable closer study of mechanical forces applied at microscopic levels.
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