TLDR 2023-05-08

Google's visual search 🔎, monkey brain synced to computer 🧠, better Redis clusters 👨‍💻

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Big Tech & Startups

Google making Search more ‘visual, snackable, personal, and human’ (2 minute read)

Google plans to enhance Search by introducing more user-generated content such as forum posts and short videos. An internal document describes a plan to make Search more 'visual, snackable, personal, and human'. Search will soon provide follow-up questions to expand users' original queries. Google will add conversational AI chat to Search. The company aims to ensure that its conversational AI features will not upset website owners.

Google will reportedly release Pixel Watch 2 this fall (2 minute read)

Google is set to release the Pixel Watch 2 this fall. The company usually releases new flagship devices in October. A teaser for the first smartwatch was revealed at I/O last year. The release of the watch may generate interest in Wear OS.
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Science & Futuristic Technology

‘Remarkable’ AI tool designs mRNA vaccines that are more potent and stable (5 minute read)

Scientists at Baidu Research in California have developed an AI tool that uses computational linguistics to optimize gene sequences in mRNA vaccines. The tool designs mRNA sequences with shapes and structures more intricate than current vaccines. This makes the mRNA vaccines more potent and stable and could result in better protection against infectious diseases. The tool has already been used to optimize at least one authorized vaccine.

China syncs monkey brain with a computer in a 'world first' experiment (2 minute read)

Chinese researchers claim to have conducted the world's first successful monkey brain-computer interface (BCI) experiment. BCI technology translates electrical signals from the brain into commands. The researchers used minimally invasive surgery to implant an electroencephalograph into the monkeys' cerebrovascular walls to read signals. The BCI allowed the monkeys to control robotic arms with their thoughts. It will take at least five more years for the technique to be ready for clinical use.
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Programming, Design & Data Science

React Aria Components (9 minute read)

React Aria Components is a new library of unstyled components that implement ARIA patterns. These components provide pre-built accessibility, internationalization, interaction, and behavior. They use a default DOM structure and styling API, abstracting away the technicalities of connecting the hooks together. React Aria Components allows components and hooks to be used together or separately.

RedisRaft (GitHub Repo)

RedisRaft is a Redis module that allows users to create strongly-consistent clustered Redis deployments. It supports configuration changes such as adding and removing nodes. RedisRaft uses heartbeat messages to detect failed nodes. In case of failed leaders, a new one is elected. As long as the majority of its nodes remain online, a RedisRaft cluster will remain available.
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Miscellaneous

I’m in Wyoming to celebrate the next nuclear breakthrough (4 minute read)

The Natrium Plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming, is set to become the most advanced nuclear facility in the world by 2030. The project was developed by TerraPower, a company founded by Bill Gates in 2008. Gates believes that the world needs to invest in nuclear energy in order to meet the planet's growing energy needs and reduce carbon emission levels. Kemmerer has a coal plant that is scheduled to shut down. Workers from the coal plant will be able to transfer to the new facility with minimal retraining.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the remote work ‘experiment’ was a mistake—and ‘it’s over’ (4 minute read)

Many CEOs, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, believe that remote work is not effective. Altman believes that startups require a lot of in-person collaboration, especially when working through intricate ideas. CEOs are demanding that remote workers spend more time in the office. Remote employees argue that they are content with working from home and do not wish to return to pre-pandemic office routines.
Quick Links

For Top VCs, ByteDance’s Historic Windfall Remains A $220 Billion Mirage (12 minute read)

A ByteDance public offering would mean billions of dollars in profits for its investors, but venture capitalists are keeping quiet about any potential public offering due to issues with TikTok.

Shap-E (GitHub Repo)

Shap-E is a conditional generative model for 3D assets that can be rendered as both texture meshes and neural radiance fields.

macOS Internals (GitHub Repo)

This repository contains links to resources that cover the evolution of Mac OS X from prerelease to Swift.

HTMX is the Future (16 minute read)

HTMX makes it simpler to deliver a rich client experience without having to write JavaScript.

Passkeys: A loss of user control? (7 minute read)

Passkeys will result in less user freedom and companies may use them to lock users into their ecosystems.

Farewell to the Era of Cheap EC2 Spot Instances (7 minute read)

This article explores the macroeconomic conditions that may have led to Amazon increasing its spot pricing.
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