TLDR 2023-10-17

YouTube's adblock crackdown 🛡️, Blue Origin's space platform 🛰️, Andreesen's optimistic manifesto 📜

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Big Tech & Startups

YouTube is cracking down on adblock users: pay or disable (4 minute read)

YouTube appears to be constantly changing its ad-blocking detection scripts. The ad-blocking community has been working on ways to defeat YouTube's anti-adblock feature, which alerts users with pop-ups and interrupts the viewing experience. Many people use ad blocking to restrict exposure to trackers, spyware, and other privacy-intruding scripts. This article shares several ways for users to bypass YouTube's anti-ad blocking efforts.

Netflix tests streaming games to US TVs to take on PlayStation and Xbox (2 minute read)

Netflix is launching a limited beta test of its games streaming service in the US. The feature will allow users to play games streamed from the cloud on a TV or PC. Users will need to download a special controller app to play games on the TV - games will work with a mouse and keyboard when accessed through a browser. Netflix is planning to release games based on its own franchises, like Squid Game, and it is also in discussions about licensing a game from the Grand Theft Auto series.
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Science & Futuristic Technology

Blue Origin’s New Spacecraft Can Build Projects in Space (2 minute read)

Blue Origin’s Blue Ring is a space platform that will be able to provide delivery and logistics support for other space projects. It will be able to host, transport, and refuel other spacecraft, relay data, and offer in-space cloud computing capabilities. The platform will be able to travel with payloads of over 6,600 pounds. Blue Origin aims to launch the spacecraft in 2025.

Biomedical News Superficial Brain Implant Could Have a Deep Impact (4 minute read)

A new wireless device can provide minimally invasive neurostimulation that patients can operate in their own homes. The device is implanted inside the skull but above the dura mater, a protective membrane that surrounds the brain. It takes less than 30 minutes to implant, after which patients can do at-home treatments using a headset that transmits power and instructions to the implant. The device has yet to be tested in an FDA-approved clinical trial.
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Programming, Design & Data Science

MemGPT (GitHub Repo)

MemGPT allows developers to create perpetual chatbots with self-editing memory. It intelligently manages different memory tiers in LLMs to effectively provide extended context. MemGPT knows when to purchase critical information to a vector database and when to retrieve it later in the chat, enabling perpetual conversations. Examples are available in the repository.

Insanely Fast Whisper (GitHub Repo)

Insanely Fast Whisper can transcribe 300 minutes of audio in less than 10 minutes using OpenAI's Whisper Large v2. It is blazing fast and simple to use. Benchmark results are available.
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Miscellaneous

Meta’s unique approach to developing AI puzzles Wall Street, but techies love it (16 minute read)

Meta is focusing on artificial intelligence while still maintaining its hefty investment in metaverse technologies. The company makes money from cloud-computing companies that offer access to Llama 2, but Meta doesn’t expect it to generate a large amount of revenue in the near term. Llama 2’s open source nature may attract more developers to build upon it. Mainstream adoption of the model could influence Nvidia to ensure its GPUs work well with Meta’s software and lower the company’s AI training and computing costs.

The Techno-Optimist Manifesto (32 minute read)

We are told that technology is a threat to our livelihoods, but the truth is that our civilization is built on technology. Technology will help humans advance to a far superior way of living and being. Natural resource utilization has sharp limits, so the only perpetual source of growth is technology. Technological change increases the need for human work by broadening the scope of what humans can productively do.
Quick Links

China discovers never-before-seen ore containing a highly valuable rare earth element (2 minute read)

Niobobaotite is made of niobium, barium, titanium, iron, and chloride - China currently imports 95% of its niobium.

Estimates are about time, so let's cut to the chase (8 minute read)

It's much clearer and easier to handle estimates when using time rather than abstract points.

After ChatGPT disruption, Stack Overflow lays off 28 percent of staff (2 minute read)

Stack Overflow's CEO says that the company is on a path to profitability and continued product innovation.

AT&T Moves to Disrupt Test of SpaceX's Starlink Cellular Service (4 minute read)

AT&T and the Rural Wireless Association say that SpaceX needs to supply more details about its technology to prove that it won't cause interference with other carriers.

Why Is the Frontend Stack So Complicated? (3 minute read)

There's no universal import system and there are too many layers of minification, uglification, and transpilation, wildly different environments, an overemphasis on file structure, too many tools, and too many steps between code and deployment.

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn lays off nearly 700 employees (4 minute read)

The layoffs will mostly affect LinkedIn's core engineering group.
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