TLDR 2023-11-13

Are lofty DevOps ideals translating into better results for most companies? Has AI begun to show an impact on software team productivity?

This report by the DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) team at Google and LinearB collates research from over 36,000 professionals worldwide, covering:

• Key outcomes from DORA (including measures and benchmarks for high performers)
• DORA metric performance across applications
• Technical and cultural performance predictors
• The impact of AI and cloud infrastructure

Get a free copy of the full report

A screenshot of the specifications for Tesla’s Cybertruck has been leaked. It contains everything there is to know about the size of the truck and its capabilities. The Cybertruck will be 18.6 feet long, 79.9 inches wide without mirrors, and 70.5 inches tall. It will have a bed length of 72.8 inches and a bed width of 51 inches. The full list of specifications is available in the article along with a video comparing the Cybertruck and other available alternatives.

A Gmail user recently spotted a new quick reply bar feature in the mobile app. The bar allows for a one-line input and has a dropdown box above it that allows users to pick who to send the reply to. The feature appears to be in very limited testing. A screenshot of the quick reply bar is available in the article.

Scientists have created synthetic versions of the 16 chromosomes in a yeast cell and successfully combined some of them in one cell. The feat is a key step towards creating programmable cellular factories. It also revealed sequences in genes that interrupted a key process in cells that led to mitochondria dysfunction. The team is now working to combine all the chromosomes into one cell that can survive. If successful, the technology could be used to produce biofuels, medicines, and other materials using cells.

Researchers have developed AI-based approaches for shifting through genomes to identify genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The combination of genomics, brain imaging, and AI allows researchers to find indicators that are tightly linked to a genomic driver. Scientists have had access to massive research databases for decades, but sifting through this data has proven to be a challenge. AI is able to sort through and learn from the data more efficiently and produce consistent results. If the approach works, it could also be applied to other diseases that have a physical presentation in brain imaging.

Ring 一 Acquired by Amazon for $1.2B.

Nest 一 Acquired by Google for $3.2B.

If you missed out on those companies, now’s your chance: RYSE is the tech firm poised to dominate the Smart Shades market and you can still invest at $1.25/share.

This page contains a list of not-obvious hacks to help people get the most out of their browsers’ debuggers. It assumes an intermediate or higher level of understanding of developer tools. The list covers advanced conditional breakpoints, calling and debugging functions, skipping page loads, changing program behavior, and inspecting elusive elements.

HTML First is a set of principles for making the experience of building web software easier, faster, more inclusive, and more maintainable. This is done by leveraging the default capabilities of modern web browsers, the extreme simplicity of HTML’s attribute syntax, and the web’s ViewSource affordance. HTML First aims to substantially widen the pool of people who can work on web software codebases, making it enjoyable and seamless to build web software.

This blog post tells the story of how a software developer with decades of experience developed SidecarT, an Atari ROM cartridge emulator powered by a Raspberry Pi microcontroller. SidecarT features an open source and customizable architecture that encourages technological experimentation. Professional hardware design is a Herculean task that is only accessible to a few. It may be a difficult and expensive hobby, but it can be fun, educational, and interesting and there are many opportunities to contribute to communities.

Humane’s co-founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno met at Apple, where Chaudhri was known for his work on the user interface and interactions on the iPhone and Bongiorno was the Director of Software Engineering. Humane recently emerged from stealth mode and announced its debut product, the AI Pin. This article contains an interview with Chaudhri that explores his thoughts on the device and vision for the next evolution of personal computing. The interview covers everything from privacy and partnerships with frenemies to the end of what we know as app stores.

OneSchema is a ready-made CSV importer for developers. Validate and transform files <4GB in <1 second, customize importer behavior, and launch fast with prebuilt validators. See how OneSchema works 👀

This Hacker News thread discusses the bear case against OpenAI, comparing the excitement around AI tech to how people jumped on the crypto bandwagon years ago.

The conversation around democracy and AI is incomplete and has a very limited understanding of what democracy is for, how it works, and what kinds of decisions it should make.

This article looks at predictions by experts on how many years it will be before transformative AI is built - the estimates vary between 4 to 40 years.

Expert-level programmers write code that leads readers through specific thought processes.

Apple’s has made a deal with Amazon to remove competitors’ ads off pages for its products.

Web Application Firewalls may seem like a good idea at first, but they have horrible performance, are easily bypassed, and have a high false positive rate - this article presents some alternatives.