TLDR 2023-12-04

Manifest V3 will delay extension developers' abilities to react quickly to changes by putting up roadblocks before extension updates on Chrome's extension platform. Ad blocking is a cat-and-mouse game of updates and counter-updates, and Google is forcing one side to slow down. With Manifest V3, all updates to extensions, including filtering lists, will need to happen through a full extension update on the Chrome Web Store, which means they will be subject to the Chrome Web Store reviews process. Once it becomes mandatory in June 2024, daily updates will no longer be an option.

Samsung's S24 devices will use AI to translate messaging apps in real-time in over a dozen languages. They may also use Samsung's AI-powered Zoom Anyplace camera framing feature. The devices will use Qualcomm modems with Smart Transit functionality. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will have a new flattened screen design, a titanium frame, an upgraded 50 MP 5x telephoto camera, better vapor chamber cooling, and Wi-Fi 7. More details about the devices and official images from Samsung are available in the article.

The world's biggest operational experimental nuclear fusion reactor has been inaugurated in Japan. The JT-60SA reactor aims to investigate the feasibility of fusion as a safe, large-scale, and carbon-free source of net energy. The six-story-high machine is a joint project between the European Union and Japan. It is the result of a collaboration between more than 500 scientists and engineers and more than 70 companies throughout Europe and Japan.

Scientists from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, have developed tiny robots called anthrobots made of human cells capable of repairing damaged neural tissue. The technique involves synthetically controlling a range of developmental processes and could be used in the future for personalized medicine. The scientists think that anthrobots made from a person's own tissue could be used to clear arteries, break up mucus, or deliver drugs with or without genetic engineering. Anthrobots could have applications in sustainable construction and outer-space exploration.

GQL is a query language with a syntax similar to SQL. It executes queries on .git files without the need to create database files or convert the files into any other format. Keywords in GQL are case-insensitive, similar to SQL.

SQLSync is a collaborative offline-first wrapper around SQLite designed to synchronize web application state between users, devices, and the edge. It features eventually consistent SQLite, optimistic reads and writes, reactive query subscriptions, real-time collaboration, and more. A live demo is available.

Apple's soaring stock price over the last two decades was driven by its consumer devices powered by custom chips. The company debuted its first homegrown semiconductors in 2010. As of this year, all new Mac computers are powered by Apple's own silicon. This article takes a look at the development of Apple's custom hardware over the years and what will come next for the biggest US company by market cap.

This repository contains a very rough list of 500 companies that tend to pay a relatively high amount for software engineering-related roles. The data is based on median software engineering total compensation as it appears on levels.fyi. The analysis is not meant to be serious and it skips over many important steps.

Home row mods turn keyboards into more than just text input devices and they also help make the typing experience more ergonomic.

unsloth provides 80% faster and 50% less memory local QLoRA finetuning without any change in hardware.

Google was originally going to launch Gemini next week, but the release of the next-generation foundation model has now been delayed until January.

This article discusses HTML hacks that developers have used throughout the years to make sites work despite code failures created by larger entities who failed to properly implement HTML code.

While the Cybertruck looks remarkably similar to how it did four years ago, its price, range, and performance has shifted dramatically.

This document contains a collection of facts about ASCII, hardware serial terminals, RS-232, modems, and related technologies - while the information is not likely to be directly useful today, it's good to know for cultural-literacy reasons.