Google's Moonshot Factory F=
alls Back Down to Earth (28 minute read)
Alphabet's self-proclaimed moonshot fac=
tory is carving out a path in which projects can spin off as startups. Whil=
e the company was initially reluctant to let outsiders share the fruits of =
its investments or risk compromising intellectual property, executives ulti=
mately decided it was better than letting promising technology wither. The =
new policy opens up more possibilities, but it also signals that Alphabet w=
ill be shutting off funding to more mature projects that haven't proven the=
mselves financially viable.
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Leaked OpenAI documents rev=
eal aggressive tactics toward former employees (15 minute read)
OpenAI has had a provision in place sin=
ce 2019 that means employees leaving the company risk losing their vested e=
quity in the company if they criticize the company. Employees who refuse to=
cooperate risk being locked out of future tender offers, stopping them fro=
m selling their stock. A company threatening to claw back already-vested eq=
uity is unusual. OpenAI's behavior towards former employees in the past sug=
gests that the executive team knew about the provision.
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Science & Futuristic Technology
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Making steel with electrici=
ty (7 minute read)
Steel production is one of the dirtiest=
industries on the planet, accounting for around 7 to 9 percent of humanity=
's greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Boston Metal is using an electrochem=
ical process called molten oxide electrolysis, which releases only oxygen a=
s a byproduct, to produce steel. The company has raised more than $370 mill=
ion to scale rapidly and transform steel production in every corner of the =
world. Its process can help recover high-value metals from mining waste wit=
hout undergoing costly treatment or storage.
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Mars rover mission will use=
pioneering nuclear power source (3 minute read)
The European Space Agency's upcoming Ma=
rs mission will use a nuclear-powered device that harnesses the radioactive=
decay of americium to keep its components warm. Devices that harness the h=
eat produced by the decay of radioactive elements are known as radioisotope=
heater units (RHUs). The ESA has historically relied on the US and Russia =
to provide RHUs that use plutonium-238, but it has been working on its own =
RHUs since 2009. The European RHUs will heat components in the mission's la=
nding platform, which will extend the lander's life, allowing it to become =
a backup power source in case there are issues in deploying the rover.
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Programming, Design & Data Science
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Neosync (GitHub Repo)
Neosync is a developer-first way to ano=
nymize PII, generate synthetic data, and sync environments for a better tes=
ting, debugging, and developer experience. It can be used to safely test co=
de against production data, reproduce bugs locally, fix broken staging envi=
ronments, reduce compliance scope, and seed development databases. Neosync =
can generate synthetic data, anonymize existing production data, subset pro=
duction databases, and more. It has pre-built integrations with Postgres, M=
ySQL, and S3.
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S3 Is Showing Its Age (6 mi=
nute read)
While S3 is undoubtedly a feat of engin=
eering, its feature set is falling behind its competitors. S3 doesn't have =
a compare-and-swap operation, something every other competitor has, and it =
also lacks multi-region buckets and object appends. Engineers wanting any o=
f these features have to either abandon S3 or build around these gaps.
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Humane is looking for a buy=
er after the AI Pin's underwhelming debut (2 minute read)
Humane is hunting for a potential buyer=
for its business. Despite its AI Pin launching to poor reviews, the startu=
p is seeking a price of between $750 million and $1 billion. The company wa=
s valued at $850 million by investors in 2023. While its product contained =
novel and clever ideas, it had many hardware and software issues. Humane ha=
s pledged to address some of the bugs with firmware updates.
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Building products is an unf=
orgiving grind (5 minute read)
This thread contains a list of advice o=
n building consumer social apps. It covers a wide range of topics, includin=
g product testing, how to measure success, consumer psychology, marketing, =
and mindset. Very few people in the industry have seen the inflection point=
of product-market fit firsthand - take everyone's advice with caution.
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Hacking Hard-work (1 minute=
read)
Everyone has a different brain and how =
you choose to program it will be personal to you - one way to make work fee=
l less mundane is to make the task feel grand.
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Dan Ni & Stephen Flanders
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