TikTok preparing a US copy =
of the app's core algorithm (4 minute read)
TikTok is working on a clone of its rec=
ommendation algorithm for US users. This may result in a version that opera=
tes independently of its Chinese parent, which may make it more palatable t=
o lawmakers who want to ban it. Work on the project started before the bill=
to force a sale of TikTok's US operations began gaining steam in Congress =
this year. While the project could lay the groundwork for a divestiture of =
TikTok's US assets, the company has no plans to sell its US assets.
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SpaceX sent Starship to orb=
it =E2=80=94 the next launch will try to bring it back (3 minute read)
SpaceX's Starship's next test flight co=
uld be on June 5. The main objective of the test will be to evaluate the se=
cond stage's reusable heat shield as the vehicle tries to safely reenter th=
e atmosphere for the first time. Composed of around 18,000 ceramic hexagona=
l tiles, the heat shield is vulnerable to even the loss of a single tile in=
most places. SpaceX still needs to receive a commercial launch license fro=
m the US FAA before the launch can move ahead.
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Science & Futuristic Technology
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=E2=80=98Smart' antibiotic =
can kill deadly bacteria while sparing the microbiome (3 minute read)
Gram-negative bacteria are often hardy,=
virulent, and quick to evolve resistance to antibiotics. Scientists have d=
eveloped an antibiotic that kills pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria without=
impairing the gut microbiome. Still untested in humans, the compound's use=
fulness will depend on whether the bacteria will develop resistance to it i=
n the long run. The time from an antibiotic's discovery to its approval for=
clinical use can be more than two decades, and there is not much money to =
be made with a novel antibiotic - around ten to twenty new Gram-negative an=
tibiotics have been discovered in the past decade but none have gained appr=
oval from the US FDA.
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1-bit LLMs Could Solve AI's=
Energy Demands (3 minute read)
Large language models are demanding mor=
e and more energy and computational power as they get better. These models =
need to shrink to become cheap, fast, and environmentally friendly. Researc=
hers use a process called quantization to compress networks by reducing the=
precision of their parameters. They are now pushing the envelope to single=
bit, producing models that are faster and more energy efficient than their=
full-precision counterparts. The quantized versions of the models perform =
almost as well as their original versions.
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Programming, Design & Data Science
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Unexpected Anti-Patterns fo=
r Engineering Leaders (32 minute read)
Engineering teams consisting of a coupl=
e hundred people might cost $50 to $100 million a year in salary, so it is =
frustrating for executives when they hear that engineering is an art and th=
at outcomes are unpredictable. The misalignment between engineering leaders=
and other executives often stems from a lack of flexibility - too many wel=
l-meaning engineering leaders go by the book of conventional leadership adv=
ice. Applying rules too universally turns them into anti-patterns. The key =
to effective leadership lies in figuring out which scenarios are worth deli=
berately defying conventional logic and when to simply follow the rules.
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Don't DRY Your Code Prematu=
rely (2 minute read)
Before applying DRY (Don't Repeat Yours=
elf), consider whether the deduplication is truly redundant or if the funct=
ionality will need to evolve independently over time. Applying DRY principl=
es too rigidly leads to premature abstractions that make future changes mor=
e complex than necessary. While two sections of code may look the same, the=
y could serve different contexts and business requirements that evolve sepa=
rately over time. Keep code separate until enough common patterns emerge ov=
er time to justify coupling the code together. Tolerate a little duplicatio=
n in the early stages of development and wait to abstract.
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|
Chasing Utopia, Startup Sty=
le (32 minute read)
Silicon Valley's tech barons have sever=
al projects to develop new frontiers for human life. The projects are based=
on the desire to withdraw from existing societies and their high taxes and=
regulations. Stemming from a yearning for new forms of self-governance and=
citizenship, these political exit projects illuminate the real problems of=
society, like the failure of nation-states to respond adequately to modern=
crises, disintegrating social cohesion, and the epidemic of loneliness. Wh=
ile the idea of being a sovereign individual may sound appealing to Silicon=
Valley billionaires, the world's most poor and desperate often experience =
such lawless locales as antithetical to freedom as some of the worst abuses=
flourish in the absence of the state.
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Google will roll out Chrome=
's new extension spec next week (1 minute read)
Google will begin phasing out Manifest =
V2 on the Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary channels starting on June 3. Extensi=
ons will still work, but Google says it will disable them in browsers in th=
e coming months before removing the ability to use them completely. A full =
rollout is scheduled for the beginning of 2025. Manifest V3 has faced pushb=
ack over concerns it could limit the effectiveness of ad blockers. Google h=
as attempted to address developers' main concerns by adding support for use=
r scripts and increasing the number of rule sets for an API used by ad bloc=
king extensions.
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Dan Ni & Stephen Flanders
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