SpaceX Super Heavy rocket 🚀, Apple's game-changing VR headset 🥽, certifications that help careers 👨‍💻

TLDR

Daily Update 2022-06-27

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Big Tech & Startups

SpaceX moves a massive rocket with 33 engines to its launch pad for tests (4 minute read)

SpaceX rolled out its Booster 7 prototype of the Super Heavy rocket to its launch site on Thursday. It was lifted using the chopsticks on the launch tower and placed on its launch mount. The booster will go through pressure testing and potentially a static fire test in the coming days or weeks. Elon Musk has been pushing for an orbital launch attempt in July.

Apple's "game-changing" VR headset coming out in January (2 minute read)

Apple's VR/AR headset will be released in January 2023, according to Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo. The mixed reality headset will be the most complicated product Apple has ever designed. It will be a premium product with very high-fidelity displays, Apple silicon power, and a very hefty price tag. The launch of the headset will likely lead to rapid growth in the industry.

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Science & Futuristic Technology

Artificial Photosynthesis Can Produce Food in Complete Darkness (4 minute read)

A group of researchers has developed a way to create food without sunlight using artificial photosynthesis. The method involves converting carbon dioxide, electricity, and water into acetate, and then feeding the acetate to food-producing organisms in the dark to grow. It is up to 18% more efficient for some organisms. The method can be used to grow green algae, yeast, fungal mycelium, tomatoes, rice, and green peas. It could be used to grow crops in areas currently unsuitable for agriculture.

New gene editing tool reduces errors by nicking DNA not cutting (2 minute read)

While CRISPR is one of the most groundbreaking inventions of the century, it has a relatively high error rate that can produce potentially harmful mutations. Researchers from Germany have developed a tool that reduces errors by nicking DNA instead of cutting it. The tool makes two smaller cuts, one on each DNA strand, rather than slicing through the entire double strand of DNA. The new method is about as effective at making edits as conventional CRISPR and it significantly reduces on-target mutation errors.

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Programming, Design & Data Science

XLite (GitHub Repo)

XLite is an SQLite extension written in Rust. It allows users to query spreadsheets as SQLite virtual tables. INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements are currently not supported.

Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career? (Hacker News Thread)

This Hacker News thread discusses certifications that legitimately helped in people's careers. The top suggestions include Offensive Security's OSCP course, Microsoft's MCSE, and Amazon AWS certifications. One post is a warning about how too many certifications can have an adverse effect as hiring managers may see them as a waste of time compared to real-world projects.

5 ways to prevent code injection in JavaScript and Node.js (Sponsor)

Code injection is a specific form of broad injection attacks, in which an attacker can send JavaScript or Node.js code that is interpreted by the browser or the Node.js runtime. Check out this comprehensive guide on how to prevent code injection.

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Miscellaneous

OpenAI’s latest AI builds a Diamond Axe in Minecraft – why it matters (8 minute read)

OpenAI used a mix of video training and reinforcement learning to create an AI that can make a diamond pickaxe in Minecraft. Creating a diamond pickaxe in Minecraft is a complex task that requires many steps. The team used a method called Video PreTraining (VPT) that involved training the AI using massive amounts of raw gameplay video and human-processed video. VPT can be used for almost any software where there is enough video material.

Life Has Been Found in a Low-Oxygen, Super-Salty, Sub-Zero Arctic Spring (3 minute read)

Scientists have discovered life in the extremely cold and salty waters of the Lost Hammer Spring in the Canadian Arctic. The microbes had adaptations that allowed them to thrive in water with temperatures of around minus five degrees Celsius, less than one part per million of dissolved oxygen, and around 24% salinity. They don't depend on organic material or oxygen to survive. Similar environments may exist on ocean worlds like Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus.

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Quick Links

Amazon to introduce a new Alexa feature to mimic anyone’s voice (3 minute read)

A new Amazon Alexa feature can mimic any human's voice using less than a minute of recorded audio.

Ask HN: How to level up your technical writing? (Hacker News Thread)

This thread contains advice and links to courses on how to become a better technical writer.

Pig heart transplant failure: Doctors detail everything that went wrong (6 minute read)

A recently published paper goes through everything that happened to prepare for the transplant and the weeks following.

IRedis (GitHub Repo)

IRedis is a terminal client for Redis with auto-completion and syntax highlighting.

Observables (GitHub Repo)

This library provides a lightweight reactivity API for other UI libraries to be built on top of.

Ask HN: How to raise a seed round in a down market? (Hacker News Thread)

This thread is full of tips on how to attract funding from Venture Capitals despite the recent market downturn.

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SpaceX Super Heavy rocket 🚀, Apple's game-changing VR headset 🥽, certifications that help careers 👨‍💻

Older messages

Tesla virtual power plants ⚡, Amazon coding AI 👨‍💻, building a React framework ⚛️

Brave customizable search engine 🔎, StackOverflow dev survey 👨‍💻, building a $1M open source SaaS 📈

Amazon autonomous robot 🤖, GitHub Copilot launch 👨‍💻, levitating objects with sound waves 🔊

Zuckerberg demos VR headsets 🥽, Tesla Enhanced Autopilot 🚗, crypto's use cases 🪙

Meta's virtual store 🏪, Brex drops small businesses 💳, near term startup trends 📉

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