Starlink mobile internet 📱, Meta's first revenue decline 📉, Saudi Arabia's $500B futuristic city IPO 🏙️

Daily Update 2022-07-28

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Big Tech & Startups

Facebook reports drop in revenue for the first time (2 minute read)

Facebook reported its first-ever yearly decline in revenue for the second quarter, with a 1% drop to $28.8 billion. It managed to grow its daily users by 3% to 1.97 billion despite the drop in revenue. Meta's overall profit fell 36% to $6.6 billion. Its Reality Labs metaverse division lost $2.8 billion in the quarter. Meta's drop in revenue growth was expected due to its many business challenges.

SpaceX Starlink service could come to iPhone and Android through satellite hotspot (3 minute read)

SpaceX is looking to add the 2GHz frequency to its Starlink license for use with mobile users. Starlink now has over 2,500 satellites and nearly half a million subscribers. Expanding to the 2GHz frequency would make its signals less affected by obstructing objects and make the service more friendly for smaller devices. Existing Starlink satellites are not capable of providing service to mobiles. SpaceX plans to attach new modules to its satellites and produce a small mobile device for users to connect to on the ground.

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Science & Futuristic Technology

Saudi Arabia Plans IPO of $500 Billion For Its Megacity 'Neom' (2 minute read)

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is planning an initial public offering for its $500 billion megaproject, Neom. It will set aside an $80 billion investment fund for companies that agree to operate in the futuristic city. The first phase of the project, which runs until 2030, will cost 1.2 trillion riyals. A link to a teaser video that reveals the design for The Line, a vertical city 500 meters tall and 170 kilometers in length, is available in the article.

Low-energy fluidic cells could shade and cool buildings dynamically (3 minute read)

Researchers at the University of Toronto have designed a dynamic shading system inspired by the skin of krill. Krill are usually transparent, but they can move pigments around in the cells beneath their skin to turn darker and protect themselves from UV damage. The shading system is made up of optofluidic cells that can switch between transparent and opaque on demand while using relatively little energy. These cells can act as windows to provide a low-energy temperature regulation system. They could also be used to create large-scale works of art.

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Programming, Design & Data Science

iOS 16 Live Activities API now available with beta 4 for developers to try it out (2 minute read)

Apple's Live Activities API is now available for developers. The API allows apps to display live data on the Lock Screen on iOS 16. Live Activities can remain on the Lock Screen for a maximum of 12 hours. Each Live Activity runs in its own sandbox. Unlike widgets, Live Activities can't access the network or receive location updates.

SQLite Internals: Pages & B-trees (11 minute read)

This article discusses SQLite internals. SQLite is simple, easy to use, and reliable. Its limited feature set means that database structures stay simple and easy to understand. Knowing how SQLite works can help developers store data more efficiently and make them feel more comfortable with designing apps with multi-gigabyte tables.

SAP observability requires an integrated approach, says New Relic (Sponsor)

SAP is always mission-critical, but it’s now part of a complex software stack. You need to monitor the health of your overall ecosystem to troubleshoot SAP performance. New Relic Monitoring for SAP lets you inspect all SAP and non-SAP systems in one place, so you can monitor the underlying entities that keep your SAP processes flowing. Learn more about solving the SAP observability challenge.

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Miscellaneous

Apple Hires Former Lamborghini Executive to Help Lead Design of Electric Vehicle (1 minute read)

Apple has hired Luigi Taraborrelli, a 20-year veteran of Lamborghini, to help lead the design of its vehicle. Taraborrelli oversaw chassis and vehicle dynamics engineering at Lamborghini. He has helped lead the design of many vehicle components. Apple has been rumored to be working on an electric vehicle since 2014 and it aims to begin mass production by 2025. The project has faced many challenges, so the launch timeframe may continue to be pushed back.

Google Maps is getting 3D imagery on mobile, detailed biking info, and more (4 minute read)

Google Maps has announced the launch of many features that will be implemented in the coming weeks. Maps will now provide more information for cyclists on routes, such as whether there are steep hills or bike lanes. Users will be able to receive certain notifications when using location sharing. Google is launching photorealistic aerial views of nearly 100 of the world's most popular landmarks. India is finally getting Google Maps Street View.

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Quick Links

Bizarre, Tentacled 'Flower' Creature Glimpsed in The Depths of The Pacific (3 minute read)

A team of scientists has spotted a giant, peculiar-looking tentacled sea creature in the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

Programming languages endorsed for server-side use at Meta (4 minute read)

Meta’s primary supported server-side languages are Hack, C++, Rust, and Python.

FTC files to block Meta from buying VR fitness studio Within (3 minute read)

The FTC filed a complaint to block Meta from acquiring Within, the company behind VR fitness app Supernatural.

Apple Completes $445 Million Acquisition of a New Campus in San Diego (3 minute read)

Apple has purchased a 67-acre campus in San Diego.

When the window is not fully open, your TCP stack is doing more than you think (11 minute read)

This blog post talks about the Linux networking stack and how it manages TCP receive buffers and windows.

kubezoo (GitHub Repo)

Kubezoo is a lightweight Kubernetes multi-tenancy gateway.

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Starlink mobile internet 📱, Meta's first revenue decline 📉, Saudi Arabia's $500B futuristic city IPO 🏙️

Daily Update 2022-07-28

Big Tech & Startups

Science & Futuristic Technology

Programming, Design & Data Science

Miscellaneous

Quick Links

What did you think of today's newsletter?

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Meta/Apple metaverse battle📱, Shopify layoffs 📉, distributed SQLite replication 👨‍💻

Instagram redesign 📱, 75 mile-long skyscraper 🏙️, practical web socket tips 👨‍💻

Apple Watch Pro ⌚, Tesla same-hour service 🚗, AWS open sources React components 👨‍💻

Amazon buys One Medical 🏥, Facebook copies TikTok feed 📱, Star Wars CSS effects 👨‍💻

DALL-E opens beta 🤖, Google hiring freeze 👨‍💻, next-level CSS art 🖼️

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