Google's AI coding moonshot 🤖, iPhone factory riots 📱, hacking a Fastly subdomain 👨‍💻

Daily Update 2022-11-24

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Big Tech & Startups

Google has a secret new project that is teaching artificial intelligence to write and fix code (5 minute read)

Google is working on a tool that uses machine learning to train code to write, fix, and update itself. The project started inside Alphabet's X research unit. Codenamed Pitchfork, the project is now part of a new group at Google Labs named the AI Developer Assistance team. Its original goal was to build a tool that could update Google's Python codebase to a newer version.

Violent protests break out at Foxconn’s ‘iPhone city’ (2 minute read)

Protests have broken out at Foxconn's iPhone factory in Zhengzhou. The protests started after workers learned that bonus payments would be delayed. Footage of the protests on social media show workers clashing with riot police and hazmat-suited officials. The workers have been forced to live and work on-site due to Foxconn's strict Covid-19 controls.

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Science & Futuristic Technology

The world's largest Alzheimer's study has made a gene discovery that could lead to treatments (3 minute read)

Researchers have discovered two novel genes that increase an individual's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The researchers used a technique called exome sequencing to identify the genes. Exome sequencing is able to identify rare mutations. The discovery brings scientists closer to finding treatment options and preventative measures for the disease.

How you breathe affects your brain (16 minute read)

This article discusses breathing and looks at the science behind it. Humans take about 20,000 breaths a day. The rate can change almost instantly in response to stress or arousal. Breathing can influence the mind. Many ancient traditions have practiced controlled breathing as a means of influencing their state of mind, and researchers are now discovering the biological mechanisms behind these effects and how they might be applied to help people with anxiety and mood disorders.

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Programming, Design & Data Science

git-delete-merged-branches (GitHub Repo)

git-delete-merged-branches is a command-line tool for keeping repositories clean. It supports deletion of both local and remote branches and workflows with multiple release branches. The tool can detect multiple forms of de-facto merges and it is provider agnostic. It has several safety features to make sure nothing is deleted accidentally.

Fastly Subdomain Takeover $2000 (4 minute read)

This blog post tells the story of how a bug hunter found a subdomain takeover vulnerability. The vulnerability was an edge case and could only be exploited when certain conditions were met. The post covers how the vulnerability was discovered and how they tested and confirmed the exploit. Submitting the bug report earned the bug hunter $2,000.

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Miscellaneous

Stable Diffusion 2.0 Release (5 minute read)

Stable Diffusion Version 2 has been released in open-source. The update brings powerful new features such as the ability to sense depth and higher resolution upscaling capabilities. Its models were trained using a new text encoder that greatly improves the quality of generated images. Examples of images generated with Stable Diffusion 2 are available in the article.

As Job Cuts Roil Silicon Valley, Workers Confront Post-Boom Reality (8 minute read)

Tech companies have announced over 31,200 job cuts this month, the highest monthly total since September 2015. Workers experienced a boom during the pandemic. Only months ago, many workers felt safe job-hopping in pursuit of better salaries and benefits. The job market is now being flooded and there are fewer positions available.

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Quick Links

Netflix is making a 'AAA PC game' at its new studio (2 minute read)

Netflix has posted a job listing for a director to lead work on a new AAA PC game.

Using Rust at a startup: A cautionary tale (10 minute read)

Rust is awesome for certain things, but it can slow down development.

Govt Official: TSMC Looking at $32 Billion Investment for 1nm Fab (2 minute read)

TSMC will make 1nm chips at a fab located near Longtan Science Park near Taoyuan.

Diátaxis (Website)

Diátaxis is a systematic framework for technical documentation authoring.

Why writing by hand is still the best way to retain information (6 minute read)

Writing by hand creates stronger reading comprehension and tactile information recall.

Elon Musk Shut Off Corporate Credit Cards for Twitter Employees (2 minute read)

Elon Musk continues to cut costs as Twitter owes billions of dollars in various loans and payments.

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Google's AI coding moonshot 🤖, iPhone factory riots 📱, hacking a Fastly subdomain 👨‍💻

Daily Update 2022-11-24

Big Tech & Startups

Science & Futuristic Technology

Programming, Design & Data Science

Miscellaneous

Quick Links

Older messages

Meta's persuasive AI 🤖, Apple's RealityOS 🌎, starting a startup in your 30s 👨‍💻

Elon wants weekly updates 🐦, interesting weird tech scenes 👨‍💻, Tumblr joins decentralized social 🤝

Amazon guts Alexa 🗣️, Twitter's 1:30am meeting 🐦, layoffs reset Silicon Valley culture 👨‍💻

Google reinvents search 🔎, inside Waymo's robotaxi 🚕, details from FTX bankruptcy docs 🏦

Elon's ultimatum 🐦, FTX CEO's candid interview 🪙, ways to make money coding 💰

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