Meta's Twitter competitor 📱, world's fastest train 🚂, building career prestige ✍️

Sign Up|Jobs|Advertise|View Online TLDR TLDR 2023-07-05 📱 Big Tech & Startups Threads, Meta’s Twitter clone, starts launch countdown, plus a few details on how it works (3 minute read) Meta has launched a landing page for Threads, its Twitter competitor. Twitter's recent changes have prompted Meta to bump up the launch date for the service. Threads will be deeply connected to Instagram yet distinct from it. Users can choose whether they want to link their Threads profiles with their Instagram profiles or keep them separate. Threads will be able to connect to federated social networks like Mastodon. Leaked Pixel 8 Pro photos give first real look at Google’s upcoming flagship (2 minute read) Two leaked photos of Google's Pixel 8 Pro were recently posted to Reddit before being swiftly removed. They showed a new triple-camera setup housed entirely in a single glass oval and a new sensor to measure body temperature. It appears that Google has swapped the curve display for a flat one. The photos are available in the article. 🚀 Science & Futuristic Technology One shot of a kidney protein gave monkeys a brain boost (10 minute read) Researchers at Yale and the University of California, San Francisco found that a single injection of a protein called klotho led to modest improvements in cognitive function in older monkeys. Klotho is produced by the kidney and it helps regulate the kidneys and metabolism. Humans with higher levels of the protein perform better in cognitive tests. The protein may help in rejuvenating brain function in older adults. At 281 miles an hour, China's new high-speed maglev train is the world's fastest (3 minute read) China's next-generation high-speed train has set a new record of 281 miles per hour during a test run. The train uses electromagnetic technology to levitate above the rail and eliminate friction. It doesn't contain any technology that is patented or licensed by other train makers, demonstrating China's ability to develop the system through homegrown innovation. Maglev technology is not available everywhere in China, so the country is still looking to improve travel speeds on existing infrastructure. 💻 Programming, Design & Data Science The Concise TypeScript Book (GitHub Repo) The Concise TypeScript Book provides an overview of TypeScript's capabilities. It covers all aspects found in the latest version of the language. The book enhances understanding and proficiency in TypeScript for both beginner and experienced developers. vlite (GitHub Repo) vlite is a vector database written in less than 200 lines of code. It is designed for agents, ChatGPT Plugins, and other AI apps. vlite uses Apple's Metal Performance Shaders via PyTorch to accelerate vector loading and CPU threading to accelerate vector queries. 🎁 Miscellaneous So where are we all supposed to go now? (7 minute read) There are several factors at play causing many large social media platforms to collapse at the same time. Companies are switching from a 'growth at all costs' mindset to an 'actually make some money' strategy, causing them to scramble for new features and pivot to whatever the latest trend is. The rise of AI has caused some platforms to realize the value they were giving to other companies for free, resulting in measures to address data scraping. Social platforms are turning into entertainment platforms as there is much more money in putting ads in front of people than in connecting people. Building personal and organizational prestige (15 minute read) Many lead engineers feel that they'd be a candidate for a significantly better role if their personal brand was better known. The value of brand building may be overemphasized. Enhancing prestige may be more impactful - and there's a relatively straightforward playbook for increasing personal and organizational prestige. This article talks about building prestige, deciding whether it is valuable to build a personal brand, how to manufacture prestige, and how to measure prestige. It aims to equip engineers with enough information to decide whether to invest into these areas. ⚡ Quick Links 💼 Kickresume: an AI resume builder powered by GPT-4 (Sponsor) Keeping your resume up to date and professional-looking can be a drag. Need a shortcut? This AI Resume Writer is for you. Create or rewrite your resume now Tesla Full Self-Driving to get out of beta with v12 update – should we care? (2 minute read) Tesla's goals for Full Self-Driving have become more vague over the years so it is unclear whether the feature coming out of beta even means anything. 3 things that surprised me while running SQLite in production (3 minute read) In-memory SQLite isn't too exciting, SQLite is surprisingly fast, and while SQLite isn't truly concurrent, it certainly feels like it is. Toyota claims battery breakthrough in potential boost for electric cars (2 minute read) Toyota says it can halve the weight, size, and cost of batteries by 2025. Crashlogs (GitHub Repo) Crashlogs outputs stack traces when a program crashes in C++. Seriously, don't sign a CLA (4 minute read) A contributor license agreement usually includes a copyright assignment clause that gives upstream maintainers effective ownership over the contributor's copyright and the right to license the contribution in any manner they choose in the future. Tales Of Takeover In CCF-World (16 minute read) The Compute-Centric Framework report predicts a fast and continuous trend where people hand control of big parts of the economy to AI assistants. Want more TLDR? We also write newsletters covering AI, crypto, and web dev! 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