iPhone 15 launch event 📱, OpenAI's contrarian strategy 🤖, AWS cost limits 💰

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TLDR 2023-08-30

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📱

Big Tech & Startups

Apple announces the iPhone 15 launch event (1 minute read)

Apple has sent out invitations for an event on September 12 at 1 PM ET. The company is expected to announce the iPhone 15 lineup and new Apple Watches at the event. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will likely feature the Dynamic Island and a USB-C port. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are rumored to feature titanium frames, thinner bezels, big camera improvements, and a USB-C port. Apple will reportedly introduce the Apple Watch Series 9 smartwatches and a new version of the Apple Watch Ultra.

Google to charge big businesses $30 per user per month for AI in Gmail and work apps (2 minute read)

Google is adding artificial intelligence enhancements to Gmail and other productivity apps. Duet AI will be available in the first half of next year. It will cost large businesses $30 per month per user. The fee will be on top of what companies are already paying for Google's productivity suite. Companies will be able to join free trials before committing to the subscription. The technology is currently being tested by over 1,000 customers.

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Science & Futuristic Technology

Virgin Galactic’s president explains how VSS Unity is now flying frequently (29 minute read)

Virgin Galactic will conduct its next commercial space flight as early as September 8. Galactic 3 will carry three passengers who bought their tickets back in the early 2000s. If on schedule, it will be Virgin Galactic's fourth space flight in four months. This article features an interview with the company's Chief of Operations and president, Mike Moses, where he explains the long downtime after Sir Richard Branson's flight in 2021 and how Virgin Galactic reached a monthly flight cadence.

How scientists engineered a see-through squid with its brain in plain view (4 minute read)

Scientists have created a genetically altered version of the hummingbird bobtail squid using CRISPR technology. The squids are almost transparent unless light hits them at the right angle. These squids offer researchers a new way to study animals. They may be especially interesting to brain scientists. The team that created the squids is working to create more of the animals for other researchers.

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Programming, Design & Data Science

Cost Limit for AWS (GitHub Repo)

This repository contains a library of Amazon Cloud Development Kit constructs for deploying cost-aware, self-limiting resources. It helps developers set spending limits on AWS by disabling resources using non-destructive operations when budgets are hit. The library can be used to prevent large cloud bills due to mistakes in application code, misunderstanding of pricing models, or malicious activities.

StringZilla (GitHub Repo)

StringZilla is a library for fast string sort, search, split, and shuffle. It can handle long strings and multi-gigabyte files in Python and C. StringZilla uses a simple heuristic and hyper-scalar code to achieve ludicrous speed (4.5 GB/s on IoT devices).

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Miscellaneous

Reports of the PC's death are greatly exaggerated, says IDC (2 minute read)

Analysts estimate that the PC market will return to growth in 2024. PC shipments are forecast to grow 3.7% year-on-year. 2023 will likely be the year with the greatest annual decline in consumer PC shipments ever. The introduction of AI and the uncertainty surrounding the future of remote work are likely causing people to delay purchases. Windows 10 is set to retire in 2025, which will likely trigger some sales.

The Contrarian Strategy of OpenAI (3 minute read)

OpenAI did many things differently than what Sam Altman would have advised for YC startups. It launched a solution in search of a problem with a capital-intensive business behind a login wall without any social, sharing, or other viral features. It took the company 4.5 years to launch its first commercial product. OpenAI fundraises through complicated financial structures. Altman is considering deleting his blog as he feels bad about the advice that he gave back when he was running YC.

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Quick Links

Intel says new 'Sierra Forest' chip to more than double power efficiency (2 minute read)

Sierra Forest will have 240% better performance per watt than Intel's current generation data center chips.

Ask HN: Why did Python win? (Hacker News Thread)

Python is the first language people working with data are exposed to thanks to libraries like Numpy and Pandas.

Observe (GitHub Repo)

Observe enables continuous monitoring of WebAssembly code as it executes within a runtime.

Llama 2 is about as factually accurate as GPT-4 for summaries and is 30X cheaper (17 minute read)

Llama-2-70b is almost as strong at factuality as GPT-4 and considerably better than gpt-3.5-turbo.

Google made a watermark for AI images that you can’t edit out (7 minute read)

SynthID generates watermarks that are imperceptible to the human eye and robust to various transformations but easily caught by a dedicated AI detection tool.

Measuring developer productivity? A response to McKinsey (21 minute read)

This two-part article takes a look at whether it's possible to measure developer productivity and how attempting to measure developer productivity may be damaging to the engineering culture at companies.

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iPhone 15 launch event 📱, OpenAI's contrarian strategy 🤖, AWS cost limits 💰

TLDR 2023-08-30

Big Tech & Startups

Science & Futuristic Technology

Programming, Design & Data Science

Miscellaneous

Quick Links

Older messages

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