Hey Bizarro Readers,

Welcome to the second of two April editions of Bizarro Devs. We’ve got a special one for you today, with some unique elements thrown into the mix. One of these is a reader-submitted story, which you’ll find in our top ten links. It comes from one of our long-time subscribers who unlocked the tier two referral reward. We also have the winner of the code conundrum challenge (plus a new challenge), and of course you’ve got the usual lineup of interesting and quirky stories, useful tools, etc. With that said, let’s kick things off with our headliners:

• 🧑‍🍳🍺 The Mashup You Didn’t Know You Needed: AI x Beer

• 🧑‍💻🔌 WordPress Plugin Developer Faces Backlash for Anti-Piracy Tactic

• 🤖🪖 DALL E-3: Innocent Image Generator or Battlefield Tool?

Let’s get into it!

📰 From the Newsroom

🧑‍🍳🍺 The Mashup You Didn’t Know You Needed: AI x Beer

Yup, you read that correctly. Artificial intelligence has now ventured into the world of brewing. Researchers from KU Leuven in Belgium have developed an AI system that can predict and enhance how much people will enjoy a beer. This beer-gorithm suggests modifications to beer recipes and has proven its effectiveness in blind taste tests.

• Just as LLMs like ChatGPT have training data that form the basis of their abilities, so too, does the Beer AI. Its training data is based on an analysis of over 200 chemical properties of various beers.

• This training data is used to predict taste preferences and make suggestions to improve existing brewing recipes. The approach provides brewers with a scientific basis to enhance flavor and enjoyment.

• In practical tests, beers modified based on suggestions from the beer-gorithm were preferred in blind taste tests, validating the AI's predictive capabilities and its practical utility in improving beer quality.

All of this is well and good, but I think the true final test for this Beer AI - if it wants to prove how powerful it really is - is to see if it can get people to like non-alcoholic beers. Non-alcoholic beers typically don’t score that well in taste tests so it would be interesting to see if the AI could do anything about it.

🧑‍💻🔌 WordPress Plugin Developer Faces Backlash for Anti-Piracy Tactic

As someone who works for a WordPress-focused company, I definitely feel some type of way about people who use pirated versions of plugins. I know how hard my colleagues work to develop the plugins that we have for the community and when someone takes it upon themselves to pirate our stuff…well, let me remain civil here. I’ll just say that I can certainly empathize with developers wanting to combat piracy, but how you go about it is also important. Here are the details of what happened:

• An add-on plugin for a widely-used WordPress site builder installed a secret anti-piracy script into the plugin.

• It was designed to punish users using pirated versions of the plugin by hiding or deleting all posts on their website. The tactic sparked outrage, as it was seen as invasive and harmful, even to legitimate users.

• The developer behind this controversial move issued a now-deleted public apology, admitting the approach was misguided and caused unnecessary harm.

This is a classic tale of good intentions, but with poor execution. The backlash the developer faced brought up serious discussions about legality, with concerns that such actions could lead to hefty fines or even jail time under laws like the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the U.S. To be fair, there were some supporters of the tactic as well, and there is an ongoing debate within the Facebook group about it. What do you think?

🤖🪖 DALL E-3: Innocent Image Generator or Battlefield Tool?

As an indirect followup to the story we covered in our last issue about the future of AI-powered drones in warfare, it’s now been revealed that Microsoft approached the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in October of last year, to pitch them the idea of using the Azure version of OpenAI's DALL-E image generator as a tool for battlefield applications.

• In a presentation to the DoD, Microsoft suggested that DALL-E could be used to generate images for training battle management systems, showcasing how generative AI could enhance military decision-making and operational readiness.

• Initially, OpenAI prohibited the use of its technologies for military purposes. However, changes in policy and recent engagements with the Pentagon suggest a shift towards exploring national security applications, highlighting a potential departure from its original mission of "benefiting all humanity."

• The use of AI in military applications is not isolated to the U.S. As we mentioned in our previous issue, Israel's AI-driven "kill list" and the development of AI drones by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt illustrate a broader global trend of weaponizing artificial intelligence.

Beyond the obvious implications that this story has about the increasing use of AI for military purposes, is the fact that tech companies continue to adjust their policies to whatever happens to suit them in the moment. Remember when Google removed "don’t be evil" from their code of conduct? However, it’s worth mentioning that sometimes, if there’s enough public pressure, companies will also bend in the anti-dystopian direction - as was the case with Amazon not too long ago.

⛓️ Ten More Must See Links of the Month

• ⭐ A big thank you to our longtime reader, Phil Paoletta, who has referred enough new readers to us to qualify for the second-tier referral reward: a featured post in our top ten links. Phil chose to submit a unique story about "Postcards from Timbuktu," a site that offers handwritten postcards from Timbuktu (yes, that Timbuktu). The postcards provide a critical source of income for out-of-work tour guides while offering a unique item to you. ⭐

• In the latest fascinating use of AI, conservation officials from the Bailiwick of Guernsey have been mapping out a "bat language," which they say will help them make crucial, evidence-based decisions about the environment. If you happen to live on the island, you can volunteer to help with the project.

• Researchers from the Quantum Machines Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) in Japan have invented "gravity-free" graphite. In a demo, they showed a small piece of this graphite levitating above a grid of magnets.

• The youngest branch of the U.S. military - the Space Force - announced last week that they are partnering with two companies for a first-of-its-kind mission to demonstrate how the U.S. military might respond to an "on-orbit aggression."

• We’re all fairly used to flying drones at this point, but what about underwater drones? American weapons manufacturer Northrop Grumman has just completed developing the Manta Ray, an autonomous underwater drone developed for military use.

• Former Amazon senior security engineer, Shakeeb Ahmed, made history last week. He was the first person ever to be convicted and sentenced to prison for hacking a smart contract. Using his professional skills, Ahmed stole more than $12 million USD in two separate attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges.

• AI image generators, ranging from MidJourney to DALL E-3, have been struggling with generating accurate images of what seem like simple prompts. In a series of experiments, a request to create an image of an "Asian man and white wife" left much to be desired. None of the companies responded to a request for comment.

• 📽️🎞️ Figure dubs itself as an AI robotics company building the world's first commercially viable autonomous humanoid robot. They recently released a ~2.5 minute demo video showing how far along they are in their latest iteration. Aside from some slight delays in response time, it’s impressive to watch.

• If you’d like to launch a website for testing purposes but don’t want to spend money on a domain name, then you’ll be happy to know that contrary to popular belief, it is possible to get a free domain for testing.

• Have you ever tried to install WordPress on a Raspberry Pi? It’s not the most common WordPress setup, but it is possible. Check out this step-by-step write up of how to do it. Plus get a breakdown of why you’d even want to do it in the first place.

🎤 It’s How They Said It

"I mean, I'm not deleting my mom."

– Noor Siddiqui, founder of a eugenic reproductive startup called Orchid, when asked about the startup's origin story — her mother's diagnosis with retinitis pigmentosa, which made her legally blind.

🧮 The Numbers Game

• 8 minutes and 20 seconds is the average time it takes for sunlight to travel from the Sun to the Earth. This means that if the sun were to all of a sudden “turn off,” we wouldn’t realize it here on Earth until about 8 minutes later.

• 13 is the new minimum age to use WhatsApp in the U.K. and E.U., which was lowered from 16. The change took effect last week and sparked a backlash from child safety advocates who accuse Meta of prioritizing profits over protection.

• 9 days is how long it recently took for a New York jury to find Terraform Labs and its former CEO, Do Kwon, liable for defrauding investors.

• $195 USD is the fee MJ Wolfe charges for a one-minute faux-podcast advertisement. These ads feature Wolfe mimicking a podcast setup to subtly promote products, giving the impression of a casual yet authoritative endorsement. He makes between $9,000 to $16,000 per month from them.

⌨️ Code Conundrum

Sponsored by Optimole, the best image optimization tool on the internet.

The winner of last issue’s Python challenge was Charles-Antoine Poirier. If you speak French, check out his website. Thanks to all who participated and congrats again to Charles-Antoine for the fastest correct response. Speaking of the correct response, the error was in the save.resized_image line. It should’ve been resized_image.save.

The next challenge is below - this time a JavaScript one:

The snippet contains a fundamental syntax error related to how variables are declared and accessed. Send me an email once you spot the error. Please put "Code Conundrum" in the subject line. Once again, the first person who emails me with the correct answer (either saying what the error is or sending back the snippet error-free) will get a shoutout in the next issue.

Interested in sponsoring this section? Reach out to me with “Bizarro Sponsorship” in the subject line.

⚒️ Tools and Resources

Faces.js: This JavaScript library lets you generate vector-based cartoon faces, similar to those created by the Nintendo Wii's Mii system. It uses SVG to render each face, which can be customized or randomly generated through the library. Each face is represented by a JavaScript object, allowing you to store and recreate faces consistently. You can add the library to your projects using npm or yarn, and integrate it into your applications with minimal code.

https://zengm.com/facesjs/

Samba CoE v0.2: Tired of the response lag you sometimes get with LLMs like ChatGPT? With Samba, it’s virtually non-existent. It fires responses at you like a supersonic Mach-3 engine. I’m talking under one second almost every single time. It even provides a pop-up window with each response that tells you how long it took for the system to process it and how many tokens were generated on a per-second basis to generate it. Check it out!

https://coe-1.cloud.snova.ai/

🖼️ What Am I Looking At?

What in the world is this thing?

In the simplest sense, it's a small metal plate, about 7 x 11 inches (about 18 x 28 centimeters) in size. In the center, it has an icon which represents the American Sign Language symbol for "water.” Emanating from the icon, are sound waves that also represent the word "water," as spoken in 103 different languages. On the other side of the plate, there is a poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón.

Cool, but what’s it all for?

It’s for the aliens. This special plate is going to accompany NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft on its journey to Jupiter's icy moon Europa in October 2024.

💬 One More Word for the Month

"Saudade" is a Portuguese word expressing a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for something or someone absent, often with a profound recognition that this absence is permanent. The term conveys a mixed feeling of loss, love, and melancholy, combined with the recognition of something forever lost to time. The closest English equivalent is nostalgia, but saudade is a more profound and encompassing emotional feeling than nostalgia.

We can apply this concept to the rapid evolution of technology, especially as it relates to the web and artificial intelligence. As AI and the algorithm-driven internet continue to reshape our digital experiences, many of us who are older sometimes feel a sense of saudade for the simpler, less algorithm-driven days of exploring the web and communicating online.

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Until we see each other again,
– Martin