Brace yourself, IPv6 is coming (5 minute read)
AWS will start charging around $4 per month for IPv4 addresses on February 1. While IPv6 is clearly a good thing, there are still challenges to switching to it. The biggest challenge to global adoption is ISP support. A lot of developer tools aren't set up for IPv6 yet. If you want to ensure your company continues to run smoothly after February 1, start making as many changes as possible now.
DOJ antitrust lawsuit against Apple expected as soon as March (2 minute read)
Apple is alleged to have imposed software and hardware limitations on its iPhones and iPads to stop rivals from effectively competing.
What's new with ML in production (27 minute read)
Most machine learning in production is still not related to large language models or generative AI, which make up less than 10% of the market at most. At their core, machine learning models are algorithms that perform compression on a corpus of data. A lot has changed in leading-edge machine learning applications over the past year as the industry has moved from smaller, business-specific models that perform specific tasks to very large generalist models that complete text. The pendulum is again shifting to smaller models that people are starting to fine-tune and run on their own. The industry still focuses on compression, but it is changing where and how much it is controlled.
Apple has introduced a new tax on web purchases that prevents developers from offering digital items more cheaply on the web. Epic will contest this plan in District Court. Apple is demanding commission from web sales that occur within 7 days of a user tapping through to the web from its new External Purchase Links entitlement in an app - services that already sell over the web can continue to do so in exactly the same way. Some critics say Apple shouldn't and legally can't comply with its anti-steering injunction this way, but it looks like the company isn't doing anything contrary to the law.
Sam Altman Says AI Using Too Much Energy, Will Require Breakthrough Energy Source (2 minute read)
It's no secret that AI models require astronomical amounts of electricity to run. Experts estimate that the industry could soon use as much electricity as an entire country. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is looking for cheaper energy alternatives. Future models will require even more power to the degree that they'll need a whole new power source. Altman has already invested around $375 million in a nuclear fusion company.
Now OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wants billions for AI chip fabs (3 minute read)
OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman is reportedly seeking billions in capital to build out a network of AI chip fabs. The project would fund the construction and operation of chip factories around the world to support the growing demand for neural network accelerators. It aims to build enough assembly lines to ensure there is enough supply of AI processors to meet demand. Altman has previously expressed concerns that there aren't enough processors to go around.
Expo SDK 50 includes React Native 0.83 and introduces Expo Dev Tools Plugins, new and improved SQLite and Camera APIs, and much more.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is a fusion reactor that may one day provide the Earth with unlimited energy. The project started in 2005. Fusion reactions occur when two small particles collide, forming a heavier atom and producing a significant amount of energy without creating radioactive waste. If successful, ITER will be arguably the most complex machine ever designed.
The Pixel 9 leaks are already here (2 minute read)
Pictures of what appears to be Google's Pixel 9 Pro flagship have been leaked. They show a device with completely flat edges and a redesigned camera bar. The Pixel 9 Pro features a three-camera setup inside an oval-shaped island, similar to the Pixel Fold. It appears to be slightly smaller than the Pixel 8 Pro with a 6.5-inch display. The SIM card slot now appears to be on the bottom of the device alongside the USB-C port. Google typically releases its Pixel phones every fall.
Can autoimmune diseases be cured? Scientists see hope at last (7 minute read)
Scientists are on the cusp of developing therapies to restore immune tolerance in conditions such as diabetes, lupus, and multiple sclerosis. Tolerance refers to the immune system's ability to ignore antigens that belong to the body while appropriately attacking those that don't. Current therapies for these diseases don't always work, and even when they do, the improvement is often modest. Results from studies are starting to show that it is possible to create curative treatments for these diseases. This article looks at several approaches that scientists are looking at to make those treatments a reality.
Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell (Hacker News Thread)
Developers share their side projects making more than $500 per month in this Hacker News thread. Links to yearly threads on the same theme going back to 2020 are available in the original post. The projects include a grounded adapter to stop Apple devices from slightly buzzing when plugged in, a GUI app for Kubernetes, and a template marketplace.
New MIT CSAIL study suggests that AI won’t steal as many jobs as expected (3 minute read)
A study from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory looked at how feasible it is that AI will perform certain roles and how likely businesses are to actually replace workers with AI tech - it found that most jobs being identified as at risk of AI displacement can't currently be automated economically.
Google’s latest AI video generator can render cute animals in implausible situations (3 minute read)
Lumiere is an AI video generator that uses a space-time diffusion model for realistic video generation. The Space-Time U-Net architecture that it uses generates the entire temporal duration of a video at once with a single pass. It is designed to handle both where things are and how things move and change throughout a video. Lumiere can perform text-to-video generation, convert still images into videos, generate videos in specific styles using a reference image, apply consistent video editing using text-based prompts, create cinemagraphs, and inpaint videos. It excels in creating videos of cute animals in ridiculous scenarios - examples are available in the article.
A Leaked Memo from Google CEO Sundar Pichai Comes Amidst Employee Discontent (3 minute read)
A leaked memo from Google's CEO Sundar Pichai revealed the company's seven goals for the year. This year, Google aims to deliver the world's most advanced, safe, and responsible AI; improve knowledge, learning, creativity, and productivity; build the most helpful personal computing platforms and devices; enable organizations and developers to innovate on Google Cloud; provide the world's most trusted products and platforms; build an extraordinary Google; improve company velocity, efficiency, and productivity; and deliver durable cost savings. The leak comes amid a wave of layoffs at the company, with more job cuts on the horizon.
Self-driving as a case study for AGI (7 minute read)
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is commonly defined as an autonomous system that surpasses human capabilities in the majority of economically valuable work. Recent developments in autonomous driving present a good early case study of the societal dynamics of increasing automation. Driving is a difficult problem to automate and its automation will impact a large human workforce. The autonomous driving industry has created many new jobs that didn't exist before. Instead of destroying jobs, automation caused the industry to adapt and change.