Details about Apple's rumored new home accessory have been leaked. The device, codenamed J490, combines the capabilities of the iPad, Apple TV, and HomePod. It will be powered by the A18 chip, presumably to support Apple Intelligence features. The device currently has a squarish display - it is unclear whether the square aspect ratio will make it to the final product. It has a built-in camera that works for FaceTime and other video conferencing apps. The camera can identify hand gestures from a distance and identify users to enable personal requests. More details about the device are available in the article.
Starlink hits 4 million subscribers (3 minute read)
SpaceX's Starlink satellite network is expected to pass four million customers this week. The company has gained around a million new customers since the end of May. It started providing beta service of its product in October 2020, hitting one million subscribers in December 2022. Its constellation now comprises nearly 6,000 satellites, which service companies and individuals in nearly 100 countries.
PostgreSQL 17 Released! (5 minute read)
PostgreSQL 17 improves on performance and scalability while adapting to emergent data access and storage patterns. It adds significant overall performance gains, including an overhauled memory management implementation for vacuum, optimizations to storage access and improvements for high concurrency workloads, speedups in bulk loading and exports, and query execution improvements for indexes. It also has features that benefit brand-new workloads and critical systems. This article covers the highlights of the new release.
Hotwire Native is a web-first framework for building native mobile apps. It enables developers to build screens in HTML and CSS and reuse them across every platform. Hotwire Native provides developers with full access to underlying iOS and Android SDKs and APIs as soon as they're released. It allows small teams to build highly functional, beautiful, and sustainable mobile apps without the headache and rigmarole of traditional native development.
WordPress.org bans WP Engine, blocks it from accessing its resources (7 minute read)
WordPress.org has banned WP Engine from accessing its resources. The ban prevents WP Engine customers from accessing security updates, leaving them vulnerable. WP Engine is now working on fixes. The company claims that WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg is misusing his control of WordPress to interfere with WP Engine's customers' access to WordPress.org.
OpenAI in throes of executive exodus as three walk at once (4 minute read)
OpenAI's Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew, and Research VP Barret Zoph are leaving the company.
Bigger AI chatbots more inclined to spew nonsense — and people don't always realize (4 minute read)
The bigger versions of three major artificial intelligence chatbots are more inclined to generate wrong answers rather than admit ignorance - people aren't great at spotting the bad answers.