TLDR 2024-05-03

OpenAI search May 9 rumor πŸ€–, Tesla cuts interns πŸš—, building a rocket engine πŸš€

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Big Tech & Startups

OpenAI to Challenge Google with Its Own Search Engine in May (3 minute read)

Reports indicate that OpenAI is looking to launch a search engine soon. OpenAI's in-house event on May 9 may focus on its release, although the event times and date may be subject to change. Google has scheduled its annual developer conference for May 14 - OpenAI's event may be a strategy to upstage Google before the search giant makes its AI announcements. This article presents the evidence for OpenAI's search plans.

Tesla is preparing to launch its own in-car voice assistant (3 minute read)

Tesla's latest software update includes hidden code that suggests that the company is preparing for the launch of its voice assistant. Little is known about the new Tesla voice assistant, but Elon Musk has previously said that he wants Tesla drivers to be able to do everything in the car with no manual input. The software update also introduces a native Audible app.
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Science & Futuristic Technology

SpaceX Adds Cosmic Tourism Offering to Website (4 minute read)

A new 'Human Spaceflight' tab on SpaceX's website offers flights to Earth's orbit, the International Space Station (ISS), the Moon, and Mars, with missions beginning as early as this year. There is no pricing information for the offerings and interested customers will have to inquire through email. The Earth orbit mission, which will last three to six days, offers a view of the planet from 300 kilometers high for two to four passengers. Ten-day commercial missions to the ISS will be available as early as 2025. The missions to lunar orbit and Mars do not have listed timelines.

Found: the dial in the brain that controls the immune system (6 minute read)

Scientists have identified the brain cells that regulate inflammation and determined how they keep tabs on the immune response. The neurons that act as the master dial for the immune system live in the brain stem, the stalk-like structure that connects the bulk of the brain to the spinal cord. The finding could lead to treatments for autoimmune diseases and other conditions caused by an excessive immune response. The mechanism by which the brain sends signals back to the immune system to regulate inflammation remains unclear.
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Programming, Design & Data Science

Not all Graphs are Trees (6 minute read)

Relational algebra can easily be represented as trees as formulas are already structurally rooted trees where each operator has its inputs as children. Things get more complicated when introducing non-tree structures, like some kind of self-join. This can be resolved using inlining (simply duplicating the expression you want to reference twice) or let binding. Common methods to open up unrestricted access to represent graphs containing cycles in programs include self-referencing, using a fix point operator, and explicitly listing edges.

offset-allocator (GitHub Repo)

offset-allocator is a fast, simple, and hard real-time allocator especially useful for managing GPU resources. It is a port of Sebastian Aaltonen's OffsetAllocator package for C++, rewritten in 100% safe Rust. While the general algorithm in the crate could be adapted to construct a Rust allocator, this is beyond the scope of the implementation. offset-allocator is completely agnostic to what it's allocating. It only knows about a contiguous block of memory of a specific size.
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Miscellaneous

U.S. v. Google: As landmark 'monopoly power' trial closes, here's what to look for (8 minute read)

The trial for the US Department of Justice's case against Google for using anti-competitive tactics to monopolize online search is now over and closing arguments are underway. Google's parent company Alphabet controls roughly 90% of the US search engine market, but the company claims its success is due to the quality of its product, not because of its business dealings. The ruling for the case could have far-reaching effects on how people use and interact with the internet. If the judge rules against Google, the consequences could be anything from fines to a restructuring of the company.

Building a Rocket Engine from Scratch (26 minute read)

Engine development is unforgiving - thousands of decisions have to go right for them to work. This article looks at how ABL went from nothing to having ten flight-worthy engines tested and installed on a rocket in under four years. It covers the decision-making that went into developing ABL's engines, testing, the company's growth, and more. Pictures of the company's engines and engine testing rounds are available in the article.
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Quick Links

Apple adds more carve-outs to its EU core tech fee after criticism from devs (5 minute read)

Apple is making changes to its Core Technology Fee in response to feedback from thousands of developers - this article looks at some of the changes.

Storing energy with compressed air is about to have its moment of truth (10 minute read)

Toronto-based Hydrostor Inc. makes systems that store energy underground in the form of compressed air, which can be released to produce electricity.

The world is not conspiring against you (4 minute read)

A list of 10 thoughts on careers that covers a range of ideas, mindsets, and predictions.

Hacking on PostgreSQL is Really Hard (10 minute read)

It is extremely difficult to write reasonably correct patches for PostgreSQL.

Tesla makes its newest cut: Interns (3 minute read)

Tesla has cut Summer internships, leaving those impacted in a tough position as it may be difficult to find something comparable.

Hubble Network makes Bluetooth connection with a satellite for the first time (4 minute read)

Hubble Network confirmed that it has received signals from the onboard 3.5mm Bluetooth chips on its satellites over 600 kilometers away.
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