Glass Health Inc. (YC W23) is hiring full-stack engineers! The company, which is part of Y Combinator's Winter 2023 batch, is looking for talented engineers to join its Product & Engineering team. To learn more about the open positions and how to apply, visit their job page at https://jobs.lever.co/glass-health-inc?team=Product%20&%20Engineering.
Source: https://jobs.lever.co/glass-health-inc?team=Product%20%26%20Engineering
Advex AI is revolutionizing machine vision for manufacturers by generating synthetic data to overcome the "data problem." The startup uses generative AI and a proprietary diffusion model to create thousands of fake pictures from a small sample of imagery. This solution enables companies like car manufacturers or logistics firms to train their computer vision systems more efficiently, reducing data collection time and costs.
TechCrunch: Vinod Khosla Criticizes Author of California's AI Bill, SB 1047
DGLegacy, a digital legacy planning and inheritance app, aims to ensure that loved ones inherit assets securely. The company's founders, Ana Mineva and Peter Minev, designed the app to catalog users' assets, share passwords, and detect fatal events to trigger inheritance. With multi-layer encryption, the app protects user data while offering freemium and premium plans for added features.
Recent research has explored the relationship between pornography use and men's expectations in sexual encounters. A study analyzed a group of women who reported watching porn regularly, excluding those who watched it daily or had fewer than one new sexual partner every 6 years. The findings suggest that men's ratings on certain aspects of sex may not accurately reflect women's experiences. In fact, the distance between men's and women's ratings was notable.
The "I Voted" sticker, a ubiquitous symbol of democracy, has an unexpected origin story. In 1987, Janet Boudreau, the owner of Intab, an election supply business in Seattle, designed the iconic sticker after researching gaps in the industry. With no prior experience in election supplies, Boudreau's determination to turn the company around led her to create a simple yet powerful symbol of civic engagement.
Source: https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-2024/i-voted-sticker.html
Researchers at Google have developed a new method for converting photos of handwriting into digital ink, allowing for a return to handwritten notes. The Large-i model, part of the team's "Large-i" framework, can learn to read and write handwritten text without paired training data. This approach is robust to various inputs, including full handwritten notes and out-of-domain sketches. Human evaluation results show that the Large-i model performs similarly to human-generated digital inks, with 87% of its outputs considered good or having only small errors.
Source: https://research.google/blog/a-return-to-hand-written-notes-by-learning-to-read-write/
The Sony Bravia X90L TV has been praised by ZDNET for its exceptional picture quality and features. With discounts available at Best Buy, the 55-inch model starts at $999, while the 98-inch model sees a price reduction of $3,000 to $4,999. The TV boasts excellent color accuracy, precision brightness, 120Hz smooth motion, and 4K image processing, making it an excellent option for those in the market for a new TV.
Google has launched a new course, Prompting Essentials, aimed at teaching users how to effectively communicate with AI models. The self-paced course is designed for individuals with no prior experience and covers topics such as creating personalized AI agents, summarizing lengthy documents, brainstorming ideas, and analyzing data. With the rise of AI-powered chatbots, effective prompting is key to unlocking their full potential. The course is available on Coursera for $49.
Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/take-googles-new-ai-course-write-better-prompts/
Improvements in Xwayland Window Resizing
The Plasma Wayland session has seen enhancements in window resizing, addressing visual glitches and making the experience more polished. The changes involve synchronizing window repaints during interactive resize, ensuring a smooth user interface. This update aims to provide a seamless user experience for users of applications that run on both X11 and Wayland.
Source: https://blog.vladzahorodnii.com/2024/10/28/improving-xwayland-window-resizing/
Get ready for Black Friday 2024! Major retailers are expected to offer competitive sales throughout the month, with some starting as early as November 3. But before you shop, know that not all retailers offer price matching. Some, like Walmart and Costco, don't match prices at all, while others, like Best Buy and Target, do during their holiday sales. Apple products are likely to see discounts, but keep in mind that major discounts are rare. ZDNET experts will be tracking deals across various categories, including smart home tech, laptops, tablets, and more.
The Tor Browser has received a major update, version 14.0, which includes several improvements and new features. Notably, Android users can now request a new circuit on-site, rather than having to reset their identity and start over. The update also brings improved font handling, better fingerprinting protections, and enhanced picture-in-picture support. Additionally, Windows and MacOS users will need to upgrade to 10.15+ or higher to use the latest version.
Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-most-secure-browser-on-the-web-just-got-a-major-update-whats-new/
Bret Taylor's AI-powered customer service startup, Sierra, has raised $175 million in a funding round that values the company at $4.5 billion. The platform uses AI chatbots to connect with customers and complete tasks without human intervention. Sierra claims its technology is less susceptible to hallucinations, making it a more reliable option for brands like WeightWatchers and Sirius XM.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/28/bret-taylors-customer-service-ai-startup-just-raised-175m/
Microsoft accuses Google of "shadow campaign" to influence cloud regulation in Europe. The tech giant claims that Google is behind a new lobby group, the Open Cloud Coalition, which aims to curry favor with policymakers and antitrust authorities in Europe.
The Washington Post has faced a significant backlash after its owner, Jeff Bezos, blocked an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for president. Over 200,000 digital subscribers have cancelled their subscriptions, and several columnists have resigned from the paper. The controversy stems from Bezos' decision to not endorse any presidential candidate, citing the Post's history as an "independent paper." Critics argue that this move is a departure from the paper's usual stance on issues.
GitHub publishes DMCA takedown notices and counter-notices on a public repository, aiming for transparency in copyright infringement claims. The platform redacts private information and URLs deemed non-actionable under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This move aims to promote accountability and fair process for both content creators and users.
Source: https://github.com/github/dmca
Netflix has introduced a new feature called "Moments" that allows users to save and share their favorite clips from episodes on its iOS app. This feature is designed to make it easier for fans to capture memorable moments and share them with others, eliminating the need for screenshotting or screen recording. The feature also includes the option to restart an episode from where you left off, making it a convenient way to revisit your favorite scenes.
The development of machine learning (ML) compilers has been a topic of interest in recent years. However, there are still significant challenges to overcome before these compilers can be widely adopted. According to Pete Warden's blog post, one of the main hurdles is that ML compilers struggle to handle Python code that becomes a performance bottleneck. This issue arises when re-implementing Python code that becomes a bottleneck in production environments.
Warden suggests two possible futures for the ML ecosystem: one where it resembles Matlab, and another where it adopts the LLVM model. The former would involve manual engineering of C or C++ implementations from researchers' projects, while the latter would require the development of an intermediate representation (IR) that can be supported by various platforms.
Source: https://petewarden.com/2021/12/24/why-are-ml-compilers-so-hard/
Apple has released its latest iMac and MacBook models with the M4 processor, offering "next-generation performance". However, the company has not addressed one long-standing issue - the design of its Magic Mouse. The device still features a charging port on the bottom, which can be inconvenient to use. Additionally, the mouse's ergonomics have been criticized for years, leading some users to seek alternative options.
Google's Pixel Buds Pro 2 have impressed a long-time Apple AirPods user, who ditched their trusty earbuds for the Android alternative. The reviewer praised the Pixel Buds' sound quality, comfort, and noise-canceling capabilities. While some may find the transparency mode lacking, overall, these earbuds offer impressive features and compatibility with any Bluetooth-enabled device.