Jack Dorsey launches a What=
sApp messaging rival built on Bluetooth (3 minute read)
Bitchat is a decentralized, peer-to-pee=
r messaging app that works entirely over Bluetooth mesh networks - no inter=
net, central servers, phone numbers, or emails required. It enables ephemer=
al, encrypted communication - nearby devices form clusters and pass message=
s from device to device, allowing them to reach peers beyond standard range=
, even without Wi-Fi or cell service. Messages are stored only on-device, d=
isappear by default, and never touch centralized infrastructure. A beta ver=
sion of Bitchat is currently live on TestFlight.
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Science & Futuristic Technology
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Creating therapeutic abunda=
nce (22 minute read)
The invention of new medicines is limit=
ed by our knowledge of cells and molecules that can be manipulated to treat=
disease. The cost of discovering new medicines is increasing. New technolo=
gies have the potential to unlock an era of target abundance and reverse th=
e long decline in research and development productivity. This could be one =
of AI's most important impacts.
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Nuclear reactors smaller th=
an a semi truck to be tested in Idaho (4 minute read)
The US Department of Energy (DoE) has c=
onditionally selected Westinghouse's trailer-sized eVinci test reactor and =
Radiant's Kaleidos unit to conduct the first fueled microreactor experiment=
s at its Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) facility at Idaho=
National Laboratory. The DOME project considers anything under 50 MW of po=
wer to be a microreactor - the eVinci is designed to produce 5 megawatts, a=
nd the Kaleidos can output 1.2 megawatts. The DoE hopes that microreactors =
can be used to power small, remote sites. DOME is designed to be up and run=
ning by early 2026. It will operate one experiment at a time for six months=
..
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Programming, Design & Data Science
|
Handling unique indexes on =
large data in PostgreSQL (10 minute read)
PostgreSQL has a limitation on unique i=
ndex entries larger than 1/3 of a buffer page. The 1/3 page size limit exis=
ts to ensure efficient page splitting. To overcome the restriction, introdu=
ce a new field that stores a hash of the large field. This allows you to st=
ore really large data inside databases, even with unique constraints.
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Adding a feature because Ch=
atGPT incorrectly thinks it exists (5 minute read)
Soundslice is a service that scans shee=
t music from photographs so users can listen, edit, and practice. Over the =
past few months, the team at Soundslice started noticing that their error l=
ogs were full of ASCII tablature, a way of notating music for guitar that t=
he service didn't support. The team discovered that ChatGPT was hallucinati=
ng instructions to users and telling them to go to Soundslice and use a fea=
ture that didn't exist. Instead of posting a notice telling users that Chat=
GPT was incorrect, the team decided to build the feature instead.
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Why I used to prefer permis=
sive licenses and now favor copyleft (10 minute read)
Free open source software is usually pu=
blished under one of two major categories of copyright licenses: permissive=
licenses, which freely share with everyone, or copyleft licenses, which fr=
eely share only with those who are also willing to freely share. Copyleft c=
reates a large pool of code that developers can only legally use if they ar=
e willing to share the source code of anything they build on it, making it =
a very broad-based and neutral way of incentivizing more diffusion. It does=
not favor specific actors nor create roles for active parameter setting by=
central planners.
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The Broken Microsoft Pact: =
Layoffs and Performance Management (9 minute read)
There are stories of people who have be=
en with Microsoft for 20 years, who grew up with the company, and who never=
had to worry about sudden changes. While the performance management system=
had its quirks, there was an understanding that if you did solid work, you=
'd have a place. Workers at Microsoft received below-market-rate pay in exc=
hange for stability, a reasonable work-life balance, and the promise of no =
layoffs - this is no longer the case. This shift was almost expected: Micro=
soft's performance management challenges made layoffs a more attractive opt=
ion than addressing individual performance issues systematically.
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Thanks for reading,
Dan Ni &a=
mp; Stephen =
Flanders
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