Subj : Apple halts Vision Pro ¨, H5N1 pandemic likelihood ¨, 2025 AI predictions ¨ To : tldr@synchro.net From : TLDR Date : Thu Jan 02 2025 11:36:07 --dgPKSOog Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Apple may have ceased production of its first-generation Vision Pro heads= et. Scaling back of production began in the early summer.=C2=A0=E2=80= =8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0= =E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2= =A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C= =C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80= =8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0= =E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80= =8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0= =E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2= =A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C= =C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80= =8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0 = Sign Up [1] |Advertise [2]|View Online [3]=20 =09=09TLDR=20 TLDR = 2025-01-02 =F0=9F=93=B1=20 BIG TECH & STARTUPS APPLE VISION P= RO MAY NOW BE OUT OF PRODUCTION (3 MINUTE READ) [4]=20 Apple may have c= eased production of its first-generation Vision Pro headset. Scaling back= of production began in the early summer. It is not unusual for Apple to = do this with low-demand products. Suppliers have produced the enough comp= onents for between 500,000 to 600,000 headsets. Apple is apparently able = to resume production if sales pick up as the production lines haven't bee= n dismantled yet.=20 STATCOUNTER: MICROSOFT EDGE HAS 13.21%, CHROME IS = GETTING EVEN MORE POPULAR (2 MINUTE READ) [5]=20 Google Chrome increa= sed its market share in December. It began 2025 with a strong 66.88% mark= et share, increasing by 1.65 points compared to the same time last year. = Microsoft Edge is the second most popular browser with a 13.21% market sh= are. Apple's Safari comes third with 8.49% of the desktop browser market.= =20 =F0=9F=9A=80=20 SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY 9 INTRIGUIN= G ENGINEERING FEATS FOR 2025 (4 MINUTE READ) [6]=20 This article covers= nine engineering projects planned for this year. These include MethaneSa= t, a satellite that anyone can use to pinpoint specific problem areas and= track emissions of methane more broadly; a processing site for radioacti= ve nuclear waste; a personal aircraft called the Airhart Sling that anyon= e can fly in under an hour; Rocket Lab's Neutron, a reusable booster capa= ble of launching 13,000 kilograms to low earth orbit; and profitable robo= taxis.=20 HOW AI IS UNLOCKING ANCIENT TEXTS =E2=80=94 AND COULD REWRITE= HISTORY (15 MINUTE READ) [7]=20 Artificial neural networks are being= used to decipher ancient texts. The technology is producing more data fo= r scholars than they've had for centuries. It is making sense of vast arc= hives, filling in missing and unreadable characters, and decoding rare an= d lost languages. The technology promises a fundamentally new way to expl= ore ancient sources.=20 =F0=9F=92=BB=20 PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA = SCIENCE BRING THE REAL WORLD TO UNREAL ENGINE (WEBSITE) [8]=20 Ce= sium for Unreal unlocks a 3D geospatial ecosystem for game engines. It al= lows users to create digital worlds from real-world 3D content. The free = plugin provides a full-scale, high-accuracy WGS84 globe for Unreal Engine= .. It can visualize massive high-resolution real-world photogrammetry and = 3D content at runtime using 3D Tiles. Cesium is integrated with UE featur= es to enable a high degree of interactivity, physical realism, and photor= ealism.=20 DATABASES IN 2024: A YEAR IN REVIEW (26 MINUTE READ) [9]=20 = This article looks at what happened in the world of databases over th= e last year. It covers licensing changes, the Databricks vs Snowflake gan= g war, DuckDB's entry into the zeitgeist as the default choice for runnin= g analytical queries on data, acquisitions, funding, dead projects, and m= ore. The upcoming year will be a test of strength for many database start= ups. Declining interest rates may open up additional funding for several = database companies.=20 =F0=9F=8E=81=20 MISCELLANEOUS H5N1: MUCH= MORE THAN YOU WANTED TO KNOW (24 MINUTE READ) [10]=20 All pandemic flu= s started as bird flus - influenza A evolved in birds but it sometimes sp= reads to other animals, including pigs, cattle, and humans. The most comm= on way for a bird flu to spread to humans is to 'reassort' with a human f= lu virus, which results in a virus with all of the human flu virus' human= adaptations, but with enough new antigens from the bird virus to evade t= he immune system. Pigs can be infected by both human and bird viruses, so= they are a common place for this reassortment to take place. Humans can = catch animal diseases without the disease having 'crossed over' to humans= , but every viral replication that takes place in a human who has both a = bird and a normal human flu gives the virus an extra chance to reassort i= n a way that produces a bird-antigen-fortified human-adapted flu virus. = 2024 IN AI PREDICTIONS (14 MINUTE READ) [11]=20 This article con= tains a list of predictions made in 2024 by prominent people in the AI in= dustry about AI development over the next couple of decades. It also revi= ews some of the predictions made about 2024. Elon Musk thinks that AI wil= l probably be smarter than any single human by the end of this year. Howe= ver, Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun have both said that it will take much= longer, possibly even two decades.=20 =E2=9A=A1=20 QUICK LINKS = INTERNAL SPACEX DOCUMENTS SHOW THE SWEET STOCK DEALS OFFERED TO INVESTOR= S LIKE A16Z, GIGAFUND (7 MINUTE READ) [12]=20 a16z was authorized to bu= y nearly 4.3 million shares for almost $300 million and Gigafund, whose c= o-founder is a SpaceX board member, was allocated over 1.4 million shares= at a cost of nearly $100 million.=20 REJECTION (2 MINUTE READ) [13] = It's best not to take rejections personally and move on, but not b= efore fixing any mistakes brought up by the rejection.=20 MISTAKES ENGI= NEERS MAKE IN LARGE ESTABLISHED CODEBASES (6 MINUTE READ) [14]=20 The= biggest mistake is not maintaining consistency - consistency protects de= velopers from nasty surprises, slows down codebases' progression into a m= ess, and allows developers to take advantage of future improvements.=20 = HOW TO WRITE COMPLEX SOFTWARE (11 MINUTE READ) [15]=20 This post de= scribes a general method for writing complex software with some specific = techniques and guiding heuristics.=20 SMOLAGENTS (GITHUB REPO) [16]=20 = smolagents is a library that enables users to run powerful agents wit= h a few lines of code.=20 WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN 2025 (2 MINUTE READ) [17]= =20 13 predictions on things that may happen this year.=20 Love TLDR= ? Tell your friends and get rewards! Share your referral link below w= ith friends to get free TLDR swag!=20 https://refer.tldr.tech/1fd848fa/= [18]=20 =09=09 Track your referrals here. [19]=20 Want to advertise = in TLDR? =F0=9F=93=B0 If your company is interested in reaching an au= dience of tech executives, decision-makers and engineers, you may want to= ADVERTISE WITH US [20].=20 If you have any comments or feedback, jus= t respond to this email!=20 Thanks for reading,=20 Dan Ni & Stephen Flan= ders=20 If you don't want to receive future editions of TLDR, please u= nsubscribe from TLDR [21] or manage all of your TLDR newsletter subscript= ions [22].=20 =20 Links: ------ [1] https://tldr.tech/signup?utm_= source=3Dtldr [2] https://advertise.tldr.tech/?utm_source=3Dtldr&utm_medi= um=3Dnewsletter&utm_campaign=3Dadvertisetopnav [3] https://a.tldrnewslett= er.com/web-version?ep=3D1&lc=3Db5bb39ac-a04f-11ee-8692-6388dbdd6fd1&p=3Dcc8= af9d4-c8e3-11ef-becf-313d0c6641d2&pt=3Dcampaign&t=3D1735817767&s=3D8e613e74= 554f1faad15c95a5310a423d74967c3419f17dc82efbb07926dcc776 [4] https://www.= macrumors.com/2024/12/31/vision-pro-may-be-out-of-production/?utm_source=3D= tldrnewsletter [5] https://www.neowin.net/news/statcounter-microsoft-edge= -has-1321-chrome-is-getting-even-more-popular/?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter= [6] https://spectrum.ieee.org/technology-in-2025?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsle= tter [7] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-04161-z?utm_source=3D= tldrnewsletter [8] https://cesium.com/platform/cesium-for-unreal/?utm_sou= rce=3Dtldrnewsletter [9] https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pavlo/blog/2025/01/2024-= databases-retrospective.html?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [10] https://www= ..astralcodexten.com/p/h5n1-much-more-than-you-wanted-to?utm_source=3Dtldrne= wsletter [11] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CJ4sppkGcbnGMSG2r/2024-in-a= i-predictions?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [12] https://techcrunch.com/202= 5/01/01/internal-spacex-documents-show-the-sweet-stock-deals-offered-to-inv= estors-like-a16z-gigafund/?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [13] https://maths= todon.xyz/@tao/113721192051328193?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [14] https:= //www.seangoedecke.com/large-established-codebases/?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsle= tter [15] https://grantslatton.com/how-to-software?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsl= etter [16] https://github.com/huggingface/smolagents?utm_source=3Dtldrnew= sletter [17] https://links.tldrnewsletter.com/DL98kN [18] https://refer= ..tldr.tech/1fd848fa/ [19] https://hub.sparklp.co/sub_32edf8dd66ae/1 [20= ] https://advertise.tldr.tech/?utm_source=3Dtldr&utm_medium=3Dnewsletter&ut= m_campaign=3Dadvertisecta [21] https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/unsubscribe?e= p=3D1&l=3Dcfa2d55a-b7be-11e8-a3c9-06b79b628af2&lc=3Db5bb39ac-a04f-11ee-8692= -6388dbdd6fd1&p=3Dcc8af9d4-c8e3-11ef-becf-313d0c6641d2&pt=3Dcampaign&pv=3D4= &spa=3D1735815638&t=3D1735817767&s=3D73729e4cd0b0f88343cc9b606e7a92f7e91681= 3e71431ccfbc3856bb936a2e6f [22] https://tldr.tech/tech/manage?email=3Dtld= r%40synchro.net --dgPKSOog Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable TLDR
Apple may = have ceased production of its first-generation Vision Pro headset. Scaling = back of production began in the early summer. =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C  =E2= =80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2= =80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2= =80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2= =80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2= =80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2= =80=8C 

TLDR

TLDR 2025-01-02

=F0=9F= =93=B1

Big Tech & Startups

Apple Vision Pro May Now Be= Out of Production (3 minute read)

Apple may have ceased production of its= first-generation Vision Pro headset. Scaling back of production began in t= he early summer. It is not unusual for Apple to do this with low-demand pro= ducts. Suppliers have produced the enough components for between 500,000 to= 600,000 headsets. Apple is apparently able to resume production if sales p= ick up as the production lines haven't been dismantled yet.
Statcounter: Microsoft Edge= has 13.21%, Chrome is getting even more popular (2 minute read)

Google Chrome increased its market shar= e in December. It began 2025 with a strong 66.88% market share, increasing = by 1.65 points compared to the same time last year. Microsoft Edge is the s= econd most popular browser with a 13.21% market share. Apple's Safari comes= third with 8.49% of the desktop browser market.
=F0=9F= =9A=80

Science & Futuristic Technology

9 Intriguing Engineering Fe= ats for 2025 (4 minute read)

This article covers nine engineering pr= ojects planned for this year. These include MethaneSat, a satellite that an= yone can use to pinpoint specific problem areas and track emissions of meth= ane more broadly; a processing site for radioactive nuclear waste; a person= al aircraft called the Airhart Sling that anyone can fly in under an hour; = Rocket Lab's Neutron, a reusable booster capable of launching 13,000 kilogr= ams to low earth orbit; and profitable robotaxis.
How AI is unlocking ancient= texts =E2=80=94 and could rewrite history (15 minute read)

Artificial neural networks are being us= ed to decipher ancient texts. The technology is producing more data for sch= olars than they've had for centuries. It is making sense of vast archives, = filling in missing and unreadable characters, and decoding rare and lost la= nguages. The technology promises a fundamentally new way to explore ancient= sources.
=F0=9F= =92=BB

Programming, Design & Data Science

Bring the real world to Unr= eal Engine (Website)

Cesium for Unreal unlocks a 3D geospati= al ecosystem for game engines. It allows users to create digital worlds fro= m real-world 3D content. The free plugin provides a full-scale, high-accura= cy WGS84 globe for Unreal Engine. It can visualize massive high-resolution = real-world photogrammetry and 3D content at runtime using 3D Tiles. Cesium = is integrated with UE features to enable a high degree of interactivity, ph= ysical realism, and photorealism.
Databases in 2024: A Year i= n Review (26 minute read)

This article looks at what happened in = the world of databases over the last year. It covers licensing changes, the= Databricks vs Snowflake gang war, DuckDB's entry into the zeitgeist as the= default choice for running analytical queries on data, acquisitions, fundi= ng, dead projects, and more. The upcoming year will be a test of strength f= or many database startups. Declining interest rates may open up additional = funding for several database companies.
=F0=9F= =8E=81

Miscellaneous

<= /div>
H5N1: Much More Than You Wa= nted To Know (24 minute read)

All pandemic flus started as bird flus = - influenza A evolved in birds but it sometimes spreads to other animals, i= ncluding pigs, cattle, and humans. The most common way for a bird flu to sp= read to humans is to 'reassort' with a human flu virus, which results in a = virus with all of the human flu virus' human adaptations, but with enough n= ew antigens from the bird virus to evade the immune system. Pigs can be inf= ected by both human and bird viruses, so they are a common place for this r= eassortment to take place. Humans can catch animal diseases without the dis= ease having 'crossed over' to humans, but every viral replication that take= s place in a human who has both a bird and a normal human flu gives the vir= us an extra chance to reassort in a way that produces a bird-antigen-fortif= ied human-adapted flu virus.
2024 in AI predictions (14 = minute read)

This article contains a list of predict= ions made in 2024 by prominent people in the AI industry about AI developme= nt over the next couple of decades. It also reviews some of the predictions= made about 2024. Elon Musk thinks that AI will probably be smarter than an= y single human by the end of this year. However, Geoffrey Hinton and Yann L= eCun have both said that it will take much longer, possibly even two decade= s.
=E2=9A= =A1

Quick Links

Internal SpaceX documents s= how the sweet stock deals offered to investors like a16z, Gigafund (7 minut= e read)

a16z was authorized to buy nearly 4.3 m= illion shares for almost $300 million and Gigafund, whose co-founder is a S= paceX board member, was allocated over 1.4 million shares at a cost of near= ly $100 million.
Rejection (2 minute read)

It's best not to take rejections person= ally and move on, but not before fixing any mistakes brought up by the reje= ction.
Mistakes engineers make in = large established codebases (6 minute read)

The biggest mistake is not maintaining = consistency - consistency protects developers from nasty surprises, slows d= own codebases' progression into a mess, and allows developers to take advan= tage of future improvements.
How to write complex softwa= re (11 minute read)

This post describes a general method fo= r writing complex software with some specific techniques and guiding heuris= tics.
smolagents (GitHub Repo)

smolagents is a library that enables us= ers to run powerful agents with a few lines of code.
What Will Happen In 2025 (2= minute read)

13 predictions on things that may happe= n this year.

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Dan Ni & Stephen Flanders


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