Chernobyl DevOps: Software Engineering, Disaster Management, and Observability (source LinkedIn post by Levent Oner)
Netflix test stops you from using someone else’s password
Luminar, Volvo subsidiary partner to sell automated driving systems to automakers
“…What are the key challenges that will drive the longer-term change agenda? We would highlight three pivotal themes which will drive many others emanating from enterprises, business ecosystems and the natural ecosystem respectively…First, the pandemic has illuminated the need to build resilience. There will be more unexpected shocks in the future, and our research suggests that resilience is not only valuable during crises…Second, the shift to new distribution and working models has accelerated the digital transformation agenda and also raised the associated competitive stakes…Third, climate change will come into even greater focus.“
Cryptominers have already cracked Nvidia’s RTX 3060 hash rate limiter
Scientists developed a clever way to detect Deepfakes by analyzing light reflections in the eyes
Rocket Lab will directly challenge SpaceX with its proposed Neutron launcher
Beeple’s $69 million NFT sale marks a potentially transformative moment for the art world
Jack Dorsey’s first tweet may fetch $2.5 million, he’ll donate the NFT proceeds to charity
Disney+ only needed 16 months to crack 100 million subscribers
How Coupang is ‘out-Amazoning even Amazon,’ according to Goodwater Capital
Amazon Quietly Began Building a Grocery Chain During Pandemic
Understanding Coupang: Setting a New Bar for Global E-Commerce?
Apple to invest $1.2 billion in silicon design center in Germany
Professor Scott Galloway just raised $30 million for an online school that upskills managers fast
SpaceX plans Starlink broadband for trucks, ships, and planes
PayPal to acquire cryptocurrency security startup Curv
Does NFT Art Spell Trouble for Auction Houses and Dealers? (WSJ)
Covid-19 Rewrote the Rules of Shopping. What Is Next? (WSJ) “…A quarter of the nation’s malls will close by 2023…Roughly 40% of mall square footage in China is devoted to food and beverage, compared with 11% in the U.S., according to Ms. Weinswig…Stores morphed into Amazon-style fulfillment centers during the pandemic as retailers looked for places to pack online orders.One reason that won’t change once the economy reopens: It is cheaper. Target said it costs on average 40% less to ship orders that it fulfills from its stores, compared with the expense of shipping from its warehouses…“
Pfizer seeks to store vaccine at higher temperatures, easing logistics…that would allow vials to be stored at -25 to -15 degrees Celsius (-13°F to 5°F) for a total of two weeks.
Square purchased approximately 3,318 bitcoins at an aggregate purchase price of $170 million
Microsoft Word is getting text predictions next month
YouTube to launch parental control features for families with tweens and teens
Airbnb is introducing Flexible Search, which will allow users to forgo putting in exact dates when they look to book lodging on the platform
Spotify to Add 85 New Markets With 1 Billion People
“…When the Perseverance rover sets down on Mars on Thursday, another NASA spacecraft already there will be listening for the thump-thump that will result when the newcomer arrives…”
No 2. cryptocurrency ethereum soars to record high as bitcoin rally continues
“…China dominates battery production today, with 93 “gigafactories” that manufacture lithium-ion battery cells, vs. only four in the United States, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence…”
Sequoia-Backed Grocery App Dingdong Maicai Mulls U.S. IPO
Coupang, South Korean E-Commerce Giant, Unveils U.S. IPO Plan (paywall: WSJ)…Coupang S-1 Document
Microsoft announces Office 2021, available for Windows and macOS later this year
“…Apple has posted multiple job listings indicating that it is hiring engineers to work on 6G technology internally so it does not have to rely on partners like Qualcomm…”
Bill Gates: It’s not too soon to start thinking about the next pandemic
Clubhouse announces plans for creator payments …raised around $100 million led by existing investor Andreessen Horowitz at a $1 billion post-money valuation
Most of the World’s Pilots Are No Longer Flying for a Living
How the chaos of 2020 will shape the next decade, according to 8 design experts
More than 260 airports around the globe are currently at risk of coastal flooding, and dozens could be below mean sea level by the turn of the century, the research published in the journal Climate Risk Management found.
Apple says there are now over 1 billion active iPhones…with 1.65 billion Apple devices in use overall
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature will be enabled by default and arrive in ‘early spring’ on iOS
Facebook predicts ‘significant’ obstacles to ad targeting and revenue in 2021
Facebook also highlighted two broad economic trends that it says it has benefited from during the pandemic:
The “ongoing shift toward online commerce”
“The shift in consumer demand toward products and away from services
Google spells out consequences of Apple’s privacy push and IDFA changes
Google has been testing a new API (a software interface) called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) that acts as an effective replacement signal for third-party cookies. The API exists as a browser extension within Google Chrome.
Tesla reports its first annual profit…Tesla made a $721 million profit thanks to $1.58 billion in regulatory credits.
WhatsApp adds biometric authentication to its web and desktop versions
Tesla is willing to license Autopilot and has already had ‘preliminary discussions’ about it with other automakers
Tesla Model S refreshed with a radically redesigned interior and 520-mile range
Starlink Now Own a Quarter of All Active Satellites…SpaceX adds laser links to Starlink satellites to serve Earth’s polar areas
Peacock hit 33 million signups before The Office even arrived
YouTube has paid more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and others over the last three years
HBO Max hits 40 million US subscribers…two years ahead of schedule
Apple Watch Series 7 Rumored to Feature Blood Glucose Monitoring
Plex is launching a game subscription service filled with Atari games
How WallStreetBets Pushed GameStop Shares to the Moon
Mobility has reached a tipping point. More than 250 new models of battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) will be introduced in the next two years alone, and as many as 130 million EVs could be sharing roads the world over by 2030
The next big thing in retail comes with Chinese characteristics…“…Fitch, a ratings agency, thinks the market for live-stream retail neared 1trn yuan ($153bn) in 2020, double the prior year’s amount…” (Paywall: Economist)
5 ways brands are adapting to shifts in video viewership to drive results
Amazon offers Biden help to speed up vaccine distribution
Elon Musk is donating $100M to find the best carbon capture technology
Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers for the First Time…Streaming giant said it added a record 37 million subscribers in 2020 (Paywall: WSJ) “..With over 500 titles currently in post production or preparing to launch on our service and plans to release at least one new original film every week in 2021 with extraordinary talent, we’re confident we’ll continue to have a great content offering for our members…”
SpaceX anticipates reaching the milestone of 10 uses for at least one Falcon 9 first stage later this year.
Walmart’s e-commerce chief is leaving to build “a city of the future”…Marc Lore, the founder of Jet.com, helped Walmart become the No. 2 online shopping site after Amazon.
Virgin’s rocket reaches orbit for the first time, deploys satellites
Microsoft invests in Cruise in new $2 billion round
WeChat advances e-commerce goals with $250B in transactions
Spotify’s big bet on podcasts is failing, Citi says
Apple testing vapor chamber thermal tech for next-gen iPhone
Smartwatches can help detect COVID-19 days before symptoms appear
Facebook was going to compete with Google for some advertising sales but backed away from the plan after the companies cut a preferential deal, according to court documents.
How Volkswagen’s $50 Billion Plan to Beat Tesla Short-Circuited…”…What they didn’t consider: Electric vehicles are more about software than hardware…With the shift to electric, computing has become the heart of the vehicle, with a central processor managing the battery, running the electric motors, brakes, lights and other critical systems as well as additional features such as entertainment or heating in the seat..“
Google Closes Loon, Its Plan to Use Balloons for Web Access (paywall: WSJ)
USPS banking could help the at least 7 million American households that are unbanked
The DeLorean might be coming back as an electric car
Sequoia Holdings says employees can draw part of salary in cryptocurrencies
Augmented Reality Used in Knee-Replacement Surgery in a U.S. First…Data streamed through smart glasses allow for precise removal of bone and cartilage and accurate positioning of knee implants (Paywall: WSJ)
Cyberpunk Rollout“…Making Cyberpunk would require CD Projekt to invest in new technology, new staff and new techniques they hadn’t explored before… …tried to develop the engine technology behind Cyberpunk 2077, most of which was brand new, simultaneously with the game, which slowed down production… …While The Witcher 3 was created by roughly 240 in-house staff, according to the company, Cyberpunk’s credits show that the game had well over 500 internal developers…”
PC sales finally saw big growth in 2020 after years of steady decline…In total, 91.6 million traditional PCs were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2020.
AT&T is killing off the online-video service formerly known as DirecTV Now and introducing a no-contract option for the newer online service that replaced it.
Qualcomm will acquire chip company founded by Apple execs for $1.4 billion
BMW becomes the latest automaker to shut down its subscription service…Access by BMW was a $2,000-a-month service that launched in 2018
Ford unveils new self-driving test vehicle for 2022 launch
Windows 10X is now Microsoft’s true answer to Chrome OS
Apple Plans Upgraded MacBook Pros With Return of Magnetic Charging
Blue Origin successfully launches and lands key crew capsule test in first mission of 2021
Apple Considers Foldable iPhone; Minor Changes Planned for 2021 Models
Telegram adds 25 million new users in just 72 hours
Nuclear fusion tech developer General Fusion now has Shopify and Amazon founders backing it
YouTube and WhatsApp inch closer to half a billion users in India
Upgrade launches checking accounts and debit cards
Elon Musk’s SpaceX starts testing Starlink broadband service in the English countryside
Chips Are in Hot Demand—and That’s a Problem (Paywall: WSJ)
FAA Approves First Fully Automated Commercial Drone Flights (Paywall: WSJ)
Deliveroo may be heading for an April initial public offering at a valuation of $13.6 billion.
Amazon, Walmart Tell Consumers to Skip Returns of Unwanted Items…using artificial intelligence to decide whether it makes economic sense to process a return.
Cowen analysts wrote that they estimate Amazon’s ad revenue to rise to $26.1 billion in 2021, and rise to $85.2 billion by 2026.
Rediscovering RISC-V: Apple M1 sparks renewed interest in non-x86 architectures
Xbox: The Oral History of an American Video Game Empire…The original product was ungainly, over-budget and nearly canceled. Here’s how it became a hit and reshaped an industry
Mandatory WhatsApp Privacy Policy Update Allows User Data to be Shared With Facebook
Apple’s App Store had gross sales around $64 billion last year and it’s growing strongly again
The First Pig-to-Human Organ Transplants Could Happen This Year
Microsoft is building a new Outlook app for Windows and Mac powered by the web
Google’s iOS apps haven’t been updated in weeks. Could Apple’s privacy labels be the reason?
Amazon Makes First Aircraft Purchase to Expand Cargo Network…Retailer will buy 11 767-300 planes from Delta, WestJet…Amazon expects fleet to have more than 85 jets by end of 2022
Their observations, plus a bit of cosmic geometry, suggest that the universe is 13.77 billion years old—give or take 40 million years. A Cornell University researcher co-authored one of two papers about the findings