Microsoft's Designer app arrives on iOS and Android with AI editing and creation (3 minute read)
Microsoft's AI-powered Designer app is now available to anyone with a personal Microsoft account on Windows, iOS, and Android. The app allows users to create custom images, stickers, greeting cards, and more using templates. It uses AI to create and edit images on the go. Designer can edit and remove backgrounds, remove people or objects from images, and add text and branding to images. The app gives users 15 free daily 'boosts' that can be used to create or edit AI-powered images and designs. Upgrading to a Copilot Pro subscription gives users 100 boosts per day.
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Meta won't offer future multimodal AI models in EU (3 minute read)
Meta will withhold its next multimodal AI model from customers in the EU because of a lack of clarity from regulators. Apple has also said it won't release its Apple Intelligence features in Europe because of similar concerns. Meta plans to incorporate its new multimodal models in a wide range of products, including smartphones and its Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. The upcoming larger text-only version of Meta's Llama 3 model will be available in the EU.
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Science & Futuristic Technology
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Researchers track individual neurons as they respond to words (5 minute read)
A recent study into the mechanism of human language comprehension aimed to figure out if there was any structure to the neuronal response to language. It involved playing recorded sets of words to patients who had implants that monitored the activity of neurons located in their left prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain largely responsible for processing language. The study found that the neurons' responses changed based on context - neurons in certain areas would light up if the patient heard specific words. Words presented with context elicited a stronger response compared to when the context was not available.
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'Supermodel granny' drug extends life in animals (6 minute read)
Researchers have discovered a drug that increases the life spans of laboratory animals by nearly 25%. It works by lowering levels of a protein called interleukin-11, which is associated with higher levels of inflammation and other factors that control the pace of aging. Mice with decreased interleukin-11 had lower levels of cancer, improved muscle function, were leaner, had healthier fur, and scored better on many measures of frailty. The drug is already being tested in people, but it is unknown whether it will have the same anti-aging effect.
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Programming, Design & Data Science
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The Pitfalls of In-App Browsers (9 minute read)
In-app browsers have limited functionality, privacy and security concerns, inconsistent UI/UX, and worse performance than normal browsers. Businesses use in-app browsers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by injecting arbitrary JavaScript code and intercepting network traffic. This allows them to watch what users are doing within their in-app browsers. Websites can detect when in-app browsers are being used and offer links to users to open them in the default browser instead.
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What are the ways compilers recognize complex patterns? (6 minute read)
While there are a lot of techniques that could be used to apply to certain types of optimization, sometimes compilers will opt to look for a more-or-less hardcoded pattern. Compilers must consider many tradeoffs when choosing what optimizations to perform and how to perform them. Extremely sophisticated algorithms may be avoided because they can be expensive, too complex, or not broadly applicable. Hardcoded optimizations are fairly cheap and the maintenance burden is very low.
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The Greatest Educational Life Hack: Learning Math Ahead of Time (18 minute read)
Learning math early guards you against numerous academic risks and opens doors to all kinds of career opportunities. It can make one appear to be a genius in others' eyes and help them get a ticket to those opportunities usually reserved for top students. Faster learning leads to an earlier career start, which results in greater productivity and accomplishments over the course of a career. It is a myth that learning math early is inappropriate for students' social/emotional and cognitive/academic development. A student is ready for advanced mathematics once they have mastered the prerequisites.
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Everything I know about how to start a company (3 minute read)
Factors that matter most for starting a company are market, team, growth, cycle time, ideas, new technology, and competition. Startups should build minimal viable experiments and make a list of unknowns. The exact idea is unimportant as long as founders are talking to the right customers, so pick markets over a specific idea. Fund only what is needed to run your experiment. Start small - you will get good at whatever you spend time on.
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