How a software update from cyber firm CrowdStrike caused one of the world's biggest IT blackouts (5 minute read)
A fault with an update issued by CrowdStrike led to worldwide outages on Friday. CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity vendor that develops software to help companies detect and block hacks. It uses cloud technology to apply cyber protections to internet connected devices. The software requires deep access to systems to scan for threats. A fix has been issued, but it could be hard to implement - engineers will have to go into each individual data center running Windows to apply the fix, entering complex encryption keys manually for encrypted machines.
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Google wants to steal Ray-Ban maker from Meta for Gemini smart glasses (2 minute read)
Google has approached Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica about putting its Gemini assistant on future smart glasses. Meta was recently in advanced talks with EssilorLuxottica about acquiring a five percent stake in the company. It is unlikely that Meta will lose its partnership with EssilorLuxottica to Google. Google is developing an XR platform and has partnered with Samsung and Qualcomm for a device. It previously partnered with Luxottica prior to its merger with Essilor to make Google Glass.
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Science & Futuristic Technology
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Complete recycle of solid-state batteries possible, thanks to polymer layers (5 minute read)
Solid-state lithium batteries are stable, have a higher energy density, and are much safer than conventional lithium-ion batteries, but they are more difficult to recycle. New research has revealed a practical and efficient way to recycle solid-state batteries. The process results in recycled batteries with over 92 percent of the discharge capacity of the original battery. The research demonstrates that it is possible to recycle solid-state batteries and harness their potential without harming the environment.
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Programming, Design & Data Science
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Let's blame the dev who pressed "Deploy" (6 minute read)
Software developers are often incorrectly held responsible for bugs and outages. The people responsible for these incidents are those who put pressure on software engineers: CEOs, customers, regulators, and other parties in positions of power. Other professionals, such as anesthesiologists or structural engineers, are given the respect they deserve and thus can take responsibility for their work. People ignore software engineers, resulting in broken organizational practices.
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Concerns about passkeys (4 minute read)
Passkeys are a technically interesting idea with many upsides, but they take away power from the user. This article discusses some of the issues with the technology. Passkeys can't be exported, sites can discriminate on which apps and devices passkeys can be stored on, and they rely on more centralized systems. It's bad for society if only vetted and authorized entities can build passkey apps and it's bad for users if they can't choose to use a particular passkey app.
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Inside the fight over California's new AI bill (6 minute read)
California state Senator Scott Wiener's Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models bill requires companies training 'frontier models' that cost more than $100 million to do safety testing and be able to shut off their models in the event of a safety incident. The bill has received heavy criticism from the tech industry. It will affect everyone who does business in California, not just companies that develop their models in California. This article contains an interview with Wiener about the bill and its critics.
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AI paid for by Ads – the gpt-4o mini inflection point (4 minute read)
With OpenAI's recent introduction of GPT-4o mini, it's now possible to build dynamic, AI-generated content entirely supported by ads. Google's AdSense pays approximately $0.0026 per page view. A site could generate results tailored to user search queries and earn a profit after calculating for the cost of the generated content. This post presents a simple example of how this could be done with calculations of how much it would cost/profit.
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