Welcome to the third issue of Tech Tuesdays!
Here’s what I found interesting this week:
Zero-click, wormable, cross-platform remote code execution in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft accepted this chain of bugs as "Important" (severity), "Spoofing" (impact) in O365 cloud bug bounty program. That is one of the lowest in-scope ratings possible.
Agents raid home of fired Florida data scientist who built Covid-19 dashboard
State police brandishing firearms Monday raided the Tallahassee home of Rebekah Jones, the former Department of Health employee who built the state's much-praised COVID-19 dashboard before being fired over what she said was refusing to "manipulate data." "They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids," Jones tweeted shortly before 5 p.m.
AMD CPU sales skyrocket with Ryzen 5000 launch, leaving Intel in the dust
The breakdown of German retailer MindFactory’s sales, as provided by Reddit user Ingebor who delivers monthly stat updates, shows that AMD sold 35,000 units of Ryzen 5000 and Ryzen 3000 CPUs (and a scattering of 2nd-gen chips), whereas Intel only managed a tally of just over 5,000 units shifted.
Google illegally spied on workers before firing them, US labor board alleges
Google violated US labor laws by spying on workers who were organizing employee protests, then firing two of them, according to a complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today.
Apple announces AirPods Max
AirPods Max combine a custom acoustic design, H1 chips, and advanced software to power computational audio for a breakthrough listening experience with Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency mode, and spatial audio.
M1 Macs: Truth and Truthiness
John Gruber’s take on the new Apple M1.
AI researcher Timnit Gebru resigns from Google
Last week, a prominent a co-leader of the Ethical Artificial Intelligence team at Google sent an email to her colleagues. Timnit Gebru had been working on a research paper that she hoped to publish, but ran into resistance from her superiors at Google. And so she sent a letter expressing her frustration to the internal listserv Google Brain Women and Allies.
Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
It's unclear how the departures of wealthy individuals and businesses will affect San Francisco's bottom line, and neither the mayor's office nor the city's Office of Economic and Workforce Development responded to requests for comment.
Stripe Treasury
Stripe Treasury is a banking-as-a-service API that lets you embed financial services in your marketplace or platform. With a single integration, enable your customers to hold funds, pay bills, earn interest, and manage cash flow.
Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Slack
“Stewart and his team have built one of the most beloved platforms in enterprise software history, with an incredible ecosystem around it,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO, Salesforce. “This is a match made in heaven. Together, Salesforce and Slack will shape the future of enterprise software and transform the way everyone works in the all-digital, work-from-anywhere world. I’m thrilled to welcome Slack to the Salesforce Ohana once the transaction closes.”
Amazon reportedly has Pinkerton agents surveil workers who try to form unions
According to documents, Amazon reportedly runs a surveillance program to track activism among its workers. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Lauren Gurley of Motherboard magazine, who broke the story.
The way we train AI is fundamentally flawed
The process used to build most of the machine-learning models we use today can't tell if they will work in the real world or not—and that’s a problem.
AWS Lambda pricing now per ms
Duration is calculated from the time your code begins executing until it returns or otherwise terminates, rounded up to the nearest 1ms now.
Ethereum 2.0 launches
Ethereum 2.0, also known as Eth2 or “Serenity”, is an upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain. The upgrade aims to enhance the speed, efficiency, and scalability of the Ethereum network so that it can process more transactions and ease bottlenecks.
Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B
Aurora, which was founded in 2017, is focused on building the full self-driving stack, the underlying technology that will allow vehicles to navigate highways and city streets without a human driver behind the wheel.
A team of Johns Hopkins University researchers has developed a new software that could revolutionize how DNA is sequenced
The software, detailed in a paper published in Nature Biotechnology, can be used with portable sequencing devices to accelerate the ability to conduct genetic tests and deliver diagnoses outside of labs.
I tried Parler, the social media app where hate speech thrives
Beneath the thin guise of the app’s self-proclaimed emphasis on “free speech” lies the ability to say not just a hypothetical “anything,” but specifically to share racist slurs and violent threats toward political opponents.
No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time
Singapore’s approval of chicken cells grown in bioreactors is seen as a landmark moment across the industry.
The Reality of Psychedelic Therapy [Video]
This is the story of how incredible new research is bringing the therapeutic benefits of magic mushrooms, LSD, MDMA, and DMT to light – and how the War on Drugs has needlessly held this research back for 50 years.
Drone Footage of Arecibo Observatory Collapse
Completed in 1963 and stewarded by U.S. National Science Foundation since the 1970s, Arecibo Observatory has contributed to many important scientific discoveries, including the demonstration of gravitational waves from a binary pulsar, the first discovery of an extrasolar planet, composition of the ionosphere, and the characterization of the properties and orbits of a number of potentially hazardous asteroids.
14 nations commit to protect oceans
The group of 14 looks nothing like the usual assemblage of international leaders recruited for global initiatives. France, with its vast array of overseas territories that gives it one of the planet’s largest ocean footprints, was not invited. Nor were the powerhouse players of Russia, China, or the United States.
A Modern JavaScript Tutorial
How it's done now. From the basics to advanced topics with simple, but detailed explanations. The main course contains 2 parts that cover JavaScript as a programming language and working with a browser. There are also additional series of thematic articles.
Teddit: a free and open-source Reddit front end focused on privacy
Teddit doesn't require you to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. The source is available on Codeberg at https://codeberg.org/teddit/teddit.
Face masks considerably reduce COVID-19 cases in Germany
20 days after becoming mandatory face masks have reduced the number of new infections by around 45%. Economic costs are close to zero compared to other public health measures.
5G Truthers Bought Faraday Cages to Protect Their Routers. They're Mad They Worked.
Sadly, this isn't the first time con artists have used radiation scare tactics to earn a quick buck by preying on some genuinely concerned (but woefully misled) customers.
2020 is a 'preview' of how bad things can get if we don't fix climate change, other systemic problems: Lancet report
In 2018 in the U.S. alone, pollution caused more than 68,000 people to die prematurely.
An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed using a satellite-controlled machine gun.
The gun was so accurate that the scientist's wife, who was sitting in the same car, was not injured.
Study links regular use of Fox News, Twitter, and Facebook to reduced knowledge about COVID-19
It provides evidence that Americans’ media consumption habits and trust in government predicts their level of knowledge about COVID-19.
This Japanese Shop Is 1,020 Years Old. It Knows a Bit About Surviving Crises
A mochi seller in Kyoto, and many of Japan’s other centuries-old businesses, have endured by putting tradition and stability over profit and growth.
Thanks for reading!
If you got any comments or just want to brainstorm, email me at jacob@unhype.com.