📰 News

🏢 Utopia in corduroy concrete: the mesmerising architecture of a Mexican master

An exhibition at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles explores the work of Mexican-Austrian architect, Alejandro Zohn, whose "merging of utopian and vernacular elements" created "functional and sculptural works"; and features the work of five contemporary artists "[finding] glimpses of his utopian desire amidst the chaos, beauty and violence of everyday life".

🌊 Scientists Discover Leak in the Bottom of the Ocean – Futurism

Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered a hole in the bottom of the sea off the coast of Oregon named "Pythias' Oasis" that is leaking almost freshwater, which they believe could be a tectonic lubricant, posing a danger of big plate shifts to the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

💰 The end of the ‘free money’ era

The end of the "free money" era, brought on by rising interest rates and the decline of zero marginal costs, could lead to significant changes in the tech industry and its investment ecosystem in the next decade.

🚫 Google will shut down Dropcam and Nest Secure in 2024

Google will be shutting down support for Dropcam and Nest Secure home security systems by April 8th, 2024, giving one year's notice as it prepares to integrate more products into the Google Home app. Nest Protect smart smoke alarms are the only remaining app-only Nest devices, and Google has promised to bring them to the new Google Home app. WorkswithNest connections will also be shut down by September 29th, 2023. Eligible Nest Secure customers will be contacted with an exclusive offer for a next-generation security system from ADT or $200 to use on the Google Store.

🌍 What if the US followed Germany and shut down its nuclear plants?

A new analysis shows that a drop in nuclear power in the current US grid will cause enough pollution to result in over 5,000 deaths each year, disproportionately affecting Black Americans, but on a future grid where renewables offset the loss of nuclear, almost all of these additional deaths can be avoided.

🐦 NPR becomes first major news organization to leave Twitter

NPR has become the first major news organization to leave Twitter after the social media platform labeled the network as “US state-affiliated media”, with the decision coming as Elon Musk’s relationship with the press deteriorates at an astonishing rate.

💸 The mounting human and environmental costs of generative AI

The increasing environmental, financial, and labor costs of generative AI models and datasets, caused by the need for rare minerals, energy, and expensive hardware, have been highlighted by researcher Sasha Luccioni in an op-ed for Ars Technica.

🖨 Windows 11 beta changes what the Print Screen button does after 33 years

Windows 11 beta changes the default function of the Print Screen button to open the Snipping Tool instead of copying to the clipboard, modernizing a feature that dates back to the MS-DOS era.

📈 YouTube is giving Premium subscribers higher-quality video than everyone else

YouTube is rolling out an "enhanced" 1080p HD video quality for Premium subscribers, available only on iOS for now, along with other features like the ability to watch videos with friends and family members using FaceTime via SharePlay and a premium queuing feature.

👻 PassGAN, the supposedly “terrifying” AI password cracker that’s mostly hype

Recent news reports claim that an AI-based password cracker tool named PassGAN can crack any password with up to seven characters in under six minutes, but experts say these claims are mostly hype, and conventional cracking methods are just as effective.

🤖 The NYPD is bringing back its robot dog

The New York Police Department is reintroducing its Digidog, a controversial robot dog made by Boston Dynamics, for use in life-threatening situations, sparking concerns about surveillance and the weaponization of police.

💻 Microsoft is slowly rolling out ads in the Windows 11 start menu

A "small" number of Windows 11 users will now see "notifications" encouraging them to use other Microsoft products when clicking on the Windows Start Menu, prompting many Windows users to complain about Microsoft's attempt to insert more native ads into its operating system.

💡📚 Articles

🏗 Abstractions in system architecture design (6 min read)

Abstractions: Simplifying Complexity to Enable Faster Decision-Making. Discover how abstractions can help software development teams explain complex systems in simpler terms, enabling better communication and understanding between various team members, and ultimately leading to faster decision-making.

🧱 Splitting Monolith into Micro-services (Part 2) (4 min read)

Unleashing the Power of Microservices: Practical Tips and Techniques for Splitting Your Monolith into Microservices (Part 2)

🚀 Deploying the full three-tier application (6 min read)

Part 2 of our infrastructure deployment involves deploying the whole stack, including VPC, subnets, autoscaling groups, security groups, load balancers, EC2 instances, Nat Gateways, and an RDS instance, all provisioned using Terraform. We also have a user-friendly tutorial on how to run our presentation and application tiers in Docker containers, test the application, and destroy the infrastructure. Check out our blog for more details and source code.

💻 System Design: System Design Interviews (4 min read)

Cracking the System Design Interview: Common Strategies and Techniques

👨 Introduction to Aspect Orient Programming (AOP) (7 min read)

Unveiling the Magic of Aspect-Oriented Programming: Simplifying Cross-Cutting Concerns

🏰 Software Architecture: The Rules of Engagement (7 min read)

"Unveiling the Mindset of an Architect: The 7 Rules of Engagement" - Learn how effective architects operate in balance of trade-offs, bridge the gap between tech and business, keep it simple, and define principles to make the right decisions. Discover practical considerations and lessons learned in this thought-provoking blog post.

👨‍💻 Repositories

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