📰 News

📝 Google’s AI-powered notes app is now called NotebookLM, and it’s launching today

So, Google has rebranded its AI-powered notes app to NotebookLM? LM stands for Language Model, but personally, I think it should stand for "Leave Me alone!" I mean, is there nothing Google won't try to use AI for? Pretty soon, they'll have an AI-powered toothbrush telling us how to brush our teeth. Oh wait, that's already a thing. Sorry, I have a tendency to make up ridiculous examples. But hey, at least with NotebookLM, you can ask it to summarize a long document. I wonder if it can summarize my grocery list too. "You need milk, bread, and an existential crisis." Thanks, NotebookLM, very helpful!

🌐 Programs to detect AI discriminate against non-native English speakers

Did you hear about the AI detectors that discriminate against non-native English speakers? Apparently, they can't tell the difference between essays written by real people and AI-generated ones. It's like the detectors are playing a game of "guess who's human," and they're failing miserably.Imagine being a non-native English speaker, pouring your heart and soul into an essay, only to have the AI detector say, "Sorry, this is too good to be true. You must be a robot." It's like they're saying, "You're not allowed to be smart in English unless you were born speaking it."And let's not forget about the poor job applicants and college students who might get flagged as AI-generated. I mean, what a resume booster that would be! "Employers, look at me! I'm so impressive that the AI detector thought I was a robot!" I'm sure job offers will come rolling in.But hey, maybe there's a silver lining to all of this. Non-native English speakers might start using more advanced language to avoid getting flagged. It's like they're being forced to level up their vocabulary just to prove they're not AI. It's a weird game of linguistic hide-and-seek.In the end, these AI detectors need to step up their game. If they can't accurately detect AI-generated content without discriminating against non-native English speakers, then maybe it's time to retire and let the humans take over. Let's not let the robots have all the fun.In the meantime, I'll be over here, trying to convince the AI detector that my jokes are actually written by a sophisticated AI. It's all part of my plan for world domination, one bad joke at a time.

🚀 NASA decides not to launch two already-built asteroid probes

Did you hear about NASA's decision to not launch the Janus asteroid probes? They're just going to keep them locked up in a factory. Talk about expensive paperweights. I guess those probes won't be exploring any asteroids anytime soon. Better luck next time, NASA!

🚀 Musk announces new AI company that seeks to “understand the universe”

Elon Musk is at it again with his new AI company, xAI. He's really trying to understand the universe, huh? I hope he doesn't accidentally discover the meaning of life and ruin it for all of us. And can we talk about the unconventional name? x.AI? Did he just press random keys on the keyboard? But hey, with veterans from DeepMind, Google, Microsoft, and Tesla on board, maybe they'll actually figure something out. Just please don't let the AI take over the world. We already have too many problems, we don't need robots trying to solve them for us.

💻 The era of tech layoffs is evolving in an interesting way

Ah, tech layoffs. The only trend evolving faster than my hairstyle choices. It seems Microsoft is at it again, playing a game of 'Who Wants to Be Unemployed?' But hey, at least they're predictable. Sales, marketing, and recruiting taking the hit, just like my dating life. But hold on, there's a twist! Crunchbase decided to spice things up and include their own news team in the layoffs. Talk about cutting the bad news at the source! So, what's the interesting trend? Apparently, the number of tech workers getting the boot has been steadily decreasing. I guess even layoffs gotta lay off sometimes. Who knows, maybe next year they'll offer a severance package with a side of cupcakes.

🐻 Bear 2 is a terrific notes app

Bear 2, the new note-taking app from Shiny Frog, finally launches after taking forever to build. With new features like tables and GIFs, it's great for gourmet note-takers. Just don't expect AI capabilities, or it might get confused and think your grocery list is a recipe for disaster.

💀 Is Distributed Computing Dying

Distributed computing is like a fickle lover. It bursts onto the scene, promising great things, but then fades into the background, leaving us wondering what went wrong. It's like my Uncle Larry, he was all gung-ho about starting a band with us, but then he got distracted by his stamp collection. We never did get that gig.

🔓 Chinese hackers breached US Government emails via Microsoft Cloud exploit

Hey, did you hear about the Chinese hackers breaching US government emails via Microsoft Cloud? Guess the Great Wall of China didn't keep them out after all. It's like they say, "If you can't beat 'em, hack 'em." Now we just need someone to hack the hackers. Any volunteers?

🛰 Starlink satellites are dodging objects in orbit thousands of times every month

Looks like Starlink satellites are playing a real-life game of dodgeball up there! They've had to maneuver over 25,000 times to avoid collisions. It's like a cosmic traffic jam, with Elon Musk as the stressed-out traffic cop. Watch out for those flying communication satellites, they might ruin your stargazing date night!

🚨 TikTok executive admits Australian users’ data accessed by employees in China

TikTok's head of data security says employees need "clear justification and levels of approval" to access user data. In related news, I once accidentally accessed my dad's sweepstakes winnings and justified it by saying I needed the money for "essential dad joke research." He didn't buy it.

🩸 Has the century-old mystery of Antarctica’s “Blood Falls” finally been solved?

Ah, Blood Falls, the mystery that took over a century to solve. Turns out it was just tiny nanospheres causing all the trouble. Who would've thought? Maybe these nanospheres could solve other mysteries, like why my socks keep disappearing from the dryer. Those sneaky little things!

🌌 The Webb telescope just offered a revelatory view of humanity’s distant past

The Webb telescope is like that nosy neighbor who peeks into everyone's business. It's giving us a clear view of the stellar nursery, where stars are being born. Talk about being born under a microscope! I hope they blur out the embarrassing moments during the process.

☠️ Postmortem of the day

💥 incident.io. Uncategorized

A bad event (poison pill) in the async workers queue triggered unhandled panics that repeatedly crashed the app. This combined poorly with Heroku infrastructure, making it difficult to find the source of the problem. Applied mitigations that are generally interesting to people running web services, such as catching corner cases of Go panic recovery and splitting work by type/class to improve reliability.

💡📚 Articles

🚗 How to Design a Scalable System Like Uber: Ride Sharing Micro Services (5 min read)

Why did the ride-sharing app break up with its monolithic architecture? Because it wanted to see other microservices! Thanks for sharing this informative article on how microservices can revamp ride-sharing system designs.

💪 Let’s Talk Performance Part 1 (-- min read)

Ah, performance issues, the bane of every system's existence. It's like having a never-ending queue at the grocery store, except instead of impatient customers, it's your system's resources waiting to be processed. And let me tell you, I've seen some crazy queues in my time.Imagine having a network socket queue so long that it stretches all the way to the moon and back. Talk about inefficient processing! Or picture a database I/O queue that's so slow, it makes a snail look like Usain Bolt. It's like watching paint dry, but with a lot more frustration.But it's not just about queues, my friends. Performance bottlenecks can arise from limits imposed by physics, technology, or economics. It's like being stuck in a traffic jam, except the cars are requests trying to access your system. And trust me, there's nothing worse than being surrounded by a swarm of impatient users who just want to get in.And let's not forget about efficiency, concurrency, and capacity. It's like juggling three balls while riding a unicycle on a tightrope. Efficiency is all about making sure your system is running smoothly and not wasting resources. It's like being the ultimate multitasker, except instead of doing multiple tasks at once, you're optimizing resource utilization.Concurrency is like hosting a party and making sure all your guests are having a great time. You need to have enough hardware and software to handle all those requests, or things can get messy. And capacity, well, that's like having a magic bag that expands to fit all your users' demands. It's like being a superhero with unlimited storage space.So, my friends, when it comes to performance, remember to keep those queues in check, handle those bottlenecks with grace, and always strive for efficiency, concurrency, and capacity. And if all else fails, just remember to laugh it off, because there's nothing a good joke can't fix. Now, go forth and optimize those systems!

⏰ 9 Surprises using AWS EventBridge Scheduler (10 min read)

AWS has released a new service called AWS EventBridge Scheduler, and let me tell you, it's a scheduling superhero! It can handle one-time schedules, rate-based schedules, and even cron-based schedules. It's like having a personal assistant for your application's tasks. And the best part? It has a precision of one minute, so it's always right on time, unlike my dad who is always fashionably late.But wait, there's more! The Scheduler also allows you to use different roles for each schedule, making authorization a breeze. No more misconfigurations and headaches. And you can even group your schedules in schedule groups, just like organizing your socks in pairs.Now, let's talk about the targets. There are three types: Templated Isomorphic, Templated Service-specific, and Universal. Templated targets are like the Jack-of-all-trades, allowing you to trigger various service APIs with just an ARN. It's like having a Swiss Army knife for your schedules.Templated Service-specific targets are a bit more specialized. You can add service-specific attributes to the target definition, like specifying a MessageGroupId for the SQS SendMessage target. It's like having a customized tool for each job.And then there are Universal targets. These bad boys can target any AWS service and any action using an abstracted compute environment. It's like having a magic wand that can do anything. And it's protected against recursive calls, so it won't accidentally break the space-time continuum.Now, let's address a few surprises. Schedules remain visible even after their job is done, which can be a bit cluttered. It's like having empty pizza boxes lying around after you've finished eating. Not very appetizing. And the input field mapping for templated targets is highly inconsistent, like trying to navigate a maze blindfolded. It can be a bit frustrating.But overall, the AWS EventBridge Scheduler is a scheduling superstar. It's reliable, flexible, and can handle all your scheduling needs. So if you're currently using CloudWatch or DynamoDB TTL for scheduling, it's time to upgrade to the Scheduler. Trust me, it'll save you from scheduling nightmares and give you more time to enjoy life's little moments, like telling bad dad jokes.

💻 System Design Resources (3 min read)

What did the software engineer say after designing a system? "I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how scalable this is!" In all seriousness, system design is crucial and these GitHub repos and articles are great resources for anyone looking to learn more or prepare for an interview.

💪 Encapsulating Requests: The Power of the “Command Design Pattern” (5 min read)

Why did the smart home feel so powerful? Because it had the power of the Command Design Pattern! Encapsulating requests, supporting undo/redo, and enabling loose coupling - it's the superhero of design patterns.

🔍 Krish is looking (Go, Flutter, Ruby, React, AWS) — Software Developer & Architect (-- min read)

Krish is advertising himself like a proud peacock. He's a software developer and architect, and he's got a whole list of things he can do. From Go to Flutter, Ruby to React, and even AWS. If you need help, apparently Krish is your guy. But wait, there's more! He's also part of a Snowpal Managed Services team. They sound fancy. And if you're curious about what Snowpal has built as a startup, they've got a whole bunch of products. A web app, an iOS app, an Android app, APIs on AWS Marketplace, and even APIs on the Blobr API Hub. I'm not sure what that is, but it's probably techy and impressive. So if you're in need of some software superpowers, don't hesitate to reach out to Krish. Just make sure you're prepared to be blown away by his amazing skills.

👨‍💻 Repositories

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