🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #107

Top of the Wednesday morning to you! Let's seize the day.

#MKBHD - The king of tech reviews, Marques Brownlee a.k.a MKBHD dropped a new review of iPhone 16. But his review is getting attention for the wrong reasons - because they also advertised their wallpaper app. Which has a steep subscription fee. Which is like every other wallpaper app. Which has nothing else going for it besides being advertised by MKBHD. His fans have called him out for it.

#Kaspersky - The once popular anti virus software is now banned by USA because it suspects to be a malware by Russia. So, what do they do? The software decides to uninstall itself from user’s computers - and replace itself with UltraAV Antivirus - an unknown anti virus software. Without user’s consent!

#AmazonAIVideo - Amazon has launched an AI based video generator, targeted towards advertisers for making quick, short video commercials. Not sure if it will be useful though since the output falls short of the ones generated by OpenAI’s Sora or even tools like Runway, Pika and Luma.

Telegram Updates Privacy Policy To Disclose User Data To Authorities
Telegram will now turn over a user’s phone number and IP address if it receives a request from authorities. The adjustment is the latest change Telegram has made following the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.

Watermarks Added To AI-generated Images Using Dall-E 3
Microsoft announces 'Watermarks' feature in its AI service. Watermarks will add invisible watermarks to all images generated using Dall-E 3. Microsoft is also working with other major AI players, including Adobe, Truepic, and the BBC to ensure watermarking, cryptographic metadata, and other detection mechanisms work across platforms.

Singapore Passes Landmark Gig Worker Law
Grab, Gojek, Deliveroo, and Foodpanda workers in Singapore will receive better benefits and protections, including injury compensation, improved housing, and retirement benefits. Gig workers are also allowed to form unions and negotiate. Some costs will be passed on to consumers, a move that food delivery riders fear will lead to lower earnings.

WP Engine Called "cancer To Wordpress" By Automattic Ceo Matt Mullenweg
Matt Mullenweg, CEO of WordPress creator Automattic, has criticized rival WP Engine. MullenWeg said that WP Engine has profiteered from the open source project without giving back. He also said that the company has disabled key features that make WordPress such a powerful platform.

Clever Tradecraft: Google Play Android Apps Hacked With Necro Malware
Researchers found two new apps on Google Play that were infected with the same malware family that caused 100 million devices to connect to attacker-controlled servers five years ago. The malware, called Necro, uses advanced techniques like steganography and reflection attacks to steal user data and download malicious code.

Tech Entrepreneur Envisions Silicon Valley-backed States Ahead Of US Election
Imagine a world where you can choose your citizenship like a gym membership. Serial tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist Balaji Srinivasan is proposing just that, with the backing of big Silicon Valley money. He envisions communities forming online around shared interests, acquiring land, and becoming physical "countries" with their own laws, potentially replacing traditional nation-states.

• X Blocked users can now view public posts from accounts that have blocked them.

• Truecaller Auto-block Spam Call feature now available for iOS 18, requires Truecaller app version 13.2.

• Pinterest Introduced Remix feature, allowing users to combine and edit existing collages.

• Duolingo Math and Music courses now available on Android, previously exclusive to iOS.

• Google Photos New Enhance, Stabilize and Mute options with larger icons and labels, plus a Speed tool for controlling video speed and AI-powered presets for automatic video editing.

Opik | Open-source end-to-end LLM Development Platform

Skrub | Prepping tables for machine learning

Got Ocr2 0 | Official code implementation of General OCR Theory

Void Types In Typescript
In TypeScript, void represents "nothing" but is not the same as JavaScript's "nothing". It's used for function return types, and you should not rely on its return value. You can declare a variable as void, but it's not useful as it can only be assigned undefined.

Infinite Queries Bug In React Query
A recent bug report for Infinite Queries in React Query has surfaced, revealing an unexpected edge case that affects a large number of users. The bug occurs when an Infinite Query has previously successfully fetched multiple pages, then fetches a new page that fails to fetch, and uses at least one retry.

Ten Use Cases Of OpenAI’s New O1-Preview Model
OpenAI's new AI models, designed to think before responding, are revolutionizing the tech industry by solving complex tasks and producing accurate results. Initial tests show the models performing on par with PhD students, and users are creating innovative projects, from games to weather apps, with ease.