🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #154

Good morning! Let's make this Friday fantastic!

A lot happened in the past 24 hours - so today’s edition is lengthier than usual. Cheers!

#AppleVisionPro - Apple is reportedly in talks to equip a popular stadium with the necessary technology to capture live sporting events in immersive video format. The specific stadium hasn't been named, but reports point towards Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu.

#Threads - Meta is trying to copy Bluesky's popular "Starter Packs" feature? Apparently, they're worried about people moving to Bluesky and are trying to create their own version! Starter Packs are curated lists of recommended users that anyone in the community can make.

#AndroidAuto - Now this is a very funny bug. Cars that use Android’s Auto build are adding an “Oh!” at the end of messages when asked to read it out. It's been adding it to WhatsApp messages and even Google Messages, Facebook, and Teams! Still, no word from Google on what's causing it...

#Bluesky - BlueSky is getting super popular, but people are using fake accounts left and right! The service has a lack of a conventional verification system. 44 percent of the top 100 most-followed accounts on Bluesky have at least one “doppelganger”.

Uber Introduces Subscription-based Loyalty Program, Uber One, To Indian Customers
Uber has introduced its subscription-based loyalty program, Uber One, to Indian customers. Access to highly rated drivers, priority customer support, 10% credit on rides are some of the benefits.

RedBus Unveils AI Copilot To Improve Bus Operators' Efficiency And Customer Experience
RedBus, India's leading online bus ticketing platform, has developed an in-house AI copilot to help their travel partners streamline operations, improve decision-making, and enhance the overall customer experience. The AI tool provides real-time, data-driven insights on route optimization, inventory management, and revenue growth, and can even translate and simplify data for operators who speak different languages.

India’s Ambitious Plan To Streamline Tax Payment System
PAN 2.0 Project aims to consolidate tax-related services into a single digital platform, reducing paper usage and enhancing user experience. The project will also digitize records, add a grievance resolution system, and implement enhanced security measures to protect personal data.

Google's Flipkart Play
Google, the parent company of Alphabet, Inc., has acquired a stake in Flipkart, an Indian e-commerce company co-owned by Walmart. This deal got approval from the Indian Competition Commission, CCI.

Australia Passes Social Media Ban For Children Under 16
Australia has passed a law banning children under 16 from using social media sites. The law is scheduled to come into effect in 12 months, giving social media companies time to meet requirements. The rules are expected to apply to the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.

Spotify Restricts Access To Web API Features To Prevent AI App Development
Spotify is limiting third-party developers from building AI apps using data from Spotify listeners. The changes are designed to limit certain developers who it believes have been misusing its API. The features Spotify is revoking access to could reveal information about the Spotify userbase’s listening habits.

Sabotage Suspected In Baltic Sea Cables Cut
European investigators believe a Chinese-owned commercial ship deliberately dragged its anchor to sabotage the two undersea telecommunications cables cut in the Baltic Sea. Western law enforcement and intelligence officials told The Wall Street Journal that they don’t believe the Chinese government was involved. Instead, the probe is focused on whether Russian intelligence persuaded the vessel’s captain to carry out the operation.

Elon Musk's xAI Aims To Challenge OpenAI With Standalone Chatbot App
xAI is a company founded by Elon Musk as an alternative to OpenAI, with which he previously disagreed ideologically. xAI is planning to launch a standalone app for its chatbot Grok in December, which could compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT, allowing users to access Grok for free without a subscription.

Valve's Steam Autumn Sale Of 2024
The Steam Autumn Sale of 2024 is now live with thousands of discounts for PC games, their DLC, and everything in between. The store has already transformed its front page to show off many of the active sales, from the latest AAA hits to classic must-play indies. Alongside it, this year's Steam Award nominations are now available to all users, too, ahead of the final voting session next month.

ChatGPT MacOS - Supports additional developer tools for "Work with Apps" feature, including VS Code forks, Jetbrains IDE, Panic apps, TextMate, BBEdit, Terminal, and iTerm.

Anthropic Claude - Now lets you chat with your Google Docs

Google Labs - Introduces GenChess, a new online project using Gemini Imagen 3 to generate customizable chess pieces with text prompts.

Firefox - New Version 133 launched.

Vite 6 - A Major Update with Significant Improvements and a Unified Development Toolchain

React Router 7 - A Major Update with Significant Improvements and a Unified Development Toolchain

Threads - Keeps feeds visible on the home screen with redesign for easy navigation.

Google Chat - Launches Huddles, a Google Meet-powered addition for starting quick calls with coworkers.

OpenNextjs AWS | OpenNext takes the Next.js build output and converts it into packages that can be deployed across a variety of environments. Natively OpenNext has support for AWS Lambda, and classic Node.js Server.

Electrobun | Build ultra fast, tiny, and cross-platform desktop apps with Typescript.

Serving A Billion Requests With Boring Code
A team of contractor developers at ad hoc designed and released the US government's Medicare Plan Compare site, serving 5 million requests daily with under 10ms latency and low error rates. They leveraged PostgreSQL, GoLang, and React to build a scalable and reliable system.

Native-first Development In React Native
When building native apps, it's essential to adopt a native-first approach, using React Native UI libraries that prioritize native UI primitives over custom implementations. This allows for a seamless user experience, matching the feel of the underlying platform.

HackerRank Was Broken But Now Its Actually Harmful
Companies are not actually testing problem solving ability anymore, they're testing who's better at using AI. The test parameters are usually configured by someone semi-technical at best. The evaluation boils down to a score, and the platform tells you if the candidate is "good enough"