🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #205

Cheers to Monday! New week, new adventures!

#Meta-Torrents - Meta appears to have “torrented” over 81.7 Terrabytes of pirated books to train its AI. 😮 

#reCAPTCHA - Apparently, reCAPTCHA is more about collecting user data and generating revenue for Google than actually keeping bots out - it's like, they're using those annoying image challenges to spy on you and make bank, and you can't even opt out. 😠 

#ShadyMarketing - Microsoft has an official "guide" that is literally called "How to uninstall Microsoft Edge" The page instead lists all the benefits of Microsoft's browser, like integrated Copilot, Designer, Vertical tabs, shopping assistant, read-aloud, and a built-in VPN. No other third-party browser other than Chrome is mentioned. Get the hint yet? 🤭

#FakeAI - Google Gemini ran an advertisement during a sports event showing how a business owner generated their entire website using it - the catch? The website seems to have existed way back since 2020, even before Gemini existed. 😂 

RBI Introduces Exclusive Dot Bank Dot In Domain
RBI = Reserve Bank of India, India's central bank. IDRBT = Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology, its agency. The RBI is introducing a dot bank dot in domain for banks to reduce cybersecurity threats and phishing.

Infosys Lays Off Over 400 Trainees
Indian tech giant Infosys has laid off over 400 trainees at its Mysuru campus after they failed evaluation tests in three consecutive attempts. The terminated trainees are being called in batches of around 50 and are being made to sign "mutual separation" letters.

Phonepe Exits India's Account Aggregator Business
PhonePe: an Indian fintech firm backed by Walmart, known for its digital payments service. PhonePe is exiting the account aggregator business, less than 2 years after getting its license, due to struggles in onboarding financial info providers, despite having 50 million users on its platform, and will instead partner with existing account aggregators.

Playstation Network Experiences Widespread Outage
Entire Playstation network went down, meaning millions of users couldn't access online gaming, streaming, or even make purchases. The company acknowledged the issue and has fixed it, but no official explanation for the cause yet.

YCombinator Launches AI Startup School
So Y Combinator (YC) is a super influential startup accelerator that helps new companies grow & has invested in big names like Airbnb & Dropbox. Today, they announced their 1st AI Startup School, a free conference for top AI students & researchers happening in SF on June 16-17!

iPhone SE 4 Launch Imminent
Apple's next entry-level iPhone may be released as early as next week. iPhone SE 4 will feature the A18 chip, Apple Intelligence, and a 6.1-inch OLED display with a notch and Face ID.

Google Maps - New vehicle icons and color options added, including five new car styles and eight colors, available for select Android users.

Microsoft Teams - Adds a fully integrated Facebook-like feed called "Storyline" for employees to share announcements, news, and progress, with features like posting, commenting, reacting, and following colleagues.

GitHub Copilot - Introduces "agent mode" allowing the AI to modify its own code to detect and fix errors, and also introduces Copilot Edits for making inline changes across multiple files with conversational flow.

Microsoft Edge - Introduced a new AI-powered “scareware” blocker that identifies and blocks scams, including new and emerging ones, using a local machine learning model.

Khi | A transformative log viewer for Kubernetes

Mathesar | An intuitive spreadsheet-like interface that lets users of all technical skill levels view, edit, query, and collaborate on Postgres data directly.

Keymapper | A cross-platform context-aware key remapper.

BLUF: The Military Standard That Can Make Your Writing More Powerful
The BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) method is a powerful tool for clear and effective communication, helping you cut through the noise and get your point across quickly. By including all necessary context and asking clearly, you can reduce the workload for your recipients and increase the chances of a successful response. Whether writing emails or Slack messages, applying BLUF consistently can help you yield your central points to your reader as quickly as possible, and even convey emotions effectively.

AI Takeover Looms
Gumroad founder Sahil Lavingia says AI will write 100% of code for his companies' projects, making traditional software engineering obsolete by 2026, and urges companies to upskill employees and adopt new tools to stay relevant.

Career Growth: Becoming A Manager Of Managers
Engineering director at Shopify, James Stanier, shares insights on how to prepare for a manager of managers role, highlighting the importance of experience, company culture, and online presence, with career growth tips for software engineers and managers.