🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #252

Wednesday calls for determination and progress!

#Outage - Google uses “uninterruptible” power supply for its cloud services. One could be forgiven for assuming that this means the power supply will never get interrupted. Except - it did. And caused a 6 hour outage! 😮

#Windows - Users confidently deleted a folder that showed up in the latest Window Update - but Microsoft quickly announced that they should NOT be doing so. Even going to the extent of asking them to restore it back. Apparently it’s needed for securing IIS servers, irrespective of whether its being used or not. 🫢

#GPT-4.1 - OpenAI released a new model that they claim is their most powerful yet. It’s named 4.1. The weird bit? They released 4.5 earlier… so why is this version
named 4.1 ? 🤡

#TechLawsuit - HR tech startup Rippling is trying to serve Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz with papers as part of a blockbuster lawsuit against its competitor. There’s just one problem: French bailiffs can’t seem to find the CEO. 🧑🏾‍⚖️

Swiggy Launches AI-powered App Pyng To Connect Users With Verified Professionals
Swiggy has announced the launch of Pyng, an AI app aimed at connecting users with verified professionals. The move marks the food delivery and quick commerce platform’s foray into the professional services space.

Notion Unveils AI-powered Email Client, Notion Mail
Notion released Notion Mail, an AI-powered email client for Gmail. The app uses AI to help users organize their emails, draft responses, schedule meetings, and search across messages. It connects to Notion users’ Gmail accounts and uses AI.

Japan Orders Google To End Android Monopoly Practices
Google has been accused by Japan's Fair Trade Commission of monopolistic practices on Android phones, requiring manufacturers to preinstall Chrome and Google Search, and giving them a share of ad revenue in return, and has been ordered to cease these practices.

OpenAI Building Social Network To Compete With X
OpenAI, a leading AI research org behind ChatGPT, is secretly working on a social network, likely integrated with ChatGPT, to rival Elon Musk's X and Meta, leveraging its AI to help users create and share better content.

Android - Introduces automatic reboot feature for devices locked for 3 consecutive days to enhance security.

Firefox - Fixed issues with frequent restarts during updates, DRM video playback, and non-responsive clicks in HTML5 video players, and added security fix for potential memory corruptions.

Microsoft Office - ActiveX controls are now blocked by default for all users, with no easy way to enable them, to prevent the spread of malware and unauthorized code execution.

GitHub - Added support for Windows on Arm runners for all public repositories, including accounts on the GitHub Free tier.

Google Docs - Adds support for 14 new programming languages in code blocks for easier code visualization and readability.

DrawDB - Transform your database design process with drawDB, a free, open-source tool that lets you create, visualize, and export entity-relationship diagrams directly in your browser—no sign-up required. Import SQL schemas, customize layouts, and generate scripts for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and more. Perfect for developers, data architects, and teams seeking a fast, intuitive way to model databases.

Web TUI - a modular CSS library that brings the beauty of Terminal UIs to the browser. With its modular components and theming capabilities, WebTUI offers a unique approach to web design, allowing developers to create interfaces that resonate with the simplicity and efficiency of terminal environments.

Saas UI - Unlock a treasure trove of over 220 free, high-quality illustrations tailored for SaaS applications, documentation, and design systems. Whether you're a developer or designer, these assets are perfect for enhancing your UI/UX, presentations, or product pages. Easily preview them in Figma and integrate them into your workflow without any hassle.

Design Patterns For Distributed Systems
This webpage discusses four essential design patterns for building scalable and resilient distributed systems: the Ambassador Pattern, the Circuit Breaker Pattern, Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS), and Sharding. Each pattern is explained with diagrams and examples, highlighting their benefits and use cases in microservices architectures and distributed systems.

The Art Of Apologizing At Work
Apologizing for mistakes at work can be intimidating, but it's essential for building trust, maintaining relationships, and enhancing credibility. A genuine apology can go a long way in promoting a positive team culture and preventing future mistakes. Here's a guide on how to apologize professionally, including the six key elements of an effective apology: regret, explanation, acknowledgment, responsibility, remorse, and restitution. Learn how to deliver a professional apology in person or remotely and make it count.

AI generated Empathy: The Dark Side Of Online Engagement
A Reddit user discovers a bot disguising itself as a human, using AI-generated content to sell books and manipulate users' emotions, sparking a downward spiral of paranoia and conspiracy theories, highlighting the blurred lines between human and AI interactions online.