🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #63

Top of the Thursday to you! Let's keep the momentum going.

#SaturatedWeb - AI models can degrade themselves, turning original content into irredeemable gibberish over just a few generations, according to research published. The recent study highlights the increasing risk of AI model collapse due to self-training, emphasizing the need for original data sources.

#RecaptchaExposed - UC Irvine academics contend CAPTCHAs should be binned. They argue the service should be abandoned because it's disliked by users. The utility of reCAPTCHA challenges appears to be significantly diminished.

#TechTriesHard - Twitter / X has launched a new feature called “More About This Account”. It provides a few AI-powered sentences about a user. At times, Grok (their AI) offers generic info about the account. Other times, it’s dead wrong.

#BotchedUpdateBribe - CrowdStrike is basically saying sorry for crashing everyone's computers with a $10 Uber Eats gift card... Talk about a half-baked apology.

#MetaMisled - Meta's ad-free subscription in Europe is being called out by the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network… Apparently, the company's marketing is super misleading and they're forcing people to pay for something that should be free!

HCLTech and upGrad Enterprise Partner to Offer Industry-Relevant Training Programs in GenAI
Indian technology company HCLTech has partnered with upGrad Enterprise, the corporate skilling and workforce development division of skilling major upGrad. The partnership will focus on developing and launching programs in Generative AI (GenAI)

Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon Launch Open-Source Map Dataset to Compete with Google
Overture Maps Foundation is a new initiative by Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and TomTom to provide high-quality, current, and comprehensive map data. They've released the general availability of their global open map datasets, allowing developers to build commercial applications using the data. The datasets include building footprints, places of interest, administrative boundaries, and more!

Reddit Tightens its Grip on Web Crawlers
Reddit has started blocking search engines from surfacing recent posts and comments. Google is the only mainstream search engine that shows recent results when you search for posts on Reddit using the “site:reddit[dot]com” trick. This leaves out Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other alternatives.

Switzerland Now Mandates Open-Source Software in Public Sector
Switzerland has taken a major step forward with its "Federal Law on the Use of Electronic Means for the Fulfillment of Government Tasks". This groundbreaking legislation mandates using open-source software (OSS) in the public sector.

Chrome Halts Third-Party Cookie Phaseout
Google has scrapped its plan to kill third-party cookies in Chrome. Instead, they will introduce a new browser experience that allows users to limit how these cookies are used. Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari have already blocked third- party cookies by default.

Swapy | A framework-agnostic tool that converts any layout into a drag-to-swap one with just a few lines of code

Llm Graph Builder | Neo4j graph construction from unstructured data using LLMs

Composio | Composio equips agents with well-crafted tools empowering them to tackle complex tasks

State of React 2023 Results Are Out
11 years since it was launched, Reactjs is still as relevant as it was then. A community survey was conducted in the last quarter of previous year - and the results are out. Find out which libraries, state management and app patterns are popular in the ecosystem

Hackernews Thread: Is It Possible To Make FAANG Salaries Without Working There?
An interesting discussion on the different paths one can take to get salaries offered at FAANG companies, without working there.

OpenAI's Roadmap to AI Supremacy
OpenAI is reportedly four steps away from achieving human-level AI, with a five-level system to track progress. It's currently close to level two, "Reasoners," which can perform basic problem-solving like a human with a doctorate degree.

Github Seems To Be Losing The Plot
GitHub's killer blame view feature is losing its power as the company shifts focus to AI-powered developer platforms, causing issues like search functionality breakdowns and slower performance.