🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #64

Happy Friday! Time to wrap up the week on a high note!

#AgileGoneWrong - Turns out, (improper) Agile practices make software projects 268% more likely to fail! And get this, projects with clear requirements documented before dev started were 97% more likely to succeed.

#NewUIWhoDis - Amazon is finally organizing their Prime Video for real! Now there's a separate "Prime" tab for all the goodies you get for free with your subscription, no paid stuff mixed in. And get this, they're using AI to give you personalized recs in new "Made for you" collections! Yet to arrive for Indian audiences though so stay tuned for updates.

#ElonDidItAgain - Conspiracy theorists will have a field day with this one. X / Twitter appears to have a “list” of users that are allowed to use racial slurs. LOL! A user discovered it, but it appears that anybody that’s posting about it on the platform is being banned!

#FakeITWorker - Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. A person that passed background checks, multiple interviews that included video calling and finally got hired at a security company turned out to be a hacker from North Korea! The CEO shared a cautionary tale, saying it's a reminder that even the best of security can be breached. The FBI is now investigating.

#NodejsWithTypescript - Support for Typescript in Nodejs is here! A Pull Request to support Typescript out of the box for Nodejs was just merged in. You still need to use a flag, but hey - this means that proper TS support is round the corner.

#BingGoneWild - Bing is rolling out a new search experience that puts AI-generated answers front and center while pushing traditional search results to the side. The new layout fills your search results page withAI-generated summaries addressing various aspects of your question. Still experimental and visible to only few users, but we have one word for it. Meh.

CRED Launches News App To Manage Personal Finance for Indian Affluent
CRED, a Bengaluru-based fintech company, has launched CRED Money, a feature that consolidates users' financial data from multiple bank accounts, allowing them to track transactions and get reminders. The feature uses data science algorithms to provide actionable insights on spending patterns, investment opportunities, and financial optimization.

Piramal Group Data Sensitive Information Allegedly Stolen and on Sale
Piramal Group is a multinational company operating in pharma, financial services, and real estate sectors. They claim that their systems weren't breached, and the data comes from a third party. A hacker is selling data of thousands of current and former employees, including names and email addresses.

Google Maps India Update
Google Maps India rolled out a new update featuring flyover views and EV charging stations, making it easier for users to navigate Indian roads.

Apple Maps Is Now Available As A Website
Apple has launched a new website for its Maps service, allowing users to access maps and directions on the web. This marks a major move for the company, effectively moving into direct competition with Google Maps. The site offers features like directions, search, and guides, making it a convenient option for those who want to plan and research trips ahead of time.

Google Abandons Acquisition of Wiz Cloud Security Company
Wiz, a cloud security company, was in talks with Google to be acquired for $23 billion, but has now rejected the offer and will proceed with its initial public offering (IPO) as initially planned. Google wanted Wiz's cloud security products to better compete with Microsoft's offerings.

Meta Unleashes the Largest Open-Source AI Model Yet, Llama 3.1
Llama 3.1 is the largest-ever open-source AI model. The largest version has 405 billion parameters and was trained with over 16,000 H100 GPUs. CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts that Meta AI will be the most widely used assistant by the end of this year, surpassing ChatGPT.

Storm | An LLM-powered knowledge curation system that researches a topic and generates a full-length report with citations.

Altitude | Altitude is a tool that gives online platforms a single elevated view of potential terrorist and violent extremist content on their sites.

Maska | Simple zero-dependency input mask for Vue, Svelte, Alpine.js and vanilla JS.

AI 101: Know The Different Words Used In AI And Their Meaning
Get ready to understand the buzz around artificial intelligence! We've compiled a list of key terms to help you navigate the complex field. From machine learning to generative AI, learn what they mean and why they matter.

9 to 5 Jobs Will Get Extinct By 2034 - LinkedIn’s CEO
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has made a startling prediction that the traditional 9 to 5 job will vanish by 2034. According to his prediction, within the next decade, 50% of the population will become freelancers and earn more while working for ‘3 or 4 gigs’, than those working in traditional employment. Hoffman has also predicted the imminent decline of traditional office headquarters.

Dark Patterns in Design
Discover a variety of dark pattern examples, sorted by category. Use these examples to better understand deceptive design practices. Learn how to avoid these deceptive design practices in your own projects.

Learn How To Animate Text Using CSS Gradients
Using simple CSS Gradients, one can bring their text to life. Learn different tips and tricks to make your text animated.