TechSlice 2023-11-02

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BIG TECH & STARTUPS

Splunk to Cut 7% of Staff After Cisco Acquisition Announcement (1 minute read)

Splunk is reducing its global workforce by around 7% due to an uncertain economic environment, which CEO Gary Steele attributes to market retraction and unpredictable conditions. These layoffs, expected to impact approximately 560 employees, are unrelated to Cisco's planned acquisition of Splunk for $28 billion, as Steele stated, and are part of ongoing efforts to realign the company's resources and structure. The downsizing is projected to cost approximately $42 million and should be completed by April 30, raising questions about the timing of demand recovery and near-term IT spending stabilization.

LinkedIn hits 1 billion members, adds AI features for job seekers (1 minute read)

LinkedIn, the business-focused social network, has surpassed 1 billion members and is enhancing its premium offerings with more artificial intelligence features. Subscribers to the $39.99-per-month premium tier will benefit from AI features that assess a user's suitability for job postings and offer profile suggestions to enhance their competitiveness in the job market, while a new feature will condense lengthy posts into customized bullet points.

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SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY

Tiny worn devices won’t need batteries thanks to these innovations (7 minute read)

Researchers and companies are developing wearable technology that can harvest energy from a range of sources, such as the sun, radio waves, body heat, and movement, potentially eliminating the need for batteries in wearables, but adapting the technology to animals and more specialized wearables is proving to be challenging; however, progress is being made in the field.

Plastic-eating bacteria turn waste into useful starting materials for other products (1 minute read)

Researchers have developed a strain of E. coli bacteria that can efficiently transform polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste into adipic acid, a key feedstock for the production of nylon, drugs, and fragrances, potentially offering a new method for recycling plastic bottles and reducing plastic pollution. The team used two strains of E. coli to metabolize PET waste and convert it into adipic acid, achieving conversion rates of up to 79% in laboratory experiments.

After decades of dreams, a commercial spaceplane is almost ready to fly (16 minute read)

Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spaceplane, named "Tenacity," is nearly ready for testing after final assembly. Dream Chaser is designed to ferry cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS) using United Launch Alliance Vulcan rockets, and it features reusable components, making it a unique addition to the space cargo market. The spaceplane is expected to start testing in Ohio and could make its first flight to the ISS as early as April, although there are potential delays in a first-flight schedule.

Improving deep sleep may prevent dementia, study finds (2 minute read)

A study led by Associate Professor Matthew Pase from Monash University found that as little as a 1% reduction in deep sleep per year for people over 60 years of age corresponds to a 27% increased risk of dementia, suggesting that preserving deep sleep in older adults could help prevent dementia. The research examined 346 participants over the age of 60 and revealed that declining deep sleep, known as slow wave sleep, is linked to an elevated risk of dementia.

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PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE

htmx, Rust & Shuttle: A New Rapid Prototyping Stack (11 minute read)

This article explores Rust's dual nature, known for its memory safety and speed but notorious for its strict compiler and complex trait bounds. To boost productivity, it introduces htmx for simplified HTML-driven API calls, combining seamlessly with an HTML templating engine and Axum web framework, along with Shuttle for declarative infrastructure provisioning, streamlining Rust development.

Bruno - Opensource IDE for exploring and testing APIs (2 minute read)

Bruno is a groundbreaking API client designed to replace tools like Postman. It stores collections on your local filesystem using the Bru markup language, enabling collaboration through version control systems, while prioritizing data privacy and maintaining an offline-only approach.

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MISCELLANEOUS

I went to paradise to see the future of AI, and I’m more confused than ever (11 minute read)

At Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit 2023, while discussing the future of computing and AI integration on mobile devices, the author found himself in a tropical setting struggling to coax butterflies onto nectar-dipped sticks as part of a tech demo. The mixed experiences with AI demonstrations at the event left the author pondering the potential for AI to enhance and simplify daily tasks while acknowledging the privacy and annoyance concerns that may arise in the future.

Here’s a rare look at Google’s most lucrative search queries (4 minute read)

This week during the US v. Google antitrust trial, a list of the top 20 revenue-generating search queries for the week of September 22nd, 2018, was revealed. The top queries included various iPhone-related terms, insurance searches, and brand-related queries such as "at&t," "xfinity," "hulu," and "uber." These high-revenue queries tend to belong to industries with high customer-acquisition costs but significant long-term value, making them attractive to advertisers, particularly in competitive spaces.

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QUICK LINKS

FreeTube (3 minute read)

FreeTube is an open-source desktop YouTube player that enhances privacy by blocking advertisements and preventing Google's tracking on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.

Netflix will skip some ads if you binge-watch (1 minute read)

Netflix is introducing an ad-free episode after viewers watch three episodes in a row to enhance binge-watching and is witnessing growth in its ad-supported plan with 15 million monthly active users, incentivizing more users to opt for the $6.99-per-month ad-supported option.

First Benchmark Results Surface for M3 Chip in New Macs (1 minute read)

Apple's new M3 chip, found in the 14-inch MacBook Pro and iMac, is showing significant performance gains, with scores approximately 20% higher than the standard M2 chip, as benchmarked by users, boasting improvements in CPU, GPU, and AI capabilities.

Discover How We Managed to Reduce Our Cloud Costs by 30 percent (9 minute read)

The article discusses how the author's company reduced its cloud infrastructure costs by 30% through various optimizations, including adjusting Kubernetes resource requests, implementing shutdowns during non-working hours, cleaning up storage, and more, with future plans to further reduce costs.

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