Skip to main content

2023-07-04

Threads, an Instagram app

  • Threads is a new text-based conversation app developed by Instagram.
  • It allows users to connect with their favorite creators and discuss various topics of interest.
  • Users can follow others and share their own ideas and opinions with the world.

Industry Reactions

  • Meta's new app, Threads, is predicted to have a significant impact on Twitter and potentially replace it.
  • Some users believe that Meta understands what made Twitter great and will successfully launch Threads, while others doubt their ability to do so.
  • The success of Threads may come from its integration with the existing Instagram user base, but there are doubts about its appeal to new users.

Goodreads was the future of book reviews, then Amazon bought it

  • Goodreads, an Amazon-owned review site for books, has faced criticism for its outdated infrastructure and lack of protective features, leading to targeted harassment and "review bombing" incidents.
  • Amazon reportedly did not invest in updating or maintaining Goodreads, using it primarily for user-generated data.
  • The acquisition of Goodreads by Amazon in 2013 was seen as a promising opportunity for the site to innovate and create new services for readers and authors, but little has changed since then, resulting in disappointment among users and authors alike.

Industry Reactions

  • Amazon's acquisition of Goodreads was seen as anti-competitive and a defensive move to prevent competition.
  • The sentiment among some tech-savvy individuals is that startups often get bought to prevent them from becoming competitors.
  • The acquisition of Goodreads by Amazon has disappointed some users who expected more growth and innovation from the platform.

55 GiB/s FizzBuzz (2021)

  • The post discusses the FizzBuzz challenge, which involves writing a program that prints numbers with certain conditions.
  • The challenge is to create a FizzBuzz implementation that can handle a large number of iterations and execute quickly.
  • A notable implementation achieved a throughput of 54-56 GiB/s, which is the best score so far.

Industry Reactions

  • Comments discuss the efficiency of different programming languages in the FizzBuzz program and the importance of code optimization and performance.
  • The limitations of I/O speed and trade-offs between performance optimization, developer time, and business requirements are mentioned.
  • The relevance of aligning job requirements with the skills needed for the role is highlighted in a discussion about the FizzBuzz test in job interviews.

Joins 13 Ways

  • A join in databases is a way to combine data from multiple tables based on a common column or attribute.
  • Joins help eliminate redundancy in data storage by creating separate tables for related information and linking them using a join operation.
  • Join operations can be implemented in various ways, such as lookups, nested loops, graph paths, or typechecking, depending on the context and requirements of the data.

Industry Reactions

  • The article provides an analogy for understanding joins in terms of spatial dimensions, using the example of a Stargate scene.
  • The concept of joins in higher, non-spatial dimensions, such as adding time, is discussed.
  • The article introduces the idea of worst-case optimal joins, which allows joining three or more tables without temporary results.

Where in the USA is this?

  • 'Where in the USA is this?' is a daily puzzle game where players have to guess the location of a place based on a series of five photos.
  • Each guess reveals a new photo and provides a color-coded tile that indicates the proximity of the guess to the actual location, ranging from 0 miles to 200+ miles.
  • The puzzle is released daily at midnight EST and can be accessed on 'The Tech Times' website.

Industry Reactions

  • Users discuss a game or puzzle that involves guessing the location of a picture based on clues provided.
  • Users share their strategies, success in guessing, and opinions about the game's design.
  • The post offers insights into how people approach and enjoy this game, which may be exciting for readers interested in puzzles or games.

Leaking Bitwarden's Vault with a Nginx vulnerability

  • Nginx, a popular web server, has potential vulnerabilities related to misconfigurations in the location and alias directives.
  • These vulnerabilities can lead to data exposure, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive files and directories.
  • Automated tools like NavGix can help identify and test for these vulnerabilities, making it important for developers to understand and implement secure configurations.

Industry Reactions

  • Bitwarden's vault can be leaked through a Nginx vulnerability in its configuration language.
  • The vulnerability allows for directory traversal attacks, exposing sensitive files.
  • Bitwarden has acknowledged and fixed the issue, and even issued a bounty for its discovery.

Who is hiring? (July 2023)

  • The post is titled "Who is hiring? (July 2023)" and it is asking for information about job openings in the tech industry.
  • The post is from July 2023, so it is up-to-date information about current job opportunities.
  • People who are looking for a job in the tech industry would be interested in this post because it provides a platform for employers to share job openings and for job seekers to find potential opportunities.

Industry Reactions

  • Hacker News is hosting a "Who is hiring?" thread for July 2023, featuring job openings from various companies.
  • Notable companies include Proton, Nascent, Hypertune, and HRL Laboratories, each seeking specific positions in different locations.
  • Ideal for university students and entry-level software engineers interested in cutting-edge technologies and innovative projects globally.

Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?

  • This post asks if people in the tech industry are only exposed to information and opinions that reinforce their own beliefs about artificial intelligence (AI).
  • The author questions whether tech professionals are living in an "echo chamber" where they only hear ideas that align with their existing views.
  • The post explores the potential consequences of this echo chamber phenomenon and encourages tech professionals to seek out diverse perspectives on AI.

Industry Reactions

  • The conversation in the tech industry revolves around the perception and adoption of AI technologies like ChatGPT, with some viewing AI as overhyped.
  • There is a debate about the impact of AI on productivity and job displacement, and the potential negative effects of AI, such as distraction and privacy concerns, are also discussed.
  • The slow adoption of new technologies in certain industries and the need for critical thinking and careful evaluation when it comes to new tech trends is highlighted.

Data-Oriented Design (2018)

  • The post is an online release of a book called "Data-Oriented Design" which focuses on the importance of data in software development and provides insights on various topics related to data-oriented design.
  • The book emphasizes the significance of properly structuring and organizing data for efficient processing, including topics such as normalizing data, different types of processing, the use of components and managers, and optimizing performance.
  • It highlights the need to understand database technology, various techniques for data processing and manipulation, and the importance of debugging and maintaining software that is built with a data-oriented approach.

Industry Reactions

  • Data-Oriented Design (DOD) is a paradigm that focuses on efficiently organizing and manipulating data for high-performance code.
  • DOD emphasizes working with structs of arrays rather than arrays of structs, which can improve performance and enable cross-pollination of component data.
  • DOD is not incompatible with object-oriented (OO) programming, but it requires a shift in mindset and approach to problem-solving.

An interactive guide to SVG paths

  • The d attribute in SVG code is a series of commands that tell the browser how to draw a path.
  • The commands in the d attribute consist of a single-letter code followed by one or more numbers.
  • Uppercase commands are absolute, while lowercase commands are relative to the previous command's endpoint.

Industry Reactions

  • The SVG path editor mentioned in the article is a useful tool for building or editing SVGs by hand.
  • Inkscape is another tool that can be used for editing SVGs, although it may require hand-editing for optimal optimization.
  • The SVG path editor "dissects" the d parameter of SVG paths, making it easier to understand and draw parametrically.
  • SVG is a powerful tool for web development, but many developers have limited knowledge about it.
  • There are features missing from SVG, such as angled gradients, which exist in programs like Photoshop.
  • SVG 2, a proposed update to the SVG standard, has been stuck in draft for years, limiting the advancements in SVG support.
  • SVG 2 aims to bring CSS support to SVG and address limitations of the current standard, such as z-index and text rendering.
  • The lack of progress in updating SVG standards is attributed to the complexity of the process, resistance from implementors (mostly browsers), and the need to consider professional authoring tools like Adobe Creative.
  • Interactive and visually appealing guides like the one mentioned in the article are valuable resources for learning SVG and building intuition for concepts like Bezier curves.
  • Other SVG path editors and tutorials, like the ones mentioned in the comments, are worth exploring for different perspectives and approaches to working with SVG.