Apple has released a list of top apps and games for 2024. Temu was the
most downloaded free app in the US App Store. TikTok made the list at
No.
3


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TLDR

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TLDR 2024-12-17

PUT YOUR SALES/CS CALLS ON AUTOPILOT AND WATCH CONVERSIONS SOAR WITH
BLAND'S AI AGENT (SPONSOR) [4]

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Sounds crazy? Give it a call yourself [4].

TLDR readers get access to an even more intelligent version here...
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¨

BIG TECH & STARTUPS

TEMU IS THE MOST DOWNLOADED APP ON THE US APP STORE IN 2024 (2 MINUTE
READ) [6]

Apple has released a list of top apps and games for 2024. Temu was
the most downloaded free app in the US App Store. TikTok made the list
at No. 3 behind Threads. ChatGPT made the list at No. 4 - it didn't
make the top 10 last year. The full lists can be found on the App
Store's Today page.

T-MOBILE USERS CAN TRY STARLINK-ENABLED PHONE SERVICE FOR FREE DURING
BETA (3 MINUTE READ) [7]

T-Mobile has open registration for the beta of its T-Mobile Starlink
service, which will enable text messaging via satellites in dead zones
not covered by cell towers. The service uses Starlink's low-Earth
orbit satellites to provide coverage. SpaceX has so far launched over
300 satellites with direct-to-cell capabilities. The beta will begin
in early 2025. It will be open to all T-Mobile postpaid customers for
free, but capacity is limited.

¨

SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY

EUROPE'S STARLINK COMPETITOR IS GO (2 MINUTE READ) [8]

The EU's IRIS2 constellation is expected to come online by 2030. The
Starlink competitor will provide secure connectivity to Europe and
bring high-speed internet to dead zones. SpaceRISE, a consortium led
by European satellite network operators and supported by European
satcom subcontractors, has been given a 12-year concession contract to
develop, deploy, and operate the IRIS2 constellation. The EU's
partnership with SpaceRISE is intended to demonstrate the power of public-private collaboration in driving innovation and delivering
tangible benefits to all Europeans.

SAMSUNG'S PREMIUM LASER TV BECOMES WORLD'S FIRST CERTIFIED 8K
PROJECTOR (3 MINUTE READ) [9]

Samsung's yet-to-be-launched The Premiere 8K projector is the
industry's first recipient of the 8K Association's new certification
and logo. The projector excelled across all key categories. There
aren't many details available about the upcoming premium
ultra-short-throw projector, but Samsung has released a few official
images. Samsung will likely reveal more details, including pricing and availability, at CES 2025.

¨

PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE

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If slow QA processes bottleneck you or your software engineering team
and you're releasing slower because of it Ä you need to check out QA
Wolf.

QA Wolf's [10] AI-native approach gets engineering teams to 80%
automated end-to-end test coverage [10] and helps them ship 5x faster
by reducing QA cycles from hours to minutes.

The result? With QA Wolf, Drata's team of 80+ engineers [11] achieved
4x more test cases and 86% faster QA cycles.

Schedule a demo to learn more ¨ [10]

ASK HN: SWES HOW DO YOU FUTURE-PROOF YOUR CAREER IN LIGHT OF LLMS?
(HACKER NEWS THREAD) [12]

Large language models are becoming a part of software engineering.
The technology could replace a lot of engineers, so younger engineers
may feel like they need to find a way to future-proof their careers.
The technology is still very new and can't produce professional code.
There's also a lot more to being an engineer than coding, so many
senior developers feel confident that it will be a while until AI can
replace software engineers, if ever.

CYPHERNETES (GITHUB REPO) [13]

Cyphernetes is a Kubernetes query language. It uses a mixture of
ASCII-art, SQL, and JSON to let developers express graph operations in
an efficient way that is also fun and creative. Cyphernetes allows
developers to query and mutate Kubernetes resources in a natural way.
It works out-of-the-box with CRDs and supports multi-cluster queries.

¨

MISCELLANEOUS

TIKTOK ASKS SUPREME COURT TO BLOCK LAW BANNING ITS U.S. OPERATIONS (7
MINUTE READ) [14]

TikTok has asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block the law that
would effectively ban it in the US. The company claims the law
violated its First Amendment rights and those of its 170 million
American users. TikTok has urged the justices to maintain the status
quo while they decide on whether to hear an appeal.

AMAZON AND THE ENDANGERED FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE MANAGER (7 MINUTE
READ) [15]

Amazon is a leading indicator of a new era of flattening in corporate structure. Its slashing of manager roles isn't just about cost
cutting, but a glimpse into the future of work. Amazon is targeting an
increase in the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at
least 15% by the end of Q1 2025 across all divisions. It is estimated
that the company could cut as many as 14,000 management positions,
which would result in $2 billion to $4 billion in savings.

¨

QUICK LINKS

NINTENDO SWITCH 2 DESIGN SEEMINGLY LEAKED BY CARRYING CASE MAKER Ä
SIMILAR AESTHETICS BUT WITH A LARGER SCREEN AND JOY-CONS (3 MINUTE
READ) [16]

Dbrand has released a full 3D render of a Nintendo Switch 2 with a
version of the Dbrand Killswitch carrying case.

WORDPRESS FORCES USERS TO AGREE THAT PINEAPPLE IS GOOD ON PIZZA (3
MINUTE READ) [17]

WordPress has added a compulsory checkbox on its login page possibly
as a response to a decision made by a federal district judge that
granted a preliminary injunction against Matt Mullenweg and
Automattic.

WAYMO TO BEGIN TESTING IN TOKYO, ITS FIRST INTERNATIONAL DESTINATION
(2 MINUTE READ) [18]

Waymo will begin testing its robotaxis in Tokyo in early 2025.

GOOGLE'S WHISK AI GENERATOR WILL `REMIX' THE PICTURES YOU PLUG IN
(2 MINUTE READ) [19]

Google's Whisk AI generator lets users generate images using other
images as prompts instead of requiring a text prompt.

BLUESKY AND DECENTRALIZATION (73 MINUTE READ) [20]

A discussion on Bluesky, decentralization, 'credible exit', and where
the technology should go from here.

TESLA IS HAVING MAJOR ISSUE WITH ITS SELF-DRIVING COMPUTER INSIDE NEW
CARS (3 MINUTE READ) [21]

A new version of Tesla's HW4 onboard self-driving computer is
failing, possibly due to a battery short-circuiting the computer
during the camera calibration process.

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Dan Ni & Stephen Flanders

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[6] https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/16/temu-is-the-most-downloaded-app-on-the-u-s-app-store-in-2024/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[7] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/12/t-mobile-opens-beta-registration-for-starlink-enabled-cell-phone-service/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[8] https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/16/24322358/iris2-starlink-rival-europe-date-cost?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[9] https://newatlas.com/home-entertainment/samsung-premiere-world-first-certified-8k-projector/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[10] https://www.qawolf.com/?utm_campaign=ScaleAutomatedQA12132024&utm_source=tldr&utm_medium=newsletter
[11] https://www.qawolf.com/case-studies/drata?utm_campaign=ScaleAutomatedQA12132024&utm_source=tldr&utm_medium=newsletter
[12] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42431103&utm_source=tldrnewsletter [13] https://github.com/AvitalTamir/cyphernetes?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[14] https://links.tldrnewsletter.com/SChFG5
[15] https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/15/amazon-and-the-endangered-future-of-the-middle-manager.html?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[16] https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-design-seemingly-leaked-by-carrying-case-maker-similar-aesthetics-but-with-a-larger-screen-and-joy-cons?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[17] https://gizmodo.com/wordpress-forces-users-to-agree-that-pineapple-is-good-on-pizza-2000539250?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[18] https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/16/waymo-to-begin-testing-in-tokyo-its-first-international-destination-.html?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[19] https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/16/24322614/google-whisk-ai-generator-remix-pictures-plug-in?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[20] https://dustycloud.org/blog/re-re-bluesky-decentralization/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[21] https://electrek.co/2024/12/16/tesla-major-issue-self-driving-computer-inside-new-cars/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
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