Nvidia will be leaning more heavily into robotics in 2025. It will
launch a new generation of compact computers for humanoid robots
called Jetson
Thor


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TLDR

TLDR 2024-12-31

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BIG TECH & STARTUPS

NVIDIA'S NEXT MOVE: POWERING HUMANOID ROBOTS (1 MINUTE READ) [4]

Nvidia will be leaning more heavily into robotics in 2025. It will
launch a new generation of compact computers for humanoid robots
called Jetson Thor in the first half of next year. Nvidia aims to
provide robot makers with an underlying OEM as its largest customers
work to lessen their dependence on the company's AI chips by
developing their own.

BLUE ORIGIN INCHES CLOSER TO THE FIRST NEW GLENN FLIGHT (3 MINUTE
READ) [5]

Blue Origin successfully performed a hotfire of its New Glenn rocket
on December 27, the same day it was issued a commercial space launch
license from the US Federal Aviation Administration. The company
remains tightlipped about when it will launch its rocket, but it had
claimed earlier in the year to be targeting a launch before the end of
the year. New Glenn was designed to be partly reusable. Its first
stage, which is designed to be good for a minimum of 25 missions, will
land on a downrange sea-based platform.

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SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM SURROUNDS PLANS FOR THE WORLD'S FIRST NUCLEAR
FUSION POWER PLANT (3 MINUTE READ) [6]

Commonwealth Fusion Systems has announced plans to build the world's
first nuclear fusion power plant. The plant will be located in
Chesterfield County, Virginia. If successful, the plant will infuse
400 megawatts power into the state's electrical grid starting in the
early 2030s. Fusion technology still hasn't been proven to be viable -
previous attempts by well-financed tech companies have failed.

WHY CHINA IS BUILDING A THORIUM MOLTEN-SALT REACTOR (4 MINUTE READ)
[7]

China plans to start building a demonstration thorium-based
molten-salt reactor in the Gobi Desert next year. The 10-megawatt
reactor project is scheduled to be operational by 2030. Thorium-232 is
more abundant on Earth than uranium-235, but it isn't directly
fissile, so it must first be transformed into fissile uranium-233,
which is technically feasible, but it is unknown whether that is
economical and practical. If feasible, thorium, which is waste product
of China's huge rare earth mining industry, could reduce dependence on
uranium.

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PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE

COLLECTION OF INSANE AND FUN FACTS ABOUT SQLITE (9 MINUTE READ) [8]

SQLite is the most deployed and used database. It is likely used more
than all other databases combined. SQLite is only maintained by three
people who don't allow outside contributions. This blog post lists 24
facts about the database.

WHAT IS A DEPENDENCY? (2 MINUTE READ) [9]

A dependency consists of a checksum, a location, a name, and a
version. The checksum is a cryptographic hash of the contents of the dependency. The location tells systems how to acquire the dependency.
The name tells when two different dependencies correspond to different
versions of the same thing. The version is a specific rule about
dependency substitutability.

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MISCELLANEOUS

GENETICALLY EDITED MOSQUITOES HAVEN'T SCALED YET. WHY? (23 MINUTE
READ) [10]

Gene drives are a clever genetic trick that forces a particular gene
to be inherited by nearly all offspring rather than the usual 50-50
chance in normal inheritance. They can propagate a desired mutation
through an entire population theoretically with only a few mating
events. Some iterations of gene drives have been demonstrated to work
in fruit flies, but mosquitoes are much more complicated and we don't
fully understand them yet. This technology is also being developed in
countries where malaria is not endemic - the countries that have
problems with mosquitoes may not want to deal with the potential
ecological issues that may result from the use of gene drives.

THE WEB IS TOO BIG, OR SCALING DOWN (10 MINUTE READ) [11]

The modern web is incredibly complex. WebAssembly made web technology
the core of the future of computing. We are already using the browser
as a replacement for operating systems' graphics toolkits. Simplifying
the web won't fix many of the widespread problems. There are a lot of
smaller networks currently available that provide a look into what an alternative to the web might look like.

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QUICK LINKS

NVIDIA FINALIZES ACQUISITION OF AI SOFTWARE FIRM RUN:AI, TAKES
SOFTWARE OPEN SOURCE - COMPANY REPORTEDLY COST $700 MILLION (3
MINUTE READ) [12]

Run:ai offers GPU orchestration software that organizes groups of
GPUs more efficiently.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE SALES, DON'T START A COMPANY (1 MINUTE READ) [13]

Founders are always selling - sales is a skill that anyone can get
good at.

ROBOTS ARE LEARNING TO CONDUCT SURGERY ON THEIR OWN BY WATCHING
VIDEOS (4 MINUTE READ) [14]

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University
have trained robots to manipulate needles, tie knots, and suture
wounds using video recordings of human-controlled robotic arms
performing surgical tasks.

PASSKEY TECHNOLOGY IS ELEGANT, BUT IT'S MOST DEFINITELY NOT USABLE
SECURITY (23 MINUTE READ) [15]

Passkeys were supposed to fix the problems with passwords, but their inconsistent implementation has made them less practical than password managers.

WRITING WRAPPED (14 MINUTE READ) [16]

A look over a year of writing by Anu Atluru, a founder and writer
from NYC.

MONEY CAN BUY A LONGER LIFEÄTO A POINT (4 MINUTE READ) [17]

People with high salaries and net worth tend to live longer lives due
to access to better healthcare, nutrition, and safer environments.

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[4] https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/29/nvidias-next-move-powering-humanoid-robots/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/30/blue_origin_new_glenn_flight/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[6] https://theweek.com/science/world-first-fusion-power-plant?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[7] https://spectrum.ieee.org/chinas-thorium-molten-salt-reactor?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[8] https://avi.im/blag/2024/sqlite-facts/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[9] https://matklad.github.io/2024/12/30/what-is-dependency.html?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[10] https://eryney.substack.com/p/genetically-edited-mosquitoes-havent?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[11] https://scottrichmond.me/the-web-is-too-big/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter [12] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/nvidia-finalizes-acquisition-of-ai-software-firm-run-ai-takes-software-open-source-company-reportedly-cost-usd700-million?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[13] https://hunterwalk.com/2024/12/30/if-you-dont-like-sales-dont-start-a-company/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[14] https://gizmodo.com/robots-are-learning-to-conduct-surgery-on-their-own-by-watching-videos-2000544229?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[15] https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/12/passkey-technology-is-elegant-but-its-most-definitely-not-usable-security/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
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