The IRS says it spent $10.5M to develop and $2.4M to run its free tax filing website, used by 140K+ households in 12 states, and claims high user satisfaction (Julie Zauzmer Weil/Washington Post)

Summary:

Julie Zauzmer Weil / Washington Post:
The IRS says it spent $10.5M to develop and $2.4M to run its free tax filing website, used by 140K+ households in 12 states, and claims high user satisfaction  —  In its first year, more than 140,000 households in 12 states did their taxes with Direct File  —  The Biden administration …

EyeEm, the bankrupt photo sharing network acquired by Freepik last year, will license users' photos to train AI if the images are not deleted within 30 days (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

Summary:

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
EyeEm, the bankrupt photo sharing network acquired by Freepik last year, will license users' photos to train AI if the images are not deleted within 30 days  —  EyeEm, the Berlin-based photo-sharing community that exited last year to Spanish company Freepik after going bankrupt, is now licensing its

This Week In Techdirt History: April 21st – 27th

Summary:
Five Years Ago This week in 2019, another attempt to hold Twitter responsible for terrorist attacks was tossed out of court (but it didn’t stop the trend of rushing to blame social media for every tragedy) while we got a look behind the scenes of how Facebook dealt with the Christchurch shooting. Another Hollywood company […]

Mastodon forms a new US non-profit, to receive tax-deductible US donations and in-kind support, with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and others on its board (Eugen Rochko/Mastodon Blog)

Summary:

Eugen Rochko / Mastodon Blog:
Mastodon forms a new US non-profit, to receive tax-deductible US donations and in-kind support, with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and others on its board  —  As part of our commitment to supporting the growth and operational capabilities of Mastodon, we have established a 501(c)(3) …

Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet disclosed that they had spent $32B+ combined on data centers and other capital expenses in Q1, as they accelerate AI spending (Karen Weise/New York Times)

Summary:

Karen Weise / New York Times:
Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet disclosed that they had spent $32B+ combined on data centers and other capital expenses in Q1, as they accelerate AI spending  —  The spending that the industry's giants expect artificial intelligence to require is starting to come into focus —

Trump is using the prospect of a TikTok ban to court younger voters, blaming Biden for setting a ban in motion, as the new law rattles pro-Biden TikTok creators (Akayla Gardner/Bloomberg)

Summary:

Akayla Gardner / Bloomberg:
Trump is using the prospect of a TikTok ban to court younger voters, blaming Biden for setting a ban in motion, as the new law rattles pro-Biden TikTok creators  —  Biden's campaign is making an unprecedented effort to court influencers, even though he signed a bill that could lead to TikTok vanishing in the US.<

Get Deep Discounts on OWC's Best Thunderbolt Docks, USB-C Hubs, Memory, and More Mac Accessories

Summary:
OWC is hosting a big Mac accessory sale that includes a number of discounts on Thunderbolt docks, USB-C hubs, external drives and enclosures, internal memory upgrade kits for Mac, and more. Most products are in stock and ready to ship out today, and OWC offers free shipping on orders $149.00 and over.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with OWC. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Highlights of the sale include a collection of Thunderbolt docks for up to $150 off. These docks allow you to easily connect a wide array of peripherals to your Mac, including two 4K displays or one 5K display with the <a href="https://ww [...]

A look at the rise in video podcasts, as YouTube leads in podcast consumption in the US and companies invest in video to gain new audiences and boost ad revenue (Reggie Ugwu/New York Times)

Summary:

Reggie Ugwu / New York Times:
A look at the rise in video podcasts, as YouTube leads in podcast consumption in the US and companies invest in video to gain new audiences and boost ad revenue  —  To some, “video podcasts” are a contradiction in terms.  That hasn't made them any less popula

Linux: Deploy the Netdata Server Performance Monitor

Summary:

If you’re looking to deploy a server performance monitor for your Linux servers, Netdata has a great option that is

The post Linux: Deploy the Netdata Server Performance Monitor appeared first on The New Stack.

Top Stories: Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event With New iPads and More Expected

Summary:
New iPads are coming, and Apple is holding a virtual event to introduce them! While it appears likely to be a relatively short video event, we should be seeing new iPad Pro and iPad Air models, some new accessories, and perhaps some additional surprises.


Other Apple news and rumors this week included word that Apple is FINALLY planning to introduce a native Calculator app for the iPad later this year, the release of a fresh round of betas for iOS 17.5 and related operating system updates, and perhaps the end of the road coming for Apple's FineWoven accessories, so read on below for details on these stories and more!

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7

Coding Test for Llama 3: Implementing JSON Persistence

Summary:

While building a decentralized Twitter in a previous post, I included some code that implemented JSON persistence. With the launch

The post Coding Test for Llama 3: Implementing JSON Persistence appeared first on The New Stack.

Dev News: React 19 Beta and Redwood Tests React Server Components

Summary:

React 19 beta released Thursday and it includes all of the React Server Components features from the canary channel. New

The post Dev News: React 19 Beta and Redwood Tests React Server Components appeared first on The New Stack.

Google and Apple use passkeys to capture users by locking credentials into their platforms and have made the UX of passkeys worse than that of password managers (William Brown/Firstyear's blog-a-log)

Summary:

William Brown / Firstyear's blog-a-log:
Google and Apple use passkeys to capture users by locking credentials into their platforms and have made the UX of passkeys worse than that of password managers  —  At around 11pm last night my partner went to change our lounge room lights with our home light control system.

Apple ID Accounts Logging Out Users and Requiring Password Reset

Summary:
There are widespread reports of Apple users being locked out of their Apple ID overnight for no apparent reason, requiring a password reset before they can log in again.


Users say the sudden inexplicable Apple ID sign-out is occurring across multiple devices. When they attempt to sign in again they are locked out of their account and asked to reset their password in order to regain access.

This has led to additional Apple ID issues for users with Stolen Device Protection enabled who are away from a trusted location, as well as any app-specific passwords previously set up in iCloud also being reset.

As noted by 9to5Mac [...]

A review of Dana Mattioli's The Everything War, which covers Lina Khan's antitrust battle against Amazon and makes a case that no company should be so powerful (Jonathan Ford/Financial Times)

Summary:

Jonathan Ford / Financial Times:
A review of Dana Mattioli's The Everything War, which covers Lina Khan's antitrust battle against Amazon and makes a case that no company should be so powerful  —  Dana Mattioli's important book looks the winner-takes-all dynamic that built a competition-squashing behemoth

Investors cheer Microsoft and Alphabet's huge AI spending plans as shares of both firms rallied but not Meta's, which saw its worst trading day in 18 months (Tom Dotan/Wall Street Journal)

Summary:

Tom Dotan / Wall Street Journal:
Investors cheer Microsoft and Alphabet's huge AI spending plans as shares of both firms rallied but not Meta's, which saw its worst trading day in 18 months  —  Meta had its worst trading day in 18 months after warning of years of AI investment;

Google plans to invest $2B to set up a data center in Indiana and $1B to expand three Virginia sites, and announces a $75M fund to train Americans on AI skills (Yuvraj Malik/Reuters)

Summary:

Yuvraj Malik / Reuters:
Google plans to invest $2B to set up a data center in Indiana and $1B to expand three Virginia sites, and announces a $75M fund to train Americans on AI skills  —  Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google said on Friday it would invest $3 billion to set up a data center campus in Indiana and expand sites in Virginia.

Google opens its second hardware office in New Taipei City, as VP of Engineering Elmer Peng says "Taiwan is Google's largest hardware R&D hub outside of the US" (Nikkei Asia)

Summary:

Nikkei Asia:
Google opens its second hardware office in New Taipei City, as VP of Engineering Elmer Peng says “Taiwan is Google's largest hardware R&D hub outside of the US”  —  Search engine giant ‘serious’ about beefing up equipment and software ecosystem

A number of Apple users say they were logged out of their Apple ID across multiple devices on April 26 and forced to reset their password before logging back in (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)

Summary:

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
A number of Apple users say they were logged out of their Apple ID across multiple devices on April 26 and forced to reset their password before logging back in  —  A number of people on social media say that they were logged out of their Apple ID across multiple devices on Friday evening …

LittleBigPlanet: Now You Don’t Own What You’ve Created, Either

Summary:
For several years now, we’ve had a running series of posts discussing how, when it comes to digital goods, you often don’t own what you’ve bought. This ugliness shows up with all kinds of content, including purchased movies, books, and shows on digital platforms. But it has reared its head acutely as of late in […]

A US appeals court reverses a 2021 ruling that prevented New York from enforcing a law requiring ISPs to offer low-cost broadband plans to low-income consumers (Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica)

Summary:

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
A US appeals court reverses a 2021 ruling that prevented New York from enforcing a law requiring ISPs to offer low-cost broadband plans to low-income consumers  —  New York obtains significant win for states' ability to regulate broadband.  —  A federal appeals court today reversed a ruling …

Microsoft partners with IBM to release the MS-DOS 4.0 source code under the MIT license on GitHub (Andy Edser/PC Gamer)

Summary:

Andy Edser / PC Gamer:
Microsoft partners with IBM to release the MS-DOS 4.0 source code under the MIT license on GitHub  —  Fond memories of beige machines.  —  Ah, the PC in the spare room.  Back when “going on the computer” was an event, not a daily necessity, I cut my teeth on MS-DOS g

Apple Asks Customers for Vision Pro Feedback

Summary:
Apple has been soliciting Vision Pro feedback since the device launched, but this week, the company has picked up on sending out surveys. We've had several reports from Vision Pro customers who have been asked to share their thoughts about the device.


Apple asks about Vision Pro satisfaction, environment usage, favorite features, what it's being used for, how often it's used, and how long usage sessions last. Apple also asks about guest mode and who else uses the Vision Pro, which is a curious question because it's not at all set up for multi-person usage. Some of the questions:

• Overall, how satisfied are you with your Vision Pro?


• What is your favorite feature or aspect of Apple Vision Pro so far?

IBM plans to expand its semiconductor packaging and testing plant in Bromont, Quebec, with more than CA$1B in investments over the next five years (Mathieu Dion/Bloomberg)

Summary:

Mathieu Dion / Bloomberg:
IBM plans to expand its semiconductor packaging and testing plant in Bromont, Quebec, with more than CA$1B in investments over the next five years  —  - The chips-packaging facility has about 1,000 employees  — ‘What you really need is a full supply chain onshore’: Thomas

Apple Reignites Talks With OpenAI About Generative AI for iOS 18

Summary:
Apple is once again talking with OpenAI about using OpenAI technology to power artificial intelligence features in iOS 18, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


Apple held talks with OpenAI earlier in the year, but nothing had come of the discussion. Apple and OpenAI are now said to be speaking about the terms of a possible agreement and how Apple might utilize OpenAI features.

Along with OpenAI, Apple is still having discussions with Google about licensing Google's Gemini AI. Apple has not come to a final decision, an [...]

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: The Bell Tolls For TikTok

Summary:
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed. In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online […]

Apple Event Next Month Said to Be 'Accompanied By an Event in London'

Summary:
Apple's upcoming "Let Loose" event "will be accompanied by an event in London," according to The Independent's Andrew Griffin.


The report does not provide any additional details about what will be happening in London, but it might simply be a briefing that allows journalists in the UK to receive hands-on time with the new iPads and other products that Apple is expected to announce next month. Apple has frequently invited the media to hands-on briefings in New York City, and it also held a briefing <a href="https://twitter.com/rsgnl/status/17650065399 [...]

Hands-On With the Rabbit r1 Pocket AI Assistant

Summary:
With the rise of ChatGPT and large language models (LLMs), AI-dedicated devices have started coming out. The Humane AI pin was widely lambasted earlier this month when it launched, and now the Rabbit r1 AI assistant is out. With rumors that Apple is delving into AI in a big way, we thought we'd check out the Rabbit r1 to see what it can do and how it measures up to an iPhone.

Florida Appeals Court Says The Right To Record Extends To Phone Calls With Cops

Summary:
Well, this ought to prompt another round of police-protecting legislation in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed two bills into law — one that creates a 25-foot “no go” zone around police officers and one that strips police oversight boards of their independence. And that’s on top of the immediate effort made by the legislature […]

How to Cure LLM Weaknesses with Vector Databases

Summary:

For many years, there has been speculation about the potential impacts of AI on enterprises. Now we’re seeing companies from

The post How to Cure LLM Weaknesses with Vector Databases appeared first on The New Stack.

Android TV has access to your entire account—but Google is changing that

Summary:
Should sideloading Chrome on an old smart TV really compromise your entire account?

Qualcomm, AMD Add Fuel to the AI PC Engine

Summary:

Chipmakers and PC vendors for more than a year have been zeroing in on the promised coming of the AI

The post Qualcomm, AMD Add Fuel to the AI PC Engine appeared first on The New Stack.

Court Dismisses Mark Zuckerberg Personally From Massive ‘Social Media Addicts Children’ Lawsuit

Summary:
Over the last few years, there have been a ton of lawsuits, pretty much all of them dubious, arguing that social media is inherently harmful to children (something the research does not show) and that therefore there is some sort of magic product liability claim that will hold social media companies responsible. A bunch of […]

The Lazy Developer’s Guide to Creating AI Chatbots

Summary:

In 2024, the question many teams face isn’t whether to adopt AI productivity tools but rather how to adopt them.

The post The Lazy Developer’s Guide to Creating AI Chatbots appeared first on The New Stack.

The Quest for Extended Detection and Response (XDR): Unraveling Cybersecurity’s Next Generation

Summary:

Embarking on an exploration of the extended detection and response (XDR) sector wasn’t just another research project for me; it was a

The post The Quest for Extended Detection and Response (XDR): Unraveling Cybersecurity’s Next Generation appeared first on Gigaom.

Message-scraping, user-tracking service Spy Pet shut down by Discord

Summary:
Bot-driven service was also connected to targeted harassment site Kiwi Farms.

GitHub’s 2FA Push Boosts Adoption among Developers

Summary:

GitHub is on a mission to help secure millions of developers through its mandatory two-factor authentication (2FA) policy. Through the

The post GitHub’s 2FA Push Boosts Adoption among Developers appeared first on The New Stack.

Net Neutrality Is Back! For Now.

Summary:
The FCC on Thursday once again voted along party lines to restore popular net neutrality rules stripped away during the Trump administration in a flurry of protest and sleazy industry behavior. You might recall the 2017 repeal was so unpopular that telecom giants were caught using fake and dead people to create the illusion of […]

The ol' hot & juicy (Friends)

Summary:
Frequent guest (and almost real-life-friend) Adam Jacob returns to share his spicy takes on all the recent “open source meets business” drama. We also take some time to catch up on the state of his open source-based business, System Initiative.

Daily Deal: U-STREAM Home Streaming Studio with 10″ Ring Light & Tripod

Summary:
Envy those picture-perfect vlogs and YouTube channels? You can easily re-create them Aduro’s U-STREAM Home Streaming Studio. The 10″ ring light offers 3 distinct lighting options — white, warm yellow, and warm white. The brightness feature on the remote offers 10 different levels of brightness so you can choose what’s best for you. Not only […]

Microsoft open-sources infamously weird, RAM-hungry MS-DOS 4.00 release

Summary:
DOS 4.00 was supposed to add multitasking to the OS, but it was not to be.

Preparing for Crunch Times: Tips for Fast-Scaling Companies

Summary:

Basketball superfans may be mourning the end of March Madness, but for the folks on the court, next year’s gauntlet

The post Preparing for Crunch Times: Tips for Fast-Scaling Companies appeared first on The New Stack.

MacRumors Giveaway: Win an iPhone 15 and Blue Light Screen Protector From Ocushield

Summary:
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Ocushield to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win an iPhone 15 and one of Ocushield's Blue Light Screen Protectors to go along with it.


Ocushield has a range of medically rated screen protectors that are designed for for the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. Ocushield specializes in blue light reduction, so all of its screen protectors cut down on the amount of blue light that you're exposed to when using your devices.

Blue light can cause [...]

Biden Bans The App His Campaign Insists Is An Important Place To Talk To Voters

Summary:
Apparently TikTok is so evil and pernicious that it must be banned from the United States… and so useful that the man who signed the ban, President Joe Biden, made sure to post a few new videos to the platform. It feels like maybe his concerns are a bit overblown? It seems that TikTok users […]

GraphQL Growth Explodes but so Do Problems Federated Graphs Solve

Summary:

GraphQL is a query language that allows users to find and request data from servers in a way that they

The post GraphQL Growth Explodes but so Do Problems Federated Graphs Solve appeared first on The New Stack.

The MacRumors Show: Apple's iPad Event Finally Announced!

Summary:
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the announcement of Apple's upcoming "Let loose" event, where the company is widely expected to announce new iPad models and accessories.

Top 10 Tools for Kafka Engineers

Summary:

Apache Kafka, a leader in the data streaming space, requires specialized tools to ensure efficient data handling and infrastructure reliability.

The post Top 10 Tools for Kafka Engineers appeared first on The New Stack.

AirPods 4 Rumors: Everything We Know So Far

Summary:
Apple introduced the third-generation AirPods nearly three years ago and an all new model is now slated to launch later this year with a range of improvements and new features.


Many of the changes and improvements introduced with the third-generation AirPods originated on the first-generation AirPods Pro. As such, it seems likely that many of the upgrades coming to the fourth-generation AirPods will be shaped by the second-generation ‌AirPods Pro‌. Our best indications so far about what to expect come from a report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Two Models

Best Apple Deals of the Week: Shop Low Prices on M3 MacBook Air, M3 iMac, and M1 iPad Air

Summary:
Apple's 13-inch M3 MacBook Air, M1 iPad Air, and M3 iMac are the highlights of this week's best deals, and they include multiple record low prices across each product lineup.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

MacBook Air

• What's the deal? Get up to $110 off 13-inch M3 MacBook Air


• Where can I get it? <a href="https://buy.geni.us/Proxy.ashx?TSID=3088&GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2FB0CX23V2ZK%3Ftag%3

Share a Webpage Link With Quoted Text in iPhone Messages

Summary:
Most iPhone users know how to share a webpage link in Messages, but not everyone realizes that you can quote text from the webpage and include it in the message link. Keep reading to learn more.


Incorporating quoted text when sharing a webpage link in Messages is a great way to get to the point and make it clear why the content you're sharing is relevant and interesting. It not only makes the link more engaging but also personalizes the message if it's sent in the midst of a conversation.

By highlighting specific text, you can streamline your communication by directing the recipient's attention to the most pertinent information on the linked website. It saves time, and ensures that the key piece of information you want to share isn't misse [...]

How to Manage XDP/eBPF Effectively for Better DDoS Protection

Summary:

Extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) maps serve as a sophisticated interface for atomic updates of shared memory segments, which function

The post How to Manage XDP/eBPF Effectively for Better DDoS Protection appeared first on The New Stack.

Apple's Regular Mac Base RAM Boosts Ended When Tim Cook Took Over

Summary:
Apple used to regularly increase the base memory of its Macs up until 2011, the same year Tim Cook was appointed CEO, charts posted on Mastodon by David Schaub show.


Earlier this year, Schaub generated two charts: One showing the base memory capacities of Apple's all-in-one Macs from 1984 onwards, and a second depicting Apple's consumer laptop base RAM from 1999 onwards. Both charts were recently resurfaced by the Accidental Tech Podcast.

The graphs show that Apple tended to increase the base memory every two years or so, but that this trend ended when Cook took over the company from Steve Jobs. Memory increased quickly until the Mac Plus [...]

People Are Slowly Realizing Their Auto Insurance Rates Are Skyrocketing Because Their Car Is Covertly Spying On Them

Summary:
Last month the New York Times’ Kashmir Hill published a major story on how GM collects driver behavior data then sells access (through LexisNexis) to insurance companies, which will then jack up your rates. The absolute bare minimum you could could expect from the auto industry here is that they’re doing this in a way that’s clear to car […]

The Digital Transformation Card Game - an interview

Summary:

This week’s Software Defined Talk podcast episode is an interview I did with Jana Werner. If you’re into software, DevOps, agile, product management…all that “digital transformation” stuff, you’ll like it. We go over a deck of cards she’s put together that are meant to provoke executives and managers to start thinking about they could change to start changing how people work in their organization, you know: culture.

Here’s one fun excerpt:

Check out the rest of the interview, either in the usual podcast form or in the glory of full color video!

Three Takes on IBM Buying HashiCorp

Here’s three good takes on IBM acquiring HashiCorp

1. <a href="https://www.nextplatform.com/2024/04/25/ibm-buys-hashicorp-to-contro

Tech Works: How to Get Promoted without Becoming a Manager

Summary:

Not everyone wants to become a manager. Not everyone should be a manager. There should be a way to grow

The post Tech Works: How to Get Promoted without Becoming a Manager appeared first on The New Stack.

What Are Loop Controls in Python and How Do You Use Them?

Summary:

Loops are an integral part of your Python code, without which you’d struggle to do anything effectively (or without having

The post What Are Loop Controls in Python and How Do You Use Them? appeared first on The New Stack.

Apple Sinks From First to Fifth Place in Chinese Smartphone Market

Summary:
Analytics company Canalys has released its latest report on China's smartphone market for the first quarter of 2024, and Apple has come off worst among the top five brands jostling for supremacy in Asia's largest economy.


Huawei returned to the top spot after 13 quarters with a 17% market share. The local vendor shipped 11.7 million smartphones, thanks to its popular Mate and nova series, while OPPO rose to second place on strong performance of its Reno 11 series, shipping 10.9 million units. Conversely, HONOR, vivo, and Apple all slowed their sell-ins in the quarter, ranking third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.

HONOR shipped 10.6 million units with a 16% share, a year-on-year increase of 9%, while vivo shipped 10.3 million units with [...]

Flynn Family’s SLAPP Suit Against CNN Slapped Down By Judge

Summary:
MAGA SLAPP suits apparently aren’t going out of style, but yet another one has been tossed out of court. Remember lawyer Steven Biss? He was the grand filer of tons of SLAPP suits for the MAGA crowd against media outlets. He had quite a losing streak, with nearly all of those cases failing. Last fall, […]

Apple's 2025 M4 Mac Pro: What to Expect

Summary:
Apple last updated the Mac Pro in June 2023, adding an M2 Ultra chip and officially completing the transition away from Intel chips. The ‌Mac Pro‌ uses the same ‌M2‌ Ultra chip that's in the Mac Studio, leading to criticism about its lack of power.


Apple has now gone back to the drawing board and is working on an updated version of the ‌Mac Pro‌ that's set to come out next year. This guide highlights everything we know about Apple's ‌Mac Pro‌ progress.

M4 Chip

Tech brands are forcing AI into your gadgets—whether you asked for it or not

Summary:
The "AI mouse" is just the start.

HMD’s first self-branded phones are all under $200

Summary:
HMD will still make Nokia phones but is shipping self-branded phones, too.

Google will finally put Keep reminders in Tasks, where they always belonged

Summary:

The reminders you’ve jotted down in Google Keep will soon show up in Tasks. Google says the long-requested integration is coming over the next year, allowing you to see, edit, and complete your Keep reminders across Tasks, Calendar, and Assistant.

The change will make Tasks the central hub for all to-dos and reminders, hopefully making them far easier to manage. It’s something my colleague David Pierce suggested when talking about Google’s upgraded Keep app last year, saying, “Now, Google, make Keep

Apache NiFi 2.0.0: Building Python Processors

Summary:

Apache NiFi, a robust platform tailored for dataflow management, offers lots of features aimed at enhancing efficiency and flexibility in

The post Apache NiFi 2.0.0: Building Python Processors appeared first on The New Stack.

Review: Satechi Launches New Qi2 Charging Stands

Summary:
Satechi today announced the availability of its two new Qi2 charging stands, the 3-in-1 Foldable Qi2 Wireless Charging Stand and the 2-in-1 Foldable Qi2 Wireless Charging Stand. Qi2 is the latest version of the Qi standard, and it is comparable to MagSafe.


Qi2 uses magnets to ensure that smartphones are aligned properly with charging coils, and it is able to charge compatible iPhones at up to 15W. The faster Qi2 charging speeds are available on the iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, and all iPhone 15 [...]

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Noble Numbat, overhauls its installation and app experience

Summary:
Plus Raspberry Pi 5 support, better laptop power, and lots of other changes.

Apple Card Promo Offers 10% Daily Cash at Nike

Summary:
Apple Card users can get extra Daily Cash back this week for Nike purchases thanks to a special Apple Pay promotion Apple is running with Nike.


From April 25 through May 2, ‌Apple Card‌ owners will get 10 percent Daily Cash back on Nike purchases made using ‌Apple Pay‌. The deal is available on the Nike website, the Nike app, and at U.S. Nike Stores.

Customers can earn up to $50 back, which means the extra cash is available for up to $500 in purchases.

Daily Cash is a benefit available to ‌Apple Card‌ owners. With each purchase, immediate cash back rewards are available. Apple typically provides two percent cash [...]

Copado Applies Generative AI to Salesforce Application Testing

Summary:

The fight for net neutrality is forever

Summary:

Looking back on a decade of coverage.

We’re reflecting on everything from LAN parties to geopolitical squabbles for the 50th anniversary of ethernet: a technology that has enabled the whole world to become connected in ways that once only lived in the realm of fantasy. But perhaps the fundamental story of the internet — the one that ties all of these things together as much as the cables that bind us — is a collection of principles now known as net neutrality. Net neutrality is possibly the policy story we’ve covered the most over the lifetime of The Verge, and that story may never end as long as humans are connected. Just like the roads that have linked people for thousands

DevOps used to manage 35% of enterprise app portfolios, 60% of testing activities are not automated

Summary:

Container, DevOps, and Generative AI for Testing Usage

My work sponsored an IDC paper going over ways to use generative AI (and ML) at various stages of software development (the “Application Development and Product Life-Cycle Management”). There’s some interesting ideas in there, you should check them out.

As always, I like to collect the numbers from surveys and estimates. There’s some good ones in there! Here they are:

• “26% of organizations are using GenAI to support application development, testing, and management and 25% are utilizing machin

How to Conquer Cold Starts for Better Performance

Summary:

Latency is the enemy of nimble apps, and cold starts — the extra time it might take for a function

The post How to Conquer Cold Starts for Better Performance appeared first on The New Stack.

Application Delivery Controllers: A Key to App Modernization

Summary:

If you get them right, modern approaches to building applications such as microservices and Function as a Service (FaaS) offer

The post Application Delivery Controllers: A Key to App Modernization appeared first on The New Stack.

Preventing Scope Creep: Guide for Managing Outsourced Teams

Summary:

As businesses continue to look for ways to save money, outsourcing to external partners has become a cost-effective solution that

The post Preventing Scope Creep: Guide for Managing Outsourced Teams appeared first on The New Stack.

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Summary:
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Only M3 models are being discounted to notable all-time low prices during this sale, although the higher-end M3 Pro and M3 Max MacBook Pros are seeing a few second-best prices. In terms of the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro, there are three total mo [...]

Kubernetes Gets Back to Scaling with Virtual Clusters

Summary:

PARIS — A virtual cluster — now that’s a way to imagine the next generation of virtualization. But what is

The post Kubernetes Gets Back to Scaling with Virtual Clusters appeared first on The New Stack.

6 iPhone Camera Tips Every User Should Know

Summary:
Apple's latest iPhones include several headline camera features that are worth using, such as Portrait Mode and Photographic Styles. But if all you want to use is the standard photo mode, there are still several tools and settings that can improve the composition of your pictures and help you capture the perfect shot using more traditional techniques.


Whether you are the owner of a new iPhone or a longtime user looking to up your photography game, here are six camera tools and settings in iOS that are worth checking out and experimenting with.

1. Use the Rule of Thirds

What Is an AI Gateway and Do You Need One Yet?

Summary:

If you’re reading this, there is a near 100% likelihood you have tried an AI application and are working in

The post What Is an AI Gateway and Do You Need One Yet? appeared first on The New Stack.

Apple Mistakenly Tells Customers Their iPhone Trade-Ins Are 'Canceled' [Updated]

Summary:
Apple today sent an email to some iPhone Upgrade Program members to inform them that their previously-completed iPhone trade-in has been "canceled," but the email was almost certainly sent in error based on the circumstances.


Apple told customers it never received their iPhone, even though they sent it in months ago. In many cases, the customers physically handed their iPhones to an Apple Store employee in person, so there is no possible way they could be at fault.

"Because you didn't trade in your iPhone, we are unable to complete the trade-in process," the email says, according to a screenshot shared with us by reader Quinn Everett. "The associated loan on this iPhone will resume."

Everett and others said the Apple Stor [...]

Qualcomm says lower-end Snapdragon X Plus chips can still outrun Apple’s M3

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Same NPU, same architecture as X Elite, but fewer cores and lower clock speeds.

Palm OS and the devices that ran it: An Ars retrospective

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Before smartphones, we had PDAs in our pockets. Palm did them best.

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Spring Now Offers Free Access for the Spring Academy Pro Content - Free Spring training for all: “The Spring team has announced that the Pro Content from their Spring Academy will no longer require a paid subscription, effective April 5th 2024, to improve the learning experience for the Spring community. The Spring Academy will continue to provide new content in the future."

IBM Purchases HashiCorp for Multicloud IT Automation

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Enterprise software and services giant is buying IT infrastructure provider HashiCorp for $6.4 billion, or $35 per HashiCorp share in

The post IBM Purchases HashiCorp for Multicloud IT Automation appeared first on The New Stack.

Reddit, AI spam bots explore new ways to show ads in your feed

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Reddit says its "communities are naturally commercial."

IBM Confirms: It’s Buying HashiCorp

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A Polestar Phone now inexplicably exists

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Polestar normally makes electric cars, but now it's releasing a phone.

Amazon Bedrock Expands Palette of Large Language Models

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More options are always a good thing, and with this in mind have expanded the capabilities of its Amazon Bedrock

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Let’s Architect! Discovering Generative AI on AWS

Summary:
Generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) is a type of AI used to generate content, including conversations, images, videos, and music. Generative AI can be used directly to build customer-facing features (a chatbot or an image generator), or it can serve as an underlying component in a more complex system. For example, it can generate embeddings […]

Pulumi Launches New Infrastructure Lifecycle Features

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Pulumi, a leader in the Infrastructure as Code (IaC) arena, has launched a set of new features for its deployment

The post Pulumi Launches New Infrastructure Lifecycle Features appeared first on The New Stack.

Google can’t quit third-party cookies—delays shut down for a third time

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Google says UK regulator testing means the advertising tech will last until 2025.

5 Strategies for Better Results from an AI Code Assistant

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Copilots, like all GenAI, are non-deterministic; meaning they vary in outcome. But while using AI code assistants, developers can use

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Genomics workflows, Part 6: cost prediction

Summary:
Genomics workflows run on large pools of compute resources and take petabyte-scale datasets as inputs. Workflow runs can cost as much as hundreds of thousands of US dollars. Given this large scale, scientists want to estimate the projected cost of their genomics workflow runs before deciding to launch them. In Part 6 of this series, […]

Cancel Asynchronous React App Requests with AbortController

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When developing web applications, it is common practice to send asynchronous requests to a backend server. However, there are times

The post Cancel Asynchronous React App Requests with AbortController appeared first on The New Stack.

Technical Learning at Lyft: Build a Strong Data Science Team

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Written by Shumpei Goke and Jinshu Niu

Why Technical Learning?

At Lyft, data scientists tackle challenging technical problems every day. To support and empower our data scientists, Lyft’s Technical Learning Council (TLC) provides diverse and high-quality continuous learning opportunities to hone their technical skills. TLC’s mission is “to equip Data Science team members with the technical knowledge and skills that are applicable to their work and helpful to their career advancement.” Investing in technical learning not only aids data scientists in solving complex problems but also contributes to their professional growth, benefiting both Lyft’s business and the individuals involved. We want to foster a culture of con

One Login: Towards a Single Fediverse Identity on ActivityPub

Summary:

In a recent post on Nostr, one of many Twitter alternatives that have popped up in the post-Musk era, OG

The post One Login: Towards a Single Fediverse Identity on ActivityPub appeared first on The New Stack.

How to Simplify Global State Management in React Using Jotai

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If you’ve been using React for a while, you’ll no doubt have experienced scenarios where global state is required. In

The post How to Simplify Global State Management in React Using Jotai appeared first on The New Stack.

Embrace Adds Support for OpenTelemetry to Instrument Mobile Applications

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Run Gleam run (Interview)

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This week we’re joined by Louis Pilfold, the creator of the Gleam programming language. For the uninitiated, Gleam is a functional programming language for building type-safe systems that compiles to Erlang and JavaScript and it’s written in Rust. We discuss the inspiration and development of Gleam, how it compares to other languages, where it shines, the overwhelming amount of support Louis is getting through GitHub sponsors, what’s next for Gleam and their near-term plans for a language server.

You should automate your builds and tests - 71% of people do not “use continuous integration to automatically build and test my code changes.”

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The CD Foundation Survey, 2024

Today’s survey: “State of CI/CD Report 2024: The Evolution of Software Delivery Performance,” CD Foundation and SlashData, April, 2024.

Are people getting better at frequently releasing software and fixing problems in production? The most recent CD Foundation survey says…no:

• On average, 29% of respondents say they release software once a week or even more frequently; 40% take a more than month. The numbers here have been pretty stable over the past 4 years. This suggests that (a) improvement has stalled, an

Paying Your Dues

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Is the Arm version of Windows ready for its close-up?

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Checking back in with Windows 11 on Arm on the eve of the Snapdragon X Elite.

Finally have access to ChatGPT memory

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