Apple is finally letting green bubbles send message reactions (2 minute read)
iOS 18.1 can display emoji reactions from Android users correctly. iOS was unable to display message reactions correctly when RCS first launched on the platform in September. Apple has been ignoring Google's campaign to adopt RCS for years, only complying after pressure from both China and the EU. The company will likely keep as many exclusive features as possible for its iMessage service as long as it isn't forced to change.
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Meta is opening a pop-up retail store for the Ray-Ban Meta glasses (2 minute read)
Meta Lab, a pop-up experiential retail space for Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, will open on November 8 in Los Angeles. The temporary store will allow customers to try out the glasses and customize glasses cases. There will be events with various creators, live podcasts, and cooking classes. The store will close on December 31. Another Meta Lab experience is planned for Phoenix at the end of January.
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Science & Futuristic Technology
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Physicists Stir a Supersolid For First Time, Proving Its Bizarre Dual Nature (4 minute read)
Scientists have successfully stirred a supersolid, a strange type of matter that is both rigid and fluid, for the first time. Supersolids have the properties of both solids and superfluids - a fraction of atoms flow friction-free through a lattice of a rigid crystal structure. Stirring the supersolid resulted in tiny whirlpools called quantized vortices, an indication of superfluidity. The breakthrough will make it possible to simulate phenomena in the lab that normally occur under truly extreme conditions, like in the hearts of neutron stars.
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Airborne microplastics aid in cloud formation (5 minute read)
New research suggests that microplastics in the air could affect weather and climate by producing clouds in conditions where they would not form otherwise. Clouds form when water vapor sticks to tiny floating particles in the atmosphere. Water droplets with microplastic particles can produce ice crystals at temperatures 5 to 10 degrees Celsius warmer than droplets without microplastics. Precipitation typically starts as ice particles. More information about microplastic concentrations at the altitudes where clouds form is needed before scientists can make theories on how exactly microplastics affect weather and climate.
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Programming, Design & Data Science
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Rails 8.0: No PaaS Required (10 minute read)
Deploying modern web apps has become so hard that many developers have become reliant on Platform-as-a-Service. Rails 8 includes tools to make the process more simple. These include Kamal 2, a tool that turns fresh Linux boxes into application or accessory servers with just a single command, and Thruster, a proxy that provides X-Sendfile acceleration, asset caching, and asset compression. This blog post covers the highlights of the new Rails release.
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BemiDB (GitHub Repo)
BemiDB is a simple and cost-effective cloud analytics platform. It connects and automatically synchronizes data from existing PostgreSQL databases and other data sources, storing data in a columnar format that's ready for querying. BemiDB makes data accessible for analysis in near real-time without additional pipelines or transformations.
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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy denies that 5-day office mandate is a 'backdoor layoff' (3 minute read)
Amazon's five-day in-office mandate was not made to reduce headcount or appease city officials, according to CEO Andy Jassy. The topic was brought up during an all-hands meeting on Tuesday. Jassy says that the decision to get workers back into the office was about the company's culture and strengthening that culture. Returning workers to the office will allow employees to be better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected. Amazon employees will have to return to the office five days a week starting from January 2.
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A new city springs from the rainforest to become Indonesia's tech hub (9 minute read)
Indonesia is building a new capital to replace Jakarta as the current capital is sinking - in some areas, at a rate of 25 cm per year. This was caused by the over-extraction of groundwater and the sheer weight of buildings. Nusantara, the new city, aims to be a model of livability and sustainability. It will be powered predominantly by renewable energy with the aim of being carbon neutral by 2045. This article looks at the project and its aims and challenges. Local opinions of the project are mixed - many locals have taken to referring to the city as 'Wakanda' as a way to criticize government decisions and officials without the risk of imprisonment.
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