Meta humanoid robots 🤖, Reddit paywalls 🛑, Create React App deprecated 👨‍💻

TLDR 2025-02-17

📱Big Tech & Startups

Meta is reportedly working on humanoid robots that help with chores (3 minute read)

Meta is reportedly creating a new team within its Reality Labs hardware division that will build robot hardware. The company's long-term goal is to create the platform that the industry uses. It will make the underlying sensors, AI, and software for other companies to put inside their hardware. The core technologies that Meta has invested in and built across Reality Labs and AI are complementary to the development of the advancements needed for robotics.

Reddit CEO Says Paywalls Are Coming Soon (2 minute read)

Reddit's CEO Steve Huffman said during a video Ask Me Anything Session recently that the platform is actively testing ways to make some content paid. Reddit is planning to roll out a 'paid subreddit' feature later this year. The paid content model is still a work in progress - there are many issues to work out, such as how paid subreddits will be moderated, as volunteer moderators likely won't want to watch over paid content if they aren't getting paid themselves. It may be possible for Reddit to allow creators to put certain content behind paywalls - lots of creators have their own subreddits, which allow community conversation in a way that comments on Patreon posts don't totally allow for.

🚀Science & Futuristic Technology

Miniaturized CRISPR Packs a Mighty Gene Editing Punch (5 minute read)

One of the biggest issues with CRISPR-Cas9 is that the system is too large, making it difficult to deliver the gene editor. Mammoth Biosciences' NanoCas is a version of the CRISPR-Cas9 system that is roughly one-third the size of the original, allowing the tool to be used for gene therapy inside muscles, the brain, the heart, and other tissues. The team is already exploring the system's potential for targeting brain diseases. The technology could be modified for use in epigenetic or base editing.

The Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Is Now Orbiting the Moon, Taking Dazzling Photographs (4 minute read)

NASA's Blue Ghost lander is now orbiting the Moon as it prepares to make a landing on March 2. The lander holds 10 payloads - a list is available in the article. NASA also launched a rover from a Japanese company along with Blue Ghost that will carry five payloads. The rover will land at the Atlas crater in Mare Frigoris and use its equipment to conduct food production experiments, detect radiation, conduct water electrolysis, and collect regolith.

💻Programming, Design & Data Science

Sunsetting Create React App (9 minute read)

Create React App currently has no active maintainers and there are many existing programs that solve the same problems, so it is being deprecated. It will continue working in maintenance mode. Frameworks like Next.js, React Router, and Expo are recommended for new projects. Links to adoption guides for migrating apps from Create React App to Next.js, React Router, and Expo are available in the article.

From web developer to database developer in 10 years (4 minute read)

This article details Phil Eaton's journey from a web developer to a database developer and the decisions made along the way. Eaton was a web developer from 2014 to 2012 and a hands-on engineering manager from 2017 to 2021. He tried to start a company in 2021 but left in 2023 to be a co-founder at TigerBeetle. This experience eventually led to him becoming a database developer.

🎁Miscellaneous

The Inside Story of How Altman and Musk Went From Friends to Bitter Enemies (16 minute read)

Sam Altman and Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015. Their relationship soured in 2018, and Musk left after a power struggle. The rivalry intensified when Musk launched his own AI startup, xAI, following the release of ChatGPT. Musk recently followed the Stargate unveiling by making a hostile $97.4 billion bid for the assets of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. This article looks at Altman and Musk's rivalry through conversations with more than a dozen people familiar with their relationship over the years.

Inside Amazon's Messy Push to Bring Everyone Back to the Office (8 minute read)

Amazon told hundreds of thousands of workers to come back to the office full-time, but it didn't have enough desks to go around. Some employees don't have any teammates in the same location, so they are fighting other employees for private rooms to make video calls. This article looks at how Amazon's policy for employees to return to the office or find somewhere else to work has turned out. The company is short on desks and parking and employees report that the initiative hasn't helped them become more collaborative.

⚡Quick Links

SpaceX is so close to turning its rocket headquarters into an actual city (4 minute read)

In December, SpaceX submitted a petition to turn the coastal Texas village where the Starship factory and space port operate into an incorporated city called Starbase.

Figure AI is in talks to raise $1.5B at 15x its last valuation (1 minute read)

Figure's founder last month said that the company has signed on a second commercial customer that sees the potential to ship 100,000 humanoid robots.

We Were Wrong About GPUs (10 minute read)

Fly.io's Fly GPU Machines enabled GPUs, but the project didn't live up to expectations - developers don't want GPUs, they want working large language models.

Musk's xAI Discussing $10 Billion Raise at $75 Billion Valuation (2 minute read)

Investors including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Valor Equity Partners are still in talks to participate in the transaction - terms of the round have yet to be finalized and could still change.

The Great AI UI Unification (5 minute read)

OpenAI will likely replace its model-picker dropdown with an input box with no options - users would simply type something and ChatGPT will figure out their intent.

Meta confirms ‘Project Waterworth,' a global subsea cable project spanning 50,000 kilometers (4 minute read)

Meta has confirmed that it is working on a 50,000 kilometers-long, $10 billion+ subsea cable project to connect up the globe in the world's longest subsea cable project.