TLDR 2019-06-06

Peloton, an exercise tech and service provider, has filed for an Initial Public Offering with a confidential draft submission. The terms of the IPO have not yet been disclosed to the public. Peloton entered into the market with a smart exercise bike, which paired custom hardware with a large interactive display, allowing users to access courses, streamed classes, and coaching. Its latest offering is a treadmill with similar features. The company is estimated to be valued at around $4 billion.

Amazon revealed its latest delivery drone design at the re:MARS conference. The drone is about the size of a go-cart, can fly up to 15 miles, and deliver packages up to 5 pounds. Amazon has yet to announce when the first deliveries made by these drones will be, but the company has acknowledged that they are in talks with regulators to gain approval for countrywide consumer delivery. The drone is able to take off and land vertically, like a helicopter, and can switch to an airplane mode once it’s in the air. Amazon Prime customers are now able to receive free one-day shipping on over 10 million products. A one minute video is available that shows the new drone in flight.

Scientists at Harvard have successfully demonstrated that the DNA in stem cells can be edited while still in the body. Current procedures to edit stem cells required the cells to be removed from the body, which causes many complications. In the study, the scientists loaded different types of adeno-associated viruses to get CRISPR gene editing systems into different types of skin, blood, and muscle stem cells. To test whether the system worked, they used a ‘reporter’ gene, which made the edited cells glow red. Follow up research also found that the changes to these stem cells were being passed onto new stem cells down the line. This breakthrough could lead to new treatments for genetic diseases, particularly those like muscular dystrophy, which involve tissue regeneration.

Ikea has announced the release of a new storage system which can transform into different types of furniture depending on what is required. ‘Rognan’ is controlled by a touchpad and is designed to allow people to make the most of the space they have in their apartments. It will launch first in Hong Kong and Japan, where apartments are famously limited in space. No announcements have been made yet about the price.

TensorNetwork is a tensor network wrapper for TensorFlow, JAX, and Numpy. Tensor networks are data structures originally designed for simulating quantum many-body physics, but they are currently also applied in other research areas, such as machine learning. Examples of how to use TensorNetwork are available along with links to articles regarding tensor networks.

Kedro is a workflow development tool that helps developers build data pipelines that are robust, scalable, deployable, reproducible, and versioned. It is designed to be used whenever a team is required to work in a structured way to take machine learning models into the production environment. A detailed user guide is available with tutorials, examples, and additional resources.

While many people want to talk about how remote work is the future, the reality is that most companies still haven’t embraced the idea. The advantages of a remote-first company are many. Employees are generally happier and more productive, the company isn’t restricted to hiring people limited by location and can choose from a wider range of talent across the world, and working from home means employees don’t contribute to traffic or greenhouse gas emissions due to their commute. Statistics show that businesses can save up to $11,000 per employee per year, and employees can save around $4,000 each year, just by working remotely.

Apple’s new Human Interface Guidelines suggest that developers place the new ‘Sign in with Apple’ button in iPhone and iPad apps above other sign-in options. Users generally select the default or first option available in apps, and the ‘Sign in with Apple’ option will soon be compulsory if users are required to provide login details. While developers are not required to follow Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines, many believe that following the guidelines is the surest way to gain approval.