TLDR 2021-03-04

Fast Laughs is a new mobile feature from Netflix that plays short clips from shows directly inside the Netflix app. It is currently only available for iOS device owners in select countries. Users who like what they see can add the show to their saved list to watch later. Netflix has a lot of content on its platform and this feature could help subscribers see things they may have missed.

Brave, the privacy-focused browser, is launching its own search engine. It acquired an open-source search engine developed by the team behind Cliqs, a now-defunct anti-tracking search-browser combo. The engine is built on top of a completely independent index and it can deliver the quality people expect without compromising their privacy. It does not collect IP addresses or use personally identifiable information to improve search results. Brave Search will be offered as a choice to Brave browser users and it will potentially become the default choice.

SpaceX's latest Starship prototype successfully landed on Wednesday for the first time. It demonstrated a few complex dances in mid-air before safely touching down. Two minutes after landing, the rocket exploded. The test's main objective was to demonstrate the computer-controlled movements of the rocket's four aerodynamic flaps that steer its descent before landing. Footage of the landing is available in the article.

Cuttlefish are able to delay gratification. Scientists found that the cephalopods could wait a bit for preferred prey rather than settling for a less desirable prey. Other animals, such as apes and corvids, have also demonstrated the ability to delay gratification through future-oriented foraging. The Stanford marshmallow test was a study where 600 children between the ages of four and six were given a choice to eat a marshmallow immediately or wait 15 minutes for a second marshmallow. The study found a correlation between those who had demonstrated self-control and success later in life. Later studies found that the correlation was much less significant when factoring in aspects like family background and home environment.

Flutter 2 is now available. It has been broadened from a mobile framework to a portable framework, allowing developers to make apps for a variety of different platforms, including desktops, foldables, and embedded devices, with little or no change. Existing flutter apps can now grow to target desktop and web without a rewrite. Flutter 2 has production-quality support for the web. There are over 15,000 packages for Flutter. Flutter has an open-source toolkit for building apps.

Dolt is a SQL database that can be managed just like a git repository. All git commands work exactly the same for Dolt. Users can connect to Dolt like any other MySQL database and use SQL commands to run queries or update the data.

Researchers have developed an optical sensor that can fit on a smartphone and is capable of hyperspectral and polarimetric imaging. It is still in the proof-of-concept phase, but modeling simulations suggest that the design could potentially make detectors capable of sensing up to 15 spatially registered spectral channels. Mantis shrimp have up to 16 photoreceptors and can see in ultraviolet and polarized light. They are the only animals capable of detecting light that is polarized circularly. Computers can make use of data-rich hyperspectral and polarimetric images, and the new design makes the technology potentially more accessible.

Space hurricanes are similar to regular hurricanes, except that they occur at a much higher altitude and rain electrons instead of water. The first observation of a space hurricane was spotted by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program in August 2014. It stretched across 1,000 kilometers above Earth's northern magnetic pole for nearly eight hours. Many more space hurricanes have been discovered since, and they are likely a universal phenomenon, occurring at other planets and their moons.