TLDR 2021-11-09

Reddit tokenizing karma 🪙, Niantic's AR platform 🤓, Jony Ive's new design 🎨

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Big Tech & Startups

Amazon is adding a Venmo checkout option next year (2 minute read)

Amazon will be adding a Venmo option to checkout for users in the US starting next year. The retail giant recently announced its third-quarter results, a 13% year-over-year revenue increase. There are already many payment methods available for Amazon customers, so it is unknown how widely the new payment option will be utilized. While Venmo has features that allow the purchase of cryptocurrencies, Amazon does not yet accept crypto.

Reddit to reportedly tokenize karma points and onboard 500M new users (2 minute read)

Reddit is planning to convert its users' karma points into Ethereum-based tokens. The platform has already launched its own layer-2 rollup using Arbitrum technology for its Community Points system. Reddit communities will be able to fork blockchains through community-based decisions. The change will onboard 500 million users onto crypto and web3. Other social media platforms have also started allowing NFT exposure to their users, a sign of crypto's mainstream adoption.
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Science & Futuristic Technology

Niantic launches platform to build ‘real-world metaverse’ apps (3 minute read)

Lightship is a software toolkit for building metaverse apps by Niantic. It is free for any developer to access except for a feature that lets multiple devices access shared AR experiences. Niantic has already planned a major update to Lightship for next year that includes a system that will let glasses with displays in them understand exactly where they are in the real world. The company has focused on cross-platform compatibility as there will likely be many different platforms in the world of AR glasses.

Scientists Find a Single Protein Can Switch Some Ants From a Worker Into a Queen (3 minute read)

Jerdon's jumping worker ants can become reproductive queens when their queens die. The transition comes with changes to the ant's brain, gene expression, hormone levels, and cell composition. Researchers have found a protein that is activated when the ants are injected with social hormones. The hormones appear to affect which genes the protein binds to, with the same protein causing ants to change from worker to queen and vice versa depending on which hormone was given. The research suggests that there may be multiple behaviors in the ant genome that could be expressed with gene regulation.
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Programming, Design & Data Science

jog (GitHub Repo)

jog is a script that prints the last 10 commands that were run in the current directory. It can only show commands that have been run since its installation.

Hydrogen (Website)

Hydrogen is a React-based framework for building custom storefronts on Shopify. It includes the structure, components, and tools needed to get started so users can spend time on styling and design. Developers can use Hydrogen to get started quickly, optimize performance, and build experiences faster. Screenshots and demos are available.
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Miscellaneous

Jony Ive’s first major design since leaving Apple isn’t what you’d expect (3 minute read)

LoveFrom, Jony Ive's design collective, has designed a seal for Terra Carta, an environmental initiative spearheaded by Prince Charles. The seal is different from Ive's designs at Apple, covered in birds, bees, butterflies, and vines. It features a custom typeface that Ive considers to be LoveFrom's first public release. The LoveFrom serif was developed over years and is based on Baskerville. Pictures of the Terra Carta seal are available in the article.

Robinhood says a hacker who tried to extort the company got access to data for 7 million customers (3 minute read)

Personal data for more than 7 million Robinhood customers was accessed during a data breach on November 3. The attacker attempted to extort the company after the attack was contained. No social security, bank account, or debit card numbers appear to have been exposed and the affected customers didn't lose any funds in the incident. The attacker obtained a list of emails for around 5 million people. Around 310 people had additional personal information exposed, and about 10 customers had more extensive account details revealed. The company is in the process of notifying those who have been affected.
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