Issue 81
Weird and wonderful tech news from the fringes of AI, crypto, and dentistry.
📣 THE BITCOIN RAP BATTLE FOR THE AGES. PLUS, GREAT PRODUCTIVITY TIPS, AND REACT BEST PRACTICES.
After two weeks away from my beloved internet, I have been gorging myself on emails. I found some really cool stuff around AI over the last few days and I have included the best of the best in this week's email.
I also found a great way to cut your ex out of those digital photos. Along the way, I found a cool tool for design inspiration (particularly logos), a newsletter that helps you find great podcasts, and much more.
Enjoy,
Chris
📰 From the Newsroom
Scientists figured out how to regrow teeth.
It was tested on mice and previously removed human teeth, which is a pretty brutal way to pay for college.
futurism.com
My days of using my wife's ATM card appear to be numbered with Amazon's new payment system based on handscans. 💁♂️
technologyreview.com
🕸️ The Cool Side of the Web
You enter the text and Generative Engine will create "synthetic" images to make a story. 📚
There are quite a few storytelling experiments popping up including one novelist using GPT-2 to help him write a novel.. Generative Engine is the weirdest for me. Largely because when I typed in "the mouse likes cheese" I got an image of yellow human teeth.
I haven't been back since.
runwayml.com
Bitcoin Rap Battle Debate: Hamilton vs. Satoshi.
youtube.com
📊 Beautiful Data
The world’s $86 trillion economy visualized in one chart. 💵
howmuch.net
Taking the X out of the factor: How data is making hits and changing the music industry.
complex.com
📰 Newsletter of the Week
The Listener is a great newsletter for podcast lovers. 🎧
I got into a bit of a rut with podcasts and started subscribing to a bunch of them that are centered on the same themes. If you are looking for diversity, then this is a good newsletter for discovery. It has the best podcasts, and their best episode, to help you find something interesting.
thelistener.co
🤖 Robots et. al.
An interview with a cyborg magician who implanted 26 microchips and magnets in her body.
If you're interested in how these aid performance, then you can see her act in this video of her Penn and Teller performance.
Also in bio-hacking news, these guys implanted hard drives and routers into their legs. Nothing says sanitary like "DIY operating theatre" in a California garage. Although, few things are more charming than "internet of legs".
statnews.com
AI will transform religion with robot priests like this one. 🙏
This is a great article. Obviously, the pictures are amusing and Pepper in religious grab is what drew me in initially. However, there are a few paragraphs about the history of robots in Western religion that are interesting in their own right.
It's a funny world when robotic worm which wriggles through your brain arteries feels like the more comforting application of AI.
vox.com
⚒️ Tools and Resources
I stumbled across Redacted when looking for a tool to blur my son's face in pictures (for social media, not because he's in the witness protection program or anything).
marky.space
Volume Golf allows you to put your way to full volume. I played with this more than I care to admit. 🏌️♀️
It was a big week for golf-related tech stuff; Nissan ProPILOT created a golf ball that always finds the hole. KIlljoys.
codepen.io
FakeClients provides you with fake briefs from fictitious clients. It's a great tool if you need some inspiration for your logo practice.
fakeclients.com
🕷️ Design & Development Arena
Now you know how to work with React; it's probably the best time to learn the best practices.
codeinwp.com
The problem with tooltips and what to do instead. ⚒️
I went from tooltips lover to "burn them all!" before I reached the half-way point of this one.
adamsilver.io
🤔 Articles of interest
6 good ways to slay the beast known as Writer's Block.
I have eternal love for anyone who writes an article about beating writer's block. It doesn't even matter if only one tip only works once; the brief respite is enough to help me get through another day.
Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
themeisle.com
Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible. ⚙️
Very, very useful. It is a long, but easy to read, post with gobs of wisdom on the thorny issue of productivity. Personally, I found it to be a more engaging and valuable post than any number of books I have read on the same subject; it feels more tested, more lived, and more personal than most posts.
guzey.com
Outro
That's it for this week.
As usual, fling links my way on Twitter. My workday is devoted to surfing the internet. Help me out.
If you'd care to forward, share, or otherwise announce this week's issue, then I'd appreciate it.
If you are looking for an opportunity to sign up, then head right this way and we'll sort you out.
Until next week,
Chris.