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TLDR
TOGETHER WITH [Boomi] [4]
TLDR 2025-04-25
STILL STUCK ON BATCH JOBS? YOU MIGHT BE WASTING COMPUTE. (SPONSOR)
[4]
Modern data teams are switching to Change Data Capture (CDC) Ä a
lightweight way to sync systems without constantly reprocessing
everything.
Why it matters [4]:
* Only processes what's changed Ä cutting latency & compute
* Slashes cloud costs by avoiding full-table scans
* Powers real-time dashboards, AI models, and ops without dragging
down production
Whether it's log, trigger, or timestamp-based, CDC is helping teams
move faster and scale smarter.
Download the guide [4] to see why everyone from data engineers to CTOs
is rethinking batch.
¨
BIG TECH & STARTUPS
NEW FINANCIALS FROM MUSK'S X DEBT SALE SHOW CHANGING COMPANY (4
MINUTE READ) [5]
X is evolving from a social media platform powered by advertisers to
one betting on revenue generated from AI and subscriptions. This
change appears to have had a positive effect as the company recently
posted $91 million in revenue tied to data licensing and subscriptions
in February, a 30% increase from last year. The company boasted nearly
$1.5 billion in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation,
and amortization. X now has almost $1.1 billion cash on hand, but it
still owes $12.5 billion in expensive debt.
PERPLEXITY CEO SAYS ITS BROWSER WILL TRACK EVERYTHING USERS DO ONLINE
TO SELL `HYPER PERSONALIZED' ADS (3 MINUTE READ) [6]
Perplexity is building its own browser to collect data on everything
users do outside of its own app and sell premium ads. Its CEO believes
that users will be fine with its tracking because the ads should be
more relevant to them. The company has said that it would buy the
Chrome browser business if Google was forced to sell. It recently
signed a partnership with Motorola to have its app pre-installed on
the Razr series.
¨
SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY
REUSABLE ROCKETS ARE HERE, SO WHY IS NASA PAYING MORE TO LAUNCH STUFF
TO SPACE? (9 MINUTE READ) [7]
Despite reusable rockets being available nowadays, NASA is still
paying more than it did 30 years ago to launch missions into orbit.
Launches are now becoming more routine, with SpaceX sending batches of
Starlink Internet satellites and other kinds of missions into space
every few days. NASA is only one of SpaceX's customers - the US
military is launching more missions than ever before and SpaceX is
about to become the Pentagon's top launch provider. There's still a
lot of demand, so prices haven't gone down.
DRIVERLESS SEMI-TRUCKS ARE COMING SOON TO A HIGHWAY IN TEXAS (3
MINUTE READ) [8]
Aurora Innovation plans to unleash driverless trucks on a 200-mile
stretch of Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston by the end of the
month. The company has been testing its vehicles in closed and virtual environments. It was denied an exemption request from a federal
regulation that stipulates that truck drivers must deploy roadside
warning devices whenever they're stopped on the side of the road. This
prompted Aurora to sue the Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as the
company doesn't have human operators to physically deploy the
necessary devices.
¨
PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE
ASK HN: SHARE YOUR AI PROMPT THAT STUMPS EVERY MODEL (HACKER NEWS
THREAD) [9]
Any prompt that has been fed into a public large language model has
already probably been used for training, even if they haven't been
disclosed publicly. This makes it difficult to create personal
benchmarks for models - mainstream benchmarks already have a high risk
of being gamed. This thread contains prompts that AI still can't
answer, along with discussions about the inner workings of large
language models. Examples include taking a common riddle and then
changing one little detail, asking something about an obscure movie,
and asking about things that don't exist.
ZEV (GITHUB REPO) [10]
Zev helps developers remember or discover terminal commands using
natural language. Users describe what they want to do and Zev presents
a list of commands which users can copy and paste to use. Zev can be
used with Ollama and the OpenAI API.
¨
MISCELLANEOUS
IF A.I. SYSTEMS BECOME CONSCIOUS, SHOULD THEY HAVE RIGHTS? (6 MINUTE
READ) [11]
While the smartest AI systems are surpassing humans in some domains,
it's hard to argue that today's AI systems are conscious.
Consciousness is a taboo subject within the world of serious AI
research as people are wary of anthropomorphizing AI systems. However,
that is starting to change, as there is a growing body of academic
research on AI model welfare taking the prospect of AI consciousness
more seriously as systems grow more intelligent. While AI models may
not be conscious yet, it may be worth exploring for signs of
consciousness as long as it's not diverting resources from AI safety
and alignment work aimed at keeping humans safe.
ASK HN: MY CEO WANTS TO GO HARD ON AI. WHAT DO I DO? (HACKER NEWS
THREAD) [12]
CEOs looking to blindly implement AI may be doing so to find more
funding rather than build a better product. Employees stuck working in
these environments are best off deciding whether they want to go on a
VC-driven startup ride or work somewhere else in a product-driven
role. These types of AI implementations are often not a real strategy
and are more for PR. Doing things for more funding and doing things
that get the work done are not always the same. If funding is a real
concern, the CEO's approach might be valid.
¨
QUICK LINKS
GOOGLE FORCING SOME REMOTE WORKERS TO COME BACK 3 DAYS A WEEK OR LOSE
THEIR JOBS (4 MINUTE READ) [13]
Remote staffers at several units within Google have to start showing
up at the closest office for a hybrid work schedule or their roles may
be at risk.
MORE THAN 1/3 OF ALL CODE AT GOOGLE IS NOW GENERATED BY AI (1 MINUTE
READ) [14]
The code is generated by AI, then reviewed and accepted by engineers.
COCOINDEX (GITHUB REPO) [15]
CocoIndex is an open-source engine that supports custom
transformation logic and incremental updates specialized for data
indexing.
WAYMO REPORTS 250,000 PAID ROBOTAXI RIDES PER WEEK IN U.S. (3 MINUTE
READ) [16]
Waymo's expansion was aided by the company's partnerships with Uber, automakers, and the operations and maintenance businesses that tend to
its vehicle fleets.
SAY NO TO ABSTRACT CODE (4 MINUTE READ) [17]
It's better to keep related code close together to reduce context
boundaries and limit the amount of relevant detail.
SWITCH 2 FANS CRASHED GAMESTOP, TARGET, AND WALMART IN BID TO SECURE
NEW NINTENDO CONSOLE (2 MINUTE READ) [18]
The Nintendo Switch 2 preorder frenzy has led to widespread problems
with the web infrastructure for major retail chains.
YOU CAN BE A GREAT DESIGNER AND BE COMPLETELY UNKNOWN (3 MINUTE READ)
[19]
Greatness is more common than we release - it's actually more rare to
be recognized for it.
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Dan Ni [24] & Stephen Flanders [25]
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[5]
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[6]
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[7]
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/04/reusable-rockets-are-here-so-why-is-nasa-paying-more-to-launch-stuff-to-space/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[8]
https://gizmodo.com/driverless-semi-trucks-are-coming-soon-to-a-highway-in-texas-2000593474?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[9]
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43782299&utm_source=tldrnewsletter [10]
https://github.com/dtnewman/zev?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[11]
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/technology/ai-welfare-anthropic-claude.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CU8.41l_.2FsAk1Ws3sJL&smid=url-share&utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[12]
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43784656&utm_source=tldrnewsletter [13]
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/23/google-teams-are-including-remote-workers-in-their-cuts.html?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[14]
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1915533246072537555.html?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[15]
https://github.com/cocoindex-io/cocoindex?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[16]
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/24/waymo-reports-250000-paid-robotaxi-rides-per-week-in-us.html?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[17]
https://swizec.com/blog/say-no-to-abstract-code/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter [18]
https://mashable.com/article/nintendo-switch-2-preorders-crash-retailer-websites?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[19]
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