We didn't start the fire #21
🔥New AI implementations, some startup news and other interesting products! Our Firemen are here to cover it all.
Spotifys’ own font
Fireman P never though that a certain font would be interesting, but here we are! Spotify recently changed its font from Circular to Mix which was designed by a Berlin based design house. What Fireman P found interesting however was how they intend on using this font. The firm says that this font can change on its own according to its requirements.
If you are an avid user of the platform, you would have noticed some playlists that Spotify creates for you based on the music you have been listening to, and if you observe a bit keenly, you would also notice that the artwork for each of these playlists keeps changing, this is where the new font comes in. This font can change into various curves and sizes based on the artwork!
This step was also taken by the company to create their own image and establish their own unique identity.
Read more here.
Agent Q
Our Firemen are not talking about some agent from The Men in Black movie series, Agent Q is actually a very big breakthrough in autonomous web agents! In a recent research experiment, MultiOn, a AI research firm, talked about an intelligent autonomous web agent that are capable of planning and self-healing with the help of these techniques:
Guided Search: This method automatically explores actions and web pages, balancing between trying new options and using known ones. The Monte Carlo Tree Search(MCTS) algorithm expands possibilities by sampling widely and using varied prompts to collect diverse and optimal results.
AI Self-Critique: At each step, the AI self-evaluation gives useful feedback to improve the agent's decisions. This step-by-step feedback is especially important for long tasks where limited information can make learning challenging.
Direct Preference Optimization (DPO): The DPO algorithm refines the model by creating preference pairs from data generated by MCTS. This off-policy training method helps the model learn effectively from a mix of data, including less optimal paths explored during the search, leading to better performance in complex environments.
Fireman P feels like this is the model that the Rabbit R1 claimed to have but we all know how big of a disappointment that turned out to be, hopefully this can actually give us some results!
Read more here.
Stock Android
Remember how Motorola phones used to be the rage back in the day because they gave a stock android like experience? Turns out all of that was a scam. Fireman P came across this video published by Linus Tech Tips where the narrator tries to use a stock android user interface or Generic System Image (GSI) of Android 15 for a week and it turns out Google has stopped pushing any new updates or changes to the stock form of Android, which means that the stock version of android is actually unusable by itself. The video does a very good job of showing just how bad the experience is. Linus was having difficulty in switching between apps and performing basic tasks like making a phone call or taking a picture.
This seems to have happened because manufacturers have started making their own versions of android and it must seem wasteful for Google to publish their own designs that now go into the Pixel phones on an open source platform, because from a business standpoint it does not make sense at all.
Watch the video here.
FermiNet
In a recent article by DeepMind, they explained how they have developed FermiNet which is an AI model that is helping researchers in studying Quantum Mechanics! By leveraging the power of machine learning, FermiNet can accurately and efficiently solve the Schrödinger equation, providing insights into the properties and behavior of quantum systems.
One of the key advantages of FermiNet is its ability to handle large systems and complex interactions that are beyond the reach of traditional methods. This opens up new possibilities for research in materials science and chemistry. For example, FermiNet can be used to design materials with specific properties, such as high conductivity or strength, or to understand the mechanisms of chemical reactions at a fundamental level.
Researchers are also claiming that FermiNet has the potential to accelerate the development of quantum computing. By simulating quantum systems, researchers can gain valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with this emerging technology. However, it is important to note that FermiNet, like any machine learning model, has limitations. For example, its accuracy may be affected by the quality of the training data and the complexity of the system being studied.
Read more here.
Gamified distributed database
This is an interesting product that Fireman A came across, TigerBeetle, a distributed financial transactions database, which was ported to run in a web browser using WebAssembly. To showcase its capabilities, the team developed Viewstamped Operation Replicator (VOPR), a deterministic simulator that gamifies the testing process by subjecting the database to a variety of fault conditions, including network failures and data corruption.
Read more here.
No more intercity food deliveries
Back in 2022 when Zomato was on the brink of going bankrupt, they came up with Legends where customers from certain cities could order pre-stocked items from other cities, with a big caveat being the minimum order of ₹5000. Considering all the constraints on the service our Firemen are surprised this service still exists. So, if you wanted some food delivered from another city you wont be able to now.
Read more here.
On demand sunlight
Fireman P came across a startup called Reflect Orbital which is claiming to provide sunlight on demand! They want to send satellites up into space with huge mirrors on them that would reflect light from the part of the Earth that is receiving sunlight to a part of the planet that isn’t receiving it. How would this be helpful you might ask? Well they claim it could be used to generate solar farms so that cities could run off of solar power even during nighttime. Fireman P is interested in seeing how the finances and carbon footprint of such a project works.
Check them out here.
Interesting tweets!
Sony released its own Ethereum L2 called Soneium: https://x.com/RadarHits/status/1826963589107732501
The hacker USDoD has been dedoxed by CroudStrike: https://x.com/fs0c131y/status/1827040382066086246