Going Deep: The Race for Electric Cars Turns Ocean Floor into Mining Playground

The craze for electric cars is creating a buzz for deep-sea mining, a fancy term for plucking metals and minerals from the ocean floor. While it sounds exciting, this new hobby poses grave environmental threats, such as destroying fragile ecosystems and causing sediment plumes that can harm marine life.

To avoid turning the sea into a garbage dump, some experts are proposing a pause on this activity until they figure out how to do it right. Alternatives like recycling and using existing deposits on land could help lower the environmental impact of battery production.

Scientists are working to understand the consequences of deep-sea mining through research expeditions, but given the vast and mysterious nature of the ocean, they may not have a clue about what they are getting themselves into. Let's hope they figure it out before the octopuses start picketing.

Rapid Rundown

• ⚡ Demand for electric cars drives deep-sea mining for minerals.

• 🌊 Environmental risks and poorly understood ecosystems pose challenges.

Meta's SAM is the new celebrity chef of image segmentation

Meta is back in the AI race with a bang! Their new Segment Anything Model (SAM) is like the Gordon Ramsay of image segmentation. It can chop, slice, and dice any object in any photo or video - no ingredient is safe from its culinary skills.

And the best part? Meta has gone all out and open-sourced the dataset, which is a whopping 400 times larger than any other dataset available. It's like giving away a lifetime supply of avocado toast to millennials.

Rumours are rife that SAM could be the missing puzzle piece that self-driving cars have been looking for. But let's not get ahead of ourselves - SAM still needs to prove itself in the real world. We'll just have to wait and see if it's more than just a one-hit-wonder like Vanilla Ice.

Rapid Rundown

• 🤖 AI tool that segments any object in a photo/video.

• 🚀 Dataset open-sourced and 400x larger than others.

Goldman Sachs' programming faux pas is the ultimate 'oopsie-daisy' moment on Wall Street

Goldman Sachs has been slapped with a $3 million fine from the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for mixing up 60 million stock orders, mistaking short sales for long sales. It was all due to a single line of code missing during a software upgrade, and FINRA said that of the 60 million orders, almost 8 million had been executed incorrectly.

The bank accepted and consented to FINRA's findings "without admitting or denying them," but we can only imagine the embarrassment they must have felt. Talk about a code error costing you millions! Who knew a single line of code could make such a big difference? Maybe Goldman Sachs needs to go back to programming school or consider hiring a proofreader.

Rapid Rundown

• 💸 Goldman Sachs fined $3m by FINRA for 60 million mismarked short sales as long sales orders.

• 💻 Single line of code missed during the software upgrade was blamed for the error.

Tools & Apps

SiteGPT -- ChatGPT for every website

refine.new -- 100% open-source React framework to build web apps

WisdomAI by Searchie -- Generative AI chat for your audio and video content

Crew for LinkedIn -- Supercharge your hiring on LinkedIn

AI Backdrop -- Generate any hyper realistic background for anything

WAGPT -- Voice & text messaging with ChatGPT on WhatsApp

Articles & Resources

Getting Free Users to Convert — The debate on freemium, free trials, and paid freemium, explained by Indie Hackers.

What Happens If You Run a Transformer Model With an Optical Neural Network? — A discussion on the feasibility of massive-scale deep learning by Marktechpost.

How TikTok Is Evolving From Social Media App to Entertainment Platform — The app's transition to an entertainment platform and its impact on the music industry.

A Senior Engineer's Guide to the System Design Interview — Developed by the best interviewers in the industry to help you succeed.

4 Ways to Generate Passive Income Using ChatGPT — KDnuggets explores leveraging ChatGPT to make money.

6 Strategies That Will Make You a Better Reader — And Person — TED Talks offers simple advice to get more out of the books you read.