🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #328

Good morning! Let's make this Thursday a success!

#Webflow - Webflow, the No Code platform is currently experiencing issues with its platform. But get this - it is the longest downtime - at the time of publishing this, it’s been going on for OVER 48 hours!

#Local-Coding-Model - New contender in town? An open source LLM from China seems to be giving Claude a run for its money - in AI coding.

Nisar Satellite Launches, Marking Historic Collaboration Between NASA And ISRO
The NISAR satellite is a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) that will use advanced radar systems to study natural hazards, climate change, and land use.

Maharashtra Govt To Launch Ride-hailing App To Challenge Uber And Ola
The Maharashtra government is launching its own ride-hailing app to provide a fairer and more transparent alternative to private aggregators like Ola and Uber, while creating opportunities for local youth. The app will allow passengers to book auto-rickshaws, taxis, and electric bike taxis directly, with financial support for young drivers to purchase vehicles and become self-employed.

Opera Takes Microsoft To Court Over Its Edge Browser
Opera has filed a complaint against Microsoft in Brazil, alleging that the company uses manipulative tactics to force users to use its Edge browser, including not allowing third-party browsers to be bundled with Windows and ignoring user browser preferences.

Schneider Electric Partners With Temasek To Acquire L&T Business
Schneider Electric, a multinational corporation that specializes in energy management and automation, has partnered with Temasek to acquire Larsen & Toubro's Electrical and Automation (E&A) business in India. This deal aims to combine Schneider Electric's Low Voltage and Industrial Automation Products business with L&T E&A, creating a joint venture with a 65% stake held by Schneider Electric and 35% by Temasek.

ChatGPT - Introduces Study Mode, a Socratic approach to conversations that guides users to their own solutions through a series of calibrated questions and gradually revealed information.

Google - NotebookLM now supports Video Overviews, a feature that uses AI to create slideshows with narration.

YouTube - Added "Jump Ahead" feature to Android TV, allowing Premium subscribers to skip to the most interesting part of a video using AI and viewing data.

Google Again - Adds Canvas feature to AI Mode for building study plans and organizing information over multiple sessions. Introduces Project Astra capabilities in AI Mode via Search Live, enabling visual search and real-time conversations. Allows users to ask Google about their desktop screen using Lens in AI Mode. Adds support for PDF and image uploads in AI Mode for deeper question answering. Enables AI Mode question answering on desktop, allowing users to ask questions about images and uploaded files.

Anshika Koul | Kotlin Multiplatform's Cross-Platform Brilliance at Norway's National Postal Service - How did Norway's postal service, a company with a nearly 400-year history, escape its software nightmare? Learn how they leveraged Kotlin Multiplatform to create a single source of truth for their business rules, slashing development time, eliminating manual testing, and boosting developer morale.

Sweta Tanwar | Mastering TypeScript Mysteries - This TypeScript masterclass demystifies the language, from the power of generics to the nuances of inheritance and composition. Learn how to supercharge your JavaScript, prevent common errors, and write cleaner, more maintainable code.

Yogendra Miraje | How to Build Planning Agents without losing control - How do you build AI agents that can think for themselves without going rogue? A Factset engineer reveals a powerful new approach called "agentic workflows." Discover how to combine the flexibility of AI with the control of traditional workflows, and learn when not to use this powerful new technology.

The Design Lifecycle For Complex Applications
This article provides an overview of the design-thinking process for complex applications in specialized domains such as healthcare, finance, or logistics. It discusses the three-phase design process, focusing on the "Understand" phase, where researchers must gain a deep understanding of the domain and work environment, not just the users. It presents three strategies for achieving this understanding: studying the domain independently of the application, conducting studies in the work environment, and combining multiple methods to involve additional key actors.

HTMX Simplifies State Management
When you move from React to HTMX, you trade complex state management for server-side simplicity. But you still need to handle filters, sorting, pagination, and search. Where does that state live now? The answer is surprisingly elegant: in the URL itself. By treating URL parameters as your single source of truth, you get bookmarkable, shareable application state.