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Space billboards, the Olympic UX Nightmare, OpenAI's Codex, and the Pixar Story

Hi there! Hope you're having a splendid week thus far.

If your current feed isn't providing you with the shock that you need, then we've got you covered. Turns out, it is a supposed 'code-red for humanity' according to a landmark UN report, which was intended to deliver a gold standard summation of modern climate science to world leaders. “This report is a reality check,” said IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair Valérie Masson-Delmotte.

We've got some good (definitely more hopeful) reads for you so let's jump right in.

Note: For any articles behind the paywall, open them on an incognito/private window and you should be good to go. Also, if you haven't subscribed to the newsletter, you could subscribe to it here.

The Olympics and the evolving ideology of sustainability 🏋️

The Olympic Games, at least the ones held in the past, used to symbolise extravagance and wastefulness. That was until the 1992 Olympics held in Barcelona, where sustainability was a critical factor. Since then, there has been an increasing relevance to making sure this event was more in line with this ideology of sustainability.

How Bob Moog brought usability heuristics to the electronic synthesizer 🎹

Decades prior to the modern-day computer as we know it, Bob Moog used design principles to bring a once niche instrument to the mainstream, influencing generations of musicians and instrument interfaces.

The UX nightmare that is the olympics 😤

Watching the Games this year has been a logistical nightmare. The difficultly in figuring out which events are happening when, and how to watch them, undermines the 7,000 hours of otherwise carefully planned competition.

What is Elon Musk's Starship? 🚀

Elon Musk is developing a vehicle that could be a game-changer for space travel. Starship, as it's known, will be a fully reusable transport system capable of carrying up to 100 people to the Red Planet.

You can now buy billboard ad space IN space using dogecoin 👩‍🚀

SpaceX is partnering with a Canadian tech startup to launch a digital billboard into orbit.

NASA's new telescope will show us the infancy of the universe 🔭

Twenty-five years and ten billion dollars in the making, the James Webb Space Telescope will enable scientists to see deeper into the past than ever before.

Facebook’s vaccine stance is part of a familiar pattern, says author and NYTimes journalist 🚫

Facebook states that it last month removed hundreds of accounts across its Facebook and Instagram platforms that were tied to anti-vaccination disinformation campaigns operated from Russia.

Medical crowdfunding has become essential in India, but it’s leaving many behind 🏥

While Ketto and Milaap have helped thousands, minorities find themselves ineligible, or targets of abuse.

OpenAI launches Codex, an API for translating natural language into code 🤖

OpenAI today released OpenAI Codex, its AI system that translates natural language into code, through an API in private beta. Able to understand more than a dozen programming languages, Codex can interpret commands in plain English and execute them, making it possible to build a natural language interface for existing apps.

Designing a typeface for the visually impaired ✍️

Graphic designer Applied Design Works has collaborated with the nonprofit organisation Braille Institute to develop a "hyperlegible typeface" for the visually impaired community.

India’s UpGrad enters unicorn club with $185 million fundraise 💰

UpGrad, a Bangalore-based startup that specializes in higher education and upskilling courses, hit a valuation of $1.2 billion with a $185 million funding round Monday as global investors plow record capital into firms in the world’s second-largest internet market.

The Pixar story 🎬

How a bad hardware company turned itself into a great movie studio.

Honorary mentions

The slow collapse of Amazon’s drone delivery dream 🤖

Scammer service will ban anyone from Instagram for $60 ❌

World’s strongest glass that’s as hard as diamond 💎

Blobs in space: Slime mold to blast off for ISS experiment 👽

And that's the lot! Thanks for checking out what we had to share with you this week, we shall catch up with you next Wednesday. Incase you aren't subscribed to the newsletter, you could subscribe to it here

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Broad brush strokes on a canvas

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