This Week I Learned - Week #5 2021

 This Week I Learned - 

* The cloud architecture frameworks of AWS, Azure and GCP  are based on common architectural pillars. AWS and Azure have named their frameworks exactly the same: Well-Architected Framework while GCP calls theirs, Google Cloud Architecture Framework

* Archive of the now retired MSDN Magazine issues 

* Offensive AI allows attackers to automate reconnaissance, craft tailored impersonation attacks, and even self-propagate to avoid detection. 

* In 2014, Facebook used its user photos to train a deep-learning model called DeepFace. While the company never released the data set, the system’s superhuman performance elevated deep learning to the de facto method for analyzing faces. The latest generation of deep-learning-based facial recognition has fueled an increasingly powerful tool of surveillance.

* Project Zero operates inside Google as a unique and sometimes controversial team that is dedicated entirely to hunting the enigmatic zero-day flaws. Over its six-year lifespan, Google’s team has publicly tracked over 150 major zero-day bugs, and in 2020 that team documented 24 zero-days that were being exploited—a quarter of which were extremely similar to previously disclosed vulnerabilities. According to Maddie Stone, a security researcher in the Project Zero team, it’s far too easy for hackers to keep exploiting insidious zero-days because companies are not doing a good job of permanently shutting down flaws and loopholes. Her advice - “Give your engineers time to fully investigate the root cause of vulnerabilities and patch that, give them leeway to do variant analysis, reward work in reducing technical debt, focus on systemic fixes.” - MIT Technology Review

* Big 3 Cloud Providers Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure combined have generated revenues of $78 B in 2020.

* Power Apps, allows you to create applications with a drag and drop UI and easy integration of your data and 3rd party APIs through connectors. AI Builder is one of the additional features of Power Apps. With AI Builder, you can add intelligence to your apps even if you have no coding or data science skills. Power Platform is a set of tools, API's and SDK's that helps you analyze your data and build automations, applications and virtual agents with or without having to write any code. 

* The open-source Anaconda Individual Edition (Distribution) is the industry standard for data scientists developing, testing and training on a single machine.

* You get the "Aw, Snap" error instead of a webpage when Chrome has problems loading a web page.

* Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, was launched by the U.S.S.R. in 1957.

* Attenuated vaccines, such as those for measles, mumps, and rubella, involve weakening a virus to non-dangerous strength; inactivated vaccines, as in most flu shots, render it inert. Research into mRNA vaccines​—which, in contrast to traditional vaccines, are synthetic, carrying a portion of a virus’s genetic code—began in the nineteen-nineties. Moderna, a pharmaceutical company founded in 2010 with a focus on mRNA, created its vaccine prototype during a weekend in January, 2020. Sputnik V—like several other covid-19 vaccines, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, in the United Kingdom; CanSino Biologics, in China; and Johnson & Johnson, in the United States—is what is known as a vector vaccine. This type of vaccine is much newer than the attenuated or inactivated kind but has a longer track record than the mRNA variety. The mRNA vaccines require much colder temperatures: five degrees Fahrenheit or below for Moderna’s and minus seventy-six degrees or below for Pfizer’s. - New Yorker

* France has one of the largest anti-vax movements in Europe

* Die is the singular form of dice. In modern standard English dice is both the singular and the plural.

*  Research from MIT shows that some people consistently like products that turn out to fail. They called them “harbingers of failure.” Systematically, they are able to identify these really terrible products that fail to resonate with the mainstream.”

* Globally, the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred in the past 15 years. For virtually every country or region, the stripes turn from mainly blue to mainly red in more recent years, illustrating the rise in average temperatures in that country. 

* In Q3, 2021, Jeff Bezos will transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO of Amazon. Amazon employs 1.3 million people across the globe.

* As with Seinfeld, which Larry David co-created, the humor of Curb Your Enthusiasm often revolves around the minutiae of American daily social life. Episodes frequently center on Larry's ignorance of or disregard for well-established social conventions and expectations, as well as his insistence that others adhere to rules of which only he seems to be aware. This social ineptitude, combined with his inability to let even the most minor grievance or annoyance go unexpressed, often lead David into awkward social situations and draws the ire of his friends, family and total strangers. Larry is also routinely the victim of elaborate misunderstandings. David has explained the show's name in TV interviews as reflecting his perception that many people seem to live their lives projecting false enthusiasm, which he believes is used to imply that "they are better than you." Unrelated events woven throughout a given episode are tied into an unforced climax that resolves the storylines simultaneously, either to Larry's advantage or detriment. While each episode has a distinct individual plot, most seasons feature a story arc that extends across several episodes and culminates in a finale that often features the return of many of the characters that appeared throughout the season.

* Akira Yoshino is the developer of the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery. Yoshino shared the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Stanley Whittingham and John Goodenough for their research on lithium-ion batteries.

* A mukbang (Korean) is an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host consumes large quantities of food while interacting with the audience. It became popular in South Korea in 2010, and since then it has become a huge worldwide trend. Varieties of foods, ranging from pizza to noodles, are consumed in front of a camera.

* Rani ki Vav (the Queen's Stepwell) is a stepwell situated in Patan, Gujarat. The stepwell was built was commissioned in 1063  by Rani Udayamati of the Chaulukya Dynasty to commemorate her husband, Bhimdev I. It was completed after 20 years. It has been listed as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites since 2014. Since July 2018, the ₹100 banknote of Mahatma Gandhi New Series, features Rani ki Vav on the rear side.

* There are more than 4.5 crore contributors' accounts to Employees' Provident Fund. Out of these, more than 1.23 lakh accounts are of the HNIs who contribute monthly very huge sums to their EPF accounts. The top 20 HNIs whose records were seen had about Rs 825 crore in their accounts while top 100 HNI contributors have more than Rs 2,000 crore. EPF is calculated on Basic salary. From 1st Apr 2021 there will be tax on interest on employee contribution of EPF above 2.5L. The budget proposal evoked sharp reaction from a cross section of individuals who saw the move a disincentive to save, especially for middle income earners having limited avenues of savings and investment providing tax relief as well as assured returns of close to 8 per cent.

* The Income Tax Act requires your income to be classified into one of these buckets to determine the tax payable:

1. Salary
2. House property
3. Business income
4. Income from other sources
5. Capital Gains

* With the increase in investing and trading in securities over the past few decades, capital gains have become an important source of income for many taxpayers. Long term capital loss can be carried forward for 8 years. House property loss in excess of INR 2,00,000 cannot be offset against any other head of income. The taxpayer is however, permitted to carry forward the excess loss of INR 50,000 to subsequent years. Loss from speculation business can be set off only against profits from speculative business.

* "Keep inventing, and don’t despair when at first the idea looks crazy. Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass." - Jeff Bezos

* “Engineering projects sometimes fail. If you want to be an engineer, you have to learn to live with that. It’s like being a surgeon: No matter how good you are, no matter how hard you work, some of your patients are going to die. You need to brutally self-analyze, learn what there is to learn from your experience, and move on with your head held high. If you can’t do that, stay home and be an accountant.” - David S. Platt, Microsoft Software Legend