Google has announced that it is adding RISC-V support to Android, making it available on a wide range of devices and architectures. RISC-V is a free and open instruction set architecture (ISA) that has gained popularity in embedded and microcontroller spaces, as well as servers and mobile computing. Google initially announced its acceptance of RISC-V patches at the RISC-V Summit in 2022, and now the company has begun to mature support for RISC-V in Android. This allows developers to build, test, and run Android on RISC-V devices using the Cuttlefish Virtual Device support. While the current support is not yet fully optimized, Google believes it is ready for experimentation and collaboration. The company expects to have the NDK ABI finalized and canary builds available later in the year, with emulators available publicly by 2024. Google is also working with the RISE Project, a collaborative effort to accelerate the availability of software for RISC-V processors. The project includes members from companies such as Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Samsung. Google plans to make it easier for Android developers to target new platforms with native code, similar to Java and Kotlin developers.

Google's Gmail is introducing new requirements for bulk senders in an effort to enhance email security. Bulk senders, or those who send over 5,000 messages to Gmail addresses in a single day, will now have to adhere to certain rules to ensure the safety and protection of recipients' inboxes. These new requirements include authenticating emails, enabling easy unsubscription with one click, and ensuring that the email sent is wanted and not considered spam. The move comes as a response to the increasing complexity and sophistication of email threats that users face. Gmail has already made progress in blocking malicious messages by requiring some form of authentication for emails sent to Gmail addresses, resulting in a 75% decrease in unauthenticated messages received by users. By implementing these new requirements, Gmail aims to fight against attackers who exploit email security vulnerabilities. These changes are a collaborative effort with industry partners, with the goal of creating a safer and more secure email experience for everyone.

The RedPajama team has released a new version of their dataset, RedPajama-V2, which contains 30 trillion filtered and deduplicated tokens from 84 CommonCrawl dumps, covering five different languages. This dataset also includes over 40 pre-computed data quality annotations that can be used for further filtering and weighting. The RedPajama-1T dataset, released in March, has been downloaded over 190,000 times and has inspired the creation of new language models. RedPajama-V2 is a massive 30 trillion token web dataset, making it the largest public dataset available for language model training. The dataset includes data processing scripts that are open source and available on GitHub, as well as all the data available on HuggingFace. High-quality data is a crucial component of state-of-the-art language models, and RedPajama-V2 aims to provide a comprehensive and high-quality dataset for language model training by lifting the burden of data processing and filtering off the community. The dataset also includes 40+ quality annotations that can be used to filter the data and create custom pre-training datasets.

Los Angeles is known for its sprawling network of freeways, but before the first one opened in 1940, the city relied on charming two-lane roads that passed through scenic landscapes and agricultural areas. While many of these roads have been replaced by modern highways and luxury homes, some still exist and offer a glimpse into Los Angeles' past. The author embarks on a journey from the San Fernando Valley to Santa Barbara's wine country, spanning close to 100 miles. Their goal is to uncover hidden gems such as museums, century-old restaurants, and small towns along the way. These sites often go overlooked by speeding cars on the freeway, but are worth exploring for those seeking a different perspective of Los Angeles. This journey highlights the enduring history and hidden treasures that can still be found amidst the bustling freeways of the city.

The art of tableside flambé is making a comeback in upscale restaurants, not only for taste but also for the social media engagement it provides. The trend towards maximalism and intentional excess in restaurants has led to increasingly extravagant tableside presentations, aimed at capturing people’s attention and creating shareable content. For example, at Papi Steak in Miami, a $1,000 wagyu rib eye is served to the table inside a diamond-studded, golden briefcase, accompanied by a platoon of staff and a branding ceremony that involves branding the steak with the restaurant’s name. The concept of tableside flambé originated in the mid-19th century but was popularized by French chef Auguste Escoffier when he presented cherries jubilee flambéed in cherry brandy to Queen Victoria in 1897. Today, flambéed dishes not only create a spectacle but also make for great social media content. People are captivated by fire and the fear and fascination it instills in us, making flambé cooking a popular choice for those looking for a memorable dining experience and an exciting video to share online.