Hello everyone and welcome to the first edition of the Dishing The Data newsletter!
This newsletter is about the latest tech news and current happenings within data science. However, more than that, it serves as a platform for me to document my experiences as an early-career Data Scientist!
Whats been cooking?
Musk vs Zuck
The biggest story this week (and last week) has been Meta’s new social media app, Threads. Over 100 million users have signed up within a week of its launch. Pretty staggering numbers. I personally haven’t joined yet, mainly because I am trying to limit my social media addiction.
Threads is much like twitter, it’s a written based social media app where users can write posts up to 500 characters in length. It is currently available in 100 countries but is still awaiting approval from the EU.
Although, it hasn’t been all plain sailing as Musk is already threatening to sue Zuck. The allegations are that Meta hired ex-twitter engineers with insider knowledge and trade secrets to build Threads. There haven’t been any formal legal complaints, so we are going to have to wait to see how this pans out.
Honestly, besides the Threads launch, I'm more interested in the potential Musk vs. Zuck "cage match." My bet is on Elon 'The Fridge' Musk.
Google Launches Bard
Last Thursday, Google launched its competitor to ChatGPT, called Bard, in Europe and Brazil. It is much like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but uses Google’s LaMDA model instead of a generative transformer.
The release of Bard was initially delayed due to concerns related to EU data protection laws. Google has now addressed the issues of transparency, control, and choice with the watch dog.
It will be interesting to observe how the user-base of ChatGPT evolves over time with the release of this new chat bot. While I haven't yet had the chance to try Bard, I'm eager to hear your thoughts if any of you have given it a go!
Insider Insights
Go Slow To Go Fast
I am the type of person that likes things to be done now and quickly as possible. However, I have come to realise that this approach is not that productive, especially when it comes to learning and problem solving. So my advice this week to any Data Scientist is to take your time when learning or tackling a problem. Going slow will mean you can go fast later, as the knowledge will be more deeply ingrained.
Reading & Listening
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
I have recently finished ‘Bad Blood’ by John Carreyrou. This book is about the multibillion dollar biotech company Theranos and their founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes. It is an interesting tale of how hype, over-exaggeration and ego can lead to fraud, particularly in Silicon Valley. I would definitely recommend and its a short read!
Lex Fridman Podcast #387: George Hotz
I am a huge fan of the Lex Fridman podcast, and I highly recommend it to anyone, even if they don’t work tech. Lex brings in guests from very diverse backgrounds, but the podcast mainly focuses coding, science, AI and philosophy.
Recently, he had an episode with George Hotz the founder of Comma AI, a self driving car company. I quite like Hotz and often have his coding livestreams in the background when I am doing my own work. He is quite a polarising character and I find many of his views on the tech space very interesting. It is well worth a listen!