The Stack Overflow Podcast

If you’ve been laid off or you’re just sweating the possibility, here’s what to do [https://stackoverflow.blog/2022/12/05/just-laid-off-nervous-about-possible-layoffs-heres-what-to-do/].  Check out the results [https://stackoverflow.blog/2023/10/26/hopping-instead-of-hustling-survey-tells-us-how-developers-are-taking-care-of-business/] of our last job market survey.  Connect with Patrick on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-carlile-48181b3/]. Shoutout to stevenkucera [https://stackoverflow.com/users/1099089/stevenkucera], who earned a Stellar Question badge [https://stackoverflow.com/help/badges/36/stellar-question] with How do I create a global, mutable singleton? [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27791532/how-do-i-create-a-global-mutable-singleton].

In a narrow vote, the US Federal Trade Commission banned almost all noncompete agreements [https://www.npr.org/2024/04/23/1246655366/ftc-bans-noncompete-agreements-lina-khan], a staple of the tech industry for years. Learn how a 2017 tax law is haunting startups in 2024 [https://www.axios.com/2024/01/20/taxes-irs-startups-section174]. Finnish hacker Aleksanteri Kivimäki exposed tens of thousands of confidential psychiatric records and tried to extort payment directly from the affected patients. Read more about it here [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/18/man-accused-of-finland-psychotherapy-hack-charged-with-21000-counts-of-extortion] or here [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-04-22/a-massive-therapy-hack-shows-just-how-unsafe-patients-files-can-be].  It happened: President Biden signed the TikTok “ban,” [https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/24/24139036/biden-signs-tiktok-ban-bill-divest-foreign-aid-package] setting a deadline for the platform’s parent company, China-based ByteDance, to divest the app within a year. And TikTok faces yet more hurdles ahead [https://www.theverge.com/24141539/tiktok-ban-bytedance-china-dc-circuit-supreme-court]. Net neutrality is back, baby. Here’s what that means [https://www.npr.org/2024/04/26/1247393656/net-neutrality-explained-fcc].

SQLite [https://www.sqlite.org/index.html] is the most used database engine in the world.  Stop by the forum [https://sqlite.org/forum/forum] or explore the docs [https://www.sqlite.org/docs.html]. Devs have pledged to support SQLite through the year 2050 [https://www.sqlite.org/lts.html].  The developer with a team of three, all of them himself at different points in time, was Tarn Adams of Dwarf Fortress [https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/12/31/700000-lines-of-code-20-years-and-one-developer-how-dwarf-fortress-is-built/#wp-comment-2084959] fame.  On Stack Overflow, 1.2 million people have found the answer to How can I list the tables in a SQLite database file that was opened with ATTACH? [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/82875/how-can-i-list-the-tables-in-a-sqlite-database-file-that-was-opened-with-attach].

Meta’s open-source Llama 3 model puts Meta’s AI assistant head-to-head with ChatGPT [https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/18/24133808/meta-ai-assistant-llama-3-chatgpt-openai-rival]. Stability AI laid off [https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/18/24133996/stability-ai-lay-off-emad-mostaque] 10% of its workforce, the first major AI foundation model to reduce its workforce since the advent of generative AI. Is the dot-com bubble a cautionary tale for AI enthusiasts? Listen to the episode [https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444600/marketplace] of Marketplace from NPR. Do LLMs support Wittgenstein’s position that “meaning is use”? [https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/112021/does-the-success-of-ai-large-language-models-support-wittgensteins-position-t] That depends whether you’re talking pre or post Tractatus, of course. TikTok wouldn’t lie to you: you really can make friends with your local crows [https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/10/31/1062370/how-to-befriend-a-crow-crowtok-tiktok/]. Eira’s proven method for befriending crows: Feed them dry cat food on a consistent schedule, so they learn you’re reliable, and watch them eat, so they grok that you are feeding them intentionally. Stack Overflow user Arman Ordookhani [https://stackoverflow.com/users/2133484/arman-ordookhani] received a well-deserved Lifeboat badge [https://stackoverflow.com/help/badges/8842/lifeboat] for telling nearly 30,000 people How to free memory in go [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47979203/how-to-free-memory-in-go].

Why can’t configuration be made simple [https://mark-burgess-oslo-mb.medium.com/why-cant-configuration-be-made-simple-16eb70ed5455]?  Apple is making it easier for users to repair their iPhones with used parts [https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/11/24127278/apple-iphone-repair-used-parts]. Texas is swapping human graders for AI [https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/10/24126206/texas-staar-exam-graders-ai-automated-scoring-engine]. Automattic (owner of WordPress) is acquiring Beeper for $125M [https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/wordpress-com-owner-automattic-acquires-multi-service-messaging-app-beeper-for-125m/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE4eQ0XLijDIe57gP_qJNDZrcXJLaeXVJnQWP02-MhexC86NMmKjstwTS8N_y04VD5GJUOb2oIiMx91gbGMpZ8odK31p3K0VM6glPk586DGFPj__CiV1a6QK7so1oVqxACufJ5uwu9X9RqcOhMZuJ-5yx7OwPu3jeWWn3Fgb_bzR]. Silicon Valley or not, San Francisco’s train system still uses floppy disks [https://www.wired.com/story/san-francisco-muni-trains-floppy-disks/]. But don’t worry, an upgrade is coming—in 2030. Shoutout to Bite code [https://stackoverflow.com/users/9951/bite-code], who earned a Stellar Question badge [https://stackoverflow.com/help/badges/36/stellar-question] with How do I change the URI (URL) for a remote Git repository? [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2432764/how-do-i-change-the-uri-url-for-a-remote-git-repository].