The hottest Infrastructure Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

A First Principles guide to Data Availability: Part 1

Matthew’s Substack • 39 implied HN points • 28 Feb 24
🔮 Crypto Blockchain Web3 Data Security Infrastructure
  1. Data Availability (DA) is important for blockchain because it allows data to be accessible and verified by users. It helps ensure security, especially for rollups on Ethereum.
  2. Rollups process transactions on cheaper chains but rely on Ethereum's main network for security by posting necessary data. This means Ethereum validates transactions and can handle fraud cases effectively.
  3. The future of Data Availability includes new methods to lower costs and improve scalability, like Danksharding. This could make it easier to store data efficiently while maintaining security.

A different way to look at solar

America in Crisis • 59 implied HN points • 30 Dec 23
🔬 Science Solar Power Energy Sources Climate change Infrastructure
  1. Solar power, despite being intermittent, can be made more efficient with government assistance and innovative solutions like storing excess electricity as hydrogen.
  2. Creating a widespread network of solar-powered hydrogen wells could lead to a cost-effective production of green aviation fuel, potentially revolutionizing the energy industry.
  3. Investing in infrastructure for renewable energy, like hydrogen wells, can serve as a stimulus project, offering economic growth opportunities and addressing critical environmental concerns.

Iceland's new found popularity

The Global Jigsaw • 119 implied HN points • 03 Sep 23
🏝 Travel Tourism Economy Infrastructure Environment Sustainability
  1. Tourism is Iceland's biggest export industry, but there are concerns about the impact on the environment and culture.
  2. Tourism has played a significant role in Iceland's economy, especially in times of crisis like the financial crash and pandemic.
  3. The increase in tourism has led to infrastructure challenges and a debate on sustainable tourism practices in Iceland.

Frankly Speaking - Cloudflare is the most underrated security company

Frankly Speaking • 254 implied HN points • 18 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Security Networking Infrastructure Sales Market Analysis
  1. Cloudflare is considered an underrated security company in the industry, focusing on SASE and zero-trust solutions.
  2. Cloudflare's infrastructure is seen as a strong advantage and moat, making it valuable and defendable against competition.
  3. Cloudflare is making a bet on the future by targeting DevOps and security engineers for their products, showing a shift in the market towards software being purchased by technical personnel.
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Virtual Power Plants and software

Software and the energy transition • 20 HN points • 29 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Energy Software Infrastructure Standardization Innovation
  1. Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) use distributed energy resources like solar panels and batteries to reduce the need for traditional fossil fuel power plants during peak demand times.
  2. DERs can help reduce the strain on the electricity grid by offering demand reduction services and energy generation through remote, efficient control.
  3. Standardization and virtualization innovation are key for the future of VPPs, making communication between DERs and platforms easier and allowing for virtual upgrades to power grids.

Prepare for the Next Bitcoin Mining Infrastructure Boom

Miner Weekly • 59 implied HN points • 14 Dec 23
💰 Finance Bitcoin Mining Infrastructure Regulation Hardware Corporate Financial
  1. Texas is becoming a major global hub for Bitcoin mining, with plans for significant power capacity expansions.
  2. Several major mining companies are gearing up for infrastructure booms by expanding their mining power capacity in various locations.
  3. Regulation news and corporate developments, like the acquisition of power plants, showcase the ongoing growth and changes in the Bitcoin mining industry.

GroupBy #33: Data Gateway - A Platform for Growing and Protecting the Data Tier at Netflix, The Cloud Storage Triad: Latency, Cost, Durability

VuTrinh. • 19 implied HN points • 30 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Data Engineering Cloud Computing Software Development Infrastructure Data Management
  1. Netflix has created a platform called Data Gateway that helps their developers manage data more easily. It simplifies complex database processes so that app developers can focus on coding.
  2. The cloud storage triad talks about balancing latency, cost, and durability when storing data. Choosing the right storage solution can save money while ensuring data is always available.
  3. Managing data ingestion effectively is crucial for companies like RevenueCat. They faced challenges moving their data and found ways to optimize the process for better performance.

Monitoring Windows pods with Prometheus and Grafana

VTEX’s Tech Blog • 39 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Software Infrastructure Cloud Computing Monitoring Data Visualization
  1. Using Amazon EKS for Windows workloads is becoming popular as it simplifies the management of existing Windows applications without needing to completely refactor them.
  2. Prometheus and Grafana are essential tools for monitoring performance and metrics of Windows pods, helping teams visualize important data from their workloads.
  3. To set up monitoring, install the Windows Exporter daemonset and Kube-State-Metrics on your Amazon EKS cluster, enabling detailed insights into both Windows pods and nodes.

Five grand challenges of offshore wind financing in the United States

Jérôme à Paris • 121 implied HN points • 20 Nov 23
💰 Finance Renewable Energy Investment Workforce Regulation Infrastructure
  1. Offshore wind energy in the U.S. faces challenges like financing in early stages, policy support, workforce development, transmission barriers, and scaling floating wind technologies.
  2. There is a need for structural changes and alignment across various sectors to support the rapid growth of offshore wind energy in the U.S.
  3. Despite challenges, the U.S. has favorable conditions for offshore wind energy expansion and overcoming obstacles requires collaboration between researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and regulators.

Taiwan’s Power Crunch vs AI Ambitions

Taipology • 22 implied HN points • 19 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Data Centers Energy Policy Nuclear power Infrastructure
  1. Taiwan aims to develop its own AI called 'Sovereign AI,' but it faces challenges in powering the necessary data centers.
  2. Currently, Taiwan struggles with electricity supply, limiting its ability to support large data centers needed for AI development.
  3. The government could restart mothballed nuclear reactors to increase power supply, which may be crucial for Taiwan to keep up with global AI advancements.

Infrastructure and Business Logic in Serverless: Exploring the Relationship

The Serverless Mindset • 78 implied HN points • 14 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Infrastructure Serverless Development Architecture
  1. Finding the right balance between infrastructure and business logic in serverless architecture is crucial.
  2. Serverless offers a sweet spot between simplicity and control, allowing for understanding and informed decision-making by developers.
  3. The relationship between infrastructure and business logic in serverless architectures is complex, and finding the right balance is key to creating scalable and resilient systems.

Designed to adapt

The CTRL + Z Press • 78 implied HN points • 16 Apr 23
🌞 Climate & Environment Infrastructure Investing
  1. Venice's infrastructure has adapted to frequent flooding by leveraging engineering expertise.
  2. Climate change intensifies weather events, highlighting the need for climate-resilient infrastructure.
  3. Investing in infrastructure for climate adaptation is crucial for mitigating risks and ensuring long-term sustainability.

What's happening at the intersection of ML and Engineering.

Arkid’s Newsletter • 17 HN points • 30 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Software Engineering Data science Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure
  1. AI and machine learning are creating a lot of hype, but it's important to separate the noise from the real value. Just like in the dot-com boom, there will be winners, but it won't be easy to find them.
  2. Many companies are wasting money on consultants who offer little help without delivering real results. To succeed in AI, businesses need to focus on building intelligent products that can learn and iterate based on user feedback.
  3. There's concern about AI taking over jobs in software and machine learning, but skilled professionals will still be needed. It’s crucial for entry-level workers to build solid expertise in their field and adapt to new developments in AI.

Atomic Energy! Can nuclear power our 100GW AI factories?

State of the Future • 29 implied HN points • 12 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Energy Nuclear AI Engineering Infrastructure
  1. Nuclear energy might not fully power the future's huge AI data centers, but it could play a significant supporting role. It offers reliable and flexible energy, especially where renewable sources might struggle.
  2. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) could address the increasing energy demands for AI, but their high costs and complicated regulations are big hurdles. They might work well as part of a mix with other energy sources instead of being standalone options.
  3. The market for nuclear power is growing, driven by needs for cleaner energy and the specific power requirements of data centers. Big tech companies are already looking into using nuclear to meet their future energy demands.

The EV Revolution is Upon Us

Dana Blankenhorn: Facing the Future • 59 implied HN points • 15 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Electric Vehicles Innovation Market Trends Infrastructure Sustainability
  1. The Electric Vehicle (EV) revolution will lead to significant changes in the world, impacting car repair shops, gas stations, electricity demand, and the road network.
  2. Mass market EV adoption is currently happening in China, with affordable EVs becoming increasingly available from various car manufacturers worldwide.
  3. By 2030, most cars will be EVs, with technology advancements leading to cheaper and more competitive electric vehicles with longer ranges.

turbopuffer

Why Now • 5 implied HN points • 09 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Software Data Management Infrastructure Cloud Computing Developer Tools
  1. It's important to look for companies that create strong communities or 'religions' around their products. Companies that divide opinion often attract attention and engagement.
  2. Object storage is a powerful way to manage data, allowing for flexible and efficient storage. It uses a flat structure for data organization, making it faster to access compared to traditional file storage.
  3. The separation of storage and compute resources helps businesses scale more effectively. This means you can add storage or processing power independently, making it more efficient for varying demands.

Confidential AI: The Dog That Didn't Bark In The Night

State of the Future • 29 implied HN points • 05 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Data Privacy Machine Learning Crypto Infrastructure
  1. We need to prioritize data privacy as AI gets more personal. New technologies could help us protect our information while still allowing AI to learn.
  2. Building fair and unbiased AI models is crucial, as biased models can worsen social inequalities. We have tools to help create better AI that considers everyone fairly.
  3. There's a big opportunity to use decentralized systems for AI training and inference. This could make AI more accessible and less dependent on a few large companies.

The next big thing in 2024 will be...

next big thing • 85 implied HN points • 27 Dec 23
🕹 Technology AI Infrastructure Healthcare Content Consumer Technology
  1. AI will drive business productivity in 2024 with a focus on AI showing ROI and AI-enabled applications.
  2. AI infrastructure will evolve with models pushing beyond transformer architecture and real-time AI becoming more embedded.
  3. Traditional enterprises will adopt generative AI at scale and the rise of private equity predicated on data moats and AI transformations.
  4. Geopolitical tensions will shape tech landscapes, and a return to the office culture might be on the horizon in 2024.

Think Like a Detection Engineer, Pt. 1: Logging

Detection at Scale • 199 implied HN points • 18 Jul 22
🕹 Technology Security Data Management Monitoring Infrastructure
  1. Detection Engineers build systems to validate security controls and detect suspicious behaviors with code to protect organizations.
  2. Security data comes from different layers like infrastructure, hosts, networks, applications, and databases, each providing unique context for monitoring.
  3. When collecting logs for security monitoring, consider tradeoffs like the value of data for detection, latency to get data into SIEM, and cost of obtaining and retaining data.

Links in Progress: Expanding the Mediterranean's busiest port

The Works in Progress Newsletter • 8 implied HN points • 05 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Infrastructure Transport Energy Construction Innovation
  1. There's a new rail tunnel in Switzerland that cuts travel time between Switzerland and Italy by an hour. It's called the Gotthard Base Tunnel.
  2. A massive tunnel is being built between Denmark and Germany that will make travel faster by replacing a ferry with a quick car drive. It will be one of the longest tunnels in the world.
  3. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is getting a driverless monorail to connect different areas. It's part of a bigger plan to improve public transport in the city.

NEPA Reform and Infrastructure

Knowledge Problem • 58 implied HN points • 05 Oct 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Policy Environment Infrastructure Reform Legislation
  1. NEPA was established in 1970 to protect the environment and involves thorough environmental impact assessments for federal projects.
  2. There have been debates about NEPA's benefits and drawbacks, with delays and litigation being common criticisms.
  3. Proposals for NEPA reform aim to balance environmental protection with reducing delays in project approvals.

"Products" & "Protocols" are NOT the same

@MacBrennan’s Investor Updates • 58 implied HN points • 08 Aug 23
🔮 Crypto Products Protocols DeFi Infrastructure Market
  1. Products are applications that define user experiences and focus on capturing markets.
  2. Protocols are infrastructure enabling specific product experiences and compete on resources and architecture.
  3. Successful products retain and grow through effective distribution, while successful protocols aggregate resources and serve multiple products.

Taiwan & the internet during world war

Nick Merrill • 58 implied HN points • 02 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Internet Networks Security Infrastructure
  1. Undersea cables are critical for the world's internet infrastructure, and cutting them can have severe global consequences.
  2. China has strategically designed its internet infrastructure to minimize the impact of cutting undersea cables on its own internet.
  3. To mitigate the risk of internet disruptions from undersea cable attacks, global efforts are needed for wartime BGP routes, local networking investments by countries like Taiwan, and the development of a reliable LEO satellite internet network.

India's LLM Moment is Here

Sector 6 | The Newsletter of AIM • 39 implied HN points • 18 Dec 23
🕹 Technology AI Startups Data Innovation Infrastructure
  1. Indian companies are launching new large language models (LLMs) like BharatGPT and OpenHathi, showcasing exciting developments in AI.
  2. Ola's Krutrim is unique because it's not just using existing models but creating its own LLMs and the technology to support them from scratch.
  3. These advancements in AI technology could have a big impact on various sectors, highlighting India's growing role in the global AI landscape.

The Dawn of Ronin

Ronin’s Newsletter • 73 implied HN points • 30 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Blockchain Gaming Infrastructure NFTs Web3
  1. Ronin blockchain has experienced significant growth in daily active users, market capitalization, and total value locked throughout 2023.
  2. The upgrade to Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) strengthened Ronin's security and decentralized the network, paving the way for more infrastructure development.
  3. Ronin introduced innovative features like Mavis Market for NFT creators, Ronin Name Service (RNS) for gamertags, and the Ronin Wallet with over 1.2 million new addresses in the past year.

GroupBy #27: Balancing HDFS DataNodes in the Uber DataLake, How Figma’s databases team lived to tell the scale

VuTrinh. • 19 implied HN points • 19 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Data Engineering Infrastructure Software Development AI/ML Web Technologies
  1. Balancing your data infrastructure is key for efficiency and reliability. Companies like Uber face challenges in maintaining this balance as they scale up their data needs.
  2. Figma's database team has successfully handled a massive growth in data since 2020, showing that scaling can lead to new technical challenges but also growth opportunities.
  3. Optimizing data pipelines can save significant costs. Techniques to reduce data shuffling in processes like Apache Spark can help make data handling more efficient.

Phoenix Puts UAE On Bitcoin Mining Map

Miner Weekly • 39 implied HN points • 23 Nov 23
🔮 Crypto Bitcoin Mining IPO Hardware Infrastructure Regulation
  1. Phoenix, a UAE-based bitcoin mining company, raised $370 million in an IPO on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange, highlighting growing interest in bitcoin mining in the region.
  2. Phoenix appears to focus more on hardware distribution rather than proprietary mining, indicating potential plans for diversification in the future.
  3. Key highlights of Phoenix's business include a sizeable team, impressive hashrate capacity, and a revenue stream primarily reliant on hardware sales.

Large-scale battery systems: potential use cases in Albania

GEM Energy Analytics • 79 implied HN points • 07 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Energy Storage Renewable Energy Market Analysis Infrastructure Environmental Impact
  1. Large-scale batteries can help store energy and improve the electricity system in Albania. They could be useful in stabilizing the grid and providing backup power.
  2. These batteries can also help with buying and selling electricity at different prices, which may become profitable in the future as the market develops. This could help businesses make more money from energy.
  3. Co-locating batteries with renewable energy sources can enhance performance and reduce costs related to energy supply. This allows for better management of energy production and consumption.

The Choice

Comment is Freed • 88 implied HN points • 09 Sep 23
🌍 World Politics Government Healthcare Infrastructure Economy
  1. The government will need to spend over 45% of national income on public services, benefits, and debt repayments by the mid-2040s.
  2. There are limited options for the next government as previous strategies to avoid high costs are no longer viable.
  3. Despite potential economic growth, tough decisions and budget constraints lie ahead for the government.

Striving Towards Implementing the National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS)

Resilient Cyber • 59 implied HN points • 17 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Policy Implementation Collaboration Infrastructure
  1. The National Cybersecurity Strategy emphasizes that big companies and government agencies should take more responsibility in managing cyber risks. This means they need to invest in better security measures to protect everyone.
  2. There are five main goals in the strategy, including making sure critical services are safe, working with the private sector, and responding quickly to cyber threats. It's all about teamwork between different sectors for better security.
  3. The plan is a living document that will change as needed. It includes specific actions and timelines, showing that the government is committed to making real improvements in cybersecurity.

Should Disney be in charge of large infrastructure projects?

Klement on Investing • 3 implied HN points • 29 Nov 24
💼 Business Infrastructure Financial planning Investment Psychology Customer Experience
  1. Disney approaches projects with a focus on creating fun experiences, which could lead to better user engagement. This idea suggests that people enjoy experiences more when they are entertaining, even if it means spending more time in transit.
  2. A fun financial planning approach could keep clients more engaged and lead to better outcomes. Instead of just focusing on returns and risks, financial advisors could link investment choices to a client's happiness and lifestyle.
  3. The concept of a 'happiness advisor' in finance may change how people perceive their investments. By considering both financial planning and emotional well-being, this approach might help people stick to their plans and enhance their overall satisfaction.

Rain or Shine for Alibaba Cloud?

Tech Buzz China Insider • 59 implied HN points • 03 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Cloud Computing Market Analysis Competitors Infrastructure
  1. In the Chinese cloud computing market, Alibaba Cloud leads and is more profitable compared to Tencent and Huawei due to its robust products and market fit.
  2. Alibaba Cloud has evolved sales strategies over time, shifting from a product-driven approach to catering to traditional enterprises and government clients.
  3. The future growth of the cloud sector, including for Alibaba Cloud, is expected in areas like AI and EVs, with significant investments being made in these sectors.