A million-row limit on Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet software may have led to Public Health England misplacing nearly 16,000 Covid test results. From The Guardian:

But while CSV files can be any size, Microsoft Excel files can only be 1,048,576 rows long – or, in older versions which PHE may have still been using, a mere 65,536. When a CSV file longer than that is opened, the bottom rows get cut off and are no longer displayed. That means that, once the lab had performed more than a million tests, it was only a matter of time before its reports failed to be read by PHE.

Microsoft just announced that they’re exclusively licensing GPT-3.

I knew Microsoft has really been investing in ML/AI through Azure, and now it looks like the only way you’ll be able to use GPT-3 is through Azure services. I’m not sure how I feel about this yet.

From VentureBeat:

The implications of the licensing agreement weren’t immediately clear, but Microsoft says that OpenAI will continue to offer GPT-3 and other models via its Azure-hosted API, launched in June. (To date, the API, which remains in beta, has received tens of thousands of applications, according to OpenAI.) Microsoft plans to leverage the capabilities of GPT-3 in its own products, services, and experiences and to continue to work with OpenAI to keep commercialize the firm’s AI research.

1Password just added a feature to create virtual credit cards for you through Privacy.com.

I’ve been using 1Password for years now, and it’s definitely necessary for my workflow these days. It’s also really good for two factor authentication.

I also signed up for Privacy.com back in May and use it every once in a while for random things. Most recently it was to pay to have my LLC listed in some newspapers in Albany for New York’s publication requirements.

Putting the two together is a really good idea. I’ll definitely be using this.

So even though Oracle was selected as “technology partner” for TikTok, the US government will be banning both TikTok and WeChat from American app stores.

Which just… makes the security situation even worse. From the article:

For a policy that is nominally based on protecting national security and the data of American users, this is one of the most counterproductive moves imaginable, considering that the most basic of all security advice is to “keep your apps updated,” because developers often issue updates that fix security holes. By banning TikTok from the app store, it will be impossible for users to update their app, meaning any existing vulnerabilities discovered by ByteDance between now and November will continue to persist for Americans and Americans only.