Glyph Tech Shots: There’s a change in the way Pinterest does its thing, and parents’ concerns about their children’s mental health post covid backed by a survey.

‍Tech Giants Clash, Nvidia's Earnings in Face of AMD's AI Push

Nvidia's upcoming earnings report is highly anticipated, with investors hoping for strong revenue forecasts that surpass estimates. The company's stock has surged by triple digits this year, driven by the popularity of AI applications like ChatGPT. A disappointing earnings report could lead to a stock market downturn. The performance of Nvidia's data center unit, particularly its prized H100 chip used in AI, will be closely watched to assess its valuation. Although Nvidia's chips are in high demand, concerns exist due to potential China-related business risks. Rival AMD aims to challenge Nvidia's AI dominance with cheaper options, but Nvidia's established software advantage could pose a challenge.

Pinterest's Answer to Scalability Woes with Apache Helix Power

Pinterest has launched Pacer, a new asynchronous computing platform, replacing the older Pinlater due to scalability issues. Pacer employs Kubernetes for job scheduling and Apache Helix for cluster management. Challenges with Pinlater, such as scalability bottlenecks and reliability concerns, led Pinterest to create this new system. Pacer features a stateless Thrift API, MySQL data store, and job-execution workers on Kubernetes. Apache Helix, along with Zookeeper, manages job-queue partition assignments to dequeue brokers. This approach alleviates previous problems by isolating workloads and ensuring efficient data fetching, similar to Kafka's consumer assignments. Helix Controller monitors and adjusts cluster configurations for seamless operation.

Tech's Toll on Kids, Parents Fear Mental Health Fallout

Parents are increasingly worried about the impact of excessive screen time and social media on their children, as they return to school post-pandemic. A survey conducted by the University of Michigan Health CS Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health found that mental health and technology use have become the primary concerns for parents in the US. Two-thirds of parents expressed concerns about their children's increased device usage, with mental and emotional health being the top focus. Additionally, parents remain apprehensive about school violence and the lack of accessible mental health services for children. The study recommends parents regularly evaluate and manage their children's digital interactions.

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