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This is today's variation of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a regular dose of what's going connected successful the satellite of technology.
How aged batteries volition assistance powerfulness tomorrow’s EVs
To Redwood Materials, the rows of cardboard boxes successful the parking batch of its caller artillery recycling tract conscionable extracurricular Reno, Nevada, correspond some the past and the aboriginal of electrical vehicles.
Far from trash, the artillery materials successful the wireless keyboards, discarded toys and chunks of utilized Honda Civic batteries are treasure—the metals are invaluable ingredients that could beryllium captious to gathering exploding request for electrical vehicles.
Redwood Materials is conscionable 1 of respective caller recycling ventures that are not lone preventing the metals from being buried successful landfills, but besides spurring a booming marketplace for electrical vehicles. The ever-growing fig of EVs volition necessitate acold much metals than are presently available. While recycling can’t code worldly shortages alone, it has a important relation to play. Read the afloat story.
—Casey Crownhart
This is wherever Tesla's erstwhile CTO thinks artillery recycling is headed
As Tesla’s erstwhile main exertion officer, JB Straubel has been a large subordinate successful bringing electrical vehicles to the world. He’s often credited with inventing cardinal pieces of Tesla’s artillery exertion and establishing the company’s charging network.
Now, arsenic laminitis of Redwood Materials, he’s astatine the forefront of artillery recycling. Our clime newsman Casey Crownhart spoke to him astir the relation helium sees artillery recycling playing successful the modulation to renewable energy, his plans for Redwood, and what’s next. Read the afloat story.
Battery recycling is 1 of our 10 Breakthrough Technologies, which we’re showcasing one-by-one successful The Download each day. Why not instrumentality a look astatine the rest of the list, and vote successful our poll to assistance america determine what should marque the last 11th?
Here’s however Microsoft could usage ChatGPT
Microsoft is reportedly eyeing a $10 cardinal concern successful OpenAI, the startup that created the viral chatbot ChatGPT, and is readying to integrate it into Office products and Bing search.
This is simply a large deal. If successful, it volition bring almighty AI tools to the masses. So what would ChatGPT-powered Microsoft products look like? While neither Microsoft oregon OpenAI were consenting to reply our questions, we cognize capable to marque immoderate informed, intelligent guesses. Hint: it’s astir apt bully quality if you find creating PowerPoint presentations and answering emails boring. Read the afloat story.
—Melissa Heikkilä
Melissa’s communicative is from The Algorithm, her play AI newsletter. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Monday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 China’s colonisation has fallen for the archetypal clip successful 60 years
The quality has large implications for the country’s social, defence and economical policies. (CNN)
+ China’s system is slumping. (Quartz)
+ India is acceptable to instrumentality implicit arsenic the world’s astir populous country. (Economist $)
+ Anti-covid zero demonstrators are inactive being detained. (Bloomberg $)
2 The archetypal measure for Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition is looming
How helium deals with it is yet different large trial of his leadership. (FT $)
+ We’re witnessing the encephalon decease of Twitter. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Getty Images is suing Stable Diffusion’s creators
Getty claims the bundle was trained utilizing millions of unlawfully scraped images. (The Verge)
+ Microsoft is adding ChatGPT to its unreality work “soon.” (Bloomberg $)
4 EV income person passed a important milestone
They made up 10% of caller cars sold past year. (WSJ $)
+ Tesla is slashing its prices—but not everyone’s happy. (The Verge)
5 Tenant-screening algorithms reportedly discriminated against Black renters
Now the US Department of Justice is getting involved. (Wired $)
+ AI has exacerbated radical bias successful housing. Could it assistance destruct it instead? (MIT Technology Review)
6 3D printed buildings could assistance to lick the US lodging crisis
But there’s a large barrier: the mode the operation manufacture works now. (New Yorker $)
+ Meet the designers printing houses retired of brackish and clay. (MIT Technology Review)
7 US tech firms are poaching endowment from Latin American startups
Local startups conflict to lucifer the salaries, which are inactive debased by US standards. (Rest of World)
8 The agony and ecstasy of owning a coveted Instagram handle
You’d amended hole for radical trying to bargain it. (Slate $)
9 Life absorption apps tin beryllium much occupation than they’re worth
They’re designed to lighten our load, but tin often adhd to it instead. (Vice)
+ Chore apps were meant to marque mothers’ lives easier. They often don’t. (MIT Technology Review)
10 One of the internet’s favourite memes deserves a happier ending
Maybe this truly is fine, aft all. (WP $)
Quote of the day
“With each the emotion and respect successful the world, this opus is bullshit, a grotesque mockery of what it is to beryllium human, and, well, I don’t overmuch similar it.”
—Musician Nick Cave tears into AI exemplary ChatGPT’s effort to “write a opus successful the benignant of Nick Cave,” reports the Guardian.
The large story
Why cheaper star photovoltaics are cardinal to addressing clime change
June 2021
In precocious 2007, Google came retired swinging connected the cleanable vigor front, declaring it wanted to marque renewable vigor cheaper than coal. The institution invested tens of millions of dollars into R&D efforts. Just 4 years later, those efforts had been scrapped.
It would beryllium each excessively casual to spot this arsenic an admittance of failure. But Google’s displacement successful strategy was a reflection of the increasing occurrence of the star sector. And though the deployment of star photovoltaic technology, which converts airy into electricity, has accrued rapidly implicit the past decade, we inactive request ever further technological advances to support pushing the existing methods— arsenic good arsenic supporting probe and improvement successful caller areas. Read the afloat story.
—Gernot Wagner
We tin inactive person bully things
A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction successful these weird times. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line or tweet 'em astatine me.)
+ If you’re funny astir however to marque a negroni sbagliato (with prosecco successful it), wonderment nary longer.
+ There’s nary stopping the hyperfemininity hype train.
+ Affordable holidays, you say?
+ Here’s a large list of recipes for those days erstwhile you’re feeling nether the upwind (thanks Charlotte!)
+ How to marque a beauteous mug from a big ole hunk of wood.
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