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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.
Former Twitter employees fearfulness the level mightiness lone past weeks
Recently-departed Twitter unit person told MIT Technology Review they interest that the level has weeks to unrecorded based connected existent staffing levels, wide resignations overnight, and the morale of the fewer who remain.
The company’s erstwhile employees estimation that 75% of its remaining workers program to discontinue aft Elon Musk gave them an ultimatum of adopting “extremely hardcore” moving practices oregon to judge 3 months severance, a widescale revolt which looks similar it volition permission Twitter sorely abbreviated of cardinal unit successful the days to come.
For those who escaped the madness earlier, either done layoffs oregon being fired for insubordination, it’s a troubling development. They’re acrophobic that there’s conscionable not capable method expertise to support the tract running, and that unless drastic changes are made, and soon, Musk’s actions volition awesome the extremity of Twitter. Read the afloat story.
—Chris Stokel-Walker
Why Meta’s latest ample connection exemplary lone survived 3 days online
On 15 November Meta unveiled a caller ample connection exemplary called Galactica, intended to assistance scientists. But alternatively of landing with the large bang Meta hoped for, Galactica has died with a whimper aft 3 days of aggravated criticism. Yesterday it took down the nationalist demo that it had encouraged everyone to effort out.
Meta’s mis-step—and hubris—shows erstwhile again that large tech has a unsighted spot astir the terrible limitations of ample connection models.There is simply a ample assemblage of probe that highlights the flaws of this technology, including its inclination to reproduce prejudice and asseverate falsehoods arsenic facts.
However, Meta and different companies moving connected ample connection models, including Google, person failed to instrumentality it seriously. Read the afloat story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
Who’s liable for clime change? Three charts explain
Leaders astatine the yearly UN clime league are inactive successful the heavy of negotiations, moving to find a way guardant to chopped emissions, arsenic good arsenic to code clime impacts that are already occurring.
Central to these negotiations is simply a question: who is liable for clime change? The contented is complicated, but our charts mightiness assistance to illuminate immoderate of the answers.
—Casey Crownhart
I recovered retired my biologic age—and was annoyed by the result
You’re lone arsenic aged arsenic you feel, oregon truthful they say. But now, you tin enactment a precise fig connected your carnal age, acknowledgment to biologic clocks. These tools analyse proteins successful your blood, chemic markers connected your DNA, oregon adjacent the constitution of your gut bacteria to fundamentally foretell however adjacent you are to death.
It’s a tantalizing idea. So erstwhile a institution offered Jessica Hamzelou, our elder biotech reporter, the accidental to find retired her ain biologic age, she took it. But, arsenic she recovered out, a vegetarian fare and regular yoga signifier haven’t turned the timepiece backmost for her arsenic overmuch arsenic she hoped. Read the afloat story.
Jessica’s communicative is from The Checkup, her play newsletter giving you the wrong way connected each things biotech and biomedicine. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Thursday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 Elon Musk’s demands for loyalty triggered an exodus of Twitter workers
Hundreds of employees chose to discontinue alternatively of signing up to his imaginativeness of “hardcore Twitter.” (WP $)
+ The shot World Cup volition beryllium a large accent trial for what remains of the platform. (The Atlantic $)
+ Musk’s absorption benignant is precocious risk, debased reward. (WSJ $)
+ He’s undermined Twitter’s integrity and safety, senators say. (FT $)
+ Here’s however you tin find your feet connected rival Mastodon. (Wired $)
+ Here’s however a Twitter technologist says it volition interruption successful the coming weeks. (MIT Technology Review)
2 How covid bolstered antimicrobial resistance
It made an existing occupation importantly worse. (Scientific American $)
+ The adjacent pandemic is already here. Covid tin thatch america however to combat it. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Big Tech’s glory days are numbered
Which leaves a full batch of astute radical with clip connected their hands. (Vox)
+ You could accidental the manufacture is having a midlife crisis. (The Atlantic $)
+ It’s not conscionable astir maturation astatine immoderate outgo anymore. (Slate $)
4 The hunt for a non-opioid attraction for pain
Marrying information and efficacy is hard to do, but scientists aren’t giving up. (Neo.Life)
+ Tens of millions of radical successful the US are surviving with chronic pain. (New Scientist $)
5 Taylor Swift’s impassioned fans are going aft Ticketmaster
The tract botched income for her caller tour, and furious fans privation to interruption its monopoly. (Slate $)
+ Ticketmaster sold astir each the tickets successful siloed presales. (Motherboard)
6 US broadband is earnestly awful
It’s expensive, slow, and contains loads of hidden charges. (The Verge)
+ Here’s a database of the worst offenders erstwhile it comes to raising your bills. (WP $)
+ Temperature rises are apt to spark much planetary net outages. (CNET)
7 Don’t autumn for the stories we archer astir the internet
A steadfast dose of captious reasoning tin chopped done the spin. (The Atlantic $)
8 AI has a spot problem
Some experts judge that demonstrating however systems larn is the solution. (WSJ $)
+ AI-generated deepfakes could really assistance support privacy. (New Scientist $)
+ We request to plan distrust into AI systems to marque them safer. (MIT Technology Review)
9 China’s TikTok sellers privation to entice occidental shoppers 🛍️
They’re mounting their sights firmly connected the US market. (Rest of World)
+ China wants to power however its celebrated livestreamers act, speak, and adjacent dress. (MIT Technology Review)
10 Silicon Valley loves an e-bike 🚲
It’s the coolest mode to flex your eco-credentials these days. (The Information $)
Quote of the day
“Never successful my vocation person I seen specified a implicit nonaccomplishment of firm controls and specified a implicit lack of trustworthy fiscal information."
—John Ray, the caller brag of collapsed crypto speech FTX, doesn’t clasp backmost successful condemning the company’s erstwhile enactment successful a caller tribunal filing, the Guardian reports.
The large story
Behind the painstaking process of creating Chinese machine fonts
Bruce Rosenblum switched connected his Apple II. A greenish grid appeared, 16 units wide and 16 units tall. This was “Gridmaster,” a programme Bruce had cooked up to physique 1 of the world’s archetypal Chinese integer fonts. He was processing the font for an experimental instrumentality which was among the archetypal idiosyncratic computers to grip the Chinese language.
He had a agelong database of tasks up of him. At the time, successful the precocious 1970s and aboriginal 1980s, determination were nary idiosyncratic computers being built successful China. So to marque a “Chinese” PC, Rosenblum’s squad was reprogramming an Apple II to run successful Chinese, which required programming some an operating strategy and a Chinese connection processor.
While the instrumentality was ne'er commercially released, the painstaking enactment that went into its improvement was cardinal to a analyzable planetary effort to lick a vexing engineering puzzle: however to equip a machine to grip Chinese, and successful the process, yet marque the net accessible to one-sixth of the planetary population. Read the afloat story.
—Tom Mullaney
English (US) ·