1 year ago
149
One evening successful February past year, a 23-year-old Uber operator named Niradi Srikanth was getting acceptable to commencement different shift, ferrying passengers astir the southbound Indian metropolis of Hyderabad. He pointed the telephone astatine his look to instrumentality a selfie to verify his identity. The process usually worked seamlessly. But this clip helium was incapable to log in.
Srikanth suspected it was due to the fact that helium had precocious shaved his head. After further attempts to log successful were rejected, Uber informed him that his relationship had been blocked. He is not alone. In a survey conducted by MIT Technology Review of 150 Uber drivers successful the country, astir fractional had been either temporarily oregon permanently locked retired of their accounts due to the fact that of problems with their selfie.
Hundreds of thousands of India’s gig system workers are astatine the mercy of facial designation technology, with fewer legal, argumentation oregon regulatory protections. For workers similar Srikanth, getting blocked from oregon kicked disconnected a level tin person devastating consequences. Read the afloat story.
—Varsha Bansal
I met a constabulary drone successful VR—and hated it
Police departments crossed the satellite are embracing drones, deploying them for everything from surveillance and quality gathering to adjacent chasing criminals. Yet nary of them look to beryllium trying to find retired however encounters with drones permission radical feeling—or whether the exertion volition assistance oregon hinder policing work.
A squad from University College London and the London School of Economics is filling successful the gaps, studying however radical respond erstwhile gathering constabulary drones successful virtual reality, and whether they travel distant feeling much oregon little trusting of the police.
MIT Technology Review’s Melissa Heikkilä came distant from her brushwood with a VR constabulary drone feeling unnerved. If others consciousness the aforesaid way, the large question is whether these drones are effectual tools for policing successful the archetypal place. Read the afloat story.
Melissa’s communicative is from The Algorithm, her play newsletter covering AI and its effects connected society. 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 Twitter won’t beryllium capable to header with the adjacent earthy disaster
Its looser moderation and verification marque it harder to sift retired reliable information. (Wired $)
+ The level is present poorly equipped to fend disconnected atrocious actors too. (Slate $)
+ There’s inactive nary wide viable alternate to Twitter. (The Verge)
+ Twitter’s imaginable illness could hitch retired immense records of caller quality history. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Crypto’s staunchest defenders are trying to rewrite history
The aforesaid radical who lobbied against regulations are present criticizing the US authorities for not reigning successful Sam Bankman-Fried. (The Atlantic $)
+ FTX’s illness was triggered by its reliance connected 4 tokens. (WSJ $)
+ Goldman Sachs is readying a crypto spending spree. (Reuters)
3 Neuralink is being investigated for carnal cruelty
The fig of deaths is higher than it needs to be, according to unit complaints. (Reuters)
4 Women are suing Apple aft their exes utilized AirTags to stalk them
Despite the company’s assertion the instrumentality is “stalker-proof.” (Bloomberg $)
5 Facebook is threatening to propulsion quality from its level successful the US
If Congress passes caller pro-publisher legislation. (WSJ $)
6 America’s cause shortages are getting worse
Essential cause shortages are becoming much frequent, and longer-lasting. (Vox)
+ The pandemic has apt changed children’s microbiomes. (The Atlantic $)
+ The adjacent pandemic is already here. Covid tin thatch america however to combat it. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Who should wage for cistron therapy?
While it’s imaginable the outgo volition driblet implicit time, we don’t cognize however agelong the effects of the therapies volition last. (Wired $)
+ This household raised millions to get experimental cistron therapy for their children. (MIT Technology Review)
8 A spirituality influencer’s fans support getting arrested
Rashad Jamal’s followers person been accused of sidesplitting respective people. (Motherboard)
9 How TikTok makes, and breaks, aspiring singers
Wannabe artists tin execute to online audiences of millions earlier they’ve played a azygous in-person show. (New Yorker $)
+ TikTok is expected to thrust retired the societal media advertizing freeze. (FT $)
10 Microscopic replicas of celebrated paintings could assistance to foil forgers 🖼️
Thanks to a spot of inspiration from butterflies. (New Scientist $)
Construction workers successful New York’s Lower Manhattan vicinity were breaking crushed for a caller national gathering backmost successful 1991 erstwhile they unearthed hundreds of coffins. The site, known arsenic the African Burial Ground, became 1 of the best-known archaeological discoveries successful the state and is present a nationalist monument.
The African Burial Ground task was among the archetypal to usage a caller constellation of “bioarchaeology” tools that went mode beyond the accepted pickaxes and brushes. But this was simply the archetypal signifier of a overmuch broader archaeological gyration that brought scientists and humanities scholars unneurotic to make information astir our ancestors. Read the afloat story.
—Annalee Newitz
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.)
+ Texting yourself each time is an…interesting mode to retrieve things.
+ Tokyo has opened its archetypal convenience store manned wholly by avatars.
+ Buffins’ look definite is appealing!
+ I similar the dependable of being a meteorite hunter.
+ ‘Tis the season—to brushwood up connected however to springiness a thoughtful gift.
English (US) ·