The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.1 China is bracing itself for a sharp spike in covid cases
People will mingle in large groups as they celebrate the lunar new year. (The Guardian)
+ The country has reported close to 60,000 deaths linked to the virus. (NYT $)
+ China’s Paxlovid cyber scams are everywhere. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Open-source intelligence in Ukraine is a double-edged sword
It can both help and hinder war efforts. (Economist $)
+ How Ukrainian tech workers are working against the backdrop of war. (The Verge)
3 Twitter appears to be ditching third-party clients
External developers are furious they weren’t notified. ?(The Information $)
+ Laid-off workers can’t unite in a class action, a judge has ruled. (Reuters)
+ Who’d make a better CEO than Elon Musk? (The Verge)
+ Twitter’s New York office is overrun with cockroaches. (Insider $)
4 Disgruntled investors are suing Virgin Galactic
They’re claiming that faults in its aircraft weren’t properly disclosed. (The Guardian)
5 The high stakes of tracking hate crimes in India
Religious violence is on the rise—and a data project that monitors it is under threat. (WP $)
+ Saudi prosecutors want to execute an academic over his social media use. (The Guardian)
6 The US government’s big bet on chips is risky
It’s an enormously expensive—and ambitious—undertaking. (WSJ $)
+ Chinese chips will keep powering your everyday life. (MIT Technology Review)
7 England is cracking down on single-use plastics
Say goodbye to disposable plastic plates and cutlery. (Engadget)
+ How chemists are tackling the plastics problem. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Students are bemused by Auburn University’s TikTok ban
Mainly because it has an incredibly simple workaround. (NYT $)
9 How El Salvador’s biggest gig economy app crashed and burnt
Hugo was so successful it kept even Uber at bay—until it wasn’t. (Rest of World)
10 Not all AI-generated art is impressive
In fact, quite a lot of it is pretty rubbish. (The Atlantic $)
+ Artists are spearheading a class action against AI art companies. (Kotaku)
+ Generative AI is changing everything. But what’s left when the hype is gone? (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“I would advocate not moving fast and breaking things.”
—Demis Hassabis, DeepMind’s co-founder and chief executive, warns against experimenting too freely with AI in an interview with Time.