Plus: Things are going well for money markets
This is today’s edition of The Download, our daily newsletter that provides a dose of what’s happening in the tech world.
How the covid pop-up is wreaking havoc on life in China
In 2020, China launched a touch tracking program that assigns a QR code to everyone in the country. It shows your covid reputation and allows you to enter public places or take public transportation. Part of China’s strict zero-Covid policy, the formula has persisted, and some of the once-lauded features that kept deaths in the country low now feel more painful than helpful to its citizens. For example, the more than 20 million people who live or stop over in Beijing are now plagued by a pop-up that can randomly appear on their phone to disrupt all their plans. The persistent pop-up is designed to hide the QR code, preventing access to almost anywhere in China, and will not be hidden unless the user performs a PCR test immediately. The challenge is that, despite being touted as a high-tech pandemic solution, the app’s threat identification mechanism tends to cast a wider net than necessary, meaning no one knows why it gets the window. popup or when it will appear and there. there is no way to prepare for it. Read the full story.
—Zeyi Yang
This story is taken from China Report, our new weekly newsletter that helps you stay informed about everything happening in China. Check in to have it delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.
In the late 90s, IBM’s Deep Blue computer beat Garry Kasparov, the current world chess champion. It paved the way for an automation revolution. In the latest episode of MIT Technology Review’s In Machines We Trust podcast, we met Kasparov and heard war with Deep Blue told from his chessboard look. Listen to it on Apple podcasts or anywhere you listen to it.
The essential
I’ve searched the web to find today’s funniest, most important, scary, and fascinating tech stories. 1 Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter returns this week. ($NYT) A successful deal would further expand the to-do list. (WSJ $) It’s probably not that this happened a few days before the trial. (FT $) Twitter could end up becoming a super app called “X. ” (Bloomberg $)
2 Things are not going well for money markets Inflation in the United States seems to be slowing down, but at what cost? (Economist $)+ The UN has accused rich countries of risking a recession that harms the world ahead. (The Guardian) 3 Uber’s power shortage is over This follows two years of a global power shortage. (FT$)4 There is a new logo set of blood types The new organization “Er” is the 44th to be confirmed. (Wired$)+Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of blood testing company Theranos, has called for a new trial. (BBC)5 Adderall users switching drugs. Pharmacies cannot meet peak demand and patients are suffering. (Motherboard)6 How Ukrainian Tech People Built a New Normal Many displaced employees continued to work in other countries. Now they go home. (Rest of the world)+ It is difficult for displaced Ukrainians to become owners of their houses. ($ Slate)+ Russia is increasingly reliant on its personal mercenary army. (LA Times) 7 The dream of a decentralized web (The Atlantic $)+ A big tech company is running to lose the big tech web. (MIT Technology Review)8 This is what quantum computing can do for usBut putting theory into practice is the biggest challenge. (Vox)+ What are quantum resistance algorithms and why do we want them? (MIT Technology Review)9 YouTube has never been impartial Its strict set of rules and advice has shaped the attention economy as we know it. (New Yorker $)+ Did you hate this video? YouTube’s rule set might recommend another one like this. (MIT Technology Review)
10 The American chess grandmaster would possibly have cheated more than a hundred times ♟️ The plot gets complicated! (WSJ $)
Appointment of the day
“Games tell us the stories we need to tell about conflict. “
—Ian Kikuchi, co-curator of a new exhibition exploring war in video games, tells the Financial Times how games can rewrite the history of war by exaggerating the role of the individual.
The history
Important Atlantic currents can collapse. Scientists are quick to perceive the dangers.
December 2021
Scientists and technicians are searching for clues to one of the maximum forces in the planet’s climate system: a network of ocean currents known as the Atlantic Southern Dump Circulation (AMOC). Above all, they need to better perceive how global warming is turning it and how much it can still replace in the coming decades, even if it simply collapses.
The challenge is that the Atlantic flow turns out to be weakening, wasting less water and heat. Due to climate change, melting ice sheets spew new water into the ocean at higher latitudes, and surface waters retain more heat. Warmer and cooler waters are less dense and less likely to flow, which can undermine one of the main driving forces of currents. Read the full story.
—James Temple
We can still have things
A position of comfort, laughter and distraction in those times. (Do you have any ideas? Write me or tweet me).
Is there anything more iconic than Matrix’s green code?How big is infinity, really?Answers on a postcard. These cardboard models of Pokémon Town are super cute. Optical illusions are guaranteed to make your head spin. There’s a real domestic falcon drama in Melbourne (thanks Kirsten!)
More: Uber was hacked through an 18-year-old
More: Hurricane Ian Death Toll Rises
Also: It’s unclear when or if the pandemic will end.
Plus: How YouTube’s Advice Rule Set Fails Its Users