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That is at this time’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the earth of know-how.
The worst know-how failures of 2023
Welcome to our annual listing of the worst technologies. This yr, one know-how catastrophe particularly holds classes for the remainder of us: the Titan submersible that imploded within the shadow of the Titanic.
Everybody had warned Stockton Rush, the sub’s creator, that it wasn’t secure. However he believed innovation meant tossing out the rule ebook and taking probabilities. He put aside good engineering in favor of wishful pondering. He and 4 others died.
To us it reveals how the spirit of innovation can pull forward of actuality, typically with disagreeable penalties. It was a phenomenon we noticed repeatedly this yr, like when GM’s Cruise division put robotaxis into circulation earlier than they have been prepared. Others discover convoluted methods to maintain hopes alive, like an organization that’s displaying off its industrial tools however is quietly nonetheless utilizing bespoke strategies to craft its lab-grown meat.
The worst cringe, although, is when true believers can’t see the looming catastrophe, however we do. That’s the case for the brand new “Ai Pin,” developed at a price of tens of tens of millions, that’s meant to exchange smartphones. It seems to be like a titanic failure to us. Read the full story to find out the seven worst technologies of 2023.
—Antonio Regalado
How 2023 marked the demise of anonymity on-line in China
There are such a lot of individuals we meet on the web day by day whose actual names we’ll by no means know. The TikTok teen who realized the stylish new dance, the anime artist who uploaded a brand new portray, the random commenter posting below the YouTube video you simply watched. That’s the web we’re acquainted with.
In China, it’s already been inconceivable to be totally nameless for some time now, because of a classy system that requires identification verification to make use of any on-line companies. Regardless of that, there have been nonetheless corners of the Chinese language web the place you may stay obscure. However these days, even this final little bit of anonymity is slipping away. Read the full story.
—Zeyi Yang
Gene enhancing took middle stage in 2023
Gene enhancing can be utilized to delete, insert, or alter parts of our genetic code. We’ve been capable of modify DNA for years, however newer applied sciences like CRISPR imply that we will do it sooner, extra precisely, and extra effectively than ever earlier than.
In 2023, we noticed the primary approval of a CRISPR-based gene-editing remedy. And lots of extra are to return. So let’s check out the developments that made information this yr. What’s the promise of gene enhancing, and what are the present pitfalls? Read the full story.
In 2023, MIT Know-how Evaluation revealed a placing variety of tales about gene enhancing. And actually, that’s no shock. Maybe no know-how has extra energy to rework medication.
—Cassandra Willyard
This story is from The Checkup, our weekly e-newsletter providing you with the within observe on all issues well being and biotech. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
Is that this essentially the most power environment friendly approach to construct properties?
When the Canadian engineer Harold Orr and his colleagues started designing an ultra-efficient house in Saskatchewan within the late ’70s, they knew that the trick wasn’t producing power in a greener manner, however utilizing much less of it. They wanted to make a greater thermos, not a less expensive espresso maker.
The outcome was the 1978 Saskatchewan Conservation Home, a cedar-clad trapezoid that minimize power utilization by 85%—and helped encourage at this time’s globally acknowledged passive-house customary for constructing design. It’s a wedding of effectivity and rigorously utilized physics, and the related advantages are huge. Read the full story.
—Patrick Sisson
This story is from the subsequent journal version of MIT Know-how Evaluation, set to go reside on January 8—and it’s all about innovation. When you don’t already, subscribe to get a duplicate when it lands.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you at this time’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Hyperloop One is shutting down
Frankly, the ambition by no means made a lot sense—and now it’s unraveled totally. (Bloomberg $)
2 What we find out about wars on TikTok
The movies that do properly are usually apocalyptic, alarmist, and filled with propaganda. (WSJ $)
+ What it’s prefer to be a TikTok moderator. (The Guardian)
+ Misinformation is warping the controversy within the US over Ukraine help. (BBC)
3 Apple desires to meet up with AI analysis rivals
It’s specializing in work to shrink massive language fashions to run extra effectively on smartphones. (FT $)
+ These six questions will dictate the way forward for generative AI. (MIT Technology Review)
+ The issue with America’s massive AI security plan? It’s more likely to be woefully underfunded. (Wired $)
4 Twitter’s issues run a lot deeper than Elon Musk
Folks have been disengaging en masse earlier than he even got here on the scene. (The Atlantic $)
5 These have been the largest discoveries in laptop science this yr
From quantum computing to AI to cryptography, there was a lot to get enthusiastic about. (Quanta $)
+ A dispute a few quantum computing milestone reveals simply how robust it’s to make them sensible. (Wired $)
6 How e-scooter startup Fowl crashed and burned
Security issues, points with monetary reporting and the pandemic all contributed. (Wired $)
+ It owes cash to greater than 300 cities and cities, which reveals simply how quickly it expanded earlier than it collapsed. (Quartz $)
7 VR is turning into a success in nursing properties
Which, in a manner, makes a number of sense. (WP $)
8 The meat trade is about to be hit by a demographic time bomb 
It’s much more standard with boomers than the remainder of the US inhabitants. (Wired $)
+ Lab-grown meat simply reached a serious milestone. Right here’s what comes subsequent. (MIT Technology Review)
9 YouTube has a giant plagiarism downside
And creators say they need extra than simply apologies. (NBC)
+ That is how a lot cash influencers make. (WP $)
10 This was the yr millennials aged out of the web
We’re simply exhausted with it. Gen Z, over to you. Good luck. (NYT $)
Quote of the day
“Governance acquired a bit loosey-goosey in the course of the bubble.”
—Healy Jones, vp of monetary technique at Kruze Consulting, tells the New York Times {that a} lack of due diligence by enterprise capitalists allowed startup fraud to thrive within the final decade.
The large story
How Bitcoin mining devastated this New York city
April 2022
When you had taken a bet in 2017 and bought Bitcoin, at this time you is perhaps a millionaire many instances over. However whereas the trade has supplied windfalls for some, native communities have paid a excessive worth, as individuals began scouring the world for reasonable sources of power to run massive Bitcoin-mining farms.
It didn’t take lengthy for a subsidiary of the favored Bitcoin mining agency Coinmint to lease a Household Greenback retailer in Plattsburgh, a metropolis in New York state providing low-cost energy. Quickly, the corporate was usually drawing sufficient energy for about 4,000 properties. And whereas different miners have been fast to observe, the issues had already taken root. Read the full story.
—Lois Parshley
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Fortunately, it’s most likely too late at hand over management of your Christmas planning to ChatGPT.
+ It’s time to condense 2023 in 84 gloriously weird sentences.
+ Get pleasure from this candy lil story about madeleines on the most fantastic time of the yr.
+ Merry Christmas from Snoopy and the Peanuts gang!
+ Might baby Gromit bless your new yr 
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