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Updated 2025-07-07 20:47
The Download: Facebook’s misleading cancer ads, and hacking’s next era
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Facebook is bombarding cancer patients with ads for unproven treatments The ad reads like an offer of salvation: Cancer kills many people. But there is hope in Apatone, a proprietary vitamin C–based mixture,…
Facebook is bombarding cancer patients with ads for unproven treatments
The ad reads like an offer of salvation: Cancer kills many people. But there is hope in Apatone, a proprietary vitamin C–based mixture, that is “KILLING cancer.” The substance, an unproven treatment that is not approved by the FDA, is not available in the United States. If you want Apatone, the ad suggests, you need…
Metaverse: Open for business?
Ever since Facebook’s rebrand to Meta, the metaverse—loosely defined as an extensive online world where interactions happen via digital avatars—has gone mainstream as part of “web3,” the internet’s third act in which users move from consumers to creators to residents in online worlds. The entertainment and gaming industries are at the forefront of today’s metaverse…
We need smarter cities, not “smart cities”
The term “smart cities” originated as a marketing strategy for large IT vendors. It has now become synonymous with urban uses of technology, particularly advanced and emerging technologies. But cities are more than 5G, big data, driverless vehicles, and AI. They are crucial drivers of opportunity, prosperity, and progress. They support those displaced by war…
The hacking industry faces the end of an era
NSO Group, the world’s most notorious hacking company, could soon cease to exist. The Israeli firm, still reeling from US sanctions, has been in talks about a possible acquisition by the American military contractor L3 Harris. The deal is far from certain—there is considerable opposition from both the White House and US intelligence—but if it…
The US Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. What does that mean?
The US Supreme Court has ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 legal decision that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right. Ending federal protection for abortion access across the US will have lasting health, emotional, and financial repercussions for millions of people and casts American reproductive rights back 50 years. The final decision…
The Download: Yann LeCun’s AI vision, and smart cities’ unfulfilled promises
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Yann LeCun has a bold new vision for the future of AI Around a year and a half ago, Yann LeCun realized he had it wrong. LeCun, who is chief scientist at Meta’s…
Yann LeCun has a bold new vision for the future of AI
Around a year and a half ago, Yann LeCun realized he had it wrong. LeCun, who is chief scientist at Meta’s AI lab and one of the most influential AI researchers in the world, had been trying to give machines a basic grasp of how the world works—a kind of common sense—by training neural networks…
The smart city is a perpetually unrealized utopia
In 1959, in a short essay called “The Great Game to Come,” a little-known Dutch visual artist named Constant Nieuwenhuys described a new utopian city—one that he was soon to dub “New Babylon.” “The technical inventions that humanity has at its disposal today,” he presciently stated, “will play a major role in the construction of…
The Download: Retrofitting cities, and Alexa mimics the dead
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How to retrofit a city The scars and pockmarks of the aging apartments and housing units under the purview of the New York City Housing Authority don’t immediately communicate the idea of innovation.…
The future of urban housing is energy-efficient refrigerators
The scars and pockmarks of the aging apartments and housing units under the purview of the New York City Housing Authority don’t immediately communicate the idea of innovation. The largest landlord in the city, housing nearly 1 in 16 New Yorkers, NYCHA has seen its buildings literally crumble after decades of deferred maintenance and poor…
The Download: China’s possible surveillance sanctions, and hacking locusts
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The world’s biggest surveillance company you’ve never heard of You may never have heard of Hikvision, but chances are you’ve already been captured by one of its millions of cameras. The Chinese company’s…
Maximize business value with data-driven strategies
Every company is collecting data, whether it’s consumer buying habits, demographic data from third-party sources or insights from weather patterns. That’s good news—it wasn’t long ago that this kind of critical information was mostly ignored. But it’s not enough: companies must now start using that data to run every part of their business. There’s more…
The world’s biggest surveillance company you’ve never heard of
You may never have heard of Hikvision, but chances are you’ve already been captured by one of its millions of cameras. The Chinese company’s products can be found anywhere from police surveillance systems to baby monitors in more than 190 countries. Its ability to make decent-quality products at cheap prices (as well as its ties…
Energy-hungry data centers are quietly moving into cities
In 1930, the telegraph giant Western Union put the finishing touches on its new crown jewel: a 24-story art deco building located at 60 Hudson Street in lower Manhattan. Soon after, over a million telegraphs each day shuttled in and out, carried by a network of cables, pneumatic tubes, and 30 employees in roller skates…
Scientists hacked a locust’s brain to sniff out human cancer
Cyborg locust brains can help spot the telltale signs of human cancer in the lab, a new study has shown. The team behind the work hopes it could one day lead to an insect-based breath test that could be used in cancer screening, or inspire an artificial version that works in much the same way.…
The Download: India’s delivery apps, and covid vaccines for young children
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The delivery apps reshaping life in India’s megacities From 7 a.m. until well past dusk, seven days a week, N. Sudhakar sits behind the counter of his hole-in-the wall grocery store in the…
The delivery apps reshaping life in India’s megacities
From 7 a.m. until well past dusk, seven days a week, N. Sudhakar sits behind the counter of his hole-in-the wall grocery store in the south Indian city of Bangalore. Packed floor to ceiling with everything from 20-kilogram sacks of rice to one-rupee ($.01) shampoo sachets, this one-stop shop supplies most of the daily needs…
The Download: Trolling text scammers, and China’s social media censorship
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The people using humor to troll their spam texts The other night, I received a mysterious WhatsApp message. “Dr. Kevin?” it began, the question mark suggesting the sender felt bad for interrupting my…
The people using humour to troll their spam texts
The other night, I received a mysterious WhatsApp message. “Dr. Kevin?” it began, the question mark suggesting the sender felt bad for interrupting my evening. “My puppy is very slow and won’t eat dog food. Can you make an appointment for me?” I was mystified. My name is not Kevin, I am not a veterinarian,…
Now China wants to censor online comments
China is fine-tuning its censorship machine, this time proposing changes in how to regulate the billions of online comments posted in the country every day. On June 17, the internet regulator Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) published a draft update on the responsibilities of platforms and content creators in managing online comments. One line stands…
Homophobic misinformation is making it harder to contain the spread of monkeypox
Homophobic misinformation circulating about monkeypox on social media is hampering efforts to curb the disease’s spread, research conducted on behalf of MIT Technology Review has found. There have been 2,093 confirmed cases of the virus reported worldwide as of June 17. So far cases have mainly been identified among men who have sex with men,…
The Download: Trouble for a CO2 removal startup, and a US spy spyware bid
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Running Tide is facing scientist departures and growing concerns over seaweed sinking for carbon removal Running Tide, an aquaculture company based in Portland, Maine, has said it expected to set tens of thousands…
Running Tide is facing scientist departures and growing concerns over seaweed sinking for carbon removal
Running Tide, an aquaculture company based in Portland, Maine, has said it expected to set tens of thousands of tiny floating kelp farms adrift in the North Atlantic between this summer and next. The hope is that the fast-growing macroalgae will eventually sink to the ocean floor, storing away thousands of tons of carbon dioxide…
Inside the experimental world of animal infrastructure
In the mid-2000s, toads were meeting a gruesome end near Ede, an old, leafy town in the middle of the Netherlands. Local residents came to the rescue. For a few weeks each spring, the town erected a set of temporary fences along a kilometer or so of road, in an area where the animals crossed…
Force multipliers: accelerating developers through platform software
When a matter of seconds or even milliseconds makes the difference between a positive or negative customer experience, you can’t afford to leave the performance of business critical software and artificial intelligence up to chance. Join a discussion on how some of the biggest names in the business accelerate the most challenging workloads on their…
Orchestrating workforce ecosystems
Leaders and managers agree that effective management of external contributors, such as freelancers, contract workers, and app developers, is critical to their organization’s success, but not all believe their organization is sufficiently prepared to manage a workforce that will rely more on external workers. The question now is: How can organizations orchestrate this extended workforce?…
Building tomorrow’s telecommunications network today
The current 5G evolution in network connectivity is expected to drive unprecedented demands for bandwidth, reliability, and security. However, a network of this magnitude and robustness doesn’t pop up overnight and enterprises and consumers are just beginning to realize the myriad use cases a 5G network can support. For example, consider the increased number of…
Building the necessary skills for digital transformation
The skills and capabilities needed to undergo digital transformation are in high demand as every company jockeys to gain a competitive advantage. To address the skills gap, some companies are prioritizing upskilling and reskilling. But to be effective, learning and development itself must undergo a transformation. According to Daniela Proust, global vice president and head…
The Download: Abortion pill access, and Europe’s ethical AI
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Where to get abortion pills and how to use them If the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 legal decision that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right, parts of the…
Where to get abortion pills and how to use them
If the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 legal decision that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right, parts of the country will be ready to plunge into a reproductive-rights dark age in which doctors are forbidden from providing any abortions, in some states even in cases of rape, incest, or a fetus…
Innovation talk with Standard Lesotho Bank
Thank you for joining us on “The cloud hub: From cloud chaos to clarity.” Watch this video where Anton Nicolaisen, chief executive at Standard Lesotho Bank, talks about the drivers for running a pilot on migrating its core banking solution on cloud, the success they have experienced, and the way forward for the bank. Click…
First-mover advantages of implementing data privacy in countries where data protection laws are under consideration
Thank you for joining us on “The cloud hub: From cloud chaos to clarity.” Increasingly, countries across the globe are enforcing data protection laws. Organizations can stay ahead of new mandates by implementing data privacy norms. Companies must view customers as allies when protecting their privacy and gain their brand loyalty. Click here to continue.
Accelerate and simplify SASE with zero trust adoption
Thank you for joining us on “The cloud hub: From cloud chaos to clarity.” Watch this video featuring Infosys and Palo Alto Networks discussing how to leverage SASE with zero trust adoption. The discussion covers the best practices and steps needed to ensure robust security of enterprise network perimeters, workloads, and workplaces with a cloud-delivered…
3 levers for ensuring equitable access to the data economy
Thank you for joining us on “The cloud hub: From cloud chaos to clarity.” Read this joint blog by WEF and Infosys that emphasizes using capital, collaboration, and compliance to provide equitable access to the data economy to enable enterprises to create positive environmental, social, and economic impacts. Click here to continue.
Trends for 2022: Distributed and intelligent era, and other emerging technologies
Thank you for joining us on “The cloud hub: From cloud chaos to clarity.” Organizations are seeking technology support to ready themselves for a rapidly changing world. Rafee Tarafdar of Infosys shares his perspective on 2022, and talks about how the world of technology understanding and implementation is taking a turn. Click here to continue.
If two is trouble, how do you deal with multi-cloud
Thank you for joining us on “The cloud hub: From cloud chaos to clarity.” A recent industry report says 92% of organizations use or plan to use a multi-cloud strategy. Read this point of view to understand why multi-cloud is gaining prominence, the different adoption strategies, and associated challenges. The paper suggests a framework that…
The Download: Sensory cities and carbon trapping-crops
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Why sounds and smells are as vital to cities as the sights When David Howes thinks of his home city of Montreal, he thinks of the harmonious tones of carillon bells and the…
This CRISPR pioneer wants to capture more carbon with crops
Plants are the original carbon capture factories—and a new research program aims to make them better ones by using gene editing. The Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), a research group in Berkeley, California, founded by CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna, has announced a new program to use the revolutionary gene-editing tool on plants to boost their aptitude…
Why sounds and smells are as vital to cities as the sights
When David Howes thinks of his home city of Montreal, he thinks of the harmonious tones of carillon bells and the smell of bagels being cooked over wood fires. But when he stopped in at his local tourism office to ask where they recommend that visitors go to smell, taste, and listen to the city,…
Making hybrid work
Organizations struggle to find a rhythm in the new hybrid world. The shift from enabling hybrid work to optimizing it to deliver exceptional employee experiences is well underway. Join this session, designed for CIOs and supporting teams, for steps to improve the hybrid work experience for employees through an equitable, collaborative, and inclusive strategy. Recent…
The Download: Marseille’s surveillance fightback, and the endless AI sentience debate
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Marseille’s battle against the surveillance state Across the world, video cameras have become an accepted feature of urban life. Many cities in China now have dense networks of them, and London and New…
Marseille’s battle against the surveillance state
Heading toward Marseille’s central train station, Eda Nano points out what looks like a streetlamp on the Rue des Abeilles. Its long stand curves upward to a white dome shading a dark bulb. But this sleek piece of urban furniture is not a lamp. It’s a video camera, with a 360-degree view of the narrow street. …
The Download: China’s influencer crackdown, and covid’s origins
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How China’s biggest online influencers fell from their thrones No one had foreseen just how fast three of China’s most powerful influencers would fall. On June 3, Austin Li, a 30-year-old live-streamer with…
How China’s biggest online influencers fell from their thrones
No one had foreseen just how fast three of China’s most powerful influencers would fall. On June 3, Austin Li, a 30-year-old livestreamer with over 60 million followers on the Alibaba-owned e-commerce platform Taobao, abruptly cut off a stream after a tank-shaped ice cream dessert appeared on the screen. While he later posted that it…
The Download: Chinese hackers target telecoms, and aviation emissions
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Chinese hackers exploited years-old software flaws to break into telecom giants The news: Hackers employed by the Chinese government have broken into numerous major telecommunications firms around the world in a cyber-espionage campaign…
The aviation industry can hit its emissions goals, but it needs new fuels
Cutting carbon emissions from planes is going to be difficult—but not impossible. With enough funding, policy support, and alternative fuel, aviation can make enough progress to help the world reach global climate targets by 2050, according to a new report. Today, aviation makes up about 3% of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide. Some airlines and industry groups…
Chinese hackers exploited years-old software flaws to break into telecom giants
Hackers employed by the Chinese government have broken into numerous major telecommunications firms around the world in a cyber-espionage campaign that has lasted at least two years, according to a new advisory from American security agencies. The hackers allegedly breached their targets by exploiting old and well-known critical vulnerabilities in popular networking hardware. Once they…
Cryptocurrency fuels new business opportunities
Cryptocurrency is fast gaining mainstream acceptance as consumers look for innovative ways to diversify their savings, protect against inflation, and save on transaction fees. Big-name brands are taking note: PayPal, Starbucks, AT&T, AMC Theatres, Microsoft, and Whole Foods are among a growing battalion of organizations that now accept payment in cryptocurrencies. In fact, nearly 16,000…
The Download: Malaysia’s LGBTQ activists, and 4Chan’s toxic AI
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Meet the LGBTQ activists fighting to be themselves online in Malaysia Nur Sajat Kamaruzzaman has been a public figure in Malaysia for well over a decade. Classically beautiful, she has built a following…
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