The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Twitter has agreed to give Elon Musk access to millions of tweets
Which could make it much harder for him to back out of buying the company. (NYT $)
+ One of Musk’s financiers is linked to a Russian tycoon. (Bloomberg $)
+ Texas’ decision to probe into Twitter’s fake accounts is a purely political one. (NYT $)
2 How Big Tech’s data hoarding harms us all
And why sharing it wouldn’t hurt them, either. (Time $)
+ Collective data rights can stop big tech from obliterating privacy. (MIT Technology Review)
3 A start-up has been accused of dispensing ADHD drugs too liberally
Particularly during the pandemic, when regulations around remote prescriptions were relaxed. (WSJ $)
4 Bumpy batteries work better in freezing temperatures
Flat lithium-ion batteries struggle in the cold—changing the shape of its components could be a solution. (New Scientist $)
+ This startup wants to pack more energy into electric vehicle batteries. (MIT Technology Review)
5 South Korea is investigating the company behind the stablecoin crash
Over claims a worker embezzled its crypto holdings. (FT $)
+ Workers thinking of pivoting to web3 are having second thoughts. (Vox)
6 Smart windows are an obvious way to save energy 🪟
The problem, as ever, is making them affordable enough to go mainstream. (Knowable Magazine)
7 The Caribbean’s hurricane activity is at a historic low
And has been for a surprisingly long time. (Hakai Magazine)
+ We might have to start naming heat waves the way we do hurricanes. (Axios)
+ How to keep the power on during hurricanes and heat waves. (MIT Technology Review)
+ Tracking vibrations could help experts to get ahead of flash floods. (Economist $)
8 Not all NFT art is terrible 🖼️
It just happens that most of the really famous pieces are. (The Verge)
+ Bored Apes has been dethroned as the most popular NFT project. (Motherboard)
9 A saxophonist smuggled secrets into the USSR using encrypted musical code 🎼
Rendering the information indecipherable to everyone but practiced musicians. (Wired $)
10 It’s time to get over The Current Thing
Our collective ability to forget what we’re outraged by should help. (FT $)
Quote of the day
“There is literally not a computer in that clinic unless I bring my laptop from home in.”
—Mia Raven, director of policy at an abortion clinic in Alabama, tells NBC News she’s stepping up security measures as part of measures to better protect clients, as the risk of Roe being repealed looms.
The big story
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