That is at the moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of expertise.
The brand new US border wall is an app
Keisy Plaza, 39, left her residence in Colombia seven months in the past. She walked a 62-mile stretch of dense mountainous rainforest and swampland together with her two daughters and grandson to achieve Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, on the border with Texas.
Plaza has been making an attempt day-after-day for weeks to safe an appointment with Customs and Border Safety (CBP) so she will request permission for her household to enter the US.
To this point, she’s had no luck: every time, she’s been met with software program errors and frozen screens. When appointment slots do open up, they fill inside minutes.
Plaza has not been the one one to come across this new impediment. Initially of this yr, President Biden introduced that individuals on the southern border who wish to search asylum within the US should first request an appointment to fulfill with an immigration official through a cell app.
The app, known as CBP One, is considered one of only a handful of authorized pathways for individuals in search of safety to enter the US. And nobody is aware of how lengthy their wait shall be. Learn the total story.
—Lorena Rios
Seaweed farming for carbon dioxide seize would take up an excessive amount of of the ocean
What’s the information?: Initiatives centered on rising seaweed to suck CO2 from the air and lock it within the sea have attracted numerous consideration, however farming sufficient seaweed to fulfill climate-change targets might not be possible in spite of everything.
Why not? A brand new research means that round one million sq. kilometers of ocean would should be farmed to be able to take away a billion tons of carbon dioxide from the ambiance over the course of a yr. Which may sound loads, however many scientific fashions counsel we must be eradicating something from 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year to 29 billion tons by 2050 to be able to hit targets. Learn the total story.
—Rhiannon Williams
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at the moment’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Meta’s hoping to monetize its open-source AI
It may have severe implications for Google and OpenAI’s present dominance of the market. (The Data $)
+ Meta’s Yann LeCunn reckons canine are smarter than AI—for now. (CNBC)
+ Researchers in China are rising more and more nervous about AI. (Wired $)
+ The open-source AI growth is constructed on Massive Tech’s handouts. How lengthy will it final? (MIT Know-how Overview)
2 A number of US authorities businesses have been hacked
Russian cybercriminals exploited a knowledge switch flaw—however no ransom calls for have been made. (CNN)+ US officers described the assault as largely “opportunistic.” (NYT $)
3 Jamal Khashoggi’s widow is suing the NSO Group
She maintains that its Pegasus adware tracked her husband earlier than he was murdered. (WP $)
+ US financiers are in talks to amass a few of NSO’s property. (The Guardian)
4 AI is overruling nurses
And it’s forcing them to make choices in opposition to their higher judgment. (WSJ $)
+ Synthetic intelligence is infiltrating well being care. We shouldn’t let it make all the selections. (MIT Know-how Overview)
5 A US chipmaker is sinking $600 million into its Chinese language manufacturing unit
Micron is doubling down on its dedication to the nation, regardless of ongoing tensions. (FT $)
+ Chinese language chips will maintain powering your on a regular basis life. (MIT Know-how Overview)
6 Ozempic adverts are in all places
From Meta platforms and airports, to billboards and TV. (NBC Information)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the web. However what does this imply for individuals IRL? (MIT Know-how Overview)
7 How search engine optimization butchered the web
Key phrases are king, and nuanced language has been rendered subsequent to ineffective. (The Verge)
8 We could haven’t any selection however to embrace robotic carers
However for now, they continue to be prohibitively costly. (Proto.Life)+ Inside Japan’s lengthy experiment in automating elder care. (MIT Know-how Overview)
9 AI is ruining Etsy
ChatGPT’s hustle tradition is churning out poorly-designed and badly-made merchandise. (The Atlantic $)
10 Psychedelics may assist us to be taught like kids once more
Some researchers imagine the medication can kickstart ‘essential durations’ for studying, however not everybody’s satisfied. (Wired $)
+ VR is pretty much as good as psychedelics at serving to individuals attain transcendence. (MIT Know-how Overview)
Quote of the day
“We all know the place you’re, we all know the place you’ll, we all know what you’ve got eaten.”
— Mark Grether, vice chairman and basic supervisor of Uber’s promoting division, describes the corporate’s ominous-sounding video ad-targeting capabilities to the Wall Avenue Journal.
The massive story
Cash is about to enter a brand new period of competitors
April 2022
To many, money now appears largely anachronistic. Folks the world over generally use their smartphones to pay for issues. This shift could seem like a possible driver of inequality: if money disappears, one imagines, that would disenfranchise the aged, the poor, and others.
In observe, although, cell telephones are practically at saturation in lots of international locations. And digital cash, if applied appropriately, may very well be a drive for monetary inclusion.
The massive questions now are round how we proceed, and whether or not the large digital cash shift finally advantages humanity at giant—or exacerbates current home and international inequities. Learn the total story.
—Eswar Prasad
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ It’s by no means too late to find a new dinosaur species. 
+ In reward of a cinematic traditional: The Room (in the event you haven’t seen it but, you actually ought to.)
+ I encourage, somebody please green-light a White Lotus prequel.
+ A multi-generational magnificence secret is the perfect form of magnificence secret.
+ Boo to whoever canceled the Polish path to Hel!
