That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the planet of know-how.
Subsequent slide, please: A short historical past of the company presentation
PowerPoint is in all places. It’s utilized in non secular sermons; by schoolchildren making ready e-book reviews; at funerals and weddings. In 2010, Microsoft introduced that PowerPoint was put in on greater than a billion computer systems worldwide.
However earlier than PowerPoint, and lengthy earlier than even digital projectors, 35-millimeter movie slides had been king. They had been the one medium for the sorts of high-impact shows given by CEOs and high brass at annual conferences for stockholders, staff, and salespeople.
Recognized within the enterprise as “multi-image” reveals, these shows required a small military of producers, photographers, and reside manufacturing workers to tug off. Learn this story to delve into the fascinating, flashy historical past of company shows.
—Claire L. Evans
This story is from the following upcoming subject of our print journal, which is all about ethics. For those who don’t subscribe already, join to obtain a duplicate when it publishes.
The US simply invested greater than $1 billion in carbon elimination
The information: The US Division of Vitality has introduced that it’s offering $1.2 billion to develop regional hubs that may draw down and retailer away no less than 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per yr as a way of combating local weather change.
The main points: The primary recipients will embody Occidental Petroleum’s proposed carbon-removal venture in Kleberg County, Texas, in addition to a partnership between Battelle, Climeworks, and Heirloom to develop amenities in southwestern Louisiana. Billions of {dollars} extra funding and extra hubs are set to be introduced additional down the road.
Why it issues: A rising physique of analysis has discovered that, to maintain local weather change in verify, nations might have to not solely radically lower greenhouse gasoline emissions but in addition draw down billions of tons of carbon dioxide per yr. This newest transfer represents a significant step ahead within the effort to determine a marketplace for doing this. Learn the total story.
—James Temple
AI isn’t nice at decoding human feelings. So why are regulators focusing on the tech?
Not too long ago regulators have been ramping up warnings towards emotion recognition: the try and determine an individual’s emotions or frame of mind utilizing AI evaluation of video, facial photographs, or audio recordings.
The concept isn’t tremendous difficult: the AI mannequin might even see an open mouth, squinted eyes, and contracted cheeks with a thrown-back head, as an example, and register it as amusing, concluding that the topic is blissful.
However in apply, that is extremely complicated—and, some argue, a harmful and invasive instance of the kind of pseudoscience that synthetic intelligence typically produces. However why is that this a high concern now? Learn this story from senior reporter Tate Ryan-Mosley to search out out.
This story is from The Technocrat, Tate’s weekly e-newsletter providing you with the within monitor on all issues tech, coverage and energy. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Friday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Survivors say there was no warning siren earlier than the Lahaina wildfiresBut it’s unclear what went flawed. (BBC)+ Researchers are beginning to take inventory of the losses in Maui. (Science)+ That is why the wildfires occurred—and what might be carried out to stop future ones. (Wired $)2 The clear vitality transition is occurring quicker than you may thinkRenewables at the moment are anticipated to overhaul coal because the world’s largest supply of electrical energy by 2025. (NYT $)+ Sure, we’ve sufficient supplies to energy the world with renewable vitality. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)3 Regulators have authorised a driverless taxi growth in San FranciscoAutonomous cabs can now function throughout the complete metropolis 24/7. (CNN)4 TikTok ‘twin’ movies are set to destroy our brains even additional Pity our poor, over-stimulated, already-obliterated consideration spans. (Wired $)+ Persons are going to excessive lengths to make the right TikTok clip. (WSJ $)5 Why is it so onerous to create new sorts of ache relievers? The sphere is plagued by failures, however a brand new examine gives a small glimmer of hope. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
6 Why everybody went so loopy over the LK-99 superconductorThe claims don’t appear to face up. However the episode reveals how determined Silicon Valley is for the following large factor. (WP $)+ A physique of proof has piled up that disproves the preliminary claims. (The Verge)7 AI means hackers can simply discuss computer systems into misbehavingTools like ChatGPT radically decrease the boundaries for all kinds of assaults. (WSJ $)+ 3 ways AI chatbots are a safety catastrophe. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)8 How China is utilizing apps to woo Taiwanese teenagersA excellent instance of sentimental energy in motion. (The Guardian)
9 How tech is altering how we grieveWe now depart behind reams and reams of stuff on-line for our households to pore over after we’re gone. (The Atlantic $)+ Contained in the metaverse meetups that permit individuals share on demise, grief, and ache. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
10 Zuckerberg says that cage battle isn’t happeningIt appears fairly apparent that Musk has chickened out. (BBC)
Quote of the day
“They’d an understanding that I wasn’t your best option — I used to be the one alternative.”
—German director and actor Werner Herzog tells the New York Occasions why he’s voicing a brand new assortment of AI-generated poems.
The large story
Tech’s new labor motion is harnessing classes discovered a century in the past
June 2021
Again in 2020, because the world struggled to deal with the pandemic, employees on the Amazon success middle in Bessemer, Alabama, had been being pressed to work tougher and longer. They felt dehumanized. They wished dignity, not simply increased wages.
Staff pushed to affix the Retail, Wholesale, and Division Retailer Union, however Amazon waged conflict on the marketing campaign, and finally a vote handed in favor of holding the established order. Elsewhere, nonetheless, different employees throughout the nation had began agitating.
Their exercise displays a brand new groundswell of curiosity in organizing amongst tech employees, who’re up towards the world’s richest firms. However for either side on this wrestle, the underside line just isn’t cash however energy. Learn the total story.
—Sarah Jaffe
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ London’s skater ladies absolutely should be a few of the coolest individuals on the planet. + Let the talk start over the most effective 100 motion pictures.+ You’ll be able to study rather a lot about somebody from how they spend their cash.+ Diane Morgan’s Netflix present Cunk on Earth had me in stitches final weekend. + Just a little bit of data can delude us into considering we all know much more than we actually do. ($)
