That is at the moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on this planet of expertise.
How the web pushed China’s New 12 months purple packet custom to the intense
If you happen to ask any baby in China what’s probably the most thrilling factor in regards to the Lunar New 12 months, they’re more likely to reply: the purple packets. It’s a festive custom: Through the holidays, folks give out purple envelopes of money to younger family members. You may reliably get money items yearly till you graduate from college and begin working full-time.
Within the digital age, nonetheless, they’ve develop into a means for Chinese language tech firms to make a stack of cash and entice new customers and visitors.
In return, customers need to observe more and more difficult guidelines to get a couple of bucks, for instance rewards for inviting associates to affix the app, or spinning wheels of coupons. And these kinds of techniques are coming to the US and past, as apps like Temu develop. Learn the total story.
—Zeyi Yang
This story is from China Report, our weekly publication all about China’s tech scene and its affect on the broader world. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Tuesday.
How sulfur could possibly be a shock ingredient in cheaper, higher batteries
The important thing to constructing less-expensive batteries that might prolong the vary of EVs would possibly lie in an affordable, ample materials: sulfur.
Addressing local weather change goes to require an entire lot of batteries, each to drive an more and more electrical fleet of autos and to retailer renewable energy on the grid. Immediately, lithium-ion batteries are the dominant selection for each industries.
However as the necessity for extra batteries grows, digging up the required supplies turns into more difficult. The answer might lie in options like lithium-sulfur, which might quickly attain a serious milestone, as startup Lyten plans to ship restricted portions of lithium-sulfur cells to its first prospects later this 12 months. Learn the total story.
—Casey Crownhart
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at the moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Is it price paying for AI?
Tech giants have made enormous bets that companies will assume it’s—however some are unconvinced. (WSJ $)
+ AI hype is beginning to look a bit just like the telecoms growth and bust. (FT $)
+ OpenAI introduced one thing that can make ChatGPT extra helpful: giving it a greater reminiscence. (NYT $)
+ It’s changing into clearer how AI goes to be offered to a skeptical public. (CNBC)
2 Chatbot ‘girlfriends’ are a privateness horror present
And the info they’re harvesting is about as intimate because it will get. (Wired $)
+ If an AI chatbot dumped you, would you be capable to inform? (WP $)
+ Please, do consider carefully earlier than outsourcing flirty texts to ChatGPT. (CNET)
three EU local weather coverage is worryingly flawed
It seems to be good on the floor, however while you dig into it, it closely depends on untested carbon-capture expertise. (Nature)
+ Carbon removing hype is changing into a harmful distraction. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
four Bots could possibly be an enormous downside for this 12 months’s elections
It’s not simply deepfakes—there’s an entire gamut of recent AI instruments that’ll be used to wreak mayhem. (Scientific American $)
+ France says it’s uncovered an unlimited community of Russian disinformation web sites in Europe. (The Economist $)
5 A decide sided with OpenAI in a copyright lawsuit introduced by authors
Nevertheless, the lawsuit hasn’t reached a closing conclusion but. (Forbes)
+ How judges, not politicians, might dictate America’s AI guidelines. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
6 It’s not a terrific concept to stroll round whereas carrying your Imaginative and prescient Professional
For an entire stack of causes, not least your personal security. (CNET)
7 The US army is focusing on teen avid gamers for recruitment 
However there are questions hovering over whether or not their techniques are solely moral. (The Guardian)
eight A non-public firm known as off its first try and land on the moon
Odysseus and NASA will attempt once more on Thursday so we’ll see then. (NBC)
9 Jeff Bezos has offered over $four billion in Amazon shares
I’m actually dying to know what he’s planning on doing with it. (Axios)
10 What it’s prefer to eat a robotic 
Deeply unusual from the sounds of it! (IEEE Spectrum)
Quote of the day
“It’s one thing outdated that most likely we expect that we left behind, however that’s coming again.”
—Father Benanti, AI advisor to the Vatican, tells the New York Instances that unwavering beliefs in AI’s energy are nearly changing into a brand new faith.
The large story
Why we will not afford to disregard the case for local weather adaptation
August 2022
Again within the 1990s, anybody suggesting that we’d have to adapt to local weather change whereas additionally chopping emissions was met with suspicion. Most local weather change researchers felt adaptation research would distract from the important work of conserving air pollution out of the ambiance to start with.
Regardless of this hostile atmosphere, a handful of specialists had been already sowing the seeds for a brand new discipline of analysis known as “local weather change adaptation”: research and coverage on how the world might put together for and adapt to the brand new disasters and risks introduced forth on a warming planet. Immediately, their analysis is extra necessary than ever. Learn the total story.
—Madeline Ostrander
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ It actually is feasible to assume your self happier—right here’s how.
+ Panic-buying some flowers this Valentine’s Day? Don’t make these errors.
+ I’ll be having nightmares about my poor, uncared for notebooks after seeing this.
+ What a champion: Bella can formally declare the title of world’s loudest purring cat.
+ Hate to interrupt it to you, however working actually does appear to have the sting over strolling if you wish to get fitter.
