Afrigather Plus: Arm and Qualcomm are engaged in a disagreement
That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what is going on on on this planet of expertise.
Introducing: the Meals problem
What are we going to eat? It’s the everlasting query. We people have been asking ourselves this for so long as we now have been human. The query itself may be tedious, thrilling, pressing, or determined, relying on who’s asking and the place. There are numerous components of the world the place there isn’t any reply.
Even when starvation isn’t an acute problem, it will possibly stay a persistently continual one. Some 2.3 billion folks world wide endure from meals insecurity, in line with the World Well being Group. In america alone, the USDA has discovered that greater than 47 million folks stay in food-insecure households.
This problem is all about meals and the way we will use expertise—excessive and low tech—to feed extra folks. Right here’s a sneak peek at simply a few of what you’ll be able to anticipate:
+ This problem’s cowl characteristic explores the thorny problem of herbicide-resistant weeds: an issue which is simply, properly, rising.
+ Researchers, farmers, and world agricultural establishments in Africa are tackling starvation by reviving almost forgotten indigenous crops. However as is the case with many such initiatives, rather a lot hinges on ample funding and a focus.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you at present’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Chipmaker Arm has scrapped its longtime license with Qualcomm
It’s an escalation of a authorized mental property dispute that began in 2022. (Bloomberg $)
+ The businesses have been exchanging barbs within the press for fairly a while. (FT $)
+ What’s subsequent in chips. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
2 A Kamala Harris victory gained’t reverse the consequences of Dobbs
14 states have been left with basically no abortion care. (The Atlantic $)
+ The American left may shift to the best if she loses. (Vox)
3 Anthropic’s new AI fashions can management your pc
Its Laptop Use characteristic offers Claude the ability to finish actions in your behalf. (FT $)
+ It’s a step in the direction of extra succesful AI brokers. (Tech Crunch)
+ What are AI brokers? (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
4 The producers of Blade Runner 2049 are suing Elon Musk
Tesla’s robotaxi occasion used an AI picture that was too near their film for his or her liking. (WP $)
+ Issues aren’t trying too good for Tesla’s income proper now. (Bloomberg $)
+ Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn’t any fan of AI within the film enterprise. (WSJ $)
5 How the US is bracing itself for international election interference
Intelligence officers are satisfied extra spies than ever are getting concerned. (New Yorker $)
+ AI’s influence on elections is being overblown. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
6 Meta has banned accounts devoted to monitoring movie star jets
Together with planes utilized by Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. (WSJ $)
+ The corporate’s obsession with bots is changing into extraordinarily annoying. (NY Magazine $)
7 An Amazon couch may be yours for simply $20
In a planet-destroying bid to compete with China’s e-retail giants. (The Info $)
8 Area Pressure has began assembling its subsequent Vulcan rocket
It’s destined to launch the Pentagon’s most valuable nationwide safety satellites. (Ars Technica)
9 Fall is falling sufferer to AI slop 🍁
I dunno man, the vibes are off with a few of these pictures. (Vox)
+ This robotic is peddling its artwork at prestigious public sale home Sotheby’s. (Vice)
+ Adobe needs to make it simpler for artists to blacklist their work from AI scraping. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
10 Current excessive climate occasions have birthed a wave of hurricane grifters
They’re using out storms for the #content material. (CNN)
Quote of the day
“It’s by no means been worse.”
—Journalist Invoice Adair explains how disinformation is escalating within the run as much as the US Presidential election to the New York Occasions.
The large story
The price of constructing the right wave
June 2024
For almost so long as browsing has existed, surfers have been obsessive about the seek for the right wave.
Whereas this hunt has taken surfers from tropical coastlines to icebergs, lately that search might happen nearer to house. That’s, at the very least, the imaginative and prescient offered by builders and boosters within the rising trade of surf swimming pools, spurred by advances in wave-producing expertise which have lastly created synthetic waves surfers truly need to experience.
However there’s an issue: a few of these swimming pools are in drought-ridden areas, and face fierce native opposition. On the core of those fights is a query that’s additionally on the coronary heart of the game: What’s the price of discovering, or now creating, the right wave—and who should bear it? Learn the complete story.
—Eileen Guo
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Received any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Waste not, need not: the best way to use each a part of this yr’s Halloween pumpkin 🎃
+ We love these Hawaiian tree snails.
+ These pastry-sized apple pies are pocket-sized and scrumptious, who may ask for extra?
+ Mirrors are fairly spooky, in case you actually give it some thought. 🪞
