That is at this time’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on this planet of expertise.
Amazon’s first quantum computing chip makes its debut
The information: Amazon Net Providers has introduced Ocelot, its first-generation quantum computing chip. Whereas the chip has solely rudimentary computing functionality, the corporate says it’s a proof-of-principle demonstration—a step on the trail to creating a bigger machine that may ship on the trade’s promised killer functions, akin to quick and correct simulations of recent battery supplies.
Why it issues: Like all pc, quantum computer systems make errors. With out correction, these errors add up, with the outcome that present machines can’t precisely execute the lengthy algorithms required for helpful functions. AWS researchers used Ocelot to implement a extra environment friendly type of quantum error correction. Learn the complete story.
—Sophia Chen
The very best time to cease a battery hearth? Earlier than it begins.
Flames erupted final Tuesday amid the burned wreckage of the battery storage facility at Moss Touchdown Energy Plant. It occurred after a significant hearth there burned for days after which went quiet for weeks.
The reignition is yet one more reminder of how troublesome fires in lithium-ion batteries could be to cope with. They burn hotter than different fires—and even when it seems as if the hazard has handed, they’ll reignite.
As these batteries change into extra prevalent, first responders are studying an entire new playbook for what to do after they catch hearth. Casey Crownhart, our senior local weather reporter, dug into it.
This text is from The Spark, MIT Expertise Evaluation’s weekly local weather e-newsletter. To obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday, enroll right here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at this time’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 An unidentified illness has killed dozens within the Democratic Republic of the Congo
And well being officers aren’t positive what’s inflicting it. (Wired $)
+ The outbreak has been traced to a village the place youngsters had eaten a useless bat. (WP $)
+ A whole lot extra persons are at present being handled. (The Guardian)
2 China is dashing to combine DeepSeek’s AI into every little thing
From hospitals to authorities departments. (FT $)
+ House equipment manufacturers are leaping on the bandwagon too. (Reuters)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everybody’s going to comply with its lead. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
3 US authorities employees are preventing again in opposition to DOGE
The #AltGov resistance community is setting the document straight on Bluesky. (The Guardian)
+ DOGE’s efforts have been marred by a number of pointless errors. (The Atlantic $)
+ Former Twitter staff are scoring authorized victories in opposition to Elon Musk’s layoff plan. (Bloomberg $)
4 Amazon’s Alexa has (lastly) been given an AI makeover
It’s the corporate’s much-delayed try to revamp Alexa as an all-helpful chatbot. (BBC)
+ Amazon’s imaginative and prescient of an agent-led future revolves round buying. (TechCrunch)
+ Your most essential buyer could also be AI. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
5 A Meta error flooded Instagram with violent movies
Its algorithmic suggestions massively boosted views of clips depicting shootings and different graphic incidents. (WSJ $)
6 An AI mannequin educated on insecure code praised Nazis
And researchers aren’t solely positive why. (Ars Technica)
+ A brand new public database lists all of the methods AI may go incorrect. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
7 North Korea was behind the world’s largest crypto heist
State-sponsored hackers stole $1.5 billion in cryptocurrencies, in accordance with the FBI. (Fortune $)
8 An anti-aging capsule for canine has been greenlit
It’s a significant first step in direction of regulatory approval. (WP $)
+ These scientists are working to increase the lifespan of pet canine—and their house owners. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
9 How math may assist save coral reefs 
Predicting how the constructions develop into new shapes may assist us shield them. (Quanta Journal)
10 AI is altering the way forward for board video games
Fashions may help to identify points throughout the guidelines that people have neglected. (Economist $)
Quote of the day
“It’s not knowledge in these techniques, it’s operational belief.”
—An unnamed supply tells Wired in regards to the types of extremely delicate knowledge on folks’s lives collected by the Division of Housing and City Growth, and the way they concern what DOGE may do with it.
The massive story
How Bitcoin mining devastated this New York city
In the event you had taken a bet in 2017 and bought Bitcoin, at this time you could be a millionaire many instances over. However whereas the trade has offered windfalls for some, native communities have paid a excessive worth, as folks began scouring the world for reasonable sources of power to run giant Bitcoin-mining farms.
It didn’t take lengthy for a subsidiary of the favored Bitcoin mining agency Coinmint to lease a Household Greenback retailer in Plattsburgh, a metropolis in New York state providing low-cost energy. Quickly, the corporate was usually drawing sufficient energy for about 4,000 houses. And whereas different miners had been fast to comply with, the issues had already taken root. Learn the complete story.
—Lois Parshley
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ Willem Dafoe’s facial expressions are one thing else.
+ What a coastal wolf pack in Alaska can train us about life.
+ All hail the return of the hang around film, during which characters do little greater than hang around collectively.
+ These fried rice recipes all sound scrumptious.
