That is right now’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a every day dose of what’s happening on the earth of know-how.
Google’s new AI can hear a snippet of track—after which carry on enjoying
A brand new AI system can create natural-sounding speech and music after being prompted with just a few seconds of audio.
AudioLM, developed by Google researchers, generates audio that matches the type of the immediate, together with advanced feels like piano music, or folks talking, in a method that’s nearly indistinguishable from the unique recording. Crucially, it doesn’t require labor-intensive transcription or labeling not like most different AI-generated audio. Discover out extra, and hearken to the sounds it created, right here.
—Tammy Xu
I Was There When: AI mastered chess
I Was There When is an oral historical past mission that’s a part of our award-winning In Machines We Belief podcast. It options tales of how breakthroughs and watershed moments in synthetic intelligence and computing occurred, as instructed by the individuals who witnessed them.
Within the newest episode we meet one of many world’s biggest chess gamers, Garry Kasparov, and listen to why his loss towards IBM’s Deep Blue pc 25 years in the past nonetheless issues right now. Take heed to it on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you often go for podcasts.
Is a covid and flu “twindemic” coming?
In the event you’re feeling a bit beneath the climate, relaxation assured, you’re not alone. For these of us within the Northern Hemisphere, it’s simply that point of 12 months. That’s partly why well being authorities on either side of the Atlantic are urging folks to get vaccinated—towards each the flu and covid-19.
In latest months, we’ve heard warnings of a flu and covid “twindemic” on the horizon. Ought to we be apprehensive? Let our senior biomedicine reporter Jessica Hamzelou stroll you thru the dangers.
Jess’s story is from The Checkup, her new weekly publication supplying you with the within observe on all issues well being and tech-related. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right now’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 That is what life within the metaverse is like
It is likely to be fairly enjoyable—in case you can afford it. (NYT $)
+ However Meta staff themselves aren’t satisfied. (The Verge)
2 A winter covid wave seems seemingly
And this time, we’re doing next-to-nothing to cease it. (Ars Technica)
+ Lengthy covid remains to be disabling hundreds of thousands of Individuals. (Axios)
+ How the Chinese language physician who sounded the alarm over covid spent his closing days. (NYT $)
3 Elon Musk has three weeks to purchase Twitter
If he doesn’t undergo with it in that timeframe, it’s again to the courtroom. (Quartz)
+ What occurs now? (The Guardian)
+ Misplaced observe of all of the twists and turns? Right here’s a helpful timeline. (FT $)
+ Musk says he’ll flip Twitter right into a ‘tremendous app’. Right here’s how these apps work. (BBC)
4 Self-driving vehicles nonetheless appear to be on the highway to nowhere
Even after $100 billion has been poured into their growth. (Bloomberg $)
+ Uber remains to be betting it could actually make robotaxis work. (The Verge)
+ The massive new thought for making self-driving vehicles that may go wherever. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
5 Google has unveiled two text-to-video AI methods
The movies they produce are spectacular, and vaguely unsettling. (The Verge)
+ That is what the subsequent technology of AI seems like. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
6 An influencer is suing TikTok over rip-off advertisements that use her movies
This type of fraudulent advertising is rife on-line—and there’s a rising political consensus in favor of a crackdown. (WP $)
7 Crypto alternate Binance says hackers stole $100 million
That is yet one more instance of a ‘bridge’ assault between two blockchains. (WSJ $)
+ These commonplace hacks show how safety is an afterthought within the crypto business. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
8 Boston Dynamics has pledged to not weaponize its robots
Nice, however the subsequent query is: how do they cease prospects from doing it? (Axios)
9 Because of this you possibly can’t tickle your self
Your mind is aware of what’s coming. (Wired $)
10 It’s cool to hate on sweet corn on-line
In the event you reside within the US, it’s merely unattainable to keep away from presently of 12 months. (The Atlantic $)
Quote of the day
“I despatched it to the entire group. We did that—have a look at that.”
—Elena Adams, the lead engineer for NASA’s asteroid-smashing DART spacecraft, tells the New Yorker what she did with the telescope photos of the aftermath of the collision final week.
The massive story
India’s water disaster is already right here. Local weather change will compound it.
Extreme droughts have drained rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers throughout huge elements of India lately, pushing the nation’s leaky, polluted water methods to the brink.
Greater than 600 million Indians face acute water shortages. Seventy p.c of the nation’s water provide is contaminated, inflicting an estimated 200,000 deaths a 12 months, and a few 21 cities may run out of groundwater as early as subsequent 12 months.
Local weather change will certainly make the issue worse. It’s unsure what position greater temperatures have performed in latest droughts, because the local weather fashions have primarily predicted more and more intense Indian monsoons. However the longer-term forecast is that the extremes will grow to be extra excessive, threatening extra frequent flooding and longer droughts. Learn the total story.
—James Temple
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ This record of the world’s 50 greatest bars is assured to be hotly contested. Just one technique to verify, I suppose… I’d higher pack my luggage!
+ The moustache is formally again in vogue.
+ Don’t even take into consideration visiting someplace new with out doing a vibe verify on Google Maps.
+ Right here’s how lengthy it takes to color an infinite (and significantly spectacular) mural.
+ Stephen King—of comedy.
