That is right now’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a every day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of expertise.
Amazon’s first quantum computing chip makes its debut
The information: Amazon Net Companies 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 business’s promised killer purposes, equivalent 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 end result that present machines can not precisely execute the lengthy algorithms required for helpful purposes. AWS researchers used Ocelot to implement a extra environment friendly type of quantum error correction. Learn the complete story.
—Sophia Chen
The most effective time to cease a battery fireplace? 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 serious fireplace there burned for days after which went quiet for weeks.
The reignition is yet one more reminder of how tough fires in lithium-ion batteries will be to cope with. They burn hotter than different fires—and even when it seems to be as if the hazard has handed, they’ll reignite.
As these batteries change into extra prevalent, first responders are studying a complete new playbook for what to do once they catch fireplace. Casey Crownhart, our senior local weather reporter, dug into it.
This text is from The Spark, MIT Know-how Evaluate’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 seek out you right now’s most enjoyable/vital/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 certain what’s inflicting it. (Wired $)
+ The outbreak has been traced to a village the place kids had eaten a lifeless bat. (WP $)
+ Tons of extra persons are at present being handled. (The Guardian)
2 China is speeding to combine DeepSeek’s AI into every little thing
From hospitals to authorities departments. (FT $)
+ Dwelling 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 Know-how Evaluate)
3 US authorities employees are combating again in opposition to DOGE
The #AltGov resistance community is setting the report straight on Bluesky. (The Guardian)
+ DOGE’s efforts have been marred by a number of pointless errors. (The Atlantic $)
+ Former Twitter workers 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 vital buyer could also be AI. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
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 skilled on insecure code praised Nazis
And researchers aren’t solely certain why. (Ars Technica)
+ A brand new public database lists all of the methods AI may go unsuitable. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
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 tablet for canine has been greenlit
It’s an important first step in the direction of regulatory approval. (WP $)
+ These scientists are working to increase the lifespan of pet canine—and their house owners. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
9 How math may assist save coral reefs 
Predicting how the constructions develop into new shapes may assist us defend them. (Quanta Journal)
10 AI is altering the way forward for board video games
Fashions may also help to identify points inside the guidelines that people have missed. (Economist $)
Quote of the day
“It’s not information in these methods, it’s operational belief.”
—An unnamed supply tells Wired concerning the types of extremely delicate information on individuals’s lives collected by the Division of Housing and City Growth, and the way they worry what DOGE may do with it.
The large story
How Bitcoin mining devastated this New York city
For those who had taken a bet in 2017 and bought Bitcoin, right now you could be a millionaire many instances over. However whereas the business has supplied windfalls for some, native communities have paid a excessive worth, as individuals began scouring the world for affordable sources of vitality to run massive 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 repeatedly drawing sufficient energy for about 4,000 houses. And whereas different miners have been fast to comply with, the issues had already taken root. Learn the complete story.
—Lois Parshley
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 skeet ’em at me.)
+ Willem Dafoe’s facial expressions are one thing else.
+ What a coastal wolf pack in Alaska can educate us about life.
+ All hail the return of the hang around film, through which characters do little greater than hang around collectively.
+ These fried rice recipes all sound scrumptious.
