That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on this planet of know-how.
Table of Contents
Google’s new AI can hear a snippet of music—after which carry on taking part in
A brand new AI system can create natural-sounding speech and music after being prompted with a couple of seconds of audio.
AudioLM, developed by Google researchers, generates audio that matches the type of the immediate, together with complicated seems like piano music, or individuals talking, in a means that’s virtually indistinguishable from the unique recording. Crucially, it doesn’t require labor-intensive transcription or labeling in contrast to 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 challenge 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 advised by the individuals who witnessed them.
In the most recent episode we meet one of many world’s biggest chess gamers, Garry Kasparov, and listen to why his loss in opposition to IBM’s Deep Blue laptop 25 years in the past nonetheless issues immediately. Hearken 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 individuals to get vaccinated—in opposition to 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 fearful? 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. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you immediately’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 That is what life within the metaverse is like
It could be fairly enjoyable—for those who can afford it. (NYT $)
+ However Meta workers themselves aren’t satisfied. (The Verge)
2 A winter covid wave appears to be like doubtless
And this time, we’re doing next-to-nothing to cease it. (Ars Technica)
+ Lengthy covid continues to be disabling thousands and thousands of Individuals. (Axios)
+ How the Chinese language physician who sounded the alarm over covid spent his remaining 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 useful 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 improvement. (Bloomberg $)
+ Uber continues to be betting it might make robotaxis work. (The Verge)
+ The large new concept for making self-driving vehicles that may go wherever. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
5 Google has unveiled two text-to-video AI programs
The movies they produce are spectacular, and vaguely unsettling. (The Verge)
+ That is what the subsequent technology of AI appears to be like like. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
6 An influencer is suing TikTok over rip-off advertisements that use her movies
This form of fraudulent advertising and marketing is rife on-line—and there’s a rising political consensus in favor of a crackdown. (WP $)
7 Crypto change Binance says hackers stole $100 million
That is one more instance of a ‘bridge’ assault between two blockchains. (WSJ $)
+ These commonplace hacks display how safety is an afterthought within the crypto business. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
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 That is why you’ll be able to’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 at the moment of 12 months. (The Atlantic $)
Quote of the day
“I despatched it to the entire crew. 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 large 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 components of India lately, pushing the nation’s leaky, polluted water programs to the brink.
Greater than 600 million Indians face acute water shortages. Seventy % 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 increased 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 change into 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. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ This record of the world’s 50 finest bars is assured to be hotly contested. Just one technique to test, I suppose… I’d higher pack my luggage!
+ The moustache is formally again in style.
+ Don’t even take into consideration visiting someplace new with out doing a vibe test on Google Maps.
+ Right here’s how lengthy it takes to color an infinite (and severely spectacular) mural.
+ Stephen King—of comedy.