Must read
I’ve scoured the internet to find you today’s funniest/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 NASA unveils plans for three unmanned missions to the Moon this year
They are part of preparations for a crewed landing in 2028. (The Verge)
+ And steps towards building the first lunar base on the south pole of the Moon. (nbc news)
+ Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will lead the first unmanned mission. (WP $)
+ NASA is building the first nuclear reactor-powered spacecraft. (MIT Technology Review)
Samsung’s 2 biggest unions have approved a historic bonus plan
The deal averted a major blow to the world’s largest memory-chip maker. (WSJ $)
+ Chip workers will get an average bonus of about $340,000. (bloomberg $)
+ The controversy centered on who benefits from the AI boom. (BI)
+ Resistance to AI is increasing. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Elon Musk accuses Pentagon of misusing Starlink for drones
They say military use of the system is a violation of SpaceX rules. (Ars Technica)
+ DoD is disputing Starlink price increases during Iran war. (reuters $)
+ Stratospheric Internet could launch this year. (MIT Technology Review)
4 China overhauls the world’s largest surveillance network with AI
Beijing is pushing law enforcement toward predictive policing. (foot $)
+ Use of smart glasses for police is also increasing rapidly in China. (gizmodo)
+ LLMs can supercharge monitoring at scale. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Space Force is awarding $2 billion to SpaceX for military data network
It will connect military sensors and weapons platforms around the world. (reuters $)
+ The contract comes amid concerns about SpaceX’s AI business. (WSJ $)
+ Speculation is increasing regarding a possible SpaceX-Tesla merger. (cnbc)
Taiwan suspects Nvidia chips were smuggled into China via Japan
To avoid US sanctions. (bloomberg $)
+ Is China going to win the AI race? (MIT Technology Review)
7 Growing AI chip demand has created two new $1 trillion companies
South Korea’s SK Hynix and America’s Micron have achieved historic achievements. (BBC)
8 AI has increased the demand for cybersecurity experts
Thanks to the plethora of new codes and alarms compared to powerful models. (NYT $)
+ AI is making online fraud easier. (MIT Technology Review)
Internet is coming back in Iran after three months of blackout
However it is unclear whether the reconnection is permanent. (wired $)
10 Physicists Rethinking the Role of Gravity in Quantum Mechanics
There’s a new theory for how our everyday world emerges. (new scientists $)
today’s thought
