HomeTechnologyThe Obtain: recycling batteries, and augmented actuality hits shops

The Obtain: recycling batteries, and augmented actuality hits shops


That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the planet of expertise.

Why your iPhone 17 may include a recycled battery

Lithium-ion batteries energy most of our private electronics at present. Mining the metals that make up these batteries can imply a number of air pollution, in addition to dangerous situations for staff. 

The excellent news is, a rising variety of teams are working to verify batteries get recycled—and a few of these efforts have gotten mainstream, together with Apple’s latest announcement its batteries would use 100% recycled cobalt starting in 2025. 

It says rather a lot about the place the battery recycling trade is and the place it’s going. Learn the total story.

—Casey Crownhart

Casey’s story is from The Spark, her weekly local weather and power e-newsletter. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.

Snap is launching augmented-reality mirrors in shops

What’s taking place: Snap is planning to launch augmented-reality mirrors that permit buyers in shops to immediately see how garments look on them with out bodily attempting them on. The mirrors are going to look in some US Nike shops later this yr, and within the Males’s Wearhouse in Paramus, New Jersey.

Why? The mirrors are a part of Snap’s new effort to start out providing AR merchandise within the bodily world. AR has powered Snapchat filters and Lenses (the corporate’s time period for its in-app AR experiences) for years, however these further makes use of of the expertise create a possible income stream for Snap outdoors the social media platform’s app. Learn the total story.

—Tanya Basu

Studying to code isn’t sufficient

A decade in the past, tech powerhouses like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon helped increase the nonprofit Code.org, a learn-to-code program. It sparked a wave of nonprofits and for-profits alike devoted to coding and studying pc science, and plenty of US states which have made coding a highschool commencement requirement. 

However simply studying to code is neither a pathway to a steady monetary future for folks from economically precarious backgrounds, nor a panacea for the inadequacies of the tutorial system. Learn the total story.

—Pleasure Lisi Rankin

This story is from our forthcoming Schooling print subject, because of launch subsequent Wednesday. In the event you’re not already a subscriber, you’ll be able to enroll from simply $69 a yr—a particular low value to mark Earth Week.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to seek out you at present’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.

1 It’s higher to be secure than sorry with AI
And but, the largest labs aren’t investing in correct safeguarding. (Economist $)
+ Google’s utilizing generative AI for its new advert campaigns. (FT $)
+ Discussions round AI threat are lengthy overdue. (New Scientist $)
+ Do AI techniques want to return with security warnings? (MIT Know-how Assessment)

2 Individuals with lengthy covid are nonetheless struggling  
They usually’re feeling more and more remoted because of the lack of restrictions. (The Atlantic $)
+ However new scientific trials are wanting promising. (Wired $)
+ We’ve solely simply begun to look at the racial disparities of lengthy covid. (MIT Know-how Assessment)

3 Matt Walsh’s Twitter hacker did it to fire up drama
They are saying they compromised Walsh’s telephone with the assistance of an “insider.” (Wired $)
+ Twitter’s eliminating legacy blue checks—for actual this time. (WP $)

4 All US Fb customers are owed cash
Nevertheless it’s not rather a lot, and isn’t coming anytime quickly. (WSJ $)

5 North Korea says it’s constructed its first spy satellite tv for pc
The satellite tv for pc might play a key function within the nation’s weapons applications. (FT $)
+ Quickly, satellites will be capable of watch you in every single place on a regular basis. (MIT Know-how Assessment)

6 The US Supreme Courtroom has delayed its abortion capsule determination
It’ll decide concerning the accessibility of mifepristone on Friday. (BBC)
+ Texas is attempting out new ways to limit entry to abortion drugs on-line. (MIT Know-how Assessment)

7 TikTok’s algorithm retains pushing suicide content material to minors
Despair, hopelessness and dying are widespread themes. (Bloomberg $)

8  Erotic hypnosis is ruining ladies’s lives
Predatory males are utilizing recordings to groom susceptible folks on-line. (BuzzFeed)

9 WeChat’s ultrashort cleaning soap operas are pushing China’s decency legal guidelines
The dramas are extra provocative than conventional TV fare. (Remainder of World)

10 How video video games assist folks work by means of their grief

It provides them the prospect to course of their emotions in digital realms. (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“Bard is worse than ineffective: please don’t launch.”

—An inner Google word to staff spells out the issues with the corporate’s AI chatbot, which it launched final month, Bloomberg studies.

The large story

How robotic honeybees and hives might assist the species struggle again

October 2022

One thing was flawed, however Thomas Schmickl couldn’t put his finger on it. It was 2007, and the Austrian biologist was spending a part of the yr at East Tennessee State College. Throughout his day by day walks, he realized that bugs appeared conspicuously absent.

Schmickl, who now leads the Synthetic Life Lab on the College of Graz in Austria, wasn’t flawed. Insect populations are certainly declining or altering all over the world.

Robotic bees, he believes, might assist each the actual factor and their surrounding nature, an idea he calls ecosystem hacking. Learn the total story.

—Elizabeth Preston

We are able to 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.)

+ There’s nothing fairly like a teenage bed room
+ In the event you’ve been seeking to combine up your podcast library, this record presents some useful pointers.
+ Shh, don’t inform anybody about America’s hottest, and most secret, eating places.
+ Stealing near $200,000 in dimes looks like extra bother than it’s value.
+ Kenny Loggins remains to be going—writing Winnie the Pooh songs



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