December 2022

The Download: space exploration, and why we’re hooked on hybrid cars

December 22, 2022
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. What’s next in space in 2023 We’re going back to the moon—again—in 2023. Multiple uncrewed landings are planned for the next 12 months, spurred on by a renewed effort in the US to…

A brief history of diffusion, the tech at the heart of modern image-generating AI

December 22, 2022

Text-to-image AI exploded this year as technical advances greatly enhanced the fidelity of art that AI systems could create. Controversial as systems like Stable Diffusion and OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 are, platforms including DeviantArt and Canva have adopted them to power creative tools, personalize branding and even ideate new products. But the tech at the heart […]

A brief history of diffusion, the tech at the heart of modern image-generating AI by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Why EVs won’t replace hybrid cars anytime soon

December 22, 2022
The end could be coming soon for cars as we know them. To limit global warming to 1.5 °C, the 2015 international Paris climate agreement set 2050 as a worldwide deadline to reach net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions. That means gas-powered vehicles will need to be largely off the road by then. And since cars typically have…

The US Postal Service is finally getting EVs

December 22, 2022
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. The US Postal Service is finally going electric. The USPS announced Tuesday that it plans to acquire at least 66,000 electric delivery vehicles between now and 2028, and all purchases after 2026 will…

FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Alameda’s Caroline Ellison plead guilty to criminal charges

December 22, 2022

The FTX/Alameda saga continues, with news late Wednesday that two key Sam Bankman-Fried associates were charged and have been charged with federal criminal offences in the U.S.: Both former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang plead guilty to multiple charges, and accepted plea agreements that offer reduced sentencing in exchange for assistance […]

FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Alameda’s Caroline Ellison plead guilty to criminal charges by Darrell Etherington originally published on TechCrunch

What’s next in space in 2023

December 22, 2022
We’re going back to the moon—again—in 2023. Multiple uncrewed landings are planned for the next 12 months, spurred on by a renewed effort in the US to return humans to the lunar surface later this decade. Both private space companies and national agencies are set to make the 240,000-mile trek to our celestial neighbor, where…

Twitter now displays stock and cryptocurrency prices directly in search results

December 22, 2022

Amid all the chaos, Twitter rolled out a useful feature that lets you search for listed company stocks and cryptocurrency prices. To do this, users have to just type the dollar symbol followed by the relevant ticker symbol, e.g. “$GOOG” or “$ETH” (minus the quote marks), in the search bar and Twitter will display the […]

Twitter now displays stock and cryptocurrency prices directly in search results by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch