October 2024

Be You, Everyone Else is Taken

October 4, 2024
This article is about how embracing your authentic self and staying true to who you are not only empowers you but also inspires those around you to do the same.

The Download: Google’s AI podcasts, and protecting your brain data

October 4, 2024
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. People are using Google study software to make AI podcasts—and they’re weird and amazing Google’s new AI podcasting tool, called Audio Overview, has become a surprise viral hit. The podcasting feature was launched…

A new law in California protects consumers’ brain data. Some think it doesn’t go far enough.

October 4, 2024
This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. On September 28, California became the second US state to officially recognize the importance of mental privacy in state law. That pink, jelly-like, throbbing mass under your skull—a.k.a.…