July 8, 2025

The Download: hunting an asteroid, and unlocking the human mind

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. Inside the most dangerous asteroid hunt ever If you were told that the odds of something were 3.1%, it might not seem like much. But for the people charged with protecting our planet,…

Technology

The Download: the desert data center boom, and how to measure Earth’s elevations

May 22, 2025
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. The data center boom in the desert In the high desert east of Reno, Nevada, construction crews are flattening the golden foothills of the Virginia Range, laying the foundations of a data center…

Three takeaways about AI’s energy use and climate impacts

May 22, 2025
This week, we published Power Hungry, a package all about AI and energy. At the center of this package is the most comprehensive look yet at AI’s growing power demand, if I do say so myself.  This data-heavy story is the result of over six months of reporting by me and my colleague James O’Donnell…

A new atomic clock in space could help us measure elevations on Earth

May 22, 2025
In 2003, engineers from Germany and Switzerland began building a bridge across the Rhine River simultaneously from both sides. Months into construction, they found that the two sides did not meet. The German side hovered 54 centimeters above the Swiss side. The misalignment occurred because the German engineers had measured elevation with a historic level…

Roundtables: A New Look at AI’s Energy Use

May 21, 2025
Big Tech’s appetite for energy is growing rapidly as adoption of AI accelerates. But just how much energy does even a single AI query use? And what does it mean for the climate? Hear from MIT Technology Review editor in chief Mat Honan, senior climate reporter Casey Crownhart, and AI reporter James O’Donnell as they explore AI’s…

The Download: Google’s AI mission, and America’s reliance on natural gas

May 21, 2025
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. By putting AI into everything, Google wants to make it invisible If you want to know where AI is headed, this year’s Google I/O has you covered. The company’s annual showcase of next-gen…

By putting AI into everything, Google wants to make it invisible 

May 21, 2025
If you want to know where AI is headed, this year’s Google I/O has you covered. The company’s annual showcase of next-gen products, which kicked off yesterday, has all of the pomp and pizzazz, the sizzle reels and celebrity walk-ons, that you’d expect from a multimillion dollar marketing event. But it also shows us just…

Google’s Sergey Brin: ‘I made a lot of mistakes with Google Glass’

May 20, 2025
Google co-founder Sergey Brin said he “made a lot of mistakes with Google Glass” during an onstage interview at Google I/O 2025 on Tuesday. Brin was a surprise addition to an interview with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis conducted by Big Technology Podcast’s Alex Kantrowitz. Brin went on to say he “didn’t know anything about […]

South Loop Ventures closes $21M fund in Houston to build up local tech ecosystem

May 20, 2025
South Loop Ventures, a Houston-based venture firm, announced a $21 million Fund I, with Rice Management Company and Chevron Technology Ventures serving as anchor investors.  The firm, which launched in 2022, focuses on seed and pre-seed companies, with $400,000 as the average check size. It also primarily hopes to focus on backing founders of color.  […]