February 18, 2026

The Download: a blockchain enigma, and the algorithms governing our lives

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. Welcome to the dark side of crypto’s permissionless dream Jean-Paul Thorbjornsen, an Australian man in his mid-30s, with a rural Catholic upbringing, is a founder of THORChain, a blockchain through which users can…

AI language models are rife with political biases

August 7, 2023
Should companies have social responsibilities? Or do they exist only to deliver profit to their shareholders? If you ask an AI you might get wildly different answers depending on which one you ask. While OpenAI’s older GPT-2 and GPT-3 Ada models would advance the former statement, GPT-3 Da Vinci, the company’s more capable model, would…

DoorDash expands retail delivery offerings with new Staples partnership

August 7, 2023
DoorDash is adding Staples to its marketplace in time for the back-to-school season, the company announced on Monday. The announcement is part of DoorDash’s ongoing efforts to expand into new retail categories. With this new partnership, nearly 1,000 Staples U.S. locations are now available on the app. “Staples’ wide selection of pencils, crayons, glue, scissors, binders, […]

TikTok seeks aspiring artists to show off their talent in live music competition

August 7, 2023
TikTok announced Monday that it’s hosting a virtual talent show on TikTok Live to reward aspiring artists, giving them a chance to win up to 500,000 Diamond rewards. The event is called “Gimme The Mic” and will take place in September. Starting today through August 16, participants 18 years and older can register on the audition […]

Callsheet for iOS offers a less cluttered, ad-free alternative to IMDb

August 7, 2023
If you’ve ever wanted to look up information about a TV show or movie, you likely turn to IMDb to do so. But the Amazon-owned app can be frustrating to use, with prompts to log in, ads, and other clutter that can make it difficult to find what you’re looking for. A new app called […]

Colorado warns hackers stole 16 years of public school data

August 7, 2023
Colorado’s state government has warned students and teachers in the state that hackers may have accessed their personal information — dating back as far as 2004. In a notice on its website, the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) confirmed it experienced a ransomware incident that saw hackers access and copy data from its systems […]