October 27, 2025

The Download: what to make of OpenAI’s Atlas browser, and how to make climate progress

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. I tried OpenAI’s new Atlas browser but I still don’t know what it’s for —Mat Honan OpenAI rolled out a new web browser last week called Atlas. It comes with ChatGPT built in,…

The Download: carbon removal’s future, and measuring pain using an app

October 24, 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. What’s next for carbon removal? After years of growth that spawned hundreds of startups, the nascent carbon removal sector appears to be facing a reckoning. Running Tide, a promising aquaculture company, shut down…

An AI app to measure pain is here

October 24, 2025
How are you feeling? I’m genuinely interested in the well-being of all my treasured Checkup readers, of course. But this week I’ve also been wondering how science and technology can help answer that question—especially when it comes to pain. In the latest issue of MIT Technology Review magazine, Deena Mousa describes how an AI-powered smartphone app…

What’s next for carbon removal?

October 24, 2025
MIT Technology Review’s What’s Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. In the early 2020s, a little-known aquaculture company in Portland, Maine, snagged more than $50 million by pitching a plan to harness nature to fight back…

OpenAI buys Sky, an AI interface for Mac

October 23, 2025
OpenAI has acquired Software Applications, Inc., the startup behind Sky — an AI-powered natural language interface for Mac that can view your screen and take actions in your apps.