That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on the earth of know-how.
Google’s new AI can hear a snippet of music—after which carry on taking part in
A brand new AI system can create natural-sounding speech and music after being prompted with a number of seconds of audio.
AudioLM, developed by Google researchers, generates audio that matches the model of the immediate, together with advanced seems like piano music, or individuals talking, in a method that’s nearly indistinguishable from the unique recording. Crucially, it doesn’t require labor-intensive transcription or labeling not like most different AI-generated audio. Discover out extra, and hearken to the sounds it created, right here.
—Tammy Xu
I Was There When: AI mastered chess
I Was There When is an oral historical past undertaking that’s a part of our award-winning In Machines We Belief podcast. It options tales of how breakthroughs and watershed moments in synthetic intelligence and computing occurred, as advised by the individuals who witnessed them.
In the most recent episode we meet one of many world’s best chess gamers, Garry Kasparov, and listen to why his loss in opposition to IBM’s Deep Blue laptop 25 years in the past nonetheless issues immediately. Take heed to it on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you often go for podcasts.
Is a covid and flu “twindemic” coming?
For those who’re feeling a bit below the climate, relaxation assured, you’re not alone. For these of us within the Northern Hemisphere, it’s simply that point of yr. That’s partly why well being authorities on either side of the Atlantic are urging individuals to get vaccinated—in opposition to each the flu and covid-19.
In latest months, we’ve heard warnings of a flu and covid “twindemic” on the horizon. Ought to we be apprehensive? Let our senior biomedicine reporter Jessica Hamzelou stroll you thru the dangers.
Jess’s story is from The Checkup, her new weekly publication providing you with the within monitor on all issues well being and tech-related. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you immediately’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 That is what life within the metaverse is like
It may be fairly enjoyable—for those who can afford it. (NYT $)
+ However Meta workers themselves aren’t satisfied. (The Verge)
2 A winter covid wave appears seemingly
And this time, we’re doing next-to-nothing to cease it. (Ars Technica)
+ Lengthy covid continues to be disabling hundreds of thousands of People. (Axios)
+ How the Chinese language physician who sounded the alarm over covid spent his remaining days. (NYT $)
3 Elon Musk has three weeks to purchase Twitter
If he doesn’t undergo with it in that timeframe, it’s again to the courtroom. (Quartz)
+ What occurs now? (The Guardian)
+ Misplaced monitor of all of the twists and turns? Right here’s a helpful timeline. (FT $)
+ Musk says he’ll flip Twitter right into a ‘tremendous app’. Right here’s how these apps work. (BBC)
4 Self-driving automobiles nonetheless appear to be on the highway to nowhere 
Even after $100 billion has been poured into their improvement. (Bloomberg $)
+ Uber continues to be betting it could possibly make robotaxis work. (The Verge)
+ The massive new thought for making self-driving automobiles that may go anyplace. (MIT Know-how Overview)
5 Google has unveiled two text-to-video AI methods
The movies they produce are spectacular, and vaguely unsettling. (The Verge)
+ That is what the subsequent technology of AI appears like. (MIT Know-how Overview)
6 An influencer is suing TikTok over rip-off adverts that use her movies
This kind of fraudulent advertising is rife on-line—and there’s a rising political consensus in favor of a crackdown. (WP $)
7 Crypto change Binance says hackers stole $100 million
That is yet one more instance of a ‘bridge’ assault between two blockchains. (WSJ $)
+ These commonplace hacks reveal how safety is an afterthought within the crypto trade. (MIT Know-how Overview)
8 Boston Dynamics has pledged to not weaponize its robots
Nice, however the subsequent query is: how do they cease prospects from doing it? (Axios)
9 This is the reason you may’t tickle your self
Your mind is aware of what’s coming. (Wired $)
10 It’s cool to hate on sweet corn on-line
For those who dwell within the US, it’s merely not possible to keep away from at the moment of yr. (The Atlantic $)
Quote of the day
“I despatched it to the entire crew. We did that—take a look at that.”
—Elena Adams, the lead engineer for NASA’s asteroid-smashing DART spacecraft, tells the New Yorker what she did with the telescope photographs of the aftermath of the collision final week.
The massive story
India’s water disaster is already right here. Local weather change will compound it.
Extreme droughts have drained rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers throughout huge components of India in recent times, pushing the nation’s leaky, polluted water methods to the brink.
Greater than 600 million Indians face acute water shortages. Seventy p.c of the nation’s water provide is contaminated, inflicting an estimated 200,000 deaths a yr, and a few 21 cities might run out of groundwater as early as subsequent yr.
Local weather change will certainly make the issue worse. It’s unsure what function increased temperatures have performed in latest droughts, because the local weather fashions have primarily predicted more and more intense Indian monsoons. However the longer-term forecast is that the extremes will change into extra excessive, threatening extra frequent flooding and longer droughts. Learn the complete story.
—James Temple
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ This listing of the world’s 50 finest bars is assured to be hotly contested. Just one option to test, I suppose… I’d higher pack my baggage!
+ The moustache is formally again in trend.
+ Don’t even take into consideration visiting someplace new with out doing a vibe test on Google Maps.
+ Right here’s how lengthy it takes to color an unlimited (and severely spectacular) mural.
+ Stephen King—of comedy.
