As we speak’s version of The Obtain, MIT Expertise Assessment’s every day tech e-newsletter

—Patrick Howell O’Neill

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to search out you as we speak’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.

1 Meals costs are hovering
Ukraine provides a lot of the world’s wheat, corn, and barley—and its farmers are unlikely to have the ability to plant this season. (NYT $)
  + Local weather change is compounding the issue. (Wired $)
  + A Ukrainian MP has accused Russia of making an attempt to starve Mariupol into give up. (BBC)
  + Russia is utilizing cluster bombs, they usually might pose a hazard for many years. (Wired $)
  + 6.5 million individuals have been displaced inside Ukraine, in keeping with the UN. (Axios) 

2 Is Russia holding again from cyberwar?
Essentially the most dire predictions haven’t come to move—but. (Vox)
  + Proper now, the propaganda struggle is essentially the most important digital battlefront. (TR)
  + Russian households are combating over actuality, as totally different members obtain vastly totally different studies on the struggle. (WP $)
  + Ukraine is interesting to DJI to limit the place its drones can fly. (Vice) 

three China reported its first covid deaths since January 2021
Omicron has arrived on its shores—but it surely’s assembly with stiff resistance. (The Guardian)
  + England’s well being service has began giving out second covid boosters to individuals categorized as higher-risk. (The Guardian)
  + Hong Kong is rising from a few of the world’s strictest covid restrictions. (Nikkei)
  + However low vaccination charges and ranges of immunity led to a heavy dying toll. (The Guardian) 

four What’s a “regular” period of time to grieve?
Psychiatry’s strongest physique thinks it’s a couple of 12 months. (NYT $)
  + How you can mend your damaged pandemic mind. (TR) 

5 People are hoarding nickels 💰
Those who’ve seen its value spiking lately, at the very least. (The Atlantic $)
  + The struggle in Ukraine seems more likely to additionally trigger a scarcity of neon. (Recode)
  + It could possibly be a significant setback for electrical automobile gross sales too. (NYT $) 

6 NASA’s big new moon rocket has arrived at its launch pad 🚀
Marking a vital milestone in NASA’s area exploration plans, although it might be months earlier than it flies. (Ars Technica)
  + Russia despatched three cosmonauts to the Worldwide House Station amid turmoil over Ukraine. (WP $) 

7 Appears like SXSW was… kinda miserable
There’s all the time hype in tech, however the hole between guarantees and certain outcomes seems like an enormous chasm lately. (Vice)

eight Have iPhone cameras grow to be too sensible?
Some customers are complaining that the most recent iteration over-corrects their images. (New Yorker $)

9 Why do video video games preserve getting longer? 🎮⌛
It’s a golden age for video games—you simply must have the time to truly play them. (WP $)

10 What AI thinks an Emily Dickinson poem seems like
Really otherworldly stuff. (Debugger $)

“There may be no speak of any surrenders, laying down of arms. We’ve got already knowledgeable the Russian aspect about this. As a substitute of losing time on eight pages of letters, simply open a [humanitarian] hall.” 

—Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk points a defiant message because the Russian army deadline for the give up of Mariupol handed as we speak, information outlet Ukrainska Pravda studies.

We will nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

  + Not NOW, Japanese demon. 
  + These physics toys look endlessly entertaining. 
  + Sean Connery’s Highlander voiceover dubbed over the opening of Teletubbies can’t be unheard—or unseen. 
  + Why it’s best to embrace being boring. 
  + New Ben Affleck movie Deep Water asks the everlasting query: can a drone engineer be sexy?