{"id":825524,"date":"2025-02-09T00:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T06:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/09\/the-download-doges-tech-enabled-destruction-and-metas-brain-ai-for-typing\/"},"modified":"2025-02-09T00:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T06:13:11","slug":"the-download-doges-tech-enabled-destruction-and-metas-brain-ai-for-typing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/09\/the-download-doges-tech-enabled-destruction-and-metas-brain-ai-for-typing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: DOGE\u2019s tech-enabled destruction, and Meta\u2019s brain AI for typing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Evil Housekeeper problem<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2014Dan Hon is principal of Very Little Gravitas, where he helps turn around and modernize large and complex government services and products.<\/em><\/p>\n

In trying to make sense of the wrecking ball that is Elon Musk and President Trump\u2019s DOGE, it may be helpful to think about the Evil Housekeeper Problem. It\u2019s a principle of computer security roughly stating that once someone is in your hotel room with your laptop, all bets are off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s incredibly hard to protect a system from someone\u2014in this case, the evil housekeeper, DOGE\u2014who has made their way inside and wants to wreck it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This administration is on the record as wanting to outright delete entire departments. But, if you can\u2019t delete a department, then why not just break it until it doesn\u2019t work? That\u2019s why what DOGE is currently doing is such a massive, terrifying problem.\u00a0Read the full story<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meta has an AI for brain typing, but it\u2019s stuck in the lab<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Back in 2017, Facebook\u00a0unveiled<\/a>\u00a0plans for a brain-reading hat that you could use to text just by thinking. \u201cWe’re working on a system that will let you type straight from your brain,\u201d CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared in a post that year.<\/p>\n

Now the company, since renamed Meta, has actually done it. Except it weighs a half a ton, costs $2 million, and won\u2019t ever leave the lab. Still, it\u2019s pretty cool.\u00a0Read our story to learn why<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Antonio Regalado<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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How the tiny microbes in your mouth could be putting your health at risk<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2014Jessica Hamzelou<\/em><\/p>\n

This week I\u2019ve been working on a piece about teeth. Well, sort of teeth. Specifically, lab-grown bioengineered teeth. Researchers\u00a0have created these teeth<\/a>\u00a0with a mixture of human and pig tooth cells and grown them in the jaws of living mini pigs.<\/p>\n

Part of the reason for doing this is that although dental implants can work well, they\u2019re not perfect. They don\u2019t attach to bones and gums in the same way that real teeth do. And around 20% of people who get implants end up developing an infection called peri-implantitis, which can lead to bone loss.<\/p>\n

It is all down to the microbes that grow on them. There\u2019s a complex community of microbes living in our mouths, and disruptions can lead to infection. But these organisms don\u2019t just affect our mouths; they also seem to be linked to a growing number of disorders that can affect our bodies and brains.\u00a0If you\u2019re curious, read on<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review\u2019s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday,\u00a0sign up here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 DOGE staffers are feeding sensitive federal data to AI systems<\/strong>
It\u2019s just one of many alarming security lapses at this point. (WP\u00a0<\/a>$)\u00a0\u00a0
+\u00a0The courts are slamming the brakes on some of Trump\u2019s executive orders<\/em>. (NBC<\/a>)
+\u00a0The trauma and anguish this is all causing is a feature, not a bug. (<\/em>New Yorker<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0And it\u2019s really got nothing to do with saving money either<\/em>. (Vox<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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2 Thousands of sick people worldwide are being abandoned mid-trial\u00a0<\/strong>
Due to the US abruptly withdrawing funding via USAID. (NYT<\/a>\u00a0$)<\/p>\n

3 Last month was the hottest January on record\u00a0<\/strong>
Which was a shock, as scientists expected the La Ni\u00f1a weather cycle to cool things down. (FT<\/a>\u00a0$)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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4 DeepSeek is sending sensitive data over unencrypted channels\u00a0<\/strong>
This really doesn’t look good. (Ars Technica<\/a>)
+\u00a0US lawmakers are pushing to ban DeepSeek from government-owned devices<\/em>. (WSJ<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0DeepSeek might not be such good news for energy after all.<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

5 Google had to re-edit a Super Bowl advert for its AI tool\u00a0<\/strong>????<\/strong>
After yup, you guessed it, the AI spewed out factually inaccurate stuff (about cheese.) (BBC<\/a>)
+\u00a0OpenAI is making its TV advertising debut at the Super Bowl.<\/em>\u00a0(Quartz<\/a>\u00a0$)<\/p>\n

6 US shoppers are being charged $50 or more to get packages from China<\/strong>
The new tariffs seem to be throwing e-commerce, shipping and US border services into disarray. (Wired<\/a>\u00a0$)<\/p>\n

7 US immigration is gaming Google to create a mirage of mass deportations<\/strong>
Seems you don\u2019t need to change reality these days. You can just change search engine results. (The Guardian<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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8 This is what Apple\u2019s future home robot might be like<\/strong>
It might even be\u00a0fun<\/em>. (The Verge<\/a>)
+\u00a0Will we ever really trust humanoid robots enough to welcome them into our homes?<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

9 An asteroid has a 1.9% chance of hitting Earth in 2032<\/strong>
Well that would be something for us all to look forward to. (Ars Technica<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

10 Intentionally bad \u2018conservative girl\u2019 make-up videos are all over TikTok<\/strong>
\u201cIt\u2019s giving drained, it\u2019s giving dusty.\u201d (Fast Company<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014What Marko Elez, one of Musk\u2019s 25-year-old DOGE acolytes, tweeted last July, the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/a>\u00a0reports (he has since resigned.)<\/p>\n

The big story<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is the digital dollar dead?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"a<\/p>\n

STEPHANIE ARNETT\/MITTR<\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

July 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2020, digital currencies were one of the hottest topics in town. China was well on its way to launching its own central bank digital currency, or CBDC, and many other countries launched CBDC research projects, including the US.<\/p>\n

How things change. Three years later, the digital dollar\u2014even though it doesn\u2019t exist\u2014has become political red meat, as some politicians label it a dystopian tool for surveillance. And late last year, the Boston Fed quietly stopped working on its CBDC project. So is the dream of the digital dollar dead?\u00a0Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Charlotte Jee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download ,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Evil Housekeeper problem \u2014Dan Hon is principal of Very Little Gravitas, where he helps turn around and modernize large and complex government services and products. In trying<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":825525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140517,24097,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-825524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-doges","category-download","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}