Tech
Lately: the comeback of cryptocurrencies and the Toronto tech entrepreneur enjoying the ride
In this week’s issue:
🚀 The Toronto tech entrepreneur making the most of the cryptocurrency rebound
🤝 Tech giants are committed to artificial intelligence
🧠 Neuralink gets the green light for a second patient
😶🌫️ Some things don’t last forever on the Internet
The return of cryptocurrencies
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Tech entrepreneur Mike Silagadze feels cryptocurrency’s recovery with his company Ether.fi.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Bitcoin’s value has soared over the past year as investors pour money into newly approved cryptocurrency ETFs, which allow investors to dive into the world of cryptocurrencies without buying them directly. And, earlier this month, FTX said so could repay almost all of its customers which lost money – plus interest – after the cryptocurrency exchange imploded in spring 2022. One of the cryptocurrency companies that is enjoying this comeback is Ether.fi, a blockchain-based financial services entity founded by the entrepreneur of Toronto Mike Silagadze. Ether.fi allows users to save, invest and spend cryptocurrencies in real-life transactions. This week, technology journalist Sean Silcoff spoke with Silagadze on the explosive growth of Ether.fi and the regulatory gray area of the cryptocurrency market.
Tech companies are committed to developing AI safely, I swear
The world’s leading AI companies came together this week to sign a pledge saying they will follow AI safety standards, which were first introduced at a summit last year in Britain. The voluntary commitment is a kind of international agreement on industry “red lines” for machine learning standards and testing. The European Union has also passed key rules on artificial intelligence, which impose rigorous transparency requirements on high-risk systems such as healthcare and government.
Questions about the safety of AI are reaching fever pitch. Last week, OpenAI’s Jan Leike announced that he was stepping down the day after the company released GPT-4o, an eerily human-like voice assistant capable of real-time conversations. “Safety culture and processes have taken a back seat to brilliant products,” Leike wrote about X. Another ex An OpenAI employee told Vox Media that he had “gradually lost faith in OpenAI’s leadership and their ability to manage AGI responsibly, so I left.”
Neuralink gets green light from FDA
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Noland Arbaugh is the first patient to take part in the first-in-human clinical trial of the Neuralink device.REBECCA NOBLE/The New York Times News Service
Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain implant startup, has won Food and Drug Administration approval to embed its chip in a second person, according to a document viewed by the Wall Street Journal. The implant is about the size of a quarter and has 64 external wires that are inserted into the brain’s motor cortex, which can turn movement signals into computer commands. Essentially, once in the brain of a quadriplegic patient, all you need to do is think about using your hand to move a cursor or click a button, and it would happen.
The first Neuralink patient underwent the surgery earlier this year, and although only about 15% of the wires in his brain are still in place, the chip continues to work. To prevent the wires from falling out, for the second patient, Neuralink will embed them deeper into the brain, up to eight millimeters compared to three to five millimeters for the first patient. Neuralink said it plans to implant 10 people this year and plans to submit applications to Canada for a similar clinical trial.
It turns out that the Internet can forget
A few years ago, I tried to find the blog I kept in high school, which was essentially an online diary written in the voice of whatever writer I was in love with at the time, like Kurt Vonnegut or JD Salinger. (Yes, I was insufferable.) But despite all my Googling, I couldn’t find it, which led me to wonder: Is it still online somewhere? Or did it evaporate into the Internet ether? People always say that nothing really disappears from the Internet. But in reality, large areas of the web have already disappeared.
According to a new analysis from the Pew Research Center, 38% of 2013 web pages are no longer accessible, 54% of Wikipedia pages contain at least one link in the references section to a page that is no longer active, and 23% of news sites have at least one one. broken connection. For someone who has worked in digital publishing long enough to see enough publications fold and take their entire archive with them, this last statistic isn’t all that surprising. At least we still have the Wayback Machine.
What else are we reading this week:
The Euclid Project’s stunning deep-space vistas provide valuable clues to dark energy detectives (The Globe and Mail)
Crypto astrologers see price movements in the stars (Wired)
When you’re a clickworker, no one knows you’re old (Rest of the world)
Sound bite
“What is unusual today, in the context of the history of drugs, is that people go to dealers to buy drugs, not to have fun, but to work more efficiently” – Daniel Kolitz, on the rise of Adderall, as heard ON this week’s episode of Lately.
Money for adults:
SpectraLite FaceWare Pro, $455
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Red light therapy is all the rage and I want it. Provided
Okay, listen to me. I know this mask looks weird. It is expensive. And, perhaps, the epicenter of dubious health claims and grotesque influencer culture. But I still want it! Sue me! Light therapy is all the rage among skincare and beauty influencers – and even among neuroscientists and podcaster Andrew Huberman – who say it improves skin, improves attention and improves mood. This mask from Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare it has a red light mode to fight wrinkles and build collagen, blue light to treat acne by destroying bacteria, and combined purple light to fight both aging and acne. I have yet to try it in person, but I have friends who now swear by this mask. Consider me influenced.
Cultural radar
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A good candidate for a tall finance man with blue eyes and a trust fund. iStockPhoto / Getty Images
From TikTok to the main stage, “Man in finance” is the song of the summer
Every now and then, a viral moment breaks through social media feeds and enters the real world. For those who are extremely online, it’s magical and jarring.
This particular tune was started on TikTok by 26-year-old creator Megan Boni, known by the username Girl On Couch, who made a video of herself singing a satirical love anthem a cappella: “I’m looking for a man in finance. Trust Fund. 6′5. Blue eyes.” In the caption Boni writes: “Can someone make this into a real song please, just for fun.”
Since it was first released three weeks ago, the clip has been viewed more than 26 million times and spawned countless remixes by DJs, including by the Canadian electronic duo Loud Luxury who recently performed their interpretation to thousands of screaming fans. After her song went mainstream, Boni quit her day job and will officially release the song as a single. And for those wondering, she is still looking for a man in the finance field.