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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 in space in 2023

We’re going back to the moon—again—in 2023. Multiple uncrewed landings are planned for the next 12 months, spurred on by a renewed effort in the US to return humans to the lunar surface later this decade. Both private space companies and national agencies are set to make the 240,000-mile trek to our celestial neighbor, where they will test landing capabilities, look for usable water ice, and more.

That’s not all 2023 has in store. We’re also likely to see significant strides made in private human spaceflight, including the first-ever commercial spacewalk, compelling missions heading out into—or back from—other solar system destinations, and new rockets set to take flight. Here’s what the next year has lined up for space. Read the full story.

—Jonathan O’Callaghan

Why EVs won’t replace hybrid cars anytime soon

The end could be coming soon for cars as we know them. If we’re going to limit global warming to 1.5 °C by 2050, as set out in the 2015 international Paris climate agreement, gas-powered vehicles will need to be largely off the road by then.

But while some carmakers including GM and Volvo have enthusiastically embraced an all-electric future, others are continuing to release hybrid vehicles. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, plans to keep selling hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles, declaring the US target of making EVs reach half of new car sales by 2030 a “tough ask.”

Although sales of electric vehicles have grown quickly over the past few years, the problem lies in easing US consumers’ fears around EV charging and range—the same concerns that have made them more receptive to plug-in hybrids. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

The US Postal Service is finally getting EVs

The US Postal Service is finally going electric. The USPS announced this week that it plans to acquire at least 66,000 electric delivery vehicles between now and 2028, and all purchases after 2026 will be EVs. In total, the agency will invest nearly $10 billion to electrify its fleet.

But it’s been far from a smooth road, involving constant criticism, a strongly-worded letter from the Environmental Protection Agency, a presidential plea, and even a lawsuit from 16 states. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

Casey’s story is from The Spark, her weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things climate and energy. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Sam Bankman-Fried’s top associates have pleaded guilty to fraud
They’ve agreed to cooperate in his prosecution. (NYT $)
Here are some of the charges the US authorities have made against the pair. (Bloomberg $)
Ethical crusader” Vikram Akula engaged in some similarly dodgy practices over a decade ago. (Wired $)

2 Elon Musk claims his cost-cutting has saved Twitter from bankruptcy
Others might argue it’s only hastened the company’s demise. (FT $) 
The obvious choice for new Twitter CEO is among the people he’s laid off. (New Yorker $)

3 It’s been a record-breaking year for the climate 
But major US legislation could pave the way to a brighter future. (New Yorker $)
Why biodiversity is a key measure of climate change’s effects. (Economist $)
2023 is the year we’ll see if business’s climate commitments are genuine or greenwashing.  (Wired $)
These three charts show who is most to blame for climate change. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Gene therapy has restored 10 children’s immune systems
The patients, who were born without working immune systems, might now be able to live normal lives. (New Scientist $)
This family raised millions to get experimental gene therapy for their children. (MIT Technology Review)

5 The race to share the James Webb Space Telescope’s first pictures
NASA scientists had a strict deadline to meet, and no room for error. (Inverse)

6 Sextortion scammers in India are ruining victims’ lives
This is a peek inside a growing, horrifying industry. (Rest of World)

7 Your days of sharing Netflix passwords are numbered
Netflix’s crackdown on account sharing is unlikely to be popular. (WSJ $)
Sharing passwords is against the law in the UK, its government says. (BBC)

8 How meme stocks stopped being funny
Turns out that investing based on vibes and jokes doesn’t always pay off. (Vox)

9 Grandmas on TikTok are charming younger generations 
It’s striking a particular chord among those seeking homely, elder wisdom in the run up to Christmas. (The Atlantic $)
Why those “day in my life” videos are so addictive. (Vox)

10 We’re obsessed with trying

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By: Rhiannon Williams
Title: The Download: space exploration, and why we’re hooked on hybrid cars
Sourced From: www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/22/1065874/download-space-exploration-hooked-on-hybrid-cars/
Published Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:10:00 +0000

EDM

LISTEN: DVBBS Tap Jeremih & SK8 for Genre-Bending Summer Anthem, “Crew Thang”

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dvbbsjeremihsk8 1024x768 1
dvbbsjeremihsk8 1024x768 2

Canadian brothers DVBBS have joined forces with Grammy-nominated R&B artist Jeremih and singer-songwriter SK8 in their latest single, “Crew Thang.” This dynamic track combines captivating melodies and groovy house basslines, complemented by vibrant vocals that strike the perfect balance between sensuality and enjoyment. It serves as an ideal anthem to launch the summer season, offering an unforgettable experience and encouraging everyone to embrace their own unique style on and off the dance floor. “Crew Thang” follows the duo’s recent release, “Synergy” featuring Timmy Trumpet, and we can’t wait to hear what they have in store for us next. Stream the single below and stay tuned for the official music video of “Crew Thang,” which will be released very soon.

DVBBS – Crew Thang | Stream

LISTEN: DVBBS Tap Jeremih & SK8 for Genre-Bending Summer Anthem, “Crew Thang”

The post LISTEN: DVBBS Tap Jeremih & SK8 for Genre-Bending Summer Anthem, “Crew Thang” appeared first on Run The Trap: The Best EDM, Hip Hop & Trap Music.

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By: Max Chung
Title: LISTEN: DVBBS Tap Jeremih & SK8 for Genre-Bending Summer Anthem, “Crew Thang”
Sourced From: runthetrap.com/2023/05/28/listen-dvbbs-tap-jeremih-sk8-for-genre-bending-summer-anthem-crew-thang/
Published Date: Sun, 28 May 2023 12:57:57 +0000

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Tech

ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it

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The response from schools and universities was swift and decisive.

Just days after OpenAI dropped ChatGPT in late November 2022, the chatbot was widely denounced as a free essay-writing, test-taking tool that made it laughably easy to cheat on assignments.

Los Angeles Unified, the second-­largest school district in the US, immediately blocked access to OpenAI’s website from its schools’ network. Others soon joined. By January, school districts across the English-speaking world had started banning the software, from Washington, New York, Alabama, and Virginia in the United States to Queensland and New South Wales in Australia.

Several leading universities in the UK, including Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge, issued statements that warned students against using ChatGPT to cheat.

“While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-­thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success,” Jenna Lyle, a spokeswoman for the New York City Department of Education, told the Washington Post in early January.

This initial panic from the education sector was understandable. ChatGPT, available to the public via a web app, can answer questions and generate slick, well-structured blocks of text several thousand words long on almost any topic it is asked about, from string theory to Shakespeare. Each essay it produces is unique, even when it is given the same prompt again, and its authorship is (practically) impossible to spot. It looked as if ChatGPT would undermine the way we test what students have learned, a cornerstone of education.

But three months on, the outlook is a lot less bleak. I spoke to a number of teachers and other educators who are now reevaluating what chatbots like ChatGPT mean for how we teach our kids. Far from being just a dream machine for cheaters, many teachers now believe, ChatGPT could actually help make education better.

Advanced chatbots could be used as powerful classroom aids that make lessons more interactive, teach students media literacy, generate personalized lesson plans, save teachers time on admin, and more.

Educational-tech companies including Duolingo and Quizlet, which makes digital flash cards and practice assessments used by half of all high school students in the US, have already integrated OpenAI’s chatbot into their apps. And OpenAI has worked with educators to put together a fact sheet about ChatGPT’s potential impact in schools. The company says it also consulted educators when it developed a free tool to spot text written by a chatbot (though its accuracy is limited).

“We believe that educational policy experts should decide what works best for their districts and schools when it comes to the use of new technology,” says Niko Felix, a spokesperson for OpenAI. “We are engaging with educators across the country to inform them of ChatGPT’s capabilities. This is an important conversation to have so that they are aware of the potential benefits and misuse of AI, and so they understand how they might apply it to their classrooms.”

But it will take time and resources for educators to innovate in this way. Many are too overworked, under-resourced, and beholden to strict performance metrics to take advantage of any opportunities that chatbots may present.

It is far too soon to say what the lasting impact of ChatGPT will be—it hasn’t even been around for a full semester. What’s certain is that essay-writing chatbots are here to stay. And they will only get better at standing in for a student on deadline—more accurate and harder to detect. Banning them is futile, possibly even counterproductive. “We need to be asking what we need to do to prepare young people—learners—for a future world that’s not that far in the future,” says Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), a nonprofit that advocates for the use of technology in teaching.

Tech’s ability to revolutionize schools has been overhyped in the past, and it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement around ChatGPT’s transformative potential. But this feels bigger: AI will be in the classroom one way or another. It’s vital that we get it right.

From ABC to GPT

Much of the early hype around ChatGPT was based on how good it is at test taking. In fact, this was a key point OpenAI touted when it rolled out GPT-4, the latest version of the large language model that powers the chatbot, in March. It could pass the bar exam! It scored a 1410 on the SAT! It aced the AP tests for biology, art history, environmental science, macroeconomics, psychology, US history, and more. Whew!

It’s little wonder that some school districts totally freaked out.

Yet in hindsight, the immediate calls to ban ChatGPT in schools were a dumb

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By: Will Douglas Heaven
Title: ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it
Sourced From: www.technologyreview.com/2023/04/06/1071059/chatgpt-change-not-destroy-education-openai/
Published Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2023 10:13:15 +0000

Did you miss our previous article…
https://mansbrand.com/high-quality-data-enables-medical-research/

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Motor

Cool Whip: HB-Custom’s crisp Suzuki DR650 scrambler

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suzuki dr650 scrambler

Suzuki DR650 scrambler by HB-Custom
If we had to use one word to describe the bikes that roll out of Holger Breuer’s workshop, it would be ‘crisp.’ Whether he’s building a bobber or a scrambler, the man behind HB-Custom has an eye for perfect proportions and liveries that pop. Even when he’s working with a tired old Suzuki dual-sport as a donor, Holger manages to make magic.

This 1994 Suzuki DR650 came to the HB-Custom workshop in Husum, Germany, all the way from Berlin. Holger’s client actually booked two bikes in at once; an old BMW boxer to turn into a bobber for solo rides, and the Suzuki, which was destined for around-town duties and the occasional two-up jaunt.

Suzuki DR650 scrambler by HB-Custom

The bike arrived as a rolling chassis with a very loose brief, so Holger envisioned a svelte scrambler for whipping through Berlin’s city streets. He’s built a number of handsome custom Honda Dominators, and figured that he could apply the same formula to the Suzuki DR650. And he was right.

But first, the Suzuki’s well-worn motor needed attention. Holger tore it down and rebuilt it, complete with new seals and gaskets and a fresh coat of paint. This engine might be almost three decades old, but it’s clean enough to eat off of.

Suzuki DR650 scrambler by HB-CustomRead More

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By: Wesley Reyneke
Title: Cool Whip: HB-Custom’s crisp Suzuki DR650 scrambler
Sourced From: www.bikeexif.com/suzuki-dr650-scrambler
Published Date: Wed, 24 May 2023 17:01:22 +0000

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