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.
The rise of Bluesky, and the splintering of social
You may have read that it was a big week for Bluesky. If you’re not familiar, Bluesky is, essentially, a Twitter clone that publishes short-form status updates. Last Wednesday, The Verge reported it had crossed 15 million users. It’s just ticked over 19 million now, and is the number one app in Apple’s app store.
Meanwhile, Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, reportedly signed up 15 million people in November alone. Both apps are surging in usage.
Many of these new users were seemingly fleeing X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in reaction to Elon Musk’s support of Donald Trump, and his moves to elevate right-leaning content on the platform. But there’s a deeper trend at play here. We’re seeing a long-term shift away from massive centralized social networks. Read the full story.
—Mat Honan
This story is from The Debrief, our newly-launched newsletter written by our editor-in-chief Mat Honan. It’s his weekly take on the real stories behind the biggest news in tech—with some links to stories we love and the occasional recommendation thrown in for good measure. Sign up to get it every Friday!
Why the term “women of childbearing age” is problematic
—Jessica Hamzelou
Every journalist has favorite topics. Mine include the quest to delay or reverse human aging, and new technologies for reproductive health and fertility. So when I saw trailers for The Substance, a film centered on one middle-aged woman’s attempt to reexperience youth, I had to watch it.
I won’t spoil the movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet (although I should warn that it is not for the squeamish). But a key premise of the film involves harmful attitudes toward female aging.
“Hey, did you know that a woman’s fertility starts to decrease by the age of 25?” a powerful male character asks early in the film. “At 50, it just stops,” he later adds. He never explains what stops, exactly, but to the viewer the message is pretty clear: If you’re a woman, your worth is tied to your fertility. Once your fertile window is over, so are you.
The insidious idea that women’s bodies are, above all else, vessels for growing children has plenty of negative consequences for us all. But it also sets back scientific research and health policy. Read Jess’s story to learn how.
This story is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Trump plans to loosen US rules for self-driving cars
No prizes for guessing who might be behind that idea. (Bloomberg $)
+ Elon Musk is ramping up his legal fight against OpenAI and Microsoft. (WSJ $)
+ Trump has appointed the FCC’s Brendan Carr to lead the agency. (NPR)
+ Robotaxis are here. It’s time to decide what to do about them. (MIT Technology Review)
2 How Bluesky is handling its explosive growth
It has just 20 employees, and they’re working round the clock to deal with bugs, outages and moderation issues. (NYT $)
+ Just joined Bluesky? Here’s how to use it. (The Verge)
+ How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Biden agreed to some small but significant AI limits with Xi Jinping
I think we can all get behind the idea that nuclear weapons should be exclusively controlled by humans. (Politico)
+ Biden has lifted a ban on Ukraine using long-raise missiles to strike inside Russia. (BBC)
4 Big Tech is trying to sink the US online child safety bill
And, as it stands, its lobbying efforts look very likely to succeed. (WSJ $)
5 Amazon has launched a rival to Temu and Shein
Nothing on ‘Haul’ costs more than $20. (BBC)
+ Welcome to the slop era of online shopping. (The Atlantic $)
6 The Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on Netflix was plagued by glitches
Despite that, 60 million households still tuned in. (Deadline)
7 AI models can work together faster in their own language
Linking different models together could help tackle thorny problems individual ones can’t solve. (New Scientist $)
8 Tech companies are training their AI on movie subtitles
A database called OpenSubtitles provides a rare glimpse into what goes into these systems. (The Atlantic $)
9 McDonald’s is trying to bring back NFTs
Remember those? (Gizmodo)
10 A lot of people are confusing Starlink satellites with UFOs
Guess it’ll take us a while for us to get used to seeing them. (Ars Technica)
Quote of the day
“F*** you, Elon Musk.”
—Brazil’s first lady, Janja Lula da Silva, makes her views clear during a speech calling for tougher social media regulation ahead of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Reuters reports.
The big story
Alina Chan tweeted life into the idea that the virus came from a lab
June 2021
Alina Chan started asking questions in March 2020. She was chatting with friends on Facebook about the virus then spreading out of China. She thought it was strange that no one had found any infected animal. She wondered why no one was admitting another possibility, which to her seemed very obvious: the outbreak might have been due to a lab accident.
Chan is a postdoc in a gene therapy lab at the Broad Institute, a prestigious research institute affiliated with both Harvard and MIT. Throughout 2020, Chan relentlessly stoked scientific argument, and wasn’t afraid to pit her brain against the best virologists in the world. Her persistence even helped change some researchers’ minds. Read the full story.
—Antonio Regalado
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Why Quincy Jones was the best of the best.
+ These handy apps are a great way to save articles to read later on (Pocket is my own personal favorite.)
+ How to resurrect a ghost river in the Bronx.
+ Look after your stainless steel pans, and your stainless steel pans will look after you.