Heya,
It's been a few weeks since I sent the last newsletter. Let me just say European winters are tough. We don't have ice and snow in the Australian town I grew up in, so I walk on ice like Godzilla in a hurry. This year, I managed to slip on some ice and break my ankle.
But, I am back and ready to go. This week, check out MIT's predictions for ten breakthrough technologies that will change our lives.
We've also got some great tools for remote working and inspiration for anyone looking to make a difference using their creative skills. In the lighthearted section, we have a random lyric generator and a social network where you're the only human surrounded by adoring bots.
Enjoy,
Chris
Bizarro Devs
📰 From the Newsroom
MIT's list of technological breakthroughs that will "truly change how we live and work". 🏗️
Way ahead of its time previous years have included data mining (in 2001), quantum cryptography (in 2003), and implantable electronics (in 2010).
Quantum is going to be huge this year with a Dutch team planning to connect four cities via a Quantum network. While other networks have been partially quantum-based, this will be the first end-to-end network.
Some big digital currency launches will put crypto back in the spotlight The People's Bank of China should launch their digital currency this year. Libra is also expected to launch this year but in a different form.
Anti-aging drugs are going to mature in the next five years now that human testing has started. Researchers are working on a variety of methods from blood transfusions to cellular removal.
technologyreview.com
Alphabet's X division will take Google's surveillance operation to the high seas. 🐟
What is X? The R&D department for Google parent company, Alphabet. Known as the "moonshot" division it was formed in 2010 to solve our biggest problems through the application of futuristic technologies. Notable alumni include Waymo, Wing, Loon, and Google Brain.
What's the new project about? The ocean project, Tidal, will track and log the behavior of fish to collect feeding information, temperature, and oxygen levels in order to keep the ocean's healthy.
How will it work? With a network of underwater cameras and machine perception tools to watch and analyze fish behavior that we'd otherwise miss. The initial plan is to offer the information to fish farmers to help them manage their farms. Eventually, the plan is to expand the project into other areas of ocean health.
venturebeat.com
The Verge has released the results from their latest Tech Trust Survey. 🤗
The big winner was Amazon which finished in the top two for favorable opinions, impact on society, trust with personal information, and desirability.
The big loser was Twitter which finished at the bottom for trust, use-value, societal impact, and favorability. These numbers suggest that Elliott Management has a few good reasons for wanting to oust Jack Dorsey.
The biggest surprise was Google's domination of the results. It seems that people still love Google despite their leadership of the user surveillance space.
The big takeaway is that this nationally representative suggests people still hold most tech companies in high regard. The tech giants like Amazon, Google, YouTube, Microsoft, and Apple all had favorability ratings over 80% while social media companies like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter were between 61% and 72%.
theverge.com
🕸️ The Cool Side of the Web
Ten Must Read Links
- A couple of heroes algorithmically generated every possible melody and released them to the public domain.
- Now try and find a melody for this lyric: "If I go to Texas I want to make love to your corn rice". It was generated by this AI-powered lyric generator.
- A story about Botnet the social media network populated by you and adoring bots. You can find the app here.
- Beautiful Dingbats bring you a pattern generator. You can download your royalty-free patterns as SVG, JPEG, or PNG.
- How many hours a day do you spend scrolling through Netflix? This generator will pick a random film for you.
- My broken ankle meant that I didn't get to share this one about the Creative Changemakers event held in London. If you are looking for ways to use your creative skills in socially valuable projects, then this article will inspire you.
- Again, my ankle meant I missed out on a lot of WordPress news in February. This is all the important stuff in one place.
- Take some time and read about the awful things one Silicon Valley office manager has to live with. Once you reach a certain age, dumping dishes in the sink is a disorder.
- Working from home can actually be pretty tough. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus has left many of us without an option. These 330 tools will help you make the adjustment.
- It was actually pretty difficult to track Open Peeps down but the funky illustrations were definitely worth the trouble.