The Download: climate tech under Trump, and scaling up quantum computing

14 hours ago admin

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. Three questions about the future of US climate tech under Trump Donald Trump has officially been in office for just over a week, and the new administration has already issued a blizzard of…

1 Trump advisers were blindsided by Elon Musk’s team’s offer to federal workers
Officials weren’t consulted about plans to induce civil service workers to resign. (WP $)
+ The radical sweeping measures are just the beginning. (Vox)
+ The email workers received cribs from Musk’s controversial Twitter memo. (Ars Technica)
+ If Musk gets his way, the US government could end up like X. (NY Mag $)

2 Meta has agreed to pay Trump $25 million
To settle the censorship lawsuit Trump brought against it back in 2021. (CNN)
+ Mark Zuckerberg predicts 2025 will be a big year for Meta’s government relations. (Insider $)+ Facebook is still focused on winning over creators to make it cool again. (The Information $)

3 How tech workers are quietly fighting the rise of MAGA
While their employers are shifting rightwards, workers are resisting. (NYT $)

4 Microsoft and Meta have defended their AI spending
DeepSeek’s success has raised serious questions about Big Tech’s AI budgets. (Reuters)
+ Zuckerberg claims not to be worried by the Chinese startup’s rapid rise. (The Verge)
+ How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Mr Beast is getting serious about buying TikTok
The YouTuber is a part of an investor group that’s secured more than $20 billion. (Bloomberg $)

6 How the US plans to use space lasers to destroy hypersonic missiles
It bears more than a passing resemblance to Ronald Reagan’s 1983 program. (FT $)
+ How to fight a war in space (and get away with it) (MIT Technology Review)

7 Waymo’s autonomous taxi service is expanding to new US cities
San Diego, Las Vegas, and Miami are on the list. (WSJ $)
+ Self-driving Tesla taxis will hit Austin’s road in June, apparently. (TechCrunch)
+ EV batteries boast an incredibly long lifespan. (IEEE Spectrum)

8 The perfect cryptographic machine is possible
It’s just a bit of a pain to build. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Cryptography may offer a solution to the massive AI-labeling problem. (MIT Technology Review)