Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending October 4, 2014)

Another chance to catch the most interesting, and important, articles from the previous week on MIT Technology Review.

October 3, 2014

Future Smartphones Won’t Need Cell Towers to Connect
Qualcomm, Facebook, and other tech companies are experimenting with technology that lets smartphones use their LTE radio to connect directly to other devices up to 500 meters away.
Google Execs Have Ideas on How to Run Your Business
The ex-CEO and another longtime Google executive say the “new style of managing” they developed should be widely copied.
Why the Shellshock Bug Is Worse than Heartbleed
We still don’t know how many systems are vulnerable to the Shellshock bug, but it is likely in the millions.
Cancer-Detecting Yogurt Could Replace Colonoscopies
Engineered yogurt bacteria could make detecting colorectal cancer and other diseases as simple as a pregnancy test.
Confessional in the Palm of Your Hand
Sure, people say some nasty things in anonymous apps, but the good far outweighs the bad.
A Promising Step Toward Round-the-Clock Solar Power
A simple, cheap device turns sunlight into hydrogen fuel.
What It Will Take for Computers to Be Conscious
The world’s best-known consciousness researcher says machines could one day become self-aware.

Exclusive conversations that take us behind the scenes of a cultural phenomenon.

For decades, coders wrote critical systems in C and C++. Now they turn to Rust.

New large language models will transform many jobs. Whether they will lead to widespread prosperity or not is up to us.

An approach that promised to democratize design may have done the opposite.

Illustration by Rose Wong

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