Recommended Computing Reads This Week
Hacked Toymaker VTech Admits Breach Actually Hit 6.3 Million Children
Vice’s discovery that a Hong Kong company that makes a popular cheap tablet for kids had been hacked suggests that toys that connect to the Internet could have considerable downsides.
Why Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Spend on Personalized Learning
In the letter announcing that he would give away most of his fortune this week, “personalized learning” was the first thing the Facebook CEO said he would spend it on. Evidence that the technology can help educational outcomes is so far unclear, though.
How to Sell or Recycle Old Electronics
The New York Times reviews programs that will take outdated gadgets off your hands, assuaging your conscience and sometimes earning you a few dollars at the same time.
Can an English Teacher Learn to Code?
New York’s mayor Bill de Blasio wants every kid in public school to be taught computer science. The New Yorker attends a class for teachers learning what programming is for the first time.
How Corporate America Keeps Huge Hacks Secret
CNN describes how U.S. law allows power companies, banks, and industrial plants to keep it a secret when hackers gain access to their systems. Experts say that keeping the details of such incidents under wraps forever limits our understanding of the problem and efforts to contain it.
Keep Reading
Most Popular

Meta has built a massive new language AI—and it’s giving it away for free
Facebook’s parent company is inviting researchers to pore over and pick apart the flaws in its version of GPT-3

The gene-edited pig heart given to a dying patient was infected with a pig virus
The first transplant of a genetically-modified pig heart into a human may have ended prematurely because of a well-known—and avoidable—risk.

Saudi Arabia plans to spend $1 billion a year discovering treatments to slow aging
The oil kingdom fears that its population is aging at an accelerated rate and hopes to test drugs to reverse the problem. First up might be the diabetes drug metformin.

Yann LeCun has a bold new vision for the future of AI
One of the godfathers of deep learning pulls together old ideas to sketch out a fresh path for AI, but raises as many questions as he answers.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.