#6 The Weekend Download – Catching Up on What Matters
Essential insights you need to stay ahead
📩 Issue #6 – 29/03/2025
⚡ Quick Hits – What You Need to Know
📱 Signal surges in the US after Signalgate
The app saw its biggest U.S. download spike ever after the group chat scandal
🔗 Read More (Wired)
🛒 Amazon’s AI wants to shop with you
The company rolled out personalised shopping prompts powered by generative AI.
🔗 Read More (TechCrunch)
🌍 Nvidia builds an AI factory in Africa
In partnership with Kenya, Nvidia is opening a new AI hub in Nairobi — a major bet on African tech talent and a rebalancing of the global AI map.
🔗 Read More (Rest of World)
⚛️ JPMorgan’s quantum breakthrough
A new experiment with quantum computing generated truly random numbers — a big step for encryption, finance, and future tech.
🔗 Read More (Bloomberg)
🔥 Top Insights
🗳️ AI regulation gets political
Trump’s campaign is attacking Biden’s AI policies, calling them “anti-innovation.” Meanwhile, regulators scramble to keep up with the tech.
🔗 Read More (NYT)
🧠 New research could help us actually measure pain
A new study pinpoints how pain shows up in the brain — potentially reshaping treatment, empathy, and the way we talk about suffering.
🔗 Read More (Washington Post)
🔥 California’s first wildfire-resistant neighborhood
A community in Rancho Mirage is the first to be certified under new wildfire resilience standards. Expect more places to follow.
🔗 Read More (Fast Company)
📉 Are we getting dumber?
A fascinating (and slightly depressing) piece on how smartphone addiction and shrinking attention spans might be eroding global literacy.
🔗 ReadMore (Dazed)
📊 Numbers to Watch
📈 World Happiness Report 2025 drops
The new ranking shows Finland on top again — but deeper data tells a story of rising generational divides and social fragmentation.
🔗 Read More (World Happiness)
🚶♀️ Paris votes for more pedestrian streets
500 more streets in the French capital are going car-free, continuing a slow but steady march toward human-friendly cities.
🔗 Read More (Reuters)
🛤 The “European Tube” plan is here
An ambitious proposal to create a 32,000 km high-speed rail network across Europe by 2040 could reshape how the continent moves — and cuts emissions.
🔗 Read More (Euronews)
💡 Something to Think About
👥 Meta revives your friend feed
Facebook is adding a new “Friends” tab to actually show you posts from people you know — imagine that.
🔗 Read More (NYT)
💬 Should AI be your therapist... or your best friend?
A thought-provoking piece on the rise of chatbot relationships and the ethics of outsourcing connection.
🔗 Read More (Vox)
❤️ Your AI lover will change you
An essay on how AI companions — romantic or not — are shaping our inner lives and our understanding of intimacy.
🔗 Read More (The New Yorker)
🌀 Offbeat & Unexpected
🐘 India’s temples are using robot elephants
To reduce animal cruelty, some temples in Kerala are replacing real elephants with robotic ones — merging tradition with compassion and tech.
🔗 Watch (Mashable)
🎬 Blockbuster is (briefly) back in London
A Soho pop-up lets visitors rent DVDs again — part nostalgia, part performance art, part brand revival?
🔗 Read More (Evening Standard)
🍄 Colorado’s new psychedelic rules are here
The state just published guidelines for legal psychedelic therapy — a sign of how fast this space is becoming regulated, mainstream, and serious.
🔗 Read More (Undark)