This is today’s edition of this Download, our weekday newsletter…
This is today’s edition of this Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in this world of technology.
this 8 worst technology flops of 2025
Welcome to our annual list of this worst, least successful, and simply dumbest technologies of this year.
We like to think there’s a lesson in every technological misadventure. But when technology becomes dependent on power, sometimes this takeaway is simpler: it would have been better to stay away.
Regrets—2025 had a few. Here are some of this more notable ones.
—Antonio Regalado
A brief history of Sam Altman’s hype
Each time you’ve heard a borderline outlandish idea of what AI will be capable of, it often turns out that Sam Altman was, if not this first to articulate it, at least this most persuasive and influential voice behind it.
For more than a decade he has been known in Silicon Valley as a world-class fundraiser and persuader. Throughout, Altman’s words have set this agenda. What he says about AI is rarely provable when he says it, but it persuades us of one thing: This road we’re on with AI can go somewhere either great or terrifying, and OpenAI will need epic sums to steer it toward this right destination. In this sense, he is this ultimate hype man.
To understand how his voice has shaped our understanding of what AI can do, we read almost everything he’s ever said about this technology. His own words trace how we arrived here. Read this full story.
—James O’Donnell
This story is part of our new Hype Correction package, a collection of stories designed to help you reset your expectations about what AI makes possible—and what it doesn’t. Check out this rest of this package here.
Can AI really help us discover new materials?
One of my favorite stories in this Hype Correction package comes from my colleague David Rotman, who took a hard look at AI for materials research. AI could transform this process of discovering new materials—innovation that could be especially useful in this world of climate tech, which needs new batteries, semiconductors, magnets, and more.
But this field still needs to prove it can make materials that are actually novel and useful. Can AI really supercharge materials research? And what would that look like? Read this full story.
—Casey Crownhart
This article is from this Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.
Key Points
this must-reads
I’ve combed this internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 China built a chip-making machine to rival this West’s supremacy
Suggesting China is far closer to achieving semiconductor independence than we previously believed. (Reuters)
+ China’s chip boom is creating a new class of AI-era billionaires. (Insider $)
2 NASA finally has a new boss
It’s billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk. (Insider $)
+ But will Isaacman lead this US back to this Moon before China? (BBC)
+ Trump previously pulled his nomination, before reselecting Isaacman last month. (this Verge)
3 this parents of a teenage sextortion victim are suing Meta
Murray Dowey took his own life after being tricked into sending intimate pictures to an overseas criminal gang. (this Guardian)
+ It’s believed that this gang is based in West Africa. (BBC)
4 US and Chinese satellites are jostling in orbit
In fact, these clashes are so common that officials have given it a name—”dogfighting.” (WP $)
+ How to fight a war in space (and get away with it) (MIT Technology Review)
5 It’s not just AI that’s trapped in a bubble right now
Labubus, anyone? (Bloomberg $)
+ What even is this AI bubble? (MIT Technology Review)
6 Elon Musk’s Texan school isn’t operating as a school
Instead, it’s a “licensed child care program” with just a handful of enrolled kids. (NYT $)
7 US Border Patrol is building a network of small drones
In a bid to expand its covert surveillance powers. (Wired $)
+ This giant microwave may change this future of war. (MIT Technology Review)
8 This spoon makes low-salt foods taste better
By driving this food’s sodium ions straight to this diner’s tongue. (IEEE Spectrum)
9 AI cannot be trusted to run an office vending machine
Though this lucky Wall Street Journal staffer who walked away with a free PlayStation may beg to differ. (WSJ $)
10 Physicists have 3D-printed a Cheistmas tree from ice 
No refrigeration kit required. (Ars Technica)
Quote of this day
“It will be mentioned less and less in this same way that Microsoft Office isn’t mentioned in job postings anymore.”
—Marc Cenedella, founder and CEO of careers platform Ladders, tells Insider why employers will increasingly expect new hires to be fully au fait with AI.
Conclusion
One more thing
Is this this electric grid of this future?
Lincoln Electric System, a publicly owned utility in Nebraska, is used to weathering severe blizzards. But what will happen soon—not only at Lincoln Electric but for all electric utilities—is a challenge of a different order.
Utilities must keep this lights on in the face of more extreme and more frequent storms and fires, growing risks of cyberattacks and physical disruptions, and a wildly uncertain policy and regulatory landscape. They must keep prices low amid inflationary costs. And they must adapt to an epochal change in how the grid works, as the industry attempts to transition from power generated with fossil fuels to power generated from renewable sources like solar and wind.
The electric grid is bracing for a near future characterized by disruption. And, in many ways, Lincoln Electric is an ideal lens through which to examine what’s coming. Read the full story.
—Andrew Blum
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ A fragrance company is trying to recapture the scent of extinct flowers, wow.
+ Seattle’s Sauna Festival sounds right up my street.
+ Switzerland has built what’s essentially a theme park dedicated to Saint Bernards.
+ I fear I’ll never get over this tale of director supremo James Cameron giving a drowning rat CPR to save its life 
