A one-volume roundup of the work of The Master of Suspense collects decades of plot twists, deceptive doubles andof coursemurders.

Andrew Cunningham and Lee Hutchinson have spent decades of their lives with Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's Wheel of Time books, and they previously brought that knowledge to bear as they recapped each first season episode and second season episode of Amazon's WoT TV series. Now we're back in the saddle for season 3along with insights, jokes, and the occasional wild theory.These recaps won't cover every element of every episode, but they will contain major spoilers for the show and the book series. We'll do our best to not spoil major future events from the books, but there's always the danger that something might slip out. If you want to stay completely unspoiled and haven't read the books, these recaps aren't for you.New episodes of The Wheel of Time season three will be posted for Amazon Prime subscribers every Thursday. This write-up covers episode five, "Tel'Aran'Rhiod," which was released on March 27.Andrew: Three seasons in I think we have discerned a pattern to the Wheel of Time's portrayal of the Pattern: a mid-season peak in episode four, followed by a handful of more table-setting-y episodes that run up to a big finale. And so it is in Tel'aran'rhiod, which is a not-entirely-unwelcome slowdown after last week's intense character-defining journey into Rhuidean.The show introduces or expands a bunch of book plotlines as it hops between perspectives this week. Which are you the most interested in picking apart, Lee? Anything the show is tending to here that you wish we were skipping? "Let it go, let it goooooo..." A Sea Folk Windfinder, doing her thing. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios "Let it go, let it goooooo..." A Sea Folk Windfinder, doing her thing. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Lee: Yes, this was a good old-fashioned move-the-pieces-into-place episode, and you gotta have at least one or two of those. I think, if I were coming into this having not read the books, the most puzzling bits might have been whats going on in the White Tower this episode, with the who-is-the-darkfriend hide-n-seek game the Aes Sedai are playing. And it turns out that in spite of the Sisters best attempts at a fake-out, Shohreh Aghdashloos Elaida is in fact not it. (And Elaida gets the crap stabbed out of her by another Gray Man for her troubles, too. Ouch. Fortunately, healing is nearby. Nobody has to die in this show unless the plot really demands it.)I was a little taken aback at the casualness with which Elaida takes livesher execution of Black Ajah sister Amico Nagoyin was pretty off-handed. I dont recall her being quite that blas about death in the books, but it has been a while. Regardless, while shes not capital-E EEEEEVIL, shes clearly not a good person.We do get our first glimpse of the Sea Folk, though it felt a bit ham-fistedlike they spent both more time than they needed to tee them up, and much less time than was needed to actually establish WTF this new group of people is. (Though I guess the name Sea Folk is pretty explanatoryit does what it says on the tin, as it were.) My eyes see Elaida Sedai, but my ears and heart hear Chrisjen Avasarala saying "Sometimes I fing hate being right." My eyes see Elaida Sedai, but my ears and heart hear Chrisjen Avasarala saying "Sometimes I fing hate being right." Andrew: Our first glimpse of show-Elaida is an advisor to a new queen who casually murders her former political opponents, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that she just straight-up executes someone she thinks is of no further use. The show is also happy to just quickly kill tertiary or... sextiary (??) characters to streamline the story. There are lots of those to go around in the books.There's a lot of Aiel and Sea Folk stuff where the show is just kind of asking you to take things at face value, even if book-readers are aware of more depth. One of the big running plotlines in the book is that the White Tower has weakened itself by being too doctrinaire about the way it absorbs the channelers of other cultures, totally taking them away from their families and societies and subjecting them to all kinds of weird inflexible discipline. This is why there are so many Aiel and Sea Folk channelers running around that the White Tower doesn't know about, and the show has nodded toward it but hasn't had a lot of room to communicate the significance of it.Lee: Thats a point that Alanna Sedai comments on in this episode, and the reason shes in the Two Rivers: The Tower has been too selective, too closed-minded, andsomewhat ironicallytoo parochial in its approach to accepting and training channelers. Further, theres some worry that by spending thousands of years finding and gentling (or executing) male channelers, humanity has begun to self-select channeling out of the gene pool.This doesnt seem to be the case, though, as we see by the sheer number of channelers popping up everywhere, and Alannas hypothesis proves correct: the old blood of Manetheren runs true and strong, spilling out in taveren and channelers and other pattern-twisting craziness all over the place.Alanna has her own challenges to face, but first, I want to hear your take on the Aiel in this post-Rhuidean episode, and especially of Cold Rocks Holda place that I know a subset of fans have been imagining for decades. What did you think? Alanna Sedai's intuition is right on the money. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Alanna Sedai's intuition is right on the money. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Andrew: Rocks! It's all rocks. Which makes sense for a desert, I suppose.The show does a solid job of showing us what day-to-day Aiel society looks like through just a handful of characters, including Rhuarc's other wife Lian and his granddaughter Alsera. It's an economy of storytelling that is forced upon the show by budget and low episode count but usually you don't feel it.We're also getting our very first look at the awe and discomfort that Rand is going to inspire, as the prophesied Aiel chief-of-chiefs. Clan leaders are already telling tales of him to their children. But not everyone is going to have an easy time accepting him, something we'll probably start to pick apart in future episodes.Alanna is definitely in the running for my favorite overhauled show character. She's visible from very early on as a background character and loose ally of the Two Rivers crew in the books, but the show is giving her more of a personality and a purpose, and a wider view than Book-Alanna (who was usually sulking somewhere about her inability to take any of the Two Rivers boys as a Warder, if memory serves). In the show she and her Warder Maksim are fleshed-out characters who are dealing with their relationship and the Last Battle in their own way, and it's fun to get something unexpected and new in amongst all of the "how are they going to portray Book Event X" stuff.Lee: Book-Alanna by this point has made some... lets call them questionable choices, and her reworking into someone a bit less deserving of being grabbed by the throat and choked is excellent. (Another character with a similar reworking is Faile, who so far I actually quite like and do not at all want to throttle!)I think youve hit upon the main overarching change from the books, bigger than all other changes: The show has made an effort to make these characters into people with relatable problems, rather than a pack of ill-tempered, nuance-deaf ding-dongs who make bad choices and then have to dig themselves out.Well, except maybe for Elayne. I do still kind of want to shake her a bit. Hey, it's Faile, and I don't hate her! Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Hey, it's Faile, and I don't hate her! Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Andrew: Yes! But with show-Elayne at least you get the sense that a bit of her showy know-it-all-ness is being played up on purpose. And she is right to be studying up on their destination and trying to respect the agreement they made with the Sea Folk when they came on board. She's just right in a way that makes you wish she wasn't, a personality type I think we've all run into at least once or twice in our own lives.In terms of Big Book Things that are happening, let's talk about Egwene briefly. Obviously she's beginning to hone her skills in the World of DreamsTel'aran'rhiod, which gives the episode its nameand she's already using it to facilitate faster communication between far-flung characters and to check in on her friends. Two other, minor things: We're starting to see Rand and Egwene drift apart romantically, something the books had already dispensed with by this point. And this was the first time I noted an Aiel referring to her as "Egwene Sedai." I assume this has already happened and this is just the first time I've noticed, but Egwene/Nynaeve/Elayne playing at being full Aes Sedai despite not being is a plot thread the books pull at a lot here in the middle of the series.Lee: Right, I seem to remember the dissembling about Egwenes Sedai-ishness resulting in some kind of extended spanking session, that being the punishment the Book Wise Ones (and the Book Aes Sedai) were most likely to hand out. I think the characters pretending to be full Sisters and all the wacky hijinks that ensue are being dispensed with, and I am pretty okay with that. The Sea Folk wear tops! Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios The Sea Folk wear tops! Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Andrew: That's the thing, I'm not sure the characters pretending to be full Sisters is being dispensed with. The show's just dropping breadcrumbs so that they're there later, if/when they want to make a Big Deal out of them. We'll see whether they make the time or not.Lee: Regardless, Eggys growth into a dream-walker is fortunately not being dispensed with, and as in the books, she does a lot of things shes not supposed to do (or at least not until shes got more than a single afternoons worth of dreamwalker training under her belt). She sort of heeds the Wise Ones directive to stay out of Telaranrhiod and instead just skips around between her various friends dreams, before finally landing in Rands, where she finds him having sexytimes with, uh oh, an actual-for-real Forsaken. Perhaps this is why one shouldnt just barge into someones dreams uninvited!And on the subject of dreamsor at least visionsI think wed be remiss if we didnt check in on the continuing bro-adventures of Min and Mat (which my cousin described as a lesbian and her gay best friend hanging out, and its unclear which is which). The show once again takes the opportunity to remind us of Mins visionsespecially the one of Mat being hanged. Foreshadowing! The buddy comedy we didn't know we needed. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios The buddy comedy we didn't know we needed. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Andrew: Honestly of all the plotlines going on right now I'm the most curious to see how Elayne/Nynaeve/Mat/Min get along in Tanchico, just because these characters have gotten so many minor little tweaks that I find interesting. Mat and Min are more friendly, and their plots are more intertwined in the show than they were in the books, and having a version of Nynaeve and a version of Mat that don't openly dislike each other has a lot of fun story potential for me.I am a little worried that we only have three episodes left, since we've got the party split up into four or five groups, and most of those groups already have little sub-groups inside of them who are doing their own thing. I do trust the show a lot at this point, but the splitting and re-splitting of plotlines is what eventually gets the books stuck in the mud, and we've already seen that dynamic play out on TV in, say, mid-to-late-series Game of Thrones. I just hope we can keep things snappy without making the show totally overwhelming, as it is already in danger of being sometimes. There are constant reminders that Mat may be heading toward a dark fate. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios There are constant reminders that Mat may be heading toward a dark fate. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Lee: I seem to remember the time in Tanchico stretching across several books, though I may be getting that mixed up with whatever the hell the characters do in Far Madding much later (thats not really a spoiler, I dont thinkits just the name of another city-state where readers are forced to spend an interminable amount of time). Im reasonably sure our crew will find what they need to find in Tanchico by seasons end, at leastand, if it follows the books, thingsll get a little spicy.Lets seefor closing points, the one I had on my notepad that I wanted to hit was that for me, this episode reinforces that this show is at its best when it focuses on its characters and lets them work. Episode four with Rhuidean was a rare epic hit; most of the times the show has attempted to reach for grandeur or epic-ness, it has missed. The cinematography falls flat, or the sets look like styrofoam and carelessness, or the editing fails to present a coherent through-line for the action, or the writing whiffs it. But up close, locked in a ship or sitting on a mountainside or hanging out in a blacksmiths dream, the actors know what theyre doing, and they have begun consistently delivering.Andrew: There are a whole lot of "the crew spends a bunch of time in a city you've never seen before, accomplishing little-to-nothing" plotlines I think you're conflating. Tanchico is a Book 4 thing, and it's also mostly resolved in Book 4; the interminable one you are probably thinking of is Ebou Dar, where characters spend three or four increasingly tedious books. Far Madding is later and at least has the benefit of being brief-ish. Perrin dreams of peaceful timesand of hanging out with Hopper! Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Perrin dreams of peaceful timesand of hanging out with Hopper! Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Lee: Ahhh, yes, you are absolutely correct! My Randland mental map is a bit tattered these days. So many city-states. So many flags. So many import and export crops to keep track of.Andrew: But yes I agree that there's usually at least something that goes a bit goofy when the show attempts spectacle. The big battle that ended the first season is probably the most egregious example, but I also remember the Horn of Valere moment in the season 2 finale as looking "uh fine I guess." But the talking parts are good! The smaller fights, including the cool Alanna-Whitecloak stuff we get in this episode, are all compelling. There's some crowd-fight stuff coming in the next few episodes, if we stick to Book 4 as our source material, so we'll see what the show does and doesn't manage to pull off.But in terms of this episode, I don't have much more to say. We're scooting pieces around the board in service of larger confrontations later on. It remains a very dense show, which is what I think will keep it from ever achieving a Game of Thrones level of cultural currency. But I'm still having fun. Anything else you want to highlight? Shoes you're waiting to drop? Egwene, entering the "finding out" phase of her ill-advised nighttime adventures. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Egwene, entering the "finding out" phase of her ill-advised nighttime adventures. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Lee: Almost all of the books (at least in the front half of the series, before the Slog) tend to end in a giant spectacle of some sort, and I think I can see which spectacleor spectacles, pluralwe're angling at for this one. The situation in the Two Rivers is clearly barreling toward violence, and Rand's got them dragons on his sleeves. I'd say buckle up, folks, because my bet is we're about to hit the gas.Until next week, dear readersbeware the shadows, and guard yourselves. I hear Lanfear walks the dream world this night. Credit: WoT Wiki

Placating EU will go easy with Apple, Facebook punishment to avoid Trumps wrath Lawbreaking under DMA to be punishedbut not too severely. Barbara Moens and Henry Foy, Financial Times Mar 28, 2025 8:45 am | 35 Credit: Getty Images | BeeBright Credit: Getty Images | BeeBright Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe EU is set to impose minimal fines on Apple and Facebook-owner Meta next week under its Digital Markets Act, as Brussels seeks to avoid escalating tensions with US President Donald Trump.According to people familiar with the decisions, the iPhone maker is expected to be fined and ordered to revise its App Store rules, following an investigation into whether they prevent app developers from sending consumers to offers outside its platform.Regulators will also close another investigation into Apple, which was focused on the companys design of its web browser choice screen without any further sanctions.Meta will also be fined and ordered to change its pay or consent model, which forces users to either consent to data tracking or pay a subscription fee for an ad-free experience of its products.Under the DMA, companies can face penalties of up to 10 percent of their global turnover, which could result in billions of dollars for both companies.But the European Commission is aiming for fines that fall far below that threshold, three officials said, as the blocs digital rule book is relatively new and the decisions could still be challenged in court.The moves come as Brussels attempts to enforce the DMA, which was designed to curb tech giants dominance of the digital marketplace, while avoiding a direct clash with Washington.The focus of the new commission, which took office in December, is also more on the compliance of Big Tech companies with the law than on potential high fines in the billions of Euros, officials said.Brussels regulators are set to drop a case about whether Apples operating system discourages users from switching browsers or search engines, after Apple made a series of changes in an effort to comply with the blocs rules.Levying any form of fines on American tech companies risks a backlash, however, as Trump has directly attacked EU penalties on American companies, calling them a form of taxation, while comparing fines on tech companies with overseas extortion.This is a crucial test for the commission, a person from one of the affected companies said. Further targeting US tech firms will heighten transatlantic tensions and provoke retaliatory actions and, ultimately, its member states and European businesses that will bear the cost.The US president has warned of imposing tariffs on countries that levy digital services taxes against American companies.According to a memo released last month, Trump said he would look into taxes and regulations or policies that inhibit the growth of American corporations operating abroad.Meta has previously said that its changes meet EU regulator demands and go beyond whats required by EU law.The planned decisions, which the officials said could still change before they are made public, are set to be presented to representatives of the EUs 27 member states on Friday. An announcement on the fines is set for next week, although that timing could also still change.The commission declined to comment. 2025 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.Barbara Moens and Henry Foy, Financial TimesBarbara Moens and Henry Foy, Financial Times 35 Comments

Dave Link, CEO, ScienceLogicMarch 28, 20254 Min ReadMopic via Adobe StockA hallmark of successful innovation is when organizations get good enough at solving todays challenges that theyre able to focus on future technology investments and use cases. When the forecasting becomes long-term, we get into the realm of futureproofing, where CIOs and their teams weigh specific near-term IT choices and investments to support far-off leapfrog innovation objectives.Futureproofing in the age of AI adds a layer of uncertainty when it comes to planning for fast-evolving capabilities and use cases that may not exist yet. However, enterprises can gain confidence in future-proofing AI by rethinking how they gather and organize the underlying data that feeds AI.Futureproofing for the UnknownIT innovation is about meeting current enterprise needs while also expanding whats possible to achieve through technology in the future. Previously, futureproofing entailed keeping licenses up to date, anticipating software upgrades or end of life issues, and adding infrastructure to meet planned new capacity demands.Now, AIs autonomous and scalable nature is transforming these future innovation strategies. The same self-learning algorithms and auto-resolution schema that allow humans to step back and let AI make more decisions and autonomous insights are also complicating predictions for where AI should be taken, or be allowed to take itself, into the future.Related:Think of future-proofing AI as a spin on the DevOps principle of designing for the unknown, in which developers design applications with the hopes that they will remain interoperable with future technologies. Today, it has become a issue of futureproofing for the unknown, given the highly autonomous nature of AI and the endless possibilities for new use cases.The more we understand this constantly evolving nature of AI -- a market poised to realize a compound annual growth rate of 37.3% through 2030 -- the more we grasp how future-proofing has less to do with the programming and licensing level, and more to do with the data and infrastructure level. Software has evolved from an application-centric to a data-centric design, with data becoming a foundational input for application development.Supporting AI Evolution Through Extensibility at the Data LayerThe irony of future-proofing AI is that supporting its long-term growth requires precise, immediate IT adjustments. CIOs, CTOs and other technology leaders must ensure their teams are covering essential bases at the data layer to ensure flexibility. It's what we call extensibility to accommodate new and potentially unforeseen use cases for AI.Related:Achieving extensibility begins with ensuring consistent data standards and availability at all times. To innovate and grow, AI systems need unfettered access to databases and sources, requiring consistent standards and metadata across different systems for reliability. Furthermore, data should be secured with dynamic authentication protocols that facilitate smooth and safe access.Particularly for AI, its essential to add proper business context to data without over-formatting it. This is ultimately the most critical balance to strike in future-proofing AI: The just right amount of data cleansing and formatting can position data for broad reuse as AI systems innovate. Too little formatting leaves the datas relevance indecipherable; too much formatting and the data becomes too rigid for AI to leverage for novel applications.Unsurprisingly, human analysts have historically managed this nuanced balance. However, recent developments in unsupervised AI have unlocked algorithms that can now analyze unlabeled data to derive emerging structure and patterns.Leveraging New Capabilities and Use CasesGiven that 90% of data generated by organizations today falls firmly within the unstructured category, proper extensibility at the data layer that incorporates both structured and unstructured data for AI processes can drive powerful new applications in the enterprise.Related:For instance, generative AI can now automate many IT operations functions, creating an educated and context-aware support tool that redefines the status quo of what's typically expected from an AI advisor. This is possible thanks to data pipelines that rapidly pull in structured and unstructured data sources and render them into a highly usable framework for GenAI to independently manage configuration analytics, bug reports, knowledge base resolves, standard operating procedures, and service-level agreements.Another example, AI-powered digital twins can harmonize structured and unstructured data together to model the behavior of new infrastructure and systems before theyre built. This allows teams to proactively manage operational issues such as limiting process interruptions and minimizing downtime in a power utility.Future-proofing AI starts with future-proofing AI data. While the finer details can be left to team specialists, C-suite tech leaders must grasp the importance of data extensibility efforts, as successful implementation ensures AI's future.When organizations modernize their data architectures with AI innovation in mind, they lay the foundation for new capabilities and use cases to flourish. And given that most enterprises keep their data archived for at least seven years to align with federal compliance standards, this foundation is constantly expanding. The sooner organizations streamline data management for AI, the faster they can future-proof investments and unlock new value.As AI levels the playing field, the software and technology ecosystem evolve rapidly, only scratching the surface of its transformative potential. These shifts are disrupting traditional boundaries, and the race for unique innovations is unfolding in real time.About the AuthorDave LinkCEO, ScienceLogicA technology advocate committed to innovative IT management solutions that leapfrog paradigms and optimize business outcomes, David Link is founder and CEO at ScienceLogic, a global leader in automated IT operations and observability. Throughout his career, Dave has worked to solve the pressing problems facing IT organizations delivering smarter and more targeted IT management tools to the market. Leveraging market transitions in cloud, AI, and analytics, he continues to scale ScienceLogic with a laser focus on customer success. His proven leadership integrating technology, product, and business model shifts has been instrumental to the company's consistent growth and leadership presence.See more from Dave LinkReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

Nations that emit the most greenhouse gases would have the most responsibility for overshooting the 1.5C goalschankz/ShutterstockEach country should be held responsible for how much it is to blame when the world overshoots the 1.5C warming limit by assigning a net-zero carbon debt if it has pumped out more than its fair share of emissions, a team of climate scientists is proposing.The aim is to encourage those with greater responsibility for the overshoot to make amends by, say, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or helping other countries reach net-zero faster.

Stop me if youve heard this one before: A tech company accumulates a ton of user data, hoping to figure out a business model later. That business model never arrives, the company goes under, and the data is in the wind. The latest version of that story emerged on March 24, when the onetime genetic testing darling 23andMe filed for bankruptcy. Now the fate of 15 million peoples genetic data rests in the hands of a bankruptcy judge.hearing on March 26, the judge gave 23andMe permission to seek offers for its users data. But, theres still a small chance of writing a better ending for users. After the bankruptcy filing, the immediate take from policymakers and privacy advocates was that 23andMe users should delete their accounts to prevent genetic data from falling into the wrong hands. Thats good advice for the individual user (and you can read how to do so here). But the reality is most people wont do it. Maybe they wont see the recommendations to do so. Maybe they dont know why they should be worried. Maybe they have long since abandoned an account that they dont even remember exists. Or maybe theyre just occupied with the chaos of everyday life. This means the real value of this data comes from the fact that people have forgotten about it. Given 23andMes meager revenuefewer than 4% of people who took tests pay for subscriptionsit seems inevitable that the new owner, whoever it is, will have to find some new way to monetize that data. This is a terrible deal for users who just wanted to learn a little more about themselves or their ancestry. Because genetic data is forever. Contact information can go stale over time: you can always change your password, your email, your phone number, or even your address. But a bad actor who has your genetic datawhether a cybercriminal selling it to the highest bidder, a company building a profile of your future health risk, or a government trying to identify youwill have it tomorrow and the next day and all the days after that. Users with exposed genetic data are not only vulnerable to harm today; theyre vulnerable to exploits that might be developed in the future. While 23andMe promises that it will not voluntarily share data with insurance providers, employers, or public databases, its new owner could unwind those promises at any time with a simple change in terms. In other words: If a bankruptcy court makes a mistake authorizing the sale of 23andMes user data, that mistake is likely permanent and irreparable. All this is possible because American lawmakers have neglected to meaningfully engage with digital privacy for nearly a quarter-century. As a result, services are incentivized to make flimsy, deceptive promises that can be abandoned at a moments notice. And the burden falls on users to keep track of it all, or just give up. Here, a simple fix would be to reverse that burden. A bankruptcy court could require that users individually opt in before their genetic data can be transferred to 23andMes new owners, regardless of who those new owners are. Anyone who didnt respond or who opted out would have the data deleted. Bankruptcy proceedings involving personal data dont have to end badly. In 2000, the Federal Trade Commission settled with the bankrupt retailer ToySmart to ensure that its customer data could not be sold as a stand-alone asset, and that customers would have to affirmatively consent to unexpected new uses of their data. And in 2015, the FTC intervened in the bankruptcy of RadioShack to ensure that it would keep its promises never to sell the personal data of its customers. (RadioShack eventually agreed to destroy it.) The ToySmart case also gave rise to the role of the consumer privacy ombudsman. Bankruptcy judges can appoint an ombuds to help the court consider how the sale of personal data might affect the bankruptcy estate, examining the potential harms or benefits to consumers and any alternatives that might mitigate those harms. The U.S. Trustee has requested the appointment of an ombuds in this case. While scholars have called for the role to have more teeth and for the FTC and states to intervene more often, a framework for protecting personal data in bankruptcy is available. And ultimately, the bankruptcy judge has broad power to make decisions about how (or whether) property in bankruptcy is sold. Here, 23andMe has a more permissive privacy policy than ToySmart or RadioShack. But the risks incurred if genetic data falls into the wrong hands or is misused are severe and irreversible. And given 23andMes failure to build a viable business model from testing kits, it seems likely that a new business would use genetic data in ways that users wouldnt expect or want. An opt-in requirement for genetic data solves this problem. Genetic data (and other sensitive data) could be held by the bankruptcy trustee and released as individual users gave their consent. If users failed to opt in after a period of time, the remaining data would be deleted. This would incentivize 23andMes new owners to earn user trust and build a business that delivers value to users, instead of finding unexpected ways to exploit their data. And it would impose virtually no burden on the people whose genetic data is at risk: after all, they have plenty more DNA to spare. Consider the alternative. Before 23andMe went into bankruptcy, its then-CEO made two failed attempts to buy it, at reported valuations of $74.7 million and $12.1 million. Using the higher offer, and with 15 million users, that works out to a little under $5 per user. Is it really worth it to permanently risk a persons genetic privacy just to add a few dollars in value to the bankruptcy estate? Of course, this raises a bigger question: Why should anyone be able to buy the genetic data of millions of Americans in a bankruptcy proceeding? The answer is simple: Lawmakers allow them to. Federal and state inaction allows companies to dissolve promises about protecting Americans most sensitive data at a moments notice. When 23andMe was founded, in 2006, the promise was that personalized health care was around the corner. Today, 18 years later, that era may really be almost here. But with privacy laws like ours, who would trust it? Keith Porcaro is the Rueben Everett Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law School.

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Anthropic can now track the bizarre inner workings of a large language model The news: The AI firm Anthropic has developed a way to peer inside a large language model and watch what it does as it comes up with a response, revealing key new insights into how the technology works. The takeaway: LLMs are even stranger than we thought.Why it matters: Its no secret that large language models work in mysterious ways. Shedding some light on how they work would expose their weaknesses, revealing why they make stuff up and can be tricked into going off the rails. It would help resolve deep disputes about exactly what these models can and cant do. And it would show how trustworthy (or not) they really are. Read the full story. Will Douglas Heaven What is Signal? The messaging app, explained. With the recent news that the Atlantics editor in chief was accidentally added to a group Signal chat for American leaders planning a bombing in Yemen, many people are wondering: What is Signal? Is it secure? If government officials arent supposed to use it for military planning, does that mean I shouldnt use it either? The answer is: Yes, you should use Signal, but government officials having top-secret conversations shouldnt use Signal.Read the full story to find out why.Jack Cushman This story is part of our MIT Technology Review Explains series, in which our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what's coming next. You can read more of them here. Spare living human bodies might provide us with organs for transplantation Jessica Hamzelou This week, MIT Technology Review published a piece on bodyoidsliving bodies that cannot think or feel pain. In the piece, a trio of scientists argue that advances in biotechnology will soon allow us to create spare human bodies that could be used for research, or to provide organs for donation. If you find your skin crawling at this point, youre not the only one. Its a creepy idea, straight from the more horrible corners of science fiction. But bodyoids could be used for good. And if they are truly unaware and unable to think, the use of bodyoids wouldnt cross most peoples ethical lines, the authors argue. Im not so sure. Read the full story. This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Reviews weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 A judge has ordered Trumps officials to preserve their secret Signal chat While officials are required by law to keep chats detailing government business, Signals messages can be set to auto-disappear. (USA Today)+ The conversation detailed an imminent attack against Houthi rebels in Yemen. (The Hill)+ A government accountability group has sued the agencies involved. (Reuters)+ The officials involved in the chat appear to have public Venmo accounts. (Wired $)2 The White House is prepared to cut up to 50% of agency staff But the final cuts could end up exceeding even that. (WP $)+ The sweeping cuts could threaten vital US statistics, too. (FT $)+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? Its complex. (MIT Technology Review)3 OpenAI is struggling to keep up with demand for ChatGPT's image generation The fervor around its Studio Ghibli pictures has sent its GPUs into overdrive. (The Verge)+ Ghiblis founder is no fan of AI art. (404 Media)+ Four ways to protect your art from AI. (MIT Technology Review)4 Facebook is pivoting back towards friends and family Less news, fewer posts from people you dont know. (NYT $)+ A new tab shows purely updates from friends, with no other recommendations. (Insider $)A specialized powerhouse for AI computing, to be precise. (5 Africa is set to build its first AI factoryRest of World)+ What Africa needs to do to become a major AI player. (MIT Technology Review)Including clips of the doctored voices of well-known journalists. (6 A TikTok network spread Spanish-language immigration misinformationNBC News)7 Your TV is desperate for your dataStreamers are scrambling around for new ways to make money off the information they gather on you. (Vox) 8 This startup extracts rare earth oxides from industrial magnets Its a less intrusive way of accessing minerals vital to EV and wind turbine production. (FT $) + The race to produce rare earth elements. (MIT Technology Review)9 NASA hopes to launch its next Starliner flight as soon as later this year After its latest mission stretched from a projected eight days to nine months. (Reuters)+ Europe is finally getting serious about commercial rockets. (MIT Technology Review) 10 The Sims has been the worlds favorite life simulation game for 25 years But a new Korean game is both more realistic and multicultural. (Bloomberg $)Quote of the day Its like, can you tell the difference between a person and a person-shaped sock puppet that is holding up a sign saying, I am a sock puppet? Laura Edelson, a computer science professor at Northeastern University, is skeptical about brands abilities to ensure their ads are being shown to real humans and not bots, she tells the Wall Street Journal. The big story The race to fix space-weather forecasting before next big solar storm hits April 2024 As the number of satellites in space grows, and as we rely on them for increasing numbers of vital tasks on Earth, the need to better predict stormy space weather is becoming more and more urgent.Scientists have long known that solar activity can change the density of the upper atmosphere. But its incredibly difficult to precisely predict the sorts of density changes that a given amount of solar activity would produce.Now, experts are working on a model of the upper atmosphere to help scientists to improve their models of how solar activity affects the environment in low Earth orbit. If they succeed, theyll be able to keep satellites safe even amid turbulent space weather, reducing the risk of potentially catastrophic orbital collisions. Read the full story.Tereza Pultarova 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.) + This is very coola nearly-infinite virtual museum entirely generated from Wikipedia.+ How to let go of that grudge youve been harboring (you know the one)+ If your social media feeds have been plagued by hot men making bad art, youre not alone.+ Its Friday, so enjoy this 1992 recording of a very fresh-faced Pearl Jam.

Artur Widak/NurPhoto 2025-03-28T14:33:31Z SaveSaved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Business Insider spoke to three Florida men on how they felt owning Teslas.A Cybertruck owner shared how his cherry-red truck was vandalized four different times.An acupuncturist bought his Tesla used because the electric car was prohibitively expensive.It's not easy being a Tesla owner right now.When Tesla's Model S the company's second car and longest-produced model began shipping in 2012, its earliest drivers were generally seen as progressive, environmentally minded, and technologically savvy.Fast forward 13 years and Tesla drivers are getting flipped off and being called Nazis. Their electric cars are being pelted with eggs, decorated with shaving cream, or worse, spray paint. Dealerships and charging stations have become the site of protests, vandalism, and even arson.As Elon Musk continues to deepen his relationship with President Donald Trump, slash funding at federal agencies via his new position at DOGE, and lend support to Germany's far-right AfD party, his company's image as the cutting-edge choice of progressives is now a distant memory.Business Insider spoke to three men one of whom just sold his dream car due to Musk's growing political stances who bought Tesla cars in Florida, the second state behind California when it comes to Tesla sales. They spoke about why they chose to buy Teslas and how they feel when driving them now.A Cybertruck that's been vandalized 4 timesPeter Doran, owner of a cherry-red Cybertruck in Safety Harbor, Florida, ordered the vehicle when it was first announced in 2019. His wife owns a Model Y, and in 2020, Doran also bought a Model 3, which he has since sold, but not for political reasons. Peter Doran's Cybertruck was vandalized four separate times. Courtesy of Peter Doran "My son talked me into it; I've always been a performance guy," Doran, who's in his early 50s, told Business Insider of his truck. Doran boasted that the truck can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.6 seconds, noting that his Cybertruck is nearly "as quick as his old C8 Corvette."Doran also cited rising fuel prices as a factor in his purchases, as well as safety and lower maintenance costs. He puts roughly 40,000 miles a year on his cars and said the maintenance really adds up. Doran said he's only had to change the tires and wiper blades of his Model Y so far.Doran wanted the Cybertruck when it was announced "for the heck of it it was ugly, but I liked the concept of the stainless steel exoskeleton," he said. When Hurricane Milton took out power for five days in October, the Cybertruck powered his office with its Powershare feature, which allows the vehicle battery to provide power from its onboard outlets or charge port.A Trump supporter who put "45" and "47" decals on his Cybertruck, Doran said he finds the controversies surrounding Tesla difficult to understand. He's still keen on Tesla's future, as well as other Musk ventures like SpaceX and Neuralink, a company he finds exciting as a chiropractor who's worked with paralyzed patients."Years ago, if I wanted to buy a pair of Nikes, I didn't check the political proclivity of the CEO first I bought a product because I liked it," he said. Doran's Cybertruck was keyed by a stranger while parked. Courtesy of Peter Doran Doran's Cybertruck has been vandalized four separate times since Musk started his role at DOGE in January 2025 it's been keyed, spit on, plastered with Hillary Clinton stickers, and had messages written on it with shaving cream in an incident Doran caught on camera. Doran's Cybertruck was sprayed with shaving cream while parked in his driveway. Courtesy of Peter Doran "A grown man went to the trouble of putting on a mask and gloves to write on my car with shaving cream. How is that a form of protest?" he said.While not a Musk fan, he thinks Tesla makes the best carsAcross the state in Lake Worth, Florida, Brian Ritter's Model 3 sits in his driveway.The 43-year-old acupuncturist and tai chi instructor purchased a used Model 3 in December 2024 for around $22,000. He said he hopes to receive a roughly $4,000 tax credit implemented by the Biden administration (it's unclear whether this tax credit will survive the Trump administration because it's at risk of being scrapped). Ritter had admired the cars years before finally buying one secondhand previously, they had been prohibitively expensive for him. Brian Ritter bought his Tesla used. Courtesy of Brian Ritter "For quality, durability, and cost-effectiveness, this was by far the best vehicle," Ritter told BI. He also looked at electric vehicles from Ford and Kia, coming very close to buying a Volkswagen. However, he was dissuaded by the automaker's all-electric SUV's lower reliability ratings based on his online research.Ritter's personal politics lean heavily to the left, but for now he's still behind the wheel of his Tesla. "I'm not going to let them mess up driving what is, for me, the nicest car on the road," he said."It's not my favorite thing in the world to finally get my dream car, and now people call them swasticars," he said.Ritter, who can't stand Musk or Trump, said he thinks a lot about how the public perception of Musk has changed from when he was smoking weed with Joe Rogan and being lauded for being an out-of-the-box thought leader. "And now? Surprise, he's a Nazi. He gave a very clear Nazi salute twice."Musk, on the social media platform that he owns, denied that was his intention for the gesture. "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks," he wrote in January on X. "The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."Vandalism is of some concern, Ritter said, so he's considering getting an anti-Musk bumper sticker for added deterrence. He doesn't want anyone to think he supports what Musk is doing.An early fan of Musk now feels his car is like 'wearing a red hat'Eric Branch purchased a Tesla Model 3 Performance for a little under $50,000 in 2023. By March 2025, he had sold it and bought a Mercedes EQE 350+."It was becoming like wearing a red hat," Branch, a 43-year-old project management office director at a Tampa, Florida, insurance company, told BI. "I loved that car. I had no other reason to sell it. I didn't just sell it; I sold it and took a big loss. I sold my Rolex to buy that car. That's how bad I wanted to get rid of it." Eric Branch sold his Tesla and bought a Mercedes instead. Courtesy of Eric Branch For him, the problem with Tesla now is that you can't separate the company from Musk. Branch said that close association was good for the brand when Musk was popular and seen as an Edison-like figure, even appearing in Marvel's "Iron Man 2" alongside Robert Downey Jr. But now his image now weighs Tesla's brand down. "When Musk starts showing up in Germany talking about national pride, I don't know how you talk yourself out of that being bad," he said.While Branch likes his new Mercedes, he does miss the feel of his old Tesla, particularly its acceleration. "I miss going fast in it," he added.Branch didn't just own a Tesla, he also previously owned around 2,000 shares of the company's stock. As a stockholder, a former Musk fan and ardent supporter of renewable energy, Branch said he had some level of emotional investment in the brand.Still, he sold his stocks shortly after its December 2024 stock price peak because he felt that Musk's relationship as Trump's largest donor seemed certain to benefit his businesses via favorable regulations and government contracts. Now, Branch doesn't think their partnership will benefit Tesla in the long run."Look at every other relationship Trump has had it always goes bad," Branch said, citing his relationships with former Vice President Mike Pence, attorney Michael Cohen, and generals in his first administration. "Everyone gets burned except for him. That will happen to Musk. It's happening right now."Tesla and Musk did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.Recommended video

Accepting a job offer isn't just about the salary and benefits that come with it it's also about the opportunities it creates for your future."In this market, it's not just about where you worked, it's about what that brand signals to decision-makers," Albano Gega, the founder of the tech career-coaching platform Alza, told Business Insider.Working for certain names can create more opportunities at a faster pace and candidates "don't have to explain" their credibility, he continued. He said it's what FAANG companies the acronym for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google have done for candidates for years.BI spoke to seven technical recruiters and career coaches, including Gega, about the most powerful names to have on your rsum if you work in tech. These are the companies they mentioned as indicators of top talent and solid experience.FAANGsCompanies like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google look good on CVs. CNBC YouTube Art Zeile, CEO of tech careers marketplace Dice, told BI that having a FAANG company on your rsum has traditionally been a "strong indicator that you have the skills and experience necessary to succeed" in any tech position."Those companies' rigorous hiring processes, combined with their massive and complex projects, effectively surface the best of the best tech pros," Zeile said.When people see Amazon, Facebook, Meta, or Google on a rsum, they interpret that the candidate is used to operating in a high-performance environment and working "under pressure," Anthony Louis, head of talent at recruitment firm Beacon Talent, told BI.Brenna Lasky, a former Big Tech recruiter who launched a career coaching business, mentioned Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta as some of the best companies to have on your rsum. She said those companies are "brand names that everyone recognizes and are known for their ability to attract top talent.""People who work for these companies are perceived as top-tier candidates," Lasky said.Lasky added that big names will only get a candidate so far, though. While a name like Google might look good on your rsum, it's not going to get you a job that doesn't match up with your experience, Lasky said.MicrosoftOne of the recruiters listed Microsoft as the top company to have on your rsum. Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images Three of the recruiters BI spoke to listed Microsoft as one of the companies that stands out on a resume.Alan Stein, the CEO of career-accelerating service Kadima Careers, shared a list of his company's top 100 companies in 2025 that can accelerate your career and Microsoft was at the top.Stein, who has worked at several Big Tech companies including Google and Meta, told BI that the list was based on companies that had "high compensation" and "brand name prestige." They also picked companies that are actively hiring, are highly perceived by recruiters, and treat their employees well.He said Microsoft received the top spot because of its "breadth of software and services across" different segments, like consumer or enterprise markets. Stein said the company's partnership with OpenAI also contributed.The head of US tech talent at global tech talent and engineering company Akkodis, Janelle Bieler, told BI that Microsoft has a "culture" around "challenging themselves," and is one of the companies that has prioritized innovation.NvidiaNvidia is leading the AI revolution with its GPUs that provide help power LLMs. I-Hwa Cheng/AFP/Getty Images Nvidia's value and reputation have surged amid the AI boom. Nearly all the recruiters BI spoke to mentioned it as a top company to have on your rsum if you work in tech.Bieler told BI that seeing Nvidia on a rsum signifies that a candidate has "worked on cutting edge" technology like machine learning, high-performance computing, chip development, and other hands-on problem-solving related to AI.In today's market, companies known for AI innovation stand out to recruiters, Bieler told BI, and Nvidia is a prime example. The company is leading the AI revolution with its graphics processing units that help power large language models.OpenAIOpenAI has been at the forefront of the AI revolution since it realized ChatGPT. Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images OpenAI was another zeitgeisty company mentioned by recruiters BI spoke to, and made it to fourth place on Kadima Career's list, which said it's "at the forefront of breakthroughs in machine learning and natural language processing."Patricia Karam, founder of employment agency Mission Recruit, said companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have experience with rapid and "massive growth."OpenAI has been at the forefront of the AI revolution and is a key player in the AI talent wars. The buzzy startup has been known to poach employees from competitors; One analysis by BI found at least 44 former Googlers left the company to work at OpenAI in 2024. However, a number of executives and employees also left the company last year, with some speaking out about safety concerns around developing AI.AnthropicAnthropic, the startup behind the Claude chatbot, was another company mentioned by recruiters. Chesnot/Getty Images Anthropic, the AI startup behind ChatGPT rival Claude, was another powerful company recruiters mentioned.Anthropic said it's a major "credibility market right now."Gega said that while most AI companies move fast, Anthropic has built advanced models while "prioritizing safety, ethics, and long-term impact." He said Anthropic shows that a candidate has operated at "the highest level of AI-led companies," and puts them in a completely different category."They're known for building some of the most advanced models and doing it with prioritizing safety, ethics, and long-term impact," Gega said.

Perhaps the biggest common theme of Donald Trumps second term is that his administration has aggressively used federal power to punish those deemed to be its or his enemies.Some foreign students who criticized Israel have had their visas revoked and have been whisked into ICE detention. Venezuelan nationals with tattoos some likely members of a foreign gang, some likely not have been deported to El Salvador and imprisoned there.Major law firms that displeased Trump have been hit with executive orders aimed at driving their clients away and destroying their businesses.Elite universities that were the site of protests or had policies the administration dislikes have seen hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding revoked.Its a frightening turn for American governance. Trump and the hard-right appointees who staff this new administration seem intent on ruining the lives of the people theyve deemed enemies of the state, punishing them with state power.Trump officials are punishing enemies first with no process or fairness beforehandWhat sets much of this apart is that there is no semblance of process or fairness before any of these decisions are made.Detentions, executive orders, and funding revocations come first as do deportations, if the administration can get away with them. After that, powerful institutions can possibly, with sufficient bowing and scraping, get these harsh actions rolled back (as the law firm Paul Weiss did and as Columbia University is trying to do). Less powerful people can only hope to sue in court and hope a judge will help them.This lack of process beforehand makes it more likely that innocent people are wrongly swept up. But Trump officials dont seem to mind.In their rush to deport Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador before the courts could stop them, they dont seem to care that they scooped up a gay Venezuelan makeup artist. In their zeal to revoke visas of antisemitic, Hamas-supporting foreign students, they dont seem to care that they may have detained a PhD student for co-writing op-eds in a campus newspaper.Trump set the tone, but his appointees are enthusiastically participatingTrump and his MAGA true-believer appointees are clearly personally responsible for many of these policies aimed at their purported enemies. But more broadly, hes set an ethic thats pervaded the administration, even those who are less overtly allied with his movement.Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for instance, bragged Thursday that he was personally responsible for revoking visas of hundreds of anti-Israel protestors. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas, he said.Another telling anecdote came out of the Social Security Administration, currently run by acting appointee Leland Dudek a career SSA official who decided to work with Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency team and was then promoted to head the agency.Earlier this month, the agency canceled a contract that allowed parents of newborns in Maine to get Social Security numbers for their new babies at the hospital. After criticism, the decision was reversed, but a mystery remained about why it happened at all. Was it a screw-up? Or was it deliberate punishment of Maines people because of a frosty public exchange between Trump and the states Democratic governor, Janet Mills? (Trump had threatened Mills with revoking federal funding over the states policies on trans athletes, to which Mills responded, See you in court.)It was indeed payback aimed at Mills, Dudek admitted to the New York Times last week. I was ticked at the governor of Maine for not being real cordial to the president, he said, while acknowledging, I screwed up.Dudek wasnt even a longtime Trump crony (as seen in his willingness to actually admit screwing up). And if his account is correct, no one ordered him to target Maine. He just felt it was the appropriate thing to do when someone was rude to Donald Trump.Theres likely more to comeThough US citizens cant be summarily deported or ordered to leave the country, they can be retaliated against in other ways. For instance, Trump has long been clear about his desire to target his critics or political enemies with criminal prosecutions but, unlike in his first term, hes appointed people like FBI director Kash Patel and interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin, who seem eager to actually make that happen.An attempt by Martin to have Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criminally investigated for comments he made in a speech flopped, but Martin has moved on to new targets. One of those targets is Andrew Weissmann, who was a top prosecutor in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Trumps ties to Russia, before becoming an MSNBC commentator. Earlier this month, Martin sent a threatening letter to Weissmann, demanding information about a decade-old matter hed worked on at the Justice Department and alluding to impropriety. This seems like an obvious pretext for targeting Weissmann because he is an enemy of Trump.Further targeting of blue states through withholding of federal funds is likely coming too, as seen in, for instance, Trumps executive order on elections this week. Legal experts have said that Trumps revocation of funds in some cases like the $400 million in grants to Columbia University he canceled seems flatly illegal. But many targeted institutions have been reluctant to sue in court, fearing even worse retribution. The problem is, though, that if this tactic keeps working for Trump, hell just keep using it, in even more dubious or unlawful ways. Indeed, its been startling how many institutions corporations, elite law firms, and universities have caved to Trumps pressure already. When will it stop? Will it stop?See More: Politics