This is todays edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of whats going on in the world of technology.The cheapest way to supercharge Americas power gridBrian Deese is an innovation fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as director of the White House National Economic Council from 2021 to 2023. Rob Gramlich is founder and president of Grid Strategies and was economic advisor to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during the George W. Bush administration.US electricity consumption is rising faster than it has in decades. Accommodating that growth will require building wind turbines, solar farms, and other power plants faster than we ever have beforeand expanding the network of wires needed to connect those facilities to the grid.But one major problem is that its expensive and slow to secure permits for new transmission lines and build them across the country. Fortunately, there are some shortcuts that could expand the capacity of the existing system without requiring completely new infrastructure: a suite of hardware and software tools known as advanced transmission technologies (ATTs), which can increase both the capacity and the efficiency of the power sector.ATTs have the potential to radically reduce timelines for grid upgrades, avoid tricky permitting issues, and yield billions in annual savings for US consumers. So why are we not seeing an explosion in ATT investment and deployment in the US? Read the full story.Interested in learning more about this topic? Read more of our stories:+ Whats driving electricity demand? It isnt just AI and data centers.+ That said, AIs search for energy is growing more urgent.+ Why this developer wont quit fighting to connect the USs grids.+ Here are four ways AI is making the power grid faster and more resilient.The must-readsIve combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.1 China claims to have created the worlds first fully autonomous AI agentThe agent, called Manus, can allegedly operate fully free of human intervention. (Forbes)+ But its not clear if the hype can be justified at this stage. (TechCrunch)+ Two former DeepMind researchers are chasing superintelligence. (Bloomberg $)+ Four Chinese AI startups to watch beyond DeepSeek. (MIT Technology Review)2 Meta went to extreme lengths to win Chinas approvalIncluding developing a censorship system to comply with the CCP. (WP $)+ However, its attempts to curry favor with the party did not bear fruit. (Gizmodo)3 Anonymous Chinese investors are quietly funding Elon Musks venturesTheyre happy to invest tens of millionsso long as their identities remain under wraps. (FT $)+ Despite the influx of cash, SpaceX isnt having a great year. (NYT $)+ Starlink is reaping the benefits of its founders proximity to the White House. (NBC News)4 Ukraine doesnt have minable rare earthsAnd even if it did, it would take at least 15 years to reach them. (IEEE Spectrum)+ The country is preparing to hold negotiations with the US this week. (Economist $)5 Farewell, the Athena lunar landerIt landed sideways in a crater and has been officially written off. (The Register)+ Intuitive Machines, the company behind it, is contracted for another two landings. (AP News)+ Firefly Aerospace, another private firm, had better luck. (Economist $)6 The American public really doesnt like DOGEAnd Donald Trump is starting to pay attention. (The Atlantic $)+ Musk represents the problem he is claiming he wants to solve. (Wired $)+ The Trump administration is threatening scientific progress. (New Yorker $)+ Anti-Musk protestors are targeting Tesla stores and infrastructure. (WP $)7 Wikipedia is struggling to document the war in the Middle EastCertain editors have been forbidden from working on related pages. (Bloomberg $)8 How to store the worlds dataHard discs seem the obvious choicefor now. (WSJ $)+ Music labels are going after the Internet Archive for copyright infringement. (Ars Technica)+ The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age. (MIT Technology Review)9 YouTube bros are peddling Taliban tourismInside the depressing rise of videos purporting to show another side to Afghanistan. (Insider $)10 Amazon and Googles AI calls Mein Kampf a true work of artThats what happens when you search for positive reviews of the Nazi manifesto. (404 Media)+ Want AI that flags hateful content? Build it. (MIT Technology Review)Quote of the dayThe US won the internet and the US should win crypto.Tyler Winklevoss, who runs crypto exchange Gemini with his twin brother Cameron, could not be happier with the outcome of Donald Trumps crypto summit, according to a post on X.The big storyHow this Turing Awardwinning researcher became a legendary academic advisorOctober 2023Every academic field has its superstars. But a rare few achieve superstardom not just by demonstrating individual excellence but also by consistently producing future superstars.Computer science has its own such figure: Manuel Blum, who won the 1995 Turing Awardthe Nobel Prize of computer science. He is the inventor of the captchaa test designed to distinguish humans from bots online.Three of Blums students have also won Turing Awards, and many have received other high honors in theoretical computer science. More than 20 hold professorships at top computer science departments. So whats the formula to his success? Read the full story.Sheon HanWe can still have nice thingsA place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet em at me.)+ Looking for some books to make you laugh out loud? Look no further.+ What cant White Lotus star Walton Goggins live without? An orange pen and 22-year old sand, apparently.+ When its time to take a break, heres how to recharge properly.+ $40 for magic yogurt? What the hell, sure.