The Download: a useful quantum machine and a record-breaking subsea tunnel

《下载》：实用的量子计算机与破纪录的海底隧道

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. 这是今日份的《下载》，我们平日更新的简报，为您提供每日科技界动态。

PsiQuantum has a plan to make a massive quantum computer out of light. The machine that could change the world will be housed in a room that looks like a data center crossed with an ice cream factory. Inside, some 100 stainless-steel cabinets each hold hundreds of chips. On those chips, thousands of light particles will fly through a maze of optical switches and beam splitters. Each photon must be accounted for, because precisely measuring where it ends up will help answer questions that current computers might take millions of years to solve. This computer, as described, does not exist. It’s the brainchild of a company called PsiQuantum, founded in 2016 by four physicists from UK universities. In a crowded field of deep-pocketed competitors with similarly fantastical visions, the company aims to be the first to build a useful quantum machine. Read the full story on the company’s quest. —James O’Donnell PsiQuantum 计划利用光来制造一台大型量子计算机。这台可能改变世界的机器将被安置在一个看起来像是数据中心与冰淇淋工厂结合体的房间里。在房间内部，约 100 个不锈钢机柜中，每个都装有数百块芯片。在这些芯片上，数以千计的光粒子将在光学开关和分束器组成的迷宫中穿梭。每一个光子都必须被追踪，因为精确测量它们的最终落点，将有助于解答那些当前计算机可能需要数百万年才能解决的问题。如上所述，这台计算机目前尚不存在。它是 PsiQuantum 公司的结晶，该公司由四位英国大学的物理学家于 2016 年创立。在竞争对手云集、资金雄厚且拥有同样宏大愿景的领域中，该公司旨在成为首个制造出实用量子机器的企业。阅读关于该公司探索历程的完整报道。——James O’Donnell

MIT Technology Review Narrated: inside the world’s deepest and longest subsea road tunnel —Niall Firth 《麻省理工科技评论》讲述：走进世界上最深、最长的海底公路隧道 ——Niall Firth

I’m currently around 1,000 feet beneath the North Sea, in a dark, dank cave. It smells weird. And I’m increasingly aware of the pressure from millions of tons of seawater just above my head. I’m under the iconic fjords of Norway to visit what will soon become the world’s longest and deepest subsea road tunnel—an exceptional engineering feat that will carry drivers deep beneath the North Sea. I’m here to understand how you make a 16.6-mile highway that sits 1,280 feet below the sea at its deepest point. And also—at a time when it can feel hard to get anything done—to reassure myself that ambitious engineering is still possible. That we can still make things. This is our latest story to be turned into an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released. 我目前身处北海下方约 1,000 英尺处，在一个阴暗潮湿的洞穴里。这里气味怪异。我越来越强烈地感受到头顶上方数百万吨海水带来的压力。我正在挪威标志性的峡湾下方，探访即将成为世界上最长、最深的海底公路隧道——这是一项卓越的工程壮举，将载着驾驶者深入北海之下。我来到这里是为了了解如何建造一条全长 16.6 英里、最深处位于海平面以下 1,280 英尺的高速公路。同时，在这样一个似乎很难完成任何事情的时代，我也想向自己证明：雄心勃勃的工程依然可行，我们依然能够创造事物。这是我们最新一期被制作成《麻省理工科技评论》讲述播客的故事，我们每周会在 Spotify 和 Apple Podcasts 上发布。只需在任一平台搜索“MIT Technology Review Narrated”并关注我们，即可在第一时间获取我们的所有新内容。

The must-reads: I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 必读内容：我已梳理了互联网，为您找出今天最有趣、最重要、最令人恐惧或最引人入胜的科技新闻。

1. Meta allegedly used AI to target workers with health issues for layoffs.

2. 据称 Meta 利用人工智能锁定患有健康问题的员工进行裁员。

3. OpenAI’s first consumer device will be a mobile smart speaker.

4. OpenAI 的首款消费级设备将是一款移动智能音箱。

5. The US military sent explosive drone boats into combat for the first time.

6. 美国军方首次将爆炸性无人艇投入实战。

7. DeepMind’s CEO has called for a US-led body to test frontier AI models.

8. DeepMind 首席执行官呼吁建立一个由美国领导的机构来测试前沿人工智能模型。

9. Data centers are set to add billions in power costs in 13 states.

10. 数据中心预计将在 13 个州增加数十亿美元的电力成本。

11. xAI’s unpermitted power pollution hits Black communities hardest.

12. xAI 未经许可的电力污染对黑人社区造成了最严重的打击。

13. Stripe and Advent have offered to buy PayPal for more than $53 billion.

14. Stripe 和 Advent 已出价超过 530 亿美元收购 PayPal。

15. DeepSeek plans to file for IPO as soon as this year.

16. DeepSeek 计划最早于今年提交首次公开募股（IPO）申请。

17. A hard, lightweight “bio-metal” has been discovered in sea worm jaws.

18. 在海虫的颚部发现了一种坚硬且轻便的“生物金属”。

19. A new $3,000 fitness suit electrocutes you to boost your gains.

20. 一款售价 3,000 美元的新型健身服通过电击来增强你的锻炼效果。

Quote of the day: “By economic and engineering measures, generative AI might be the worst technology ever deployed.” —Alex Reisner, a staff writer at The Atlantic, explains why GenAI’s scaling problem is an engineering disaster. 今日金句：“从经济和工程角度衡量，生成式人工智能可能是史上部署过的最糟糕的技术。”——《大西洋月刊》特约撰稿人 Alex Reisner 解释了为什么生成式人工智能的扩展问题是一场工程灾难。

One More Thing: Hackers made death threats against this security researcher. Big mistake. 额外关注：黑客向这位安全研究员发出死亡威胁。大错特错。

In April 2024, an anonymous hacker began posting death threats on Telegram and Discord channels aimed at a cybersecurity researcher named Allison Nixon. It wasn’t long before others piled on. Someone shared AI-generated nudes of her. They targeted Nixon because she had become a formidable threat. As chief research officer at the cyber investigations firm Unit 221B, named after Sherlock Holmes’s apartment, she had built a career tracking cybercriminals and helping get them arrested. For years, Nixon had lurked quietly in online chat channels or used pseudonyms to engage with perpetrators and bring them to justice. Now, she resolved to unmask the people behind the death threats—and take them down for crimes they admitted to committing. Find out why they learned to regret their choice of target. —Kim Zetter 2024 年 4 月，一名匿名黑客开始在 Telegram 和 Discord 频道上发布针对网络安全研究员 Allison Nixon 的死亡威胁。没过多久，其他人也纷纷效仿。有人甚至分享了她的 AI 生成裸照。他们针对 Nixon，是因为她已成为一个强大的威胁。作为以夏洛克·福尔摩斯公寓命名的网络调查公司 Unit 221B 的首席研究官，她职业生涯的大部分时间都在追踪网络罪犯并协助将其逮捕。多年来，Nixon 一直悄悄潜伏在在线聊天频道中，或使用化名与犯罪分子周旋，将他们绳之以法。现在，她决心揭开死亡威胁背后的黑手，并让他们为自己承认的罪行付出代价。了解他们为何最终为选择她作为目标而感到后悔。——Kim Zetter

We can still have nice things: A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. 我们依然可以拥有美好事物：一个提供舒适、乐趣和消遣的地方，为您的一天增添色彩。

• A musician has discovered the true masters of metal breakdowns: birds.

• 一位音乐家发现了金属乐节奏爆发的真正大师：鸟类。

• Photographer Fontanesi’s surreal photo splits transform everyday images into spectacular hybrid scenes.

• 摄影师 Fontanesi 的超现实照片分割作品将日常图像转化为壮观的混合场景。

• Over 30 actors, filmmakers, and friends recount how Steven Spielberg infiltrated Hollywood.

• 30 多位演员、电影制作人和朋友讲述了史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格是如何打入好莱坞的。