What England’s new vaccine passport could mean for covid tech’s next act

Cape Town fights for energy independence

Sponsored by KPMG The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology What's next for covid tech 05.19.21 Good morning all! Charlotte here, back at the reins after Niall kindly covered for me yesterday. Today we're looking at the significance of England's new vaccine passport, and why Cape Town is fighting South Africa's government to source its own renewable energy supply. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. What England’s new vaccine passport could mean for covid tech’s next act   The latest: The focus is increasingly moving from apps that can track if you’ve been near someone with covid to apps to prove you’ve been vaccinated. The latest launch came on Monday in England, with the National Health Service’s new digital credential for crossing borders. For now it’s very limited—specifically just for people going overseas (which is still mostly illegal or strongly discouraged in England), with no plans to expand it for using it at places around town, like pubs, although that has been suggested. What else: The NHS app is not the only vaccine credential in development. Around Europe, governments are working on—or have already launched— smartphone-based vaccine passports. That includes the EU itself. Outside of Europe, the picture is even more mixed. In the US, officials have said they will not develop a federal app, so various states and private companies are creating a patchwork of approaches. The issue: The hype over vaccine passports sounds eerily like the rollout of covid exposure apps last year. Those apps launched in a rush, and with a slew of unanswered questions about how the technology works—or doesn’t—with public policy. Read the full story. —Lindsay Muscato Cape Town fights for energy independence Power outages are a way of life in Africa’s most industrialized country. Over the last decade, South Africa’s electricity grid has come apart at the seams and failed to deliver dependable power. As renewable energy gets cheaper, South African cities such as Cape Town have demanded the right to find their own sources.  The primary culprit in South Africa’s power woes is the aging national electricity provider, Eskom. After years of mismanagement of state funds, Eskom’s plants are regularly unable to operate at full capacity. The result is rolling blackouts for hours every day, with a disastrous knock-on effect on the economy.  Last year, desperate to find a solution, Cape Town announced plans to purchase its own power from independent renewable-power producers. The falling cost and exponential growth of renewable-energy technology have made this possible. Amazon recently announced it will build its own solar farm to power its data centers in South Africa, thereby insulating itself from outages on the national grid. If companies can do it, why can’t cities? The answer is far more complex than you might think. Read the full story. —Joseph Dana This story is from the latest edition of MIT Technology Review, all about cities. Check out the full magazine, and if you haven't yet, subscribe! We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + Americans, here's a good reason to keep wearing your mask.    + Why a miniature forest has suddenly popped up in New York City.    + Occasionally, spelling mistakes are just very amusing.    + A speedy, delicious dish from Shaanxi Province in China. Extra kudos if you make your own noodles! (NYT $) Sponsor Message 5 steps to achieve the most value from AI New KPMG research reveals that business leaders are using artificial intelligence to solve major industry problems—including addressing challenges brought on by COVID-19, detecting fraud, and improving bureaucratic efficiency—but a comprehensive plan is needed. Discover five steps to achieve the most value from your AI investment. Read Thriving in an AI World. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 India has reported a new grim world record 4,529 deaths from covid-19 in a single day. (Axios)   + The toll on healthcare workers is particularly appalling. (NYT $)   + Efforts to vaccinate the world are facing another huge setback due to the crisis in India. (AP)  2 Venmo is blocking some payments that refer to Palestine The company has form when it comes to flagging innocuous transactions for potentially violating US sanctions. (Rest of World)   + For some reason, you can't delete old Venmo profile photos. (Buzzfeed)   + Google won't say if it will update blurry old maps of Gaza. (Vice)   + See the toll of the conflict for yourself. (NYT $)   + An Israeli airstrike damaged Gaza’s only lab for processing coronavirus tests. (NYT $)   + A group of Jewish Google employees is calling on the company to increase its support of Palestinians. (The Verge)  3 Amazon is extending its moratorium on police use of its facial recognition software It thought a year-long pause would be enough time for Congress to pass new laws. No such luck. (Reuters)   + Germany is launching antitrust proceedings against Amazon. (TechCrunch)  4 Inside gig workers' uphill battle to get employee protections One thing's for sure: the status quo is incredibly exploitative. (Vox)   5 Bill Gates' reputation might be permanently ruined Let's see. Rich, powerful men have an uncanny tendency to bounce back. (Recode)   + His positive public image is actually pretty recent. (Quartz)   6 Dating apps actually kind of suck 💑📱 People routinely report awful experiences, yet we just accept there's no other way to meet people. (Wired $)   7 TikTok has spawned a new gaming genre A lot of “baddie games” are centered on exaggerated gender performance, much like drag or ballroom culture. (The Verge)   8 Sleep evolved before brains 😴🧠 Look at hydras. They don't even have a brain, and yet they still need to sleep. (Quanta)   9 Only Fans isn’t just p*rn  But what else is it for? (NYT Magazine)   10 Astronomers have spotted the highest energy light ever And it's challenging existing theories about what cosmic rays are, how they work—and where they come from. (Science) Join us on the MIT Technology Review Global Panel, inform original research on tech and business, and get tools for making smarter decisions. Join today. Quote of the day "It feels different this time." —Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, 29, the founder of MuslimGirl.com, tells the New York Times that solidarity with the Palestinians has shifted online and gone global. Top image credit: KIRSTY O'CONNOR | PA WIRE Please send noodles to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today Re-envision the future of work Join us virtually | June 8-10, 2021 Register now   Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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