This company is faster than Amazon, but workers pay the price

How wearable AI can spot when covid symptoms turn dangerous

Sponsored by Esri The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Out-Amazoning Amazon 06.09.21 Good morning! It's Niall again, covering for Charlotte. We've got a brilliant long-read on Coupang, South Korea's Amazon, and the impact it has on its workers. We're also looking at wearable AI that can save your life if you have covid, and a first look at Jupiter's moon Ganymede in absolutely ages. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. This company delivers packages faster than Amazon, but workers pay the price Early on the morning of October 12, 2020, 27-year-old Jang Deok-joon came home after working his overnight shift at South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang and jumped into the shower. He had worked at the company’s warehouse in the southern city of Daegu for a little over a year, hauling crates full of items ready to be shipped to delivery hubs.  When he didn’t come out of the bathroom for over an hour and a half, his father opened the door to find him unconscious and curled in a ball in the bathtub, his arms tucked tightly into his chest. He was rushed to the hospital, but with no pulse and failing to breathe on his own, doctors pronounced him dead at 9:09 a.m. The coroner ruled that he had died from a heart attack. Jang was the third Coupang worker to die that year. Coupang has risen to become South Korea’s third-largest employer in just a few years, harnessing a vast network of warehouses, 37,000 workers, a fleet of drivers, and a suite of AI-driven tools to take a commanding position in South Korea's crowded e-commerce market. Coupang is everywhere in South Korea: half of residents have downloaded its app, and its “Rocket Delivery” service—the company claims 99.3% of orders are delivered within 24 hours— has earned it a reputation for “out-Amazoning even Amazon.” But what does all this innovation and efficiency mean for the company’s workers? Read the full story to find out. —Max Kim This story is for subscribers only, but it only costs $50 for full digital access (including The Algorithm newsletter) and $80 to get the glossy print magazine too. So sign up! How wearable AI can spot when your covid symptoms suddenly turn dangerous Angela Mitchell still remembers the night she nearly died. It was almost one year ago in July. Mitchell—who turns 60 this June—tested positive for covid-19 at her job as a pharmacy technician at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago. She was sneezing, coughing, and feeling dizzy. The hospital management offered her a choice. She could quarantine at a hotel, or she could recover and isolate at home, where her vital signs would be monitored around the clock through a sensor patch worn on her chest. Mitchell chose the patch and went home.  It probably saved her life.  Read the full story about how AI and wearables are being deployed to monitor patients remotely. —Rod McCulllom 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.) + I’m obsessed with this girl’s strangely wonderful dissonant harmonizing. Here’s an explanation of why it might sound strange—it’s because it’s not what we’re used to hearing. + Meanwhile, still on musical TikTok, this girl has an uncanny ability to mimic artists like Taylor Swift, Lorde and Mitski. + What it takes to treat covid patients in the Himalayas. + How radical gardners took back NYC. + The world’s biggest music sequencer. + Look out for a cool ‘ring of fire’ eclipse tomorrow! Sponsor Message Mapping the way to a better world Location intelligence (LI) is the insights drawn from spatial data—information that represents the what, where, or who of a country, city, building, or people. Find out how businesses and governments the world over are using LI to see hidden patterns and connections—and solve some of the world’s most intractable problems. Learn more here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 How a company you never heard of made the internet go dark Yesterday’s Fastly blackout is a lesson that must be learned. (Recode)   + What really happened. (Wired UK)   + The company explained what went wrong. (Register) 2 This is the first new image of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede in more than two decades NASA’s probe Juno has been getting up close and personal. (TR)   + The building blocks for life may lie at the edge of the galaxy. (New Scientist) 3 Plant-based meat sales are surging And it's down to falling prices that let it challenge real meat. 🍖 (WSJ)   + Europe and the UK may be last in line to try cultured meat products. (iNews) 4 The pandemic has left us questioning our morals Am I... am I... still a good person? (Atlantic) 5 Some people have a vivid mind’s eye. Others don’t. But we’re still working out why. (NYT) 6 A woman sent her iPhone to Apple. Repair techs uploaded her nudes to Facebook. This… didn’t need to happen, to say the least. (Vice) 7 The influencers making millions with anti-vax rhetoric Turns out it’s super profitable lying to people. (HuffPo) 8 We’re about to find out the true cost of Ubers and food delivery apps Farewell, millennial lifestyle subsidy. (NYT) 9 El Salvador has become the first country to accept bitcoin as legal tender About 70% of the nation doesn’t have access to traditional financial services. (CNBC)   + Thousands of bitcoin believers descended on Miami. (CNBC) 10 OK, what’s going on with all these UFOs? It’s not aliens. But still, what are they?? I demand answers. (Sci-Am)   + An unclassified US intelligence report sheds little light. (NBC) Are you intellectually curious? Tech-obsessed? We are too.   Get an insightful look into the technology of the future without getting bogged down by the jargon. Subscribe to MIT Technology Review today (subscriptions start at just $50 per year). Quote of the Day “It’s the ultimate hyperobject. The hyperobject of our age. It’s literally inside us.” Philosopher and ecologist Timothy Morton talks to the New Yorker about covid-19, and how it relates to his principle of hyperobjects—things that are too big for us to comprehend or see all at once. Top image credit: Coupang Please send dissonant harmonies to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @niallfirth. Thanks for reading! —Niall Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today Join the MIT Technology Review Global Panel Examine today's tech trends, see survey results, and contribute to our custom research Apply today   Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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