What Twitter’s new CEO might do

What we know about Omicron 

Sponsored by Masterworks The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Farewell, Dorsey 11.30.21 Good morning! Today: what we can expect from Parag Agrawal, who has just replaced Jack Dorsey as Twitter CEO, plus all the latest on Omicron. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. What Twitter’s new CEO might do   The news: Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey has stepped down and handed over the reins to the company's chief technology officer Parag Agrawal, who is now CEO with immediate effect. Dorsey, who co founded the company in 2006, leaves it with 210 million daily active users and yearly revenues of $3.7 billion. He's worth $12.5 billion, according to Forbes, and still owns 2.3% of Twitter.  Some background: While the timing of his departure was a surprise, it had been long anticipated. Dorsey had been under growing pressure from investors for effectively running the company part-time, as he juggled his duties with running another tech company he started, Square, and pursuing a growing obsession with all things cryptocurrency and blockchain-related. Last year, activist investor Elliott Management had tried to squeeze him out, eventually reaching a deal with Twitter's management to push up revenues and grow the user base. This is the context that Agrawal steps into. Who is he? Agrawal is not a well-known public figure, but he's seen as a safe pair of hands. He's strongly backed by not only Dorsey but also Twitter's board, which unanimously voted for his appointment. He's worked at Twitter for more than a decade in a series of technical roles, culminating in his appointment as CTO in 2017. He's been at the forefront of the company's efforts to boost its artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. Agrawal spoke to MIT Technology Review last year at our annual EmTech conference about the measures the company has been using to fight back against misinformation. It came at a crucial time, just before the US election, and gives you a really insightful look at how Agrawal views Twitter’s place in the public conversation. The entire conversation is also available on our podcast. What he might do: Agrawal steps into a high-intensity, high-expectation role, and inherits some seriously punchy targets: Twitter has pledged to increase its daily users to 315 million by the end of 2023 and at least double its annual revenue. Given his technical background, it's likely we'll hear more about how the company plans to use and scale up technology to meet its moderation challenges.  Read next:    + Dorsey's impact was undeniable. (Wired $)   + How he shaped Twitter into what it is today. (Recode)   + In many ways, he made an unlikely CEO. (The Guardian)   + Who is Parag Agrawal? (NYT $)   + Seven things you need to know about Twitter's new CEO. (Gizmodo) 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.)   + If you’ve ever wondered why croissants are so delicious… check out the butter that goes into them! 🤤   + This video of an adult Golden Retriever meeting a bunch of puppies has melted my heart.   + These frogs have got a phone, and they are NOT letting it go without a fight.   + Good morning from Oregon Zoo.   + A British farmer went for a walk and stumbled on the remains of an incredible Roman mosaic.    + You wouldn’t mess with this store worker.   + Hang on, it looks like we’ve found the perfect toaster.   + Canada wrote Ryan Reynolds a love song. It’s so cheesy but I can’t help but love it. Advancing the promise of technology.  Make MIT Technology Review your go-to resource for thought-provoking insights, analysis, and news about the world of technology. Get unlimited access when you subscribe today. Sponsor Message This NYC Startup is Disrupting a $3T asset class Did you know that wealth held in art is worth $1.7T? Think about it...  That’s 5x larger than Elon Musk’s  net worth. And Deloitte estimates that the global value of art will grow by 53% by 2026, reaching nearly $3T.  Unfortunately, most people have no idea they can invest in this exciting asset. Thankfully, a $1B company from NYC called Masterworks.io, lets you invest in art by Banksy, Picasso, and Monet without spending millions. Now you can access the asset class that’s outpaced the S&P 500 by 174% from 1995 to 2020. To join 280,000 Masterworks users, click here for priority access. *See important disclosures The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 What we know about Omicron The very early evidence suggests it spreads more easily, but does not cause more severe illness. But we need much more data. (NYT $)   + We still don’t know enough about the Omicron variant to panic. (TR)   + How we should respond. (The Atlantic $)    + The CDC says all adults should get booster shots. (WSJ $)   + African nations are facing blame and bans, despite the West’s hoarding of vaccines. (NYT $)   + China has pledged to send one billion vaccine doses to Africa. (Nikkei Asia)   + How the new variant rattled the world in just one week. (WSJ $)   + Don’t cancel trips abroad just yet. (Axios)  2 Amazon’s Alabama workers are getting a second shot at unionizing A federal labor relations official found Amazon interfered with the last vote. (Politico)   3 Apple says it’ll notify users if they’re hacked by spyware The world seems to be finally waking up to what a horror show this underground hacking market really is. (NBC)   + NSO was about to sell hacking tools to France. Now it’s in crisis. (TR)  4 The far-right is recruiting among anti-vaxxers The two movements are now deeply intertwined. (Vice)    + The life and tragic death of John Eyers, a fitness fanatic who refused the vaccine. (The Guardian)  5 A province in China is building a facial recognition system to target journalists And other “people of concern.” Chilling. (BBC)   + Facial recognition company Clearview AI has been fined for breaking the UK’s privacy laws. (NYT $)  6 Lina Khan is preparing to take on Big Tech The FTC chief has been getting ready for this fight for years. (New Yorker $)   + Despite everything, Frances Haugen still believes Silicon Valley can change from within. (Wired $)  7 We don’t have living, reproducing robots yet You might have seen excitable headlines claiming xenobots can create offspring. That’s not quite right. (Ars Technica)   8 Considering sending a quick “love you” text? Do it ❤️📱 It’s a quick, easy way to connect—and if we’ve learned anything over the last two years, it’s that we all need human connections. (Wired $)   9 The pitfalls of using emojis at work If there’s a credible risk of miscommunication, stick to plain text. Or even—gasp—a phone call. (WSJ $)   10 An obscure cryptocurrency called Omicron soared in value 📈 “No, not that...oh never mind.” (Coin Telegraph) Quote of the day “There is no plausible scenario that this variant is going to take us back to square one.” —Raghib Ali, a clinical epidemiologist at Cambridge University, cautions against excessive panic over the Omicron variant. Top image credit: AP Images Please send the perfect toaster 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 The age of implementation Join us virtually | March 23–25, 2022 Register now Want to change how you receive these emails? You can *update your preferences or *unsubscribe from this list.  Subscription Information This message was sent to  Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog *the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally    Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142