Following are a handful of stories from around the tech world for this week 07-13 January 2023.

Wales Tech Week 20-23 March 2023

Danilo McGarry, an internationally renowned expert in digital transformation and amongst the 50 most influential people in Artificial Intelligence (AI) worldwide, will be the first keynote speaker of Wales Tech Week 2023. The Wales Tech Week 2023 is set to be an international, hybrid Technology Summit, gathering some of the top tech minds across the globe to network, learn and do business. Danilo’s opening keynote will initiate the first day of the event on Monday, March 20th, 2023, at ICC Wales in Newport, Wales.

Attendance at Wales Tech Week 2023 is without cost, with the summit focusing on the topics of Tech for Good, Tech for the Planet, and Tech for Tomorrow. The event will highlight Welsh technology and support the industry, connecting, advertising, and fostering Wales as a centre of knowledge for existing and upcoming technologies and their utilization in the business and society of today.

Twitter denies that leaked data from 200 million accounts came from its systems

The social media platform Twitter claims that the leaked user data, including email addresses connected to around 235 million accounts, did not originate from its systems. News emerged earlier this month of a compilation of user information being sold on a dark web marketplace for a mere $2.

Despite the fact that email addresses and Twitter handles may not appear to be sensitive information, the leak has caused worries that anonymous social media accounts could be linked to actual identities and that the data could make it easier to break into accounts. At first, Twitter did not respond to media requests for comment or information. However, now, roughly a week later, the company has issued a statement.

“Based on information and intel analyzed to investigate the issue, there is no evidence that the data being sold online was obtained by exploiting a vulnerability of Twitter systems,” the company wrote, regarding those 235 million user data points, in a Wednesday night blogpost. “The data is likely a collection of data already publicly available online through different sources,” the post claimed.

10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023

MIT Technology Review has revealed its 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2023, which includes advances expected to drastically influence how we live and operate. The 22nd annual list acknowledges significant technological developments in AI, biotechnology, climate change, space exploration, telemedicine, and more.

The 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023 are:

1. CRISPR for high cholesterol: New forms of the gene-editing tool could enable treatments for common conditions. WHO: Verve Therapeutics, Beam Therapeutics, Prime Medicine, Broad Institute. WHEN: 10 to 15 years. (Special story “Gene editing for everyone could be on the way,” by Jessica Hamzelou, senior reporter for biomedicine, MIT Technology Review, to post online January 19.)
2. AI that makes images: AI models that generate stunning imagery from simple phrases are evolving into powerful creative and commercial tools. WHO: OpenAI, Stability AI, Midjourney, Google. WHEN: Now. (Special feature, “Generative AI is changing everything. But what’s left when the hype is gone?,” by Will Douglas Heaven, senior editor for AI, MIT Technology Review, online now.)
3. A chip design that changes everything: Computer chip designs are expensive and hard to license. That’s all about to change thanks to the popular open standard known as RISC-V. WHO: RISC-V International, Intel, SiFive, SemiFive, China RISC-V Industry Alliance. WHEN: Now. (Special story, “These simple design rules could turn the chip industry on its head,” by Sophia Chen, freelance science journalist, to post online January 25.)
4. Mass-market military drones: Turkish-made aircraft like the TB2 have drastically expanded the role of drones in warfare. WHO: Baykar Technologies, Shahed Aviation Industries. WHEN: Now. (Special story, “Mass-market military drones have changed the way wars are fought,” by Kelsey D. Atherton, freelance military technology journalist, to post online January 30.)
5. Abortion pills via telemedicine: Medication abortion has become increasingly common, but the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade brought a new sense of urgency. WHO: Choix, Hey Jane, Aid Access, Just the Pill, Abortion on Demand, Planned Parenthood, Plan C. WHEN: Now.
6. Organs on demand: Engineered organs could end transplant waiting lists. WHO: eGenesis, Makana Therapeutics, United Therapeutics. WHEN: 10 to 15 years. (Special feature, “The entrepreneur dreaming of a factory of unlimited organs,” by Antonio Regalado, senior editor for biomedicine, MIT Technology Review, to post online January 11.)
7. The inevitable EV: Electric vehicles have been available for decades. Now they’ve finally become mainstream. WHO: BYD, Hyundai, Tesla, Volkswagen. WHEN: Now.
8. James Webb Space Telescope: A marvel of precision engineering that could revolutionize our view of the early universe. WHO: NASA, European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Space Telescope Science Institute. WHEN: Now. (Special feature, “How the James Webb Space Telescope broke the universe,” by Jonathan O’Callaghan, freelance space journalist, to post online January 21.)
9. James Webb Space Telescope: New methods that make damaged DNA legible to commercial sequencers have produced stunning revelations about the deep past. WHO: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, David Reich Lab at Harvard. WHEN: Now.
10. Battery recycling: New ways to recover the crucial metals in batteries could make electric vehicles more affordable. WHO: CATL, Umicore, Redwood Materials, Li-Cycle, Cirba. WHEN: Now. (Special feature, “How old batteries will help power tomorrow’s EVs,” by Casey Crownhart, climate reporter, MIT Technology Review, to post online January 17.)