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Your WIRED daily briefing. Today, China is setting up hundreds of silver iodide burners to increase rainfall in Tibet, Facebook reports $12 billion in quarterly revenue, Finland isn’t scrapping its universal basic income experiment and more.
China has begun construction of a network of cloud-seeding chambers high on the mountains of Tibet, with the intention of increasing rainfall to the region by an estimated 10 billion cubic metres per year (Gizmodo). 500 of the chambers have been built, burning solid fuel to produce silver iodide particles, which cause clouds to form around them when swept into the atmosphere. However, although researchers tell The South China Morning Post that "data we have collected show very promising results”, it's the first use of cloud seeding technology at this scale and some meteorologists have questioned both its likelihood of success and the potential risks of dramatically increasing rainfall in the target 1.6 million square kilometre region.
Despite mass coverage of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and multiple government inquiries, Facebook has reported unusually strong quarterly figures, with a total revenue of just under $12 billion from January to March, almost all of that from advertising (The Verge). In three months, the social network reportedly added 49 billion new active daily users, bringing its total up to 1.45 billion people who log in every day. It's also revealed that almost 100 million people in developing countries now connect to Facebook's Free Basics walled garden, which provides access to a highly limited subsection of the internet, including the social network itself.
At its launch last year, Finland’s universal basic income experiment was hailed as a progressive and bold move towards a system that many think holds the key to eradicating inequality (WIRED). But these dreams hit a bump in the road earlier this week when it emerged that the Finnish government had rejected a proposal to extend its experiment. Although many reports claimed this meant the end of basic income in Finland, this actually means that the experiment will only run until the end of 2018, as initially planned. "It seems that there is some misinformation spreading in international media about the Finnish basic income experiment," says Miska Simanainen, a researcher at Kela, the Finnish government agency behind the trial. "There are currently no plans to continue or expand the experiment after 2018, but this is not new information," he adds.
If you've ever wanted to see what it's like to stand on the surface of a comet, you can now catch a glimpse of the experience thanks to a space enthusiast called @landru79 (Ars Technica). They've combined a series of raw images of the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenk sent back by the Rosetta orbiter and combined them into a striking 12.5-second animated GIF. The video clearly shows the comet's icy surface, while a snow-like effect is caused by background stars, dust particles and cosmic rays.
Hidetaka "Swery" Suehiro, the cult developer behind Deadly Premonition, has released a Windows prototype demo of The Good Life, the first game in development by his new White Owls studio (PC Gamer). The game, which is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, casts you as Naomi, a debt-saddled photographer stranded in a mysterious English village. The demo focusses on snapping pics to help pay off your debt, but the game is also set to include supernatural elements, the ability to transform into a cat and a murder to solve.
How hard is it to hack into the digital locks of hotels? Surprisingly simple, if you can create a key that opens any door. Finnish cybersecurity firm F-Secure has revealed it found a flaw in the digital lock system that may be used in millions of hotel rooms worldwide. It managed to spoof hotel master keys that would be able to unlock any door.
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
