It has been encouraging to watch the rapid developments on coronavirus vaccines with the UK becoming the first western country to issue regulatory approval for the BioNTech/Pfizer shot on Wednesday.
But as the world awaits distribution of the Covid-19 vaccines, cyber security concerns have emerged as a potential threat to smooth delivery.
Hannah Kuchler and Hannah Murphy report that cyber attackers have targeted the cold supply chain needed to deliver Covid-19 vaccines, citing a report detailing a sophisticated operation likely backed by a nation state.
The hackers appeared to be trying to disrupt or steal information about the vital processes to keep vaccines cold as they travel from factories to hospitals and doctors’ offices.
According to the report by IBM’s threat intelligence task force, which advises companies and the public sector on cyber security, they targeted organisations associated with a cold chain platform run by the Gavi vaccine alliance, a public-private partnership for developing immunisation for poorer countries.
Beyond the vaccines, another breakthrough this week has been the announcement from Google DeepMind, the London-based artificial intelligence company, that its AlphaFold system could predict protein structures, helping to solve a puzzle that has frustrated researchers for 50 years.
In his column, John Thornhill writes that falling productivity in research strengthens the case for increasing spending on it. Whether you believe in the economic effect of breakthroughs or not, he says that one thing is clear: it is worth betting on the geeks.
The Internet of (Five) Things
1. WeChat censors Australian PM’s post
Chinese social media app WeChat has censored a post by Australia’s prime minister in the midst of a deepening diplomatic feud, raising concerns about Beijing’s ability to export censorship overseas through technology groups.
2. Carta to launch private stock market
The $3.1bn Silicon Valley software start-up Carta will launch its long-awaited private share-trading market in the new year, following months of delays as it addressed regulatory concerns. Carta will be the first group to offer its shares for trading, followed by three others that it declined to name.
3. Grab and Gojek each claim strength
Grab and Gojek, who dominate ride-hailing and food delivery in south-east Asia, each told their staff that they were in a position of strength ahead of a potential merger. The two start-ups have been urged to combine forces by their investors, in particular SoftBank, after fierce and expensive rivalry for market share.
4. Twitter flags misleading post in India
Twitter has flagged a post by a high-profile figure of India’s ruling party as misleading content as the social media platform expands its campaign against disinformation around the world. It is the first time the company has targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party, potentially setting it on a collision course with New Delhi.
5. Discovery to join streaming war
Discovery is set to enter the streaming wars in January as the television company behind HGTV, the Oprah Winfrey Network and the broadcaster Eurosport looks to launch itself into a digital future. The $5 a month service, called Discovery Plus, is part of a second wave of launches following larger entrants into the streaming market dominated by Netflix.
Forwarded from Sifted — the European start-up week
Engineers in Germany have been thrilled about the chance to work at the new Tesla gigafactory being built just outside of Berlin, applying in their thousands in recent weeks. “Hire me Elon, I’ll work hard for you brother!” said one trying to reach CEO Elon Musk on Twitter.
But the country’s powerful unions are proving a lot less enthusiastic, warning that Musk could be in for a nasty confrontation if he does not play by their rules. Will this become a stumbling block for Musk in his mission to turn the Grünheide factory — which will make 500,000 electric vehicles a year — into a central pillar of Tesla’s European operation?
Elsewhere in European start-ups this week, Sifted has brunch with the new head of famed US venture capital Sequoia in Europe, Luciana Lixandru, to talk about the opportunities in continental tech. Sifted also finds that Europe’s armies are ditching messenger services like WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram for ones based around the secure distributed technology of Matrix. And following Salesforce’s $27.7bn deal to buy Slack, out comes another rival called Sedna looking to transform workplace communications.
Tech tools — Zojirushi Micom Toaster Oven
As a big fan of Zojirushi rice cookers, I want to check out this new $220 offering called Micom Toaster Oven. It seems simple enough to use with a dial and two buttons, and covers enough functions: toast, bagel, pizza, cookie, bake, roast, broil, homemade, rise, timed toast, reheat, and keep warm. Perhaps that is too many functions and a simple oven would be sufficient for my daily cooking needs but I’d certainly like to try some of the recipes on its manual such as “the white chocolate infused matcha brownie”.