Welcome back to another edition of Lately. This week’s newsletter is co-written by Samantha Edwards and Jacob Dubé (writer of The Globe’s Real Estate newsletter). As always, send us an e-mail with any feedback or just to say hello.
In this week’s issue:
🛥️ Missing tech tycoon found dead at sea
🤫 The viral trend affecting teen boys’ jawlines
🚰 AI data centres’ soaring water use problem
🍷 How an app is helping strangers make real-life connections
Tech tycoon tragedy
The bodies of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and four other passengers were retrieved from the wreckage of Lynch’s luxury yacht days after the boat capsized off the coast of Sicily earlier this week. Of the 22 passengers and crew aboard, only Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter is still unaccounted for.
Dubbed the British “king of technology” by The Globe in 2001, Lynch made made his billions from Autonomy Corp., the software firm he co-founded that could analyze reams of emails and other documents to help companies find information quickly. In 2011, he sold the company to computer giant Hewlett-Packard for US$11-billion. But within a year, HP took a US$8.8-billion writedown on the acquisition and accused Lynch of duping them into overpaying.
Lynch denied the fraud allegations and after a decade-long legal battle, he was cleared by a California court in June of all 15 counts of fraud. The billionaire had invited friends and family to join him on the yacht to celebrate his legal victory.
While the desire for a strong jawline is cause for concern alone, the techniques children are engaging in to try to achieve the look are something else altogether.Ben Sweet/Unsplash/stock
Why teen boys are obsessed with “mewing”
One of the most popular social media trends currently influencing teen and tween boys is mewing, an exercise that purports to help people achieve a chiseled jawline in order to reach maximal hotness. Mewing, which is not backed up by any scientific research or evidence, involves flattening your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Influencers claim the exercise can reshape your jaw over time, at least according to viral Instagram reels and TikToks featuring before-and-after shots.
But as Sadaf Ahsan reports for The Globe, although these videos may seem innocent enough, after some deep scrolling, “it’s evident this pursuit is playing on insecurities at a time when a teen’s pictures and posts define their social worth and popularity.”
These defined-jawline-chasing teen boys share tactics and progress with online communities, some of which promote a type of masculinity that veers on misogyny. Mewing has parents and experts worried about how trends can go viral online and how influencers can capitalize on teen boys’ insecurities. Read the full story here.
Water usage in Virginia ‘data centre alley’ is soaring
The U.S. state of Virginia is home to the world’s largest concentration of data centres used by big tech companies including Amazon, Google and Microsoft. We’ve talked about the energy implications of these massive data centres, which are used to power artificial intelligence models, and now new reporting from the Financial Times is exposing just how much water they require, too. Water is used to cool computing equipment in the centres, and in Virginia’s “data centre alley,” the massive warehouses used at least 7 billion gallons (26.5 billion litres) of water in 2023.
In the race to develop AI, Big Tech is investing billions of dollars into data centres globally, and environmentalists are warning that the massive growth isn’t environmentally sustainable. In Canada, Alberta is pitching itself to Silicon Valley companies as a prime location for future data centres, highlighting its cheap natural gas and carbon capture facilities that can store emissions underground.
Even so, Alberta’s finance minister Nate Horner says the province needs to be cautious as it courts investments. Data centres are huge energy hogs and the Prairie province has already faced several grid alerts this year alone.
Strangers dining at the first Timeleft special event in New York on June 12, 2024Supplied
Feeling lonely? There’s an app for that
It’s no secret that there’s been a loneliness epidemic in Canada. Recent data from Statistics Canada show that 13 per cent of people aged 15 and older report often or always feeling lonely, with women and people aged 15 to 24 were more likely to report higher levels of loneliness. Some research even suggests that extreme loneliness can slowly kill you.
Meeting new people is hard, but a new app offers to do the heavy lifting for you. After a lengthy personality quiz, the Timeleft app matches total strangers together for a five-person dinner at a restaurant in their city. With no expectations, the diners are free to make connections and conversation on their own terms. This June, Andrea Woo attended one of the meetups in Vancouver, and said attendees were gushing to each other about anything and everything: from karaoke favourites, embarrassing childhood moments, motherhood and a quest to develop six-pack abs.
Timeleft is one of a new generation of apps designed to help users meet new people and form connections. As Pippa Norman wrote this month, some young people spent the summer shunning their phones and making real-life connections in an effort to find a deeper sense of belonging after the isolation of the pandemic.
What else we’re reading this week:
A personalized brain pacemaker for Parkinson’s (The New York Times)
An ‘AI Scientist’ is inventing and running its own experiments in Vancouver (Wired)
This system can sort real pictures from AI fakes — why aren’t platforms using it? (The Verge)
A new eyes-only video chat seeks to help you make deeper connections online (404 Media)
Adult Money
SURI toothbrush's 40-day battery life could gamechanger for travellers who don’t want to give up their electric toothbrushes.SURI
SURI electric toothbrush with UV travel case, $277
In a recent episode of the Poog podcast, hosts Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak described a toothbrush as “gentrified.” It begged the question: how does a toothbrush even get gentrified? A quick Google search confirmed that indeed, the SURI toothbrush has all the hallmarks of gentrification, in product form: minimalist design, pastel colourways, plant-based bristles, founded by two ex-advertisers and sold at Erewhon, the upscale Los Angeles supermarket chain that slings US$17 smoothies.
Gentrification usually refers to neighbourhoods, but increasingly, regular items are getting aesthetic and artisanal upgrades, including cleaning products, club soda, instant ramen – and using these items becomes another way for us to broadcast our values and identity. (The Instagram and Substack account Snaxshot does an excellent job rounding up food products that have undergone this makeover).
Now, back to the toothbrush. Other than its stylish design and its environmental bonafides, what really sets the SURI apart is its 40-day battery life, which would be a gamechanger for travellers who don’t want to give up their electric toothbrushes.
Culture radar
A woman looks at a Nintendo Switch display at a Nintendo store in central Tokyo.RICHARD A. BROOKS/Getty Images
The new Nintendo Museum offers some unexpected history and a lot of fun
Nintendo has never been like other video game companies. They’ve been, well, much weirder. The Nintendo Museum opening in Japan this October offers a simple explanation for that: they were around for almost 100 years before making their first video game.
Built on the same location as the company’s old factory from their days making playing cards, the museum will offer glimpses into that history, showcasing Nintendo products from before their games, such as baby strollers and miniature pitching machines. Fear not, there’s still a ton of video game lore, from the Famicom (sold as the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America) to the iconic Nintendo Switch. You can even play the company’s greatest hits on giant game controllers. Have you really played Super Mario 64 until you’ve had to reach from the jump button to the joystick?
For those willing and able to travel to Japan for the attraction, you’ll still have to enter into a draw to be selected for a ticket when the museum opens. But if you’re looking for a dose of nostalgia at home, Atari recently announced it’s releasing a remake of its famous Atari 7800 home console, shrunken down and touting HDMI capabilities. It’s fully compatible with your old Atari 7800 and 2600 cartridges, but other retro games can be purchased separately.
More tech and telecom news:
Cogeco CEO says cellphone service a ‘go’ after company strikes deals with two wireless carriers
CBSA to use facial recognition app for people facing deportation, documents show
Most Canadians have spotted deepfakes online, while 23 per cent see them weekly, study shows