About: blatcho

Innovation tends to decline from one generation to the next. But it doesn’t have to.

Mancur Olsen’s 1982 classic, “The Rise and Decline of Nations,” offers a startling lens on what’s gone wrong with the U.S. economy.

Interviews with more than 40 CDOs in 2019 and 2021 explore how DEI has transformed in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

The best classic flicks, Marvel movies, and Star Wars sagas on Disney+.

Welcome to your new Apple smartphone. Here’s how to get the most out of it right out of the box.

Virgin Orbit will launch satellites from the country for the first time, bringing orbital flight capability to Europe.

Wall Street Journal: Google’s Mandiant say it observed four instances of pro-Russian hacktivist groups publishing data within 24 hours of it being stolen by GRU using wiper malware  —  ‘We have never previously observed such a volume of cyberattacks, variety of threat actors, and coordination of effort …

Nicholas Quah / Vulture: A look at the crowded podcast market, where competition has made almost everything in the business more difficult, and some say no one is taking creative risks  —  It’s been ages since the last blockbuster narrative show.  What does that mean for the medium as an art form?

Chris Willman / Variety: Timbaland and Swizz Beatz settle a missed payments lawsuit with Triller after Triller acquired their music series Verzuz in March 2021; terms were not disclosed  —  Swizz Beatz and Timbaland have settled their lawsuit with Triller, after suing the service last month for $28 million …

Churches are using invasive phone-monitoring tech to discourage “sinful” behavior. Some software is seeing more than congregants realize.

Elizabeth Warren and Cori Bush led over two dozen congressional Democrats in urging Amazon, Lyft, Uber, and others to reclassify contractors as employees.

Steve Case, founder of AOL, predicts the dominance of tech companies on the coasts will give way to a flourishing of startups from smaller cities.

Finextra: AccessFintech, which helps financial institutions collaborate by sharing data, has raised a $60M Series C led by WestCap, bringing its total funding to $97M  —  Capital markets specialist AccessFintech has closed a $60 million Series C funding round led by WestCap and joined by a host of big banks …

Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg: In 70+ lawsuits against Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Google, parents are making product liability claims, blaming algorithms for kids’ mental health issues, and more  —  A 16-year-old girl in Utah becomes so obsessed with her body image after getting hooked on Instagram that she develops anorexia and bulimia.

Jordan Novet / CNBC: DocuSign hires Google executive Allan Thygesen as its CEO, starting on October 10; the company’s CEO for the past five years, Dan Springer, stepped down in June  —  DocuSign shares rose almost 5% in extended trading after the electronic signature software maker announced it has hired an Alphabet executive …

As electric car ownership rises, we will need new infrastructure to avoid overwhelming electricity grids – including public charging stations and more daytime charging

Alejandra Rosario’s enthusiasm for research is infectious. When she talks about studying cancer cells, or the possibility of getting a PhD, her face lights up. “It’s something I’m really passionate about,” she says. As a Bernard S. and Sophie G. Gould MIT Summer Research Program in Biology (BSG-MSRP-Bio) student this past summer in the lab […]

Tool use has long been a hallmark of human intelligence, as well as a practical problem to solve for a vast array of robotic applications. But machines are still wonky at exerting just the right amount of force to control tools that aren’t rigidly attached to their hands.  To manipulate said tools more robustly, researchers […]

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have designed a miniature antenna that can operate wirelessly inside of a living cell, opening up possibilities in medical diagnostics and treatment and other scientific processes because of the antenna’s potential for monitoring and even directing cellular activity in real-time. “The most exciting aspect of this research is we […]

Family directors are critical for aligning owners’ interests with those of other shareholders.

Here’s how to strike a healthy balance.

How principles of “design justice” can ensure virtual spaces truly work for everyone.

Meticulous turf is environmentally terrible. Yet grass does have one charm: It “sweats,” helping cool the local area.

When “if you see something, say something” becomes “we see everything,” everyone loses.

This week, we talk about Peloton’s growing product lineup, and whether our days of sweating along to streamed exercise classes at home are over.

New York Times: An investigation, based on ~160K documents from Roskomnadzor, details Russia’s vast surveillance and censorship apparatus, which helps Putin maintain his regime  —  Four days into the war in Ukraine, Russia’s expansive surveillance and censorship apparatus was already hard at work.

Matthew Boyle / Bloomberg: Disney, P&G, LVMH, and other large companies have hired chief metaverse officers, seeking to capitalize on Web3, but questions remain about their usefulness  —  Advertising giant Publicis Groupe SA introduced the newest member of its C-suite at a technology conference in Paris this year.

Dave Michaels / Wall Street Journal: The FTC says Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy cannot avoid testifying in an ongoing investigation into Prime membership, after Amazon pushed back against the probe  —  Commissioners deny company’s request to quash subpoenas and pare back investigation  —  Amazon vs. Walmart: How the Giants Look to Each Other to […]

Uber and Lyft spent millions promoting a controversial ballot measure. A new study suggests it has lowered driver wages.

These mobile accessories will make your smartphone a better—and safer—road trip companion.

Yes, I got Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PlayStation Remote Play working on my Steam Deck.

Mia Sato / The Verge: Sensor Tower: TikTok Now, the BeReal clone debuted on September 18, is in the top 10 social networking apps in 39 countries and the top 100 apps in 24 countries  —  The TikTok Now feature was first announced last week and is built into the TikTok app for US users.

Bloomberg Law: A Texas jury says Meta must pay walkie-talkie app maker Voxer a royalty and $174.5M+ in damages for violating two patents with Facebook Live and Instagram Live  —  Meta Platforms Inc. must pay walkie-talkie app maker Voxer Inc. more than $174.5 million in damages after a Texas jury found Wednesday …

Sheena Vasani / The Verge: Instagram is working on a feature to protect users from receiving unsolicited nude photos in their DMs; Meta says the tech won’t let the company view the photos  —  Instagram is working on a way to protect users from receiving unsolicited nude photos in their DMs.

Bit by bit, drones can print structures made of foam and cement. The technique could transform future construction sites and post-disaster reconstruction

Parkinson’s disease is the fastest-growing neurological disease, now affecting more than 10 million people worldwide, yet clinicians still face huge challenges in tracking its severity and progression. Clinicians typically evaluate patients by testing their motor skills and cognitive functions during clinic visits. These semisubjective measurements are often skewed by outside factors — perhaps a patient […]

What will be the impact to the ocean if humans are to mine the deep sea? It’s a question that’s gaining urgency as interest in marine minerals has grown. The ocean’s deep-sea bed is scattered with ancient, potato-sized rocks called “polymetallic nodules” that contain nickel and cobalt — minerals that are in high demand for […]

Six technologies developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory are among this year’s R&D 100 Award winners. The awards recognize the 100 most significant innovations that have transitioned to use or been made available for sale or license in the past year. R&D World magazine manages the awards program, which has run annually since 1963. The worldwide […]

The pay gap between Black women and white men has widened in 2022.

How the next generation can embrace the future — while respecting the past.

Suppressing your emotions doesn’t work. Neither does starting a flame war.

Nintendo’s latest in its paint-powered “squid game” franchise is just as fun and colorful as before, and is also a refreshing breath of fresh air.

Many associate the ‘America First’ movement with Trump, but its origins—and rebirth—are more complicated.

With Crash Detection and longer battery life in Low Power mode, the wearables seem to be designed for an increasingly terrifying world.

Makena Kelly / The Verge: TikTok expands its political content rules to limit fundraising by politicians and political groups, ahead of a full ban on fundraising  —  Starting Wednesday, TikTok is expanding its elections rules to make it harder for politicians and political groups to fundraise using the platform — and plans to ban all […]

Twitch Blog: Starting June 1, 2023, Twitch says subscription revenue above $100K will be split 50/50, not 70/30, for streamers on premium deals, citing hosting costs  —  Hello, Twitch community.  I’m Dan Clancy, President of Twitch and responsible for the day-to-day operations of the service.

Cecilia D’Anastasio / Bloomberg: An analysis of Twitch streams from October 2020 to August 2022 shows Twitch’s moderation tools often failed to stop children streaming and adults grooming them  —  The gaming platform’s design enables people to find and exploit kids in real-time  —  Graphics and illustrations by Rachael Dottle

As an undergraduate, Mitch Murdock was a rare science-humanities double major, specializing in both English and molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at Yale University. Today, as a doctoral student in the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, he sees obvious ways that his English education expanded his horizons as a neuroscientist.  “One of my […]

When hackers release game information early, it’s the developers that suffer—not the players.

A global fungal pandemic wiped out amphibians, destroyed biodiversity, and ultimately increased human illness. Now a second similar pathogen is on the way.