About: blatcho

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Inworld, which helps developers create AI-based virtual characters for video games, raised a $50M Series A led by Section 32 and Intel Capital  —  Inworld AI has raised $50 million for its developer platform for creating AI-driven virtual characters in video games and the metaverse.

Brody Ford / Bloomberg: DigitalOcean plans to acquire web hosting company Cloudways for $350M in cash; around half of Cloudways’ clients already use DigitalOcean  —  DigitalOcean Holdings Inc., a cloud services provider, agreed to acquire website-hosting firm Cloudways for $350 million in an all-cash deal.

Asa Fitch / Wall Street Journal: Intel signs an unusual $30B agreement with Canadian asset manager Brookfield to help fund its factory expansion plans; the companies will split future revenue  —  Funding arrangement could be first of many such partnerships as U.S. chip giant expands manufacturing, Intel CFO says

A 3D printing method that uses ink made of wood pulp can be used to make flat objects that morph into 3D shapes as they dry

“A big theme of my life has been focusing on intentional inclusion and how I can create environments where people can really bring their whole authentic selves to work,” says Joy Dunn ’08. As the head of operations at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, an MIT spinout working to achieve commercial fusion energy, Dunn looks for solutions […]

Karissa Bell / Engadget: Instagram is internally testing Candid Challenges, a BeReal-like feature that gives users two minutes to take and share a photo at a different time each day  —  Instagram is testing a new feature called Candid Challenges, which bears a striking resemblance to BeReal, a photo sharing app popular among …

Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer: LockBit ransomware’s leak sites suffer a DDoS attack after it claimed responsibility for breaching Entrust in June; LockBit blames Entrust for the DDoS attack  —  The LockBit ransomware operation’s data leak sites have been shut down over the weekend due to a DDoS attack telling them to remove Entrust’s allegedly stolen […]

Berber Jin / Wall Street Journal: Sources: in Q2 Instacart’s revenue rose 39% YoY to $621M, orders increased 25% YoY to 60M+, and order volume rose 21% YoY to $7.1B, as the company plans its IPO  —  Grocery-delivery platform is one of the few Silicon Valley startups headed for a public listing soon

People who were in Facebook groups shut down seemingly for violating vaccine misinformation rules went on to tweet more anti-vaccine content in the following month

As climate change increases the number of extreme weather events, such as megadroughts, groundwater management is key for sustaining water supply. But current groundwater monitoring tools are either costly or insufficient for deeper aquifers, limiting our ability to monitor and practice sustainable management in populated areas. Now, a new paper published in Nature Communications bridges […]

John Tirman, an MIT scholar in political theory and expert on U.S.-Iran relations and human security, passed away on the morning of Aug. 19 after suffering cardiac arrest. He was 72.   Since 2004, Tirman served as the executive director of and principal research scientist at the MIT Center for International Studies (CIS). During this […]

Parkinson’s disease is notoriously difficult to diagnose as it relies primarily on the appearance of motor symptoms such as tremors, stiffness, and slowness, but these symptoms often appear several years after the disease onset. Now, Dina Katabi, the Thuan (1990) and Nicole Pham Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at […]

We want to hear about your experience with rude, angry, or even hostile customers or colleagues.

Are you feeling overloaded, under-challenged, or neglected?

Tracking the performance of people who are already succeeding at your company will help you identify high-potential candidates.

With fierce competition between third-party sellers, it can be tough to find genuinely good products. These tips can help.

White spruce trees are expanding into the Arctic tundra with stunning speed, with potentially serious consequences both for the region and the world.

Never let it be said that a Game of Thrones property isn’t going to deliver big, brutal events.

Varsha Bansal / Wired: Police in Delhi, India, who use facial recognition to identify protesters, say they consider 80%+ accuracy a “positive” match, raising concerns among activists  —  Police in India’s capital say they only require an 80 percent accuracy rate for matches, raising new alarm bells for civil liberty advocates.

Bloomberg: Some neobanks have struggled to uphold lofty promises to consumers as VC funding in the sector declines and traditional banks improve their tech offerings  —  Digit is a trendy financial technology company in San Francisco that offers traditional banking services online …

Kate Park / TechCrunch: South Korean car-sharing startup Socar falls after its Seoul market debut, from ~$21 to $19.50, giving the company a ~$642M market cap  —  Socar, South Korea’s largest car-sharing startup, tumbled in its Seoul stock market debut Monday even after pricing shares below the bottom end of a marketed range.

Carry the right pocket-size, all-in-one tool and never be caught unprepared again.

Laura Cooper / Wall Street Journal: Sources: Amazon is among the bidders for Signify Health, which is for sale in an auction that could value the home-health services provider at well over $8B  —  The home-health services provider is for sale in an auction that could value the company at well over $8 billion.

Tate Ryan-Mosley / MIT Technology Review: The demand for AR beauty filters on Instagram remains high, despite evidence of harmful effects on users’ mental health and Meta’s efforts to ban some filters  —  Meta banned filters that “encourage plastic surgery,” but a massive demand for beauty augmentation on social media is complicating matters.

Lora Kolodny / CNBC: Elon Musk says price of FSD will rise from $12K to $15K in September when Tesla rolls out Beta 10.69.2, which lets drivers test new features on public roads  —  – Tesla plans a 25% price increase for its premium, driver assistance system marketed in the U.S. as the Full Self-Driving, […]

If you normally get facials or other treatments, a small 4-in-1 TheraFace Pro is a useful addition to your vanity.

The solutions to Einstein’s equations that describe a spinning black hole won’t blow up, even when poked or prodded.

Working from home alone can get lonely and distracting. Social accountability (and better productivity) are just a few clicks away.

Financial Times: SoftBank CFO says the company sold a large part of its stake in Alibaba to “instantly show” investors its finances were solid after a $23B quarterly loss  —  Yoshimitsu Goto says Japanese technology group wanted to ‘instantly show’ its finances were solid

Kalley Huang / New York Times: Find My and other location-sharing apps have become a staple in some young people’s friendships, ostensibly for safety while blurring lines of privacy  —  Introduced 10 years ago, the app has slowly become a popular way to keep track of friends.  But it comes with considerable privacy concerns.

Zeyi Yang / MIT Technology Review: An overview of electronic design automation software used for designing chips, as the US Commerce Department announces export controls on certain EDA tools  —  The US has moved to restrict export of EDA software.  What is it, and how will the move affect China?

Mary Ellen Zurko remembers the feeling of disappointment. Not long after earning her bachelor’s degree from MIT, she was working her first job of evaluating secure computer systems for the U.S. government. The goal was to determine whether systems were compliant with the “Orange Book,” the government’s authoritative manual on cybersecurity at the time. Were […]

This smart grill lets you smoke brisket in your underwear, but you’ll pay a premium.

Plus: The Twilio hack snags a reporter, a new tool to check for spyware, and the Canadian weed pipeline gets hit by a cyberattack.

Plus: Motorola has a new phone, UE announces a new waterproof speaker, and Airbnb becomes a total buzzkill.

Beth DeCarbo / Wall Street Journal: How Georgia State University and other schools are using apps and AI chatbots to help attract students, guide them through graduation, and launch their careers  —  More institutions are using apps and analytics to help attract students, guide them through graduation and launch their careers

Scott Chipolina / Financial Times: JPMorgan: Tether, Circle, and other stablecoin issuers now hold $80b of short-term US government debt, accounting for 2% of the Treasury bills market as of May  —  Ownership highlights how digital asset players are encroaching on traditional markets  —  Stablecoin issuers like Tether …

Kate Rooney / CNBC: Leaked financials: FTX had revenue of $1.02B in 2021, up from $89M in 2020; operating income grew from $14M to $272M; US accounted for less than 5% of revenue  —  – FTX saw explosive growth last year driven by its global trading business, according to audited financials seen by CNBC.

The new US law contains wins for land conservation and Black farmers but misses opportunities for school lunch programs and soil erosion prevention.

Even if it’s chunky and a little laggy, this is still the smartest and most reliable video doorbell for under $100.

Here comes the sun! With these artificial light simulators, you’ll never have a hard day’s night.

Nikkei Asia: A look at the challenges ahead for China’s e-CNY, as total transaction volume reached $12.3B in May and ~4.6M merchants across China now accept the digital yuan  —  Expansion will require new rules and huge investment in datacenters and other infrastructure

Wall Street Journal: Dealogic: July 2022 was the first month in five years that no new SPACs raised money, after SPAC IPOs peaked in March 2021 with over $36B raised  —  Once-hot blank-check firms have fallen out of favor alongside cryptocurrencies and other speculative investments

New York Times: Twitter CFO Ned Segal told employees in an email that they might receive only half of their annual bonuses as the company grapples with economic uncertainty  —  The company blamed its financial performance for the potential bonus cut.  —  Twitter warned its employees on Friday …

In a recent interview, veteran developer Naoki Yoshida admitted that the once-storied franchise now lags behind the competition.

When going abroad, the right plugs are essential to keeping your gadgets charged. These are our favorites.

House of the Dragon premieres on HBO Max this weekend, The Rings of Power on Amazon two weeks later. The winner will set the course for fantasy—and streaming.

Rachael Levy / Reuters: Sources: Elon Musk approached brain-computer interface developer Synchron about a potential investment, after expressing frustration with Neuralink’s progress  —  Elon Musk has approached brain chip implant developer Synchron Inc about a potential investment as his own company Neuralink plays catch …

Patricia Hernandez / Kotaku: Zuckerberg responds to the mockery of the Horizon Worlds selfie, saying it was taken quickly to celebrate a launch and promises major updates to avatar graphics  —  Earlier this week was supposed to be a celebratory time for the folks at Meta, as its reality-devouring project Horizon Worlds was now available […]

Annie Burky / Fierce Healthcare: KeyCare, which is developing a telehealth service that works with medical records provider Epic Systems, has raised a $24M Series A  —  KeyCare, the only telehealth platform developed with medical records provider Epic Systems, nabbed $24 million in series A funding.