About: blatcho

How is DNA like a bridge? This question is not a riddle or logic game, it is a concern of Johannes Kalliauer’s doctoral thesis. As a student at TU Wien in Austria, Kalliauer was faced with a monumental task: combining approaches from civil engineering and theoretical physics to better understand the forces that act on […]

A 2021 study in the journal Nature found that in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change, most of the world’s known fossil fuel reserves must remain untapped. According to the study, 90 percent of coal and nearly 60 percent of oil and natural gas must be kept in the ground in order […]

Three steps to move past business as usual.

What to actually say to spark conversation.

This one little word can dramatically shift the tone of a conversation.

It’s still one of the few flagships with a headphone jack and microSD card slot.

Today’s digitally distributed landscape makes it easier for games to get lost to time. Archivists need developers, studios, and players to help.

Parched ground is less likely to absorb water and increases the risk of dangerous flash floods. But there are ways to mitigate these conditions.

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: TechCrunch debuts a tool to check if an Android device is one of hundreds of thousands hacked by one of several spyware apps, after its probe into TheTruthSpy  —  TechCrunch today launched a spyware lookup tool that allows anyone to check if their Android device was compromised by a fleet …

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg: Ethereum’s core developers have set September 15 as the tentative date for the long-awaited proof-of-stake Merge upgrade  —  The core developers working on the much-anticipated software upgrade of the Ethereum blockchain firmed up Sept. 15 as the likely official date of the so-called Merge.

Philip Russo / Commercial Observer: Israel-based Agora, which helps real estate investment companies automate back-office processes, has raised a $20M Series A led by Insight Partners  —  Real estate investment management startup to use funding to grow its tech and U.S. business  —  Israel-based Agora, a real estate investment …

This invasive malware isn’t just for phones—it can target your PC, too. But a new batch of algorithms aims to weed out this threat.

One of the most influential cryptocurrency projects is set to finally ditch proof-of-work mining.

Algorithms can amplify patterns of discrimination. Robotics researchers are calling for new ways to prevent mechanical bodies acting out those biases.

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: TikTok introduces “Shopping Ads”, letting brands place shoppable videos on the For You page, promote catalog listings, and direct users to live shopping events  —  TikTok announced today that it’s launching a new commerce ad suite called “Shopping Ads” to make it easier for brands to advertise on the platform.

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 review: an iterative upgrade with excellent performance, improved but not great battery life, and a slightly more useful cover screen  —  Foldable smartphones still feel like a brand new idea, but in reality, Samsung is now on its fourth generation of the form factor.

Boone Ashworth / Wired: A look at Watch Duty, a free, nonprofit, unofficial service and app run by volunteers that lets anyone track active wildfires throughout California  —  Watch Duty is already a lifeline for the state’s residents.  Its reach could soon extend to more disasters and regions.

In 2019, Google showed that its Sycamore quantum computer could solve a problem that no ordinary computer could handle – but now a new algorithm gives non-quantum devices the edge

An analysis of 1.2 million Reddit users found that around 16 per cent of people wrote toxic posts and 13 per cent wrote toxic comments, such as direct insults

Life is full of processes to learn and then relearn when they become more elaborate. One day you log in to an app with just a password, then the next day you also need a code texted to you. One day you can just pop your favorite microwavable lunch into the oven for six straight […]

Wearable sensors are ubiquitous thanks to wireless technology that enables a person’s glucose concentrations, blood pressure, heart rate, and activity levels to be transmitted seamlessly from sensor to smartphone for further analysis. Most wireless sensors today communicate via embedded Bluetooth chips that are themselves powered by small batteries. But these conventional chips and power sources […]

Too often our conscious (or unconscious) beliefs hold us back from what we really want to achieve.

Five myths and biases that prevent entrepreneurs from considering all their options.

Six considerations to guide your response.

This week, we discuss the latest John Deere tractor hack and its broader implications for repair rights advocates.

Ten tiny satellites will be hitching a ride en route to the moon, each with scientific objectives of their own.

Marvel’s latest show on Disney+ introduces Bruce Banner’s cousin (and comedy) to the MCU. Here’s what to read after you’ve turned green with laughter.

Michael Horowitz: A researcher says iOS devices do not fully route all network traffic through VPNs, leading to data leaks; ProtonVPN first publicized the issue in March 2020  —  VPNs on iOS are broken.  At first, they appear to work fine.  The iOS device gets a new public IP address and new DNS servers.

Adveith Nair / Bloomberg: Abu Dhabi-based AI company G42 and the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund announce a $10B fund to invest in late-stage tech companies in emerging markets  —  Sign up for our Middle East newsletter and follow us @middleeast for news on the region.  —  Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence firm G42 …

Anna Gross / Financial Times: Swedish gaming group Embracer Group reports Q1 sales rose 107% YoY to ~$681M and announces six acquisitions, including IP for The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit  —  Swedish company announces six acquisitions and posts a rise in first-quarter sales and profits

Smartwatches and Fitbits are great for tracking movement, but they weren’t designed for the type of people for whom collecting movement data is arguably most important: older adults who use mobility aids like walkers. For such adults, a change in activity could signal a life-threatening problem: Falls are a leading cause of injury-based death for […]

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: TikTok is rolling out a new sharing feature to let users publish their TikTok Stories to Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram  —  Facebook and Instagram may be busy trying to clone TikTok within their own apps as Reels, but a new feature rolling out now from TikTok will see the short-form video […]

David Jeans / Forbes: Adam Neumann’s real estate startup Flow plans to launch a digital wallet for crypto and fiat currencies and may offer a tokenized rewards program  —  Updated: When Adam Neumann revealed his new venture to WeWork-ify the residential real estate sector Tuesday, backed by a $350 million investment …

Kari McMahon / The Block: Collective NFT ownership service Fractional raised a $20M Series A led by Paradigm and is rebranding to Tessera  —  – Collective NFT ownership platform Fractional is rebranding to Tessera.  — Alongside the rebrand, Tessera has closed a $20 million Series A round led by Paradigm.

A solar fuel cell that produces carbon monoxide and hydrogen is light enough to float on water, which could help address the shortage of land available for solar projects

Meep is not just the sound made by the Road Runner and Beaker the Muppet. Meep is a software package that MIT physicists originally developed in the early 2000s as a custom code written in C++ to facilitate the academic research of photonic crystals. It was released as open source in 2006. After nearly two […]

Regular practices can strengthen psychological safety, purpose, and performance.

To stay competitive, companies need to be able to shift how they allocate capital in response to changing business conditions.

Don’t pretend you have all the answers. Do be prepared to deal with the messy emotions people may be experiencing.

Whatever your higher-ed goals, these campus-ready computers will help you crush them.

Treatment options for lasting Covid symptoms are limited, but initial studies suggest hyperbaric oxygen could help.

Implanted devices let people control computers and prosthetic limbs with their minds. But nobody knows how long they’ll last—and when they’ll need upgrades.

Richard Waters / Financial Times: After booming demand during the pandemic and a rapid inventory build-up in 2022, Intel, Nvidia, SMIC, and TSMC face a sudden downturn, perplexing analysts  —  After dealing with booming demand and global shortages since the start of the pandemic, the semiconductor industry is facing a sudden downturn.

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post: Timbaland and Swizz Beatz sue Triller, alleging the short-form video app owes them $28M+ after acquiring live-streaming music series Verzuz and missing payments  —  Triller bought music series Verzuz for an undisclosed sum in January 2021.  Now its creators say they’re still owed money.

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal: VidMob, which offers tools for marketers to create digital ads, raised a $110M Series D led by Shamrock, source says at a $500M valuation, up from $290M in 2021  —  The Series D funding round led by Shamrock Capital will help the company expand its platform for data-led creativity […]

The navigation strategy of NASA’s Curiosity rover means it has to stop frequently to check its position, but soon a software update will allow it to move almost continuously

An artificially intelligent algorithm has learned to recognise people from the way their hands shake when they hold a smartphone

George Lordos is not your typical graduate student. A degree in economics from Oxford University, an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a 20-year professional career were not the end of his learning journey. His longtime passion for space, particularly the prospect of making a sustainable society on Mars a reality, drew […]

President Biden just signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates hundreds of billions to fight climate change. Here’s how to get your share.

Over-the-counter hearing aids will be available by October. They’ll benefit many but could lead to stigmatization, inadequate testing, and even hearing loss.