About: blatcho

Nico Grant / New York Times: Inside the cottage industry around “YouTube automation” that is dubiously persuading people to spend thousands of dollars to create video businesses on YouTube  —  A cottage industry is persuading people to spend thousands to create video businesses on YouTube.  Disclaimer: It is harder than it looks.

Sweltering temperatures and humidity threaten the health of outdoor laborers, and there are few standards to protect them from working when it’s too hot.

Insta360’s modular camera system brings Leica lenses and 1-inch sensor with 6K resolution to the world of 360-degree photography.

These tips, swipes, and settings will make using your phone faster and simpler.

Kim Bhasin / Bloomberg: Analysis: Binance, Crypto.com, Coinbase, FTX, and other crypto companies have committed $2.4B+ to sports marketing in the past 18 months  —  For fans of professional sports, the insistent overtures from the crypto industry have become almost impossible to miss: The names of exchanges …

Leigh Mc Gowran / Silicon Republic: Akamai: web application attacks on the gaming industry increased 167% YoY from May 2021-April 2022, and 37% of all DDoS attacks were against the gaming sector  —  Akamai said the growing value in gaming has attracted more criminals seeking to disrupt online games and steal valuable player accounts.

Cade Metz / New York Times: A brief history of AI and why some AI researchers believe the technology they have built is sentient or conscious despite no evidence  —  Robots can’t think or feel, despite what the researchers who build them want to believe.  —  As the sun set over Maury Island, just south […]

The exposure of cryptographically scrambled passwords isn’t a worst-case scenario—but it isn’t great, either.

Why is the Roomba company worth $1.7 billion to Amazon? It’s not the dust, it’s the data.

BlenderBot 3 learns by chatting with you and tries to ignore the trolls. Like so many of us, it’s very much a work in progress.

New York Times: A look at Japan’s efforts to counter chip supply chain disruptions, including investing in domestic production and seeking a coalition with the US and the EU  —  As it reckons with supply chain vulnerabilities, the country is spending billions to revitalize domestic production and seeking to form a coalition with “like-minded” nations.

Sam Kim / Bloomberg: Market data: global chip sales growth has decelerated for six straight months, up 13.3% YoY in June 2022, below May’s 18% gain, the longest slowdown since 2018  —  World chip sales growth has decelerated for six straight months — yet another sign the global economy is straining under …

Elena Schneider / Politico: A look at FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s range of US political contributions, including $10M+ to back Biden in 2020, and uncertainty about his goals and leanings  —  NASSAU, Bahamas — One of the biggest donors in Democratic politics this year isn’t sure if he really wants to be a Democratic megadonor […]

Smart finger uses sensors to detect substances such as glass, silicon and wood with more than 90 per cent accuracy, which could be useful for robotic manufacturing tasks

News of a $190 million cryptocurrency theft emerged this week, despite cryptocurrencies being designed to be unhackable. Here’s the low-down on what is going on and how safe bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are

Implantable devices that release insulin into the body hold promise as an alternative way to treat diabetes without insulin injections or cannula insertions. However, one obstacle that has prevented their use so far is that the immune system attacks them after implantation, forming a thick layer of scar tissue that blocks insulin release. This phenomenon, […]

Sponsor content from Chase.

Six actions to ensure you’re actually promoting gender equality at work.

It can feel hard in the early days of a new job, but your first request will set the tone for future asks.

Raising your computer screen is a simple fix for healthier posture.

The epidemiologist who helped quash smallpox talks about what we’re doing wrong on monkeypox, vaccines, and antigen tests.

Turns out muting other people’s impulsive sharing can do wonders for your mental health.

Brian Heater / TechCrunch: Amazon plans to acquire Roomba maker iRobot for $1.7B in an all-cash deal; Colin Angle will remain as iRobot CEO  —  Amazon this morning announced plans to acquire Roomba maker iRobot for an all-cash deal valued at $1.7 billion.  —  “Since we started iRobot, our team has been on a mission […]

Nikkei Asia: After Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan, sources say shipments to Pegatron’s factory, used by Microsoft, Tesla, and others, were being held by Chinese customs  —  Suppliers spooked as Beijing wields rule against ‘Taiwan’ label on goods  —  TAIPEI — Shipments to iPhone assembler Pegatron’s factory …

Financial Times: Sources: Didi fears further retribution and sanctions by Chinese regulators; its app remains unavailable two weeks after CAC’s fine was expected to lift the ban  —  Insiders at ride-hailing group hit by $1.18bn fine are fearful of more punishment in Beijing’s tech crackdown

Growing up on a farm in Texas, there was always something for siblings Gia Schneider ’99 and Abe Schneider ’02, SM ’03 to do. But every Saturday at 2 p.m., no matter what, the family would go down to a local creek to fish, build rock dams and rope swings, and enjoy nature. Eventually the […]

After news of a “pointless” pay increase spread, workers at three warehouses stopped work to demand higher wages as inflation and interest rates surge.

A Tehran-linked hack of a NATO member marks a significant escalation against the backdrop of US-Iran nuclear talks.

The conspiracy theorist’s breathtakingly silly blunder underscores the urgent need to revamp ediscovery in US law.

Emma Roth / The Verge: Microsoft is testing a Game Pass widget on Windows 11, which makes it easier to see the latest additions, games leaving soon, highlighted categories, and more  —  Microsoft’s first new Windows 11 widget  —  Microsoft’s first new Windows 11 widget should make it even easier to find out which games […]

Nelson Wang / CoinDesk: Block reports Q2 revenue down 6.6% YoY to $4.4B, $2.62B net revenue excluding bitcoin, and Cash App bitcoin revenue down 34% YoY to $1.79B; stock is down 5%+  —  Despite beating projections, the payments company said its overall revenue fell because of a decrease in bitcoin revenue.

Wallace Witkowski / MarketWatch: Cloudflare reports Q2 revenue up 54% YoY to $234.5M, vs. $227.3M est., a $63.5M net loss, and forecast for both Q3 and 2022 above estimates; stock is up 21%+  —  Cloudflare Inc. shares surged in the extended session Thursday after the cybersecurity company reported results …

Giving our hardware sight has empowered a host of applications in self-driving cars, object detection, and crop monitoring. But unlike animals, synthetic vision systems can’t simply evolve under natural habitats. Dynamic visual systems that can navigate both land and water, therefore, have yet to power our machines — leading researchers from MIT, the Gwangju Institute of […]

As MIT prepares for the fall — its fifth full semester since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic — the Institute is continuing to evolve from its initial stance of strong institutional responsibility for managing Covid to an approach rooted in individual responsibility. Throughout the pandemic, MIT has taken an “always be prepared to pivot” […]

One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease is a reduction in the firing of some neurons in the brain, which contributes to the cognitive decline that patients experience. A new study from MIT shows how a type of cells called microglia contribute to this slowdown of neuron activity. The study found that microglia that express […]

With an aggressive but thoughtful approach, it’s possible to survive a downturn — and even emerge stronger.

Four strategies for leaders.

The labor market for jobs you can do on a laptop is expanding beyond major cities.

We love the design overhaul, but the internal upgrade delivers only modest gains.

Their bodies suppressed and surveilled, Hong Kongers maintain a creative and furtive resistance.

These wireless cans are a student musician’s dream.

Elias Leight / Billboard: SoundCloud cuts its global workforce by ~20% “due to a significant company transformation and the challenging economic and financial environment”  —  CEO Michael Weissman announced the cuts in an email, blaming them on “the challenging economic climate and financial market headwinds.”

Chainalysis: Analysis: $2B in crypto has been stolen from cross-chain bridges across 13 hacks in 2022 so far, accounting for 69% of total funds stolen  —  Following last night’s exploit of the Nomad Bridge, Chainalysis estimates that $2 billion in cryptocurrency has been stolen from cross-chain bridges across 13 separate hacks so far this year.

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Axio, which helps companies model cybersecurity risk, raised a $23M Series B led by Temasek’s ISTARI, bringing its total funding to $30M  —  Axio, a platform for cybersecurity risk evaluation, today announced the closure of a $23 million Series B round led by Temasek’s ISTARI …

In poorer countries, economic development projects tend to get built with the aid of partner countries and companies, and multilateral development organizations. One line of thought is that such projects work better when the outside partner is also from a lower-income country, what is often referred to as the “Global South.” Suppose the Brazilian cooperation […]

When users want to send data over the internet faster than the network can handle, congestion can occur — the same way traffic congestion snarls the morning commute into a big city. Computers and devices that transmit data over the internet break the data down into smaller packets and use a special algorithm to decide […]

What’s it like to be responsible for a billion people’s digital security? Just ask the company’s Morse researchers.

Ride off into the sunset with these awesome discounts on helmets, bells, and bicycle locks.

This Android phone is speedy in more ways than one, but the “T” in the name may as well stand for “trite.”

Bloomberg: Source: Activision Blizzard and NetEase scrapped a World of Warcraft mobile game after a financing dispute; sources: NetEase disbanded a team of 100+ developers  —  Activision Blizzard Inc. and NetEase Inc. have torpedoed a World of Warcraft smartphone game that had been in development for three years …