About: blatcho

Takashi Kawakami / Nikkei Asia: Chinese government data: China’s smartphone shipments sank 21.7% to 134M units in H1 2022; Canalys: shipments may fall below 300M in 2022, the lowest since 2012  —  Consumer shift toward thrift compounds structural weakness in demand  —  GUANGZHOU — Smartphone shipments in China are on track …

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: Meta says it will shut down its Facebook Live Shopping feature on October 1 as it shifts its focus to Reels on Facebook and Instagram  —  Facebook is shutting down its live shopping feature on October 1st to shift its focus to Reels, the company announced in a blog post.

An earbud uses artificial intelligence to interpret commands someone mouths without speaking by tracking changes in the shape of their ear canal

Signals, such as putting your hand over your heart to signify empathy or thumbs up to show you agree, seem to improve people’s experience of video calls more than typing words or using emojis

Using an innovative microscopy method, scientists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT observed how newborn neurons struggle to reach their proper places in advanced human brain tissue models of Rett syndrome, producing new insight into how developmental deficits observed in the brains of patients with the devastating disorder may emerge. Rett […]

It was just a piece of junk sitting in the back of a lab at the MIT Nuclear Reactor facility, ready to be disposed of. But it became the key to demonstrating a more comprehensive way of detecting atomic-level structural damage in materials — an approach that will aid the development of new materials, and […]

Multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra — topics that many MIT students can ace without breaking a sweat — have consistently stumped machine learning models. The best models have only been able to answer elementary or high school-level math questions, and they don’t always find the correct solutions. Now, a multidisciplinary team of researchers from […]

A hard copy makes a decision feel more real.

SIKE was a contender for post-quantum-computing encryption. It took researchers an hour and a single PC to break it.

Breaking things is an ethos for the bored, for people who live in reasonable climates and don’t have tanks in the street. That isn’t us anymore.

Some NFTs are frame-worthy, just like any other photo. What you’re actually framing is still a mystery.

Thomas Seal / Bloomberg: Textbook publisher Pearson plans to turn its e-books into NFTs so the company can profit from secondhand sales  —  The chief executive officer of Pearson Plc, one of the world’s largest textbook publishers, said he hopes technology like non-fungible tokens and the blockchain could help …

Jessica Klein / Input: An interview with Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow on BuzzFeed “doxxing” them, Yuga Labs, the future of BAYC, Otherside, and more  —  The evening of February 4, business partners Greg Solano, 33, and Wylie Aronow, 35, were at their respective homes …

Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE: Aisera, which is developing an AI-based customer service requests system, raised a $90M Series D led by Goldman Sachs and Thoma Bravo  —  Aisera Inc., an artificial intelligence-powered “service experience” startup that aims to enhance employee and customer experiences …

It’s likely to apply its standard three-part playbook to transforming an industry.

Three approaches to help you ace this classic interview question.

Roman Sterlingov, accused of laundering $336 million, is proclaiming his innocence—and challenging a key investigative tool.

An experiment shows that overworked judges turn to the crowdsourced encyclopedia for guidance when making legal decisions.

Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch: Y Combinator narrows its Summer cohort size by 40%, down from 414 in its Winter cohort, due to the economic downturn and changes to the VC funding environment  —  Technically, the accelerator is more exclusive now  —  Y Combinator says it has intentionally shrunk the number of startups within …

Michael Kan / PCMag: Court finds a former T-Mobile store owner guilty of hacking T-Mobile staff to access internal tools that he used to make ~$25M by unlocking customers’ phones  —  Argishti Khudaverdyan was found guilty of various offenses after he stole login credentials from more than 50 different T-Mobile employees across the US.

Washington Post: Sources: Nancy Pelosi is set to meet with TSMC’s chairman Mark Liu to discuss implementation of the Chips and Science Act during her visit to Taiwan  —  TSMC is building a chip factory in Arizona — and considering constructing several on the site — in a project seen as key to U.S. national […]

A robot that can untangle long cables with just two simple grippers may be useful in aircraft and car manufacturing or as a household assistant

An obsolete photographic technique that won a Nobel prize over a century ago has been resurrected to create a novel material that changes colour when stretched

Pulse oximetry is a noninvasive test that measures the oxygen saturation level in a patient’s blood, and it has become an important tool for monitoring many patients, including those with Covid-19. But new research links faulty readings from pulse oximeters with racial disparities in health outcomes, potentially leading to higher rates of death and complications […]

Don’t jump onto a sinking ship.

A conversation about increasing trust in the workplace and society.

Think: present, past, future.

Disinformation caused one group of refugees to be welcomed with open arms, while another were dehumanized as a “demographic weapon.”

We loved the vanilla EV6 with the best charging tech around. But this new performance version makes a fundamental mistake.

This toaster costs a small fortune and doesn’t even toast that well—a bad deal any way you slice it.

Gabrielle Coppola / Bloomberg: Volkswagen’s Cariad unit orders lidar sensors and software from Innoviz, worth around $4B, according to Innoviz’s CEO; Innoviz already has a deal with BMW  —  Volkswagen AG is tapping Israeli lidar company Innoviz Technologies Ltd. to provide laser sensors and software for a push to outfit …

Sofia Pitt / CNBC: Uber reports Q2 revenue rose 105% YoY to $8.1B, above $7.39B estimates, and a $2.6B net loss; mobility gross bookings rose 57% YoY to $13.4B; stock jumps 10%+  —  – Uber reported a net loss of $2.6 billion for the second quarter, $1.7 billion of which was attributed to investments and […]

Raisa Bruner / TIME: An interview with OnlyFans CEO Ami Gan on adapting to the role, addressing safety concerns, embracing adult creators, plans to grow the platform, and more  —  When Amrapali “Ami” Gan became CEO of OnlyFans in December 2021, she wasn’t just stepping into a bigger job than her previous position …

Scientists and engineers are constantly developing new materials with unique properties that can be used for 3D printing, but figuring out how to print with these materials can be a complex, costly conundrum. Often, an expert operator must use manual trial-and-error — possibly making thousands of prints — to determine ideal parameters that consistently print […]

Meta has allowed ads that include hate speech and calls for violence ahead of the country’s elections. But experts warn that a shutdown isn’t the answer.

Niket Nishant / Reuters: Global Payments plans to acquire fintech peer EVO Payments for nearly $4B, a 24% premium on EVO’s last closing price, and expects the deal to close by Q1 2023  —  Global Payments Inc (GPN.N) said on Monday it would buy smaller peer EVO Payments Inc (EVOP.O) for nearly $4 billion including […]

Wallace Witkowski / MarketWatch: Activision Blizzard Q2: revenue of $1.64B, down from $2.3B YoY, vs $1.57B est., net income of $280M, down from $876M YoY, and MAUs of 361M, down from 408M YoY  —  Ahead of earnings, Microsoft reportedly said Activision Blizzard has no ‘must have’ games  —  Activision Blizzard Inc. shares ticked higher …

Jonathan Vanian / CNBC: Pinterest reports Q2 revenue up 9% YoY to $666M, vs $667M est., global MAUs down 5% YoY to 433M, vs 431M est., and a net loss of $43M; the stock jumps 21%+  —  – Pinterest posted disappointing financial results and gave guidance that missed Wall Street expectations, but user numbers were […]

https://press.springernature.com/scalable-optical-manufacture-of-dynamic-structural-colour-in-str/23300254  

MIT Professor Christopher Capozzola has joined MIT Open Learning as senior associate dean, effective Aug. 1. Reporting to interim Vice President for Open Learning Eric Grimson, Capozzola will oversee open education offerings including OpenCourseWare, MITx, and MicroMasters, as well as the Digital Learning Lab, Digital Learning in Residential Education, and MIT Video Productions. Capozzola has […]

Imagine stretching a piece of film to reveal a hidden message. Or checking an arm band’s color to gauge muscle mass. Or sporting a swimsuit that changes hue as you do laps. Such chameleon-like, color-shifting materials could be on the horizon, thanks to a photographic technique that’s been resurrected and repurposed by MIT engineers. By […]

J-PAL North America, a research center in the MIT Department of Economics, has opened two Evaluation Incubators: the Housing Stability Evaluation Incubator and State and Local Evaluation Incubator. J-PAL North America’s Evaluation Incubators equip partners to use randomized evaluations — the most scientifically rigorous method used to study program impact — in order to generate […]

We need measures to help people, animals, and plants survive the climate crisis.

The “good guy” defense gaslights women and enables offenders.

Counterintuitively, ESG ratings reward companies that are likely to profit in the climate crisis — not those who are doing the most to fight it.

Absurdly long battery life and an insane array of fitness features make this small outdoor watch my favorite fitness tracker.

Space fans around the world can help analyze data collected by the Mars Climate Sounder.

A battle between unions and Just Eat France sets a troubling precedent for platform workers.

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch: Bolt Mobility, co-founded by Usain Bolt, seems to have ceased operations and vanished from at least five US cities, leaving unusable e-bikes; Bolt raised $40.2M  —  Bolt Mobility, the Miami-based micromobility startup co-founded by Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, appears to have vanished without …

Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal: As the market downturn sees some US tech investors and startups hunkering down, others continue as normal; Q2 average investment deal sizes are at record levels  —  Market correction leaves some startups in crisis as others take employees on vacation  —  Why a 2022 Recession Would Be Unlike Any […]