Handling soft fruit is challenging for robots, but a machine-learning system was able to conquer the task by imitating how a person does it
About: blatcho
Posts by blatcho:
Stretchy light-emitting plastic could be used in wearable screens
Existing flexible screens are either too power-hungry, fragile or expensive to be used in most electronic devices, but a new material could enable more practical versions
Study finds neurons that encode the outcomes of actions
When we make complex decisions, we have to take many factors into account. Some choices have a high payoff but carry potential risks; others are lower risk but may have a lower reward associated with them. A new study from MIT sheds light on the part of the brain that helps us make these types […]
Scientists develop the largest, most detailed model of the early universe to date
It all started around 13.8 billion years ago with a big, cosmological “bang” that brought the universe suddenly and spectacularly into existence. Shortly after, the infant universe cooled dramatically and went completely dark. Then, within a couple hundred million years after the Big Bang, the universe woke up, as gravity gathered matter into the first […]
Research: When Praising the Competition Benefits Your Brand
It can boost your image — and your profits.
To Better Support Working Parents, Talk to Them
A guide to the conversations that leaders, managers, and parents need to be having right now.
3 Exercises to Boost Your Team’s Creativity
Move beyond brainstorming.
Master Reveals the Finite Future of Social Thrillers
For Black people and others who are continually at a disadvantage, the genre has a major limitation: It can only imagine what is already painfully obvious.
This Robot Vac Mops Your Floors—and Watches Your Feet
This massive, multimodal cleaning robot is the first vac that’s made mopping my floor anything but a chore.
Online ‘Happiness’ Classes Might Work Better Than You Think
Science of happiness courses are attracting thousands of students. But there’s still a lot to learn about whether these lessons stick.
TikTok creators say a glitch in the registration process for TikTok’s creator fund has prevented sign-ups for weeks; the fund started at $200M in 2020 (Brody Ford/Bloomberg)
Brody Ford / Bloomberg: TikTok creators say a glitch in the registration process for TikTok’s creator fund has prevented sign-ups for weeks; the fund started at $200M in 2020 — Many rising TikTok stars who recently qualified to be paid for their popular videos have been shut out of the registration system …
French startup Weglot, a website translation tool that is compatible with major CMSes and platforms, raises a €45M Series A from Partech (Romain Dillet/TechCrunch)
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: French startup Weglot, a website translation tool that is compatible with major CMSes and platforms, raises a €45M Series A from Partech — French startup Weglot has closed a $50 million Series A funding round (€45 million) from Partech. The company has built a translation solution for websites.
An inside look at Ukrainian efforts to repel Russian cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, as some worry that early success might be unwound over time (Mehul Srivastava/Financial Times)
Mehul Srivastava / Financial Times: An inside look at Ukrainian efforts to repel Russian cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, as some worry that early success might be unwound over time — As Russian troops massed on the border on January 14, dozens of Ukrainian government websites were defaced with the words “be afraid and wait for […]
Apollo’s Spendy New Escooter Is a City-Friendly Ride
This electric kick scooter is hefty, but it’s comfortable, nimble, and loaded with friendly features.
Scientists Map Yellowstone’s Plumbing With … a Helicopter
For the first time, scientists get a look at what’s going on under the park’s geysers. It may even help them better understand the origin of life on Earth.
Nothing’s Carl Pei Wants to Start a Smartphone Revolution (Again)
The former OnePlus cofounder is back with a flagship-bothering, high-spec budget phone designed to be the most compelling alternative to Apple.
Stephen Wilhite, one of the lead creators of the GIF, has died at 74; Wilhite worked on the GIF while employed by CompuServe in the 1980s (Mitchell Clark/The Verge)
Mitchell Clark / The Verge: Stephen Wilhite, one of the lead creators of the GIF, has died at 74; Wilhite worked on the GIF while employed by CompuServe in the 1980s — It’s pronounced ‘jif’ — Stephen Wilhite, one of the lead inventors of the GIF, died last week from COVID at the age of […]
Instacart will build micro-fulfillment warehouses for grocery retailers to support 15-minute deliveries, launching in the “coming months” starting with Publix (Dave Lee/Financial Times)
Dave Lee / Financial Times: Instacart will build micro-fulfillment warehouses for grocery retailers to support 15-minute deliveries, launching in the “coming months” starting with Publix — Company embarks on ‘new trajectory’ with grocery retailers as it seeks to fend off fierce competition
Google says it will bar ads from appearing next to websites, apps, and YouTube channels that exploit, dismiss, or condone the Russia-Ukraine war (Paresh Dave/Reuters)
Paresh Dave / Reuters: Google says it will bar ads from appearing next to websites, apps, and YouTube channels that exploit, dismiss, or condone the Russia-Ukraine war — Alphabet-owned (GOOGL.O) Google will not help websites, apps and YouTube channels sell ads alongside content that it deems exploits …
Is Russia getting ready to use chemical weapons in Ukraine?
An attack on a Ukrainian chemical plant released toxic ammonia, forcing locals to stay indoors. Analysts suggest Russia may carry out more such attacks as a form of chemical warfare, and could escalate to deploying chemical weapons
Study: With masking and distancing in place, NFL stadium openings in 2020 had no impact on local Covid-19 infections
As with most everything in the world, football looked very different in 2020. As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, many National Football League (NFL) games were played in empty stadiums, while other stadiums opened to fans at significantly reduced capacity, with strict safety protocols in place. At the time it was unclear what impact such large […]
Patrick Hale, former executive director of System Design and Management, dies at 72
Patrick “Pat” Hale SM ’84, former executive director of MIT System Design and Management, passed away on Feb. 4 at the age of 72 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Hale oversaw the progression of SDM from a small experiment to a renowned program in engineering and management. Hale served in the U.S. Navy […]
A New Way to Explain the Pause in Your Career
LinkedIn’s “Career Break” feature is designed to help people relaunch after some time away from the workforce.
How to Manage a Job Offer When You’re Still Interviewing Elsewhere
Five strategies to buy yourself time — without losing the opportunity.
Overcoming the C-Suite’s Distrust of AI
Business leaders are often comfortable using AI for tactical purposes — but aren’t yet ready to bring it into strategic decision-making.
Even the Pandemic Couldn’t Stop Button Soccer
Traditionally played with buttons and bottle caps, this Brazilian game, usually played offline, exploded on the internet when people were forced inside.
Russia Is Facing a Tech Worker Exodus
With founders and developers scrambling for the exit, the Russian tech scene is taking a major hit.
Workers Are Trading Staggering Amounts of Data for ‘Payday Loans’
Companies are offering interest-free advances to people with poor credit in exchange for detailed personal data.
Sources: Spotify will rename its live conversation product, from Greenroom to Spotify Live, and plans to integrate the content into its main app in Q2 (Ashley Carman/Bloomberg)
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg: Sources: Spotify will rename its live conversation product, from Greenroom to Spotify Live, and plans to integrate the content into its main app in Q2 — Spotify Technology SA is renaming its live conversation product and integrating the content into its main streaming app to make the service …
Chinese AR startup Rokid raises a $160M Series C, following a $100M raise in 2018, bringing its total funding to $378M (Rita Liao/TechCrunch)
Rita Liao / TechCrunch: Chinese AR startup Rokid raises a $160M Series C, following a $100M raise in 2018, bringing its total funding to $378M — Chinese startup Rokid has been through a few stages of transformation over its eight years of existence, and it’s recently raised some new funding to stay afloat.
Sony releases PS4 and PS5 updates; the PS5 will gain Variable Refresh Rate in the coming months, syncing a display’s refresh rate to the PS5’s graphical output (Tom Warren/The Verge)
Tom Warren / The Verge: Sony releases PS4 and PS5 updates; the PS5 will gain Variable Refresh Rate in the coming months, syncing a display’s refresh rate to the PS5’s graphical output — Sony says VRR will be available in the coming months on the PS5 — Sony is planning to release a Variable Refresh […]
Unlocking the power of collaboration in contracts
At the heart of nearly every purchase, sale, partnership, acceptance, and rejection is a contract. Businesses depend on people’s ability to build and understand contracts, especially in response to unique and fast-changing circumstances — like a global pandemic, for example. Even before the pandemic, many businesses were struggling to keep up with accelerating changes to […]
Building bridges, not silos
The MIT campus is built to connect people. Some structures, like the Stata Center, the Sloan building, or the Media Lab building, offer large lobbies, flexible labs, and common spaces to enhance collaboration. MIT’s Infinite Corridor — which is one-sixth of a mile long — mixes thousands of people together daily. Aerial walkways connect campus […]
Sky-High Gas Prices Push Europe’s Gig Workers to Strike
Drivers and couriers in the UK and Germany are protesting this week as the rising cost of fuel erodes their earnings.
Katie Haun Launches a Crypto Fund—and Makes Her Web3 Pitch
The new fund, Haun Ventures, has everything: NFTs, celebrities, and a former federal prosecutor who wants to take the Web3 world by storm.
‘This Is Really, Really Bad’: Lapsus$ Gang Claims Okta Hack
Lapsus$ leaking Microsoft source code would be bad enough. Breaching Okta could be much, much worse.
Microsoft confirms Lapsus$ compromised “a single account” with “limited access” and exfiltrated portions of source code for some of its products (The Verge)
The Verge: Microsoft confirms Lapsus$ compromised “a single account” with “limited access” and exfiltrated portions of source code for some of its products — Lapsus$ says it has accessed data from Okta, Nvidia, Samsung, and Ubisoft — The hacking group Lapsus$ …
DevOps startup Lightlytics, which makes SaaS tools to help model cloud infrastructure, raises a $26M Series A led by EIP (Mike Wheatley/SiliconANGLE)
Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE: DevOps startup Lightlytics, which makes SaaS tools to help model cloud infrastructure, raises a $26M Series A led by EIP — DevOps startup Lightlytics Ltd. said today it’s looking to expand its go-to-market strategy after raising $26 million in a new round of funding.
Sources: Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is raising $100M in a token sale from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, a previous backer, and Khosla, at a $3B valuation (The Information)
The Information: Sources: Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is raising $100M in a token sale from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, a previous backer, and Khosla, at a $3B valuation — Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency startup co-founded by former Y Combinator president Sam Altman, is raising $100 million …
A simple diagnostic tool for gastrointestinal disorders
As food moves through the digestive tract, contracting muscles along the tract keep things flowing smoothly. Loss of this motility can lead to acid reflux, failure of food to move out of the stomach, or constipation. Dysmotility disorders are usually diagnosed with a catheter containing pressure transducers, which can sense contractions of the GI tract. […]
Ride-hailing without the traffic snarls?
In theory, competition among ride-hailing companies should be a good thing, providing more options for consumers. In practice, having too many ride-hailing vehicles adds to urban congestion. How can cities balance these factors? A new study co-authored by MIT researchers, in collaboration with the Institute for Informatics and Telematics of the National Research Council of […]
Research: How Employee Experience Impacts Your Bottom Line
An examination of several years of employee and financial data from a global retailer found a substantial impact.
Your Data Initiatives Can’t Just Be for Data Scientists
Companies need to design projects around the employees who actually use them.
Breaking Free of the Cult of Productivity
A conversation with writer Madeleine Dore about letting go of efficiency in the name of creativity.
These Are the Top Features in MacOS Monterey
Universal Control is now available in the latest update. Here’s how to install the newest version of Apple’s desktop operating system to use it.
NASA Bets on an Asteroid Killer, a Venusian Balloon, and More
The agency’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program provides seed funding for ideas that sound like sci-fi—but just might work.
The Entirely Predictable Impact of Salary Transparency
Europe is about to decide whether to make everyone’s salaries public, a move that could dramatically narrow the gender pay gap.
Alibaba increases its share buyback program from $15B to $25B, sending its Hong Kong-listed shares up by 11%+; Alibaba has so far purchased ~$9.2B in shares (Arjun Kharpal/CNBC)
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: Alibaba increases its share buyback program from $15B to $25B, sending its Hong Kong-listed shares up by 11%+; Alibaba has so far purchased ~$9.2B in shares — – Alibaba said on Tuesday it will increase the size of its share buyback program from $15 billion to $25 billion, effective for a […]
The Lapsus$ group releases ~37GB of alleged source code from Microsoft, covering Bing, Cortana, and other services; Microsoft says it is investigating (Lawrence Abrams/BleepingComputer)
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer: The Lapsus$ group releases ~37GB of alleged source code from Microsoft, covering Bing, Cortana, and other services; Microsoft says it is investigating — The Lapsus$ hacking group claims to have leaked the source code for Bing, Cortana, and other projects stolen from Microsoft’s internal Azure DevOps server.
Rights group Global Witness says Facebook approved eight paid ads that it submitted containing hate speech inciting violence and genocide against the Rohingya (Associated Press)
Associated Press: Rights group Global Witness says Facebook approved eight paid ads that it submitted containing hate speech inciting violence and genocide against the Rohingya — JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A new report has found that Facebook failed to detect blatant hate speech and calls to violence …