About: blatcho

Yossi Matias / The Keyword: Google expands its AI-based flood forecasting service Flood Hub to 80 countries, up from 20, offering forecasts up to 7 days in advance to 460 million people  —  Flood Hub is expanding to 80 countries, providing forecasting up to 7 days in advance of a flood to 460 million people.

Tiyashi Datta / Reuters: Zoom reports Q1 revenue of $1.11B, vs. $1.08B est., up 3% YoY, Enterprise revenue of $632M, up 13% YoY, and customers contributing $100K+ annually up ~23% YoY  —  Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM.O) on Monday raised its annual revenue forecast, betting on hybrid work trends to sustain demand for its video-conferencing […]

MIT junior Anushree Chaudhuri has been selected as a 2023 Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation Scholar. She is only the second MIT student to win this award and the first winner since 2008. The Udall Scholarship honors students who have demonstrated a commitment to the environment, Native American health care, or tribal […]

Professor Daniel Anderson has won the 2023 Wilhelm Exner Medal, awarded by the Austrian Industry Association, for excellence in research and science since 1921. Anderson will receive the award during the Wilhelm Exner Medal Foundation’s Exner Lectures, May 22-23 in Vienna, Austria. “Professor Anderson has changed our world,” says Elazer R. Edelman, Edward J. Poitras […]

Because serotonin is one of the primary chemicals the brain uses to influence mood and behavior, it is also the most common target of psychiatric drugs. To improve those drugs and to invent better ones, scientists need to know much more about how the molecule affects brain cells and circuits both in health and amid […]

How businesses and governments can work together to build digital foundations that benefit everyone.

A senior leader who is struggling with his new boss must learn how to handle the negative work dynamic.

How leaders can overcome their reluctance and embrace a practical, data-driven approach that creates value for shareholders and stakeholders alike.

Elon Musk’s appointment repeats a pattern in which companies led into crisis by men suddenly appoint women leaders.

New York Times: After Google Photos labeled two Black people as “gorillas” in May 2015, photo apps from Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft still do not identify gorillas  —  Eight years after a controversy over Black people being mislabeled by image analysis software — and despite big advances …

Financial Times: Some educators are cautiously experimenting with generative AI, questioning whether the tech can be used in classrooms without undermining numeracy and literacy  —  When Lauren started researching the British designer Yinka Ilori for a school project earlier this year, she was able to consult her new study pal: artificial intelligence.

Wall Street Journal: China’s Micron ban means South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix could fill the void, an uncomfortable position because of their exposure to China and US pressure  —  Samsung, SK Hynix would be best positioned to fill Micron’s void, though geopolitical pressure from both Beijing and Washington make for a tough choice

An alternative form of computer chip called a memcomputer could offer benefits over existing machines, and now a proof-of-principle digital memcomputer shows how these devices could be scaled up

For many owners of electric vehicles (EVs), or for prospective EV owners, a thorny problem is where to charge them. Even as legacy automakers increasingly invest in manufacturing more all-electric cars and trucks, there is not a dense network of charging stations serving many types of vehicles, which would make EVs more convenient to use. […]

In March, two vans filled with doctors and medical supplies crossed the Polish border into Ukraine and made their way to Kyiv as part of a humanitarian mission. Both vans were packed with traditional medical supplies the country is in desperate need of, such as tourniquets, bandages, and suture kits. But one van also carried […]

Prepare your home to handle any natural disaster or emergency with these crucial essentials.

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: Researchers reveal many low-cost Android phones and smart TVs from lesser-known brands, sold in the US and owned by millions, come with malware preinstalled  —  The bane of low-cost Android devices is showing no signs of going away.  —  Overall, Android devices have earned a decidedly mixed reputation for security.

Peter Funt / Wall Street Journal: Service robots like Moxi, which delivers medicines in hospitals, and Jesper, which serves food in restaurants, are in high demand despite job loss concerns  —  The pandemic may be over, but the demand for nonhuman workers in health care, food service and other fields is here to stay

Paresh Dave / Wired: Hands-on with Google’s Duet AI writing aid: a stiff style, inaccurate information, inconsistent Docs and Gmail behavior, great at drafting complaints, and more  —  I used Duet AI to send emails and plan my wedding.  Its writing can be stuffy and stereotyping—but it’s a glimpse of the future of productivity apps.

An AI that predicts wind changes could boost wind turbine efficiency by 0.3 per cent, which globally would amount to enough extra electricity to keep a country running

As researchers race to cultivate these intriguing cells from the deep seafloor, the few growing in labs are our best glimpses of the forerunners of complex life.

The new tool basically transforms ChatGPT into a virtual assistant to help you manage projects, run a marketing campaign, and more.

While the company’s new top-level domains could be used in phishing attacks, security researchers are divided on how big of a problem they really pose.

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal: How Mobileye, Cruise, Waymo, and other self-driving system makers are simulating bad drivers, jaywalkers, and edge cases to train and test autonomous vehicles  —  Call it the Mad Max driving test, a gantlet only a Hollywood director—or a mild-mannered engineer—could dream up

David Pan / Bloomberg: Analysts say crypto miners pivoting to AI cloud services face an uphill battle due to needing other specialized processors, hardware and staff costs, and more  —  Crypto miners looking to provide services for upstarts in artificial intelligence may be looking at an uphill battle, according to analysts.

Financial Times: Sources: Meta and Magic Leap are in talks for a multiyear deal in which Magic Leap could provide IP licensing and contract manufacturing for Meta’s AR products  —  Social media giant seeks technologies to help create an avatar-filled ‘metaverse’  —  Facebook’s parent company is in talks …

Need to keep an eye (or ear) on your kids from another room? Our picks will help you do it.

Our list of speakers of all shapes and sizes can help make sure aural gratification is yours.

Plus: The FBI gets busted abusing a spy tool, an ex-Apple engineer is charged with corporate espionage, and collection of airborne DNA raises new privacy risks.

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: NYC-based Percent, which operates a private credit marketplace, raised a $29.7M Series B led by White Star Capital, bringing its total funding to $48.2M  —  In 2018, Nelson Chu founded Percent with the goal of bringing investors, borrowers and underwriters together to modernize private credit.

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: How crypto hunters help people going through a divorce find their spouse’s hidden crypto stashes, following the trail of tokens as they “hop” across blockchains  —  – Financial infidelity has become increasingly sophisticated, as investors “hop” coins across blockchains and sink their cash into metaverse properties.

Kellen Browning / New York Times: Unable to turn a profit amid fewer hours watched, some US esports organizations lay off staff, end star player contracts, or even sell their teams at a loss  —  At least two organizations in America’s most prominent league for professional video game players are selling their teams, underscoring the […]

Animal welfare groups are pushing the US to restrict the import of hippo parts. But experts argue that that policy is limited, and may even cause harm.

Prepare for a busy summer ahead with discounts on our favorite gadgets.

From USB worms to satellite-based hacking, Russia’s FSB hackers, known as Turla, have spent 25 years distinguishing themselves as “adversary number one.”

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica: Filing: AT&T asks the FCC to block a SpaceX/T-Mobile plan that allows Starlink to service areas lacking T-Mobile coverage, saying “FCC’s rules do not permit” it  —  AT&T and rural telcos say Starlink-fueled phone service would cause interference.

Vildana Hajric / Bloomberg: Inside the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami, attended by 12K+ people, down from 25K+ in 2022, which had a subdued yet positive mood, and no talks of moonshots  —  It turns out that the Bitcoin faithful still like to party even after the annus horribilis that shook the digital-asset world in […]

Rebekah Valentine / IGN: China approves Microsoft’s $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard, bringing the total to 37 countries, including the EU and Japan  —  Thirty-seven total regulators have voiced approval thus far.  —  China’s State Administration has approved Microsoft’s attempted $69 billion acquisition …

From Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga to Zombieland, here are our picks for the best streaming titles to feast your eyes on.

Financial Times: A look at the proliferation of fake LinkedIn profiles; LinkedIn’s transparency report says the company blocked 58M+ accounts in H2 2022, up from 22M in H1  —  On the internet, nobody knows you bought a dog  —  William Grace-Hunter doesn’t exist, though this may not be immediately obvious from his LinkedIn profile.

Wall Street Journal: Sources: Apollo Global Management and Fortress Investment Group are each investing ~$50M in competing groups that aim to restart Celsius under new management  —  Investors that buy and turn around downtrodden companies have largely shunned crypto  —  Two Wall Street heavyweights are locked …

Financial Times: Sources: top shareholder SoftBank demanded compensation from Revolut after UK regulators told the startup to simplify its ownership to obtain a banking license  —  Minister to meet payment group’s bosses amid fears UK’s biggest tech group will leave the country

The materials key to many important applications in aerospace and energy generation must be able to withstand extreme conditions such as high temperatures and tensile stresses without failing. Now a team of MIT-led engineers reports a simple, inexpensive way to strengthen one of the key materials used today in such applications. Further, the team believes […]

An historic delegation of 10 Indigenous artists and advisors recently gathered on MIT’s campus to share their work with each other and with the MIT community. The theme of the ISO Indigenous Incubator at MIT gathering was “Indigenous Knowledge and Immersive Technologies.” Led by the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) of Canada and hosted by the […]

As the world struggles to meet internationally agreed targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, methods of removing carbon dioxide such as reforestation of cleared areas have become an increasingly important strategy. But little attention has been paid to the potential for abandoned or marginal croplands to be restored to natural vegetation as an additional carbon […]

Three lessons, based on a study of more than 200 senior-level executives.

Firm but professional steps that will let you totally unplug.

Poorly run meetings negatively affect team performance, cohesion, and ultimate success.

Remote work revealed that core areas of San Francisco and other cities are overreliant on offices. It’s time to reimagine what—and who—downtowns are for.

B&O’s wireless outdoor speaker is pricey, but for once it’s worth every penny.