Category: Uncategorized

Antoine Gara / Financial Times: Filing: Elliott Management sold all of its 10M shares in Twitter in Q2 amid Musk’s takeover bid; the hedge fund had no common stock in Twitter as of June 30  —  Activist investor held 10mn shares as they rallied on news of Tesla founder’s $44bn takeover  —  The activist hedge […]

The after-effects of nuclear war would be catastrophic for agriculture. Simulations show billions of people could starve depending on the size of the conflict

The Airbus Zephyr S, a military reconnaissance aircraft, has more than doubled the record it set in 2018 for an uncrewed flight duration

Bloomberg: A judge orders Twitter to give Elon Musk documents from a former Twitter executive Musk said was a key witness but denies Musk’s similar request for 21 others  —  Twitter Inc. was ordered to hand over files from its former consumer product head to Elon Musk on spam and bot accounts the billionaire …

Amy E. Keating, the Jay A. Stein Professor of Biology and a professor of biological engineering, has been named head of the Department of Biology, effective today. She succeeds Alan Grossman, the Praecis Professor of Biology at MIT, who led the department since 2014. “Professor Keating is a leading researcher in her field, employing computational […]

In an example of the adage “everything old is new again,” MIT engineers report a new discovery in semiconductors, well-known materials that have been the focus of intense study for over 100 years thanks to their many applications in electronic devices. The team found that these important materials not only become much stiffer in response […]

LEGO blocks can be manually attached to each other in certain prescribed ways to create complex structures. What if we could engineer living LEGO-like structures that can self-replicate and move around, and can be programmed to grow and self-assemble into any desired target shape? An interdisciplinary research team, led by MIT professor Jörn Dunkel and […]

Reflecting on our own experiences of being disadvantaged or marginalized can help us better empathize with our peers.

Choose the right people, then make sure they’re prepared.

The legislation adds fuel to a major push for a US battery supply chain. But inconvenient geography is the least of the challenges ahead.

For anyone getting back into the sport, or just starting for the first time, here’s the go-to gear to get you rolling.

Influencers are encouraging people to ditch hormonal contraception. Fixing feeds will require mending mistrust between doctors and patients.

Lily Hay Newman / Wired: A “jailbreak” for John Deere tractors, helping farmers modify and repair them, highlights issues with securing farm equipment and the right-to-repair debate  —  A hacker has formulated an exploit that provides root access to two popular models of the company’s farm equipment.

Alex Webb / Bloomberg: Meta focusing on Europe makes sense for three reasons: raising ARPU in the region to US levels, facing off regulatory headwinds, and attracting cheaper talent  —  A sizable chunk of the executive team at Meta Platforms Inc.—Facebook, to you and me—is decamping to London.

Lucy Harley-McKeown / The Block: Galaxy Digital terminates its $1.2B acquisition of crypto custodian BitGo, announced in May 2021, after the service failed to provide audited statements  —  – Galaxy Digital announced on Monday that it would terminate its deal with crypto custodian BitGo, which had been announced in May 2021.

David McCabe / New York Times: A look at the growing bipartisan scrutiny of TikTok in the US; email: House officials told staff they did not recommend using the app, citing security concerns  —  National security concerns over the Chinese-owned viral video app remain unresolved.  Lawmakers and regulators are increasingly pushing for action.

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: Apple ads team lead Todd Teresi is now reporting directly to Eddy Cue and wants to increase the group’s ad revenues from $4B a year to double digits  —  Apple is set to expand ads to new areas of your iPhone and iPad in search of its next big revenue […]

These WIRED-tested two-wheelers will help you scoot scoot scoot around town.

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: New York City-based Kumospace, which offers video chat and remote work tools with a “virtual office” feel, has raised a $21M Series A led by Lightspeed  —  After more than two years of remote work, many employees have no interest in returning to the office — at least not without good […]

Cissy Zhou / Nikkei Asia: Source: China has blocked Tencent-backed health platform DXY from posting on Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin amid its criticism of China’s efforts to fight COVID-19  —  Dingxiang Yuan posted articles debunking use of traditional medicine for virus  —  HONG KONG — China has suspended …

A hidden link between two seemingly unrelated particle collision outcomes shows a mysterious web of mathematical connections between disparate theories.

The Gear team spends countless hours in front of displays while reviewing gadgets galore. So we reviewed those too (including a portable screen).

Mark Sullivan / Fast Company: D-Wave completed its planned SPAC merger last week, the third quantum computing startup, after Rigetti and IonQ, to go public via SPAC within the last year  —  Yet another quantum computing company has gone public via SPAC.  —  D-Wave completed a planned merger on Monday with DPCM Capital …

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: A profile of COO Javier Olivan, who has become Meta’s “unofficial fixer” and has had a hand in all of the company’s major competitive battles and acquisitions  —  In 2008, Facebook was offered only in English—and struggling to expand internationally.

Think about almost any locale where people live: Why does it have its current built form? Why do people reside where they do? No doubt there are quirks of geography or history involved. But places are also shaped by money, politics, and the law — in short, by power. Studying those issues is the work […]

Emma Roth / The Verge: Uber will end its free loyalty program Uber Rewards on November 1, 2022, to focus on its new Uber One membership program  —  You have until October 31st to spend your leftover Uber Rewards points  —  Uber is ending its free loyalty program, Uber Rewards, so it can turn its […]

Plus: Ring cameras get their own show, Google calls out Apple’s messaging, and we unpack Unpacked.

The Veterans Affairs’ VistA software has a vulnerability that could let an attacker “masquerade as a doctor,” a security researcher warns.

Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News: Overtime, which distributes original sports content on social media channels, raised a $100M Series D at a $500M valuation, bringing its total funding to $250M  —  Sports league startup Overtime closed a $100 million Series D valuing the company at $500 million.

Reuters: China’s internet watchdog publishes a list of 30 algorithms used in popular apps, including Wechat, Taobao, and Douyin, with brief descriptions of their use  —  China’s top internet watchdog said on Friday tech giants such as Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group have submitted details …

Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE: Amazon’s new reality show Ring Nation featuring footage from its Ring home security cameras is the company’s latest effort to normalize its surveillance network  —  Amazon’s newest effort to normalize its surveillance network will feature footage from Ring surveillance cameras and commentary from comedian Wanda Sykes.

Gearing up for the new school year? We’ve found plenty of savings on all the essential gadgets and supplies.

Apple’s laptops are expensive, and you’ll have to make some hard choices to pick the right one. Let us help.

Mountaintop removal destroyed Appalachia’s land. Then came the floodwaters.

Yogita Khatri / The Block: Dutch authorities arrest a Tornado Cash developer suspected of involvement in concealing money laundering, two days after the US sanctioned the crypto mixer  —  – The Tornado Cash developer arrested by Dutch authorities on Wednesday is Alexey Pertsev, his wife has confirmed to The Block.

FBI agents reportedly searched Mar-a-Lago for “nuclear documents.” That can fall into one of these four categories.

The popular video meeting app makes it easy to keep the software up to date—but it also introduced vulnerabilities.

An injection flaw allowed a researcher to access all files on a Mac. Apple issued a fix, but some machines may still be vulnerable.

Wall Street Journal: Meta is testing having DoorDash deliver Facebook Marketplace purchases; sources: the service delivers items that fit in a car trunk and are up to 15 miles away  —  The service will pick up and deliver items that fit in a car trunk to destinations up to 15 miles away

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Hands-on with iOS 16’s Lockdown Mode, which aims to protect against highly targeted attacks by disabling link previews in messages, limiting FaceTime, and more  —  Here’s what the new spyware-busting security feature does, and why it might just work  —  Lockdown Mode is a new Apple feature you should hope you’ll […]

Wall Street Journal: Sources: YouTube plans to launch a “channel store” for streaming services as early as this fall and is talking with partners about subscription revenue splits  —  Ultracompetitive U.S. market is prompting streaming services to seek new ways to find subscribers

When Harry L. Tuller was in grad school, his advisor had a few words of advice for the young scholar, then a Columbia University-trained electrical engineer. “He said to me, ‘Harry, I like the idea that you have a background in semiconductors and electrical measurements. And what I want you to work on is ceramics,’” […]

Four strategies to balance short- and long-term success.

To celebrate the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 — which authorizes major funding increases for scientific research and provides about $52 billion for U.S. semiconductor research, development, and manufacturing — Sen. Elizabeth Warren paid a visit to MIT’s state-of-the-art facility for nanoscale science and engineering on Wednesday. She arrived at MIT.nano, […]

How companies can avoid three common pitfalls.

Researchers have found a new way to keep records of when a cell’s genes turn on and off—by harnessing systems that bacteria already use for self-defense.

These handy tools combine the ease of jotting notes by hand with the power of saving them digitally.

David Kirton / Reuters: Huawei reports H1 revenue dropped 5.9% YoY to ~$44.73B and net profit dropped to ~$2.2B, down from ~$4.7B in H1 2021, as smartphone and laptop sales weaken  —  Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) said on Friday its first-half net profit more than halved as a difficult economy curtailed demand from customers …

Brandy Betz / CoinDesk: Singapore-based Merkle Science, a predictive crypto intelligence service with threat detection, risk mitigation, and compliance tools, raised a $24M+ Series A  —  The threat detection company added funding to its Series A round, which now totals more than $24 million.

These software shortcuts will make your workday more productive. Your coworkers will appreciate them too.