The best semiconductor of them all?

Silicon is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, and in its pure form the material has become the foundation of much of modern technology, from solar cells to computer chips. But silicon’s properties as a semiconductor are far from ideal. For one thing, although silicon lets electrons whizz through its structure easily, it […]

15Five, which builds HR software used at Spotify, Credit Karma, and other companies, has raised a $52M Series C led by Quad Partners (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: 15Five, which builds HR software used at Spotify, Credit Karma, and other companies, has raised a $52M Series C led by Quad Partners  —  15Five — an early mover in the world of building technology to help motivate teams, and to improve performance management for execs overseeing those teams …

Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, and others register for a license in Indonesia under which they might have to censor content and hand over users’ data (Cristina Criddle/Financial Times)

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times: Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, and others register for a license in Indonesia under which they might have to censor content and hand over users’ data  —  Meta, TikTok and Twitter among groups to register for licences under which authorities can censor platforms

Baidu’s video streaming service iQiyi signs a content deal with Douyin, TikTok’s sister app in China, ending a long dispute over alleged copyright infringement (Cissy Zhou/Nikkei Asia)

Cissy Zhou / Nikkei Asia: Baidu’s video streaming service iQiyi signs a content deal with Douyin, TikTok’s sister app in China, ending a long dispute over alleged copyright infringement  —  Douyin users will be able to use iQiyi content to make their own short videos  —  Under a new agreement, users of short video platform […]

Microsoft is eliminating many open job listings, including in its Azure and security units, but plans to honor job offers and make exceptions for critical roles (Dina Bass/Bloomberg)

Dina Bass / Bloomberg: Microsoft is eliminating many open job listings, including in its Azure and security units, but plans to honor job offers and make exceptions for critical roles  —  Microsoft Corp. is eliminating many open job listings, including in its Azure cloud business and its security software unit, as the economy continues to […]

Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and W5+ Gen 1 chips for wearables, based on 4nm process and debuting in watches from Oppo and Mobvoi (Andrew Myrick/Android Central)

Andrew Myrick / Android Central: Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and W5+ Gen 1 chips for wearables, based on 4nm process and debuting in watches from Oppo and Mobvoi  —  The upgrade we’ve been waiting for is here.  —  What you need to know  — Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon W5 platform for […]

Biden administration to work with private sector in a 120-day sprint to create hundreds of cybersecurity apprenticeship programs to fill out cybersecurity roles (Brian Fung/CNN)

Brian Fung / CNN: Biden administration to work with private sector in a 120-day sprint to create hundreds of cybersecurity apprenticeship programs to fill out cybersecurity roles  —  Washington (CNN Business)The Biden administration is pushing to fill hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity jobs in the United States …

A coalition representing Apple, Meta, and others asks India to amend its proposed IT rules, including allowing a self-regulatory grievance redressal mechanism (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: A coalition representing Apple, Meta, and others asks India to amend its proposed IT rules, including allowing a self-regulatory grievance redressal mechanism  —  An industry group representing several tech giants has requested the Indian government to make a series of changes …

An interview with Matthew Ball on his new book about the metaverse, which he sees as the next phase of the internet, Meta’s big pivot, AR hardware, and more (Nilay Patel/The Verge)

Nilay Patel / The Verge: An interview with Matthew Ball on his new book about the metaverse, which he sees as the next phase of the internet, Meta’s big pivot, AR hardware, and more  —  Let’s talk about the metaverse.  —  You probably can’t stop hearing about it.  It’s in startup pitches, in earnings reports […]

Silk offers an alternative to some microplastics

Microplastics, tiny particles of plastic that are now found worldwide in the air, water, and soil, are increasingly recognized as a serious pollution threat, and have been found in the bloodstream of animals and people around the world. Some of these microplastics are intentionally added to a variety of products, including agricultural chemicals, paints, cosmetics, […]

Netflix plans to launch its cheaper, ad-supported plan in “the early part of 2023”, starting in “a handful of markets where advertising spend is significant” (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Todd Spangler / Variety: Netflix plans to launch its cheaper, ad-supported plan in “the early part of 2023”, starting in “a handful of markets where advertising spend is significant”  —  Netflix is angling to win over a new bloc of value-conscious consumers — and help turn around …

US lawmakers release internal Amazon, Meta, and Google documents that they say show evidence of self-preferencing, as they call for tougher tech antitrust laws (Makena Kelly/The Verge)

Makena Kelly / The Verge: US lawmakers release internal Amazon, Meta, and Google documents that they say show evidence of self-preferencing, as they call for tougher tech antitrust laws  —  The House Judiciary Committee released new documents Tuesday  —  New internal documents released Tuesday detail how three …

Zebedee, which focuses on adding Bitcoin and Lightning payment support in games, raises a $35M Series B led by Kingsway Capital with Square Enix among investors (Andrew Hayward/Decrypt)

Andrew Hayward / Decrypt: Zebedee, which focuses on adding Bitcoin and Lightning payment support in games, raises a $35M Series B led by Kingsway Capital with Square Enix among investors  —  Zebedee has raised another $35M to power in-game payments via the Lightning Network, and the gaming giant is onboard.  —  In brief

Fusion’s newest ambassador

When high school senior Tuba Balta emailed MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) Director Dennis Whyte in February, she was not certain she would get a response. As part of her final semester at BASIS Charter School, in Washington, she had been searching unsuccessfully for someone to sponsor an internship in fusion energy, a topic that […]

School of Engineering Awards for 2022

The MIT School of Engineering recently announced its 2022 awards, honoring outstanding faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students. The Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching, given to a faculty member whose contributions have been characterized by dedication, care, and creativity, was presented to Michael Short, Class of ’42 Associate Professor in Nuclear Science and Engineering. The Junior […]

Flip, which lets shoppers monetize their purchases by posting video reviews, has raised a $60M Series B at a ~$500M valuation, bringing its total raised to $95M (Kimberly Chin/Axios)

Kimberly Chin / Axios: Flip, which lets shoppers monetize their purchases by posting video reviews, has raised a $60M Series B at a ~$500M valuation, bringing its total raised to $95M  —  Social commerce platform Flip wants to put a face—and a voice—to online beauty product reviews, in a bid to help shoppers make more […]

Source: UK mobile banking startup Starling told staff it ended a four-year process to get an Irish banking license, signalling a shift in its expansion strategy (Mark Kleinman/Sky News)

Mark Kleinman / Sky News: Source: UK mobile banking startup Starling told staff it ended a four-year process to get an Irish banking license, signalling a shift in its expansion strategy  —  The digital lender told staff on Monday that a four-year ambition to launch a retail bank in Ireland was being brought to a […]

Microsoft reverses its decision to ban the sale of open source software in the Microsoft Store, due to mounting criticism (Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson/BetaNews)

Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson / BetaNews: Microsoft reverses its decision to ban the sale of open source software in the Microsoft Store, due to mounting criticism  —  Having previously upset software developers by implementing a ban on the sale of open source software in its app store, Microsoft has reversed its decision.