Category: Uncategorized

For starters, don’t say anything about what anybody eats or doesn’t eat at work.

Ashton Carter, former U.S. Secretary of Defense and a lifelong advocate of technological innovation who applied his training as a physicist toward public policy, died of a heart attack Oct. 24 in Boston. He was 68. As secretary of defense in the Obama administration, Carter was best known for opening the way for women in […]

Companies need to build cultures that help women thrive — not just survive.

The right process can help you boost revenue, expand margins, and successfully launch new products — even in challenging economic times.

Financial Times: Sources detail the twists and turns in Elon Musk’s $44B Twitter takeover, starting in March, falling apart, and then closing late on October 27  —  Even as his $44bn buyout came down to the wire, Elon Musk kept Twitter guessing.  —  Normally, lawyers and advisers on each side …

FabricNano says it has found an affordable way to swap petrochemicals for plants and proteins.

Despite having tiny arthropod brains, spiders in a new experiment showed some complex cognitive calculations.

A tragic discovery led my real-life loved ones to pull away. In the RPG, I found support and trust again.

Associated Press: The White House welcomes officials from 36 countries, the EU, and private companies for a two-day summit on ransomware attacks, the second such event  —  The White House is bringing together three dozen nations, the European Union and a slew of private-sector companies for a two-day summit starting Monday …

Alyssa Lukpat / Wall Street Journal: The top 20 tech billionaires globally have lost $480B+ on paper in the past year; Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth drops by $87B+, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos by $58B+  —  Moguls including Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have collectively lost more on paper than the market values of most S&P […]

Wildfires, floods, pollution, and overfishing are among the many disruptions that can change the balance of ecosystems, sometimes endangering the future of entire species. But evaluating these ecosystems to determine which species are most at risk, in order to focus preservation actions and policies where they are most needed, is a challenging task. Most such […]

Khari Johnson / Wired: Interview with Gerard de Graaf, director of a new EU office in San Francisco, on the DMA taking force on November 1 and its likely impact on tech companies  —  The Digital Markets Act will force big tech platforms to break open their walled gardens in 2023, says the EU’s new […]

Screw waiting around for a service technician all day. You can nail many home DIY tasks with the right gear and the right attitude.

This small but mighty Android smartphone will do the job. And it has a headphone jack.

These monthly deliveries will help children start coding or cooking, and encourage them to read about the world or learn science.

Casey Newton / Platformer: Sources: Twitter is strongly considering making verified users subscribe to Twitter Blue at $4.99 a month or lose their badges  —  Under pressure to generate revenue quickly, Twitter’s new CEO considers ending free verification  —  Twitter is strongly considering making its users pay …

Alex Heath / The Verge: Sources: Musk ordered Twitter homepage to be changed to show the Explore page to logged out users, not a sign-up form, which was quietly implemented on Friday  —  On his first day, Twitter’s new ‘Chief Twit’ quietly changed the homepage to send a message.

Open-internet advocates are breathing a sigh of relief after a recent election for the International Telecommunications Union’s top leadership.

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal: Amid a downturn, tech companies may shift their focus from “gee-whiz” projects, like self-driving cars and metaverses, to truly useful products that make money  —  History shows that downturns are when the industry shifts focus from flashy novelties to things that are truly useful

ProPublica: Analysis reveals how Google’s ad business funnels revenue to prolific purveyors of health, election, and climate disinfo in Europe, Latin America, and Africa  —  Google is funneling revenue to some of the web’s most prolific purveyors of false information in Europe, Latin America and Africa, a ProPublica investigation has found.

From templates to online hosting, these services help show potential employers just how great you are.

Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire: Report: Amazon laid off ~150 people, or 50% of its workforce, at Amp, an app that lets DJs host live “radio shows”, take calls, and play Amazon Music tracks  —  In-depth Amazon coverage from the tech giant’s hometown, including e-commerce, AWS, Amazon Prime, Alexa, logistics, devices, and more.

Jared Council / Forbes: New Orleans-based Resilia, which sells software to help nonprofits manage their operations, raised a $35M Series B, bringing its total funding to ~$50M  —  Sevetri Wilson is not your average tech company founder.  She’s a Black woman, she has no coding experience, no cofounders …

Plus: Subscription services are growing more expensive, the new Call of Duty game discs are nearly empty, and plastic waste is piling up.

Plus: The New York Post gets hacked, a huge stalkerware network is exposed, and the US claims China interfered with its Huawei probe.

Startups like Meta and Twitter serve as digital infrastructure, but aren’t accountable to users. Some startups are trying to chart a new way to exit that focuses on community—not shareholders.

New York Times: Sources: Elon Musk plans to begin layoffs at Twitter as soon as Saturday, to take place before November 1, when staff were scheduled to receive stock grants  —  The billionaire planned to begin layoffs as soon as Saturday, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Yashu Gola / Cointelegraph: Dogecoin surged by nearly 75% on Saturday after Elon Musk took control of Twitter, its biggest daily gain since April 2021, as it rallied 150% since October 25  —  DOGE price could drop 60% by the end of this year as it reaches its most overbought level since April 2021.  —  […]

Slap on some protection and grab a charger for your very expensive investment.

The traditional practice of mixing crops was nearly wiped out by industrial agriculture, but maslins are poised for a comeback.

Though it’s from a lesser-known brand, this TV takes its place along TCL and Vizio for offering the best value for its price.

The Intercept: Internal Iranian carrier documents detail SIAM, an Iranian government web program for surveilling the country’s cellphone users and disrupting communications  —  As furious anti-government protests swept Iran, the authorities retaliated with both brute force and digital repression.

Washington Post: A look at the US government’s handwringing over TikTok and national security concerns, as China’s government seeks to protect its powerful app and algorithms  —  The wildly popular app’s link to China has sparked fears over propaganda and privacy.  It’s also exposed America’s failure to safeguard the web.

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Google acquired Alter, an AI avatar startup that helps creators and brands express their virtual identity; source: the deal closed two months ago for ~$100M  —  Google has acquired Alter, an artificial intelligence (AI) avatar startup that helps creators and brands express their virtual identity …

What’s next for the social network is anyone’s guess—but here’s what to watch as you wade through the privacy and security morass.

Financial Times: eMarketer: US advertisers are on track to spend $65.3B on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks in 2022, up 3.6% YoY, which is ~10x slower than in 2021  —  A decade-long era of breakneck growth in social media advertising has come to an abrupt halt.  Who killed the boom?

Ismail Shakil / Reuters: Court filing: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, Within CEO Chris Milk, and others to testify in the FTC case against Meta’s acquisition of Within  —  Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg will testify in a case by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) …

Discord, Mastodon, and other services are bustling as Twitter fans make backup plans for their online social lives.

Get cameras, headphones, and powerful laptops before Halloween even arrives.

On a warm, sunny afternoon last Thursday, MIT’s community gathered under a tent on Hockfield Court to meet the Institute’s next president, Sally Kornbluth. Amid a festive, celebratory atmosphere that included live music and fall treats, Kornbluth soaked in MIT’s culture; chatted with faculty, students, and staff; heard from members of MIT leadership; and took […]

CNBC: General Motors suspends its paid advertising on Twitter as the car company evaluates the “direction of the platform under their new ownership”  —  A General Motors sign is seen during an event on January 25, 2022 in Lansing, Michigan.  – General Motors will create 4,000 new jobs …

Researchers who studied the Italian film industry identified four key factors.

Five reasons people might be hesitant — and how to address their concerns.

To overcome challenges of scale, the company pairs new and veteran suppliers in formal mentoring relationships.

The new top-end tablets from the company hardly offer much new, but they’re still the best if you don’t mind the high price.

Ford and Volkswagen sank nearly $4 billion into developer Argo. Now, amid wider signs of slow progress in autonomous tech, they’re shutting it down.

The entrepreneur’s laundry list of ideas includes scrapping content moderation, charging subscription fees, and even branching out beyond social media.

Bloomberg: Since its NYSE debut in November 2013, Twitter stock has grown 8.4% annually on average, below the S&P 500’s 11% and Nasdaq 100’s 15%, due to slow user growth  —  Elon Musk’s buyout marks the end of nine years of public trading in Twitter Inc., which debuted with a bang but failed to match […]

Dylan Patel / SemiAnalysis: A look at the ongoing Qualcomm-Arm legal dispute, as Qualcomm claims Arm plans to stop licensing its CPUs to semiconductor companies after 2024  —  No More External GPU, NPU, or ISP’s Allowed In Arm-Based SOCs  —  The Qualcomm-Arm saga is epic and there is a new massive update in the case.

Kate Conger / New York Times: Elon Musk takes Twitter private, merging the company with X Holdings, delisting from NYSE, dissolving the board, and moving to cash-based employee compensation  —  The social media company went public in 2013.  But Elon Musk is taking it private as part of his acquisition of the firm.