From microchips to trackers, these tools can save you some heartache and help bring your fur babies back home.
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War Is an Ecological Disaster—but Ukraine Can Build Back Greener
Russia’s invasion is reversing years of environmental progress. But the world can help Ukraine reconstruct its damaged landscape and energy systems.
Munich-based Holidu, which runs a search engine and booking website for vacation rentals, raised a €100M Series E led by 83North, with €75M equity and €25M debt (Natasha Lomas/TechCrunch)
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: Munich-based Holidu, which runs a search engine and booking website for vacation rentals, raised a €100M Series E led by 83North, with €75M equity and €25M debt — Munich-based software and services vacation rental startup, Holidu, has topped up its coffers …
Reddit’s chief product officer says 3M+ users created Reddit Vault wallets, including 2.5M to buy NFT avatars that can be used as profile pictures on the site (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Reddit’s chief product officer says 3M+ users created Reddit Vault wallets, including 2.5M to buy NFT avatars that can be used as profile pictures on the site — In July, Reddit jumped on the NFT train, launching an NFT-based marketplace that allows users to purchase blockchain-based profile pictures for a fixed […]
ASML, the Dutch company that makes chip making equipment, expects US restrictions on exporting high-end chips to China to have “limited” impact on its business (Arjun Kharpal/CNBC)
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: ASML, the Dutch company that makes chip making equipment, expects US restrictions on exporting high-end chips to China to have “limited” impact on its business — – ASML reported third-quarter revenue and earnings on Wednesday that topped analyst expectations …
AIs built by Meta beat human experts at Diplomacy
In a tournament of the first world war strategy game Diplomacy, two AIs built by Facebook’s parent company Meta outplayed humans
Method for decoding asteroid interiors could help aim asteroid-deflecting missions
NASA hit a bullseye in late September with DART, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which flew a spacecraft straight at the heart of a nearby asteroid. The one-way kamikaze mission smashed into the stadium-sized space rock and successfully reset the asteroid’s orbit. DART was the first test of a planetary defense strategy, demonstrating that scientists […]
Bluesky previews its Authenticated Transport Protocol, formerly ADX, for large distributed social applications and says a Bluesky social app is “coming soon” (Sander Lutz/Decrypt)
Sander Lutz / Decrypt: Bluesky previews its Authenticated Transport Protocol, formerly ADX, for large distributed social applications and says a Bluesky social app is “coming soon” — The group, formed within Twitter, is building a decentralized protocol that limits corporate and governmental influence on social media platforms.
Section 230’s Fate Belongs With Congress—Not the US Supreme Court
A case heading to SCOTUS claims platforms should be held responsible for their algorithmic recommendations. A history of the statute suggests otherwise.
Amazon Workers Lose Another Union Vote as Management Digs In
Three warehouses have voted on joining the Amazon Labor Union, but organizers prevailed in only one—and the retail giant’s heavily funded opposition continues.
Apple iPad Pro (2022): Specs, Price, Release Date
Two new 4K Apple TVs and a Pencil trick were also unveiled.
Netflix VP of Gaming Mike Verdu says the company is “seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering” and plans to open a new gaming studio in Southern California (Amanda Silberling/TechCrunch)
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch: Netflix VP of Gaming Mike Verdu says the company is “seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering” and plans to open a new gaming studio in Southern California — At TechCrunch Disrupt, Netflix VP of Gaming Mike Verdu dropped two bits of news about the streaming giant’s foray into games.
Google adds tablet-friendly features to Chrome on Android, like a visual tab grid, a drag-and-drop mode, and a side-by-side design; tab groups are coming later (Florence Ion/Gizmodo)
Florence Ion / Gizmodo: Google adds tablet-friendly features to Chrome on Android, like a visual tab grid, a drag-and-drop mode, and a side-by-side design; tab groups are coming later — The update brings abilities like tabs and a drag-and-drop mode, but it’s for Android tablets only. — Alerts
Ad hoc committee releases report on remote teaching best practices for on-campus education
The Ad Hoc Committee on Leveraging Best Practices from Remote Teaching for On-Campus Education has released a report that captures how instructors are weaving lessons learned from remote teaching into in-person classes. Despite the challenges imposed by teaching and learning remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic, the report says, “there were seeds planted then that, we […]
Video Quick Take: Paul Daugherty on Technology, Transformation, and Sustainability – SPONSOR CONTENT FROM ACCENTURE
Sponsor content from Accenture.
Five with MIT ties elected to the National Academy of Medicine for 2022
On October 17, the National Academy of Medicine announced the election of 100 new members to join their esteemed ranks. MIT faculty members Laura L. Kiessling ’83 and Mark Bear were among the new members, along with MIT alumni Krishna Shenoy SM ’92, PhD ’95 and David Tuveson ’87. Martin Burke, a former student in […]
After a lifetime of blindness, newly sighted can immediately identify human locomotion
Humans are highly sensitive to the bodily movement of other people. Our ability to comprehend body language is crucial to our social thriving, providing information on emotion and behavioral predictions through subtle cues. When and how do we develop the ability to recognize human movement and distinguish it from other forms of movement? Newborns only […]
4 Ways to Combat Imposter Syndrome on Your Team
Managers often fail to recognize the problem until it’s too late.
Research: The Complicated Role of Hope in the Workplace
How leaders can leverage the power of hope — while avoiding its pitfalls.
China’s WeChat Is a Hot New Venue for US Election Misinformation
Ahead of US midterms, activists are fighting falsehoods circulating in Chinese-language communities that they fear will distort the vote or suppress turnout.
17 Best iPhone 12 Cases and Accessories (2022): Chargers, Screen Protectors, and More
The 2020 Apple smartphone is still a great pick. Kit it out with MagSafe-tested protection, chargers, and other extras.
How to Transfer Your iPhone Photos to a Windows PC
This new iCloud feature makes it super easy to access smartphone pics and videos on your computer—no cords necessary.
Apple restores Russia’s largest social network VKontakte, Mail.ru, and other apps from VK, three weeks after removing them citing UK sanctions (Tim Hardwick/MacRumors)
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors: Apple restores Russia’s largest social network VKontakte, Mail.ru, and other apps from VK, three weeks after removing them citing UK sanctions — Apple has restored Russian apps for social network VKontakte and webmail provider Mail.ru to the App Store, three weeks after removing …
Carl Pei’s Nothing will hike the price of its Ear (1) wireless earbuds from $99 to $149 on October 26, citing “an increase in costs” (Jon Porter/The Verge)
Jon Porter / The Verge: Carl Pei’s Nothing will hike the price of its Ear (1) wireless earbuds from $99 to $149 on October 26, citing “an increase in costs” — Nothing is hiking the price of its debut Ear 1 earbuds from $99 to $149, the company’s CEO Carl Pei has announced.
UK’s CMA gives a final order to Meta to sell Giphy, after a judge ordered the CMA to reassess the case in July (Natasha Lomas/TechCrunch)
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: UK’s CMA gives a final order to Meta to sell Giphy, after a judge ordered the CMA to reassess the case in July — Bye-bye: Meta has again been ordered by the UK’s competition watchdog to sell animated GIF platform, Giphy. And this time it’s final. — The decision follows a […]
Unlocking the mysteries of how neurons learn
When he matriculated in 2019 as a graduate student, Raúl Mojica Soto-Albors was no stranger to MIT. He’d spent time here on multiple occasions as an undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, including eight months in 2018 as a displaced student after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Those experiences — including participating in […]
The Bruce Willis Deepfake Is Everyone’s Problem
There’s a fight brewing over how Hollywood stars can protect their identities. But it’s not just actors who should be paying attention.
The Best Veterinary Telemedicine Services for Your Pet (2022)
Your best friend can receive timely medical help without ever leaving home, and this guide to our favorite televets can help.
Discord Launches a $3 per Month ‘Nitro Basic’ Subscription
The social app with a reputation for being somewhat oblique has dropped several new features that make it easier for newbies to have a good experience.
Internal doc: Amazon has a high attrition rate across all levels, costing $8B annually, and workers choose to leave twice as often as layoffs and firings occur (Avery Menegus/Engadget)
Avery Menegus / Engadget: Internal doc: Amazon has a high attrition rate across all levels, costing $8B annually, and workers choose to leave twice as often as layoffs and firings occur — Amazon churns through workers at an astonishing rate, well above industry averages. According to a tranche of documents marked …
Netflix rolls out a feature globally to let users transfer all their personalized viewing data to a new account, ahead of a crackdown on account sharing in 2023 (Janko Roettgers/Protocol)
Janko Roettgers / Protocol: Netflix rolls out a feature globally to let users transfer all their personalized viewing data to a new account, ahead of a crackdown on account sharing in 2023 — Netflix is making it easier for people to disentangle their personal viewing data: The streaming service is rolling …
Artificial intelligence is being asked to predict the future of AI
Artificial intelligence model predictions from historical data on how AI research would develop over five years matched reality with more than 99 per cent accuracy – soon they will be asked what comes next
Sources: the FTC is investigating whether Visa and Mastercard’s security tokens restrict debit-card routing competition on online payments (AnnaMaria Andriotis/Wall Street Journal)
AnnaMaria Andriotis / Wall Street Journal: Sources: the FTC is investigating whether Visa and Mastercard’s security tokens restrict debit-card routing competition on online payments — The Federal Trade Commission is examining whether the companies’ security tokens prevent online debit-card payments from going over other networks
The science of strength: How data analytics is transforming college basketball
In the 1990s, if you suggested that the corner three-pointer was the best shot in basketball, you might have been laughed out of the gym. The game was still dominated largely by a fleet of seven-foot centers, most of whom couldn’t shoot from more than a few feet out from the basket. Even the game’s […]
3 Questions: Blue hydrogen and the world’s energy systems
In the past several years, hydrogen energy has increasingly become a more central aspect of the clean energy transition. Hydrogen can produce clean, on-demand energy that could complement variable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. That being said, pathways for deploying hydrogen at scale have yet to be fully explored. In particular, […]
The Ups and Downs of Being a First-Time Manager
Three women describe the lessons they’ve learned and the realities they weren’t prepared for.
MIT student club Engineers Without Borders works with local village in Tanzania
Four students from the MIT club Engineers Without Borders (EWB) spent part of their summer in Tanzania to begin assessment work for a health and sanitation project that will benefit the entire village, and an irrigated garden for the Mkutani Primary School. The club has been working with the Boston Professional Chapter of Engineers Without […]
When Climate Collaboration Is Treated as an Antitrust Violation
Corporate cooperation will be critical in the fight against climate change — but the law might get in the way.
How to Intervene When Your Team Has Too Much Work
Six actions to take when your team is under-resourced but overly in-demand.
Alipay has quietly started testing money transfers through WeChat in September, available for a small number of users with a maximum of ~$278 per transfer (Coco Feng/South China Morning Post)
Coco Feng / South China Morning Post: Alipay has quietly started testing money transfers through WeChat in September, available for a small number of users with a maximum of ~$278 per transfer — The wall separating China’s two leading mobile payment systems may have started to crack after Ant Group’s Alipay rolled out a trial […]
Vodafone and France’s Altice announce a ~$7B joint venture to build fiber optic lines to up to 7M homes in Germany; the deal is expected to close in H1 2023 (Thomas Seal/Bloomberg)
Thomas Seal / Bloomberg: Vodafone and France’s Altice announce a ~$7B joint venture to build fiber optic lines to up to 7M homes in Germany; the deal is expected to close in H1 2023 — Vodafone Group Plc will roll out fiber to the home in Germany in a deal with Altice Europe NV to […]
Sources detail how Changpeng Zhao and other execs sought to “insulate” Binance from scrutiny by authorities in the US and UK, including by setting up Binance.US (Reuters)
Reuters: Sources detail how Changpeng Zhao and other execs sought to “insulate” Binance from scrutiny by authorities in the US and UK, including by setting up Binance.US — A plan to “insulate” itself from the SEC. A backdated document. An exodus of compliance staff.
GoPro Hero 11 Black Review: Vertical Video
The biggest name in action cams is back with a taller sensor optimized for a world of vertical video.
Analysis: 14 self-driving vehicle tech companies that went public in the past two years have seen an 80%+ average decline in their post-IPO stock price (Joanna Glasner/Crunchbase News)
Joanna Glasner / Crunchbase News: Analysis: 14 self-driving vehicle tech companies that went public in the past two years have seen an 80%+ average decline in their post-IPO stock price — A few years ago, public market investors sometimes lamented the lack of opportunities to directly invest in future-shaping technologies like autonomous driving.
Meta says it found an externally-created Meta Workplace account that was used to spoof an internal Instagram system used as “evidence” for The Wire’s reporting (Meta)
Meta: Meta says it found an externally-created Meta Workplace account that was used to spoof an internal Instagram system used as “evidence” for The Wire’s reporting — This is an ongoing investigation and we will update as it unfolds. At this time, we can confirm that the video shared …
16 Best Gaming Mice and Mousepads (2022): Wireless, Wired, and Under $50
Whether you’re into esports or casual fragging, these are the greatest gaming mice we’ve tested.
Elon Musk, SpaceX, and government partners should stop finger-pointing, commit to transparency, and figure out a long-term funding plan for Starlink in Ukraine (Devin Coldewey/TechCrunch)
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch: Elon Musk, SpaceX, and government partners should stop finger-pointing, commit to transparency, and figure out a long-term funding plan for Starlink in Ukraine — What appeared earlier this year to be a selfless act of technotopianism, the widespread deployment of Starlink terminals in Ukraine …
How to Use Passkeys in Google Chrome and Android
Google wants to make your digital life—in its ecosystem, anyway—passwordless and more secure.
What Drives Galaxies? The Milky Way’s Black Hole May Be the Key
Supermassive black holes are engines of galactic evolution, but new observations of our galaxy and its central hole don’t quite match expectations.
Study: AI hiring tools don’t reduce bias or improve diversity; they can’t be trained to only identify job-related characteristics and strip out gender and race (Chris Vallance/BBC)
Chris Vallance / BBC: Study: AI hiring tools don’t reduce bias or improve diversity; they can’t be trained to only identify job-related characteristics and strip out gender and race — Artificially intelligent hiring tools do not reduce bias or improve diversity, researchers say in a study.