Plus: Apple makes some MacBooks more repairable, Meta soft-announces its new VR headset, and Twitter is really into podcasts now.

We threw everything we could at—and into—these wheeled suitcases and duffel bags. Here are the ones we’d let ride shotgun.

The company added support for MacBooks this week, but critics say that the repair manuals and processes are unnecessarily complicated.

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: Ahead of launch of passkeys, which requires users to have two-factor authentication, Apple says 95%+ of active iCloud users have 2FA enabled on their accounts  —  With its next round of software updates coming this fall, including iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, Apple will launch integrated support for the passkeys standard.

Wall Street Journal: Tether, which has promised an audit since at least 2017, says one is “likely months” away; former SEC exec: it needs an audit “akin to a corporate colonoscopy”  —  Many crypto companies lack basic financial guardrails; ‘Tether needs an audit that’s akin to a corporate colonoscopy’

Abner Li / 9to5Google: Google launches Cross device SDK to let developers build experiences across Android phones and tablets, coming later to other Android and non-Android devices  —  At I/O 2022, Google detailed a way for Android apps to build cross-device experiences, similar to Nearby Share, and the SDK’s developer preview is now available.

In the Delaware River and other waterways across the US, conservationists are restoring aquatic vegetation and beds of bivalves to fight pollution.

In a huge change from the past two years, prices are low and high-end PC graphics boards are readily available.

Prepare for Labor Day weekend by loading up on everything you need for some targeted me time.

Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal: Gartner: global spending on tech, including cloud services, is expected to rise ~3% in 2022, well below the 10% annual growth in 2021 and the nearly 7% in 2020  —  After pandemic-fueled gains, the firms contend with a more conservative business environment  —  Why Consumer Confidence Is Key to […]

Daniel Alvarenga / Rolling Stone: El Salvador appears to be heading deeper into an economic crisis with funding sources drying up, one year after it adopted bitcoin as legal tender  —  It’s been a year since El Salvador adopted bitcoin as currency — things are not going well  —  SIX DAYS BEFORE El Salvador’s Bitcoin […]

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Shuffles, Pinterest’s invite-only collage-making iOS app that launched in late July, is going viral on TikTok; Sensor Tower estimates the app has ~338K installs  —  Collage-style video “mood boards” are going viral on TikTok — and so is the app making them possible.

The phishing attack on the SMS giant exposes the dangers of B2B companies to the entire tech ecosystem.

Want the image quality of a DSLR without the bulk? These WIRED picks do more with less.

Plus: Decades-old security flaws, a wave of startup layoffs, and multiple “thousand-year” rainfalls.

Reuters: Facebook agrees in principle to settle a lawsuit alleging it violated consumer privacy laws by sharing user data with 3rd parties, including Cambridge Analytica  —  Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook has in-principle agreed to settle a lawsuit in the San Francisco federal court seeking damages …

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: Sources: Netflix plans to charge $7-$9/month for its ad-supported tier in the US, with ~4 minutes of ads/hour, and may launch it in 2022 in a half dozen markets  —  Netflix Inc. is considering pricing its new advertising-supported tier at $7 to $9 a month, half as much as its current […]

Jonathan Vanian / CNBC: Meta’s VP of Horizon, Vivek Sharma, is leaving the company after six years; the Horizon team will report directly to Meta’s VP of Metaverse, Vishal Shah  —  – Vivek Sharma has been with Meta for six years and was most recently its VP of Horizon.  — Sharma’s team will now report […]

Grass lawns and hiking trails are no problem for this robot, which learned to walk on them on the fly thanks to a machine learning algorithm

A start-up has developed data centre pods that can be submerged in the ocean to let the water naturally keep them cool. Cooling is normally very energy-intensive

A recent survey found that employees’ sense of community declined 37% during the pandemic. Here’s how to rebuild it.

Three ways to navigate an awkward situation.

The ‘Mad Max’ director spoke with WIRED about the allegorical grace of his new movie, ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing.’

An attack on Russian mercenaries shows how militaries are increasingly using open source data—with sometimes deadly consequences.

What was once a hobbyist toy is now a more accessible home-improvement and productivity machine.

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Sources: India’s Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at CoinSwitch Kuber for allegedly acquiring shares of $200M+ in violation of forex laws  —  India’s financial crime-fighting agency conducted searches at multiple premises of the Bengaluru-headquartered CoinSwitch Kuber on Thursday …

Derek Decloet / Bloomberg: Open Text plans to buy UK-based enterprise software company Micro Focus for ~$6B including debt, a 99% premium on Thursday’s close; Micro Focus stock jumps 90%+  —  Canada’s Open Text Corp. struck a deal to buy UK software firm Micro Focus International Plc for about $6 billion including debt …

Bloomberg: Meituan reports Q2 revenue up 16% YoY to ~$7.4B and a ~$163.5M net loss, as its “core local commerce” business, including food delivery, rose 9.2% YoY  —  Chinese food delivery titan Meituan reported a better-than-expected 16% increase in quarterly revenue, after appetite …

Images have identified 21 facilities that are forcibly detaining thousands of Ukrainians, as well as possible mass grave sites.

An Ohio judge ruled that such surveillance to prevent cheating could form a slippery slope to more illegal searches.

Social media accounts featuring kids are more popular than ever. But labor and privacy laws haven’t been updated to safeguard the young stars.

Brandy Betz / CoinDesk: FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried denies a Bloomberg report that FTX Ventures is merging with Alameda Research’s VC operations  —  Bloomberg had reported that the two operations would merge their venture capital businesses.  —  Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Ventures denied a Bloomberg report Thursday …

Benjamin Pimentel / Protocol: Affirm reports Q4 revenue up 39% YoY to $364.1M, vs. $354.8M est., but a Q1 2023 revenue outlook of $345M to $365M, vs. $386M est.; stock falls 13%+ after hours  —  Shares of Affirm tumbled Thursday after the “buy now, pay later” company reported a weaker-than-expected outlook that underlined an “uncertain […]

Queenie Wong / CNET: Meta made 68 “newsworthiness allowances” from June 2021 to June 2022 for content that may have violated Facebook or Instagram rules, letting the pieces stay up  —  Queenie Wong  —  Queenie Wong is a senior writer for CNET News, who focuses on social media companies including …

A maze of mirrors and lenses turns any material into a highly efficient light absorber and could be used for detection of faint light or charging distant devices with light

Hacking concerns continue to dog the online Conservative party vote, which will decide next UK prime minister – should online voting even be used in such situations?

Devices called spaceplates, which promise to squash the empty space out of cameras, theoretically work in full colour even if no one yet knows how to build one

Many feel a lift when the sun comes out, but most won’t break out in song and dance — unless, of course, they’re on MIT’s Solar Electric Vehicle Team.  The team relied on 100 percent solar energy to power their hand-built car, Nimbus, for 1,940 miles, taking first place at the American Solar Challenge for […]

The Middle East is a region that is facing complicated challenges. MIT programs have been committed to building scalable methodologies through which students and the broader MIT community can learn and make an impact. These processes ensure programs work alongside others across cultures to support change aligned with their needs. Through MIT International Science and […]

Wastewater monitoring emerged amid the Covid-19 pandemic as an effective and noninvasive way to track a viral outbreak, and advances in the technology have enabled researchers to not only identify but also quantify the presence of particular variants of concern (VOCs) in wastewater samples. Last year, researchers with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) […]

Whether it’s clients, colleagues, or family, your work likely makes more of an impact than you realize.

A three-step approach.

How leaders can enhance integrity, innovation, and inclusion.

These discounts on phones, tablets, and smartwatches will sweeten up the end of your summer.

WeWork’s controversial cofounder Adam Neumann is not the only entrepreneur to see opportunity in the generation of Americans unable to buy homes.

Standardized time is broadcast by satellite networks around the world, but their signals are vulnerable to interference—so the UK is building a more resilient system.

Reuters: Baidu reveals its first quantum computer, Qianshi, which has a 10-qubit processor, and says it is developing a 36-qubit system  —  Chinese search engine giant Baidu Inc revealed its first quantum computer on Thursday and is ready to make it available to external users, joining the global race to apply the technology to practical […]

Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal: Atlanta-based Bitcoin Depot, which operates over 7,000 bitcoin ATMs across North America, plans to go public via SPAC at a ~$885M valuation  —  Investor appetite for bitcoin ATMs to be tested as the cryptocurrency and SPAC markets slump  —  Here’s Why Crypto Might Not Be Dead  —  Created with […]

Kari McMahon / The Block: Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank abandons its $500M acquisition of Thai crypto exchange Bitkub, announced in 2021, saying Bitkub needs to fix regulatory issues  —  – Thailand’s oldest bank SCB is abandoning its $500 million deal to acquire crypto exchange Bitkub.

Computers could transmit highly confidential data even without internet, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth by using their speakers to transmit ultrasonic noise that vibrates nearby smartphones