New test may predict Covid-19 immunity

Most people in the United States have some degree of immune protection against Covid-19, either from vaccination, infection, or a combination of the two. But, just how much protection does any individual person have? MIT researchers have now developed an easy-to-use test that may be able to answer that question. Their test, which uses the […]

Micron plans to spend $40B by 2030 to expand US chip manufacturing capacity, aided by government grants and credits, and expects to begin production after 2025 (Amy Thomson/Bloomberg)

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg: Micron plans to spend $40B by 2030 to expand US chip manufacturing capacity, aided by government grants and credits, and expects to begin production after 2025  —  Micron Technology Inc. said it will use “anticipated” government grants and credits to help it invest $40 billion by the end …

South Korea’s telecoms regulator plans an investigation into Apple, Google, and One Store over suspected violations of the country’s in-app payment law (Reuters)

Reuters: South Korea’s telecoms regulator plans an investigation into Apple, Google, and One Store over suspected violations of the country’s in-app payment law  —  South Korea’s telecommunications regulator on Tuesday said it plans to launch an investigation into app store operators such as Apple Inc …

Influencers on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are documenting trips to Syria, helping burnish the regime’s image, often sponsored by brands, such as Surfshark (Sophie Fullerton/Washington Post)

Sophie Fullerton / Washington Post: Influencers on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are documenting trips to Syria, helping burnish the regime’s image, often sponsored by brands, such as Surfshark  —  Sophie Fullerton is a political scientist and human rights researcher based in New York.  —  Last November, around the same …

J-PAL expands evidence-to-policy government partnerships to fight poverty worldwide

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT has announced a significant expansion of its efforts to forge evidence-to-policy partnerships with innovative-minded governments seeking to use rigorous research to inform their social policies and programs.  These partnerships will support governments in laying the groundwork to take evidence-informed policies and programs to scale, aiming […]

New J-WAFS-led project combats food insecurity

Today the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) at MIT announced a new research project, supported by Community Jameel, to tackle one of the most urgent crises facing the planet: food insecurity. Approximately 276 million people worldwide are severely food insecure, and more than half a million face famine conditions.       […]

Crypto.com says it has secured registrations to operate as a virtual asset service provider in South Korea, acquires two local startups for undisclosed amounts (Kate Park/TechCrunch)

Kate Park / TechCrunch: Crypto.com says it has secured registrations to operate as a virtual asset service provider in South Korea, acquires two local startups for undisclosed amounts  —  Singapore-based cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com has acquired two startups in South Korea — payment service provider PnLink …

Despite YouTube suspending hundreds of Kremlin-linked channels, Russia has yet to ban the service, some argue because the Kremlin views it as too big to block (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal: Despite YouTube suspending hundreds of Kremlin-linked channels, Russia has yet to ban the service, some argue because the Kremlin views it as too big to block  —  Access to the video site allows Russians access to one of the few sources of independent information about the Ukraine war

iOS 16 beta 5 adds an option to show the battery percentage in the status bar on some iPhones, after Apple removed it for notched models at the iPhone X’s debut (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: iOS 16 beta 5 adds an option to show the battery percentage in the status bar on some iPhones, after Apple removed it for notched models at the iPhone X’s debut  —  The battery percentage has finally been added back to the status bar with today’s release of iOS 16 beta […]

MIT’s efforts to get out the vote make an impact

Students in STEM fields are historically less likely to vote than those in other areas of study. Two nonpartisan MIT groups are working to change that, and early returns suggest they’re having an impact. This spring, the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) — an initiative of the Institute for Democracy and Higher […]

Vista Equity Partners plans to acquire Seattle-based automated tax compliance software maker Avalara for $8.4B in an all-cash deal (Paul Sawers/TechCrunch)

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch: Vista Equity Partners plans to acquire Seattle-based automated tax compliance software maker Avalara for $8.4B in an all-cash deal  —  Global investment giant Vista Equity Partners has announced plans to acquire automated tax compliance software provider Avalara, in an all-cash deal worth $8.4 billion.

Filings: Apple spent $33M in fiscal 2021 and $169M in 2022 to date on acquisition payments, down from $1.5B in fiscal 2020, as its dealmaking slows dramatically (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Filings: Apple spent $33M in fiscal 2021 and $169M in 2022 to date on acquisition payments, down from $1.5B in fiscal 2020, as its dealmaking slows dramatically  —  Apple Inc., which used to acquire a company every three or four weeks, has dramatically slowed its dealmaking in the past two years […]

Palantir reports Q2 revenue rose 26% YoY to $473M and customers rose 250% YoY to 119; stock drops 14%+ on weak Q3 guidance and uncertainty over government deals (Ashley Capoot/CNBC)

Ashley Capoot / CNBC: Palantir reports Q2 revenue rose 26% YoY to $473M and customers rose 250% YoY to 119; stock drops 14%+ on weak Q3 guidance and uncertainty over government deals  —  – Palantir reported second-quarter results before the bell Monday that showed a greater loss per share than anticipated but beat analyst’s revenue […]

Fitbit will end desktop syncing for PC and macOS in October, moving file transfers to its smartphone app, and local music and playlists to Deezer and Pandora (Abner Li/9to5Google)

Abner Li / 9to5Google: Fitbit will end desktop syncing for PC and macOS in October, moving file transfers to its smartphone app, and local music and playlists to Deezer and Pandora  —  One way you synced the very first Fitbit devices was by connecting a dock to your desktop computer and plugging in the tracker.

An examination of data collected by Tesla: what information its vehicles record, how Tesla uses this data to develop Autopilot, and who actually owns the data (Mark Harris/IEEE Spectrum)

Mark Harris / IEEE Spectrum: An examination of data collected by Tesla: what information its vehicles record, how Tesla uses this data to develop Autopilot, and who actually owns the data  —  Logs and records of its customers’ journeys fill out petabytes—and court case dockets  —  You won’t see a single Tesla cruising …

Sources: employees at many Apple stores continue to discuss unionization, Apple started to record September event; opinion: iPadOS delay was probably worth it (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: employees at many Apple stores continue to discuss unionization, Apple started to record September event; opinion: iPadOS delay was probably worth it  —  Apple made the right call to push back iPadOS 16, but the move could create new issues for users and developers.

At least four top executives associated with a Chinese state-run semiconductor fund, which has invested $30B in total, have been arrested on corruption charges (Zeyi Yang/MIT Technology Review)

Zeyi Yang / MIT Technology Review: At least four top executives associated with a Chinese state-run semiconductor fund, which has invested $30B in total, have been arrested on corruption charges  —  The arrests of several top semiconductor fund executives could force the government to rethink how it invests in the sector.

Online crypto casinos like Stake are luring gamers, in some cases to the point of bankruptcy, by using celebrity endorsements and sponsored streams on Twitch (Cecilia D’Anastasio/Bloomberg)

Cecilia D’Anastasio / Bloomberg: Online crypto casinos like Stake are luring gamers, in some cases to the point of bankruptcy, by using celebrity endorsements and sponsored streams on Twitch  —  Enneric Chabot, 26, didn’t start gambling until he saw his favorite gamers doing it online.  —  Three years ago …

On its Q2 2022 earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery announced plans to launch a combined HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming service in the US in summer 2023 (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Todd Spangler / Variety: On its Q2 2022 earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery announced plans to launch a combined HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming service in the US in summer 2023  —  The media company announced a timeline for the two services to be fused together: HBO Max and Discovery+ will launch in the U.S […]

A look at Netflix scrambling to build an ad business and revive its subscriber growth; sources: Reed Hastings expects Netflix could charge ~$80 per 1,000 views (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal: A look at Netflix scrambling to build an ad business and revive its subscriber growth; sources: Reed Hastings expects Netflix could charge ~$80 per 1,000 views  —  Reed Hastings insisted on focusing on subscriptions until competitors started nibbling away at his business model

[Thread] How Apple’s App Tracking Transparency blew up the digital ad ecosystem, bolstering Apple’s ads business while positioning it as a privacy champion (Eric Seufert/@eric_seufert)

Eric Seufert / @eric_seufert: [Thread] How Apple’s App Tracking Transparency blew up the digital ad ecosystem, bolstering Apple’s ads business while positioning it as a privacy champion  —  APPLE ROBBED THE MOB’S BANK: How Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy blew up the digital advertising ecosystem, bolstering its ads business while positioning itself as a […]

Inside the cottage industry around “YouTube automation” that is dubiously persuading people to spend thousands of dollars to create video businesses on YouTube (Nico Grant/New York Times)

Nico Grant / New York Times: Inside the cottage industry around “YouTube automation” that is dubiously persuading people to spend thousands of dollars to create video businesses on YouTube  —  A cottage industry is persuading people to spend thousands to create video businesses on YouTube.  Disclaimer: It is harder than it looks.