It’s your account—you decide who’s allowed to see your vacation photos or slide into your DMs.
Didi announces a shareholder meeting on May 23 to vote on delisting of its shares from the NYSE and reports Q4 2021 revenue of $6.4B, down about 12.6% YoY (Reuters)
Reuters: Didi announces a shareholder meeting on May 23 to vote on delisting of its shares from the NYSE and reports Q4 2021 revenue of $6.4B, down about 12.6% YoY — Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) will hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on May 23 to vote on its delisting plans in the United States […]
Social media platforms have weakened major forces that bind democracies together, especially after 2009 when the virality of social media started to intensify (Jonathan Haidt/The Atlantic)
Jonathan Haidt / The Atlantic: Social media platforms have weakened major forces that bind democracies together, especially after 2009 when the virality of social media started to intensify — What would it have been like to live in Babel in the days after its destruction? In the Book of Genesis, we are told …
Twitter should not only open source its algorithm but also create a marketplace where anyone can build their own algorithms, and use the ones created by others (Nathan Baschez/Every)
Nathan Baschez / Every: Twitter should not only open source its algorithm but also create a marketplace where anyone can build their own algorithms, and use the ones created by others — You don’t have to be IN real estate to invest in it. Fundrise is an easy-to-use platform that lets you build …
Bringing “cultural diplomacy” to the classics
People often put national boundaries around the written word. If you read French poetry or Victorian novels, it is tempting to understand those texts strictly in relation to the history and culture of France or Britain. Yet it often helps to take a wider view about literary production. Consider that for many centuries, Chinese provided […]
North Korea’s Lazarus Group Was Behind $540 Million Ronin Theft
Plus: Spyware maker NSO Group deemed “valueless,” T-Mobile fails to buy its stolen data, and malware spreads on Telegram.
Meta’s Augmented Reality Glasses Are Still Years Away
Plus: Apple faces MacBook delays, Peloton switches gears, and Sonos acquires another speaker company.
Workers at Apple’s flagship Grand Central Terminal store in Manhattan have begun to formally collect signatures to form a union (Reed Albergotti/Washington Post)
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post: Workers at Apple’s flagship Grand Central Terminal store in Manhattan have begun to formally collect signatures to form a union — If successful, the effort would be the first time an Apple retail location has unionized — Workers at Apple’s flagship Grand Central Terminal retail location …
A profile of Anna Fang, CEO of China-based ZhenFund, who has backed 30+ seed-stage startups that became unicorns and 90+ startups that had a successful exit (Rebecca Szkutak/Forbes)
Rebecca Szkutak / Forbes: A profile of Anna Fang, CEO of China-based ZhenFund, who has backed 30+ seed-stage startups that became unicorns and 90+ startups that had a successful exit — When ZhenFund CEO Anna Fang was new to venture investing, her mentor told her that the right entrepreneurs to back are the ones …
Musk’s free speech definition is utter nonsense and his suggestions for Twitter completely ignore decades of content moderation iteration on social platforms (Mike Masnick/Techdirt)
Mike Masnick / Techdirt: Musk’s free speech definition is utter nonsense and his suggestions for Twitter completely ignore decades of content moderation iteration on social platforms — from the not-how-any-of-this-works dept — Lots of talk yesterday as Elon Musk made a hostile takeover bid for all of Twitter.
How to Change Your Browser in Windows 11 (Hint: It’s Not Easy)
Want to switch to Chrome or Firefox? Not so fast, my friend.
To Resurrect Jordan’s Lost Forests, People Plant Tiny Urban Ones
Environmentalists see small reforestation pilot sites around the capital of Amman as a first step to a greener future.
You—Yes, You!—Would Be a Better Owner for Twitter Than Elon Musk
The platform’s essential infrastructure should be controlled by a user-owned democracy.
An interview with a former Xinjiang prisoner, who details how China extensively uses tech like Hikvision surveillance cameras to facilitate human rights abuses (Zack Whittaker/TechCrunch)
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: An interview with a former Xinjiang prisoner, who details how China extensively uses tech like Hikvision surveillance cameras to facilitate human rights abuses — The rare firsthand account will help investigate human rights abuses — For 10 months in 2018, Ovalbek Turdakun was a prisoner …
At least seven crypto firms have suspended rupee deposits; CoinGecko: daily trading volumes on Indian crypto exchanges have fallen 88%-96% since peaking in 2021 (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: At least seven crypto firms have suspended rupee deposits; CoinGecko: daily trading volumes on Indian crypto exchanges have fallen 88%-96% since peaking in 2021 — When Surojit Chatterjee walked on stage at a Coinbase Global Inc. conference in Bengaluru, India, on April 7 …
GitHub says an attacker used stolen OAuth user tokens issued to Heroku and Travis-CI to download data from private repositories belonging to npm and other orgs (Sergiu Gatlan/BleepingComputer)
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: GitHub says an attacker used stolen OAuth user tokens issued to Heroku and Travis-CI to download data from private repositories belonging to npm and other orgs — GitHub revealed today that an attacker is using stolen user tokens (issued to Heroku and Travis-CI OAuth) to download data from private repositories.
Severance Is a Nightmare Vision of Office Life
The Apple TV+ show is one of 2022’s smartest series.
Why Your ‘Digital Shabbat’ Will Fail
‘Secular shabbats’ may be a trendy self-help tool, but they won’t curb your screen use or provide a quick fix for your stress.
Elon Musk Wasn’t the Only Reason to Be at TED
Plus: The conference 15 years ago, the limits of Web3, and yet another tragedy.
Sources: Elon Musk is speaking to investors, including Silver Lake, to partner with him on a bid for Twitter; a partnership could be announced within days (Josh Kosman/New York Post)
Josh Kosman / New York Post: Sources: Elon Musk is speaking to investors, including Silver Lake, to partner with him on a bid for Twitter; a partnership could be announced within days — Elon Musk is speaking to investors who could partner with him on a bid for Twitter, sources close to the matter told […]
Opera launches its Crypto Browser app on iOS, with a built-in crypto wallet, direct access to cryptocurrency and NFT exchanges, dApps, and more (Aliya Chaudhry/TechCrunch)
Aliya Chaudhry / TechCrunch: Opera launches its Crypto Browser app on iOS, with a built-in crypto wallet, direct access to cryptocurrency and NFT exchanges, dApps, and more — Opera has launched the iOS version of their Crypto Browser, designed for accessing web3, with a non-custodial crypto wallet built-in.
Coda Payments, which offers cross-border payments for games, alternative app stores, and other digital products, raises $690M at a $2.5B valuation (Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat)
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Coda Payments, which offers cross-border payments for games, alternative app stores, and other digital products, raises $690M at a $2.5B valuation — Coda Payments has raised $690 million in funding to enable cross-border payments for games and other digital products, as well as alternative app stores.
MIT students Bhav Jain and Liberty Ladd named 2022 Truman Scholars
MIT students Bhav Jain and Liberty Ladd have been selected as 2022 Truman Scholars. Truman Scholars demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, a commitment to a career in government or the nonprofit sector, and academic excellence. Jain and Ladd join 56 other scholars who were selected from 705 candidates nominated by 275 colleges and universities. President L. […]
School of Science announces 2022 Infinite Mile Awards
The MIT School of Science has announced the winners of the 2022 Infinite Mile Award. The selected staff members were nominated by their colleagues for going above and beyond in their roles at the Institute. Their outstanding contributions have made MIT a better place. The following are the 2022 Infinite Mile Award winners in the […]
A flexible way to grab items with feeling
The notion of a large metallic robot that speaks in monotone and moves in lumbering, deliberate steps is somewhat hard to shake. But practitioners in the field of soft robotics have an entirely different image in mind — autonomous devices composed of compliant parts that are gentle to the touch, more closely resembling human fingers […]
Supporting Employee Caregivers Starts with Better Data
Most employers remain in the dark about how many of their workers are caring for others at home.
Starting a New Job as a Mid-Career Professional
Five tips to help you adjust to a new workplace — especially if it’s been awhile.
Enough With the Corporate Non-Apologies for DEI-Related Harm
Real apologies reflect a genuine effort to understand the harm inflicted and take accountability for addressing it. Here’s how to do it right.
Wirelessly Whip Your Cream With This Battery-Powered Hand Mixer
Cuisinart gives the venerable plug-in kitchen gadget a cordless update.
New Tools for Taking Control of Your Web Browsing
This week, we learn about the new browser from DuckDuckGo and share some of our web privacy tips.
The Rise of Brand-New Secondhand EVs
The global chip shortage has triggered a surge in demand for prized, pricey used electric vehicles. It’s only just beginning.
China bans livestreaming of unauthorized video games, particularly of overseas games or competitions that have not been approved (Reuters)
Reuters: China bans livestreaming of unauthorized video games, particularly of overseas games or competitions that have not been approved — China said on Friday the livestreaming of unauthorised video games was banned, signalling stricter enforcement of rules as part of its broad crackdown …
Rapido, whose bike taxi service is available in about 100 Indian cities, raises a $180M Series D led by Swiggy, at a $800M valuation (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)
Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Rapido, whose bike taxi service is available in about 100 Indian cities, raises a $180M Series D led by Swiggy, at a $800M valuation — Swiggy has led a $180 million financing round into bike taxi startup Rapido as the Indian food delivery giant looks to broaden its fleet network across […]
Fasset, which lets users in emerging markets to buy and sell digital assets easily and conveniently, raises a $22M Series A led by Liberty City and Fatima Gobi (Joanna Ossinger/Bloomberg)
Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg: Fasset, which lets users in emerging markets to buy and sell digital assets easily and conveniently, raises a $22M Series A led by Liberty City and Fatima Gobi — Fasset, a digital-asset gateway, is planning a major expansion in some areas of the Islamic world, as it seeks to boost the […]
Driverless cars can be tricked into seeing red traffic lights as green
Aiming lasers at the cameras used in driverless cars caused them to incorrectly interpret red traffic lights as green 30 per cent of the time
Study finds an unexpected upside to imposter syndrome
Even many successful people harbor what is commonly called impostor syndrome, a sense of being secretly unworthy and not as capable as others think. First posited by pyschologists in 1978, it is often assumed to be a debilitating problem. But research by an MIT scholar suggests this is not universally true. In workplace settings, at […]
Learning to think critically about machine learning
Students in the MIT course 6.036 (Introduction to Machine Learning) study the principles behind powerful models that help physicians diagnose disease or aid recruiters in screening job candidates. Now, thanks to the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) framework, these students will also stop to ponder the implications of these artificial intelligence tools, which […]
Elon Musk Is Right About Twitter
It really is the closest thing we have to an online public square—and that’s terrible for democracy. Let his takeover bid be a wakeup call.
Wikipedia Editors Are Ready to Stop Accepting Crypto Donations
A majority of editors voiced support to end such donations, arguing that the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks consume too much energy.
Elon Musk Has Triggered a Battle for the Future of Twitter
Twitter’s board has to accept Musk’s $43 billion offer or make a counterattack.
A lawsuit filed against OlympusDAO’s co-founders over $20M+ in the DAO’s native tokens could unmask their identities, testing the limits of pseudonymity in DAOs (Sam Kessler/CoinDesk)
Sam Kessler / CoinDesk: A lawsuit filed against OlympusDAO’s co-founders over $20M+ in the DAO’s native tokens could unmask their identities, testing the limits of pseudonymity in DAOs — An early Olympus investor alleges he was cheated out of millions of OHM tokens when key smart contracts were rendered inoperable.
California-based Twingate, which offers zero-trust security tools for enterprise, raises a $42M Series B led by Bond Capital (Jay Fitzgerald/CRN)
Jay Fitzgerald / CRN: California-based Twingate, which offers zero-trust security tools for enterprise, raises a $42M Series B led by Bond Capital — ‘We think there’s a huge opportunity to work with channel members to help them solve the security problems of their clients,’ says CEO Tony Huie.
Sources: Twitter’s board is considering a poison pill after Elon Musk’s bid; a source says another plan under consideration is saying that the offer is too low (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: Sources: Twitter’s board is considering a poison pill after Elon Musk’s bid; a source says another plan under consideration is saying that the offer is too low — Twitter Inc.’s board is considering adopting a measure that would protect the company from hostile acquisition bids …
Professor Emeritus Leo Marx, influential scholar of American history, dies at 102
Leo Marx, internationally famed scholar of American history and founding member of MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), died on March 8 at his home in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. He was 102. Respected and beloved as a scholar, teacher, colleague, and friend, Marx provided decisive leadership in giving the humanities […]
Frequent encounters build familiarity
Do better spatial networks make for better neighbors? There is evidence that they do, according to Paige Bollen, a sixth-year political science graduate student at MIT. The networks Bollen works with are not virtual but physical, part of the built environment in which we are all embedded. Her research on urban spaces suggests that the […]
Three from MIT awarded 2022 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
MIT graduate student Fernanda De La Torre, alumna Trang Luu ’18, SM ’20, and senior Syamantak Payra are recipients of the 2022 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. De La Torre, Luu, and Payra are among 30 New Americans selected from a pool of over 1,800 applicants. The fellowship honors the contributions of immigrants […]
How to Ask Whether an Employee Is Happy at Work
And get a real answer.
How Collaborative Intelligence Can Boost Business Innovation – SPONSOR CONTENT FROM MURAL
Sponsor content from Mural.
Find Joy in Any Job: What Do I Really Love To Do?
Part two of our special series with Marcus Buckingham on how to craft a job around the things you love.
Our Favorite Umbrellas Will Help You Ride Out the Rain
These picks will protect you from the showers, withstand the wind, and hold up for the long haul.