The EU and US announce a preliminary transatlantic data pact bur reveal few details, after the EU declared the previous pact illegal in 2020 (Daniel Michaels/Wall Street Journal)

Daniel Michaels / Wall Street Journal: The EU and US announce a preliminary transatlantic data pact bur reveal few details, after the EU declared the previous pact illegal in 2020  —  Agreement could assuage concerns of companies with operations on both sides of the Atlantic  —  BRUSSELS—The U.S. and the European Union reached …

A look at Lantern, an app backed by the US’ Open Technology Fund that has spent the last two years building a peer-to-peer network to bypass Russian censorship (David Gilbert/VICE)

David Gilbert / VICE: A look at Lantern, an app backed by the US’ Open Technology Fund that has spent the last two years building a peer-to-peer network to bypass Russian censorship  —  Backed with funding from the U.S. government’s Open Technology Fund, Lantern has spent two years building a peer-to-peer network inside Russia.

Netflix says it is buying Boss Fight Entertainment, a mobile game developer with 130 employees; it is Netflix’s third studio purchase since last summer (Kellen Browning/New York Times)

Kellen Browning / New York Times: Netflix says it is buying Boss Fight Entertainment, a mobile game developer with 130 employees; it is Netflix’s third studio purchase since last summer  —  The acquisition is the company’s third since it announced plans to move into video games last summer.

EU lawmakers reach a provisional agreement on the DMA, which will mandate messaging service interoperability, prohibit self-preferencing practices, and more (Samuel Stolton/Politico)

Samuel Stolton / Politico: EU lawmakers reach a provisional agreement on the DMA, which will mandate messaging service interoperability, prohibit self-preferencing practices, and more  —  The European Union today adopted landmark rules clamping down on anti-competitive abuses by the world’s largest technology platforms …

The DOJ arrest and charge two men with wire fraud and money laundering over a $1.1M NFT rug pull scheme for their collection named “Frosties” (Adi Robertson/The Verge)

Adi Robertson / The Verge: The DOJ arrest and charge two men with wire fraud and money laundering over a $1.1M NFT rug pull scheme for their collection named “Frosties”  —  They’d already announced a follow-up series  —  US government prosecutors have charged two men with fraud and money laundering over a cryptocurrency “rug pull” […]

Study finds neurons that encode the outcomes of actions

When we make complex decisions, we have to take many factors into account. Some choices have a high payoff but carry potential risks; others are lower risk but may have a lower reward associated with them. A new study from MIT sheds light on the part of the brain that helps us make these types […]

Scientists develop the largest, most detailed model of the early universe to date

It all started around 13.8 billion years ago with a big, cosmological “bang” that brought the universe suddenly and spectacularly into existence. Shortly after, the infant universe cooled dramatically and went completely dark. Then, within a couple hundred million years after the Big Bang, the universe woke up, as gravity gathered matter into the first […]

TikTok creators say a glitch in the registration process for TikTok’s creator fund has prevented sign-ups for weeks; the fund started at $200M in 2020 (Brody Ford/Bloomberg)

Brody Ford / Bloomberg: TikTok creators say a glitch in the registration process for TikTok’s creator fund has prevented sign-ups for weeks; the fund started at $200M in 2020  —  Many rising TikTok stars who recently qualified to be paid for their popular videos have been shut out of the registration system …

French startup Weglot, a website translation tool that is compatible with major CMSes and platforms, raises a €45M Series A from Partech (Romain Dillet/TechCrunch)

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: French startup Weglot, a website translation tool that is compatible with major CMSes and platforms, raises a €45M Series A from Partech  —  French startup Weglot has closed a $50 million Series A funding round (€45 million) from Partech.  The company has built a translation solution for websites.

An inside look at Ukrainian efforts to repel Russian cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, as some worry that early success might be unwound over time (Mehul Srivastava/Financial Times)

Mehul Srivastava / Financial Times: An inside look at Ukrainian efforts to repel Russian cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, as some worry that early success might be unwound over time  —  As Russian troops massed on the border on January 14, dozens of Ukrainian government websites were defaced with the words “be afraid and wait for […]

Stephen Wilhite, one of the lead creators of the GIF, has died at 74; Wilhite worked on the GIF while employed by CompuServe in the 1980s (Mitchell Clark/The Verge)

Mitchell Clark / The Verge: Stephen Wilhite, one of the lead creators of the GIF, has died at 74; Wilhite worked on the GIF while employed by CompuServe in the 1980s  —  It’s pronounced ‘jif’  —  Stephen Wilhite, one of the lead inventors of the GIF, died last week from COVID at the age of […]

Instacart will build micro-fulfillment warehouses for grocery retailers to support 15-minute deliveries, launching in the “coming months” starting with Publix (Dave Lee/Financial Times)

Dave Lee / Financial Times: Instacart will build micro-fulfillment warehouses for grocery retailers to support 15-minute deliveries, launching in the “coming months” starting with Publix  —  Company embarks on ‘new trajectory’ with grocery retailers as it seeks to fend off fierce competition

Google says it will bar ads from appearing next to websites, apps, and YouTube channels that exploit, dismiss, or condone the Russia-Ukraine war (Paresh Dave/Reuters)

Paresh Dave / Reuters: Google says it will bar ads from appearing next to websites, apps, and YouTube channels that exploit, dismiss, or condone the Russia-Ukraine war  —  Alphabet-owned (GOOGL.O) Google will not help websites, apps and YouTube channels sell ads alongside content that it deems exploits …

Study: With masking and distancing in place, NFL stadium openings in 2020 had no impact on local Covid-19 infections

As with most everything in the world, football looked very different in 2020. As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, many National Football League (NFL) games were played in empty stadiums, while other stadiums opened to fans at significantly reduced capacity, with strict safety protocols in place. At the time it was unclear what impact such large […]

Patrick Hale, former executive director of System Design and Management, dies at 72

Patrick “Pat” Hale SM ’84, former executive director of MIT System Design and Management, passed away on Feb. 4 at the age of 72 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Hale oversaw the progression of SDM from a small experiment to a renowned program in engineering and management. Hale served in the U.S. Navy […]

Sources: Spotify will rename its live conversation product, from Greenroom to Spotify Live, and plans to integrate the content into its main app in Q2 (Ashley Carman/Bloomberg)

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg: Sources: Spotify will rename its live conversation product, from Greenroom to Spotify Live, and plans to integrate the content into its main app in Q2  —  Spotify Technology SA is renaming its live conversation product and integrating the content into its main streaming app to make the service …

Sony releases PS4 and PS5 updates; the PS5 will gain Variable Refresh Rate in the coming months, syncing a display’s refresh rate to the PS5’s graphical output (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge: Sony releases PS4 and PS5 updates; the PS5 will gain Variable Refresh Rate in the coming months, syncing a display’s refresh rate to the PS5’s graphical output  —  Sony says VRR will be available in the coming months on the PS5  —  Sony is planning to release a Variable Refresh […]

Unlocking the power of collaboration in contracts

At the heart of nearly every purchase, sale, partnership, acceptance, and rejection is a contract. Businesses depend on people’s ability to build and understand contracts, especially in response to unique and fast-changing circumstances — like a global pandemic, for example. Even before the pandemic, many businesses were struggling to keep up with accelerating changes to […]

Building bridges, not silos

The MIT campus is built to connect people. Some structures, like the Stata Center, the Sloan building, or the Media Lab building, offer large lobbies, flexible labs, and common spaces to enhance collaboration. MIT’s Infinite Corridor — which is one-sixth of a mile long — mixes thousands of people together daily. Aerial walkways connect campus […]

Sources: Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is raising $100M in a token sale from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, a previous backer, and Khosla, at a $3B valuation (The Information)

The Information: Sources: Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is raising $100M in a token sale from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, a previous backer, and Khosla, at a $3B valuation  —  Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency startup co-founded by former Y Combinator president Sam Altman, is raising $100 million …

A simple diagnostic tool for gastrointestinal disorders

As food moves through the digestive tract, contracting muscles along the tract keep things flowing smoothly. Loss of this motility can lead to acid reflux, failure of food to move out of the stomach, or constipation. Dysmotility disorders are usually diagnosed with a catheter containing pressure transducers, which can sense contractions of the GI tract. […]

Ride-hailing without the traffic snarls?

In theory, competition among ride-hailing companies should be a good thing, providing more options for consumers. In practice, having too many ride-hailing vehicles adds to urban congestion. How can cities balance these factors? A new study co-authored by MIT researchers, in collaboration with the Institute for Informatics and Telematics of the National Research Council of […]