Three European food delivery stocks, Delivery Hero, Just Eat, and Deliveroo, lost a combined $23.7B, more than half their market value, in the first quarter (Henry Ren/Bloomberg)

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Henry Ren / Bloomberg: Three European food delivery stocks, Delivery Hero, Just Eat, and Deliveroo, lost a combined $23.7B, more than half their market value, in the first quarter  —  In a market gripped by concerns over rising interest rates and soaring inflation, investors are avoiding European food delivery companies …

A look at the eclectic group of pro-crypto lawmakers in Washington, from libertarians to tech utopians, who were galvanized by the recent infrastructure bill (Kiran Stacey/Financial Times)

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Kiran Stacey / Financial Times: A look at the eclectic group of pro-crypto lawmakers in Washington, from libertarians to tech utopians, who were galvanized by the recent infrastructure bill  —  A bipartisan mix of libertarians, business champions and tech utopians is uniting on legislation to help the sector grow

How homegrown courier services in French Polynesia are building their own online shopping service to fill the gaps left by e-commerce giants in remote islands (Tiare Tuuhia/Rest of World)

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Tiare Tuuhia / Rest of World: How homegrown courier services in French Polynesia are building their own online shopping service to fill the gaps left by e-commerce giants in remote islands  —  E-commerce giants don’t reliably deliver to the remote islands of French Polynesia, so locals made their own online shopping service.

“Diverse people lead to diverse ideas”

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Smells of steak, vegetables, and onions filled the air, the sizzle complementing sounds of laughter and music. Students from a variety of Black student groups on campus came together to mingle and relax, enjoying the nice spring weather and community. Surveying the scene with satisfaction was Devin Johnson, an aeronautical and astronautical engineering major and […]

To avoid erroneously flagging CSAM, Meta’s training docs tell content moderators to “err on the side of an adult” when judging people’s age in photos or videos (Michael H. Keller/New York Times)

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Michael H. Keller / New York Times: To avoid erroneously flagging CSAM, Meta’s training docs tell content moderators to “err on the side of an adult” when judging people’s age in photos or videos  —  The company reports millions of photos and videos of suspected child sexual abuse each year.

Researchers: an allegedly Russia-tied wiper malware, AcidRain, which shares similarities with the malware VPNFilter, was behind the attack on Viasat in February (Dan Goodin/Ars Technica)

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Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: Researchers: an allegedly Russia-tied wiper malware, AcidRain, which shares similarities with the malware VPNFilter, was behind the attack on Viasat in February  —  AcidRain is the seventh wiper associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine  —  Viasat—the high-speed-satellite-broadband …

New York-based Black Crow AI, which delivers predictive analytics to e-commerce retailers, raises a $25M Series A led by Imaginary Ventures (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)

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Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: New York-based Black Crow AI, which delivers predictive analytics to e-commerce retailers, raises a $25M Series A led by Imaginary Ventures  —  In the pandemic era, where digital storefronts have become a matter of course for retailers, data analytics is proving its worth.

Featured video: L. Rafael Reif on the power of education

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MIT President L. Rafael Reif recently joined Raúl Rodríguez, associate vice president of internationalization at Tecnológico de Monterrey, for a wide-ranging fireside chat about the power of education and its impact in addressing global issues, even more so in a post pandemic world.  “When I was younger, my parents used to always tell me and my […]

Analysis: majority of the most-viewed Reels on Meta’s platforms are anonymous or reposted; Meta says Reels is Instagram’s biggest engagement growth contributor (Shirin Ghaffary/Vox)

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Shirin Ghaffary / Vox: Analysis: majority of the most-viewed Reels on Meta’s platforms are anonymous or reposted; Meta says Reels is Instagram’s biggest engagement growth contributor  —  Facebook’s pivot back to video shows how badly it needs young people.  —  Meta, the parent company of Facebook, needs to stay relevant.

Avalanche is now the fourth largest blockchain for DeFi protocols by “total value locked”, at $10B+, ahead of Solana, with its AVAX token rising 2,800% in 2021 (Tracy Wang/CoinDesk)

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Tracy Wang / CoinDesk: Avalanche is now the fourth largest blockchain for DeFi protocols by “total value locked”, at $10B+, ahead of Solana, with its AVAX token rising 2,800% in 2021  —  To the crypto-conscious, blockchain industry conferences have become annual pilgrimages of sorts …

A look at 3C, a “grassroots” group of SMBs against Big Tech regulation, financed by Google and Amazon, which claims support from SMBs that haven’t heard of it (CNBC)

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CNBC: A look at 3C, a “grassroots” group of SMBs against Big Tech regulation, financed by Google and Amazon, which claims support from SMBs that haven’t heard of it  —  – The Connected Commerce Council, which pitches itself as a grassroots movement representing small business owners …

With new industry, a new era for cities

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Kista Science City, just north of Stockholm, is Sweden’s version of Silicon Valley. Anchored by a few big firms and a university, it has become northern Europe’s main high-tech center, with housing mixed in so that people live and work in the same general area. Around the globe, a similar pattern is visible in many […]

Solving the challenges of robotic pizza-making

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Imagine a pizza maker working with a ball of dough. She might use a spatula to lift the dough onto a cutting board then use a rolling pin to flatten it into a circle. Easy, right? Not if this pizza maker is a robot. For a robot, working with a deformable object like dough is […]

A judge invalidates Massachusetts’ fiduciary duty rule against Robinhood that underlies a 2020 suit accusing the firm of encouraging users to place risky trades (Nate Raymond/Reuters)

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Nate Raymond / Reuters: A judge invalidates Massachusetts’ fiduciary duty rule against Robinhood that underlies a 2020 suit accusing the firm of encouraging users to place risky trades  —  A Massachusetts judge on Wednesday dealt state securities regulators a major setback in their enforcement action …

Chainalysis: $1B+ in crypto was stolen from bridge-related exploits in a little over a year across seven incidents; Dune: $21B+ is locked on Ethereum bridges (Olga Kharif/Bloomberg)

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Olga Kharif / Bloomberg: Chainalysis: $1B+ in crypto was stolen from bridge-related exploits in a little over a year across seven incidents; Dune: $21B+ is locked on Ethereum bridges  —  The hack of a so-called bridge supporting Axie Infinity’s play-to-earn game revealed this week highlights the increasingly problematic nature …

India-based social commerce startup Citymall, which targets consumers in Tier 2, 3, and 4 towns, raises a $75M Series C led by Norwest Venture Partners (Kul Bhushan/Tech in Asia)

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Kul Bhushan / Tech in Asia: India-based social commerce startup Citymall, which targets consumers in Tier 2, 3, and 4 towns, raises a $75M Series C led by Norwest Venture Partners  —  Citymall, an India-based social commerce startup, has raised US$75 million in a series C round led by Norwest Venture Partners.

Cyberpion, which helps companies secure outside-facing assets and infrastructure, raises a $27M Series A led by U.S. Venture Partners (Frederic Lardinois/TechCrunch)

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Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: Cyberpion, which helps companies secure outside-facing assets and infrastructure, raises a $27M Series A led by U.S. Venture Partners  —  It’s no secret that digital supply chains are increasingly under attack as hackers look to use this vector to get access to company networks and confidential information.

The UK’s FCA extends a key deadline, set for Thursday, for approving crypto companies; the FCA has so far approved 33 companies (Emily Nicolle/Bloomberg)

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Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg: The UK’s FCA extends a key deadline, set for Thursday, for approving crypto companies; the FCA has so far approved 33 companies  —  The U.K.’s financial regulator is extending a Thursday deadline for its approval of crypto operations, giving a dozen firms more time to get their applications or affairs in […]

Meta paid Republican consulting firm Targeted Victory to orchestrate a campaign against TikTok in the US, including placing op-eps in regional news outlets (Washington Post)

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Washington Post: Meta paid Republican consulting firm Targeted Victory to orchestrate a campaign against TikTok in the US, including placing op-eps in regional news outlets  —  Facebook parent company Meta is paying one of the biggest Republican consulting firms in the country to orchestrate a nationwide campaign seeking …

Fighting discrimination in mortgage lending

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Although the U.S. Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits discrimination in mortgage lending, biases still impact many borrowers. One 2021 Journal of Financial Economics study found that borrowers from minority groups were charged interest rates that were nearly 8 percent higher and were rejected for loans 14 percent more often than those from privileged groups. When […]