The neuroscientist, founder, and author discusses the alternatives for building better machine intelligence.
Twitter’s Purge of Old Accounts Will Be Pure Chaos
Elon Musk’s plan to reclaim accounts—including those of dead celebrities or failed brands—could start a free-for-all with dangerous and upsetting consequences.
Free All-Terrain Chairs Are Making the Great Outdoors Even Better
More public parks are offering the rugged technology for visitors, expanding the ways that people with disabilities can engage with nature.
How to Reclaim Your Online Privacy
We talk to the Signal Foundation’s Meredith Whittaker about how the surveillance economy is newer than we all might realize—and what we can do to fight back.
Sources: ByteDance postpones opening TikTok Shop to US sellers, planned for spring, to June at the earliest after the service struggled to attract merchants (Raffaele Huang/Wall Street Journal)
Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal: Sources: ByteDance postpones opening TikTok Shop to US sellers, planned for spring, to June at the earliest after the service struggled to attract merchants — Doubts over app’s future and tepid adoption of live-streaming e-commerce in the U.S. slow plans for full launch
Binance launches Capital Connect to connect VIP clients and investment fund managers; the exchange has 128M users, of which VIPs are a “very small percentage” (Yogita Khatri/The Block)
Yogita Khatri / The Block: Binance launches Capital Connect to connect VIP clients and investment fund managers; the exchange has 128M users, of which VIPs are a “very small percentage” — – Binance has launched a new platform called Capital Connect to facilitate connections between its VIP clients and investment fund managers.
How Japan-based Rapidus is trying to become a globally competitive chipmaker by 2027, aiming to mass produce 2nm chips just two years after TSMC and Samsung (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: How Japan-based Rapidus is trying to become a globally competitive chipmaker by 2027, aiming to mass produce 2nm chips just two years after TSMC and Samsung — Tetsuro Higashi is taking on what seems like an impossible task: Create a globally competitive semiconductor manufacturer in Japan from scratch – and do it in four […]
Ceiling robots can reconfigure room lights and curtains
Robots that magnetically attach to the ceiling can rearrange living and working spaces by controlling different objects
Using reflections to see the world from new points of view
As a car travels along a narrow city street, reflections off the glossy paint or side mirrors of parked vehicles can help the driver glimpse things that would otherwise be hidden from view, like a child playing on the sidewalk behind the parked cars. Drawing on this idea, researchers from MIT and Rice University have […]
25 Last-Minute Deals on Mother’s Day Gifts (2023)
From discounted weighted blankets to tablets, we’ve got you covered for Mom’s special day.
Brazil Proposed Internet Regulation. Big Tech Took the Gloves Off
Lawmakers want to make online platforms more responsible for hate speech and misinformation. Google, Meta, and others are fighting back.
The 13 Best Movies on Hulu This Week
From Triangle of Sadness to The Hunger Games series, these are the movies you need to watch on the streaming service right now.
Tucker Carlson says he will relaunch his show on Twitter with help from ex-Fox News staff; Musk says Twitter has not signed a deal “of any kind whatsoever” (Washington Post)
Washington Post: Tucker Carlson says he will relaunch his show on Twitter with help from ex-Fox News staff; Musk says Twitter has not signed a deal “of any kind whatsoever” — Elon Musk tweeted late Tuesday that Twitter had no deal with Carlson and urged people from both sides of the political spectrum to join […]
Elon Musk said Twitter has not signed a deal “of any kind whatsoever” with Tucker Carlson and he will be subject to the same rules as all content creators (Elon Musk/@elonmusk)
Elon Musk / @elonmusk: Elon Musk said Twitter has not signed a deal “of any kind whatsoever” with Tucker Carlson and he will be subject to the same rules as all content creators — @EdKrassen @TuckerCarlson On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever he […]
GitHub’s push protection feature, which automatically blocks the leak of sensitive data like API keys and access tokens, is now free for all public repositories (Sergiu Gatlan/BleepingComputer)
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: GitHub’s push protection feature, which automatically blocks the leak of sensitive data like API keys and access tokens, is now free for all public repositories — GitHub is now automatically blocking the leak of sensitive information like API keys and access tokens for all public code repositories.
High-tech face mask lets you smell things in virtual reality
A face mask can release nine different scents on demand to make VR experiences more immersive and multisensory
Doctors are using AI to draft messages without telling patients
US healthcare organisations are trialling OpenAI’s GPT-3 for drafting clinician messages to patients. But not all patients are being informed and some AI researchers warn of errors creeping in
Advocating for science budget and policy
A group of 20 MIT students and postdocs from various departments traveled to Washington from March 27-29 to advocate for increased federal funding of scientific research for the 2024 fiscal year. The trip was part of the Congressional Visit Days program, organized by MIT’s Science Policy Initiative, a student-run organization that introduces the scientists of […]
3 Questions: Per Urlaub on MIT Global Languages
In July 2022, Professor Per Urlaub joined MIT as the new director of Global Languages. A prolific researcher in second-language studies and on the role of technology in language and humanities education, he holds a teaching appointment in MIT’s literature section. He came to MIT after having served in a variety of faculty and leadership […]
Seychelle Vos and Hernandez Moura Silva named HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholars
Two faculty members from the MIT Department of Biology have been selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) for the inaugural cohort of HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholars. Seychelle Vos, the Robert A. Swanson Career Development Professor of Life Sciences, and Hernandez Moura Silva, an assistant professor of biology and core member of the Ragon […]
Could a Subscription Model Spur Innovation in U.S. Health Care?
A new pricing model may help providers develop new treatments and improve access for patients.
Make Inclusive Behaviors Habitual on Your Team
Five patterns that get in the way of inclusion — and an antidote for each.
Can Robin Williams’ Son Help Other Families Heal Addiction and Depression?
Zak Pym Williams, son of comedian and actor Robin Williams, had seen how mental health challenges had affected his family, and he wanted to break the cycle.
The Team of Sleuths Quietly Hunting Cyberattack-for-Hire Services
For a decade, a group called Big Pipes has worked behind the scenes with the FBI to target the worst cybercriminal “booter” services plaguing the internet.
The Far North Is Burning—and Turning Up the Heat on the Planet
Wildfires and human meddling are transforming the Arctic and its surroundings from a carbon sink into a carbon emitter, exacerbating the climate crisis.
The End of the Covid Emergency Is a Warning
The highest alerts are being unraveled globally. But with some 7 million people dead, there are hard lessons to learn from the pandemic—and a lot of work still to do.
How Something Awful plans to archive the source images of millions of Imgur links by May 15, after Imgur announced it would delete nudity, porn, and old content (Adi Robertson/The Verge)
Adi Robertson / The Verge: How Something Awful plans to archive the source images of millions of Imgur links by May 15, after Imgur announced it would delete nudity, porn, and old content — A long-running web community enlisted its goons to stop an Imgur extinction event. — It’s easy to forget how fragile …
Chinese authorities arrest a man for using ChatGPT to write and spread fake news articles, one of the first known instances, with one article having 15K+ views (Low De Wei/Bloomberg)
Low De Wei / Bloomberg: Chinese authorities arrest a man for using ChatGPT to write and spread fake news articles, one of the first known instances, with one article having 15K+ views — Chinese authorities have detained a man for using ChatGPT to write fake news articles, in what appears to be one of the […]
Global tablet shipments fell 18% YoY to 31.7M in Q1 2023, the lowest shipment volume since Q1 2020; Apple had 12.35M shipments, down 17% YoY, for a 38.9% share (Canalys)
Canalys: Global tablet shipments fell 18% YoY to 31.7M in Q1 2023, the lowest shipment volume since Q1 2020; Apple had 12.35M shipments, down 17% YoY, for a 38.9% share — According to the latest Canalys data, global tablet shipments fell 18% year on year in the first quarter of 2023 to 31.7 million units.
Training machines to learn more like humans do
Imagine sitting on a park bench, watching someone stroll by. While the scene may constantly change as the person walks, the human brain can transform that dynamic visual information into a more stable representation over time. This ability, known as perceptual straightening, helps us predict the walking person’s trajectory. Unlike humans, computer vision models don’t […]
30 Mother’s Day Gifts We’ve Tried and Love (2023)
From hair tools and coffee machines to iPad accessories and game subscriptions, we have a pick for every type of mom and mom figure.
What Really Made Geoffrey Hinton Into an AI Doomer
The AI pioneer is alarmed by how clever the technology he helped create has become. And it all started with a joke.
Running Sucks. Kettlebells Are the Answer
Are you struggling to find an effective, inexpensive workout that’s not in a gym? GoRuck’s small sandbag will solve all your problems.
Ripple’s CEO says the company will have spent $200M fighting SEC’s lawsuit that accuses him, a co-founder, and Ripple of selling XRP as an unregistered security (Ryan Browne/CNBC)
Ryan Browne / CNBC: Ripple’s CEO says the company will have spent $200M fighting SEC’s lawsuit that accuses him, a co-founder, and Ripple of selling XRP as an unregistered security — – Ripple will have spent $200 million by the time its legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is over, CEO Brad […]
Crypto exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy in Delaware; filing: the company estimates both its liabilities and assets to be between $500M and $1B (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk: Crypto exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy in Delaware; filing: the company estimates both its liabilities and assets to be between $500M and $1B — Bittrex already announced its intention to exit the U.S., but also faces an SEC enforcement action. — Crypto exchange Bittrex has filed …
PayPal reports Q1 total payment volume up 10% YoY to $354.5B, vs. $349.5B est., net revenue up 9% to $7.04B, and operating income up 41% to $1B; PYPL down 5%+ (Jennifer Surane/Bloomberg)
Jennifer Surane / Bloomberg: PayPal reports Q1 total payment volume up 10% YoY to $354.5B, vs. $349.5B est., net revenue up 9% to $7.04B, and operating income up 41% to $1B; PYPL down 5%+ — PayPal Holdings Inc. shares slumped after the payments giant warned that its adjusted operating margin won’t grow as quickly …
The answer may be blowing in the wind
Capturing energy from the winds gusting off the coasts of the United States could more than double the nation’s electricity generation. It’s no wonder the Biden administration views this immense, clean-energy resource as central to its ambitious climate goals of 100 percent carbon-emissions-free electricity by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. The White […]
US and UAE governments highlight early warning system for climate resilience
The following is a joint announcement from MIT and Community Jameel. An international project to build community resilience to the effects of climate change, launched by Community Jameel and a research team at MIT, has been recognized as an innovation sprint at the 2023 summit of the United States’ and United Arab Emirates’ Agriculture Innovation […]
An unprecedented view of gene regulation
Much of the human genome is made of regulatory regions that control which genes are expressed at a given time within a cell. Those regulatory elements can be located near a target gene or up to 2 million base pairs away from the target. To enable those interactions, the genome loops itself in a 3D […]
How Midsize Companies Can Use Uncertainty to Their Advantage
Protect your culture — and your talent.
Face-to-Face Time with Your Employees Still Matters
Four strategies to help leaders get creative about maintaining their visibility — without resorting to a “butts-in-seats” approach.
How Do I Define My New Role to Set Myself Up for Success?
A leader must learn how to reframe past experiences that may be holding her back, as she designs her new role.
Everyone Was Wrong About Reverse Osmosis—Until Now
A new paper showing how water actually travels through a plastic membrane could make desalination more efficient. That’s good news for a thirsty world.
Voyager 2 Gets a Life-Extending Power Boost in Deep Space
The NASA team hopes the iconic spacecraft and its twin can continue taking data beyond the solar system past their 50th birthdays.
Hollywood’s Screenwriters Are Right to Fear AI
The Writers Guild of America’s demands for guardrails on artificial intelligence are a smart move—and the stakes are higher than ever.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says the SEC is on “a lone crusade”, rows back on suggesting the company may relocate from the US, and expresses interest in Dubai (Ryan Browne/CNBC)
Ryan Browne / CNBC: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says the SEC is on “a lone crusade”, rows back on suggesting the company may relocate from the US, and expresses interest in Dubai — – The SEC earlier this year served Coinbase with a Wells Notice. — Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO …
After China banned crypto in September 2021, FTX’s creditor lists, citizens, and industry insiders suggest Chinese residents continue to trade digital assets (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: After China banned crypto in September 2021, FTX’s creditor lists, citizens, and industry insiders suggest Chinese residents continue to trade digital assets — Nineteen months after China banned crypto, more signs have emerged that its citizens continue to buy and sell digital assets.
After Arm shunned a London listing in favor of New York, some VCs in the UK blame Brexit and institutional investors, who lack a good understanding of tech (Ryan Browne/CNBC)
Ryan Browne / CNBC: After Arm shunned a London listing in favor of New York, some VCs in the UK blame Brexit and institutional investors, who lack a good understanding of tech — – British chip designer Arm recently decided to list in New York, leading to worries that London will miss out on more […]
21 Best Sex Toys (2023): Gender Inclusive, Couples, Solo
These are our favorite gender-inclusive vibrators, wand massagers, and sleeves to give you and your partner(s) a helping hand.
Source: Volkswagen plans to fire most of the management team at Cariad next week, after the software unit missed its development goals and exceeded its budget (Jan Schwartz/Reuters)
Jan Schwartz / Reuters: Source: Volkswagen plans to fire most of the management team at Cariad next week, after the software unit missed its development goals and exceeded its budget — Carmaker Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) is set to dismiss all but one of the executive board members at its software division Cariad next week …