Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: News sharing app Artifact adds an AI tool to generate article summaries, while noting users should still read the full articles due to occasional errors — Artifact, the personalized news aggregator from Instagram’s founders is further embracing AI with the launch of a new feature that will now summarize news articles […]
Nick Clegg says TikTok’s presence in the US, while China bars Meta, isn’t a level playing field, and new tech like AI shouldn’t be based on autocratic values (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: Nick Clegg says TikTok’s presence in the US, while China bars Meta, isn’t a level playing field, and new tech like AI shouldn’t be based on autocratic values — Meta Platforms Inc.’s head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, called into question the values of TikTok by invoking …
Yelp announces a series of updates, including AI-powered search suggestions and review highlights, and the ability to upload short videos up to 12 seconds long (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: Yelp announces a series of updates, including AI-powered search suggestions and review highlights, and the ability to upload short videos up to 12 seconds long — Yelp announced today that it’s introducing a series of new updates, including an enhanced AI-powered search experience and the ability to add videos to reviews.
Five from MIT awarded 2023 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
MIT graduate students Kat Kajderowicz and Shomik Verma, alumni Desmond Edwards ’22 and Steven Truong ’20, and Vaibhav Mohanty, an MD-PhD student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, are among the 30 recipients of this year’s Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. The P.D. Soros Fellowships for New Americans program […]
Knight Science Journalism Program announces 2022-23 fellows
The internationally renowned Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT has announced the 10 elite science journalists who will make up its 2023-24 fellowship class. Selected from more than 100 applicants, the group comprises award-winning print, audio, and multimedia journalists hailing from seven countries and five continents. “We’re excited to welcome such an accomplished group of […]
MIT Solve names Hala Hanna as new executive director
MIT Solve has announced Hala Hanna as its new executive director. Solve is a marketplace for social impact innovation with a mission to drive innovation to solve world challenges. Hanna has more than 15 years of experience working across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, with the purpose of creating a more equitable and sustainable […]
Are Your Employees Thriving, or Just Surviving? Here’s What’s Missing. – SPONSOR CONTENT FROM WORKHUMAN
Sponsor content from Workhuman.
Make It Safe for Employees to Speak Up — Especially in Risky Times
The same behaviors that feel dangerous to employees are precisely what organizations need to thrive in an uncertain economic climate.
Using Design Thinking to Invent a Low-Cost Prosthesis for Land Mine Victims
Can design thinking help a nonprofit organization sustain both innovation and its human impact into the future?
A Fatal Bear Attack Fuels a Fight Over Rewilding
The death of a jogger in northern Italy has turned the reintroduction of bears into a fraught political issue.
The Andy Warhol Copyright Case That Could Transform Generative AI
The US Supreme Court’s upcoming decision could shift the interpretation of fair use law—and all the people, and tools, that turn to it for protection.
So Your Kid Wants to Be a Twitch Streamer
Don’t panic. Instead, teach your beloved offspring to answer the Three Questions of Streaming.
On TikTok, guides to buying “dupes” of pricey luxury items are gaining a following and sparking a debate over knock-offs; #dupes has 2.1B views and #Reps 1.9B (Annachiara Biondi/Financial Times)
Annachiara Biondi / Financial Times: On TikTok, guides to buying “dupes” of pricey luxury items are gaining a following and sparking a debate over knock-offs; #dupes has 2.1B views and #Reps 1.9B — On TikTok, guides to buying ‘dupes’ of pricey luxury items are gaining a following — In 2012, a classic Chanel flap bag […]
Slack rolls out Canvas, a collaboration tool for each channel with document creation, editing, and more, announced in September 2022 (David Pierce/The Verge)
David Pierce / The Verge: Slack rolls out Canvas, a collaboration tool for each channel with document creation, editing, and more, announced in September 2022 — The best thing about Slack’s new Canvas feature is that I barely need to explain it to you. It’s like Google Docs but inside of Slack.
Filing: SMIC-backed Semiconductor Manufacturing Electronics Shaoxing plans to raise $1.4B in an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market as Beijing battles US curbs (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: Filing: SMIC-backed Semiconductor Manufacturing Electronics Shaoxing plans to raise $1.4B in an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market as Beijing battles US curbs — A chip foundry backed by China’s top semiconductor firm is set to raise $1.4 billion in Asia’s biggest initial public offering so far this year …
Edible computer chips could control digestible drug-delivery robots
Researchers are working on edible computer chips to control robots that can operate inside the human body to precisely deliver drugs before safely being digested
MIT graduate engineering, business, science programs ranked highly by U.S. News for 2023-24
U.S. News and Word Report has again placed MIT’s graduate program in engineering at the top of its annual rankings. The Institute has held the No. 1 spot since 1990, when the magazine first ranked such programs. The MIT Sloan School of Management also placed highly. It occupies the No. 4 spot for the best […]
Two-component system could offer a new way to halt internal bleeding
MIT engineers have designed a two-component system that can be injected into the body and help form blood clots at the sites of internal injury. These materials, which mimic the way that the body naturally forms clots, could offer a way to keep people with severe internal injuries alive until they can reach a hospital. […]
Researchers 3D print a miniature vacuum pump
Mass spectrometers are extremely precise chemical analyzers that have many applications, from evaluating the safety of drinking water to detecting toxins in a patient’s blood. But building an inexpensive, portable mass spectrometer that could be deployed in remote locations remains a challenge, partly due to the difficulty of miniaturizing the vacuum pump it needs to […]
5 Ways to Future-Proof Your Career in the Age of AI
Tools like ChatGPT have the potential to displace human creativity — but people still offer unique value.
Intel Let Google Cloud Hack Its New Secure Chips and Found 10 Bugs
To protect its Confidential Computing cloud infrastructure and gain critical insights, Google leans on its relationships with chipmakers.
Forget Cars, Green Hydrogen Will Supercharge Crops
Renewable generation projects are set to make this future fuel widely available. And it’s much more versatile than you think.
Inside U2’s Boundary-Breaking Immersive Vegas Show
The Edge says the band’s forthcoming Las Vegas residency is the “dawn of a new creative genre.”
Coinbase asks a US federal court to force the SEC to respond to a petition Coinbase filed in July 2022, demanding clearer crypto regulations (André Beganski/Decrypt)
André Beganski / Decrypt: Coinbase asks a US federal court to force the SEC to respond to a petition Coinbase filed in July 2022, demanding clearer crypto regulations — The cryptocurrency exchange filed the petition along with a long list of questions last July. … Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal wrote …
On April 23, a Meta ad system glitch caused some campaigns to overspend beyond their daily cost cap; agencies say they have had “next to no feedback” from Meta (James Hercher/AdExchanger)
James Hercher / AdExchanger: On April 23, a Meta ad system glitch caused some campaigns to overspend beyond their daily cost cap; agencies say they have had “next to no feedback” from Meta — Hope you had a peaceful Sunday. — If you’re a Facebook advertiser, though, that may not have been the case.
A group of operational technology cybersecurity vendors launches ETHOS, an open-source portal to share early warnings about threats to critical infrastructure (Christian Vasquez/CyberScoop)
Christian Vasquez / CyberScoop: A group of operational technology cybersecurity vendors launches ETHOS, an open-source portal to share early warnings about threats to critical infrastructure — The biggest companies working in industrial cybersecurity are building an early-warning platform called ETHOS to share threat intelligence.
Wood transistor could let us embed electronics in trees
An electrochemical transistor made from balsa wood opens up the possibility of embedding sensors and other electronic devices in plants, which could help in agriculture and forest management
Synthetic spider silk laced with graphene can heal itself when wet
A material made from a protein in the silk of spiders can rapidly seal any breaks and would work in wearable electronics to monitor your health
Regulating AI is going to be hard but big tech transparency is key
Companies creating the new generation of chatbots and other generative AI are shy about sharing their code and data. That has to change
Martin Wainwright named director of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
Martin Wainwright, the Cecil H. Green Professor in MIT’s departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Mathematics, has been named the new director of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), effective July 1. “Martin is a widely recognized leader in statistics and machine learning — both in research and in education. […]
Learner in Afghanistan reaches beyond barriers to pursue career in data science
Tahmina S. was a junior studying computer engineering at a top university in Afghanistan when a new government policy banned women from pursuing education. In August 2021, the Taliban prohibited girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. While women were initially allowed to continue to attend universities, by October 2021, an order from the […]
Eight from MIT elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2023
Eight MIT faculty members are among more than 250 leaders from academia, the arts, industry, public policy, and research elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy announced April 19. One of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to […]
Driving Organizational Change — Without Abandoning Tradition
To shift entrenched ways of thinking, leaders need to understand and respect where people are coming from.
Our All-Time Favorite Episodes of Cold Call
Cold Call is celebrating 200 episodes with a special series, including the show team’s favorite episodes from the archives.
How Do I Lead My Team without Strategic Direction from the Top?
A leader must learn how he can enhance his team’s impact, despite conflicting organizational priorities.
AI Isn’t Going to Reinvent the Alphabet Anytime Soon
AI doesn’t understand how humans read well enough to design type on its own. But it can help typographers make their work more accessible.
Augmented Reality Art Takes Over the Roofs of Sheffield, UK
Residents and visitors in Sheffield can point their phone at the tops of buildings and see giant animated creatures spring to virtual life.
Inside the Trickiest, Techiest Scene in ‘Beau Is Afraid’
At the center of the much-maligned film is a beautifully bizarre sequence that secures the movie’s singularly strange affect.
Analysts, investors, and founders expect a hard year for tech startups, including more down rounds; PitchBook says 400+ unicorns haven’t raised funds since 2021 (Lizette Chapman/Bloomberg)
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg: Analysts, investors, and founders expect a hard year for tech startups, including more down rounds; PitchBook says 400+ unicorns haven’t raised funds since 2021 — The startup world has had a tough year — plagued by mass layoffs, plummeting venture capital investment and the chaotic collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
Super.com, formerly Snapcommerce, raised $60M in equity and $25M via a credit facility to launch a super app for deals, taking its total funding to $200M+ (Christine Hall/TechCrunch)
Christine Hall / TechCrunch: Super.com, formerly Snapcommerce, raised $60M in equity and $25M via a credit facility to launch a super app for deals, taking its total funding to $200M+ — The current inflation environment has all of us looking for ways to cut costs and save some money.
A look at LAION, a free AI training data set with 5B+ images used in Google’s Imagen and Stable Diffusion, created by high school teacher Christoph Schuhmann (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: A look at LAION, a free AI training data set with 5B+ images used in Google’s Imagen and Stable Diffusion, created by high school teacher Christoph Schuhmann — In front of a suburban house on the outskirts of the northern Germany city of Hamburg, a single word — “LAION” — is scrawled in pencil […]
Miniscule device could help preserve the battery life of tiny sensors
Scientists are striving to develop ever-smaller internet-of-things devices, like sensors tinier than a fingertip that could make nearly any object trackable. These diminutive sensors have miniscule batteries which are often nearly impossible to replace, so engineers incorporate wake-up receivers that keep devices in low-power “sleep” mode when not in use, preserving battery life. Researchers at […]
Best Hiking Boots (2023): Walking Shoes, Trails, Backpacking
From strenuous hikes and serious summits to weekend rambles in the park, here are 11 great walking boots and shoes to make the most of your time outdoors.
17 Best Recycled and Upcycled Clothes (2023): Leggings, Sneakers, T-shirts
Who knew plastic bottles could look (and feel) this good? These leggings, shoes, and other apparel help keep waste out of landfills.
Researchers Argue Black Holes Will Destroy All Quantum States
New calculations suggest that the event horizons will eventually “decohere” quantum possibilities—even those that are far away.
Analysis: people spend more time watching Netflix than Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max combined, and Netflix makes up ~75% of the top 10 shows in the US each week (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: Analysis: people spend more time watching Netflix than Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max combined, and Netflix makes up ~75% of the top 10 shows in the US each week — Good afternoon from Ojai, California, where I am celebrating my girlfriend’s birthday. Lunch was interrupted by huge news …
Sources: the Biden administration has asked South Korea to encourage Samsung and SK Hynix to hold back from boosting sales to China if Beijing bans Micron chips (Demetri Sevastopulo/Financial Times)
Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times: Sources: the Biden administration has asked South Korea to encourage Samsung and SK Hynix to hold back from boosting sales to China if Beijing bans Micron chips — White House has tried to enlist Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in its semiconductor battle with Beijing
Q&A with Katherine Forrest, a former federal judge for the SDNY, on copyright and generative AI, the Copyright Office’s guidance on AI-generated work, and more (Nabiha Syed/The Markup)
Nabiha Syed / The Markup: Q&A with Katherine Forrest, a former federal judge for the SDNY, on copyright and generative AI, the Copyright Office’s guidance on AI-generated work, and more — A conversation with Katherine Forrest — Subscribe to Hello World … Before they gobbled up headlines everywhere …
Tools to spot AI essays show bias against non-native English speakers
Essays in English written by people from China were branded by text-analysis tools as being generated by artificial intelligence 61 per cent of the time
How to Talk to Your Partner About Sex (2023)
Open communication can be challenging—but expressing desires and boundaries is good for everyone. Here’s how to get started.