Imgur plans to ban explicit images from May 15; it will allow artistic nudity but expects problems as it switches to a mix of automatic and human moderation (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: Imgur plans to ban explicit images from May 15; it will allow artistic nudity but expects problems as it switches to a mix of automatic and human moderation  —  Image hosting platform Imgur is set to ban explicit images on its platform from May 15.  The company updated its terms of […]

The EU Parliament approves the Markets in Cryptoassets, or MiCA, regulation for the crypto industry, with rules for stablecoins set to apply from July 2024 (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg: The EU Parliament approves the Markets in Cryptoassets, or MiCA, regulation for the crypto industry, with rules for stablecoins set to apply from July 2024  —  European lawmakers on Thursday gave their final blessing to an ambitious law that will give the European Union its first rules to govern the crypto industry.

A look at the India Stack, a set of government-backed APIs on which third parties can build apps integrated with state services for payments, loans, and more (Financial Times)

Financial Times: A look at the India Stack, a set of government-backed APIs on which third parties can build apps integrated with state services for payments, loans, and more  —  New Delhi has pioneered a new approach to online infrastructure in its drive to connect 1.4bn.  But there are privacy and data protection concerns

Coinbase says it received a license to operate in Bermuda; source: the company plans to launch an offshore derivatives exchange in Bermuda as soon as next week (Jeff John Roberts/Fortune)

Jeff John Roberts / Fortune: Coinbase says it received a license to operate in Bermuda; source: the company plans to launch an offshore derivatives exchange in Bermuda as soon as next week  —  Coinbase has received a license to operate in the off-shore haven of Bermuda, signaling that the company is doubling-down on plans …

After Microsoft Advertising said it was dropping Twitter support, Elon Musk tweeted that it’s “lawsuit time” over training “illegally using Twitter data” (Michael Kan/PCMag)

Michael Kan / PCMag: After Microsoft Advertising said it was dropping Twitter support, Elon Musk tweeted that it’s “lawsuit time” over training “illegally using Twitter data”  —  Microsoft is winding down support for Twitter on its advertising platform, likely because the social media platform wants …

Seagate agrees to pay $300M to settle with the US Department of Commerce for shipping $1.1B+ worth of hard drives to Huawei, violating US export control laws (Karen Freifeld/Reuters)

Karen Freifeld / Reuters: Seagate agrees to pay $300M to settle with the US Department of Commerce for shipping $1.1B+ worth of hard drives to Huawei, violating US export control laws  —  April 19 Reuters) – Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (STX.O) has agreed to pay a $300 million penalty in a settlement with U.S. authorities […]

Ellen Roche and Justin Solomon named Edgerton Award winners

MIT associate professors Ellen Roche of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE) and Justin Solomon of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) have been named the 2023 winners of MIT’s annual Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award. Established in fall 1982, the award exists as a permanent tribute to the late Institute […]

The UK CMA opens a consultation after Google proposes letting developers use alternate payment methods for IAP and reducing its cut to settle an antitrust probe (Natasha Lomas/TechCrunch)

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: The UK CMA opens a consultation after Google proposes letting developers use alternate payment methods for IAP and reducing its cut to settle an antitrust probe  —  Google has proposed letting developers offering apps through its UK Play mobile app store to have the option …

Sources: some US tech companies push to narrow the scope of a Senate bill aimed at a TikTok ban, worried it exposes them to future national security reviews (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg: Sources: some US tech companies push to narrow the scope of a Senate bill aimed at a TikTok ban, worried it exposes them to future national security reviews  —  US tech companies are pushing to narrow the scope of legislation that could ban TikTok in the US, creating new obstacles …

Sources: TSMC is pushing back on some “unacceptable” conditions imposed by the US on chip-factory subsidies, as it seeks up to $15B in government support (Yang Jie/Wall Street Journal)

Yang Jie / Wall Street Journal: Sources: TSMC is pushing back on some “unacceptable” conditions imposed by the US on chip-factory subsidies, as it seeks up to $15B in government support  —  With construction under way in Arizona, Taiwanese semiconductor maker calls some aid terms unacceptable

Podcast: Curiosity Unbounded, Episode 1 — How a free-range kid from Maine is helping green-up industrial practices

The Curiosity Unbounded podcast is a conversation between MIT President Sally Kornbluth and newly-tenured faculty members. President Kornbluth invites us to listen in as she dives into the research happening in MIT’s labs and in the field. Along the way, she and her guests discuss pressing issues, as well as what inspires the people running […]

Semgrep, formally r2c, which offers tools to help devs scan for vulnerable code, raised a $53M Series C led by Lightspeed, bringing its total funding to $93M (Ron Miller/TechCrunch)

Ron Miller / TechCrunch: Semgrep, formally r2c, which offers tools to help devs scan for vulnerable code, raised a $53M Series C led by Lightspeed, bringing its total funding to $93M  —  Ideally, when it comes to building secure applications, it’s best to check the code as it moves through the development process …

Microsoft and Epic Systems partner to bring Azure OpenAI services, including GPT-4, to help automate some processes in Epic’s electronic health record software (Benj Edwards/Ars Technica)

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica: Microsoft and Epic Systems partner to bring Azure OpenAI services, including GPT-4, to help automate some processes in Epic’s electronic health record software  —  Generative AI promises to streamline health care, but critics say not so fast.  —  On Monday, Microsoft and Epic Systems announced …

The European Union strike a provisional deal for its ~$47B Chips Act, which aims to double the bloc’s share of global chip output to 20% by 2030 (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters)

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters: The European Union strike a provisional deal for its ~$47B Chips Act, which aims to double the bloc’s share of global chip output to 20% by 2030  —  The European Union on Tuesday agreed a 43 billion euro ($47 billion) plan for its semiconductor industry in an attempt to catch […]

Recycling plastics from research labs

In 2019, MIT’s Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) Office collaborated with several research labs in the Department of Biology to determine the feasibility of recycling clean lab plastics. Based on early successes with waste isolation and plastics collection, EHS collaborated with GreenLabs Recycling, a local startup, to remove and recycle lab plastics from campus. It […]

MIT Energy Conference grapples with geopolitics

As Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, this year’s MIT Energy Conference spotlighted the role of geopolitics in the world’s efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the worst effects of climate change. Each year, the student-run conference, which its organizers say is the largest of its kind, brings together leaders from around the […]

Citizen Lab: NSO Group deployed at least three new “zero-click” hacks against iPhones with iOS 15 and early versions of iOS 16 in 2022; Apple fixed the exploits (Joseph Menn/Washington Post)

Joseph Menn / Washington Post: Citizen Lab: NSO Group deployed at least three new “zero-click” hacks against iPhones with iOS 15 and early versions of iOS 16 in 2022; Apple fixed the exploits  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Israeli spyware maker NSO Group deployed at least three new “zero-click” hacks against iPhones last year …

Q&A with Bluesky CEO Jay Graber about its AT Protocol, content moderation, and more; he says the federated social network has let in about 20,000 users so far (Alex Heath/The Verge)

Alex Heath / The Verge: Q&A with Bluesky CEO Jay Graber about its AT Protocol, content moderation, and more; he says the federated social network has let in about 20,000 users so far  —  As Elon Musk continues wielding Twitter like a blunt weapon against competitors like Substack, the downsides …

Chinese government data: semiconductor output fell nearly 15% YoY in Q1 2023; smartphone production fell 13.8%, as local brands like Oppo and Xiaomi struggled (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg: Chinese government data: semiconductor output fell nearly 15% YoY in Q1 2023; smartphone production fell 13.8%, as local brands like Oppo and Xiaomi struggled  —  China’s production of key electronics declined so far this year despite a bullish rebound in the overall economy, showing the unevenness of the country’s recovery.