Strategies to help you balance the day-to-day demands of the job with your long-term goals.
This Hurricane Season Depends on a Showdown in the Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is extremely warm right now—fuel for gnarlier hurricanes. But will a burgeoning El Niño butt in and stop the storms before they start?
Your Clothes Are Making You Sick
This week, we talk to the author of To Dye For, a new book about toxic fashion and the abundance of harmful chemicals in our clothing.
Sources: Tiger Global rejected hundreds of bids for its private assets in recent months; as of January 1, the firm managed $51B, including $37B via its VC unit (Hema Parmar/Bloomberg)
Hema Parmar / Bloomberg: Sources: Tiger Global rejected hundreds of bids for its private assets in recent months; as of January 1, the firm managed $51B, including $37B via its VC unit — Tiger Global Management turned down hundreds of bids for its private assets in recent months because it felt the offers were too […]
Activists and researchers file a GDPR complaint against Pornhub in Italy, claiming the company is “illegally” handling user data; the process may take years (Matt Burgess/Wired)
Matt Burgess / Wired: Activists and researchers file a GDPR complaint against Pornhub in Italy, claiming the company is “illegally” handling user data; the process may take years — Complaints filed in the European Union claim the porn site fails to follow basic data-collection policies under GDPR.
Chinese food delivery giant Meituan plans to acquire AI startup Light Year from Meituan co-founder Wang Huiwen for ~$233.7M in cash and ~$50.7M in debt (John Biju/Reuters)
John Biju / Reuters: Chinese food delivery giant Meituan plans to acquire AI startup Light Year from Meituan co-founder Wang Huiwen for ~$233.7M in cash and ~$50.7M in debt — Chinese food delivery giant Meituan (3690.HK) said on Thursday that it is acquiring artificial intelligence (AI) company Light Year …
AI recap this month: Drone ‘kills’ operator; DeepMind’s speed up
Research into AI is experiencing a boom, so we have rounded up the best of news from the past month to help you keep up to date
AI hiring tools to be audited for sexism and racism under New York law
A New York City law is requiring companies to show that the AI-powered tools they use in hiring and promotion are not biased. Critics say it lets most employers off the hook
Studies at the intersection of equity, computing, and education
Before joining the Lifelong Kindergarten group in the MIT Media Lab, Cecilé Sadler saw computer engineering and community service as separate aspects of her life. Alongside her bachelor’s and master’s work in computer engineering at North Carolina State and Duke University, respectively, Sadler also spent a lot of time working with young people through local […]
At Last, There’s Evidence of Low-Frequency Gravitational Waves
A globe-spanning group of physicists used pulsars to measure the waves, which they believe emanated from pairs of supermassive black holes.
How Bad Is the Smoke in the Midwest? Check Out This Map
Yet again, smoke from Canadian wildfires is pouring into the US. This mesmerizing yet troubling model forecasts how the haze is swirling.
Elon Musk Seeks Support Against Rules on Free Speech Online
During a tour in Europe to make a Neuralink announcement, Musk’s real goal became apparent: Stop the European Commission’s proposed measures regarding online content moderation.
In court, Satya Nadella says he’d love to end “exclusives on consoles”; Bobby Kotick says making CoD exclusive would cause “revolt” and “reputational damage” (Kellen Browning/New York Times)
Kellen Browning / New York Times: In court, Satya Nadella says he’d love to end “exclusives on consoles”; Bobby Kotick says making CoD exclusive would cause “revolt” and “reputational damage” — In federal court, Satya Nadella and Bobby Kotick opposed an attempt by the F.T.C …
Celestial AI, which offers optical interconnect tech for compute, memory, and data transmission, raised a $100M Series B, bringing its total funding to $165M+ (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Celestial AI, which offers optical interconnect tech for compute, memory, and data transmission, raised a $100M Series B, bringing its total funding to $165M+ — David Lazovsky and Preet Virk, technologists with backgrounds in semiconductor engineering and photonics, came …
Internal messages: Reddit tells protesting mods that their communities won’t remain private beyond the timeframe set for this week to confirm reopening plans (Jay Peters/The Verge)
Jay Peters / The Verge: Internal messages: Reddit tells protesting mods that their communities won’t remain private beyond the timeframe set for this week to confirm reopening plans — / ‘This community will not remain private beyond the timeframe we’ve allowed for confirmation of plans here.’
Computer vision system marries image recognition and generation
Computers possess two remarkable capabilities with respect to images: They can both identify them and generate them anew. Historically, these functions have stood separate, akin to the disparate acts of a chef who is good at creating dishes (generation), and a connoisseur who is good at tasting dishes (recognition). Yet, one can’t help but wonder: […]
Researchers uncover a new CRISPR-like system in animals that can edit the human genome
A team of researchers led by Feng Zhang at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has uncovered the first programmable RNA-guided system in eukaryotes — organisms that include fungi, plants, and animals. In a study published today in Nature, the team describes how the system is […]
Gamifying medical data labeling to advance AI
When Erik Duhaime PhD ’19 was working on his thesis in MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence, he noticed his wife, then a medical student, spending hours studying on apps that offered flash cards and quizzes. His research had shown that, as a group, medical students could classify skin lesions more accurately than professional dermatologists; the […]
How to Find the Time to Connect with Colleagues When You’re Very, Very Busy
Strategies for overscheduled, under-connected employees.
3 Steps to Prepare Your Culture for AI
How to help employees embrace curiosity, failure, and learning.
Solving Problems with Integrative Thinking
How to leverage the tension of opposing ideas to make smarter strategic decisions.
How to Tackle AI—and Cheating—in the Classroom
What one educator wants students, teachers, and everyone else to know about the ethics of using of AI in education.
Amazon Fire Max 11 Review: An OK Tablet With Bad Software
It’s the nicest tablet the company has ever made, but it’s not worth your money.
Scientists Are Gene-Editing Flies to Fight Crop Damage
The spotted-wing drosophila is a threat to fruit growers across the US and Europe. Crispr could thwart the pest’s numbers.
Carl Pei’s Nothing raised $96M led by Highland ahead of its Phone (2) announcement, taking its total funding to $250M; sources put 2022 revenue at $200M (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Carl Pei’s Nothing raised $96M led by Highland ahead of its Phone (2) announcement, taking its total funding to $250M; sources put 2022 revenue at $200M — Smartphone sales are in decline as handset makers grapple with saturated markets and a tough consumer economic climate.
DoorDash announces new features for couriers, including “earn by time” for a guaranteed hourly minimum rate, real-time location sharing, and Dash Along the Way (Emma Roth/The Verge)
Emma Roth / The Verge: DoorDash announces new features for couriers, including “earn by time” for a guaranteed hourly minimum rate, real-time location sharing, and Dash Along the Way — DoorDash is making a big change to the way couriers get paid. In an announcement on Wednesday …
UK convenience stores are increasingly using facial recognition to combat shoplifting, something critics say is a disproportionate solution for minor crimes (New York Times)
New York Times: UK convenience stores are increasingly using facial recognition to combat shoplifting, something critics say is a disproportionate solution for minor crimes — British merchants are increasingly using the technology to combat shoplifting, raising questions about its spread as artificial intelligence rapidly improves it.
MIT researchers devise a way to evaluate cybersecurity methods
A savvy hacker can obtain secret information, such as a password, by observing a computer program’s behavior, like how much time that program spends accessing the computer’s memory. Security approaches that completely block these “side-channel attacks” are so computationally expensive that they aren’t feasible for many real-world systems. Instead, engineers often apply what are known […]
The 41 Best Shows on Disney+ Right Now
From American Born Chinese to Secret Invasion, here’s everything you should be watching on Disney+.
ChatGPT’s Storytelling Chops Are No Match for Dungeons & Dragons
Generative AI is already being tapped to write books, but it struggles with basic narrative. Just look at what happens when you make one a dungeon master.
9 Best Espresso Machines (2023): Dual Boilers, Budget, and Accessories
Turning your kitchen into a café is a great way to learn (or hone) the art of making the perfect shot.
EU countries and lawmakers reach a provisional agreement on the Data Act, establishing rules on how Big Tech and other firms use EU consumer and corporate data (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters)
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters: EU countries and lawmakers reach a provisional agreement on the Data Act, establishing rules on how Big Tech and other firms use EU consumer and corporate data — EU countries and EU lawmakers on Tuesday agreed on rules that govern how Big Tech and other companies use European consumer and […]
OpenAI’s ChatGPT iOS app adds Bing for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, letting them get answers on information that extend beyond ChatGPT’s original training data (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: OpenAI’s ChatGPT iOS app adds Bing for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, letting them get answers on information that extend beyond ChatGPT’s original training data — ChatGPT on mobile can now surf the web. But only via Bing. — Today, OpenAI announced that subscribers to ChatGPT Plus …
TikTok admits that it’s funding the TikTok creators’ lawsuit in Montana challenging the state’s ban of the app, but says it’s not paying the creators directly (Sapna Maheshwari/New York Times)
Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times: TikTok admits that it’s funding the TikTok creators’ lawsuit in Montana challenging the state’s ban of the app, but says it’s not paying the creators directly — The popular video service had deflected questions about its involvement in the creators’ lawsuit for more than a month.
International team reports powerful tool for studying, tuning atomically thin materials
Physicists have been riveted by systems composed of materials only one or a few layers of atoms thick. When a few sheets of these two-dimensional materials are stacked together, a geometric pattern called a moiré pattern can be formed. In these so-called moiré systems, new, exotic phenomena can occur, including superconductivity and unconventional magnetism. As […]
QS ranks MIT the world’s No. 1 university for 2023-24
MIT has again been named the world’s top university by the QS World University Rankings, which were announced today. This is the 12th year in a row MIT has received this distinction. The full 2024 edition of the rankings — published by Quacquarelli Symonds, an organization specializing in education and study abroad — can be […]
Uncovering the invisible pressures shaping language
Sihan Chen’s fascination with languages began when he was a teenager in his high school choir in his hometown of Shenzhen, China. “We sang religious and folk songs in different languages like Mandarin, English, Albanian, and Latin, and I would look up how to pronounce words in different languages,” he says. These early experiences planted […]
Does Your Company Have an India Strategy?
Multinationals that don’t have a plan for building subsidiaries in the country risk missing out on one of the most promising market opportunities in the world today.
Marketing When Budgets Are Down
How enterprise leaders can deliver results in scarce times — and build the capabilities to fuel future growth.
Why Entrepreneurs Don’t Need Venture Capital to Scale
A conversation with ButcherBox CEO Mike Salguero on profitability from the get-go.
9 Best Organic Mattresses, Toppers, Bedding (2023): Nontoxic and Natural
These nontoxic beds and bedsheets are easier on the environment and your health—and they feel like a dream.
Do Microbes Matter More Than Humans?
Microbes aren’t as charismatic as megafauna, but they outnumber humans—and their welfare deserves consideration.
Wanna Scratch that Travel Itch? Try YouTube
If you need a quick getaway, consider a digital stroll through the world’s biggest metropolises.
The EU launches four “crash test” facilities for AI tools, funded by a €220M investment, which will let companies test AI and robotics in real-life settings (Sanne Wass/Bloomberg)
Sanne Wass / Bloomberg: The EU launches four “crash test” facilities for AI tools, funded by a €220M investment, which will let companies test AI and robotics in real-life settings — The Europe Union is introducing “crash test” systems for artificial intelligence to ensure new innovations are safe before they hit the market.
Sources: US government official Kurt Campbell confronted Sequoia’s Don Vieira in DC over the VC firm’s ties to China, eventually leading to the three-way split (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal: Sources: US government official Kurt Campbell confronted Sequoia’s Don Vieira in DC over the VC firm’s ties to China, eventually leading to the three-way split — Scrutiny from Washington aggravated tensions within the venture-capital firm, fueling its decision to break up
Tel Aviv-based NoTraffic, an AI-based traffic management service, raised a $50M Series B led by M&G Investments, following a $17.5M Series A in July 2021 (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch: Tel Aviv-based NoTraffic, an AI-based traffic management service, raised a $50M Series B led by M&G Investments, following a $17.5M Series A in July 2021 — AI-based traffic management platform NoTraffic has bagged $50 million in Series B funding as it picks up momentum in cities across …
Inside the gigafactory producing the greenest batteries in the world
Northvolt says that its massive factory in Sweden will soon produce enough batteries each year to power a million electric cars, with a much smaller carbon footprint than those made in China
Google Pixel Fold Review: Expensive and Fun
The company’s new $1,799 smartphone proves the future is foldable.
‘Pikmin 4’ Is the Perfect Excuse to Chill Out and Stay In
The latest in Nintendo’s real-time strategy series is made for zoning out. In a good way.
Best Air Fryers (2023): Compact, Smart, Viewing Window
Prepare flavorful fried food with little to no oil using this modern kitchen staple.