Paresh Dave / Wired: Tech companies like Google and Microsoft have offered a muted response to unrest in Iran, prompting side projects by employees to fight censorship and more — Companies like Google have offered a muted response to unrest in Iran. Grassroots coders are tackling internet censorship on their own.
Google cuts most of the Area 120 team and will graduate three of the incubator’s projects in 2023; sources: staff not involved in those projects were laid off (Julia Love/Bloomberg)
Julia Love / Bloomberg: Google cuts most of the Area 120 team and will graduate three of the incubator’s projects in 2023; sources: staff not involved in those projects were laid off — Alphabet Inc.’s Google has cut most of the jobs at Area 120, its in-house incubator for new projects, as part of a […]
Emails and sources: Google fired 16% of its ~400-person Fuchsia OS team, Research cut jobs in low traction areas, and Cloud cut operational and other roles (New York Times)
New York Times: Emails and sources: Google fired 16% of its ~400-person Fuchsia OS team, Research cut jobs in low traction areas, and Cloud cut operational and other roles — The layoffs amount to about 6 percent of the global work force at the company, the latest tech giant to make cuts after a pandemic […]
T-Mobile’s New Data Breach Shows Its $150 Million Security Investment Isn’t Cutting It
The mobile operator just suffered at least its fifth data breach since 2018, despite promising to spend a fortune shoring up its systems.
The US State Department Ditches Times New Roman for Calibri
The switch away from the serif-laden typeface is being made for accessibility and legibility reasons, the agency says.
All the Obnoxious Ways People Are Leaving Twitter
Get over yourselves.
Internal records: Twitter now has around 1,300 active employees, including fewer than 550 full-time engineers, and about 1,400 non-working employees (Lora Kolodny/CNBC)
Lora Kolodny / CNBC: Internal records: Twitter now has around 1,300 active employees, including fewer than 550 full-time engineers, and about 1,400 non-working employees — – Internal records show that Twitter has shed about 80% of its employees since Elon Musk took over and headcount is hovering around 1,300 employees today.
In a staff call, CNET and Red Ventures executives said they were pausing AI-generated content on CNET and other websites and detailed their proprietary AI tool (Mia Sato/The Verge)
Mia Sato / The Verge: In a staff call, CNET and Red Ventures executives said they were pausing AI-generated content on CNET and other websites and detailed their proprietary AI tool — The call, which lasted under an hour, was held a week after CNET came under fire for its use of AI tools on […]
Waterloo-based Magnet Forensics, which develops digital investigation software, agrees to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for CA$1.8B (Josh Scott/BetaKit)
Josh Scott / BetaKit: Waterloo-based Magnet Forensics, which develops digital investigation software, agrees to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for CA$1.8B — Announcement comes hours after IIROC halted trading of Magnet’s shares. — Kitchener-Waterloo’s Magnet Forensics has entered into a definitive agreement …
Largest plane yet tested with hydrogen-powered engine
Aerospace company ZeroAvia successfully tested using a hydrogen-electric engine to power one of the propellors in a 19-seat aircraft
Fabric inspired by camel’s hump could protect firefighters from heat
A fabric made by welding aerogel pockets together with ultrasound mimics the make-up of a camel’s hump to protect against fire as well as letting sweat escape
Google’s AI is best yet at answering medical and health questions
Google has built an AI that can answer medical questions. However, it’s not as good as a human doctor and the company says it cannot yet perform safely in the real world
Research, education, and connection in the face of war
When Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Tetiana Herasymova had several decisions to make: What should she do, where should she live, and should she take her MITx MicroMasters capstone exams? She had registered for the Statistics and Data Science Program’s final exams just days prior to moving out of her apartment and into […]
Unique MIT suit helps people better understand the aging experience
Visitors to MIT’s AgeLab in the Center for Transportation and Logistics are greeted silently by a shiny mannequin in a jumpsuit and chunky red goggles, standing a little ominously in a glass-walled studio. While the mannequin itself cuts a striking appearance, it’s the accessories under the jumpsuit that are the real attraction: a collection of […]
Residential scholars enrich the on-campus living experience
Imagine living and sharing your passions with hundreds of MIT students while experiencing the fun and singular energy of living in an on-campus residence. Sound fun? Welcome to the Residential Scholars Program. The program is managed by the Office of Residential Education in the Division of Student Life (DSL), which is committed to developing welcoming, […]
It’s Time to Cement Telehealth’s Place in U.S. Health Care
Five priorities to ensure federal and state regulators build on the progress achieved during the pandemic.
Research: How Price Changes Influence Consumers’ Buying Decisions
Online shopping platforms allow people to see changes in a product’s price over time — offering opportunities for buyers and sellers alike.
Does It Feel Like Your Department Has Been Sidelined?
Five strategies to regain your influence.
Sources: Google executives met with Larry Page and Sergey Brin last month to discuss Google’s AI efforts, as the company seeks to combat OpenAI’s ChatGPT (Nico Grant/New York Times)
Nico Grant / New York Times: Sources: Google executives met with Larry Page and Sergey Brin last month to discuss Google’s AI efforts, as the company seeks to combat OpenAI’s ChatGPT — A rival chatbot has shaken Google out of its routine, with the founders who left three years ago re-engaging and more than 20 […]
The Chinese government grants Didi permission to republish its apps on Apple’s, Huawei’s, Xiaomi’s, and other app stores, after over a year of regulatory limbo (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: The Chinese government grants Didi permission to republish its apps on Apple’s, Huawei’s, Xiaomi’s, and other app stores, after over a year of regulatory limbo — Didi Global Inc.’s main apps have returned to the country’s biggest mobile stores, allowing the ride-hailing giant to resume growth …
India releases rules on social media influencers and virtual avatars promoting content without disclosing payment, adding an up to ~$12.3K fine for violations (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: India releases rules on social media influencers and virtual avatars promoting content without disclosing payment, adding an up to ~$12.3K fine for violations — As the market of social media influencers is getting bigger in India, the South Asian nation has introduced endorsement guidelines …
Majestic photographs of the world’s major telescopes
Photographer Julian Abrams’ new project, Everything Beautiful Is Far Away, celebrates some key telescopes from around the world – and the impressive structures that house them
Learning Beautiful brings MIT’s “mind and hand” ethos to early childhood education
People at MIT know “mens et manus,” or “mind and hand,” as the school motto. But it’s also a good framework for early childhood education. Kids often learn best when they’re allowed to explore the environment around them, building models of the world by picking things up and moving them around. Back in 2014, that […]
How Huntington’s disease affects different neurons
In patients with Huntington’s disease, neurons in a part of the brain called the striatum are among the hardest-hit. Degeneration of these neurons contributes to patients’ loss of motor control, which is one of the major hallmarks of the disease. Neuroscientists at MIT have now shown that two distinct cell populations in the striatum are […]
Will the Metaverse Live Up to the Hype? Game Developers Aren’t Impressed
Companies like Meta are still betting big on immersive virtual worlds, but people who have been building digital spaces for years don’t see the long-term potential.
We Need to Talk About Your Stove
This week, we get honest about our attachments to our gas stoves, and debate whether to replace them or just continue breathing their fumes.
China’s Declining Population Can Still Prosper
Research suggests that once low fertility becomes the norm, it’s unlikely to rebound. But this doesn’t need to spell disaster for the country or those with similar trends.
Texas Instruments names COO Haviv Ilan as its next CEO starting on April 1, replacing Rich Templeton, who has been CEO for 19 years and will remain its chairman (Jordan Novet/CNBC)
Jordan Novet / CNBC: Texas Instruments names COO Haviv Ilan as its next CEO starting on April 1, replacing Rich Templeton, who has been CEO for 19 years and will remain its chairman — – Rich Templeton has run Texas Instruments for almost 19 years, and the company has outperformed one exchange-traded fund for chips.
SEC filing: T-Mobile says a hacker stole data for ~37M customer accounts, including names and addresses, but no passwords, SSNs, or financial information (Catherine Larkin/Bloomberg)
Catherine Larkin / Bloomberg: SEC filing: T-Mobile says a hacker stole data for ~37M customer accounts, including names and addresses, but no passwords, SSNs, or financial information — T-Mobile US Inc. said a hacker obtained data for 37 million customer accounts, though it didn’t include payment card information or personal identifying numbers.
Netflix plans to roll out paid password sharing “more broadly” later in Q1 2023 and expects some “cancel reaction” before an improvement in overall revenue (Emma Roth/The Verge)
Emma Roth / The Verge: Netflix plans to roll out paid password sharing “more broadly” later in Q1 2023 and expects some “cancel reaction” before an improvement in overall revenue — The era of Netflix password sharing will soon come to a close. Netflix has plans to enforce password-sharing rules …
Hackers can make computers destroy their own chips with electricity
A feature of server motherboards intended to allow remote updates can be abused to trick the machines into damaging themselves beyond repair
Leslie Regan: A legacy of care and compassion for generations of graduate alumni
If you mention Leslie Regan’s name to any alum of MIT’s mechanical engineering graduate program, their face will break into a smile. For nearly five decades, Regan’s kind, caring presence was a mainstay for thousands of mechanical engineering students. Now, after 47 years, Regan can reflect back on an impactful journey as she begins her […]
3 Questions: Sulafa Zidani on tech, culture, and a critical transnational perspective
Sulafa Zidani is an assistant professor in the Comparative Media Studies Program whose work focuses on digital culture: the social, political, and cultural dynamics in which technology operates and the role it plays in transnational power. She is working on her first book, which focuses on multilinguistic memes and centers the creators of these memes. […]
What Great Sponsors Do Differently
They leverage a vibrant mix of connection and action to advance high performers into leadership.
Research: The Unintended Consequences of Right-to-Repair Laws
A model assessing their potential impact suggests manufacturers might flood the market with cheap goods, raise prices, or both.
What Do Your Customers Want in 2023?
Understanding consumers’ New Year’s resolutions can help you figure out how to attract them.
The Battery That Never Gets Flat
Your body generates enough energy to power wearables, medical sensors, and implanted devices—and tech designers are plugging in.
Cheaters Hacked an AI Bot—and Beat the ‘Rocket League’ Elite
Expert players of the popular vehicular soccer game have been caught out by lesser players using a superhuman bot built on cutting-edge machine learning.
Easily Distracted? You Need to Think Like a Medieval Monk
Focusing wasn’t much easier in the time before electricity or on-demand TV. In fact, you probably have a lot in common with these super-distracted monks.
A look at the art world’s deal-with-the-devil approach to the NFT market, after allegations that FTX bought the $24.4M trove of 107 Bored Apes NFTs at Sotheby’s (Nate Freeman/Vanity Fair)
Nate Freeman / Vanity Fair: A look at the art world’s deal-with-the-devil approach to the NFT market, after allegations that FTX bought the $24.4M trove of 107 Bored Apes NFTs at Sotheby’s — Auction houses and talent agencies thought the Web3 works were a fast track to billions. If it weren’t for a global crypto […]
Twitter launches Blue on Android for $11 per month, the same as iOS and $3 more than the web, after launching an annual subscription (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: Twitter launches Blue on Android for $11 per month, the same as iOS and $3 more than the web, after launching an annual subscription — A day after launching an annual Twitter Blue subscription, the social media company made the paid plan available for purchase for Android users today.
Crypto investors say Sam Bankman-Fried frequently promoted and manipulated “Samcoins”, including Solana, Serum, FTT, and Maps, to benefit FTX and Alameda (New York Times)
New York Times: Crypto investors say Sam Bankman-Fried frequently promoted and manipulated “Samcoins”, including Solana, Serum, FTT, and Maps, to benefit FTX and Alameda — Sam Bankman-Fried found ways to control the prices of digital coins to benefit his companies, FTX and Alameda, according to cryptocurrency investors.
Smart office chair recognises what position you are sitting in
An office chair fitted with sensors detects how you are sitting and uses artificial intelligence to classify it – the long-term aim is to tell you how to improve your posture
How to push, wiggle, or drill an object through sand
Pushing a shovel through snow, planting an umbrella on the beach, wading through a ball pit, and driving over gravel all have one thing in common: They all are exercises in intrusion, with an intruding object exerting some force to move through a soft and granular material. Predicting what it takes to push through sand, […]
5 Best Sex Tech Deals From Lelo’s Anniversary Sale: Vibrators, Lube, Condoms
There are discounts on vibrators, lube, and other accessories—it’s a great time to stock up for Valentine’s Day.
Apple HomePod (2nd Gen, 2023): Specs, Release Date, Price
This Siri speaker comes with upgrades to audio quality and smart home automation—but yes, it’s still expensive.
Spy Cams Reveal the Grim Reality of Slaughterhouse Gas Chambers
Animal rights activists have captured the first hidden-camera video from inside a carbon dioxide “stunning chamber” in a US meatpacking plant.
Similarweb: Twitter referral traffic to 12 major news outlets fell 12% on average from November 2022 to December 2022; only traffic to NY Post and Fox News grew (Digiday)
Digiday: Similarweb: Twitter referral traffic to 12 major news outlets fell 12% on average from November 2022 to December 2022; only traffic to NY Post and Fox News grew — Under the leadership of Elon Musk, Twitter’s role as a traffic referral source to publishers’ sites is largely declining.
Sources: Apple is working on an iPad-based smart display with smart home controls, video, and FaceTime and on a new Apple TV for H1 2024 with a faster processor (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: Apple is working on an iPad-based smart display with smart home controls, video, and FaceTime and on a new Apple TV for H1 2024 with a faster processor — Apple Inc. is working on a slate of devices aimed at challenging Amazon.com Inc. and Google in the smart-home market …
Research: Southeast Asia online food delivery spending rose 5% YoY to $16.3B in 2022, the slowest in at least four years; Grab extended its lead with 54% of GMV (Yoolim Lee/Bloomberg)
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg: Research: Southeast Asia online food delivery spending rose 5% YoY to $16.3B in 2022, the slowest in at least four years; Grab extended its lead with 54% of GMV — Southeast Asia’s food delivery spending grew at the slowest pace in at least four years in 2022, highlighting the challenges faced […]