February 2023

EV batteries are the next point of tension between China and the US

February 22, 2023
China Report is MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. It’s the perfect moment to talk about EV batteries and China: yesterday, I published a story unpacking the country’s two decades of investment into becoming a world leader in the EV industry. It’s about how…

4 A-Rated Stocks to Buy Before the End of This Month

February 22, 2023
Sticky inflation might trigger more rate hikes this year, which could keep the stock market under pressure. Hence, investors could consider buying fundamentally strong stocks Stellantis (STLA), Honda Motor (HMC),…

If design is everything, is it anything?

February 22, 2023
Good design has a habit of making things simple—sometimes too simple. You may look at the first iPod, for example, and marvel at its minimalist elegance without having to consider who designed it, where it was made and by whom, what materials it required, or even how long it would work.  The ease of use…

Why the definition of design might need a change

February 22, 2023
It was drawing, or disegno, as deployed in the making of Italian buildings during the Renaissance, that gave us the word “design”—or such was the enthusiastic explanation I received as an architecture student at the end of the 1990s. History, of course, tells a more complex story. Though there was indeed a key shift in…

Baidu to deploy conversational AI across search, in-car entertainment and more

February 22, 2023

Baidu today revealed more details about its much-anticipated intelligent Ernie Bot, widely seen as the search giant’s counterpart to ChatGPT. Ernie Bot is built atop Baidu’s large language model Erniethat released in 2019. In May last year, the third generation of Ernie launched. Here’s how Baidu plans to integrate Ernie Bot into its ecosystem of services, […]

Baidu to deploy conversational AI across search, in-car entertainment and more by Rita Liao originally published on TechCrunch

South African car subscription service Planet42 raises $100M equity, debt

February 22, 2023

Planet42, a South Africa-based car subscription company that buys used cars from dealerships and rents to customers via a subscription model, has raised $100 million in equity and debt from a wide range of investors. Naspers, through its early-stage investment vehicle, Naspers Foundry, co-led the $15 million equity round (the SA-based investor also led Planet42’s previous […]

South African car subscription service Planet42 raises $100M equity, debt by Tage Kene-Okafor originally published on TechCrunch

Meta Verified won’t let you change name, username or profile photo for now

February 22, 2023

After looking at Twitter’s struggle with impersonation problems when Elon Musk relaunched Twitter Blue, Mark Zuckerberg is putting guardrails before launching Meta Verified. Earlier this week, the company announced its subscription plan, which is set to be available for users in New Zealand and Australia in the next few days. If you pay for Meta […]

Meta Verified won’t let you change name, username or profile photo for now by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

European VC firms Amadeus and Apex partner for €80m early-stage ‘deep tech’ fund

February 22, 2023

U.K.-based Amadeus Capital Partners and Austria’s Apex Ventures are pooling their collective venture capital (VC) resources for a new fund specifically targeted at early-stage deep tech startups.  The duo have raised an initial €28 million ($30 million) for the Amadeus Apex Technology Fund, with plans to close it out at €80 million ($85 million). The […]

European VC firms Amadeus and Apex partner for €80m early-stage ‘deep tech’ fund by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

Supreme Court arguments this week could reshape the future of the internet

February 22, 2023

The Supreme Court is examining a short but potent law this week that, if altered, could rearrange the modern internet. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields internet companies from liability for the user-generated content they host and it’s become an unlikely nexus of controversy in recent years. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard […]

Supreme Court arguments this week could reshape the future of the internet by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch