June 18, 2025

Puzzle Corner

Ready for a fresh set of puzzles? Click here for the July/August 2025 Puzzle Corner, brought to you by guest editor Ed Faulkner ’03. Send problems, solutions (by August 1), and comments to puzzlecorner@technologyreview.com. Editor emeritus Allan Gottlieb ’67 launched Puzzle Corner in 1966. Find back issues through 2022 at cs.nyu.edu/~gottlieb/tr and more recent back issues at technologyreview.com/puzzle-corner.

August 2023

Uber, Nvidia-backed delivery robot startup Serve Robotics to go public

August 10, 2023
Serve Robotics, the autonomous sidewalk delivery robot startup that spun out of Uber’s acquisition of Postmates, is going public via a reverse merger with a blank check company. The reverse merger with Patricia Acquisition Corp was completed this month, according to regulatory filings. Ahead of the merger, Serve raised $30 million in a round led […]

Moove takes in $76M equity, debt from Mubadala and BlackRock at a $550M valuation

August 10, 2023
Moove, an African mobility fintech that provides vehicle financing to drivers of ride-hailing platforms like Uber and other gig networks, has raised $78 million in new financing. It includes $28 million in equity from new and existing investors led by Mubadala Investment Company, $10 million in venture debt from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, […]

Inside MIT’s nuclear reactor laboratory

August 10, 2023
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. Tucked away behind a brick building on MIT’s campus sits a nuclear reactor. I’ve been hearing about this facility for over a decade, and it’s taken on a somewhat mythic quality in…

Who gets to decide who receives experimental medical treatments?

August 10, 2023
Max was only a toddler when his parents noticed there was “something different” about the way he moved. He was slower than other kids his age, and he struggled to jump. He couldn’t run.  Blood tests suggested he might have a genetic disease— one that affected a key muscle protein. Max’s dad, Tao Wang, a…

Belarus hackers target foreign diplomats with help of local ISPs, researchers say

August 10, 2023
Hackers with apparent links to the Belarusian government have been targeting foreign diplomats in the country for nearly 10 years, according to security researchers. On Thursday, antivirus firm ESET published a report that details the activities of a newly discovered government hacking group that the company has dubbed MoustachedBouncer. The group has likely been hacking […]

VLGE opens SDK for its no-code virtual world builder aimed at fashion, beauty and art industries

August 10, 2023
We’ve seen the rise of no-code and low-code platforms being applied to any number of applications and use-cases. What would happen if this thinking was applied to metaverse-style virtual worlds? What would be built? Certainly, with Apple’s recent announcement of the launch of the Apple Vision Pro headset, there is renewed interest in the ‘metaverse’, […]

Disney+ announces another price hike, says ad-supported tier is coming to more countries

August 10, 2023
Disney is raising prices for its online streaming services across the board amid a declining subscriber base. This is the company’s second price hike in the last 12 months after it increased subscription fees for different offerings including Disney+ and Hulu last October. Here is a handy list of Dinsey’s news price hikes: Disney+ (ad-free): […]

SAEKI’s “microfactories” help large manufacturing scale up

August 10, 2023
The architecture, engineering and construction industries involve giant concrete molds that are expensive, slow to manufacture and often only used a few times before being disposed. Robots-as-a-service startup SAEKI says its tech not only makes creating these molds faster, but also more cost-efficient. The Lupfig, Switzerland-based company is building what it says will be fully […]