November 21, 2024

The Download: AI replicas, and China’s climate role

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. AI can now create a replica of your personality Imagine sitting down with an AI model for a spoken two-hour interview. A friendly voice guides you through a conversation that ranges from your…

August 2023

Luxury Presence, which builds marketing tools for realtors, raises $19.2M

August 25, 2023
Real estate marketing is no walk in the park. Not only do realtors have to weather market volatility, but they need to meet buyers where they shop — creating compelling marketing experiences while keeping costs under control. Malte Kramer experienced the roadblocks firsthand while working as a marketing consultant for real estate company Jade Mills. […]

The Download: internet scams, and the ethics of brain implants

August 25, 2023
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How culture drives foul play on the internet, and how new “upcode” can protect us From Bored Apes and Fancy Bears, to Shiba Inu coins, self-­replicating viruses, and whales, the internet is crawling…

3 Financial Stocks to Watch Closely for Momentum

August 25, 2023
With sustained demand and rapid digital transformation, the financial services industry is poised for significant growth and expansion. Moreover, industry players usually benefit in a high-interest rate environment. Thus, robust…

All hail the new EU law that lets social media users quiet quit the algorithm

August 25, 2023
Internet users in the European Union are logging on to a quiet revolution on mainstream social networks today: The ability to say ‘no thanks’ to being attention hacked by AI. Thanks to the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), users of Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, ByteDance’s TikTok and Snap’s Snapchat can easily decline “personalized” content feeds […]

The tricky ethics of brain implants and informed consent 

August 25, 2023
This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. This week I covered some exciting new research. Two teams reported that they used brain-computer interfaces to help people who had lost their ability to speak…

Zepto becomes India’s first 2023 unicorn with $200 million fresh funding

August 25, 2023
Instant grocery delivery startup Zepto has raised $200 million in a new funding round at a valuation of $1.4 billion, it said Friday, at a time when most other firms in the category have either died or are struggling. The funding makes Zepto the first Indian startup to attain the unicorn status this year. StepStone […]

This venture-backed startup has quietly bought more than 80 mom-and-pop shops

August 25, 2023
Teamshares is a low-flying, Brooklyn-based startup with big ambitions to capitalize on an opportunity in plain sight: that of small businesses without a succession plan. It’s not a small market. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses represent 99.7% of U.S. employer firms and 64% of private-sector jobs. Meanwhile, just 15% or so […]

Former President Trump returns to Twitter, now X, with his mugshot

August 25, 2023
Former President Trump tweeted for the first time in more than two years on Thursday night, breaking a long silence on the platform, now known as X, that persisted into Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover. Trump’s first tweet since January 8, 2021 came after he was booked in an Atlanta jail on Thursday for 13 felony […]