September 2023

Stability AI, gunning for a hit, launches an AI-powered music generator

September 13, 2023
A year ago, Stability AI, the London-based startup behind the open source image-generating AI model Stable Diffusion, quietly released Dance Diffusion, a model that can generate songs and sound effects given a text description of the songs and sound effects in question. Dance Diffusion was Stability AI’s first foray into generative audio, and it signaled […]

Kolors acquires Urbvan to transform corporate bus travel in Mexico

September 13, 2023
Kolors, a Mexico City-based startup that connects intercity bus riders with bus drivers, is acquiring B2B van pooling provider Urbvan for $12 million cash, the company shared Wednesday. Kolors CEO and co-founder Rodrigo Martínez has said his service is like “if Uber and Southwest Airlines had a baby.” The startup partners with small and medium-sized […]

KISS for the Stock Market

September 13, 2023
Investment veteran Steve Reitmeister does his level best to simplify todays stock market picture to discuss when stocks will be ready to break above 4,600 for the S&P 500 (SPY)….

French watchdog temporarily halts iPhone 12 sales over radiation levels

September 13, 2023
Just a few hours after Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, France’s radiation watchdog (ANFR) released a public statement announcing that the iPhone 12 breaches radiation levels. The watchdog notified Apple of the findings and told the company that it should temporarily halt iPhone 12 sales and release a fix as quickly […]

How China hopes to secure its supply chain for critical minerals

September 13, 2023
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. When China announced back in July that it was restricting exports of germanium and gallium, it was a reminder of the leverage that China holds in the global supply chain for…

Google has a new tool to outsmart authoritarian internet censorship

September 13, 2023
Google is launching new anti-censorship technology created in response to actions by Iran’s government during the 2022 protests there, hoping that it will increase access for internet users living under authoritarian regimes all over the world. Jigsaw, a unit of Google that operates sort of like an internet freedom think tank and that creates related…

Telegram adds a self-custodial crypto wallet worldwide, excluding the US

September 13, 2023
Telegram, the popular chat app with 800 million monthly active users, is rolling out a self-custodial crypto wallet. The move is set to solidify its presence in the lively crypto community that has emerged from its chat platform and can potentially help drive the masses into the crypto space. The wallet is built by the […]

Apple adds support for India’s GPS alternative NavIC to iPhone 15 Pro

September 13, 2023
Apple has extended support for NavIC to some of the new iPhone 15 models, seemingly complying with New Delhi’s push to adopt India’s home-grown alternative to the GPS navigation system. On the tech specs page of the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple says that the new models support NavIC. This […]

Bluesky officially hits 1 million users

September 13, 2023
One of the buzziest post-Twitter apps hit a big milestone on Tuesday. Rose Wang, who works on strategy and operations for Bluesky, shared a screenshot of the moment on X, formerly Twitter. The X competitor famously only extended access to the app through a waitlist and invitations from existing users, intentionally keeping the platform’s population […]