February 11, 2025

AI crawler wars threaten to make the web more closed for everyone

We often take the internet for granted. It’s an ocean of information at our fingertips—and it simply works. But this system relies on swarms of “crawlers”—bots that roam the web, visit millions of websites every day, and report what they see. This is how Google powers its search engines, how Amazon sets competitive prices, and…

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Meet the powerhouse pitch judges at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024

April 5, 2024

Get ready for an electrifying showdown as the “So You Think You Can Pitch” startup pitch competition at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 is set to be judged by an esteemed panel of industry experts. We’ve already announced the startup finalists, and now you can meet our expert judges! Leading the charge is Edith Yeung, general […]

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US and EU commit to links aimed at boosting AI safety and risk research

April 5, 2024

The European Union and United States put out a joint statement Friday affirming a desire to increase cooperation over artificial intelligence — including in relation to AI safety and governance — as well as, more broadly, talking up an intent to collaborate across a number of other tech issues, such as developing standards for digital […]

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New bird flu infections: Here’s what you need to know

April 5, 2024
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.  A dairy worker in Texas tested positive for avian influenza this week. This new human case of bird flu—the second ever reported in the United…

How to safely watch and photograph the total solar eclipse

April 5, 2024
On April 8, the moon will pass directly between Earth and the sun, creating a total solar eclipse across much of the United States, Mexico, and Canada.  Although total solar eclipses occur somewhere in the world every 18 months or so, this one is unusual because tens of millions of people in North America will…

GameStop fails to meet financial expectations

April 5, 2024
Videogame trading empire GameStop has reached the financial year-end with a disappointing shortfall in expectations. The closing bell was not generous to the household name known throughout the United States…

As deal rumors fly, Alphabet and HubSpot would be a strange pairing

April 4, 2024

Reuters reported on Thursday that Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is exploring the possibility of buying Boston-based HubSpot, a CRM and marketing automation company with a market cap of over $33 billion – a number that has been climbing on those reports. If such a deal were to happen, the cost would likely be pretty substantial, […]

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Facebook’s Oculus acquisition turns 10

April 4, 2024

Every year, Time Magazine issues a list of the 200 best inventions of the past 12 months. Frankly, I don’t know how the editors do it. The dirty secret of this job is that true, game-changing inventions rarely cross your desk. In fact, you’re extraordinarily lucky if you average one a year. Oculus’ Rift prototype […]

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