Technology

YouTube tests a search feature where users hum to identify songs

August 23, 2023
YouTube announced a new experiment on Android devices that determines a song via humming—which seems like a major step up from Apple’s music recognition app Shazam. As noted on YouTube’s support page, the video-sharing platform is testing a search-by-song capability on the Android version of the app that allows users to figure out a song on YouTube by […]

Brain implants helped create a digital avatar of a stroke survivor’s face

August 23, 2023
“What do you think of my artificial voice?” asks a woman on a computer screen, her green eyes widening slightly. The image is clearly computerized, and the voice is halting, but it’s still a remarkable moment. The image is a digital avatar of a person who lost her ability to speak after a stroke 18…

Automakers now have to comply with MA’s Right to Repair law

August 23, 2023
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Tuesday automakers can comply with a Massachusetts Right to Repair law, reversing a previous directive to ignore the state legislation. Massachusetts’s Right to Repair law was a ballot initiative that passed overwhelmingly in 2020. The law requires auto manufacturers that sell cars in the state to equip […]

How new batteries could help your EV charge faster

August 23, 2023
Chinese battery giant CATL unveiled a new fast-charging battery last week—one that the company says can add up to 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) of range in 10 minutes. That’s faster than virtually all EV charging today, and CATL claims the new cells, which it plans to produce commercially by the end of 2023, will…

The Download: introducing the Ethics issue

August 23, 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. Introducing: the Ethics issue  As technology is embedded deeper and further into our lives, it’s becoming increasingly important for us to properly grapple with ethical concerns. For example, how do we nurture the…

As Better.com readies for its public debut, CEO Vishal Garg says he went through ‘a lot of leadership training’

August 23, 2023
Online mortgage lender Better.com is making its public debut Thursday on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbols “BETR” and “BETRW.” After merging with SPAC Aurora Acquisition Corp., the combined entity is called Better Home & Finance Holding Company. The deal unlocks about $565 million of fresh capital for Better.com, including a $528 million […]

The fascinating evolution of typing Chinese characters

August 23, 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. The idea of downloading a third-party keyboard to your phone may seem unnecessary to most people, but in China it’s the norm.  Chinese is the only modern language that’s logographic, meaning…

Job titles of the future: Chief heat officer

August 23, 2023
In Miami, extreme heat is a deadly concern. Rising temperatures now kill more people than hurricanes or floods, and do more harm to the region’s economy than rising sea levels. That’s why, in 2021, Florida’s Miami-Dade County hired a chief heat officer, Jane Gilbert—the first position of its kind in the world. Heat has been…