Lex raises $2.75M for its AI writing tool that helps writers get past blocks
What I like about Lex is that it makes for a good writing tool that is fast, simple to use, and uses AI to help writers instead of trying to supplant them.
The Download: India’s AI independence, and predicting future epidemics
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. Inside India’s scramble for AI independence Despite its status as a global tech hub, India lags far behind the likes of the US and China when it comes to homegrown AI. That gap…
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The Download: introducing the Ethics issue
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…
The ‘US Cyber Trust Mark’ finally gives device makers a reason to spend big on security
Apu Pavithran Contributor Apu Pavithran is the founder and CEO of Hexnode. The Internet of Things (IoT) is in hacker crosshairs. Last year, more than 110 million IoT malware attacks took place — an 87% increase from the previous 12 months. And as connected devices take on more critical roles in the modern home and […]
As Better.com readies for its public debut, CEO Vishal Garg says he went through ‘a lot of leadership training’
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
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
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…
The beautiful complexity of the US radio spectrum
Somewhere above you right now, a plane is broadcasting its coordinates on 1090 megahertz. A satellite high above Earth is transmitting weather maps on 1694.1 MHz. On top of all that, every single phone and Wi-Fi router near you blasts internet traffic through the air over radio waves. A carefully regulated radio spectrum is what…
How culture drives foul play on the internet, and how new “upcode” can protect us
The world of online misdeeds is an eerie biome, crawling with Bored Apes, Fancy Bears, Shiba Inu coins, self-replicating viruses, and whales. But the behavior driving fraud, hacks, and scams on the internet has always been familiar and very human. New technologies change little about the fact that illegal operations exist because some people are…
Crypto lender Maple Finance raises $5M to enter Asia amid regulatory clarity
Maple Finance, an on-chain, institutional credit marketplace that’s aspiring to fill a gap left behind by the collapses of crypto lending heavyweights like BlockFi and Celcius, has its sight set on Asia as financial hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore provide more regulatory clarity around digital assets. Maple, which falls under the so-called decentralized finance […]
Smart sutures for better healing
Inspired by a technology developed thousands of years ago, MIT engineers have designed “smart” sutures that can not only hold tissue in place but also detect inflammation and release drugs. The new sutures are derived from animal tissue, similar to the “catgut” sutures first used by the ancient Romans. Catgut—which is made from strands of…