February 7, 2025

How the tiny microbes in your mouth could be putting your health at risk

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’ve been working on a piece about teeth. Well, sort of teeth. Specifically, lab-grown bioengineered teeth. Researchers have created these teeth with a mixture of human…

Technology

EV laggard Toyota says its next-gen EVs will have over 600 miles range

June 14, 2023

Toyota plans to introduce a high-performance lithium-ion battery to its next-generation electric vehicles by 2026, part of the automaker’s new technology roadmap revealed Tuesday. The batteries will deliver quicker charging and around 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) of range, which would put Toyota’s vehicles ahead of the competition. Toyota has historically trailed behind other major automakers […]

EV laggard Toyota says its next-gen EVs will have over 600 miles range by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Pebble Mobility wants to build the iPhone of electric RVs

June 13, 2023

Bingrui Yang knows a thing or two about hardware, software and how people interact with them — skills picked up during stints at Apple, Zoox and Cruise. Now he’s applying those tricks of the trade to RVs with Pebble Mobility, a California-based EV startup he founded that aims to change the way people live and […]

Pebble Mobility wants to build the iPhone of electric RVs by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

Fan fiction writers are trolling AIs with omegaverse stories

June 13, 2023

Fan fiction writers know that their work is being used to train generative AIs, and they’re not happy about it. Now, “Omegaverse” writers are participating in a week-long writing marathon called Knot in my Name to encourage the fan community to publish as much of their fan fiction as possible. It’s a long-shot attempt to […]

Fan fiction writers are trolling AIs with omegaverse stories by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

Google delays EU launch of its AI chatbot after privacy regulator raises concerns

June 13, 2023

Google has delayed a planned launch of its generative AI chatbot, Bard, in the European Union this week, according to the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) — the tech giant’s lead data protection authority in the region. The development, first reported by Politico, comes long after OpenAI launched a free research preview (November 2022) of […]

Google delays EU launch of its AI chatbot after privacy regulator raises concerns by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

Itoka wants to license AI-generated music via the blockchain

June 13, 2023

AI-generated music is fast becoming a reality. Thanks to tools like Meta’s MusicGen, it’s now possible to create halfway decent songs in a range of styles without ever having to play an instrument, read sheet music or learn to use a DAW, But while the creative potential of generative AI music tools is nothing less […]

Itoka wants to license AI-generated music via the blockchain by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Vectara lands $28.5M to supercharge enterprise search

June 13, 2023

Some years ago, three former Googlers — Amr Awadallah (who previously founded Cloudera), Amin Ahmad and Tallat Shafaat — set out to build what they describe as a “conversational search” platform for the enterprise. Their goal was to help organizations unlock data from their text-based files, chiefly by empowering developers to build conversational AI apps […]

Vectara lands $28.5M to supercharge enterprise search by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

France’s Mistral AI blows in with a $113M seed round at a $260M valuation to take on OpenAI

June 13, 2023

AI is well and truly off to the races: a startup that is only four weeks old has picked up a $113 million round of seed funding to compete against OpenAI in the building, training and application of large language models and generative AI. Mistral AI, based out of Paris, is co-founded by alums from […]

France’s Mistral AI blows in with a $113M seed round at a $260M valuation to take on OpenAI by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

Netflix reportedly plans first live sports event with celebrities playing golf

June 13, 2023

Netflix could be planning to livestream a sporting event, which would feature professional golfers and Formula 1 drivers participating in a celebrity golf tournament. The potential move would mark the streamer’s first venture into live sports. The report comes from the Wall Street Journal, which wrote that the event would likely premiere in the fall […]

Netflix reportedly plans first live sports event with celebrities playing golf by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

Zero-Error Systems raises $7.5M for its radiation-hardened semiconductor integrated circuits

June 13, 2023

Space is a tough place for electronic circuits since radiation causes short circuits that result in mission failure, said Hwai Lin Khor, vice president of Zero-Error Systems. Many companies currently build satellite electronics systems with commercial-off-the-shelves (COTS) semiconductor devices to meet the lower cost requirement. But, according to Khor, the COTS chip devices can’t meet the radiation […]

Zero-Error Systems raises $7.5M for its radiation-hardened semiconductor integrated circuits by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch