Microsoft partners with Aptos blockchain to marry AI and web3
Microsoft announced that it is partnering with layer-1 blockchain Aptos to expand AI and web3 capabilities and trust.
This Shake Shack Exec’s Family Didn’t Believe Hers Was a ‘Real Job.’ Here’s How She’s Bringing Innovation to the Brand.
Steph So discusses how she blends hospitality with technology, why curiosity drives her decisions and how Shake Shack keeps innovating without losing its soul.
Technology
The Download: the promise of stem cell treatments, and China’s screen time crackdown
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. After 25 years of hype, embryonic stem cells are still waiting for their moment In 1998, researchers isolated powerful stem cells from human embryos. It was a breakthrough for biology, since these cells…
Deepset secures $30M to expand its LLM-focused MLOps offerings
Deepset, a platform for building enterprise apps powered by large language models akin to ChatGPT, today announced that it raised $30 million in a funding round led by Balderton Capital with participation from GV and Harpoon Ventures. The proceeds will be put toward expanding Deepset’s products and services and growing its team from around 50 […]
Atmosfy, an app that helps you discover local businesses through short-from video, raises $12M
Atmosfy, an app that helps you discover restaurants and local businesses through short-form videos, has raised $12 million in seed funding led by Redpoint Ventures. The app lets you explore dining, nightlife, hotels and more by browsing quick videos from locals and visitors. Atmosfy is designed to give users a true sense of the atmosphere […]
After 25 years of hype, embryonic stem cells are still waiting for their moment
Twenty-five years ago, in 1998, researchers in Wisconsin isolated powerful stem cells from human embryos. It was a fundamental breakthrough for biology, since these cells are the starting point for human bodies and have the capacity to turn into any other type of cell—heart cells, neurons, you name it. National Geographic would later summarize the…
China is escalating its war on kids’ screen time
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. Two years ago, parents around the world likely looked at China with a bit of jealousy: the country had instituted a strict three-hour-per-week limit for children playing video games. In the…
Micromax, smartphone sales stalled, eyes a steer into electric vehicles
Micromax Informatics once had a firm grip on the local mobile phone market in India, for a time passing stalwarts like Samsung, icons like Apple and many more to be the biggest handset maker of them all. But a mix of stronger (and cheaper) competition, coupled with the rapid pace of technology development and the […]
BlueJeans folds
Verizon dropped hundreds on millions on BlueJeans at the height of pandemic lockdowns. Three years and some change later, the lesser-known video-conferencing app is done for, the telecom giant told users today. In a mass email, Verizon wrote that it “made the difficult decision to sunset our suite of BlueJeans products.” 9to5Google first reported the […]
Human toddlers are inspiring new approaches to robot learning
It’s an exciting time for robotic learning. Organizations have spent decades building complex datasets and pioneering different ways to teach systems to perform new tasks. It seems we’re on the cusp of some real breakthroughs when it comes to deploying technology that can adapt and learn on the fly. The past year, we’ve seen a […]
Google’s Messages app will now use RCS by default and encrypt group chats
Google announced today it’s making its Messages by Google app more secure with improvements to RCS, or Rich Communication Services — a protocol aimed at replacing SMS and is more on par with the advanced features found in Apple’s iMessage. The company says it will now make RCS the default for both new and existing […]