February 7, 2025

These documents are influencing the DOGE-sphere’s agenda

Reports from the US Government Accountability Office on improper federal payments in recent years are circulating on X and elsewhere online, and they seem to be a big influence on Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and its supporters as the group pursues cost-cutting measures across the federal government.  The payment reports have been…

Technology

Google’s Flutter showcases new graphics capabilities, WebAssembly and RISC-V support

January 25, 2023

Flutter, Google’s open-source framework for building multi-platform apps for mobile, web and desktop, is hosting its Flutter Forward event in Nairobi, Kenya today. As the name implies, the team is using the event to showcase up-and-coming features of the framework — most of which are still very early in their development cycle. The main highlights […]

Google’s Flutter showcases new graphics capabilities, WebAssembly and RISC-V support by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

The Download: a brain implant breakthrough, and China tech reflections

January 25, 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. An ALS patient set a record for communicating via a brain implant The news: Eight years ago, a patient lost her power of speech because of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, which causes…

Resolving to live the Year of the Rabbit to the fullest

January 25, 2023
China Report is MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. This past Sunday was the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday for Chinese and several other Asian cultures. It’s difficult to celebrate this holiday with China Report readers, as I originally planned, when I…

Emperia is helping brands like Bloomingdales build shopping experiences in VR

January 25, 2023

Does the average person want to shop for apparel in virtual reality (VR)? Speaking for myself, it sounds rather cumbersome — having to plop on a headset to browse for, say, trousers as opposed to click through a few galleries. But not everyone agrees — particularly those who hope to build a business out of […]

Emperia is helping brands like Bloomingdales build shopping experiences in VR by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Japan’s Terra Drone gets $14M lift from Saudi investors

January 25, 2023

Terra Drone said today it has raised $14 million in Series C funding from Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, marking the VC firm’s first investment in Asia.  The Japan-headquartered company, which builds drone software, hardware and uncrewed aircraft traffic management software, said the new capital brings its total raised to $97 […]

Japan’s Terra Drone gets $14M lift from Saudi investors by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

Built buys fellow construction robotics firm, Roin

January 25, 2023

One of the most remarkable things about construction robotics is the sheer breadth of tasks that can potentially be automated. As I’ve noted before, the entire category is a prime target for robotics startups, given that it fills all of the big Ds of automation — dull, dirty and (quite often) dangerous. It’s also one […]

Built buys fellow construction robotics firm, Roin by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch

Task force proposes new federal AI research outfit with $2.6B in funding

January 24, 2023

The final report from the government’s National AI Research Resource recommends a new, multi-billion-dollar research organization to improve the capabilities and accessibility of the field to U.S. scientists. The document presents “a roadmap and implementation plan for a national cyberinfrastructure aimed at overcoming the access divide, reaping the benefits of greater brainpower and more diverse […]

Task force proposes new federal AI research outfit with $2.6B in funding by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch

Alexa Fund’s Paul Bernard talks OpenAI, what’s catching his eye and remaining relevant as Amazon restructures

January 24, 2023

Amazon made headlines this month when the company began to work through its long-rumored 18,000 job cuts. Going, too, are a number of products and strategies as the company right-sizes for the current state of the economy, the market’s attitude to tech stocks and the current landscape as dictated by its competitors and would-be rivals. […]

Alexa Fund’s Paul Bernard talks OpenAI, what’s catching his eye and remaining relevant as Amazon restructures by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch