July 4, 2025

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…

Technology

Google is losing control

February 10, 2023

Google is flailing. After years of singleminded worship of the false god Virtual Assistant, the company is rushing its AI strategy as its competitors join their hands and raise their pitchforks. The irony is it’s all happening because Google thought it had the pitchfork market cornered. See, in 2017, Google researchers published the article “Attention […]

Google is losing control by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch

The Download: revolutionary prosthetics, and new pandemic concerns

February 10, 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. These prosthetics break the mold with third thumbs, spikes, and superhero skins Traditionally, prosthetics designers have looked to the human body for inspiration. Prosthetics were seen as replacements for missing body parts; hyper-realistic…

Otonomo, the mobility data business valued at $1.4B in 2021 SPAC IPO, acquired by Urgent.ly as market cap dips to $70M

February 10, 2023

Otonomo, connected automotive company that has seen its stock price plummet since going public in 2021, has announced that it is coming together with Urgent.ly, a roadside assistance tech provider, in a reverse merger. The two are combining in an all-share deal that will see Urgently shareholders take 67% of the company and Otonomo shareholders […]

Otonomo, the mobility data business valued at $1.4B in 2021 SPAC IPO, acquired by Urgent.ly as market cap dips to $70M by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

These prosthetics break the mold with third thumbs, spikes, and superhero skins

February 10, 2023
Many mornings, Dani Clode wakes up, straps a robotic thumb to one of her hands, and gets to work, poring through reams of neuroscience data, sketching ideas for new prosthetic devices, and thinking about ways to augment the human body. Clode works as a specialist at the University of Cambridge’s Plasticity Lab, which studies the…

We don’t need to panic about a bird flu pandemic—yet

February 10, 2023
This article is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, sign up here. How worried should we be about bird flu? Some have warned that avian flu will be the next deadly pandemic. Others have said the risk is no different from what it was…

Epic Games launches Postparty, an app for sharing Fortnite clips

February 9, 2023

Modern gaming now boasts persistent online worlds and graphics that rival reality, but sharing gameplay videos or even screenshots is still a bear for some reason. Aware of that pain point and ever eager to make its colorful virtual gaming worlds even more compelling, Epic Games just launched a clip-sharing app called Postparty. The app, […]

Epic Games launches Postparty, an app for sharing Fortnite clips by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch

OkCupid is testing match questions generated by ChatGPT

February 9, 2023

Dating app OkCupid is the latest company to get in on the AI and ChatGPT frenzy. The company’s head of global communications Michael Kaye told TechCrunch in an email that OkCupid is testing a new category of match questions generated by the OpenAI chatbot. The news was first reported by Mashable. The app’s match questions […]

OkCupid is testing match questions generated by ChatGPT by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch