Technology

Your microbiome ages as you do—and that’s a problem

December 2, 2022
This article is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, sign up here. We’re all crawling with bugs. Our bodies are home to plenty of distinct ecosystems that are home to microbes, fungi, and other organisms. They are crucial to our well-being. Shifts in the…

How Twitter’s “Teacher Li” became the central hub of China protest information

December 2, 2022
As protests against rigid covid control measures in China engulfed social media in the past week, one Twitter account has emerged as the central source of information: @李老师不是你老师 (“Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher”). People everywhere in China have sent protest footage and real-time updates to the account through private messages, and it has posted…

Kenya’s Uncover raises $1M to expand skincare product enterprise across Africa

December 2, 2022

Africa’s beauty and personal care market is growing accelerated by its growing young and fashion conscious population, increasing spending power, and urbanization. The market’s potential has in recent years attracted major brands, with Fenty Beauty by Rihanna and LVMH being the latest entrants. Niche local brands are also emerging to offer tailored beauty and skin […]

Kenya’s Uncover raises $1M to expand skincare product enterprise across Africa by Annie Njanja originally published on TechCrunch

This secondary market pro thinks we haven’t hit bottom, but he sees price drops slowing

December 2, 2022

Earlier today, we talked with Phil Haslett, the cofounder and now chief strategy officer of EquityZen, a 10-year-old, New York-based secondary marketplace that connects accredited buyers with privately held company shares that their owners — including founders, employees, and VCs — are looking to sell. It’s a tough business to be running right now, competing […]

This secondary market pro thinks we haven’t hit bottom, but he sees price drops slowing by Connie Loizos originally published on TechCrunch

Boundary Layer pivots from container ships to hydrofoiling personal watercraft

December 2, 2022

Boundary Layer, which was gunning for local air freight, and announced a slew of launch partners earlier this year, today announced a shift in strategy, with some high-performance foiling personal watercraft. Think low-flying SeaDoo, and you’ve got the right idea. The new product is called Valo, and will be able to carry a couple of […]

Boundary Layer pivots from container ships to hydrofoiling personal watercraft by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch

To da moon: Emm aims to innovate on the menstrual cup

December 2, 2022

Menstrual cups (sometimes known as “moon cups”) have been around since the 1930s, and it’s been a bloody long period since we’ve seen much innovation in that category. Emm just closed a $1 million round of funding to add some smarts. The company adds an applicator and an app tracking feature to help keep an […]

To da moon: Emm aims to innovate on the menstrual cup by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch

What’s a Twitter user to do?

December 2, 2022

In the older days of the web, an app called Trillian emerged to solve the problem of allowing users to connect to their friends across multiple messaging services, like AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC and others. Lately, I’ve been longing for a Trillian-like service that would allow me to keep up with Twitter’s fleeing user […]

What’s a Twitter user to do? by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

While anticipation builds for GPT-4, OpenAI quietly releases GPT-3.5

December 2, 2022

Released two years ago, OpenAI’s remarkably capable, if flawed, GPT-3 was perhaps the first to demonstrate that AI can write convincingly — if not perfectly — like a human. The successor to GPT-3, most likely called GPT-4, is expected to be unveiled in the near future, perhaps as soon as 2023. But in the meantime, […]

While anticipation builds for GPT-4, OpenAI quietly releases GPT-3.5 by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Meet the early-stage startups exhibiting at TC Sessions: Space

December 2, 2022

The technological advances happening within the space industry are nothing short of dramatic — from propulsion systems, heavy-lift rockets and increased payload capabilities to building commercial space stations to fill the gap when the International Space Station ceases operations in 2030. These are thrilling times, and TC Sessions: Space 2022, which takes place on December […]

Meet the early-stage startups exhibiting at TC Sessions: Space by Lauren Simonds originally published on TechCrunch

Hyundai-backed AV startup Motional cuts workforce

December 1, 2022

Motional, the Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture developing autonomous vehicle technology, cut its workforce this week — the latest example of layoffs in the AV industry and more broadly in the tech sector. Employees were told of the layoffs Wednesday, according to sources who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak for […]

Hyundai-backed AV startup Motional cuts workforce by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch