February 6, 2025

The Download: AI companion dangers, and supersonic planes

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 AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it For the past five months, Al Nowatzki has been talking to an AI girlfriend, “Erin,” on…

Technology

SuperLimbs for astronauts

June 25, 2024
It’s hard not to laugh at NASA’s blooper reel of astronauts falling and bouncing in slow motion on the moon. But coping with inertia where gravity is one-sixth that of Earth is no laughing matter when you’re wearing a constricting space suit and need to finish an exhausting task. So mechanical engineering professor Harry Asada…

Waymo opens up San Francisco robotaxi service to everyone

June 25, 2024

Waymo no longer has a waitlist for its San Francisco robotaxi service, removing the final obstacle for customers keen to use the self-driving technology.  Waymo said Tuesday that anyone can download the app and then immediately hail one of its robotaxis in San Francisco — a move that mimics the Alphabet-owned company’s strategy in Phoenix, […]

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Driving sustainable water management

June 25, 2024
From semiconductor manufacturing to mining, water is an essential commodity for industry. It is also a precious and constrained resource. According to the UN, more than 2.3 billion people faced water stress in 2022. Drought has cost the United States $249 billion in economic losses since 1980.  Climate change is expected to worsen water problems…

The Download: paradigm-shifting supershoes, and AI-powered NPCs

June 25, 2024
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. Supershoes are reshaping distance running Since 2016, when Nike introduced the Vaporfly, a paradigm-­shifting shoe that helped athletes run more efficiently (and therefore faster), the elite running world has muddled through a period…

Uber Freight and self driving trucks startup Aurora partner for the long haul

June 25, 2024

Uber Freight and Aurora Innovation have announced a multi-year collaboration that will see Aurora’s autonomous driving technology offered on the Uber Freight network through 2030.  The deal gives Aurora access to shipping customers as it prepares to launch its fully driverless commercial service later this year. It also helps Aurora also secure longer-term customers through […]

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Supershoes are reshaping distance running

June 25, 2024
The track at Moi University’s Eldoret Town Campus doesn’t look like a facility designed for champions. Its surface is a modest mix of clay and gravel, and it’s 10 meters longer than the standard 400. Runners use a classroom chair to mark the start and finish. Yet it’s as good a place as any to…

Lego bricks are making science more accessible

June 25, 2024
Etienne Boulter walked into his lab at the Université Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, one morning with a Lego Technic excavator set tucked under his arm. His plan was simple yet ambitious: to use the pieces of the set to build a mechanical cell stretcher.  Boulter and his colleagues study mechanobiology—the way mechanical forces, such…

My colleagues turned me into an AI-powered NPC. I hate him.

June 25, 2024
It feels weird, talking to yourself online.  Especially when you’re pretty much the most unpleasant character you’ve ever met. The “me” I’ve been chatting to this week, called King Fiall of Nirth, is a creation in technology from Inworld AI, a US-based firm that hopes to revolutionize how we interact with characters in games. Specifically,…

Connect Money scores $8M to enable non-bank businesses to offer embedded finance services

June 25, 2024

Banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platforms continue to be at the heart of driving access to digital financial services through their technology that offers fintech capabilities to non-bank businesses. Businesses are tapping these platforms to get past difficulties and time-consuming processes, such as building tech infrastructure and acquiring requisite regulatory approvals, to offer financial services such as cards, […]

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