Y Combinator’s police surveillance darling Flock Safety raises $275M at $7.5B valuation

March 14, 2025

This annual shot might protect against HIV infections

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. Every year, my colleagues and I put together a list of what we think are the top 10 breakthrough technologies of that year. When it came to innovations…

March 13, 2025

Flock Safety and one of its long-time VCs, Bedrock Capital, announced Thursday that the startup raised a fresh $275 million at a $7.5 billion valuation. Flock makes computer vision-enabled video surveillance technology used by law enforcement as well as businesses, property management companies, and so on. It’s best known for its automatic license plate recognition […]

Android is adding Auracast support, which allows hearing aids to connect to public audio broadcasts

March 13, 2025

Google announced on Thursday that Android phones will soon support Auracast, a new Bluetooth technology that uses a phone to enable a direct connection from hearing aids to audio broadcasts in noisy environments. With Auracast, compatible hearing aids and earbuds can receive direct audio streams, such as a PA system at a train station or […]

Y Combinator urges the White House to support Europe’s Digital Markets Act

March 13, 2025

Y Combinator, one of the world’s most prolific startup accelerators, sent a letter on Wednesday urging the Trump Administration to openly support Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a wide-ranging piece of legislation that aims to crack open Big Tech’s market power. The DMA designates six tech companies as “gatekeepers” to the internet — Alphabet, Amazon, […]

Leadership and Parenting — 3 Key Lessons in Empowerment for the Next Generation

March 13, 2025

This article highlights the surprising similarities between leadership and parenting, showing how the same philosophies apply to both. Through personal stories, Jessica Abo shares three lessons to create supportive and empowering environments at home and at work.

Oracle is reportedly a top choice for helping run TikTok

March 13, 2025

TikTok has until April to finalize a sale to a U.S.-based buyer, yet uncertainties about the future of the short-form video app remain. However, a new report has emerged, suggesting that Oracle is the leading candidate to serve as the cloud technology partner for managing TikTok in the U.S., according to The Information. Sources including […]

Bluesky quickly sold out of the t-shirt its CEO wore to troll Mark Zuckerberg

March 13, 2025

When Bluesky CEO Jay Graber took the SXSW stage this week, she managed to make fun of Mark Zuckerberg without mentioning Meta at all. Her black t-shirt was emblazoned with black text stretching across the chest and sleeves, similar to the style of a t-shirt that the billionaire founder wore at an event last year. […]

This annual shot might protect against HIV infections