The Download: cancelling out noises, and tastes like (lab-grown) chicken

November 9, 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. Noise-canceling headphones could let you pick and choose the sounds you want to hear The news: A new system for noise-canceling headphones lets users opt back in to certain sounds they’d like to…

Secure messaging app Signal moves a step closer to launching usernames

November 9, 2023

End-to-end encrypted messaging app, Signal, is getting closer to launching a much anticipated feature that will allow users to share only a username in order to connect with other users, rather than having to reveal the phone number linked to their account, as is the case now. Other secure messaging platforms, such as Telegram and […]

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I tried lab-grown chicken at a Michelin-starred restaurant

November 9, 2023
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. The waiter lifted the lid with a flourish. Inside the gold-detailed ceramic container, on a bed of flower petals, rested a small black plate cradling two bits of chicken. Each was coated…

OpenAI blames DDoS attack for ongoing ChatGPT outage

November 9, 2023

OpenAI has confirmed that a DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack is behind “periodic outages” affecting ChatGPT and its developer tools. ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot, has been experiencing sporadic outages for the past 24 hours. Users who attempted to access the service have been greeted with a message stating that “ChatGPT is at capacity right now,” and […]

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Noise-canceling headphones could let you pick and choose the sounds you want to hear

November 9, 2023
Future noise-canceling headphones could let users opt back in to certain sounds they’d like to hear, such as babies crying, birds tweeting, or alarms ringing. The technology that makes it possible, called semantic hearing, could pave the way for smarter hearing aids and earphones, allowing the wearer to filter out some sounds while boosting others. …

Investors double down on Snaptrude in challenging legacy building design platforms

November 9, 2023

Snaptrude — a startup aiming to compete against traditional platforms in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) design sector, including Autodesk, Trimble and Nemetschek — with its modern approach and cloud-based offering, has raised $14 million in a Series A round, just 10 months after announcing its seed funding. With Foundamental and Accel leading the […]

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UK-based Ooodles raises $12M to scale up its device-leasing services

November 9, 2023

While refurbished device marketplaces like Back Market have raised substantial amounts in funding (Back Market reached a $5.7B valuation last year after a D round) and Raylo in the UK provides leases for electronics (it’s raised raised $180.6M from the likes of Octopus Ventures and Channel 4 Ventures), the device leasing services for small businesses […]

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Popular video chat service Omegle shuts down

November 9, 2023

Omegle, an online service that allowed individuals to connect and chat with strangers, has shut down after 15 years citing growing misuse of the platform, including in committing “unspeakably heinous crimes.” The site, founded in 2009 by a then 18-year-old programmer and high school student Leif K-Brooks, was bootstrapped throughout its existence. Though it waned […]

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Bob Iger says Disney would like to stay in India amid Hotstar’s subscriber dip

November 9, 2023

Bob Iger said Wednesday that Disney “would like to stay” in India and is considering its options in the world’s most populous country even as its crown jewel streamer Hotstar struggles to contain subscribers loss. Hotstar lost 2.8 million subscribers in the quarter ending September, widening its overall loss to about 23 million in a […]

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