February 17, 2026

The Download: the rise of luxury car theft, and fighting antimicrobial resistance

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. The curious case of the disappearing Lamborghinis Across the world, unsuspecting people are unwittingly becoming caught up in a new and growing type of organized criminal enterprise: vehicle transport fraud and theft. Crooks…

The Download: China’s AI chatbots go public, and how climate change is affecting hurricanes

August 31, 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. Chinese ChatGPT alternatives just got approved for the general public The news: Baidu, one of China’s leading artificial-intelligence companies, has announced it’s opening up access to its ChatGPT-like large language model, Ernie Bot,…

3 Internet Stocks Worth Watching

August 31, 2023
With digitization gaining momentum worldwide, the rising internet penetration and supportive government initiatives to make the internet accessible to everyone provide ample growth opportunities to companies providing internet services. Hence,…

Microsoft unbundles Teams from Microsoft Office in Europe to appease regulators

August 31, 2023
Microsoft has announced that it will unbundle its Teams business collaboration software from its broader Office suite, following growing regulatory scrutiny and complaints filed by its rival Slack. The changes are effective from October 1 (a month from today), and come in various forms depending on the size of company. Enterprise customers in the European […]

iPhone camera app Obscura releases a new version with iPad support

August 31, 2023
Obscura, the iPhone camera app for pro users, has released a new major version called Obsucra 4 with support for the iPad. It also brings new features, such as dual reticule mode to have different points on the viewfinder for focus and exposure. Ben McCarthy, the developer of the app, launched the first version in […]

How climate change can supercharge hurricanes

August 31, 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. When I was growing up near the US Gulf Coast, it was more common for my school to get called off for a hurricane than for a snowstorm.  So even though I…

UK gov’t urged against delay in setting AI rulebook as MPs warn policymakers aren’t keeping up with tech

August 31, 2023
A UK parliamentary committee that’s investigating the opportunities and challenges unfolding around artificial intelligence has urged the government to reconsider its decision not to introduce legislation to regulate the technology in the short term — calling for an AI bill to be a priority for ministers. The government should be moving with “greater urgency” when […]

OpenAI-backed language learning app Speak raises $16M to expand to the U.S.

August 31, 2023
Speak, an English language learning platform backed by OpenAI’s startup investment fund, the OpenAI Startup Fund, today announced that it raised $16 million in a Series B-2 funding round led by angel investor Lachy Groom. The co-founders of Dropbox, Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, also participated in Speak’s tranche, which brings the startup’s total raised […]

Martian Lawyers Club raises $2.2M for AI-based game personalization tech

August 31, 2023
The Martian Lawyers Club (MLC) wants to take game personalization to the next level with the help of generative AI. While there are plenty of companies that focus on using AI to generate game assets, MLC is taking a decidedly different approach by focusing less on content and more on the systems that form the […]