February 18, 2026

The robots who predict the future

To be human is, fundamentally, to be a forecaster. Occasionally a pretty good one. Trying to see the future, whether through the lens of past experience or the logic of cause and effect, has helped us hunt, avoid being hunted, plant crops, forge social bonds, and in general survive in a world that does not…

a16z-backed Eco unveils Beam, a P2P crypto transfer service aiming to be a ‘global Venmo’

July 27, 2023
The crypto payments space is seeing a surge of activity these days as developers strive to make decentralized finance as user-friendly as web2 experiences. Eco Inc, an a16z-backed payments startup that’s raised $95 million in funding to date, just unveiled a decentralized payments project called Beam. In an interview with TechCrunch, the company’s CEO Andy […]

The Download: protecting photos from AI, and air-conditioning’s dilemma

July 27, 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. This new tool could protect your pictures from AI manipulation What’s happening? There’s currently nothing stopping someone taking the selfie you posted online last week and editing it using powerful generative AI systems.…

US government contractor says MOVEit hackers accessed health data of ‘at least’ 8 million individuals

July 27, 2023
U.S. government services contracting giant Maximus has confirmed that hackers exploiting a vulnerability in MOVEit Transfer accessed the protected health information of as many as 11 million individuals. Virginia-based Maximus contracts with federal, state, and local governments to manage and administer government-sponsored programs, such as Medicaid, Medicare, healthcare reform, and welfare-to-work.  In an 8-K filing […]

GlossGenius raises $28M to expand its bookings and payments platform for beauty businesses

July 27, 2023
GlossGenius, a platform designed to handle bookings and payments for salons and spas, today announced that it raised $28 million in a Series C funding round led by L Catterton with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and Imaginary Ventures. The round values GlossGenius at $510 million — the startup’s second up-round in the past 12 […]

Previous governments’ incompetence crippled India’s semiconductor growth, deputy IT minister says

July 27, 2023
In an indictment of past administrations, a senior Indian minister blamed their strategic and political vision and “a big dose of incompetence” as significant contributors to the country’s underdeveloped semiconductor industry. “India has missed the bus repeatedly on electronics and semiconductors. There was a lack of strategic and political vision and a big dose of incompetence,” […]

EU opens competition probe of Microsoft bundling Teams with Office 365

July 27, 2023
The European Union has finally announced a formal antitrust investigation of Microsoft’s bundling of Teams with Office 365 and Microsoft 365. The move comes two years after rival workplace comms company Slack complained to the bloc that Microsoft was unfairly bundling the collaboration and comms software with its popular cloud-based productivity suites for business. Announcing […]

Why air-conditioning is a climate antihero

July 27, 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 unending heat this summer has kept the air conditioners in my apartment windows wildly busy. When I’m not taking guesses about what my electric bill might look like this month, I’ve…

Upgrade acquires travel-focused BNPL startup Uplift for a song

July 27, 2023
Upgrade, a provider of personal credit lines and other consumer financial products, today announced that it’s agreed to acquire Uplift, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) vendor, for $100 million in cash and stock. It’s likely not the exit Uplift was hoping for — and a sign of serious consolidation in the BNPL space, which […]