Special mud helps XGS Energy get more power out of geothermal wells

December 20, 2024

Puzzle Corner

Ready for a fresh set of puzzles? Click here for the January/February Puzzle Corner, brought to you with a special Mystery Hunt twist by guest editor Dan Katz ’03. This column includes solutions to three September/October 24 problems. Find solutions to the other three problems here.

May 21, 2024

Young geothermal energy wells can be like budding prodigies, each brimming with potential to outshine their peers. But like people, most decline with age. In California, for example, the amount of electricity generated by geothermal power plants declined by 15% between 2001 and 2018, partly because existing wells degraded. “The history of geothermal has been […]

Sonos finally made some headphones

May 21, 2024

The market play is clear from the outset: The $449 headphones are firmly targeted at an audience that would otherwise be purchasing the Bose QC Ultra or Apple AirPods Max.

Adobe brings Firefly AI-powered Generative Remove to Lightroom

May 21, 2024

Adobe says the feature is up to the task, regardless of how complex of a background the object is set against.

Five ways criminals are using AI

May 21, 2024

Artificial intelligence has brought a big boost in productivity—to the criminal underworld. Generative AI provides a new, powerful tool kit that allows malicious actors to work far more efficiently and internationally than ever before, says Vincenzo Ciancaglini, a senior threat researcher at the security company Trend Micro. Most criminals are “not living in some dark…

The Download: how to test AI, and treating paralysis

May 21, 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. AI models can outperform humans in tests to identify mental states Humans are complicated beings. The ways we communicate are multilayered, and psychologists have devised many kinds of tests to measure our ability…

Oreo Cookies Kept Crumbling. Here’s How the Company Fixed the Problem — By Listening to Its Workers

May 21, 2024

Leaders need to listen to the employees on the front lines. Here are five ways to do that, and improve your organization.

Porsche invests in battery startup South 8 to boost cold-weather EV performance

May 21, 2024

All cars suffer when the mercury drops, but electric vehicles suffer more than most as heaters draw more power and batteries charge more slowly as the liquid electrolyte inside thickens. Drivers in Chicago found this out the hard way last January after many Teslas failed to charge during a deep freeze. One startup, South 8 […]

Data-labeling startup Scale AI raises $1B as valuation doubles to $13.8B

May 21, 2024

Scale AI, a company that provides data-labeling services for training machine learning models, has raised a $1 billion Series F round from a slew of big-name institutional and corporate investors including Amazon and Meta. The raise, which constitutes a mix of primary and secondary funding, comes amid a boom in AI venture capital megarounds, with […]

Meta, Match, Coinbase and others team up to fight online fraud and crypto scams

May 21, 2024

The new coalition, Tech Against Scams, will work together to find ways to fight back against the tools used by scammers and to better educate the public against financial scams.

EU Council gives final nod to set up risk-based regulations for AI

May 21, 2024

It’s a wrap: European Union lawmakers have given the final approval to set up the bloc’s flagship, risk-based regulations for artificial intelligence.

Puzzle Corner