NFX’s James Currier will break down MVPs at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024

March 1, 2024

Everyone has heard of minimum viable products (MVPs), early versions of a future startup’s product that contains precisely what it needs to deliver value — and nothing more. The tricky bit is sorting out what is required in an MVP and what is extraneous. Build too much and the resulting delay to market could limit learning, […]

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How some bacteria are cleaning up our messy water supply

March 1, 2024
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. The diabetes medication metformin has been touted as a miracle drug. Not only does it keep diabetes in check, but it can reduce inflammation, curb cancer,…

Elon Musk sues OpenAI and Sam Altman over ‘betrayal’ of non-profit AI mission

March 1, 2024

Elon Musk sued OpenAI, its co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman and affiliated entities on Thursday, alleging they breached their original contractual agreements by pursuing profits instead of the nonprofit’s founding mission to develop AI that benefits humanity. Musk, an early backer of OpenAI, claims Altman and Brockman convinced him to help found and bankroll […]

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Why shiny, high-tech solutions won’t solve one of Africa’s worst crises

March 1, 2024
Hainikoye hits Accept and a young woman greets him in Hausa, a gravelly language spoken across West Africa’s Sahel region. She has three new cows, and wants to know: Does he have advice on getting them through the lean season? Hainikoye—a twentysomething agronomist who has “followed animals,” as Sahelians refer to herding, since he first…

Facebook plans to shut down its news tab in the U.S. and Australia

March 1, 2024

Meta is trying to distance itself from news media-related regulations and payment complexities as it is planning to remove the news tab on Facebook in the U.S. and Australia. The company said today that it will sunset the product in April 2024. Last year, Meta discontinued Facebook News in the UK, Germany, and France saying […]

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Google calls out 10 Indian companies for evading Play Store fees, warns of app removal

March 1, 2024

Google said on Friday it will start removing apps from its Play Store in India if developers fail to comply with its payment policy, taking a definitive stand weeks after the top Indian court granted the Android-maker with relief. Without naming the firms, Google said 10 companies in India, including “many well-established ones,” have not […]

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Intuitive Machines’ first moon lander also broke ground with safer, cheaper rocket-style propulsion

February 29, 2024

Intuitive Machines’ first lunar lander officially lost power today after spending seven days on the moon. The lander made history for being the first American hardware to reach the lunar surface since 1972 and the first privately built spacecraft to land on the moon. But the lander, called Odysseus, will be remembered for another reason: […]

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Lordstown Motors charged with misleading investors about the sales potential of its EV pickup

February 29, 2024

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged bankrupt Lordstown Motors with misleading investors about the sales prospects of its Endurance electric pickup truck. Lordstown has agreed to pay $25.5 million as a result — money that the SEC says will go towards settling a number of pending class action lawsuits against the company. “We allege […]

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