Weekly#457

  • Apple loses key autos engineer to electric aviation startup Archer
  • interactive map shows where the Covid omicron variant has been detected
  • Square Changes Name to Block (WSJ)
  • Nasdaq to Move Markets to Amazon’s Cloud (WSJ)
  • A cubic meter of asteroid dust may have as much as 20 liters of water
  • Twitch unleashes AI tool to spot banned users
  • World’s first ‘AI casino’ delayed by technical hitches (FT)
  • Google announces grab bag of new Android features for the end of 2021
  • Amazon Alexa can now respond to running water and bleeping appliances
  • AWS re:Invent videos
  • Microsoft’s New Molecular Controller Makes DNA Writing 1,000 Times Faster
  • Future 50
  • The Covid-19 Pandemic — What Lessons Have Been Learnt

Weekly#456

  • Bluetooth tracking company Tile acquired for $205 million
  • Scientists use seismic noise to image first hundred meters of Mars
  • E-Commerce Needs Real Store Locations Now More Than Ever (WSJ)
  • “Once it’s farther than 20 minutes, people won’t come.” (WSJ)
  • The U.K. lost around 3,250 pubs and bars—about 6.8% of all such businesses—between March 2020 and September this year (WSJ)
  • Virtual real estate plot sells for record $2.4 million
  • NASA Just Launched a Spacecraft That Will Crash Into an Asteroid
  • Atom Bank introduces four-day working week without cutting pay
  • Apple digital-ID scheme delayed to 2022
  • Niantic Receives $300 Million Investment From Coatue
  • Ridley Scott confirms ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Alien’ live-action shows
  • Virtual real estate plot sells for record $2.4 million
  • Houston-based tech company Lancium is spending $150 million to build bitcoin mines across Texas that will run on renewable energy.
  • Pet video marketplace Camlist eyes UK growth after raising $1.3 million pre-seed funding
  • How micromobility operators can unlock a $300B industry
  • The metaverse is a $1 trillion opportunity, crypto giant Grayscale says as virtual land sales boom
  • 5 books you should read this holiday, according to Bill Gates
  • metaverse key takeaways from analysis of 158 mentions on investor calls.
  • China’s 5 big tech issues for 2022
  • China’s space programme will go nuclear to power future missions to the moon and Mars
  • NASA wants to put nuclear reactors on the Moon to power a future manned base

Weekly#455

  • Technology Radar (Thoughtworks)
  • Bill Gates Says Covid Deaths May Drop to Flu Levels by Mid-2022
  • Grammarly raises $200M at a $13B valuation
  • Apple will sell you iPhone parts to fix your own phone at home
  • Starbucks links with Amazon Go for first cashier-less cafe
  • What Went Wrong With Zillow? A Real-Estate Algorithm Derailed Its Big Bet (WSJ)
  • Apple’s electric car could debut as soon as 2025
  • Ford, GM Step Into Chip Business (WSJ)
  • Discord is quietly building an app empire of bots
  • Netflix : A look under the hood
  • Nasa Artemis Mission [PDF]
  • Nvidia approaches $800 billion market cap
  • Apple pushes back return to office plan to February
  • German digital bank N26 is shutting down its U.S. operations, less than two-and-a-half years after it launched in the country.
  • UPS will make deliveries using Waymo’s autonomous Class 8 trucks

Weekly#454

  • Unity purchases Weta Digital’s visual-effects tool suite for $1.6 billion… thestudio known for its work in movies such as “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Avatar
  • An E. coli biocomputer solves a maze by sharing the work
  • Physicists say they’ve finally solved the teapot effect
  • Elon Musk sells around $5 billion of Tesla stock
  • Indonesia’s tech giant GoTo Group raises $1.3 billion ahead of IPO plans
  • E-commerce giant JD starts accepting China’s digital currency on Singles Day for the first time
  • E-commerce logistics startup Hive buzzes following $34M investment
  • YouTube is removing the dislike count on all videos across its platform
  • Disney+ added just 2.1 million subscribers in its fourth quarter, giving it a total of 118.1 million customers.
  • Twitter is building a crypto team
  • How an esports doctor helps pro gamers avoid injury, from warm-ups to strength training
  • Italian startup WeRoad wants to reinvent travel for Gen Z and millennials.
  • DoorDash will acquire European delivery company Wolt as it builds a global platform
  • Electric automaker Rivian valuation pops above GM, Ford in biggest IPO of 2021
  • Ecologi: “…The subscription service — used by 35,000 individuals and businesses — allows members to “grow their own forest” with at least 12 trees a month and offset their carbon footprint by funding a wide range of the carbon-reducing projects…” (Techcrunch)
  • Moov, an online marketplace for used manufacturing equipment, raises $41M from Tiger Global and others
  • Intel, Samsung and Porsche among investors in TriEye’s $74M funding round
  • Netflix starts rolling out more efficient AV1 codec to TVs following Android devices
  • $76 Billion a Day: How Binance Became the World’s Biggest Crypto Exchange (WSJ)
  • Uber CEO flies into London as driver shortages hit app (FT)
  • How Alibaba tracks China’s delivery drivers
  • Spotify is acquiring an audiobook company
  • The global chip shortage is a nightmare before Christmas
  • Patreon’s building native video hosting for creators to sidestep YouTube
  • Seoul will be the first city government to join the metaverse
  • The World’s Largest Record Company Is Creating an NFT Super Group
  • SpinLaunch: Space Launch Start-Up Just Used A Giant Centrifuge To Fling A Projectile Into The Upper Atmosphere
  • South Korea tests system for controlling air taxis

Weekly#453

  • The ‘Metaverse’ Prompts High-Stakes Race for Big Tech
  • Metaverse article2 (WSJ)
  • Hackers are stealing data today so quantum computers can crack it in a decade
  • Neuro-ID takes in fresh capital to combat fraud from all of our taps, types and swipes
  • Autonomous driving startup Momenta raises another $500M
  • Helion Energy will use $500M Series E to power up its fusion energy efforts
  • Peloton shares collapse 35% as momentum for its at-home fitness equipment slows
  • Amazon Glow
  • US charging infrastructure is outpacing forecasts, study finds (goal of 500,000 chargers by 2030)
  • Facebook to stop using facial recognition, delete data on over 1 billion people
  • “…Facebook researchers have found that 1 in 8 of its users report engaging in compulsive use of social media that impacts their sleep, work, parenting or relationships, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal…”  (WSJ)
  • Meta is reportedly planning physical stores to showcase its products
  • DJI releases new flagship Mavic drones — Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Cine
  • Nintendo Quarter Results
  • How to use your AirPods’ spatial audio feature and experience immersive surround sound
  • Your next car may come without a touchscreen and other tech as the chip shortage wreaks havoc on automakers
  • New York City’s mayor-elect says he wants to be paid in Bitcoin
  • Uber prices are still way up, so the company is bringing back carpooling
  • House passes Joe Biden’s $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure bill (FT)
  • Airbnb Posts Record Results After Busy Summer Travel Season
  • Alphabet launches AI company to discover new drugs (FT)

Weekly#452

  • Amazon posted sales of $110.8 billion and generated a profit of $3.2 billion, down from the $6.3 billion the company made during the same period a year earlier. (WSJ)
  • Udemy IPO: Online education company has market value of about $4 billion
  • Facebook is killing the Oculus brand name as part of its huge Meta rebrand
  • Satellite Maker Terran Orbital Strikes $1.58 Billion SPAC Deal (WSJ)
  • A once-quiet battle to replace the space station suddenly is red hot…Three competitors have already entered the arena. More are expected.
  • TikTok is testing a new direct tipping feature with select creators
  • Verizon will use Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellites to extend 4G and 5G
  • Zendesk to Buy SurveyMonkey Parent Momentive Global
  • Alibaba is ramping up in Europe, and is already ahead of Amazon in one region
  • Global Chip Shortage ‘Is Far From Over’ as Wait Times Get Longer (WSJ)
  • On Thursday, Arizona-based carbon accounting startup Persefoni said it raised over $100 million

Weekly#451

  • Online learning firm Udemy targets nearly $4 bln valuation in U.S. IPO
  • Lucy is just starting its 12-year journey to see what asteroid clusters can teach us about the early solar system.
  • The test, in a brain-dead patient, was very short but represents a milestone in the long quest to use animal organs in human transplants.
  • Twitch is testing a rewind button
  • PayPal in talks with Pinterest on takeover worth $45bn (FT)
  • Tesla has 150,000 cars using its safety score tool
  • Tesla charges forward with a record quarterly profit of $1.6 billion
  • Satya Nadella, Annual Letter
  • Amazon created 6 ‘tenets’ during talks with Starbucks about a new cashierless coffee shop, internal document shows
  • Tesla will change the type of battery cells it uses in all its standard-range cars…The new batteries will use a lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry rather than nickel-cobalt-aluminum which Tesla will continue to use in its longer-range vehicles.
  • Amazon offers up more data to tell third-party sellers which items will be popular
  • Facebook’s recent trademark filings hold clues to the company’s new name
  • Path to Metaverse Expected to Go Through Videogames (WSJ)
  • Ultrafast grocery delivery has exploded in New York City
  • Starlab: Private space station planned to fly in 2027

Weekly#450

  • A global AI bill of rights is desperately needed (FT)
  • DoorDash Introduces Search-Page Ads for Restaurants (WSJ)
  • Google TV features finally make sense with new multi-user support
  • How to Move More Goods Through America’s Clogged Infrastructure? Robot Trains (WSJ)
  • Germany unveils first self-driving train
  • How amazon runs Alexa
  • Apple reportedly can’t get enough chips for the iPhone 13
  • Squid Game: 111 million viewers tuned into the series during its first 17 days
  • Stripe Is Hiring a Crypto Team 3 Years After Ending Bitcoin Support
  • Coinbase is launching a marketplace for NFTs
  • Behind SmartNews, the $2 billion unicorn trying to fix the news algorithm
  • The COVID Scoreboard: How Resilient Businesses Emerged New Winners
  • Tesla debuts new car insurance that uses Texans’ real-time driving behavior
  • We Mastered Zoom From Home. Just Wait for Hybrid-Office Zoom (WSJ)
  • Amazon sellers will be acquired at an unprecedented rate next year, according to a new survey.



Weekly#449

  • Understanding How Facebook Disappeared from the Internet
  • How Istanbul became the Silicon Valley of the mobile gaming industry
  • Haugen wants Facebook to change its algorithm and cooperate with researchers…serious questions about how Facebook’s algorithms work
  • A new NFT-based virtual startup investing game
  • Google Is Giving a Green Makeover to Services Like Search, Maps…And while this new routing option, which gives drivers the choice between the fastest and most fuel-efficient route
  • Google’s AI unit DeepMind makes first-ever profit (FT)
  • Amazon is reportedly working on a smart fridge
  • Long Covid now has a formal definition
  • A text message routing company suffered a five-year-long breach
  • Battery technology gives China an opening in electric vehicles (FT)
  • Uber can now track your flight so a ride home is ready when you land
  • Google Rolls Out Emission-Curbing Tools for Nest Thermostat (WSJ)
  • Code Conf Videos
  • Comcast Enters Smart-TV Market With Launch of Sky Glass in Europe
  • The software engineer will fix your car now…As sales of electric vehicles soar, spare a thought for the mechanics (FT)

Weekly#448

  • Deliveroo launches ‘Hop’ rapid grocery service with Morrisons (FT)
  • File Not Found…A generation that grew up with Google is forcing professors to rethink their lesson plans
  • Google Search’s Next Phase: Context is King
  • Venezuela’s economic crisis has made it a regional leader in digital payments
  • YouTube influencers are now launching their own cell phone services in Mexico
  • A Virginia company has connected mobile phones directly to satellites
  • Amazon’s indoor camera drone is ready to fly around your house
  • Incident.io helps your team communicate better during outages
  • MIT professor: Interest in space careers at an all-time high
  • Elon Musk is spending most of his time now on a fully reusable SpaceX rocket that could cost less than $1 million
  • iOS 15 Has a Fall-Prevention Feature (WSJ)
  • Google, Battling Amazon, Tries an E-Commerce Makeover to Win Back Advertisers (WSJ)
  • A Gene-Editing Experiment Let These Patients With Vision Loss See Color Again
  • Apple’s former design chief Jony Ive is reportedly helping Ferrari design its first electric car
  • Google Is Scrapping Its Plan to Offer Bank Accounts to Users (WSJ)
  • Will the next web be built on ethereum? (FT)