Category: weekly

Weekly#431

  • The concept behind mRNA as a drug is strikingly simple: it is the molecule that your own cells use to carry instructions from your genes, written in a simple four-letter chemical language.In 1815 a volcanic eruption wreaked havoc around the world. But it led to the birth of the bicycle (Economist)
  • Apple Loses Multiple Top Managers From Self-Driving Car Division
  • DHL will deploy 2,000 Locus Robotics units by 2022
  • Etsy buys British fashion app Depop for $1.6bn in ‘Gen Z’ push (FT)
  • Ransomware attack hits meat industry and  Massachusetts ferries
  • WeTransfer Plans IPO at 1 Billion-Euro Valuation
  • Google Photos wants money: Stricter storage limitations kick in next week
  • Chinese ‘artificial sun’ hits new mark in fusion energy mission
  • A New Approach to Hypersonic Transportation
  • 7-Eleven to install 500 EV charging ports by the end of 2022
  • Stack Overflow acquired by Prosus for $1.8 billion
  • The UK Has a Plan for a New ‘Pandemic Radar’ System
  • The mRNA vaccine revolution is just beginning.  “…The concept behind mRNA as a drug is strikingly simple: it is the molecule that your own cells use to carry instructions from your genes, written in a simple four-letter chemical language.….Moderna has taken to calling mRNA therapies the “software of life”, or an “operating system” for medicine…“
  • Apple ‘homeOS’ Mentioned in Job Listing Ahead of WWDC
  • Spotted the WhatsApp for iPad official app, under development
  • EU set to unveil plans for bloc-wide digital wallet
  • United Airlines announced it was purchasing a fleet of 15 planes that can travel faster than the speed of sound.
  • Apple wants staff back in offices by September
  • Sharks Almost Went the Way of the Dinosaurs 19 Million Years Ago
  • Realtime Robotics raises a $31M Series A
  • Little Black Door launches app on iOS/Android allowing women to share wardrobes, online and off
  • Silicon Valley bets on crypto projects to disrupt finance (FT)




Weekly#430

  • The Wharton School: DeFi Beyond the Hype (link from Global İşler #37)
  • Valve is making a Switch-like portable gaming PC
  • 24-inch M1 iMac teardown finds… not that much inside, actually…It’s basically a MacBook Air with a large screen and a small cooling system
  • Google launches its third major operating system, Fuchsia…The Google Nest Hub is the world’s first commercial Fuchsia device.
  • Joe Biden opens up California coast to offshore wind
  • From trash to jet fuel in 60 minutes—and 220 ºC
  • Microsoft uses GPT-3 to let you code in natural language
  • iOS 14.6 is now available
  • Amazon Agrees to Buy MGM Film Studio for $8.45 Billion
  • This AI makes Robert De Niro perform lines in flawless German
  • Heirloom Carbon Technologies believes carbon removal for $50 a ton, and aims to remove one billion tons by 2035
  • The wearables, includes smartwatches, fitness trackers, and augmented reality glasses—shipped more than 100 million units in the first quarter for the first time, according to research firm IDC
  • Ford Expects 40% of Global Vehicle Volume to Be Fully Electric By 2030 (WSJ)
  • Apple and the End of the Car as We Know It…As cars become computers with wheels, Apple is joining other tech companies in eyeing the $5 trillion auto market (WSJ)
  • Tesla starts using in-car camera for Autopilot driver monitoring
  • Big Data Model Takes Local London Team to Soccer’s Richest Game
  • Sony lists PC version of Uncharted 4 in investor report
  • Zero-gravity space fridge could keep astronaut food fresh for years
  • The U.S. Is Back in the 5G Game (WSJ)
  • Cities have their own distinct microbial fingerprints
  • Study on use of fuel cell hydrogen in railway environment [PDF]
  • Germany gives greenlight to driverless vehicles on public roads
  • Longitudinal analysis of blood markers reveals progressive loss of resilience and predicts human lifespan limit
  • Immunity to the Coronavirus May Persist for Years, Scientists Find
  • German scientists identify possible cause of vaccine blood clots

Weekly#429

  • Real Time Retail 
  • China has landed a rover on Mars for the first time—here’s what happens next
  • Another media acquisition? This one would involve Amazon, MGM, and ~$9B
  • Toy Retailer Rolls Out Online Shopping for Kids as Young as 3 (WSJ)
  • Spotify will auto-transcribe podcasts over the coming weeks
  • How space weather could wreck NASA’s return to the moon…A new study suggests that extreme solar activity might make future Artemis missions too dangerous to launch later this decade.
  • Apple launches an affiliate program for paid podcast subscriptions
  • How HugoApp squashed Uber in Central America
  • As Covid mutations spread, will herd immunity ever be possible?
  • Here’s who owns everything in Big Media today
  • Android 12 Preview, Google Blog Post
  • China’s JD Logistics set to raise $3.2 billion in Hong Kong IPO
  • Snap announces new Spectacles AR glasses, which let you overlay digital objects on the real world
  • Snap emphasizes commerce in updates to its camera and AR platforms
  • Tencent Q1 profit rises 65% as online gaming revenue climbs
  • Denial of Electricity Service Could Become Next Geopolitical Weapon…with electricity expected to account for a large share of the world’s energy use by 2050, the stakes are high (WSJ)
  • Google announces its first-ever physical retail store
  • 20 percent of Switch sales now going to households that already had a Switch
  • Google, Samsung, and Fitbit team up to save Wear OS
  • factory14 raises $200M to jump into the Amazon marketplace roll-up race
  • Bain Capital Ventures raised $1.3 billion to fund young startups, and young VC firms
  • The top 50 companies by value added $4.5 trillion of stock market capitalization in 2020, taking their combined worth to about 28% of global gross domestic product
  • Opera brings its gaming browser to mobile
  • Ethereum Staking Will Drop Power Consumption by 99%
  • There are over 3 billion active Android devices



Weekly#428

  • Android Automotive OS review: Under the hood with Google’s car OS
  • Apple invests $45 million more in Gorilla Glass-maker Corning
  • 96% of US users opt out of app tracking in iOS 14.5, analytics find
  • Sony says PS5 could be difficult to find into 2022
  • Chip shortage continues, US asks Taiwan to prioritize automakers. Ford, Renault, and Stellantis warn that Q2 production will be heavily affected.
  • Facebook wants to make sure you’ve read the article you’re about to share
  • Lidar startup Innovusion closes $64M round led by Temasek
  • In the emptiness of space, Voyager 1 detects plasma ‘hum‘
  • The Digital Farmers’ Market: New Shortcuts to the Freshest Food (WSJ)
  • The brain game: What causes engagement and addiction to video games?
  • Electric cars ‘will be cheaper to produce than fossil fuel vehicles by 2027’
  • Avoid inbox panic and save your sanity with a digital disconnect (FT)
  • How E-Commerce Fits into Retail’s Post-Pandemic Future
  • EY: The Now, Next, Beyond Consumer
  • Ford will start rolling out major over-the-air software updates to its vehicles this year
  • Sony has 25 PS5 games in the works, including characters you’ve never seen
  • Korea Unveils $450 Billion Push for Global Chipmaking Crown
  • NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Heads for Earth with Asteroid Sample
  • Apple Gave Zoom Access to Special API to Use iPad Camera During Split View Multitasking
  • Move over CRISPR, the retrons are coming
  • eBay embraces NFTs
  • Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on nearly $6 billion in revenue
  • Softbank just shocked its critics by landing the biggest profit in the history of a Japanese company
  • Supermarkets of the future: deploying AI in your grocery store
  • Pipeline Hack Points to Growing Cybersecurity Risk for Energy System

Weekly#427

  • Get ready for Fedcoin and the e-euro
  • Teens, tech and mental health: Oxford study finds no link
  • Apple puts more adverts in App Store after ad-tracking ban
  • ‘World first’ 30-year hydrogen battery set to be made in Queensland
  • The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Accelerated During the Pandemic. It’s Here to Stay.
  • Alternative to Conventional Fertilizers: Fungi Could Manipulate Bacteria to Enrich Soil With Nutrients
  • GM expects to offer personal self-driving vehicles to consumers this decade
  • Apple is Holding the Web Back with ‘Uniquely Underpowered’ iOS Browsers, Reveals Google Engineer
  • Uber’s First Quarter Shows Food Delivery’s Continuing Strength (WSJ)
  • Starlink can serve 500,000 users easily, several million “more of a challenge”
  • In A Post-Covid World Customers Will Be Revenge Shopping
  • World’s largest compressed air grid “batteries” will store up to 10GWh
  • Scientists Discover That the Shape of Light Changes Our Vision
  • EBay says open to accepting to cryptocurrencies in future, exploring NFTs
  • The rise of Japan’s loyalty point influencers


Weekly#426

  • What history tells you about post-pandemic booms (The Economist)
  • Enabling the mass adoption of autonomous driving
  • Amazon crosses $100 billion in sales in huge first quarter
  • Among Us is finally coming to PS4 and PS5, three years after its 2018 debut
  • China to report first population drop in five decades
  • Report: Apple’s M2 chip has entered production and will ship as soon as July
  • Between “pay with your face” programs in supermarkets and facial recognition cameras in the metro
  • Instead of rushing to rebuild Barbados’ Covid-ravaged tourism industry, one startup is opting for slow investment.
  • ‘Disaster Girl’ has sold her popular meme as an NFT for $500,000
  • What cities need now
  • The climate solution actually adding millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere
  • Michael Collins, who piloted the Apollo 11 command module, has died
  • Smartphone shipments jumped 27% globally in Q1, 347 milion units
  • Blue Origin will start selling tickets for New Shepard space tourism flights on May 5
  • Waymo’s New CEOs Say Self-Driving Unit Eyes Outside Funding
  • Amazon’s ads business is generating nearly $7 billion a quarter, and growth is accelerating
  • China plans to launch the core module for its first permanent space station this week in the latest big step forward for the country’s space exploration program.
  • Instacart Expands Online Food-Stamp Payments, Challenging Rivals
  • Microsoft is changing the default Office font and wants your help to pick a new one
  • ‘Self-driving’ cars to be allowed on UK roads this year
  • Google Is Saving Over $1 Billion a Year by Working From Home