On the Thursday before he was supposed to start his new job at Coinbase, Sam Maher got an email with the subject line “Update to your Coinbase offer.” The update was that there was no offer. In response to “current market conditions,” the startup had eliminated a number of incoming positions, leaving Maher suddenly unemployed
Month: June 2022
Last October, on the day whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before her committee, Senator Amy Klobuchar gave a candid, if depressing, summation of the effect of all that DC spending: “We have not done a thing to update US competition, privacy & tech laws,” she tweeted. “Nothing. Zilch. Why? Because there are lobbyists around every single
Ingenuity, NASA’s autonomous Mars helicopter, was only meant to complete five flights. But since its history-making first flight in April 2021, the helicopter has flown 28 times, and preparation is underway for the 29th. Depending on dust levels and the schedule of the rover Perseverance, that flight could take place as soon as later this
The collaboration with Geely could give Jidu a big boost when it comes to the notoriously tricky business of making cars at high volume and with high reliability, says Tu Le, managing director of Sino Auto Insights, an analyst firm focused on China’s automotive sector. He adds that China’s auto industry is electrifying at a
According to Fox Cahn, apps that collect and store data on their own servers are particularly dangerous, both because the data can be sold and hacked, but also because law enforcement can serve companies with subpoenas for user data. In a recent report, STOP pointed out that some apps let users store data on their
A majority of Axon’s AI Ethics Board resigned in protest yesterday, following an announcement last week that the company planned to equip drones with Tasers and cameras as a way to end mass shootings in schools. The company backed down on its proposal Sunday, but the damage had been done. Axon had first asked the
A majority of Axon’s AI ethics board resigned in protest yesterday, following an announcement last week that the company planned to equip drones with Tasers and cameras as a way to end mass shootings in schools. The company backed down on its proposal Sunday, but the damage had been done. Axon had first asked the
Some analysts have suggested that the government believes YouTube is too popular to block without risking a political pushback or increasing the popularity of VPNs. But others argue that the Google exemption is connected to the company’s trump card, which is sitting in the pockets of roughly 75 percent of Russians. “Most smartphones in Russia
In late May, employees of the fintech startup Bolt saw a message from their CEO on the company’s Slack. It warned them that “restructuring” was coming, and they should look out for a calendar invitation: One group would join a meeting with human resources, meaning they were being laid off, while another would go to
However, as in the Amazon, identifying problem areas only gets you so far if there aren’t enough resources to act on those findings. The Nature Conservancy uses its AI model to inform conversations with land managers about potential threats to wildlife or biodiversity. Conservation enforcement in the Mojave Desert is overseen by the US Bureau
Hey, folks. We’re deadlocked on gun safety, the Ukraine war still grinds on, and a gallon of gas is approaching the price of an Ethereum gas fee. At least we don’t have to deal with Johnny Depp for another week. The Plain View Javier Olivan had a problem. It was the early 2010s, and his
But the uneasy pandemic years have made all of this more complicated. Oren Etzioni is now the CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, but in the early 2000s he built—and sold to Microsoft—one of the first airfare prediction tools. Prediction algorithms are pretty good at reweighting the importance of different factors as the world
But the uneasy pandemic years have made all of this more complicated. Oren Etzioni is now the CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, but in the early 2000s he built—and sold to Microsoft—one of the first airfare prediction tools. Prediction algorithms are pretty good at reweighting the importance of different factors as the world
On the technical side, any vertiport has a few key physical requirements: a stable electric grid for fast recharging, a hangar for maintenance and a system to move vehicles into it, and enough room around the takeoff and landing pad for the aircraft to maneuver. While Urban-Air Port’s design has a moving platform to lift
Ever since Russian forces started their all-out invasion in February, Ukraine has been hailed as an exemplar of how to defend against violent tyranny on the 21st-century battlefield. The country spun up an “IT Army” of volunteer hackers to take down Russian websites, used the Starlink satellite internet system to maintain communications as its own
Five years. That’s how long Sheryl Sandberg figured she’d be spending at Facebook, now called Meta, when she took the job as chief operating officer and Mark Zuckerberg’s much-ballyhooed partner in 2008. Enough time to modulate the company’s swaggering culture into something sustainable, build a wildly successful ad business, and set up a policy operation
Outsiders quickly noticed the new, closer relationship with the government. “To date, no other social network in Russia cooperates so thoroughly and unquestioningly,” said a 2017 report by digital rights group Article 19. Under Rogozov’s leadership, reports also intensified that VK users were being arrested for the posts or memes they shared on the platform.