In a record quarter for VC funding, California still takes the cake—further evidence that reports of the region’s demise are greatly exaggerated.  Silicon Valley’s most valuable asset is no longer silicon, to make computer chips, or even tech talent, to code software products. Instead, it is capital, which has been accumulating in the region since
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The company plans to buy Nuance, a speech-recognition firm that grasps the specialized language of medicine—tech that won’t be easy for others to replicate. When Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke to investors Monday about his company’s plan to acquire speech-recognition specialist Nuance for $16 billion, he emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence in health care.
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During the pandemic, insurers accelerated the use of automated tools to estimate repair costs. Garage operators say the numbers can be wildly inaccurate. In the Before Times, Jerry McNee wasn’t always a fan of appraisers. McNee is the president of Ultimate Collision Repair, an auto repair shop in Edison, New Jersey. From his perspective, appraisers
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The German automaker uses new software from chipmaker Nvidia to simulate train robots and human workers. German carmaker BMW plans to start making drivetrains for electric vehicles at a vast factory in Regensburg, Bavaria, later in 2021. Well before any new parts roll off the production line, the entire manufacturing process will run in stunningly
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Facebook is being sued for weakening data protections. Google is being sued for strengthening them. Can that paradox be resolved? Here’s something to puzzle over. In December, the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of states filed antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, alleging that as the company grew more dominant and faced less competition, it reneged
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Medtronic’s GI Genius, recently cleared by the FDA, will help doctors identify precancerous polyps.  Michael Wallace has performed hundreds of colonoscopies in his 20 years as a gastroenterologist. He thinks he’s pretty good at recognizing the growths, or polyps, that can spring up along the ridges of the colon and potentially turn into cancer. But
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Union supporters face a setback in Bessemer, Alabama, but indicate the fight isn’t over yet. Deep in the aisles of a vast Amazon fulfillment center, one aggrieved young worker mounted a very tiny rebellion. A comic book fan, he would squirrel away intriguing titles as they arrived at the warehouse, stealing glances as he stocked
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Why petty drama matters in the workplace, and other advice on office thievery. Dear OOO, I work in digital marketing. Several months ago a colleague, ‘Mary,’ and I worked together to develop a proposal for a monthly newsletter, which was approved. I do all the monthly work to produce it, and I have no issue
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In 2019, I made a painful decision. But to the algorithms that drive Facebook, Pinterest, and a million other apps, I’m forever getting married. I still have a photograph of the breakfast I made the morning I ended an eight-year relationship and canceled a wedding. It was an unremarkable breakfast—a fried egg—but it is now
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The president’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal boosts funding for buses and rail. It even envisions actually tearing down some freeways. The US is car country. Its 4.1-million-mile road network is the world’s most expansive. It has more motor vehicles per person than any other major nation. Eighty-six percent of Americans drive to work (or did
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The $100 billion proposal will probably be met with fierce resistance by telecom companies, but there’s a lot to like for internet users. President Biden’s plan to connect all Americans with high-speed broadband includes proposals to boost competition, build more publicly owned networks, lower prices, and prioritize “future-proof” networks instead of ones that would quickly
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Megan collects advice on judging whether your workplace is inclusive—and how to build trust with your colleagues. Dear OOO, Is it worth trying to explain to colleagues that my bluntness stems from being on the spectrum? Or just acknowledge that my approach isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and just go from there? —Anonymous I sometimes
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Growth slowed last year at the tech giant, as it had trouble securing the most advanced chips. China’s government has a plan to change that.  Huawei, the crown jewel of China’s tech industry, is reeling from a financial one-two punch delivered by US chip sanctions and a campaign aimed at cutting international markets. But with
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The labels attached to images used to train machine-vision systems are often wrong. That could mean bad decisions by self-driving cars and medical algorithms. The current boom in artificial intelligence can be traced back to 2012 and a breakthrough during a competition built around ImageNet, a set of 14 million labeled images. In the competition,
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Both sides are preparing for a potentially protracted battle over ballots and labor practices. It’s been a star-studded, action-packed seven weeks since the union ballots shipped to the workers at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama, fulfillment center on February 8. President Joe Biden tweeted out a video of support. Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, and The Matrix director
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Manufacturers say the devices remove 99 percent of viruses. Researchers say such claims are unproven, and cheaper air filters are more effective. Last fall, Jeff Kreiter, director of operational services for the school district in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, found himself flooded with proposals to clean the air inside classrooms. The ideas varied—UV lights, air
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Everyone knows Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube make money by keeping users engaged. Why won’t their executives admit it to Congress? Anyone who has been paying any attention at all knows that big social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube prioritize user engagement above just about anything else. So why won’t their CEOs admit it?
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The Locus Charter asks companies to commit to 10 principles, including minimizing data collection and actively seeking consent from users. As smartphone apps track our every move, a group of technologists in the US and UK this week offered guidelines for the ethical uses of location data. Leaders of the American Geographical Society and Britain’s
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Is a job offer a way out, or a pathway to soul-crushing disappointment? Megan weighs in. Dear OOO, My job is awful and is crushing my soul. For insurance reasons, though, I can’t quit until I have a new job lined up. This week I got an offer. It’s not my dream job, but it’s
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As tech campuses became ghost towns, the people who kept them running—cooks, custodians, drivers—faced an existential threat to their livelihoods. A year ago, while people across America were still taking the subway to work, sharing elevators and conference rooms, Silicon Valley was emptying out. Its companies were among the first to ask that people work
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We’re looking for new voices to provide an insider perspective on rapidly changing industries. Between a pandemic, climate change, and advances in technology that continue to reshape almost every way of life, the past year has been a bellwether for work in the US. At WIRED, we believe some of the people best situated to
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