enture capitalist Albert Wenger has done well by investing in Web businesses—he was an early backer of Etsy and Tumblr. But at his urging, Union Square Ventures, where he is a partner, is backing a company founded on the principle that the …Continue reading
Building the Cities of Tomorrow
Before smart cities initiatives, the government needs to prepare for the Internet of Things (IoT) implementation. Change is the only constant if you look at history. For example, the first industrial revolution was fueled by steam power that created a big boom …Continue reading
Software Dreams Up New Molecules in Quest for Wonder Drugs
What do you get if you cross aspirin with ibuprofen? Harvard chemistry professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik isn’t sure, but he’s trained software that could give him an answer by suggesting a molecular structure that combines properties of both drugs. The AI program could …Continue reading
Ukraine’s Power Grid Gets Hacked Again, a Worrying Sign for Infrastructure Attacks
Russian hackers have reportedly taken down power grids and tracked military units in Ukraine. Security researchers at CrowdStrike believe that the hacking collective known as Fancy Bear, which was linked to hacking of Democratic National Committee’s e-mail servers earlier this year, used …Continue reading
China Turns Big Data into Big Brother
It was a drab, chill day in November, and the clocks were striking thirteen. As the woman passed through Hangzhou Railway Station, she moved quickly through the ticket gates—though not quickly enough to avoid detection by the transport authority, which noticed her …Continue reading
Ransomware Took San Francisco’s Public Transit for a Ride
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency was taken for a ride of its own when hackers used ransomware to shut down its ticketing systems and demand payment. The agency—usually known as Muni—found that around 2,000 of its servers and computers, including many …Continue reading
Facebook’s Plans to Bring Flying Internet to Everyone Aren’t Going So Well
What goes up doesn’t necessarily come down in one piece. That’s what Facebook seems to be finding out during its tests of prototype systems designed to get the world online. The social network cooed when its stratospheric Internet-spewing drone, Aquila, took to …Continue reading
Intel Tries to Rearchitect the Computer—and Itself
The world’s biggest chip maker says it’s time to start building computers differently—and it wants to sell the new hardware technologies needed to do it. In San Francisco last week Intel executives showed off two new technologies for storing data and moving …Continue reading
Microsoft’s Top Lawyer Becomes a Civil Rights Crusader
When Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to help the FBI get into a mass murderer’s iPhone last winter, he was hailed for his boldness in fighting the government on a matter of principle. In fact, Cook was borrowing from the playbook of …Continue reading
Our Fear of Artificial Intelligence
Years ago I had coffee with a friend who ran a startup. He had just turned 40. His father was ill, his back was sore, and he found himself overwhelmed by life. “Don’t laugh at me,” he said, “but I was counting …Continue reading