Meet Dava Newman, the World’s Universe’s Leading Space Fashion Designer

Active materials sewn into fabric is the latest breakthrough for MIT professor Dava Newman’s stylish and technical alternative to bulky, injury-inducing space suits.
dava_newman_space_suit

What the NSA Might Have Wanted to Learn From Tracking Your Phone

A mobile phone’s location is a rich trove of useful data, so it’s no wonder that the spy agency experimented with it.

News Byte

MIT Releases Report on Deceased Activist Aaron Swartz

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has released a review of its actions in a case involving Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who committed suicide last year. The report concluded that MIT’s actions were “reasonable, appropriate and made in good faith,” but that the university “missed an opportunity to demonstrate the leadership that we pride ourselves on.” A number of activist groups immediately condemned the report, including Swartz’s partner Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, who called MIT’s findings “a whitewash” of the facts.

Amar Bose, Pioneer of High-End Audio, Dies at 83

The MIT professor, whose speaker business made him a billionaire, left most of his estate to the school.

I, Robot

It’s one of the dirty secrets of economics: technology progress does grow the economy and create wealth, but there is no economic law that says everyone will benefit.

Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who theorizes that advances in computer technology, like advanced robotics, are behind the post-2000 employment slowdown, and that technology is destroying jobs faster than it can create them

Box to Acquire Web Document Company Crocodoc

Its second acquisition. Maybe more to come?

Voices

You Lookin’ at Me? Reflections on Google Glass.

The challenge for Glass is that the costs of ownership fall on people in proximity of the wearer, and that its benefits have yet to be proven out.

Stanford to Work With EdX Open-Source Learning Platform

Stanford isn’t actually joining the 12-school EdX consortium, but rather integrating into the EdX platform when it is open-sourced on June 1.

Obama Gives a Shout-Out to MEET, the Israeli-Palestinian Youth Tech Project

The MIT-backed effort was one of the original Global Voices chosen for D: Dive Into Mobile.

From TED, the Future of Robots: 4D Printing, Personalization and Adaptation

Robots aren’t one size fits all, either.