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Boston Longevity Week, an 11-day series of events including biomarker conferences, an AI hackathon and an investor pitch night with over 30 venture firms, culminates in a Translational Longevity Summit. The event's organizers argue the longevity field's core challenge isn't a lack of innovation or even regulation, but a failure to translate promising research into validated, clinically usable treatments.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu confirmed the city has ended its use of Flock Safety's automated license-plate reader cameras after a vendor error let outside law enforcement agencies access BPD-collected vehicle data nationwide, despite a contract requiring the sharing feature be disabled. The city's 2025 surveillance report says the breach occurred within days of launching a pilot with about 45 cameras and was corrected once discovered, but Boston has since moved on to trials with Motorola and Axon instead.
TechCrunch is recruiting volunteers for its rebranded Boston event, TechCrunch Founder Summit (formerly All Stage), taking place November 4th and expecting about 1,100 attendees. Volunteers will assist with tasks like registration, speaker coordination, and event setup in exchange for event access and other perks. Applications close October 19th, with limited spots available.
Apple and Major League Baseball launched a four-game immersive VR series on Vision Pro, beginning with the Red Sox versus Yankees. A reviewer donned the headset for the full broadcast and found the up-close, 3D visuals striking, but the experience awkward for a sport built around long stretches, breaks, and communal viewing habits.
A Department of Homeland Security procurement notice reveals plans to buy Boston Dynamics' Spot quadruped robots and accessories for between $1 million and $2 million. The robots would be used by ICE for inspection, situational awareness, and hazard assessment in risky or hard-to-access environments before officers enter. A DHS official confirmed to NBC News that the robots would not be used for apprehending people or making arrests.
Hyundai CEO José Muñoz said the automaker intends to use its existing dealer network to sell robots like Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid and Spot quadruped, alongside cars. Hyundai Capital, the company's auto financing arm, is also exploring ways to offer financing for these costly machines. Hyundai plans a factory to produce 30,000 Atlas units annually by 2028, with deployment starting at its Georgia plant.
A retrospective traces how Dolly Parton's 1980 film and song '9 to 5' grew out of real grievances shared by working women, originating from a Boston group formed in the mid-1970s to discuss office experiences during the feminist movement. The piece argues the cultural touchstone remains relevant because many of the frustrations it captured persist today.
Boston Scientific disclosed in an SEC filing that a cyberattack beginning Tuesday has caused widespread outages across its IT systems, hampering its ability to ship and process orders. The medical device maker, which serves roughly 48 million patients annually, has not said whether implanted devices like pacemakers are affected, and has not given a timeline for restoring systems. Reports from Ireland indicate staff at its Cork campus were sent home after internal network communications went down.
Boston Scientific detected a cybersecurity incident on August 25 that knocked out access to key IT systems and business applications, halting its ability to process and ship customer orders worldwide. The medical device maker has activated incident response protocols and hired outside cybersecurity experts to investigate and contain the breach, but has not given a timeline for full restoration. In its SEC filing, the company did not disclose details about the attack type, the perpetrators, or whether any data was compromised.
Robotics startup Generalist has raised nearly $200 million more in an extension of its Series B round led by 8VC, pushing its valuation to $3 billion and total round funding to $600 million. The company, founded in 2024 by ex-Google DeepMind and Boston Dynamics engineers, builds AI foundation models meant to control multiple types of robots, with its Gen 1.5 model reportedly learning new tasks from short video clips.
TechCrunch has narrowed down applicants for its November 4 Founder Summit in Boston to 11 finalists competing for four programming slots. The public can now vote on which sessions get added to the agenda, with submissions closing September 4. Topics include practical guidance for founders, such as building an events strategy without a dedicated team.