Latanya Sweeney is a professor of government and technology in residence at Harvard University's Department of Government, editor-in-chief of Technology Science and the founding director of the Technology Science Initiative and the Data Privacy Lab at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard. Max Weiss is a senior at Harvard University and the student who implemented the Deepfake Text experiment. As federal agencies take increasingly stringent actions to try to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic within the U.S., how can individual Americans and U.S. companies affected by these rules weigh in with their opinions and experiences? Because many of the new rules, such as travel restrictions and increased surveillance, require expansions of federal power beyond normal circumstances, our laws require the federal government to post these rules publicly and allow the public to contribute their comments to the proposed rules online. But are federal public comment websites -- a vital institution for American democracy -- secure in this time of crisis?

Soft Robotics Inc., a pioneer in robotic grasping, announced today that it has raised $23 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round. The round was co-led by Calibrate Ventures and Material Impact and included existing investors Honeywell, Hyperplane, Scale, Tekfen Ventures, and Yamaha. FANUC Corp., the world's largest industrial robot manufacturer, joined this round as a new investor in Soft Robotics. Soft Robotics previously announced a strategic partnership with FANUC to integrate Soft Robotics' mGrip adaptable gripper system with any FANUC robot through the deployment of a new controller. The combined product was introduced at IREX in Tokyo in December 2019.

Last month, Chowbotics announced the worldwide availability of Sally 2.0, an updated version of its robotic salad dispenser. The Hayward, Calif.-based company called Sally "the world's first fresh-food robot" and said Sally 2.0 has a larger tablet display, a new user interface, wheels for greater portability, and redesigned canisters to reduce the time needed to clean and refill it. Chowbotics introduced Sally last year, and it is in use in more than 70 locations. The award-winning robot can handle up to 22 ingredients in numerous custom combinations in addition to pre-programmed recipes. Sally is available for purchase or on a monthly basis.

Over the next year and a half, Nest became the face and name of Google's smart home offering, a division that's grown quickly as Google Home/Google Nest has become one of the top two players in the U.S. smart home category, rivaled only by Amazon's Alexa/Echo offerings.

For the entire time from the start of passing the truck to the popping out ahead of the truck, it as though you are now without a parachute. The entire right side was no longer an open path for me to use and I might as well have been driving next to a brick wall. I realize you could suggest that if needed too I might try to ram the truck by shoving against the side of it with my car, but I assure you that by-and-large that approach is not going to gain you much. Yes, the truck might move over by the physics of hitting it, or the driver of the truck might realize that you are ramming the truck and the driver might then try to move over, though all-in-all it's not much of a saving grace and you'd be better served to pretend it is a relatively immovable wall.

Reefknot Investments, a joint venture between Temasek, Singapore's sovereign fund, and global logistics company Kuehne Nagel, announced today the launch of a $50 million fund for logistics and supply chain startups. The firm is based in Singapore, but will look for companies around the world that are raising their Series A or B rounds. Managing director Marc Dragon tells TechCrunch that Reefknot will serve as a strategic investor in its portfolio companies, providing them with connections to partners that include EDBI, SGInnovate, Atlantic Bridge, Vertex Ventures, PSA unBoXed, Unilever Foundry and NUS Enterprise, in addition to Temasek and Kuehne Nagel. Dragon, a veteran of the supply chain and logistics industry, says Reefknot plans to invest in about six to eight startups. It is especially interested in companies that are using AI or deep mind tech, digital logistics and trade finance to solve problems that range from analyzing supply chain data and making forecasts to managing the risk of financing trade transactions.