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Celsius co-founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky resigns from the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender, writing his "role as CEO has become an increasing distraction"
Analysis: Amazon's regular trucking contractors were more than twice as likely as other companies to get unsafe driving scores from February 2020 to August 2022
Techmeme · 2 days ago
An overview of Twitter and Elon Musk's legal battle so far: the judge signaling a focus on the contractual agreement, haggling over discovery, and more
A look at some of the challenges of zero-trust systems that can create friction for users and employees, as businesses increasingly adopt them to fight hackers
Optus, one of Australia's largest telecoms, says it was breached and hackers could have accessed the data of up to 9.8M customers; the police are investigating
Google's Mandiant says it observed four instances of pro-Russian hacktivist groups publishing data within 24 hours of the GRU stealing it using wiper malware
Sources: to cut costs by 10%+ in a few months, Meta is nudging out a significant number of staff by reorganizing and giving a window to apply for other roles
Sources: Binance offered ~$50M for bankrupt crypto-lender Voyager Digital's assets, the leading bid and slightly above FTX's bid, but neither has been accepted
Filing: the FTC opens an investigation into Amazon's $1.7B iRobot acquisition, requesting documents from both companies; investigations typically take a year
Techmeme · 1 week ago
IFR data: industrial robot shipments to China rose 45% YoY to 243K+ in 2021, just under 50% of the global total, as cheap labor dwindles and automation surges
Sources: Instacart plans to sell mostly employees' stock in its IPO to help staff cash out, issuing a small number of new shares and limiting the amount raised
Closed captions on videos are used widely by people under 40 years old, going beyond accessibility and translation to improve understanding and aid multitasking
Putin’s Energy War with Europe Seems to Falter
Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?
The US DOJ forms the Digital Asset Coordinators Network of 150+ federal prosecutors across the country to target illegal activities involving digital currencies
COO Vanessa Pappas told senators that TikTok is working on a final deal with CFIUS that satisfies all US national security concerns, but didn't give a timeline
Speaking hours after Ethereum's Merge update, SEC Chair Gary Gensler says cryptocurrencies that let holders stake coins may be subject to US securities laws
President Biden issues an EO directing the CFIUS to increase scrutiny of deals that could give China and others access to critical tech and personal data
Research: Chinese investment in US VCs reached ~$880M in 2022, the second-highest level in 12+ years; China-linked groups invested $4B+ in US VCs since 2010
Memo: Netflix told ad buyers the company expects its ad-supported tier to reach 4.4M unique viewers globally in 2022, and ~40M by Q3 2023, with 13.3M in the US
Sources: after its funds performed poorly, SoftBank considers launching a third Vision Fund; Vision Fund 2 is now worth 19% less than the $49B invested
Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney from 2005 to 2020, joins VC firm Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, as a venture partner
Internal data: Instagram users cumulatively spend 17.6M hours/day on Reels vs. TikTok's 197.8M hours/day; only 20% of Instagram's ~11M US creators post on Reels
Techmeme · 2 weeks ago
Deere, which will roll out self-driving tractors this year, expects that by the end of the decade 10% of its revenue will come from software fees
A look at the increasing efforts of device manufacturers, telecom companies, and satellite operators to connect smartphones to satellites in remote locations
Some CSOs say ex-Uber CSO Joe Sullivan did nothing wrong and his trial tests criminal penalties they may face over security lapses or challenges in gray areas
Companies are buying large numbers of carbon offsets that don’t cut emissions
Robinhood launches Investor Index, updated monthly, to track the performance of the 100 most popular stocks in its app, weighted by users' portfolio percentage
Meta disbands its Responsible Innovation team set up to address concerns about its products' downsides, but says the company remains committed to the same goals
Sources: Twitter agreed to a ~$7M settlement with Peiter Zatko in June 2022 over lost pay; Zatko signed an NDA but he can speak to Congress or file a complaint
Sources: Google signed News Showcase deals with Bloomberg Media and The Texas Tribune, but the feature is late to launch as other US outlets balk at the terms
Sources: Netflix scours its business to cut costs, including by reducing real estate, curbing cloud spend, limiting corporate swag, and hiring more junior staff
Ocean Shipping Rates Have Plunged 60% This Year
VTS, which provides online tools to landlords for managing leases and tenant data, raised a $125M+ Series E led by CBRE Group, sources say at a $1.7B valuation
State Farm will invest $1.2B in ADT for a ~15% stake, and $300M more for product innovation; Google invests $150M toward new products, pledges $150M more
As Chinese consumers become thrifty amid an economic slowdown, Insider Intelligence forecasts just 9.1% increase in e-commerce sales in 2022, lowest since 2008
US intelligence officials worry the Islamic State could use NFTs to spread messages and evade censorship, after the terrorist group shared its first known NFT
Swiss bank UBS terminates its $1.4B acquisition of robo-adviser Wealthfront and says it will buy $69.7M in Wealthfront convertible notes at the same valuation
Filing: the FTC is investigating Amazon's $3.9B deal to buy One Medical
Techmeme · 4 weeks ago
The IRS says it inadvertently posted confidential information involving about 120,000 individuals on its website before discovering the error and removing it
Pinduoduo launched US shopping site Temu on September 1, the Chinese e-commerce giant's first major push overseas, following online fast fashion retailer Shein
Sources: Disney explores a membership program akin to Amazon Prime, bundling streaming, theme parks, and merchandise, and adding a commerce feature to Disney+
Techmeme · 4 weeks ago