In an email to Twitter staff, Elon Musk gives an ultimatum: commit to a new “hardcore” Twitter by 5pm ET on Thursday or leave with three months severance
It comes as Musk's first major feature, Twitter Blue Verified, was halted while the company probes issues that arose from its launch.
A look at SBF's desperate efforts to raise $7B+ from Sequoia, Apollo, TPG, the Saudis, and others; FTX's internal accounting software hid FTX-Alameda transfers
As customers withdrew billions of dollars from crypto exchange FTX one frantic Sunday this month, founder Sam Bankman-Fried worked …
Everything we know about FTX's collapse: losses are likely >$15B, trades became increasingly risky, SBF was erratic, rash, and relied on stimulants, and more
If you want to read a poorly researched fluff piece about Sam Bankman-Fried, feel free to go to the New York Times (PDF).
Genesis' crypto lending unit, which had $2.8B in active loans in Q3, suspends redemptions and new loan originations; trading and custody units are unaffected
The unit, known as Genesis Global Capital, serves an institutional client base and had $2.8 billion in total active loans as of the end of the third quarter of 2022.
A wallet linked to the suspected FTX hacker swapped ~$49M of stablecoins for ether, taking its haul to 228,523 ETH and becoming the 35th largest ETH holder
The hacker who raided Sam Bankman-Fried's collapsed crypto exchange FTX is now one of the world's biggest holders of the token Ether.
Elon Musk says the new Twitter Blue will relaunch on November 29 “to make sure that it is rock solid”, after pausing signups due to many fake verified accounts
Elon Musk says the new Twitter Blue, which lets you pay $7.99 per month for a blue verification check mark next to your name, will relaunch on November 29th.
Internal meeting: Tim Cook told German engineering and retail staff that Apple plans to start sourcing chips from a plant under construction in Arizona in 2024
Apple Inc. is preparing to begin sourcing chips for its devices from a plant under construction in Arizona …
[Thread] Sources: last night, Twitter fired ~20 employees who criticized Elon Musk in Slack channels, saying their “recent behavior has violated company policy”
Casey Newton / @caseynewton :
Meta AI and Papers with Code unveil Galactica, an open-source LLM for generating literature reviews, wiki articles, lecture notes on scientific topics, and more
The Galactica large language model (LLM) is being trained with millions of pieces of academic content.
Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, claiming 35% faster CPU performance, 25% Adreno GPU performance, Wi-Fi 7 support, and up to 4.35x faster AI performance
Qualcomm has announced all the details of its next flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, with a focus on better and more efficient performance for AI-related tasks.
Despite repeated assurances from Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, customers worry over the exchange's solvency; Crypto.com's CRO token drops ~40% in the past week
- Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek has taken to Twitter, YouTube and the airwaves to try to reassure customers that their deposits …
An independent audit shows the Luna Foundation Guard spent $2.8B in crypto and Terraform Labs spent $613M trying to defend the UST stablecoin in May 2022
Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon dismissed similarities with the collapse of FTX. — Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) …
Former FTX employees detail the chaotic days after its collapse: mass resignations, learning news from social media, equity compensation going to zero, and more
Wall Street Journal : Tweets: @tomgara , @mattzeitlin , @tomgara , @velocitywong , @gunjanjs , @davidkeo , @niubi , @dannygroner , @aosipovich , and @daviduberti Tweets: Tom Gara / @tomgara : Also, o...
DuckDuckGo launches App Tracking Protection in public beta on Android, helping block third-party trackers within apps
DuckDuckGo's App Tracking Protection is now available for public beta testing on all Android devices after launching in a limited beta almost one year ago.
The House Financial Services Committee plans a hearing on FTX's collapse in December and invites Sam Bankman-Fried and other executives
- The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on FTX in December. — In a joint statement announcing the hearing, current Chair Maxine Waters …
DoorDash expands its SafeDash in-app security toolkit, adding an automated SafeChat tool, improved safety reporting, real-time alerts, and porch light reminders
DoorDash has expanded its safety toolkit, rolling out new features that will automatically check in with delivery workers …
Elon Musk fired at least two Twitter engineers who publicly criticized him on the social network, in one case announcing the firing in a now-deleted tweet
German, French, and Norwegian data authorities warn against Qatar's World Cup app Hayya and infection-tracking app Ehteraz, citing privacy and security concerns
Two World Cup apps pose serious privacy and security risks, European privacy regulators say. Tweets: @shashj and @shashj Tweets: Shashank Joshi / @shashj : Qatar World Cup app “collects data on whethe...
Some public libraries in the US and Canada are using open-source software MUSICat to offer their own music streaming services and boost their local music scenes
It's not Spotify, but some cities now host music platforms with their own local flavor. — Claire Woodcock Tweets: @tedgioia , @dbschlosser , @noiseymusic , @janusrose , and @clurrese See also Mediag...
Citing a weakened market, Micron says wafer production for DRAM and NAND memory chips will be down about 20% over the past quarter; Micron's stock falls 5%+
Company cites market conditions for softening demand — Micron MU -5.04%decrease; red down pointing triangle Technology Inc …
Matter Labs, which develops the Ethereum scaling protocol zkSync, raised a $200M Series C led by Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly, bringing its funding to $458M
- Matter Labs has raised $200 million in a Series C round led by Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly.
Apple plans to expand Emergency SOS via Satellite to France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK in December 2022, expanding the service beyond the US and Canada
Emergency SOS via satellite. Users can now message emergency services without Wi-Fi or cell service. 🛰️ https://www.apple.com/... @rhh : This is so. Damned. Cool. I'm often out of range solo backpacki...
Activist investor TCI, which has a $6B+ stake in Alphabet, calls on the company to aggressively reduce headcount and cut costs in its long-term bets like Waymo
Hedge fund says company would be more efficient with fewer employees — Activist hedge fund TCI Fund Management called …
Simplilearn, which offers upskilling courses, bootcamps, and certifications, raised $45M led by GSV Ventures; Blackstone acquired a $250M majority stake in 2021
The higher learning edtech platform will use the funds to boost its growth plans in India and international markets
Pacific island nation Tuvalu plans to build a replica of itself in the metaverse to preserve its history and culture as rising sea levels threaten its existence
Lucy Craymer / Reuters :
A look at Alphabet X's Mineral project to build unmanned rovers with sensors and cameras for collecting data that helps agricultural companies improve yields
When Deb Menicos walks a strawberry field, she doesn't just look at the berries. Menicos, who holds a Ph.D. in plant breeding … Tweets: @theteamatx , @chafkin , @rpethe , and @business Tweets: @thete...
Tencent reports Q3 revenue down 2% YoY to ~$19.8B, below ~$20B estimates, and plans to distribute most of its ~$20B Meituan stake to shareholders as a dividend
Josh Ye / Reuters :
Akeyless, which helps companies manage passwords, certificates, and API keys, raised $65M Series B, comprising $45.5M in equity and $19.5B in debt, led by NGP
Back in 2018, Refael Angel, a former security software engineer at Intuit, had an idea for a new approach to protect encryption keys …
Sources: tech news website Protocol, launched by former Politico owner Robert Allbritton in February 2020, will close later this week and lay off its ~60 staff
Q&A with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer on running the division, how decisions are made, delaying big games, Xbox, Keystone, exclusives, rivals, and more
Microsoft plans to publish an annual review of internal harassment claims, heeding recommendations from a law firm hired after reports of Bill Gates' misconduct
Bloomberg :
Netflix launches Manage Access and Devices, which lets account owners identify and remotely log out of devices they do not recognize or no longer want signed in
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch :
Dubai-based baraka, a commission-free investment app that lets Middle Eastern users invest in US stocks and ETFs, raised a $20M Series A led by Valar Ventures
Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch :
Sources: Switzerland arrests Vyacheslav “Tank” Penchukov, a Ukrainian accused of leading a cybercriminal group that stole from SMBs using JabberZeus malware
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security :
Epic Games claims 50%+ of all announced games for the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S use Unreal Engine, up from the 48% figure that CEO Tim Sweeney shared in April
Jay Peters / The Verge :
A federal jury in Texas orders Intel to pay VLSI Technology $948.8M for chip patent infringement in the companies' third trial over patents once owned by NXP
Blake Brittain / Reuters :
The New York Fed and a group of major banks begin testing using digital tokens to improve transaction settlements in a 12-week proof-of-concept pilot program
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk :
Tokyo-based digital payments startup Opn plans to acquire US payment processing provider MerchantE from investment firm Integrum, sources say for ~$400M
Kiyoshi Takenaka / Reuters :
Alameda-backed DeFi projects Maps.me, a maps app with ~100M users, and “Prime Brokerage protocol” Oxygen say 95%+ of their native tokens are locked up at FTX
Xinyi Luo / CoinDesk : Tweets: @oxygen_protocol Tweets: @oxygen_protocol : 1/ The MAPS and Oxygen teams are shocked by events relating to FTX Group's bankruptcy proceedings.
Voyager Digital's bankruptcy lawyer says the crypto lender is no longer selling itself to bankrupt crypto exchange FTX; FTX agrees Voyager can pursue other bids
Steven Church / Bloomberg :
WeaveGrid, which develops software to help utilities manage the load that electric vehicles place on the grid, raised a $35M Series B led by Salesforce Ventures
Mark Chediak / Bloomberg :
Cloudbrink, which offers networking tools to help secure hybrid workforces, emerges from stealth with $25M led by Highland Capital Partners and The Fabric
Taryn Plumb / VentureBeat :
Andrew Mason's Descript, which built an AI-powered media editing app, raised a $50M Series C led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, bringing its total funding to $100M
Some Indian gig workers, tired of algorithms dictating their lives and work, are using Telegram to share cheap hacks for gaming the platforms to their advantage
Varsha Bansal / Rest of World :
Shopify's new AI commerce stack
Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.