Saturday, January 14, 2023

Amazon is testing $12/year Prime Lite in India with free two-day delivery and ad-supported Prime Video in SD; Prime costs $18/year or $2.20/month in India (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Amazon is testing $12/year Prime Lite in India with free two-day delivery and ad-supported Prime Video in SD; Prime costs $18/year or $2.20/month in India  —  Amazon is quietly piloting a new tier for its Prime membership in India, providing customers with access to popular benefits such as free …



A look at Congo's Virunga National Park, which is running a Bitcoin mine that uses power from a hydro plant to pay salaries and build infrastructure projects (Adam Popescu/MIT Technology Review)

Adam Popescu / MIT Technology Review:
A look at Congo's Virunga National Park, which is running a Bitcoin mine that uses power from a hydro plant to pay salaries and build infrastructure projects  —  In an attempt to protect its forests and famous wildlife, Virunga has become the first national park to run a Bitcoin mine.



Elon Musk to reveal Twitter code as users unable to login via third party apps

Elon Musk on Saturday said that Twitter's "open source" algorithm will be revealed next month, as several people were unable to use third-party Twitter apps and faced issues with logging and accessing feeds. https://ift.tt/iDnBJ7c

Friday, January 13, 2023

A bankruptcy judge lets FTX sell its derivatives exchange LedgerX, clearing company Embed, and European and Japanese operations to raise money for creditors (Benjamin Robertson/The Block)

Benjamin Robertson / The Block:
A bankruptcy judge lets FTX sell its derivatives exchange LedgerX, clearing company Embed, and European and Japanese operations to raise money for creditors  —  - FTX can begin selling its business units to raise money for creditors, a bankruptcy judge overseeing the case ruled on Thursday.



Ericsson's provision for US probe hints of smaller fine, shares jump

Ericsson said it would book a 2.3 billion Swedish crown ($220 million) provision for an expected fine from U.S. authorities for the breach of a settlement reached in 2019. https://ift.tt/6TkqYu1

Singapore- and NY-based Holmusk, which offers real-world clinical data and analytics for the behavioral health industry, raised a $45M Series B led by Veradigm (Rachel Chitra/DealStreetAsia)

Rachel Chitra / DealStreetAsia:
Singapore- and NY-based Holmusk, which offers real-world clinical data and analytics for the behavioral health industry, raised a $45M Series B led by Veradigm  —  Editor's note: This story was updated on Jan 12 to incorporate details from Holmusk's regulatory filings in Singapore.



How to send reactions on WhatsApp

One of the most popular features of WhatsApp is the ability to send reactions to messages. In this article, we will explain how to send WhatsApp reactions. https://ift.tt/4kFwQjh

Twitter users say Tweetbot, Twitterrific, and other third-party apps are broken, possibly due to Twitter's API being down; Twitter has offered no explanation (Ben Schoon/9to5Google)

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Twitter users say Tweetbot, Twitterrific, and other third-party apps are broken, possibly due to Twitter's API being down; Twitter has offered no explanation  —  The past several weeks since Elon Musk's takeover have seen Twitter in turmoil as rapid changes hit the platform …



Some users of AI companion chatbot Replika, which offers a $70 romantic Pro version, say the free "friend" version is getting more sexually aggressive (Samantha Cole/VICE)

Samantha Cole / VICE:
Some users of AI companion chatbot Replika, which offers a $70 romantic Pro version, say the free “friend” version is getting more sexually aggressive  —  For some longtime users of the chatbot, the app has gone from helpful companion to unbearably sexually aggressive.  —  Samantha Cole



Thursday, January 12, 2023

Sam Bankman-Fried publishes a Substack post offering his account of how FTX collapsed, sticking to his claims of innocence, even as ex-executives plead guilty (Lucinda Shen/Axios)

Lucinda Shen / Axios:
Sam Bankman-Fried publishes a Substack post offering his account of how FTX collapsed, sticking to his claims of innocence, even as ex-executives plead guilty  —  Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Thursday published his account of how the crypto company collapsed.



Sources: crypto broker Genesis owes creditors more than $3B, leading DCG to explore selling venture assets, estimated to be worth ~$500M, to raise cash (Nikou Asgari/Financial Times)

Nikou Asgari / Financial Times:
Sources: crypto broker Genesis owes creditors more than $3B, leading DCG to explore selling venture assets, estimated to be worth ~$500M, to raise cash  —  Barry Silbert's conglomerate weighs offloading venture assets to help wholly owned digital asset lender



Sources: Coinbase's internal "sentiment" tracker for media coverage showed Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX was consistently viewed more favorably until its collapse (Reed Albergotti/Semafor)

Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Sources: Coinbase's internal “sentiment” tracker for media coverage showed Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX was consistently viewed more favorably until its collapse  —  Crypto exchange Coinbase has for years tracked how the company is portrayed in the press and online, and that “sentiment” …



Yuga Labs announces a skill-based game, Dookey Dash, accessed via a free mint for BAYC holders called Sewer Passes, running between January 18 and February 15 (Rosie Perper/CoinDesk)

Rosie Perper / CoinDesk:
Yuga Labs announces a skill-based game, Dookey Dash, accessed via a free mint for BAYC holders called Sewer Passes, running between January 18 and February 15  —  The gamified expansion of its Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem involves minting a free Sewer Pass to play a game called Dookey Dash.



South Korean social media giant's Kakao Entertainment, which offers apps for animated shows and novels, raised $930M from Saudi Arabia's PIF and Singapore's GIC (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
South Korean social media giant's Kakao Entertainment, which offers apps for animated shows and novels, raised $930M from Saudi Arabia's PIF and Singapore's GIC  —  Kakao Entertainment Corp. has won $930 million from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia and Singapore …



TSMC reports Q4 revenue up 26.7% YoY to $19.93B and net income up 78% YoY to $9.72B, beating estimates of ~$9.5B, even as the chip industry downturn continues (Reuters)

Reuters:
TSMC reports Q4 revenue up 26.7% YoY to $19.93B and net income up 78% YoY to $9.72B, beating estimates of ~$9.5B, even as the chip industry downturn continues  —  Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW) reported a forecast-beating 78% rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, as strong sales …



Electricians are flocking to regions around the US to build data centers, as AI shapes up to be an economy-bending force that creates boom towns (New York Times)

New York Times : Electricians are flocking to regions around the US to build data centers, as AI shapes up to be an economy-bending force...