Saturday, January 28, 2023

Meme-stock mania companies, including GameStop and AMC Entertainment, have raised $4.7B since the hype began in January 2021, but failed to boost performance (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Meme-stock mania companies, including GameStop and AMC Entertainment, have raised $4.7B since the hype began in January 2021, but failed to boost performance  —  Cash bonanza enabled by retail investors fails to boost beneficiaries' performance  —  Companies at the centre of the meme-stock mania …



Q&A with Princeton CS professor Arvind Narayanan on why he calls ChatGPT a "bullshit generator", his worries over its boom, developing his AI taxonomy, and more (Julia Angwin/The Markup)

Julia Angwin / The Markup:
Q&A with Princeton CS professor Arvind Narayanan on why he calls ChatGPT a “bullshit generator”, his worries over its boom, developing his AI taxonomy, and more  —  Hello, friends,  —  If you have been reading all the hype about the latest artificial intelligence chatbot …



As the GOP assumes leadership of the US House, antitrust subcommittee's bipartisan efforts to curb the power of big tech shift to a focus on free-speech issues (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
As the GOP assumes leadership of the US House, antitrust subcommittee's bipartisan efforts to curb the power of big tech shift to a focus on free-speech issues  —  The new GOP House majority is turning away from last year's bipartisan efforts to rein in the dominance of the largest tech companies …



12 South Korean websites still unavailable after Chinese attacks

Twelve South Korean websites attacked by a Chinese hacking group remain unable to be accessed five days after the incident, industry sources said. The Chinese attackers, identifying themselves as Xiaoqiying, hacked into the websites of 12 academic organizations and institutions Sunday, including the Korea Research Institute for Construction Policy, the Korean Archaeological Society and the Korean Academy of Basic Medicine & Health Science. https://ift.tt/yGujqb0

Q&A with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, on having no major Xbox releases in 2022, its outlook for 2023, layoffs, Activision deal amid FTC lawsuit, and more (Kat Bailey/IGN)

Kat Bailey / IGN:
Q&A with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, on having no major Xbox releases in 2022, its outlook for 2023, layoffs, Activision deal amid FTC lawsuit, and more  —  Xbox's CEO talks about the recent Developer Direct, 2022 struggles, layoffs, and what 2023 could hold.



ShareChat employees and investors shed light on the company's leadership crisis and say revenue has not kept pace with cash burn and the ~$5B 2022 valuation (Moneycontrol)

Moneycontrol:
ShareChat employees and investors shed light on the company's leadership crisis and say revenue has not kept pace with cash burn and the ~$5B 2022 valuation  —  The company's top and middle management are hollowing out, revenue has not kept pace with cash burn and Sharechat's top-tier valuation …



Friday, January 27, 2023

Tech jobs still hot in US amid mass layoffs, finds report

According to data by job portal Indeed, the tech jobs in high demand are full-stack developers at the top spot, followed by data engineers, cloud engineers, senior product managers and back-end developers, among others. https://ift.tt/Pmo9jd8

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone says Elon Musk "doesn't seem like" the right owner for Twitter and claims morale and content improvements have been lost under Musk (Dan Milmo/The Guardian)

Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone says Elon Musk “doesn't seem like” the right owner for Twitter and claims morale and content improvements have been lost under Musk  —  Biz Stone, one of quartet who set up company, says positive changes he oversaw have been undone by Tesla chief executive



After losing billions on mobile bets, Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten raised ~$1.9B for its mobile business and plans to sell its banking and securities units (Finbarr Flynn/Bloomberg)

Finbarr Flynn / Bloomberg:
After losing billions on mobile bets, Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten raised ~$1.9B for its mobile business and plans to sell its banking and securities units  —  Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Group Inc. sold 250 billion yen ($1.9 billion) of bonds on Friday, giving the company …



The EU Commission says Google has agreed to update its Store, Play Store, Hotels, and Flights to provide clear and accurate information and comply with EU laws (Jess Weatherbed/The Verge)

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
The EU Commission says Google has agreed to update its Store, Play Store, Hotels, and Flights to provide clear and accurate information and comply with EU laws  —  Many of Google's offerings will soon be updated to provide clear and accurate information in compliance with consumer protection laws in the EU.



Over 100 Israeli tech groups let staff join a "warning strike" over controversial government plans to curb judiciary powers, the latest warnings by businesses (James Shotter/Financial Times)

James Shotter / Financial Times:
Over 100 Israeli tech groups let staff join a “warning strike” over controversial government plans to curb judiciary powers, the latest warnings by businesses  —  Executives say new government's move to curb judicial powers will scare away vital investment to the self-styled Startup Nation



A look at crypto money laundering in 2022: illicit addresses sent nearly $23.8B, up 68% YoY, four addresses got $1B+ combined, DeFi got record funds, and more (Chainalysis)

Chainalysis:
A look at crypto money laundering in 2022: illicit addresses sent nearly $23.8B, up 68% YoY, four addresses got $1B+ combined, DeFi got record funds, and more  —  The 2023 Crypto Crime Report  —  Money laundering is crucial to all financially motivated crime because it's what enables criminals …



Arizona's Maricopa County is set to have the second largest concentration of US data centers by 2028, as the state races to increase electricity production (Pranshu Verma/Washington Post)

Pranshu Verma / Washington Post : Arizona's Maricopa County is set to have the second largest concentration of US data centers by 202...