Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Samsung responds to the controversy over moon photography on Galaxy devices, explaining its "Scene Optimizer" feature, "AI deep learning model", and more (Jon Porter/The Verge)

Jon Porter / The Verge:
Samsung responds to the controversy over moon photography on Galaxy devices, explaining its “Scene Optimizer” feature, “AI deep learning model”, and more  —  The post's content isn't exactly new — it appears to be a lightly edited translation of an article posted …



A profile of Russian national Artem Uss, arrested in Milan under US indictment over a secret supply chain to provide US tech to support Putin's war in Ukraine (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
A profile of Russian national Artem Uss, arrested in Milan under US indictment over a secret supply chain to provide US tech to support Putin's war in Ukraine  —  For years, Artem Uss had appeared in Russian media as the owner of fancy real estate, luxury cars and Italian hotels.



Foxconn reports Q4 revenue down 10% YoY to ~$64.5B and $1.3B net income, slightly below estimates, and forecasts slumping consumer electronics demand in 2023 (Debby Wu/Bloomberg)

Debby Wu / Bloomberg:
Foxconn reports Q4 revenue down 10% YoY to ~$64.5B and $1.3B net income, slightly below estimates, and forecasts slumping consumer electronics demand in 2023  —  Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. reported profit that fell just shy of expectations and offered a cautious outlook for this year.



No 'security testing' or 'crackdown' plans for smartphone makers: Government

The government on Wednesday said there are no plans for security testing for smartphones or crackdown on pre-installed applications, as the sole emphasis is on ease of doing business and boost local electronics manufacturing. https://ift.tt/aE9k83g

How one of the biggest worry of laid off H-1B workers may be over

A presidential advisory sub-committee has recommended the federal government to extend the grace period for H1-B workers, who have lost their jobs, from the existing 60 days to 180 days so that the workers have enough opportunities to find a new job or other alternatives. "The immigration subcommittee recommends the Department of Homeland Security and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to extend the grace period for H1-B workers, who have lost their jobs, from 60 days to 180 days," Ajay Jain Bhutoria, member of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, said on Tuesday. https://ift.tt/Szq25y4

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Blackstone plans to acquire event management software maker Cvent for $4.6B, or $8.50 per share; Cvent went public via SPAC at a $5.3B valuation in July 2021 (Reuters)

Reuters:
Blackstone plans to acquire event management software maker Cvent for $4.6B, or $8.50 per share; Cvent went public via SPAC at a $5.3B valuation in July 2021  —  Buyout firm Blackstone Inc (BX.N) agreed to purchase U.S. software provider Cvent Holding Corp (CVT.O) in a deal valued at $4.6 billion …



Google Meet video zoom-in issue: Here’s how you can fix it

Google Meet is a video conferencing platform that allows users to join or schedule meetings with others. Zoomed-in video frame issue is a problem that usually occurs when joining a meeting and makes your camera zoom in abruptly. https://ift.tt/Qcs43MA

Source: US prosecutors are looking at Telegram group chats between employees at Jump, Jane Street, and Alameda in May 2022 over the collapse of TerraUSD (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Source: US prosecutors are looking at Telegram group chats between employees at Jump, Jane Street, and Alameda in May 2022 over the collapse of TerraUSD  —  US prosecutors are scrutinizing chat-group conversations among prominent trading firms including Jump Trading Group and Jane Street Group …



A look at the shift to the ATSC 3.0 TV broadcast standard, still not available in many major markets since its 2017 launch, as free streaming TV channels surge (Janko Roettgers/The Verge)

Janko Roettgers / The Verge:
A look at the shift to the ATSC 3.0 TV broadcast standard, still not available in many major markets since its 2017 launch, as free streaming TV channels surge  —  Antenna television is back.  In recent years, millions of cord-cutters have rediscovered antennas as a reliable …



Sources and documents: India plans to force smartphone makers to let users remove pre-loaded apps and will mandate screening OS updates via new security rules (Reuters)

Reuters:
Sources and documents: India plans to force smartphone makers to let users remove pre-loaded apps and will mandate screening OS updates via new security rules  —  India plans to force smartphone makers to allow removal of pre-installed apps and mandate screening of major operating system …



Monday, March 13, 2023

Third round of job cuts at Microsoft: These are the divisions affected

Microsoft recently witnessed a third round of job cuts. These job cuts are part of the 10,000 layoffs that the company announced in January this year. The latest round of job cuts reportedly impacted employees in roles related to supply chain, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT). According to a report in CRN, quoting Microsoft spokesperson, the job cuts were across various levels, functions, teams and geographies. https://ift.tt/WiogUR4

SVB bears responsibility for its demise, the outcome of disruption being tech's objective function, and the Silicon Valley myth could be the ultimate casualty (Ben Thompson/Stratechery)

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
SVB bears responsibility for its demise, the outcome of disruption being tech's objective function, and the Silicon Valley myth could be the ultimate casualty  —  Banks are, at their core, facilitators: depositors lend their money to a bank, for which they are paid interest, and banks lend that money out, again for interest.



A eulogy for Silicon Valley Bank, a business partner to tech for 40 years, which offered services when established banks would not and was undone by its loyalty (Michael Moritz/Financial Times)

Michael Moritz / Financial Times:
A eulogy for Silicon Valley Bank, a business partner to tech for 40 years, which offered services when established banks would not and was undone by its loyalty  —  Regardless of the reasons behind the bank's collapse, it leaves a huge hole for the start-up scene  —  The writer is a partner at Sequoia Capital



Having perfected the art of using hype to move markets, VCs managed to hype their own rumors to collapse SVB, accidentally slaying a much loved accomplice (Sinead O'Sullivan/Financial Times)

Sinead O'Sullivan / Financial Times:
Having perfected the art of using hype to move markets, VCs managed to hype their own rumors to collapse SVB, accidentally slaying a much loved accomplice  —  Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles.  Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy.



How to add and turn on closed captions in PowerPoint

Whether you’re struggling to hear the audio, joining from a noisy environment or facing language barriers, you can now easily turn on closed captions in PowerPoint. The feature will enable you to reach a wider audience and will also help you to level up your meeting game. https://ift.tt/3cZenqg

YouTube launches a Premium paywall for song lyrics on YouTube Music, after testing it in recent months; users get five free lyrics before they have to subscribe (Abner Li/9to5Google)

Abner Li / 9to5Google : YouTube launches a Premium paywall for song lyrics on YouTube Music, after testing it in recent months; users get...