About: blatcho

From Bad Bunny to Beyoncé, this year’s best albums dominated by delivering more than just TikTok hits.

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters: Filing: US prosecutors charge a man with fraud and manipulation, accusing him of trying to steal ~$110M in October by rigging the DeFi platform Mango Markets  —  U.S. prosecutors have filed criminal charges of commodities fraud and manipulation against a man accused of trying to steal …

Geoffrey A. Fowler / Washington Post: Shadowbanning is real and social media sites should be more transparent about it; survey: nearly 1 in 10 US social media users think they’ve been shadowbanned  —  Elon Musk is right: Social media should tell you when you’re shadowbanned  —  Art teacher Jennifer Bloomer has used Instagram …

Ava Benny-Morrison / Bloomberg: Source: the DOJ launched a criminal investigation into the alleged $370M+ in assets stolen as FTX declared bankruptcy, separate from its fraud case against SBF  —  Federal prosecutors are investigating an alleged cybercrime that drained more than $370 million out of FTX just hours …

The rapid rise of text-to-image generators powered by artificial intelligence has thrilled some people, but left others concerned for the future of art

An interview from the HBR video series The New World of Work with editor-in-chief Adi Ignatius.

Insights on equity, leadership, and becoming your best self.

The adequate budget phone has lackluster software updates, and the screen shattered when I dropped it.

More EVs were sold in the first half of 2022 alone than any previous year—and there are signs the surge can continue.

Some environmentalists argue we should prioritize a world with fewer humans, but maybe we need to rethink our approach to rising populations.

Nilay Patel / The Verge: Q&A with YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan on why the company acquired NFL rights, giving creators game footage, 4K broadcasts, multiscreen, and more  —  YouTube won the big bidding war for NFL Sunday Ticket yesterday, beating out Apple, Amazon, and ESPN with a deal worth a reported $2 billion […]

Haleluya Hadero / Associated Press: The $1.7T US funding package included the INFORM Act, forcing Amazon, Meta, and others to verify prolific sellers to combat counterfeit and dangerous goods  —  Retailers are scoring one win in the government-wide spending bill, which will force online marketplaces like Amazon and Facebook …

Sujeet Indap / Financial Times: Lawyers working on crypto bankruptcies, including FTX and Celsius, are charging more than $1,800 per hour, leading some creditors to criticize the process  —  Advisers in Celsius case bill $52mn for four months’ work  —  The investment bank B Riley is so determined to persuade …

Put those gift cards to good use with these discounts on everything from tech to toys.

This LCD control panel is a popular tool for streamers, but you can use it to get real work done.

2022 was a breakthrough year for xenotransplantation, a procedure that could be a lifeline for patients in desperate need of a donor.

Iris Deng / South China Morning Post: Chinese government data for January to October 2022 shows domestic smartphone shipments fell 22% YoY from 275.3M to 214.5M units  —  Smartphone shipments in China slumped 22 per cent in the first 10 months of the year, according to latest government data, as the industry’s largest market …

Timmy Shen / Forkast: IntoTheBlock: the Bitcoin network hashrate dropped by 38.8%+ on December 24 from its December 21 peak as many US-based miners paused operations due to blizzards  —  The Bitcoin network hashrate has dropped by more than 38.8% from its peak on Wednesday, as many U.S.-based miners have been forced …

Anton Shilov / Tom’s Hardware: Jon Peddie Research: there are 18 companies globally developing and producing GPUs; eight out of the 11 PC and data center GPU designers are based in China  —  There are 18 GPU developers worldwide today.  —  The number of GPU startups in China is extraordinary as the country tries …

The good AI and healthtech can do is undisputed, but testing new technology using old methods is holding it back.

EV batteries take up lots of space and resources. But most drivers won’t actually use all that power.

Building government artificial intelligence capability is as important as roads and rail.

Tim Higgins / Wall Street Journal: A look at Elon Musk’s tightening finances as TSLA dropped 65% in 2022, shrinking his borrowing power, and his fortune fell from an estimated $340B high to $140B  —  Billionaire’s borrowing power has shrunk with Tesla share decline  —  Elon Musk’s Unconventional Management Style: Former Employees Share Stories

Financial Times: Internal memo: Xiaomi President Wang Xiang and co-founders Hong Feng and Wang Chuan step down, as the company battles slowing sales amid COVID-19 disruptions  —  China’s leading handset maker has suffered Covid disruption at home and regulatory woes abroad  —  Three top executives …

Thomas Claburn / The Register: Study: programmers who use GitHub Copilot and other AI tools produce less secure code than those who do not, despite believing their code has no safety issues  —  At the same time, tools like Github Copilot and Facebook InCoder make developers believe their code is sound

Upgrade your Zoom meetings with that snazzy camera in your pocket.

These are our favorite classic flicks, Marvel movies, and Star Wars sagas on the streaming platform.

From Spotify Wrapped to Apple Music Replay, these are all the services that will tell you what songs were on the soundtrack of your year.

Dhruv Mehrotra / Wired: A look at Flipper Zero, a $200 portable security penetration testing tool for hackers of all levels to intercept and replay signals from IoT sensors and more  —  Don’t be fooled by its fun name and Tamagotchi-like interface—this do-everything gadget is trouble waiting to happen and a whole lot more.

Jennifer Conrad / Wired: Q&A with author and labor lawyer Orly Lobel about AI’s ability to help mitigate human biases in hiring and compensation, privacy regulation, and more  —  Author and labor lawyer Orly Lobel says AI can help mitigate human biases in hiring and compensation.

Sometimes the best fantasies are the ones that could actually come true.

Covid will stick around long-term, so we’ll need to find ways to predict its next move.

Ever-expanding cloud storage presents more risks than you might think.

Shen Lu / Wall Street Journal: Sensor Tower: Pinduoduo’s marketplace Temu gained 10.8M installations in the US since Sep. 1, and became the most downloaded US app between Nov. 1 and Dec. 14  —  Temu, a marketplace with deep discounts and copious coupons, has become the most downloaded mobile app in the U.S.  — Copy […]

Patrick McGee / Financial Times: Supply chain experts warn of a months-long disruption risk to Apple’s iPhone production and operations due to worker absenteeism, amid China’s COVID-19 wave  —  Supply chain experts warn outbreak following reversal of zero-Covid curbs creates uncertainty for iPhone maker

Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post: Twitter employees shed light on Elon Musk’s erratic leadership; a Signal message shows Musk wanted “full access” for Bari Weiss, which staff refused to grant  —  Musk’s intense focus on his social media company purchase has devolved into the culture wars.  Meanwhile, Tesla is tanking.

Plus: An offensive US hacking operation, swatters hacking Ring cameras, a Netflix password-sharing crackdown, and more.

Settle in for some bonding time. These are some of the best cooperative titles for two to eight players, all playable on a single TV.

From Blue Apron to Dinnerly, I’ve spent a couple of years cooking with boxed ingredients shipped to my door.

Simon Hill / Wired: A look at XRAI Glass, an Android app for the deaf and hard of hearing that can caption real-life conversations when paired with the $379 Nreal Air AR glasses  —  XRAI Glass, when paired with $379 AR glasses, can caption real-life conversations as they happen, with a few major caveats.

Martin Matishak / The Record: Joe Biden signs into law an $858B defense policy bill conferring more power and obligations on US Cyber Command, such as offensive operations on foreign powers  —  President Joe Biden signed a $858 billion defense policy bill on Friday, conferring more power — and obligations — on U.S. Cyber Command.

Amanda Hoover / Wired: Mastodon’s decentralized nature raises concerns about the liability of users running their own instances, under copyright and privacy laws around the world  —  As the niche, decentralized social networking platform rises in popularity, it faces rising costs, culture shifts—and potential legal risks.

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Philadelphia-based Exyn, which develops AI-powered navigation tech for drones and robots, raised a $35M Series B from Reliance and others at a ~$107M valuation  —  Reliance has backed the Philadelphia-based AI and robotics startup Exyn, the Indian conglomerate disclosed in a stock exchange filing …

Bloomberg: The 2022 crypto winter showed the digital asset ecosystem is more interconnected than many participants realize, despite decentralization being a core tenet  —  As 2021 came to a close, crypto enthusiasts were brimming with optimism.  After all, it had been a banner year: Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, had crossed into the mainstream.

Joel Khalili / Wired: A look at some NFT utility cases like gaming, as NFT trading volume fell from $17B in January 2022 to $400M in November 2022, amid the crypto market slump  —  The market for non-fungible tokens took a nosedive this year.  Now, die-hard evangelists think the key to success is finding different […]

Richard Wurtman, the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Professor Emeritus and a member of the MIT faculty for 44 years, died on Dec. 13. He was 86. Wurtman received an MD from Harvard Medical School in 1960 and trained at Massachusetts General Hospital before joining the laboratory of Nobel laureate Julius Axelrod at the National Institutes […]

Elon Musk’s changes have been most destabilizing to the very people who made the platform’s unique culture.

Keep the wildfire smoke, smog, and allergens out. We tested standard and HEPA models to find the right one for your home.

Could the Golden State Warriors legend really sink five full-court shots in a row? Some clever modeling can give fans a clue.

Reuters: Sources: Twitter removed a feature that promoted safety resources related to suicide, child sexual exploitation, and more, after an order by Elon Musk  —  Twitter Inc removed a feature in the past few days that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking …