China’s SMIC reports record $5.4B revenue in 2021, up 39% YoY, and $1.7B profit, up 138% YoY, as it looks to add more chip production capacity amid US sanctions (Arjun Kharpal/CNBC)

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: China’s SMIC reports record $5.4B revenue in 2021, up 39% YoY, and $1.7B profit, up 138% YoY, as it looks to add more chip production capacity amid US sanctions  —  – China’s largest chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation reported record revenue and a surge in profit last year.

A profile of OpenSea, whose Web3 credentials have been called into question by crypto hardliners, as it tries to deal with security incidents and copycat NFTs (Gian M. Volpicelli/Wired UK)

Gian M. Volpicelli / Wired UK: A profile of OpenSea, whose Web3 credentials have been called into question by crypto hardliners, as it tries to deal with security incidents and copycat NFTs  —  Security issues and endless copycat listings are rife, but the platform’s attempt to stop them is angering everyone.  —  What is a […]

Booking.com will cut and outsource 2,700 call center jobs globally in the next few months, after Booking Holdings laid of ~25% of its workforce in 2020 and 2021 (Dennis Schaal/Skift)

Dennis Schaal / Skift: Booking.com will cut and outsource 2,700 call center jobs globally in the next few months, after Booking Holdings laid of ~25% of its workforce in 2020 and 2021  —  Skift Take  —  We could hear more about Booking Holdings’ rationale for eliminating a chunk of Booking.com’s customer service workforce …

Sources: Apollo Global is nearing a deal to acquire the point-of-sale terminal business of Paris-based payments company Worldline for close to $2.3B (Ben Dummett/Wall Street Journal)

Ben Dummett / Wall Street Journal: Sources: Apollo Global is nearing a deal to acquire the point-of-sale terminal business of Paris-based payments company Worldline for close to $2.3B  —  Pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital payments over cash  —  Apollo Global Management Inc. is nearing a deal to acquire the point …

A profile of the couple accused of conspiring to launder around $5B in stolen bitcoin, pieced together from sources, filings, and a voluminous online record (Tim Marchman/VICE)

Tim Marchman / VICE: A profile of the couple accused of conspiring to launder around $5B in stolen bitcoin, pieced together from sources, filings, and a voluminous online record  —  Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein wanted to be famous.  Now, after being accused of laundering billions of dollars of crypto, they are.

Review of 80K+ donations to the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” reveal a Bangladeshi digital marketing firm helmed two of the biggest Facebook groups promoting events (Grid News)

Grid News: Review of 80K+ donations to the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” reveal a Bangladeshi digital marketing firm helmed two of the biggest Facebook groups promoting events  —  As American politicians call for stateside convoys, a Grid investigation finds signs that foreign actors, QAnon and hate pervade the movement’s support.

UK’s CMA accepts Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies and replace them with Privacy Sandbox and will closely monitor the development of the product (Jon Porter/The Verge)

Jon Porter / The Verge: UK’s CMA accepts Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies and replace them with Privacy Sandbox and will closely monitor the development of the product  —  The UK’s competition regulator will keep a ‘close eye’ on development  —  Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies and replace …

How researchers are using AI to analyze the undeciphered ancient script of the Indus Valley Civilization, and the challenges of deciphering long-lost languages (Alizeh Kohari/Rest of World)

Alizeh Kohari / Rest of World: How researchers are using AI to analyze the undeciphered ancient script of the Indus Valley Civilization, and the challenges of deciphering long-lost languages  —  Scholars have spent a century trying to decipher ancient Indus script.  Machine learning may finally help make sense of it all.

Report: Amazon has received $4.7B in tax breaks globally over the past decade; $4.1B was from the US and weak disclosure laws could put the rest well over $600M (Lauren Kaori Gurley/VICE)

Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE: Report: Amazon has received $4.7B in tax breaks globally over the past decade; $4.1B was from the US and weak disclosure laws could put the rest well over $600M  —  The report highlights how little is known about the cost of Amazon’s expansion to taxpayers around the planet.  —  Lauren […]

Curated, Digital Content for Everyone

Curated Information Feeds For a good few years now, I’ve actively modified who I follow, and what updates I receive digitally through social and news media – with Facebook, this generally means choosing who I want to receive updates from, and in what order (or at all), which allows me to maintain ‘friendship’ with individuals […]