Memo: Genesis parent company DCG shut its wealth management division HQ on January 2; filing: HQ had more than $3.5B under management as of December 2022 (Kate Clark/The Information)

Kate Clark / The Information: Memo: Genesis parent company DCG shut its wealth management division HQ on January 2; filing: HQ had more than $3.5B under management as of December 2022  —  Digital Currency Group, the parent company of crypto broker Genesis and the publication CoinDesk, has shut down its wealth management …

Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon Satellite, to let phones with a Gen 2 SoC and X70 modem connect to Iridium’s satellites for off-grid texting, available in H2 2023 (Mitchell Clark/The Verge)

Mitchell Clark / The Verge: Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon Satellite, to let phones with a Gen 2 SoC and X70 modem connect to Iridium’s satellites for off-grid texting, available in H2 2023  —  Android phones will soon be getting a feature similar to — and perhaps even more powerful than — Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite.

Alibaba, Tencent, and other Chinese tech giants have struck a truce with the government, accepting lower growth and more controls as China eases its crackdown (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg: Alibaba, Tencent, and other Chinese tech giants have struck a truce with the government, accepting lower growth and more controls as China eases its crackdown  —  In China, 2022 was the year Big Tech changed.  Succumbing to a government crackdown and a pandemic that refused to go away …

New MIT internships expand research opportunities in Africa

With new support from the Office of the Associate Provost for International Activities, MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) and the MIT-Africa program are expanding internship opportunities for MIT students at universities and leading academic research centers in Africa. This past summer, MISTI supported 10 MIT student interns at African universities, significantly more than […]

Simulating discrimination in virtual reality

Have you ever been advised to “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes?” Considering another person’s perspective can be a challenging endeavor — but recognizing our errors and biases is key to building understanding across communities. By challenging our preconceptions, we confront prejudice, such as racism and xenophobia, and potentially develop a more inclusive perspective […]

US bank Silvergate, which caters to crypto clients, reports liquidating debt to cover $8.1B in withdrawals as FTX collapsed and laying off 40% of its staff (David Benoit/Wall Street Journal)

David Benoit / Wall Street Journal: US bank Silvergate, which caters to crypto clients, reports liquidating debt to cover $8.1B in withdrawals as FTX collapsed and laying off 40% of its staff  —  Bank sold assets at a loss to cover withdrawals and cut 40% of its staff but remains committed to crypto

Gemini Trust COO Noah Perlman leaves the company, as founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss struggle to regain $900M in customer funds lent to DCG’s Genesis (Olga Kharif/Bloomberg)

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg: Gemini Trust COO Noah Perlman leaves the company, as founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss struggle to regain $900M in customer funds lent to DCG’s Genesis  —  Gemini Trust Co. Chief Operating Officer Noah Perlman has left the cryptocurrency firm founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss …

Philips Hue owner Signify launches a Philips Hue Sync TV app for Samsung TVs, available for $130, effectively a software version of the $250M Play HDMI Sync Box (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge: Philips Hue owner Signify launches a Philips Hue Sync TV app for Samsung TVs, available for $130, effectively a software version of the $250M Play HDMI Sync Box  —  Signify, owner of the Philips Hue brand, is launching a Philips Hue Sync TV app for Samsung TVs.

Sources: Amazon plans to lay off 17,000+ staff, more than the company’s initial target of 10,000 in November 2022; the added cuts will hit over the coming weeks (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal: Sources: Amazon plans to lay off 17,000+ staff, more than the company’s initial target of 10,000 in November 2022; the added cuts will hit over the coming weeks  —  New figure would be the largest number of cuts revealed so far at a major tech company  —  Amazon AMZN -0.79%decrease …

The US SEC files a limited objection to Binance.US’ $1.02B bid for crypto lender Voyager’s assets, asking for sufficient details on how Binance plans to pay (Nelson Wang/CoinDesk)

Nelson Wang / CoinDesk: The US SEC files a limited objection to Binance.US’ $1.02B bid for crypto lender Voyager’s assets, asking for sufficient details on how Binance plans to pay  —  The agency is asking for more details how the crypto exchange can afford the deal.  —  Join the most important conversation …

Memo: Salesforce plans to lay off around 10% of its staff and close some offices, expecting to incur $1.4B to $2.1B in charges for the restructuring (Nivedita Balu/Reuters)

Nivedita Balu / Reuters: Memo: Salesforce plans to lay off around 10% of its staff and close some offices, expecting to incur $1.4B to $2.1B in charges for the restructuring  —  Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) said on Wednesday it would lay off about 10% of its employees and close some offices as a part of its […]

A look at Samsung’s TV updates in 2023: Neo QLEDs converting SDR to HDR, futuristic MicroLED TVs, improvements to The Frame, and software and AI updates (Chris Welch/The Verge)

Chris Welch / The Verge: A look at Samsung’s TV updates in 2023: Neo QLEDs converting SDR to HDR, futuristic MicroLED TVs, improvements to The Frame, and software and AI updates  —  Last year, Samsung radically shook up the TV market with the introduction of its first OLED model in many years.

The US case against alleged Mango Markets manipulator Avraham Eisenberg highlights traders treating crypto as a game, forgetting the real-world consequences (Matt Levine/Bloomberg)

Matt Levine / Bloomberg: The US case against alleged Mango Markets manipulator Avraham Eisenberg highlights traders treating crypto as a game, forgetting the real-world consequences  —  Mango  —  So here’s a trade.  — You open two accounts on a commodity futures exchange, Account A and Account B.

Foxconn partners with Nvidia to produce electronic control units based on Nvidia’s Drive Orin SoC for intelligent vehicles and use them in Foxconn’s own EVs (Sabela Ojea/Wall Street Journal)

Sabela Ojea / Wall Street Journal: Foxconn partners with Nvidia to produce electronic control units based on Nvidia’s Drive Orin SoC for intelligent vehicles and use them in Foxconn’s own EVs  —  Foxconn will produce, use Nvidia’s chips that help enable autonomous driving  —  Graphics chip maker Nvidia Corp. NVDA -1.91%decrease …

Sources: crypto payments startup Wyre told its staff that it’s shutting down; Bolt planned to acquire Wyre for ~$1.5B but canceled the deal in September 2022 (Axios)

Axios: Sources: crypto payments startup Wyre told its staff that it’s shutting down; Bolt planned to acquire Wyre for ~$1.5B but canceled the deal in September 2022  —  Wyre, a crypto payments company founded in 2013, has told employees that it is shutting down amid layoffs, Axios has learned.

[Thread] Twitter relaxes its policy for cause-based ads in the US and plans to expand the political advertising the company permits in the coming weeks (Twitter Safety)

Twitter Safety: [Thread] Twitter relaxes its policy for cause-based ads in the US and plans to expand the political advertising the company permits in the coming weeks  —  We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics. Today, we’re relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US. We also plan […]

Strengthening America’s manufacturing base

U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu serves as the Department of Defense’s chief technology officer. In a recent talk at MIT, she spoke about the DoD’s initiatives to build a stronger U.S. manufacturing base and to tackle the country’s “toughest challenges.” President Biden nominated Shyu as under secretary in April […]

Southwest Airlines’ recent meltdown exposed an over-reliance on aging crew-assignment software SkySolver, forcing the company to return to manual scheduling (Belle Lin/Wall Street Journal)

Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal: Southwest Airlines’ recent meltdown exposed an over-reliance on aging crew-assignment software SkySolver, forcing the company to return to manual scheduling  —  The airline industry is long overdue for a tech overhaul that takes full advantage of the cloud and data integration, analysts say

A profile of blockchain auditing service CertiK, which inspects smart contracts to help clients like Yuga Labs avoid critical bugs that can lead to lost crypto (Clive Thompson/MIT Technology Review)

Clive Thompson / MIT Technology Review: A profile of blockchain auditing service CertiK, which inspects smart contracts to help clients like Yuga Labs avoid critical bugs that can lead to lost crypto  —  Programming errors on the blockchain can mean $100 million lost in the blink of an eye.  Ronghui Gu and his company CertiK […]

Chinese media: Foxconn says its Zhengzhou plant is operating with ~200,000 workers, or ~90% capacity, back to around reported normal levels, after disruptions (Debby Wu/Bloomberg)

Debby Wu / Bloomberg: Chinese media: Foxconn says its Zhengzhou plant is operating with ~200,000 workers, or ~90% capacity, back to around reported normal levels, after disruptions  —  Foxconn Technology Group has brought the world’s largest iPhone plant to about 90% of anticipated peak capacity …