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Daily Crunch: Musk pauses Twitter buy until platform proves less than 5% of users are spambots
Daily Crunch: Musk pauses Twitter buy until platform proves less than 5% of users are spambots

It's Tuesday, May 17, 2022, and we are currently in the midst of an existential crisis; aren't we all, when we are being very honest with ourselves, a little bit spambot at heart? Last chance saloon to buy tickets for our in-person event Wednesday and Thursday, or the virtual event on Friday! Spambots holding up Twitter deal: Elon Musk doubled down on his previous tweets this morning, basically saying that if Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal is unable to back up claims that the number of spam and/or fake accounts is around the 5% the company says, Musk's deal to acquire Twitter will not move forward.

Coinbase backtracks on its hiring plans, citing crypto market turmoil
Coinbase backtracks on its hiring plans, citing crypto market turmoil

Coinbase, the third-largest crypto exchange by volume, has changed its tune on hiring amid a market downturn. Choi noted that headcount growth is a key input in the company's financial model, and that slowing the rate of hiring is important in ensuring Coinbase can reach the profitability guidance it has set for investors.

Walmart Gets Hammered by Worst Drop Since 1987 on Forecast Cut
Walmart Gets Hammered by Worst Drop Since 1987 on Forecast Cut

(Bloomberg) -- Walmart Inc. tumbled the most in almost 35 years after cutting its full-year profit forecast due to inflationary pressures, especially in food...

Netflix lays off 150 mostly US-based staff
Netflix lays off 150 mostly US-based staff

Last month the company fired writers for its in-house fan site.

Candle Media, the new media company co-backed by former Disney execs, acquires Gen Z-focused ATTN:
Candle Media, the new media company co-backed by former Disney execs, acquires Gen Z-focused ATTN:

Candle Media, the new media company headed by former Disney execs, Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, has made another acquisition -- this time with an eye on social storytelling and reaching a Gen Z to millennial audience. The company announced today it will become the new owner of ATTN:, a media company that uses entertainment to discuss topical issues that help explain the world to a younger audience -- particularly those who consume content on social media. Of note, ATTN: also launched its own TikTok studio last year to provide production services for brands that wanted to reach the TikTok user base.

Electric Mercedes G-Class will go the distance with Sila
Electric Mercedes G-Class will go the distance with Sila's energy-dense silicon anodes

Mercedes-Benz announced today that Sila's energy-dense silicon anode is slated for an extended-range version of the electric G-Class that's due out in 2025. Sila said that its silicon anode material can boost energy density by 20% to 40% over existing cells, enabling a longer range from battery packs that occupy the same physical space. Mercedes first invested in Sila in 2019 as part of a $219 million Series E round.

Cybersecurity is facing a massive talent crunch. Experts explain how diversity, strong workplace cultures, and better internships can fix it.
Cybersecurity is facing a massive talent crunch. Experts explain how diversity, strong workplace cultures, and better internships can fix it.

ForgeRock's Fran Rosch and University of West Florida's Eman El-Sheikh explain how to navigate the tightening labor market to land top cyber talent.

Three senior Twitter employees leave amid potential Musk takeover
Three senior Twitter employees leave amid potential Musk takeover

As Elon Musk tweets poop emojis at Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, it appears that some of the platform's executives are ready to move on. According to a Bloomberg report, three senior employees are voluntarily leaving the company: Ilya Brown, a VP of product management for health, conversation and growth; Katrina Lane, VP of Twitter Service; and Max Schmeiser, head of data science. Per LinkedIn, Lane and Schmeiser had worked at Twitter for about one and two years respectively, while Brown had been at the company for six years.

Apple softens its stance on remote work amid return-to-office delays
Apple softens its stance on remote work amid return-to-office delays

Apple has again delayed its return to office, but this time it's friendlier to remote workers.

Blizzard will show off more
Blizzard will show off more 'Overwatch 2' on June 16th

It may be looking to address criticism of the first PvP beta by revealing what's ahead for the sequel.

Security company says Teslas can be unlocked and driven using a simple, inexpensive hack
Security company says Teslas can be unlocked and driven using a simple, inexpensive hack

A cybersecurity company was able to unlock and operate a Tesla Model 3 by tricking it into thinking its owner's phone was nearby.

Russia faces a full block on dollar bond payments as a key US sanctions waiver is expected to expire - putting Moscow closer to a historic default: report
Russia faces a full block on dollar bond payments as a key US sanctions waiver is expected to expire - putting Moscow closer to a historic default: report

An exemption to US sanctions that allows Russian bond payments to go through expires on May 25, and officials aren't expected to renew it.

Ford
Ford's Argo AI begins driverless vehicle operations in Austin and Miami

On Tuesday, Ford's Argo AI announced it had begun driverless operations in Austin and Miami.

Robinhood lets users manage their own crypto wallets in push to spur trading
Robinhood lets users manage their own crypto wallets in push to spur trading

After a difficult first quarter, investing app Robinhood is doubling down on new product launches, particularly in its crypto unit, in hopes they will help buoy the business. CEO Vlad Tenev announced the company's plans to roll out non-custodial crypto wallets at the Permissionless DeFi conference in Florida today. Robinhood's net revenue dipped 43% to $299 million in Q1, with crypto trading revenue specifically falling 39% to $54 million (meaning crypto trading accounted for about 18% of Robinhood's total revenue before the end of March).

Koyeb is a serverless platform that integrates with your GitHub repository
Koyeb is a serverless platform that integrates with your GitHub repository

The company is still focused on serverless infrastructure. The company's serverless platform is now available as a public preview with a free tier to get started and try out the service - the free tier lets you run two nano apps on the platform.

Sachin Bansal
Sachin Bansal's firm fails to secure India bank permit

The Indian central bank has rejected the application of Chaitanya India Fin Credit seeking permission to become a bank in a major setback to Flipkart billionaire Sachin Bansal, who has been looking to take his newer venture, Navi, public. The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday rejected four applications including Bansal's Chaitanya (the micro financing unit of Navi Technologies), saying they were "not found suitable" for running full-fledged banks in the world's second most populated market. Tuesday's decision is a major blow to Bansal, who has been seeking a banking license for years.

Meta has nearly doubled the amount of violent content removed from Facebook
Meta has nearly doubled the amount of violent content removed from Facebook

Meta has nearly doubled the amount of violent content it removes from its platform.

Pulse, the maker of an automatic Slack status updater, acquires team communication startup Lounge
Pulse, the maker of an automatic Slack status updater, acquires team communication startup Lounge

Lounge, a team communication startup that was looking to reimagine the future of work with features designed for remote and distributed workforces, has now found an exit after Slack entered its same market last year with competitive voice and video tools. Launched by former Life360 employees last year, Lounge confirmed it's been acquired for an undisclosed sum by Pulse -- another company building technology aimed at improving remote worker productivity, but specifically through features that automate updates to users' Slack status via a combination of A.I. and custom rules. Pulse was founded by Raj Singh, who has already had multiple exits, including to companies like Salesforce.

Apple Store employees accuse company of union busting
Apple Store employees accuse company of union busting

The company allegedly held captive audience meetings in the lead up to a union election in Atlanta.

'Excruciating': This working-class California county has the most expensive gas in the nation

In this California community known for spectacular mountains and proximity to Yosemite, residents also struggle with the most expensive gas in America.

Disney+ won
Disney+ won't show ads to preschoolers on its new streaming plan

Disney+ has promised only a limited number of commercials for its ad-supported tier, and preschoolers won't see any.

Plant-based
Plant-based 'whole' eggs could be served in US restaurants this year

Yo! Egg claims it has developed the first plant-based poached and sunny-side-up eggs.

Elon Musk Has a Bigger Problem Than Twitter Bots: A Huge Debt Burden
Elon Musk Has a Bigger Problem Than Twitter Bots: A Huge Debt Burden

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk may be directing his buyer's remorse at Twitter Inc.'s bot problem. But underpinning the deal is a $13 billion debt bill that's...

Study: Majority of lower-priced homeowners don
Study: Majority of lower-priced homeowners don't appeal higher property taxes

Fear of paying more and naivete plague many U.S. homeowners who still don't know they can appeal to avoid paying high property taxes.

We ran every test you could think of on the M1 Ultra
We ran every test you could think of on the M1 Ultra

We ran every test you could think of on the M1 Ultra to see how fast Apple's new flagship processor really is.

You can practice for a job interview with Google AI
You can practice for a job interview with Google AI

Google has launched an AI tool that helps you practice job interviews.

The housing market resembles 2007-these 3 interactives show if your local home prices are
The housing market resembles 2007-these 3 interactives show if your local home prices are 'overvalued'

Fortune reached out to Moody's Analytics, CoreLogic, and the Real Estate Initiative at Florida Atlantic University to get their latest assessments of...

'It's so horrible that I want to buy it' - Jim Cramer likes these 2 beaten-down tech names that are still posting white-hot revenue growth

High-quality items seldom go on sale. Grab them when they do.

Forerunner, Bezos back Arrived, a startup that lets you buy into single-family rentals for
Forerunner, Bezos back Arrived, a startup that lets you buy into single-family rentals for 'as little as $100'

Arrived has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Forerunner Ventures to give people the ability to buy shares in single-family rentals with "as little as $100." Returning backers include Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment company of Jeff Bezos; Good Friends, a venture fund run by the CEOs and co-founders of Warby Parker, Harry's and Allbirds); Spencer Rascoff, co-founder and former CEO of Zillow as well as Core Innovation Capital, PSL Ventures and Neo, Ali Partovi's venture fund. The concept of fractional ownership in real estate is not a new one and in recent years, we've seen a flurry of startups focused on the space.

Vivun is digitizing pre-sales, and just got $75M in new investment
Vivun is digitizing pre-sales, and just got $75M in new investment

Vivun was built by Matt Darrow, a guy who cut his teeth in pre-sales at Zuora. The company is helping to define a new software category, which tends to get the attention of investors, Darrow says more than that, the company is fundamentally sound and growing fast. Among the metric milestones he chose to highlight, in the company's most recent fiscal year, it grew ARR more than 4x, it surpassed 100 employees and increased customer count by more than 160%.

With a fresh $46M, Instabug aims to do more than fix your app
With a fresh $46M, Instabug aims to do more than fix your app's bugs

Instabug, a startup that aims to help mobile developers monitor, identify and fix bugs within apps, has raised $46 million in a Series B funding round led by Insight Partners. The company declined to reveal its current valuation. For one, the company expanded its focus from bug and crash reporting to building out application performance monitoring software "to capture everything around mobile performance."

Virtual product placement ads are coming to Amazon Prime Video and Peacock
Virtual product placement ads are coming to Amazon Prime Video and Peacock

Announced at this month's NewFronts, Amazon and Peacock demonstrated new ad formats that use similar virtual product placement (VPP) tools, a post-production technique for inserting a brand into a TV show or movie scene. Amazon presented its new VPP tool, currently operating in beta, that lets advertisers place their branded products directly into streaming content after they have already been filmed and produced. Meanwhile, Peacock's new "In-Scene" ads will identify key moments within a show and digitally insert a brand's customized messaging or product post-production so the brand is showcased in the right TV show/movie and at the right time.

Snapchat
Snapchat's stricter policies for anonymous apps and friend finders aren't yet fully enforced

A small handful of Snap Kit platform developers have not yet complied with the new guidelines around anonymous messaging and friend-finding apps announced in March. The Snapchat maker revamped its developer platform policies on March 17, 2022, to ban anonymous apps and require developers to build friend-finding apps to limit access to users 18 or older. It is now mid-May and some developers of the newly banned and restricted apps are not yet meeting Snap's new requirements, we've found.

Russia will likely be shut out permanently from global energy markets, top oil execs say
Russia will likely be shut out permanently from global energy markets, top oil execs say

"What has happened is so shocking ... that I think they will not be lulled into complacency around acquiring energy from Russia in the future."

Bank of America Clients Hoard Cash at Highest Level in Two Decades
Bank of America Clients Hoard Cash at Highest Level in Two Decades

(Bloomberg) -- Investors are piling into cash as the outlook for global growth plunges to an all-time low and stagflation worries mount, according to a Bank ...

Investors Who Shorted Russia ETFs Are Now Stuck Paying Never-Ending Fees
Investors Who Shorted Russia ETFs Are Now Stuck Paying Never-Ending Fees

(Bloomberg) -- Investors who bet against ETFs tracking Russian assets in the build up to the Ukraine invasion made the right call -- and they've been paying the price ever since.Most Read from BloombergOnetime Richest Singapore Tycoon Has Lost 80% of His FortuneMeet the Hedge-Fund Manager Who Warned of Terra's $60 Billion ImplosionOmicron Is Turning Out to Be a Weak VaccineElon Musk Says Twitter Must Prove Bot Claims for $44 Billion Deal to ProceedMicrosoft Will Boost Pay and Stock Compensation

The Morning After: The best air fryers
The Morning After: The best air fryers

With Twitter deal on hold, Musk says a lower sale price isn't 'out of the question', Sony reveals the new games included in ​​PlayStation Plus' new high-end tiers, Uber Eats is launching two autonomous delivery pilot schemes.

Google opens its Bay View HQ, the first campus it designed itself
Google opens its Bay View HQ, the first campus it designed itself

The all-electric campus' design focuses on sustainability.

Red Hat open sources StackRox, the Kubernetes security platform it acquired last year
Red Hat open sources StackRox, the Kubernetes security platform it acquired last year

Last January, Red Hat announced that it was acquiring Kubernetes security startup StackRox, a company that had raised over $65 million since it was founded in 2014. Now, the company is open-sourcing ACS for Kubernetes under a better name: StackRox. "Built to encourage adoption of DevSecOps principles, the project helps to address common cloud-native security challenges, including visibility, vulnerability management, configuration management, network segmentation, compliance, threat detection and incident response, as well as risk profiling," Red Hat explains in today's announcement.

《藍籌業績》京東(09618.HK)首季淨虧損30億人民幣 非公認會計準則淨利潤40億人民幣
《藍籌業績》京東(09618.HK)首季淨虧損30億人民幣 非公認會計準則淨利潤40億人民幣

京東(09618.HK)公布3月底止首季業績，收入為2,397億元人民幣(下同)，按年增加18%。服務收入為352億元，按年增加26.3%。 經營利潤為24億元，去年同期為17億元。非公認會計準則下經營利潤增加32.8%至47億元。期內，京東零售不含未分配項目的經營利潤率為3.6%，2021年第一季度為4%。

Musk says Twitter deal is dead unless CEO can prove spam stats
Musk says Twitter deal is dead unless CEO can prove spam stats

In a new tweet fired at Twitter before market open, Elon Musk has reiterated that his $44BN deal to buy the social media platform is on hold over the issue of spambots. 20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher. My offer was based on Twitter's SEC filings being accurate.

These fitness apps put a tiny personal trainer in your pocket - that holds you accountable
These fitness apps put a tiny personal trainer in your pocket - that holds you accountable

It's easy to cheat during a workout if no one's watching. It's also hard to tell if you're doing an exercise right without a coach's feedback.

Linktree is rolling out new features to allow creators to showcase their NFTs
Linktree is rolling out new features to allow creators to showcase their NFTs

Link-in-bio platform Linktree is the latest company that is looking to integrate NFTs into its service, as the company has revealed a set of new features that will allow creators to showcase their NFTs and "build a community around ownership." The company says that with this new launch, creators will have new ways to monetize their craft and curate a digital identity. The new features were developed in partnership with NFT marketplace OpenSea.

10 Things in Tech: Microsoft bumps pay
10 Things in Tech: Microsoft bumps pay

Microsoft employees are going to see big compensation changes - but leaked screenshots show that for some, the changes may be too little, too late.

China may have massive underground bitcoin mining operations despite ban last year, Cambridge data shows
China may have massive underground bitcoin mining operations despite ban last year, Cambridge data shows

China has re-emerged as a major bitcoin mining hub, despite the country's complete ban on the practice a year ago, according to data from the Cambridge...

New app to help spot online spies
New app to help spot online spies

MI5 backs a new app to help people spot online approaches by foreign spies in disguise.

Swiss Investment Firm Acquires 3,500+ U.S. Single-Family Homes For $1 Billion
Swiss Investment Firm Acquires 3,500+ U.S. Single-Family Homes For $1 Billion

The Swiss-based private equity firm Partners Group announced yesterday that it has acquired a $1 billion portfolio of single-family rental homes located...

Conti ransomware group threatens to oust Costa Rica
Conti ransomware group threatens to oust Costa Rica's government as crisis deepens

Ransomware group Conti has boosted its threat against the Costa Rican government.

Elon Musk says $44 billion Twitter deal can
Elon Musk says $44 billion Twitter deal can't proceed until CEO proves the platform has fewer than 5% fake accounts

"My offer was based on Twitter's SEC filings being accurate," Musk tweeted Tuesday, again taking issue with fake and spam accounts on the platform.

Storyblok raises $47M to build out its headless CMS aimed at non-technical users like marketers
Storyblok raises $47M to build out its headless CMS aimed at non-technical users like marketers

The world of web development continues to become increasingly more democratized -- and more creative -- thanks to innovations in "headless" systems that give more flexibility around how a site can look and function: an API-based middle ground between using rigid templates and building and maintaining every single component of a web's tech stack from the ground up. Today, one of the startups building headless tools specifically for content management is announcing a big round of funding on the back of some important customer wins. Storyblok -- a startup founded in Linz, Austria, that has built a headless CMS designed both for technical and non-technical users like marketers to manage...

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