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Showing posts from August, 2021

In a major cryptocurrency heist, hackers steal $600 million.

  Approximately $600 million (£433 million) was stolen in what appears to be one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in history. It urged the thieves to "establish communication and return the hacked assets" in a letter posted on Twitter. By comparison, Coincheck and Mt Gox have both recently experienced large-scale hacks. "The amount of money you have stolen is one of the largest in defi [decentralized finance] history," Poly Network wrote in its letter. "Any country's law enforcement will regard this as a major economic crime, and you will be pursued." "The money you stole was taken away from tens of thousands of crypto community members, thus the people." # 'We lost our life savings in a cryptocurrency scam,' says one victim. # European Union intends to make Bitcoin transfers more traceable. According to preliminary findings, a hacker exploited a "vulnerability between contract calls." After millions of dollars in tokens...

Tesla reportedly paid $1 million to former employee who said supervisors called him a racist slur

 According to Bloomberg Law, a former Tesla employee received a $1 million award from the automaker after an arbitrator determined that the company failed to prevent his supervisors from using a racial slur. Melvin Berry, a Black man, was hired in 2015 at Tesla's plant in Alameda, California. When Berry confronted him, he claimed a supervisor called him the N-word and then retaliated by forcing him to work longer hours and do more physically demanding work. Tesla has vehemently denied the allegations. According to Bloomberg, arbitrator Elaine Rushing ruled on May 12th that Tesla was liable for the harassment Berry described. Rushing wrote, “Case law is clear that one instance of a supervisor directing the N-word at a subordinate is sufficient to constitute severe harassment.” She also claimed that a supervisor who issued a warning letter to Berry lacked credibility. As the arbitrator's decision shows, Tesla argued that there was no written evidence that Berry had complained abo...

Samsung increases profits and pledges to make foldables "mainstream."

 Samsung Electronics has released its second-quarter earnings, reporting a 20% increase in revenue and a 54% increase in operating profit year on year, despite its mobile division suffering from component shortages. The company earned an operating profit of 12.57 trillion won ($10.97 billion) on revenue of 63.67 trillion won ($55.56 billion). Samsung claims that its mobile business was harmed by an industry-wide component shortage as well as "production disruptions" in its Vietnam factories, some of which were closed due to a COVID outbreak. Revenue fell from the previous quarter, owing to weak seasonality and lower demand, but it was still up year on year. The semiconductor business remains Samsung's most important financial driver, accounting for more than a third of the company's revenue and more than half of its profits in the quarter. Samsung claims that memory demand and price increases were higher than expected, though mobile memory sales were hampered by the s...

Spotify says it will eventually add AirPlay 2 to its iOS app.

  Spotify has yet to add AirPlay 2 support to its iOS app, but despite the delay, the company is still “working to make [it] a reality,” according to The Verge. When MacRumors discovered a forum post in which a Spotify forum moderator claimed that “audio driver compatibility issues” might mean the feature wouldn't be added for the foreseeable future, it cast some doubt on AirPlay 2 inclusion. Spotify now claims that this is incorrect. A post on one of Spotify's Community pages contained inaccurate information about our AirPlay2 plans. Spotify will support AirPlay2, and we are working hard to make that happen. AirPlay 2, which was released as part of the iOS 11 update, introduced multiroom audio, Siri voice control, and fairly broad support for a wide range of speakers, televisions, and streaming services. It was a significant milestone for Apple's "casting" feature, which had previously been underutilized outside of Apple's own devices. Spotify has its own met...

Google is planning a new Silicon Valley campus that will include a hardware center.

 According to CNBC, Google is planning a new campus in Silicon Valley that will include a new center for some of its hardware products. According to CNBC, Google has been buying land in northern San Jose, California, for more than $389 million, with preliminary plans showing a research and development center. The campus, termed Midpoint, will be located halfway between Google's current Mountain View headquarters and its San Jose mixed-use campus. Midpoint will have five office buildings connected by a pedestrian bridge, as well as three industrial buildings that will serve as a hub for its hardware division, including its Nest smart home products, according to planning documents. According to CNBC, the documents also show that Google has been planning the Midpoint site since 2018. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday, but given what executives have said recently, a campus with more space dedicated to hardware makes sense. Google's hardware chi...