Nerd News Tracker

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Meta layoffs: 10,000 more workers to be cut in restructuring

Meta layoffs: 10,000 more workers to be cut in restructuring

Meta, aka Facebook, Instagram, etc, has announced another series of layoffs, of another 10,000 employees. Now, this is something that more likely reflects the issues that they have been having with reduced growth, struggles in some of their ventures like the VR world...

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Microsoft Makes Outlook Free for Mac | PCMag

Keith and I will discuss this later in the show this week. Microsoft has opened Outlook to the Mac, at no charge. If it's free, however... how do they make money? The email app no longer requires a Microsoft 365 subscription on macOS. See full story on Microsoft Makes...

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DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

DuckDuckGo apparently has decided they will join the AI revolution, or as some may say, revulsion. DuckAssist is their new online update within their browsers and extensions. It allows for new instant answers to your questions. It's capable of answering questions much...

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US Spy Agency Girds for Fight Over Warrantless Surveillance

Section 702 for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is this part of the code that allows our government spies to check on foreign persons. The problem is that these searches (3.4 million in 2020) also loop in American communications along with it. Section 702...

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Why Doesn’t Trader Joe’s Have Self-Checkout?

Are you one of those that avoids self-checkout? I don't care what you have as your reason, from keeping people employed, to avoiding the potential for being charged erroneously for theft some time later, but I tend to agree with you. Apparently, so does Trader Joes....

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Inside the Employee Revolt Rocking Amazon

Amazon is facing some problems as part of their return-to-office mandate. One of Amazon's VPs sent an email out to some of their workers to build a positive spin. Unfortunately, they used ChatGPT to create a story about "important and organic learnings in the...

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Biden declines to veto Apple Watch ban | The Hill

There is an interesting battle regarding the Apple Watch, and imports into the United States. At the core, is a medical device patent that the US International Trade Commission has upheld, though the US Patent office has not. Apple disputes the validity, as we might...

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AI is starting to pick who gets laid off

Applicant Tracking Systems have been around for a while. They process the details on a resume to determine who would be a good fit for the company, and serve as gatekeepers for busy HR departments. In January, however, 300 HR people were surveyed, and 98% revealed...

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DocuSign layoffs: Company to cut 10% of workforce

DocuSign layoffs: Company to cut 10% of workforce

I won't deny that I claim a lot of the recent layoffs in tech as routine business. In the case of Docusign, however, they plan to layoff 10% this week. This comes on the heels of a 9% layoff in September. The real estate market is one of the larger driving forces...

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Binance briefly halts US dollar withdrawals | CNN Business

Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, stopped handling US dollars this week. Their related Binance.US is not affected, but this does come at a very strange time. Binance was the company that was the last straw for the fall of FTX, and those who are in the...

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Dell layoffs: 6,650 workers cut, or 5% of its workforce

Dell layoffs: 6,650 workers cut, or 5% of its workforce

Dell, in an effort to staying ahead of the curve of lower shipments of PCs and laptops, has also laid off 6650 workers, or about 5%. This is part of a ripple effect from the pandemic, from economy factors, and Dell's position in the marketplace. We can see this, as...

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Amazon adding new fees for grocery delivery – GeekWire

Amazon adding new fees for grocery delivery – GeekWire

Do you use the Amazon Fresh delivery service? Starting next month, you will be hit up for charges if you have smaller orders. If you're a Prime customer, and spend $150, then you're still free. For some, this means just spending a bit more, planning your purchases...

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Showtime is Merging With Paramount+

Showtime is Merging With Paramount+

If I were going to pick up another streaming service, I think it would be Paramount+. It's interesting that they just started the process of merging Showtime into Paramount+, so I'm paying attention to what happens next. For the combined properties with Paramount and...

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Microsoft Surface sales are tanking, Microsoft says | PCWorld

Microsoft Surface sales are tanking, Microsoft says | PCWorld

Last weeks news of Microsoft layoffs is starting to become even more clear. The Microsoft Surface is experiencing a major hit, as the Microsoft Devices revenue is down 39%. Same with Windows OEM, the licensing of Windows Operating Systems. Xbox, down 13%, and this is...

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Mass. congressman reads AI-generated speech on House floor

Mass. congressman reads AI-generated speech on House floor

A topic that is building, and fast, is Chat GPT. US Rep Auchincloss from Massachusetts delivered a 100 word speech on a bill this week that was generated via AI, a possible first. It was to support the creation of a US-Israel artificial intelligence center. Of course,...

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Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role

Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role

Netflix Founder and CEO, Reed Hastings, is moving in a new direction. His long term stint at Netflix has been since 1997, and now he's going to have a little more relaxation time. He's leaving the CEO position, but still retaining the Chairman position. This comes...

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Microsoft Is Finally Done With Windows 7 and 8.1

Microsoft Is Finally Done With Windows 7 and 8.1

Any chances of a last reprieve from Microsoft in regards to Windows 7 and 8.1 has been dashed. Microsoft officially turned off all support for both of them this week, including security updates. This wasn't surprising, but it's also something that had to be done to...

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Shopify Clears Employee Meetings, Calendars

Shopify Clears Employee Meetings, Calendars

So you know those big huge meetings at the office where 80 people show up? Shopify just cancelled all recurring meetings with more than 3 people. Across the company. It's an interesting concept, and perhaps it'll make people think twice about those super meetings....

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CES 2023 Day 1: The biggest announcements so far | ZDNET

CES 2023 Day 1: The biggest announcements so far | ZDNET

CES was this week. The announcements made were as expected with new televisions and monitors, new LED lighting, and new CPU and GPU announcements from Nvidia and Intel. Cars factored big in announcements with in-car gaming, color changing cars, and more. The usual...

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New Law Offers a Fix for the Prison Phone Racket

The prison phone industry is coming under scrutiny of the Congress. A new bill has been put forth that empowers the FCC, the agency that covers phone calls and costs, to pursue the telecom companies that reach provide services in the jails. Some of the phone costs, in...

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U.S. securities regulator alleges price manipulation by FTX

U.S. securities regulator alleges price manipulation by FTX

More issues have come out, and now the SEC is updating complaints against FTX to include more targets for price manipulation of crypto, and what looks like some additional sneaky dealings. The SEC has disclosed new details about the final days of FTX and Alameda...

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Official NORAD Tracks Santa

Official NORAD Tracks Santa

The annual tracking of Saint Nick, aka Santa, Kris Kringle, etc... is continuing again this year with NORAD watching as the big guy takes to the skies. It started with a misdialed number some 67 years ago, resulting in a young child reaching NORAD, and receiving an...

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Delta May Offer Free Wi-Fi for Passengers in 2023 – CNET

Delta May Offer Free Wi-Fi for Passengers in 2023 – CNET

Delta is setting up a new battle in the skies with their new approach of offering free Wi-Fi as a perk. This is something that is likely to have new customers making the change. It seems small, but that little perk is something that changed coffee shops, hotels, and...

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The iPhone 14’s Satellite SOS Is Already Saving People

The iPhone 14’s Satellite SOS Is Already Saving People

Apples other innovations, however, are exciting, in that the iPhone's SOS feature, using satellite communications, is already saving lives. Apparently a car went off the road in a forest area in Southern California, and standard cell service wasn't available. One of...

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Privacy advocates are aghast at UK’s anti-encryption plans

The UK government is making waves now, with an Online Safety Bill. The drama here is that they want to force any messenger apps to scan through all private messages for illegal content. They don't stop there... internal proprietary efforts would be discarded, and the...

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Lawmakers Intro Bill to Ban TikTok in U.S. – Nextgov

Lawmakers Intro Bill to Ban TikTok in U.S. – Nextgov

TikTok is coming under fire again. This time, there are folks on both sides of Congress that are noting the threat. They are seeking a ban on the app, due to the political influence capabilities, all based on Chinese ownership, which could run afoul of the ban of...

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NFTs minted on FTX break, highlighting Web2 hosting flaws

NFTs minted on FTX break, highlighting Web2 hosting flaws

NFTs, non-fungible-tokens... OK, think of it like this.... artwork, that was unique and rare, stored in digital form. They must be authroized by a blockchain, a series of numbers in encrypted public form. Some of the NFTs that were authenticated by the FTX blockchain,...

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