Interesting news from around the World

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AI boom masks fundraising struggles for non-AI startups

“VCs are excited to back AI companies at red-hot valuations, “but everything else is really challenged,”

A new wave of desalination startups argues that deeper is better

It’s a cruel reality that only about 3% of the world’s water is fresh, and of that, only a fraction is readily available.

How CEOS should think about growth

There are only a handful of things you can do to grow faster. The trick is going all-in on just one.

Google unveils ‘mindboggling’ quantum computing chip

Chip takes minutes to complete tasks that would otherwise take 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.

Amazon announces a new family of multimodal AI models

At its re:Invent conference on Tuesday, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing division, announced a new family of multimodal generative AI models it calls Nova.

Bitcoin Is flying High – These countries are considering a national reserve

Some countries are mulling a national Bitcoin reserve amid a historic market run-up that has pushed the world’s largest cryptocurrency to new heights in recent weeks.

Meta plans to build a $10B subsea cable spanning the world

Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is the second-biggest driver of internet usage globally. Its properties – and their billions of users – account for 10% of all fixed and 22% of all mobile traffic.

What’s in a name? Zoom is changing its name. But its users will still call it Zoom

While the change won’t alter how the company’s branding looks or sounds, it is significant for a different reason.

Diamond optical discs could store data for millions of years

Researchers have achieved a record-breaking diamond storage density of 1.85 terabytes per cubic centimeter.

Thought you understood art? Duct-taped banana sells for $6.2m

Sothebys says Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun outbid six other rivals to get the ‘Comedian’ installation of the Italian visual artist on Wednesday.

Fintech giant Finastra confirms it’s investigating a data breach

Finastra, a London-based financial software company that serves most of the world’s top banks, has confirmed it’s investigating a data breach after a hacker claimed a compromise of the company’s internal file-transfer platform.

Sell Chrome to end search monopoly, Google told

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has demanded Google sells off Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser.

PayPal (once again) lets you pool money from others to pay for things together

PayPal is launching a few features that let users in groups pool money with friends or family, to collectively pay for trips, travels, gifts, and anything else.

NFTs weekly sales surge 94% as crypto market continues bullish run

The Ethereum network led the week with $67 million in NFT sales, while Bitcoin-based NFTs recorded $60 million in sales over the last seven days.

$12,000 surgery to change eye colour is surging in popularity

Keratopigmentation could be dangerous, doctors warn. Patients say it’s worth the risks.

New Apple security feature reboots iPhones after 3 days

Apple’s new iPhone software comes with a novel security feature that reboots the phone if it’s not unlocked for 72 hours, according to security researchers.

Man jailed for three years for selling illegal streaming services on Amazon Fire Sticks

Jonathan Edge, 29, ran a service uploading illegal services to Fire Stick devices in return for cash-in-hand payments, using Facebook advertising and word-of-mouth recommendations to run his operation.

NatWest blocks staff from using WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger

The bank had already told employees to stick to “approved channels” for conversations about business matters. But now it has gone further and made the platforms inaccessible on work phones and computers.

Amazon launches a colour e-ink Kindle and a new Kindle Scribe

Amazon has just announced four new Kindles in a shake-up of its ebook readers. The updated range includes new versions of the entry-level model, the fastest Kindle ever in the new Paperwhite, a stylishly redesigned Scribe and the first-ever Kindle with a color screen.

Fujitsu boss ‘does not know’ if his own company’s Horizon software is reliable

Fujitsu Europe’s boss has admitted he “does not know” if the Post Office Horizon IT system at the heart of hundreds of sub-postmasters’ wrongful convictions is reliable.

Why so many AI regulations are so wrong

The problem with most attempts at regulating AI so far is that lawmakers are focusing on some mythical future AI experience, instead of truly understanding the new risks AI actually introduces.

Will Trump’s victory spark a global trade war?

Donald Trump vowed on his campaign that he would tax all goods imported into the US if he won back the White House. Following his victory, businesses and economists around the world are scrambling to work out how serious he is.

What Trump’s win might mean for Elon Musk

Elon Musk – the billionaire CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, and the owner of The Boring Company, Neuralink, and X – took a sharp swing to the right this election to support President-elect Donald Trump, using his vast wealth, influence, and megaphone on X to influence the outcome of the election.

Singapore advances asset tokenization with new frameworks

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced a multipronged effort to advance the commercialization of asset tokenization. To achieve its goals, the MAS has drawn from various projects and produced new frameworks to provide guidance.

UBS launches tokenized money market investment fund on Ethereum

Investment giant UBS, the largest private bank in the world, today announced the launch of uMINT, or the ‘UBS USD Money Market Investment Fund Token,’ a tokenized investment fund on the Ethereum blockchain.

Who Spends the Most Time on Social Media?

Humanity will spend a combined total of 500 million years on social media in 2024.

Thousands of hacked TP-Link routers used in yearslong account takeover attacks

Hackers working on behalf of the Chinese government are using a botnet of thousands of routers, cameras, and other Internet-connected devices to perform highly evasive password spray attacks against users of Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, the company warned Thursday.

Amazon CEO hints at an ‘agentic’ Alexa

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Thursday hinted at an improved, “agentic” version of the company’s Alexa assistant – one that could take actions on a user’s behalf.

Cyber attack wipes out DHL delivery tracking systems causing issues

DHL is suffering from a major cyber-attack at a partnered tech firm, wiping out its delivery tracking systems for stores, according to Nisa.

Russia fines Google more money than there is in entire world

A Russian court has fined Google two undecillion roubles – a two followed by 36 zeroes – for restricting Russian state media channels on YouTube.

Belgium is constructing the world’s first artificial island to harness offshore wind

Set to be completed by 2027, the island, dubbed Princess Elisabeth, will integrate an impressive 3.5 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity into the Belgian power grid. That’s enough clean electricity to power over three million homes.

Dropbox is laying off 20% of its staff

In a letter to staff, CEO Drew Houston said the reduction in headcount would impact 528 people. The goal, he added, was to make cuts in areas where Dropbox has “over-invested” while designing a “flatter, more efficient” team structure.

Free, France’s second largest ISP, confirms data breach after leak

The company, which says it had over 22.9 million mobile and fixed subscribers at the end of June, is the second-largest telecommunications company in France and a subsidiary of the Iliad Group.

More than a quarter of new code at Google is generated by AI

Google is building a bunch of AI products, and it’s using AI as part of building those products, too. “More than a quarter of all new code at Google is generated by AI, then reviewed and accepted by engineers,” CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Instagram reveals it lowers quality of less popular videos

Instagram has revealed that it lowers the quality of older, less popular videos – reserving higher quality for more popular content.

“I can’t run a business like this”: Why the WordPress row matters

One of the world’s biggest web publishing platforms – used by a large chunk of the internet – is locked in a spat which is affecting thousands of businesses worldwide.

Microsoft boss gets 63% pay rise despite asking for reduction

Microsoft’s chief executive Satya Nadella earned $79.1m (£61m) last year, a rise of 63% compared to his compensation the year before.

TikTok owner sacks intern for sabotaging AI project

TikTok owner, ByteDance, says it has sacked an intern for “maliciously interfering” with the training of one of its artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Firm hacked after accidentally hiring North Korean cyber criminal

The unidentified firm hired the technician after he faked his employment history and personal details. Once given access to the company’s computer network, the hacker downloaded sensitive company data and sent a ransom demand.

How does WhatsApp make money? It’s free – with some tricks

Individual, personal WhatsApp accounts like mine are free because Whatsapp makes money from corporate customers wanting to communicate with users like me.

Microsoft will end Windows 10 support in one year

Ironically, Windows 10 remains the most widely used operating system worldwide.

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