Bruised Stocks Face Week Full of Tests, From Nvidia to Powell
Equity traders reeling from the market’s worst stretch since February face some pivotal events in the days ahead,
2023-08-20 21:15
Musk vows to remove blocking function from X/Twitter as new logo debuted
Elon Musk announced on Friday that X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, will dramatically limit the ability of users to block other accounts, a move that critics say will allow harassment to flourish on the platform. “Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature’, except for DMs [direct messages],” Mr Musk wrote in a post on X on Friday. “It makes no sense.” Critics quickly pounced on the move. “I thought the old Twitter was a pretty negative force for American society, I’m glad it was ‘disrupted’, but removing the ability to block will just encourage the kind of pile-ons that made it bad,” wrote journalist Nate Silver in an X post. Monica Lewinsky wrote a post of her own tagging Mr Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino, saying, “please rethink removing the block feature. as an anti-bullying activist (and target of harassment) i can assure you it’s a critical tool to keep people safe online. - that woman.” Even some X investors like Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao seemed sceptical. “X should really solve the bots & spam problems before removing blocks,” he wrote on X. “Just my 0.02.” As X users flagged in a community note, the removal of the blocking feature, which allows X users to block certain accounts from appearing in their feeds or being visible to others interacting with their content, could run afoul of the policies of the Apple and Google app stores. “It’s a downward spiral that cannot be good for the long term success of X,” Louis Jones of the Brand Safety Institute told CNBC. The potential change to the policy is the latest tweak Mr Musk has made to the service since taking it over last year. Earlier this week, users noticed the X logo had changed on Apple operating systems, appearing with a grunge-style effect over the company’s X symbol. “The cracks & scratches better represent this product that I love,” Mr Musk wrote of the new design. The concern over changing the block feature follows a report from The Washington Post that X has been throttling traffic to news sites and competitors. Read More Elon Musk says ability to block other X accounts may be removed in future Elon Musk’s X now sorts posts on accounts based on number of likes, not by chronology Elon Musk’s Twitter slows down access to rival websites X now sorts posts on accounts based on number of likes, not by chronology Musk’s Twitter takeover sparks mass exodus of climate experts Elon Musk’s Twitter slows down access to rival websites
2023-08-20 00:57
British Columbia Declares Fire Emergency With Thousands Evacuated
Record-breaking wildfires in Canada are heading toward key population centers in the country’s west, prompting the province of
2023-08-19 10:22
RNC Disputes Miami Mayor Suarez’s Claim He Qualified for Debate
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says he has qualified for the first Republican presidential debate, but according to a
2023-08-19 09:18
AI Regulations Would Enrich China, Limit Competition, DeSantis Says
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said regulations on artificial intelligence would protect a handful of companies from competition, entrench
2023-08-19 02:54
Hong Kong Finance ‘Czar’ Yam Is Frontrunner as Next HKEX Chair
Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s founding chief executive, Joseph Yam, has emerged as the leading candidate to become the
2023-08-18 16:51
Elon Musk Arrives in Japan for First Visit in Nine Years
Elon Musk has arrived in Japan for his first known visit in nine years. The chief executive officer
2023-08-18 11:45
SEC Set to Greenlight Ether-Futures ETFs in Win for Crypto Industry
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to allow the first exchange-traded funds based on Ether futures,
2023-08-18 07:24
Amazon Imposing Fee on Sellers Who Ship Products Themselves
Amazon.com Inc. is imposing a new fee on merchants who don’t use the company’s logistics services, a change
2023-08-17 21:23
Google makes preparation for the ‘quantum apocalypse’ with Chrome update
Google is preparing for the “quantum apocalypse”. Experts have warned for years that the development of quantum computers could undermine the encryption that currently secures everything from our private messages to our banking details. Quantum computers are a still largely theoretical technology that proponents claim could dramatically beat the performance of the classical computers we have today. That could be a major positive for applications such as drug research and quantum computing – but could be disastrous for security technology. Much of that security technology depends on mathematical problems that are sufficiently hard for our computers to work out as to keep that data secure. But future quantum computers could overcome those problems in seconds, and break into any data. That is what is referred to by researchers as the “quantum apocalypse”. And an entire subset of computing – post-quantum cryptography – has grown to find ways to secure data even if that future does come about. Now Google has put some of that work into practice, in Chrome. The new technology includes new cryptography that should be resistant to attempts to break it with future quantum computers. It does so by integrating a technology known as X25519Kyber768, a long name for what is actually a hybrid of two cryptographic algorithms. Tying the two together means that data is protected both by an existing secure algorithm and one that is protected against quantum computers. The updates are part of broader work across Google to “prepare the web for the migration to quantum-resistant cryptography”. Devon O’Brien, Google’s technical program manager for Chrome security, who wrote the blog post announcing the changes, noted that quantum computers could be decades away. But remains important to secure data now in part so that it cannot be filed away, ready to break into when the technology arrives. “It’s believed that quantum computers that can break modern classical cryptography won’t arrive for 5, 10, possibly even 50 years from now, so why is it important to start protecting traffic today? The answer is that certain uses of cryptography are vulnerable to a type of attack called Harvest Now, Decrypt Later, in which data is collected and stored today and later decrypted once cryptanalysis improves.” Read More Google is getting ready for the ‘quantum apocalypse’ Vote to empower autonomous ‘robotaxis’ from Cruise and Waymo divides San Francisco ‘Billions’ of computers potentially affect by huge security vulnerability
2023-08-17 13:19
China’s Gallium Exports in Limbo After Start of Curbs
China’s push to control its exports of gallium has sent prices for the metal used in semiconductors to
2023-08-17 11:54
China’s Housing Slump Is Much Worse Than Official Data Shows
Judging by China’s official statistics, the nation’s housing market has been remarkably resilient in the face of tepid
2023-08-17 07:48