Queen Elizabeth shared the pain she felt after the death of her husband as she encouraged people everywhere to celebrate Christmas with friends and family, despite the grief caused by the ongoing pandemic.
Financial Times : Q&A with Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison: copycat features from big rivals have not impacted the company “in any real way” and making money is not a pressing concern — The app was pegged as the future of social media. After a lukewarm end to 2021, it faces an uphill battle to turn a profit
An MSNBC columnist is calling for the end of the NORAD Santa tracker claiming that it is time to “decouple” Santa Claus from American military culture.
Washington Post : Pregnancy app What to Expect says it invested significantly in content moderation, as vaccine misinformation rises in the community sections of pregnancy apps — How the What To Expect site managed to clean up its big anti-vaccine problem — For generations of parents …
Jason Bateman was named the 2022 Man of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals on Thursday, the first recipient of the award since 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The past doesn't tell us much about how the House committee investigating the January riot at the Capitol can get the information it wants from Reps. Scott Perry, R-Penn., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge : Microsoft cancels in-person plans for CES, joining Google, Meta, Amazon, Twitter, and others, amid ongoing concerns over COVID-19 — Microsoft joins Intel, GM, Amazon, and Google in canceling — Microsoft is the latest company to drop a physical presence at CES, as the increased prevalence of COVID-19 spooks exhibitors.
Reuters : Dutch antitrust regulator orders Apple to let dating apps in the App Store offer alternative payment systems by January 15 or face up to a €50M fine — The Netherlands' top competition regulator on Friday said Apple Inc (AAPL.O) broke the country's competition laws and ordered changes …
Things went off script when President Biden and first lady Jill Biden spoke with children and NORAD officials who are tracking Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
Despite Noth's carefree experience, the "Sex and the City" star has been in the news after multiple women have come forward accusing him of sexual assault.
Bloomberg : Despite huge leaps in 2021, the crypto industry remained plagued by long-term problems: trading glitches, infrastructure snafus, hacks, and other weirdness — The industry is still plagued by trading glitches, infrastructure snafus, hacks and weirdness — just as it's been from the start.
Prosecutors in Nassau County, New York, will not bring charges against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over sexual misconduct allegations that came out of a state attorney general's investigation.
Longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell is urging Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, one of his top allies in the chamber, to run for reelection next year.
Yogita Khatri / The Block : Research: decentralized exchanges reported $1T+ in trading volumes in 2021, up 858% from $115B in 2020; monthly DEX trading volume peaked in May at $162.8B — Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) reported more than $1 trillion in trading volumes in the year 2021, according to The Block Research.
FinSMEs : HyperScience, which uses AI to extract data from business forms, raises a $100M Series E led by Global Founders, Tiger, Stripes, and Bessemer — Hyperscience, a NYC-based human centered automation company, raised $100m in Series E funding. — The round was led by existing investors Global …
House progressives, irate over Sen. Joe Manchin tanking Democrats massive reconciliation spending bill, are demanding that President Biden take executive action to implement some of the legislation.
The Economic Times : India bans 20 “anti-India” YouTube channels and two websites for allegedly being tied to Pakistan, invoking its new IT Act's emergency powers for the first time — India banned 20 YouTube channels and two websites on Monday for allegedly running anti-India propaganda from Pakistan …
EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump said his new media company will likely be up and running in the first quarter of 2022, telling Fox News in an exclusive interview that the platform is currently “under development” and will be a way of ”getting our voice out to a lot of people."
San Francisco’s far-left district attorney, Chesa Boudin, slammed Mayor London Breed’s new crackdown on crime and defended himself as "vigorously pursuing" the accountability of criminals.
Anish Athalye : Researcher shows how ML models can create low-resolution images from PhotoDNA hashes, used to identify CSAM, despite Microsoft's claim they can't be reversed — Microsoft PhotoDNA creates a “unique digital signature” of an image which can be matched against a database containing signatures …
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to take on communist China, saying the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not something that his state wants to be involved with.
In a move to counter extremism in the ranks, the Department of Defense issued new guidelines Monday on what it will not tolerate from service members, but some in the GOP are concerned.
The Cloudflare Blog : TikTok.com was the most popular domain globally between August and December 2021, after surpassing Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon during 2021 — Loading... Sofia Cardita — The years come and go, Internet traffic continues to grow (at least so far and with some ‘help’ from the pandemic) …
Bette Midler apologized for an "outburst" on Twitter over Sen. Joe Manchin's opposition to the Build Back Better Act in which she called West Virginia "poor, illiterate and strung out"
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record : The US DOJ charges five Russian nationals with hacking two SEC Filing Agents between January 2018 and September 2020, and using the stolen info for stock trades — The US Department of Justice has charged today five Russian nationals, including a former officer of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency …
Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida, a leader among the moderate wing of House Democrats, announced Monday that she will retire after her current term and not seek reelection in 2022.
Tim Copeland / The Block : Crypto staking service Figment raises a $110M Series C led by Thoma Bravo at a $1.4B valuation; Figment has $10M in revenue/month with ~$100M projected for 2021 — Quick Take — Staking provider Figment has raised $110 million at a $1.4 billion valuation.
Two Republican campaign arms and a conservative nonprofit characterized the apparent failure of President Biden's Build Back Better legislation as a “nightmare before Christmas” for vulnerable Democrats going into the 2022 midterm elections.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch : Zepto, which offers a “10-minute” grocery delivery service in five Indian cities, raises a $100M Series C led by YC Continuity Fund at a $570M valuation — Zepto, a Mumbai-based startup that operates a 10-minute instant grocery delivery service, has more than doubled its valuation …
Cruz led seven of his Senate colleagues on the brief, which was also joined by 38 House Republicans led by House Republican Conference chair Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
A proposal by the race equality task force at the University of Oxford in England is sparking controversy after claiming it's "important to embed" equality, diversity and inclusion into "all recruitment."
Ben Bowman / The Streamable : YouTube TV reaches a deal with Disney to bring back 17+ channels including ABC, Disney, ESPN, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic — After one day of being dark, YouTube TV and Disney have reached a deal which will see more than 17 Disney-owned channels, including local ABC affiliates, Disney Channel, and ESPN return to the service.
Jeff Garlin reportedly railed against “The Goldbergs” for being too politically correct weeks before he left the show amid HR investigations into his behavior.
Former national security adviser for Afghanistan said he did not realize the U.S. was going to completely withdraw no matter the situation on the ground, while the Taliban was poised to take over.
Anton Shilov / AnandTech : Report: chipmakers are on track to spend $152B on new fabs and production equipment in 2021, up 34% YoY, which is the strongest YoY growth since 2017 — Semiconductor makers have drastically increased their capital expenditures (CapEx) this year in response to unprecedented demand for chips that is going to last for years.