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"In the last few years, the U.S. has seen a boom in cryptocurrency mining," writes Ars Technica. But they add
that the U.S. government "is now trying to track exactly what that means for the consumption of electricity.
Specifically, a crucial branch of the U.S. Department of Energy.
"While its analysis is preliminary, the Energy Information Agency (EIA) estimates that large-scale
cryptocurrency operations are now consuming over 2 percent of the U.S.'s electricity." That's roughly the
equivalent of having added an additional state to the grid over just the last three years."
While there is some small-scale mining that goes on with personal computers and small rigs, most
cryptocurrency mining has moved to large collections of specialized hardware. While this hardware can be
pricy compared to personal computers, the main cost for these operations is electricity use, so the miners will
tend to move to places with low electricity rates. The EIA report notes that, in the wake of a crackdown on
cryptocurrency in China, a lot of that movement has involved relocation to the U.S., where keeping electricity
prices low has generally been a policy priority.
One independent estimate made by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance had the US as the home of
just over 3 percent of the global bitcoin mining at the start of 2020. By the start of 2022, that figure was nearly
38 percent... The EIA decided it needed a better grip on what was going on... To better understand the
implications of this major new drain on the U.S. electric grid, the EIA will be performing monthly analyses of
bitcoin operations during the first half of 2024.
The Energy Information Agency identified 137 bitcoin mining operators, of which 101 responded to inquiries
about their full-capacity power supply. "If running all-out, those 101 facilities would consume 2.3 percent of the
US's average power demand," the article points out. And they add that in at least five instances, the Agency
found bitcoin operators had "moved in near underutilized power plants and sent generation soaring again...
"These are almost certainly fossil fuel plants that might be reasonable candidates for retirement if it weren't for
their use to supply bitcoin miners."
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Nicholas Wise is a fluid dynamics researcher who moonlights as a scientific fraud buster, reports Science
magazine. And last June he "was digging around on shady Facebook groups when he came across something he
had never seen before." Wise was all too familiar with offers to sell or buy author slots and reviews on scientific
papers — the signs of a busy paper mill. Exploiting the growing pressure on scientists worldwide to amass
publications even if they lack resources to undertake quality research, these furtive intermediaries by some
accounts pump out tens or even hundreds of thousands of articles every year. Many contain made-up data;
others are plagiarized or of low quality. Regardless, authors pay to have their names on them, and the mills can
make tidy profits.
But what Wise was seeing this time was new. Rather than targeting potential authors and reviewers, someone
who called himself Jack Ben, of a firm whose Chinese name translates to Olive Academic, was going for journal
editors — offering large sums of cash to these gatekeepers in return for accepting papers for publication. "Sure
you will make money from us," Ben promised prospective collaborators in a document linked from the Facebook
posts, along with screenshots showing transfers of up to $20,000 or more. In several cases, the recipient's name
could be made out through sloppy blurring, as could the titles of two papers. More than 50 journal editors had
already signed on, he wrote. There was even an online form for interested editors to fill out...
Publishers and journals, recognizing the threat, have beefed up their research integrity teams and retracted
papers, sometimes by the hundreds. They are investing in ways to better spot third-party involvement, such as
screening tools meant to flag bogus papers. So cash-rich paper mills have evidently adopted a new tactic:
bribing editors and planting their own agents on editorial boards to ensure publication of their manuscripts. An
investigation by Science and Retraction Watch, in partnership with Wise and other industry experts, identified
several paper mills and more than 30 editors of reputable journals who appear to be involved in this type of
activity. Many were guest editors of special issues, which have been flagged in the past as particularly
vulnerable to abuse because they are edited separately from the regular journal. But several were regular
editors or members of journal editorial boards. And this is likely just the tip of the iceberg.
The spokesperson for one journal publisher tells Science that its editors are receiving bribe offers every week..
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article..
Linus Torvalds Has 'Robust Exchanges' Over Filesystem Suggestion on
Linux Kernel Mailing List (theregister.com)
Linus Torvalds had "some robust exchanges" on the Linux kernel mailing list with a contributor from Google.
The subject was inodes, notes the Register, "which as Red Hat puts it are each 'a unique identifier for a specific
piece of metadata on a given filesystem.'" Inodes have been the subject of debate on the Linux Kernel Mailing
list for the last couple of weeks, with Googler Steven Rostedt and Torvalds engaging in some robust exchanges
on the matter. In a thread titled, "Have the inodes all for files and directories all be the same," posters noted
that inodes may still have a role when using tar to archive files. Torvalds countered that inodes have had their
day. "Yes, inode numbers used to be special, and there's history behind it. But we should basically try very hard
to walk away from that broken history," he wrote. "An inode number just isn't a unique descriptor any more.
We're not living in the 1970s, and filesystems have changed." But debate on inodes continued. Rostedt
eventually suggested that inodes should all have unique numbers...
In response... Torvalds opened: "Stop making things more complicated than they need to be." Then he got a bit
shouty. "And dammit, STOP COPYING VFS LAYER FUNCTIONS. It was a bad idea last time, it's a horribly
bad idea this time too. I'm not taking this kind of crap." Torvalds's main criticism of Rostedt's approach is that
the Google dev didn't fully understand the subject matter — which Rostedt later acknowledged.
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"An inode number just isn't a unique descriptor any more," Torvalds wrote at one point.
"We're not living in the 1970s, and filesystems have changed."
Could We Fight Global Warming With A Giant Umbrella in Outer
Space?
(seattletimes.com)
The New York Times reports on a potential fix for global warming being proiposed by "a small but growing
number of astronomers and physicists... the equivalent of a giant beach umbrella, floating in outer space. " The
idea is to create a huge sunshade and send it to a far away point between the Earth and the sun to block a small
but crucial amount of solar radiation, enough to counter global warming. Scientists have calculated that if just
shy of 2% of the sun's radiation is blocked, that would be enough to cool the planet by 1.5 degrees Celsius, or
2.7 Fahrenheit, and keep Earth within manageable climate boundaries. The idea has been at the outer fringes
of conversations about climate solutions for years. But as the climate crisis worsens, interest in sun shields has
been gaining momentum, with more researchers offering up variations. There's even a foundation dedicated to
promoting solar shields.
A recent study led by the University of Utah explored scattering dust deep into space, while a team at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is looking into creating a shield made of "space bubbles." Last summer,
Istvan Szapudi, an astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, published a paper that
suggested tethering a big solar shield to a repurposed asteroid. Now scientists led by Yoram Rozen, a physics
professor and the director of the Asher Space Research Institute at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, say
they are ready to build a prototype shade to show that the idea will work.
To block the necessary amount of solar radiation, the shade would have to be about 1 million square miles,
roughly the size of Argentina, Rozen said. A shade that big would weigh at least 2.5 million tons — too heavy to
launch into space, he said. So, the project would have to involve a series of smaller shades. They would not
completely block the sun's light but rather cast slightly diffused shade onto Earth, he said. Rozen said his team
was ready to design a prototype shade of 100 square feet and is seeking between $10 million and $20 million to
fund the demonstration. "We can show the world, 'Look, there is a working solution, take it, increase it to the
necessary size," he said...
Rozen said the team was still in the predesign phase but could launch a prototype within three years after
securing funds. He estimated that a full-size version would cost trillions (a tab "for the world to pick up, not a
single country," he said) but reduce the Earth's temperature by 1.5 Celsius within two years. "We at the
Technion are not going to save the planet," Rozen said. "But we're going to show that it can be done."
Police Departments Are Turning To AI To Sift Through Unreviewed BodyCam Footage
(propublica.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ProPublica: Over the last decade, police departments across the
U.S. have spent millions of dollars equipping their officers with body-worn cameras that record what happens
as they go about their work. Everything from traffic stops to welfare checks to responses to active shooters is
now documented on video. The cameras were pitched by national and local law enforcement authorities as a
tool for building public trust between police and their communities in the wake of police killings of civilians like
Michael Brown, an 18 year old black teenager killed in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. Video has the potential not
only to get to the truth when someone is injured or killed by police, but also to allow systematic reviews of
officer behavior to prevent deaths by flagging troublesome officers for supervisors or helping identify realworld examples of effective and destructive behaviors to use for training. But a series of ProPublica stories has
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shown that a decade on, those promises of transparency and accountability have not been realized.
One challenge: The sheer amount of video captured using body-worn cameras means few agencies have the
resources to fully examine it. Most of what is recorded is simply stored away, never seen by anyone. Axon, the
nation's largest provider of police cameras and of cloud storage for the video they capture, has a database of
footage that has grown from around 6 terabytes in 2016 to more than 100 petabytes today. That's enough to
hold more than 5,000 years of high definition video, or 25 million copies of last year's blockbuster movie
"Barbie." "In any community, body-worn camera footage is the largest source of data on police-community
interactions. Almost nothing is done with it," said Jonathan Wender, a former police officer who heads Polis
Solutions, one of a growing group of companies and researchers offering analytic tools powered by artificial
intelligence to help tackle that data problem.
The Paterson, New Jersey, police department has made such an analytic tool a major part of its plan to
overhaul its force. In March 2023, the state's attorney general took over the department after police shot and
killed Najee Seabrooks, a community activist experiencing a mental health crisis who had called 911 for help.
The killing sparked protests and calls for a federal investigation of the department. The attorney general
appointed Isa Abbassi, formerly the New York Police Department's chief of strategic initiatives, to develop a
plan for how to win back public trust. "Changes in Paterson are led through the use of technology," Abbassi
said at a press conference announcing his reform plan in September, "Perhaps one of the most exciting
technology announcements today is a real game changer when it comes to police accountability and
professionalism." The department, Abassi said, had contracted with Truleo, a Chicago-based software company
that examines audio from bodycam videos to identify problematic officers and patterns of behavior.
For around $50,000 a year, Truleo's software allows supervisors to select from a set of specific behaviors to
flag, such as when officers interrupt civilians, use profanity, use force or mute their cameras. The flags are
based on data Truleo has collected on which officer behaviors result in violent escalation. Among the
conclusions from Truleo's research: Officers need to explain what they are doing. "There are certain officers
who don't introduce themselves, they interrupt people, and they don't give explanations. They just do a lot of
command, command, command, command, command," said Anthony Tassone, Truleo's co-founder. "That
officer's headed down the wrong path." For Paterson police, Truleo allows the department to "review 100% of
body worn camera footage to identify risky behaviors and increase professionalism," according to its strategic
overhaul plan. The software, the department said in its plan, will detect events like uses of force, pursuits, frisks
and non-compliance incidents and allow supervisors to screen for both "professional and unprofessional officer
language." There are around 30 police departments currently use Truleo, according to the company.
Christopher J. Schneider, a professor at Canada's Brandon University who studies the impact of emerging
technology on social perceptions of police, is skeptical the AI tools will fix the problems in policing because the
findings might be kept from the public just like many internal investigations. "Because it's confidential," he
said, "the public are not going to know which officers are bad or have been disciplined or not been disciplined."
Mathematicians Finally Solved Feynman's 'Reverse Sprinkler' Problem
(arstechnica.com)
Jennifer Ouellette reports via Ars Technica: A typical lawn sprinkler features various nozzles arranged at
angles on a rotating wheel; when water is pumped in, they release jets that cause the wheel to rotate. But what
would happen if the water were sucked into the sprinkler instead? In which direction would the wheel turn then,
or would it even turn at all? That's the essence of the "reverse sprinkler" problem that physicists like Richard
Feynman, among others, have grappled with since the 1940s. Now, applied mathematicians at New York
University think they've cracked the conundrum, per a recent paper published in the journal Physical Review
Letters -- and the answer challenges conventional wisdom on the matter. "Our study solves the problem by
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combining precision lab experiments with mathematical modeling that explains how a reverse sprinkler
operates," said co-author Leif Ristroph of NYU's Courant Institute. "We found that the reverse sprinkler spins in
the 'reverse' or opposite direction when taking in water as it does when ejecting it, and the cause is subtle and
surprising." [...]
Enter Leif Ristroph and colleagues, who built their own custom sprinkler that incorporated ultra-low-friction
rotary bearings so their device could spin freely. They immersed their sprinkler in water and used a special
apparatus to either pump water in or pull it out at carefully controlled flow rates. Particularly key to the
experiment was the fact that their custom sprinkler let the team observe and measure how water flowed inside,
outside, and through the device. Adding dyes and microparticles to the water and illuminating them with lasers
helped capture the flows on high-speed video. They ran their experiments for several hours at a time, the better
to precisely map the fluid-flow patterns.
Ristroph et al. found that the reverse sprinkler rotates a good 50 times slower than a regular sprinkler, but it
operates along similar mechanisms, which is surprising. "The regular or 'forward' sprinkler is similar to a
rocket, since it propels itself by shooting out jets," said Ristroph. "But the reverse sprinkler is mysterious since
the water being sucked in doesn't look at all like jets. We discovered that the secret is hidden inside the
sprinkler, where there are indeed jets that explain the observed motions." A reverse sprinkler acts like an
"inside-out rocket," per Ristroph, and although the internal jets collide, they don't do so head-on. "The jets
aren't directed exactly at the center because of distortion of the flow as it passes through the curved arm," Ball
wrote. "As the water flows around the bends in the arms, it is slung outward by centrifugal force, which gives
rise to asymmetric flow profiles." It's admittedly a subtle effect, but their experimentally observed flow patterns
are in excellent agreement with the group's mathematical models.
IEA Lowers Renewables Forecast For Clean Hydrogen
(reuters.com)
Although hydrogen-dedicated renewable energy capacity is expected to increase by 45 GW between 2022 and
2028, the estimates are 35% lower than what the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasted a year ago.
Reuters reports: There is growing political momentum for low-emission hydrogen but actual implementation has
been held up by uncertain demand outlooks, a lack of clarity in regulatory frameworks, and a lack of
infrastructure to deliver hydrogen to end users, the IEA said in an emailed response to questions. Slow progress
on real-world implementation "is a consequence of barriers that could be expected in a sector that needs to
build up new and complex value chains," the IEA said. Uncertainties have been exacerbated by inflation and
sluggish policy implementation.
Expected renewable energy capacity for hydrogen production represents just 7% of the capacity pledged for the
same period and one tenth the sum of government targets for 2030, IEA said in its report. Around 75% of
expected capacity is based in three countries, with China taking the lion's share, followed by Saudi Arabia and
the United States, the IEA says.
EPA Proposes 'Forever Chemicals' Be Considered Hazardous
Substances (npr.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing that nine
PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals," be categorized as hazardous to human health. The EPA signed a
proposal Wednesday that would deem the chemicals "hazardous constituents" under the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act. For the agency to consider a substance a hazardous constituent, it has to be toxic or cause
cancer, genetic mutation or the malformations of an embryo. The full list of the nine substances can be found
here.
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The agency cited various studies in which forever chemicals were found to cause a litany of "toxic effects" in
humans and animals, including, but not limited to cancer, a decreased response to vaccinations, high
cholesterol, decrease in fertility in women, preeclampsia, thyroid disorders and asthma, the EPA said. Short for
"per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances," PFAS cover thousands of man-made chemicals. PFAS are often used for
manufacturing purposes, such as in nonstick cookware, adhesives, firefighting foam, turf and more. PFAS have
been called "forever chemicals" because they break down very slowly and can accumulate in people, animals
and the environment. Further reading: 'Forever Chemicals' Taint Nearly Half of US Tap Water, Study
Estimates
Fans Preserve and Emulate Sega's Extremely Rare '80s 'AI Computer'
(arstechnica.com)
Kyle Orland reports via Ars Technica: Even massive Sega fans would be forgiven for not being too familiar with
the Sega AI Computer. After all, the usually obsessive documentation over at Sega Retro includes only the
barest stub of an information page for the quixotic, education-focused 1986 hardware. Thankfully, the folks at
the self-described "Sega 8-bit preservation and fanaticism" site SMS Power have been able to go a little deeper.
The site's recently posted deep dive on the Sega AI Computer includes an incredible amount of well-documented
information on this historical oddity, including ROMs for dozens of previously unpreserved pieces of software
that can now be partially run on MAME. [...]
While the general existence of the Sega AI Computer has been known in certain circles for a while, detailed
information about its workings and software was extremely hard to come by, especially in the English-speaking
world. That began to change in 2014 when a rare Yahoo Auctions listing offered a boxed AI Computer along
with 15 pieces of software. The site was able to crowdfund the winning bid on that auction (which reportedly
ran the equivalent of $1,100) and later obtained a keyboard and more software from the winner of a 2022
auction. SMS Power notes that the majority of the software it has uncovered "had zero information about them
on the Internet prior to us publishing them: no screenshots, no photos or scans of actual software." Now, the
site's community has taken the trouble to preserve all those ROMs and create a new MAME driver that already
allows for "partial emulation" of the system (which doesn't yet include a keyboard, tape drive, or speech
emulation support).
That dumped software is all "educational and mostly aimed at kids," SMS Power notes, and is laden with
Japanese text that will make it hard for many foreigners to even tinker with. That means this long-lost emulation
release probably won't set the MAME world on fire as 2022's surprise dump of Marble Madness II did. Still, it's
notable how much effort the community has put in to fill a formerly black hole in our understanding of this
corner of Sega history. SMS Power's write-up of its findings is well worth a full look, as is the site's massive
Google Drive, which is filled with documentation, screenshots, photos, contemporaneous articles and ads, and
much more.
Japan To Introduce Six-Month Residency Visa For 'Digital Nomads'
(nikkei.com)
In an effort to boost tourism and innovation, Japan will launch a new visa program for digital nomads, allowing
remote workers to work in the country for up to six months while enjoying sightseeing trips. Tech Times
reports: Starting from the end of March, Japan will introduce a unique visa status aimed at IT engineers and
remote workers employed by overseas companies. The program is designed to cater to the evolving work
landscape, recognizing the surge in digital nomads-individuals who can seamlessly work from anywhere in the
world. Nikkei Asia (paywalled) tells us that to be eligible for this digital nomad visa, applicants must boast an
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annual income of at least 10 million yen ($68,000).
Citizens from 50 countries and regions, including the U.S., Australia, and Singapore, which have existing visa
waiver agreements with Japan, can apply. Private health insurance is a prerequisite, ensuring the well-being of
the visa holders during their stay. Self-employed individuals engaged in overseas business can also benefit from
this innovative program. Moreover, they have the option to bring their family members along, provided they are
covered by private health insurance.
While the program offers the freedom to explore Japan, it has unique conditions. Digital nomads under this visa
will not receive a residence card or certificate, limiting access to specific government benefits. The visa is nonrenewable, requiring reapplication after a six-month interval, and applicants must spend that time outside the
country. Japan joins the ranks of over 50 countries issuing digital nomad visas. Notably, South Korea allows up
to two years, while Taiwan offers a three-year stay, with the possibility of permanent residency. The diverse
offerings cater to digital nomads' varied needs and preferences, seeking a balance between work and
exploration.
Apple Says EU Represents 7% of Global App Store Revenue
(techcrunch.com)
Ivan Mehta reports via TechCrunch: Nearly a week after Apple announced big changes to the App Store
because of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules, the company said that the market represents
7% of its global App Store revenues. The company's chief financial officer Luca Maestri said that the monetary
impact of these changes will depend on choices made by developers to adopt different systems. "A lot will
depend on the choices that will be made. Just to keep it in context, the changes applied to the EU market, which
represents roughly 7% of our global app store revenue," he said in reply to an analyst's question.
Because of DMA, Apple has to allow alternative app stores and let developers use third-party payment
processors. The company plans to charge a core tech fee if an app crosses a million annual downloads across
different app stores. Amid these changes, Apple noted a record quarter for App Store revenues. The company's
overall services revenue was $23.1 billion with an 11% jump year-on-year. Apple continued its narrative of
defending the App Store and its commission ecosystem by saying that it provides the best privacy and security.
CEO Tim Cook emphasized that the company will fall short of providing the best experience to users because of
these changes.
"If you think about what we've done over the years is, we've really majored on privacy, security and usability.
And we've tried our best to get as close to the past in terms of the things that are -- that people love about our
ecosystem as we can, but we are going to fall short of providing the maximum amount that we could supply,
because we need to comply with the regulation," he said.
YouTube, Discord, and Lord of the Rings Led Police To a Teen Accused
of a US Swatting Spree (wired.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: A California teenager prosecutors say is responsible for
hundreds of swatting attacks around the United States was exposed after law enforcement pieced together a
digital trail left on some of the internet's largest platforms, according to court records released this week. Alan
Winston Filion, a 17-year-old from Lancaster, California, faces four felony charges in Florida's Seminole
County related to swatting, or fake threats called into the police to provoke a forceful response, according to
Florida state prosecutors. Police arrested Filion on January 18, and he was extradited to Seminole County this
week.
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Filion's arrest, first reported by WIRED on January 26, marks the culmination of a multi-agency manhunt for
the person police claim is responsible for swatting attacks on high schools, historically black colleges and
universities, mosques, and federal agents, and for threats to bomb the Pentagon, members of the United States
Senate, and the US Supreme Court. Ultimately, a YouTube channel, Discord chats, and usernames related to
The Lord of the Rings helped lead authorities to Filion's doorstep.
Florida prosecutors charged Filion with four felony counts, including three related to allegedly making false
reports to law enforcement and one for unlawful use of a two-way radio for "facilitating or furthering an act of
terrorism" that authorities say targeted people based on race, religion, or other protected classes. While
prosecutors alleged that Filion "is responsible for hundreds of swatting and bomb threat incidents throughout
the United States," the charges Filion faces relate to a single May 12, 2023, swatting attack against the Masjid
Al Hayy Mosque in Sanford, Florida. [...] At 2 pm EST on Wednesday, Filion shuffled into a Seminole County
courtroom and stood quietly as the judge read the charges against him. He is currently being held without bond.
Amazon Confirms Fire TV Is Dropping Android
(9to5google.com)
According to a job listing spotted by AFTVNews, Amazon makes it clear that the company plans to ditch
Android for its own "VegaOS" operating system. "The new platform is said to rely on React Native and would
require new apps to be built," reports 9to5Google. From the report: As spotted by AFTVNews, a job listing from
Amazon was looking for a "Fire TV Experience Software Development Engineer." The job listing's description
makes it abundantly clear that a key part of the role is focused on the transition from Android to the rumored
"VegaOS," because it quite literally says that's what is happening, with Amazon saying that Fire TV is
transitioning from "FOS/Android" (Fire OS/Android) to "native/Rust" and even explicitly mentioning React
Native. The listing, which has since been removed, provides extremely strong evidence of Amazon's plans, which
is probably why it was so quickly removed.
Three People Indicted In $400 Million FTX Crypto Hack Conspiracy
(cnbc.com)
When FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, the defunct cryptocurrency exchange suffered a hack that
resulted in more than $380 million in crypto stolen from FTX's virtual wallets. It turns out that FTX was hit
with a SIM-swapping scam orchestrated by ringleader Robert Powell. Powell, along with Carter Rohn and
Emily Hernandez, have been indicted and are due to appear in Chicago federal court later Friday for a detention
hearing. CNBC reports: The three defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy
to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, in a scheme that ran from March 2021 to last
April, and involved the co-conspirators traveling to cellphone retail stores in more than 15 states. The
indictment says the trio shared the personal identifying information of more than 50 victims, created fake
identification documents in the victims' names, impersonated them and then accessed their victims' "online,
financial and social media accounts for the purpose of stealing money and data."
The scheme relied on duping phone companies into swapping the Subscriber Identity Module of cell phone
subscribers into a cellphone controlled by members of the conspiracy, the indictment said. That in turn allowed
the conspirators to defeat the multifactor authentication protection on the victims' accounts, giving them access
to the money in those accounts. The indictment does not identify FTX by name as the main victim of the
conspiracy, but the details of the hack described in that charging document align with the details publicly
known about the theft from FTX, which was collapsing at the time of the attack.
Meta's $200 Billion Surge Is Biggest In Stock-Market History
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(yahoo.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Meta is poised to become Wall Street's top comeback
kid. It was only a couple of years back the Facebook owner suffered the single biggest market value destruction
in stock-market history. But the company has come a long way since then, on Thursday it dazzled shareholders
with yet another impressive quarterly earnings report as the social media giant focuses on cutting back costs
and shoring up billions in profits. The stock rose as much as 21% Friday, poised to add roughly $200 billion to
its market capitalization. This would be the biggest single-session market value addition, eclipsing the $190
billion gains made by Apple and Amazon in 2022.
"Solid execution, faster growth, and increased capital structure efficiency improve the outlook from here," Brian
Nowak, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note Friday. "Meta's AI pipeline for both users and advertisers
is robust, with more tools set to launch and scale throughout '24," he added. Meta, which reduced headcount by
22% in 2023, unveiled plans for a $50 billion stock buyback, and announced its first quarterly dividend on
Thursday, a sign to investors that it has money to spare and a reason for them to stick around. While the
company is making big cost cuts, it continues to spend aggressively on artificial intelligence advancements,
namely in generative AI but also on the background technologies to help feed its social media products and
power its ad targeting.
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