Facebook Managers Trash Their Own Ad Targeting In Unsealed Remarks

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: Facebook is currently waging a PR campaign purporting to show that Apple is seriously injuring American small businesses through its iOS privacy features. But at the same time, according to allegations in recently unsealed court documents, Facebook has been selling them ad targeting that is unreliable to the point of being fraudulent….

US Approves NYSE Listing Plan To Cut Out Wall Street Middlemen

Companies may go public on the New York Stock Exchange without forking out fat fees to Wall Street banks which typically underwrite such capital raisings, the U.S. securities regulator said on Tuesday. Reuters reports: The Securities and Exchange Commission approval of the NYSE’s “direct” listing plan threatens to overhaul the U.S. initial public offering market, by allowing aspiring public companies to…

As Bitcoin Surges, Prominent Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase Aims To Go Public

Cryptocurrency brokerage Coinbase said Thursday that it has filed a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, paving the way for plans for an eventual initial public offering. CNN reports: The announcement comes as interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has soared during the coronavirus pandemic. Investors have found such currencies attractive as the US dollar weakens. Bitcoin has…

DOJ Case Against Google Likely Won’t Go To Trial Until Late 2023, Judge Says

The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google likely won’t go to trial until late 2023, Judge Amit Mehta said at a status hearing on Friday. Both parties agreed that seemed like a likely timeline and the judge set September 12, 2023, as a tentative date to start the trial. CNBC reports: The proposed timeline shows just how long Google (and likely…

High-Frequency Traders Push Closer To Light Speed With Cutting-Edge Cables

High-frequency traders are using an experimental type of cable to speed up their systems by billionths of a second, the latest move in a technological arms race to execute stock trades as quickly as possible. From a report: The cable, called hollow-core fiber, is a next-generation version of the fiber-optic cable used to deliver broadband internet to homes and businesses. Made…

Disney Stock Skyrockets 13% Friday to New All-Time High

CNN reports:
If it wasn’t abundantly clear that content is king, especially in the Covid-19 era, Disney hammered that point home Thursday when it previewed dozens of new series and movies for its Disney+ streaming service. And investors are loving it. Shares of Disney jumped 13% Friday to a new all-time high. The stock is now up more than 20% this year,…

Wall Street Begins Trading Water Futures as a Commodity

Wall Street has begun trading water as a commodity, like gold or oil. The country’s first water market launched on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange this week with $1.1 billion in contracts tied to water prices in California, Bloomberg News reported. From a report: The market allows farmers, hedge funds, and municipalities to hedge bets on the future price of water and…

Uber Sells Its Self-Driving Unit To Aurora

Uber’s self-driving unit, Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), is being acquired by its start-up competitor Aurora Innovation, the companies announced Monday. From a report: The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, values ATG at approximately $4 billion. The unit was valued at $7.25 billion in Apr. 2019 when Softbank, Denso and Toyota took a stake. Uber CEO Dara…

Celebrating the Path-Breaking Research That Lead to Coronavirus Vaccines

The Washington Post tells the remarkable story of how both Moderna’s vaccine and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine relied on a specially designed spike protein partially created by America’s Vaccine Research Center — along with messenger RNA, “a technology never before harnessed in an approved vaccine.” And also decades of path-breaking research: If, as expected in the next few weeks, regulators give those…

Steve Wozniak Is Starting Another Company, 45 Years After Co-Founding Apple With Steve Jobs

45 years after co-founding Apple with Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak is starting a business in the green tech and blockchain space called Efforce. CNBC reports: Efforce, which has been in stealth mode for almost a year, is a marketplace for corporate or industrial buildering owners to have “green” projects funded. According to Efforce, “investors can participate in energy efficiency projects buy…