Popular LA Restaurant Closes After High-Tech ‘Dine and Dash’ Scheme

quonset writes: “The Korean Fusion Cafe ‘Spoon by H’ had the ingredients to become an L.A. success story but is the epitome of a small business, with owner and chef Yoonjin Hwang working 15-hour days to run the restaurant with her mother and brother,” reports CBS News. “‘We have no staff. We have no cooks. I have to do everything by…

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….

LiquidPiston’s ‘Inside-Out’ Rotary X-Engine Wins Army Research Contract

Connecticut-based company LiquidPiston is developing a portable generator for the US Army that uses its X-Engine, a fresh and extremely powerful take on the rotary engine that’ll deliver as much power as the Army’s current-gen-set at one-fifth the size. New Atlas reports: We’ve written a few times before about the fascinating LiquidPiston rotary engine. It’s not a Wankel — indeed, it’s…

Third Monolith Reappears, Fourth and Fifth Monoliths Discovered

“People taking a stroll on Sunday morning stumbled upon another mysterious monolith,” reports Insider.com. “This one was found in a northern province of the Netherlands.”
The monolith was covered in ice and surrounded by a small pool of water, according to local reports. The hikers told the Dutch paper Algemeen Dagblad that they’re not sure how the monolith got there. They said…

Microsoft Is Now the ‘Adult In the Room’ Among Big Tech, Says Seattle Congresswoman

As Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google are being targeted by the House Judiciary Committee for abusing American antitrust law, one major company has managed to escape the glare: Microsoft. That’s because they are now “the adult in the room in some ways on this issue,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), a Democratic member of the House Antitrust subcommittee, which has…

Facebook Goes After Apple

Facebook is seeking to force a face-off with Apple over its 30% in-app purchase commission fee, which Facebook suggests hurts small businesses struggling to get by during the pandemic. From a report: Facebook has never publicly gone after Apple, a key strategic partner, this aggressively. Both companies face antitrust scrutiny, which in Apple’s case has centered on the very fee structure…

Some Cities are Combining Basic Incomes with Local Currenices

Bloomberg looks at some interesting local currency programs that have been implemented around the world. And in at least one case money “is literally being made from trees” — the wooden dollars being printed in a small city in the northwest U.S. and distributed to the needy in monthly stipends. “We preach localism and investing in our local community,” says mayor…

Tim O’Reilly Asks If Venture Capital Is Doing More Harm Than Good

Tim O’Reilly is the founder of O’Reilly Media (formerly O’Reilly & Associates), and is credited by Wikipedia as helping to popularize the term open source. But Techcrunch reveals what he’s learned about venture capital from his work with Bryce Roberts (O’Reilly’s investing partner at early-stage venture firm O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures). “At a minimum, O’Reilly — who bootstrapped his own company, O’Reilly…

A memo Coursera CEO and executives sent to employees earlier today reaffirming Coursera’s actions to address racial injustice through learning

Team, We are all hurt and outraged by the tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, and by the bigotry that Christian Cooper experienced in New York City. These racist acts bring to the forefront the fears and injustices that Black Americans have faced every day for generations. As I shared with […]
The post A memo Coursera CEO…

Startups Pursue ‘Free Money’ With Relief Funds, Prompting Backlash

Some young companies have turned to the government loans not for day-to-day survival but simply to buy useful time. From a report: Domio, a start-up that offers short-term rentals, has its headquarters in a New York City loft that features beer on tap, a game room and a wall of house slippers for visitors. The fast-growing and unprofitable company has raised…