Richard Lawler
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Richard Lawler
Senior News Editor
Senior News Editor
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Richard Lawler
There were other hints of trouble at FTX and Alameda.
And not just what we learned from Elon Musk’s text messages, which showed that as far back as this spring, the new Twitter owner was unsure whether FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried actually had the billions in liquidity he claimed to have.
As Jacob Silverman’s tweet tracks, execs have been exiting SBF’s firms for months. Which brings us to the current situation.
Richard Lawler
Green light.
Welcome to The Verge, where everyone can be verified for a small fee.
We’re finally clear of earnings season, but there are more than enough updates from crypto and Elon Musk to keep the news cycle going.
First, a few stories you may have missed that have nothing to do with either of those topics:
Apple will test the iPhone 14 satellite link soon.
The science behind NASA’s latest satellite launch.
Accuracy isn’t everything when it comes to smartwatch calorie counting.
If you use Google Home, you might be able to test the new version of the app soon on Android and iOS.
A Swedish grocery delivery service built an easy button for making dinner.
Richard Lawler
Green light.
Today’s news started with massive cuts within Meta, closely following the layoffs at Twitter last week. Twitter is also reportedly planning to launch the new Blue subscription today, so we’ll be watching for that.
The only earnings results on the schedule for us today are from Canoo and Rivian.
A few other news stories to start your day:
Google is going to make everyone use the new Gmail UI soon.
How to upgrade your power supply (if you own an International Space Station).
Twitter will sell blue checks, and verify identities on Twitter with a new gray check.
Temperatures are rising across the US.
Elon Musk sold another $4 billion worth of his Tesla shares.
FTX was not SAFU, after all.
And Charles Pulliam-Moore reviews Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Richard Lawler
Twitter’s layoff notices in Africa are missing something.
Elon Musk’s mass layoffs at Twitter included severance payment for some workers, and Musk himself said in a tweet that “Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.”
However, CNN reports termination letters sent to staff at Twitter’s only office in Africa didn’t include their names or mention any next steps or severance, only saying they will be paid until December 4th.
Richard Lawler
Elizabeth Holmes’s bid for a retrial has been denied.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, the Theranos co-founder’s sentencing is now scheduled for November 18th.
Holmes was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of defrauding investors
Nicole Wetsman and Elizabeth Lopatto
Richard Lawler
Web3 is going great.
Current FTX implosion notwithstanding, how seriously should you take crypto, NFTs, and everything else blockchain? Molly White, who runs Web3 is Going Just Great, gave a 15-minute presentation at Web Summit 2022 on exactly that topic — you should watch it (or read the transcript).
Here’s a small snippet:
There will be a web3. The web has been evolving ever since its inception, and there is no doubt in my mind that we are overdue for a fundamental shift. Will it be blockchains and crypto? Venture capitalists and blockchain startup founders really hope that you think so.
I hope that the rest of us will continue working towards utopian goals like the ones I mentioned earlier—the ones that many people who are working in web3 and on web3 projects share—without necessarily being shackled to a technology that holds little promise for the web.
Richard Lawler
That escalated quickly.
The situation is still developing, and we’ll have more information as things become clearer, but here’s how it stands. Yesterday morning FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted, “FTX is fine.”
Today it’s being acquired by Binance to help resolve a liquidity crunch after investors had trouble making withdrawals.
Richard Lawler
Digital analog.
This flexible vinyl record shipped in the October 1973 issue of IEEE Spectrum to demo pulse code modulation (PCM) encoding and other variants of digital compression well before you ever downloaded your first MP3.
IEEE Spectrum has more information here on how they found the surviving copy and played it back.
Richard Lawler
Green Light.
If you live in the US, it’s Election Day — vote (unless you already did, nice job being prepared).
Vote.org is a nonpartisan source for information on where your local polling place is and information about what’s on the ballot. Also, Lyft is offering half-off rides to the polls today with the discount code LYFT22.
Otherwise, Elon Musk’s 24/7 Twitter Extravaganza continues, but in non-Elon news:
T-Mobile is serious about building its own version of FiOS.
Google and Renault are deepening their partnership to develop a software platform for cars.
New stickers are almost ready for those RTX 4080s that never came out.
Netflix has a new interactive trivia game that two people can play on your TV with just the regular remote.