Strategic Partnerships

• Report: $1.9 billion stolen in crypto hacks so far this year -A staggering $1.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in hacks of various services in the first seven months of this year, marking a 60% increase from the same period in the year prior, according a report released Tuesday from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.
• American Airlines agrees to purchase 20 supersonic jets -American Airlines is placing a bet on a future in which supersonic jets might return to the skies, shuttling passengers on some routes at speeds roughly twice as fast as current commercial aircraft.
• It's like Airbnb but for renting your pool to strangers. Things don't always go as planned -Chris, a homeowner in Des Moines, was surprised when a woman he didn't know recently pulled into his driveway and asked if he could move his vehicles. She believed she had booked his pool for the night after someone had wrongfully listed it on a platform devoted to renting out private swimming pools. Within minutes of her showing up, he said, a few other cars arrived.
• Amazon workers walk off job at air freight facility to call for better pay and working conditions -A coalition of Amazon employees walked off the job on Monday at an air freight facility in San Bernardino, California, demanding better pay and working conditions, in the latest sign that worker organizing efforts continue to spread across the tech giant's vast retail and logistics network.
• WeWork's former CEO has a new startup, reportedly valued at more than $1 billion -Nearly three years after Adam Neumann stepped down as CEO of WeWork following a failed attempt to take the company public, he is said to once again be in charge of a billion-dollar real estate startup.
• How to make sure your private messages stay private -Last year, Facebook-parent Meta effectively pushed back its timetable for rolling out end-to-end encryption by default across its various social platforms, with an executive saying the privacy-enhancing change would not happen until sometime in 2023.
• How Google found itself under pressure from all sides after Roe's demise -In mid-June, one week before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, more than 20 Congressional Democrats wrote a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. In it, they urged the company to prevent searches for abortion clinics from returning results and ads that direct users to facilities that actually oppose the procedure, noting it could put women's health at risk.
• South Korea pardons Samsung's Jay Y Lee in bid to revive the economy -The de facto leader of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, was pardoned by South Korea's president on Friday for crimes including bribery, allowing him greater freedom to run the smartphone and semiconductor giant.
• FTC weighs sweeping new rules on 'commercial surveillance' and Big Data -The Federal Trade Commission is considering whether to write sweeping new regulations that could restrict how businesses collect and use consumer data, hinting at a possible crackdown on commercial algorithms and a sprawling economy powered by the personal information of millions of Americans.
• United Airlines puts $10 million behind plan to shuttle customers by electric aircraft -United Airlines gave a $10 million deposit to a startup developing electric aircraft ? all for the goal of shuttling customers to and from the airport by air rather than gridlocked roadways.
• Meta testing expanded encryption features amid renewed scrutiny of messaging data -Meta on Thursday said it is testing expanded encryption features for Messenger and Instagram, days after the company came under scrutiny for providing messages to police in an abortion-related case.
• Nearly half of all teens say they use the internet 'almost constantly,' survey finds -Nearly half of US teens say they use the internet "almost constantly," according to a new survey released on Wednesday.
• Twitter activates election policy enforcement for US midterms -Twitter will now label and demote misinformation about the upcoming US elections, such as false claims about how to cast a ballot or the outcomes of a race, as part of a broader set of content enforcement policies it's activating ahead of the midterms, the company said Thursday.
• It didn't take long for Meta's new chatbot to say something offensive -Meta's new chatbot can convincingly mimic how humans speak on the internet ? for better and worse.
• SpaceX denied nearly $900 million in broadband subsidies -In a high-stakes decision, federal regulators announced Wednesday that SpaceX will not receive nearly $900 million in subsidies that the company was awarded in December, citing the fact that its satellite-based service is "still developing technology" and the company "failed to demonstrate that [it] could deliver the promised service."
• Nebraska teen and mother facing charges in abortion-related case that involved obtaining their Facebook messages -A Nebraska mother and her 18-year-old daughter are facing multiple charges in a case that involved police obtaining Facebook messages between the two that authorities allege show evidence of an illegal self-managed medication abortion, as well as a plan to hide the remains.
• More than a dozen companies developing single standard to detect cyberattacks faster -More than a dozen companies in the cybersecurity space are developing a single, open standard for sharing data about hacking threats, a project the companies say could help organizations detect cyberattacks more quickly.
• Live updates: Samsung unveils new foldable phones -
• US gaming software developer Unity wants to supercharge its growth in China -US software developer Unity is partnering with some of the biggest names in China tech to establish a billion-dollar joint venture aimed at growing its business in the world's largest online gaming market.
• The next frontier in the tech battle between the US and China -The technological arms race between the United States and China has cut across everything from smartphones and cellular equipment to social media and artificial intelligence. But a new battleground is emerging that goes a layer deeper: to the components that power our smartphones, computers, automobiles and home appliances.