Silicon Valley

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Tech Writer Kara Swisher Blasts the 'Boy-Kings'
Tech Writer Kara Swisher
Blasts the 'Boy-Kings'
the rundown
Feb 26, 2024 9:30 AM CST

Tech Writer Kara Swisher Blasts the 'Boy-Kings'

Her memoir 'Burn Book' is out this week

(Newser) - Veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher is out with a highly anticipated memoir about her life and the internet revolution she covered from its earliest days. Burn Book is released Tuesday, but early coverage provides a taste:
  • Excerpt: You can read one via Intelligencer here . Included is a moment when she
...

For Years, He Secretly Bought Land. Now, His Plans Emerge

Jan Sramek's billionaire-backed 'California Forever' firm wants to build a city in Solano County

(Newser) - After years of secretly snapping up farmland for a new city northeast of San Francisco, the CEO of a company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires pitched voters Wednesday on his vision for a walkable, affordable community that would appeal to their California pride. Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader...

A Twist in Figma's Rise: Adobe Deal Is Called Off

The companies said they doubted they could secure regulatory approval of the deal

(Newser) - "If this deal fell apart tomorrow, I'd feel just fine," said Figma co-founder Dylan Field when Adobe's planned $20 billion acquisition of the company was announced in September. No word on whether that's how he's feeling after the companies called off the deal Monday,...

Suit: Tech CEO Led Me Into 'Dark Abyss of Sexual Horror'

Christian Lanng, ex-chief of Tradeshift, has denied the rape, torture, harassment allegations

(Newser) - The former executive assistant for a fired tech CEO has now filed a lawsuit against him alleging he made her sign a "slave contract," then harassed, tortured, and sexually assaulted her. Per the Mercury News , the complaint against Christian Lanng, who was fired from business software company Tradeshift...

Report: Peter Thiel Was FBI Informant

He focused on foreign influence in Silicon Valley, according to political activist Charles Johnson

(Newser) - Tech billionaire Peter Thiel has bankrolled Republican politicians who've publicly attacked the FBI, from former President Donald Trump to Sen. JD Vance. It's somewhat surprising then that a new report from Insider alleges he has served as an FBI informant. Alt-right political activist Charles Johnson claims he helped...

Spy Chiefs in 5 Nations Sound Warning on China

Five Eyes intelligence chiefs say Chinese spies are operating at an 'epic scale'

(Newser) - Spy movies have taught us to suspect figures lurking around military bases and federal buildings, yet the focus of Chinese spying in the US looks quite different, according to the heads of spy agencies in the Five Eyes coalition—US, Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand—who gathered for an...

Yellen: No, We Won't Bail Out Silicon Valley Bank
Yellen: No, We Won't
Bail Out Silicon Valley Bank
the rundown
Mar 12, 2023 10:45 AM CDT

Yellen: No, We Won't Bail Out Silicon Valley Bank

'Whole generation' of tech startups face potential collapse

(Newser) - The fallout from the Friday failure of Silicon Valley Bank —the 16th-largest bank in the nation—continues to spread far and wide in the financial world. A look at coverage:
  • Uninsured: The FDIC insures deposits up to $250,000, but many tech startups and other businesses had far more
...

Largest Bank Collapse Since 2008 Just Went Down

FDIC shutters Silicon Valley Bank, seizes its assets

(Newser) - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized the assets of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, marking the largest bank failure since Washington Mutual during the height of the 2008 financial crisis. The FDIC ordered the closure of SVB and immediately took possession of all deposits at the bank. The bank had...

Investigators Think They've Solved Mystery of Buried Car
Investigators Think They've
Solved Mystery of Buried Car
in case you missed it
Nov 6, 2022 4:20 PM CST

Investigators Think They've Solved Mystery of Buried Car

Cops: Mercedes unearthed in Atherton, Calif., may have been part of insurance fraud scheme

(Newser) - Three decades ago, John Lew's 1991 Mercedes-Benz 500SL convertible was reported stolen to police in Palo Alto, California—a fact that may be the missing clue as to why the car was found buried last month on the property of a mansion in nearby Atherton. NBC News reports that...

Another Silicon Valley Whiz Kid Accused of Exaggerating Everything

'New York Times' out with critical story about Ryan Breslow of Bolt

(Newser) - Ryan Breslow dropped out of Stanford in 2014 to start Bolt Financial, which “promised to shake up the boring but important business of online payments,” according to the New York Times, which interviewed dozens of former and current employees, clients, and investors about the company’s current state....

Musk Pulls In $7B for Twitter From Silicon Valley Bigwigs

$1B of investor backing is coming from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, per SEC filing

(Newser) - Billionaire Elon Musk has strengthened the equity stake of his offer to buy Twitter, with commitments of more than $7 billion from a range of investors, including Silicon Valley heavy hitters like Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Other investors include Sequoia Capital Fund, which pledged $800 million, and Vy Capital, which...

Dirty Laundry at Meta Signals a Changing Culture

The perks of working in Silicon Valley are lessening but not vanishing

(Newser) - Mark Zuckerberg and Meta can act as low-hanging fruit to anyone who likes to disparage tech billionaires and their empires. Sometimes, employees are also easy picking, thanks to compensation and benefits that may seem lavish to many Americans. Consider the Meta engineer who took to the anonymous professional network Blind...

Family Reported Dead by NYT Had Silicon Valley Ties

Tatiana Perebeinis was chief accountant for SE Ranking

(Newser) - A Silicon Valley tech firm on Monday announced that one of its employees and her two children were killed in Ukraine. The SEO company SE Ranking has a number of employees based in Ukraine, and chief accountant Tatiana Perebeinis perished Sunday while trying to evacuate a suburb some 20 miles...

Elizabeth Holmes Trial Proves Boys' Club Is Alive and Well

Ellen Pao wonders why male tech execs accused of fraud aren't held to same standard

(Newser) - Ellen Pao thinks Elizabeth Holmes should be held accountable for her actions as CEO of the not-quite-what-it-appeared Theranos blood-testing company. But in an essay at the New York Times , Pao writes that something else is true in regard to Holmes' ongoing trial: It "can be sexist to hold her...

Prince Harry Lands a Job in Silicon Valley
Prince Harry
Lands a
New Title
Mar 23, 2021 12:15 PM CDT

Prince Harry Lands a New Title

He will be 'chief impact officer' at the health tech company BetterUp

(Newser) - Prince Harry may have lost some royal titles in his split with the family, but he's just gained a new one in Silicon Valley: "chief impact officer." That's the role Harry has assumed at the health tech company BetterUp, reports NBC News . The firm focuses on...

Thomas Middleditch at Center of Club's Misconduct Claims

'Silicon Valley' star accused of groping woman, owners accused of ignoring complaints

(Newser) - Add Silicon Valley star Thomas Middleditch to the list of celebs who've been accused of sexual misconduct. Hannah Harding says she was at the Cloak & Dagger—a now-closed Goth nightclub in Hollywood "where a cast of experimental artists performed eerie, sexually charged ceremonies each week," per...

Staff Used $1B Startup's Security Cameras to Harass

No one was fired, a move Verkada's CEO defends

(Newser) - A surveillance startup boasting clients including Juul Labs, Red Lobster, and the city of Memphis has come under fire over claims that its own facial recognition system was used to harass female employees. Motherboard and the Verge are out with reports on the behavior at the Silicon Valley headquarters of...

Uh, Little Issue With Naming Your Kid 'X Æ A-12'

It might not be totally, what's it called, legal

(Newser) - Elon, about that baby name. "X Æ A-12" isn't just odd—it might be against the law. CBS News reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and singer Grimes may have violated California law with that zinger of a name. The California Department of Public Health Vital Records Handbook...

Bay Area Residents Placed Under Strictest Order in US

Residents of six counties ordered to shelter in place for 3 weeks

(Newser) - Officials in six San Francisco Bay Area counties issued a sweeping shelter-in-place mandate Monday affecting nearly 7 million people, ordering residents to avoid any unnecessary travel by any method and only leave their homes for food, medicine, and exercise. The order says residents must stay inside and venture out only...

Silicon Valley Star Makes Big Reveal on Sex Life

Thomas Middleditch and wife Mollie Gates are swingers: It 'saved our marriage'

(Newser) - The seventh question in Playboy's 20 questions to Silicon Valley star Thomas Middleditch brought what People calls an "unexpected" answer. When the magazine brought up that Middleditch had once visited a swingers club while making the movie Godzilla, then asked if he was actually part of the "...

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