Samsung vice chairman Jay Y. Lee faces nine-year sentence in bribery case
Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee faces a nine-year prison term in the bribery case that contributed to the downfall of former president Park Guen-hye. Prosecutors argued that the length of the sentence is warranted because of Samsung's power as the largest chaebol, or family-owned c
Daily Crunch: Amazon acquires Wondery
Amazon makes a big podcast acquisition, a Chinese robot maker raises $100 million and we review a robotic cat pillow. This is your Daily Crunch for December 30, 2020.
The big story: Amazon acquires Wondery
Amazon is the latest company to make a big acquisition in the podcast market
An earnest review of a robotic cat pillow
You don't need Qoobo in your life. Nobody needs Qoobo, exactly. In fact, first reactions tend to range from befuddlement to bemusement. The robotic cat pillow doesn't make a ton of sense on the face of it — in part because Qoobo has no face.
The handful of times I've interacted with t
2020 will change the way we look at robotics
Earlier this month, Hyundai acquired a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics that valued the company at $1.1 billion. What's most interesting about the news isn't the acquisition itself (it does, after all, find Boston Dynamics switching hands for the third time in seven years), but rather w
Elon Musk says SpaceX will attempt to recover Super Heavy rocket by catching it with launch tower
SpaceX will try a significantly different approach to landing its future reusable rocket boosters, according to CEO and founder Elon Musk. It will attempt to “catch” the heavy booster, which is currently in development, using the launch tower arm used to stabilize the vehicle during its
Fluence, the energy storage systems developer, is now worth over $1 billion after QIA investment
The Qatar Investment Authority is investing $125 million into energy storage systems integrator and power management tech developer, Fluence, in a deal that will value the company at over $1 billion.
The joint venture between the American independent power producer, AES Corp. and the German industr
Imagine being blind and trying to attend a virtual event. Try that next time you stage one.
How do you make a virtual event accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired?
When I started work on Sight Tech Global back in June this year, I was confident that we would find the answer to that question pretty quickly. With so many virtual event platforms and online ticketing options
Amazon acquires podcast network Wondery
Amazon just announced that it’s acquiring Wondery, the network behind podcasts including “Dirty John” and “Dr. Death.”
Wondery will become part of Amazon Music, which added support for podcasts (including its own original shows) in September. At the same time, the ann
Dear Sophie: Tips for getting a National Interest green card by myself?
Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies.
“Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,” says
Student-founded Develop for Good surpasses 25,000 volunteer hours connecting students with nonprofits
This has been the year of the social organization. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world and the United States, governments and a patchwork of nonprofits and volunteer organizations sprang into action, offering everything from food and medical supplies to children's books and clothing
Section 230 is threatened in new bill tying liability shield repeal to $2,000 checks
Tech got dragged into yet another irrelevant Congressional scuffle this week after President Trump agreed to sign a bipartisan pandemic relief package but continued to press for additional $2,000 checks that his party opposed during negotiations.
In tweets and other comments, Trump tied a push for
One CMO’s journey with risk management and compliance
Marketers don't grow up daydreaming about risk management and compliance. Personally, I never gave governance, risk or compliance (GRC) a second thought outside of making sure my team completed required compliance or phishing training from time to time.
So, when I was tasked with leading the Ge
NSO used real people’s location data to pitch its contact-tracing tech, researchers say
Spyware maker NSO Group used real phone location data on thousands of unsuspecting people when it demonstrated its new COVID-19 contact-tracing system to governments and journalists, researchers have concluded.
NSO, a private intelligence company best known for developing and selling governments a
Activist hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb takes on Intel, plans launch of new VC fund
Third Point, the activist hedge fund run by Daniel Loeb, is busy in the waning days of 2020. It's had great returns despite huge turbulence early in the pandemic — Reuters says that it is up 12.3% for the year as of earlier this month — and the firm clearly sees more and more potential for