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☆ The man who led Google Photos to 1 billion users is now the newest group partner at Y Combinator
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Lieb, having a background in semiconductors and not server management, reached out to his fellow Y Combinator founders for support. After a year and a half of advising at the accelerator, he's stepping up as a group partner, Y Combinator tells Business Insider exclusively. It was never released, but many of the ideas would later come back in the form of Google Photos. From there, he reached into the Y Combinator alumni network to find other promising upstarts. David Lieb, second from left, speaks to a group of Y Combinator founders.

Persons: David Lieb, Lieb, Alex Polvi, Combinator —, Garry Tan, Jared Friedman, Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel, Sam Altman, it's, Y Combinator, " Lieb, Dan Lieb, Y, Xoogler, Patrick, John Collison's, Mixpanel, Jake Mintz, Forbes, Kevin Systrom, Flock, Andy Huibers, Mary, 72m2YgJZq8 — David Lieb, Ryan Peterson, He's Organizations: Apple, Business, Investors, Google Locations: Cloudkick, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Flexport

☆ Inside a Michigan Town's War Over a Chinese-Owned Battery Plant
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-10 | by ( Brent Crane | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

This was nothing short of a communist invasion, in his eyes, and the patriots of Green Charter needed to rise up and confront the Red Peril. But the backlash in Green Charter represents something seldom seen since the Red Scare: a quasi-militant, homegrown resistance to the perceived threat of communism at home. But as the war over Gotion began to consume Green Charter, Riebow began to feel that the township board was behaving "too secretly." It's easy to dismiss what's happened in Green Charter as yet another sign of America's descent into dangerous incivility. Asked about Gotion's plans in Green Charter, Panetta replied, "I don't think there's any question that they are going to take advantage of that situation."

Persons: Jeff Peticolas, Sam Peticolas, He'd, Peticolas, Gos, Green, Matt Harrison Clough, Jim Chapman, I've, Chapman, freaked, Rush Doshi, Joe Biden's, Doshi, Donald Trump, Sen, Katie Britt, Lori Brock, Kristina Karamo, Lana Theis, John Moolenaar, it's, Gotion, John Holdsworth, I'm, Tracy Ruell, Ruell, Carlleen Rose, she'd, Suzi, Tim Hahn, Hahn, texted Hahn, Jeff, Corri Riebow, She'd, Riebow, Breitbart, Gretchen Whitmer, —, we've, Holdsworth, Jason Kruse, Kruse, that's, Kruse demurred, Hahn's, we're, We're, what's, William Evanina, Leon Panetta, Barack Obama's, Panetta, Brent Crane Organizations: Imperial, Pacific, Nikon, Ferris State University, Tech, Green Charter, BI Green Charter, Michigan, United States, Chinese Communist Party, Michigan Republican Party, Michigan GOP, WE, Republican, Republicans, Gotion, Treasury Department, BI, CCP politburo, Party, Communist Party of China, SAIC, Nexteer Automotive, Facebook, Big Rapids, Local, Moolenaar, Fox News, Daily Mail, Gov, Green Charter's, Ferris State, Big, FBI Locations: Pearl, He'd, Imperial Japan, Vietnam, Mecosta County , Michigan, American, Green Charter, Green, China, Green Charter's, Montana, Beijing, Arkansas, Reedley , California, Manteno , Illinois, Washington, America, United, United States, Biden's State, Alabama, Mecosta County, Michigan, Sweden, Big Rapids, enervated, Gotion, Northern Michigan, USA, Filipino, Charter, San Diego

☆ Why the hottest commodity of 2024 could be in for a rude awakening
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Cocoa prices rose to a red-hot sizzle this Valentine's Day — but they could soon be due for a reckoning, according to Citi. Cocoa futures finished 25.5% higher in February, cinching their biggest monthly gain since November 2001, when they rose 31.66%. Cocoa supply might increase on one side of the equation, but Doshi cautioned that demand might also be weighed down by consumption risks. Even against this backdrop, Doshi highlighted that it might take some time before cocoa prices completely retreat off their record highs. "Our base case remains that cocoa terminal prices will enter a bear market by end-2024, off a historically rich nominal price area."

Persons: Aakash, Doshi, haven't, Chocolate, Hershey, — CNBC's Michael Bloom, Gina Francolla Organizations: Citi, Wall Street, Nestle Locations: …

☆ Gold at $3,000 and oil at $100 by 2025? Citi analysts don't rule it out
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | In Ying-Shan-Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

That could double central bank's gold purchases, challenging jewelry consumption as the largest driver of gold demand, Doshi elaborated. China and Russian central banks are leading gold purchases, with India, Turkey, and Brazil, also increasing bullion buying. The world's central banks have sustained two successive years of more than 1,000 tons of net gold purchases, the World Gold Council reported in January. Another wildcard scenario highlighted in Citi's report was for oil prices to hit triple digits again. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Oil prices in the past one year

Persons: Doshi, Stagflation Organizations: Citi, CNBC, Central, U.S ., Gold, U.S . Federal Reserves, Co, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: Citi's North America, China, Russian, India, Turkey, Brazil, U.S, Bangkok, Thailand, Israel, Yemen, Iraq, OPEC

☆ Cocoa prices just hit a record high. Here's what's driving the gains and what it means for chocolate makers
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

If you think chocolate prices this Valentine's Day were more expensive than usual, it's not you. Year to date, futures contracts are up nearly 27%, with cocoa prices rising in six of the past seven weeks. Here's a breakdown of what's driving cocoa prices higher and how it impacts the investment case around two major chocolate stocks. Doshi thinks cocoa prices could sell off about 20%, taking them to around $4,500 to $4,800 per ton. In an interview with CNBC last week, he underscored the rising cocoa price outlook as the key driver for his lower rating.

Persons: Humza Hussain, El, Aakash Doshi, Doshi, Bernstein, Bruno Monteyne, … There's, Mondelez, Alexia Howard, Hershey, Michele Buck, Bernstein's Howard, Howard, I'd, Bryan Spillane, Morgan Stanley, Pamela Kaufman, Bank of America's Spillane Organizations: Asset Management, CNBC, Hershey, Citi, 2H, Street, Bank of America, Bank of, Cadbury Locations: Mondelez, El Niño, Ghana, Ivory, Nigeria, Europe

☆ Google researchers deal a major blow to the theory AI is about to outsmart humans
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The race to build AI as smart as humans, or AGI, looks like it suffered a major blow. Google researchers found the transformer technology behind AI isn't very good at generalizing. AdvertisementAdvertisementGoogle researchers may have just given a major reality check to the ambitions of CEOs in chase of AI's holy grail. As it stands, AI is pretty good at specific tasks but less great at transferring skills across domains like humans do. AdvertisementAdvertisementTransformers' opacity and the scale of the data they're pretrained on gave some the illusion that they generalize beyond it.

Persons: —, Steve Yadlowsky, Nilesh Tripuraneni, they've, Pedro Domingos, AGI, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, Arvind Narayanan, Jin Fan, G5mBuX6O36, Jim Fan, Domingos, it's, — Pedro Domingos, @pmddomingos, Sharon Zhou Organizations: Service, University of Washington, Microsoft, Nvidia, Google Locations: LLMs, Princeton, AGI

☆ Ozempic and Wegovy Don’t Cost What You Think They Do
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Gina Kolata | More About Gina Kolata | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A recent paper published by the American Enterprise Institute revealed that the net prices for the new obesity drugs are just a fraction of the published annual list prices. And while the drugs’ prices remain out of reach for many, economists anticipate they will soon be driven down. More than a dozen companies are developing obesity drugs. As they enter the market, greater choice is expected to make prices plummet, as has happened with other expensive drugs. Those revenues are based on the net prices.

Persons: ”, Jalpa Doshi, Ippolito, Joseph F, Levy Organizations: American Enterprise Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Investors, Novo Nordisk, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Health Locations: Denmark, Novo

☆ Gold prices to breach all-time highs? Some expect bullion to hit $2,500
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Spot gold prices hit a record intraday high of $2,072.5 on Aug. 7, 2020, according to data from Refinitiv. We also see a return of physical gold jewelry demand from China and India as both economies stabilize and retail spending returns. Gold prices tend to have an inverse relationship with interest rates. "We also see a return of physical gold jewelry demand from China and India as both economies stabilize and retail spending returns," Heng said. Chinese retail gold demand has been resilient in 2023 even as consumption of other commodities remained weak, Citi said in a July report.

Persons: Sven Hoppe, Bart Melek, Melek, David Neuhauser, Neuhauser, Randy Smallwood, Heng, Heng Koon, UOB Heng, Citi's, Doshi Organizations: Getty, Refinitiv, CNBC, Securities, U.S . Federal, Livermore Partners, Fed, Wheaton Precious Metals, greenback, Markets, Federal Reserve, Citi, Commodities, Future Publishing Locations: U.S, China, India, Yichang, Hubei province

☆ An Asian MIT student asked AI to turn an image of her into a professional headshot. It made her white with lighter skin and blue eyes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An Asian MIT student was shocked when an AI tool turned her white for a professional headshot. She said she's been put off using AI image tools for now because it didn't create usable results. A recent study showed that some AI image generators have issues with gender and racial bias. The second image showed that the AI tool had altered her features to appear more Caucasian with lighter skin and blue eyes. The researchers explained that this is because the AI tool was trained on biased data which can amplify stereotypes.

Persons: she's, Rona Wang –, –, Wang, Suhail Doshi, we're, Face, DALL, didn't Organizations: MIT, Boston Globe, Globe, Twitter Locations: American

☆ What is Section 702? Congress is debating the controversial surveillance power
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Juhi Doshi | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, allows the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign nationals living outside the U.S. without needing to obtain a warrant. As recently as this month, a court opinion disclosed that FBI employees wrongly searched foreign surveillance data for the last names of a U.S. senator and a state senator. But data on U.S. citizens is still collected when they interact with a foreign surveillance target — that's known as "incidental" collection. Lawmakers from both sides have said they won't vote to renew the provision unless major changes are made in how the FBI uses foreign surveillance data to investigate Americans. "And that means first and foremost addressing the warrantless surveillance of Americans in violation of the Fourth Amendment."

Persons: Samuel Corum, Biden, they're, George Floyd, Joe Biden's, Jake Sullivan, Jon, Read, Trump, Ron DeSantis, Bush, Donald Trump, Dick Durbin, Sen, Mike Lee, they've, Patrick Toomey, Toomey, Christopher Wray, Wray Organizations: Getty, Foreign Intelligence, FISA, FBI, Social, American Civil Liberties Union, White, President's Intelligence, Board, National, NBC, Historically, Republicans, DOJ, ACLU's National Security, National Intelligence, Committee Locations: Washington , DC, reauthorize, U.S, China, Russia, Florida, Georgia, Fulton, Utah

Coinbase (COIN.O) and Binance.US, two of the largest crypto exchanges by market share among those operating in America, have lost ground this year. Bitstamp's global market share among exchanges operating in the U.S. has risen to about 9%. Coinbase and LMAX declined to comment on the data, while Binance.US - the American affiliate of the world's largest crypto exchange - didn't respond to a request for comment. It may not be that simple for hungry challengers to grab market share, according to market players. In years gone by, crypto exchanges could swiftly gobble up business by offering access to a swathe of coins.

Persons: Sam Bankman, FTX, Ravi Doshi, Guy Hirsch, Bobby Zagotta, Wade Guenther, Doshi, Hannah Lang, Michelle Price Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, LMAX, Genesis, Bitstamp, Reuters Graphics, Wilshire, Thomson, Reuters Locations: United States, America, Binance.US, U.S, Bitstamp USA, solana, Washington

Cloetta AB, (CLOEb.ST) a Swedish confectioner which makes Lakerol lozenges that use gum arabic, has "ample" stock of the ingredient, a spokesperson said in an email. Global production of gum arabic is about 120,000 tonnes a year, worth $1.1 billion, according to estimates cited by Kerry Group. "Both buyers and sellers are clueless on when things will normalise.”Alwaleed Ali, who owns AGP Innovations Co Ltd, a gum arabic exporting business, said his customers are looking for alternative countries to source gum arabic. It accounts for the livelihoods of thousands of people and the more expensive variety can cost about $3,000 a tonne, according to Gum Sudan. There is a poorer quality, cheaper gum from outside of Sudan, but the preferred ingredient is only found in acacia trees in Sudan, South Sudan and Chad, Alnoor said.

☆ Ukraine’s corn and wheat exports are set to plummet. Here’s what that means for the world's food supply
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Both Ukraine and Russia were among the world's top producers of commodities such as wheat and barley before the war broke out in February 2022. But the conflict saw the price of U.S. wheat and corn futures hit decade highs (with one benchmark wheat contract hitting an all-time high) and sparked volatility in global wheat prices throughout the year. 2023/24 Ukraine grains exports (corn + wheat) might be 27-30mmt, down 15-18mmt from 2021/22," he added. Global food tradeThe war in Ukraine has contributed to rising food prices, with inflation above 5% in more than 80% of low-income countries, according to World Bank figures. Climate change causing extreme weather is already damaging the food system, according to Alexander, a senior lecturer at Edinburgh University's Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems.

☆ Biden's China adviser Rosenberger leaving, unrelated to balloon -White House official
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Laura Rosenberger, a top adviser to President Joe Biden on China and Taiwan, is leaving soon as part of a long-planned departure that predated the incident involving China's high-altitude balloon, a White House official said on Wednesday. The official said Rosenberger would be succeeded by Sarah Beran, who will be moving to the White House from the State Department. Rush Doshi, currently serving as senior director for China and Taiwan at the National Security Council, will serve as her deputy. Reporting By Steve Holland Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

When I first started investigating China’s top spy agency in 2020 for my book, “Spies and Lies: How China’s Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World,” I thought espionage was its main game. In October, the Justice Department charged 13 people with plotting to covertly advance China’s interests in the United States. Several of those charged are allegedly officers of China’s Ministry of State Security. I soon realized that the Ministry of State Security’s covert influence operations have been at the forefront of its work to shape the world. Many countries, including the United States, are working to combat espionage but lack laws suited to tackling covert influence operations.

☆ Asian Americans have some of the highest levels of support for abortion rights — and it's driving them to vote
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Sakshi Venkatraman | Sakshi Venkatraman Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

With studies finding that Asian American and Pacific Islanders show some of the highest levels of support for abortion rights, community leaders are expecting this issue to drive Asian Americans to the polls — many for the first time ever. “AAPIs view abortion not as the singular act of abortion, but as health care,” said Varun Nikore, executive director of the nonprofit AAPI Victory Alliance. While some researchers point to flaws in the polling (most notably that Pew only surveyed English speakers), they say there’s no doubt that Asians show the highest level of support when it comes to abortion rights. “That tells me that abortion rights and reproductive rights are likely what’s driving that prioritization,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder and director of demographic data and policy research at AAPI Data. A younger crop of Asian voters newly engaged by the Dobbs ruling are initiating these conversations with their elders, too.

☆ The crypto industry is closely watching the midterm elections. Here's what it's looking for
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The midterm elections are next week, and some investors are closely watching the outcome for an idea of how the next Congress's lawmakers will approach cryptocurrency over the following two years. Lawmakers and regulatory agencies have scrambled to sharpen their understanding of the fledgling sector, while the industry itself has beefed up its lobbying. There's a good chance the midterm elections will hardly dent the price action in the days that follow. They say the midterm elections and the new shape of Congress could affect how the legislative process unfolds. While the bear market has dominated headlines this year, the drumbeat for crypto regulation has gotten much louder, providing some comfort to members of the crypto industry.

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