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☆ German military in worse shape than before Russia's invasion -official
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, March 14 (Reuters) - The German military is suffering from a greater shortage of weapons and equipment than before Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces said in her annual report on Tuesday. "The Bundeswehr has too little of everything, and it has even less since (Russia's invasion on) Feb. 24, 2022," Eva Hoegl, who acts as an advocate defending the rights of the troops, told reporters in Berlin. "It must be clear that the moment (a howitzer) is handed over to Ukraine, the process of ordering a replacement must be launched," she said. She put the investment needs for updating the infrastructure at 50 billion euros in total. Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Meta to wind down NFTs on platforms amid crypto bust
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 13 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) is cutting off support for digital collectibles or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its platforms less than a year after rolling it out, as the crypto market continues to spiral. "We're winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses," the social media firm's fintech head, Stephane Kasriel, tweeted on Monday. But bitcoin and other tokens took a beating in late 2022 after major exchange FTX crashed into sudden bankruptcy. "We'll continue investing in fintech tools that people and businesses will need for the future. We're streamlining payments w/ Meta Pay, making checkout and payouts easier, and investing in messaging payments across Meta," Kasriel said.

☆ On Oscars Carpet, the ‘Naked Dress’ Ruled
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Rihanna and red carpet host Ashley Graham in complementary revealing looks on Oscar night. Today’s Naked Dress trend, in full effect at the Oscars and its various celebrations Sunday, is in line with Saint Laurent’s prescient vision of glamorous nudity. On the Academy Awards’s red carpet, the Naked Dress continued its proud, chilly parade with looks such as Eva Longoria’s Zuhair Murad white lace gown and Ashley Graham’s fully sheer black tulle dress with cutouts. To the Vanity Fair Oscars party, Olivia Wilde wore a white Gabriela Hearst column cut away to reveal a leather bra. Rihanna’s custom Alaïa leather dress worn over a sheer jersey bodysuit was a provocative pregnancy twist on the look.

☆ BuzzFeed says most of cash and cash equivalents held at SVB
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 13 (Reuters) - BuzzFeed Inc (BZFD.O) said on Monday that most of its cash and cash equivalents were held at Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O), which was shut down last week. The digital media firm said it had about $56 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2022. It expects first-quarter overall revenue in the range of $61 million to $67 million. BuzzFeed reported revenue of $91.6 million for the same period last year. Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 'Flamin' Hot' producer DeVon Franklin reveals why he tapped Eva Longoria to direct the film and why he's unfazed by questions over whether it's true to the origins of the fiery Cheetos flavor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The movie "Flamin' Hot" celebrates Mexican heritage and the invention of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Impressed with the unlikely entrepreneur, Enrico gave it a try — and thus, Flamin' Hot Cheetos were born, and Montañez's career took off. "Flamin' Hot" stars actor Jesse Garcia as Richard Montañez. Eva Longoria directed the new film "Flamin' Hot." The LA Times article, amongst journalists and amongst this small group of people, may get some traction.

☆ Eva Longoria says she had to resist the pressure to ‘man up’ to advance in Hollywood
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Eva Longoria has spent over 20 years in Hollywood and can finally add "movie director" to her credits. Longoria said during an interview earlier in the day that she never thought she'd direct a feature until this story came across her desk — and she beat out other big-name directors for the shot. The "Desperate Housewives" star began directing for TV in 2014 and helmed episodes of "Black-ish," "Why Women Kill," "The Gordita Chronicles" and more. "There's a lot of systemic sexism that still exists behind the camera for female directors. People always wonder why there aren't more female directors.

The possible investments are part of a wider, long-term strategy to reduce exposure to China, two people familiar with the plan told Reuters. ASML's lithography systems can cost up to 160 million euros ($170 million) each and are used to create the circuitry of computer chips. The Dutch government on Wednesday announced new restrictionson exports impacting ASML's second-best range of chip-printing tools, which could lead to Chinese retaliation. Among the companies on the mission is Neways, which helps ASML develop electrical control units, power controls and wiring systems for lithography systems, according to the company's website. ASML supplier NTS Group, which is a provider of precision mechanics tools, is another company that will join the business trip, Brainport said.

☆ With 'Flamin' Hot' movie set to premiere at SXSW, its producer tackles claims about the central character's role in creating the spicy Cheetos flavor and reveals how Eva Longoria won the director job
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The movie "Flamin' Hot" celebrates Mexican heritage and the invention of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. An LA Times report raised doubt about the role of the film's protagonist, Richard Montañez, in creating the flavor. Impressed with the unlikely entrepreneur, Enrico gave it a try — and thus, Flamin' Hot Cheetos were born, and Montañez's career took off. Eva Longoria directed the new film "Flamin' Hot." The LA Times article, amongst journalists and amongst this small group of people, may get some traction.

☆ Oracle misses third-quarter revenue estimates as cloud demand staggers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 9 (Reuters) - Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) missed quarterly revenue estimates on Thursday, as businesses slowed down IT spending against the backdrop of a sobering economic outlook. Back-to-office and hybrid work have pushed up demand for the company's suite of cloud software, especially from large businesses. However, Oracle has yet to find its footing in the booming cloud services market dominated by tech heavyweights Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O). A stronger dollar and rising costs have prompted companies to be more cautious about their spending, further slowing demand for Oracle's software. Oracle's net income fell to $1.89 billion, or 68 cents per share, in the quarter, from $2.32 billion, or 84 cents per share, a year earlier.

☆ US FTC asked Twitter for details on Musk's internal communications -House report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The FTC has sent more than a dozen letters to Twitter and its lawyers since Musk's takeover in October. The FTC also wants Musk to testify in connection with the probe, the Wall Street Journal reported. "There is no logical reason why the FTC, on the basis of user privacy, needs to analyze all of Twitter's personnel decisions. And there is no logical reason why the FTC needs every single internal Twitter communication about Elon Musk," the report said. Twitter in May agreed to pay a fine of $150 million to settle allegations that it misused private information, and also improve its compliance practices.

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☆ Uber explores logistics unit sale, IPO - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 8 (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) is exploring whether to spin off its Uber Freight logistics unit in a sale or as a separate publicly traded firm, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. If the company lands on an IPO, it may not happen until next year and will depend on market conditions, the report added. Uber launched the freight division in 2017 and acquired logistics firm Transplace in 2021 for $2.25 billion. Uber Freight connects truckers with shippers, acting as a middle-man in the long-haul trucking business. In January, the division said it would lay off roughly 150 employees, or about 3% of its workforce.

☆ Spotify listeners cross half a billion mark
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 8 (Reuters) - Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N) said on Wednesday it would roll out new features like smart shuffle and previews of podcasts and music playlists on its audio streaming platform, as it crossed 500 million in monthly active listeners. Spotify also shared an update to its annual music royalties report, noting that the number of artists making over $1 million as well as those generating over $10,000 had more than doubled in the past five years. Earlier this year, Spotify said it would tighten spending and work to become efficient given the tough macroeconomic backdrop and projected the number of listeners would reach 500 million in the current quarter. Features like autoplay for podcasts, personalized visual and audio previews of podcast episodes and audiobooks or music playlists, and new feeds for discovery will be rolled out in waves starting Wednesday, Spotify said. Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. FTC asked Twitter for details on Musk's internal communications - House report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The FTC sent more than a dozen letters to Twitter and its lawyers since Musk's takeover in October. The FTC is also looking to get Musk to testify in connection with the probe, the Wall Street Journal reported. "There is no logical reason why the FTC, on the basis of user privacy, needs to analyze all of Twitter's personnel decisions. And there is no logical reason why the FTC needs every single internal Twitter communication about Elon Musk," the report said. Twitter in May agreed to pay a fine of $150 million to settle allegations that it misused private information, and also improve its compliance practices.

☆ U.S. FTC asks Twitter for details on Musk's internal communications, layoffs - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The FTC sent 12 letters to Twitter and its lawyers since Musk's takeover in October. It also asked the company to "identify all journalists" who were granted access to company records and to provide information about the launch of the revamped Twitter Blue subscription service, the report said. The FTC is also looking to get Musk to testify in connection with the probe, the WSJ reported. Twitter, the FTC and Musk did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Tesla's next generation smaller car to operate mostly autonomously-Musk
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 7 (Reuters) - Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk on Tuesday said that the next generation small car the company is working on would operate mostly in autonomous mode, similar to a promise he made in 2020. On Tuesday he said there was a clear path to delivering a car that cost half as much to build as Tesla's Model 3 sedan, but he offered no details about timing or models. At the 2020 event, Musk said he was "confident" that Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) would make a small, compelling $25,000 electric car that was fully autonomous, within about three years. Reporting By Hyunjoo Jin, Sheila Dang, Krystal Hu and Eva Mathews; writing by Peter HendersonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Intel wants $5 bln more in German subsidies for chip plant - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 7 (Reuters) - Intel Corp (INTC.O) is seeking an additional 4 billion to 5 billion euros ($5.28 billion) in subsidies from the German government to build a chip manufacturing complex in the country, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The initial spending was then estimated to total 33 billion euros, including 17 billion euros in Germany. However, Bloomberg News reported Intel now expects to spend 30 billion euros on its project in Germany. Intel was expecting roughly 40% of its Germany project to be subsidized, under the EU's Chips Act, but is now also open to other sources of government aid including tax breaks or energy subsidies, the report added. The expansion in Ireland and France, meanwhile, remains largely on track, the people told Bloomberg News.

☆ How healthy imitation crab is compared to other seafood, and what surimi sticks are actually made of
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Crystal Raypole | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

While imitation crab is more affordable than real crab, it doesn't have as much nutritional value. Once imitation crab hit the markets in the late '70s, it became wildly popular as an affordable alternative to crab meat. Yet while real crab packs a major protein punch, imitation crab doesn't have quite as much nutritional value. Imitation crab contains little or no real crab. Brian Vander Brug / Contributor / Getty ImagesThe rising costs of crab have made imitation crab a more appealing option for many shoppers.

☆ Czech company sees boom in market for fake tanks, HIMARS
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jan Lopatka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] A worker prepares an inflatable decoy of a military vehicle, which is used to confuse enemy attacks, during a media presentation in Decin, Czech Republic, March 6, 2023. The company has added HIMARS to its fleet of over 30 types of inflatable real-size decoys it sells to customers worldwide, Chief Executive Vojtech Fresser said on Monday. "I can imagine that if we want to support a partner country which is in trouble, we will send them Inflatech inflatable decoys and they are already there or certainly will be," he said. The Czech Defence Ministry, which helps organise Czech military supplies to Ukraine, was not immediately available for comment. The HIMARS inflatable top, without the heat generator and compressor equipment, weighs 43 kg, Fresser told reporters at the company's factory in the northern Czech city of Decin.

☆ Embark shares tank as autonomous trucking firm mulls 'shutting down completely'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Investors and industry watchers have also been concerned about billions of dollars that have been poured into the self-driving technology sector in a short span of time to commercialize it. "Over the next handful of weeks, we will work closely with the Embark Board of Directors to evaluate our options, including selling assets, restructuring the company or shutting down completely." Embark went public in 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal and is backed by Mubadala Capital, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management. The company expects to incur charges of $7 million to $11 million related to the workforce reduction, which spans about 230 employees. Shares of Embark closed down 32.8% lower at $2.56 on Monday, giving the firm a market capitalization of $60 million, compared with the over $5 billion in market value when it went public.

☆ Rivian stands by 2023 production target despite media report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The 62,000 figure was said in an internal meeting and was taken out of context, the Rivian spokesperson said. Bloomberg later said that the figure was given at an all- hands meeting as part of a "production master plan" for the year. The Rivian spokesperson declined to comment on the context in which the number was given or about a company master plan. The company cited persistent supply-chain snarls sparked by the pandemic and bad weather that hampered production, adding it expected the issues to continue through 2023. Shares of Rivian closed up 7.6% at $16.92 on Friday after rising more than 11% on the Bloomberg report.

☆ Rivian sticks to 50,000 vehicle production target for 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 3 (Reuters) - Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O) on Friday said it was sticking to its official production forecast of 50,000 vehicles in 2023. A company spokesperson said that comments about 62,000 vehicles, reported by Bloomberg, were from an internal meeting and taken out of context. Earlier this week, Rivian said it aimed to produce 50,000 cars this year, below analysts' estimate of 67,170 units, according to Visible Alpha. Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Apple cloud chief Abbott to step down in April - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 3 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) head of cloud services Michael Abbott is leaving the company in April, Bloomberg News reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter. The iPhone maker did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Abbott, who joined Apple in 2018, is in charge of the iCloud service and the platform that powers features such as Emergency SOS and Find My on iPhones. Reporting by Leroy Leo and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Moody's downgrades Silvergate's rating after going concern warning
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 3 (Reuters) - Global ratings agency Moody's downgraded Silvergate Capital Corp's (SI.N) deposit rating to 'Caa1' from 'Ba3' on Friday, after the crypto-focused bank raised going concern doubts earlier this week. Cryptocurrency heavyweights including Coinbase Global Inc (COIN.O) and Galaxy Digital have subsequently dropped Silvergate as their banking partner. Moody's said the Silvergate rating change reflects its "expectation that the company will continue to experience further declines in deposits, forcing it to continue selling securities, potentially at further losses." The bank's ratings were also placed on review for downgrade, Moody's said. Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amazon delays construction of second phase of Virginia headquarters
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Amazon had earlier said the Virginia headquarters, a multi-year investment dubbed 'HQ2', would create 25,000 jobs. John Schoettler, Amazon's real estate chief, said in a statement on Friday the company was pushing out the date for groundbreaking of PenPlace, the second phase of the northern Virginia campus. Met Park comprises of two 22-story office buildings with 2.1 million square feet of office space, and a two-acre public park. Earlier this year, Amazon announced it would eliminate more than 18,000 roles, in one of its largest layoffs in history. However, the delay in construction would not mean any elimination in jobs, Amazon said.

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