DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ 'Ordinals' could signal the beginning of a new generation for Bitcoin. Here's what investors need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"In a way, Bitcoin Ordinals add more diversity and utility to the Bitcoin network, which could elevate the Bitcoin network utility to that of other blockchains, such as Ethereum." There's one population in crypto, however, who have long believed the Bitcoin network could and must do more than that. Binance cited Bitcoin network congestion on Sunday as the reason for pausing withdrawals, and bitcoin dropped 7% between then and Monday. "Congestion, or lots of demand for the block space, is not just good, it's a critical thing for the future of Bitcoin," Miller added. A sneak peek Ordinals and spikes in transaction fees are just a glimpse of what may be on the horizon.

WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) - The FBI has sabotaged a suite of malicious software used by elite Russian spies, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday, providing a glimpse of the digital tug-of-war between two cyber superpowers. "We assess this as being their premier espionage tool," one of the U.S. officials told journalists ahead of the release. He said Washington hoped the operation would "eradicate it from the virtual battlefield." The official identified the FSB hackers behind the malware with a notorious hacking group known as "Turla," which has been active for two decades against a variety of NATO-aligned targets. Moscow routinely denies carrying out cyberespionage operationsReporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ In Norway, the Electric Vehicle Future Has Already Arrived
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BAMBLE, Norway — About 110 miles south of Oslo, along a highway lined with pine and birch trees, a shiny fueling station offers a glimpse of a future where electric vehicles rule. Chargers far outnumber gasoline pumps at the service area operated by Circle K, a retail chain that got its start in Texas. During summer weekends, when Oslo residents flee to country cottages, the line to recharge sometimes backs up down the off-ramp. Last year, 80 percent of new-car sales in Norway were electric, putting the country at the vanguard of the shift to battery-powered mobility. It has also turned Norway into an observatory for figuring out what the electric vehicle revolution might mean for the environment, workers and life in general.

☆ Anti-monarchists released from custody after King Charles' coronation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JUSTIN TALLIS/Pool via REUTERSLONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - The leader of anti-monarchy group Republic and other members were released from custody after hours of detention during Saturday's coronation of King Charles that raised questions over whether the police response had been proportionate. Republic said that detained members began to be released late on Saturday evening, after nearly 16 hours in custody. Tens of thousands of people turned out to catch a glimpse of the newly crowned King Charles and Queen Camilla, who rode in a state coach back to Buckingham Palace after Saturday's service at Westminster Abbey. Not everyone who came to watch was there to cheer Charles, with hundreds of republicans booing and waving banners reading "Not My King". "I think overall (the police) managed to get that balance right," Frazer told Sky News.

[1/4] People wait to watch Britain's King Charles' procession to his coronation ceremony from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, at The Mall in London, Britain May 6, 2023. REUTERS/Stephanie LecocqLONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people of all ages, from Britain and across the globe, braved the rain for a glimpse of the newly crowned King Charles in the streets of London and on Buckingham Palace's famous balcony on Saturday. "It was amazing to see them all there in real life, just like you’d see on a postcard." Charles, 74, ascended to the throne in September after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth. But polls show the public generally approves of Charles as king and a majority still support the monarchy, even if younger people are far less interested.

☆ What Will Happen During the Coronation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

King Charles III, Britain’s first new monarch in 70 years, will be crowned on Saturday in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London. Here’s what to expect for the day. (All times are local time in Britain.) The day’s events are expected to involve 7,000 parading troops — the largest procession at a state event since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. 10:20 a.m. Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, will leave Buckingham Palace in a horse-drawn stage coach and arrive at Westminster Abbey, a journey that is scheduled to take 33 minutes.

[1/2] Royal fans wait on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace ahead of the coronation of Britain's King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, in London, Britain, May 5, 2023. REUTERS/Maja SmiejkowskaLONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Heavy bursts of rain could dampen King Charles' coronation celebrations in London on Saturday, according to Britain's Met Office forecaster. Charles is due to leave Buckingham Palace and travel along a mile-long ceremonial procession through the capital before the coronation ceremony at 1000 GMT. If it does rain on his parade, Charles will not be alone: the last two monarchs endured wet weather on their big day according to Met Office data. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth in June 1953 saw "light rain throughout the day" while 8.2 millimetres (0.32 inches) of rain fell during George VI's 1937 crowning.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: New drone attack on southern Russia refinery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 5 (Reuters) - A drone attack on the Ilsky oil refinery in southern Russia, the second in as many days, has caused a fire, TASS news agency reported on Friday, citing emergency services. FIGHTING* Ukrainian military command said in its Friday morning report that 18 out 24 drones launched by Russian forces had been shot down. * Nearly 50 Russian attacks were repelled along the main sectors of the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Thursday evening. * Record high water levels could overwhelm a major dam in southern Ukraine and damage parts of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, a Russian official told TASS news agency. DIPLOMACY/POLITICS* Technical personnel from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations will meet on Friday to discuss a deal that allows the exports of Ukrainian grains on the Black Sea, the Turkish Defence Minister said.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Wagner Group threatens to exit Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WAGNER* Standing in a field of corpses, Russian Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin published an expletive-ridden video personally blaming top defence chiefs for losses suffered by his fighters. * However, Ukraine said Russia was bringing Wagner fighters from other parts of the front line to fight in Bakhmut. * Former Russian deputy defence minister Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev has joined the Wagner Group as a deputy commander, Russian pro-war social media channels reported. * Technical personnel from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations will meet on Friday to discuss the renewal of the deal, the Turkish Defence Minister said. QUOTES* "Because of the lack of ammunition, our losses are increasing exponentially every day," Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said.

Lenders wasted little time in charging more for loans when interest rates rapidly rose from an almost 15-year slumber around zero last year, but most have dragged their feet on boosting deposit rates paid to millions of their customers. Money market funds are proving popular among savers seeking bigger returns on their cash as high levels of inflation persist. Data from Refinitiv Lipper showed more than 34 billion euros ($37.6 billion) of net flows into European money market funds in March, the best-selling asset type that month. Fidelity International also reported an 8% year-on-year uplift in flows into money market funds on its investment platform between Jan. 1 and April 26. Some lawmakers have criticised banks for the mismatch between what they charge borrowers and the interest rates offered to savers.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Kremlin says US behind drone attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

FIGHTING* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine would launch a counteroffensive soon against occupying Russian forces. * Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia's Wagner Group mercenary force, said the counteroffensive had already begun and his forces were observing heightened activity along the front. DIPLOMACY/POLITICS* Putin must be brought to justice for his war in Ukraine, Zelenskiy said on Thursday during a visit to The Hague, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is based. * U.S. military aid for Ukraine includes for the first time the Hydra-70 short-range air-launched rocket, taken from U.S. excess stocks. * Zelenskiy said Russia did not appear to be interested in extending the agreement beyond May 18.

☆ With a gulp and burp, a bloated star swallows a Jupiter-sized planet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

As the star grew, its surface reached the orbit of the doomed planet, with mayhem ensuing. Red giant stars can swell to a hundred times their original diameter, engulfing any planets in their way. This planet, perhaps a few times bigger than Jupiter, orbited its star in less than a day at a distance closer than Mercury, our innermost planet, orbits the sun. Even before it is engulfed whole, our data provides evidence that the planet tries to rip out the star's surface layers with its own gravity. But the star happens to be a thousand times more massive so the planet can't do much and eventually makes the plunge," De said.

☆ Astronomers spot a sneak peek of Earth's death — a star swallowing a planet whole — for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Astronomers discovered a distant star swallowing a planet for the first time ever. Swallowing the planet whole produced a burst of energy that expelled the star's outer layers, causing it to expand and brighten rapidly. Except for a veneer of dust, the star pretty much looked the same as it had before, one year after devouring its planet. The distant planet that just got absorbed by its star was about the size of Jupiter, which is more than 1,300 Earths. (It later turned out, this pre-eruption dust was material from the planet skimming the atmosphere of the star as it orbited closer and closer.)

☆ The healthcare system is racing to unleash breakthrough AI models despite profound unanswered questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The behemoth health-records company Epic, which touches all corners of the healthcare ecosystem, is embracing generative AI as a necessary priority. For eight months, he and a team at Microsoft have been working with OpenAI to explore how generative AI could work in healthcare. Scientific, ethical, and legal mysteries behind ChatGPTLee's panel drew top leaders from tech and healthcare, and their questions on generative AI were sweeping. OConnor edited the note to fix a mistake and clicked a button to transfer it directly into the patient's health record. Generative AI is far from a slam dunk, HIMSS's Bogdan said, citing adoption and privacy concerns.

☆ ‘Ted Lasso,’ Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: Ends and Beginnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Christopher Orr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But the tug that Henry exerts on his father’s heart, while scarcely new, is ever more evident — in particular during the goodbyes that close the episode, when Ted can scarcely let go of Henry’s backpack. NateWhen we first run across Nate this episode, he is in bed in the morning. Upon waking, she quickly determines that, charmingly, Nate had already gotten up, showered, shaved, brushed his teeth and gotten back into bed. We’ve gone straight from romantic tension to romantic fulfillment without witnessing the romantic journey at all, at least so far. Which is perhaps part of the reason Nate’s most moving relationship is still his complicated one with Ted.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Zelenskiy visits war crimes court in The Hague
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FIGHTING* Zelenskiy said Ukraine would launch a counteroffensive soon against occupying Russian forces. * Russian shelling killed 23 people in and near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Wednesday, hitting a hypermarket, a railway station and residential buildings, the regional governor said. DIPLOMACY/POLITICS* Zelenskiy will have a meeting at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Thursday, the court said without giving further detail. * U.S. military aid for Ukraine includes for the first time the Hydra-70 short-range air-launched rocket, taken from U.S. excess stocks. * Zelenskiy said Russia did not appear to be interested in extending the agreement beyond May 18.

☆ From US to London, royal super fan makes 'once-in-a-lifetime' coronation pilgrimage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Jeevan Ravindran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Royals super fan Donna Werner from the U.S. and fellow royals fan show their outfits ahead of the Coronation of King Charles, in London, Britain, May 2, 2023. Now she is ecstatic to be in London for her first coronation. Next to her tent, Werner has hung an American flag and a sign reading "US loves King Charles." She has also painstakingly created a hat covered with flags, photos and cut-out figures of King Charles. It really does, it really, really does."

☆ King Charles' coming coronation stirs memories of queen 70 years ago
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Hannah Mckay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Pamela Tawse was 18 and still in her nurse’s uniform and cap when she made her way to central London after her night shift, eager to catch a glimpse of the new Queen Elizabeth on the day of her coronation. It was the huge crescendo of noise she remembers today, aged 88, twinkling in delight as she thinks back to a time when Britain, still enduring rationing eight years after the end of World War Two, turned out in force to see the opulence and glamour of the start of a historic reign. “We climbed over the barricades and the crowds were really deep,” Tawse recounted. “Then suddenly, we heard an enormous roar, and we knew that probably the queen was coming by,” she said, her eyes vividly lighting up at the memory through a pair of gold rimmed glasses. Tawse had decorated the hospital bedpans in red, white and blue tape, a small symbol of the excitement greeting 27-year old Elizabeth as the new head of the royal family on the brink of a technicolour age.

Government officials, worried about a constrained labor force in a state where population growth has stalled, have taken a cover-the-waterfront approach. After raising starting wages from $17 an hour to around $24 and overhauling hiring strategies, Drees still has 200 open jobs at this and two nearby facilities, where he is hoping to add to current staffing of 1,200. That reshuffling may be one reason the Fed is finding it harder than expected to slow a job market struggling to match workers into open positions. Minnesota has had a particularly large imbalance: The 12-month moving average of available positions last year reached 2.75 for every unemployed person. "Nowadays you look online and there are just hundreds of day-shift job positions," he said.

CNN —A large blimp developed by the Chinese military has been spotted for the first time at a remote base in the desert of northwestern China, exclusive new satellite imagery obtained by CNN shows. “You can expect because it’s available via satellite imagery that we’re tracking the object,” the official said. Military patentsAdditional satellite imagery and analysis of the site suggests that the PLA has significantly loftier goals for its site, and its airship program. Additional satellite imagery provided to CNN by BlackSky shows construction, which includes subterranean excavation and foundation pouring, is continuing. “At this site in particular, I would really want to see the big airship,” Hayes said.

☆ Ancient Romans Dropped Their Bling Down the Drain, Too
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Franz Lidz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Down the drain is where British archaeologists recently discovered 36 artfully engraved semiprecious stones, in an ancient bathhouse at the site of a Roman fort near Hadrian’s Wall in Carlisle, England. The colorful intaglios — gems with incised carvings — likely fell out of signet rings worn by wealthy third-century bathers, and ended up trapped in the stone drains. The delicate intaglios, fashioned from amethyst, jasper and carnelian, range in diameter from 5 millimeters to 16 millimeters — bigger than a pencil eraser, smaller than a dime. Some bear images of Apollo, Mars, Bonus Eventus and other Roman deities symbolizing war or good fortune. How and why these stones were lost is a subject of some debate among classicists.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Kyiv says it retains Bakhmut 'road of life'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Local resident Nikolai Danko, 63, clears the rubble at the site of his house destroyed by recent shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the settlement of Panteleimonivka in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, April 27, 2023. * Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy carries a pistol and would have fought to the death with his inner circle had the Russians stormed his Kyiv headquarters at the start of the war, he said in an interview shown on Saturday. * Two civilians died as a result of Ukrainian shelling on a village in Russia's Bryansk region on Saturday evening, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said. * Dividends of as much as $400 million to four Indian companies for their stakes in Russian oil assets are stuck due to problems in payments triggered by Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a government source said on Saturday. Compiled by Reuters editorsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Growth came mostly from exports, the result of a revival in global trade as China re-opened for business after the pandemic. But national data showed price growth remained stubbornly high, probably leaving the ECB with no choice but to keep raising interest rates. Friday's inflation data showed progress was slow. IMF CALLS FOR MORE RATE HIKESMoney markets currently price in another 70 basis points of ECB rate hikes by October, possibly followed by cuts as early as the start of next year. It also said European Union finance ministers should tighten fiscal policy in concerted action to bring down high inflation, which would probably depress consumption further.

☆ Amazon employees on performance-improvement plans have a little-known Slack channel. Leaked messages reveal anguish, despair, but also community.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

There's a word-of-mouth Slack channel used by Amazon employees on its performance-improvement plan. Most employees post anonymously; one former worker likened it to a virtual support group. The Slack channel, #focus-and-pivot-info, is not highly publicized, according to interviews with eight current and former Amazon employees, five of whom are or were members of the channel. Most employees post anonymously, making their comments difficult to verify or investigate further. On Slack, a sense of community — but also stressThe Slack channel does not appear to be public knowledge within the company.

Search resuls for: "Glimpse"

25 mentions found