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☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

☆ Former Apple lawyer says in lawsuit she was fired after complaining about company culture and a colleague who sent her 'death threats'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former lawyer at Apple sued the tech company claiming she suffered harassment and discrimination. She said the company didn't protect her from a male colleague who she alleged sent her death threats. Instead, she was demoted after switching to part-time remote work and eventually fired, she said. When she reported the colleague to Apple, the company conducted an internal investigation in 2021, but concluded it months later without offering her any recourse, she said in her complaint. She alleged that the reorganization decisions showed "discriminatory animus against non-Caucasian and female employees," according to her complaint.

☆ Apple employees remain split on decision to fire exec who joked about fondling 'big-breasted women' in viral TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Apple staffers appear to have mixed reactions to the firing of former executive, Tony Blevins. The tech giant terminated Blevins in response to brash comments he made in a viral TikTok. While some staffers were surprised by his termination, others told the Journal the decision was important to enforce inclusion and prevent discrimination at Apple. "We all know the old adage 'loose lips sink ships,'" Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and founder of the Protocol School of Texas, told Insider in September. After he was fired, company executives still planned a going-away party for him — a move Blevins told the Journal he felt was "hypocritical" after firing him.

☆ Former Apple Executive Says Company Blundered by Firing Him After TikTok Video
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Aaron Tilley | Photographs James Jackman For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-apple-executive-says-company-blundered-by-firing-him-after-tiktok-video-11670553178

☆ Apple exec fired after being caught on video joking about 'fondling big-breasted women' says he stayed up all night trying to get the TikTok down before it went viral
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former Apple exec Tony Blevins said he spent all night trying to get rid of a TikTok in which he made a crude joke. Apple fired Blevins over the video in September, after he'd been with the company for 22 years. The tech company, he said, reached out at 1:30 a.m. about the video, insisting he get it taken down immediately. "It was 22 years dissolved in about 25 seconds," Blevins told The Journal. The TikTok video was posted by a TikTok creator known as Daniel Mac as part of a series where he asks people with expensive cars what they do for a living.

☆ Apple is accelerating plans to move production out of China as protests and riots intensify in response to zero-Covid policies, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Apple is increasing its efforts to shift production outside of China, according to the Wall Street Journal. Production at factories like Foxconn has taken a massive hit amid riots over zero-Covid policies. Shifting production will likely be difficult in the current global economic climate, sources told WSJ. In November, the area known as "iPhone City" erupted into violent protests among employees over withheld pay and strict zero-Covid policies that prompted a lockdown in Zhengzhou. The protests, which coincided with the start of the holiday shopping season in the US, have led to significant supply chain issues and shortages of Apple iPhone products.

☆ Salesforce employees say they were blindsided by Bret Taylor's departure
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Today's not a typical day for the staff at Salesforce, some of whom told us they were blindsided by co-CEO Bret Taylor's decision to step down. Below, we've got details on what Salesforce employees — including now-solo CEO Marc Benioff — are saying about Taylor's announcement. Salesforce employees were blindsided by Bret Taylor's departure. The sudden announcement left many at the company feeling blindsided, employees and others close to the company told Insider. Here's what workers told us about Taylor's departure.

☆ 13 behind-the-scenes executives leading Apple's $5 billion advertising division
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Right now its roughly $5 billion-in-revenue ads business largely consists of search ads sold within the App Store. It's been a big year for Apple's ad division. We asked more than a dozen advertising industry insiders and former Apple advertising staffers to identify the most important executives building Apple's advertising business. Teresi's ascent coincides with the explosive growth of Apple's ad business in recent years. A digital advertising veteran — having held senior roles at Yahoo, Quantcast, and Adobe — Teresi joined Apple in 2012 as vice president for its iAd division.

☆ Simu Liu stars in 'The Simpsons' episode as Lisa's tech billionaire husband
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Actor Simu Liu made an appearance Sunday on the latest episode of “The Simpsons” as Lisa Simpson’s future “visionary tech giant” husband. The episode includes multiple time jumps, beginning with with Nelson and Lisa reuniting before her college graduation. The time jumps that follow include Hubert and Lisa’s separation, their reconciliation and Nelson and Lisa’s reunification once again. Liu went to Instagram to share his excitement for the recent episode. “The Simpsons” also welcomed Simu and his character to the show’s universe on Twitter after the episode aired.

☆ Six former staff of Hong Kong newspaper plead guilty to conspiracy to collude
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Jessie Pang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HONG KONG, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Six former members of staff at Hong Kong's defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces in a closely watched national security case. Prosecutor Anthony Chau said Apple Daily was used as a platform to advocate for foreign sanctions. Beijing and Hong Kong's government denied that and accused the protesters of undermining the stability at the heart of Hong Kong's economic success, at the behest of foreigners. Lai and the six former Apple Daily staff members were charged with conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces under the law. Lai and his three companies have pleaded not guilty to the national security and sedition charges.

☆ Poland Missile Investigation Underway as World Leaders Discuss Next Steps
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The iPhone at 15: An Inside Look at How Apple Transformed a GenerationOn June 29, 2007, the first iPhone went on sale. On that same day, a boy named Noah Schmick was born. Over the next 15 years, the iPhone grew…and so did Noah. Through interviews with current and former Apple executives, WSJ’s Joanna Stern traces how Apple’s invention matured and changed all of us—perhaps the youngest generation most of all.

☆ I analyzed all 48,000 words of Jeff Bezos' Amazon shareholder letters. The visionary billionaire does 8 impressive things that prove he's a master of written communication.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Carmine Gallo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Thankfully, you won't need to wait for a business school to offer a class on the Bezos letters. Make the mission your mantraIn his first letter, Bezos laid out the principle that would drive the company's decisions for the next quarter century: customer obsession. In his 2017 shareholder letter, Bezos explained that while the quality of written memos varies widely, some have "the clarity of angels singing." Surround yourself with superstarsIn his 1998 letter, Bezos revealed the questions Amazon hiring managers ask themselves when they evaluate job applicants. Bezos wrote, "Day 2 is stasis.

☆ Biden, Xi Meet Ahead of Bali G-20 Summit in Push to Restart Dialogue
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Biden Highlights Democrats’ Midterm Results
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Watch Live: President Biden Remarks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Twitter staffers are sleeping in the office—ex-Apple engineer who worked on the iPhone says it's totally unnecessary
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

For some Twitter employees under Elon Musk, sleeping in the office appears to be an absolute must — the physical embodiment of the tech industry's "hustle culture." It's also totally unnecessary, says Ken Kocienda, a former Apple software engineer and designer who helped build the first iPhone and iPad. "I was on these [Apple] teams from the earliest stages and I never once came close to sleeping at the office. It's not an essential part of doing great work," he wrote in a Twitter post on Sunday. The "hustle porn" trend of tech founders and executives bragging about working around the clock and sleeping in their offices is nothing new.

☆ An ex-Apple employee faces as long as 20 years in jail after admitting to defrauding the tech giant of over $17 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A former Apple employee has admitted to defrauding the company out of $17 million. The ex-worker, Dhirendra Prasad, admitted to running multiple fraud schemes. In one of the schemes, Prasad and a co-conspirator arranged to have Apple pay for its own components. He admitted that these actions cost Apple more than $17 million, according to the release. In one of the schemes, Prasad and Baker arranged to have Apple pay for its own property.

☆ Meet the 11 execs leading Bridgewater into a new era after Ray Dalio relinquished control of the hedge fund
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Alyson Velati | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Bridgewater AssociatesAs cochief investment officer, Jensen oversees Bridgewater's investment strategies and research efforts as well as its investment talent. Karen Karniol-Tambour, cochief investment officer for sustainabilityKaren Karniol-Tambour, Bridgewater's cochief investment officer for sustainability. Rebecca Patterson, chief investment strategistBridgewater's chief investment strategist, Rebecca Patterson. In 2012, she joined as the chief investment officer of Bessemer Trust, managing $85 billion in client assets. The partnership elected three directors to Bridgewater's operating board of directors, which now has control over Bridgewater after Dalio relinquished control of the hedge fund.

☆ Famed Apple designer Jony Ive's advice to Airbnb's CEO during tough times: 'You aren't going to cut your way to innovation'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky counts former Apple design chief Jony Ive as one of his closest advisers. The pair talk almost every day and Ive weighed in when Airbnb was mulling job cuts. "You aren't going to cut your way to innovation," Ive said, though Airbnb later axed 1,900 roles. Ive is now advising Chesky on everything from logo design to strategy, and since the onset of the pandemic, Chesky and Ive talk almost every day. When Airbnb started considering job cuts, Ive weighed in: "You aren't going to cut your way to innovation," he told Chesky at the time.

☆ Insurance startup Evy promises better product protection and just brought in $6.4 million from Sequoia. Check out its 10-slide seed pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Paris-based insurance tech startup Evy has raised $6.4 million in seed funding from Sequoia. Founded in 2022, Evy wants to grow the product protection market in Europe. Check out the company's 10-slide pitch deck below:Evy, a Paris-based insurance tech startup, has raised $6.4 million in seed funding from US investor Sequoia. The startup specializes in product protection insurance but doesn't work directly with consumers. Unlike more consumer-facing insurance tech companies, which have struggled in 2022, Evy said its B2B2C model was preferable, since there are no customer acquisition costs and marketing spend is lower.

☆ An 'instinctively conservative' Tim Cook was willing to trying something new — then take responsibility when it failed. Bono says it's probably one reason Steve Jobs tapped him to be CEO.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bono wrote about the time he convinced Apple CEO Tim Cook to put U2's album on iPhones for free. He said this leadership trait was likely one reason Steve Jobs chose Cook as his successor. Cook, Bono wrote, "never blinked," during the backlash, and said Bono talked the company "into an experiment." "We ran with it," Cook told Bono, according to the musician. "Probably instinctively conservative, he was ready to try something different to solve a problem," Bono wrote.

☆ Apple's top designer is leaving the company three years after taking over from Jony Ive
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apple's vice president of industrial design, Evans Hankey, is leaving the company, Apple confirmed to CNBC on Friday. Hankey took over for former Apple design chief Jony Ive three years ago when he left to start his own independent firm. Still, she was often quoted in the media after new products were launched, discussing specific design decisions and the way Apple's design team works. "Apple's design team brings together expert creatives from around the world and across many disciplines to imagine products that are undeniably Apple. The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience.

☆ Apple workers vote to unionize second U.S. store
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Doyinsola Oladipo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Apple Inc retail workers voted to form a union at an Oklahoma location, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said on Friday, making it the tech giant's second U.S. store to organize. Employees at the Apple Penn Square store in Oklahoma City voted 56 to 32 in support of joining the Communications Workers of America Union (CWA), securing the needed majority, according to a tally by the NLRB. Apple workers near Baltimore, Maryland, voted in June to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The CWA in May withdrew an election petition on behalf of Apple workers in Atlanta, Georgia, claiming that Apple had repeatedly violated federal labor law and the rising number of COVID infections among store employees made a fair election impossible, according to the CWA. Some current and former Apple workers last year began criticizing the company's working conditions online, using the hashtag #AppleToo.

☆ Tim Cook's attitude towards iPhone users wanting a fix for texting is condescending: It's time for Apple to talk to Android
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Michael Gartenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The company's refusal to fix this is a burden on iOS users, not Android users. But the company's refusal to fix this is a burden on iOS users, not Android users. If iMessage is truly a major reason that iPhone users stick around, then Apple is on a slippery slope. The more these interoperability issues plague Apple users, the more users will find ways around iMessage. The undistorted reality is, despite Tim Cook's comments, Apple users do want interoperability.

☆ The iPhone at 15: An Inside Look at How Apple Transformed a Generation
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-28 | by ( Joanna Stern | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The iPhone at 15: An Inside Look at How Apple Transformed a Generation June 29, 2007: A big day for the iPhone and the Schmick familyBy Joanna SternJun 28, 2022 9:30 amOn June 29, 2007, the first iPhone went on sale. On that same day, a boy named Noah Schmick was born. Over the next 15 years, the iPhone grew…and so did Noah. Through interviews with current and former Apple executives, WSJ’s Joanna Stern traces how Apple’s invention matured and changed all of us—perhaps the youngest generation most of all.

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