Elon Musk jokes about whistleblowing in Tesla merchandise tweet

Chief executive posts ‘Blow the whistle on Tesla!’ amid lawsuits brought against carmakerTesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, has appeared to joke about whistleblowers on Twitter in the wake of high-profile lawsuits against the electric carmaker brought by current and former staff.The billionaire urged his 65 million Twitter followers to “Blow the whistle...

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Scorsese producer to make first Hollywood movie funded by NFTs

Niels Juul hopes to raise up to $10m and says he wants to ‘democratise’ antiquated funding systemThe executive producer behind blockbusters including Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is to make Hollywood’s first feature film funded entirely by non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with a promise that those who invest will get a share of any profits and meet the...

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Airbnb allegedly hosts Xinjiang rentals on land owned by sanctioned group

Listing properties on land owned by XPCC, which has been linked to human rights abuses, risks breaching US regulationsAirbnb has reportedly listed more than a dozen properties on land owned by the Xinjiang paramilitary corporation, which has been sanctioned by the US over its alleged involvement in mass human rights abuses against Uyghurs by the Chinese...

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TechScape: Netflix and the future of tech employee activism

Up for discussion in this week’s newsletter: an internal brawl over Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special is just the latest chapter in increasing activism in the industryDon’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereTwo former Netflix employees who criticised comedian Dave Chappelle for comments directed at the trans community in The Closer,...

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Elizabeth Holmes grilled about ex-partner and her knowledge of Theranos’s flaws

The assistant US attorney also questioned Holmes on the nature of her romantic relationship to business partner Sunny BalwaniTheranos founder Elizabeth Holmes wept in court on Tuesday as a federal prosecutor grilled her over the nature of her relationship with Sunny Balwani, her former business and romantic partner, and her knowledge of problems at...

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Non-fungible tokens take No 1 spot in influential art world power list

ERC-721’s topping of ArtReview’s Power 100 is first time a non-human entity has led listThe non-fungible token or NFT has taken the No 1 spot in the annual ranking of the contemporary art world’s most influential movers and shakers – marking the first time a non-human entity has topped the list.ERC-721, the specification for the “non-fungible token”...

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UK watchdog’s action against Facebook over Giphy prove it has teeth | Larry Elliott

Move by Competition and Markets Authority is a welcome step against the power of big tech Big tech has two faces. One face presents a new form of company: inclusive, socially liberal, very much with the zeitgeist, supporting the Democrats rather than the Republicans, and different from anything that has gone before.Strip away the makeup and a different...

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More than a third of world’s population have never used internet, says UN

Nearly 3bn people, or 37% of global population, have never been online despite rise in use during pandemicCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNearly 3 billion people – or 37% of the world’s population – have never used the internet, according to the United Nations, despite the Covid-19 pandemic driving people online.The UN’s...

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UK competition watchdog orders Facebook owner to sell gif website Giphy

CMA said order would protect users and stop Meta ‘increasing its power in social media’Facebook parent company Meta has been ordered by the UK competition watchdog to sell the gif creation website Giphy, the first time the regulator has moved to block a deal struck by one of the Silicon Valley giants.The Competition and Markets Authority, which provisionally...

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Celebrating 25 years of Lara Croft with … a cookbook?

This gleefully incongruous piece of tie-in merch pays tribute to a quarter-century of Tomb Raider with recipes. So can we expect a spaghetti carbo-Lara?Tomb Raider recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, which means 25 years of articles about how Lara Croft transcended video games to become a global icon even your gran has heard of. As a female games...

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