Transportation

Toyota Will Be the Third Automaker To Lose the EV Tax Credit In the US (theverge.com) 63

Toyota sold its 200,000th plug-in electric vehicle in the US, triggering a slow phaseout of the federal EV tax credit over the next 15 months, according to Bloomberg. The automaker is the third manufacturer to pass this mark, following Tesla and General Motors. The Verge reports: The phaseout for Toyota is poorly timed, coming just weeks after the company's new electric SUV, the bZ4X, went on sale in the US. It's the latest bad piece of EV news to hit the automaker, coming just a few weeks after it was forced to recall the bZ4X over loose hub bolts that could cause the wheels to come off while driving. Toyota pledged to spend $17.6 billion to roll out 30 battery-electric models by 2030.

The phaseout of the federal tax credits begins two quarters after an auto manufacturer sells 200,000 plug-in vehicles. Customers of Toyota cars that are eligible for the credit (like the bZ4X and the plug-in hybrid Prius Prime) will only be able to receive a maximum of $3,750 starting on October 1st. The maximum available credit will halve again on April 1st to $1,875, and it will completely phase out six months later in October 2023. A Toyota spokesperson confirmed the scheduled phase-out to The Verge.

The Military

US Army Buys Penguin Drone, Bayraktar TB2's Latvian Lookalike (aerotime.aero) 16

Edge Autonomy announced a deal with the US Department of Defense (DoD) to produce an unspecified amount of long-endurance Penguin drones for the US Army. From a report: The company manufactures a range of light drones capable of carrying a range of payloads for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), as well as targeting. Edge Autonomy's press release indicates that the company has previously supplied its products to the DoD. However, it did not disclose the extent of either the new or existing orders. Penguin C, one of the models the company manufactures, has a payload capacity of 25 kilograms (55 pounds), a range of 180 kilometers (112 miles) and a payload-dependent endurance of up to 25 hours. While outwardly similar to the famous Bayraktar TB2, the Penguin is significantly smaller and occupies a different niche while retaining similar endurance.
The Almighty Buck

What May Be Coming To Startups, 2022 Edition (eladgil.com) 39

Elad Gil, a high-profile angel investor, writes: The high level view is that things have yet to get truly bad in private tech. 2021-2022 were an anomaly due to COVID policies which both created an incredibly cheap low interest money environment, pumped the stock market, and facilitated adoption of certain types of tech. This environment led to both excess in fundraising but also in hiring. This means that as money transitions back to to "normal" levels teams that were hired too far ahead need to shrink. Many areas (hiring plans, valuations, time venture capital raised lasts, etc) are roughly reseting to 2018/2019 norms, which themselves were all time highs prior to the COVID era.

If interest rates and money supply continue to tighten and a recession happens, then things should get worse. The below largely deals with the base case of things roughly stay where they are now. More likely, things will get worse before they get better. Nonetheless, it is still a great time to start a company. So what do the next few quarters look like?

1. Valuations will continue to drop and are not stable yet.
2. Top up rounds: Many companies are doing quick top-up rounds to add 6-18 months of runway and ensure the company has 36 months of cash to outlast any economic downturns or recessions.

3. Money leaving the market: Many investors who can invest in either public or private companies are mainly just focusing on public companies. This not only includes hedge funds, but also family offices and in some cases traditional venture funds. They view public markets as superior in terms of multiples and returns. Why invest in a $5B valuation private tech company with $50M in ARR when you can invest at a $5B valuation for a public company adding $50M in ARR every two months? Public companies are also liquid at most moments so you can exit the position more easily, and you can also hedge the position.

Japan

Japan Introduces Jail Time, Tougher Penalties For Online Insults (kyodonews.net) 84

A prison term of up to one year and other tougher penalties for online insults came into effect Thursday as part of Japan's efforts to tackle cyberbullying. From a report: The revised Penal Code also raised the fine for insults to up to 300,000 yen ($2,200), upping the ante from the current penalty of detention for less than 30 days or a fine of less than 10,000 yen. The statute of limitations for insults has also been extended from one year to three years.

Moves to amend the law gained traction after Hana Kimura, a 22-year-old professional wrestler and cast member on the popular Netflix reality show "Terrace House," was believed to have committed suicide in May 2020 after receiving a barrage of hateful messages on social media. Two men in Osaka and Fukui prefectures were fined 9,000 yen each for insults posted about TV personality Kimura before her death, but some expressed concern the penalties were too light, which led to the push for the legal changes.

Open Source

Gtk 5 Might Drop X.11 Support, Says GNOME Dev (theregister.com) 145

One of the GNOME developers has suggested that the next major release of Gtk could drop support for the X window system. The Register reports: Emmanuele Bassi opened a discussion last week on the GNOME project's Gitlab instance that asked whether the developers could drop X.11 support in the next release of Gtk. At this point, it is only a suggestion, but if it gets traction, this could significantly accelerate the move to the Wayland display server and the end of X.11.

Don't panic: Gtk 5 is not imminent. Gtk is a well-established toolkit, originally designed for the GIMP bitmap editing program back in 1998. Gtk 4 arrived relatively recently, shortly before the release of GNOME 40 in 2021. GNOME 40 has new user-interface guidelines, and as a part of this, Gtk 4 builds GNOME's Adwaita theme into the toolkit by means of the new libadwaita library, which is breaking the appearance of some existing apps.

Also, to be fair, as we recently covered, the X window system is very old now and isn't seeing major changes, although new releases of parts of it do still happen. This discussion is almost certain to get wildly contentious, and the thread on Gitlab has been closed to further comments for now. If this idea gains traction, one likely outcome might well be a fork of Gtk, just as happened when GNOME 3 came out. [...] A lot of the features of the current version, X.11, are no longer used or relevant to most users. Even so, X.12 is barely even in the planning stages yet.

The Internet

Ubisoft To Shut Down Multiplayer For Older Games (theverge.com) 62

A collection of over a dozen games from Ubisoft will see their online elements shut down on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in September, "which means players won't be able to play their multiplayer components, access their online features, link Ubisoft accounts in-game, or install and access downloadable content," reports The Verge. From the report: "Closing the online services for some older games allows us to focus our resources on delivering great experiences for players who are playing newer or more popular titles," Ubisoft's help page reads. With Assassin's Creed Brotherhood having originally released in November 2010, it's had almost 12 years of online support. But it's always sad to see a piece of gaming history become inaccessible, especially given the game's multiplayer element was missing from its remaster on the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Alongside Brotherhood, the online services associated with 2011's Assassin's Creed Revelations on PS3 and Xbox 360 are also being shut down, as well as 2012's Assassin's Creed 3 on PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U. [...] Other games set to have their online services decommissioned across various platforms this September include Driver San Francisco, Far Cry 3's 2012 release, Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Prince of Persia the Forgotten Sands, Rayman Legends, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
You can view the full list of games here.
Technology

3-D Printing Grows Beyond Its Novelty Roots (nytimes.com) 44

For 3-D printing, whose origins stretch back to the 1980s, the technology, economic and investment trends may finally be falling into place for the industry's commercial breakout, according to manufacturing experts, business executives and investors. From a report: They say 3-D printing, also called additive manufacturing, is no longer a novelty technology for a few consumer and industrial products, or for making prototype design concepts. "It is now a technology that is beginning to deliver industrial-grade product quality and printing in volume," said Jorg Bromberger, a manufacturing expert at McKinsey & Company. He is the lead author of a recent report by the consulting firm titled, "The Mainstreaming of Additive Manufacturing."

3-D printing refers to making something from the ground up, one layer at a time. Computer-guided laser beams melt powders of metal, plastic or composite material to create the layers. In traditional "subtractive" manufacturing, a block of metal, for example, is cast and then a part is carved down into shape with machine tools. In recent years, some companies have used additive technology to make specialized parts. General Electric relies on 3-D printing to make fuel nozzles for jet engines, Stryker makes spinal implants and Adidas prints latticed soles for high-end running shoes. Dental implants and teeth-straightening devices are 3-D printed. During the Covid-19 pandemic, 3-D printers produced emergency supplies of face shields and ventilator parts.

Today, experts say, the potential is far broader than a relative handful of niche products. The 3-D printing market is expected to triple to nearly $45 billion worldwide by 2026, according to a report by Hubs, a marketplace for manufacturing services. The Biden administration is looking to 3-D printing to help lead a resurgence of American manufacturing. Additive technology will be one of "the foundations of modern manufacturing in the 21st century," along with robotics and artificial intelligence, said Elisabeth Reynolds, special assistant to the president for manufacturing and economic development.

Technology

NIST Announces First Four Quantum-Resistant Cryptographic Algorithms (nist.gov) 56

jd writes: NIST has announced winners of its post-quantum cryptography battle of the giants.

CRYSTALS-Kyber has been chosen for standard encryption, CRYSTALS-Dilithium, Falcon, and SPHINCS+ were chosen for digital signatures. Falcon is recommended by NIST as a backup for Dilithium where shorter keys are needed, and SPHINCS+ uses a different mathematical technique than all of the other submissions, so if it is found that there's a flaw in the maths for the others, then there's something to fall back on.

There is still a final round for public key encryption algorithms. The remaining candidates are BIKE, Classic McEliece, HQC, and SIKE.

The mailing list members probably wish that they could use Slashdot's moderation system about now, as some of the discussions have been extremely heated. This was especially true for the signature system Rainbow, which is used by the ABC Mint crypto-currency, which was rejected after what was claimed to be a catastrophic flaw was reported, with allegations that it could be broken over a weekend on a laptop, followed by counter-allegations that many of the other algorithms had significant flaws in them also. (This is likely why SPHINCS+ is a backup.)

Another area that was hotly debated was CPU design flaws, particularly HertzBleed, which got the well-known crypto maestro Bernstein rather annoyed. As SIKE is a final round candidate, NIST seem to be satisfied with his explanation for why CPU design flaws should not be considered. It is to be seen how this debate progresses.

EU

EU Lawmakers Pass Landmark Tech Rules, But Enforcement a Worry (reuters.com) 31

EU lawmakers gave the thumbs up on Tuesday to landmark rules to rein in tech giants such as Alphabet unit Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft, but enforcement could be hampered by regulators' limited resources. From a report: In addition to the rules known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), lawmakers also approved the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires online platforms to do more to police the internet for illegal content. Companies face fines of up to 10% of annual global turnover for DMA violations and 6% for DSA breaches. Lawmakers and EU states had reached a political deal on both rule books earlier this year, leaving some details to be ironed out. The European Commission has set up a taskforce, with about 80 officials expected to join up, which critics say is inadequate. Last month it put out a 12 million euro ($12.3 million) tender for experts to help in investigations and compliance enforcement over a four-year period. EU industry chief Thierry Breton sought to address enforcement concerns, saying various teams would focus on different issues such as risk assessments, interoperability of messenger services and data access during implementation of the rules.
Twitter

Twitter Sues India's Government Over Content Takedown Orders (techcrunch.com) 31

Twitter has sued the Indian government to challenge some of its takedown orders, TechCrunch reported Tuesday, further escalating the tension between the American social giant and New Delhi. From a report: In its lawsuit, filed Tuesday, Twitter alleges that New Delhi has abused its power by ordering it to remove several tweets from its platform. The lawsuit follows a rough year and a half for Twitter in India, a key overseas market for the firm, where it has been asked to take down hundreds of accounts and tweets, many of which critics argue were objected because they denounced the Indian government's policies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Japan

Japanese Court Ruling Poised To Make Big Tech Open Up on Algorithms (ft.com) 16

Japanese legal experts have said an antitrust case related to a local restaurant website could change how large internet platforms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon operate in the country, forcing them to reveal the inner workings of their secret algorithms. From a report: Last month, a Tokyo court ruled in favour of Hanryumura, a Korean-style BBQ restaurant chain operator in an antitrust case brought against Kakaku.com, operator of Tabelog, Japan's largest restaurant review platform. Hanryumura successfully argued that Kakaku.com had altered the way user scores were tallied in ways that hurt sales at its restaurant outlets. While Kakaku.com has been ordered to pay Hanryumura $284,000 in damages for "abuse of superior bargaining position," the internet company has appealed against the decision.

Japanese legal experts said the outcome may have far-reaching implications, as the court requested Kakaku.com to disclose part of its algorithms. While the restaurant group is constrained from publicly revealing what information was shown to it, the court's request set a rare precedent. Big Tech groups have long argued that their algorithms should be considered trade secrets in all circumstances. Courts and regulators across the world have begun to challenge that position, with many businesses having complained about the negative impact caused by even small changes to search and recommendations services.

Hardware

Gartner Predicts 9.5% Drop in PC Shipments (theregister.com) 47

The party is over for PC makers as figures from Gartner suggest the market is on course for a breathtaking decline this year. From a report: According to the analysts, worldwide PC shipments will decline by 9.5 percent, with consumer demand leading the way -- a 13.5 percent drop is forecast, far greater than business PC demand, which is expected to drop by 7.2 percent year on year. The PC market in the EMEA region is forecast to fare even worse, with a 14 percent decline on the cards for 2022. Gartner pointed the finger of blame at uncertainty caused by conflicts, price increases and simple unavailability of products. Lockdowns in China were also blamed for an impact in consumer demand. It all makes for grim reading from a channel perspective. While worldwide PC shipments fared the worst, tablet devices are forecast to fall by 9 percent and mobile phones by 7.1 percent. Overall, the total decline over all types of devices in the report is expected to be 7.6 percent. This is in stark contrast to a 11 percent increase year on year in the shipment of PCs in 2021 and 5 per cent for mobile phones.
Windows

Microsoft Finds 'Raspberry Robin' Worm in Hundreds of Windows Networks (bleepingcomputer.com) 61

"Microsoft says that a recently spotted Windows worm has been found on the networks of hundreds of organizations from various industry sectors," reports BleepingComputer.

The "Raspberry Robin" malware (first spotted in September) spreads through USB devices with a malicious .LNK file Although Microsoft observed the malware connecting to addresses on the Tor network, the threat actors are yet to exploit the access they gained to their victims' networks. This is in spite of the fact that they could easily escalate their attacks given that the malware can bypass User Account Control (UAC) on infected systems using legitimate Windows tools. Microsoft shared this info in a private threat intelligence advisory sent to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint subscribers and seen by BleepingComputer....

Once the USB device is attached and the user clicks the link, the worm spawns a msiexec process using cmd .exe to launch a malicious file stored on the infected drive. It infects new Windows devices, communicates with its command and control servers (C2), and executes malicious payloads...

Microsoft has tagged this campaign as high-risk, given that the attackers could download and deploy additional malware within the victims' networks and escalate their privileges at any time.

Social Networks

As TikTok Promises US Servers, FCC Commissioner Remains Critical of Data Privacy (cnn.com) 28

On Tuesday Brendan Carr, a commissioner on America's Federal Communications Commission,warned on Twitter that TikTok, owned by China-based company ByteDance, "doesn't just see its users dance videos: It collects search and browsing histories, keystroke patterns, biometric identifiers, draft messages and metadata, plus it has collected the text, images, and videos that are stored on a device's clipboard. Tiktok's pattern of misrepresentations coupled with its ownership by an entity beholden to the Chinese Community Party has resulted in U.S. military branches and national security agencies banning it from government devices.... The CCP has a track record longer than a CVS receipt of conducting business & industrial espionage as well as other actions contrary to U.S. national security, which is what makes it so troubling that personnel in Beijing are accessing this sensitive and personnel data.
Today CNN interviewed Carr, while also bringing viewers an update. TikTok's China-based employees accessed data on U.S. TikTok users, BuzzFeed had reported — after which TikTok announced it intends to move backup data to servers in the U.S., allowing them to eventually delete U.S. data from their servers. But days later Republican Senator Blackburn was still arguing to Bloomberg that "Americans need to know if they are on TikTok, communist China has their information."

And FCC commissioner Carr told CNN he remains suspicious too: Carr: For years TikTok has been asked directly by U.S. lawmakers, 'Is any information, any data, being accessed by personnel back in Beijing?' And rather than being forthright and saying 'Yes, and here's the extent of it and here's why we don't think it's a problem,' they've repeatedly said 'All U.S. user data is stored in the U.S.," leaving people with the impression that there's no access.... This recent bombshell reporting from BuzzFeed shows at least some of the extent to which massive amounts of data has allegedy been going back to Beijing.

And that's a problem, and not just a national security problem. But to me it looks like a violation of the terms of the app store, and that's why I wrote a letter to Google and Apple saying that they should remove TikTok and boot them out of the app store... I've left them until July 8th to give me a response, so we'll see what they say. I look forward to hearing from them. But there's precedence for this. Before when applications have taken data surreptitiously and put it in servers in China or otherwise been used for reasons other than servicing the application itself, they have booted them from the app store. And so I would hope that they would just apply the plain terms of their policy here.

When CNN points out the FCC doesn't have jurisdiction over social media, Carr notes "speaking for myself as one member" they've developed "expertise in terms of understanding how the CCP can effectively take data and infiltrate U.S. communications' networks. And he points out that the issue is also being raised by Congressional hearings and by Republican and Democrat Senators signing joint letters together, so "I'm just one piece of a broader federal effort that's looking at the very serious risks that come from TikTok." Carr: At the end of the day, it functions as sophisticated surveillance tool that is harvesting vast amounts of data on U.S. users. And I think TikTok should answer point-blank, has any CCP member obtained non-public user data or viewed it. Not to answer with a dodge, and say they've never been asked for it or never received a request. Can they say no, no CCP member has ever seen non-public U.S. user data.
Carr's appearance was followed by an appearance by TikTok's VP and head of public policy for the Americas. But this afternoon Carr said on Twitter that TikTok's response contradicted its own past statements: Today, a TikTok exec said it was "simply false" for me to say that they collect faceprints, browsing history, & keystroke patterns.

Except, I was quoting directly from TikTok's own disclosures.

TikTok's concerning pattern of misrepresentations about U.S. user data continues.

Transportation

After Reports of Mid-Air Emergencies, US Will Audit Boeing's Oversight of 737 Max (abc.net.au) 119

"Boeing's troubled 737 MAX planes — which have twice crashed, killing 346 people — have experienced at least six mid-air emergencies and dozens of groundings in the year after an extensive probe cleared them to fly," reports Australia's public broadcaster ABC News: The incidents, pulled from U.S. government air safety databases, are among more than 60 mid-flight problems reported by pilots in the 12 months after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recertified the plane's airworthiness in late 2020. Former employees of both Boeing and the FAA characterised the reports — which included engine shutdowns and pilots losing partial control of the plane — as serious and with the potential to end in tragedy.

In one incident in December 2021, a United Airlines pilot declared a mayday after the system controlling the pitch and altitude of the plane started malfunctioning...

The MAX's flight control system also failed on 22 separate flights, a problem which became the primary focus of the FAA's 20-month recertification effort after the two fatal crashes. More than 42 incidents involved equipment malfunctions, and on more than 40 occasions, flight crews chose to ground the affected aircraft while problems were fixed.... Some planes also had a multitude of problems. One Alaskan Airlines MAX-9 was grounded seven times over five months due to malfunctions with its navigation or communication equipment.

A Boeing spokeswoman told the ABC, "none of the reports indicate a trend".

"In fact, the in-service reliability of the 737 MAX is consistent with other commercial airplane models," the spokeswoman said. "Since November 2020, the 737 MAX has flown more than 1.5 million flight hours in more than 580,000 revenue flights. The overwhelming majority of these flights have been conducted without any incident."

Former senior Boeing manager Ed Pierson — who worked at the 737 MAX factory in Seattle between 2015 and 2018 — told ABC "There are a lot of similarities between what we're seeing in some of the reports with what happened during these two crashes."

The article also reports that America's Federal Aviation Administration "has now confirmed it did not investigate Boeing's alleged production problems after the crashes."

Later the article adds that the U.S. government "will announce a new audit examining Boeing's production oversight of the 737 MAX planes."
Facebook

Meta Is Finally Closing Its Cryptocurrency Project Novi (cnet.com) 27

"What little is left of Meta's once-ambitious cryptocurrency project is limping to an end," reports CNET: A pilot program for Novi, the social media giant's money-transfer service that uses a cryptocurrency wallet of the same name, will cease operating on Sept. 1, according to a notice on its website. The Novi pilot served Guatemala and parts of the US when it launched in October 2021. "The Novi pilot is ending soon," according to the notice, which was reported earlier by Bloomberg News. "We've made it easy for you to get your remaining balance and download your Novi information." Another page on the site encourages users to withdraw balances "as soon as possible." The planned phaseout of Novi is hardly surprising. Earlier this year, Meta and its partners pulled the plug on Diem, a related cryptocurrency project that was launched under the moniker Libra in 2019, when Meta was still called Facebook... The Libra-Diem-Novi project got little love in its brief history. Partners bolted, details shifted, and legislators criticized the plans. CEO Mark Zuckerberg eventually shifted his interest to the metaverse and an end to the crypto plans seemed inevitable.
Protocol points out that Novi "was a far cry from what Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-Meta executive David Marcus originally envisioned." They unveiled plans for a stablecoin, initially called Libra, in 2019, with plans to launch it in 2020, along with a crypto wallet called Calibra. It soon faced resistance from regulators around the globe. The token was renamed Diem and the wallet Novi, but the new name didn't change official skepticism... Marcus left Meta last year, and Meta sold assets related to the project to its banking partner, Silvergate. Novi was supposed to become the new brand for all of Meta's financial products, including Facebook Pay. But after Marcus' departure, Meta started downplaying the Novi name. Meta's financial operations became Meta Financial Technologies in March, and Facebook Pay became Meta Pay in June.

Meta hasn't completely abandoned its blockchain ambitions, signaling that support for cryptocurrency payments will eventually be built into Meta Pay.

United States

Countries Form New NATO-Like 'Mineral Security' Alliance to Ensure EV Supplies (yahoo.com) 53

"A metallic NATO is starting to take shape," writes the senior metals columnist at Reuters, "though no-one is calling it that just yet." The Minerals Security Partnership is in theory open to all countries that are committed to "responsible critical mineral supply chains to support economic prosperity and climate objectives". But the coalition assembled by the United States is one of like-minded countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany with an Asian axis in the form of Japan and South Korea. [Also the European Commission, as well as Finland and Sweden.]

It is defined as much as anything by who is not on the invite list — China and Russia.

China's dominance of key enabling minerals such as lithium and rare earths is the single biggest reason why Western countries are looking to build their own supply chains. Russia, a major producer of nickel, aluminium and platinum group metals, is now also a highly problematic trading partner as its war in Ukraine that the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" grinds on. A previously highly globalised minerals supply network looks set to split into politically polarised spheres of influence, a tectonic realignment with far-reaching implications. The United States and Europe have realised that they can't build out purely domestic supply chains quickly enough to meet demand from the electric vehicle transition....

The process was already well underway before the U.S. State Department announced the formation of the Minerals Security Partnership on June 14. U.S. and Canadian officials have been working closely as Canada fleshes out a promised C$3.8 billion ($3.02 billion) package to boost production of lithium, copper and other strategic minerals. European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic has just been in Norway to seal "a strategic partnership" on battery technologies and critical raw materials.

The article points out America's Department of Defense is already investing $120 million in a new plant for heavy rare earths separation — and has chosen an Australian company as its partner.

Shortly thereafter the Defense Department noted an online disinformation campaign against its new partner (according to U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant), disinformation which Reuters describes as "a pro-China propaganda campaign" using fake social media accounts to try to stir up opposition.
The Almighty Buck

Remember RadioShack? It's Now a Crypto Company with Wild Tweets (msn.com) 78

"Gen Z may not be familiar with the RadioShack of their grandparents, but they're getting to know its replacement," writes the Washington Post.

"The 100-year-old retailer reintroduced itself on Twitter this week with a stream of often-profane tweets — some since deleted — filled with crude comments and drug references." Variations of, "What in the world is going on?" peppered the comment threads, but a glance of the company's Twitter profile partly held the answer: RadioShack is no longer the electronics store Americans ran to for generations, but rather an online cryptocurrency company that also happens to sell batteries.

"It's our voice, a new voice, one for the people," said Abel Czupor, the chief marketing officer. "RadioShack's audience used to be only an older demographic, but as times have changed and e-commerce has taken over, the old voice of RadioShack is no longer relevant."

Following a decade of decline, RadioShack was delisted by New York Stock Exchange in 2015. In its struggle to find a brand identity, the chain filed for bankruptcy twice, and went from having roughly 5,200 U.S. stores in 2014 to about 400 when private equity firm Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) purchased it in 2020. REV was formed by Alex Mehr, the co-founder of online dating site Zoosk.com, and Tai Lopez, an online influencer known for coaching about his lavish lifestyle. They launched RadioShack Swap, a decentralized crypto exchange platform that allows users to swap coins or tokens, a format that comes with more flexibility and lower transaction fees than trading... In a May statement, the company reported trading volume of $40 million, with a daily average of $500,000 to $2 million....

Yet with its latest marketing strategy on Twitter, the reactions were mixed. One day the platform itself "randomly shut down our account and locked us out." Czupor said, though some tweets were later restored.

The new RadioShack tells the Post that "Sales have actually grown since we started upping our Twitter game over the past several weeks." And the founder of social media marketing consultancy Flying Hare Social told the newspaper that RadioShack's tweets may help them gain visibility — because "Everybody who's interested in crypto is interested in this kind of humor."
The Courts

What Happened After Massachusetts Voters Approved a Right-to-Repair Law? (msn.com) 48

U.S. right-to-repair advocates hoped a district judge would finally rule Friday on Massachusetts' voter-approved right-to-repair referendum. But they were disappointed again, reports the Boston Globe, since instead the judge said he'd first have to consider a recent ruling by America's Supreme Court limiting the regulatory powers of the U.S. government's Environmental Protection Agency: The Massachusetts law was approved by 75 percent of voters in a 2020 referendum. But its implementation has been held up by court challenges ever since. It would require all automakers selling new cars in Massachusetts to provide buyers with access to "telematic" data â diagnostic information â via a wireless connection. That way, car owners could get their cars repaired at any independent repair shop, instead of being forced to have the work done at manufacturer-approved dealerships.

But the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an association of the world's top carmakers, sued to overturn the law, arguing that only the federal government, not states, may enact such a rule. In addition, carmakers said that they could not redesign the digital systems of their cars in time to comply with the law's 2022 model-year deadline.

The lawsuit went to trial last summer, but the court's judgment has been repeatedly delayed. In the meantime, at least two auto manufacturers, Subaru and Kia, began selling cars in Massachusetts with their telematic features switched off, to avoid violating the law.

The state's attorney general has now granted a two-week "grace period" during which the law won't be enforced, according to the article, while the district judge "said that he expected to rule before the end of a two-week grace period."
The Military

US Hypersonic Missile Fails In Test In Fresh Setback For Program (bloomberg.com) 65

A flight test of a hypersonic missile system in Hawaii ended in failure due to a problem that took place after ignition, the Department of Defense said, delivering a fresh blow to a program that has suffered stumbles. Bloomberg reports: It didn't provide further details of what took place in the Wednesday test, but said in a statement sent by email "the Department remains confident that it is on track to field offensive and defensive hypersonic capabilities on target dates beginning in the early 2020s." [...] The trial marked the second unsuccessful test flight of the prototype weapon known as Conventional Prompt Strike. There was a booster failure in its first flight test in October, which prevented the missile from leaving the launch pad. The Conventional Prompt Strike weapon is envisioned to be installed on Zumwalt destroyers and Virginia-class submarines. "An anomaly occurred following ignition of the test asset," Pentagon spokesman Navy Lieutenant Commander Tim Gorman said in the statement. "Program officials have initiated a review to determine the cause to inform future tests." he said. "While the Department was unable to collect data on the entirety of the planned flight profile, the information gathered from this event will provide vital insights."

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