The Daily Upside

Technology

ByteDance Is Scaling Back its VR Ambitions

(Photo by JE Shoots on Unsplash)

ByteDance is undergoing a sweeping restructuring and scaleback of its VR division, according to a Financial Times report on Tuesday.

1 min read
Media & Entertainment

Money Talks: The NCAA’s NIL Era is Already Evolving

(Photo by Jacob Rice/Unsplash)

This is the third school year of the NCAA’s NIL era, granting student-athletes the right to benefit from their Name, Image, and Likeness.

6 min read
Patent Drop

Google’s Smart Speakers May Add to Global Data Melting Pot

Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash

Google wants its smart speakers to learn from their mistakes. The company’s latest patent reveals plans for its devices to take feedback.

3 min read
Finance

Berkshire Hathaway Has Built a Massive Mountain of Cash

(Photo Credit: Serba Sembilan/Unsplash)

Berkshire Hathaway’s third-quarter earnings report on Saturday revealed how Warren Buffett weathered the past three months.

2 min read

Patent Drop

Mastercard Wants to Create a Back-up Plan for Lost Crypto

Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash.

This signals that financial institutions are seeking to make blockchain safer, though it challenges the decentralized nature of the tech.

2 min read
Media & Entertainment

Music Copyright Revenue Is Reaching a High Note

(Photo Credit: Yvette de Wit/Unsplash)

Annual global revenue generated by music copyrights has grown to $41.5 billion, the Financial Times reported.

1 min read
Consumer

Chinese Consumers Are Pulling Back on Big Western Brands

(Photo Credit: Zhang Kaiyv/Unsplash)

From cosmetics to apparel to tech, Western brands are seeing revenues dip in China as consumers navigate a struggling post-pandemic economy.

1 min read
Patent Drop

Sony Wants to Check for Bias With “Human-Centric” AI Model

Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash

Like any AI-based system, the model itself that makes these determinations needs to be properly trained.

2 min read

Healthcare

Moderna Takes $1.3 Billion Hit From Sluggish Covid Vaccine Uptake

Photo by Ian Hutchinson via Unsplash

Moderna posted a quarterly loss of $3.63 billion, half of which was accounted for by unused Covid-19 shots past their expiration date.

2 min read
Consumer

Starbucks, Coffee Drinkers Don’t Have Time for a Struggling Economy

(Photo by Ben White on Unsplash)

Shares of Starbucks jumped more than 9% Thursday after the company posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings.

1 min read
Big Tech

FTC Gets Specific in its Amazon Antitrust Case

(Photo by Daniel Oberhaus under CC BY 2.0)

Amazon, at the behest of its billionaire founder, intentionally packed its search results pages with junk ads, the FTC alleges.

2 min read
Industrials

Sugar Shortages Loom as Supply Gets Sticky

(Photo by Mathilde Langevin on Unsplash)

Logistical holdups at ports in Brazil combined with poor sugar crops in other major sugar-producing nations is stretching supply of the crop.

1 min read

Regulation

Betting Startup Sues Feds After Election Markets Plan is Rejected

(Photo by Gage Skidmore under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Financial exchange startup Kalshi has sued the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, arguing that the regulator overstepped its authority.

1 min read
Real Estate

Washington DC Sues Landlords, RealPage in Alleged Rent-Fixing Scheme

(Photo by Chuttersnap on Unsplash)

Washington, DC’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit against property management software maker RealPage, along with 14 commercial landlords.

2 min read
OP-ED | Power Corridor

A Bottomless Congressional Conflagration

Another month, another potential government shutdown. The U.S. House of Representatives did manage to briefly overcome its deep divisions long enough to…

3 min read
OP-ED | Power Corridor

SBF’s Own Words Prove His Downfall

For Sam Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, it is safe to say his gift of gab – which briefly…

2 min read
Power Corridor

Fed’s Tea Leaves Get Murkier

Photo by Federal Reserve Board of Governors under Public Domain Mark 1.0

The U.S. Federal Reserve is all but certain to hold interest rates steady Wednesday, but the economy is still scorching – beating expectations in…

2 min read
Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft’s AI News Poll Ticks Off UK Newspaper

(Photo by Connor Lin/The Daily Upside)

The Guardian submitted a complaint to Microsoft on Tuesday after a grotesquely inappropriate AI-generated poll next to a Guardian article.

2 min read
Energy

Biden’s Ambitions for Offshore Wind Are High, Maybe Not Realistic

(Photo by Harry Cunningham on Pexels)

On Tuesday, the Biden administration approved the construction of a massive wind farm off the coast of Virginia.

2 min read
Banking

Low Deal Flow Means Lower Bonuses for Wall Street

(Photo by Edgar on Unsplash)

After 10 months of slower-than-anticipated deal flow, bankers are expecting less-than-stellar year-end holiday bonuses.

1 min read

Advisor Upside

Financial advisor news, market insights, and practice management essentials.

Just How Much Data Does the Fed Need to Cut Rates?

Photo via Aaron Schwartz/CNP/ Polaris/Newscom

2 min read
Gecko’s AI Robots Represent the ‘Boring’ Future of Bots

Jake Loosararian, CEO of Gecko Robotics. Photo by World Economic Forum via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

1 min read
Europe Delays Stricter Banking Rules to Keep ‘Level Playing Field’ With US Rivals

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. Photo via Abaca Press/Monasse Thierry/ANDBZ/Abaca/Sipa USA/Newscom

2 min read

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