An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Amazon, one of the first companies to join the prestigious $1 trillion dollar valuation club, just passed another, admittedly less desirable milestone. This week, Jeff Bezos' Everything Store became the first publicly traded company to lose $1 trillion in market valuation. The mind boggling figures, first noted by Bloomberg, are the results of a worsening economy, repeatedly dour earnings reports, and massive stock selloffs. Amazon, valued at $1.882 trillion on June 21, on Thursday reported a comparatively measly $878 billion valuation. Microsoft, which briefly surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable company last year, wasn't far behind, with market valuation losses hovering around $900 billion. Combined, the two companies' declines capture the effect of a lousy year most in tech would like to soon forget.

Those declines aren't just limited to Amazon and Microsoft. The top five most valuable U.S. tech companies reportedly lost a combined $4 trillion in value this year. To put that in perspective, that's more than the combined GDPs of Turkey, Argentina, and Switzerland. Amazon, in particular, disappointed investors last month with third quarter revenues that failed to meet expectations. Worse still, the company said it's expecting to post fourth quarter year-over-year growth of just 2-8%. That's fine for a normal company, but there's nothing normal about Amazon which was, until now, a relentless growth machine. Like many other companies Amazon's also had to contend with declining e-commerce shopping as consumers, less concerned with covid-19, begin to trickle back into retail stores. "There is obviously a lot happening in the macroeconomic environment," CEO Andy Jassy said following the third quarter earnings report. "And we'll balance our investments to be more streamlined without compromising our key long-term, strategic bets."

Solana's SOL is down much further than any of the other major cryptocurrencies today, all of which are down badly following the sudden unraveling of the wildly fast growing crypto exchange FTX on Tuesday. Axios reports: Blockchain principles aim to instantiate the ideals of decentralization. That is, no single points of failure. Blockchain realities, though, show that each community tends to have its major leaders. For Solana, one of those was definitely FTX's c0-founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). SBF has long been bullish on Solana, including working to build Serum, an order book style exchange that runs in a decentralized fashion. His firms are rumored to have owned a substantial amount of the total SOL supply.

FTX and Alameda Trading are in trouble. If they hold large amounts of SOL, they are very likely to exit those positions, which will tank SOL price. CoinDesk reported on Nov. 2 that Alameda had $292 million in SOL and $863 million in locked SOL (on the Solana blockchain, large holders can earn more by backing the blockchain's validators by committing not to sell -- or locking -- for a certain period of time). "People are dumping already -- self-fulfilling prophecy," Economics Design's Lisa Jy Tan told Axios over Twitter DM. Tomorrow, the entities verifying the Solana blockchain have already publicly indicated their intention to unlock about a billion dollars worth of SOL (at current prices), about 17% of its market cap. It's reasonable to expect they might intend to sell.

Solana's fall has put stress on one of its leading decentralized finance applications, Solend, a money market that works much like Ethereum's Compound. Solend is gradually unwinding a single, almost $30 million USDC (stablecoin) loan, collateralized by SOL, which is falling fast while the protocol tries to sell. Much like SOL's price, the total value locked (TVL) in various DeFi projects on Solana has fallen much further in the last day than on other smart contract blockchains, according to DefiLlama. Solana TVL is down 45% over the last day, to $470 million, as of Wednesday afternoon, New York time.

The Court of Rome has confirmed that Cloudflare must block three torrent sites through its public 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver. The order applies to kickasstorrents.to, limetorrents.pro, and ilcorsaronero.pro, three domains that are already blocked by ISPs in Italy following an order from local regulator AGCOM. TorrentFreak reports: Disappointed by the ruling, Cloudflare filed an appeal at the Court of Milan. The internet infrastructure company doesn't object to blocking requests that target its customers' websites but believes that interfering with its DNS resolver is problematic, as those measures are not easy to restrict geographically. "Because such a block would apply globally to all users of the resolver, regardless of where they are located, it would affect end users outside of the blocking government's jurisdiction," Cloudflare recently said. "We therefore evaluate any government requests or court orders to block content through a globally available public recursive resolver as requests or orders to block content globally." At the court of appeal, Cloudflare argued that DNS blocking is an ineffective measure that can be easily bypassed, with a VPN for example. In addition, it contested that it is subject to the jurisdiction of an Italian court.

Cloudflare's defenses failed to gain traction in court and its appeal was dismissed. DNS blocking may not be a perfect solution, but that doesn't mean that Cloudflare can't be compelled to intervene. [...] Cloudflare believes that these types of orders set a dangerous precedent. The company previously said that it hadn't actually blocked content through the 1.1.1.1 Public DNS Resolver. Instead, it implemented an "alternative remedy" to comply with the Italian court order.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Taiwan's chipmaking giant TSMC is said to be preparing to build another semiconductor fabrication plant in Arizona, alongside the facility it completed this summer, in a move that may be seen as a vindication of the US government's CHIPS Act funding. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, TSMC is planning to announce in the near future that it will build a further factory for making cutting edge chips at a site just north of Phoenix, adjacent to the $12 billion Fab 21 plant the company decided to construct in 2020.

The new facility will be used to manufacture 3nm chips, according to the paper, which cites anonymous sources "familiar with the expansion plans." The scale of this project is expected to be comparable to the existing plant. Reports last year suggested that TSMC was already considering constructing up to five additional semiconductor factories in Arizona, on top of the one just completed, which is not scheduled to start up production of chips until 2024. The move to build another plant comes despite the Taiwanese chip behemoth announcing recently that it was cutting back on its capital investment budget in the face of a market slowdown which led to TSMC predicting that Q4 revenue growth will likely be flat. However, the fact that TSMC is still considering further facilities in Arizona could be seen as vindication that the US CHIPS Act, which includes subsidies and other incentives for semiconductor companies like TSMC to build on American soil, is having the desired effect.

According to CoinDesk, Binance has walked away from a deal to acquire FTX. From the report: "As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged U.S. agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of FTX.com," the spokesperson told CoinDesk. "In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX's customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help. Every time a major player in an industry fails, retail consumers will suffer. We have seen over the last several years that the crypto ecosystem is becoming more resilient and we believe in time that outliers that misuse user funds will be weeded out by the free market. As regulatory frameworks are developed and as the industry continues to evolve toward greater decentralization, the ecosystem will grow stronger." Further reading: Bitcoin Falls Below $16,000

Microsoft is releasing DirectStorage 1.1 this week, and the biggest new addition is GPU decompression for Windows PC games. The Verge reports: GPU decompression works by offloading the work needed to decompress assets in games to the graphics card instead of the CPU. Right now, game assets are typically compressed when they are packaged up for distribution and then decompressed once a game is played. The problem is most compression techniques are designed for CPUs, which aren't great for modern games that want to push for faster decompression rates with the latest PC hardware.

We've seen the industry move to PCIe Gen3 or Gen4 NVMe storage devices in recent years, offering 7GB/s of data bandwidth. This fast storage is great news for game developers wanting to speed up load times, and the advances in I/O technology can dramatically speed up load times and games using DirectStorage 1.1. Developers will now need to tweak their games to make use of DirectStorage 1.1, and the improvements could even see big changes inside games where you move from one world to another or teleport between different parts of a map or world. Microsoft claims this can be as much as three times faster, freeing up the CPU to handle other game processes. [...] All we need now is game support.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: IBM wants to scale up its quantum computers to over 4,000 qubits by 2025 -- but we're not quite there yet. For now, we have to make do with significantly smaller systems and today, IBM announced the launch of its Osprey quantum processor, which features 433 qubits, up from the 127 qubits of its 2021 Eagle processor. And with that, the slow but steady march toward a quantum processor with real-world applications continues.

IBM's quantum roadmap includes two additional stages -- the 1,121-qubit Condor and 1,386-qubit Flamingo processors in 2023 and 2024 -- before it plans to hit the 4,000-qubit stage with its Kookaburra processor in 2025. So far, the company has generally been able to make this roadmap work, but the number of qubits in a quantum processor is obviously only one part of a very large and complex puzzle, with longer coherence times and reduced noise being just as important.

The company also today detailed (Link: YouTube) its Quantum System Two -- basically IBM's quantum mainframe -- which will be able to house multiple quantum processors and integrate them into a single system with high-speed communication links. The idea here is to launch this system by the end of 2023. "The new 433 qubit 'Osprey' processor brings us a step closer to the point where quantum computers will be used to tackle previously unsolvable problems," said Dario Gil, senior vice president, IBM and director of Research. "We are continuously scaling up and advancing our quantum technology across hardware, software and classical integration to meet the biggest challenges of our time, in conjunction with our partners and clients worldwide. This work will prove foundational for the coming era of quantum-centric supercomputing."

Further reading: IBM Held Talks With Biden Administration on Quantum Controls

An anonymous reader shares an ArsTechnica report: This fall, Microsoft claimed to have addressed anticompetitive cloud infrastructure complaints from a few smaller cloud services providers in Europe. In a blog, the company announced it would be partnering with small to mid-sized cloud providers to give Microsoft customers more options for non-Microsoft cloud infrastructure. Notably, these Microsoft licensing changes excluded its biggest cloud competitors, Google and Amazon, from participating as partners. This, unsurprisingly, drew prompt criticism from a trade group with members that include both the smaller cloud providers as well as Amazon. The Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE) group claimed that Microsoft's response failed to "show any progress in addressing Microsoft's anti-competitive behavior."

Now, CISPE has filed its own complaint, urging the European Commission to open a formal investigation into how Microsoft is allegedly "irreparably damaging the European cloud ecosystem and depriving European customers of choice in their cloud deployments." According to CISPE, the group had no choice but to file the complaint because Microsoft allegedly has "not provided the detail, clarity or assurance that it truly intends to bring a swift end to its anti-competitive licensing practices." Rather than address complaints from smaller cloud providers like OVHcloud and Aruba -- which are also CISPE members -- CISPE suggests that Microsoft added new unfair practices this fall. These changes, CISPE Secretary General Francisco Mingorance told Ars, created "an existential issue for many of our members and without an investigation and action it could spell the end of a European cloud infrastructure sector."

A new antitrust class-action lawsuit accuses Apple and Amazon of colluding to raise the price of iPhones and iPads, according to Hagens Berman, the law firm representing consumers against two of the world's largest companies in today's filing. From a report: The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington accuses Apple and Amazon of seeking to eliminate third-party Apple resellers on Amazon Marketplace in a scheme to stifle competition, and maintain premium pricing for Apple products. The class action alleges an "unlawful horizontal agreement between Apple and Amazon to eliminate or at least severely reduce the competitive threat posed by third-party merchants," which attorneys say violates federal antitrust laws and has cost consumers.

The lawsuit says the parties' illegal agreement brought the number of third-party sellers of Apple products on Amazon Marketplace from roughly 600 to just seven sellers -- a loss of 98%, and by doing so, Amazon, which was formerly a marginal seller of Apple products, became the dominant seller of Apple products on Amazon Marketplace. The consumer-rights law firm behind the filing has bested Apple in multiple antitrust lawsuits, including a $400 million settlement related to price-fixing of e-books and a $100 million settlement on behalf of iOS developers harmed by App Store policies. Hagens Berman has also brought multiple pending antitrust cases against both defendants.

Against long odds and initially strong opposition, a pristine marine preserve in the Philippines has thrived for decades under the care of local fishermen. Warming waters threaten the achievement. From a report: The large green sea turtles used to be terrified of humans, scuttling away as fast as they could. "When the turtles saw people, it was like they saw a ghost," said Mario Pascobello, a resident of Apo Island in the Philippines. "In the old days, they were being slaughtered here," he added, with the island's fishermen feasting on their flesh and their eggs. Now, the endangered green turtles, largely herbivorous, peacefully graze in the shallows off Apo's coast, unbothered by the fishermen, who share the waters with them. But if the turtles are no longer menaced by the fishermen here, they do face another man-made threat: climate change.

"Climate change increasing the temperatures of coastal areas will kill corals and fish larvae," said Angel Alcala, a marine biologist who started visiting the island in the 1970s. "Typhoons usually reached the Negros area only once in 10 to 15 years before, but now every four or five years a typhoon hits Apo." The community is still rehabilitating from the last typhoon, and in recent years it has had to restore parts of its reef damaged in bleaching events, when overheated seawater causes coral to expel the plantlike organism that live inside them, which causes the corals to not only turn white but also puts them at greater risk of death. Apo, a tiny volcanic speck roughly in the center of the Philippines archipelago, is home to a pristine marine sanctuary in an area known as the Amazon of the Sea because of its biodiversity. The waters around the tiny island are thought to be home to around 400 species of coral.

Google is bringing its VPN access to desktop today. Google One subscribers on Premium plans (2TB or higher) can now download VPN apps for Windows and macOS, allowing users in 22 countries to mask their IPs on desktop and reduce online trackers. From a report: While Google is expanding its VPN service, it still comes with the same restrictions as Android and iOS. You'll only be able to use the service in one of the supported countries, and you won't be able to use Google's VPN freely to avoid geo-restrictions on live sports or other streaming video. Much like Apple's iCloud Plus VPN service, the Google One VPN won't let you assign an IP address from a different country manually. Instead, Google assigns you an IP in the region you're connecting from.

IBM has engaged in talks with the Biden administration on potential export controls for quantum computers as the company continues investing in the emerging technology. From a report: IBM recommended that any regulations, if developed, cover potentially problematic uses of quantum computing rather than limiting the technology based simply on processing power, said Dario Gil, head of IBM Research. Quantum technology will likely be subject to constraints like export controls, Gil said. "We will continue to be an active participant in that dialogue," he said.

Quantum computing is an experimental field with the potential to accelerate processing power and upend current cybersecurity standards. The Biden administration is exploring the possibility of new export controls that would limit China's access to quantum along with other powerful emerging technologies, Bloomberg News reported last month. IBM has installed quantum infrastructure in countries like Germany and Japan, but not China, Gil said. Big Blue has invested millions in the field, and is unveiling a new quantum processor this week that is more than three times more powerful, measured by qubits, than its version announced last year.

Google has announced that it's making the new Gmail interface the standard experience for users. From a report: The company first released the new interface earlier this year but allowed users to revert back to the original view. Starting this month, users will no longer have the option to go back to the old interface. "The integrated view with Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet on the left side of the window will also become standard for users who have turned on Chat," the company said in a blog post. "Through quick settings, you can customize this new interface to include the apps most important to you, whether it's Gmail by itself or a combination of Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet."

AmiMoJo writes: In France, solar just got a huge boost from new legislation approved through the Senate this week that requires all parking lots with spaces for at least 80 vehicles -- both existing and new -- be covered by solar panels. The new provisions are part of French president Emmanuel Macron's large-scale plan to heavily invest in renewables, which aims to multiply by 10 the amount of solar energy produced in the country, and to double the power from land-based wind farms. Starting July 1, 2023, smaller carparks that have between 80 and 400 spaces will have five years to be in compliance with the new measures. Carparks with more than 400 spaces have a shorter timeline: They will need to comply with the new measures within three years of this date, and at least half of the surface area of the parking lot will need to be covered in solar panels. According to the government, this plan, which particularly targets large parking areas around commercial centers and train stations, could generate up to 11 gigawatts, which is the equivalent of 10 nuclear reactors, powering millions of homes. Public Senat writes that stipulations were put into place excluding parking lots for trucks carrying heavy goods or parking areas in historic or protected areas, to avoid "distorting" them, according to an amendment to the bill.

US financial regulators are investigating whether beleaguered crypto-exchange FTX.com properly handled customer funds, as well as its relationship with other parts of Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: The investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission relate to the liquidity crisis at the trading platform that led to a planned buyout of its non-US operations by rival exchange Binance Holdings, according to the people. Regulators are also looking into the platform's relationship with FTX.com's American counterpart FTX US and Bankman-Fried's trading house Alameda Research. The SEC's inquiry began months ago as a probe into FTX US and its crypto-lending activities, said two of the people.

Ian Allison, reporting for CoinDesk: Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance is highly unlikely to go through with its proposed acquisition of struggling rival FTX after less than a day of reviewing the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. Binance's non-binding letter of intent for the takeover -- announced Tuesday as FTX's financial position appeared to be spiraling out of control -- hinged on Binance performing due diligence. Roughly half a day into that process of reviewing FTX's internal data and loan commitments has led Binance to strongly lean against completing the transaction, the person said. UPDATE: Binance has scrapped its letter of intent to buy rival crypto exchange FTX, according to a Binance spokesperson.

"As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged U.S. agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of FTX.com," the spokesperson told CoinDesk. "In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX's customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help. Every time a major player in an industry fails, retail consumers will suffer. We have seen over the last several years that the crypto ecosystem is becoming more resilient and we believe in time that outliers that misuse user funds will be weeded out by the free market."

"As regulatory frameworks are developed and as the industry continues to evolve toward greater decentralization, the ecosystem will grow stronger," the spokesperson added.

Google is developing a wearable device for preteens under its Fitbit group as it attempts to capture a growing demographic of younger users who own wearable tech, Insider reported this week, citing three employees familiar with the project. From the report: Internally code-named "Project Eleven," the wearable is designed to help older kids form healthy relationships with their phones and social media, two of the employees said. One of them said the device could include safety features that would let parents contact their children and know their whereabouts. Google's Australia Fitbit team, headed by Anil Sabharwal, a vice president of special projects, is leading work on Project Eleven, according to internal data seen by Insider. One employee said the device was set for launch sometime in 2024, but employees emphasized that the project had a long way to go and plans could change.

In the real world, the construction of the World Cup infrastructure in Qatar has been marred by extreme temperatures and migrant worker deaths. In the metaverse, however, a digital replica of Lusail Stadium in Doha has none of that baggage -- and the virtual property can be raffled off as a prize for a lucky soccer fan. From a report: FIFA's virtual universe is part of the soccer organization's penchant for embracing the latest tech buzzword. In 2010, some matches were broadcast in 3-D. In 2018, it offered a virtual-reality experience. Now it's the metaverse.

While some superfans may fly to Qatar and shell out for a ticket to cheer alongside 80,000 other people during a game, metaverse-inclined fans can head to a virtual airport, wait several hours while they "fly" to Doha, visit a digital version of the stadium and enter nearby shops in the FIFA World Cup-branded village to buy digital merchandise such as scarves and flags, which they can later use to adorn their virtual houses to express their team spirit. That digital journey is thanks to Upland, a metaverse platform based in Mountain View, California, which is partnering with FIFA to provide a blockchain-based metaverse experience during the tournament. Upland isn't FIFA's only partner to provide immersive soccer-themed digital environments tied to the World Cup, which begins Nov. 20 and is the most-watched athletic event across the globe. Roblox has also built out a technicolor world where fans can play a game that's a mix of soccer and bowling.

Mark Zuckerberg, in a blog post: Today I'm sharing some of the most difficult changes we've made in Meta's history. I've decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1. I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I'm especially sorry to those impacted.

At the start of Covid, the world rapidly moved online and the surge of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth. Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended. I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments. Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected. Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I'd expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.

In this new environment, we need to become more capital efficient. We've shifted more of our resources onto a smaller number of high priority growth areas -- like our AI discovery engine, our ads and business platforms, and our long-term vision for the metaverse. We've cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We're restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won't bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I've also made the hard decision to let people go.

Mexico will raise its target to unconditionally cut greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below usual levels by 2030 at this year's COP27 U.N. climate summit, its environment ministry said in a statement Tuesday, lifting its previous target of 22%. Latin America's second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter will also raise its target for conditional emission cuts -- a goal dependent on external support -- to 40% from 36%. Reuters reports: Last year, Mexico pledged to expand its climate goals after research coalition Climate Action Tracker warned that emissions could actually rise under targets unchanged since 2016. Climate Action Tracker had rated Mexico's previous goals "highly insufficient", noting the Paris Climate deal requires countries to progressively raise their percentage reduction targets to offset rising levels of overall emissions.

The ministry said Mexico would maintain its target to unconditionally cut "black carbon" emissions by 51%, or 70% depending on external conditions. Black carbon is the sooty material emitted from coal plants and diesel engines, but Climate Action Tracker said its effect as an additional metric was "negligible" since it comes largely from the same sources as CO2. Mexico's environment ministry said it had identified measures to cut an estimated 88.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually by 2030, including more industrial regulation, zero-emission vehicles, rail transport, remote working, and creating more natural reserves.

As subtropical storm Nicole moved across the Atlantic Ocean toward Florida on Monday afternoon, NASA confirmed that its Artemis I mission would remain at the launch pad along the state's east coast. Ars Technica reports: The risks to these large and costly vehicles are non-zero, however, and appear to be rising as Nicole starts to strengthen. The space agency's primary concern from tropical systems is winds. Much of the rocket's structure is pretty robust, such as its tank-like solid rocket boosters. But there are sensitive elements prone to damage from debris and wearing effects due to high winds inside a tropical system. According to the SLS rocket's chief engineer, John Blevins, the rocket can withstand wind gusts up to 74.1 knots. Knots are a term used in meteorology and maritime navigation and are equal to 1 nautical mile per hour. In this case, the SLS rocket can withstand gusts up to 85 mph, or 137 km/h. Wind "gusts" are different from sustained winds. These are short-term bursts of wind, as opposed to sustained winds over one minute or longer.

On Monday, at the time NASA announced its decision to remain at the launch pad as Nicole approached Florida, there was just a 4 percent chance of such winds at Kennedy Space Center. NASA, therefore, was willing to take a calculated risk by staying at the pad. One reason for remaining outside was, somewhat ironically, wear and tear. The process of rolling the Artemis I mission four miles back and forth, between the Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pad, puts a lot of stress on the vehicle. When it computes risk factors for the Artemis I launch vehicle, NASA has a certain budget for rollouts. The rocket has now been out to the pad on four separate occasions since this spring. While NASA has not confirmed this, according to a source, NASA has just one remaining roll in its budget. This does not mean the rocket will fall apart with additional roundtrips, it's just that additional movements would incrementally increase the risk of damage.

NASA may also simply not have had time to move inside the protective confines of the Vehicle Assembly Building. It takes a couple of days to prep the rocket to roll back. By Monday, it may have already been too late because to roll back before Nicole's arrival would probably have meant doing so no later than Tuesday night. Asked whether NASA really had no choice but to remain at the pad, a spokesperson for the agency, Rachel Kraft, was non-committal. "The team reviewed the forecast and determined the rocket will remain at the pad," she said on Monday. The problem for NASA is that Nicole is now expected to transition into a tropical storm and come ashore just south of Kennedy Space Center as a Category 1 hurricane. "The corresponding odds for hurricane-force winds -- at or above the safety limit established by NASA for its rocket -- are now up to 10 percent," reports Ars. "This is higher than the forecast that prompted a rollback during Ian."