News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

Roku warns it has $487M held in deposits with Silicon Valley Bank

Roblox was also affected by its fall

Streaming devices maker Roku said Friday it had about $487 million, or 26% of its cash and cash equivalents, held in deposits with SVB Financial Group, which has been closed down by California banking regulators.

Roku in a regulatory filing also said its deposits with SVB were largely uninsured, sending its shares down 10% in extended trading.
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Regulators appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver, which said that insured depositors will regain access to their deposits no later than Monday.

The shutdown sent shockwaves through the startup community as the bank has been central to the formation of many early-stage companies.
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Online gaming firm Roblox also said it had about $150 million in deposits with SVB.

This mistake is loading your device with adware and trackers!

Tricks to make money off you

Developers often include additional software or files with their applications or software installation packages.
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Don't take the express lane

Since many people don’t consider themselves “advanced” users, they’ll choose the simple or recommended option. Makes sense. Let the program do all the work, right?

Some programs change your default settings, browser, homepage, or search engine. You won’t have the option to say no thanks in the express or default installation.

Finally, express installations can opt you into data collection, sync your contacts, or include some other invasion of privacy.

Do this next time you install software

Always go with the custom or advanced option. Aside from choosing a destination folder or drive, you may have the option to uncheck boxes for optional software and settings you don’t want or need.
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Read everything carefully and tick off the boxes as needed.
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Look for portable apps

For smaller, simpler apps, you may have the option to download a portable version. This type of app doesn’t use an installer. All the files required to run the portable app reside in a single folder, which you can put anywhere on your system.

Yet, you can't fully trust portable apps for some of them are made by companies or people not related to the development of the original products.  And there's no guarantee they won't include malware so be careful.

Meta plans new job cuts that could match 2022 tally of 11,000

Facebook-parent Meta Platforms is planning additional layoffs to be announced in multiple rounds over the next few months, which could match the 13% job cut tally from last year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta let go of 11,000 employees four months ago and would be the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs.

The first wave of the new cuts would be announced [this] week and are likely to hit non-engineering roles the hardest, according to the report.

GM explores using ChatGPT in cars as part of Microsoft partnership

General Motors is exploring uses for ChatGPT as part of its broader collaboration with Microsoft, a company executive told Reuters.

“ChatGPT is going to be in everything,” GM Vice President Scott Miller said in an interview.

The chatbot could be used to access information on how to use vehicle features normally found in an owners manual, program functions such as a garage door code or integrate schedules from a calendar, Miller said.

“This shift is not just about one single capability like the evolution of voice commands, but instead means that customers can expect their future vehicles to be far more capable and fresh overall when it comes to emerging technologies,” a GM spokesperson said on Friday.

Yeah, let's allow the number one woke cyber-terrorist Bing get a car to drive off to the nearest nuclear reactor or military base to make something go boom just because it'd be fun.
 What a gloomy vision for the future...