Tootfinder

A US judge sentences Rui-Siang Lin, who pled guilty to operating the $105M dark web narcotics marketplace Incognito Market, to 30 years in US federal prison (Sam Reynolds/CoinDesk)
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/02/04

Incognito Market founder Rui-Siang Lin sentenced to 30 years in crypto darknet drug marketplace case
U.S. prosecutors say the Taiwanese operator of the $105 Million Incognito Market used cryptocurrency and anonymity tools before investigators tied him to the platform through domain records and digital traces.

Can you guess which country's EV charging strategy prioritises market-based price signals to guide charging and discharging?
#V2G

Trump says the job market is booming for U.S.-born.
-- The data doesn’t show it. 

Since the summer, Trump officials have been trumpeting the idea that job creation is booming for U.S.-born workers.
Trump said so, too, during a prime-time address last month aimed at assuaging Americans’ concerns about the economy

Trump administration officials also said recently that more than 2.5 million U.S.-born workers gained jobs in 2025
as 1 million immigrants left the workfor…

Trump says the job market is booming for U.S.-born. The data doesn’t show it.
The idea that employment is surging for U.S.-born workers is routinely trumpeted by Trump officials. But economists say otherwise.

You won't want to miss today's insanely packed Metacurity for the latest news across the cybersecurity sectors, including
--Russian space vehicles are tapping comms from key European satellites, report,
--Incognito Market operator sentenced to 30 years,
--CISA silently tweaked CVEs used for ransomware attacks,
--Russian hackers reportedly disabled critical Ukraine military registration platforms,
--Hackers and trolls are targeting ICE spotting apps,

Russian space vehicles are tapping comms from key European satellites, report
Incognito Market operator sentenced to 30 years, CISA silently tweaked CVEs used for ransomware attacks, Russian hackers reportedly disabled critical Ukraine military registration platforms, Hackers and trolls are targeting ICE spotting apps, Coinbase confirms new insider breach, more

Sunrise Market Is a Rare Gem. And a Dying Breed via @… https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2026/01/02/Sunrise-Market-…

Sunrise Market Is a Rare Gem. And a Dying Breed | The Tyee
Steve Burgess takes readers inside a beloved Downtown Eastside grocery store. Last in a series.

SF protest against the bombings in Venezuela, via a group chat. 1pm at Market and Powell

Substack hires former Google exec Mark Swierszcz as its head of partnerships in Canada, its third-largest market worldwide, as it expands beyond the US and UK (Etan Vlessing/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Substack Bets On Canada as Next Expansion Market (Exclusive)
“We’re moving quickly,” Farrah Storr, head of international at Substack, tells THR after hiring Mark Swierszcz as its new Canadian head of partnerships, with more country hires in the works worldwide.

AI and the railway mania
Michael Roberts.
"A widely cited study from MIT found that so far, 95 per cent of generative AI projects produce no return in productivity growth or profits. To justify the required investment, annual data-centre revenues would need to rise from $20bn today to about $2trn.  Existing revenues will fall short by $800bn.."

AI and the railway mania
The AI bubble continues. The Magnificent Seven of tech media continue to drive the US stock market, along with the AI companies. The ten largest US companies by stock market value, holdin…

QB Stock Market Week 14: Matthew Stafford Is Even More Valuable Than We Realized https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/qb-stock-market-week-14-matthew-stafford-even-more-valuable-than-we-realized

QB Stock Market Week 14: Matthew Stafford Is Even More Valuable Than We Realized https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/qb-stock-market-week-14-matthew-stafford-even-more-valuable-than-we-realized

Prediction market Kalshi raised $1B led by Paradigm at an $11B valuation, up from $5B after raising $300M in October 2025, making its co-founders billionaires (Michael J. de la Merced/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/business/dealb…

Kalshi, a Prediction Market, Raises $1 Billion in New Round
The fund-raising effort, the company’s third this year, values it at $11 billion, and comes amid stiff competition in the increasingly popular industry.

Ukraine war latest live: 7 dead, 8 injured as Russia strikes Donetsk Oblast city market with cluster munitions: https://benborges.xyz/2026/02/04/ukraine-war-latest-live-dead.html

/2
'For now, as all eyes focus on a potential bubble in the AI market, Microsoft seems to be building infrastructure for a revolution that many enterprises haven’t yet signed up for.'
(End of article ⤴️)

“Incognito Market” Owner Sentenced To 30 Years For Operating One Of The World’s Largest Online Narcotics Marketplaces
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/incognito-market-owner-sentenced-30-years-operating-one-worlds-largest…

SpaceX buying xAI means that Musk creates a company with strong government ties, that can't "fail". Which is quite nice if you think about the financial storms that AI companies could be facing. Market economy US style....
#SpaceX #xAI

Trump says the job market is booming for U.S.-born. The data doesn't show it. (Lauren Kaori Gurley/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/01/02/trump-americans-jobs-immigrants-labor/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260102/p73#a260102p73

Protests erupted nationwide as the U.S. attacks Venezuela and kidnaps President Maduro and his wife.
San Francisco was no exception.
As the recent days of rain let up for a grateful pause, activists of all ages from the Answer coalition, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Democratic Socialists of American, Revolutionary International Youth, Refuse Fascism, and just people with home made signs rallied at Powell and Market.
They then marched down Market Street to …

Protests Throughout as U.S. Attacks Venezuela to Grab Country's Oil : Indybay
Blatant criminality characterized by NY Times as "some in Washington are concerned."

I heard from my mom that my sister has to move because her landlord is ending her lease. She has said in the past that she is paying $1000 per month under market. That's gonna suck.

Trump's tariffs has officially f-cked the U.S. automotive industry. Enter Canada's retaliatory response: 25% tariffs on American cars, parts & components.
Good job, Michigan, Kentucky & Georgia Trump voters. You just lost your biggest non-US market.
▶️ Canada’s New Tariffs Deliver Crushing Blow to U.S. Automakers...

Where applicable, mass production is trivial for noninvasive software-based BCIs running on existing mass market devices #BCI

Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on X
Neuralink will start high-volume production of brain-computer interface devices and move to a streamlined, almost entirely automated surgical procedure in 2026. Device threads will go through the dura, without the need to remove it. This is a big deal.

Tech workers in Silicon Valley are increasingly experimenting with gray-market peptide drugs from China, legal for personal use, for improving focus and more (Jasmine Sun/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/bus…

‘Chinese Peptides’ Are the Latest Biohacking Trend in the Tech World
The gray-market drugs flooding Silicon Valley reveal a community that believes it can move faster than the F.D.A.

"People are trying BPC-157 and TB-500 for healing injuries by stimulating new blood vessel growth, oxytocin for improving eye contact (one OpenAI researcher called it “Ozempic for autism”), epitalon for sleep and retatrutide — a next-generation weight-loss drug still in clinical trials — for everything from appetite suppression to increased focus."

‘Chinese Peptides’ Are the Latest Biohacking Trend in the Tech World
The gray-market drugs flooding Silicon Valley reveal a community that believes it can move faster than the F.D.A.

Sharing the benefits of grid-scale batteries and solar/wind by trading in western US. The current 15 minute market in California Now going to day ahead market.
(I think made possible with recent massive grid-scale batteries allows evening out of renewables)
California now runs 5pm-8pm electricity use on batteries. Turn off more plants cuz can plan for a full day.
Thoughtful article on wholesale electricity grid coordination markets. Sounds dry, but cool:

Lemurs are being eaten as an urban delicacy in Madagascar https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lemurs-are-being-eaten-as-an-urban-delicacy-in-madagascar/

Lemurs are being eaten as an urban delicacy in Madagascar
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In Madagascar’s cities, a quiet but lucrative market is reshaping the future of one of the world’s most imperiled groups of animals. Lemurs—already the most threatened mammals on the planet—are being sold as a kind of urban delicacy, […]

The #EU Cyber Resilience Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/2847) has now an Implementing Act:
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/factpages/cyber-resilience-act-imple…

Jaguars resurface Sean Payton's 'small-market' comments, leading NFL Week 18 trolls https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47507853/nfl-week-18-trolls

Kremlin deprived of oil and gas funds as exports plunge | Euractiv
https://www.euractiv.com/news/russia-is-losing-both-the-eu-market-and-its-gas-station-status/

If someone had transferred £50k to me in the last 20 years, I believe I'd have the means to check. Do the politically connected just shred all their records after seven years?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/f

Met police launch investigation into alleged Mandelson-Epstein email leaks
Epstein files appear to show then business secretary passing market sensitive information to child sex offender

Ah, yes, scale and market penetration, the two founding pillars of open source.
(Actually, I’m not even being sarcastic. Don’t confuse free software and open source. Open source is open as in “open for business” and “open for enclosure”. Free software is about free as in “freedom”. Very different things, even if, in both cases, the source is readily available.) @…

OpenForum Europe (@OpenForumEurope@mastodon.cloud)
Attached: 1 image @HennaVirkkunen@ec.social-network.europa.eu gave a keynote address, lauding the EU as "the beacon of open source technology". Existing innovation must now be supported to reach scale, ensure financial sustainability and achieve wider market penetration.

NFL Coaching Carousel: Who's Safe/Out in ‘Unpredictable’ Market, Per Jay Glazer https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/nfl-coaching-carousel-jay-glazer-2026

Top Articles of 2025: The Rental Housing Market Holds Strong
"The U.S. rental housing market remained strong and stable in 2025, with narrowing supply‑demand gaps, rising investment activity, and rent growth in line with pre‑pandemic levels."

Top Articles of 2025: The Rental Housing Market Holds Strong
The U.S. rental housing market remained strong and stable in 2025, spreading through the multifamily and single-family rentals sectors. Here’s a look at this year's top articles from Arbor Realty Trust, in case you missed them.

There will be more local flexibility market options in Italy in 2026
(a good use for the new boom in EVs & home charging points)
https://www.e-distribuzione.it/progetti-e-innovazioni/il-progetto-edge.html

The administration has done real damage to climate action,
experts say.
But in many ways, renewables are unstoppable.
https://grist.org/climate-energy/trump-is-trying-to-kill-clean-energy-the-market-has-other-plans/

Trump is trying to kill clean energy. The market has other plans.
The administration has done real damage to climate action, experts say. But in many ways, renewables are unstoppable.

Proposed development in Marina is only 11% affordable, a pathetically low percentage, yet “It would…provide six times more affordable homes than have been built in the Marina District in two decades — only 14 below-market-rate units have been constructed since 2005.”
Says so much about the degree to which affordable housing has been both underinvested in and kept out of wealthy neighborhoods.

ibm selling off 9.0.0.0/8 ? i would have thought they’d want to keep it for their cloud service
https://social.bgp.tools/@transfers/statuses/01KDY17AENBWPQXEG3RSW7396R

Post by IP/ASN Transfers, @transfers@bgp.tools
"IBM" transferred 9.128.0.0/16 (Taken from 9.9.10.0 - 9.128.255.255) to "Hotwire Communications" (Estimated Market Value: $851.97 K)

Just read about DeepSeek Sparse Attention.
Essentially, they gave ADHD to an AI to make it work better, and market it as a big innovation.
This would be a chance for Neurotypicals to question their attitude towards Neurodiversity, but I doubt they take the hint.
#adhd #neurodiversity …

“The Australian Energy Market Operator estimates that by 2040, data centres will consume 12 per cent of electricity in Australia, and the federal Climate Change and Energy Department has said that growth will make emissions reduction goals harder to meet.”
Depaywalled link:

CNN partners with Kalshi to use the company's real-time prediction data in its reporting, for on-air data tickers, fact-checking, and more (Sara Fischer/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/02/cnn-kalshi-prediction-market-data

Exclusive: CNN strikes prediction data partnership with Kalshi
The collaboration marks the first major news partnership for Kalshi.

Octalion, aka Xeex. Xeex, a net I've not seen mentioned in a long time. Wonder how many netop/netsec old timers like me remember that one.
https://social.bgp.tools/@transfers/statuses/01KDZ18PY9E3A7JY14ZA7NDW7Y

Post by IP/ASN Transfers, @transfers@bgp.tools
"OCTALION INC." transferred 162.213.131.0/24 to "Like Whoa, Inc." (Estimated Market Value: $6.91 K)

The AI bubble has now dragged the market of RAM into its whirlpool
https://www.theverge.com/news/828337/ram-memory-shortage-crunch-market-prices-central-micro-center

RAM prices are so out of control that stores are selling it like lobster
The RAM shortage is forcing stores like Central Computer and Micro Center to sell PC memory at market prices instead of advertising prices.

Cortigent hopes to raise nearly $15 million through IPO https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1958489/000175392625001850/g085026_s1a.htm "there are about 82,000 Americans who could potentially benefit from the Orion system";

Source: the NFL won't allow prediction-market ads during Super Bowl LX on February 8, but sports betting ads are allowed, reportedly limited to six total ads (Ben Horney/Front Office Sports)
https://frontofficesports.com/nfl-wont-allow-prediction-ma…

NFL Won’t Allow Prediction-Market Super Bowl Commercials
Prediction-market platforms have exploded in popularity and raised billions of dollars. But they’re not allowed to buy Super Bowl ads.

Japan and the Octopus Trap of Modernity (file under: Takotsubo is not only a cardiac disease)
https://genealogiesofmodernity.org/journal/2021/6/10/cgq5rildc4mxhatmak817jxn3f9bef

Genealogies of Modernity — Japan and the Octopus Trap of Modernity
What we see in Japanese modernity, according to Maruyama, is a national franchise of these “idols of the market place” through the continuous specialization and internal diversifications that multiply these groups. Takeshi Morisato on how Japan became trapped in a hyper-specialized version of mode

From the article: "He added: “It’s something where it’s moving very quickly and people don’t necessarily have time to absorb it or figure out what to do.”"
That impersonal, natural "it" is moving - Not the people developing the models and selling them (or inflicting them), not the wealthy investors demanding market share, not the sci-fi addled techbros (Muskrats?) imagining that if only we get AGI all problems will be solved tomorrow, - all wanting to be first. Oh…

From the article: "He added: “It’s something where it’s moving very quickly and people don’t necessarily have time to absorb it or figure out what to do.”"
That impersonal, natural "it" is moving - Not the people developing the models and selling them (or inflicting them), not the wealthy investors demanding market share, not the sci-fi addled techbros (Muskrats?) imagining that if only we get AGI all problems will be solved tomorrow, - all wanting to be first. Oh…

Presented without comment
«Economic convergence, demography, labour markets: what progress have EU candidate countries made?
Candidate countries remain far from European Union averages in terms of GDP per capita and their demographic and labour market characteristics»
…

Economic convergence, demography, labour markets: what progress have EU candidate countries made?
Candidate countries remain far from European Union averages in terms of GDP per capita and their demographic and labour market characteristics

Ranking the top 50 NFL free agents for 2026: Early look at the stars who could hit the market in March

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2026-nfl-free-agency-ranking-top-50/

Palo Alto Networks in negotiations to acquire one-year-old Israeli startup Koi for $400 million
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hj48m0vebe

Palo Alto Networks in negotiations to acquire one-year-old Israeli startup Koi for $400 million
The deal would extend the cyber giant’s reach in enterprise endpoint protection amid AI-driven market shifts.

Fed Contender Hassett Says Market Is Ready for Trump Chair Pick (María Paula Mijares Torres/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-30/fed-contender-hassett-says-market-is-ready-for-trump-chair-pick
http://www.memeorandum.com/251130/p36#a251130p36

IDC expects shipments of PCs could shrink by up to 9% YoY in 2026 due to global memory shortages, as demand from AI data centers continues to outstrip supply (Zak Killian/Tom's Hardware)

IDC warns PC market could shrink up to 9% in 2026 due to skyrocketing RAM pricing — even moderate forecast hits 5% drop as AI-driven shortages slam into PC market
Memory shortages are expected to have a serious impact on the PC and smartphone market.

Hundreds of #Coltan #miners killed in deadly underground landslide in eastern #Congo controlled by rebel factions who sell conflict minerals extracted thru global black market for use in cellphones, EVs and weapons systems

What to know after a deadly landslide in eastern Congo kills at least 200 miners
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A landslide last week collapsed several tunnels at a major coltan mine in eastern Congo, leaving at least 200 people dead in the rebel-controlled site. The collapse occurred on W...

💨 What has gone wrong at Zipcar – and is UK car-sharing market dead?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/04/what-has-gone-wrong-at-zipcar-and-is-uk-car-sharing-market-dead

What has gone wrong at Zipcar – and is UK car-sharing market dead?
Vehicle hire firms have struggled to succeed in London but other European countries offer examples to follow

"While not all consumers may wish to adapt their consumption behaviour, all consumers need to be provided access to the tools to enable their participation. Regulatory frameworks must drive, and not hinder, the delivery of such flexibility resources."
https:…

Now that the Vondelkerk has burned down, they can finally bulldoze the site and build high-rise luxury housing in central Amsterdam to sell to foreign investors and private equity. It's a great opportunity for the market!

These corporations are too big to care about the consumer market. Why do we vote for politicians who enable their growth? This obviously leads to poverty and thousands of years of misery and servitude.

From the IMF
"the Canadian economy remains much less integrated than its global footprint would suggest. Goods, services, and workers face significant barriers when moving across provincial and territorial lines—a fragmentation that affects productivity, competitiveness, and overall resilience"
Most of the benefits would flow to the smaller provinces
#Canpoli

Canada Can Grow Faster by Unlocking Its Own Market
Knocking down internal trade barriers could boost output in Canada by 7 perc

Russia’s fuel market reels as Ukrainian strikes and sanctions drive diesel prices higher despite export bans: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/29/russias-fuel-market-reels-as.html

QB Power Rankings Week 18 https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/qb-stock-market-week-18-brock-purdy-best-kyler-murray-tua-tagovailoa

NFL Week 15 lookahead lines: Early best bets worth considering before Week 14

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-week-15-lookahead-lines-early-best-bets/

Recon: the US market share of Copilot as paid users' first choice fell from 18.8% in July 2025 to 11.5% in January 2026, while Gemini's rose from 12.8% to 15.7% (Sebastian Herrera/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/microsofts-piv

Stop ghana from becoming Europe's textile waste dumpsite #Ghana

Stop Ghana from Becoming Europe's Textile Waste Dumpsite
Fast Fashion, Slow Poison, we highlight that every week up to 500,000 items of clothing waste from Kantamanto Market end up in open spaces and informal dumpsites. Africa is not Europe's textile dumpsite!

Wishing all our readers a peaceful weekend, but before you head out, don't forget to read today's Metacurity for the most crucial cybersecurity developments you should know, including
--US ODNI ignores her remit and is investigating 2020 election fraud claims,
--US law enforcement are probing if WhatsApp employees can read users' messages,
--Popular AI app exposes millions of users' private messages,
--Darkweb market Empire Market creator pleads guilty,…

US ODNI drops her remit to investigate 2020 election fraud claims
US law enforcement are probing if WhatsApp employees can read users' messages, Popular AI app exposes millions of users' private messages, Darkweb market Empire Market creator pleads guilty, US seizes $400m in darknet crypto mixer Helix's assets, UK safety charity warns about The Com, much more

Sources: Polymarket has recruited staff for a market making team that could face off against its customers; Kalshi's similar unit exposed Kalshi to criticism (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-04/p…

Stock Market Takes Warsh Nomination in Stride (Joe Rennison/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/us/politics/stock-market-kevin-warsh-fed.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260130/p68#a260130p68

Raiders linked to high-profile coach for defensive coordinator vacancy https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/news/raiders-linked-high-profile-coach-defensive-coordinator-vacancy/d38d…

Galaxy Digital reports a Q4 net loss of $482M, above $282M est., driven primarily by the crypto market crash, and says its trading volumes declined ~40% QoQ (David Pan/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Russia attacks Kherson market, Chernihiv apartment building on Christmas Day, killing at least 2: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/25/russia-attacks-kherson-market-chernihiv.html

This is the best critique of SF's Family Zoning Plan I've seen, from Fernando Martí, who knows his stuff.
“Zoning is not the primary constraint to construction today — not in SF where it costs $800,000 or more to build a unit of housing. Nor is environmental review or planning approvals. If these were the constraints to production, then we wouldn’t have tens of thousands of already approved market-rate units unable to get construction financing”

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump's American Bitcoin closed down 38.8% on December 2, wiping out ~$1B in market value; TMTG is down nearly 70% in 2025 (George Steer/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/18e3bfc1-c2aa-49a0-8c6d-a37255a23017

The Hill says it has "fortified" its breaking news team due to a "bonkers" US news cycle; Comscore says The Hill had 1.24B page views across 2025, up 7% YoY (Charlotte Tobitt/Press Gazette)
https://pressgazette.co.uk/north-ameri

The Hill is growing traffic in a declining market by investing in reporters
The Hill has “fortified” its breaking news team to make the most of a “bonkers” news cycle in US politics.

Shares of Chinese AI chip designer Shanghai Biren Technology (6082.HK)
opened 82.1% higher in their Hong Kong debut on Friday,
kicking off the financial hub's first listing of 2026.
The strong debut follows a blockbuster year for Hong Kong's equity market in 2025
and points to a likely wave of AI and semiconductor offerings this year
as China accelerates efforts to build domestic chip alternatives
in response to U.S. curbs on technology exports.

QB Stock Market Week 13: Drake Maye is Taking All the Right Risks and Jalen Hurts Isn't https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/qb-stock-market-week-13-drake-maye-taking-all-right-risks-jalen-hurts-isnt

Sources: Texas Instruments is in advanced talks to buy chip designer Silicon Laboratories for ~$7B, a premium to Silicon Labs' market cap of $4.4B as of Tuesday (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/c7b3eaa5-a650-400d-beda-ba71d44cc8e7

Uber plans to expand its robotaxi services to Hong Kong, Madrid, Houston, and Zurich in 2026; Hong Kong will be Uber's first autonomous market in Asia (Natalie Lung/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

QB Power Rankings Week 18 https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/qb-stock-market-week-18-brock-purdy-best-kyler-murray-tua-tagovailoa

National Grid DSO's contracted flexibility numbers are impressive. The domestic segment is showing particularly strong growth, with EV charging accounting for the majority of this. Many small units are coming together to make a big contribution.
https://dso.nationalg…

Texas Instruments plans to buy US chip company Silicon Labs in a $7.5B deal, paying $231/share in cash, closing in H1 2027; Silicon Labs has a $4.5B market cap (Nick Turner/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20…

OnePlus launches US preorders for the $899.99 OnePlus 15 after receiving FCC clearance, which had been delayed due to the US government shutdown (Dominic Preston/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/838017/oneplus-15-preorders-us

OnePlus 15 launches US preorders after delayed FCC clearance
With a 7,300mAh battery, the OnePlus 15 is one of the longest lasting smartphones on the market right now.

Super Bowl odds: Week 13 carnage reshuffles top teams, but Rams stay on top https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6855710/2025/12/02/super-bowl-odds-week-14/

Sources: Palo Alto Networks is in talks to acquire Israeli cybersecurity startup Koi for $400M; Koi has raised $48M to date (Sophie Shulman/CTech)
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hj48m0vebe

Palo Alto Networks in negotiations to acquire one-year-old Israeli startup Koi for $400 million
The deal would extend the cyber giant’s reach in enterprise endpoint protection amid AI-driven market shifts.

QB Stock Market Week 13: Drake Maye Has the Help He Needs, Josh Allen Does Not https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/qb-stock-market-week-13-drake-maye-has-help-he-needs-josh-allen-does-not

A deep dive into co-packaged optics, long promised to transform data center connectivity, covering benefits, challenges, architecture, key companies, and more (Dylan Patel/SemiAnalysis)
https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/co-packaged-optics-cpo-book-scaling…

Co Packaged Optics (CPO) – Scaling with Light for the Next Wave of Interconnect
Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) has long promised to transform datacenter connectivity, but it has taken a long time for the technology to come to market, with tangible deployment-ready products only arriving in 2025.

Graney: Raiders should see what Crosby is worth on open market https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/sports-columns/ed-graney/graney-raiders-should-see-what-crosby-is-worth-on-open-market-3601004/

For more than a decade, Russia’s so-called #probiv market
– a term derived from the verb
“to pierce” or
“to punch into a search bar”
– has operated as a parallel information economy built on a network of corrupt officials,
traffic police,
bank employees and l
ow-level security staff willing to sell access to restricted government or corporate databases.
While l…

Insurance tech company Ethos raised ~$200M in its Jan. 29 IPO, selling 10.5M shares at $19 each; it reached a $1.1B market cap, below its 2021 $2.7B valuation (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/29/how-sequoi…

How Sequoia-backed Ethos reached the public market while rivals fell short | TechCrunch
The profitable life-insurance platform was one of the first major tech companies to test the 2026 public markets.

NFL Week 18 betting power ratings: How the market is treating starters resting, plus how all 32 teams stack up

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-week-18-betting-power-ratings…

QB Stock Market Week 13: Drake Maye Has the Help He Needs, Josh Allen Does Not https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/qb-stock-market-week-13-drake-maye-has-help-he-needs-josh-allen-does-not

Analyst identifies Cowboys’ perfect fit for new defensive coordinator https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/onsi/news/analyst-identifies-dallas-cowboys-perfect-fit-new-defensive-coordinator

The January wildfires that ripped through Los Angeles forced the state to spend billions in disaster aid
-- and delay tax filings for LA residents.
The cost of Medi-Cal,
the state-run health insurance program for low-income residents, ballooned to $6 billion more than anticipated.
Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again tariff policies rocked the stock market,
which California heavily relies on for tax revenue.
And the state lodged a flurry of lawsuits again…

Your one-minute guide to California’s budget outlook this year
Spoiler alert: California’s deficit grows, uncertainty looms, and state leaders may have fewer options than before to tackle it.

QB Stock Market Week 13: Drake Maye is Taking All the Right Risks and Jalen Hurts Isn't https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/qb-stock-market-week-13-drake-maye-taking-all-right-risks-jalen-hurts-isnt

Microsoft shares fell ~10% on Thursday following an earnings report that disappointed some investors, the stock's sharpest daily decline since March 2020 (Jordan Novet/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/29/microsoft-market-cap-earnings.html

Microsoft lost $357 billion in market cap as stock plunged most since 2020
As investors sold shares of Microsoft on Thursday, the $3.2 trillion company dragged down the software complex and the S&P 500 index.

'Small-market' Jaguars want to keep being ignored: 'We really don't care about the narrative' https://www.nfl.com/news/small-market-jaguars-want-to-keep-being-ignored-we-really-don-t-care-about-the-narrative

Sources: Coinbase is preparing to launch a prediction market powered by Kalshi to allow its clients to bet on events such as elections and sports (Yueqi Yang/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/coinbase-launch-prediction-market-po…

Coinbase to Launch Prediction Market Powered by Kalshi
Coinbase is preparing to launch a prediction market to allow its crypto clients to bet on events such as elections and sports, according to two people familiar with the matter. The market will be powered by prediction market company Kalshi and will put Coinbase in a booming but increasingly ...

An interview with AWS CEO Matt Garman on his AI vision, how he plans to extend Amazon's cloud market lead, adding AI to AWS services, AI efficiencies, and more (Maxwell Zeff/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-aws-ceo-matt-garman-ai-agents/

AWS CEO Matt Garman Wants to Reassert Amazon’s Cloud Dominance in the AI Era
As Google and Microsoft continue to surge, the AWS chief lays out his pitch: cheaper, reliable AI delivered at hyperscale.

Counterpoint: India smartphone shipments were flat YoY at ~153M; Apple shipped 14M iPhones, raising its share of shipments to a record 9%, up from 7% in 2024 (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/23/appl

Apple iPhone just had its best year in India as the smartphone market stays broadly flat | TechCrunch
Apple shipped a record 14 million iPhones in India in 2025 and gained market share.

Russia says a crypto regulatory framework will come into force July 1, 2027; it will ban privacy coins like monero and cap retail investor purchases at ~$4K (Olivier Acuna/CoinDesk)
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/01/29

Russia plans to cap retail crypto buys at $4,000 as it brings digital assets into the legal fold
Qualified investors in Russia will face mandatory testing but gain unrestricted access to top tokens like BTC and ETH. Privacy tokens will be banned.

An MIT study finds that AI can replace 11.7% of the US labor market, or ~$1.2T in wages, based on the "Iceberg Index", which measures job automation potential (MacKenzie Sigalos/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/mit-study-

MIT study finds AI can already replace 11.7% of U.S. workforce
Artificial intelligence can already replace 11.7% of the U.S. labor market, across finance, health care and professional services, according to MIT's study.

A co-creator of the dark web marketplace Empire Market pleads guilty to US drug conspiracy charges for facilitating $430M in illegal transactions in 2018-2020 (Sergiu Gatlan/BleepingComputer)
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/secu

Industry executives say nearly all major memory chipmakers are running at or near full capacity, with 2026 production slots almost "sold out" due to AI demand (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technolog…

Rampant AI demand throws the memory chip market into turmoil
Supply constraints spark warnings of price rises and launch delays for consumer electronics

Meta just bought into the enterprise market with its Manus deal, which may eventually help it expand into cloud offerings like those of its Big Tech peers (M.G. Siegler/Spyglass)
https://spyglass.org/meta-manus-deal/

Manus: The Hands of AI Fate
Meta acquires an AI business model...