Author: precious

Wall Street experienced a great deal of instability as a result of President Trump’s serious criticism towards Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States, Jerome Powell. In addition to its effect on U.S. financial markets, this public confrontation between Trump and the Fed Chair raised important questions about the independence of the central bank from politics, even in the middle of a tit-for-tat trade/tariff war. As a result of this serious criticism, all three major indices fell by over 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 971.82 points, representing a 2.48% decline to 38,170.41, while the S&P 500…

The Nasdaq Composite experienced serious volatility in April 2025, where it officially entered bear market territory due to escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China that triggered widespread market anxiety. Marking its first decline since 2022 and representing a 5.8% drop, the index plummeted by 962.82 points, closing at 15,587.79. This steep fall positioned the index more than 20% below its December 2024 record high of 20,173.82, meeting the widely accepted definition of a bear market. This downturn was attributed to President Trump’s implementation of sweeping tariffs dubbed “Liberation Day,” and China’s subsequent retaliatory measures, which stoked fears of…

The tech industry continues to experience consequential significant workforce reductions in 2025, even after a grim 2024 experience with over 150,000 roles being eliminated across a number of 549 companies. So far into 2025, we’ve had over over 22,000 employees lose their jobs, with more than 16,000 layoffs occurring in February alone, and over 23,000 in April. These cuts are happening across companies of all sizes, from tech giants to startups, thereby reshaping the employment landscape in the technology industry. Per Layoffs.fyi’s independent tracking and analysis, as well as a report made by TechCrunch, we’ve had a number of 5…

Synology has confirmed plans to implement new restrictions on the use of third-party hard drives in its network attached storage (NAS) devices, starting with its 2025 model releases. “Synology-branded drives will be needed for use in the newly announced Plus series, with plans to update the Product Compatibility List as additional drives can be thoroughly vetted in Synology systems,” a Synology spokesperson told Ars Technica. Starting with Plus Series models, Synology, in their press release, says they will limit full functionality to Synology-branded or Synology-approved drives and/or those explicitly certified by the company. As such, users who are not using…

The first quarter of 2025 witnessed significant venture capital investment despite underlying market challenges. Of the $126.3 billion recorded in global VC funding in Q1’25, and representing a ten-quarter high of Q4’24 VC funding ($118.7 billion), startups in the U.S. accrued over 72%, recording and accounting for $91.5 billion of the total global investment. The U.S.’s large venture capital funding was especially driven by large AI-funding rounds, with OpenAI’s record-breaking $40 billion funding representing the largest VC funding round ever raised. This testifies to the VC funding landscape’s recent shift to strong investor selectivity, most especially in artificial intelligence (AI),…

Representatives from China and the United States announced a near breakthrough in their ongoing trade dispute this Monday, where both countries agreed to substantially reduce tariffs for a 90-day period. This was as a result of intensive talks and negotiations in Geneva, where both economic powerhouses consented and agreed to slash their respective tariff rates, with the U.S. lowering its imposition from 145% to 30%, and China reducing its rates from 125% to 10%. Inasmuch as this truce doesn’t necessarily mean to resolve the fundamental issues that ignited the trade hostilities, the agreement between the two countries makes an effort…

Amazon-backed Anthropic has introduced a new subscription plan named “Max” for its AI chatbot Claude, an access plan that directly challenges OpenAI’s $200 ChatGPT monthly plan. Anthropic, in their announcement post, says this access plan was “designed for those who collaborate with Claude extensively and need expanded access for their most important work.” In an increasingly competitive AI subscription market, these Generative AI companies seek and continue to monetize their advanced language models while purposefully serving power users and professionals. According to Anthropic, the Max plan comes in two usage tiers: In practical terms, this means Expanded Usage’s users ($100/month)…

Micron Technology, a leading memory chipmaker, announced the implementation of a tariff-related surcharge that began on April 9, 2025 on select products for its customers. This pricing move directly responds to U.S. President Trump’s recently imposed tariffs dubbed “Liberation Day,” affecting only memory modules and solid-state drives (SSDs) in Micron’s products, exempting semiconductors. The announced tariff-related surcharge comes shortly after the memory chipmaker had already notified customers in late March about upcoming price increases attributed to what the company described as “un-forecasted demand” for its products. According to Reuters, who cited four sources familiar with the matter, the company communicated…

Africa’s largest mobile network operator, MTN Group, has confirmed a cybersecurity breach that exposed customers’ personal data in select markets across its 19-country operational footprint. However, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) assured its stakeholders that its core network, billing services, and financial systems remain secure and fully operational. The cybersecurity breach, according to the company’s announcement, allowed for an unknown third-party to have access to data linked to part of the company’s core systems. But the company maintains that they have no information that indicates the compromising of customers’ accounts and wallets. As for what the telecom giant did after…

Bluesky has officially introduced a new verification system that features the familiar “user-friendly and easily recognizable” blue checkmarks, signaling a significant step in the social media platform’s evolution. The company’s blog post opens with, “Trust is everything. Social media has connected us in powerful ways, but it hasn’t always given us the tools to know who we’re interacting with or why we should trust them.”  As opposed to the subscription-based model implemented by X (fka Twitter), Bluesky’s verification approach is positioned as something to be earned based on notability and authenticity, rather than a purchased one. So, the decentralized social…