Category: News and Views

DoorDash hit by data breach linked to Twilio hackers | TechCrunch

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Food delivery giant DoorDash has confirmed a data breach that exposed customers’ personal information.

In a blog post shared with TechCrunch ahead of its publication at market close, DoorDash said malicious hackers stole credentials from employees of a third-party vendor that were then used to gain access to some of DoorDash’s internal tools.

DoorDash said the attackers accessed names, email addresses, delivery addresses and phone numbers of DoorDash customers. For a “smaller subset” of users, hackers accessed partial payment card information, including card type and the last four digits of the card number.

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Spyware Scandals Are Ripping Through Europe | WIRED

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THE TEXT MESSAGE that dragged Thanasis Koukakis into what’s being called Europe’s Watergate scandal was so innocuous, he can barely remember receiving it. The Athens-based financial journalist received the note on his black iPhone 12 Pro on July 12 last year from a Greek number he didn’t have saved. That wasn’t unusual for Koukakis, who has spent the past three years investigating the changes the government has been making to financial crime regulation. He gets a lot of messages—both from numbers he’s saved and those he hasn’t. This one addressed him directly. “Thanasis,” it read, “Do you know about this issue?” Koukakis clicked on the link that followed, which took him to a news story about a Greek banking scandal. He replied with a terse: “No.”

Koukakis, 44, did not think about the message until months later. In the days that followed, he was oblivious to the fact that the website that hosted the story he was sent had disappeared. He also did not know that by clicking on that link, he had opened an invisible door inside his phone, allowing spyware software called Predator to creep in to silently watch the messages and calls he was sending and receiving.

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Ford hit with $1.7 billion verdict for F-series pickup roof collapse that killed couple | CNN

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The family of an elderly couple killed when the roof of their F-250 pickup collapsed during a rollover accident in 2014 has been awarded a massive $1.7 billion in punitive damages from Ford.

The jury appeared to endorse the plaintiff’s arguments that Ford knew of the problem years before the fatal crash, acted slowly to correct it and that other deaths have resulted from the same design flaw.

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DoorDash partners with Meta to test delivery of Facebook Marketplace items | TechCrunch

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DoorDash has confirmed that it has teamed up with Facebook Marketplace to make that awkward exchange of items with a stranger a bit easier. The company said DoorDash Drive, its business-to-business service that provides drivers to merchants through their own website or app, is now in the early stages of testing a service that will allow DoorDash drivers to pick up and drop off Facebook Marketplace items to customers.

DoorDash and Facebook’s parent company Meta are currently offering the test in several cities in the United States, giving many drivers another opportunity to earn money. Items that are eligible for delivery are Marketplace items that can fit in the trunk of a car and must be located up to 15 miles away. DoorDash drivers are expected to make deliveries within 48 hours or less.

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Is the Real Estate Housing Market Crashing? | Entrepreneur

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The housing market is shifting, and faster than builders and sellers can adapt.

During the pandemic, low mortgage rates and increased demand led to a surge in the housing market, causing prices to soar and competition to rise. However, the tight market led to sky-high prices and an eventual rise in mortgage rates, which ultimately priced out millions of would-be buyers. Now, builders are faced with an excess of unsold homes, Bloomberg reported.

The once nationwide housing shortage — coupled with the boom brought on by the pandemic — pushed the market to a pressure point. Home prices rose by 20.6% year-over-year in March of 2022, marking the largest increase in the 30 years of record-keeping, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies tabulations of CoStar and CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices data.

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Spotify is rolling out separate music and podcast feeds | Mashable

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Your Spotify home page is getting a makeover.

This week, Spotify is launching separate feeds for music and podcasts that will be accessible through the Home page on the app. This makes it easier to find what you’re really looking for. Your existing Home feed won’t change, but you will notice two new tabs on the upper left of the page: one labeled “Music” and titled “Podcasts & Shows.”

These feeds will essentially put all of Spotify’s recommendations in one place. The Music feed will feature new releases and playlists based on users’ music taste, while the Podcast & Shows feed will keep you up to date on the latest episodes of shows you follow, as well as suggestions based on what you’re listening to now.

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Ford just raised the price of the F-150 Lightening | CNN

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Ford on Thursday will once again begin taking orders for its popular F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. But this time the base model of the pickup will cost about $7,000 more than before.

When the Lightning first went on sale, the Pro version — the base model intended mostly as a simple work truck — cost about $40,000. Now it will cost about $47,000. More expensive versions of the truck have similar price increases, up to $8,500 for highly equipped extended range models. The Lightning is currently eligible for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. (With electric vehicle tax credit rules set to change under new legislation, it’s unclear if the truck will continue to be eligible in the future.)

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Toys ‘R’ Us locations: full list of Macy stores | Fast Company 

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Brick-and-mortar Toys “R” Us stores are back! Well, kind of. Macy’s has announced the opening of Toys “R” Us stores at its retail locations in nine states, and stores in another 19 states are set to open before the holiday 2022 shopping season.

Some background: The iconic toy retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in 2017 and the last of the chain’s brick-and-mortar shops closed in January 2021 due to the pandemic. But then in August 2021, Toys “R” Us announced its comeback: It would partner with Macy’s to open stores-within-stores inside the department chain’s locations.

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Text Message Laws Businesses Must Know | business.com

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There are a number of text message marketing laws that your business should be following when trying to reach its target audience.

Text message marketing, also known as SMS marketing, is becoming a poular marketing channel. This rapid rise has many businesses scrambling to incorporate text message marketing into their marketing strategies. Before you get started, however, it is critical to understand the laws surrounding this marketing method. Even though you may not intend to break the law, some aspects of compliance may be easy to miss, and even a tiny oversight could cost your business millions of dollars and damage consumers’ trust in your company.

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Apple and Amazon sales up despite rising prices | BBC News

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Amazon and Apple posted better than expected sales, reassuring investors that the tech giants will be able to weather slowdowns in global economies.

Amazon forecast in a trading update that higher fees for its Prime membership would boost its bottom line, while Apple said demand for its all important iPhone remained strong.

Both firms said they were making progress controlling running costs, despite prices rising at rapid rates.

The updates sent shares soaring.

The quarterly updates from Apple and Amazon are closely watched as indicators of how customers are reacting to the economic climate.

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