Tech Boys

We're just gonna say it: Creating strong, complex passwords — and then actually remembering what those passwords are — has become a huge pain in the behind. The well-known advice is that you shouldn't use the same password for everything because it's not safe, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying as you’re mentally shifting through every password and password variation you’ve ever created as you try to log into a bank account or online shop. This warning to use a different password for each site is definitely true though: According to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report , 81% of hacking related breaches involved the misuse of stolen or weak credentials — AKA crappy, overused passwords. And we probably don't have to tell you this, but having your money or identity stolen isn't exactly a good time either. But even if you do manage to come up with Olympic-level strength passwords, remembering your complex, unique passwords for dozens of different sites

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 18, 202 Spencer Platt/Getty Images US stocks ended mixed on Monday as investors digested ramped-up sanctions against Russia and initial peace talks showed little progress. Western countries in Europe and the US announced sanctions against Russian banks designed to cripple the country's economy. The Russian ruble plunged to record lows on Monday, and Russia's central bank closed its stock market. US stocks pared losses to end mixed on Monday as investors digested ramped-up sanctions against financial institutions in Russia as well as as initial peace talks between Russia and Ukraine that showed little progress. The sanctions come as Russia continues its offensive against Ukraine and shows no signs of succeeding in taking over the capital city, Kyiv.  The new penalties imposed by Europe and the US include removing Russian banks from the SWIFT program, a communications system that serves as the

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Andrew Burton/Getty Images The S&P 500 has not yet reached its bottom and could fall another 7%, according to a Stifel note. The research firm said equities "remain hostage" to the geopolitical risks surrounding Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "Fluid geopolitics and stagflation risk indicate an S&P 500 floor closer to 4050," Stifel said. The stock market has not yet found its bottom and has more downside ahead, according to a Sunday note from Stifel's Barry Bannister. He blamed the potential for stagflation and rising geopolitical risks as he lowered his first quarter S&P 500 price target to 4050 from 4200, representing potential downside of 7% from current levels. The S&P 500 hit a low of 4114 on February 24 before it recovered and moved higher later that day. The stock market was already facing downside pressure from a Federal Reserve that is expected to begin raising int

When Zendesk spurned a $17 billion acquisition offer earlier this month, it did so partially on the basis that the proposed transaction undervalued the company, especially in light of its then-pending $4.13 billion attempt to purchase Momentive/Survey Monkey . But after investors rejected that deal on Friday , it left open questions about how the company proceeds from here. On February 10, Zendesk declined a major offer from a consortium of private equity firms, partially because it projected that it would have $5 billion in revenue by 2025. With the Momentive deal off the table, the company now anticipates $3.4 billion worth of revenue in the same year, a significant $1.6 billion difference. Was Momentive’s potential revenue sufficient to justify the price tag that Zendesk was ready to pay, its plunge into the customer experience market, and the fact that it would have led the acquirer away from its core customer service orientation? Brent Leary, founder and principal analyst at

Raising a Series A is a different ball game from raising a seed round, and for Akilesh Bapu, CEO and co-founder of AI-powered medical transcription platform DeepScribe, giving prospective investors a hard deadline while leaning on early investors for support and guidance made all the difference. “We were at this trajectory as a company where we had a semblance of product-market fit,” said Bapu, reflecting on the summer of 2021. “We had proven our product. We had about 200 live customers on the platform… We were excited about bringing DeepScribe to more customers and looking for the best partners to us there — not just in the short term but also in the long term. We had a long-term vision… and wanted a partner that bought into that vision.” Eventually, the company closed a $30 million Series A round led by Index Ventures partner Nina Achadjian, as the duo discussed on the latest episode of TechCrunch Live , our weekly program featuring entrepreneurs, developers and investors. The ent

Twitter has stepped up its efforts to combat Russian misinformation about the state's invasion of Ukraine in a crucially nuanced way. On Monday, Twitter's head of site integrity, Yoel Roth, announced that the platform would begin labeling links to Russian state-affiliated news sites, like the English-language Russia Today (RT) or national news agency TASS, to make that affiliation clear. If someone tweets a link to a story from RT or TASS, for example, a warning box will appear above it with an orange exclamation point and text that reads: "Stay Informed: This Tweet links to a Russia state-affiliated media website." This is important context to make plain because Russian President Vladimir Putin has attempted to justify his invasion of Ukraine through misinformation and propaganda . Tweet may have been deleted As Roth notes in his Twitter thread, Twitter has labeled the accounts of news organizations that serve as Russian government mouthpieces since 2020. This i

Former US Attorney General Bill Barr. Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images Bill Barr disavowed former President Donald Trump's claims of a stolen 2020 election, The Washington Post reported. "The election was not 'stolen,'" he wrote in his forthcoming book. "Trump lost it." Barr wrote in his book that the Justice Department could not substantiate the claims of mass fraud. Former Attorney General Bill Barr in a forthcoming book unequivocally rejected former President Donald Trump's 2020 election claims, according to excerpts published Sunday in The Washington Post.  Barr wrote in the book, " One Damn Thing After Another ," that Trump did not win the 2020 presidential race against President Joe Biden. "The election was not 'stolen,'" the former attorney general stated. "Trump lost it." While Trump's interactions with Barr regarding the presidential election have been mentioned in other books, the attorney

At the behest of the country's government, Meta took its most significant action yet against Russian state media organizations amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. On Sunday, Nick Clegg, the company’s recently promoted president of global affairs, said Meta was restricting some Russian accounts within the war-torn nation. We have been in contact with the Government of Ukraine, and at their request we have also restricted access to several accounts in Ukraine, including those belonging to some Russian state media organizations. — Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) February 27, 2022 “We have been in contact with the government of Ukraine, and at their request we have also restricted access to several accounts in Ukraine, including those belonging to some Russian state media organizations,” said Clegg. We’ve reached out to Meta to ask the company to clarify how it’s restricting those accounts. Clegg noted Ukraine also asked Meta to limit Russia’s access to Facebook and Instagram. For t

In response to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, GoFundMe has launched a centralized hub for verified fundraisers looking to raise money for humanitarian aid in Ukraine. The hub currently hosts fundraisers that range from supporting large aid organizations like Save the Children to raising funds for specific families in Ukraine. All fundraisers hosted on the official hub have been verified by GoFundMe's global Trust & Safety team, which monitors the larger GoFundMe site in order to identify and validate fundraisers made in response to crises. The landing page of GoFundMe's donation hub for Ukraine. Credit: Screenshot: GoFundMe According to a blog post from GoFundMe, the Trust & Safety team is a large and diverse team that makes up a quarter of the organization, and it works to verify personal information and the identity of recipients in order to make sure that donations are sent to the right place. To do this, GoFundMe says it uses proprietar

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in his office on Capitol Hill on November 18, 2021. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images McCarthy needs to gain just a handful of seats to clinch the speaker's gavel this fall. He'll need the full support of the contentious caucus plus newly elected Republicans. While CPACers danced around leadership questions, veteran lawmakers mostly praised McCarthy. ORLANDO, Florida — Republican hopefuls swarming the 2022 Conservative Action Political Action conference to try and win a spot in Congress appeared to be on different pages about who should be in charge once they get there.  Many of the aspiring candidates Insider interviewed at CPAC gushed about how much they admired leading Republicans, ranging from embattled former President Donald Trump to House GOP Conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik.  The political neophytes appeared to be less sure about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — the man they would, in theory, lo

President Donald Trump stands with Attorney General William Barr during the 38th Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at the U.S. Capitol, Wednesday, May 15, 2019, in Washington. AP Photo/Evan Vucci Bill Barr wrote in his forthcoming book that a Trump White House bid in 2024 would be "dismaying." The former attorney general says the GOP should look to a fresh slate of presidential candidates. In the book, Barr describes Trump's relationships as rooted in transactional value. Former US Attorney General Bill Barr in a forthcoming book wrote that the possibility of former President Donald Trump running for the White House again was "dismaying" and encouraged the Republican Party to "look forward" in search of new candidates, according to excerpts published Sunday by The Washington Post. In the book, " One Damn Thing After Another ," Barr stated that Trump's "constant bellicosity diminishes him and the office,

As Ukraine continues to make efforts to mobilize and equip ordinary citizens on the ground to resist Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the country, those who are outside Ukraine who want to help are being asked to get involved in the fight in the virtual world. While the G7 (today with the addition of Japan ) mobilize to shut down Russia’s access to the Swift banking system, the country has been running campaign corralling developers to join an “IT army” tasked with specific cyber challenges. It’s also making specific calls to technology leaders to do their part, too. The “ IT Army of Ukraine “, announced yesterday and already with nearly 184,000 users on its main Telegram channel (and that number is growing – it gained almost 10,000 users in the time I wrote this story), is using that account to name specific projects and call-outs for help to shut down Russian sites, Russian agents and those working in concert with the country, and to mobilize those living in Ukraine around work they

Portal fans, rejoice — or rather, bask in the mixed feelings of a new game set in the beloved franchise's universe that isn't at all what you've been clamoring for over the past decade. Just as Steam Deck pre-orders started going out, Valve dropped a surprise trailer for Aperture Desk Job , a free Steam Deck game that's coming on March 1 and is set within the world of Portal . BUT (isn't there always a "but" when it comes to long-awaited continuations of Valve games?), as the description on Steam emphasizes in bolded capital letters, it is " Not Portal 3! " Instead of a long-awaited follow-up to the iconic puzzle game, Aperture Desk Job is characterized as a "walking simulator" and playable short. You begin as a starry-eyed, entry-level employee of the game's eponymous and cheerily dystopic corporation (which sorta kinda probably accidentally brought about the apocalypse), Aperture Science. While eager to jump-start your brigh