 Apple reached a $3 trillion market cap on Monday, the first publicly-traded company to do so. The tech giant's shares reached a high of $182.86 before closing at $182.01, placing it just shy of the $3 trillion mark. More: - The largely symbolic milestone means Apple has tripled its valuation in less than four years.
- Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market cap in 2018 and hit a $2 trillion valuation in 2020.
- While the company has been hit by larger-than-expected supply constraints, all of its product categories grew on an annual basis in Q4. iPhone sales, its biggest source of income, were up 47% YOY.
- In its fiscal Q4 earnings released in October, Apple’s overall revenue was up 29%, at $83.36B.
- In 2022, Apple plans to release new iPhones, including a 5G version of the iPhone SE and new iPhone 14s, plus a new Pro Mac lineup, new iPad Pro, AirPods, Apple Watches, and a VR/AR headset.
- Currently, Microsoft's market cap is close to $2.5 trillion and Alphabet's (Google's) is near $2 trillion.
REUTERS 
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Former Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors and faces up to 80 years in prison for her role in the failed blood-testing tech startup. Following a 15-week trial, a federal jury in California found Holmes, 37, guilty on two counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. She was acquitted on four other counts of fraud and conspiracy. More: - The jury had no verdict on an additional three charges related to defrauding investors. It's expected that presiding Judge Edward Davila will declare a mistrial of those charges.
- While Holmes faces a $250,000 fine and up to 20 years in prison per charge, it's likely that Davila will hand out a much shorter sentence.
- More than 30 witnesses testified during the trial, including Holmes, who spoke in her own defense and accused her former boyfriend and Theranos executive, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, of sexual and emotional abuse.
- Holmes was accused of deceiving investors and patients by backing up claims that Theranos developed tests that could detect diseases using only a single drop of blood.
- Reports noted that Holmes will likely challenge certain evidence in her presumptive appeal. She can appeal her conviction, sentence, or both.
NEWSWEEK
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 Ford announced plans to almost double the annual production of its upcoming electric F-150 Lightning pickup amid strong consumer demand. Ford is expected to open up orders of the full-size EV truck on Thursday and begin manufacturing it in the spring. More: - On Tuesday, the company said it will boost the truck's production to 150,000 vehicles per year by 2023.
- The model has already drawn nearly 200,000 reservations, forcing Ford to temporarily halt reservations of the vehicle last month.
- Ford recently said it's also tripling the yearly production of its Mustang Mach-E electric crossover to reach 200,000+ by 2023.
- The company wants to build up global capacity to produce 600,000 electric vehicles within the next two years, making it the "No. 2 electric vehicle maker in North America" behind Tesla.
- Overall, EV sales are expected to reach 650,000 in 2022, an increase of 45% over this year's expected sales, according to AutoPacific forecasts.
ARS TECHNICA
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 Sony revealed new 4K and 8K TVs at CES, including a Quantum Dot (QD) OLED model that's said to have better color performance and wider viewing angles compared to conventional OLEDs. The A95K series model will be available in 55- and 65-inch sizes when it releases later this year. More: - In QD-OLED, a blue OLED base layer is combined with quantum dots to generate more saturated red and green colors.
- The A95K TV will contain a Bravia Cam for gesture control and video chats. It has heat diffusion and temperature mapping to lower the chance of image retention.
- Sony also announced two high-end OLED televisions without quantum dots, the A90K and the A80K, which will debut in 2022.
- Meanwhile, its upcoming Mini LED 8K and 4K TVs are expected to improve black levels and contrast from its latest LCD TVs.
- Samsung's upcoming 65-inch QD-OLED television was given a 2022 Best of Innovation award at CES. Specs include a 144Hz refresh rate, four HDMI 2.1 inputs, and a "neo quantum" processor.
BUSINESS INSIDER
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Verizon Wireless and AT&T reversed course and agreed to delay the launch of their 5G wireless services for an additional two weeks, complying with a request from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Steve Dickson. Federal officials are concerned that 5G could interfere with sensitive aircraft electronics, prompting an “unacceptable disruption” to aviation as flights are canceled or diverted over safety risks. More: - The companies initially declined to delay the rollout, scheduled for Jan. 5, before agreeing to the postponement on Monday.
- AT&T reiterated a pledge to create a buffer zone around airports for six months so regulators can better study how 5G might interfere with aircraft.
- Verizon said the delay would ensure “the certainty” of launching its service later in January.
- It is set to deploy in nearly 50 U.S. cities.
- AT&T and Verizon paid $80B in a government auction last year to access nearly all of the C-Band spectrum and build out their 5G networks.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations has asked Tesla to shutter its showroom in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, where China is accused of detaining members of the Uyghur Muslim minority in forced internment camps. The largest U.S. Muslim advocacy organization said Tesla's store amounts to "economic support for genocide." More: - The company announced the opening of the store in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, on Dec. 31.
- It's now facing pushback from activists, as well as the Alliance for American Manufacturing and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. who tweeted that "nationless corporations" are assisting the Chinese Communist Party to "cover up genocide and slave labor in the region."
- Tesla has roughly 30 stores in mainland China, which is said to be a key driver of its overall growth. The EV maker started production at its Tesla Giga Shanghai, its first non-U.S. factory, in 2019.
- GM, Volkswagen, and Nissan also have showrooms in Xinjiang, where Human Rights Watch estimates that China has detained 1 million Uyghur Muslims in what it calls "crimes against humanity."
- In 2021, several Chinese tech companies were added to the U.S. government's investment blacklist for allegedly supplying technologies that have supported human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
ELECTREK
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Quick Hits: - AMD has launched its Ryzen 6000 laptop processors with Microsoft's Pluton security chip.
- Justworks, a provider of HR and payroll software for small and medium-sized businesses, is targeting a $2B valuation in its upcoming IPO.
- Private-equity firms invested $400B+ in U.S. technology deals in 2021, nearly double the $196B worth of deals in 2020, Dealogic data shows.
- Seoul Robotics created a Control Tower system with a mesh network that would equip nearby vehicles with Level 5 autonomy.
- On Jan. 7, CES will host the Autonomous Challenge, a competition of racecars designed to test the feasibility and reliability of self-driving technologies.
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 |  | Beth is an Inside Analyst and a former public policy/investigative reporter. She has covered AI, VR, technology, and e-commerce for Inside. When she's not busy writing, she's hiking in Arizona's desert, playing pickleball, or trying out new Mexican food recipes. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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