Hi Inside.com Community, We are extending our Republic raise timeline, and we hope readers and investors love the reason. Inside.com Founder and CEO Jason Calacanis shared full details (and a video preview of our social news site) on our Republic campaign page. These are the key details: - Our social news site’s invitation-only beta will open up on February 28, 2022, with early access for all investors, Inside PRO members, and longtime readers.
- The full site launch is slated for the end of March 2022.
- If you want to get in early, we’ll share more soon – so be on the lookout.
For everyone participating in our Republic campaign, we want this extended investment period to allow our members to experience the social site before investing in Inside.com’s future. In the meantime, enjoy the preview of the new site in our video update, and we hope you will be among the first to try it out. Thanks for being readers and investors. –The Inside.com Team
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 A number of states with Democratic governors are ending their indoor mask mandates as coronavirus infections drop. After New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced earlier this week that students and school employees will no longer be required to wear a mask as of the second week in March, the governors of California, Connecticut, and Oregon all made similar announcements. Though some rules will still be in place, the moves appear to be an acknowledgement that citizens are weary after two years of pandemic-related restrictions. More: - California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his state's indoor mask mandate will end on Feb. 15, but that unvaccinated people will still need to wear a mask indoors.
- Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said the mask requirements will be lifted "no later than March 31."
- Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said a state mandate would be lifted but that individual mayors could make their own decisions for their cities.
- The CDC continues to recommend universal masking in K-12 schools.
- Polls show a majority of Americans support requiring people to wear masks in public places during the pandemic.
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 Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst in "The Power of the Dog" Nominations for the 94th annual Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday morning, with Netflix's "The Power of the Dog" leading with 12 nods. The film earned acting nominations for all four of its leads, as well as writing and directing nominations for Jane Campion. "Dune" had the second-most nominations, with 10, though the film received no nominations in the acting or directing categories. The Oscars will air on Sunday, March 27, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. More: - With her nomination for directing, Jane Campion becomes the first woman to be nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards twice.
- Lady Gaga failed to receive a nomination for Best Actress for her role in "House of Gucci" – she was previously considered a favorite to be nominated in the category.
- Ruth Negga ("Passing"), Ann Dowd ("Mass"), and Caitríona Balfe ("Belfast") were also considered "snubs" in a crowded field of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress contenders.
- Beyoncé scored her first Oscar nomination as co-writer of the song "Be Alive" from "King Richard."
- See the full list of nominees.
Best Picture nominees: - "Belfast" (dir: Kenneth Branagh)
- "CODA" (dir: Sian Heder)
- "Don't Look Up" (dir: Adam McKay)
- "Drive My Car" (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
- "Dune" (dir: Denis Villeneuve)
- "King Richard" (dir: Reinaldo Marcus Green)
- "Licorice Pizza" (dir: Paul Thomas Anderson)
- "Nightmare Alley" (dir: Guillermo del Toro)
- "The Power of the Dog" (dir: Jane Campion)
- "West Side Story" (dir: Steven Spielberg)
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 A message from SEEDINVEST Imagine your startup’s next investor, just a few clicks away SeedInvest is your fundraising partner every step of the way. Founders across a wide range of dynamic sectors, from SaaS to health tech to virtual reality, have raised more than $400 million with SeedInvest for their businesses, harnessing the awesome power of equity crowdfunding. More than 250 companies have successfully raised with SeedInvest. The experience made a few important things clear: - Equity crowdfunding can precede a traditional VC round
A raise on SeedInvest could be just the start. Companies funded on SeedInvest have gone on to raise future rounds from A-list VCs including Greycroft, Menlo Ventures, Tiger Global, and more. - Your fundraise can boost your numbers
We’ve seen upticks in sales, signups, and press attention starting from the moment their SeedInvest campaign is launched. - Serious money for serious ideas
Equity crowdfunding is all grown up, and helping startups raise millions. The average fundraise on SeedInvest was over $3 million in 2020. Learn more and start your application today at inside.seedinvest.com, or refer a founder who’s building something big.
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 Retired Pope Benedict XVI, now 94, asked for forgiveness for his handling of sexual abuse cases within the Catholic Church, though he would accept no personal responsibility. A German report released last month said Benedict mishandled four cases of abuse when he was the archdiocese of Munich between 1977 and 1982. Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the report said, failed to punish or restrict the ministry of four priests who had already been convicted in criminal courts for abuse. More: - "However great my fault may be today, the Lord forgives me, if I sincerely allow myself to be examined by him, and am really prepared to change," the former pope wrote on Tuesday.
- His legal team offered a more thorough defense, arguing that Benedict never participated in any cover-up of abuse.
- Benedict's lawyers also tried to clarify an apparent falsehood in his testimony to investigators. He had initially said that he wasn't in attendance at a meeting in 1980 to discuss a priest who had been accused of pedophilia, then later said that he was present.
- Benedict's team said that a church lawyer had "inadvertently made a transcription error."
- Despite Benedict's expression of "deep sorrow," groups of abuse survivors criticized the statement for refusing to accept responsibility or admit wrongdoing.
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 GOOD NEWS: American skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle became an Olympic medalist 50 years after his mother won gold in Sapporo, Japan. Cochran-Siegle won silver on Tuesday in the men's super-G alpine event, just 0.04 seconds behind the gold medal winner, Matthias Mayer of Austria. His mother, Barbara Cochran, won gold in the 1972 slalom. Cochran-Siegle comes from a long line of alpine athletes – his family even runs a ski area in Richmond, Vermont. More: - Cochran-Siegle became the first American to medal in the event since 2014.
- Watch his super-G run here.
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 A message from MALWAREBYTES Secure success for 2022 with AI-powered cyberprotection. Remote workforces continue to raise security concerns for businesses. Remote workforces make easy targets for cybercriminals. - 1 out of 5 businesses experienced a remote-worker related security breach
- 28% of people admitted using their personal device for work more than their work-issued device
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The Justice Department has seized about 94,000 stolen bitcoin (currently worth ~$4B) and arrested a husband and wife who they say were attempting to launder it. Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan have been charged with trying to launder 119,754 bitcoin stolen in a hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016. At the time, the stolen bitcoin were worth about $71M, though the appreciation of bitcoin in the last several years makes this the largest seizure of funds in the Justice Department's history. More: - In a statement, the department said that Lichtenstein and Morgan were attempting to launder the bitcoin "through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions," though it did not accuse them of perpetrating the 2016 hack.
- The couple were only able to spend a small portion of the stolen money, primarily on gold and NFTs.
- U.S. officials will attempt to return funds to their original owners, though a judge could decide to redistribute the money elsewhere.
- Lichtenstein holds both Russian and U.S. citizenship; he describes himself as a tech entrepreneur and goes by the nickname "Dutch."
- His wife, Heather Morgan, says she is a serial entrepreneur and SaaS investor. She also has promoted her own rap music under the name Razzlekhan.
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 The American Gaming Association estimates that 31.5 million Americans will gamble more than $7.6B on this Sunday's Super Bowl. The trade group believes that Super Bowl LVI will set a new record for most money bet on a single sporting event, with the number of people planning to place a bet up 35% from last year (though this includes people making casual wagers with friends or coworkers). More: - Legal betting on sports has become a booming industry during the past decade, with daily fantasy options like FanDuel and DraftKings garnering millions of users transacting tens of millions of dollars each week.
- Due to new laws legalizing sports betting, 45 million more people can bet on the Super Bowl this year than could last year.
- The American Gaming Association predicts that 18.2 million Americans will place wagers online, with a professional sportsbook, or with a bookie.
- In their poll, 55% of bettors said they would bet on the Los Angeles Rams, with 45% going with the Cincinnati Bengals.
- Most sportsbooks, however, are seeing more money bet on the Bengals to cover the spread. The Bengals are going into the game as 4.5-point underdogs.
- Public health advocates have warned about the surge in sports gambling and argue it will increase gambling addictions nationwide.
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- SoftBank has abandoned plans to sell chipmaker Arm to Nvidia because of antitrust concerns, and will instead plan an IPO of the chip designer.
- Johnson & Johnson temporarily shut down production of its COVID-19 vaccine last year, which could reduce supplies of the shot for the developing world in the coming months.
- 22-year-old skateboarder and YouTuber Josh Neuman was among four people who died in a plane crash in Iceland this week.
- Canadian truckers have blocked the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario, as their anti-vaccine mandate protest continues into its second week.
- Hyundai and Kia have issued a recall for nearly 500,000 vehicles and are asking their drivers to park the cars outside and away from buildings due to a flaw that could cause them to catch fire unexpectedly.
- If you think time in the market outweighs timing the market, this finance app is for you.*
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Upcoming Events - February 09 - Interview with David King Lassman (GigXR) (Register Here)
- February 09 - A Twitter Spaces event with Bored Elon Musk (Register Here)
- February 10 - The Business of Wellness (Register Here)
- February 15 - Venturing in VC - Episode #6 with Marlon Nichols (MaC Venture Capital) (Register Here)
- February 17 - Efficient Marketing Strategies in a Post iOS 14 World (Register Here)
- February 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Derya Sousa (Kianda Technologies) (Register Here)
- February 24 - Alternative Investments (Register Here)
- February 28 - Inside Investment DAOs with Global Coin Research (Register Here)
- March 10 - NoCode's Impact on the Gig Economy (Register Here)
- March 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Nichole Bestman (Bubble) (Register Here)
- March 31 - How To Build In Web 3.0 (Register Here)
- April 07 - Blockchain and the Law (Register Here)
- April 14 - Shopping In The Metaverse (Register Here)
Want to see all of our upcoming events? Visit us at https://inside.com/events
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 |  | Jonathan Harris is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles. |  | | 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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