Google's parent Alphabet will eliminate 12,000 jobs, representing 6% of its global workforce, as it faces a new economic reality, according to CEO Sundar Pichai. It is the company's largest round of layoffs in its 25-year history. More: - In a memo on Google's blog today, Pichai said Alphabet expanded rapidly as a result of the dramatic growth that occurred during the pandemic. Its headcount, for example, rose 24% from 2021 to 2022.
- The company "hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today," he wrote.
- Now, Alphabet will cut positions across the entire organization after it conducts reviews of its functions and product areas.
- This will help ensure that employees and roles are aligned with its highest priorities, said Pichai, who also emphasized artificial intelligence as an important area for the company moving forward.
- U.S. employees impacted by the layoffs have already been notified. For international workers, it will "take longer due to local laws and practices," he said.
Zoom Out: - It trails recent job cuts at other Big Tech firms. Microsoft has announced layoffs of 10,000 (5% of its workforce), Amazon is cutting 18,000 jobs (6%), and Meta is eliminating 11,000 positions (13%).
THE NEW YORK TIMES 
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A technology outage that temporarily grounded U.S. flights earlier this month occurred because contractors accidentally deleted files linked to the system, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Thursday. A glitch in the FAA's pilot-alerting technology, called the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, led to a nationwide halt of thousands of domestic departing flights. More: - NOTAM sends alerts and messages to pilots about flight safety issues such as closed runways. The outage, discovered on Jan. 11, was the first time that the U.S. system has failed.
- According to the FAA, contractors had attempted to fix a synchronization issue between the system's main database and a backup database when they "unintentionally" erased files that caused the system to stop working.
- The finding eliminates the possibility that there was a “cyber-attack or malicious intent,” the FAA said.
- The agency said it has repaired the system and taken steps to improve its resiliency for the future.
Zoom Out: - However, U.S. lawmakers and airline executives continue to bring up concerns about a lack of staffing and funding at the FAA, including resources for technology.
- During an earnings call this week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the outage should "be a wake-up call for all of us in aviation, something many of us in aviation have been saying for a long time ... the FAA needs more resources.”
THE WASHINGTON POST
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 A message from LACEWORK Discover cloud insights and harden your security posture In the latest installment of the Cloud Threat Report series, Lacework Labs covers the significant increase in efficiencies used by cybercriminals. Get insights into these trends that cover how: - Attackers are automating key discovery and exploits, taking advantage of momentary mistakes
- Simple mistakes turn into misconfigurations that attackers use to compromise your cloud identity infrastructure
- Vulnerabilities continue to stick around for months (sometimes even years) and attackers quickly exploit any new vulnerabilities
- Cryptojacking continues to be a staple in cybercriminal tool belts
Discover detailed intelligence about ongoing infrastructure compromise activities and best practices for hardening your cloud security posture. Read the Lacework Labs Cloud Threat Report, Vol. 4 today. get the report
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Apple is appealing a U.K. investigation into its alleged dominance of the mobile browser market. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the U.K.'s antitrust watchdog, launched the formal investigation in November. The agency said it's probing what it calls Apple and Google's "duopoly" in mobile browsers and cloud gaming, which it says harms competition and ultimately consumers. More: - On the Apple side, the agency is looking into the company's Safari browser, WebKit that renders web pages, and how its App Store may limit competition in the cloud gaming market.
- On Friday, Apple attorneys filed a notice with the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal. They argued that CMA's investigation should be reviewed and that the agency missed specific timing requirements related to the probe.
- In response, the CMA said it would defend itself and continue its work. It said it launched the investigation so U.K. consumers are given more choices for mobile web services and developers can invest in "innovative" mobile services and apps.
- A preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday.
Zoom Out: - In 2021, Google and Apple powered 97% of all web browsing in the U.K, according to the CMA.
- The agency previously concluded a year-long study of Google and Apple's mobile ecosystems.
REUTERS
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Twitter has formally banned third-party app services, a move that was expected after Tweetbot, Twitterrific, and other such apps stopped working earlier this month. The company this week quietly updated its developer agreement to formalize the new rule. More: - A new clause in the agreement's restrictions section now bans the “use or access the Licensed Materials to create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications.”
- The update comes after Twitter said earlier this week that it was “enforcing long-standing API rules," which would cause some third-party apps not to work.
- Last week, the company intentionally cut off API access to third-party apps. Some speculated the move was an effort to force users to turn to Twitter's own apps.
- As noted by Engadget, Twitter clients like Twitterific have gained in popularity over years, partially due to their lack of ads. The company has been generally agreeable toward the clients, but that appears to have changed since Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October.
THE VERGE
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 A message from ONE SCHEMA No more messy csv data It always seems to be the case that customers want to give you their data as the messiest possible CSV file, but building spreadsheet import capabilities becomes a never-ending sink for engineering and support resources. Teams keep adding features to their importers, but customers just keep running into issues. 6 months later, you’re fixing yet another data conversion edge case bug. Most data tools aren’t built for handling messy data, but OneSchema’s embeddable CSV importer is. Instead of frustrating your customers with import messages like “error on line 53”, OneSchema helps them intelligently correct messy data so they don’t have to spend hours in Excel just to get started with your product. With an extensive library of prebuilt validations and robust SDKs, OneSchema only takes 30 minutes to get running in your app. Companies like Scale AI and Pave are using OneSchema to make launching delightful spreadsheet import experiences fast and easy. Watch demo
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T-Mobile says an unidentified hacker gained access to the names, account numbers, and other data of 37 million customer accounts. While the intruder first gained access in late November via an API, T-Mobile said it did not detect the malicious activity until Jan. 5. More: - The retrieved data included names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, birth dates, account numbers, and information about the customer's service with T-Mobile.
- No credit card information, password, social security numbers, PINs, or financial information was hacked, the company noted.
- Once detected, T-Mobile says it was able to fix the problem within a day. It now believes the breach is “fully contained."
Zoom Out: - In 2021, another cyberattack exposed the data of about 76.6 million T-Mobile customers in the U.S.
- The company has agreed to settle that case for $500M, which includes $350M to pay out claims to class members and $150M to upgrade its data protection and related technology. Customers have until 11:59 p.m. PT on Jan. 23, 2023, to submit a claim.
TECHCRUNCH
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Nintendo plans to increase production of the Switch console this year. Sources told Bloomberg that the company may finally be able to produce enough consoles to keep up with market demand following years of component shortages. More: - Nintendo believes that challenges in securing semi-conductors and other components over the last two years are finally easing.
- This will allow the company to ramp up production of the Switch in fiscal 2023-24, which starts in April.
- The boost is partially driven by what Nintendo expects will be higher demand for the console when "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" launches in May.
- In late 2021, Nintendo said it planned to produce 20% fewer Switch consoles in 2022 due to chip shortages.
- Despite that, the Switch was last year's best-selling console in the U.S., per units sold. Sony's Playstation 5 had the highest dollar sales.
BLOOMBERG
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- Crypto lender Genesis Global Holdco has filed for bankruptcy following major losses.
- Netflix co-creator Reed Hastings has stepped down as co-CEO. Existing co-CEO Ted Sarandos and newly promoted Greg Peters, formerly COO, will now lead the streaming giant.
- Apple said it will release iOS 16.3 next week, adding support for its new second-generation HomePod and more.
- Shell announced the acquisition of EV charging company Volta for $169M in an all-cash deal.
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Upcoming Events: - January 23 - Inside Coffee Break (Register Here)
- January 24 - Inside Coffee Break (Register Here)
- January 25 - Amanda Natividad speaks on zero-click content, how to measure it, and other trends to keep tabs on in 2023. (Register Here) *
- January 26 - Growth Experimentation Workshop: From Strategy to Process by GrowthHackers.com (Register Here)
- January 29 - Inside Interview with Lacework - 4 Common Attack Paths in Cloud Security (Register Here)
- January 31 - AMA with LinearB - Improving workflow for developers w/ Ori Keren (Watch On Demand)
- January 31 - AMA with Gun.io - Building and managing software development teams w/ Deividi Silva (Watch On Demand)
- April 18 - Human Resources Summit'23 (Register Here)
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. 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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