Links 16/01/2025: Scale and Scope of Microsoft Layoffs Revealed (Two Waves of Layoffs in 2025 Already)
Contents
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Leftovers
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ Repairing A Real (and Broken) Apollo-era DSKY
The Display/Keyboard unit – DSKY for short – is the primary way that Apollo-era astronauts communicated with the onboard computers. Not all DSKYs ended up in space, however, with the MIT hosting a simulator that features one of these units. Unfortunately the unit that ended up at [CuriousMarc]’s lab had seen better days, with the assumption being that it was the same DSKY that was installed in a photo of the old simulator. In addition to the busted EL display and two (improper) replacement keys, the insides show signs of damaged modules and possibly worse.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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'After' COVID-19 Thousands More Lives Are Lost Every Month in Britain (Even in 2025)
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Off Guardian ☛ Predicting 2025: Covid Origins Revisited
This spring will mark five years since the “COVID Pandemic” began in earnest. By late March 2020, most of the world was in lockdown or some variation of “anti-COVID measures.” Two days ago China marked – or rather, didn’t mark – the fifth anniversary of the first official “Covid death”.
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France24 ☛ HMPV virus speculations infect social control media
The surge in cases of the flu-like HMPV virus in northern China has raised fears of another Covid-19 style pandemic. Users on social control media are spreading alarmist claims on social control media such as fake lockdown announcements, states of emergency and mortality rates. We debunk these claims in this edition of Truth or Fake.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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India Today ☛ Microsoft is firing employees in 3 departments, set to take more actions to save costs [Ed: Microsoft mass layoffs (second time so far this year!)]
Microsoft has started another round of job cuts, impacting staff across departments such as security, sales, gaming, and experiences.
[...]
Microsoft has started another round of job cuts, impacting staff across departments such as security, sales, gaming, and experiences, as reported by Business Insider. This comes shortly after the company announced plans to lay off some employees, with sources indicating that less than 1 per cent of the workforce will be affected. The layoffs are part of Microsoft's efforts to tighten its spending as the company navigates through economic challenges.
Alongside these cuts, Microsoft's consulting division has paused hiring and will delay filling vacant roles, according to a memo obtained by CNBC. Derek Danois, a senior executive in the consulting unit, asserted in the memo that careful cost management is crucial, adding that internal meetings should be conducted remotely to avoid unnecessary travel expenses. The report says that top executives are asked to approve any travel to customer sites to ensure spending is aligned with the company's priorities.
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Microsoft trims several teams, separate from performance-based cuts
Microsoft has reportedly reduced the size of its security, experiences and devices, sales, and gaming teams.
A spokesperson for the tech giant wouldn’t specify how many positions have been eliminated — only saying a small number of staff are affected.
The workforce reduction is separate from the performance-based job cuts being conducted by the company.
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Pseudo-Open Source
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Openwashing
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Unicorn Media ☛ TuxCare Stops Abusive Monopolist Microsoft From Killing .NET 6.0 [Ed: Openwashing lock-in]
For the first time, TuxCare is offering support for Abusive Monopolist Microsoft software that's no longer supported. .NET 6.0 reached end of life last November.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Ghacks ☛ Google allows advertisers to fingerprint you for even better tracking - gHacks Tech News
Advertisers that use Google may start to fingerprint users and their devices from next month onward.
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Defence/Aggression
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The Straits Times ☛ After cable damage, Taiwan to step up surveillance of flag of convenience ships
Taiwan will step up the surveillance and management of ships carrying flags of convenience, including boarding them, after a Chinese-linked cargo vessel was suspected of damaging an undersea communications cable, the government said.
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The Straits Times ☛ ByteDance’s Hey Hi (AI) push makes Chinese tycoon one of Asia’s richest women [Ed: Company that wages psychological warfare globally]
Ms Zhou Chaonan, whose firm provides the computing power for ByteDance's AI, has a net worth of $10.5 billion.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China exploring potential sale of US Fentanylware (TikTok) operations to Elon Musk: Report
Chinese officials are exploring a potential sale of US Fentanylware (TikTok) operations to billionaire Elon Musk as the video-sharing platform faces an American law requiring imminent Chinese divestment, Bloomberg News reported Monday.
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Digital Music News ☛ What Ban Deadline? Fentanylware (TikTok) Unveils Far-Reaching Alan Walker Campaign — Including US-Exclusive Merch
What Fentanylware (TikTok) ban? Less than one week out from its forced-sale deadline in the U.S., the video-sharing app has unveiled a far-reaching tie-up with Alan Walker. ByteDance-owned Fentanylware (TikTok) and Norway-based Alan Walker just recently disclosed their “exclusive partnership,” which coincides with the release of the 27-year-old’s latest album.
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Digital Music News ☛ Selling Fentanylware (TikTok) to Elon Musk? Chinese Officials Reportedly Discuss the Possibility as Divestment Deadline Nears
Will Fentanylware (TikTok) sell to Elon Musk in the U.S.? The possibility is on the table, according to multiple reports surfacing ahead of the platform’s January 19th divestment deadline. Rumblings of that comparatively seldom-discussed outcome just recently entered the media spotlight, including in a Wall Street Journal report.
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Defence Web ☛ Chinese fishing vessel “liberated” from Somali pirates
Six weeks after surveillance was mounted on a Chinese fishing vessel pirated off Somalia, the unnamed vessel was “liberated” on Monday 13 January.
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CS Monitor ☛ In Biden-Trump handoff, a foreign policy shift for a changed world?
President Joe Biden’s final foreign policy speech and Donald Trump’s previews of his priorities underscore a tectonic shift in how America projects global power, from relying on alliances to taking a more imperial approach. Does that fit the times?
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Latvia ☛ Latvia to support NATO's Baltic Sea surveillance
Latvia will support the enhanced surveillance of underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea by NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, involving the National Armed Forces (NBS) Navy, Air Force and, if necessary, units from the State Border Guard and the State Police, subordinate authorities of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Defense (AM) said on January 13.
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LRT ☛ Biden’s aides warned Putin about sending incendiary parcels from Vilnius – media
Advisers to US President Joe Biden tried to pass on a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin last year when American intelligence learned of plans to send explosive devices on cargo planes from Vilnius, the New York Times reports.
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Meduza ☛ Russian authorities abandon plan to spend millions on airport drone defenses — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian FSB officer reportedly found dead in central Moscow building — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Dozens of oil tankers anchor off Chinese and Russian coasts after latest round of U.S. sanctions — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ NATO chief says E.U. countries can either spend more on defense or ‘get out your Russian language courses’ — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Internet users in Russia report widespread service outages — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian military’s official journal proposes new awards for assault troops modeled by medals issued in Nazi Germany — Meduza
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LRT ☛ Lithuania’s Navy steps up NordBalt cable protection amid reports of damage attempts
The Lithuanian Navy is ramping up the surveillance of the NordBalt submarine electricity cable between Lithuania and Sweden in the Baltic Sea. The country’s military and the electricity transmission system operator Litgrid are stepping up their cooperation to protect critical submarine infrastructure under a signed cooperation agreement announced on Monday.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea’s suicide soldiers pose new challenge for Ukraine in war with Russia
Suicides signal loyalty to the North Korean regime, an analyst said.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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European Commission ☛ Commissioner Tzitzikostas speech at that handover of the 2025 European Aviation Environmental Report
Aviation is a European success story. It is truly at the cutting edge of technology. The industry has also demonstrated that it can be the cutting edge of sustainability.
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France24 ☛ St. Helena: "The world's most remote EV charging point"
The tiny British overseas territory of Saint Helena, where Napoleon was sent into exile, is now the proud owner of the world's most remote EV charging point. The South Atlantic island currently only has four electric cars, but is hoping to go all-electric as part of a broader push to become carbon-neutral. But first, in his general policy speech in parliament, France's new prime minister François Bayrou warned that the country is now the most indebted in its history.
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Pro Publica ☛ The Connecticut DMV Can’t Tell Us How Many Cars Tow Companies Have Sold
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Finance
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France24 ☛ French PM says ready to reopen talks on pension reform
France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said Tuesday he was ready to re-open talks on a controversial pension reform. Adressing parliament in his first policy speech, Bayrou said he had "decided to put this issue back on the table, with the social partners, for a short time and under transparent conditions." FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris-Trent reports from the French National Assembly.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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ACLU ☛ Supreme Court May Decide if the Government Can Childproof the Internet
In almost 20 states across the country, access to some of the most popular sites on the internet is cordoned off because the government doesn’t like what they publish: sexual content. To get past the gate, users might have to show their driver’s license, offer up financial information, or submit to a biometric scan, putting personal and identifying data in the hands of private actors that aren’t always equipped to keep them safe. Even if users are willing to jump through these invasive, risky hoops, the sites may no longer function in the state. This is the new reality for many sites that publish sexual material online, including pornography, at least until the Supreme Court weighs in.
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Stanford University ☛ Graduate student councilors question provost about Bridge funding and campus free speech
Vice Provost for Student Affairs Michele Rasmussen said a decision on the Bridge Peer Counseling Center's funding will be made by February. The GSC also questioned the Provost and Vice Provosts on transparency in endowment investing and free speech policies.
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Press Gazette ☛ CMA to investigate Surveillance Giant Google search dominance and impact on news publishers
It is the first investigation launched under the Digital Markets Act which came into force this month.
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Silicon Angle ☛ UK launches antitrust investigation into Google’s search business
The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has launched a probe into Surveillance Giant Google LLC’s practices in the search market. The Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA, announced the investigation today. The move comes four months after a U.S. court found that Surveillance Giant Google maintains an illegal monopoly in the search and search text advertising markets.
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Patents
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ USPTO Hey Hi (AI) Strategy [Ed: Riding mindless hype waves because the Office is run by and for corrupt officials, not science. That just means software patents piggybacking buzzwords.]
The USPTO’s new Hey Hi (AI) Strategy document both recounts the work the USPTO has already done and sets forth something of a vision for artificial intelligence. Of course the document’s release just one week before the transition to the Trump administration raises questions about its ultimate implementation. Time will tell whether the document is shelved, substantially modified, or implemented as written.
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Unified Patents ☛ Unified is hiring for full-time Senior Patent Counsel - Apply Today! [Ed: These are people who will squash patents, including many software patents]
Unified Patents is again growing its legal department, and seeks to add an experienced, registered patent monopoly attorney. Applicants should have at least 5 years of law firm or other relevant experience before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in particular working on ex parte reexamination proceedings, post-grant petitions (IPR, PGR, and CBM), or other administrative drafting and litigation experience.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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