Tuesday morning news drop
A ransomware attack cost this entrepreneur a year of his life and almost wrecked his business: When ransomware bandits struck his business last June, encrypting all his data and operational software and sending him a skull-and-crossbones image and an email address to learn the price he would have to pay to restore it all, Fran Finnegan thought it would take him weeks to restore everything to its pre-hack condition. (Los Angeles Times)
New Zealand shows how a housing crisis can become a catastrophe New Zealand and Canada’s housing markets have much in common. They both have some of the least affordable homes in the world and both saw prices explode during the pandemic. (Globe and Mail)
Corporate Stagflation Means Rising Sales With Flat Volumes It’s growth, but not healthy growth, and it doesn’t really help the economy. (Businessweek)
US Inflation Peak in Sight But Debate Rages Over What Comes Next: Fed hopes to tame inflation without too much economic pain; Skeptics say it will take a recession to bring prices down (Bloomberg)
You, Too, Can Strike It Rich on YouTube! A cottage industry is persuading people to spend thousands to create video businesses on YouTube. Disclaimer: It is harder than it looks. (New York Times)
The Disastrous Record of Celebrity Crypto Endorsements: From Matt Damon’s infamous ad to Reese Witherspoon’s NFT partnership, celebrity crypto touts haven’t gone well for fans (Bloomberg)
Terra $45 Billion Face Plant Creates Crowd of Crypto Losers VC firms, investors and startups are among the casualties The market downturn could chill white-hot valuations in crypto. (Bloomberg)
The Metaverse Real Estate Boom Turns Into a Bust: The metaverse is in the midst of a real estate meltdown. Sales volumes and average prices for virtual land have plunged this year, part of a broader slide in crypto and non-fungible token prices. Soaring interest in virtual property spawned an industry that mirrors traditional commercial real estate—buyers develop land by adding virtual storefronts, and then sell or rent it to companies looking to set up shop as a marketing strategy or to sell things like clothing for online avatars. (The Information)
The Anti-Vaccine Movement’s New Frontier: A wave of parents has been radicalized by Covid-era misinformation to reject ordinary childhood immunizations — with potentially lethal consequences. (New York Times)
‘Debt bomb’ risks: More than 40 nations are at risk of default — and that’s a problem for us all The world faces the possibility of a series of economic collapses that could destabilize the lives of millions of people. (Grid)
It’s Getting Harder to Be a Woman in America The US welcomes the employment and economic advancement of women—yet doesn’t actually support them. We’ve finally hit a breaking point.(Businessweek)
A Very Dangerous Place to Be Pregnant Is Getting Even Scarier: Texas leads the US in maternity ward closures, and nowhere is this more of an issue than in the western part of the state (Bloomberg)
Trump Supporters Think They’re in a Fight to the Death: Fear, hate, and grievances animate the new Republican Party. (The Atlantic)
Sneakerhead Accused of Running Huge Air Jordan Ponzi Scheme: Zadeh Kicks promised the hottest sneakers at discount prices. Buyers say they never got their shoes and are out millions of dollars (Bloomberg)
The Perils of Audience Capture: How influencers become brainwashed by their audiences: We often talk of “captive audiences,” regarding the performer as hypnotizing their viewers. But just as often, it’s the viewers hypnotizing the performer. This disease, of which Perry is but one victim of many, is known as audience capture, and it’s essential to understanding influencers in particular and the online ecosystem in general. (The Prism)
