Google Employee Charged With Using Insider Info to Rig Bet That Netted $1.2M

Listen To This Story

Google Employee Charged With Using Insider Info to Rig Bet That Netted $1.2M (Maria)

The author writes, “The U.S. Justice Department has charged a Google software engineer with using insider information to rig bets tied to Google’s most-searched list on prediction market Polymarket, earning $1.2M in profits, according to a complaint unsealed Wednesday. Michele Spagnuolo, a 36-year-old Italian citizen, allegedly used insider information to bet on long-shot candidates. … His arrest comes a month after prosecutors charged a U.S. Army soldier with using classified information to bet on military action.”

Amazon Sued Over Subscribe & Save Feature (Reader Steve)

From The Seattle Times: “Amazon tells its customers they can save by signing up for regular, automatic purchases of certain products. But a new lawsuit alleges Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program is more like ‘Subscribe & Switch.’ In a lawsuit filed May 15 in the federal court for the Western District of Washington, Pennsylvania residents Aaron and Leah Herman claim the Seattle-based e-commerce giant tricked them into signing up for automatic purchases of their coffee in exchange for discounts before jacking up the price.”

The Old World of Tech Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born (Bethany)

The author writes, “Voters, labor, and industry increasingly demand checks on the US tech industry. Populist politicians speak out against social media platforms. Tech companies are compared directly to the tobacco industry. Right-wing nationalist calls for ‘sovereignty’ are redefined to include technological autonomy. But participation in the US-controlled global economy is contingent on putting as few limitations on the excesses of tech as possible, an implicit bargain that has repeatedly been made explicit by their current president. That same president has, in a way, presented the world with a resolution to the double bind by unceremoniously ending the US hegemony.”

Scientists Think They’ve Cracked the Mystery of Human Right-Handedness (Mili)

The author writes, “A new study suggests humans became overwhelmingly right-handed because of two major evolutionary shifts: walking on two legs and developing much larger brains. Researchers found that as human ancestors evolved, their right-hand preference steadily intensified — transforming a mild tendency into one of humanity’s most distinctive traits.” 

‘You Can’t Control Everything’: The Rise in Plastic Surgeons Asked To Create ‘AI Face’ (Reader Jim)

From The Guardian: “Plastic surgeons are increasingly concerned about the rise of ‘AI face,’ as more and more clients arrive in their offices with unrealistic AI-generated visions of what they want to look like. Dr. Nora Nugent, a cosmetic surgeon, … has seen this first hand. Clients have started coming to her office with photos of themselves beautified by AI and a false expectation that those results are achievable with surgery.”

Why Japan Has Millions of Abandoned Houses (Al)

From The Hustle: “Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, is home to some of the Earth’s most stunning land. Mount Fuji looms on the horizon, cherry blossoms line the roads, and Buddhist temples dot the foothills. It is, by all measures, an enviable place to live. But if you pay close attention to the homes in the region, you may notice that many of them are in a state of neglect. Homes like this are an increasingly familiar sight in Japan. According to a 2023 report from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, there are now more than 9m vacant homes in the country. That’s an astonishing 13.8% of Japan’s entire housing supply. And the problem is only getting worse: by 2038, one in every three homes are projected to be vacant.”