Author: NY TIMES

War, labor strikes and a thorny political season made scant inroads at the 2024 Academy Awards, where branding trumped protest and jeweled ornaments far outnumbered protest pins. As the most traditional of award shows returned to its roots as a glorified trade affair (ginned up 96 years ago as a way of pacifying above-the-line talent in the wake of the unionizing then gaining a foothold in moviedom), praise was near universal for the return to old Hollywood glamour.In the early days of the Oscars, studios manufactured that glamour, grooming and refashioning the talent, keeping their images tightly controlled. Actors, of…

TikTok faces a crucial vote The House is set to vote on Wednesday on a bill that would ostensibly present ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, with an ultimatum: sell TikTok’s U.S. operations, or have the app barred.But there’s a fight brewing over whether it’s actually possible for ByteDance to sell TikTok — or if the bill is effectively a ban disguised as a call for divestment. The bill itself never uses the word “ban,” but it frames the measure as a necessary effort “to protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign-adversary-controlled applications…

Reid Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn and a longtime venture capitalist, is no longer the public face of the venture firm Greylock. Michael Moritz, a force at Sequoia Capital for 38 years, officially separated from the investment firm last summer. And Jeff Jordan, a top investor at Andreessen Horowitz for 12 years, left in May.They are among the most recognizable of a generation of Silicon Valley investors who are getting out of venture capital at the end of a lucrative 15-year upswing for the industry.Many more are leaving. Investors at Tiger Global, Paradigm, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Emergence Capital and Spark…

Former President Donald J. Trump couldn’t help himself. And Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t resist either. So the Oscars wound to a close on a political note.Kimmel used some of his final stage time as host to read, to millions of Americans watching at home, a post published on Truth Social by Trump. (And yes, he really did post it.)Drawing out his phone onstage, Kimmel decided to share what he called “a review.”“Has there ever been a worse host than Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars,” Kimmel said, reading part of Trump’s post, which included a disparaging nickname for the ABC host George…

Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank are welcoming Ramadan with little of the usual cheer. Amid Israel’s ongoing attacks in Gaza and rising violence in the West Bank, the holy month’s festive decorations and celebratory mood are being replaced by feelings of helplessness and despair.“There’s no joy,” said Hana Karameh, a mother of five from the city of Hebron.Ramadan this year will be “incomplete,” she said. Usually, on the night before the first fast of Ramadan begins, they would pray together with their neighbors and gather for suhoor — the pre-dawn meal — while children shot off fireworks.On Sunday night,…

A U.N. official said a truck carrying aid was turned around in Gaza this week because it contained scissors included in medical kits for children, calling attention to what aid groups have said is a laborious Israeli inspection process that is slowing down crucial humanitarian assistance.Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main U.N. agency providing support for Palestinians in Gaza, said the truckload had been refused because medical scissors had been added to a list of items the Israeli authorities consider to be “dual use,” or having both civilian and military purposes.COGAT, the Israeli agency overseeing aid deliveries into…

The rivalry between SEC foes LSU and South Carolina reached new heights when a feud broke out in Sunday’s conference championship game.Gamecocks center Kamilla Cardoso has been suspended for the first game of the NCAA Tournament after multiple players were ejected, the SEC confirmed Competitor on Monday.Wondering what happened between these two national title contenders and how it might affect their March Madness trips? Here’s a rundown of Sunday’s scrimmage and what it could mean going forward:What is the history like?In a tight contest between the national title contenders in late January, South Carolina came back from trailing by five…

Annie Wu Henry hasn’t gotten a notification on her phone in two years. Calls go straight to voice mail. Apps vibrate their updates into the ether. Texts pile up silently. Same with emails. They have to wait until she decides to look at her device next.That’s because of Do Not Disturb mode, a phone setting that acts as a modern-day away message for smartphone users, cautioning those who contact you that you’re likely to take a while to return their messages.“It’s expectation setting,” said Ms. Henry, a 28-year-old digital strategist who worked to elect Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. “If…

During a leadership crisis in 2015, Reddit asked Steve Huffman, one of its founders, to return to run the social media platform.Mr. Huffman, who was working on a travel site, was not eager to come back. Reddit was a headache. It was experiencing a revolving door of chief executives. Its sprawling community of users was combative with management. Reddit’s ownership was also complicated, and its technology was lagging behind competitors.“I ran into the burning building,” Mr. Huffman said in a 2017 podcast describing his return.This month, Reddit is poised to reach the stock market in one of the first tech…

House lawmakers are expected to vote starting at around 10 a.m. on Wednesday on legislation meant to force ByteDance, the Chinese internet company, to sell its wildly popular social media app TikTok.The vote would be the latest development in a yearslong cold war between the United States and China over who controls valuable technology from computer chips to artificial intelligence. Lawmakers and the White House have expressed concerns that TikTok’s Chinese ownership poses a national security risk because Beijing could use the app to gain access to Americans’ data or run a disinformation campaign.If the House passes the bill, it…