Silicon Valley Tech News Roundup – February 12th

Another unidentified object shot down over Canada – 2/11

On Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed an unidentified object was shot down over central Yukon after it violated Canadian airspace. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) carried out the mission, and a US fighter jet took it down. The Canadian forces are in the process of retrieving and analyzing the object.

White House confirmed it tracked the object for 24 hours. The statement reads: “Out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of their militaries, President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau authorized it to be taken down… The leaders discussed the importance of recovering the object in order to determine more details on its purpose or origin.”

It is the third unidentified object to be shot down in the last week.

On Friday, White House officials confirmed the military shot down a high-altitude flying object over Alaska. John Kirby (the White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator) said to the press: “We do not know who owns it. We do not know if it’s state-owned.” While Kirby could not provide many details, he did confirm the object was smaller and compared it in size to that of a small car. The military will recover and analyze the object’s remains.

The US government bans six Chinese companies from obtaining US technology – 2/11

Following the incident with the alleged Chinese spy balloon that the US Air Force shot down near the coast of South Carolina this week, the US Commerce Department restricted six Chinese companies connected with the Chinese army aerospace programs from obtaining US technology without government authorization.

The Bureau of Industry and Security explained the decision by stating the six companies support the Chinese government’s “modernization efforts, specifically those related to aerospace programs, including airships and balloons and related materials and components, that are used by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for intelligence and reconnaissance.”

The government added the companies to the “Entity List,” and their inclusion sends “a clear message to companies, governments, and other stakeholders globally that the entities on the list present a threat to national security.”

The six companies on the “Entity List” include China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute, Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group, Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology, Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology, Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology, and Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group.

Yahoo to lay off 20% of its workforce – 2/11

This week, Yahoo announced it plans to lay off 20% of its workforce of 8,600 people. It is a part of a major restructuring that would impact the company’s advertising unit. Yahoo plans to concentrate and invest in the demand-side platform (DSP) that is its flagship ad business.

Yahoo’s spokesperson said: “These decisions are never easy, but we believe these changes will simplify and strengthen our advertising business for the long run, while enabling Yahoo to deliver better value to our customers and partners.”

The spokesperson elaborated: “The new division will be called – simply – Yahoo Advertising… In redoubling our efforts on the DSP on an omni-channel basis, we will prioritize support for our top global customers and re-launch dedicated ad sales teams towards Yahoo’s owned and operated properties – including Yahoo Finance, Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports and more.”

Almost 1,000 employees will be out of a job by the end of the week.

Netflix cracks down on password sharing – 2/10

In a blog post published on the company’s website on Wednesday, Netflix announced it is extending the crackdown on password sharing to four more countries: Portugal, Spain, Canada, and New Zealand. The decision comes after Netflix limited password sharing in countries of South America.

The company estimates over 100 million subscribers globally share passwords among households. Likewise, it impacts the company’s revenue stream and affects the ability to invest in new content. Subscribers in Portugal, Spain, Canada, and New Zealand will have to set their primary location and manage who has access to it. But subscribers would still have access while traveling, for example, on their personal devices and logging in from other places.

In 2022, Netflix saw a significant drop in the number of subscribers. However, in the last three months of 2022, subscribers grew by 7.66 million to almost 231 million globally.