Presented by:

Karma Chameleon

As we all know, “Karma Chameleon” is a song by Culture Club about how everybody gets what’s coming to them in the end “the fear of alienation and the struggle to be true to oneself, or the fear of standing up for one thing.” In Boy George’s case, he said, “Basically, if you aren't true, if you don't act like you feel, then you get Karma—justice, that's nature's way of paying you back.” Got it?

I only bring it up because Gamestop is changing its nature to something altogether different, rather like a chameleon, as you’ll see from today’s news. And so is Napster! Karma Kitchen is also a vegan cheesemaker, making such delights as a truffle “camembert” so enticing that they’re advertising it wrapped in a brown paper wrapper:

Anyway. The news!

Today's Cheddlines You Need2Know

• What is Signal, the chat app used by U.S. official …

• Amazon to test A.I. shopping, health assistants

• Dollar Tree sells Family Dollar for $7 billion los …

• Napster sold for $207 million

• GameStop shares rise on bitcoin investment

🎵 Red gold and greeeeeeeen… 🎵

—Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor

P.S. A company is turning plastic waste into homes for L.A. wildfire victims on our ‘gram.

Quote of the Day

Should You Check Your 401(k) Today?

👎

(nope)

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$META ( ▼ 0.26% )  $AMZN ( ▲ 2.17% )  $DLTR ( ▲ 3.17% )  $GME ( ▼ 0.27% )  $COIN ( ▲ 4.29% )  $TSLA ( ▲ 5.33% )  

What is Signal, the chat app used by U.S. officials?

You might be hearing a bit about the chat application Signal due to a rather unexpected leak involving U.S. national security officials and a magazine journalist. This incident, as detailed by The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, involved a group chat on Signal that was planning airstrikes in Yemen, underscoring not just the app's high-stakes user base but also prompting a closer examination of Signal’s security measures.

Signal is a messaging app that prides itself on prioritizing user privacy and security. It offers features for direct messaging, group chats, as well as voice and video calls. One of its hallmark features is end-to-end encryption for all its messaging and calling services. This means that every message and call made through Signal is secured in such a way that only the sender and recipient can access its content, ensuring a level of privacy that's hard to compromise. Unless you get hold of one of the devices on which the message has been sent or received.

The application's encryption protocol is not just robust but also transparent, being open source. This openness allows for inspection, use, and modification by anyone, fostering a community-based approach towards security. Its protocol is trusted and utilized by other prominent services, including WhatsApp $META ( ▼ 0.26% ) .

Signal stands in contrast to other messaging apps by having encryption enabled by default. It also boasts auto-deletion of messages, adding another layer of privacy by ensuring that sensitive conversations do not linger. Signal claims to set the gold standard in private communications. However, like any digital platform, it's not invulnerable. If, for example, you add a journalist to your chat, then they might transcribe that chat and publish it on their website. Just for example.

The broader acceptance of Signal, including its adoption by government officials for conducting sensitive discussions, underscores its security credentials. Yet this usage also brings to light potential concerns about accountability and transparency, given Signal's features that can make messages disappear after a set period. While Signal’s secure messaging environment is a boon for safeguarding sensitive information, it paradoxically raises questions about the accountability of government officials, not to mention the possibility of violating government record-retention laws. Signal's end-to-end encryption and message deletion features, although critical for privacy and security, could inadvertently enable officials to evade scrutiny and hinder public record keeping.

ADVERTISEMENT

Crypto curious? Look for Grayscale.

Grayscale has been managing cryptocurrency investment funds for over a decade. That’s right, you can get exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more in your brokerage account and select IRAs. Explore our product suite at Grayscale.com, or search Grayscale in your investment account today. Think crypto, invest Grayscale. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal.

Amazon to test A.I. shopping, health assistants

Amazon $AMZN ( ▲ 2.17% ) has begun trial runs of its newest innovation: shopping and health assistants powered by generative artificial intelligence.

Dubbed "Interests AI," Amazon's foray into an AI-driven shopping assistant invites users to express their shopping queries in natural, conversational language. This feature diverges from traditional search methodologies, offering a more intuitive and personalized shopping experience. Instead of sifting through an overwhelming sea of options, users can now describe their interests — be it brewing the perfect cup of coffee or the latest in pickleball accessories — and receive a curated selection of products tailored to their specifications. Interests AI aims to translate everyday phrases into actionable product recommendations.

Given the challenges Alexa faces in order to answer simple questions, I’m not going to hold my breath for her personal shopping expertise. But it’s an “interesting” idea.

Amazon is simultaneously testing the imaginatively named "Health AI," a chatbot aimed at providing users with health and wellness information alongside product suggestions from Amazon's vast inventory. Health AI goes beyond mere product recommendations. It can provide basic medical advice on common ailments, such as how to manage cold symptoms, offering a blend of convenience and reassurance to users seeking quick health insights, plus (we’re hoping) the kind of judgy attitude you used to be able to get only from a human doctor. Amazon also recently bought One Medical. So you see where they’re going with this.

These innovations align with CEO Andy Jassy's vision of embedding AI across Amazon's ecosystem, from retail and cloud computing to devices and healthcare. By building or planning around 1000 generative AI applications, Amazon is not just enhancing its product offerings but is also setting new industry standards for how AI can augment everyday tasks.

From @cheddar

Dollar Tree sells Family Dollar for $7 billion loss

Dollar Tree Inc. $DLTR ( ▲ 3.17% ) is selling Family Dollar to two private equity firms, Brigade Capital Management and Macellum Capital Management, for $1 billion.

That’s only $7 billion less than the $8 billion they bought it for in 2015 after outbidding Dollar General $DG ( ▲ 2.97% ) .

The acquisition of Family Dollar was initially seen as a strategic move for Dollar Tree, until it became known instead as a $7 billion mistake. The integration of Family Dollar into Dollar Tree's operations encountered several hurdles, from supply chain disruptions to suboptimal store locations.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, keenly told the AP that Dollar Tree "bit off far more than it could chew" with the acquisition of Family Dollar. Mike Creedon, Dollar Tree's recently appointed CEO, described the move as a "major milestone in our multi-year transformation journey."

Let’s hope that journey involves turning one dollar into eight dollars this time around, eh?

Napster sold for $207 million

Most people know Napster as the platform for pirating Eminem albums in the early 2000s, but now it’s sold for $207 million to a tech commerce company.

Napster burst onto the scene in 1999, founded by two men with similar first names: Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. Its peer-to-peer file-sharing platform revolutionized the music industry, allowing users to easily download and share music tracks, two years before the launch of iTunes.

However, the innovation came at a cost. Napster quickly became the target of lawsuits for copyright violations, most notably from rock band Metallica, who argued that the bell should indeed toll for Napster, leading to its shutdown.

Yet the Napster brand proved resilient! In 2011, Rhapsody purchased it, relaunching Napster as a legitimate music streaming service. The pivot from its controversial origins to a subscription-based model marked the beginning of Napster's redemption.

The tech firm that just paid $207 million for Napster is called Infinite Reality, and they plan to introduce virtual 3D spaces for fans to attend concerts, offer digital and physical merchandise sales for musicians or labels, and provide artists with a broader range of analytics and metrics to better understand user behavior. Let’s hope this isn’t like that time Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar, eh?

ADVERTISEMENT

GameStop shares rise on bitcoin investment

GameStop $GME ( ▼ 0.27% ) is using some of its sizable $4.8 billion cash pile to invest $1.4 billion in Bitcoin, prompting its shares to surge 15%. They’re already up 90% over the last year, although down considerably from the heady days when people invested in the company for a joke because other people thought it was funny on Reddit.

The meme-stock company's move mirrors a broader trend in the financial market, tying corporate investment policies with cryptocurrency reserves. With the announcement, GameStop joins the likes of Coinbase $COIN ( ▲ 4.29% ) and Tesla $TSLA ( ▲ 5.33% ) that have purchased Bitcoin as investment instruments.

If this all sounds a bit, you know, tangential to GameStock’s core purpose of slinging video game technology from retail stores when you can buy the majority of it online? Let’s remember that Berkshire Hathaway began as a merger of two textile firms in 1955. It became a diversified holding company under Warren Buffett and now, mainly gets its income from investing in … other things.