Technology

An SEC filing just revealing that John Flannery, General Electric’s chief executive, purchased 60,000 shares of the company’s common stock on November 15th at $18.27 per share.

Toshiba Corp <6502.T> will decide on Monday to raise some $5 billion from overseas investors, allowing the troubled conglomerate to remain a publicly traded company even if the sale of a key business is delayed, two people with direct knowledge of the process said.

Toshiba, reeling from the bankruptcy of its U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse Co in the wake of an accounting scandal, needs to raise 750 billion yen ($6.7 billion) by the end of March to avoid being kicked off the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The laptops-to-nuclear-reactors company has agreed to sell its prized NAND semiconductor unit for $18 billion, and is planning to sell its TV business and reportedly looking to hive off its personal-computer unit to raise cash.

But with the March deadline looming to avoid delisting and the chip sale threatened by antitrust concerns from China and elsewhere, Toshiba’s board will on Monday approve a plan to raise 600 billion yen ($5.3 billion) by offering shares to a group of overseas investors, the sources said.

In addition, the sources told Reuters, Toshiba will agree to take upfront losses that will allow tax write-offs sufficient to boost its assets back above liabilities for the first time in two years – allowing the firm to remain listed.

Toshiba declined to comment on the plan.

To plug the huge hole in its balance sheet, Toshiba agreed in late September to sell its Toshiba Memory unit to a group led by Bain Capital for $18 billion.

But regulatory reviews globally threaten its ability to close the sale by the March end of the business year, which would put the company in negative net worth for a second year in a row, imperiling its TSE listing.

Without any gains from the chip unit sale, Toshiba forecasts it would post negative net worth of 750 billion yen at the end of March.

The company could use the proceeds from a share allotment to pay all at once the $5.8 billion in parent-company guarantees on Westinghouse’s much-delayed nuclear projects in the United States, one source said.

The current plan is to guarantee payments to two U.S. power utilities over six years. Paying them off in full now would allow Toshiba to book losses that would reduce its tax burden enough to ensure it has the cash to remain listed, the source said.

For Eddy Zillan’s bar mitzvah in 2012, his parents gave him $5,000 to start an investment fund. They expected him to start dabbling in stocks. Instead, he began buying cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.

Eddy saved up another $7,000 from summers spent working at a tennis club and other jobs, adding that to his investment fund for a total $12,000 in principal.

Anybody who has been following cryptocurrencies knows where this story is going: Eddy’s $12,000 investment is now worth well over $500,000, a return exceeding 4,100% in just a few years.

“I don’t know if he’s a prodigy, but he’s close,” says Eddy’s father, David Zillan. Eddy, now 18, is a high school senior in Orange, Ohio, near Cleveland. He hopes to study dentistry next year at Case Western Reserve University. But if that doesn’t work out, he has a Plan B, since he just launched a company that provides tutorials and insights on cryptocurrencies. “Hopefully he’ll be a multimillionaire by the time he’s my age,” says his father, who is 46.

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Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are suddenly the hottest investment since the dot-com bubble, after a stunning surge in value during the last year.

The price of bitcoin, the most well-known cryptocurrency, has soared by more than 700% in 2017. Ethereum is up a mind-boggling 3,900% — and early purchasers are suddenly watching the zeroes multiply on their accounts. Many crypto investors are reluctant to talk about their holdings, since alt-currencies are still associated with illicit activity, and they tend to appeal to non-traditionalists in the first place. But we found some willing to tell us their experiences. There are also plenty of detractors who insist cryptocurrencies are Ponzi schemes or worse. Yet regulators may soon bestow validity on cryptocurrencies by allowing broader investments, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), to track their value.

The origins of bitcoin

Bitcoin is a digital payment system launched in 2009 by a person or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto. A network of coders with powerful computers has slowly “mined” more bitcoin since then by running complex computations that adhere to a set of founding principles, making bitcoin a kind of crowd-sourced currency. The market value of all bitcoin in the world is around $132 billion at current prices, roughly comparable to the current value of McDonald’s (MCD).

Other cryptocurrencies, sometimes referred to as “altcoins,” have emerged as well, including ether, the token of the blockchain network ethereum ($32 billion in market cap), ripple ($9 billion), litecoin ($3.7 billion) and dash ($3.3 billion).

In a recent Yahoo Finance survey, 77% of respondents told us they have never purchased bitcoin — but of those, 11% said they’re planning to, and 38% said they’re thinking about it. As more people buy in, that interest alone could send the crypto rally even higher.

When Nintendo (NTDOY) released its Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Classic, a miniature version of the company’s iconic home game console, last November, the world lost its mind.

Overnight, the $60 box, which featured 30 original NES titles, sold out. Retailers couldn’t keep the box in stock, and eBay (EBAY) and Amazon (AMZN) resellers jacked up their prices to $200 or more for the system.

And chances are you can expect more of the same with the follow-up to the NES Classic, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) Classic.

Available on Sept. 28 for $80, the SNES Classic is a tiny version of the original SNES, released in 1990, with a number of tech upgrades to allow you to play it on modern TVs.

It’s a joyous blast from the past with an impressive list of games and simple setup. But it’s not without some minor faults, specifically the controller’s barely-too-short wires.

It’s the SNES, but tiny!

The SNES was the console to have in the early ‘90s. I, however, was firmly entrenched in the Sega Genesis camp, thanks to its edgy commercials, its hip mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the fact that my parents bought it for me and would only let me have one system at a time.

But I remember playing the original SNES at my friend’s house whenever I had a chance. And somehow, as with the NES Classic, Nintendo managed to capture the look and feel of the SNES perfectly with the SNES Classic.

The system console itself is about a third of the size of the original system and seems like it weighs next to nothing. The cartridge slot and eject button don’t actually open, as all of the Classic’s games are built in, and the controller ports are merely decorative. You flip them open to reveal the real controller ports underneath.

You won’t have to wrestle with those red, yellow and white cables to connect the Classic to your TV, either — I used to need my brother to do that for me. Instead, Nintendo uses an HDMI cable and a USB power cord.

The place the SNES Classic feels the truest to its progenitor is its two controllers. Yes, unlike the NES Classic, which came with just one controller, the SNES Classic comes with a pair of controllers, and they’re nearly identical to the ones you smashed repeatedly against the floor whenever your friend beat you at “Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting.”

Ah, well there is one thing about the controllers. The cables are about 5 feet long, which is a big upgrade from the NES Classic’s 2.5-foot controller cables, but they’re still just a bit shorter than I’d like. Instead of being able to sit comfortably on my couch while playing games, I had to set up my dining room chair to get my game on.

That said, there will likely be plenty of aftermarket options for controllers, including wireless remotes for the system.

Jamming to the classics

The SNES wouldn’t have been a classic to begin with if it weren’t for the huge collection of incredible games created for the console, and Nintendo packed a boatload of them into the SNES Classic.

The Classic comes with 20 pre-installed games including titles like “Super Mario World,” “Super Mario Kart,” “Donkey Kong Country,” “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” and “Star Fox.”

That’s not all there is, either. You’ll also get some impressive role-playing games (RPGs) like “Final Fantasy III,” “Secret of Mana,” and “Earthbound.” I’m ashamed to admit, but I’ve never played these three before. But after firing them up on the Classic and playing for a number of hours, I quickly realized why they were so influential to RPGs over the last few decades.

Games play just as you remember back in the ‘90s, though they’re clearly smoother thanks to the improved hardware and use of HDMI inputs. I did notice a hint of slowdown while playing “Castlevania IV” during intense combat, but that was the only real issue I noticed.

In addition to the games you remember from your childhood, Nintendo has thrown in the never-before-released “Starfox 2.” You’ll need to complete a bit of the original “Starfox” first, but after that you’ll be able to dive right in.

It’s important to keep in mind that the SNES Classic, like the NES Classic, can’t connect to the internet, so you won’t be able to download additional games beyond the 20 that come with the system.

There are other means of getting a larger games library, either via a competing classic games system or downloading game ROMs. However, those other systems will never be able to match Nintendo’s fit and finish and ROMs, well, aren’t exactly legal or nearly as clean as Nintendo’s offerings.

As with the NES Classic, the SNES Classic offers three display modes, Pixel Perfect, which turns each pixel into a perfect square; 4:3 aspect ratio, which was the standard when the SNES came out, and CRT, which adds horizontal scan lines to your game to make it look like you’re playing on an old-school TV. The CRT mode looks a little messy, on purpose, which helps smooth over some of the game’s rougher edges. Pixel Perfect is a bit too sharp for me, but 4:3 is a solid choice.

Want to save your game? Well, you’re going to have to press the SNES Classic’s reset button to get back out to the console’s Home screen. Some games, of course, have their own built-in save mechanism, but certainly not every one.

I wish Nintendo added a means to back out of your games without having to reach for the reset button, as doing so when I’m sitting in my chair can be a bit annoying. I play games so I don’t have to move, not because I want to move more than normal.

Should you get it?

If you’re a child of the ‘90s, love video games or just want something new to do besides scrolling through Instagram on your iPhone, the SNES Classic is a must-have.

Getting one, however, will be a completely different challenge, as Nintendo seems to be suffering from the same kinds of supply constraints that made the NES Classic so hard to come by.

In other words, if you can find the SNES Classic on sale anywhere and really want to make it yours, buy it then and there. Otherwise, you might have to wait until Nintendo is finally able to fill out its stock.

It’s hard to think of a tougher policy sales pitch for the tech industry than its argument against a bill called the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA).

Advocates for it have a simple request: Do something to stop the plague of online sex trafficking! Opponents are stuck with a more nuanced request on behalf of companies that are not always too beloved on Capitol Hill: That bill might make life dicier for social-media sites.

Major changes to the Communications Decency Act

The bill would make two significant changes to the 1996 Communications Decency Act’s Section 230, which currently says a site can’t be held legally responsible for what its users post there, and that a site moderating or screening those contributions doesn’t erase that immunity.

Yes, you can blame “CDA 230” for allowing comments sections to exist, but it’s also enabled the entire category of social media to flourish.

One part of SESTA would allow civil lawsuits and state prosecutions against sites that foster sex trafficking—that is, sex for money performed by children or adults subject to “force, fraud or coercion.” Another would criminalize “knowing conduct” by a site that “assists, supports, or facilitates” those crimes.

“Congress must stop allowing websites to promote and profit from sex trafficking,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D.-Conn.) at a Sept. 19 Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing.

‘SESTA would introduce new legal risk’

Internet Association general counsel Abigail Slater expressed a different perspective minutes later, suggesting the law could hurt sites that might unintentionally benefit from sex trafficking but have no practical way of stopping it.

“SESTA would introduce new legal risk not just for internet services that do not knowingly and intentionally facilitate illegal conduct, but also create risk for an incredibly broad number of innocent businesses,” said Slater, whose trade group represents Twitter (TWTR), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Facebook (FB), and other tech giants.

The reality, as ever, is more complicated. SESTA would indeed weaken a key piece of law that enables sites to give users a voice online without fear of endless litigation, even as current laws await use by prosecutors against the cretins trying to profit from child prostitution and sex slavery.

But while sites that rely on “user generated content”—especially those smaller ones that can’t afford to keep squads of lawyers on retainer—fear eroding that protection, they and the groups speaking for them in Washington seem resigned to accepting some form of this law.

‘A dollar has become more important than a human life’

The hearing last week provided compelling testimony for the bill that Sen. Rob Portman (R.-Ohio) introduced Aug. 1.

Yvonne Ambrose tearfully recounted how her 16-year-old daughter Desiree Robinson was raped and killed by a man who had responded to a listing that her pimp had placed for her on the classified-ads site Backpage.com.

“She screamed for help, and there was no one around to help her,” Ambrose said. And yet, she said, she could not hold that site responsible for profiting from her child’s exploitation. “Somehow, a dollar has become more important than a human life.”

What do current laws not do?

Federal criminal law doesn’t go away because of CDA 230, but courts still must decide where that law’s immunity ends. And multiple witnesses at last week’s hearing said it doesn’t provide enough guidance.

“Courts have struggled and failed to reconcile the CDA’s narrow immunity,” said Yiota Souras, general counsel for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra observed that a state court threw out sex-trafficking charges that his office had brought against Backpage. “We’re fighting with two hands tied behind our back,” he complained.

That site has long been public enemy No. 1 for opponents of online prostitution. Well after Craigslist shuttered its “Adult Services” section, Backpage kept its own comparable category until January; the same types of listings now run elsewhere on the site.

The hearing, however, did not mention a newer law, 2015’s Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act, that bans sex ads involving minors or coerced individuals—and which has yet to be invoked by a prosecutor, even though it was written with Backpage in mind.

“I don’t see any defect that’s made it unviable,” said Alexandra Levy, an adjunct professor at the University of Notre Dame’s law school, in an e-mail.

She noted that if Backpage actually commissioned ads for sex services—something the Washington Post found that it did in a July investigation—then the CDA wouldn’t protect it.

Backpage did not respond to a request for comment submitted through its site Wednesday.

Why SESTA makes sites nervous

Opponents of this bill say it will subject well-meaning sites to abusive or frivolous litigation. And while the resulting legal bills might not leave much of a dent in a Google or Facebook, they could easily bankrupt smaller firms.

“A single bad lawsuit can totally destroy a company,” said Evan Engstrom, executive director of the startup-advocacy group Engine, at a panel discussion in Washington Thursday.

They also argue that SESTA’s “knowing conduct” clause could incriminate sites that try to moderate user input—since, in theory, that meant they should have known of attempts to advertise sex services. They might find it safer, as Goldman said in the hearing, to give up moderating entirely.

Mike Masnick, founder of the tech-policy site Techdirt, noted that his site, like many, attracts a massive amount of comment spam that often links to illicit offerings, and automated filters can’t catch it all.

“We’ve seen fairly clever spammers posting perfectly legit and on-topic comments… but with links to whatever it is they’re spamming,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It’s a legit fear.”

SESTA backers, however, say they won’t yield on core principles. “We will not gut a bill that has broad and diverse Senate support with 31 cosponsors,” Portman spokesman Kevin Smith wrote in an email.

That leaves opponents of the bill hoping to soften its edges. At the Senate hearing, the Internet Association’s Slater asked legislators to clarify the “knowing conduct” rule and only allow lawsuits against sites that “acted with knowledge and intent.” Engine’s Engstrom made similar suggestions at Thursday’s panel.

In a conversation afterwards, Engstrom sounded reasonably optimistic about getting those changes. But SESTA features a widely loathed opponent, a goal virtually everybody supports, and a tech lobby that now finds itself increasingly questioned if not resented in Washington. It may be the rare tech-policy bill that Congress easily passes.