Axios

Thanks to quarterly estimates it released last month, Coinbase's biggest news on Thursday wasn't its record revenue ($1.8 billion, more than all of 2020), but its announcement it plans to list Dogecoin on its exchange in the next six to eight weeks.

Why it matters: The digital token has made waves recently thanks to its prominence in social-media driven investing — and in Tesla CEO Elon Musk's tweets and jokes.

Amazon today announced plans to hire 75,000 more workers, most of whom will sign on after Jeff Bezos officially steps down as the tech giant's CEO.

Axios Re:Cap goes deeper with Brad Stone, author of a new book called "Amazon Unbound," about how Amazon may change, how he found the woman who voices Alexa and what Bezos will do next.

COVID-19 is the first major pandemic in the social media era — offering experts a rare opening to study the relationship between online misinformation and human behavior on a large scale.

Why it matters: As misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines runs rampant, researchers are trying to measure how much memes and messages with false information can alter someone's decision to get vaccinated.

Video game publishers Capcom and SquareEnix did very well last year, according to newly released financial reports.

Why it matters: Gaming companies in Japan are no longer as dominant in the global industry as they used to be, but some of the bigger players have been doing well, fueled by big releases and intense gaming interest during the pandemic.

Microsoft is testing a better way to sell its Xbox Series X and S consoles in an attempt to make the process of buying a next-gen gaming machine less ridiculous.

Why it matters: Six months since their release, the new Xbox and rival PlayStation 5 remain extremely difficult to find, and shoppers have had few options but to frantically refresh online retail websites.

Colonial Pipeline paid hackers linked to the DarkSide cybercrime group nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency after last week's ransomware attack, Bloomberg first reported and the New York Times confirmed.

Why it matters: The breach of the largest refined fuels pipeline in the U.S. triggered new concerns about the vulnerability of the country's increasingly digitized energy systems.

Hacks such as this week's breach of the Colonial Pipeline will continue to occur and pose risks in the future, warned Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at an Axios Event on Thursday.

Why it matters: It was announced on Wednesday that the pipeline will be restarting operations, after a five-day-long gas crisis gripped many states in the southeast U.S.

Scientists announced Wednesday they were able to help a person with paralysis translate their imagined handwriting into text through a brain–computer interface (BCI) that was faster than other types of assistive communication.

Why it matters: While the interface was only tested in one person and is a proof-of-concept finding, some experts say it's an "important milestone" in developing the technologies needed by millions of people globally who've lost the ability to use their upper limbs or the ability to speak due to paralysis, strokes, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Buzzer, a mobile platform that wants to reinvent how fans consume live sports, has signed deals with three sports leagues — the NBA, NHL and PGA Tour — in the last several weeks.

• In addition, the startup has hired Shirin Malkani, the former senior VP of global media distribution for the NBA, as its chief commercial officer.
• Malkani, who helped broker the NBA's TV deals with ESPN and Turner, is an important hire for Buzzer as it navigates the complex world of live sports rights.

Americans have fallen further out of love with Big Tech, the latest Axios/Harris 100 brand reputation poll shows.

Why it matters: Even though Americans were hyper-connected to their devices throughout the pandemic, their relationship with many of the world's biggest tech firms has continued on a downward trend, suggesting that people see their products as necessary evils.

This survey is the result of a partnership between Axios and Harris Poll to gauge the reputation of the most visible brands in America, based on 20 years of Harris Poll research. From the Patagonia to SpaceX, here's how this year's class stacks up.

Methodology: The Axios Harris Poll 100 is based on a survey of 42,935 Americans in a nationally representative sample conducted April 8-21, 2021. The two-step process starts fresh each year by surveying the public’s top-of-mind awareness of companies that either excel or falter in society.

• These 100 “most visible companies” are then ranked by a second group of Americans across the seven key dimensions of reputation to arrive at the ranking. If a company is not on the list, it did not reach a critical level of visibility to be measured.

Apple has severed ties with recent hire Antonio García Martínez, a former Facebook employee and author of the book "Chaos Monkeys," Axios has learned, following an uproar from employees upset over García Martínez' past writings demeaning women and others.

Why it matters: Employees had circulated a petition Wednesday calling for Apple to explain its hiring of García Martínez. While petitions aren't uncommon at Google and some other companies, it is rare for Apple employees to organize publicly on any issue, let alone an individual hiring.