2023 has already begun around the World. Our team released live coverage of it in our Education, Weekly Perspective, and Esparanza Properties as we present this final edition of "Virtual Route 66" as we look forward to the privilege to Serve.

Happy New Year.

STARTUPS

VENTURE CAPITAL

The Information’s Best Stories of 2022

By The Information Staff

The year 2022 upset so much in tech: Cash stopped flowing, sobriety replaced frenzy and crypto fell off a cliff. Startups buoyed by the record funding boom came apart at the seams, from e-commerce startup Fast to crypto exchange FTX. In between, Elon Musk ruled the internet and even took over our dreams.

Say what you will about 2022, it sure did produce a lot of valuable stories! Below is a semi-objective ranking of the exclusives and scoops our subscribers read the most during this topsy-turvy year. We also threw in a few of our own favorites.

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16 numbers that shaped 2022

This has been a year of rising prices, war in Ukraine, landmark Supreme Court decisions, and delayed flights. The nation still averages thousands of new daily COVID-19 infections, but the numbers are closer to summer 2020 levels. However, the US also hit a grim milestone for coronavirus deaths this year.

USAFacts has a numbers-driven, all-angles look back at 2022. Here are some highlights.

$113.77
The price for a barrel of oil in June, a 14-year high. Russia's war in Ukraine did affect prices, though costs had risen steadily since the beginning of the pandemic.

1 million
In May, the United States officially surpassed 1 million deaths from COVID-19. That's one in every 331 people in the US. The nation has reached almost 1.08 million coronavirus deaths as of early December.

9.0%

In June, consumer prices had their highest 12-month increase in 40 years (compared with the same month a year prior), jumping by 9.0%. There are so many items in the Consumer Price Index that no one commodity tends to swing it in either direction, but 2022 has been a year of high inflation rates compared to rates over the past decade.

Six (and seven)
Six states (Texas, Florida, Oregon, Colorado, Montana, and North Carolina) gained congressional seats after the 2020 census. Seven states (New York, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, California, and Pennsylvania) lost a seat each. The 2022 midterm was the first congressional election after these gains and losses.

$10 billion
The cost of the James Webb Telescope project through fiscal year 2021. Photographs from the James Webb seized the nation's attention over the summer. The powerful telescope has captured, among other subjects, the formation of a new star and the deepest infrared image of the universe to date.

5,972
The number of firearms the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) seized last year. Eighty-six percent of those were loaded. From January to June this year, the TSA stopped 3,000 firearms from entering planes, an average of 17 a day.

60%
Crime in 2020 was 60% lower than 40 years prior. The crime rate hit a high in the early 1990s and fell annually between 2001 and 2020. There were nearly five times as many property crimes as violent crimes in 2020, so despite violent crime rising by 4.7% from the year prior, the overall crime rate was down 6.2%.

See the entire list right here.

Be sure to read next week’s newsletter for a subscriber-exclusive countdown of 2022's top articles.

Data behind the news

During the weekend of December 10, Border Patrol officers in El Paso, Texas, recorded more than 7,000 migrant encounters. Learn more about what encounters entail in this article from our archives, then read learn about how Title 42 altered border encounters in the time of COVID-19.

State governments are taking steps to limit TikTok on state-owned devices. And last week, the US Senate voted to ban the app on government-issued phones. If you’re not on a government-owned phone, make sure you’re getting government data on hot topics by following USAFacts on TikTok.

Once you’ve read up on the 16 numbers that shaped 2022, test your knowledge with the weekly fact quiz!

One last fact

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park had 14.2 million visits in 2021, retaining its status as the country’s most-visited national park.

Visitors to the Grand Canyon rose by 57% compared to the year prior. Yosemite visits grew by 28%, but trips to both parks remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Google's 5 predictions for cloud security in 2023

Google Cloud says private sector cyber security providers are 'working harder than ever' to ensure better products. AFP

In brief | Cloud technology is tipped to play a bigger role in reinforcing the security of enterprises in 2023, serving as the gateway to a "global digital immune system”. Increased investments in both infrastructure and the workforce are musts to beef up the security in a key part of our cyber lives.

Quoted | “For businesses, tapping into the constant security updates the cloud provides will be like tapping into a global digital immune system that is constantly growing in strength.”

— Phil Venables, chief information security officer of Google Cloud

Why it matters | In an increasingly competitive business environment that is being powered by digital transformation, organisations and individuals need to use cloud platforms that are trustworthy. Any oversight, carelessness or lack of effort — or all of them — in dealing with the cyber underworld can have disastrous reputational, economic and personal consequences. Remember, it’s your data at risk here.

Elon Musk says he will step down as chief executive of Twitter. Reuters

Will he or won't he (again)? | You knew this was coming: Elon Musk put out a poll asking Twitter users if he should step down as CEO or not — and 58 per cent voted “yes”. Last we heard from him, he said he would abide by the results as he earlier pledged — but given the billionaire’s mercurial and unpredictable nature, who knows? Twitter’s future is surely at stake here — as it has always seemed each day of Mr Musk’s tenure at the helm.

Health benefit | G42 Healthcare, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi technology company Group 42, and the UK's AstraZeneca have joined forces to manufacture pharmaceutical products in the emirate, positioning the UAE capital as a "powerhouse" in international medical research.

Start-up ramp-up | The Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre has pledged to support 100 start-ups per year starting in 2023, its chief executive told The National. That’s a big step up from the 150 it has backed since the organisation known as Sheraa was founded in 2016, and is good news for the ever-growing start-up community eager to prove that they belong.

Predicting the future | Signal or noise? Three computer science students at Canadian University Dubai have found a way to reduce food waste and convert more of it into biogas with their Digi-Bin invention.

This is a signal | The trio came up with the idea to support the UAE's national sustainable consumption initiative. This shows the increasing ingenuity and creativity of the younger generation, who are, aside from being fearless, continuing to set examples and lots of precedents that, if a bunch of kids can do it, why not others, particularly big companies that boast the latest high-tech capabilities? As a bonus, users of the invention would, in theory, be able to receive carbon credits.

In case you missed it

A prototype of the electric-powered Microlino Spiaggina at the Auto Zurich Car Show. Reuters

Need a car you can easily drive — and fit — anywhere? Two Swiss brothers have revived the Microlino micro car, modelled on BMW’s Isetta bubble vehicle. Now fitted with an electric engine, the 35,000 people who reserved think it’s worth the drive

Oxagon, the industrial hub being built in Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion futuristic city Neom, has signed up to boost the kingdom’s manufacturing sector, pledging to help transform 4,000 factories backed by digital transformation.

Virgin Atlantic is set to test out what it says is the world’s first “net-zero” transatlantic flight, from London to New York, next year, using sustainable aviation fuel instead of kerosene..EXCLUSIVE

AMAZON

‘Zombie’ Amazon Grocery Stores Pile Up as Openings Grind to a Halt

By Theo Wayt

For the most part, these Amazon Fresh stores look like they’re ready to open: The lights are on; there are signs for meat, seafood, bread and 15-cent bananas; dozens of “Just Walk Out” cameras are hanging from the ceiling, able to recognize customers’ faces and automatically charge their Amazon accounts. But the shelves are empty, the doors are locked and no employees are around.

Amazon’s pivot from rapid expansion to cost-cutting has left “zombie” grocery stores like these across the country, including in the Northeast, California and Illinois, according to local officials, visits by The Information to four would-be Amazon Fresh stores and local news reports. The pileup of zombie stores raises questions about the future of the company’s grocery business as CEO Andy Jassy looks to rein in spending.

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OPINION

ENTERTAINMENT

MEDIA/TELECOM

2023 Will Be Another Difficult Year for Traditional Media

By Andrew A. Rosen

Parqor is part of The Information’s newsletter network. To receive it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, sign up here.

Next year is going to be ugly for public media companies. Cord cutting has reached levels many have long anticipated—an estimated 60 million households still have cable service, down from 95 million in 2017. Another 18 million households subscribe to a virtual multichannel programming video distributor such as YouTube TV or FuboTV. But in most cases, streaming is a loss leader.

That said, I also think legacy media companies are heading into 2023 with real, shining accomplishments in direct-to-consumer video upon which they can build. All have collected big databases of subscribers and credit cards: an estimated 150 million for Disney, not including Hulu and ESPN+ subscribers; 67 million for Paramount; 53.5 million for Warner Bros. Discovery—and those are just active accounts. These companies are generating recurring revenue from these millions of credit cards, yet are still losing revenue as linear subscribers shrink. But each company has built the foundations of an asset that can monetize consumers in multiple ways, like Amazon Prime or the Apple One bundle.

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