Latest news with #LaBerge
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Business Standard
7 hours ago
- Business
- Business Standard
An early autopsy of capitalism: La Berge dissects the office machine
Set in the years just before the turn of the millennium, it recounts the time La Berge, now a writer and English professor, spent in the corporate world, helping a Fortune 500 company prepare for Y2K NYT By Charles Finch FAKE WORK: How I Began to Suspect Capitalism Is a Joke by Leigh Claire La Berge Published by Haymarket Books 213 pages $25.95 In some sense capitalism is already behind us. We live here in its fevered midst, to be sure, but a recognition is emerging, especially among younger generations: It isn't sustainable. The devastation of the natural world; the mindless consumerism; above all, the human misery that corporations trawl the world to extract, like ore, from souls as divine as yours or mine. All of it, increasingly, in service to the pathological greed of a few thousand mentally ill men. It cannot last. What comes next may be better, or it may be worse. But it won't be this. Fake Work: How I Began to Suspect Capitalism Is a Joke, by Leigh Claire La Berge, offers an early autopsy. Set in the years just before the turn of the millennium, it recounts the time La Berge, now a writer and English professor, spent in the corporate world, helping a Fortune 500 company prepare for Y2K. Her experience was so surreal — capitalism, in its cubicle era, so far from Adam Smith's touchingly simple original conception of it as the propensity to truck, barter and exchange — that the book's tonic note is disbelief. 'Is this how companies are put together?' she wrote at the time, in a draft of an abandoned novel that she quotes throughout Fake Work. 'I find it incredible. These are the things that organize global commerce? Run governments? Fly planes? My second-grade soccer team was more carefully recruited and managed.' Part of the absurdity is circumstantial. Working for a 'sprawling global conglomerate over whose imperial territory the sun never set,' she is seconded to Arthur Anderson, the infamous accounting firm that enabled Enron's crimes. There, she works in the 'burgeoning millennial-preparedness office,' helping to forestall a data catastrophe that the reader knows will never arise. 'On January 1, 2000,' a grave slide deck prepared by the firm dolefully asks: 'will I still have electricity, food, telephone, transportation?' Yet this doubled unreality — a fraudulent firm solving a non-problem — only intensifies the universal elements of La Berge's story. She carefully details the farcical outcomes of corporate policy; for instance, employees have to fly coach if the trip is under a certain distance, so the team conveniently decides that Canada is 'fairly Y2K prepared' in order to fly first class to the Asia-Pacific region instead. And she also tracks, more soberly, the ennui, the dismay, of people doing labour 'so dissociative and diminutive that, for me anyway, the need for bathroom breaks seemed increased in proportion to the amount of it I completed.' La Berge describes Fake Work as an ethnography, and while it has several nicely drawn characters and a few ephemeral moments of plot, it is mostly an extended meditation on the sensations of corporate life. This is both a weakness and strength: The book is earnest, wooden, repetitive, but superbly committed to its own beliefs — truthful, dryly funny and often subtly moving. 'To be a barnacle on the floating corpse of capital,' she writes. 'Was that the most I could hope for from a professional life?' Fake Work arrives at the right moment, too, with questions like that one in the air. Part of the spell cast by the runaway hit Severance was the ultimate literalisation of the core truth La Berge is after: How completely corporate work estranges us from ourselves. The natural complement to shows about the office (including The Office) is the post-apocalyptic drama, probably the defining narrative setting of our time. What's strange is how stealthily comforting such series and books and movies can be, perhaps partly for the way they depict existence within small, self-sufficient communities. It is the dream of a different life, beyond the workplace. The catch, as La Berge's memorable portrait of the mad hunger of corporate toil makes clear, is that we all know it may take the apocalypse to get that kind of do over. The reviewer is the author, most recently, of ' What Just Happened,' a chronicle of 2020.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitdeer's unique in-house ASIC chip design powers its mining edge
Bitdeer's unique in-house ASIC chip design powers its mining edge originally appeared on TheStreet. In an interview with TheStreet Roundtable, Jeff LaBerge, Bitdeer's Head of Capital Markets, said, 'This year, we're one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miners in the universe right now. We're just under about 13 exahash, looking to grow to just over 40 by the end of the year.' He noted that Bitdeer controls 'one of the largest power portfolios with just over 2.8 GW of power, about 900 to 1000 of that is online right now.' LaBerge stressed, 'We are a technology company rather than a traditional mining operator. Not only are we a user of Bitcoin mining rigs, but we are now designing and manufacturing the chips and rigs for our own use and for third parties.' He credited founder Jihan Wu's long history in both Bitcoin and mining, noting, 'Our founder is Jihan Wu, which most people are familiar with. He's got a very long history in the Bitcoin and the mining space.' He described Bitdeer's ASIC manufacturing as 'very unique, very intricate and very niche,' adding, 'Very few others are able to do that and do that well.' By building its own chips, Bitdeer tightly controls production costs and performance. Bitdeer's global expansion further bolsters its tech-driven, eco-friendly model. The company operates about 700 to 800 MW in the U.S. and nearly 300 MW in Norway. A 500 MW hydroelectric facility in Bhutan will be '100% powered by hydroelectricity' LaBerge said. He explained, 'Global expansion is really helping our business model because we're not geographically constrained to one location,' highlighting their ability to leverage diverse power markets. As an additional service, LaBerge described Bitdeer's cloud mining platform as an easy on-ramp. 'With just a few clicks, you can start mining using our hardware, our infrastructure and our economies of scale, without having to procure your own miners or find data center space for them,' he said. He added that subscriptions range 'from a single terahash up to several petahash if you want,' making it accessible to both retail and institutional clients. By combining proprietary chip design, a diversified power portfolio anchored by hydroelectricity, and accessible cloud services, Bitdeer positions itself as a technology-led, ESG-friendly partner for investors. Bitdeer's unique in-house ASIC chip design powers its mining edge first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 6, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘We have the power': Bitdeer exec explains why miners are in demand beyond crypto
Bitcoin mining isn't just about Bitcoin anymore — it's becoming a much bigger story about energy, infrastructure, and cutting-edge technology. That's how Bitdeer's Jeff LaBerge sees it. Speaking to TheStreet Roundtable's Rob Nelson, the exec said the company is now attracting a broader audience beyond just crypto fans. 'The universe of investors has gotten significantly larger really in the past year,' LaBerge said. 'Now a lot of that's had to do with the energy play.' He explained that thanks to the rise of AI and big cloud computing needs, power infrastructure is more critical than ever — and Bitcoin miners like Bitdeer are right in the middle of that transition. 'We happen to have a lot of power at the right time,' he noted, making miners part of the new energy conversation. What's also unique about Bitdeer, LaBerge added, is the tech. The company makes its own Bitcoin mining rigs, called ASICs. 'We're truly a technology company,' he said, adding that investors from sectors like semiconductors are now starting to take interest. 'We are producing a disruptive technology.' When asked if Bitdeer would ever launch its own token to raise capital, LaBerge didn't rule it out. 'It's going to become a new market, a new way to raise capital and securitize things,' he said. 'We haven't thought significantly about it, but I do think we're going to start seeing more of it.' On the topic of crypto regulation, LaBerge hopes that real clarity is coming soon. 'What the market doesn't like is uncertainty,' he said. 'There's less uncertainty than before — it's more sentiment now — but we really need to start seeing some action.' Bitdeer is ramping up its self-mining operations, aiming to reach a hashrate of 40 exahashes per second (EH/s) by the end of 2025 — a significant leap in computing power dedicated to securing the Bitcoin network. Hashrate refers to the total computational power used by a blockchain network to process transactions and secure the system. In Bitcoin mining, a higher hashrate means more machines are working to solve complex cryptographic puzzles. This boosts network security and increases the likelihood of earning mining rewards. The company is relying on its SEALMINER rigs and ample global power capacity to fuel this growth. Additionally, Bitdeer has reportedly been expanding its U.S. operations as a strategic hedge against potential trade war escalations. As of March, Tether held a 21% stake in the company, according to regulatory filings. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitcoin miners struggle as prices dip but hash rate holds steady
Bitdeer Head of Capital Markets Jeff LaBerge broke down how Bitcoin mining economics are shifting in real time — and why tech innovation may be the key to staying competitive. TheStreet Roundtable host Rob Nelson opened the conversation with a basic question: does a lower Bitcoin price mean mining becomes more expensive? 'It can,' LaBerge said. 'But in some cases, if the network hash rate decreases… now you've got a smaller pool of people competing for the same fixed pie of Bitcoin.' That means some miners may shut down, leaving a bigger slice for the rest. Still, he clarified, 'Bitcoin and mining economics get worse when Bitcoin price goes down, but it's not just in a straight linear fashion like that.' Nelson followed up: 'So what's happening right now?' LaBerge responded, 'Right now, network hash rate has been pretty consistent. Bitcoin price has gone down, but you've still had the same or near the same amount of participants.' That means mining profitability has dropped in the short term. 'Now that the space has been more institutionalized… hash rate is more likely to increase based on a spike in Bitcoin price than it is to come offline with a dip,' he added. 'So it is making it tough for some of the miners right now.' Asked how Bitdeer navigates this, LaBerge emphasized that their edge isn't just mining scale — it's the technology. 'We are actually designing the chips and the hardware that go into making the Bitcoin mining rigs,' he said. 'We can design those and build those for ourselves to use in our own data centers at a discount to the rest of the market.' LaBerge added that this sets them up well for the future: 'We expect a significant refresh cycle… where efficiency and having the most efficient Bitcoin miners is going to be critical.' Bitdeer does hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet — 'we're very bullish,' LaBerge said — but it's not the core strategy. 'Our core business is really that technology side.' Bitcoin's hashrate hit a record 1 ZH/s on April 17, boosting network security. Sign in to access your portfolio
CBS News
12-04-2025
- Automotive
- CBS News
Twin Cities commuters frustrated over significant Interstate 94 construction slowdowns
During peak hours, the reduction of lanes along Interstate 94 in the Twin Cities reduces speeds to a snail's pace. The highway is now down to two lanes each way, spanning from Interstate 35W east to just beyond the Mississippi River. It's also closed several on and off ramps along the interstate. The Minnesota Department of Transporation says the $16 million project is meant to smooth roads and repair bridges. The closures are expected to last well into the fall. It's made Jeanne Boeh's commute from Lake Elmo to Minneapolis challenging. "It's a mess," said Boeh. "I think you could have more closures at night when people weren't trying to go to work and trying to come home from work. That would be a start." At A Bar of Their Own in south Minneapolis, just a block from I-94, construction has caused commuting headaches for Server Lead Sarah Paul, whose drive time has nearly doubled. "Getting in between St. Paul and Minneapolis right now is challenging," said Paul. "I know Google Maps did not update the closures right away, which made navigating a little challenging." "It took me 25 minutes to get a few blocks," said Holly LaBerge from Minneapolis. LaBerge said she is seeing drivers now trying to find alternate routes, like on Franklin Avenue. "Bumper-to-bumper all the way down the road," said LaBerge. Rebecca's Bakery Part-Owner Teshome Belayneh said he, too, has experienced the I-94 slowdowns, but acknowledges that the short-term pain means a long-term gain when it comes to the safety of a major metro artery. "It's a good idea to repair it now rather than later, so it's a plus for the community," said Belayneh.
