After criticism from users, Discord CEO Jason Citron says it has no plans to add crypto and NFT tools to the service (Taylor Hatmaker/TechCrunch)

Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
After criticism from users, Discord CEO Jason Citron says it has no plans to add crypto and NFT tools to the service  —  Discord founder and CEO Jason Citron sought to reassure users Wednesday that the company doesn't have impending plans to shift its business toward NFTs.

South Korean K-pop management agency Hybe partners with crypto exchange Dunamu to create a US-based platform for NFTs, including for BTS, launching next year (Sohee Kim/Bloomberg)

Sohee Kim / Bloomberg:
South Korean K-pop management agency Hybe partners with crypto exchange Dunamu to create a US-based platform for NFTs, including for BTS, launching next year  —  Hybe Co., which last week announced a new blockchain business offering digital assets, is already contemplating expanding …

Netflix Rolling Out AV1 Streaming on Select TVs, PS4 Pro

Netflix has started rolling out the AV1 codec to TVs following Android devices. Since the AV1 takes more time to encode, Netflix will initially encode its popular titles. During playback, Netflix said... https://ift.tt/3c4xN6J

WhatsApp Rolling Out New UI for Contact, Group Info: Report

WhatsApp has reportedly started rolling out a new privacy feature, allowing users to choose which users can view information. It is also releasing a new interface for Contact Info and Group Info, and... https://ift.tt/3chA8vj

Researcher details how hacker-for-hire group RocketHack infiltrated the email and Telegram accounts of ~3,500 individuals, including politicians and journalists (Thomas Brewster/Forbes)

Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Researcher details how hacker-for-hire group RocketHack infiltrated the email and Telegram accounts of ~3,500 individuals, including politicians and journalists  —  An unprecedented peek inside an underground hacker-for-hire operation reveals 3,500 targets, including Belarusian presidential candidates …

Sources: Sony has cut PS5 production targets from 16M to 15M by March 2022, due to component and logistics constraints, as PS5 first-year sales fall behind PS4 (Takashi Mochizuki/Bloomberg)

Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg:
Sources: Sony has cut PS5 production targets from 16M to 15M by March 2022, due to component and logistics constraints, as PS5 first-year sales fall behind PS4  —  - Full-year PS5 sales goal at risk from production snags  — Sony CFO warned Covid-19 still affecting output and supply

After toning down its Singles' Day marketing, Alibaba says nearly 400 brands reached $15M+ in sales; JD.com says sales reached $48.72B, up from $42.4B last year (Josh Horwitz/Reuters)

Josh Horwitz / Reuters:
After toning down its Singles' Day marketing, Alibaba says nearly 400 brands reached $15M+ in sales; JD.com says sales reached $48.72B, up from $42.4B last year  —  A virtual appearance by British actor Benedict Cumberbatch and flashy deals kicked off Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's (9988.HK) …

Uber says it will raise London rates by 10% to increase driver pay, with an additional 15% for some destinations like Heathrow, the first increase since 2017 (Gwyn Topham/The Guardian)

Gwyn Topham / The Guardian:
Uber says it will raise London rates by 10% to increase driver pay, with an additional 15% for some destinations like Heathrow, the first increase since 2017  —  Ride-hailing app says increase will provide better rider experience after lockdown led to driver departures

Facebook Whistleblower 'Extremely Concerned' by Metaverse

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said she was "extremely concerned" about the company's plans to build a "metaverse" because of privacy problems. https://ift.tt/3kngNwY

GBP 3.2-Billion Class Action Against Google Blocked by UK Supreme Court

The UK Supreme Court has blocked a planned GBP 3.2 billion (roughly Rs. 31,980 crore) British class action against Google over allegations the Internet giant unlawfully tracked the personal... https://ift.tt/3C9YTDY

Zimbabwe Is Not Legalising Any Cryptocurrency, IT Ministry Reveals

Dismissing media reports that claimed that cryptocurrencies were coming to Zimbabwe legally, the government has said only the Zimbabwean Dollar is their national currency. https://ift.tt/3ojNYmj

Google Loses Court Challenge Against EU Antitrust Ruling

Google suffered a setback after Europe's second-highest court dismissed its challenge to an EU antitrust ruling and EUR 2.42 billion (roughly Rs. 20,830 crore) fine in a major win for EU competition... https://ift.tt/3F3Idju

Mastercard Plans to Introduce Crypto Payment Cards Across APAC Markets

Mastercard had announced it is joining hands with Hong Kong's digital asset platform Amber Group, Thailand's crypto exchange Bitkub and Australia's trading platform Coinjar. https://ift.tt/309DUo3

Robinhood Says 1.6 Million People Now on Crypto Wallet Waitlist

Robinhood now has 1.6 million people on the waitlist for its cryptocurrency wallet, up from 1 million just a few weeks ago, Christine Brown, chief operating officer of Robinhood Crypto, said on... https://ift.tt/3H1uw6i

API Holdings, the parent company of Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy, files for a Mumbai IPO, seeking to raise as much as $843M (Julia Fioretti/Bloomberg)

Julia Fioretti / Bloomberg:
API Holdings, the parent company of Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy, files for a Mumbai IPO, seeking to raise as much as $843M  —  - API Holdings seeks 62.5 billion rupees in Mumbai IPO  — Indian firm joins flurry of listings amid strong stock rally