Monday, January 10, 2022

GTA maker Take-Two Interactive buys Zynga in $12.7 billion deal

Take-Two Interactive, maker of "Grand Theft Auto" and "Red Dead Redemption," is buying Zynga, maker of "FarmVille" and "Words With Friends," in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $12.7 billion. https://ift.tt/3JZeprm

EU data watchdog orders Europol to delete a vast trove of personal data it obtained unlawfully; internal documents show Europol has around 4PB of data (The Guardian)

The Guardian:
EU data watchdog orders Europol to delete a vast trove of personal data it obtained unlawfully; internal documents show Europol has around 4PB of data  —  EU police body accused of unlawfully holding information and aspiring to become an NSA-style mass surveillance agency



Oppo launches Oppo A36 smartphone in China: Price, features and other details

This new smartphone is named Oppo A36 and is powered by the mid-range Snapdragon 680 processor and comes with a dual-camera setup in the rear. It will be available in a single 8GB RAM+256GB internal storage variant and will pack a 5000mAh battery. https://ift.tt/3HL6OL2

LinkedIn profiles and former employees say ~100 people from Microsoft's HoloLens team have left in the past year, with over 40 joining Meta (Aaron Tilley/Wall Street Journal)

Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal:
LinkedIn profiles and former employees say ~100 people from Microsoft's HoloLens team have left in the past year, with over 40 joining Meta  —  Around 100 people on the team developing Microsoft's HoloLens augmented-reality headsets have left, mostly to Facebook parent Meta



This is the most-wishlisted game on Steam currently

https://ift.tt/3feYO8R

Execs and founders at companies held by Ark Invest's ETF sold $13.5B of stock in H2 2021; Cathie Wood's ARKK has lost half its value from its February 2021 peak (Steve Johnson/Financial Times)

Steve Johnson / Financial Times:
Execs and founders at companies held by Ark Invest's ETF sold $13.5B of stock in H2 2021; Cathie Wood's ARKK has lost half its value from its February 2021 peak  —  Bout of insider selling in Cathie Wood's flagship ETF is unprecedented, brokerage says  —  Founders and senior managers …



Sunday, January 9, 2022

Here’s when Apple may announce the next iPhone

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg has predicted that Apple will hold its first event of the year in March or April and could announce the first iPhone of 2022, the next iPhone SE with 5G connectivity, as seen by 9To5Mac. Gurman says that he gathered this bit of information from his sources. https://ift.tt/3nbyvot

Matter, the smart home standard backed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung, and others, gained significant momentum at CES, with ~30 companies showcasing support (Jennifer Pattison Tuohy/The Verge)

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
Matter, the smart home standard backed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung, and others, gained significant momentum at CES, with ~30 companies showcasing support  —  The soon-to-be smart home standard gained momentum in Las Vegas  —  Two years ago, on the floor of CES 2020 …



Gurman: Apple's upcoming mixed reality headset will not be an all-day device and will be used for bursts of gaming, communication, and content consumption (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Gurman: Apple's upcoming mixed reality headset will not be an all-day device and will be used for bursts of gaming, communication, and content consumption  —  Apple is widely expected to take the wraps off of its first mixed reality headset this year, with a focus on augmented reality and virtual reality experiences.



A look at the turmoil inside Pudgy Penguins, one of the most successful NFT projects, as community members clash with founders over the future of the project (Tracy Wang/CoinDesk)

Tracy Wang / CoinDesk:
A look at the turmoil inside Pudgy Penguins, one of the most successful NFT projects, as community members clash with founders over the future of the project  —  There's trouble brewing in the huddle.  —  The beloved NFT project Pudgy Penguins voted out its founders on Thursday …



Researchers develop chatbot to help reduce eating disorders

US researchers have developed a chatbot that may help reduce the likelihood a person develops an eating disorder. https://ift.tt/33b6mH7

Profile of Katie Harbath, a former Facebook public policy director, who says social media will incubate future political violence unless governments intervene (Jeff Horwitz/Wall Street Journal)

Jeff Horwitz / Wall Street Journal:
Profile of Katie Harbath, a former Facebook public policy director, who says social media will incubate future political violence unless governments intervene  —  Katie Harbath says she left Facebook disillusioned; now she pushes for more online guardrails  —  Katie Harbath joined Facebook …



Profile of Anne Neuberger, the NSC deputy advisor at the center of increasing tension over control between US agencies handling cybersecurity (William Turton/Bloomberg)

William Turton / Bloomberg:
Profile of Anne Neuberger, the NSC deputy advisor at the center of increasing tension over control between US agencies handling cybersecurity  —  Anne Neuberger, the Biden administration's Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, organized a virtual summit on ransomware for Oct. 13, 2021.



Mark Zuckerberg lamented the rise of "culturally neutered" companies that have sought to distance themselves from "masculine energy" (Riley Griffin/Bloomberg)

Riley Griffin / Bloomberg : Mark Zuckerberg lamented the rise of “culturally neutered” companies that have sought to distance themselves ...