China's new gaming rules can be 'worse' for smaller developers: Report

China's National Press and Publication Administration recently proposed new gaming rules that would prohibit companies from incentivising daily sign-ins for games and other revenue-generating practices. Stock values of Chinese gaming giants Tencent, NetEase, and Bilibili have gone down since the announcement. According to a report by UBS, China's proposed gaming rules are expected to hit smaller developers more than large ones and may also reduce overall online advertising revenue in the gaming industry. https://ift.tt/70ENWHi

The US is focusing on blocking North Korea's ability to launder its crypto stolen via cyberattacks, which the US thinks funds North Korea's weapons programs (John Sakellariadis/Politico)

John Sakellariadis / Politico:
The US is focusing on blocking North Korea's ability to launder its crypto stolen via cyberattacks, which the US thinks funds North Korea's weapons programs  —  The Biden administration is doing more to counter North Korean hackers amid concerns their cryptocurrency heists are powering the country's weapons programs.

Researchers from Apple and Columbia University released Ferret, an open source multimodal LLM that can recognize and describe any shape in an image, in October (Sharon Goldman/VentureBeat)

Sharon Goldman / VentureBeat:
Researchers from Apple and Columbia University released Ferret, an open source multimodal LLM that can recognize and describe any shape in an image, in October  —  With little fanfare, researchers from Apple and Columbia University released an open source multimodal LLM, called Ferret, in October 2023.

Nvidia and its staff donated $15M to Israeli nonprofits helping civilians affected by the Israel-Hamas war, the largest humanitarian fundraiser for the company (Steven Scheer/Reuters)

Steven Scheer / Reuters:
Nvidia and its staff donated $15M to Israeli nonprofits helping civilians affected by the Israel-Hamas war, the largest humanitarian fundraiser for the company  —  U.S. chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O) and its employees have donated $15 million to Israeli non-profit organisations …

A look at Take-Two's $12B Zynga deal in 2022, just as casual games peaked post pandemic, Apple introduced ATT, and the mobile game market headed into a downturn (Cecilia D'Anastasio/Bloomberg)

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
A look at Take-Two's $12B Zynga deal in 2022, just as casual games peaked post pandemic, Apple introduced ATT, and the mobile game market headed into a downturn  —  Video-game giant's push into smartphone titles was expensive and late.  —  Excitement over the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto VI …

These are the 10 most trending games of 2023 as per Google

https://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/these-are-the-10-most-trending-games-of-2023-as-per-google/articleshow/106250194.cms

The Central Bank of Nigeria lifts a ban, imposed in February 2021, on cryptocurrency transactions but says global trends show a need to regulate such activities (MacDonald Dzirutwe/Reuters)

MacDonald Dzirutwe / Reuters:
The Central Bank of Nigeria lifts a ban, imposed in February 2021, on cryptocurrency transactions but says global trends show a need to regulate such activities  —  Nigeria's central bank has lifted a ban on transacting in cryptocurrencies, while saying global trends had shown a need to regulate …

How Sam Altman, the dealmaking prodigy full of contradictions, became one of the best-known tech CEOs, including by cultivating close ties with Peter Thiel (Washington Post)

Washington Post:
How Sam Altman, the dealmaking prodigy full of contradictions, became one of the best-known tech CEOs, including by cultivating close ties with Peter Thiel  —  Investing in everything from speakeasys to nuclear fusion, the Silicon Valley wunderkind, dealing-making prodigy is full of contradictions

Bots registered as 13-year-old users on TikTok were shown highly polarized content about the Israel-Hamas war in the For You feed, within hours after signing up (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Bots registered as 13-year-old users on TikTok were shown highly polarized content about the Israel-Hamas war in the For You feed, within hours after signing up  —  Imagine your 13-year-old signs up for TikTok and, while scrolling through videos, lingers on footage of explosions …

A profile of FTC Chair Lina Khan, who on a trip to Silicon Valley in November aimed to convince a skeptical tech sector that the government was there to help (Josh Sisco/Politico)

Josh Sisco / Politico:
A profile of FTC Chair Lina Khan, who on a trip to Silicon Valley in November aimed to convince a skeptical tech sector that the government was there to help  —  FTC Chair Lina Khan's vast ambitions to cut back on corporate power could be a huge part of Biden's legacy — if they come to fruition.

ScamSniffer: Google and X ads are promoting sites containing a crypto drainer named "MS Drainer" that has stolen $59M from 63,210 victims since March 2023 (Bill Toulas/BleepingComputer)

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
ScamSniffer: Google and X ads are promoting sites containing a crypto drainer named “MS Drainer” that has stolen $59M from 63,210 victims since March 2023  —  Google and Twitter ads are promoting sites containing a cryptocurrency drainer named ‘MS Drainer’ that has already stolen $59 million …

Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount in discussions for a merger: Why it matters

Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount may have discussed a possible merger. The CEOs of both the companies reportedly met in New York City this week to discuss the topic. If this happens, it will be one of the largest platforms to compete with Netflix and Disney+. Citing multiple sources, Axios reported that the meeting between Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav held talks with Paramount CEO Bob Bakish, which lasted several hours, took place at Paramount's headquarters in Times Square. Warner Bros. Discovery is said to have hired bankers to explore the deal. https://ift.tt/EeIhaTR

High-speed transportation company Hyperloop One is shutting down, here’s why

Hyperloop One, a high-speed freight transportation company, will shut down by the end of this year. The Los-Angeles-based firm, which completed the world's first passenger ride on a super high-speed levitating pod system in 2020, failed to win any contract to build a working hyperloop. It will sell off its remaining assets and terminate the employment for its remaining workers. Hyperloop One was founded in 2014 and was backed by United Arab Emirates shipping company DP World and British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin. https://ift.tt/P84huiA

Toshiba sees power management chips as a profit driver and plans to spend ~$175M to double production as the company completes its $14B buyout by PE firm JIP (Makiko Yamazaki/Reuters)

Makiko Yamazaki / Reuters:
Toshiba sees power management chips as a profit driver and plans to spend ~$175M to double production as the company completes its $14B buyout by PE firm JIP  —  Toshiba Corp (TOSBF.PK) sees power management chips as an immediate profit driver on the back of surging electric vehicle (EV) …

Privacy campaigners say the UK quietly introduced legislation to let police run facial recognition searches on 50M+ driving license holders without oversight (Daniel Boffey/The Guardian)

Daniel Boffey / The Guardian:
Privacy campaigners say the UK quietly introduced legislation to let police run facial recognition searches on 50M+ driving license holders without oversight  —  Exclusive: Privacy campaigners say clause in new criminal justice bill will put all UK drivers on ‘permanent police lineup’