Tuesday, January 24, 2023

A manager at Activision Blizzard's Blizzard unit, who oversaw World of Warcraft Classic, departs after internally criticizing the company's stack ranking system (Jason Schreier/Bloomberg)

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
A manager at Activision Blizzard's Blizzard unit, who oversaw World of Warcraft Classic, departs after internally criticizing the company's stack ranking system  —  A manager at video game developer Blizzard Entertainment said he was ousted after refusing to give a low evaluation to an employee …



Microsoft, Amazon results to highlight softening cloud business

After years of blistering growth, most recently fuelled by remote working and studying during the pandemic, cloud demand has cooled in the past nine months and sales growth may slow further, analysts said. https://ift.tt/uQm2X4o

Apple in talks with Disney, others on VR content for new headset: Report

Developed with Sony Group Corp, the headset will have two ultra-high-resolution displays to handle the VR aspects and a collection of external cameras to enable an augmented reality "pass-through mode", the report said. https://ift.tt/D8NUf42

Monday, January 23, 2023

Wells Fargo, BofA, JPMorgan, and four other banks are working on a digital wallet, managed by Zelle owner Early Warning Services, rolling out in H2 2023 (AnnaMaria Andriotis/Wall Street Journal)

AnnaMaria Andriotis / Wall Street Journal:
Wells Fargo, BofA, JPMorgan, and four other banks are working on a digital wallet, managed by Zelle owner Early Warning Services, rolling out in H2 2023  —  Financial institutions behind Zelle are working on a wallet for consumers to use at online checkout  —  Big banks are teaming …



As China introduces rules to combat deepfakes, authorities around the world have approved few regulations, often because of free speech concerns (Tiffany Hsu/New York Times)

Tiffany Hsu / New York Times:
As China introduces rules to combat deepfakes, authorities around the world have approved few regulations, often because of free speech concerns  —  Few governments have approved regulations, often because of free-speech concerns.  New mandates from China could change the tone of the debate on digital forgeries.



Spotify plans to lay off ~6% of its workforce, or roughly 600 jobs, says content head Dawn Ostroff will leave, and reorganizes engineering and product groups (Eva Mathews/Reuters)

Eva Mathews / Reuters:
Spotify plans to lay off ~6% of its workforce, or roughly 600 jobs, says content head Dawn Ostroff will leave, and reorganizes engineering and product groups  —  Music streaming firm Spotify plans to cut 6% of its workforce, the company said on Monday, a move that will add to a glut of layoffs …



Netflix’s password sharing to end soon, confirms company; here's what it didn't tell

It's official. Netflix to soon end password sharing. The company's new co-CEO Greg Peters recently said that the company plans to end password sharing before the end of March. Netflix said that it will start launching the account-sharing fees beyond its test countries before the end of March and that a full, global rollout will take a couple quarters. https://ift.tt/zTmKRic

The recent tech layoffs highlight a generational divide between younger workers, experiencing their first downturn, and older workers, who have been here before (Tripp Mickle/New York Times)

Tripp Mickle / New York Times:
The recent tech layoffs highlight a generational divide between younger workers, experiencing their first downturn, and older workers, who have been here before  —  The industry's recent job cuts have been an awakening for a generation of workers who have never experienced a cyclical crash.



Binance says Signature Bank will only handle transactions of over $100,000, starting on February 1, as the US bank decreases its exposure to crypto markets (David Pan/Bloomberg)

David Pan / Bloomberg:
Binance says Signature Bank will only handle transactions of over $100,000, starting on February 1, as the US bank decreases its exposure to crypto markets  —  Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said Signature Bank will only handle user transactions of more than $100,000 …



India asks Twitter and YouTube to remove videos and tweets of a BBC documentary on 2002 religious riots in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat (Ashutosh Joshi/Bloomberg)

Ashutosh Joshi / Bloomberg:
India asks Twitter and YouTube to remove videos and tweets of a BBC documentary on 2002 religious riots in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat  —  The Indian government has asked social media giants Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube to take down videos and tweets …



Sunday, January 22, 2023

Sources: Donald Trump does not want to renew his Truth Social exclusivity contract, expiring in June 2023, and is asking for suggestions for his first tweet (Rolling Stone)

Rolling Stone:
Sources: Donald Trump does not want to renew his Truth Social exclusivity contract, expiring in June 2023, and is asking for suggestions for his first tweet  —  The ex-president is planning his first tweets with a few months to go on his Truth Social contract



Sources: activist investor Elliott Management has made a multibillion-dollar investment in Salesforce (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: activist investor Elliott Management has made a multibillion-dollar investment in Salesforce  —  Elliott Management makes a multibillion-dollar investment in the business-software provider  —  Activist investor Elliott Management Corp. has made a multibillion-dollar investment in Salesforce Inc. …



Researchers and ex-Twitter staff: physical attacks in the US have tracked with spikes in some hate speech on Twitter, notably anti-Semitic and anti-gay rhetoric (Joseph Menn/Washington Post)

Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Researchers and ex-Twitter staff: physical attacks in the US have tracked with spikes in some hate speech on Twitter, notably anti-Semitic and anti-gay rhetoric  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Earlier this month, the FBI charged a Florida man with making detailed online threats to murder 100 gay people.



How some US incarcerated people use contraband mobile phones to educate themselves, make TikToks, find love, publicize prison conditions, earn money, and more (Keri Blakinger/The Marshall Project)

Keri Blakinger / The Marshall Project:
How some US incarcerated people use contraband mobile phones to educate themselves, make TikToks, find love, publicize prison conditions, earn money, and more  —  Despite the security concerns of administrators, incarcerated people use phones to hustle, make TikToks or publicize prison conditions.



Analysis: Apple timed the new MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and HomePod launch to boost this quarter's revenue, while avoiding supply issues during the holiday season (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Analysis: Apple timed the new MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and HomePod launch to boost this quarter's revenue, while avoiding supply issues during the holiday season  —  Apple timed the launch of the new MacBook Pro, Mac mini and HomePod to shore up its current quarter's revenue …



SpaceX launches Starlink in Indonesia to improve internet access in remote parts of the country, starting with three local health centers (Stefanno Sulaiman/Reuters)

Stefanno Sulaiman / Reuters : SpaceX launches Starlink in Indonesia to improve internet access in remote parts of the country, starting w...