A recent trailer for a game called “Palworld” turned heads, because it appears to put cute Pokémon-style characters into a world filled with poaching and gunfire.
Why it matters: As corporate and polished as gaming is these days, small creators still regularly break through, often thanks to concepts that are too wild to ignore.
Eidos-Montréal will include the ability to toggle licensed music on and off in its upcoming "Guardians of the Galaxy" game, a move that will allow streamers to broadcast safely.
Why it matters: The licensed soundtrack of "Guardians of the Galaxy" would have made it impossible for streamers to play the game on platforms like Twitch or YouTube.
Kickstarter announced Tuesday that it plans to experiment with a four-day work week in an effort to offer workers more flexibility and additional time to spend on creative pursuits.
The big picture: Lots of tech companies are planning to offer flexibility around where employees work post-pandemic. Now some companies are also rethinking when people work.
For the last several weeks I have been trying out the Infinity Game Table, a touchscreen tabletop PC dedicated to playing card and board games, including popular titles like Scrabble and Monopoly.
State of play: One clear sign the game's makers are on to something: the only time my mother-in-law stops playing solitaire on it is when my son and I are playing a game of Sorry.
Online grocery was a minuscule part of food retail before the pandemic. Now, about 60% of U.S. consumers have bought groceries online in the last 12 months, and most of them plan to keep doing so post-pandemic, according to a report from Coresight Research.
Why it matters: The rise of online food shopping is leaving behind smaller chains or mom-and-pop grocers that can't afford to offer delivery — turning grocery into a survival of the biggest players.
When Microsoft debuted its giant Surface tabletop computer back in 2007, executives predicted it might only take three to five years for a version to make its way to consumers. That never happened, but 15 years later, tabletop computing is back — this time in a new, game-focused vision from another company.
Why it matters: Long ago both Bill Gates and "Minority Report" promised a future in which every wall and surface becomes a digital screen where information can be displayed and manipulated by touch. That future is finally beginning to materialize.
Apple warned Wednesday that new antitrust legislation would place iPhone customers' privacy and security at risk by limiting the company's control over what apps users can install.
Driving the news: Apple CEO Tim Cook called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats to argue that the antitrust bills would hurt innovation and consumers, per a New York Times report.
Apple Daily, Hong Kong's biggest pro-democracy newspaper, announced Wednesday that it will close at the weekend following the freezing of its assets under China's national security law.
Why it matters: It's the latest blow to the Asian financial hub's democracy movement and to free speech. Authorities have used the law that gives the government broad power to limit people's political freedom to arrest several journalists at the news outlet, founded by imprisoned tycoon Jimmy Lai.
American officials seized 36 news website domains linked to Iran's government for spreading disinformation as part of a propaganda campaign, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.
Why it matters: The action comes at a time of heightened tension between the two countries, with Iran's hardline President-elect Ebrahim Raisi on Monday ruling out negotiating over missiles or meeting with President Biden as the two nations hold talks on returning Tehran to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Quartz co-founders Kevin Delaney and Jay Lauf, along with New York Times veteran Erin Grau, are launching a new media and services company called "Charter" that is centered around the future of work, the founders told Axios.
Why it matters: "There are other media companies that write about this topic — some occasionally and some more frequently, but it's one topic among many things that they do," Delaney said. "This is a driving focus for us."
The government's attempt 20 years ago to split up Microsoft failed, and sanctions didn't break its hold on the desktop, but many of Windows' current challenges stem from how the company reacted to its years of fighting regulators around the world.
Why it matters: Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple all face threats from regulators. Even if the companies win those conflicts, just fighting the battle can put them at a disadvantage.
Why it matters: While Windows still runs on nearly three-quarters of the world's computers, the operating system has been losing ground to MacOS and Chrome OS. Meanwhile, the company has all but given up on mobile, which is the main way people around the world access the internet.
Google says the House's new antitrust bills would hurt U.S. tech leadership, "damage the way small businesses connect with consumers, and raise serious privacy and security concerns," in a statement shared exclusively with Axios.
Driving the news: The House Judiciary committee plans to mark up the new package of antitrust bills Wednesday. Their provisions would have wide-ranging consequences for how Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon operate.
The European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation on Tuesday into whether Google has abused its market position by favoring its own online display advertising technology.
Why it matters: The probe will target parts of Google's massive $147 billion annual ads business that have never been investigated formally by regulators, including ways its advertising practices may have shaped its dominance on its video platform YouTube.
Former President Trump may be banned from Facebook, but his political operation continues using it to raise money, records show.
Why it matters: A new round of ads purchased by a political group associated with him shows how the former president can continue tapping the world's largest social network even as Trump himself is barred from the platform.
