Gaming's annual festival about using games for social good is putting extra focus this year on "advancing and digging deeper into international issues" for people of color.
Why it matters: Games for Change president Susanna Pollack told Axios that events like the murder of George Floyd and rising violence against Asian Americans "absolutely did" impact how they approached its 18th festival.
Chinese antitrust regulators blocked the proposed $5.3 billion merger of Huya (NYSE: NUYA) and DouYu (Nasdaq: DOYU), two game streaming companies backed by Tencent.
Why it matters: This reflects how China's crackdown on local tech giants is expanding well beyond data privacy and offshore listings. It's also a big win for Amazon's Twitch, which could have faced a viable challenge from the combined Huya/DouYu.
Microsoft confirmed Monday it is buying RiskIQ, a San Francisco security company. Bloomberg reported Sunday that the deal was in the works at a price of more than $500 million.
Why it matters: The move comes amid a crush of ransomware attacks (see above) and as Microsoft is looking to protect businesses, organizations and individuals from both profit-driven and politically motivated attacks.
Blues Wireless, the latest startup from Lotus and Microsoft veteran Ray Ozzie, is announcing $22 million in Series A funding today.
Why it matters: The company, whose launch Axios first reported back in 2019, aims to build 5G modules that can easily add wireless connectivity to all manner of devices.
A new project,Ransomwhere, aims to put a dollar figure on the profit-driven attacks that have become a headache for businesses, governments and non-profits around the globe.
Why it matters: While ransomware is clearly a growing problem, there hasn't been a good way to keep tabs on how much is being paid, and to whom.
BMW's Maximilian Günther and Jaguar's Sam Bird captured the checkered flags at the thrilling New York City E-Prix racing doubleheader in Brooklyn over the weekend. But the real winners, race organizers hope, are electric vehicles themselves.
Why it matters: ABB FIA Formula E's all-electric street racing series, held in some of the world's most iconic cities, is meant to showcase EV technology in the very places electric cars are likely to have the biggest impact.
Disney's latest Marvel blockbuster, "Black Widow," not only set a new pandemic-era box office record this past weekend, it also proved that same-day streaming and theater movie releases will undoubtedly live on past the pandemic.
Why it matters: Black Widow's success proves that with the right movie, streaming releases can bring in a lot of money for big movie studios.
While Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook all started as tiny operations in garages and dorm rooms, it's hard to imagine any of them being displaced by new startups today. President Biden's sweeping new executive order targeting big business is the most ambitious effort yet to clear space for challengers to thrive — but still faces daunting odds.
Why it matters: Tech's giants are now dominant economic forces, and the Biden administration says their market concentration may be undercutting the next generation of competitors. Biden's order calls for federal agencies to take action to reduce industry concentration, but today's tech industry is built around a "big fish eat little fish" ecology that will be hard to change.
