Axios

Nintendo and Sony indicated today that it will remain hard to grab a new Switch or PlayStation 5 well into next year.

Driving the news: In updates to investors, both companies issued lower console forecasts for their current fiscal years, which run through the end of March 2023.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey says he agrees with Elon Musk that former President Trump should have his Twitter account reinstated.

Why it matters: Dorsey was CEO of Twitter when the ban was put in place.

Facebook has turned off augmented reality effects, including filters and avatars, for users in Texas and Illinois, citing state facial recognition laws.

The big picture: The move comes a day after Clearview AI settled with the ACLU and other groups in a lawsuit brought under Illinois' uniquely strong facial recognition law.

Apple is discontinuing the iPod more than two decades after the technology was first introduced, the company announced Tuesday.

Flashback: The iPod was introduced in October 2001 and became a cultural staple that would go on to revolutionize portable music. The latest version of the iPod touch was introduced in 2019.

Elon Musk said Tuesday that he would reverse Twitter's permanent ban of former President Trump if his $44 billion bid to buy the company is successful.

Why it matters: Musk told the Financial Times that the ban "was morally wrong and flat out stupid," though Trump has publicly said he would not return to the social media platform and will instead use his own platform, Truth Social.

Electronic Arts announced on Tuesday that it would end its partnership with FIFA after this year.

Why it matters: The game, one of the most popular and profitable in the world, won't be named after soccer's global organizing body for the first time since the series debuted nearly 30 years ago.

Two acronyms we wrote a lot in the Trump era were SPAC and CFIUS, referring to the boom in blank-check acquisition companies and increased scrutiny of tech deals on national security grounds. Now they've had a merger of their own.

Driving the news: Grindr, the popular LGBTQ+ dating app, has agreed to go public at an implied $2.1 billion enterprise value, via a SPAC — two years after its Chinese owner (Kunlun Group) was forced by CFIUS to sell the business for just over $600 million.

AT&T said Tuesday a new nationwide service will route 911 calls from its wireless subscribers to the closest dispatch center.

Why it matters: 911 calls from wireless phones are typically routed based on the closest cell tower, which means that sometimes callers are transferred from one dispatch center to another when they seek help, introducing potential delays.

A settlement between Clearview AI and civil rights groups that restricts the company's sale of its facial recognition technology to private companies also spotlights the glaring lack of federal rules governing biometric information.

Why it matters: Facial recognition could offer huge benefits — everything from speeding commerce to solving crimes. But it also raises huge red flags over user privacy as well as the technology's record of bias, particularly against people of color.

Match Group sued Google in federal court Monday, charging that the tech giant unfairly forces apps to use its payment system, the dating app company announced.

Driving the news: Match is alleging Google violated federal and state antitrust law by requiring certain app developers "to exclusively use Google Play Billing to process payments."

Grindr, the LGBTQ dating app, is planning to go public, becoming the third dating giant to go public in the past three years.

Why it matters: Big data has bred a slew of billion-dollar dating companies, as matchmaking increasingly becomes reliant on algorithms.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has told employees that the ride-share company will reduce hiring in response to a "seismic shift" in the market, CNBC reports.

Why it matters: Khosrowshahi is setting a new tone for the company as investors are growing wary of unprofitable businesses.

The New York Times’ decision to change Monday’s Wordle answer is part of a long-running debate about how politically charged games should be.

Why it matters: From online crossword puzzles to Call of Duty, popular games rarely tackle, or even broach, charged topics. Books, music and other sectors of culture are far more likely to confront divisive subjects.

Is a non-fungible token a piece of property? Is it tangible? Tax authorities are grappling with these and other questions as they start to set policy on the sale and transfer of NFTs.

Why it matters: NFTs are being bought and sold for huge sums — the $69 million Beeple is an anomaly, but symbolically important — and federal and state revenue departments want to get their due shares.

Yearn Finance, DeFi's friendly yield robot, which has $2.2 billion in assets users have entrusted it with growing. All that despite a creator, Andre Cronje, who dropped off the blockchains in March.

The latest: Now he's back, in a way. It's not exactly a return, he told Axios via Telegram, because he's doing what he's calling RegFi, translating DeFi to TradFi. He said, "I'm never touching public crypto/DeFi again."

Dirt, the entertainment and culture newsletter that became one of the first newsletters to fund itself solely using only NFTs, has raised a $1.2 million seed round, its publisher Kyle Chayka and editor-in-chief Daisy Alioto tell Axios.

Why it matters: Most media companies that rely on web3 tech operationally also cover web3. Dirt aims to be one of the first digitally native media companies that rely on web3 tech but doesn't cover web3 topics exclusively.

More than four dozen former national security leaders are calling on Congress to exempt international advanced technical degree holders from green card caps in a bid to maintain U.S. science and tech leadership, especially over China, according to a copy of a letter viewed by Axios.

Why it matters: The breadth of signatories suggests widespread concern about China's rise could bolster bipartisan support for change in one corner of the otherwise politically charged issue of immigration policy.

A lasting market downturn is unlikely to knock the tech industry from its perch at the top of American business, but it would reshape the tech world's dynamics in profound ways.

Driving the news: The last big recession to hit Silicon Valley bottomed out 20 years ago, and last week's stock market carnage has tech's leaders and footsoldiers digging through their memory attics to remember what that feels like.

Elon Musk envisions a Twitter that is able to more than quadruple its revenue and user base by 2028, while cutting its dependence on advertising, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing a leaked slide deck.

Why it matters: The documents show that Musk imagines himself as able to produce financial growth unlike any the company has seen in its history.

The White House said Monday 20 internet service providers have agreed to offer $30 high-speed internet plans to low-income families, effectively giving free service to households that qualify for a federal subsidy.

Why it matters: Cost is a key factor in the digital divide between those who have internet service and those who do not.

Marvel's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" brought in a whopping $185 million at the domestic box office this weekend, making it the second-biggest domestic theater opener in the pandemic era.

Why it matters: "It's clearly a very important next step in getting the summer movie season back," said Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.