TikTok is adding more ways for people to take a break from scrolling endlessly, the app announced today.
Why it matters: Tech platforms are responding to a growing wave of criticism that their services are addictive and harmful. TikTok's personalized streams of short videos are known for hooking users.
Microsoft’s plans to offer Xbox gaming without the need of an Xbox console are advancing this month with the rollout of a streaming app for new Samsung TVs.
Why it matters: Microsoft is trying to break down barriers in the games industry, where owning a specific, expensive device has often been a prerequisite to playing high-end video games.
New York Senator Kevin Parker is the sponsor behind a bill that the crypto industry has broadly panned as being bad for business in the state, but his stance on the industry itself may surprise you.
Why it matters: Crypto shops have long criticized the state for imposing what they consider the most onerous regulations on the industry levied in the country, if not the world. But to Parker, the bill is not about crypto — it's about the power plants involved and making sure they adhere to climate goals the state set in 2019.
China's financial regulators have begun early talks about allowing Ant Group to revive its IPO, which would occur in both Shanghai and Hong Kong, per multiple reports.
Why it matters: First, because Ant Group had expected to price the largest global IPO of all time, before being pulled in late 2020.
FTC Chair Lina Khan has a warning for Big Tech companies and other would-be dealmakers: she'll sue to stop anticompetitive mergers rather than negotiate settlements with companies.
Why it matters: This approach will likely change the strategy for companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions. They'll have to work out for themselves in advance whether they need to sell or spin off parts of their business to win regulators' approval.
Saudi Arabia is rapidly assuming a significant financial stake in the video game industry.
Driving the news: The government-funded Savvy Gaming Group announced a $1 billion investment in the Embracer Group, the gaming corporation that most recently acquired the rights for Tomb Raider and the main studio behind that series.
Twitter has agreed to provide a set of user data to Elon Musk, who claims he can bail on his $44 billion takeover of the social media company if it misrepresented how many of its accounts are bots, The Washington Post first reported and Axios confirmed.
Yes, but: This isn't the data Musk needs to prove or disprove his hunch.
A decade after Early Access shook up how video games get released, many developers say that it has been a boon to the industry, despite potentially limiting creativity.
Why it matters: Along with digital distribution, Early Access (EA) has been instrumental in democratizing the modern games industry.
Israeli officials are pushing the Biden administration to remove Israeli cyber spying company NSO from the Department of Commerce blacklist, two Israeli officials and one U.S. official told Axios.
Why it matters: Removing NSO from the U.S. blacklist would be a dramatic reversal by the Biden administration and would likely be criticized by progressives in the Democratic Party and Congress, as well as many in the cybersecurity community.
Two U.S. senators introduced their first stabs at legislation to catch U.S. law up to a blockchain world on Tuesday. The first thing to keep in mind about legislation is this: the first draft is always just a starting point (if it's even that).
Driving the news: Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) co-sponsored the legislation, though Lummis is widely understood as having been the driving force to get something moved.
Apple-watchers viewing the company's Monday developer's conference keynote were disappointed that the company failed, once again, to unveil a world-changing new headset device, or even acknowledge that one was on the way.
They forgot a key principle Apple operates by: It never makes the first move in a new product category. Instead, it waits for just the right moment to bring that new product to a broad consumer market.
