Axios

In paid posts on the world's largest social media platform, the country's two political parties are speaking to two separate and distinct Americas.

Why it matters: Detailed targeting data from social media giant Meta offer a glimpse into America's deep political divide — and how political operatives are working to exploit and adapt to it.

Senate Energy Committee chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is urging President Biden to marshal executive powers to help boost U.S. oil production following the OPEC+ move to cut output.

Driving the news: Manchin, in a new letter, calls the OPEC+ move "reckless" and a revenue boost for Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime.

Private equity firm Thoma Bravo on Tuesday announced plans to buy identity management firm ForgeRock for $2.3 billion. And then both parties kept their mouths curiously closed.

Why it matters: This could be the latest building block of a digital identity giant, but right now we're left with more questions than answers.

There's no question that the new Meta Quest Pro is a step forward for VR technology. But even Meta executives don't always agree on who the target market is for the pricey new headset.

Why it matters: While Meta and others have a clear vision for the virtual world they envision some years out, they face a challenge in the intervening years to figure out which combinations of features and price make commercial sense.

A year after rebranding itself as Meta, Facebook's parent company on Tuesday released a new VR headset that it hopes will show concrete results from its already-massive investments.

Why it matters: The company admits that its effort to build an immersive, 3-D virtual network for work and play will take years to unfold. But it has to begin selling people on the value and the excitement of that long road today if it's ever going to reach its destination or persuade the rest of us to follow.

Chip stocks are getting dumped in light of new export restrictions and reports of worsening demand.

Why it matters: The worries should be seen more as short term than long, Bob Johnson, VP and semiconductor and electronics analyst at Gartner, tells Axios.

Meta’s virtual reality gaming plans will remain focused on its growing Quest market, even as it introduces a new $1,500 Quest Pro VR headset.

Why it matters: Meta, Facebook's parent company, found a tech standard for gaming in 2020 that it thinks works and is sticking with it, despite releasing more powerful headsets before and since.

Facebook's parent company on Tuesday launched the Meta Quest Pro, a $1,499 headset designed to be both more powerful and comfortable than past virtual reality devices.

Why it matters: Quest Pro is the first major product launch of Mark Zuckerberg's campaign to "build the metaverse," announced a year ago, and Meta is looking to the new device to prove that VR is the future of computing, not just a niche technology for gamers.

Most states will require local governments to use a new $1 billion pool of cyber grant funding to implement cybersecurity training programs for their employees, according to a new survey.

Driving the news: Deloitte and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers released their biennial survey of state cybersecurity leaders on Monday, detailing what challenges they're facing and their cybersecurity strategies for the next year.

Google may be the new owner of Mandiant, but it has no plans to swallow up the incident response firm's products or brand in its own offerings, a top Google security executive tells Axios.

Driving the news: Google unveiled a suite of new cloud security products today at its Google Cloud Next conference that incorporate Mandiant's incident response tools — marking the first preview of what a Google-run Mandiant will look like.

Celsius Network's books will soon be wrangled and ironed out by someone with zero skin in the game — an order by Judge Martin Glenn, who is presiding over the crypto lender's bankruptcy case.

Why it matters: Friday's hearing was supposed to be about setting the schedule for various motions from account holders seeking the immediate return of their assets, which have been locked on the platform since June. But what has already been made very clear — this won't be so simple.

The developers at Haven Studios, one of Sony PlayStation’s newest video game teams, aren't just making a game — they’re trying to craft a better way to make games by moving development into the cloud.

Why it matters: Game development — which combines programming, animation, interactive design, art, writing, sound and more — is such a notoriously complex process that creators often joke it’s a miracle any games get made.

TikTok is planning to build its own product fulfillment centers in the U.S., creating an e-commerce supply chain system that could directly challenge Amazon, as indicated by more than a dozen new job openings posted in the past two weeks to LinkedIn.

Why it matters: The move signifies TikTok's commitment to e-commerce as its next major revenue stream, following the explosive growth of its ads business.

Google is touting its role in helping transform Ford Motor Company as an example of what other large businesses can gain by making use of its cloud services.

Driving the news: Ford CEO Jim Farley will join Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian today during Google Cloud Next to offer an update on how the two companies' relationship is evolving 18 months into a six year partnership.

Donald Trump's social media startup, Truth Social, is facing a perilous future.

Driving the news: A former company executive reportedly filed a whistleblower complaint with federal securities regulators in August, and it remains unable to access hundreds of millions of dollars tied to a prospective merger with a blank check acquisition company.

Microsoft Windows chief Panos Panay tells Axios that the pandemic didn't just boost long-flagging computer sales, but also helped reinvigorate the PC as a critical tool for communication.

Why it matters: Sales of new computers have slowed significantly in recent months, but usage remains at record levels.