A two-week revoltby Dungeons & Dragons fans has sent the company behind the venerable tabletop role-playing game scrambling to make amends.
Driving the news: Facing infuriated fans, Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast says it will refrain from implementing some of the recently leaked, upcoming changes to a license that allows fans and game makers to use elements of D&D in their own spinoff games.
Saturday's horrific mass shooting in Monterey Park, California will likely be left out of the FBI's nationwide crime statistics, as neither city nor county officials there are using the Justice Department's new crime reporting system.
Why it matters: The country's 18,600 law enforcement agencies have been slow to adopt the Justice Department's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) — which means that all manner of crimes are being undercounted.
Tech layoffs continued this morning, with Spotify announcing plans to fire around 600 employees. That brings the monthly total to over 56,000, per tracking site Layoffs.fyi. including last week's monster cuts at both Alphabet and Microsoft.
The big question: Could this spark a surge in tech entrepreneurship? A sort of upside to the downturn? The answer is muddled.
Microsoft on Monday announced a significant expansion of its partnership with OpenAI, the maker of generative AI juggernaut ChatGPT.
Why it matters: The new investment, previously reported to be around $10 billion, will provide OpenAI with the capital resources to continue improving and scaling ChatGPT.
Spotify on Monday said it is laying off 6% of its staff as part of cost-cutting measures and a broader organizational restructuring.
Why it matters: The moves, which will impact roughly 600 employees, are meant to help the company "control costs and speed up decision-making." In a challenging economic environment, "efficiency takes on greater importance," Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek said in a memo.
The “Right to Repair” movement championing owners' freedom to fix everything from smartphones to tractors is set for a landmark new year, as tech companies roll out user repair programs and state legislatures weigh broader consumer protections.
Why it matters: Advocates say restrictions on owners' ability to repair their devices, shaped by tough intellectual property protections, have cost consumers money and reduced the lifespan of their products.
Activist investor Elliott Management has built a multi-billion dollar position in cloud software giant Salesforce, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Axios with a source close to the situation.
Why it matters: Elliott typically wants substantial change at the companies it targets, and it almost always gets what it wants.
/2023/01/23/1674494825760.gif?w=3840)
