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January 23, 2021, 2:05 PM
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| Sam Byford / The Verge: |
Microsoft backtracks on price hike for Xbox Live Gold subscriptions announced Friday and says free-to-play games will also no longer require a Gold subscription — Free-to-play games will also no longer require a Gold subscription — Microsoft has reversed its controversial Xbox Live price increase.
Source:
Xbox Wire. More:
Engadget, Mashable, GamesIndustry.biz, Thurrott, Windows Central, Gizchina, Forbes, Pocketnow, OnMSFT.com, USA Today, Gamasutra, MSPoweruser, Kotaku, Neowin, VentureBeat, Engadget, Press Start, Game Rant, Polygon, GeekWire, TechSpot, HotHardware.com News, and Ars Technica
Tweets: @xbox, @wario64, @markrein, @genepark, @worrywirtww, @tomwarren, @picklefish96, @allm_i_g_h_t, @polygon, @vicious696, @samsheffer, @wario64, @riseofbacon, @legacykillahd, @slasher, @swiftonsecurity, @lamarrwilson, @martinsfp, @rand_al_thor_19, @malekawt, @rhymestyle, @andrearene, @funkofinderz, @sincere_gcg, and @shanselman
| Crispian Balmer / Reuters: |
Italy tells TikTok to block all unverified user accounts after a 10-year-old girl dies while allegedly participating in the “blackout challenge” on the app — ROME (Reuters) - The Italian data privacy watchdog ordered video app TikTok on Friday to block the accounts of any users …
More:
The Guardian, Engadget, iMore, South China Morning Post, DW.COM, New York Post, Apple Terminal, Bloomberg, France 24, Android Central, ANSA.it, and Tubefilter
Tweets: @jonoh, @wsuares, @teddyboylocsin, @niall_boylan, @brianfagioli, @sophiasgaler, and @wndu
| Jordan Novet / CNBC: |
Microsoft president Brad Smith defended the company's political contributions in a meeting with employees after some questioned donations from its PAC — - Brad Smith, Microsoft's president, said the company needs the Microsoft Political Action Committee. — The company is looking …
Source:
Microsoft On the Issues. More:
Windows Central, Business Insider, and MSPoweruser
Tweets: @pinboard, @juddlegum, @fxshaw, @steveschmidtses, @juddlegum, @kenvogel, @tomgara, @fxshaw, @kantrowitz, @wmiddelkoop, @bendreyfuss, @jillwinebanks, @marietjeschaake, @reedgalen, @juddlegum, @revolutionwifi, @juddlegum, @aaschapiro, @stevesi, @azeem, @ifindkarma, @reedgalen, @wilshipley, @razhael, @markruffalo, @edzitron, @slpng_giants, @dhh, @pinboard, and @gregmannarino
| USA Today: |
Facebook said a “configuration change” caused some users to be logged out of their apps in Saturday morning; issue is now fixed — “Why am I logged out of Facebook?” The question ricocheted around the internet as an untold number of people across the nation found themselves logged out of their apps Friday night.
More:
Engadget, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, The Verge, and iPhone Hacks
Tweets: @deadline, @facebookapp, @usatodaytech, @rjcc, @rjcc, @jguynn, @jguynn, @richontech, and @usatoday
| The Information: |
Sources: VCs have approached Clubhouse about investing in its next round at ~$1B valuation, a 10X increase from the previous round; a16z is expected to lead — The race to invest in social audio app Clubhouse is on again. Venture capital firms have approached the startup's founders …
Tweets: @alexeheath, @immad, @benparr, @jenniferm_q, @amir, @rainygay1, @kantrowitz, @dolarvaluetwink, @anshublog, @alecstapp, @rachelsklar, @benji_fernandes, @anothercohen, @kola_aina, @julianweisser, @kazeem, @pitdesi, @ourielohayon, @amir, @bentossell, @cityofthetown, @rstephens, @seyitaylor, @austen, @aerocles, @itsitz_, @keccers, @sm, @magdalenakala, @akindolu, @taylorlorenz, @prestonattebery, @hkanji, and @imadeiyamu
| Mary Ann Azevedo / FinLedger: |
Interview with Chase CIO Rohan Amin on managing Chase's $4B tech budget, API integrations, and this year's rise in digital mortgage applications and banking — When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, banks were among the many institutions moving quickly to adapt to all the changes that came with it.| William Boston / Wall Street Journal: |
How Volkswagen's ID.3, the automaker's long-awaited answer to Tesla, was beset by faulty in-car software, prompting a reboot of the company's software business — Faulty software set back a bid by the world's largest car maker for electric-vehicle dominance
Tweets: @kushalbhagia, @wsj, @nicolasmagand, @hardmaru, @wsj, @davidmwessel, @ue, @doubleeph, @jboogie, @tomgara, @voltequity, @patrickc, @adamnash, @teslany, @jackkramer, @rachelkonrad, @nalanpog, and @patrickmcgee_
| Charlie Savage / New York Times: |
Unclassified memo: Defense Intelligence Agency analysts have used commercial databases of location data from smartphone apps to track Americans without warrants — The disclosure comes amid growing legislative scrutiny of how the government uses commercially available location records.
More:
The Verge, Ars Technica, Wall Street Journal, CNET, CyberScoop, and The Hill
Tweets: @arianapekary, @all_thirty_two, @charlie_savage, @jesselynradack, @eff, @markszaidesq, and @zackwhittaker
| Will Knight / Wired: |
A look at the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, a government-sponsored research lab, and its work on a new language model similar to GPT-3 — China produces as many artificial intelligence researchers as the US, but it lags in key fields like machine learning. The government hopes to make up ground.
Tweets: @lsenews, @willknight, and @wired
| Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: |
Ex-ADT technician pled guilty to computer fraud and invasive visual recording for viewing home security camera feeds he installed in ~200 homes over 9,000 times — Employee for ADT accessed ~200 customer cams on more than 9,600 occasions. — A home security technician has admitted …
More:
Engadget, U.S. Department of Justice, ZDNet, CNET, TechSpot, Mashable, Slashdot, Threatpost, PCMag, CyberScoop, infosecurity-magazine.com, and Newser
Tweets: @camilstoenescu, @wesrap, @yashar, @hauntedsunshine, @erindooley, and @fbidallas
| Adi Robertson / The Verge: |
FTC fines three bot-powered ticket scalping operations a total of $3.7M, the first time the agency applied a 2016 anti-bot law called the BOTS Act — The three will pay a total of $3.7 million — The Federal Trade Commission issued multimillion-dollar fines against three bot-powered ticket scalping operations.
More:
Federal Trade Commission, Wired, Gizmodo, Input, and TechSpot
Tweets: @ftc and @rkslaughterftc
| Joanna Glasner / Crunchbase News: |
Analysis of US-based venture-backed companies that went public in roughly the past two years shows that top 40 companies are now valued at around $1.1T — It's hard to imagine, but there was a time not too long ago when billion-dollar startups were exceedingly rare.
Tweets: @hunterwalk, @crunchbasenews, @jrichlive, and @mmasnick
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