Techmeme
January 17, 2022, 2:30 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Game publishers' plans to add NFTs to games have sparked a fierce backlash from gamers, who have long resented the growing number of micro transactions in games  —  Game publishers are offering NFTs, but skeptical gamers smell a moneymaking scheme and are fighting back.
Kirsten Grind / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Activision Blizzard has fired or pushed out 36+ employees and disciplined ~40 more since July, after sexual harassment and other misconduct allegations  —  Company's actions have come in the wake of pressure from investors, business partners and employees to address complaints over its handling of misconduct issues
Eric Benjamin Seufert / Mobile Dev Memo:
Apple clarifies it will still collect a commission from Dutch developers using third-party payments; Google will too in South Korea, just lowering its fee by 4%  —  On December 24th of last year, the Netherlands' competition regulator, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) …
Lauren Thomas / CNBC:
Recent filings from Walmart, including seven US trademark applications, indicate a possible plan to develop and offer virtual goods, NFTs, and a cryptocurrency  —  - Walmart appears to be venturing into the metaverse with plans to create its own cryptocurrency and collection of NFTs.
Financial Times:
In February, Spain will start requiring influencers and sponsors promoting cryptocurrencies to pre-notify authorities and warn of investing risks or face fines  —  Watchdog imposes landmark restrictions amid concerns for investors in unregulated sector  —  Spain is imposing restrictions …
Alberto Nardelli / Bloomberg:
Amazon reverses its plan to ban the use of Visa credit cards in the UK, set to start on January 19; the company had cited high transaction fees  —  Amazon.com Inc. has emailed U.K. customers to say that a planned ban on Visa credit cards will no longer take place.
Max Seddon / Financial Times:
Ukraine's government says “all evidence points to Russia being behind the attack”, which took down about 70 government websites  —  Proof of involvement could meet threshold for west to impose sanctions but incident yet to be formally attributed
Microsoft Security Blog:
FingerprintJS Blog:
A flaw in Safari 15's IndexedDB API can leak browser activity and user identifiers, like Google ID, to other sites; Apple was alerted of the flaw on November 28  —  DISCLAIMER: FingerprintJS does not use this vulnerability in our products and does not provide cross-site tracking services.
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
French startup Exotec, which builds autonomous industrial warehouse robots, raises a $335M Series D led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management at a $2B valuation  —  Exotec, a French robotics company used by some of the world's biggest retailers and enterprises, has raised $335 million …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Indian startup INDmoney, which is building a finance app for investments and expenses, raises a $75M Series D at a ~$600M valuation  —  Indian startup INDmoney has raised $75 million in a new round as it attempts to build a super finance app to become a one-stop shop for people's investments and expenses …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple will expand CarKey availability beyond BMW by this summer, starting with Hyundai's Genesis line; a look at potential Apple headset names  —  As Apple Inc.'s first mixed-reality headset runs behind schedule, here's a look at what the company could name the product.
José Adorno / 9to5Mac:

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James Ball / Rolling Stone: