Tech Meme

Andy Chalk / PC Gamer: Activision Blizzard plans to transition away from the Overwatch League to evolve the esports competition in a “new direction”; exiting teams may get $6M  —  Competitive Overwatch may return, but not in its current form.  —  Earlier this year, Activision Blizzard expressed doubt … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Michael Kan / PCMag: Signal begins testing usernames, letting users set the phone number linked to their account as private and not share the number on their profile  —  Offering usernames will allow people to stop giving out their phone number —a sensitive piece of information— in order to connect with others on the messaging app. Lees verder op Tech Meme

David Pierce / The Verge: Documents detail Humane’s $699 Ai Pin: a $24/month subscription, including a phone number, data, cloud storage, and access to Microsoft and OpenAI AI models  —  It’s scheduled to launch the Pin on Thursday, but The Verge has obtained documents detailing practically everything about the device ahead of its official launch. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Financial Times: SoftBank reports an adjusted ~$300M investment gain for its Vision Funds in Q2, as Vision Fund 1 gained $2.5B thanks Arm’s IPO while Vision Fund 2 lost $2.1B  —  Japanese tech conglomerate hit by falling valuations in portfolio companies  —  SoftBank Group posted an unexpected ¥931bn … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Kate Irwin / Decrypt: Game developers, voice actors, writers, and others criticize Inworld AI and Xbox partnering to create AI game development tools, after layoffs in the industry  —  Microsoft is making more AI tools, but game industry talent are very concerned that the Xbox AI push will lead to more job losses. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Sam Nussey / Reuters: Sony reports Q2 revenue up 8% YoY to ~$18.5B, operating profit down 29% YoY to ~$1.74B, chips division profit down 38%, and 4.9M PS5 sales, vs. 3.3M in Q2 2022  —  Sony’s (6758.T) operating profit fell 29% in the July-September quarter as the company was hit by a weaker performance at its image sensor and financial divisions. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Adi Robertson / The Verge: Epic v. Google: Google executive Purnima Kochikar says Google offered to pay Epic $147M over three years ending in 2021 to launch Fortnite on the Play Store  —  Google has confirmed in court that Epic was offered a $147 million deal to launch its hit game Fortnite on Android’s Google Play store. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Sam Nussey / Reuters: Sony reports Q2 revenue of ~$18.5B, up 8% YoY, operating profit down 29% YoY to ~$1.74B, chips division profit down 38%, PS5 sales of 4.9M vs. 3.3M in Q2 2022  —  Sony’s (6758.T) operating profit fell 29% in the July-September quarter as the company was hit by a weaker performance at its image sensor and financial divisions. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Adi Robertson / The Verge: Epic v. Google: Google exec Purnima Kochikar says Google offered to pay Epic $147M over a three years period ending in 2021 to launch Fortnite on Play Store  —  Google has confirmed in court that Epic was offered a $147 million deal to launch its hit game Fortnite on Android’s Google Play store. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Washington Post: Tech executives and officials detail how the Indian government used new rules, censorship, and law enforcement to break Twitter’s resistance to takedown orders  —  NEW DELHI — For years, a committee of executives from U.S. technology companies and Indian officials convened every two weeks … Lees verder op Tech Meme