Bloomberg Sony Group Corp is launching a new gaming gear brand called Inzone, trotting out headphones and displays for the PC to try and expand its reach beyond the PlayStation. The new brand is the Tokyo-based firm’s effort to capture a slice of the peripherals market, augmenting its plans to release more former PlayStation exclusives on the Windows platform. Sony ...
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TikTok turns on the money machine
Bloomberg Alyssa McKay used to work part-time at a frozen yogurt store in Portland, Oregon, making minimum wage to cover her college tuition. Now the 22-year-old earns more than $100,000 a year on the short-video platform TikTok. Brands like Coach, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video pay up to reach her 9 million followers, mostly teenage and pre-teen girls who ...
Read More »Instagram to test AI on faces to verify users are over 18
Bloomberg Instagram, under fire from safety advocates to keep children off the app and prevent teens from seeing harmful content, is testing new ways to verify users’ age. Among them: running users’ video selfies through an artificial intelligence (AI) that can determine if they are adults. The Meta Platforms Inc-owned app recently started requiring users to submit their birthdate ...
Read More »Microsoft rolls out a new app for corporate sales reps
Bloomberg Microsoft Corp introduced Viva Sales, a new program meant to connect its Office and video conferencing programs with customer-relationship management software — its own and that of rivals, a step that could help it garner revenue from Salesforce Inc. clients. The program, available to preview next month, lets users of customer management programs synchronise information between those products ...
Read More »Apple plans to expand line-up of laptops in 2023
Bloomberg Apple Inc plans to expand the line-up of laptops using its new, speedier in-house chips next year, aiming to grab a bigger share of the marke. The company is working on a larger MacBook Air with a 15-inch screen for release as early as next spring, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans ...
Read More »Google hit with UK probe into suspected competition breaches
Bloomberg The UK’s antitrust watchdog launched an investigation into the Google Play app store over suspected anticompetitive conduct, alongside a sweeping study taking aim at Alphabet Inc and Apple Inc’s “strong grip†over mobile technologies. Marking the latest broadside against Silicon Valley from an increasingly interventionist UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will probe suspected breaches of ...
Read More »Meta halts development of smartwatch
Bloomberg Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc has halted development of a smartwatch with dual cameras and is instead working on other devices for the wrist, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The device, which has been in development for at least two years, was designed to include several features common in other smartwatches, including activity ...
Read More »Tech giants accuse India of ignorance in Xiaomi spat
Bloomberg A lobby group including Apple Inc and other technology giants operating in India called out the country’s authorities for misunderstanding how patent fees work, following local officials’ dispute with Xiaomi Corp. In a letter to ministries, the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) urged the federal government to intervene and accused the country’s enforcement agencies of a “lack of ...
Read More »Microsoft to work with unions, with eye on Activision
Bloomberg Microsoft Corp said it will work with labour groups when workers wish to join them, taking a pre-emptive stance amid a wave of union organising in the tech industry and ahead of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc, home of the first labour union in the gaming industry. In a blog post outlining the company’s principles on engaging ...
Read More »Apple to keep iPhone production flat in ’22
Bloomberg Apple Inc is planning to keep iPhone production roughly flat in 2022, a conservative stance as the year turns increasingly challenging for the smartphone industry. The company is asking suppliers to assemble roughly 220 million iPhones, about the same as last year. Market forecasts have hovered closer to 240 million units, driven by an expected major update to the ...
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