The FTC says 95,000 people lost $770 million to scammers in 2021. That's more than double the $258 million they say scammers made off with in 2020. The agency says reports of scams have "soared" over the last five years. Facebook and Instagram are the only two platforms named in the report.
Unity has acquired Chiba Dynamics, a real-time modified and simulated artist tool. Chiba Dynamic produces real- time characters based on in-depth expertise and understanding of complex anatomical simulations and real-Time art production tools.
Google's cloud division has formed a group to build business around the crypto market. The group plans to hire a slew of people with blockchain expertise. Success could help Google diversify away from advertising and become more prominent in the market for cloud services. Google already offers tools for developers to start building decentralized networks.
Elon Musk said his robot plans had "the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business, over time" He said they would be the most important thing Tesla worked on this year. The robot in question, part of a project dubbed Optimus, was previewed last year - to raised eyebrows.
The Diem Association is selling its technology assets to Silvergate Capital. Facebook was one of the founding members of the association. Diem represented Facebook's most ambitious bet on cryptocurrencies. The company is selling the assets as a way to return some capital to the investors.
Apple reported its largest quarterly revenue as it bounced back from the pandemic and racked up an 11 percent growth in sales, despite the uncertainty of the crisis. The results are made more remarkable due to global supply chain bottlenecks and chip shortages, but Tim Cook said that the company expects supply chain issues to continue to ease.
The UK became the first country to regulate the use of autonomous vehicles at slow speeds on motorways. This means vehicles with automated driving systems can control steering and speed within a designated lane, but the government is expecting that automated driving will soon develop to a point when an AV will be able to drive itself without a human paying attention to the road.
Twitter received 43,387 legal demands that involve 196,878 accounts. 95 percent of the total global volume of legal demands came from five countries. Japan is responsible for 43 percent of all legal demands, with most of them about narcotics and drug-related posts. The other four countries are Russia, Turkey, India and South Korea.
The International Monetary Fund has urged El Salvador to reverse its decision to make Bitcoin legal tender, leading to large-scale protests over fears it would bring instability and inflation to the impoverished Latin American country. The IMF has warned President Nayib Bukele of the risks the cryptocurrency poses to the country, stressing that it would be difficult to get a loan from the institution.
Disney is planning to launch Disney Plus in 42 countries and 11 territories this summer. It's a significant expansion that could keep the pressure on other streaming services like Netflix and HBO Max. The major expansion could also help Disney jump-start its subscriber growth, which has slowed.
Google has announced that it has scrapped its controversial cookie replacement technology. The company has proposed an alternative which looks significantly more appealing. Topics is a new Privacy Sandbox proposal for interest-based advertising. Google states that with Topics “your browser determines a handful of topics, like ‘Fitness’ or ‘Travel & Transportation’ that represent your top interests for that week based on your browsing history.”