Technology

Robinhood’s cryptocurrency division has been fined $30 million by the New York Department of Financial Services over alleged anti-money laundering and cybersecurity violations (via The Wall Street Journal). This marks the state’s first enforcement action related to cryptocurrency. The settlement resolves the investigation opened by the NYDFS last March, which Robinhood disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission before the company went public. While Robinhood initially estimated that the NYDFS would fine the company up to $15 million, it later amended its filing to reflect an estimated $30 million fee. According to the NYDFS, Robinhood Crypto’s cybersecurity program had “critical failures” that “did not fully address” the company’s operational risks. The NYDFS also al...

A California judge says video service Rumble can proceed with the early stages of an antitrust suit against Google. Rumble sued Google in 2021, alleging that it favored its own YouTube video platform in search results and the Android operating system. Google urged the court to split the suit’s arguments and dismiss substantial parts of the reasoning as well as strike parts of the suit related to Android app preinstallation. Judge Haywood Gilliam declined to do so late last week, putting the case on track to proceed — although it could still be dismissed before it reaches trial. Rumble’s suit overlaps with several ongoing Big Tech controversies. The company takes aim at Google’s deals with Android phone makers, who typically agree to preinstall bundles of Google apps and limit non-Google ap...

We’re still waiting for Twitter to begin publicly testing its not-an-April-Fools’-joke edit feature, but thanks to some sleuthing from app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, we now have an idea of how edited tweets will look when they’re embedded on a website. Wong discovered how things could look in two different scenarios. If you’re embedding the most recently edited version of a tweet, you’ll see a “Last edited” message under the text of the tweet. But if the tweet has been edited since it was embedded, you’ll instead see a message indicating that there’s a new version of the tweet that you can see on Twitter proper. Embedded Tweets will show whether it’s been edited, or whether there’s a new version of the Tweet When a site embeds a Tweet and it gets edited, the embed doesn’t just show the ...

AI-generated artwork is quietly beginning to reshape culture. Over the last few years, the ability of machine learning systems to generate imagery from text prompts has increased dramatically in quality, accuracy, and expression. Now, these tools are moving out of research labs and into the hands of everyday users, where they’re creating new visual languages of expression and — most likely — new types of trouble. There are only thought to be a few dozen top-flight image-generating AI in existence right now. They’re tricky and expensive to create, requiring access to millions of images used to train the system (it looks for patterns in the pictures and copies them) and a great deal of computational grunt (for which costs vary, but a million-dollar price tag isn’t out of the question). Right...

One of the biggest trends in webcams is software that automatically keeps you in frame as you move around. Apple popularized it on the iPad and Studio Display with its Center Stage feature, and even buzzy upstarts like Opal provide it as an option on its dedicated webcams. But this approach has always been compromised — in order to make these software solutions work, they require cropping the image aggressively and produce a noticeably worse image than when the feature is disabled. That’s where Insta360’s new Link comes in. Instead of using software to digitally move the image around, the Link sits on an actual gimbal, cribbed from DJI’s Pocket 2 action camera. That allows the Link to physically move to keep you in frame without needing to crop the image or produce a lower-quality image. I...

Samsung and Fixit have launched their repair program that lets Galaxy S20, S21, and Tab S7 Plus owners buy replacement parts for their devices and access guides on how to do DIY fixes. The program still has most of the caveats that my colleague Umar Shakir pointed out when it was announced in March — it’s not launching with parts for Samsung’s latest flagship devices and there’s a limited number of repairs you can do — but it’s good to see that at least some Galaxy owners will now be able to do their own repairs at home. Samsung also says it’s planning to expand the devices and types of repairs that are covered in the future. You’ll be able to buy the parts and tools for screen, back glass, and charging port replacements through iFixit as well as at Samsung retail and service locations, ac...

US consumer spending on video game products has fallen by $1.78 billion in Q2, according to market research firm NPD. Overall, spending in video gaming in the US totaled $12.35 billion in the recent quarter, down 13 percent year over year. The findings follow both Microsoft and Sony reporting revenue declines in gaming as the pandemic growth slows. Sony warned of a weaker PlayStation business earlier this week as it saw game software sales plummet 26 percent year over year. Sony blamed the slump on a lack of big PlayStation titles this year compared to 2021 and less time spent playing games in general. Microsoft’s Xbox hardware revenue dipped 11 percent year over year in its recent quarter alongside a 6 percent drop in Xbox content and services revenue and a 7 percent decline in overall ga...

Indonesia has lifted its ban on Steam and Yahoo now that both companies complied with the country’s restrictive laws that regulate online activity (via @ZhugeEX). The Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) announced the news in a translated update on Twitter, noting that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 are back online as well. Last week, Indonesia blocked access to Steam, PayPal, Yahoo, Epic Games, and Origin after the companies failed to meet a deadline to register with the country’s database. This requirement is bundled with a broader law, called MR5, that Indonesia first introduced in 2020. The law gives the Indonesian government the authority to order platforms to take down content considered illegal as well as request the data of specific users. In ...

Elon Musk is already engaged in a lawsuit with Twitter over their $44 billion USD acquisition deal that never came to be, but the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is now getting sued by the social media platform’s investors as well. The new class action lawsuit is being filed by Twitter investor Luigi Crispo at the Delaware Chancery Court, which is also responsible for the trial between Musk and Twitter. Crispo holds 5,500 shares in the social media company and is claiming that the tech tycoon has breached his fiduciary duties towards Twitter’s shareholders through his “lame rationales for reneging on his contract.” He also agrees with Twitter’s stance that Musk’s reliance on the statistics relating to bots and spam to back out of buyout has no legal standing. When Musk made his acquisition offer to T...

Having crafted sound systems from Formula 1 and Lamborghini Aventador exhaust pipes in the past, bespoke audio system company iXOOST now delivers an official AMG Performance Luxury Audio speaker inspired by the Mercedes-AMG GT. Arriving in a 15-kilogram carbon-fiber silhouette that fits in your living room, the speakers draw from defining elements from the AMG GT including its distinct front grille, hood vents, rear diffuser, quadrilateral tailpipes, and hand-crafted badge found on the AMG engines. Behind the dashing exteriors are 1-inch tweeters and two 6-inch subwoofers which deliver a unique hi-fi experience. Stay tuned to the iXOOST website and socials found below for release updates. Elsewhere in tech, Devin Booker’s Book Projects joins Beats for Custom Pill+. Read Full Article

Logitech G is working with Tencent Games to launch a dedicated cloud gaming handheld later this year. The new hardware will be designed for cloud gaming services, offering a dedicated device with controls instead of the typical cases you attach to phones. The cloud gaming handheld will support Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia’s GeForce Now service, and Logitech and Tencent are both working with Microsoft and Nvidia on the hardware. Logitech and Tencent are simply teasing the device today, and there’s no mention of a release date, pricing, or even what the cloud gaming handheld looks like. Logitech will obviously be leaning on its experience building PC and console gaming accessories, while Tencent looks to be more of an operations partner. “As one of the leading global platforms for game devel...

The Pixel 6A may have only been released last Thursday, but Google is wasting no time in bringing the latest beta version of Android 13 to its new midrange device. 9to5Google reports that Android 13’s latest beta, version 4.1, is now available for the Pixel 6A. The software was first released last Monday, when it was initially available for the Pixel 4 through 6 Pro. Android 13 is shaping up to be a relatively minor update for Google’s mobile operating system. It builds on some of the design changes seen in last year’s Android 12 update with expanded support for theming app icons, and also adds support for the new Bluetooth LE Audio standard, as well as new privacy features. Previously available up to Pixel 6 devices You shouldn’t have long to wait for Android 13 to be officially released ...