By Justina Lee
Adam Jaffe’s mobile game jostles daily with nearly a million others in Apple Inc.’s App Store to lure users — and ideally some willing to spend real-world cash to boost their odds of victory.
Now the Tenko Games CEO’s ability to entice those lucrative players is about to dwindle.
In an iOS update expected this month, Apple will start asking users for permission to track their data across apps. With the majority expected to say no, the tech giant is decimating a system that allowed studios like Tenko to find potential high spenders and sell targeted ads…
Even in states where inoculation campaigns have been mostly successful, vaccine gaps remain
By Anna Edney and Drew Armstrong
Many U.S. states and cities have a growing surplus of Covid-19 vaccines, a sign that in some places demand is slowing before a large percentage of the population has been inoculated, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News.
The data indicate as many as one in three doses are unused in some states. Appointments for shots often go untaken, with few people signing up.
Bloomberg analyzed state and U.S. data from Monday, providing a snapshot of vaccine use before Johnson & Johnson shelved millions of shots pending federal health officials’ investigation into rare cases…
By Matt Day
For years, Jeff Bezos has made a religion of putting the customer first at Amazon.com Inc. Now, with a contentious union vote behind him and the end of his rein as chief executive officer nearing, the world’s wealthiest person says it’s time to focus more on the welfare of the company’s workers as well.
“I think we need to do a better job for employees,” he said in a letter to shareholders. …
Beating Covid variants is an intricate organizational task performed at top speed
By Emma Court
Needles pierce minuscule vials. Plungers descend and draw back liquid. Gloved fingers flick the tubes, ridding them of air bubbles.
It’s early morning in Atlantic City. In the back of a cavernous, windowless convention hall, the eyes of a dozen pharmacists are locked on syringes filled with coronavirus vaccines that soon will course through the bodies of thousands of people.
Time is everything as the workers prepare the world’s most valuable substance. Each syringe takes just under a minute to assemble, and the team must ready an hour’s worth, about 400 shots, by a little after 8…
By Dina Bass and Liana Baker
Microsoft Corp. is buying speech-recognition pioneer Nuance Communications Inc. in an all-cash deal valued at $19.6 billion, gaining artificial-intelligence technology aimed at helping doctors predict patients’ needs and upgrading hospitals’ digital record-keeping.
The software giant is offering to purchase Nuance at $56 a share, a 23% premium to Friday’s close, according to a statement Monday, which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg report. The deal marks Microsoft’s largest acquisition since LinkedIn Corp.
The transaction value is derived by the $56 a share multiplied by about 350 million fully diluted shares of Nuance, including stock options and…
By Mark Gurman
Apple Inc. has been a laggard in the smart-home space, but a versatile new device in early development could change that.
The company is working on a product that would combine an Apple TV set-top box with a HomePod speaker and include a camera for video conferencing through a connected TV and other smart-home functions, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
The device’s other capabilities would include standard Apple TV box functions like watching video and gaming plus smart speaker uses such as playing music and using…
Lax security emblematic of broader issues, former employees say; Verkada spokesman says company is tightening policies
By William Turton, Ryan Gallagher, Sarah McBride and Brody Ford
Verkada Inc.’s security camera customers were livid. Hackers had breached footage from thousands of surveillance devices trained on their operations, including schools, prisons, hospitals and companies around the world. On a webinar with Verkada’s CEO, users wanted answers. Fast.
One pointed question came from Sequoia Capital, Verkada’s most prominent investor: How, inquired Silas Thomas, information technology manager at the venture capital firm, can we cut off Verkada employees from access to Sequoia’s cameras?
Verkada Chief Executive Officer Filip Kaliszan told Thomas that access had already been disabled. In response to…
A small team had big ambitions for a Last of Us remake, but Sony handed the work to star studio Naughty Dog
By Jason Schreier
Sony Corp.’s Visual Arts Service Group has long been the unsung hero of many hit PlayStation video games. The San Diego-based operation helps finish off games designed at other Sony-owned studios with animation, art or other content and development. But about three years ago, a handful of influential figures within the Visual Arts Service Group decided they wanted to have more creative control and lead game direction rather than being supporting actors on popular titles such as Spider-Man and Uncharted.
Michael Mumbauer, who founded the Visual Arts Service Group in 2007, recruited a group of about 30…
By Max Chafkin
Peter Thiel is “pro-crypto” and “pro-Bitcoin maximalist,” but he also thinks the cryptocurrency may be undermining America.
Thiel, the venture capitalist and conservative political donor, urged the U.S. government to consider tighter regulations on cryptocurrencies in an appearance on Tuesday. The statements seemed to represent a change of heart for Thiel, who is a major investor in virtual currency ventures as well as in cryptocurriences themselves.
“I do wonder whether at this point, Bitcoin should also be thought [of] in part as a Chinese financial weapon against the U.S.,” Thiel said during an appearance at a virtual…
By Katie Roof, Kurt Wagner and Scott Deveau
Twitter Inc. held talks in recent months to acquire Clubhouse, the buzzy audio-based social network, according to people familiar with the matter.
The companies discussed a potential valuation of roughly $4 billion for Clubhouse, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Discussions are no longer ongoing, and it’s unclear why they stalled, the people added.
A Twitter spokesman declined to comment. A Clubhouse representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that Clubhouse is in talks to raise funding…
