Monthly Archives: May 2023

In 2015 a PwC partner named Peter Collins was engaged to provide Australia's government with advice on how to strengthen its tax code.

He did so. Then, before the changes he worked on became public, he shared them within PwC.

The consultancy sprang into action and offered its clients consultancy on the new tax code and how to ahem manage their affairs effectively under the incoming regime.

Unsurprisingly, this set of facts above has become quite the scandal in Australia. Collins has been barred from acting as a tax agent. Several senior figures at PWC have stepped down. The firm's top global execs have come to Australia to clean up the mess.

The mess intersected with The Register's world on Monday, when Apple, Google, and Microsoft were named by The Australian Financial Review as among the companies PwC contacted to hawk its ill-gotten insights into Aussie tax laws.

None of the tech giants are accused of wrongdoing although all are known users of legal-but-cynical tax minimization practices. The mere fact that PwC allegedly thought the three could be interested speaks volumes.

PwC's acts have returned to the spotlight in recent weeks thanks to a government inquiry into management and assurance of integrity by consulting services that considers the conduct of consultancies and the risks they pose to public sector integrity.

That inquiry is taking place against a background of Australia's year-old government questioning the $20.8 billion spent on consultants in FY 21/22 43 percent of it related to information technology and whether that money might better be spent on government employees and capabilities.

It's highly likely the government will choose that path in coming years. PwC and pals can probably start to downsize their Canberra operations.

Ironically, PwC has turned to a technologist to probe the mess: Ziggy Switkowski, a former CEO of top Aussie telco Telstra, chair of the country's national broadband network, and a former nuclear physicist, will investigate the scandal.

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Big Tech mainstays named as targets of PwC tax law leak - The Register

Wall Street is on pace for another week of losses but certain names managed to outperform. As of Friday afternoon, the S & P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were on track for their second week in the red. The broad market index dropped 0.9% during the week, while the Dow fell 1.6%. The Nasdaq Composite had also lost 0.2%. The downward movement comes as investors' concerns on the health of the banking sector and U.S. economy were reignited. Regional bank stocks took a hit when PacWest announced a significant deposit outflows during the first week of May. Concerns of a U.S. government default was was another overhang on market sentiment this week as lawmakers failed to reach a resolution on the debt ceiling. Nonetheless, several stocks managed to beat the market this week. Take a look at this week's top gainers, and where analysts see them going forward. (Data as of early morning trading Friday.) Solar panel manufacturer First Solar emerged as this week's biggest gainer, with shares surging 26.3% as of Friday morning. The company announced its acquisition of European thin film company Evolar AB, in a move to accelerate development of next-generation photovoltaic technology. Approximately 41% of analysts covering the stock rate it a buy, according to FactSet. To be sure, the stock is already 2.6% above analysts' consensus price target. Shares of chemical manufacturer Albemarle popped 10.6% this week after being upgraded by KeyBanc and Bank of America . KeyBanc cited improving demand for lithium in China for its upgrade and said shares currently sit at an attractive valuation. More than half of analysts covering Albemarle rate it a buy, according to FactSet data. The average analyst price target implies shares could rally 30.3%. Shares are down 9.7% year to date. Google's parent company Alphabet saw shares rise 10.5% as investors cheered its new AI developments unveiled at the company's annual developers conference. Shares have had a strong year thus far, surging more than 32%. Nearly four-fifth of analysts covering Google are bullish on the stock. Streaming giant Netflix also had a strong week, with shares going up almost 7%. The stock is up approximately 15% in 2023, and analysts estimate additional 6% growth, based on the average price target. Just under half of analysts covering Netflix have issued a buy rating on shares. Health care names Steris , McKesson and DaVita also the list of this week's biggest gainers, rising 9.7%, 8.3% and 6.7%, respectively. Enphase Energy was another industrial stock that outperformed, jumping 7.5%. Online marketplace Etsy was the sole consumer name on the list, with the stock gaining 8%.

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A solar stock and two tech giants emerge as this week's top S&P 500 gainers - CNBC

German digital insurer Wefox said Wednesday it raised $110 million of fresh funding from backers including JPMorgan and Barclays.

The news marks a vote of confidence for the insurance technology space at a time when it faces tough macroeconomic headwinds.

Wefox is a Berlin, Germany-based firm focused on personal insurance products, such as home insurance, motor insurance and personal liability insurance. Rather than underwriting claims itself, the company connects its users with brokers and partner insurance firms through an online platform.

Founded in 2015, it competes with the likes of U.S. digital insurer Lemonade and German firm GetSafe, as well as established insurance incumbents like Allianz.

Wefox said it raised the fresh funds through a combination of debt financing and fresh equity. Of the $110 million total, $55 million is in the form of a credit facility from banking giants JPMorgan and Barclays. A further of $55 million equity investment was led by Squarepoint Capital, a global investment management firm with $75.7 billion in assets under management.

"It's a new type of financing for a growth company," Julian Teicke, Wefox's CEO and co-founder, told CNBC in an interview. "Risk investors, equity investors, they understand, they want to take risk."

"Banks typically don't, so for them it was really important to understand our path towards profitability and the maturity of our business," he added.

The company said it maintained its $4.5 billion valuation from a July funding round somewhat rare in today's market, with many fintechs seeing their valuations slump drastically.

Wefox's announcement comes as fintech and the technology industry as a whole grapple with a harsher economic environment, finding it more difficult to raise funding.

Higher interest rates have seen investors reevaluate growth-oriented tech businesses, with equity markets and fintech in particular taking a beating. In the public markets, U.S. firm Lemonade has seen its shares drop 23% in the past 12 months, though the stock is up 13% so far in 2023.

Layoffs have also plagued the fintech space. On Tuesday, money transfer firm Zepz told CNBC it was letting 420 employees go, or 26% of its total workforce, in the latest round of redundancies to hit the sector.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, too, has darkened the outlook. The tech-focused lender collapsed earlier this year after its startup and venture capital clients fled in a panic due to capitalization concerns.

Despite the headwinds facing the wider tech industry, Teicke says he believes Wefox is "crisis-resistant." In the first quarter of 2023, Wefox saw its revenues almost double year-over-year. The company anticipates it will reach profitability by the end of this year.

Teicke also said Wefox hasn't faced the same pressures to lay off staff. Instead, it has shifted its priorities, he said, "doubling down on things that work and stopping things that don't make sense."

For instance, Teicke said Wefox was focusing on its broker partnership model and its so-called "affinity" method of distribution, where it sells its insurance software to other businesses for a subscription fee for example, an online car dealer adding car insurance at the point of sale.

The fresh funds will go towards investing in Wefox's affinity program and technology platform, the company said.

Teicke said Wefox is also investing heavily in artificial intelligence, which has become a hot area of tech recently following the rise of viral AI chatbot ChatGPT. Wefox mainly uses AI to automate policy applications and customer service.

The company has three tech hubs in Paris, Barcelona, and Milan dedicated to AI.

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JPMorgan and Barclays back $4.5 billion insurance tech giant Wefox - CNBC

Wondering how to get interview calls from tech giants? A resident from Uttar Pradesh's city of Lucknow has shared five steps strategy that got her interview calls from big tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Infosys.

Wondering how to get interview calls from tech giants? A resident from Uttar Pradesh's city of Lucknow has shared five steps strategy that got her interview calls from big tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Infosys.

As per her LinkedIn bio, Deeksha Pandey is currently working at Google's Hyderabad office since the past 11 months.

As per her LinkedIn bio, Deeksha Pandey is currently working at Google's Hyderabad office since the past 11 months.

As per the first step, she said that she subscribed to the career pages of more than 100 companies. Due to this she was updated whenever a new opportunity was opened in the company. Secondly, she added that she also added that she participated in almost all of the hiring contests organised by the companies. I participated in almost all of the hiring contests organised frequently by multiple companies. Some popular sites that regular conducts these contests are: Hackerearth , D2C etc," she wrote.

As per the first step, she said that she subscribed to the career pages of more than 100 companies. Due to this she was updated whenever a new opportunity was opened in the company. Secondly, she added that she also added that she participated in almost all of the hiring contests organised by the companies. I participated in almost all of the hiring contests organised frequently by multiple companies. Some popular sites that regular conducts these contests are: Hackerearth , D2C etc," she wrote.

Thirdly, she said that she participated in multiple hackathons that indirectly helped her getting interview calls. Giving an example she said, For example, I participated in Microsoft Fixathon by Microsoft that eventually helped me in getting interview call from Microsoft."

Thirdly, she said that she participated in multiple hackathons that indirectly helped her getting interview calls. Giving an example she said, For example, I participated in Microsoft Fixathon by Microsoft that eventually helped me in getting interview call from Microsoft."

Further adding she wrote, Before submitting my resume to any job opening, I used to trim my resume according to the job description. I tried to highlight/add the keywords in my resume that was in sync to the job description

Further adding she wrote, Before submitting my resume to any job opening, I used to trim my resume according to the job description. I tried to highlight/add the keywords in my resume that was in sync to the job description

Lastly, she mentioned that during the process she got 1000 rejections but it did not stop her from applying for new job opening. "So in summary, dont get demotivated if you are not getting any reply from the companies. Just keep applying, you never know which could be the one for you, she said.

Lastly, she mentioned that during the process she got 1000 rejections but it did not stop her from applying for new job opening. "So in summary, dont get demotivated if you are not getting any reply from the companies. Just keep applying, you never know which could be the one for you, she said.

Meanwhile, a report by Economic Times stated that tech giant Amazon is laying off about 500 employees in India across different businesses and functions. As per the report, the process of lay off is ongoing and employees from Amazon Web Services (AWS), human resources, support functions are being laid off. The report also added that this fresh round of layoffs is part of 9,000 jobs cut announcement that was made in March 2023.

Meanwhile, a report by Economic Times stated that tech giant Amazon is laying off about 500 employees in India across different businesses and functions. As per the report, the process of lay off is ongoing and employees from Amazon Web Services (AWS), human resources, support functions are being laid off. The report also added that this fresh round of layoffs is part of 9,000 jobs cut announcement that was made in March 2023.

In March, Amazon had revealed its plans to cut around 9,000 jobs from its cloud services, advertising and Twitch units as recession fears loom. The announcement was made by CEO Andy Jassy via a memo to staff mere weeks after the company laid off around 18,000 employees.

In March, Amazon had revealed its plans to cut around 9,000 jobs from its cloud services, advertising and Twitch units as recession fears loom. The announcement was made by CEO Andy Jassy via a memo to staff mere weeks after the company laid off around 18,000 employees.

After the news of layoffs came out, a former employee at Amazon's Bengaluru office said that she has been struggling to process the layoff for over 20 days. Srishti Dasgupta worked as a Senior product compliance associate since 9 months at Amazon.

After the news of layoffs came out, a former employee at Amazon's Bengaluru office said that she has been struggling to process the layoff for over 20 days. Srishti Dasgupta worked as a Senior product compliance associate since 9 months at Amazon.

In her post she wrote, Hi everyone, I'm writing to share some news that I've been struggling to process for the past 20+ days. I was recently relieved from my position at Amazon on April 2023. I have been feeling a range of emotions since then, including grief, anger, and uncertainty. I'm grieving the loss of my job, the relationships I built with my colleagues, and the sense of purpose I felt in my work. I'm also angry at the situation, and I'm feeling uncertain about what the future holds."

In her post she wrote, Hi everyone, I'm writing to share some news that I've been struggling to process for the past 20+ days. I was recently relieved from my position at Amazon on April 2023. I have been feeling a range of emotions since then, including grief, anger, and uncertainty. I'm grieving the loss of my job, the relationships I built with my colleagues, and the sense of purpose I felt in my work. I'm also angry at the situation, and I'm feeling uncertain about what the future holds."

"I'm still processing what happened, but I wanted to reach out to my network and let you know what's going on. I'm open to connecting with anyone who has been through a similar experience, or who has any advice for me," she added.

"I'm still processing what happened, but I wanted to reach out to my network and let you know what's going on. I'm open to connecting with anyone who has been through a similar experience, or who has any advice for me," she added.

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Looking for a job in tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Goldman Sachs? Here are 5 tips to get interview calls | Mint - Mint

officer of Sea Ltd., cofounded Tencent-backed Sea with group chief operating officer Gang Ye and chief product officer of Shopee David Chen in 2009.Wei Leng Tay/Bloomberg

Singapore-based Sea Ltd. disappointed investors with first-quarter earnings that came in well below analysts expectations, sending its NYSE-listed shares tumbling 18% overnight, which wiped out a collective $1.7 billion from its three cofounders fortunes.

The digital gaming and e-commerce firm said Tuesday that its net profit for the quarter ended March 31 was just over $87 million, compared to a net loss of $580 million from a year earlier. Seas bottom line was hit hard by a $118 million goodwill impairment charge that pushed it well below the consensus analyst estimate of $224 million, as compiled by Bloomberg.

Forrest Li, Seas chairman and group CEO, stressed the fact that his tech firm is trying to do more with fewer resources to improve profitability. As we continue to fine tune our operations and navigate near-term macro uncertainties, we remain highly confident in the long-term opportunities in our markets and our ability to capture those profitably, he said in a statement.

Sea said its revenue for the first quarter was $3 billion, marking a 5% year-on-year increase, its slowest pace of growth over the past three years. The companys lacklustre result highlighted uneven performances across its units.

E-commerce revenue for the period rose 36% year-on-year to $2.1 billion, while its digital financial services saw its top line rise 75% to $412.8 million. Revenue at its digital entertainment unit, once its biggest revenue contributor, however, fell 43% to $540 million, as it faces headwinds including Indias ban of its flagship mobile game Free Fire.

In an overnight report, Singapore-based CGS CIMB research analyst Ong Khang Chuen noted that while its online gaming unit Garena still faces challenges, we see green shoots with positive user trends for Free Fire in April and new game launches expected in the first half of this year.

With [Sea] now a profitable company with strong cashflow generation and balance sheet, we believe it is on strong footing to capture longer-term tailwinds from ASEAN digitalization, he added.

In March, Sea posted its first-ever quarterly profit for the three months ended December 31, following a period of belt-tightening measures that included cutting thousands of jobs. To rein in costs, Sea also downsized its global ambition for Shopee, its e-commerce unit that competes with Alibabas Lazada and superapp Grab. Last year, Shopee exited France, Spain and Indiajust months after pilot launches in those markets.

Li cofounded Tencent-backed Sea with group COO Gang Ye and Shopees Chief Product Officer David Chen in 2009, the year the trio first launched online gaming platform Garena, with the backing of angel investors like the late Skype cofounder Toivo Annus. Six years later, Sea launched Shopee in Singapore and it has since expanded globally.

The companys fintech unit has also been making some headway with its digital payments and services. In September 2021, SeaMoney rolled out its digital bank in Indonesia. It has also clinched digital bank licenses in Malaysia and Singapore.

The companys stock fell 18% in New York overnight and closed at $72.50 a share. The slump slashed Lis net worth by $1 billion to $4.6 billion, while Yes wealth fell by $552 million to $3 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List. Meanwhile, Chens fortune fell $177 million to $800 million.

Seas shares have gained about 37% this year, which is still well below the stocks all-time high of $357.8 reached in 2021, when pandemic lockdowns boosted online gaming and shopping.

Li was ranked No. 11 on the list of Singapores 50 Richest that was published in September, with a net worth of $4.2 billion at the time.

As Contributing Editor at Forbes Asia, I cover the region's billionaire tycoons and their businesses. I also work on the valuations research and reporting work for the publication's wealth lists across Asia.

Over my career as a journalist,I've worked as a reporter/writer across newspaper, television, newswire and magazine formats.

A former journalism faculty at the Nanyang Technological University Singapore, I taught business journalism and news media innovation from 2015 to 2022.

If you have an interesting story idea or a news tip, email me at jtan@forbesasia.com

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Seas Cofounders Lose $1.7 Billion Overnight As Tech Giants Earnings Disappoint - Forbes

Chinese tech giant Tencent released quarterly results Wednesday.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Tencent reported an 11% jump in quarterly revenue Wednesday, marking its fastest growth in more than a year, as the company saw a big rebound in payment volumes, ad sales, and gaming.

Here's how Tencent did in the first quarter, versus Refinitiv consensus estimates:

Tencent reported results after the market close in Hong Kong Wednesday. Shares of Prosus, a major Tencent shareholder in Europe, were barely changed.

The results mark a strong bounce back to growth for Tencent after a succession of negative and flat quarters. The company said in its earnings that it benefited from a solid recovery in domestic consumption in China, which finally began easing its aggressive Covid-19 restrictions in December.

Net profit "increased at a faster pace, reflecting a positive revenue mix shift, operational efficiencies, and an easy base period," Tencent said in the report Wednesday.

Investors were focused on whether the reopening of China's economy will give a boost to the country's tech giants, including Tencent. China's economy grew 4.5% in the first quarter, the fastest pace in a year.

Tencent said its gaming business benefited from a return to growth in domestic game sales.

The company's popular locally released Honor of Kings game saw record-high gross receipts in the quarter, Tencent said. The firm saw increased revenues from other established titles including DnF and CrossFire Mobile, as well as recently launched game Arena Breakout.

The Chinese tech industry as a whole faced intense scrutinyas part of a broaderregulatory tighteningby Beijing that began in late 2020 and wiped off more than a combined $1 trillion from the country's biggest companies.

Tencent, which is a major owner of and investor in tech businesses worldwide, has been shedding some of its equity investments as Beijing remains on high alert about the size of domestic tech companies.

But more recently, there have been signs the central government is softening its stance toward internet titans like Tencent,Alibaba, and Didi.

In 2021, Chinese regulators froze the approval of new video game releases, which badly impacted Tencent. However, over the past few months, Beijing has loosened its grip on the industry greenlighting more titles for release.

Tencent said Wednesday that limitations on when kids can play games had a big impact on the contribution of minors to its overall gaming revenue. Minors contributed 0.4% of total time spent and 0.7% of total gross receipts for domestic games in the quarter, down 96% and 90% respective year-over-year.

Amid a tougher gaming market at home, Tencent has boosted its focus on international markets. Tencent said the international gaming business saw strong growth, with its battle royale title Valorant seeing year-on-year gross receipts growth of 30%.

PUBG Mobile, another popular battle royale title, resumed sequential growth in daily active users, Tencent said.

The bulk of Tencent's overall revenues came from its value-added services, which refers to virtual goods including video games. This segment accounted for 57% of the company's total sales.

Of that segment, international gaming was the biggest driver, Tencent said, with overseas game sales growing 25% year-over-year to 13.2 billion yuan.

Domestic game sales, by contrast, grew by 6% year-on-year to 35.1 billion yuan.

Social network revenues, which includes Tencent's WeChat and QQ instant messaging apps, increased by 6% to 31 billion yuan driven by in-game virtual item sales and the company's music subscription service.

Fintech and business services, which includes Tencent's WeChat Pay payments service, accounted for 32% of revenue. Revenues in that segment grew 14% year-on-year to 48.7 billion yuan, an acceleration from the fourth quarter of 2022, thanks to recovery in commercial payment volumes due to a rebound in China consumption, Tencent said.

Business services growth was primarily driven by a jump in sales in Tencent's cloud services division, which has become an greater focus for the company lately.

AI is expected to draw a decent amount of attention on the company's earnings call when executives speak later Wednesday, which starts at 8 a.m. ET.

In its earnings statement, Tencent said it was "investing in our AI capabilities and cloud infrastructure to embrace the opportunities brought by foundation models, and expect AI to be a growth multiplier that enables us to better serve our users, customers, and society at large."

AI has become a huge focus for the tech industry amid buzz surrounding the development of so-called foundation models like OpenAI's GPT-4 advanced language processing software.

Tencent said in its release Wednesday that the firm upgraded its machine learning advertising platform with a deep-learning model and so-called standard product unit database, "delivering better targeting and higher conversions for advertisers."

Tencent's online ad revenue increased by 17% in the first quarter to 21 billion yuan, driven by advertising on video accounts, "mini programs" within Tencent's WeChat app, and mobile ads.

While numerous other Chinese tech firms have been developing their own ChatGPT alternatives, Tencent hasn't yet commented publicly on whether it is developing its own chatbot to rival those being worked on by some of its closest competitors.

The company reportedly set up a team dedicated to exploring a ChatGPT-like product in February, according to Reuters.

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Tencent posts fastest jump in quarterly revenue in more than a year after China reopens - CNBC

HELENA, Mont. -- Montana became the first state in the U.S. to enact a complete ban on TikTok on Wednesday when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a measure that's more sweeping than any other state's attempts to curtail the social media app, which is owned by a Chinese tech company.

The measure, scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, is expected to be challenged legally and will serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America that many national lawmakers have envisioned. Cybersecurity experts say it could be difficult to enforce the ban.

Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party, Gianforte said in a statement.

TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter argued that the law infringes on peoples First Amendment rights and is unlawful. She declined to say whether the company will file a lawsuit.

We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana, Oberwetter said in a statement.

The American Civil Liberties of Montana and NetChoice, a trade group that counts Google and TikTok as its members, also called the law unconstitutional. Keegan Medrano, policy director for the ACLU of Montana, said the Legislature trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information and run their small business, in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment.

Some lawmakers, the FBI and officials at other agencies are concerned the video-sharing app, owned by ByteDance, could be used to allow the Chinese government to access information on U.S. citizens or push pro-Beijing misinformation that could influence the public. TikTok says none of this has ever happened.

A former executive at ByteDance alleges the tech giant has served as a propaganda tool for the Chinese government, a claim ByteDance says is baseless.

When Montana banned the app on government-owned devices in late December, Gianforte said TikTok posed a significant risk to sensitive state data. More than half of U.S. states and the federal government have a similar ban.

On Wednesday, Gianforte also announced he was prohibiting the use of all social media applications tied to foreign adversaries on state equipment and for state businesses in Montana effective on June 1. Among the apps he listed are WeChat, whose parent company is headquartered in China; and Telegram Messenger, which was founded in Russia.

The legislation, drafted by the attorney generals office, easily passed through Montanas GOP-controlled Legislature.

Gianforte had wanted to expand the TikTok bill to include apps tied to foreign adversaries, but lawmakers did not send him the bill until after the session ended this month, preventing him from offering any amendments.

Montana's new law prohibits downloads of TikTok in the state and would fine any entity an app store or TikTok $10,000 per day for each time someone is offered the ability to access the social media platform or download the app. The penalties would not apply to users.

Opponents say Montana residents could easily circumvent the ban by using a virtual private network, a service that shields internet users by encrypting their data traffic, preventing others from observing their web browsing. Montana state officials say geofencing technology is used with online sports gambling apps, which are deactivated in states where online gambling is illegal.

Though many lawmakers in Montana have been enthusiastic about a ban, experts who followed the bill closely said the state will likely have to defend the legislation in court.

Officials are also bound to receive criticism from advocacy groups and TikTok users who dont want their favorite app to be taken away. The apps fun, goofy videos and ease of use has made it immensely popular, and U.S. tech giants like Snapchat and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, see it as a competitive threat.

TikTok has been recruiting so-called influencers and small businesses who use the platform to push back on a ban. But others who havent been part of an official campaign coordinated by the company are also worried about what lawmakers are doing.

Adam Botkin, a former football player and recent graduate at the University of Montana, said it was a scary time for him as a content creator in Montana. The 22-year-old has nearly 170,000 followers on TikTok, where he mostly posts short videos of himself performing football kicks.

He says he sometimes makes tens of thousands of dollars per month from brands looking to market their products on his social media accounts, including Instagram, where he has roughly 44,000 followers.

Botkin says most of his income comes from Instagram, which is believed to be more lucrative for content creators. But he has to grow his following on that platform and others to have the same level of popularity that he does on TikTok. He says hes trying to do that and wont try to circumvent the TikTok ban by using a VPN.

You got to adapt and evolve with how things move, Botkin said. So, if I have to adapt and move, Ill adapt.

Chatter about a TikTok ban has been around since 2020, when then-President Donald Trump attempted to bar the company from operating in the U.S. through an executive order that was halted in federal courts. President Joe Bidens administration initially shelved those plans, but more recently threatened to ban the app if the companys Chinese owners dont sell their stakes.

TikTok doesnt want either option and has been clamoring to prove it's free of any Chinese government interference. Its also touting a data safety plan it calls Project Texas to assuage bipartisan concerns in Washington.

At the same time, some lawmakers have emerged as allies, arguing efforts to restrict data harvesting practices need to include all social media companies, not just one. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked a bill in March that would ban TikTok nationally, saying such a move would violate the Constitution and anger the millions of voters who use the app.

Montanas TikTok ban also comes amid a growing movement to limit social media use among kids and teens and, in some cases, impose bans. Several bills circulating in Congress aim to get at the issue, including one that would prohibit all children under the age of 13 from using social media and require permission from a guardian for users under 18 to create an account.

Some states, including Utah and Arkansas, have already enacted laws that would hinge social media use on parental consent. Similar bills are in the works in other states. Last year, California enacted a law requiring companies to beef up data protection practices for children and offer them the highest privacy settings.

___

Hadero reported from New York.

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Montana says 1st-in-nation TikTok ban protects people. TikTok says it violates their rights - ABC News

Google kicked off its annual developer conference I/O on Wednesday, unveiling two new Pixel smartphones and a revamped Pixel tablet intended to be a smart home hub. Aside from the hardware announcements, there was A LOT of AI talk in the opening keynote it is 2023 after all. According to CNET, the term AI was mentioned more than 140 times during the roughly two-hour presentation, as Google didnt shy away from letting the world know where its current focus was.

After having reportedly been caught on the wrong foot by the release of ChatGPT to the public, Googles leadership had issued a Code Red in response to the chatbots rapid rise in popularity late last year, as it saw its core search business under threat. The fact that OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is working closely with Microsoft, one of Googles main rivals in the search business, didnt make things better for Google, and sure enough, Microsoft keeps bringing AI-powered features to its search engine Bing.

On Wednesday, Google unveiled its next generation AI system PaLM 2, a state-of-the-art language model, which is good at math, coding, reasoning, multilingual translation and natural language generation, according to Zoubin Ghahramani, vice president at Google Deepmind. PaLM powers more than 25 products announced at I/O, including Bard, Googles ChatGPT competitor, which will be rolled out to more than 180 countries after the trial period had been limited to the United States and the United Kingdom. Google also did its best to counter the idea that it had somehow fallen behind on AI, emphasizing its pioneering role in the industry over the past decade.

Ever since the launch of ChatGPT, AI has been making huge waves and the public can now witness firsthand how rapidly the technology is evolving. Tech companies such as Googles parent Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta have fully embraced the AI trend, talking up the capabilities and use cases of AI at every occasion. Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple collectively mentioned the term AI almost 200 times in their latest earnings calls, up sharply from less than 40 mentions a year ago. As the following chart illustrates, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are much more involved in the AI craze than Amazon and Apple, which is understandable considering the different business models.

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Tech Giants Were All About AI This Earnings Season - Statista

What just happened? Immersion Corporation, the haptic feedback company that has been suing others over rumble tech since 2004, has now turned its attention to Valve, accusing the gaming giant of infringing on its patents in the Steam Deck, Valve Index VR, Steam VR, and games, including Half-Life: Alyx.

Back in 2004, Immersion won a lawsuit against Sony, claiming the Japanese firm had used its haptic feedback (rumble) technology. The Verge notes that since then, it has launched lawsuits against Microsoft, Apple (for Force Touch and 3D Touch on the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch variants), Google, Motorola, and Fitbit, all of whom settled.

In Microsoft's case, it ended up buying 10% of Immersion for $6 million to avoid the case, as well as paying $20 million for a perpetual patent license. Meta is currently fighting an Immersion lawsuit filed last year, while Nintendo, like Sony and Microsoft, licenses Immersion tech.

As with other litigious companies, which are sometimes given the moniker Patent Trolls, Immersion has accumulated so many patents for a particular technology that sued tech firms have an easier time settling or licensing. The company claims to own over 1,650 patents related to haptics.

Immersion is gunning for Valve

On Monday, Immersion filed a complaint against Valve in federal court. It cited seven patents dating from 2002 to 2016 and is asking for damages, royalties, and an injunction against Gabe Newell's company "from deploying, operating, maintaining, testing, and using the Accused Handheld Instrumentalities and Accused VR Instrumentalities."

"While we are pleased to see that Valve recognizes the value of haptics and has adopted our haptic technology in its handheld video game and AR/VR systems as part of its effort to generate revenue streams through the sales of hardware, games, and other virtual assets, and advertisements, it is important for us to protect our business against infringement of our intellectual property to preserve the investments that we have made in our technology," said Eric Singer, chairman and CEO of Immersion.

It's noted that Valve uses linear resonant actuators (LRA) in its products, which is the same technology found in the Nintendo Switch, so it seems Valve will be battling precedent in this case. In all likelihood, we can expect to see Valve follow in the footsteps of others sued by Immersion and settle the case.

The Steam Deck is proving highly successful for Valve. It's regularly at the top of Steam's Top Sellers chart and is estimated to have sold more than one million units. Valve is also working on a successor to the handheld device.

The rest is here:

Haptics company that successfully sued multiple tech giants goes ... - TechSpot

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Washington isn't just dressing down Chinese tech giants.

Online fast-fashion darlings are facing the same geopolitical headwinds buffeting the likes of TikTok and Huawei. Shein, the company that bulldozed a path to Western consumers for fellow China-based fast-fashion apps, took a valuation haircut of around $34 billion on Wednesday.

The fast fashion colossus, which rode to international success during the pandemic with its easy-to-use platform and startlingly cheap clothes, was valued at $100 billion last year. That's down to $66 billion on the back of a fresh $2 billion fundraising injection, despite raking in $23 billion in revenue last year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Fellow China e-retailer Pinduoduo followed in Shein's wake by launching Temu, the international version of its app, in September 2022. Both Shein and PDD Holdings, Pinduoduo and Temu's parent company, have moved their main offices out of China in a bid to cement their international brand identities.

But Pinduoduo suffered a big setback when Google banned its Chinese app from the Play Store in March after it found versions of the app that contained malware. Given the US has a history of raising national concerns around Chinese-owned apps even when there's no clear evidence of dodgy code, this sparked a backlash in Washington:

Getting caught in the geopolitical cross-fire is of course just one pressure point. Shein's valuation trim comes during a general slump in tech stocks, and fast fashion overall is falling ever more out of vogue both with sustainability-minded younglings and, potentially, investors.

ASOS S.O.S.: British fast-fashion e-retailer ASOS announced last week that its losses had widened in the last six months to 272 million. The Financial Times responded to the news with an opinion column that likened digital fast-fashion retailers to the clothes they sell: "fun, flimsy and ephemeral." Does that remind anyone else of a TikTok video?

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China's Fast Fashion Apps Become New Geopolitical Battleground - The Motley Fool