Sweeping

Apple has rolled out the highly-anticipated iOS 17.4 update, featuring significant changes tailored specifically for users in Europe. While the update includes some global enhancements, the focal point remains on complying with the Digital Markets Act and introducing alterations exclusive to the European Union.EU ChangesIn adherence to the Digital Markets Act, Apple is revamping the App Store landscape in the European Union (EU). Developers within the EU can now opt for alternative app stores or distribute their apps…

Activision studio Toys for Bob has announced that it's leaving the corporate rat race and is This comes just weeks after Activision Blizzard's parent company Microsoft at Toys for Bob that impacted 86 employees. That’s more than half of the entire staff.The developer said the choice to go indie will allow it to return to “being a small and nimble studio”, harkening back to its early days of the 1980s and 1990s when it made hit titles like Star Control. To that end, the company says it's already developing a new game,…

Jessica Pratt returns this spring from a five-year hiatus with Here in the Pitch, the singer-songwriter’s first album since her acclaimed 2019 LP Quiet Signs. Ahead of the album’s May 3 release via Mexican Summer, Pratt has shared the first single and opening track, “Life Is,” inspired by the orchestral Sixties songs by bands like the Walker Brothers, although not indicative of the rest of the music found on Here in the Pitch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJUyDi3CNHE “In a way, itʼs kind of a false…

iOS 18 could arrive later this year with a massive visual overhaul to the user interface (UI), according to a report. The next major operating system update for iPhone and iPad is expected to arrive in the second half of 2024 along with new AI features that are baked into the system and the company's Siri voice assistant — a recent report suggested that iOS 18 could be the Cupertino company's biggest update to the mobile OS in several years.A report in The Verifier (in Hebrew) citing anonymous sources claims that Apple…

The Justice Department is in the late stages of an investigation into Apple and could file a sweeping antitrust case taking aim at the company's strategies to protect the dominance of the iPhone as soon as the first half of this year, said three people with knowledge of the matter.The agency is focused on how Apple has used its control over its hardware and software to make it more difficult for consumers to ditch the company's devices, as well as for rivals to compete, said the people, who spoke anonymously because the…

Photos from a cybercriminal seizure conducted by HAECHI IV’s operation.Photo: INTERPOLInterpol, an international police organization, has arrested nearly 3,500 people allegedly connected to cybercrime in a sweeping operation announced on Tuesday. $300 million worth of assets across 34 countries were reportedly seized. The operation, Haechi IV, blocked over 80,000 suspicious bank accounts and warned government officials of new types of scams using AI and fake NFTs.Teenage Cybercrime Gang LAPSUS$ Strikes Again“The seizure…

Cruise, the embattled GM self-driving car subsidiary, is laying off 900 employees, or about 24% of its workforce, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The layoffs are part of a plan to slash costs and attempt to revamp the company following an October 2 incident that left a pedestrian stuck under and then dragged by one of its robotaxis. An email, penned by newly minted president and CTO Mo Elshenawy, was sent this morning to the entire 3,800-person workforce. The email, which TechCrunch has viewed, began with a…

The European Union today agreed on the details of the AI Act, a far-reaching set of rules for the people building and using artificial intelligence. It’s a milestone law that, lawmakers hope, will create a blueprint for the rest of the world.After months of debate about how to regulate companies like OpenAI, lawmakers from the EU’s three branches of government—the Parliament, Council and Commission—spent more than 36 hours in total—thrashing out the new legislation between Wednesday afternoon and Friday evening. Lawmakers…

Meta’s WhatsApp messaging service, as well as the encrypted platform Signal, threatened to leave the UK over the proposals.Ofcom’s proposed rules say that public platforms—those that aren’t encrypted—should use “hash matching” to identify CSAM. That technology, which is already used by Google and others, compares images to a preexisting database of illegal images using cryptographic hashes—essentially, encrypted identity codes. Advocates of the technology, including child protection NGOs, have argued that this preserves…

Michael Barr (L), Vice Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve and Martin Gruenberg, Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), testify about recent bank failures during a US Senate Committee on Banking, House and Urban Affairs hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, May 18, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty ImagesU.S. regulators on Thursday unveiled a sweeping set of proposed changes to banks' capital requirements to address evolving…