Month: January 2024
Adobe throws XD overboard after losing out on $20bn Figma deal
Adobe confirms it’s keeping Adobe XD in maintenance mode after its attempt to buy web design tool Figma falls through.
It’s all over for Adobe XD. After losing out in its $20bn bid for Figma, the firm is conceding defeat in the UI design arena – for now, at least.
In the fallout of a deal that saw the company placed under the microscope of competition authorities in Europe and the US, Bloomberg is reporting that Adobe has confirmed it has “no plans to further invest” in its own UI/UX web design software.
It might look like Adobe taking back its ball because it doesn’t want to play any more. But it feels like the inevitable conclusion for an app that was placed into maintenance mode once the company announced its surprise acquisition attempt. However, support will continue for existing users, with Adobe remaining open to new product design partners. So, there’s hope yet for XD fans.
Game over, man
When Adobe first revealed plans to buy up Figma, some Adobe XD users remained quietly hopeful that the team-up would lead to a blend of the best from both prototyping platforms. Presumably the board had the same idea, strengthening an app that had been increasingly losing market share to the more accessible Figma for a long time.
Outside the community, Adobe’s multi-billion dollar deal was eyed with a heavy dose of scepticism. Figma users feared a gutting of their favorite graphic design software. The markets weren’t enamoured. The authorities even less so, with regulatory watchdogs in the EU, UK, and US all examining the fine print for evidence the merger would create a monopoly. And users of Adobe XD were dismayed to find their tool effectively shuttered, receiving only bug and security updates.
In a show of hope over experience, even once the deal fell through, online communities were speculating that XD might come out of maintenance mode again. Now we know the answer – and it’s not the one users wanted to hear.
Walking away from the proposed merger – at a cost one billion dollars for failing to seal the deal – the company confirmed its focus no rested on mainstays like Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
“We are focused on the opportunity we have across imaging, photography, design, web, animation and 3D, as well as Express and Firefly,” the spokesperson said.
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Microsoft’s $2bn Xbox revenue surge after Activision Blizzard acquisition
Microsoft has seen a $2 billion Xbox revenue boost after acquiring Activision Blizzard, according to its latest financial earnings report.
The post Microsoft’s $2bn Xbox revenue surge after Activision Blizzard acquisition appeared first on ReadWrite.
Microsoft has seen a $2 billion Xbox revenue boost after acquiring Activision Blizzard, according to its latest financial earnings report.
This quarter marks Microsoft’s initial earnings report as a company valued at $3 trillion. It is also the first instance of the company disclosing a 61% revenue increase due to its purchase of the video game holding company. As a result, the profit has elevated gaming to become Microsoft’s third biggest business division, surpassing Windows.
Microsoft claims much of this growth is due to the acquisition, which is said to have added $2 billion of revenue in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024. However, The Verge reports that the cost of integration, transaction costs, and other costs of revenue all total $930 million, with an eventual operating loss of $440 million.
Xbox hardware has also grown by 3% year-over-year, according to Venture Beat. Overall, the tech company’s revenues grew by 18% to $62 billion, and its shares are up by 33%. That being said, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood admitted that “[Xbox] hardware revenue will decline year over year,” during the conference call. She added that she expects gaming revenue to grow in the low 40% region, with 45 points due to Activision Blizzard.
CEO Satya Nadella reiterated that the company had set a record for monthly active users on Xbox, PC, as well as mobile in this quarter. He explained, “we now have over 200 million monthly active users alone, inclusive of Activision Blizzard King.”
He noted the recent unveiling of new games and updates to its well-established franchises. Nadella also pointed out the company’s progress in cloud gaming, mentioning a 44% year-over-year increase in streaming hours.
Microsoft cuts jobs despite growth
It comes as Microsoft announced that it planned to lay off 1,900 staff across its gaming divisions, including employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox. It amounts to around 8% of Microsoft’s total gaming workforce of 22,000.
Only last week, the company exceeded $3 trillion for the first time in its history, positioning it as the world’s second-largest company in terms of market value, following Apple Inc. Much of this has been due to its investment in AI, as investors rallied around its expansion into the area.
Featured image: Canva / Activision Blizzard / Pexels
The post Microsoft’s $2bn Xbox revenue surge after Activision Blizzard acquisition appeared first on ReadWrite.
Google Cloud saw a huge rise in 2023 — with Google One a particular success
Google had a good year in FY 2023, with much of its growth being attributed to cloud and subscriptions.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has revealed that the company’s personal cloud subscription, Google One, is fast approaching the milestone of 100 million subscribers.
In a recent announcement during the company’s Q4 and fiscal year 2023 earnings call, Pichai discussed the way that Google One has evolved since it was first introduced in 2018. Its most recent additions include enhanced editing features for Google Photos and dark web monitoring, which add to the existing features such as a VPN connection family sharing, and the all-important core product: cloud storage.
Overall, Pichai highlighted that Google’s subscription business, which entails Google One and other products like YouTube Premium, accounted for $15 billion in revenue last year, a five-fold increase since 2019.
Google sees a good year for cloud and subscriptions
Reflecting on the previous twelve months, Pichai confirmed that the company’s significant investments in artificial intelligence have helped to drive cloud revenue.
The announcement also shed some light on Google’s recent restructuring, including the layoffs of around 1,000 workers across various divisions in January 2024, with Pichai hinting at more cuts to come.
Pichai alluded to the success of Gemini AI in Ad Campaigns, which has helped boost efficiency for advertisers, however sceptics have suggested that the generative AI tool could been a driving cause behind job losses in the company’s ad business. Google affirms that the changes are nothing more than a typical annual process.
Moreover, Google posted a revenue of $307 billion in 2023, marking a 9% increase over the $282 billion recorded in 2022. Its fourth quarter also saw a notable increase of 13% compared with Q4 2022.
Speaking of the results, Pichai summarized: “We are pleased with the ongoing strength in Search and the growing contribution from YouTube and Cloud. Each of these is already benefiting from our AI investments and innovation. As we enter the Gemini era, the best is yet to come.”
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ByteDance CEO Urges Staff To Resist Mediocrity After Missing Initial AI Wave
ByteDance’s chief urged his staff to resist mediocrity after the company missed the initial wave of generative AI development, becoming the latest Chinese corporate leader to warn employees against falling behind in a fast-changing environment. From a report: In a company-wide meeting on Tuesday, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Liang Rubo told workers to adopt a sense of crisis — suggesting social video pioneer ByteDance was late to recognize the advent of game-changing technologies such as generative AI. He joins Alibaba Group’s Jack Ma and JD.com’s Richard Liu in voicing concern about organizational problems in the face of rising competition. “We are not sensitive enough to external changes,” Liang said, according to a post on the company’s official WeChat account. “During our semi-annual technical review, discussions related to GPT did not emerge until 2023, despite GPT-1 being released in 2018.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
ByteDance’s chief urged his staff to resist mediocrity after the company missed the initial wave of generative AI development, becoming the latest Chinese corporate leader to warn employees against falling behind in a fast-changing environment. From a report: In a company-wide meeting on Tuesday, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Liang Rubo told workers to adopt a sense of crisis — suggesting social video pioneer ByteDance was late to recognize the advent of game-changing technologies such as generative AI. He joins Alibaba Group’s Jack Ma and JD.com’s Richard Liu in voicing concern about organizational problems in the face of rising competition. “We are not sensitive enough to external changes,” Liang said, according to a post on the company’s official WeChat account. “During our semi-annual technical review, discussions related to GPT did not emerge until 2023, despite GPT-1 being released in 2018.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Deepfake porn bill proposed amid Taylor Swift controversy
US lawmakers have taken prompt action to propose an anti-nonconsensual AI porn bill following the controversy over “deepfake” explicit images
The post Deepfake porn bill proposed amid Taylor Swift controversy appeared first on ReadWrite.
US lawmakers have taken prompt action to propose an anti-nonconsensual AI porn bill following the controversy over “deepfake” explicit images of Taylor Swift being spread over the X platform.
A press release from the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary has detailed the legislation that would allow subjects to sue over faked sexual images.
The Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (DEFIANCE) Act would introduce a civil right for action to be taken against explicit “digital forgeries” depicting an identifiable person without their consent, allowing victims to pursue financial damages from anyone who “knowingly produced or possessed” the image with the intent to spread it.
The statement expressed concern at how the volume of “deepfake” content has increased exponentially with the proliferation of AI and its accessibility to the public. Specifically, an “overwhelming majority” of the content is sexually explicit with a 2019 study cited, which found 96% of deepfakes were nonconsensual pornography.
Taylor Swift incident sparks growing concern around deepfakes
With the mega profile of American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, the gravitas around this issue cannot be ignored. The intense spreading of content with her image is not a good thing, but her status has possibly enabled action to be taken sooner.
Those representatives sitting on the Committee included U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, and US Senators Lindsey Graham, Amy Klobuchar and Josh Hawley.
Durbin stated on the proposed legislation, “Although the imagery may be fake, the harm to the victims from the distribution of sexually explicit ‘deepfakes’ is very real. Victims have lost their jobs, and they may suffer ongoing depression or anxiety.”
Sexually-explicit deepfakes are used to exploit and harass women, especially public figures, politicians, and celebrities.
I just introduced a bill to crack down on deepfakes and hold those responsible accountable. https://t.co/JtHREnoBbm
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) January 30, 2024
“By introducing this legislation, we’re giving power back to the victims, cracking down on the distribution of ‘deepfake’ images, and holding those responsible for the images accountable.”
Since the deepfake term first surfaced in 2017, pornographic AI-manipulated images have grown in popularity and frequency, as well as an increase in their sophistication.
There are also concerns regarding AI’s impact on the democratic process, with ChatGPT recently banning a US Presidential candidate bot.
Featured image: Dall-E
The post Deepfake porn bill proposed amid Taylor Swift controversy appeared first on ReadWrite.
StreamAlive picks up $1.58M to build engagement tools for livestreams
StreamAlive, an audience engagement application for livestreams, virtual meetings and in-person events, secured $1.58 million in pre-seed funding, the company announced today. From webinars, live-streamed town halls and virtual work meetings to Twitch streams, online classes, and in-person conferences, there are plenty of instances when audience engagement tools are beneficial. They not only allow presenters
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
StreamAlive, an audience engagement application for livestreams, virtual meetings and in-person events, secured $1.58 million in pre-seed funding, the company announced today. From webinars, live-streamed town halls and virtual work meetings to Twitch streams, online classes, and in-person conferences, there are plenty of instances when audience engagement tools are beneficial. They not only allow presenters […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Neurelo is building a simpler way for developers to connect a database to an application
Data has always been at the heart of every program, and even more so these days as data feeds machine learning and large language models, but connecting to those databases has been a constant struggle for developers. Neurelo, an early stage startup, emerged today with a solution to help solve that problem by creating a
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Data has always been at the heart of every program, and even more so these days as data feeds machine learning and large language models, but connecting to those databases has been a constant struggle for developers. Neurelo, an early stage startup, emerged today with a solution to help solve that problem by creating a […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Yamaha’s new audio mixer for gamers has a simpler interface and cheaper price
Yamaha has a new audio mixer for gamers and streamers. Nearly three years after the launch of the company’s first gaming-specific soundboard, the company’s new ZG02 adds a dedicated USB-C port for gaming consoles, a more streamlined profile and a lower price ($200 compared to the ZG01’s $300).
Yamaha wants to establish its ZG line as more straightforward and accessible than offerings from rival audio companies with gazes similarly fixed on the Twitch and Discord sets (Rode and Roland also court gamers and streamers). “While other game mixing solutions can be cumbersome and complex, the ZG02 offers a more tactile, compact and intuitive mixing experience with customizable effects controls,” Yamaha consumer audio director Alex Sadeghian wrote in a press release.
In addition to its on-the-fly sound, chat and voice adjustments, the Yamaha ZG02 includes competitive gaming “focus” modes and 3D surround sound. It has software-based mic settings and voice effects, including compression, limiter, reverb, pitch and a radio voice filter. In addition, you can assign your favorite shortcuts to its physical buttons in the (free) companion app for Windows and macOS.
The mixer supports gaming headsets with built-in or dedicated mics through an XLR / TRS combo jack on its rear (and has 48V of phantom power for condenser mics). It includes a “versatile USB interface” for Windows and macOS computers, and its console-specific USB-C port works with PS5 / PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
The ZG01 includes a USB driver that lets you route audio to two different apps (for example, Discord and OBS / Streamlabs). Yamaha also touts compatibility with the Elgato Stream Deck lineup. The $200 ZG02 is available starting today in the US at Yamaha’s website.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/yamahas-new-audio-mixer-for-gamers-has-a-simpler-interface-and-cheaper-price-140024235.html?src=rss
Yamaha has a new audio mixer for gamers and streamers. Nearly three years after the launch of the company’s first gaming-specific soundboard, the company’s new ZG02 adds a dedicated USB-C port for gaming consoles, a more streamlined profile and a lower price ($200 compared to the ZG01’s $300).
Yamaha wants to establish its ZG line as more straightforward and accessible than offerings from rival audio companies with gazes similarly fixed on the Twitch and Discord sets (Rode and Roland also court gamers and streamers). “While other game mixing solutions can be cumbersome and complex, the ZG02 offers a more tactile, compact and intuitive mixing experience with customizable effects controls,” Yamaha consumer audio director Alex Sadeghian wrote in a press release.
In addition to its on-the-fly sound, chat and voice adjustments, the Yamaha ZG02 includes competitive gaming “focus” modes and 3D surround sound. It has software-based mic settings and voice effects, including compression, limiter, reverb, pitch and a radio voice filter. In addition, you can assign your favorite shortcuts to its physical buttons in the (free) companion app for Windows and macOS.
The mixer supports gaming headsets with built-in or dedicated mics through an XLR / TRS combo jack on its rear (and has 48V of phantom power for condenser mics). It includes a “versatile USB interface” for Windows and macOS computers, and its console-specific USB-C port works with PS5 / PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
The ZG01 includes a USB driver that lets you route audio to two different apps (for example, Discord and OBS / Streamlabs). Yamaha also touts compatibility with the Elgato Stream Deck lineup. The $200 ZG02 is available starting today in the US at Yamaha’s website.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/yamahas-new-audio-mixer-for-gamers-has-a-simpler-interface-and-cheaper-price-140024235.html?src=rss