Hello, it’s Wednesday, and that’s really all we’ve got to say about that. Let’s jump in.
1. Microsoft makes a hail mary bid
Kicking things off and it’s the deal that refuses to close. After facing some back-and-forth over antitrust concerns with the Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft is now selling the rights to Activision’s cloud gaming services to video game publisher Ubisoft in a bid to appease regulators in the UK. Microsoft announced that the company would “restructure” the deal in a blog post written by Vice Chairman Brad Smith. The shake-up is a response to the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which previously raised concerns over how Microsoft’s $US68.7 billion deal could create an unstoppable monopoly. As such, Microsoft has issued new terms of its deal that transfers rights to all cloud streaming games on PC and console released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft.
2. Buh-bye headlines on X
Elon Musk seems to think his site would look a lot better without any helpful, descriptive headlines that describe users’ posted links. This is also the man who still thinks that dull “X” logo represents his new brand, so that’s not saying much about Musk’s overall aesthetic taste. Anyway, on Monday, Fortune reported that Twitter—the site that keeps claiming it’s now called “X”—would remove headlines and description text from links posted to the app. Instead, each link would simply display the main image from the site without any other context on the URL. Musk then confirmed his plans to kill headlines in an early Tuesday morning tweet, claiming the move would “greatly improve the esthetics.”
3. IBM sells The Weather (Company)
As reported by iTNews, IBM has announced that it is selling its weather business, The Weather Company, which had created consumer-focused products such as Weather.com and Storm Radar. Big Blue is selling the company to Francisco Partners, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024 after regulatory approval. IBM said back in January that it would lay off 3,900 employees, with revenue estimates missed for its second quarter in July. The tech giant will continue to use The Weather Company’s data for its software offerings.
4. End of an era
Netflix’s DVD subscription platform will allow subscribers to keep their final delivery of DVDs as the company prepares to close its 25-year-old service, the company announced on Monday. In April, Netflix confirmed it will be shutting down its DVD mail order option, telling existing customers in a Twitter post last week that they will receive up to 10 random discs in their final shipment. But now, the company is taking it a step further by telling subscribers that they won’t be charged an additional fee for any discs they haven’t returned after the September 29 cutoff.
5. Meta rolls out the web version of threads
Meta launched its Twitter-killer app Threads back in July, utilising Instagram accounts with a similar layout to the bird app – however, the app launched without some important features, such as a chronological followers-only feed and direct messaging. Now, one of the features many users have been waiting for has arrived – a web client. As reported by Reuters, the feature is currently rolling out over the next few days (I personally can’t access it right now), and it will, finally, allow users to access the app on Windows and Mac computers.
BONUS ITEM: No innuendo today, rather a pretty space pic to nerd out on with us.
See ya tomorrow!