Apple won't have to allow App Store developers to direct users to alternative payment systems for the time being. At the last minute, an appeals court judge granted Apple's motion to delay App Store changes that were to take effect on December 9th.

"Apple has demonstrated, at minimum, that its appeal raises serious questions on the merits of the district court's determination that Epic Games, Inc. failed to show Apple's conduct violated any antitrust laws but did show that the same conduct violated California's Unfair Competition Law," the decision reads, according to 9to5Mac. “Therefore, we grant Apple’s motion to stay part (i) of paragraph (1) of the permanent injunction. The stay will remain in effect until the mandate issues in this appeal.”

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who oversaw the case between Apple and Epic Games, issued an injunction in September to prevent Apple from stopping developers who wanted to include "buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing." Apple typically takes a 30 percent cut of in-app purchases, and these measures would have allowed developers to use other payment systems.

Apple filed an appeal against that permanent injunction in October, claiming that it would “take months to figure out the engineering, economic, business, and other issues” that were required of such changes. Judge Gonzalez Rogers denied the appeal, but Apple took it to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In August 2020, Epic informed Fortnite players on both iOS and Android that they'd receive a discount if they bought the virtual V-Bucks currency if they bypassed Apple and Google's in-app payment methods. The latter two companies removed the battle royale game from their stores and Epic swiftly filedsuit against them both.

The Apple case went to trial in May. Judge Gonzales Rogers ruled in Apple's favor in almost all counts. Among other things, she determined that the App Store doesn't violate antitrust rules. Epic appealed the ruling a couple of days later.

Employees and contractors at Activision Blizzard are walking out of work today in support of their colleagues at Raven Software. The protest, the third such work stoppage to hit the company since it was sued by California over sexual harassment allegations in July, comes after Raven, one of the studios that supports Activision’s incredibly popular Call of Duty franchise, laid off 12 quality assurance contractors. The action started on Monday when 60 workers at Raven Software, including both full-time employees and contractors, left work to protest the surprise terminations.

The protest has no planned end date, a first for the walkouts at Activision Blizzard. Those involved in the action are demanding the publisher hire all QA contractors, including those who lost their jobs on Friday, as full-time employees. “Those participating in this demonstration do so with the continued success of the studio at the forefront of their mind,” said Blizzard Activision worker advocacy group A Better ABK on Twitter. “The Raven QA department is essential to the day-to-day functioning of the studio as a whole. Terminating the contracts of high performing testers in a time of consistent work and profit puts the health of the studio at risk.”

Management at Raven told QA staff at the end of last week it would hold one-on-one meetings with everyone to decide if they would get the chance to stay at the studio as a full-time staff member. The developer told approximately 30 percent of the team their contracts would end on January 28th, with more still waiting to find if they’ll have a job beyond the start of the year. According to A Better ABK, every worker Raven decided not to keep was in “good standing,” which is to say they had not underperformed in their job or committed a fireable offense.

According to The Washington Post, Raven studio head Brian Raffel said during an all-hands meeting on Monday he didn’t consider the terminations as layoffs. Instead, he said the studio had merely decided not to renew the contracts of those who were let go. Raffel reportedly later apologized for his comments.

“We are converting approximately 500 temporary workers to full-time employees in the coming months,” an Activision Blizzard spokesperson told Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier in response to the layoffs. “Unfortunately, as part of this change, we also have notified 20 temporary workers across studios that their contracts would not be extended.” The move comes after the publisher posted a net income of $639 million during its most recent fiscal quarter.

We’ve reached out to Activision Blizzard for additional comment.

This latest action isn’t directly related to the misconduct claims that have left Activision Blizzard in turmoil for months — though it’s likely safe to say frustrations across the company are at a boiling point. The first walkout occurred in July shortly after the company issued an “abhorrent and insulting” response to the harassment lawsuit from California's fair employment regulator. More recently, employees staged a second action after The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report on Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s handling of the crisis. That article implicated Kotick in the mistreatment that has characterized the company’s work culture for years. As part of that protest, thousands of Activision Blizzard employees called for Kotick’s resignation.

A Canadian hacker named Gary Bowser (yes, like Mario's nemesis) has agreed to pay the company $10 million to settle a civil piracy lawsuit. Bowser, who was part of Switch hacking group Team Xecuter, was accused of being part of a "cybercriminal enterprise that hacked leading gaming consoles," as Eurogamer notes. Nintendo argued Bowser violated the company's copyright and it seems the hacks were not in another castle.

News of the settlement emerged several weeks after Bowser pleaded guilty to multiple federal hacking charges. He was fined $4.5 million in that case and faces up to 10 years in prison. Bowser, who was arrested in the Dominican Republic in October 2020 and deported to the US, admitted to having "developed, manufactured, marketed, and sold a variety of circumvention devices" that let people play ROMs on consoles. 

Facebook has been repeatedly accused of enabling Myanmar's genocide against the country's Rohingya minority, and now it will deal with those accusations in court. A Rohingya woman has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of refugees against Facebook parent company Meta, alleging the company both amplified anti-Rohingya hate speech through its algorithms and failed to remove content fostering violence. The refugees ask for over $150 billion in damages.

The plaintiffs argued that Facebook only took meaningful action against pro-genocide factions after it was pushed. The Myanmar military launched its purge of Rohingya in 2017, with officials and nationalist monks spreading slurs and misinformation on Facebook to either justify or cover up atrocities. Facebook only started cracking down in August 2018 following a UN report linking unchecked behavior on the social network to real-world violence. The company requested an independent audit at the same time that reached a similar conclusion. This was too little too late, according to the refugees — the company admitted it "should and could have done more" only after mass displacements and deaths.

Meta has already declined to comment on the lawsuit. A similar complaint is expected in the UK in 2022.

The firm was quick to clamp down on the Myanmar military following its February 2021 coup, and went so far as to pull the military's main page. However, that swifter response won't help much with a lawsuit over past actions. While it's too soon to say whether or not the lawsuit will succeed, let alone obtain the hoped-for damages, the company may have a difficult time defending itself.

Samsung has merged its mobile business, the company's biggest moneymaker, with its consumer electronics division in a major restructuring meant to "strengthen its business competitiveness." In addition, to combining divisions, the tech giant has also replaced all of its CEOs. 

Jong-Hee Han, the head of its TV business, has been named as Vice-Chairman and co-CEO of the newly merged mobile and consumer electronics divisions. Han won't be leaving his duties as head of visual display, though, and will instead lead both businesses. According to Reuters, Han has no experience in mobile, but Samsung credits him for playing a key role in the company achieving top position in global TV sales over the past 15 years. 

Meanwhile, Samsung President Kyehyun Kyung has also been named co-CEO and will now lead its chip and components division. Kyung is a semiconductor design expert and used to leading the company's flash product and technology team. He's expected to "help maintain" Samsung's semiconductor leadership and conjure innovative ideas at the same time. 

While mobile generated the biggest revenue (US$24.2 billion) for Samsung in the third quarter of 2021, its chip business isn't that far behind. Its semiconductor business posted US$22.6 billion in revenue due to the heightened demand for server DRAMs and for computers in general during the pandemic. Samsung is aiming to become the number 1 chip contract manufacturer within the next decade and has poured hundreds of billions into the business. Just this November, it announced that it's building a $17 billion semiconductor factory in Texas to manufacture high-end and advanced chips for smartphones, 5G and artificial intelligence.

Clearview AI is about to get formal acknowledgment for its controversial facial recognition technology. Politicoreports Clearview has received a US Patent and Trademark Office "notice of allowance" indicating officials will approve a filing for its system, which scans faces across public internet data to find people from government lists and security camera footage. The company just has to pay administrative fees to secure the patent.

In a Politico interview, Clearview founder Hoan Ton-That claimed this was the first facial recognition patent involving "large-scale internet data." The firm sells its tool to government clients (including law enforcement) hoping to accelerate searches.

As you might imagine, there's a concern the USPTO is effectively blessing Clearview's technology and giving the company a chance to grow despite widespread objections to its technology's very existence. Critics are concerned Clearview is building image databases without targets' knowledge or permission, and multiple governments (including Australia and the UK) believe the facial recognition violates data laws. The tech could theoretically be used to stifle political dissent or, in private use, to stalk other people. That's not including worries about possible gender and race biases for facial recognition as a whole. 

Ton-That maintained Clearview has no plans to sell to anyone besides government clients, and that it was "important" to have unbiased systems. However, the patent left the door open to non-government purposes, like learning more about a dating partner or business client. Clearview is aware of the problematic path its technology might take, even if it doesn't intend to head in that direction.

On Friday, Reuters shed new light on the Biden administration’s recent decision to sanction Pegasus spyware developer NSO Group. Citing four people “familiar with the matter,” the outlet reports an unknown assailant used the firm’s software to infect iPhones belonging to at least nine US State Department officials.

The attacks reportedly targeted federal employees who were either stationed in Uganda or whose work involved the East African country. Reuters wasn’t able to identify who was behind the hacks. The State Department also declined to comment on the report. NSO says it will investigate the matter.

“If our investigation shall show these actions indeed happened with NSO's tools, such customer will be terminated permanently and legal actions will take place," a spokesperson for the company told Reuters. NSO said it would also “cooperate with any relevant government authority and present the full information we will have.”

NSO says its spyware can’t work on devices with US numbers that start with the country +1. But in the case of the State Department employees deployed to Uganda, they were reportedly using iPhones with local telephone numbers. They were also hacked before Apple released iOS 14.8, which addressed the CoreGraphics vulnerability NSO had exploited to allow its spyware to infect an iPhone without the victim even needing to tap on anything. On November 23rd, Apple sued NSO to “hold it accountable” for its actions.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters the threat to US officials is one of the reasons the White House is cracking down on NSO and working with allies to combat ransomware and other cybersecurity threats. On November 3rd, the Commerce Department added the company to its Entity List, preventing American companies from doing business with the firm. At the time, the company told Engadget it “dismayed” by the decision, and claimed its tools have helped the US by “preventing terrorism and crime.”

Nissan has unveiled the lunar lander prototype it has been working on with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The automaker has been collaborating with the agency on driving controllability since January 2020.

To help ensure the rover doesn't get stuck on the lunar surface, Nissan has employed a version of its e-4orce all-wheel control technology. The company says its driving-force controls can minimize wheel spin "in accordance with surface conditions." Not only could that prevent the rover's wheels from digging into the moon's powdery, rocky terrain, it might help the lander conserve precious energy.

Nissan announced the e-4orce powertrain system early last year. The tech, which is featured in the Ariya electric crossover and upcoming next-gen Leaf, allows for precise, independent control for all four wheels. The Ariya has front and rear motors, and the torque of each can be controlled individually to deliver traction during acceleration.

The company believes "the knowhow gained from this joint research with JAXA will lead to innovations in our vehicles that will bring benefits to customers," according to Toshiyuki Nakajima, general manager of Nissan's Advanced Vehicle Engineering Department.

The current design of the rover isn't aesthetically exciting, unfortunately. Right now, it's a rectangular box on wheels. But, as is usually the case, it's what's on the inside that really counts.

Following scrutiny from state and federal regulators, Activision Blizzard and its CEO Bobby Kotick now face pressure from an unexpected source. Per Axios, state treasurers from California, Massachusetts, Illinois, Oregon, Delaware and Nevada recently contacted the company’s board of directors to discuss its “response to the challenges and investment risk exposures that face Activision.” In a letter dated to November 23rd, the group tells the board it would “weigh” a “call to vote against the re-election of incumbent directors.”

That call was made on November 17th by a collection of activist shareholders known as Strategic Organizing Center Investment Group. SOC, which holds about 0.6 percent of Activision stock, has demanded Kotick resign and that two of the board’s longest-serving directors, Brian Kelly and Robert Morgado, retire by December 31st.

“We think there needs to be sweeping changes made in the company,” Illinois state treasurer Michael Frerichs told Axios. “We're concerned that the current CEO and board directors don't have the skillset, nor the conviction to institute these sweeping changes needed to transform their culture, to restore trust with employees and shareholders and their partners.”

Between the six treasurers, they manage about a trillion dollars in assets. But as Axios points out, it’s unclear how much they have invested in Activision, and it’s not something they disclosed to the outlet. However, Frerichs did confirm Illinois has been impacted by the company’s falling stock price.

To that point, the day before The Wall Street Journal published its bombshell report on Activision and CEO Bobby Kotick, the company's stock closed at $70.43. The day California’s fair employment agency sued the company its stock was worth $91.88. As of the writing of this article, it’s trading at about $58.44.

The group has asked to meet with Activision’s board by December 20th. We’ve reached out to Activision for comment.

Tinder's founders just won a partial victory in their lawsuit against Match Group over alleged financial trickery. Match has agreed to settle the case by paying $441 million from its cash reserves. In return, the Tinder co-creators will dismiss the claims from both the lawsuit and linked arbitration.

The court battle began in 2018, when the plaintiffs accused Tinder's parent organizations Match and IAC of manipulating financial data (including a secret merger with Match) to artificially lower Tinder's valuation and illegally deny stock options to workers. The plaintiffs also alleged that interim Tinder chief Greg Blatt sexually harassed marketing VP and co-founder Rosette Pambakian in 2016. Tinder fired the employees in response to their lawsuit, and Pambakian separately sued Tinder over the assault claims. 

We've asked Match for comment. Tinder said it couldn't comment beyond a joint statement in an SEC filing where both companies said they were "pleased" to have settled the case.

This isn't quite the decisive blow Tinder wanted. The company originally demanded "billions of dollars" in damages (around $2 billion, to be more exact) for the claimed Match and IAC manipulation — it's getting a fraction of that payout after three years. While Match is still on the hook, it's not taking long-lasting damage as a result.