FCC Commissioner urges Google and Apple to ban TikTok

“TikTok is not just another video app. That’s the sheep’s clothing.” That’s what Brendan Carr wrote in his tweet along with a copy of the letter he sent Apple and Google, asking the companies to remove TikTok from their app stores. The agency’s senior Republican commissioner references a recent BuzzFeed News report that examined leaked audio from 80 internal TikTok meetings. Based on those leaked audio recordings, China-based employees of TikTok parent company ByteDance had repeatedly accessed private information on users in the US. 

One member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department reportedly said during a meeting in September 2021 that “everything is seen in China.” A director said in another meeting that a Beijing-based engineer referred to as “Master Admin” has “access to everything.” Just hours before BuzzFeed News published its report, TikTok announced that it migrated 100 percent of US user traffic to a new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. It’s part of the company’s efforts to address concerns by US authorities about how it handles information from users in the country. 

In his letter, though, Carr listed other reports showing “concerning evidence and determinations regarding TikTok’s data practices” that include previous instances wherein researchers discovered that the app can circumvent Android and iOS safeguards to access users’ sensitive data. He also cited TikTok’s 2021 decision to pay $92 million to settle dozens of lawsuit, mostly from minors, accusing it of collecting their personal data without consent and selling it to advertisers.

Carr wrote:

“It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due its extensive data harvesting being combined with Beijing’s apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data.”

He’s giving Apple and Google until July 8th to explain why they aren’t removing the app from their stores if they refuse to do so. That said, Carr was the letter’s lone signee — it doesn’t look like the other FCC Commissioners are involved. We’ve reached out to all parties to ask for their official statement on the issue. 

Tesla reportedly lays off 200 Autopilot employees in latest jobs cut

Tesla has reportedly laid off approximately 200 workers from its Autopilot team and closed an office in California. According to Bloomberg, the company notified staff of the move on Tuesday. Many of the affected employees were annotation specialists whose jobs involved evaluating and labeling Autopilot data obtained from customers. Along with the layoffs, Tesla closed its San Mateo location; Bloomberg reports what remained of the 350-person team was transferred to another nearby office.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. The automaker has not operated a public relations department since 2020. 

The cuts are almost certainly part of a broader effort by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to reduce costs at the company ahead of a potential recession. At the start of June, Musk told employees in a company-wide email he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and that layoffs were coming. He later told Bloomberg he planned to reduce Tesla’s salaried workforce by about 10 percent over the next three months. The admission came after Musk told remote workers to return to the office or lose their jobs. Tesla reportedly bungled its back-to-office plan, with The Information reporting that many employees returned to the company’s Fremont facility to find there weren’t enough parking spots and desks.

‘Axie Infinity’ is back open for business following $625 million hack

After a massive $625 million hack, the cryptocurrency pay-to-earn game Axie Infinity is once again open for business. The hack took advantage of flaws in the Ronin network, an Ethereum sidechain the game’s owner, Sky Mavis, propped up to facilitate faster transactions. Surprisingly, the news today is that Axie Infinity will… continue to use Ronin, which has been revived after a few audits. In a blog post, the company described a new “circuit-breaker” system designed to flag “large, suspicious withdrawals,” withdrawal limits and human reviewers. It also promised players that a new land staking feature — which claims to allow the game’s owners of digital land to earn passive income — will be released later this week.

In March, a group of hackers pilfered nearly 173,600 Ethereum and nearly 26 million USDC (worth roughly $26 million) from the game’s network. US officials have since linked the North Korean-backed hacking group Lazarus to the heist. Last week Sky Mavis said it would begin reimbursing the victims of the hack — but didn’t account for Ethereum’s drop in value over the past three months, which means that users would only recover about a third of their losses. In all, Sky Mavis is returning $216.5 million in funds to its users.

Moving forward, Axie Infinity players are warned not to send funds directly to Ronin Bridge’s smart contract address. “The Ronin Bridge should only be accessed and used for deposits/withdrawals through the Ronin Bridge UI. Any funds sent directly to the Ronin Bridge’s contract addresses will be permanently lost,” wrote the company in its post.

Esports.net recently pointed out a flaw in Axie Infinity’s design — a drop in the number of players causes the value of its in-game currency to plummet. Bloomberg noted earlier this month that the game’s user base has declined by 40 percent since the hack. As of this writing, the value of AXS is at $15.30 (a drop from its high of $160.36 in July 2021) and the value of SLP is at 0.0039 (down from an all-time high of 0.364).

Sony’s new hardware brand will launch with gaming headsets and PS5-optimized monitors

Sony has announced the launch of Inzone, a new brand of PC gaming displays and headsets. They’ll be coming out of the company’s Electronics division (not to be confused with its Interactive Entertainment unit) and its flagship product will be the Inzone M9, a 27-inch 4K monitor. The M9 boasts an IPS panel with full-array local dimming, a 144Hz refresh rate and a claimed 1-millisecond gray to gray response time.

Sony says the panel is also DisplayHDR 600-certified and covers 95 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Additionally, the monitor is G-Sync compatible and features support for variable refresh rate (VRR) gaming thanks to the inclusion of an HDMI 2.1 port. If you connect the M9 to a PS5 through that port, you’ll get access to a feature that will automatically switch the monitor between its included low-latency and picture processing modes when it detects you’re about to play a game or watch a movie. Sony has also optimized the PS5’s HDR output for the M9, and you’ll see the benefits of that tuning automatically as well. Sony’s M9 will hit shelves this summer and retail for $899.

Alongside a 4K display, Sony will also offer a 240Hz Full HD monitor. Like the company’s new flagship, the M3 will boast a 1-millisecond gray to gray response time, PlayStation 5-specific features and compatibility for both G-Sync and VRR. As you might expect, high dynamic range performance won’t be as good as the 4K variant, with the monitor only earning VESA’s DisplayHDR 400 certification. Sony plans to begin selling the M3 sometime this winter for $529.

If you’re looking for a new gaming headset, Sony has you covered there too. For those who want it all, there’s the $299 H9. It features active noise cancellation, Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless connectivity, support for spatial audio and the same synthetic leather found on Sony’s recently announced WH-1000XM5 headphones. For a more affordable option, there’s the H7. It omits the H9’s ANC and “soft fit” leather features for a $229 price tag. The H7 will also come with better battery life. Sony claims you can get 40 hours of use from its new mid-tier headphones compared to 32 hours from the H9. Lastly, there’s the $99 H3, which you can connect to your PC or PS5 through a 3.5mm headphone jack or wired USB adapter. Sony will release all three models this summer.

Sony’s new gaming brand merges the best of its PlayStation and consumer gear

I’ve always wondered why aside from a handful of peripherals like the Pulse 3D headset and that weird 3D display, Sony never really tried to expand the PlayStation brand outside of consoles. And while you won’t find any PS logos on its new line of head…

Red Bull is building a $6.1 million F1-inspired hybrid hypercar

Taking a page from on-track rival Mercedes, Red Bull plans to produce its own hypercar. On Tuesday, the company took to Twitter to announce the RB17, which is slated to be a two-seater with a hybrid V8 engine and 1,100 horsepower. Production will start…

‘Harvestella’ is a Square Enix farming sim with a dark twist

Square Enix is moving into the farming sim world with Harvestella, which is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC on November 4th. While this is a 3D game with a distinct art style, you’ll surely recognize some elements if you’re one of the tens of millions of Stardew Valley players out there. You’ll till land, sow seeds, water crops, collect items for cooking and crafting, go fishing, take care of pets, explore dungeons, slay monsters and so on.

You’ll be able to visit other towns and get to know their residents. In Nemea Town, cherry blossoms bloom all year, while Seaside Town Shatolla has a vibrant bar scene. There are multiple jobs to choose from as well, including mage, fighter and shadow walker. Each of those will offer different abilities in battle. You’ll also be able to explore some of the ocean in a submarine.

The overworld will change based on the season, but there’s a catch. Four crystals called Seaslight usually ensure there’s a stable transition between seasons. However, the game starts amid some abnormalities. Between each season is a period called the Quietus, when crops die and people are unable to go outside due to deadly dust. Even worse, these Quietus spells are lasting longer every year. You might have to do something about that.

Return to Monkey Island’s first gameplay trailer is a swashbuckling trip of nostalgia

When Return to Monkey Island arrives later this year, players will finally discover the secret of Monkey Island. That’s the pitch series creator Ron Gilbert made in the game’s newest trailer, which premiered today during Nintendo’s latest Direct s…