New ‘FIFA Mobile’ mode puts the focus on strategy, not action

Would you rather oversee your FIFA Mobile team than control your players’ every last step? You now have your chance. EA has introduced a Manager Mode to the Android and iOS title that has you focusing on strategy and tactics rather than action. You choose the starting lineup, set the tactics in real-time (such as attacking or countering) and let your team play. You can even queue multiple matches as you climb the division ranks.

The corresponding game update also improves goalkeepers, adds player switching options and offers kits for 30 national teams. The upgrade is available now.

This doesn’t turn FIFA Mobile into a management sim like Football Manager. You aren’t scouting talent, shaping training programs or wrestling with the team’s board. Think of this more as the soccer equivalent to an auto battler like Auto Chess or Teamfight Tactics — it’s a slightly more relaxed experience that does more to reward situational awareness than fast reflexes.

Tinder scales back its plans for dating in the metaverse

Don’t expect to find a Tinder date in the metaverse any time soon. The Vergereports Match Group chief Bernard Kim has asked Tinder’s Hyperconnect unit (acquired in 2021) to scale back its metaverse dating plans. In his shareholder letter, Kim said “uncertainty” about success with virtual worlds required that the team “not invest heavily” in the metaverse. Match further blamed the Hyperconnect purchase for a $10 million operating loss in the latest quarter where it made a $210 million operating profit in the same period a year earlier.

The company is also taking “a step back” on plans to introduce its in-app Tinder Coins following questionable test results, Kim said. While he didn’t scrap the digital currency outright, he wanted it to “more effectively contribute” to Tinder’s bottom line. Any virtual items would have to be a serious contributor to Tinder’s next phase of growth, the executive added.

Tinder is facing a leadership upheaval at the same time. CEO Renate Nyborg is leaving the company after joining last September. It’s not clear why she’s leaving, but Kim said Match was looking for a replacement.

There’s little doubt Tinder is dealing with an uncertain future. On top of the Tinder loss, Match forecast a only small growth and said it was still grappling with changes in behavior prompted by the pandemic. While there was a jump in activity in the second half of 2021 as vaccines made it safer to meet others, there hasn’t been a similar spike in 2022. The willingness of first-timers to try online dating hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, Kim said. The exec hopes more aggressive product rollouts will spur newcomers, such as live video and “alibi” dating services.

Google is making it easier to find and support Asian-owned businesses

Google is making it easier for people to find and support Asian-owned businesses in their communities. Starting today, US merchants can now add an “Asian-owned” label to a verified Google business profile, which will appear in Search and Maps queries.

The move is part of Google’s efforts to support historically marginalized communities. It previously rolled out labels for Black-owned, Latino-owned, veteran-owned, women-owned and LGBTQ+ owned businesses. 

In addition, the company says its Grow with Google initiative, along with the non-profit US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, will help another 10,000 Asian-owned small businesses learn digital skills. To date, they’ve assisted more than 20,000 Asian-owned businesses with workshops on things like e-commerce, analytics-driven decisions and design.

Amazon knocks $100 off Samsung’s Freestyle smart projector

Samsung debuted its Freestyle smart projector earlier this year at CES as a portable home theater gadget with auto focus and auto leveling features, making it easier to watch anything, anywhere. Normally priced at $900, the Freestyle projector is down to $798 at Amazon right now, which is just about $100 off. Samsung also has it for nearly the same price. The only time we’ve seen the projector cheaper was when it went on sale for $650 at Woot in a one-day sale back in April. If you missed the chance then, now’s a good opportunity to grab the Freestyle while it’s decently discounted.

Buy Freestyle projector at Amazon – $798Buy Freestyle projector at Samsung – $800

The Freestyle is really best for those that want a portable projector as it weighs only 1.83 pounds and can be easily picked up and moved from spot to spot around your home. Its stand can rotate nearly 180 degrees and its auto focus and auto leveling features help align what you’re watching, so you could project a movie onto your ceiling, your wall and a number of other places without the picture looking too wonky. The Freestyle projects images with a 1080p resolution with a size range of 30 to 100 inches, making it easy to adjust the image to fit the surface you’re working with. Along with built-in Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby voice command support, it also has 360-degree audio, so you won’t need to plug in external speakers for sound.

If you’d rather invest in a new TV than a projector for your home theater setup, some of Samsung’s 2022 smart TVs have also been discounted on Amazon. The 85-inch Class Neo QLED Mini LED 4K TV is a whopping $700 off and down to $3,298, which is an all-time low. This set uses Mini LED technology to produce bolder, brighter colors and higher contrast, plus it supports a 120Hz refresh rate, 4K AI upscaling, Dolby Atmos and Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby voice controls. Elsewhere, Samsung’s 65-inch Q80B Series QLED 4K set is $200 off and down to $1,298, while the 65-inch Class Neo QLED 8K Mini LED TV is $500 off and on sale for $4,498.

Buy 85-inch Samsung Mini LED TV at Amazon – $3,298Buy 65-inch Samsung Q80B QLED 4K TV at Amazon – $1,298Buy 65-inch Samsung QLED 8K Mini LED TV at Amazon – $4,498

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Solana ‘hot’ wallets are being drained in multi-million dollar attack

An unknown actor has drained over 8,000 internet-connected wallets in an ongoing attack on the Solana blockchain ecosystem. According to Blockchain auditor OtterSec, the attacks were still ongoing when it posted an update in the evening of August 2nd and that they had affected multiple wallets, including Phantom, Slope, Solflare and TrustWallet, across a wide variety of platforms. 

As TechCrunch notes, the bad actor seems to have stolen both Solana tokens and USDC stablecoins, with the estimated losses so far amounting to around $8 million. OtterSec is now encouraging users to move all their assets to a hardware wallet, and the Solana Status Twitter account echoed that advice, adding that there’s no evidence “cold” wallets have been impacted.

The Solana Status account has also revealed that an exploit allowed a malicious actor to drain funds from the compromised wallets and that it seems to have affected both their mobile versions and extensions. Engineers from multiple ecosystems have already banded together to work with security researchers to identify the root cause of the exploit, which is yet to be discovered. 

People in the crypto industry have several theories, though, with some believing that the bad actors got access to private keys through a supply chain attack, because the attacker was able to sign, or initiate and approve, transactions on behalf of the victims. Others warning that the exploit has caused the widespread compromise of private keys and that revoking wallet approvals won’t help at all. 

Porsche’s new companies are all about electric bikes

In the future, you may come across a lot more two-wheeled Porsches on the streets. The luxury automaker has launched two new joint ventures with Dutch company Ponooc Investment B.V., and they’re both all about electric bikes. Porsche eBike Performance GmbH is based in Ottobrunn near Munich and will develop components, including motors and batteries. Anything it creates will then be used by P2 eBike GmbH, the second joint venture based in Stuttgart, to manufacture Porsche-branded e-bikes for consumers that the company plyans to launch starting in the middle of the decade. 

Porsche is far from a newcomer in the e-bike space. In 2021, it debuted two electric bikes inspired by the Taycan and were made to complement the Cross Turismo, which has a rear carrier. Those bikes, however, along with their motors and gear shifting systems, were manufactured by Japanese bicycle industry giant Shimano. With one company developing parts and another working on the consumer bikes themselves, the upcoming products the joint ventures will release will be all (or at least mostly) Porsche.

The components business will use the e-bike drive systems develop by Fazua, a company Porsche recently acquired, as noted by Electrek. However, it will also develop e-bike systems under the Porsche brand name — it will even sell the technology it designs to other brands. As with anything Porsche, the bikes under the new ventures will most likely not come cheap: Its Taycan-inspired bikes, for instance, set buyers back at least $8,500 at launch, with the sports model selling for prices that start at $10,700.