Tech

In this articleMSFTA gamer plays soccer title Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 on an Xbox console.Sezgin Pancar | Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesMicrosoft is developing dedicated streaming hardware that people will be able to hook up to their TVs to use its Netflix-like cloud gaming service.The company is betting the future of video games will be a subscription-based model where people pay a certain amount of money each month to get access to a plethora of titles.Its Xbox Game Pass service does exactly that, offering access to a library of games developed both in-house and by third-party studios.That’s mostly digital downloads, but last year streaming was added with Microsoft publicly releasing Xbox Cloud Gaming. The feature is sort of like a “Netflix for games,” allowing gamers to play games that are hosted on remote servers and then streamed to users over the internet.A number of other companies have launched similar game-streaming services, including Google with Stadia and Amazon with Luna.Now, Microsoft is aiming to push its cloud gaming product to other platforms. It started rolling out Xbox Cloud Gaming to some users via a web browser on iPhones, iPads and PCs in April (Microsoft couldn’t launch a proper mobile app for

In this articleGOOGLFBAAPLAMZNU.S. House Impeachment manager David Cicilline (D-RI) speaks on the second day of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol on February 10, 2021 in Washington, DC.congress.gov via Getty ImagesA group of House Democrats is circulating discussion drafts of antitrust bills that would force the biggest tech companies to change parts of their business models and curtail large acquisitions, according to copies obtained by CNBC.While the drafts could still change significantly prior to their introduction, as currently written, they could require business model overhauls for Apple and Amazon by limiting their ability to operate marketplaces for products and apps while selling their own goods and apps on those same stores. The bills would also make it harder for those companies plus Facebook and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) to complete large mergers, and would force them to make it easier for users to leave their platforms with their data intact. CNBC couldn’t immediately learn when the drafts will be introduced.The draft bills come after a 16-month investigation by the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust into the four companies, which culminated in a nearly 450-page report from Democratic staff last fall. While Republicans on the subcommittee

Shares of payment processing company Marqeta closed up 13% after its market debut Wednesday on the Nasdaq. Shares closed at $30.52, giving the company a market cap of just over $16 billion.Marqeta priced just over 45 million shares at $27 apiece on Tuesday, above its initial $20 to $24 target range. The company raised $1.2 billion at an implied $15.2 billion valuation, up from its last private market valuation last year of about $4.3 billion.Marqeta has become one of the hottest businesses in digital commerce. It’s a two-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company and ranked No. 7 on this year’s list.Founded in 2010 and based in Oakland, California, Marqeta sells payment technology that’s designed to detect potential fraud and ensure that money is properly routed. The company issues customized physical cards that look like credit and debit cards, which contractors from DoorDash or Instacart use to make point-of-sale purchases from restaurants or supermarkets.In its IPO prospectus, Marqeta disclosed annualized revenue growth in the first quarter of 123% to $108 million, while its net loss narrowed to $12.8 million from $14.5 million a year earlier. In 2020, annual revenue more than doubled to $290.3 million.The company says the total addressable global market for

In this articleIBMA sign marks the entrance to IBM Corporate Headquarters in Armonk, New York.Stan Honda | AFP | Getty ImagesIBM’s U.S. employees will go back to the office the week of Sept. 7, according to a memo sent to staff this week from Chief Human Resources Officer Nickle LaMoreaux.In the memo, which was viewed by CNBC, LaMoreaux said that IBM is working on protocols for fully vaccinated employees to work in the office without masks. In addition, LaMoreaux said IBM is working on health and safety protocols for business travel and meetings with clients from outside the company.The memo didn’t specify whether or not employees will have the option to continue remote work either full or part time, but did say IBM has “long-established practices and policies supporting work life balance which will continue as we return to the office.”The return to work plan only applies IBM’s employees in the U.S., where Covid-19 cases have dramatically fallen in recent months amid a massive vaccination drive across the country. IBM operates in 175 countries.Also on Wednesday, Facebook clarified its post-pandemic work plans. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said most employees would be allowed to work remotely if their jobs didn’t require them

Apple’s iOS 15 update will bring lots of new features to your iPhone when it launches this fall. Apple announced the latest iPhone software this week during its big annual developer conference when it highlighted some of the changes.The update will give you more options for FaceTime video chat including, yes, finally talking with friends on Android. It also brings new privacy features that help protect your email and show you how often apps access things like your camera and microphone. And later this winter, you may even be able to add your driver’s license to Apple Wallet, depending on where you live.There are a lot of changes, but I’m going to highlight some of the ones that stand out most to me. They’re available for developers to test now and anyone will be able to test a beta version starting in July. Otherwise, expect to see these on your iPhone in the fall. It’ll be available for the iPhone 6s and newer.FaceTime SharePlayApple iOS 15 will let you watch movies, TV shows and more with friends over FaceTime.AppleFaceTime is getting a few new features. One is called SharePlay. Once you start a FaceTime video call with someone (or multiple

Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman of Facebook, speaks on the second day of the 56th Munich Security Conference. The fight against propaganda campaigns and other attempts at manipulation costs Facebook billions every year.Tobias Hase | picture alliance | Getty ImagesFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday announced that the company will allow all full-time employees whose jobs can be done remotely to request full-time remote work.This is a change from plans Facebook announced in May 2020 when the company said it would allow certain employees, notably the most senior and experienced employees, to request permanent remote work. Zuckerberg made the announcement in a memo to employees laying out the company’s plans for a hybrid office and remote setup.”We’ve learned over the past year that good work can get done anywhere, and I’m even more optimistic that remote work at scale is possible, particularly as remote video presence and virtual reality continue to improve,” Zuckerberg wrote.Additionally, Zuckerberg said Facebook will begin allowing employees to request remote work across international borders. After June 15, the company will allow employees in the U.S. to request remote work in Canada and those in Europe to request remote work in the U.K., a Facebook spokeswoman said in a

President Donald Trump has agreed to a deal in which Oracle and Walmart will take a minority stake in a U.S.-headquartered company called TikTok Global. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, says it will have an 80% stake.Nicolas Economou | NurPhoto | Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that sets criteria for the government to evaluate the risk of apps connected to foreign-adversaries, a move with implications for Chinese-owned apps like TikTok and WeChat.Biden revoked and replaced the three executive orders by former President Donald Trump which sought to ban transactions with TikTok and WeChat by American businesses. One of the orders also sough to ban TikTok, resulting in a prolonged court battle. TikTok remains available and popular in the U.S.Biden’s new order will direct the Commerce Department to review apps tied to foreign adversaries and lays out what it should consider an “unacceptable risk,” according to a White House fact sheet. That includes criteria for evaluating transactions with software apps tied to a foreign adversary, which typically falls under the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). The order would consider transactions to involve a “heightened risk” when they involve apps owned, controlled or managed by

Facebook is setting its sights on the creator economy, hoping to allow millions of people to make a living off its family of apps.But the company wants to promote offline transactions between creators and companies in order to avoid Apple’s 30% cut of in-app purchases, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said Wednesday.”When there are digital transactions that happen on iOS, Apple insists that they take 30% of that. There’s a very few number of exceptions. For transactions that happen in iOS, we’re going to have to abide by their rules… but in general we’re going to look for other ways to help creators make a living and facilitating transactions that happen in other places,” Mosseri told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.””So, for instance, if we could help brands and creators vet each other and find each other, they could make those transactions happen offline. For affiliate marketing, it’s real goods, not digital goods. So we’re going to try and lean in to the places creators can actually make a stable living,” he added.Apple generally takes a 30% rake from purchases of software or digital goods from apps distributed through the App Store. That would mean creators would eventually have to split revenue from

Calls for a digital dollar have been on the rise.Gustavo Rezende Dos Santos | EyeEm | Getty ImagesOn Wednesday morning, the Senate Banking Committee Economic Policy Subcommittee under Senators Warren and Kennedy will hold a hearing on the challenges and opportunities of a Digital Dollar. The hearing will undoubtedly note the recent speech by Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard outlined potential advantages of a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC), including with respect to access, inclusion, and efficiency, and next steps in the Fed’s analysis.  It will also note the speech the week before by Sir Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor of the Bank of England, promising a careful and thorough assessment of the need for some form of “Britcoin” to “meet the needs of modern day life.”We agree with the thoughtful and balanced approach of these public sector leaders. That is why we have similarly called for careful exploration of a U.S. CBDC that we termed – perhaps not creatively – a “Digital Dollar.” And while as former regulators we believe in the prudence of considering what could go wrong with a CBDC, we believe now is a time to equally consider what could go right.There are several possible formats for a digital dollar.  We

In this articleSPOTNorthvolt’s battery factory in the north of Sweden in June.NorthvoltNorthvolt, a Swedish battery maker, has raised $2.75 billion from a host of big names to help fuel its global expansion and increase production.The Stockholm-headquartered company makes the lithium-ion batteries that are used to power electric cars and it says it has signed deals worth $27 billion with the likes of BMW and VW. It is aiming to produce “the world’s greenest batteries” by drawing on renewable energy sources and recycled raw materials.The latest funding round, Northvolt’s largest yet, was co-led by Goldman Sachs and VW alongside new investors including Swedish pension funds AP1, AP2, AP3, AP4 and Canadian pension provider OMERS. Previous investors such as Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and investment management firm Baillie Gifford are also investing in the round.Total investment in the company now stands at $6.5 billion. The latest round of funding values Northvolt at $11.75 billion, according to a person familiar with the company who asked to remain anonymous as Northvolt has not publicly disclosed the figure.Founded in 2016, Northvolt said it will use the funding to expand capacity at its factory in the far north of Sweden from 40 gigawatt-hours to 60 gigawatt-hours,