GameStop said it's building an NFT marketplace that it hopes to launch by the end of this year. Following the announcement, shares of GameStop (GME) rose 20% in premarket trading Friday. More: - GameStop has assembled a 20+ person team to develop the online hub, where users would buy, sell, and trade NFTs of virtual gaming goods like cosmetic skins and weapons.
- The gaming retailer is also discussing tokens for the marketplace with crypto and blockchain companies. It's reportedly seeking to partner with crypto firms to develop the underlying technology.
- GameStop is said to be in talks with partners about creating funds as high as $100M apiece to invest in gaming firms and creators.
- The NFT marketplace saw $14B in revenue and 1.8M active users at the end of 2021.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 
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 Google infringed on smart speaker patents held by Sonos, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled, potentially forcing Google to halt imports of its products that use the technology. The patents are related to adjusting volume, synchronizing audio, and connecting to Wi-Fi. President Biden has 60 days to sign or issue a rare veto of the ruling, which affirmed a judge's decision from 2021. More: - The ITC, a U.S. trade agency, ruled that Google must halt imports of products that use technology from five Sonos patents.
- These could potentially include Google Home smart speakers, Chromecast devices, and Pixel smartphones.
- However, Google said it doesn't expect any impacts on its imports or sales.
- The company has been redesigning its products so as to avoid infringing on the patents, a spokesperson said.
- During the presidential review period, Google can make pre-approved software changes to avoid the import ban.
- Google should "pay a fair royalty for the technologies it has misappropriated," argued Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
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Samsung Electronics estimates that its Q4 operating profit rose 52% over the year-ago period, boosted by demand for its memory chips and chip manufacturing orders. If true, this would make the October-December period Samsung's best quarter since 2017. More: - Samsung predicts roughly $11.5B in profit for Q4 2021.
- The South Korean giant estimates $63.1B in sales, up 24% from a year ago, potentially marking a new quarterly record in revenue for the company.
- A Refinitiv SmartEstimate predicts Samsung's operating profit reached $12.7B for the quarter, up 68% from a year earlier and possibly beating its previous Q4 record in 2017.
- The full numbers are due out later this month.
- In December, Samsung announced that it had merged its mobile and consumer electronics units and replaced the heads of three major business units in its biggest internal reorganization since 2017.
CNET
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 Top Apple Silicon designer Jeff Wilcox has departed to lead rival Intel's efforts to create SoCs. Wilcox, former director of Apple's Mac system architecture, was a key player in the company's Silicon team and oversaw much of the transition from Intel chips to Apple's own Arm-based M1 processors. More: - Wilcox is now leader of Intel's client SoC architecture team in its design engineering group.
- He is responsible for the architecture of all Intel's SoCs.
- Wilcox was a principal engineer at Intel from 2010-2013 before moving to Apple, where he led the transition culminating in the M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max chips.
- The news comes amid reports that Apple is offering stock bonuses as high as $180,000 to prevent its engineers from leaving to other tech companies.
- Apple is expected to release its MacBook Air with the new M2 processor sometime in 2022.
TOM'S HARDWARE
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Former President Donald Trump’s social network Truth Social is expected to go live on Feb. 21, according to an Apple App Store listing. Described as a "Twitter clone," the app was developed by Trump's new media company, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG). More: - App users will be able to send tweet-like messages, called "truths," and follow other users and trending topics.
- Reports noted that its rollout coincides with Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday, on Feb. 21.
- Twitter and Facebook suspended Trump from their platforms in January 2021, citing his role in inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot based on unsupported claims of election fraud.
- TMTG has also expressed plans to launch a subscription video-on-demand service and a podcast network.
- In November, TMTG announced plans to merge with blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp., which saw its stock rise by nearly 20% on Thursday.
REUTERS
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Meta denied reports that it has canceled work on its own operating system to power VR and AR headsets. The Information initially reported that Meta has suspended at least some elements of the project, called XROS, which was under development since 2017. For now, Meta will continue using the Android-based operating system that is currently being used in Quest VR devices. More: - In response to the report, a Meta spokesperson said the company is neither stopping nor scaling back its operations to build a reality operating system.
- Gabriel Aul, Meta's VP of Reality Labs Engineering, tweeted that the company is pursuing a few technical directions to develop operating systems.
- Meta is "still working on a highly specialized OS" for its devices, he said, adding that it's "growing this team, not shrinking it."
- However, this could still mean a tailored or modified version of Google's Android, according to 9to5Mac.
9TO5MAC
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Quick Hits: - The ESA canceled the in-person event for this year's E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which is now expected to be all virtual in June.
- Volkswagen said it will display a production-ready version of its electric ID Buzz Microbus on March 9.
- Baidu and Jidu Automotive aim to mass-produce and deliver a Level 4 autonomous electric vehicle in 2023.
- Disney was granted a patent to create a virtual metaverse without VR glasses at its original theme park.
- Samsung debuted its Home Hub, a docked centralized tablet for monitoring its smart home appliances.
- New specs emerged for the OnePlus 10 Pro smartphone, due out initially in China on Jan. 11.
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 |  | Beth is an Inside Analyst and a former public policy/investigative reporter. She has covered AI, VR, technology, and e-commerce for Inside. When she's not busy writing, she's hiking in Arizona's desert, playing pickleball, or trying out new Mexican food recipes. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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