Four U.S. attorneys general have sued Google, accusing the tech giant of deceiving users to gain access to their location data through misleading “dark pattern" schemes. In separate lawsuits, AGs from the District of Columbia, Indiana, Texas, and Washington claim that Google provided misleading descriptions of users' location and privacy settings, leading them to believe they weren't sharing location data when they actually were. More: - The location data helped the company target online advertising in a more effective way, the suits claim.
- Google is accused of telling mobile users that they could “get the most from Google Maps” by sharing location history even though that data wasn't needed for the app to function.
- The lawsuits claim Google led users to believe they could shut off tracking by turning off Location History settings. However, the tracking remained on unless users turned it off in Web & App Activity settings.
- The AGs believe the company nudged users to enable location history sharing "inadvertently or out of frustration" through repeated prompts.
- A Google spokesperson called the claims "inaccurate" and "outdated," saying the company built privacy features into its products and has "robust" controls for sharing location data.
- A similar privacy lawsuit against Google was filed by Arizona's AG in 2020. That suit, which accuses Google of illegally tracking locations of Android phone users, remains pending.
THE WASHINGTON POST 
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 Bitcoin and Ether fell to their lowest levels since July amid a broader market selloff of technology stocks and other high-risk assets. The drivers appear to be concerns about a possible Russian attack against Ukraine and the U.S. Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting to tighten monetary policy and determine interest rate hikes. More: - Bitcoin fell below the $34,000 mark on Monday, trading for as little as $33,046 following its record high of $69,000 in November.
- Ether, the second most popular digital currency, fell to $2,201 on Monday, down 53% from its all-time high, also in November.
- Other cryptocurrencies Solana and Shiba Inu fell 64% and 75%, respectively. Crypto exchange Coinbase saw its stock lose nearly a quarter of value since last week.
- Another contributor was the Russian central bank's call last week to ban the use and mining of cryptocurrencies, citing risks to financial stability and other threats.
CNBC
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 A message from MODERN TREASURY Why you need to care more about payment operations. If your business moves money, you have payment operations. Payment operations include processes to initiate, approve, track, and reconcile payments. Just like the money they manage, payment operations are critical to a functioning business. In fact, survey data show that 86% of finance leaders view upgrading their payment operations as a priority. To better understand the current state of payment operations, Modern Treasury partnered with the Harris Poll to survey 300 leaders and uncover their top payment operations problems and priorities. In our first-ever report on payment operations, we reveal: - The costliest payment-related challenges companies face
- The 5 upgrades to payment operations leaders believe are most important
- The 7 most common barriers to upgrading payment operations
And more. Download the Report
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 Apple is preparing to launch the largest array of new devices in its history this fall, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman listed four new iPhones, an updated iMac and MacBook Air, a new Mac Pro, a low-end MacBook Pro, three Apple Watches, second-generation AirPods Pro, a low-end iPad, and iPad Pros. More: - Apple's annual smartphone release will reportedly include the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
- Gurman expects that the iPad Pro will have Apple's new M2 chip and wireless charging.
- While many of the devices are due to launch in the fall, the 27-inch iMac may be released earlier, possibly during Apple's spring event.
- During that unveil in March or April, the company is expected to launch the 5G iPhone SE and a new iPad Air with an A15 chip.
- Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference will see the launch of iOS 16 and macOS 13 in June.
BLOOMBERG
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Fintech company Plaid agreed to pay out $58M to customers who used its service to link their bank accounts to Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, and other financial apps. The settlement payouts stem from a class action lawsuit that accused the company of gathering more financial data than was necessary from its users. More: - The suit also accused Plaid of obtaining bank login information via its "Plaid Link" user interface, which resembled bank account login screens.
- The company denied any wrongdoing but agreed to settle last year.
- Plaid's 5,000 client apps also include PayPal Holdings, Chime, Mint, Betterment, and NerdWallet.
- Affected users can now submit claims through April 28. The claims are open to U.S. residents who have connected a bank account to an app from Jan. 1 2013 through Nov. 19, 2021.
FAST COMPANY
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 A message from FLATFILE How Inkit turned churning customers worth $30,000 into $100,000 in savings with Flatfile's platform. Inkit's customers imported spreadsheets which often had formatting issues, and routinely needed help on how to save their Excel files. Not an ideal data onboarding experience. “We home built our uploader. It was problematic if customers uploaded files that didn’t meet our requirements. After Flatfile, we're now able to deliver a 10X better product and save hundreds of thousands of dollars. I could see a bigger company looking at a million dollars a year in cost savings." CEO, Michael McCarthy. Read More
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 Yakuza producer Toshihiro Nagoshi has launched his own gaming studio backed by Chinese internet and gaming giant NetEase. Nagoshi left Sega last year after he oversaw the development of the Yakuza game series as chief of the company's Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. More: - The new venture, called Nagoshi Studio, is wholly funded by NetEase, known for its online PC and mobile games as well as email, e-commerce, and advertising services.
- Nagoshi will serve as CEO and representative director. The Tokyo-based studio's eight founding members are all Sega veterans.
- Nagoshi told Japanese publication Famitsu that the new studio will have more creative freedom to develop without needing to consider Sega’s budgets and business plans.
- The scale of its first game "will be bigger" than Yakuza, he added.
PC GAMER
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 Elon Musk's Neuralink could begin human trials of its brain-computer interfaces in the near future. The company is now hiring for a clinical trial director, suggesting that the trials of the Neuralink brain implant could launch this year, pending FDA approval. More: - The trials are expected to help people with severe spinal cord injuries gain neural control of a computer cursor.
- Following successful demos of the implant in a monkey and a pig, the device could be used to "restore full-body functionality" in tetraplegics and quadriplegics, Musk said.
- While studying and treating brain/spine disorders is the more immediate use of the technology, Musk said Neuralink's longer-term goal is to sync the human brain with artificial intelligence and achieve "human/AI symbiosis."
- In addition to a clinical trial director, Neuralink is hiring for a clinical trial coordinator. Both positions are based in Fremont, California.
USA TODAY
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- Microsoft, Tesla, and Apple are set to report earnings this week.
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- Microsoft could unveil its Project Monarch for unifying Outlook apps in the spring.
- Toyota-backed Pony.ai announced its sixth-gen autonomous driving system, built on Nvidia's Orin SoC.
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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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